Creating a New World

Undoing Toxic Capitalistic Conditioning

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

I am not afraid to publicly admit my vulnerability or share my woundedness. I have observed that in being open and transparent, others are often able to find healing themselves, or at the very least validation for their own feelings and experiences.

Most recently, the thing with which I am most struggling is my sense of failure and shame over where I find myself in my life. Nowhere in my life have I succeeded in the ways in which we are measured or judged in a capitalistic society. I’ve never been given opportunities for wealth. I’ve never had enough discretionary income to save or invest. I don’t have a wall full of awards. I’m not popular in the capitalistic sense of popularity. I’ve never even been “Almost Famous.”

Instead, the opportunities I’ve been given led me to a kind of calling that cannot be measured through externals but only by what is within. At one time, I received validation, affirmation, support, praise and even a sort of notoriety through said-calling, but even that was taken from me (rather, I chose obedience to a calling over obedience to an institution).

Since leaving the institution of the Catholic Church, I’ve been out in the world doing what I have felt called to do. But as of this moment, even this seems to be falling away. Instead of having something somewhat tangible to hold, I find myself doing work to pay my bills that in some ways has its own kind of reward, but which strongly suppresses what I consider to be my truest gifts. There is a sense of emptiness and loss as my gifts lay dying on the ground while I’m just trying to survive in a world that was not made for me.

I’m tired. I feel empty. I’m quite close to abandoning any and all hope of fulfillment in the sense that we’ve been conditioned to believe we are deserving of.

One thing I’ve learned in this life is that we don’t deserve shit. Hard work does not equal success. Neither does a so-called Divine calling. But how, really, is Divine Calling measured?

  • Jesus was crucified.
  • Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
  • Edith Stein was sent to the gas chamber.
  • Maximilian Kolbe died by lethal injection.
  • Gandhi was assassinated.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
  • Nelson Mandella was imprisoned and tortured.

A Divine Calling provides no guarantees. And yet, for some of us, it seems we have no choice but to follow this so-called Divine path, sacrificing capitalistic rewards for something else.

Today I’m not sure what that “something else” might be. Instead, I feel like I’m drowning in a sense of failure and its accompanying shame. The voice of this shame is continually trying to convince me I did something wrong, I chose the wrong path, and my true gifts don’t really matter. Everyday I feel like I’m bumping up against an impenetrable wall keeping me from my gifts and those who find them to be of value. It’s exhausting and heartbreaking.

And I know I’m not alone. This is why I’m baring my soul. I see you. In know who you are. You are my closest friends and companions who have equally “failed” in the capitalistic sense. You are the intuitives, neurodiverse, visionaries, prophets, and sensitive souls who have found this world simply too much to bear. Many of you struggle with “chronic illness,” in a world for which you were not made. I see you.  I know you.  I’ve heard your stories. Our stories are very much the same.

This too was Jesus’ story and the story of many who followed him:

“I have given them your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”  John 17: 14-16

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36

As those who are called to be and do the work of Love in a world that wants to divide through hatred, we, like Jesus, are not of this world. Instead, we are working on a different plane (so to speak). The work we do is vibrational. It is spiritual. It is energetic. It is intangible and subjective. It cannot be measured by either mathematics, physics, or capitalism. While we may know and believe this in the depths of our soul, this does not free us from the conflict between what our hearts know and what the world wants us to believe. This is where our spiritual practice becomes ever-more important. For me it is this:

  1. I first had to recognize the sense of failure and shame – in how it has been coming out sideways, then as it is anchored in my conditioning.
  2. Then, through inner pondering, I had to identify the nature and source of that shame. Where did I learn this? How is it part of my conditioning? How is it proving harmful.
  3. Then, I chose a self-forgiveness practice to support the healing and release of that shame.
  4. This practice is an ongoing work in progress, but I know that and know to have patience with myself as I heal.
  5. I’m also seeing all the ways in which I try to barrel through the pain of this shame and am TRYING to choose self-care and rest over forcing myself to abide by the “rules of survival.”
  6. Then comes the hard part – trusting that as I care for myself my material needs will be taken care of.

This capitalistic world is not made for us. Yet we have spent our entire lives being conditioned by its rules and measures of success. Undoing toxic capitalistic conditioning isn’t easy. But if we feel called to be Love, we have no choice but to transcend the capitalistic conditioning that has kept the entire world imprisoned. In undoing this conditioning, we are freed from this imprisonment, while providing an example that others may one day choose to follow.

Oh….and here’s a great anthem for undoing toxic capitalistic conditioning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwhBRJStz7w

Deepening Your Practic

The Authentic Freedom protocol, created by Lauri Ann Lumby, provides a solid and reliable framework for undoing toxic conditioning and healing our inner spiritual wounds. Into the Wilderness guides you through the in-depth process of learning and applying this process for the sake of your own liberation and freedom.

Learn more HERE

The Third Way

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

In the New Age and Ascension communities there has been an uptick in discussion around the idea of two timelines. Most commonly, these two timelines are described (loosely) as one being made of those anchored in illusion while the second is made of those who are woke. The theory is that these two timelines exist along parallel planes and represent the division of the world – ultimately creating two completely different human worlds.

The problem with the timeline theory is its sole purpose is to divide for the purpose of separating humans into those on the right/good timeline, and those on the wrong/bad timeline. Whereas it is natural for human beings to categorize for the purpose of gathering those of like-mind together, thereby creating the illusion of strength. Instead of creating strength, division makes us weak. Humanity is only strong when we come together for the purpose of serving the all, not just the vision or needs of those of our self-identified group.

Instead of the two-timeline theory, I propose that there is in fact, a third way. The Third Way is already before us if we are willing to see past the division that human beings are so busy creating.

Let me provide a concrete example from a recent discussion I found myself drawn into. The discussion came out of a group who identify as anti-vax. These are people who believe they have been seriously injured by vaccines or they know others who have been injured. Standing in the position of being against vaccinations, they have placed themselves in (sometimes violent) opposition to those in favor of vaccines.

The pro-vaccine people, I have observed, can be equally virulent in their opposition to the anti-vax people – accusing them of being ignorant, uninformed, biased, etc.

These opposing positions around the topic of vaccines has been painted as an illustration of the two separate timelines. Anti-vaxxers on a path to creating one kind of world, while pro-vaxxers are creating their own kind of earth. Both camps believe they are right and both claim wokeness to some degree.

Nowhere in these conversations has anyone proposed that there might be a third way and that it is the third way that could successfully bring – NOT JUST SOME – but ALL HUMANS into a new way of being human. I’m proposing this third way.

The Third Way, I believe, starts first where human beings tend to naturally flow – in division. Opposing opinions, opposing beliefs, competing knowledge, etc.  Instead of remaining in that division, however, we reach across the divide for the higher wisdom that is hidden within the perceived conflict.

As it relates to vaccines, for example, I don’t believe either side is wrong. The challenge has been that each side treats the other as the enemy and believes their way is the only way. I believe that there is a third way in which neither is the enemy, but instead, both are working together to gather and share knowledge, thereby allowing individuals to make their own well-informed choice. In this we bear the burden of due diligence along with the consequences of that choice.

The world of Love, that so many of us seek, is not born out of division. Neither is it born out of a need to be right while making others wrong. Instead, the world of Love is inviting us to choose a different way – one that listens deeply, one that exercises curiosity, one that honors the individual while seeking the common good, and one that recognizes that in our division we are weak and it is only in our union that we will not only survive, but thrive.

Being Love in a World that Wants to Hate

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

Being Love requires persistence, discipline, personal responsibility, accountability, and courage. Being Love requires vulnerability and humility. Being Love asks us to be willing to admit where we have been wrong, especially when our being wrong has wronged another. Being Love requires forgiveness – forgiveness of self and other – but likely not the kind of forgiveness you learned about in church. Being Love requires commitment along with countless opportunities to re-commit.

Being Love is an inside job. Being Love takes work. Being Love is hard. It is for these reasons, and the ones mentioned above, that so few even attempt, let alone succeed at being Love. This is especially true in a world that wants to be hate and which appears to be overwhelmingly successful in being hate.

Hate is easy. Born out of our instinctual drive to be suspicious of that which is unfamiliar, hate separates and divides in an attempt to keep us safe from the unknown. As reasoning animals, we are supposed to evolve past this drive to separate. Sadly, most have not evolved past this, simply because evolving takes work. Hating is easy. Being Love is hard.

Even with intention, desire, commitment, and drive, being Love is hard. I’ve learned and experienced this in my own life. One of the reasons hatred is so easy is because it feeds us. Hatred allows us to believe we are right and everyone else is wrong. Hatred fills us with a charge that can feel energizing and empowering. Hatred makes us feel powerful. Hatred allows us to feel superior. Hatred creates in us the illusion of being safe from those who have or could cause us harm.

Feeding on hatred, however, is like ingesting poison. Feeding on hatred makes us sick. Many years ago I became aware of the ways in which hatred was harming me. Eventually I decided to stop.  

Deciding to stop was only the first step, however.  From then on, I have dived deeply into researching and applying a multitude of wisdom practices that have helped me move from being hate to being Love.  In applying these practices, this is what I’ve learned:

  1. We cannot just “think” our way into being Love.
  2. Instead, we must go deep within ourselves to the places we have forgotten that we are Love and heal those.
  3. Over and over and over and over and over and over again.
  4. Being Love (and by association forgiveness) has NOTHING to do with “the other,” and everything to do with ourselves.
  5. As we heal the inner obstacles to Love, we are not only healing ourselves, others are healed as well.
  6. Another human’s inability to being Love is none of our business, except as an invitation to being more loving ourselves.
  7. We cannot heal or change anyone but ourselves.
  8. We can despise an individual’s actions while still having Love for them.

This #8 may in fact be the single most important challenge to us as we try to be Love. Every single day we encounter wounded and broken human beings who do not know they are Love. Having never been given a chance, or having never chosen to evolve, they find themselves living solely out of their instinctual center. From this fear center, the only way they know how to function is to divide themselves from that which they perceive as different. It is out of this fear that things like racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia arise. While our reasoning minds might not be able to understand how someone would purposefully choose hatred, until we evolve beyond our instinctual drives, anything other than hatred might not be a choice. To put it succinctly, hatred is just another word for fear. While we might despise the actions of someone choosing hatred over Love, we can have compassion and love for the wounded human inside of them who doesn’t know any other way to respond to fear.

While responding to fear/hatred with more fear/hatred might be easy, it is not how we bring more Love into our world. The only way for Love to grow is to be Love ourselves. In being Love and continuing to heal the places in ourselves that have forgotten we are Love, we are  providing humanity with an example of what Love looks like which then gives them an opportunity to make another choice.

Being hatred or being Love?  It is a choice.

Being Love begins with self-knowledge.

The Order of the Magdalene Formation Program provides you with resources, knowledge, and tools to support you in your own journey of self-discovery and empowerment. 

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Cassandra Syndrome

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

The struggle of feeling unseen and unheard

Two nights ago, I suffered one of my repeating nightmares. In this dream, not unlike many others like it, I was invited to speak to a group of people on a topic about which I was considered an expert. I spoke and no matter what I said, how I said it, or what I did to get the audience’s attention, I was completely ignored. Instead of listening to what I was saying, or paying attention to my presentation, the audience was talking and laughing amongst themselves. Finally, I put down my microphone and simply walked away. The audience didn’t even notice that I had left the podium, or the room.  They just continued with whatever they were doing, completely oblivious to my presence, or lack thereof.

The theme of this dream is one I have often. Speaking, teaching, announcing, begging, pleading with an individual or an audience while being completely ignored – unseen and unheard. At the end of these dreams, I wake up feeling frustrated and even a bit angry.

Why can’t or won’t they hear me?????

I wish I could say these dreams are simply a reflection of my own insecurity or lack of confidence. Instead, these dreams are a direct reflection of real-life experiences I have had. There have been countless occasions where I’ve been invited “as an expert” to speak to an audience or deliver a presentation and quite literally been ignored. I’m standing, or sitting, delivering whatever talk I’ve been invited to present, and I’m met with a room of blank stares. Or worse, as was the case in one corporate presentation, the audience actually made fun of me!  Or in another, where I was hosting a class and an organized group of people showed up to my class simply to harass and abuse me.

It’s not only in delivering presentations where I have felt unseen or unheard. While in graduate school, the university I was attending was going through a massive shake-up which resulted in a change in ownership and leadership. As students we were invited into a “townhall” meeting to discuss these changes and our feelings about it. In my time to share, I offered some suggestions based on my own previous experience with another institution going through something similar. I watched my words go up into the air and fall flat onto the ground while those who were meant to receive these words stared back at me blankly.

These experiences of feeling unseen and unheard have been a plague throughout my life. Whether it be in a teaching situation, when asked to present on a topic of expertise, writing my blog, trying to explain what I do, or offering deep knowledge about impending doom, I am met with blank stares. Sometimes those blank stares turn into any number of incredulous responses: “How can you know that?”  “You’re just being judgmental.” “That can’t be true.”

But the fact remains, I DO KNOW. Whether one calls it prophecy or simply the ability to read the room, I KNOW. And, I’m always right. Every. Single. Time. But no matter how often I’m proven true, or my work is shown to be of value, or others testify on my behalf, I cannot escape the very real experience of most often feeling unseen and unheard. No, it’s more than a feeling, many, arguably most, simply CANNOT hear me. Or if they can hear me, they choose not to listen.

When I shared about the dream on social media, my dear sister-in-law responded “Cassandra.” Admittedly, I had to look this up.  I had heard the terms “Cassandra Complex,” or “Cassandra Syndrome” before, but I didn’t really understand what it meant. As it turns out, neither do the so-called experts!

Every single post on this topic made it sound like “Cassandra Complex” was some sort of psychological disease – one experienced by women who think they are psychic and who go raving mad (“hysterical”) over not being heard. In these articles, the Cassandra is portrayed as sick and at-fault. Nowhere could I find validation for those who possess authentic intuitive gifts (or are just plain paying attention) and the very real frustration that arises when trying to share one’s gifts and being met with only a brick wall.

Cassandra was not the sick or insane person in the myth. The villain in the story is Apollo. Metaphorically, Apollo represents the ruling system and those invested in that system. Apollos are those who benefit from the ruling system, who prefer status quo, and who do not want to be disturbed by ideas that would question, challenge, or confront that system. Cassandra is the confronter. Cassandra brings visions of a new world, presents methods for escaping the status quo, and provides comfort and support for the natural grief that arises when one system is failing and a new one is trying to find its way in.

Cassandras are the truth bringers and light bearers. As light bearers, they often shine a light on that which has been hiding in the shadows and which needs to be confronted and healed to make room for more light. Apollos, as they cling to what they know, feel threatened by that which might point out that what they know might be a lie, or that they may have to let something go to experience something new. Apollos don’t want new. They’re happy with how things are. In response to a threat to their closely-held status-quo, Apollos will either go into a defensive mode, attempting to discredit the Cassandra, or they will simply turn a deaf ear. To the Cassandra, both are equally hurtful.

I have been on the receiving end of the Apollo response too many times to count. I can attest to the pain of being ignored and the deep frustration of being unheard. When met with this kind of refusal (which has often been accompanied by condemnation), I either become angry or feel profoundly defeated. It’s really difficult not being heard.

Yesterday, while struggling with the emotional hangover of the dream, I brought this Cassandra quandary into my prayers. Resigning myself to the reality of being a Cassandra in a world of Apollos just didn’t feel like enough of a response. (I sometimes think there is a fine line between resignation and suppression. Clearly, if I’m still having the dream, my feelings of frustration over not being heard have not truly been healed.) As I sat in wait for God’s answer to my prayer, I heard the simple words:

TURN AROUND

Then I saw, in my mind’s eye, an image of myself turning away from the Apollo world and toward the Cassandras of this world – those who also carry visions of the new, who call out the evils of this world, who seek healing of hearts and unity of spirits. It is not to the Apollos of this world that I am speaking – it is to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see – those who have grown tired of the status quo and who seek after something new that is more loving, gentle and kind than what humanity has heretofore created for itself.

Being a Cassandra in a world of Apollos is never easy, but maybe in turning around I will finally feel heard and seen and that will bring an end to these dreams.

A Word to Rouse the Weary

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

This morning, I awoke with the following words rolling over and over in my mind:

“The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.” (Isaiah 50:4-5)

I’m not sure if God is giving me an order or words to rouse myself.

Oh my God we are weary!  I’m weary. I think we’re all weary.

The weight of the world, especially the world of late, is just too much. Human beings were not made to live this way or under this much distress.

Just when I want to throw America a pity-party, I am reminded of the literal carnage the innocent people of Gaza have been living under, and the abject terror felt by those in Ukraine. Further are the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and the DRC, and every other location on this planet that is experiencing civil war and unrest.

From this perspective, I guess we (Americans) should be grateful. Things could be a whole lot worse.

But still, it sucks. Where once there was an illusion of hope, all it seems that we have now is sorrow and despair as we watch our rights being threatened and the rights of others literally torn from their grasp.

What words could I possibly offer to rouse the weary?

Is it enough to simply acknowledge the soul-crushing exhaustion many are currently feeling? Is it enough to recognize the heartbreak that arises when we see once-free people deprived of their liberties? Is it enough to call out the terror that makes itself known as we bear witness to the implosion of the American empire through the ongoing bombardment of chaotic and illogical “executive orders?” Is it enough to point out the abject failure of the courts to hold a certain administration accountable to actions that directly defy the constitution?

I’m so tired. Soooooo tired. How can I rouse the weary when I’m beyond weary myself? I’m just so sad – sad for those directly in the line of fire, and sad for the death of what was once called “The American Dream.”

This too shall pass? Other nations have experienced and survived their own periods of authoritarianism and tyranny? We too will survive?

But will we?

One thing I know for certain is that we will not be the same. No matter where this experiment in oligarchy goes or how it ends, The United States as a nation will not be the same. At least it better not be. People have already tried to surface candidates for the 2028 election. HELL NO!  While one person seems to be singularly responsible for the carnage we are all now seeing, he is simply a product of the system that put him in office. A system that has been corrupted by money, financial influence, and divisive propaganda. Until the system itself is changed, we will only see more of the same. Billionaires buying votes and decisions made on behalf of those who pad the pockets of our legislators.

While what we are witnessing right now sucks, perhaps it is necessary. How else would we see the depth of brokenness and the extent to which our nation is ruled, not by our elected representatives, but by big money?

As my mom says, “the kitchen has to get dirtier before it can be made clean.”  Perhaps this is what we are seeing – the appliances are finally being pulled away from the wall so that what has been hiding behind and underneath can finally be seen and cleaned away.

God I hope so! 

This brings to mind the experience that broke my last straw. I was working as the dining room manager at a resort in Glacier Park. Our final task, after the resort was closed for the winter, was to deep clean the kitchen. If you’ve ever had to deep clean an industrial kitchen, you know of what I speak. We started at 6am and didn’t end until 6pm (or later). We had to clean, scrub, scour, and polish every nook and cranny of every oven, stove, shelf, food surface, shelves, etc. etc. I was on day 3 or 4 of cleaning and had just cleaned the floor with a literal toothbrush.  I was covered from head to toe in kitchen grease and industrial cleaning products. I looked and smelled like I had just walked through the brimstones of hell. I was tired. I was exhausted. My whole body hurt. The kitchen manager came over to inspect my job and told me I had to do it over.

I cracked. The final straw of my patience shattered. I stood up, looked him in the eye and pointed at the nearest carving knife. “You see that knife? If you say one more fucking word to me, I will stab you in the face.” (Can you hear me actually saying this?????  I shocked myself!)  I was shaking and trembling. His reply, “Lauri, why don’t you go take a break?”  I went out on the back step and bawled my eyes out. 

Now here’s the irony of this tale. For the entire summer, the kitchen manager had it out for me. He was on my ass all summer and rode me ragged. I was certain he hated me – and his actions made me hate him. When I returned to the resort for our winter job at Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana, he couldn’t wait to be my best friend. WHAT!? Apparently, it took me standing up to him to gain his respect – or he was now so terrified he thought he’d best be nice to me or he might actually get a carving knife in the eye.  (hee hee hee)

Maybe these are my words to rouse the weary.  This is where we are – in the midst of the grossest and most disgusting industrial kitchen deep-clean we have ever seen. For the sake of the future of the nation, we have to do this cleaning – no matter how gross and disgusting it might become – all while being supervised by a bully. Eventually, however, the bully’s actions will hit our last straw, and we will finally gather the energy we need to stand up against the bully and all those who put him in power.

Here’s a recent example of exactly this: Harvard University JUST SAID NO to recent threats of the T-administration and sued him in return. (exactly what I’ve been saying universities and other recently threatened institutions need to do!) Go Harvard! Maybe there is some hope after all.

Join our global community!

  • Sanctuary calls together and provides support for those called to be Love in a world troubled by division and hate.
  • Sanctuary bears witness to the destruction of fear-based institutions while being midwife to a new world seeking to be born.
  • Sanctuary seeks to uphold the dignity and rights of every human being, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized among us.
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Just Say No!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Revealing the patriarchal wound in American institutions

Regardless of our thoughts on the Trump administration, we cannot deny the way this presidency is revealing the woundedness and corruption of long-cherished American institutions. This woundedness can be summed up in one simple way:

The Trump presidency is showing us how firmly entrenched American institutions are in patriarchy.

While this may be obvious considering that the vast majority of American institutions are founded on a patriarchal/hierarchical model. Patriarchal institutions favor the powerful few while imposing subservience on everyone else.

What has not been so obvious until now is the way in which these patriarchal institutions, and those within these institutions, have allowed themselves to become subservient to the system in which they exist. Patriarchy begets patriarchy with subtle layers of privilege imprisoning those within the very system. Let me point out a few examples:

  1. When the Trump administration ordered the elimination of DEI programs and initiatives, and then Universities and other institutions complied.
  2. When the Trump administration ordered the arrest and deportation of student protestors, and universities (and the Supreme Court) allowed this to happen.
  3. When the Trump administration threatened to deny universities of federal student loan and grant funding, and universities said and did nothing.

These are just three simple examples, all involving universities and colleges. These educational institutions DID NOTHING to stand up for equity and diversity programming, to protect the first amendment, to keep their foreign students safe, or argue against the deprivation of funding upon which they (and their students) rely. They did nothing. Instead, institutions who claim certain values appeared willing to forsake these values simply because someone who appears to be higher than they are on the totem pole of power told them to.

The burning question here is why didn’t they JUST SAY NO!?

The easy answer might be because of money. Each of these orders were accompanied by a threat of financial deprivation. The more subtle answer, and one even more significant than money, is the reality that every single institution who has complied with the president’s orders are patriarchal in nature and structure. The fact that they so readily bowed to threats proves that they are so entrenched in the system that they are willing to forsake the stated values of the institution and the rights of their students in favor of their own place within the system. “Yes sir, Mr. President, go ahead and deport our students, threaten their first-amendment rights, create an environment that deprives people of color, who struggle with disabilities, who don’t fit into “traditional” definitions of gender and sexuality, etc. with opportunities, etc.  Go ahead and do all this and we will stand by and watch and do nothing.”  By kowtowing to the demands of a bully, they secure their place within the system.

By remaining in a system that rules by threats and intimidation, they have made themselves the cause of their own demise.  What is true of every oppressive system is true here. By letting the bully win, you have already lost.

The correct response to oppression, is and has always been to

JUST SAY NO!

On both an individual and macrocosmic level, the path to escaping oppression begins with one single word, and that word is NO. Just say no! To the universities and other institutions receiving orders from the current administration that are accompanied by threats, just say no! Say no to ICE raids. Say no to the elimination of your DEI programs (or maintain the programming and call it something else!  DUH!). Say no to threats against the right to free speech, including the right to protest and peaceful assembly. When threatened with the withholding of federal student loan and grant funding, come together with other educational institutions and file a class-action lawsuit against the president. JUST SAY NO!

The same goes for each and every one of us. We live in a nation in which we have been given certain rights and in which these rights are said to be guaranteed. Stand up for those rights. Say no to threats and intimidation. Say no to those things that threaten the rights of others.

Escaping an oppressive system begins with one simple word, and that word is NO. Just say it!

Under patriarchy we lose:

  •   Access to our own inner authority.
  •   Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
  •  Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
  • The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.

In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Join Our Global Community

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Sanctuary: a place of refuge or safety.

Global gatherings starting May 21, 2025

Humanity is participating in and bearing witness to a powerful transition in an evolution of itself and the way it chooses to live and interact on this planet.  At first glance it may appear as if empires are collapsing. Gazing beyond the collapse we behold the new world being born. To navigate the crossroads of the old world dying and the new world birthing, we are called to be sanctuary for each other while cultivating and deepening our ability to be sanctuary for ourselves.

Sanctuary calls together and provides support for those called to be Love in a world troubled by division and hate.

Sanctuary bears witness to the destruction of fear-based institutions while being midwife to a new world seeking to be born.

Sanctuary seeks to uphold the dignity and rights of every human being, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized among us.

*If caring about the dignity, rights, and needs of others makes us “liberal” or “woke,” then so we are.

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The Heartbreak is Real

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I shared the other day about living in the 13th dimension and how this often feels like living in two different worlds. Today I find myself very much in the density of the 3d world (the world of duality and separation) and in that density feeling deeply and profoundly sad.

While I (and many others) have known the collapse of the empire was coming, there is nothing that can prepare us for how truly brutal and heartbreaking that collapse would be. As the stock market lost another 2200 points Friday, I found myself in a state of panic that was truly not my own. I have zero savings and no investments, so I have nothing to lose when the market crashes. I suspect it is the empath in me that is feeling this impact as millions of people watch their retirement and investment accounts disintegrate. As I know nothing really about stocks, I can’t help but wonder if this is a really big “big short,” purposefully initiated to make billionaires even richer. Or if the goal is to absolutely destroy the American economy. Either/both feel likely. Combine this with the elimination of free-trade, and even the non-empathic part of me fears that an economic depression is upon us (who am I kidding….the depression is already here). This does not bode well for the poor or middle class. It’s likely not even good for the low to middle upper class.

Economics notwithstanding, my heart is breaking over the violence being done to immigrants (legal and non-legal), transgender youth and adults, student protestors exercising their right to free speech, and all those around the planet who are suffering under wartime violence that has been in-part supported by the United States (Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, to name a few). And in what universe is it appropriate to seek the expansion of American territories by seizing other people’s lands?

Further, there are the questions of human rights – most pointedly – those (supposedly) guaranteed by our Constitution. There are proposals in place that would effectively eliminate a married woman’s right to vote (for example). Rhetoric has been thrown around about certain men wanting women to have more babies – as if this is the sole purpose of a woman. It may interest many to know that The Handmaid’s Tale was not meant to be a work of prophecy. Yet here we are.

And don’t get me started on the “Christian Right.” When (Speaker of the House) Mike Johnson speaks, I can assure you he knows NOT what he speaks. If he has read the bible, he seems to have missed the point.

Finally, there’s the burning question about the system of checks and balances that we were taught to believe would keep illegal things from happening and would protect our Constitution. Until four senators voted against Trump’s tariffs and Cory Booker completed his record-breaking 25-hour filibuster, Congress and the Supreme Court have remained silent. It makes me wonder – are they all in on it? Whatever “it” is. I’ve also been wondering at the silence of past presidents. (Thank you President Obama for finally speaking out!)

It is a sad and tragic time for the United States, and, by association, for the rest of the world. I’m grateful for my international friends who continue to offer words of support, knowing and understanding that it is truly the minority of Americans who support what is happening politically and economically, and that the majority of us want something else from our country.

Whereas the American dream has always been a kind of a lie, there are deep truths buried underneath the biases of the founding fathers. As outlined in the Constitution of the United States:

  • A government by and for the people (all people).
  • Insuring a fair and impartial legal system (for ALL).
  • Seeking after and supporting peace.
  • Promoting the well-being of all its citizens (while advocating for the well-being of all people on this planet).
  • Securing liberty and freedom for ALL.
  • And protecting the rights of its citizens as outlined in the Bill of Rights.

Whereas these statements may originally have been intended only for white landowners, for 250 years these words have been a beacon of hope and provided a vision of potential for all the United States can and could be. Many (including myself) still believe in this implied vision and in the continued expansion of this vision to include all those who find their way to our shores, and every single human being living within the boundaries of our nation today. Until the rights of all are ensured and protected, then the United States is only a shell of what it could be – and an ugly shell at that. Shame on us if we allow the very few who hold the gold to strip away the rights that so many have died defending.

I am deeply saddened by what I am witnessing as the collapse of what our nation and the dream of what could have been. I also believe (wish/hope) that the dying we are currently observing is leading to the beginning of something better. I can envision the something better – all that the Constitution promises and then some – but in the meantime, my heart is breaking over all those who will be the unwitting carnage of the empire seemingly intent on destroying itself.