Being an Empath

When “the Devil” Comes a-Callin’

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Ahhhhhhhh.  The Trickster.  Satan.  Beelzebub.  Beetlejuice.  By whatever name we call “him,” the role is the same:

That thing that shows up just as something amazing has happened, or as something magnificent is about to happen.  That experience that attempts to throw a banana peel into our path.  The person who throws spikes across the road of our enjoyment just after we get done fruitfully sharing our gifts in the world.

Yeah….you know of whom/what I speak.  We’ve all had these experiences. I’ve gotten to the point now where I know the Trickster when I see it and I name it for who it is. This does not, however, prevent me from feeling the jarring impact of what can only be called a psychic attack. 

Here’s how it went:

Thursday and Saturday of the past week, I had the profound gift of presenting to two different organizations.  Thursday’s presentation was on Mary Magdalene for the Healer’s Playgroup.  Saturday I presented on Mental Health and Resilience in Teens for the Wisconsin Dance Council annual convention.  Both presentations were enthusiastically received and I felt completely in my element and anchored in my gifts and my calling. Everything felt right with the world as I gave my introvert/empath a well-deserved day (or two) of rest.

Then “the devil” came a callin’.  I will say this is not the first time I’ve had to deal with severely disturbed individuals who are operating out of some sort of delusion that I am the cause of their current life situation. In this case, a person I don’t even know, but who apparently knows me through a shared membership on another platform. I won’t go into the details but to say their language was abusive, graphic, and venomous would be an understatement. Understanding the disease that provokes such outbursts did nothing to protect me from the daggers of hatred carried by these words. My rational mind knew how to respond. My empathic body felt the sting of her words. My inner healer knew what to do to support myself in being free of the venom and how to let my psychic body heal.

And, my inner spiritual teacher knew exactly what this was:

“Hello Trickster, the fact that you are here is telling me something magnificent is happening.”

Indeed.  THIS is the role of the Trickster. To startle us out of our enjoyment, trip us up on our path, plant the seeds of confusion and doubt in our mind – all for the purpose of testing our resolve.

The Trickster is here to ask us: “Are you sure about this?”

Um.  Yes, I’m sure.  I’m certain about my gifts. I’m certain of my call to serve. I’m certain I’m called to serve the world through my gifts of teaching, providing guidance and counsel, and being a force of Love in the world.  All the tricksters in the world are not going to convince me otherwise. As I reached out to a colleague who had a similar encounter with this individual, her words said it perfectly: 

Not today Satan!  Not today!

  • Where and how have you experienced the Trickster in your life?
  • What tools do you have for moving through and past the Trickster’s shenanigans?
Only $28.00 for this 2 hour workshop

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

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

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Strange Symptoms, Empathy and the Call of the Mystic

The call of the mystic is often accompanied by the gift of empathy – the ability to feel what other people are feeling, and to feel things that are happening in the world. This gift of empathy is often identified by strange, otherwise unexplainable physical and emotional symptoms: physical pain, vertigo, ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea, migraines, visual disturbances, unexplained sorrow, anxiety, grief, fear, etc. While it’s important to consult a medical doctor in the event these symptoms have a medical and treatable cause. If not, it might just be that you’re an empath.

Soul Lessons – Tonglen

In this video, you will learn about and be guided in a Tonglen practice. Tonglen is a powerful and effective practice for transforming our inner wounds, compulsions, past trauma, and societal conditioning. It’s a great remedy for guilt, shame, loneliness, anxiety, and so much more.

The Way of Love – The “G” Word

This week’s Way of Love Video Podcast explores the “G-word.” Humanity’s evolution as it relates to our concepts of that from whence we came. Is it the old man in the sky? A many-armed God? Or will our human conceptualizations of the Source always fall short of what “G” really is?

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The Call of the Bean Sidhe

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

In a far-off land

‘neath a hill of grass and stone

lives the Bean Sidhe.

Cloaked in rags

Dreaded silver locks

Tattoos of woad telling stories of her life

Her face a skull

One clear eye seeing without

The cloudy one seeing within

Her skeletal finger pointing out the eternal

Her life will never end

With her knowing eyes she’s seen it all

Nothing you could say would surprise

Nothing you do could shock

She sees only Truth

A mirror for those who dare –

who can endure her eternal screaming.

A witness to all of humanity’s sorrow

and a voice for all who weep for humanity’s doom –

They’ve no one to blame but themselves.

I am She and She is me.

art and poetry copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

What Are Your Soul Gifts?

Online course

13 lessons done at your own pace

Created and Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

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Protecting Our Magic

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Do you ever get the feeling you weren’t really made for this world?  That this world simply feels too loud, violent, harsh, bright, etc. etc. etc.?  Me too!  Do you suffer with symptoms that might indicate that this world is indeed too harsh for you?  Symptoms like anxiety, panic attacks, vertigo, unexplained pain, fatigue, depression, sun or light sensitivity, tinnitus, migraines, or any other number of “unexplained illnesses with seemingly no cause and definitely no cure?” Me too.  Do you find it (increasingly) difficult to be around people and have an aversion to crowds?  Me too!  Have you been told there might be something wrong with you?  That you need to seek medical or psychological help to overcome your symptoms?  Have you been told to just get over it? Do people look at you like you’re nuts when you try to explain these symptoms and how they make you feel?  Have you been tempted to believe these voices because it’s what our society tells us as well?  Yep.  Me too!

What if there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU and the “symptoms” you are experiencing are your body’s way of telling you the world is wrong and that it has the potential to cause harm to something precious and sacred inside of you?

What if your “symptoms” are not a disease,

but instead are signs of your magic?

On day five of a full body migraine, with no evidence of a cause and no sign of a cure, this is what I am considering.  What if all the symptoms I’ve been trying to manage or make go away (migraines, physical pain, intermittent vertigo) are signs of my magic – magic trying to be made known while also seeking my protection.

The truth is, I’ve been so busy drinking the patriarchal Kool-aid (work= success, hard work = more money, doing has value, being is laziness), that I have missed the opportunity to see these experiences in another light. To see these signs in another light, we must ask ourselves what magic needs?  This may differ from person to person, but for me,

My magic needs:

  • Solitude.
  • Quiet.
  • Gentle movement.
  • Stillness.
  • A safe place to live and work.
  • Deep listening.
  • Deep seeing.
  • The freedom to do things in my own way and in my own time.
  • People with whom to share my magic.
  • Vehicles through which I can share my magic.
  • A simple lifestyle.
  • Honesty.
  • Integrity.
  • Authenticity.
  • Sacred practice.
  • Meaningful and purpose-filled work.
  • Loving friendships.
  • Sacred community.

Recently my magic has also reminded me to bloom where I’m planted and has done so forcibly by making it impossible for me to stray far from home (without my protective charioteers).

(The travel thing is the hardest thing for me right now!  I want the freedom to go where I want to go when I want to go there – but apparently my magic has other ideas.)

This is what I’m talking about!  What if the things we’ve been calling disabilities, disorders, disease, impairments, illness, etc. etc. etc. are none of these, but are instead, our magic

  1. wanting to be known and
  2. letting us know what keeps our magic safe and what puts it at risk.

Remember: they once burned witches!

While this is (currently) illegal in this country, believe me, our culture finds other ways to punish and do harm to women who demonstrate certain kinds of power. While they might not be able to burn us, their actions might make us feel as if they are!

Bearing this in mind, it might be helpful to take another look at our magic and the threats to its safety.

  • Where have your gifts been questioned/challenged?
  • Where have you been punished/demonized/pathologized for your gifts (sensitivities, intuitive sensations, inner knowings, visions, prophecies, etc.)?
  • Where have you been told you’re crazy for knowing/sensing certain things?
  • When have you walked into a room and had the immediate sensation you should run?
  • Where have people clung to you and drawn energy and power from you, making you feel drained?
  • What environments or people feel draining?
  • What feels like pressure to you (expectations, the wagging finger of “should”)?
  • When have you been told you’re being judgmental when you share your bad feelings about a person you hardly know?
  • When have you been called a bitch for setting boundaries?
  • Where have others tried to damage your reputation or harbored jealousy over you?

All of the above are examples of how our magic is being threatened, along with an invitation to be more mindful of what our magic needs to feel safe and sacred. There is no one who can care for our magic but ourselves.  There is no one who can create the space and environment in which our magic can survive and thrive but ourselves.  Isn’t it time we do for ourselves what we so readily do for others?

Your magic is a sacred gift. Give yourself permission to treat it that way – no matter what society tells you otherwise!

What is Your Magic?

Each and every one of us has our own unique magic. Soul Gifts provides an opportunity to explore the depths of what your gifts might be so that you can claim them, while freeing yourself from the burden of trying to carry gifts that are not yours.

Learn more HERE

Feeling Numb? You’re Not Alone!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Numb. Slow. Unmotivated. Paralyzed. Uninspired. Despairing. Blank. Grey. Depressed. Sad.  These are the words people have been using to describe how they are currently feeling. It seems we are experiencing a collective numbness, the likes of which no one (in my generation at least) has ever experienced.

We are suffering from what I’m going to call PPTSD:  Post Pandemic Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We might also call it:  Post Political Traumatic Stress Disorder because it seems that literally everything has become a political issue over which people are  choosing to argue, fight, and divide.

For the past three years (I might argue since 2016), we have been bombarded with one violent event after another: contentious elections, school shootings, insurrections, a pandemic that some decided to make political, the rising cost of housing, inflation, “supply chain issues,” “food shortages,” global warming/climate change, the whole world on fire, war in Ukraine, the threat of violence from China, etc. etc. etc. The bombardment has been CONSTANT.  Every minute of every day we are getting pummeled by one threat after another. It’s exhausting.

No human was meant to experience this kind of constant external assault.  We were not wired for this. If you happen to be sensitive, an empath and/or healer, the effect has been even more profound. And there is no sign of things lightening up. Until the current system is done with its dying (for what we are really witnessing is the death of an empire and any system built on a similar foundation of fear, power, oppression, and control), the writhing and screaming will continue.

We have a right to feel numb, unmotivated, paralyzed, uninspired, etc.  We were not made for this kind of constant, collective trauma – especially one of this nature over which it seems we have no control. 

The old world is dying and dying it must. We cannot save it.  Neither should we try. That does not mean, however, that there isn’t SOMETHING WE CAN DO! As the current world, rooted in fear, power, oppression, and control is dying, a new world IS being born to take its place:

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Isaiah 43: 19a

A new world is being born among us, and we are the ones who have been quietly and stealthily building it. It is being born out of our unwillingness to submit to the status quo. It is being born out of our inherent sense of value and refusing to work in conditions or for pay that doesn’t reflect that value. It’s being born out of our love for the planet and our decisions to treat her more lovingly through our buying and growing decisions. It’s being born out of our care and concern for our children, and out of our hope for their future. It’s being born out of the generation of young people paving a new path to self-sufficiency through the creation of innovative business ventures. It’s being born out of those who have untied themselves from societal/religious/institutional conditioning, discovering their own truth, and living from that truth freely.

While we cannot escape the trauma of the dying world in its death throes, perhaps we can find hope in the new world that is being born, and inspiration for how we might begin or deepen our participation in its creation.  

Mastering the Flame

Wondering how you might be uniquely gifted to help bring forth the new world? Wondering how to identify and move through the blocks to living the life of your dreams? Check out the Mastering the Flame in-depth training program. 34 weeks of online lessons with ongoing support, and three one-on-one mentoring sessions with Lauri.

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Soul Weary 2

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

As an introvert and an empath, this world is sometimes (increasingly so it seems) just TOO MUCH.  Too much noise. Too much activity. Too much stress. Too much chaos.  Too much hatred.  Too much violence. I’m a strong, courageous, and resilient woman but after a lifetime of TOO MUCH I’m tired. My bones are tired. My blood is tired. My skin hurts. My mind is exhausted. My soul is weary.

I know I’m not alone in this. I hear from friends and family members every day who are deeply soul weary. It seems this soul-weariness has come to a point for many where we no longer have the strength or interest to move through one more layer of wet concrete to get to what?  Some level of success as defined by a system based in fear, oppression, and control?  “Just do it,” Just doesn’t anymore.  And there’s nothing to “get over” and “move on” from when we live in a disordered world.

Our world is sick, and it has made us all sick.

As I write these words, I find I’m too exhausted to even list all the ways in which our world has made us sick.  If you don’t see the sickness, either you are in denial or you are part of the problem. Those who are suffering because of our world know the reasons all too well. In short, the systems that have been created and out of which we are expected to live are not sustainable for ourselves or our planet.

What comes to my mind is the canary in the coalmine. Perhaps we who have become sickened to the point of being soul-weary are the canaries in the coalmine of our world. As every good coalminer knows, if the canaries are becoming ill, it’s time to run, get the hell out of that mine because soon you will become sick and dying too. The canaries alert the miners to a lack of oxygen or poisonous gas. We are that alert.

Those of us who are soul weary are here to tell the world STOP what you’re doing because if you continue in this direction, soon we are all going to die.

Lauri Ann Lumby

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.

If you are looking for support for your weary soul, email lauri@lauriannlumby.com to schedule an appointment.

Soul Weary

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

This morning while in meditation I was given a life-review.  Many of these have shown themselves as part of my spiritual practice – some simply for the sake of remembering; others for the sake of seeing, healing, and releasing. This morning’s review might prove to be a little of both, but it’s too soon to tell. Right now, I’m just tired. Most recently I’m physically exhausted from being an empath and processing a world at war.

But beyond this, my soul is tired. I’m weary. Soul weary.

As an introvert and an empath, this world is sometimes (increasingly so it seems) just TOO MUCH.  Too much noise. Too much activity. Too much stress. Too much chaos.  Too much hatred.  Too much violence. I’m a strong, courageous, and resilient woman but after a lifetime of TOO MUCH I’m tired. My bones are tired. My blood is tired. My skin hurts. My mind is exhausted. My soul is weary.

I know I’m not alone in this. I hear from friends and family members every day who are deeply soul weary. It seems this soul-weariness has come to a point for many where we no longer have the strength or interest to move through one more layer of wet concrete to get to what?  Some level of success as defined by a system based in fear, oppression, and control?  “Just do it,” Just doesn’t anymore.  And there’s nothing to “get over” and “move on” from when we live in a disordered world.

Our world is sick, and it has made us all sick.

As I write these words, I find I’m too exhausted to even list all the ways in which our world has made us sick.  If you don’t see the sickness, either you are in denial or you are part of the problem. Those who are suffering because of our world know the reasons all too well. In short, the systems that have been created and out of which we are expected to live are not sustainable for ourselves or our planet.

What comes to my mind is the canary in the coalmine. Perhaps we who have become sickened to the point of being soul-weary are the canaries in the coalmine of our world. As every good coalminer knows, if the canaries are becoming ill, it’s time to run, get the hell out of that mine because soon you will become sick and dying too. The canaries alert the miners to a lack of oxygen or poisonous gas. We are that alert.

Those of us who are soul weary are here to tell the world STOP what you’re doing because if you continue in this direction, soon we are all going to die.

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Jesus, who became Christ, was a Jewish mystic who spoke a message of union and love to a humanity who had lost its way. Today we stand as a humanity still lost, perhaps more in need of the original Jesus than the people to whom he originally spoke.

Join Lauri Ann Lumby in this 13-week journey of discovering the original Jesus while reclaiming the universal message of union and love that he taught and that we are so in need of in our world today.

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