A HUGE thank you from my dear friend and soul-brother, Christian Borchardt, for this contribution to the outcry over the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Chris says he wrote this as he found himself overcome with rage while reading his Sunday paper. Chris’ outrage is a terrific reminder that the overturning of RvW is a WE issue and that men too have a place in this conversation. Thank you Chris! I’m sooooooo grateful for you!
I can’t add nor remove anything
from MY body
Because YOU say
I can’t.
I can’t afford your food
I can’t afford your shelter
I can’t afford you – being you
By the way
Who are you –
Really, let me know
But
I can
Vote
Discern
and Judge
By the people, for the people, and
I am the people.
Learn more and enroll by clicking on the image above.
The overturning of Roe Vs. Wade is yet another symptom, among many, of an empire in collapse.
We cannot halt the empire’s collapse, neither should we try. A system that was built on fear, power, oppression, and control, is inherently unsustainable. It is time for that system to fall away so that a new system might be born from the ash.
In the meantime – how are we to survive an empire facing its own demise?
Please join Lauri Ann Lumby for this online workshop to discover effective tools for maintaining peace, preserving your sanity, and planting the seeds of a new world while living through the death throes of the old.
I am writing this just 45 minutes after the news was released that Roe Vs. Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court.
There are no words.
Disgusted. Sick. Angry. All come to mind, but this only scratches the surface of the reality behind this ruling:
The American people have been betrayed by our government – in the Supreme Court and everywhere else where women have been deprived of sovereignty over their own bodies. In a nation that proudly waves the banner of representative democracy where the majority of the population consider themselves pro-choice, these decisions are nothing short of betrayal – and demonstrate an epic failure of governance.
The US can no longer call itself a representative democracy.
Yes, this is just another nail in the coffin of a nation fast hurtling toward its self-created demise, but as a woman and as a mother of two young adults, and an auntie to many, this nail is especially painful.
I feel gutted.
I know I’m not alone. In the short time since the Supreme Court decision came down, my phone and social media have been screaming. Women are angry. Men who care about women should be too. What immediately followed were Clarence Thomas’ vision of a future where both contraception and same sex marriage are illegal (I truly despise this man and have since the Anita Hill thing). The actions of the vocal minority will not stop at abortion. Mark my words.
In this moment I don’t have energy to think about appropriate social action. All I can do right now is tend to my grief. Writing is one way I give my grief a voice. Social media is another. There aren’t enough Handmaid’s Tale memes for how many are feeling today.
I can also be a source of support for others. As a Soul Tender, with a master’s in Transpersonal Psychology, and just darn good listener without judgment, I’m a good place for people to express all that comes forth in the face of betrayal:
Shock.
Denial (this can’t be happening)
Bargaining (maybe more states will come forward with appropriate protections, maybe a new amendment can be written to protect women’s rights)
Depression (feelings of helplessness, despair, immobility)
RAGE RAGE RAGE (where I am right now)
Sorrow. (interesting, I found myself weeping in yoga this morning not really knowing why…..now I know).
I’m available via FB messenger and email lauri@lauriannlumby.com and text for those who have my private number.
Finally, in case anyone should forget:
THIS IS NOT JUST A WOMEN’S ISSUE
I’ve been saying this all along: in a nation that seems to cater to white men, these are the ones who need to speak out and stand up. Clearly the US Government doesn’t give a shit about women, people of color, or the poor (who will be most devastated by this ruling). Sadly, it has been proved that our voices don’t matter. The good men need to stand up and make their “brothers” hear. If they don’t, they might find that they will be the ones the vocal minority will be coming after next.
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.
Lauri is the author of seven books focusing on personal development, including Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy. She is also the author of two poetry collections, and a novel.
Lauri earned her master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia/ITP University, is a trained Spiritual Director in the Ignatian traditioned and has certificates in Adult Education and Psycho-Spiritual Development. Lauri is a Reiki Master Practitioner in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister. Lauri has also studied and been trained in shamanic practices under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen Schmitz. You can reach Lauri directly by emailing lauri@lauriannlumby.com.
On just this side of the Solstice portal, we find ourselves in a time of waiting. We have cleared the spent stalks of our former lives and prepared the soil. The seeds of the new have been planted. Our dreams are beginning to take root and we may be able to just glimpse the sprouts of the new emerging from their home in the soil. It is not yet time to enjoy the fruits of our labors as the harvest has not yet come. So now we wait.
This time of waiting is appropriate. While we have made ourselves ready for the new world through all that we have done for ourselves, there remains a world around us that is not yet done with its dying. Instead, we wait with bated breath teetering on the edge of democracy – will it die (some would suggest it’s already dead) or will it be rescued from the brink of its self-created demise? This is a difficult time not only for the U.S., but for all other countries who claim democracy as their form of governance as democracy itself is being tested. Will it survive or collapse under the weight of the corruption that has been allowed to overtake a vision that once dared to suggest a government: of the people, by the people, for the people. The coming weeks will be the test of what we’ve been told to believe is freedom.
But is it? Has it ever been? As long as humanity suffers for the sake of a powerful few, we are not free. As long as humanity lacks the very things needed to support life – access to quality water, food, clothing, shelter, and safety, we are not free. If the very things we need to thrive as a species – quality education, healthcare, meaningful work at a sustainable wage, are only available to the wealthy few, we are not free. As the past two-hundred years have proved, democracy, as it’s been experienced in the U.S. anyway, does not guarantee freedom. If we were truly a government of the people, by the people, for the people, we would not be experiencing the great divide between those who have and those who have not, and legislation would benefit the common good instead of the powerful few.
It’s appropriate that democracy is being tested. It is long past time that the nations of this world who wave the flag of democracy take a good hard look at what they truly stand for. The same is true for us. Beyond what we are observing “out there,” in a world on the edge of its own collapse, we are being asked how we define freedom and how we are creating it in our own lives. True freedom is not defined by the external circumstances of our lives, but by a deep inner experience of contentment and joy – filled and flowing with love. How are we creating this in our lives?
We’ve done the first steps in clearing that which is no longer life-giving. We’ve planted the seeds of the new. Now is the time to wait and watch – looking for the weeds of the old that might creep in to strangle the sprouts of the new we have envisioned. As we wait, we might discover that we have planted some of our seeds too closely and that we need to weed out the excess or give them a new home. As we wait, we might find that some of our seeds need additional support or that we have tears to shed from the dying old that we can use to water them. Waiting is not a fallow time. Instead, it is a time to deepen and strengthen our vision, ensuring that what is coming forth is rooted, anchored, and bearing the abundant fruits of love.
Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame is your introduction to the foundational tools utilized in all Soul School offerings. This course gives you an opportunity to tip your toe in the water by providing a glimpse of the materials covered in our more intensive programs.
Through Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame, will learn effective tools that you can apply in your everyday life for supporting the unfolding of your Soul toward the goal of enjoying the meaningful and fulfilling live of your dreams.
Today we find ourselves in the center of the potent and powerful Solstice Portal. The portal began just before Tuesday’s full moon and will carry us through the final days of this week.
The 2022 solstice portal is especially potent as it marks final endings (last week’s full moon) and dramatic new beginnings. We have been preparing for this portal since early May, the fruits of which will unfold through October of this year.
Prior to May’s preparations for this portal, we may have found ourselves facing many deaths in our lives – literal and figurative. Things that were once life-giving and were bearing at least some fruit suddenly came to a halt (a halt that you may now be aware had been happening since late 2021). Some were left empty-handed. No work. No vision for anything new. No amount of effort would bring about the new that was simply not yet to be. We had to really let our old lives die.
As of May 1, sparks of the new were beginning to reveal themselves. For some, what may have begun as glimpses and glimmers turned into a full-on revisioning complete with creating. This was a time of excitement and hope for new opportunities and new beginnings.
Then that full moon on June 14th pulled the plug. Some will have heard this HALT as the reminder that with new beginnings comes a time of rest. We must leave the seeds alone that we have planted so they can begin to take root. The time from the full moon to this week’s solstice is exactly for this. Rest. Do nothing. Be still. Tend to the mundane.
While we have been biding our time, the energies of the impending solstice have been ramping up. I’m hearing reports of vertigo, migraines, powerful waves of energy being felt, bizarre dreams and more. The big terminology I’ve heard is “a look back.” This look back is taking on a wide variety of forms from old physical injuries and pains reappearing, mind loops of former life experiences (old loves, old jobs, old friends, old behavior patterns, etc.), and old fears. Just this morning I was awakened at 2am with a full-blown panic attack – for no reason whatsoever! I wasn’t even having a nightmare. Just panic for the sake of panic. UGH!
This look back is an opportunity to bid a final farewell to all that which represented our old lives (completed karmic contracts). The symptoms of vertigo, headaches, energy waves, dreams, etc. are representative of our Souls’ receiving new instructions, upgraded programming, and revised blueprints for the new lives we have already gotten a glimpse of, but have not yet fully landed.
Remember this is a period of releasing and receiving so if you’re feeling a little under the weather, or just “not quite right,” be kind to yourself as you are being made ready to be catapulted into a whole new life for yourself and it’s normal to feel a little bit of the bends or something akin to altitude sickness as your body adjusts to the new programs coming in while simultaneously cleansing itself of the old that is on its way out. Drink lots of water and listen to your body’s needs. For example, this morning I was hit by an overwhelming craving for a Hardee’s fried chicken sandwich, curly fries, and a Coke – the last thing I would normally choose to eat!
Finally, I want to say thank you! Thank you for the critically important work you have done up to and including the ending of your karmic contracts. Your (often difficult) work was necessary for establishing the foundation for this next stage in humanity’s evolution. The work you will be doing moving forward is known by your Soul and will be revealed in perfect Divine timing and in perfect alignment with who you are and what you need at this stage in your own personal journey. While one way of being has ended, the new promises to be more life-giving, more fruitful, and more in harmony with all you have come to know about yourself, your unique gifts, and your calling in this world.
What are the dreams and passions that inspire you?
What give you a sense of meaning and purpose?
What leaves you feeling content and deeply fulfilled?
What sets your heart aflame and fills you with joy?
What is your unique gift to the world?
What is standing in the say of you living the meaningful, fulfilling, joyful, inspired life of your dreams?
Soul School helps you answer these questions then supports you in overcoming the fears, unhealed, sounds, vulnerabilities, past traumas, and conditioning that are keeping you from living a meaningful, joyful, fulfilling, and inspired life!
If I shout it from the rooftops or scream into the void
they’ll finally seek no more to destroy.
Lay down their arms, their fingers of blame,
tear down the walls of ignorance and shame.
Cross the divide and take down the towers
of those to whom they’ve given their power.
But alas I find they don’t want to fix.
Choosing life over death – the puppet master’s trick.
Heartbreaking and tragic the decision they’ve made
I watch as together they dig their own grave.
Like the death-watch beetle I speak forth their doom –
No longer later, it’s coming quite soon.
Shifting my gaze from repair to surrender
visions of new I now can remember.
The seeds have been planted, builders coming through
it’s the new world that beckons to those who see true.
Soul School with Lauri Ann Lumby is playing its part in planting the seeds of the new world. We are doing so by providing services and programs that support Soul fulfillment (self-actualization).
Self-actualized individuals know:
Who they are.
Their unique giftedness.
How they are called to share those gifts for the sake of their own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.
A darkness has descended. I can’t see it yet, but I can feel it in every cell of my being. There is sorrow there and despair – but neither are mine.
A collective darkness.
A leaden cloud.
An impenetrable mist.
It weighs on me heavy – but again, it is not mine.
Something bubbling up from the depths.
A monster?
If so, it’s one of humanity’s own making.
Only the unseeing believe monsters live in the dark.
Instead, they’re right here – out in the open.
Boasting of all they’ve done,
all they’ve gotten and
all they took.
Prideful, bragging, arrogant beasts believing the rules apply to everyone but them, who think the golden rule is for sissies, and only the ignorant “love thy neighbor.” The world is for them to do with it what they will – no matter the cost to everyone but them. Power and money their only concern – leaving death and destruction in their wake.
The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are wholly man-made:
Famine
Pestilence
War
Death.
Growing fat over what they’ve made.
Feeding on the hungry.
Consuming the sick.
Devouring the spoils of War.
Feasting on the Dead.
These monsters have no need to hide for humanity has made them their gods. The golden calf keeping humanity enthralled with the empty promise of:
“This too can be yours.”
This then, is the darkness. Not the monsters themselves – but a dumb and blind humanity averting their gaze from the obvious and true. Afraid to admit they’ve purchased a lie – bought by their own blood, the price of their soul.
The fear that keeps humanity ignorant, mute and blind is palpable.
It has texture and form
With threads made of shame.
Will humanity be ready when the darkness descends?
Will they survive the deluge?
Will they take the blame, accepting responsibility for giving their power away?
When finally awakened,
will humanity come together to vanquish the monsters they have made?
or will they close their eyes and quickly go back to sleep?
Special Live Event. Click on the image to learn more.
Rome (aka the USA) is burning! In some places literally. In most other places, the nation is experiencing an increasingly volatile burning from the inside. What was called by the founders of this nation, “The United States,” is imploding from within due to division. At this point, we may as well admit the truth – we are no longer the United States of America. The USA may more accurately be described as “The Divided States of America.”
Even with our heads in the sand, the division is obvious:
Racists vs. People of Color
Democrat vs. Republican
American Nationalists vs. everyone else
Rich vs. Poor
Evangelical Christians vs. everyone else
Anti-abortion vs. Pro-choice
Homophobic vs. everyone else
Patriarchal men vs. Women
Power driven vs. those seeking unity
The list goes on and on and on, and I don’t even know what to say about guns. Is it reasonable to argue that the second amendment protects people’s rights to own military assault weapons that are capable of committing mass murder? Should we protect people’s rights to own bombs too? Asking for a friend.
Division is the sad reality of our nation and I am convinced that nothing is going to change it. One might argue that change is always possible. In a recent post, popular pastor John Pavlovitz expounded on the dangers of Evangelical Christianity and issued a charge for us to do something about it. What does Pastor John suggest we do? I’ve learned that if there’s one thing we cannot do – it is change someone’s mind. When someone is convinced their way is right, there is nothing we can do to convince them otherwise.
I’ve have freed myself from the illusion that I might change someone’s mind. I have also let go of the hope that change is possible in this nation for the simple fact that second only to death, humanity’s greatest fear is change. In many (if not most) cases, change only happens after something is pulled from our cold, dead fingers.
This is the point. The empire as we have known it is dying. As well it should! An empire built on the illusion of freedom by a bunch of slave-owning white men, where every ounce of liberty for anyone other than white men in power has been very hard one, is not a model I’m interested in continuing. A nation built on fear, power, oppression, division, and control is by its nature unsustainable and cannot stand. As one very wise brown skinned man once said:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (MT 12: 25)
So it is with our nation. Rome (the USA) is burning and there is nothing we can do to stop it – neither should we try. It’s time to let it burn. There’s also nothing we need to do to hasten the burn – it’s doing a really good job all on its own. Instead, we are invited to accept the death of that which we have known, surrender to its death, and do what we can to keep ourselves safe and sane in a nation that is dying by its own hand. Toward that end, I am holding a special LIVE event on Tuesday, June 14th via ZOOM, entitled: Surviving the Collapse of an Empire. Click on the image below to learn more and to register.
The empire as we have known it is in the throes of collapse. The signs of collapse are evident and unmistakable:
Corrupt Government Systems
Institutional Collapse
Grotesque Economic Disparity
The “Worker Shortage”
Increasing Cultural Division
Mass Shootings
Domestic Terrorism
Voter Suppression
Revocation of Human Rights
Staggering Mental Health Concerns
Destruction of the Environment
Collapsing Infrastructure
Global Warming
Food Shortages
Supply Chain Issues
We cannot halt the empire’s collapse, neither should we try. A system that was built on fear, power, oppression, and control, is inherently unsustainable. It is time for that system to fall away so that a new system might be born from the ash.
In the meantime – how are we to survive an empire facing its own demise?
Please join Lauri Ann Lumby for this two-hour workshop to discover effective tools for maintaining peace, preserving your sanity, and planting the seeds of a new world while living through the death throes of the old.
Is a visionary, prophet, changemaker and shit disturber. At a very young age, Lauri was given a vision of “the end of the world as we know it” along with the knowledge of what would be needed to support the world through this transition and the necessary tools for bringing forth the new world that is waiting to be realized on the other side of the collapse.
Lauri has over twenty-five years of experience as a change-maker, mentor, educator and guide. She has supported hundreds through her one-on-one guidance, books, workshops, retreats, over thirty online courses, and online community.
Lauri is the published author of ten books including Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy.
Lauri earned her master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia/ITP University, is a trained Spiritual Director in the Ignatian traditioned and has certificates in Adult Education and Psycho-Spiritual Development. Lauri is a Reiki Master Practitioner in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister. Lauri has also studied and been trained in shamanic practices under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen Schmitz. You can reach Lauri directly by emailing lauri@lauriannlumby.com or calling (920) 230-1313.
This morning while in meditation I was given a vision of the entrance into a new world. The entrance was made of two arched doorways atop of which was a stone crossbeam with the following words etched upon it:
…of the people, by the people, for all people.
Reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s prophetic hope for the rebirth of a nation, these words spoke to a new world that committed to undoing all the wrongs that prevented Lincoln’s vision for ever taking hold. When I read these words, I wept for a nation and a world that had failed itself. I then felt within me a renewed spark of hope – knowing that deep within the potential of humanity is the possibility of rebuilding our world anew.
This new world was built by those who had survived the time of destruction and seen the devastation that had been brought about by humanity’s greed. Instead of creating more of what had been, humanity had come together to create something new. Understanding that humanity’s survival was dependent on the wellbeing of the planet, care for the earth was now of primary concern. Gone were the days of poisoning our waters, our air, and our soil. Banished were the chemicals and processes that sought to manipulate or control nature. These were replaced by ancient practices of sustainability directed first at caring for the land and second for harnessing the inherent cooperation of nature. Technology now worked on behalf of the earth and all who lived upon her and new technologies were developed that gave more to the earth than what it took.
Weary of the division that had imprisoned them in conflict, humanity came together in support of the common good. Shifting their gaze from fierce individualism, decisions were now made in consideration of both the collective good and on how decisions might impact the most vulnerable among us. Recognizing how the lack of self-awareness, personal and collective accountability had been the cause of the old world’s destruction, the new world placed psychological development of utmost importance – with all education geared toward supporting the inherent giftedness of each individual while providing the necessary resources and training through which one might best fulfill their potential. Success was now measured more by an inner sense of fulfillment than by one’s position in society.
More than anything, what defined this new world was a deep spirit of cooperation. Each individual was valued for their unique contribution to the whole. Every resource was counted as gift. Diversity was celebrated as contributing to the betterment of the whole. Harmony was valued above conflict and collaboration above competition. In this new world, peace and compassion reigned, the magnificent beauty of nature was restored, and humanity lived in cooperation with each other, the planet, and all of creation. And life was good.
Lauri Ann Lumby 