Will the Real Magdalene Please Stand Up?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

In the forty years (or so) that I have been working with Mary Magdalene I have come across at least a million different theories about who she was/is, what her life looked like, where she lived, who she slept with and who her children might be. In the twenty years (or so) that I have been actively studying and researching the Magdalene, I have read at least a hundred books specifically dedicated to her which also bears their own theories of the Magdalene.  Some call her an Ascended Master, others an Essene High Priestess, others a prostitute, others an adulterous woman, others the Sang Grael and the mother of a dynasty of European kings and queens (Jesus’ own progeny), and some claim her as a goddess.  Most of these books are based entirely on theory, oral legend or claim to have been “directly channeled” from the Magdalene herself.

Scholars who study the Magdalene refrain from making such claims and instead stick to what they are able to glean from archeological evidence, scripture itself, and ancient re-discovered manuscripts.  My personal preference is to lean toward a more scholarly approach while avoiding the temptation to either define the Magdalene or condemn another’s theory.  It is for this reason that I call my book Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene fiction.  At the end of the day, unless we were there, we know nothing certain about the Magdalene, and until we have passed from this plane, we will never know.

All that being said, I cannot discount the direct, personal experiences and revelations I have had of the Magdalene (and Jesus) through my meditation and prayer.  These revelations have guided and informed my work – my writing and publishing, but most importantly, these revelations guided and informed the human development courses that I have developed and which now make up the Magdalene Priest/ess Training.  This work is rooted in scripture (canonical as well as non-canonical) and embraces the rich tradition of Christian contemplative meditation and prayer practices as its foundation. This work is further supported by modern theories of human development as they have been expressed through Humanist and Transpersonal Psychology. 

Through the integration of scholarly research and personal revelation, what I have come to understand about the Magdalene and the view I present to the world is that:

  • She was not the adulterous woman of scripture.
  • The “healed of seven demons” said of her is likely referring to a formal process of initiation that supported her journey of self-actualization which she underwent with Jesus’ guidance, successfully completed, and then went on to teach others.
  • She is the only one is scripture said to have completed such a process.
  • She stood beside Jesus (unlike his other disciples who hid in the Upper Room) through his trial, crucifixion, death and burial.
  • She was the one to whom the Resurrected Christ was revealed and THE ONE commissioned to bring the news to the other disciples.
  • She continued to have direct, personal and private visitations by Christ through which he imparted upon her his secret teachings. When she tried to share these teachings with the other disciples they ridiculed and condemned her.

All of these “theories” of the Magdalene are taken directly from scripture and affirmed through scholarship (See resources below).

Beyond this, I personally like to believe that Jesus and Mary were husband and wife and that they were equal, co-ministers in sharing the law of love.  I also like to believe that Mary is the only one to have received the full understanding and knowledge of what Jesus came to teach and that she was chosen by Jesus to continue his work.  Legend tells us that she went forth from Palestine and ventured to Alexandria, Egypt, the South of France and perhaps even Glastonbury, England in her journey of sharing the message of love.  None of this can be verified, but it resonates as truth to me.

While these are the “truths” I embrace regarding the Magdalene, none of these am I attached to, because again, unless we were there, we will never know.  What I have come to understand about the Magdalene is that she reveals herself to us in the ways that are consistent with our temperament, our personalities, our unique lens into the world and in concert with our unique giftedness and calling in this life.  As such, the Magdalene has revealed herself to me through the lens of my Catholic-Christian upbringing and education and through the reasoned lens of scholarship where the scientific method might provide some assurance of truth.  For others, she reveals herself as an Essene High Priestess, a Priestess of Isis, a pseudo-pagan priestess and goddess, to others an Ascended Master and to others still, the Goddess herself. 

As St. Paul once said of himself, Mary Magdalene has become all things for all people for the sake of fulfilling her mission which is to complete the mission that Jesus began of turning our world from one in fear to one ruled by and for the purpose of love.

And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of daughter Zion,
to you it shall come,
the former dominion shall come,
the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.

Now why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,

that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor?
Writhe and groan,O daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor;
for now you shall go forth from the city
and camp in the open country;
you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued,
there the Lord will redeem you
from the hands of your enemies.

Now many nations
are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be profaned,
and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
Arise and thresh,
O daughter Zion,
for I will make your horn iron
and your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples,
 and shalldevote their gain to the Lord,
 their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 4: 8-13

Select Resources

Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene – Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity, Shambhala Publications, 2010.

Haskins, Susan, Mary Magdalene – Myth and Metaphor, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.

King, Karen, L., The Gospel of Mary of Magdala – Jesus and the First Woman Apostle, Polebridge Press, 2003.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, Judas and Jesus – Two Faces of a Single Revelation, Inner Traditions, 2006.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Inner Traditions, 2002.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Philip, Inner Traditions, 2003.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Thomas, Inner Traditions, 2005.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary – The Sexual Mystery at the Heart of the Christian Tradition, Inner Traditions, 2005.

MacDermot, Violet, The Fall of Sophia – A Gnostic Text on the Redemption of Universal Consciousness, Lindisfarne Books, 2001.

Malachi, Tau, The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas – Meditations on the Mystical Teachings, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2004.

Malachi, Tau, Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ – a Gnostic Christian Kabbalah, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005.

Malachi, Tau, Living Gnosis – A Practical Guide to Gnostic Christianity, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005.

Malachi, Tau, St. Mary Magdalene – The Gnostic Tradition of the Holy Bride, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2006.

Check out our full selection of Magdalene Courses:

Featured Course: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

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This course is an in-depth study of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, with translation and commentary by Jean-Yves LeLoup. Each session will have required reading, lecture, meditation or creativity exercises and discussion. Course concludes with your own self-facilitated dedication ceremony. This course is fully online and done at your own pace in your own time.

Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Priestess of the Magdalene and High Priestess in the Order of Melchizedek

LEARN MORE AND ENROLL HERE

The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) is a third century text that lay hidden in the desert of Egypt until the appointed time in the late nineteenth century when it was re-discovered and then brought to the light after coming into the hands of biblical scholars. The content of the text is thought to have been either penned by Mary herself, or by those who had been her followers in the years after Jesus’ resurrection.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene portrays Mary in her original and authentic role as the bearer of Jesus’ secret teachings and as Apostle to the Apostles – the one sent by Jesus to continue his mission of teaching, healing, and service. Here, Mary is portrayed as teacher and as priest – the receiver, interpreter, and discriminator of Jesus’ post-resurrection teachings.

We also discover in the Gospel of Mary, the original conflict that separated the mystical teachings of Jesus from the patriarchal privilege that led to the formation of the institutional church and the rejection of women as priest.

The Gospel of Mary is a critically important text in the exploration of women’s roles in matters of spirituality and religion, but more importantly as recipients and communicators of the Divine.

Required text: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves LeLoup (Inner Traditions, 2002).

Course Outline

Session One: The Initial Separation

Session Two: Non-Duality and the Magdalene

Session Three: The Gnostic Path

Session Four: Guarding Against Attachments

Session Five: Mary the Encourager

Session Six: Mary the Intermediary

Session Seven: Kabbalah/Journey of the Soul

Session Eight: The Adversary

Session Nine: Authentic Freedom and the Gospel of Mary

Session Ten: The Bride

Session Eleven: Anthropos

After Completing the Course: Magdalene Dedication

Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS is a Priestess of the Magdalene and the founder of both the Order of the Magdalene and the Temple of the Magdalene. Lauri has been a dedicated student of the Magdalene since first experiencing her portrayal in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar in 1978. Lauri has since studied every scholarly work that has been made available on the Magdalene, and many works of fiction. Lauri has come to believe that Mary Magdalene was indeed Jesus’ closest disciple, possibly his wife, and that it was Mary who was ordained to continue Jesus’ mission of transforming the world from fear into love. Rejected by the patriarchy, the Magdalene influence has flourished in the mystical traditions of Christianity, though few would acknowledge this. The Magdalene has been a profound influence in Lauri’s own mission and has been the inspiration for Lauri’s writings, books, teachings and online courses all available through Authentic Freedom Academy.

Lauri Ann Lumby has her BBA in Marketing, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology and has certificates in Pastoral Ministry and Spiritual Direction. She is a Reiki Master in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister.

Learn more about Lauri at www.lauriannlumby.com.

Featured Course: Resurrecting the Magdalene

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Mary, called Magdalene achieved the goal of the human experience—to become both fully human and fully divine.  In doing so, Mary embodied the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine in  perfect harmony and it was through this integration that she was able to grasp Jesus’ original teachings of compassion and love and bring them forward into the world. 

2000 years ago, the world was not ready for her teachings, but today we are.  Join us as we explore the deeper and hidden truths about Mary Magdalene revealed during her time with Jesus:  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.

This Course includes the Magdalene Activation and concludes with the Magdalene ordination through which you are empowered, through your own unique gifts and passions to fulfill the mission of LOVE in the world. 

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby. 

www.lauriannlumby.com

This course consists of 7 modules with several activities within each lesson.  With these activities, 2000 years of untruths will be exposed so that the truth can be revealed.  Activities will include meditation, reflection and writing exercises.  You will need yourself, a notebook or journal, writing utensil and access to an online music source.  Several music meditations are included in the course.  

Learn more and register by clicking the icon above.

Course Outline 

Lesson One:  Fully Awakened

Activity One: What we’ve been led to believe

Music and reflective reading meditations

Activity Two: Lesson – What the stories really say

Activity Three: Magdalene Activation

Your own direct encounter with the Magdalene

Lesson One Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Two:  Adoration

Activity One: Being vs. Doing

Reflective Reading meditation

Activity Two: Lesson – Being vs. Doing, Bhakti yoga

Activity Three: Practice of Adoration

Adoration meditation and/or Kirtan

Lesson Two Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Three: Priestess

Activity One: Immersing ourselves in Mary’s story

Immersion Meditation

Activity Two: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Priestess

Activity Three: Make your own oil of anointing

Lesson Three Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Four: Devoted Witness/ Wife?

Activity One: Immersion Meditation

In the Garden of Gethsemane with Mary

Activity Two: Reflective Reading Meditation

Mary never left his side.

Activity Three: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Devoted Witness

Activity Four: Immersion Meditation

Mary at Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, death and burial.

Lesson Four Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Five: Apostle to the Apostles          

Activity One: Critical reading and reflection

Activity Two: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Apostle to the Apostles

Activity Three: Immersion Meditation

Being Mary at the Tomb

Lesson Five Wrap up and Integration

Session Six: Order of the Magdalene

Introduction and preparation for your Magdalene ordination

Activity One: Gathering the Legends of the Magdalene

Music meditation

Activity Two: The Gospel of Mary, Introduction

Activity Three: The Gospel of Mary text and meditation

Activity Four: Discerning and Accepting the Call of the Magdalene

Activity Five: Writing your Vows

Activity Six: Ordination Ceremony

Course Wrap up and Final Words

NOTE:  This course is the first and foundational course in the Magdalene Priestess Training.  Enjoy a free sample of this course, along with the other courses in the Magdalene Priestess training through the FREE Magdalene Priestess Training Preview course.  Click on image below to learn more and to register: 

Guilt and Shame in Christianity

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Exploring the role of guilt and shame in the formation of the Christian religion

Since the time of its inception, Christianity has been a religion rife with conflict.  One such conflict is the 2000 year old battle between the two sides of the Christian message – that which is based in fear and the other which is rooted in love.  Understanding the experiences out of which Christianity emerged, one has to wonder, is the religion of Christianity merely an expression of the unresolved guilt and shame experienced by the disciples who denied and abandoned Jesus at his greatest hour of need? When we look at the long dalliance between Christianity and guilt, one has to wonder.

What follows is a “fictional” account of what may have happened:

Once upon a time, there was a bunch of fishermen who met this dude named Jesus.  They thought this Jesus was pretty cool.  First he taught them a better way to fish, and then he showed them how to walk on water.  After the theatrics he taught them how to love. These fishermen thought Jesus was the next best thing after leavened bread – something that was a luxury for fishermen – because which one among them had time to wait for bread to rise?

Things were really cool with this Jesus guy.  They got to travel.  Meet new people.  Hear amazing stories.  They got invited into the homes of those they never thought they’d be able to dine with.  They saw amazing things happen and miracles performed.  The sick were healed.  The blind were able to see.  And Jesus spoke in a way that made their heart feel warm and their soul feel at peace.

But then one day, people started to become angry over Jesus’ words.  Angry words were exchanged and the next thing the fishermen knew, their buddy Jesus was hauled off to prison and brought before the Roman governor where he was tried for treason.  Treason?  (They also heard words like blasphemy….and other scary words).  Jesus was just trying to teach people how to love.  The fishermen were surprised, but mostly they were afraid.  If people came to know that Jesus was their friend, would they be imprisoned and tried too?  So they hid.

And they kept hiding.  They heard that Jesus’ trial didn’t go well and that he had been sentenced to death.  Now they were really afraid.  So they kept hiding.  They hid all the while the women knocked on their door saying, “Come out.  Come with us.  We need to support our friend.  We need to be with him.  We need to offer our love and support.”  But the women’s pleas could not break through the fishermen’s fears.  So they continued to hide. 

They hid after the women came and told them Jesus had been crucified and that he had died.  They hid after the women came to tell them Jesus had been buried.  And they continued to hide until three days later, on the morning after the Sabbath when Mary Magdalene (Jesus’ favorite) knocked on the door and proclaimed that Jesus lived.  But even then, they only opened the door a crack, and then swiftly slammed it in Mary’s face.  “She must have lost her mind.  Jesus cannot have survived a crucifixion.  And ‘he has risen?’  What does that even mean?”

But then, Jesus himself showed up.  He walked right through the closed and bolted door and showed them.  “See.  I have not died so as never to be seen or known again.  I am now with you, always, along with the Spirit who is with and in me.” Only then did the fishermen open the door to Mary Magdalene who stood there tapping her feet with her arms across her chest…saying with her eyes, “I told you so!” For a brief moment, the disciples hung their head in shame – first because they had not listened to the Magdalene, the one Jesus favored above them all; and secondly, because they had abandoned their friend at the time of his greatest need.  But just as quickly as the guilt and shame surfaced, they began to make their excuses.

Jesus listened to their bargaining and then began to remind them of all he had taught them about peace and love and how they could experience the kingdom of God right here in the midst of the human experience.  Jesus continued to teach them, empowering them with the light of his Spirit so they might go forth and share the good news he had proclaimed:  “Turn your gaze only toward the Divine within, for here is where you will find the kingdom of God.”  (While the disciples were being tutored for the umpteenth time, Mary Magdalene and the other women were already about their mission of teaching people how to love.) Then Jesus told the disciples, “I must ascend,” and took off for good.  Now the disciples were on their own, so they did what Jesus told them to do, “go out and preach the good news.” 

This would have been all fine and good except that the male disciples could not let go of that sense of guilt and shame over having abandoned their friend.  The wound of shame festered and soon, they could only remember Jesus’ message through the lens of their unhealed shame.  As a result, they went forth preaching “the good news,” but soon it took on a new flavor.  This message was not the pure message of love Jesus had proclaimed and which Mary and the other women continued to share in the world.  Instead, the message became tainted by shame.  Instead of the overwhelmingly uplifting message of unconditional love, the love of God became conditional and wrapped in fear.  God was no longer the prodigal father of which Jesus spoke; instead he became a wrathful God making impossible demands on his children with the overarching and overwhelming threat of eternal punishment in a place called hell.  The cause of Jesus’ death became the sin of humanity.  Judas was Jesus’ betrayer and it was the Jews who killed him.  Women and sexual intercourse became the cause of original sin.  As the wound of shame continued to fester, the message of love became eclipsed to the point where it no longer remained. 

But, while the disciples who retained the wound of shame preached a message tainted with fear, those who had no shame, because they had stood by the side of their beloved teacher and friend – Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Martha, the other Marys, the youngest disciple (and Jesus’ own brother) John, and a few others taught a message of love.  They went out into the world doing what Jesus taught them to do.  They began with showing people how to connect with the Divine within.  Then they supported them in coming to know that this connection – which felt like peace, love, contentment and joy – was their original nature and what Jesus called “the kingdom of God.”  Then they taught them how to connect with their own unique gifts and to hear the voice of the Divine which led them to their truth and to the purpose of their life path.  They gathered in community for meditation, contemplation and prayer.  They broke bread together and shared all things in common for the sake of the common good.  They went out into the world teaching, healing, supporting and empowering people – showing them how to be free by teaching them how to love.  In this expression, God was not to be feared but was instead, the source of unconditional and unmerited love. In this they came to know that there was indeed no separation – only love – and they lived in peace and walked softly upon the earth while diligently praying that their brothers and sisters might find healing and self-forgiveness for the guilt and shame they have been harboring for the past 2000 years.

What role have guilt or shame played in your own religious upbringing?

How do you find yourself STILL plagued by this shame-based conditioning?

LIVE ONLINE COURSE:

Freedom from Shame

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

Learn more and enroll HERE

Enrollment limited to 25. Register now to reserve your seat.

Conditioned by Shame

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Shame is one of the forces of manipulation that we are currently unraveling from at this stage in our cultural/spiritual evolution.  Specifically – the shame we have been conditioned to feel by the patriarchal/hierarchical power structures who for the past 5000 years have ruled our world.  These power structures, which are rooted in fear, power and control, have fashioned “rules” from which they benefit while the rest of us suffer.  Shame is the tool they use to get us to comply with their rules. Let me offer a few examples:

  • If you anger, disappoint or turn away from “god” you will go to hell and here are the ways you will anger and disappoint “god.”
  • If you don’t dress a certain way, carry a certain purse, if your body isn’t a certain size, people won’t love you.
  • If you don’t succeed in school, you are a failure.
  • If you didn’t learn the lesson, or if you did learn it but can’t communicate it in the way we expect you to, you will get a bad grade.
  • If you don’t pay your bills on time, you will be punished.
  • If you don’t make a certain amount of money, you are a failure.
  • If you are sick and need medical care, but don’t have money to pay for it, you are lazy.
  • If you are a working mother and can’t get to work on time because you have to take your child to work, you will be fired.
  • If you got pregnant out of wedlock, you are a whore.
  • If you are having sex outside of marriage you are also a whore.
  • If you are raped, it’s your fault.

The list goes on and on and on.

These are the threats that have been doled out to us by the existing power structures to imprison us with fear and manipulate us with shame. 

NO MORE! 

It is time for us to unravel from this shame by:

  1. Refusing its power over us.
  2. Taking back our own power.
  3. Healing the wounds that have been implanted within us by this shame so that we are less likely to be vulnerable to shame’s manipulations.

Join us for our first Master class of 2023:

Freedom from Shame

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

LIVE via ZOOM

Learn more and enroll HERE

Enrollment limited to 25. Register now and reserve your seat.

Holding My Tongue

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I spend a fair portion of my professional life supporting clients and students in naming, claiming, and speaking their truth. However, I find myself spending a lot of my personal life NOT speaking.

Yes, I speak MY truth.

What I don’t always speak is the truth I see in others. Or rather, their manipulations, lies, and deceptions. For as clearly as I know my own truth, I see the truth (or lack thereof) in others.

I see and I know – especially when another is trying to pull the wool over my eyes or over the eyes of others. I can’t be fooled. (I have been fooled in the past, but I’ve since learned to TRUST MY FIRST INSTINCTS.  They are always correct!) 

I listen and watch closely. Liars will always reveal their true face – if not right away, over time. The truth cannot be hidden for long.  Eventually it will creep out from under the carpet where it’s been swept to be seen by those with eyes to see.

Deception has tells – a look in the eyes, evasive or ghosting behaviors, lame excuses, inconsistencies, words not matching behaviors, false promises, leaving out important details, etc. Sometimes it’s just a feeling. Something doesn’t feel right, or something feels off about a person, their business, their practices, their products, their credentials. The stories they tell or the way they present themselves don’t add up. 

Sometimes it’s what’s NOT being said that reveals the lie.

To me, there is nothing worse than a liar!  Especially those who take advantage of others with their deceptions.  Most especially, when the advantage benefits the liar through the typical capitalistic measurements of so-called success:  money, fame, power. Liars getting rich off the backs of the vulnerable humans they have lured into their trap. This (almost regular) phenomenon makes me both angry and sad. Angry at the liar. Sad for their victims.

When I’m really being compassionate, I even feel sad for the liar. Why? Because the only people who need to lie are those with something to hide – often something they are hiding from themselves. A deep well of insecurity, for example, is a typical characteristic of liars.

The recovering perfectionist and truth-telling prophet in me wants to call out these liars from the rooftops at the top of my lungs.  “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” I want to point out every infraction, discrepancy, deception, and point out every tell. I want to see the liars brought to justice and watch the kingdom they have built for themselves burn itself to the ground.

I won’t though. I’ve learned it doesn’t do any good. Those enamored of the liar won’t believe me anyway. People refuse to see the truth right in front of them, sometimes even after it has blown up in their face. People are on their own path and will either eventually figure out the deception or die trying.

I’m also not an asshole. I might think like an asshole on occasion, but I refuse to act like one. (I’m sure there are certain people who would disagree with this statement – LOL!)  What if I’m wrong?  (I’m not!) How would I feel if someone accused me of lying (they would be wrong)?  I adhere to the Golden Rule.

I also believe strongly in the restorative justice of Karma.  Karma is a MF Bitch!  I’ve seen her in action. Whether in this life of the next, liars will get their due. And the evil part of me relishes in the fantasy of that retribution.

So, I hold my tongue. I watch. I observe. I listen. I pay attention. I discern. I let Truth speak for itself and allow the space for liars to dig their own graves.

Live Your Truth!

Overcoming Obstacles with the Authentic Freedom Protocol empowers you in identifying, healing, and transcending the inner obstacles to living your own truth.

  • Learn the Authentic Freedom Protocol
  • Identify your core fears
  • Heal those fears
  • Step out into your truth
Learn more and enroll here

The Purpose of Evil

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

Before diving into the purpose of evil, I must first share a story. This is a conversation I had with my daughter when she was somewhere around the ripe old age of 14:

Me: “I wish all the evil and bad in the world would just go away.”

Daughter: “But mom, if that happened, there would be no anime.”

Me: …….

Me: …….

Daughter:  “You know, no heroes’ journey! What fun would that be?”

Me: …..

Me: “Sigh. You’re completely right! Out of the mouths of babes!”

This was not the first time I was bested by my wise daughter!  At the young age of 14, my anime-loving daughter was able to clearly see what I could not:

We need evil in our lives! Evil has a reason and a purpose.

The purpose of evil is ultimately for our benefit.

As my daughter so cleverly pointed out, if there wasn’t evil in the world, how would we ever be challenged to grow? In referring to the classic archetype of the heroes’ journey, my wise daughter said it all:

Evil provides the resistance we need to grow.

Human beings are not unlike plants in this regard. As a germinating plant needs the resistance provided by the seed to grow and is then further strengthened by the resistance provided by the rock and soil through which it must climb to reach the sun, so do we need resistance to grow. Being confronted by evil and the other difficulties and struggles of the human condition, we are being provided with an opportunity for this growth.

Unlike a plant which has no choice but to push through (or die), facing evil also gives us the opportunity to cultivate our will and our power to choose. Struggling with the evils of the human condition supports us in honing our conscience and our consciousness. Who do we want to be and how to we want to live and act? Continually, we are given an opportunity to succumb to evil, be led by evil, or alternatively to make the choice for love. When we choose evil, we suffer the consequences of that choice and are given one opportunity after another to choose otherwise. When we choose love, our path takes on a greater sense of ease as we flow gently toward the next opportunity for our growth. Then we have another opportunity to choose.

Evil is always working for our highest good – continually providing us with opportunities to choose and to grow. Our invitation is not to run from evil, but to face it head on, welcoming its lesson, and accepting the opportunity for growth.  In welcoming evil as a teacher, we are fully participating in our own heroes’ journey, and in doing so, writing our own anime adventure!

What kind of hero are you choosing to be?

Courses in support of your own heroes’ journey. Click on the images below to learn more!

Uchiha Image credit: https://wallpaperaccess.com/sasuke-and-itachi-uchiha#google_vignette

Full Moon Report

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

The energies leading up to this full moon have been intense to say the least. Reports from the field include: headaches, vertigo, INTENSE fatigue, nausea in some, physical pain, an inability to focus or maintain attention to ANYTHING. For me this has included “death chills” (I’m not sick!).

On an individual level, for many, this is the final death moon – putting closure on our karmic missions and sealing them up for the crypt. We are done. We’ve done our inner healing and clearing. We’ve done our karmic service to the world. It is now time to put that to bed, shake the dust from our feet, and walk away. The walking away is from all that is no longer life giving. As we allow ourselves to LET GO, we are creating space for the new to come into being. It is time to be open to the new – a new that is life-giving, joyful, fulfilling, and (gasp) FUN! This is the final dying. Now it’s time to live!

Nationally we are seeing another kind of karmic death. Karma is finally being meted out, wrongs righted, and we are witnessing a return to reason. For many, this feels like a victory, a breath of fresh air, and the restoration of hope. For others, I’m feeling a strange kind of grief/shame – specifically from those who did not see and who now have no choice but to see. Along with this is an undercurrent of confusion. The big question here is “Who do we follow/listen to if those we took to be our leader turn out to be liars?” Some will seek another outside perceived authority. Others will simply repress the anxiety/confusion/shame which will then likely come out sideways. Those who are ready, will begin the difficult task of unraveling from outside perceived authority to discover and cultivate the authority within.

On a global level, we stand at a place of decision. Some literally holding the destruction of the world in their hands while others look on holding their breaths. Will someone step in to intervene? Will reason prevail? This presents a bigger question – who is “someone?” I have to wonder if the world is waiting for this someone to come forth or if humanity will realize that WE ARE THE SOMEONE WE ARE WAITING FOR!

As many have reiterated – today is not a day for doing. It is a day for being. Be quiet. Be still. Go inward. Be with the moon and whatever it is inviting you to!

Love,
Lauri Ann Lumby
www.lauriannlumby.com

Trusting First Thoughts

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

You know your truth and you know your path. You immediately know if you can trust a person or if caution must be exercised. You know if you are in danger.  You know if you are safe. You know when something is right for you and when it is not. At the deepest and most immediate levels you know this, but if you are like most human beings, this knowing has been conditioned or punished out of you.  Most often, this knowing has been sequestered into box called “can’t” “should” or “shan’t.”

You can’t possibly know that!

You shan’t be so judgmental.

You should give people and situations the benefit of the doubt.

You should give it a chance.

But why?  If you know, you know!  Remember that tiny hair on the back of your neck that stood up when you met that person who later of turned out to be a complete jerk?  How about that clenched feeling in your belly when you were left alone in the room with Uncle ____.  Or that tickle in your ear that said, “don’t take this road” but you took it anyway and rolled your car? How about that snap moment of panic just before you got rear-ended? Or the outside force that picked up your leg and moved it to slam on the brakes saving you from getting t-boned by the big green van running the red light?

Or more subtly: the sneaking feeling that a co-worker had it out for you? The lightning bolt that went up your arm when you shook the hand of a new acquaintance and you immediately knew they were a liar and a manipulator?  The feeling that something felt too good to be true – and it turned out to be!

You know!  You know your truth.  You know what’s right for you.  You know when you are to remain on your current path and when you are being called to change it.  You know what is life-giving for you.  You know what is soul-sucking. You know when you want to share your energy and time; how and with whom. You know when you simply want to be alone. You know who your allies are.  You know your enemies.

This knowledge is communicated in your very first thoughts. Trust them!

Lauri Ann Lumby supports you in trusting your first thoughts!

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

Work with Lauri