Author: Lauri Ann Lumby

Building the New World Starts with You

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Building our new world begins with ourselves and the choices we make around how we want to live our lives and what we want our new worlds to look like.  For those who have found their way to the Soul School community, the world we build will be reflective of our individual temperaments and desires yet rooted in our unique calling to be of service to the betterment of our world.  But again, bettering our world, begins with us and with the choices we make around how we want to live our lives. 

I cannot speak for others, but for myself, the new world of which I want to be a part is quieter, simpler, gentler and kinder than the world we have been living in.  It is a world that treats our planet gently and with great honor, acknowledging that it is only in treating the earth as sacred that She might produce the fruits that we need to survive.  It is a world in which every human being is honored as holy and sacred and where diversity is not only honored but celebrated.  It is a world that supports the full development of every single human being by providing the resources we need not only to survive, but to thrive. 

Yes, these are big dreams, and I know this is possible when we begin to make these choices for ourselves.  When we as individuals live simply, gently, quietly, kindly; when we treat our world as sacred – taking only what we truly need while sharing the surplus with others; when we treat other human beings with dignity, honor and respect and when we work to insure the needs of all humans are being met to not only survive (food, clothing, shelter, safety, healthcare), but also to thrive (education, enrichment, self-development, etc.) then it can be done.  But again, it starts with US.

Over the past several years, I have been taking the steps to building my own new world, steps that I have found to be very simple:

Laying the Foundation:

            The foundation of my life has always been my relationship with the Divine.  In my NOW and into my NEW world, this foundation will continue and as I have witnessed, deepen.  I begin my morning with my spiritual practice and return to it frequently throughout the day. This simple time dedicated to myself and the Divine of my understanding is the foundation out of which the rest of my life unfolds.  Everything I need for guidance, inspiration, understanding and to find a place of comfort and safety in an insane world, I find within these moments.  Even when I’m not in a time of dedicated meditation and prayer, the fruits of my practice continue to unfold.  With this I have come to understand Paul’s invitation that we “pray without ceasing.”  When this relationship is the foundation of our lives, everything becomes a prayer.

Building the Supports:

            Cultivating well-being.  My physical and emotional health are critical to me.  With this I make healthy choices.  I choose healthy foods.  I enjoy gentle exercise (yoga and walking).  I take supplements and my prescribed medications.  I do what I need to do to keep my mind and my spirit healthy (meditation, yoga, setting healthy boundaries, honoring my need for solitude, choosing how and with whom I want to spend my time).

Ongoing learning: As part of my temperament and passion, I have been given the gift of learning.  I love to learn.  As such, I take time each day to cultivate learning.  I learn.  I study.  I explore. 

            Time for enjoyment:  “All work and no play makes Lauri a dull girl.”  I’m kind of boring anyway and I like boring, but that is not to say I don’t have enjoyment.  I take time to read for pleasure and I love a good movie or binge-worthy television series.  The more magical or mystical the better, but even a good piece of historical fiction can whet my appetite.

Don’t Forget the Aesthetics:

Our new world is meant to be enjoyable and to have beauty.  This will mean different things to different people, but to me, my world has beauty when I am nurturing, cultivating and sharing my gifts – for my own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.  As such, this is about:

            Taking time to CREATE: I write.  I draw.  I publish books.  I develop and share curriculum.  I cook.  I clean.  I nurture my children.  I show kindness and am a listening ear to those I meet.  I nurture my friendships – old and new. 

            Being a Source of Support for Others: Making myself available for guidance and support for others through my books, online classes and services, local gatherings and one-on-one support through Reiki and Spiritual Counseling.

Questions for your own reflection:

What is the new world you want to create for yourself?

What steps are you taking in support of this new world?

Featured Course: Enneagram Intensive

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Twelve online lessons

at your own pace

facilitated discussion with course creator

To learn more and enroll click on image above

The Enneagram Intensive introduces you to the Enneagram as a powerful tool of self-discovery, transformation and personal growth. Integrating the Enneagram with ancient wisdom literature, mindfulness and creativity practices provides a process through which you are able to:

  • Discover your archetypal temperament along with its inherent gifts and challenges.
  • Identify the fears which trigger the non-loving aspects of your temperament.
  • Practice effective methods for managing these fears.
  • Become empowered to live more fully within the inherent gifts of your temperament.
  • Experience improved communication with others through a greater level of self-awareness.
  • Enjoy a deeper sense of meaning and fulfillment through the knowledge and use of your unique gifts.

The Enneagram Intensive is a 12 week course which uses stories from the Western spiritual traditions to illustrate the teachings of the Enneagram and includes meditation and mindfulness practices for integrating these teachings. Additionally, the Beatitudes are introduced as the barometer with which you are able to measure your progress.

There is one required book for this course: Understanding the Enneagram by Riso and Hudson.

Course Syllabus:

Week One: Original Nature

Exploring our original nature in Oneness with ourselves, each other, all of creation and Source. Includes an introduction to the course and what to expect in the weeks ahead.

Week Two: The Core Wound

Exploring the Core Spiritual Wound that is the cause of our fears, along with our compulsive behaviors. Learn how the 9 individual temperaments of the Enneagram experience the core wound, and the distinguishing fears that arise out of this woundedness.

Week Three: The Beatitudes

Learn how the Beatitudes from Matthew’s gospel fit within the Enneagram system and how they act as a barometer for how well we have healed our compulsion and moved toward the gifted aspect of our Enneatype.

Week Four: Enneagram Type 5

Understanding the Enneagram Type 5 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 5 – the Miser/Sage.

Week Five: Enneagram Type 4

Understanding the Enneagram Type 4 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 4 – the Martyr/Muse.

Week Six: Enneagram Type 6

Understanding the Enneagram Type 6 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 6 – the Phobic/Loyalist.

Week Seven: Enneagram Type 8

Understanding the Enneagram Type 8 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 8 – the Dictator/Champion.

Week Eight: Enneagram Type 2

Understanding the Enneagram Type 2 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 2 – the Manipulator/Helper.

Week Nine: Enneagram Type 3

Understanding the Enneagram Type 3 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 3 – the Performer/Achiever.

Week Ten: Enneagram Type 9

Understanding the Enneagram Type 9 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 9 – the Sloth/Peacemaker.

Week Eleven: Enneagram Type 7

Understanding the Enneagram Type 7 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 7 – the Glutton/Enthusiast.

Week Twelve: Enneagram Type 1

Understanding the Enneagram Type 1 temperament, their unique experience of the core wound, their characterizing fears and the path of healing unique to the Type 1 – the Perfectionist/Reformer.

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.

God: A note about the “God” word. Please know that when I use this term, I am not talking about the “Old Man in the Sky God” who is to be feared. Instead, I am speaking about Universal LOVE. This Source Energy is without gender, race, creed, or any other form of separation and is only Love. It is the energy from which we were made – by whatever name, shape, form speaks to you. If the word “God” bothers you, feel free to replace it with Love.

Learn more and enroll here

Chronic Illness and Modern Monasticism

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

There is an interesting correlation between the modern monastic calling and chronic illness.  When I look at the community of women (and a few men) who have found their way to my offerings, it is uncanny how many of them are struggling with some sort of chronic, often debilitating, condition. It is also curious how many of these chronic conditions defy modern medicine – either eluding diagnosis or resisting treatment.  

Case in point. I have a long list of chronic conditions:  polycystic kidney disease, Epstein Barr, a form of PTSD, chronic vestibular neuritis, migraines, anxiety, depression, and panic disorder. This smorgasbord of intermittent symptoms has forced me to prioritize self-care and has removed me from “regular” employment. The capitalistic model of drive, strive, and achieve are no longer options for me. Neither is the 80 (or even 40) hour work week.

Privileging self-care confronts the western cultural paradigm, especially when the reason for self-care falls into the stigmatized category of chronic illness.

Our conditioned way of being (work hard and make money) no longer works for many who struggle with chronic illness (if it ever really did) and forces us to explore other ways of being..

The capitalistic model of drive, strive, achieve, and cajole, where success is measured by money, status, and power, simply does not work for those called to the contemplative life.  Furthermore, our world has become too loud, too bright, too violent, too divisive, too……everything…..for the sensitive, empathetic, and compassionate nature for those called to modern monastic living.

In this age, the monastic calling doesn’t present itself directly. Instead, it becomes apparent because all other options have failed.

There is nothing in our upbringing that prepares us for the possibility of a contemplative calling. Instead, we are forced to flail about in the darkness until we find what our souls have been seeking all along. Chronic illness is one of those conditions that helps us find our way. I have often wondered if the chronic conditions that many of us face are simply for the purpose of leading and supporting us in choosing the contemplative life and that this calling has become necessary in a world that has simply become too violent. It cannot be an accident that many of us who are called to a more monastic way of being are empaths, highly sensitive people, intuitives, and introverts. Perhaps we are here to show the world another way.

When the world has become out of harmony with itself, Love sends gentle and contemplative souls to bring the world back into alignment.

Perhaps we are those souls – sent to find a way to live in greater alignment with the truth of our Souls, while showing the world there is another way.

Excerpt from the Whispers from the Cave interactive web series. Learn more HERE.

Questions for Reflection:

  • How has the “modern” world contributed to or caused your chronic illness?
  • How has self-care become more of a priority in your life?
  • How has chronic illness supported you in finding a gentler, more easeful way of living in the world?
  • What inner resources have awakened in you through your experience with chronic illness?

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

Learn more and subscribe HERE

Loved in Our Brokenness

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One of the greatest temptations of religion is perfectionism and the vanity that accompanies its pursuit. As a recovering perfectionist (and a Type 1/perfectionist on the Enneagram) I know this temptation all too well.  Religion says “if you want God to love you, you need to be perfect in the ways we outline for you.”  Religion also says, “If you are not perfect, God will not love you and God’s love will be taken away.”  The result of this for many is the endless pursuit of perfection.  Following the Ten Commandments.  Living the Beatitudes.  Adhering to the laws laid out by the institution. 

The driving force of this pursuit of perfection is judgment.  Religion tells us of a judgmental God – like an omnipotent Santa Claus keeping the list of who is good and who is bad.  God’s judgment is then handed down to the clergy whose job it is to enforce “God’s” rules.  This judgment then becomes part of our own conscience, where we are now the ones judging our own behaviors while also judging the behaviors of others.  This cycle of judgment pits us against God, God against us, and us against each other.  Separation is the result of this judgment as everyone is pointing a finger of condemnation at themselves while pointing the same finger at others. Here nobody wins and everybody loses as we are all caught up in the cycle of judgment and self-righteousness.

GUILTY!

This gospel reflects that cycle while, at the same time, turning the tables on religion’s paradigm of judgment: 

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

LK 18: 9-14

Here Jesus’ message is obvious.  God loves everyone the same and holds a special measure of compassion for those who are broken. In the reading, the Pharisee lauds his perfection.  As a strict follower of The Law, he is certain of his salvation, perhaps rightly so.  Some find contentment and peace in a black and white theology which lays out exactly what is needed to obtain “the kingdom.”  For those who follow a similar way, the Pharisee would be seen as a good and righteous man, justified in his judgment of the tax collector.  Jesus, however, turns the table.  Instead of lauding the Pharisee, he elevates the tax collector – not because he was a righteous man, but because he was humble.  Unlike the Pharisee who only saw his own goodness, the tax collector admitted his failings.  He knew that he was broken and imperfect and that in his humanness he had done things contrary to The Law. (Tax collectors were viewed as “sinners” during the time of Jesus as they were working for Rome – the enemy, while also taking a fee for themselves (usury) for their work).  Instead of judgment, Jesus invited his disciples to see the depth of God’s love through the life of the tax collector.  Here is a man, doing what he needed to do to provide for his family.  His job wasn’t perfect – but it was a job.  Yes, the Pharisees raged against the work of the tax collectors and cast them in the role of sinners, but he was just doing what he had to do to care for his family.  Because of his conditioning, he was made to feel guilty for his profession and confessed that guilt to God.  Instead of standing before God lauding his greatness, he acknowledged his frailty, and the shame he felt in his frailty.  He knew he was powerless to correct this “shame” and offered his brokenness up to God.  And God loved him. 

God loved him.

God loved him unconditionally.  As Jesus described it, not only was the man loved, he was exalted! Does that mean that God loved the tax collector more?  If we believe in an all-loving, unconditionally loving God, then no.  It was not the Pharisee who needed comfort in his brokenness.  As scripture describes it, the Pharisee did not believe he was broken.    The tax collector, however, begged for God’s compassion (a better translation of the word mercy). And he got it.  We don’t know how he received that compassion or what it may have felt like to him.  Perhaps it was simply in the asking that the answer was received. 

The same is true for each of us.  There is not a single one among us who is not broken in some way.  We all struggle with our fears, compulsions, unhealed wounds, self-and other judgment, gluttony, lust for power, wrath, envy, greed, sloth and pride.  We are all broken.  Either we acknowledge this brokenness and offer that up to God for love or, like the Pharisee we pretend our perfection and miss out on all the love God wants to give.  Grace is the vehicle through which we know and experience God’s love and it seems there is a reciprocal relationship between our ability to acknowledge our brokenness and experiences of God’s Grace – not because it’s otherwise being withheld, but because we haven’t asked.

Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Ask and it will be given.”

HMMMM

Featured Course: Overcoming Obstacles with Authentic Freedom

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Online training created and facilitated by
Lauri Ann Lumby

Nine lessons
Done at your own pace
Done in your own time
Moderated by Course Creator

To learn more click on the image above.



Authentic Freedom is a protocol and practice developed by Lauri Ann Lumby which supports you in identifying and then healing the fears that have kept you imprisoned by your past wounding and cultural conditioning.

Through recorded lessons, reading, discussion, mindfulness and creativity practices, you will be given the tools to identify, heal and transform the fears that:

There is not enough.
You are insignificant and have nothing of value to offer the world.
You cannot live as our most authentic selves.
You are not loved (or that love has to be earned or can be taken away).
You are not free to express our truth.
You do not know the truth.
You are alone.

At the end of this course, you will have the tools to support you in the continued liberation from your fears and the conditioning that has placed them there.

Taking Back Our Power to Choose
For the past 5000 years our world has been imprisoned by those who benefit from a people afraid. For 5000 years, we have been conditioned by institutions that manipulate and control us through fear, guilt and shame. Religious institutions, governments, corporations, banks, advertising, social media, education, health care, pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry (to name a few) are all guilty of benefiting from a people afraid. As has always been true of feudal societies, only a few truly benefit from a culture rooted in fear. The rest are made to suffer while those who are manipulating us are getting rich at our expense.

When we stop believing in these fears by healing the conditioning that caused these fears in the first place, we are no longer vulnerable to manipulation and are free to choose love instead of fear. In choosing love, we are able to experience the peace, freedom and union spoken of by the ancients and which has been taught by the highest expression of every spiritual tradition on this planet.

It is time that we say NO MORE by taking back our power to choose by healing our wounds and transcending cultural conditioning.

Learn more and enroll here.

Magdalene Priestess Training

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Through the Order of the Magdalene Priesthood Training, we hope to restore women and men to their rightful place within Jesus’ vision for humanity as empowered individuals fully living out both their Divine and Human natures as love.  The Magdalene Priest and Priestess Training continues the work of Mary, called “Magdalene” as ordained by Christ by empowering you to live out the fullness of your unique giftedness – both for the sake of your own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.

50 weeks of coursework

5 individual online courses at your own pace

Facilitated interactive discussion

Magdalene Activation

Magdalene Ordination

plus 5 one-on-one sessions with Lauri Ann Lumby.

The Order of Magdalene Priestess Training

has its roots in the original teachings of Jesus* which Mary, called Magdalene fully understood and which were then formalized into the meditation, contemplation and service practices of Western Monasticism, specifically those favored in Benedictine, Franciscan, and Ignatian spirituality.

Included Coursework (if you have taken any of these courses, contact Lauri to have your course fee applied):

Resurrecting the Magdalene– 6 weeks

The purpose of this course is to reveal and share in the deeper and hidden truths about the Magdalene and her time with Jesus; including her roles as student, initiate, co-equal partner, wife, facilitator and witness to the resurrection, and the one sent to continue Jesus’ mission of being love in the world.  Participants are empowered through the course to reclaim their own Divine Feminine and are activated to be a vessel of Divine Love in the world.

What is Your Magic?– 13 weeks

Discover your own unique gifts—the gifts you have been given to experience meaning and purpose in your life and through which you will find fulfillment for yourself and in service to the betterment of the world.

Authentic Freedom* – 10 weeks

Learn the seven core fears that prevent you from being your most magnificent and fulfilled self, along with proven tools for moving through and overcoming those fears.

Deepening Freedom**– 9 weeks

Learn and apply the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus as a powerful tool for moving through the fears and inner obstacles for living your truth and fulfilling your life purpose.

Living in Freedom– 12 weeks

Exploring the Enneagram as a tool for self-empowerment and as a resource for balancing your fear-based perceptions and behaviors, ultimately harnessing your Soul’s purpose as a reformer,   helper, achiever, muse, sage, strategist, enthusiast, champion or peacemaker.

*Required Text: Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy by Lauri Ann Lumby

**Required Texts: Prayers of the Cosmos and The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz and CD Abwun – The Prayer of Jesus.

Learn more and enroll HERE

The Dangers of Spiritual Bypass

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Spiritual bypass can best be described as: “the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks”

(Welwood, J. (2000) [1984]. “Between heaven and earth: principles of inner work”. Toward a psychology of awakening: Buddhism, psychotherapy, and the path of personal and spiritual transformation. Boston: Shambhala Publications. pp. 11–21.).

In spiritual bypass, we avoid, ignore, deny, suppress and repress the challenges, difficulties, disappointments, and suffering that are inherent within the human condition.  Spiritual bypass also includes avoidance and denial of the shadow.  The shadow is made up of our unhealed wounds, unacknowledged fears and includes all the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected because we have deemed them unacceptable. 

Spiritual bypass takes many forms, but in essence the action is the same – hoping, believing, acting as if we can simply meditate, pray, chant, or positively affirmation our struggles away.  The universal outcome of spiritual bypass is always the same and is best articulated in the Buddhist saying, “What we resist will persist.”  Through spiritual bypass, we are not dealing with, confronting, healing or transforming anything; we are simply sweeping it under the rug. As is true of everything we avoid, deny, ignore, the rug can only hold so much.  The rug will eventually explode and everything we have shoved under it will come out to haunt us.  Even if we are successful in keeping it all under the rug, what we have resisted and ignored will find its way out sideways – usually in non-loving behaviors toward ourselves or others. Often these behaviors become compulsive (ie: addictions), are disproportionate or uncharacteristic of our true nature.   

Some very clear examples of spiritual bypass and the negative consequence of this pattern of behavior includes: the clergy sex abuse crisis, narcissistic behaviors, abuse, co-dependency, homophobia, violence against children, school shootings and other forms of terrorism.  What we resist will persist and what we suppress will find its way out whether we want it to or not.  I would further suggest that we are currently living in a world seriously caught up in its own bypass – ignoring, denying, projecting away the darkness and pretending that it is all ok when in fact it is not!  Societal bypass is exhibited in our divisive culture where many refuse to see the truth that is staring them in the face because it makes them feel uncomfortable (triggering their own unacknowledged anxiety or unhealed fears), or who instead of acknowledging their role in darkness that exists in our society, either ignore it or project the blame onto someone else.  The bottom line is that we cannot meditate, mantra, pray, “beam love,” think good thoughts, repeat positive affirmations, “La La” the darkness away. Until we learn to face our darkness (individually and collectively) we are guilty of bypass and the darkness will not only persist, it will become worse. 

Now, I will wholeheartedly admit that I am not innocent as it relates to spiritual bypass.   I too have ventured down its path.  I will admit that it felt good there – for awhile – but eventually it kicked my ass! I have since learned that the only way out is through.  If we want to be free of our inner fears, unhealed wounds, and perceived imperfections, we have to go deep into them, feel them, wallow in them, and THEN through our spiritual practices, find our way through them.  In this, we are not covering the darkness with the light; neither are we turning the darkness into the light.  Instead, we are finding the light that is already present within the darkness – if only we have the courage to go there.

The work of dealing with our shadow and confronting all that is broken within us is hard!  It requires personal accountability, self-knowledge, courageous honesty, humility, vulnerability, and discipline.  It also requires the understanding and belief that in the overall scheme of things, what we are tempted to call “darkness” is in fact our light.  Within the struggle, suffering, struggles, challenges and all the things we want to deny or reject about our human experience is there to serve the light.  It is within these perceived challenges where we find our greatest gifts. 

Confronting Shadow

Both Overcoming Obstacles and our Enneagram Intensive support you in identifying and transforming your shadow. These courses are not about by-pass, they are about confronting, passing into, and through. Click on the images below to learn more.

Featured Course: Victory of the Holy Bride

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What is your current understanding of the Book of Revelation?

Doomsday Prophecy?

Historical Reflection?

Heavenly Vision?

Big Fat Mystery?

To learn more and enroll click on the image above.

Come and explore this mysterious and often confusing book of the Bible from a different perspective while reclaiming the role of the Divine Feminine as the true heroine of this epic mythological tale. 

Victory of the Holy Bride shatters over 2000 years of patriarchal dogma that cast the Book of Revelation in the role of doomsday prophecy and presents to you the tools for discovering a profoundly simple truth that is the key to inner peace and the formula through which we endure the “times of tribulation” while building a whole new world – one rooted in peace, understanding, wisdom, harmony and love. 

Discover the secret of the Book of Revelation and learn how to apply that secret in your everyday life so that you might know peace.

In knowing that peace, you will have the freedom to begin creating a whole new world for yourself.

Course Outline:

Lesson One: Introduction to the Book of Revelation

Lesson Two: The Structure of Revelation

Lesson Three: Alpha and Omega

Lesson Four: The Mystical Seven and its place in Revelation

Lesson Five: The Time of Tribulation

Lesson Six: The Dragon and the Woman

Lesson Seven: The Fall of Babylon/The New Jerusalem

From the course introduction by Lauri Ann Lumby:

Victory of the Holy Bride shatters over 2000 years of patriarchal dogma that cast the Book of Revelation in the role of doomsday prophecy and presents to you the tools for discovering a profoundly simple truth that is the key to inner peace and the formula through which we can build a whole new world – one rooted in peace, understanding, wisdom, harmony and love.

The inspiration for this course came long before its birth in a tiny whispering voice that said, “There is something in the Book of Revelation…..there is something in the Book of Revelation.” This something was somehow connected with the 7 chakras and the trademarked protocol that I created (was given) that I call Authentic Freedom. For years this whispering continued all the way through the development of Authentic Freedom, Deepening Freedom, Living in Freedom and the other examples of the “secret of seven” that is hidden in the depths of the Judeo-Christian tradition and as it is communicated through scripture.

I approached the Book of Revelation many times before it yielded its secrets to me, but once they were revealed my mind was blown! Not because what I was shown was complicated or profound, but because it was so dang simple! Then I wondered, how is it that in 2000 years no one had uncovered the simple truth revealed in the Book of Revelation? Maybe someone had, but nowhere in my Catholic-Christian upbringing (including almost 12 years in Catholic school) or in seven years of ministry training had this simple truth been explained. Instead, the Book of Revelation was either spoken of as doomsday prophecy or ignored all together. It was as if the Church had no use for the Book of Revelation unless as a tool for manipulating others through fear and if there might be something more to it, they would rather not know (or would rather we didn’t know).

But here’s the secret: there is absolutely nothing to fear about the Book of Revelation! Instead, it is a message of profound hope – the simple truth of the human condition, along with the even simpler formula for enjoying the peace and freedom brought forth by this truth.

It really is that simple. But first, we must comb through the layers of symbolic language and metaphor used by its author (attributed to St. John the Divine) to veil this simple truth from those who are not yet ready, and perhaps to protect those who would know this truth from those whose power might be threatened.

For those in patriarchal power, there is much to fear in the simple truth of the Book of Revelation for when we understand and do the work of embodying the truth revealed in this book, we are no longer subject to the fearful manipulations of the outside perceived patriarchal authority. Instead, we discover our own sovereignty and the Divine power within that guides us on the path to our truth and which frees us to live that truth fully. Here we discover a whole new world of peace, contentment, empowerment and joy dwelling within us and which seeks to be known in the world through us.

Learn more and enroll

Testimonials from past students of this course:

I’ve enjoyed Lauri’s course as much as any I can remember. She is insightful and very well informed, but often with an original take on the material. I enjoy that she both understands Christianity, from her years as a Catholic, and Judaism, but also the priestess path. So her work is a hybrid of understandings, both historical and fresh. Her lecture delivery is clear. She has innovative activities and reflections which she invites us to do.

This course especially feels very timely, as is all Lauri’s work. I also really enjoyed interacting live, but the course is engaging on its own – so much so that I stayed up to the small hours (due to the time difference) to be able to participate.

I also love Lauri’s pricing policy, her generosity, and her values. This is a spiritual leader and teacher (though she’d probably be too modest to call herself as such) who is rooted in soul and heart work first before the ‘I’m worth it’ high charging mentality of other spiritual businesses. This is why I’m doing courses with Lauri. I heartily commend her. ER, United Kingdom

Whispers from the Cave

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Interactive Web Series

Whispers from the Cave tells the true story of an 800 year old monk (I’m actually not quite sixty, but I feel like I’m 800!) living in a 150 year old school house that just happens to be haunted!

  • Part old-time radio show.
  • Part history.
  • Part investigative journalism.
  • Part penny dreadful.
  • Part autobiography.

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.

Learn more and subscribe by clicking the image above.

The Monk: Lauri Ann Lumby

I’m what one might call a modern monastic. No, I haven’t joined a convent, or taken up the habit and I have no interest in a vow of celibacy (though having celibacy imposed upon me these past many years, I can’t say celibacy is a bad thing….just leaving my options open!).  However, I have increasingly found myself living a monastic kind of life. 

Having stepped away from the trappings of the material world, I live a quiet, simple life. Most of my days are spent in solitude, immersed in meditation and prayer, simple chores, writing, creating, and seeing an occasional client or teaching an occasional online course. I have no interest in the things “of this world,” especially those things imposed upon us by the capitalistic “ideal.”  I spent my earlier life driving, striving, and trying to achieve, finding myself with nothing but a bloody forehead. Now I prefer a life free from sacrifice, the pressure to perform, and the desire to be seen.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I’m a somewhat of a prophet. I see and know what is happening and about to happen in our world. Rather than participate in the impending collapse of the empire, I’m choosing to get out of the way while quietly building a whole new world. Perhaps you’d like to join me?

The Cave

Dale School is an Italianate style brick school building designed by William Waters and constructed in three stages: 1870, 1889, and 1908. It was last used as a school in 1981 after which it was converted into character loft apartments. There are now sixteen units in the building famous for their soaring ceilings, nature hardwood floors, three-foot thick walls, and twelve-foot windows.

Dale School has been my home since 2019, where I have carved out a quiet, solitary life, increasingly so after my adult children moved out and into their own homes. My apartment has become my cave, my temple, and my sanctuary. Those I love are welcome here, including those few special clients who come for counsel and healing.

Oh yeah, and the ghosts who also live here!

The Ghosts

I’m not kidding when I say “I see dead people.” I don’t see them in the way others might, but I do see them. Strangely, I first became aware of this gift after moving to this strange swamp town where I’ve lived since 1992.  In fact, every apartment or house that I’ve lived in these past thirty years has been otherwise occupied (by ghosts!). I’ve always found myself sharing my accommodations with those who lived there before me and have since gone on from this physical life. For whatever reason, they have chosen to remain on this plane in ghostly form. Some have asked for my assistance in moving on from this plane, but many have chosen to stay.

Dale School, I quickly learned, is no different. Since moving in, I have become intimately acquainted with the four ghosts who have chosen to remain here:

The School Teacher

The Custodian

The Little Boy

The Hall Monitor

When asked if they would like help moving on, their emphatic answer is NO.  For their own reasons they have all chosen to stay. I welcome the Teacher when she visits my room (I’m pretty sure my apartment was once her classroom). I greet the Custodian and the Little Boy as they putter about their chores in the lower level. I ask the Hall Monitor for permission to pass when I need to visit the second floor. They all have their own stories and I’m happy to share my home with them.

The Unsettled Spirits of Dale School live elsewhere.  They’re in the nooks and crannies of the cobweb infested basement, in the bowels of the ancient boiler, and in the sewers of abandoned lavatories.  They are also in the attic with the guano and air conditioning vents. I stay away from those dark and unsettled spaces, but for the sake of this series, I will bravely go where only HVAC and phone system technicians have dared to go.

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Understanding the Book of Revelation

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Revelations – the great mystery book of the bible.  For centuries, used as a tool to strike fear in the hearts of humanity.  Touted as a prophecy of things to come if humanity doesn’t get their moral act together, and told as bedtime stories to scare children into good behavior.  If we don’t obey God we will suffer “His” wrath…but wait, even if we are good, kind, loving, and obedient, the end times will still come…..and it is coming soon!  (It’s been coming soon for 2000 years!) With the end time comes war, pestilence, frightening beasts, and terrifying portents in the skies.  But if we can endure the trauma, then we will be rewarded with the coming of the King, and the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven, heralding the reign of peace.  It seems no matter what we do, the apocalypse is coming and only the few and the brave will be rewarded with an eternity in heaven.  The question that hangs in the balance is “Are you one of the 144,000?” 

But here’s the deal, the Book of Revelations has nothing to do with the end times.  It never did.  It has always been about NOW.  Revelations is not a book of prophecies; neither is it a warning of God’s wrath; nor a manual for the end times.  While Tim LaHaye and his buddies made millions on their Left Behind series, Revelations has forever and always been about RIGHT NOW.  Revelations, plain and simple, is an allegory expressing the difference between a life with “God” and a life without.  When we lose track of our connection with the Divine, we suffer torment and unspeakable horrors.  When we remember this connection, we experience heaven on earth.  But here’s the twist – when we suffer it isn’t because God is punishing us.  It is simply the natural consequence of turning away from our true nature which is in Union with God (Love).  When we are One with our true nature (God/Love), we know peace, joy, contentment, and are able to live from compassion and love. 

It really is this simple.  And the formula is even easier:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

This single proclamation of the Divine, repeated over and over and over throughout the Book of Revelation, is the key to it all.  When we make our union with the Divine the center of our life, we know peace.  When we forget this union, we are disturbed.  That’s it!  End of story!

But, maintaining our attention to this union is easier said than done.  We live in a world of distractions.  The human condition is a distraction.  There are (seem to be) a million things vying for our attention.  TV.  Work.  Family.  Friends.  Money, OBLIGATIONS.  Ugh!  Yes, we must provide for ourselves and our families.  Yes, our relationships require our attention.  But really, how much of our time is simply wasted on unnecessary tasks, unfulfilling “obligations,” things that we are simply doing out of habit or because we were told we had to do this by our societal conditioning.  Or maybe we are keeping ourselves busy to avoid the real task at hand which is the invitation to get right with Ourselves. 

Right with Ourselves!  Not right with God.  God loves us for who we are….IN THIS AND EVERY MOMENT!  We are the ones who are not right with ourselves.  Every time we deny the yearning and calling of our Soul.  Every time we ignore our inner pain.  Each time we distract ourselves from our true self and its needs and wants.  When we are not right with ourselves, we suffer anxiety, worry, restlessness, fear, emotional and physical pain.  When we are not one with ourselves, we are not one with God.  Or rather, we have forgotten our Oneness with God…..because in spite of all our efforts to separate ourselves from our Truth, God remains.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

God is all there is.  All there is is God.  And we are part of and an expression of the Divine Source that is within and through us all.  If we are feeling unrest, it is because we forgot this singular truth.  This IS the truth that will set us free – if and when we remember it. 

So this is our task – to remember our Union with the Divine and in remembering this Union, coming home to ourselves.  The “New Jerusalem” isn’t a castle in the clouds, and neither is it happening in some future time in a Heaven light years away. It is NOW.  It is within us.  WHEN we remember this Truth.  So, let’s get to it, shall we?

Suggested Spiritual Practice

This is the hard part.  Remembering our Union with the Divine is an every moment of every day job.  It requires discipline, persistence and PRACTICE.  And we will never, ever, ever, in our human experience perfect this remembering.  All we can do is take it moment by moment, day by day and practice forgiveness of ourselves WHEN we forget.  J  We will forget and we will fail.  But the task is to keep coming back, again and again and again, to this truth:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

In the coming week, I invite you into a practice of observation.  Through this practice, you are invited to observe where you are remembering this truth and feeling that sense of Union with God and your higher self and where you are not.  You will notice oneness vs. separation in the following:

Oneness = peace, contentment, joy.

Separation = anxiety, worry, fear.

I also invite you take note of where your attention is placed.  When is your attention on your Soul and God and when is it elsewhere?  Make note of the difference you feel within yourself when you are connected to Soul/God and when you are not.

Connection = peace, contentment, joy, fulfillment, flow.

Separation = restlessness, boredom, anxiety, worry, fear, frustration, impatience.

Simply take note.  Then, if you feel so-called, begin the work of turning away from those experiences that cause separation and turning instead toward those that support you in feeling Union.

Victory of the Holy Bride shatters over 2000 years of patriarchal dogma that cast the Book of Revelation in the role of doomsday prophecy and presents to you the tools for discovering a profoundly simple truth that is the key to inner peace and the formula through which we endure the “times of tribulation” while building a whole new world – one rooted in peace, understanding, wisdom, harmony and love. 

Learn more HERE