Journey to the Holy Grail

March 14, 2023March 7, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

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

March 13, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

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 21^st 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 21^st 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

Featured Course: Order of Melchizedek

March 13, 2023March 7, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

For my entire life I have been fascinated by magic. Naturally drawn to the mystical, I found my childhood role models in Samantha Stevens, Morticia Addams and Lily Munster. In my teens, I become overwhelmingly obsessed with anything that had to do with King Arthur and read every book on the subject that I was able, ultimately culminating in the Arthurian masterpiece, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. To say that I loved Tolkien and Star Wars would be an understatement, and Excalibur was my friend.

This love for magic was further supported by my Catholic upbringing which brought me up close and personal to magic that “turned bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ,” that healed the sick, exorcised demons, and made a humble human into the “child of God.” Jesus magic was everywhere and the rituals which facilitated this magic spoke to something very deep within my Soul.

Fast forward into adulthood, along with formation as a Catholic lay minister, I studied Wicca, Native American spirituality, Celtic myth and magic. I set up my home altar and when I asked for guidance it came in the form of a brick which flew through the air, awakening me to my true purpose which had to do with Priesthood – but not the priesthood I had grown up with. As it turned out, neither was my call to Priesthood somehow wrapped up in any of the neo-pagan, priestess or goddess movements. Instead, it seems like it was a Priesthood that predated all of these – what I have heard recent authors call “the primordial tradition.”

In the Judeo-Christian tradition in which I was raised, this primordial tradition is given a name: The Order of Melchizedek. First mentioned in the Book of Genesis as relating to the High Priest of Salem, Jesus is also mentioned as associated with this tradition. What distinguishes the primordial tradition from the systems of magic popular today is that in the Order of Melchizedek:

Magic is not done for the sake of “getting what we want,” but for the sake of aligning our purpose with that of the Divine.
It is not we who are “doing” the magic; it is the Divine working through us.
The Order of Melchizedek “keeps it simple,” acknowledging that the true power of magic is not in complicated rituals, invocations, chants or spells, but is in our intention to be One with the Divine – surrendering our own will to the Divine, and emptying ourselves so that the Divine might live in and through us.
We acknowledge and accept what was said to be true of Jesus:

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Phil 2: 5b8

It is for all of these reasons that in spite of more training programs on magic and ritual (including the ancient Jewish mystical system of the Kabbalah) than you can shake a stick at; I have endeavored to create a training program that presents magic in another light.

Online course

20 lessons

at your own pace

Embodied Learning

Facilitated Discussion

Learn more HERE

Mary Magdalene Raising Jesus from the Dead

March 12, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

We cannot look to Mary Magdalene as an example of Divine Feminine power without giving honor to Jesus – the man who supported her in becoming self-actualized and who then ordained her to share her gifts in the world. Jesus became self-actualized and sought to teach others how to achieve self-actualization. Moving beyond doctrine, Jesus and his teachings provide a model of psychological and spiritual development through which we are empowered to become self-actualized and through which we are able to be freed of the obstacles which prevent us from reaching our full potential as human beings.

Two thousand years ago Jesus died and rose from the dead. Just as quickly as he rose, the patriarchy killed him again. The patriarchy killed Jesus when they:

Changed his message –

From love to fear.
From Oneness to separation.
From an unconditionally loving God to one who condemns.
From peace and harmony to conflict and war (in his name!)
From a community that treats all human beings as equal, governed by collaboration and cooperation to one rooted in white, male privilege; governed by fear, power and control.
From welcoming all to the table to only those who believe as we want them to believe and who are “in good standing.”
From a movement within Judaism to a new and separate religion.

2000 years ago, Jesus died and rose from the dead. And 2000 years ago, the patriarchy killed him. I now want to share my part in supporting the movement of reclaiming Jesus, and Mary Magdalene with him, as authentic models for self-actualization and teachers of the means of getting there by offering you this excerpt from my novel, Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene:

On the morning after the Sabbath, I awoke before dawn in the same way that I had every day after Jesus healed me and raised me from the death in which I had existed. Upon waking, I expected to feel nothing but the numbness of the days past. I expected to desire nothing but to roll over and return to the world of sleep. Instead, I felt the urge to resume my ordinary routine of morning meditation in the garden. I arose and proceeded into the garden to the bench I had shared with Jesus every morning for the past three years. I approached the bench and lovingly ran my hand over its marble seat recalling what Jesus and I had shared in this sacred space. The grief of this loss suddenly overtook me and I collapsed on the ground as my tears splattered over our bench.

As I knelt beside the bench weeping with head in hands, I felt a faint shift in the air around me. I lifted my head slightly to see if perhaps Lazarus had come out to join me. As I looked up, my heart leaped into my throat and ceased beating. My beloved Jesus stood there before me. I rubbed my eyes to make sure it was not some trick of the rising sun, but there he was as real as he had been all those past times in prayer and even more so, he stood before me in flesh and blood.

I stood and reached out to embrace him, to feel his skin on my cheek, and he opened his arms to return my embrace. We had held each other for but a moment, when Jesus gently pulled away. He took my face in his hands, lightly kissed me on the lips and said, “Mary, I am with you always, even until the end of time and it is time for you to come into your own power, to embrace your own Christhood. In this, I must ascend. And, you must not cling to me so that you too may rise. You must go to my brothers in Jerusalem to let them know I have risen and you must explain to them its meaning.” With that he kissed me again on the mouth. “Mary, be empowered in the flame of the Shekinah, God’s Holy Spirit.” He departed from my sight as quickly and as silently as he had arrived.

I stood there in silent wonder. Even death had no power over my beloved. As sure as he had been here just one week ago, he stood before me again. I felt his touch, the brush of his lips on mine, the comfort of his embrace. Just as suddenly, he was gone. I inhaled deeply in the hopes of comprehending this experience and the cock crowed. I remembered Simon’s denial of Jesus and was provoked by Jesus’ words, “Go to my brothers in Jerusalem.” I ran into the house to be greeted by Martha, Salome and Lazarus’ sleepy faces. “I have seen the Lord. He is risen just as he said he would.” I ran to each of them in turn, took their hands in mine, and looked into their eyes, “It is true. He has conquered death. He came to me in the garden. He is risen!” As I relayed the message to their open minds and hearts, they were able to see the truth as I had witnessed it. As a group we embraced in celebration. “We must go to Jerusalem! Jesus instructed me to tell his brothers there that he has been raised from the dead.” We immediately departed for Jerusalem where we knew the Galilean disciples stayed in hiding.

Buy Song of the Beloved HERE

Featured Course: Tarot Intensive

March 11, 2023March 7, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

22 Pathways – Tarot Intensive

online training with Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

23 lessons and attunements on the Major Arcana

at your own pace and in your own time

Discussions moderated by course creator and facilitator – Lauri Ann Lumby

22 Pathways – Tarot Intensive approaches the tarot as less of a fortune-telling device and more as a path in support of your own journey of self-actualization. Diving deep in to the ancients roots of the tarot in Jewish mysticism through the Kabbalah, 22 Pathways illuminates the human journey from awakening to full embodiment of our Divine selves. When fully engaged, you will discover a tool that you can return to again and again to gain understanding, insight and support into your life’s journey toward self-fulfillment.

In this course, you will learn and study the Hebrew Aleph-Beis (Alphabet) – the utterances through which the Great Source spoke the world into being and which later inspired the 22 cards of the major arcana. Through each lesson, you will not only gain intellectual knowledge, you will grow into embodying the creative power within each letter and its corresponding card. Through powerful spiritual practices and ritual, you will become attuned to each card/letter such that you come to understand that you ARE a vessel of Divine Creation bringing your own worlds into being.

Learn More and Enroll HERE

Topics to be covered in the course:

Aleph/The Fool: The One, the Eternal

Beis/The Magician: Separation of the One into the Two and the two into the many.

Gimmel/High Priestess: Eternal kindness, the ability to unify separation and duality

Dalet/Empress: Dimensionality and concern, “keeping our door open.”

Hei/Emperor: The exhalation with which the Divine breathed creation into being.

Vav/Hierophant: Physical completion, unites opposing concepts.

Zayin/Lovers: 7 – completion, unification of physical with spiritual, our purpose for being here.

Ches/Charioteer: Transcendence, The step after completion. Union with Divine Grace. Bridge.

Tes/Strength: Goodness.

Yod/Hermit: Metaphysical, indivisible, humility leads to elevation to the spiritual. 10 = completion (sephirot)

Chof/Wheel: Crowning achievement.

Lamed/Justice: Teaching and learning is human being’s greatest purpose.

Mem/Hanged One: The revealed and the concealed presence and action of the Divine.

Nun/Death: Faithfulness (dedication) leads to the soul’s emergence, also represents the soul.

Samech/Temperance: Support and protection.

Ayin/Devil: Eye, sight and perception, seeing beyond the veil.

Peh/Tower: The mouth, speech and silence. Speech and expression are required to fulfill our purpose.

Tzaddi/Star: Righteousness and humility. Subjugated our will to God’s

Kuf/Moon: Holiness, set apart, to become holy.

Reish/Sun: Choosing between greatness and degradation. Discernment.

Shin/Judgment: Divine Power, but also the temptation to corruption (pride).

Tav/The World: Truth and perfection – what we are called to strive after.

Learn more and enroll here.

Truth Stands on Its Own

March 10, 2023March 1, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Truth always finds its way to the light where it can be readily seen by those who have the eyes to see, bringing justice to situations where untruths otherwise prevailed.

In one case I was aware of these truths. Although the revelations of these truths would have provided me with much vindication, I had kept silent about these truths for the sake of others who might be hurt by them. These truths had been the cause of much pain in my own life, truths that the human part of me wanted to shout to the world as a way of “getting back” at those who had hurt me. Instead, I chose silence, knowing and trusting that these truths would eventually find their way to the light for those who needed to know in a time that was perfect for them.

And this is exactly what happened. The truth came to light bringing healing and closure where neither were previously thought possible. In addition, the way in which these truths came to light brought empowerment for those, who through their own observations had intuited these truths. The revelation of these truths brought great validation for me in having taken the “high road” in choosing silence and trust over revenge.

It also serves as a great reminder that no matter how hard one works at disguising, denying or avoiding their truth, truth cannot be hidden for long and the deceiver will always give themselves away, if not directly then by slips of the tongue or getting caught in an outright lie.

This is the advice I offer to students and clients who are faced with similar situations of untruths – where harm has been done to them, and they want to take revenge on the “other” by telling everyone the truth. I say, “Wait. The truth will win out in the end. Those that need to know will find out if and when they need to.”

Choosing silence, trust, and a patient heart allows us to turn away from the human desire for revenge and toward forgiveness practices – those practices that free us from the resentment, hurt, sense of betrayal, anger and hatred that we might otherwise harbor against the other. Here we are able to free ourselves of the pain of the hurt while not causing harm to another. Choosing this path gives us freedom.

As I also advise my students and clients, “Karma is a bitch.” While I do not believe in a punitive God, I do believe in (and the human part of me takes great comfort in) the law of cause and effect. What you put out to the world will come back to you 100-fold. If you (intentionally) cause harm to another, that harm will come back to you. If you betray another, you will be betrayed. If you are a liar, you will be deceived. If you cheat, you will be cheated, etc. etc. etc. There is comfort in knowing that we reap what we have sown and for those who sow deceit this is what they shall reap. Truth, on the other hand, always wins. Choose truth.

Work with Lauri

Lauri Ann Lumby, MATP, has over twenty-five years of experience as a soul-tender, educator and guide. She has supported hundreds through her one-on-one guidance, books, workshops, retreats, over thirty online courses, and online community.

Learn more about Lauri’s education and qualifications HERE.

Schedule Your Session Today!

Featured Course: Shamanism Intensive

March 9, 2023February 21, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

This Shamanism Intensive with Lauri Ann Lumby introduces you to the traditional shamanic practice of journeywork. Journeywork acknowledges the creative imagination as a gateway to Divine communion and as a tool for obtaining Divine guidance. You will be introduced to the foundations of a “shamanic call in a culture without a culture” and will then have an opportunity to learn and practice shamanic journeys. Working in five different “worlds,” you will meet your power animal, spirit teacher and other teachers and guides in those respective worlds who will support you through their unique gifts in discerning your Divine path. In addition to providing guidance, journeywork supports our inner healing and transformation both in this life and in lives we have already lived. After this course you will equipped to facilitate your own journeys and to lead journeys for others.

Start anytime! Complete at your own pace.

Lesson One: Defining the Shamanic Call

Lesson Two: Identifying the Shamanic Call

Lesson Three: Discernment – Shamanic Call or Psychosis?

Lesson Four: The Initiation Crisis

Lesson Five: The Shamanic Call and Shadow Work

Lesson Six: The Shamanic Journey – Lower World Journeys

Lesson Seven: Upper World Journeys

Lesson Eight: Underworld Journeys

Lesson Nine: Journeys to the Heavenly Realms

Lesson Ten: Middle World Journeys

Lesson Eleven: Bringing it all together.

Required Texts:

Tedlock, B. (2005). The woman in the shaman’s body: Reclaiming the feminine in religion and

medicine. New York, NY: Bantam Books

Walsh, R. (2007). The world of shamanism: New views of an ancient tradition. Woodbury, MN:

Llewellyn Publications.

Learn more and enroll here.

A Note from Lauri Ann Lumby, course creator and facilitator:

Before embarking on this journey, I want to thank you for stepping into the question of your own shamanic call. I wrote this course for those, like me, who have received the shamanic call, but have been mostly unsupported in this call because of the culture in which we were raised. For those of us who live in the West (Western Europe, United States, Canada, even Australia and westernized parts of South America and Asia), we are so far removed from our ancestral roots and from the indigenous traditions of our own native peoples that the shamanic call isn’t even a consideration. Instead, what shamanic cultures would understand as characteristic of a shamanic call, Western culture judges as illness, at best, or at the worst – insanity. As such, those living in a Westernize culture who are experiencing an authentic shamanic call are left to their own devises, most often misunderstood, judged and even condemned for the experiences of their shamanic call (including high sensitivities, vivid dreams and nightmares, intuitive and psychic abilities, strange and frequent illnesses, depression, anxiety and even psychosis).

Some have found their way through this call by adopting practices and traditions of indigenous peoples, ie: “walking the red road” as Caucasian Americans might refer to the Native American traditions they have adopted and attempted to make their own. Others might find support through practices of the Mayans, Peruvians, Inuit or Aboriginal people. While we have much to gain by learning from other cultures, for those with Western European roots, the best we can ever do is to pretend, because these practices are not authentically our own.

The purpose of this course is to validate and authenticate your shamanic call and to give you some simple tools and support for embracing and exercising this call in your daily life. While this course is just a beginning (Shamanism 101, if you will), through this process you will have an opportunity to:

Understand the characteristics of a shamanic call.
Discern your own shamanic call.
Understand the spiritual crisis that often heralds the shamanic call.
Learn basic tools for beginning to utilize this call.
Find your own language, arising out of your own mythology and spiritual background for embracing your shamanic call.
Discover the basic tools of the shaman of ritual and journeying.

Much of what will be shared here arose out of my personal journey of discovering and embracing my own shamanic call, along with contemporary research in the field of Transpersonal Psychology which has shed light on this call, especially for those in the Westernized world.

To complete this course, you will need yourself, a notebook or journal and a box of crayons. I invite you to enter into this process with an attitude of inquiry, curiosity and wonder, for this is ultimately what the shamanic call is all about – seeing the world and our life experience through the lens of magic – for as a shaman, this is what you are! The original title of this course was “Broken Wings,” because in a culture without a culture, we most often find the hallmarks of our call looked upon with suspicion and judgment, effectively clipping our wings and making it impossible for us to fly. In this course, I want to help you to fly!

Thank you for giving yourself permission to explore this call within yourself and for taking the time to more deeply discern this call. I am happy and grateful to be a source of support for you as you move through this process and toward that end, I am available for brief email exchanges and for more intensive private consultations at my regular hourly rate. Please consult my website for details.

In Gratitude and Love,

Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Soul School/Order of the Magdalene/Order of Melchizedek

http://www.lauriannlumby.com.

Learn more and enroll here.

Confessions of a Catholic Witch

March 8, 2023February 21, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I have always known I was a witch. For 364 days a year, however, I simply pretended I was not. Only on Halloween as I donned my black robe, black pointy boots and a black did I feel completely at home. For the remaining days of the year, I felt like a fake….sort of….for if there is one place where a witch is at home (until she is found out that is), it is in the Catholic Church.

Nowhere else, among all of the western religions, is magic as prevalent as it is within Catholicism. Where else can a man utter the phrase “hocus pocus” (hoc est corpus meum) and turn the simple elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or through the imposition of hands release a person from “the devil’s” grip?

The smells, the bells, the little altars everywhere, the haunting strains of Latin chant, the saints to whom I could pray to remedy any struggle or ill, and the votive candles that I lit to solidify my intentions bring my dreams to fruition – all spoke to the witch inside of me who knew the world was magic and that magic could be brought forth in the world. Magic in its truest sense – the Divine working through us in support of the love within that is seeking its place in the world.

The Goddess knew what she was doing when I was born into a devout Catholic family – one that had been Catholic for many generations. She knew what she was doing when she planted me within the single western religion that honors the worship of both a male and a female God. (While Jesus’ mother, Mary, is not officially recognized as a goddess by the Catholic Church, people sure treat her as if she were. Wouldn’t one have to be a goddess to be the “Mother of God?”) She knew what she was doing when she placed me within the only western tradition that recognizes the use of amulets (saint medals, scapulars and rosaries), magical potions (holy water and anointing oils), incense and salt for keeping evil at bay.

Being a Catholic witch has not been easy, however, which is why I have hid my truth for many years. While I was drawn to everything that speaks magic within the Catholic Church, in being a witch, I also saw through the lies, the deception, and the subtle ways in which the Church manipulated people through fear. At a very early age, I became aware of the hypocrisy within the Church and was not afraid to call it out. As an adult, I have maintained this practice and there is a big file in our local Catholic diocese with my name on it to prove it. Apparently the Church is not interested in those who see through the mask of piety and the illusion of holiness.

It was ultimately this hypocrisy that caused me to leave the Church I once adored – all because I dared to study and practice Reiki. It is apparently ok for a priest to practice laying on of hands in support of a person’s desire for healing, but Goddess-forbid a lay person, OR WORSE, a woman should do the same. By a Church that claims it is not doing magic in turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or in healing the sick through the imposition of hands, it was of witchcraft and sorcery I was accused and then condemned for doing “the work of the devil.” Me thinkest they protesteth too much!

Because I no longer feel welcome in the local Church which has effectively burned me at the stake, I have chosen since 2008 to fast from the Eucharist. This does not mean, however, that I ever stopped being Catholic – more importantly, a Catholic witch. I heal the sick through the imposition of hands. I ordain women and men into their own magic and send them forth into the world where their magic can be shared. I baptize people into the love that they are and confirm them into being that love in the world. I hear people’s confessions – and absolve them of their “sin” by helping them to heal the deeper inner fears that cause their addictive and non-loving behaviors. I sit with people in the pain of grief and prepare them for their death. I preside over weddings and funerals. I provide spiritual nourishment through the Eucharist that is within each and every one of us when we allow ourselves to BE the Body and Blood of Christ.

For living out my call in this way, you could call me priest, or priestess, but as it was in the most ancient traditions, and in response to the accusations against me, I prefer to be called a witch.

Lauri Ann Lumby has been called many things: mother, daughter, sister, friend, wife, lover, writer, author, poet, teacher, counselor, healer, priest, shit-disturber, heretic and witch. Lauri lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin near her two adult children and is the owner of Soul School where she helps her students and clients turn their world from fear into love. Learn more about Lauri at www.lauriannlumby.com.

Work with Lauri One-on-One

Featured Course: Soul School Essentials 1

March 7, 2023February 20, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

6 online lessons

Done at your own pace

Online discussion board

Created and Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

To learn more and enroll click on image above.

Soul School with Lauri Ann Lumby is a one-of-a-kind education platform that provides the resources and tools to support you in becoming self-actualized.

We don’t just talk about self-actualization. We do it!

Self-actualization is known in your ability to:

Successfully reason, discern, and exercise your own truth.
Access and develop reliance on your own inner authority.
Identify and harness your own unique giftedness and contribution to the world.
Discover, nurture, and cultivate a sense of meaning and purpose in your life.
Name, claim, set and maintain boundaries around your personal needs.
Develop meaningful and satisfying relationships with others.
Exhibit care and concern for the betterment of the world for the benefit of the all.

Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame is your introduction to the foundational tools utilized in all Soul School offerings. This course gives you an opportunity to tip your toe in the water by providing a glimpse of the materials covered in our more intensive programs including the Soul Tending and Eternal Flame in-depth packages.

Through Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame, you will discover new things about yourself while being affirmed in what you may already know. You will also learn effective tools that you can apply in your everyday life for supporting the unfolding of your Soul toward the goal of enjoying the meaningful and fulfilling life of your dreams.

Soul

Soul is the uniquely creative way in which you have been gifted to find meaning and purpose in your life and the way in which you are called to find fulfillment in service to the betterment of the world. Soul is your true self – the part of you that knows your gift and your call, and is that which compels you to seek out, discover, cultivate, and nurture those gifts and their calling, thereby empowering you to share your gifts in service to the betterment of the world. -Lauri Ann Lumby

Soul School Essentials 1 Course Outline:

Lesson One: Soul’s Journey – The Map of the Soul

Lesson Two: Soul Design – Working with Jungian Archetypes

Lesson Three: Soul Purpose – Introduction to the Enneagram

Lesson Four: Soul Gifts – Discovering Your Unique Soul Gifts

Lesson Five: Soul Speak – Discernment 101

Lesson Six: Soul Success – Introduction to the Authentic Freedom Protocol for Overcoming Obstacles

Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame includes lessons on each topic along with industry honored assessments and personality inventories.

Learn more and enroll here.

Featured Course: Soul Gifts

March 6, 2023February 20, 2023 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

13 online lessons with facilitated discussion

Done in your own time and at your own pace

Soul Gifts – Discovering Your Unique Gifts and How They Support Your Soul’s Calling, created by Lauri Ann Lumby supports you in knowing the truth that YOU are uniquely gifted to experience meaning and purpose in your life and to find fulfillment in the use and engagement of your gifts, first for yourself, and then, in service to the betterment of the world.

Your gifts were given to you so that you might enjoy happiness, and your gifts are meant to be shared so that the world can become a better place for all of us to enjoy. You cannot become the person you were meant to be – achieving your greatest potential – without discovering, cultivating, nurturing and then sharing your gifts; and the world cannot become what it was meant to be without the gifts you have to share. For your own sake, and for the sake of the world, I thank you for giving yourself the permission and the time to explore and discover your soul gifts!

Over the course of thirteen lessons, you will have an opportunity to first explore the calling that has set you on the path to exploring your gifts along with the importance of understanding that while your soul gifts may be grand in such gifts as leadership, music or the arts, your gifts may also reside in what you might judge as weakness, imperfection or failure. Ultimately, all that we are and everything that we have has the potential for being a gift that provides for our fulfillment while supporting us in helping the world.

Next, you will have an opportunity to explore what the ancient, sacred traditions, have identified as unique and special (spiritual) gifts. Some of these gifts we will draw from the Western Judeo-Christian tradition, others from the Vedic traditions of India, specifically in the writings of Patanjali. I have added some additional gifts that have arisen in support of our current stage of human evolution. In this discovery, you will have an opportunity to explore such concrete gifts as hospitality, craftsmanship, encouragement and leadership; in addition to the more intuitive gifts of discernment of spirits, spiritual hearing, spirit vision and clairempathy. You will also explore some very non-traditional gifts such as invisibility and time-walking.

Below is a list of the gifts that you will have an opportunity to explore and entertain:

Traditional Spiritual Gifts in the Western Judeo-Christian Tradition (charisms):

Administration, (voluntary) Celibacy, Craftsmanship, Discernment of Spirits, Encouragement, Salespersonship, Faith, Giving, Healing, Helps, Hospitality, Intercessory Prayer, Knowledge, Leadership, Mercy, Missionary, Music, Pastoring, Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Voluntary Poverty, Wisdom, Writing, Speaking in Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues

Intuitive Gifts common to the Vedic tradition and beyond:

Clairaudience, Clairempathy, Clairevoyance, Clairsentience, Telepathy

Non-Traditional Gifts:

Invisibility, Flight, Trans-dimensional vision, hearing, Time Walking, Inter-dimensional travel, Hosting, Mediumship, Manifesting, Elasticity, Time Morphing, Blending, Exorcism, Soul Retrieval

A Note on Western and Eastern Scripture: Please note that I do not approach scripture from a dogmatic or doctrinal perspective. Neither do I use it as a way to instill fear or manipulate specific actions or behaviors. Instead, I approach scripture as the ancients did – as a collection of symbolic and metaphorical stories (myth, poetry, etc.) which have the opportunity to reflect back to us aspects of ourselves. In this way, scripture becomes a vehicle through which our highest self can speak to us – providing guidance, support, inspiration, nourishment and even healing. When we pierce through the veil of other people’s interpretations and allow our Soul to speak to us personally and directly through these ancient texts, we discover the transformational power of The Word as it was originally intended – as a tool to guide and sustain us on the path of self-awareness and personal growth.