Author: Lauri Ann Lumby

A “True” Irish History

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Wisdom of the Ancestors

A “true” Irish history handed down by The Three Seabhean

This is the first of many installments of guidance I have received through deep shamanic experiences in which The Mothers have made contact with me for the purpose of imparting ancient wisdom and knowledge upon a world greatly in need.  They have told me that if humanity is to survive, it must remember and reintegrate the wisdom of the ancients – especially that which has been held and transmitted through women across time – both consciously and unconsciously through ancestral memory. Take in these messages what speaks to you and bring it deep into your heart where it might find its way to embodiment, awakening your own ancestral knowledge so that too can be brought forward in our world.

This is especially for the women, but men may find wisdom here as well. At the heart of things, we are all one and it is only in working together and bringing forth our shared knowledge and wisdom that the world may once again be restored to the peace that was once known by the ancients.

This is my gift to you!

I am humbled to be the messenger.

Lauri Ann Lumby of Clann McMahon

3.29.23

The Three Seabhean

Transmission received on 3.15.23

I was sitting in meditation, while holding the heart shaped basalt stone I had found while making a pilgrimage to The Giant’s Causeway in Bushmills, Northern Ireland. I drew my consciousness to the shore of The Giant’s Causeway and began my journey there. I called upon the stone to lead me to my most ancient of ancestors.

In my journey toward my ancestors, I was first drawn to myself and my two sisters, then to my mom and her two sisters, and then to my grandmother and two of her sisters.  A knowledge was implanted in me of the power of three sisters. This knowledge took me back and back and back, along my matrilinear line, back through centuries and eons to a time before history began its distortion of things, to a time before the world was male-led and was instead equally led where women and men together guided and protected the clann.  In these ancient times, individuals were valued for their unique gifts and those gifts were nurtured and cultivated for the good of the individual and for the thrival of the clann.

This journey through the matrilineal line, through all the eternal chain of three sisters, I came upon what I have been guided to acknowledge as: The Three Seabhean (pronounced Sheh-Bean). (a note of thanks to Amantha Murphy for first alerting me to the title Seabhean and all it entails).

The Three Seabhean appeared as the most ancient of women, wearing thick woolen cloaks, facing me. As I came upon them, they grasped me by the nape of the neck, and proclaimed, “Yer not of the north!” and I saw myself being dragged south from the northern shore of Ireland to the south – to County Kerry my ancestral home.

I then found myself standing on the other side of a fire pit, across which sat the Three Seabhean. We were outside, on a grassy slope under a backdrop of grey stones covered in moss. The sisters sat on stones, smoking from long wooden pipes and chuckling together. The energy I got from the sisters was like that I remember of my old aunties when they were together – laughing, playing games, telling jokes, and sharing tales. I immediately felt at home with the Three Seabhean. So I asked them,

“Am I of the Clann McMahon?”

“Aye, and No,” they responded with a giggle.

They went on to explain, “Yer of a more ancient kind, as are we. We are even more ancient than thee, but ye are ancient too. In time we will explain the history of our kind, as well as thine, but for now it is enough that we have met. You have opened the door through which we may now transmit the most ancient of knowledge, both for your own sake and for the sake of your kind. The world, as you know it, is in grave danger. Humanity has wreaked havoc on the The Mother and in doing so, has put themselves at great risk. The reclamation of ancient knowledge is one of two parts critical for the survival of your species. We are here to impart our share of that knowledge as ancients of every culture are doing through those open to remembering and sharing this knowledge. Thank you for being open. What we share with you and which you in turn will share will place a ripple upon the great pond of healing that will help humanity right their wrongs, if they choose to do so. If they do not, we will also show you how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe as we have been down this road before.”

That was the end of this transmission.

Wisdom of the Ancestors

is an offering within our interactive web series entitled “Whispers from the Cave.” Subscribe to receive more transmissions from The Three Seabhean.

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I Write Banned Books

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With TexASS and FloriDUH leading the charge, the United States is once again having to confront the reality of a very vocal minority seeking to control what information and knowledge children have access to in the public areas of libraries and schools. 

In a recent study, it was determined that TexASS has banned more than 800 books in 22 school districts, closely followed by FloriDUH at 566 books banned across 21 districts. As an advocate of our constitutional right to freedom of speech (which to me implies freedom to read what I want), and as one who believes the decision to monitor a child’s reading lies in the hands of the parents, I am vehemently against banning books.  Furthermore, history has shown us that banning books is a tool of fascism, albeit an ineffective means of control.

That being said, I am proud to be an author whose books have been banned!  WHY?  Because the first thing thinking adults do when we learn of a book that’s been banned, is to go out and buy, and then read it!  We want to know what the fuss is about, while also giving the finger to those who attempt to control our access to information.

To my knowledge, my books have not been banned by any school districts or libraries. Instead, they have been condemned and therefore banned by the Catholic Church!  Could there possibly be a better endorsement than to have one’s book banned by the great and powerful Catholic Church!?   As a recovering Catholic, I consider this to be the best of all possible endorsements.

The presiding bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, for example, once told a friend and colleague that all of my books and anything I have created is forbidden to be used in his diocese. I laughed when I learned of this.  Then I wept for my friend who had spent a year attempting to get permission to teach my Authentic Freedom curriculum at her local parish. The bishop strung her along for a year before dropping this bomb. Apparently, the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her parish priest as a child wasn’t enough of a trauma. The bishop decided to heap on a bit more. (IMO, there’s a special place in hell for men like this!)

If the Church is willing to ban Authentic Freedom (a phrase inspired by Pope John Paul II himself!) for challenging the concept of original sin and providing people with the tools (inspired by the Catholic Contemplative tradition) to be free of the fears and compulsions that keep them from knowing they are LOVE, then you can bet they have banned my novel, Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene.

Song of the Beloved shares the fictional (based in canonical and non-canonical scripture) story of Mary, called Magdalene, and places her in her rightful role as devoted student, companion, and partner to Jesus (yep – that Jesus!).  Mary, once healed of her childhood trauma, is depicted as an eager learner, and empowered leader in her own right, and the one Jesus ordained to continue his ministry. I may have also suggested that they might have been married and (ahem) had sex. Yeah….the Church would definitely ban this book if they’d read it.

Then there’s Only One – the Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene, which among other things, proposes that Mary, called Magdalene may have had a hand in facilitating Jesus’ resurrection – as Jesus had done in raising Lazarus. Definitely blasphemy!   

Finally, there is Christouch. Christouch is my response to the United States Council of Catholic Bishop’s prohibition statement against Reiki. This prohibition was executed directly in response to my work (and other Catholic women like me) as a Reiki practitioner and inspired by the local diocese’s decision to lead the charge. In Christouch, I lay out the scriptural foundations of healing in the way that Jesus did, and the command he issued to his apostles to go out and heal. Christouch further provides a protocol for embracing that call to be a vessel of God’s healing and the foundational knowledge to further that calling. Christouch directly confronts the Catholic Church’s contention that only priests can be a vessel of healing through the laying on of hands. To this I say: READ YOUR SCRIPTURE!

In short, I believe we are gifted with a brain to reason and discern our own truth and to exercise that truth regardless of what institutional authorities might suggest otherwise. In my case, I say, “go ahead and ban my books, it just makes people want to read them.”

Lauri Ann Lumby

is a writer, author, educator, and mentor who has supported individuals in their journey toward self-actualization for over twenty-five years. Out of the Shadows is Lauri’s most recent and eleventh published work. 

You can reach Lauri directly at lauri@lauriannlumby.com.

Visit Her Amazon Store HERE.

The Death Throes of the Empire

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First a few definitions:

Patriarchy: a system of society or government where control and power held by men is of a disproportionately large share.

Hierarchy: the classification and privileging of a group of people according to economic, social, or professional standing.

Death Throes: the violent movements and noises that are sometimes made by a person who is about to die.

Thank you Merriam-Webster!

Witnessing the Collapse of an Empire

The patriarchal, hierarchical system, which for 5000+ years has ruled through fear-based manipulation to gain control, is dying. This death is perhaps most keenly felt and most clearly observed as in the United States which has acted as if it were the ruling world empire since the day of its inception. The symptoms of this dying are almost too numerous to mention.  For those with eyes to see, the signs of impending death are obvious. Those who are clinging to the dying system and the perceived power they have obtained through that system, however, are clearly blind, deaf, and dumb to the obvious truth around them.

Instead of acknowledging that the system upon which they have built their (perceived) power is imploding upon them, they are desperately grasping after legislation and other means to maintain their perceived control.

Legislating Drag

Certain legislatures in certain states have recently passed laws that make dressing in drag illegal. The pressure to legislate a certain kind of costumed theatrical performance was pushed for by a very vocal minority. If this isn’t grasping at straws, I don’t know what is! I can 100% guarantee that the vast majority of people don’t have an opinion about drag, let alone consider it to be of any moral consequence. Who cares!? Other than the vocal minority desperately trying to find something to control, no one.  No one cares!  Legislating drag is a symptom of a system in its death throes.

Banning Books

Haven’t we gone through this shenanigan already in the history of Western culture?  Has banning books ever been successful in accomplishing the goal of those who want to ban them?  As one who writes banned books, I say to those banning books, “Good luck with that.”  Those with half a brain will go right out and purchase these books and read them to find out what the fuss is all about.  I remember when a local Catholic school tried to ban The Golden Compass, I went right out and bought it.  I immediately saw what disturbed the magisterium of the Catholic Church as the villain of The Golden Compass was called the magisterium!  Intentional? Coincidence?  You be the judge. My point is that banning books is simply another example of the dying patriarchal system in its death throes. 

Transgender Phobia

All I can do is roll my eyes here. The psychologist in me sees right through the uproar over gender correction. The only people who would be threatened by a child or young adult identifying with a gender other than the one assigned at birth are those who are insecure in their own sexuality, or who falsely judge transgender to mean homosexual, thereby revealing their own homophobia. It is ludicrous to me that anyone would be threatened by gender correction and it boggles my mind that some are attempting to legislate gender correction treatment, surgery, and even bathrooms.  These legislative attempts are at once a symptom of the death throes of the patriarchy, and proof of the deep homophobia and transphobia that still exists in our nation – phobias based on sexual repression and a serious lack of understanding.

The War on Women

In one fell swoop, the overruling of Roe vs. Wade put the United States right back into the dark ages.  Now women no longer have access to important, and sometimes life-saving medical care and treatment. With the overturning of RvW, one state after another has rushed in to further deprive women of healthcare options related to reproduction. How did we get here? 1) A very loud vocal minority of individuals attempting to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of the nation through legislation. 2) The patriarchy unconsciously realizing that they are swiftly losing power and projecting the blame upon women instead of taking responsibility for their own failings.

The Tic Tok Drama

I don’t use Tic Tok, but my kids do. Tic Tok is owned by a Chinese company. Said company gathers data from Tic Tok subscribers. SO FUCKING WHAT?  I don’t see how Tic Tok could possibly be a threat to anyone regardless of how much and what kind of data is being collected. As I have often said:

the only people afraid of surveillance are those with something to hide!

Is there something to fear or is this just another symptom of an empire in its collapse grasping at straws?  Mostly, as it relates to Tic Tok, I’m concerned for the business owners who have found in Tic Tok a way to make a living. Shutting down Tic Tok will deprive likely thousands of their livelihood.  Who does that serve?????

Banking Collapse

OMG!  We’ve already been down this road!  Did the US learn NOTHING from 2008?  Apparently not. When the greedy get greedy and find the ear of those in perceived power, protections put in place after the 2008 collapse are rolled back. Then the greedy get even greedier and ignore sound banking practices, leaving themselves vulnerable to collapse. Like a game of dominoes, one falls, then another, then another.  Serves them right for being irresponsible (though my heart goes out to honest people who could not access their deposits while the collapse was taking place). But then someone steps in and bails out all the banks!  And again, nothing was learned. Another symptom of an empire and the system it is built on in collapse.

What Do We Do About It?

There are again, too many symptoms to count. The bottom line is that the empire is in full fledged collapse. The question that arises for us, is:

What do we do about it?

The short answer is NOTHING – at least as it relates to the dying empire. The empire is beyond repair. It was faulty to begin with and now it’s time for it to pass away. Our job is to get out of the way and let it die. Our time of being hospice to the dying world is over. There’s nothing that can be done to stop the death. Instead, it is now our job to get to work creating the new world that is going to take its place.

What part are you playing in creating the new world?

Creating a New World

begins with our own inner healing and transformation:

  • Unraveling from fear-based conditioning.
  • Learning to identify unhealed wounds.
  • Discovering effective practices for inner healing and transformation.
  • Exploring physical, emotional, and mental symptoms related to deep spiritual wounds.
  • Growing in inner freedom.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Unconditioning

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Below is an excerpt from a recent post in my Whispers from the Cave interactive web series. Learn more about Whispers from the Cave below.

I woke up to twelve inches of snow this morning with likely another twelve coming. None of the roads have been plowed.  Why should they bother when the snow keeps on coming?

I don’t need a reason or an excuse to stay home in the comfort of my cave, but this weather eases the conditioned and not-yet healed guilt that sometimes surfaces in the face of just staying home.

We’re conditioned to believe we have to leave the comfort of our home to be a contributing member of society.  Work.  Family.  Friends. Social activities. All stand out as pressure to comply.  We’re accused of being lazy or anti-social for simply wanting to be home.

Being called to contemplative/monastic living presents another option – a counter-cultural option. A big part of embracing this calling is all the work we must do around unconditioning. Coming to understand it’s ok to simply be.  There’s nothing we have to do (except that which springs forth from our hearts) and there’s nowhere we have to be.

We find support for this unconditioning through community – through others embracing a similar calling.  Without the benefit of community, we must find this conditioning on our own.  Part of this unconditioning comes in simply choosing what’s right for ourselves. When the voices of guilt, shame, or self-doubt com in, however, that is when we must return AGAIN to our practice.  Through our practice, we turn inward toward ourselves where we can heal and transform those conditioned voices. 

How and where have you found support in unconditioning?

What spiritual practices have you found helpful in your journey of unconditioning?

Whispers from the Cave

Whispers from the Cave features limited edition, exclusive content examining the daily life and reflections of a modern monk living in a “cave” surrounded by ghosts.

 • 4+ episodes per month (written and recorded)

• Exclusive content (not available anywhere else)

• Interactive discussion (bring your burning questions)

• Educational and Informative

• Inspiring and Supportive

• Special pricing for the first 100 subscribers

Grab your morning cup, your favorite blanket, and snuggle in as you prepare to meet:

The Monk.

The Cave.

The Ghosts.

and their stories.

Click on the image above to learn more and join!
Learn more and join HERE

Featured Course: Welcoming the Adversary

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Only $28.00

Join Lauri Ann Lumby as she breaks open the ancient mysteries related to the adversary – the natural inner force that has been corrupted into an external demon that should be feared. Even the ancient names given to this helpful and benevolent force have been appropriated by those who seek to manipulate others through fear, intimidation, and threats of eternal damnation.

  • Discover the ancient names given to the adversary and their true meanings.
  • Understand the natural cycle of spiritual growth including necessary times of resistance characterized by temptation, doubt, confusion, and difficulty.
  • Learn to approach the adversary as advocate.
  • Release resistance through practices of welcome.

Through this two-hour workshop, you will be empowered to set aside the “devil” you know and find power in working with the natural inner force that ensures our growth.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Celebrating Irishness

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Irishness

Irish sensibility in a single phrase means, “all senses firing.”

A courageous openness and compelling urge to

move toward all things…

Daring to embody the full extent of feelings, sensations, ideas and experiences

Especially those which others might avoid –

Desolation, despair, disease, and death.

Irresistably drawn toward darkness, suffering and pain.

Curiosity for the macabre or raw, unbridled courage?

Perhaps they are one and the same.

Irishness comes with a certain measure of masochism

But not for the sake of one’s own misery,

But for the sake of understanding so that we may be present for another there.

Not as voyeurs, but in an overwhelming out pouring of unconditional support.

We’ve been there.

We know.

Defining Irish hospitality,

not by our food, our damp climate, houses smelling of peat, or the aroma of drying wool,

but by our ability to be with you in your pain, remaining there until every tear has been spilt, every rage unfurled, and every heartbreak repaired.

copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

Irishness is taken from Lauri’s book, Happily Ever After. Learn more and purchase by clicking on the image above!

Wresting Satan

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As much as I believe that Jesus came to realize the truth of Oneness and then sought to teach this to his disciples, including Mary Magdalene who went on to establish her own mystery school teaching the way to love; I am reminded today of the value of perceived separation – especially when it comes to those things outside of us which seek to keep us from the path of our truth.

Satan, meaning adversary, is the representation and embodiment of all that wants to keep us from our original nature as One in love – whether we perceive it as within us or outside of us. 

Outside of us, Satan shows up in:

  • Societal expectations.
  • Tribal customs and rules.
  • Worldly ideals which place value on externals – money, power, status, fame, material possessions, etc. etc. etc. over the place of real value which is within.
  • People who are threatened by our decision to step outside the tiny little box that our religions, communities, political parties, race, gender, orientation, etc. etc. etc. etc. seek to prison us within.
  • Any individual or structure which seeks to have power and control over another.
  • People who reject us or our gifts.
  • Feeling thwarted in the fulfillment of our gifts.

Every single thing which resides outside of us and tempts us to step away from our original inner state of contentment and joy is The Devil and when doing battle with Satan, it is helpful to think of it in this way.

I know, I know….this is the complete polar opposite of what all the new age/new thought/manifestation/secret and abundance people say.  They would say, “Everything that is happening outside of you is simply a reflection of what is happening within.”  But here’s the deal…..when I think of my own struggles in this way, it makes me feel TERRIBLE.   I feel shame.  I feel guilty.  I feel as if I am a failure and that I have done something wrong.  Believing in the idea that the difficulties happening outside of me are because I thought the wrong thoughts or didn’t believe hard enough or didn’t trust God enough or surrender enough, simply triggers my fear of not being perfect.  When this fear is triggered, the downward spiral of self-loathing begins.  You mean my anxiety is my fault because I don’t trust enough?  My fears over money are my fault because I’m not trusting in God?  I haven’t found “the one” because I’m not holding my vibration high enough to attract him?  Ignatius of Loyola would have had something to say about these so-called theories of “right thought.” 

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556) was a pioneer in and became one of the foremost authorities on the process of discernment.  In his writings on discernment, he describes two distinct energies – one that reflects the Divine path for us and the other that reflects “the devil.”  He calls these energies, respectively, consolation and desolation.  If I apply Ignatius’ guidelines for discernment to the idea that what is outside of me is a reflection of the energy I am holding within, I find I have to call it desolation – the energy that represents the mark of Satan.  Those things outside of me that are tempting me (which I experience as fear, anxiety, worry, self-loathing, depression) away from my Oneness with God (which I experience as peace and contentment) are the Devil and when I think of them in this way, instead of feeling powerless or despairing, I feel strong, confident and empowered because I know what to do with the Devil outside.

When I know that Satan is hard at work trying to keep me from my path, I know how to respond.  I have learned that calling temptation what it is, giving it a name and a face, deprives it of its power.  I stand toe to toe with Satan.  I look him in the eye.  I name him for whom and what he is.  I call on Michael the Archangel, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Archangels Kamael and Tzafkiel, all my ancestors and the communion of saints to surround me and I then proclaim Jesus’ own words when facing his own Satan, “Get behind me Satan.”  In this I feel strengthened and am able to return to the path of my truth – the path where I feel fulfilled and where I am at peace.

What tools are you using to confront that which tempts you away from your own natural state of inner peace?

Demon Binding and Banishing

A Seven Step Process for the healing, transformation and release of negative energetic influences.

Nine Instructional Modules

Self-Paced

Moderated Discussion

Learn more and Enroll HERE

Featured Course: Into the Shadows

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In this introduction to Gwyn Ap Nudd, King of the Tylwyth Teg (Fae) and Lord of the Underworld, you will come to understand his role as guardian of and guide through the shadows. We enter into the shadow so that we can do the critical work of healing our unhealed wounds, while rediscovering, reclaiming and reintegrating the pieces of ourselves we have rejected, repressed or suppressed. In order to become whole, shadow work is critical – though admittedly, not for the faint of heart. Gwyn helps to guide us through and supports us in this task.

In this course you will receive NINE Initiations and will be given specific tools, unique to the magic of Gwyn ap Nudd, to assist you in your journey of working through the shadows and claiming the wholeness that is your birthright – a wholeness that is both active and receptive, provisional and supportive, nurturing and empowering, expansive and protective. Gwyn ap Nudd assists you with it all!

Whether Gwyn calls to you personally, or if you are simply interested in learning more about and thereby befriending the underworld gods, as Gwyn has been known by many other names: Pan, Hades, Pluto, Cernunnos, The Horned God, and many others, this course is for you, Ultimately, Gwyn represents the part of ourselves that desires to be whole and which is willing to go into the depths to do so.

Lesson One – God under the Tor

Lesson Two – The Horned God

Lesson Three – Celestial Origins

Lesson Four – Gwyn’s Animal Totems

Lesson Five – Gwyn’s Labyrinth

Lesson Six – Carnal Knowledge

Lesson Seven – Chamber of Shadows

Lesson Eight – Gwyn’s Magic Book

Lesson Nine – Shamanic Initiation

A note from course creator, Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS:

In late January into early February of 2008, over the feasts of Imbolc/Michaelmas and the Feast of St. Brigid, I made a pilgrimage to Glastonbury, England, otherwise known as Avalon. It was here that I was initiated as a priestess of Gwyn Ap Nudd – Celtic (specifically Welsh) Lord of the Underworld.

Being made priestess of Gwyn was not of my choosing, neither was I ordained by human hands. Instead, the initiation was presided over by Gwyn, himself – a god I had not previously known. Neither had I invited Gwyn into my presence. He simply stepped forth into my life, made himself known, and then led me into the world of my own shadow, a labyrinthine journey that seems to finally have come to some sort of closure, but only after many years of both profound bliss and excruciating struggle.

The journey into our shadow is never easy – but it always brings forth its reward – the reward being a more whole, fully integrated version of ourselves. From the perspective of modern-day psychology, it is only by journeying into our shadow that we have any hope of becoming self-actualized, knowing the fullness of our gifts, conscious of our human limitations, and able to live through them both freely and unencumbered, thereby enjoying a life of meaning, fulfillment and joy. Gwyn’s job, as I have learned, is to help us accomplish this task – if we allow him.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Journey to the Holy Grail

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Cross land and sea
Time and tide
To misty Avalon I fly.
Seeking what?
I do not know.
Unless it be a place called home.
Where kindred spirit join by chance,
Round the fire – the sacred dance.

Drawn through dreams of lifetimes past,
Seems ancients did this circle cast.
To Tor and Well and ancient spring.
The place I thought my Soul could sing.

Take care all those like me who’d go
For Avalon’s gifts cannot be foretold.
Where Michael and Mary ley lines greet
Ego and fear did meet defeat.

Gwyn Ap Nudd appeared as guide
For the hell I created could not be denied.
Following the labyrinth to the depths of my fears,
Often wondering, “Is insanity near?”

Attachment, rage, resentment and grief
Transformed in the fire while I prayed for relief.
My warrior’s heart tested in flame
Hoping here would be the gain.
When at last released me at the top of the Tor,
I collapsed in a heap – wanting no more.
Processing along the dragon’s back,
My Beloved Christ kept me on track.
He explained the attachment that stood in the way
Of knowing the peace and the love of each day.

To Chalice Well he bid me rest,
In the Mother’s arms I’d completed the test.
Finding her love hidden in stone.
In bud, leaf and wood, I remembered my home.
Then verse 12, Chapter 12 of Testament Old
The world of Joel that made me whole:
“Return to me with your whole heart
Don’t let fear keep us apart.”

An ocean of tears the floodgate released
As I was reminded of the true source of peace.
The love of Divine that resides in my heart.
Return to the Oneness from where we all start.
The Holy Grail now fully revealed.
I am this love and through it am healed.

The truth that Christ came to remind.
Is that when we seek we shall find.
That home is the love of the Divine deep within
This is our origin and where we begin.
It is ego that creates the false separation.
That caused us to fear Divine reparation.
In fact this love of Divine that is me,
Is the ground of my being and the place I am free.

Seeking for home in someplace external
Led me within to the love that’s eternal.
The Holy Grail is the truth of our being.
When we’re vessels of love for everyone’s seeing.
Allowing the love that’s in truth who we are.
To flow from our hearts to all near and far.
So Dorothy’s words take on a new meaning,
“There’s no place like home,”
Divine love – what we’re seeking.
My quest for the Holy Grail will go on
Knowing where spiral ends, we’ve only begun.

copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

Featured Course:

Lesson One – God under the Tor

Lesson Two – The Horned God

Lesson Three – Celestial Origins

Lesson Four – Gwyn’s Animal Totems

Lesson Five – Gwyn’s Labyrinth

Lesson Six – Carnal Knowledge

Lesson Seven – Chamber of Shadows

Lesson Eight – Gwyn’s Magic Book

Lesson Nine – Shamanic Initiation

Learn more and enroll HERE

Breaking Up with the Jesus/Mary Magdalene “Love” Story

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Before my Magdalene sisters get their undies twisted….hear me out!

Since gnostic scripture revealed that Jesus may have kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth, and Andrew Lloyd Webber had Mary singing love songs to Jesus, thousands, if not millions, (me included) have pined after the Jesus/Mary Magdalene story as an example and model of the ideal relationship, what in my own writings I have called Beloved Partnership. While it’s appropriate to desire and stand up for a healthy, loving, mutually respectful and supportive relationship, I’m not sure (our current understanding of) Jesus and Mary Magdalene provide the best example. Here’s why:

Lack of Historical Evidence

First, we must acknowledge that we know ABSOLUTELY nothing about what did and did not truly happen between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. All we have are fragments of third century (CE) papyrus with words like koinonos (companion), and nashak (to share in the same spirit – often translated as kiss), showing Mary Magdalene in a pre-eminent role, and participating in the knowledge and wisdom that Jesus shared. Beyond this, we have nothing to definitively prove a romantic relationship or marriage between them.  

The idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as intimate, loving, sexual, married partners (who may or may not have bore a child together) is strictly the creation of human imagination. Regardless of those who might argue otherwise, including the French legends, alleged oral and written traditions, so-called channeled histories, and my own writings, there is absolutely ZERO academic proof to support the theory of romantic love between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.  Lack of scholarly evidence does not mean they weren’t married; it just means we must be careful to what ideas we become attached. The idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as beloved partners is not a mountain I’m willing to die on.

Secondly, we need to take a good hard look at Jesus, himself.

Co-Dependency

Unavailable Man

Scriptural accounts of Jesus portray him in a way that screams UNAVAILABLE MAN!  First off, he’s off gadding about between Jerusalem, Bethany, the wilderness, Samaria, Capernaum, and everywhere in between. He’s not in one place long enough to call any place home. The only home that is mentioned is Nazareth, or alternatively Capernaum. Scripture clearly places Mary in Bethany, which is only a brief and occasional stop over for Jesus. Where, when, and how is this marriage supposed to have taken place and with all his traipsing around, what kind of partner could Jesus have been to poor Mary? Not only is he portrayed as unavailable to Mary, but Jesus is also unavailable to his so-called apostles. If Jesus had been truly present to them, they wouldn’t have had to argue about which one Jesus loved more or who would sit beside him in his “kingdom.”

Unrequited Love

Not only is Jesus depicted in scripture as unavailable, any love Mary or the disciples would have had for him went unrequited. They appeared to love him – but did he love them in return? The terms Rabbi and Rabbouni that the disciples (including Mary) used in addressing Jesus do not imply intimacy. Instead, these terms depict the healthy detachment that must exist between teacher and student/counselor and client. Jesus did not go off into the wilderness or up the mountains to pray in the company of his disciples.  He went alone. Further, as an embodiment and source of unconditional love, I’m not sure Jesus had time to love another in the romantic way that our 21st century minds would like to imagine. I am aware that there is the argument that if Jesus were indeed a Jewish Rabbi, he would have HAD to have been married. Perhaps so but would the marriage have been fulfilling for his wife based on what scripture tells us about his travels.  Oh yeah…..and then he went and died on everyone, leaving everyone to pine away for the loss of their teacher, friend, and supposed beloved partner. As I said – UNREQUITED!

Disparity of Power

Scripture places Jesus in the role of the teacher of his disciples.  He taught. They listened. He later sent them out to “proclaim the good news and heal the sick,” but he remained in the leadership position. It is implied that Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of “seven demons.” He raised Lazarus from the dead. He healed the sick. Every example places Jesus in the position of power, thereby creating a disparity of power between himself and his disciples, namely Mary Magdalene. Perhaps Mary achieved a power like Jesus’ that placed her on equal footing with him. Our 21st century imaginations would like to hope for that. The likelihood of a woman in first century Palestine achieving power equal to a man, however, is slim to none, as such, IF a romantic relationship did occur between Jesus and Mary, it would have been rooted in a disparity of power, ensuring co-dependency. Not exactly a model for Beloved Partnership.

Beloved Partnership

Beloved Partnership, as I define it, is not based on co-dependency rooted in either unavailable or unrequited love created within a dynamic of power disparity. Instead, Beloved Partnership is only possible between two individuals of equal power who have achieved self-actualization in their own right, and through their own means. Abraham Maslow (Motivation and Personality, 1970, pp. 181- 202) speaks of this in describing what he calls the self-actualized couple:

  • A partnership where there is a mutual giving and receiving of love, both parties are equally able and willing to engage in both giving and receiving.
  • A healthy sexuality rooted in and reflective of love – more creative, ecstatic, orgasmic and fulfilling, yet also less about attachment.  It is not a needy kind of intimacy, but instead is mutually fulfilling.
  • Pooling of needs – your needs, wants, desires, become mine and visa versa – such that there becomes one hierarchy of needs with two people seeking after their fulfillment. 
  • Fun, merriment, joy, spontaneity, elation, feelings of well-being.
  • Mutual honor and respect of the other’s individual gifts, talents, drive, passions, interests, temperament, etc.
  • Mutual, authentic admiration, wonder and awe.
  • Detachment and Individuality – able to be in relationship without compromising one’s own individuality.

Barbara Marx Hubbard sees the Beloved Partnership as what we are growing into as we evolve toward the next stage of human development as a co-creative society.  In keeping with this vision, she calls the Beloved Partners the Co-Creative Couple (Conscious Evolution, 2015, pp. 238 – 239):

…the co-creative couple begins when both partners achieve within themselves at least the beginning of a balance between the masculine and feminine, the animus and the anima.  It begins when the woman’s initiative and vocational need is received in love by the feminine receptivity of her partner.  When she is loved for her more masculine side, she falls in love with the man’s feminine aspect, for what she needs is the nurturance of her own strength and creativity.  She loves him for his receptivity. He no longer has to prove himself by control and domination.  He can bring forth his own creativity without aggression.  And she can express her strength without fear of losing him.  Whole being joins with whole being…

As we move forward in our cultural redefining of relationship and intimate partnership, Beloved Partnership is what I envision as the goal toward which we could be striving. The other is not meant to complete us for in Beloved Partnership we are already complete within ourselves, as is the other. No more are we chasing after unavailable women or men or pining after unrequited love. Neither are we after the seat of power, or willing to give our power away for the sake of a love that is less than we deserve. Instead, we come together as co-equal partners, content in who we are, complete in our gifts and ready and willing to share that wholeness with another who is equally whole.

Based on historical evidence, Jesus and Mary Magdalene did not live out this model of relationship. To continue to uphold Jesus and Mary Magdalene as examples of this ideal does us a great disservice while keeping us stranded in the codependent models of love we’ve been conditioned to pursue and from which we are trying to unravel.  It is for this reason that I am breaking up with the Jesus/Mary Magdalene “love” story. (There is nothing wrong with imagining Jesus and Mary as Beloved Partners, let’s just be sure what models of partnership we are using in constructing that dream.  Also, I say this to myself as much as I’m saying to anyone else!)

Lauri Ann Lumby, MATP

is the author of Happily Ever After – the Transformational Journey from “You Complete Me” to “Beloved Partnership.” Available on Amazon HERE.

She has also counseled individuals who are searching for Beloved Partnership and couples who are moving from the Dark Night of the Relationship toward Beloved Partnership.

Learn more about working with Lauri