When Your Demons Come Home to Roost

Letters from Hell #6

Today is a bad day. This has been a difficult weekend. For no (every) reason whatsoever, I have been feeling profoundly sad bordering on depressed. This is a stuck kind of sorrow compounded by a prescription antidepressant that makes it really difficult for me to cry. I feel like I’ve got a 20 ton boulder sitting on my chest, just behind my sternum.

Usually, I know what to do with this kind of sorrow.  I sit with it. I allow myself to feel it. I apply Tonglen or Ho’oponopono to it. This time, neither seem to be budging the load.

I allowed myself a weekend of self-care. I planned for nothing and allowed myself to simply rest. I didn’t much have a choice as I’ve also been feeling the consequences of autumn allergies. To put it bluntly I feel like SH*T. I don’t do well when I’m sick. I tend to fall into judgment, self-loathing, and self-flagellation at the hands of my inner critic who looks an awful lot like the “Shame nun” from Game of Thrones. “Shame.  Shame.  Shame.”

I’m not good at being vulnerable. I feel embarrassed and ashamed. I don’t want to invite anyone into my vulnerability. There is really nothing anyone can say that will make it better when I’m feeling this way. I know I just need to wait it out.

This morning I wrote in my journal.  These are the words that surfaced:

Taking this moment to pause. Suffering fall allergies and the pure exhaustion of a forced life. How much have I forced my self to be and do ____________ instead of just being myself. I’m tired. I feel stuck, but I’m not sure I really care. I’ve worn out my dreams.

I’ve worn out my dreams.

My dreams of a forever love.

Dreams of becoming a successful writer.

Fantasies of becoming a sought-after teacher.

Herein lies at least one face of this deep sorrow. I’m grieving. I’m grieving the failure of the goals, wishes, and dreams I had for my life and which I pursued with a vengeance. No one can say that I didn’t try (though I know some who will tell me I didn’t try hard enough or in the right way – to them I say, whatever).

Life doesn’t always give us what we want. And when we don’t get what we want, we can be like Sisyphus vainly attempting to roll the boulder up the mountain, killing ourselves in the process, or step aside, letting gravity take the boulder to where it naturally wants to go.

At some point in our lives, we are all faced with a crowd of our unrealized dreams. We can cling to or try to revive these dreams, or we can surrender to the fact that maybe these dreams were never meant to be fulfilled and/or that the journey was the point, and not the destination.

It still makes me mad. I know what my gifts are and on some days it just kills me to know that they are not being utilized.

I grieve this as well.

As the Rolling Stones once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you’ll find, you get what you need.” (Hmmm….that might be bullshit too….unless they’re including getting what we need only by the skin of our teeth.)

Being human is hard. Today is one of those days where it feels especially hard. I don’t like feeling sad or vulnerable. I don’t appreciate the demons of self-doubt, personal loathing, or shame that dance around in my head when I’m feeling this way. I also know better than to try to “change my thoughts” (toxic positivity) in an attempt to make the demons go away.

Instead, I sit with the demons. I call each of them forward. And I do my best to LOVE them. Each of them arose out of some kind of need – whether it be the need to belong, the need to believe the lies of perceived authority, or to keep me in compliance with the system, they came as some kind of support. Additionally, they show up to remind me of the deep pain I’m still carrying from trauma I’ve experienced in my life, along with an invitation to tend to yet another deeper layer of that pain that is now ready to be seen, felt, processed and released.

As is always true of the spiritual journey – wash, rinse repeat. So back to the demons I go to hear what they have to offer me in the way of healing this time.

Thank you sirs, may I have another.

Hell Isn’t All Bad

Letters from Hell #4

Living in hell isn’t all bad. Hell definitely has its perks:

  1. Living in hell allows us to clearly see the world humanity has created for itself – one that springs forth out of fear and which seeks after power and control in the hopes of mitigating that fear.
  2. Living in hell shows us daily the consequences of this quest for power – greed, gluttony, and the violence that humanity wields in their never-ending quest for MORE.
  3. Hell has been increasingly peeling back the layers of humanity’s corruption and all the lies that have been cultivated to justify injustice.
  4. Hell allows us to see who people truly are, including the lies they continue to tell themselves so they might benefit from the system hell created.
  5. Hell also shows us who we are not.
  6. Every second of every day, hell shows us the system that allows for its survival, along with how to escape that system – if only we would pay attention.

The doorway into hell is the same path by which we can escape. Humanity, as a collective, is not doomed to an eternity in hell. As individuals, we are not condemned to waiting for everyone else to wake up before we can make our own escape. The steps necessary for our escape are simple:

  1. We willing to see the hell-system for what it is – a system that is based on and manipulates us through fear.
  2. Harness the skills of observation required to identify all the seemingly infinite ways in which the system is attempting to manipulate you through fear (or shame).
  3. When you notice the system attempting to trigger your fear/shame – SAY NO!
  4. Instead of giving into the fear, STOP and turn your gaze inward – what is the fear that is being triggered? Where did you first experience this fear/shame?
  5. Engage in the mindfulness/meditation practices that you have for releasing/healing/transforming that fear.
  6. Wash, rinse, repeat.

As the journey into hell was created by a thousand steps, so too is the journey out. Escaping hell is all about identifying every wound, trauma, fear, and past conditioning that ties us to the system, and then unraveling ourselves from them. The journey out of hell is about healing through heightened awareness, and radical personal accountability. The more we see the ways in which the system controls us, the more power we have for making our escape.

Whereas the cacophony of the system wants us to believe otherwise, hell is not what the majority of humanity wants. At our core, most of us yearn for peace. We long for connection. We ache for compassion and kindness. And we’re driven toward justice. To escape hell, we cannot allow the system to convince us otherwise – for humanity is made of Love and it will ultimately be to Love that we will return.


2 year training package
Transforming Fears
Self-Awareness
One-on-One support

Letters from Hell #2 – Rest

This morning, my thoughts have turned to rest. Specifically, rest, that it seems I am needing a great deal more of. I never needed rest before – or at least I acted like I didn’t need it. I would work from before dawn to after dusk Monday through Sunday. Weekends were taken up with chores – cooking, cleaning, yardwork, being a mom, etc. etc. etc. There was no time for rest – rather, I rarely took the time.

Living in hell is exhausting. Between “hearing (and feeling) the cries of the world,” the increasing division and violence, and the constant bombardment of traumatic events and chaotic actions, I have very little left to give – to anything – other than survival.

It’s no wonder when the weekend comes all I really feel like doing is sitting at home, reading, napping, and watching TV. I have zero bandwidth (or money) for much else. I don’t want to go anywhere or be by anyone. And please don’t ask me to go somewhere where there will be crowds. I get enough of the energy of people during the week, and I really cannot tolerate any more.

I suspect I’m not alone in this – at least among those who are paying attention. As a healer and an empath, I feel it all  – every person’s emotions, feelings, anxieties, frustration, anger, and fear. I can’t help it. My body is like some kind of processor for all the darkness that is erupting in our world. It comes into me and moves through me. It seems I have no choice in the matter. It’s part of what I’m here to do and be. And trust me, it is not out of pride that I share this – because I would not wish this “job” on anyone.

First, my home is my sanctuary. I have created it into a place of refuge and safety. It is my hermitage, my monastery, my cloister. With three-foot-thick concrete walls, it is a fortress in which I feel safe. I am here mostly alone or in the company of loved ones or special clients. To the world, my home is invisible. To be found, you must have been given an invitation.

Second, when I’m not at the job that provides the income I need for basic survival, I’m at home. Except for visits to the yoga studio, running basic errands, visiting my favorite coffee shop, I’m home. At home, I am deeply immersed in my practice – meditation, prayer, reflecting, writing, reading, and praying some more. Increasingly, in prayer is how I spend my time. I need it. The world needs it.

Third, I’ve learned to embrace rest. When I’m tired, I nap. When it’s not a “work day,” I rest. In this also, I find I no longer have a choice. I need it after all the energy it takes to live in this hellscape, to be forced to be out in the world, and to be one of the many witnessing and supporting humanity as it decides its own fate – an eternity in hell, the end of the human race, or if they will finally agree to embrace the opportunity they’ve always been given – which is to be Love.

Don’t Be Fooled!

Human beings are most vulnerable when afraid. It is when we are afraid that we are most vulnerable to the manipulation of others. Fear causes us to look for something – anything – to help ease our fear – even if what seems to ease our fear is a lie. When afraid, we just want something – anything – anyone – to promise we will be alright. Even when that promise includes something that might cause us harm. The promise might cost us emotionally, mentally, psychologically, physically, and most definitely, financially.

I have seen the evil that preys on fear at work in our world in a multitude of ways. In truth, it’s everywhere.  It’s in the “shaman” that promises to cure your psychosis.  It’s in the “influencers” who wave shiny objects in front of us, promising they will make us better, popular, famous, etc. It’s in so-called “reality TV” showing false images of beauty, wealth, status, and fame. It is in snake-oil salespersons promising a cure for cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s, and any other undesired medical diagnosis. It’s in the unsavory fitness and diet gurus promising their way is the only way to weight loss and long life. It’s in an advertising industry that purposefully preys on our fears, promising that their product is the solution to that fear. It’s in anyone speaking from the farthest reaches of the spectrum promising their way is the only right way and that anyone else is wrong.

We are living in a time in which humanity’s fears are at their highest – a world plagued by war, disease (including pandemics), homelessness, poverty, and hunger. The threat of nuclear war feels very much alive. Earthquakes and volcanoes are erupting at unprecedented levels. Our food and water resources have been poisoned. Weather has become increasingly violent. Millions of people recently lost their lives to Covid. A million more are currently facing annihilation under the orders of fascist dictators hiding behind the masks of democracy.

Humanity has good reason to feel afraid. Fear is a natural, human, response to anything that is outside of our realm of control. Fear, however, does not need to destroy us, and it is most certainly not a reason to give ourselves over to the false promises of charlatans, or anyone promising to have the cure for what ails us. Instead, the answer to fear is that which allows us to move through it so that we might return to our center where we can be in touch with – not someone else’s truth – but our own truth. As Frank Herbert wrote in his immortal classic, Dune:

When we are afraid, we are vulnerable to the manipulations of those who prey on our fears. When we sit with, move past and through our fear, we are able to return to our original nature of peaceful equilibrium. In this place of inner peace, we will see and know the truth. We are able to see through the masks worn by those seeking to have power over us through our fears. Equally, we are able to distinguish truth from falsehood. In this, we will see clearly those who might be authentic support for us in the face of whatever we are fearing – not by making us dependent upon their lies, but empowered in our own truth. Becoming comfortable with our fear and learning effective tools for being with and moving through those fears, makes us immune to manipulation and unable to be fooled by those who might otherwise seek to cause us harm.


online course
book in paperback and audible

The Price of Truth

……laughing uproariously…….

……don’t say I didn’t warn you…..

……when are people going to start listening to me????? (in my best Tommy Shelby brogue)

……When is the world going to start listening to its prophets?

Thanks.  I had to let that out.

In all seriousness, I am literally laughing my head off at the whole “Epstein files” debacle. When congress BLOCKS the release of classified information related to the Jeffrey Epstein trial, including Epstein’s client list, we know it is Congress that has something to hide, NOT the now deceased Epstein. When the President of the United States insists he didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein, or anything about a list, we all know he “protesteth too much.” 

We know. We absolutely know the truth. Epstein was a predator, child sex trafficker, and ran a private sex island for the rich and famous and the pedophiles among them. He went to jail for it, as did his partner. We know that our president knew him, was friends with him, and went to his private sex parties. We know there is a list. WE ARE NOT STUPID, and yet, some are convinced they can pull the wool over our eyes and pretend there is nothing to see. (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain)

But we do see. After the priest sex abuse scandal, Harvey Weinstein, P. Diddy, R. Kelly, etc. you would think we’d be able to see and know.

I’ll put it bluntly, I liken the evils of Epstein, Maxwell, and all those who went to their little island to those of A. Joseph Maskell, the now former priest who was accused of sexually abusing students, inviting local people of importance to participate in his sex parties, and murdering the Sr. Catherine Cesnik who reported him. I liken the president’s denial and the congressional ruling to the Catholic bishops who denied and then attempted to cover up Maskell’s sins – that and the institutional Church who for centuries denied and covered up the evils that were being done to children by Catholic priests.

This shit is real. And it is often the most powerful among us who are guilty of the most heinous crimes, and yet they have always been the ones to get away with it.

To the revelation of truth, I say BRING IT. To our eyes that are tempted to turn away, I say LOOK CLOSELY.

Look at the evil. See the devil for who and what it really is – men and women living among us in positions of perceived power doing the most awful and terrible things. SEE IT.  LOOK AT IT. REALIZE THE HORROR OF IT.

And then, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

The time of truth seeing is now. And while we want to deny there is evil among us, while we want to think the best of those in perceived positions of authority, while we want to believe our nation is free, the truth is something else entirely.

As Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men famously said, “You want the truth? You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” 

YES WE CAN.  Or we had better learn.

I admit, it sucks. It is something terrible to learn of the evils rampant in institutions for which we once had respect, hope, and even love. As the priest sex abuse scandal was being revealed, I remember feeling heartbroken and betrayed. I felt hurt and disgusted. Then I began to see the corruption of the institution and how it not only fosters but encourages pedophilia.

The same will be true if, and when, Epstein’s list is ever released. I suspect there will be names on that list that we initially will not be able to believe. Politicians, CEO’s, actors, etc. we may have held in high regard. I also suspect the list is ENORMOUS – the revelation of which will bring the American empire to its knees. (I suspect this is what those who know are really afraid of). Rome will not be burning. It will erupt like an atomic bomb.

Kind of like what happened in the Catholic Church. A mass exodus of formerly devout believers who could no longer support an institution built on the blood of innocent children.

The truth is that there is true evil in our world and the only way to free ourselves from these evils is to see them.  Call them out. Dismantle the institutions that have fostered these evils. Heal the wounds caused by these evils, and then build something new.

While some may argue the cost of revealing the truth, to me, FREEDOM is worth every effort toward seeing and knowing the truth, for freedom is priceless. As Jesus once said, “THE TRUTH will set you free.” This is what he meant.

It’s All About Power

how we cultivate it, protect it, with whom and under what circumstances we share it

It is not a coincidence that the recent surgery I had (and from which I am still recovering) was to repair a separation of the muscles in the center of my abdomen in the area of the solar plexus and to secure that (likely genetic) weakness. Throughout my life, I have tended to be a leaky person – giving my energy and power away (governed by the solar plexus chakra) to those who don’t deserve it and allowing my energy and power to be stolen from me by ill-intended beings.

In a culture that trains us to be co-dependent, a leaky solar plexus isn’t unusual. We are conditioned to be caretakers of everyone else’s needs but our own, while also being taught it is our responsibility to make the world a better place to live by conquering evil and birthing “love and light.” Whereas I do not argue the love part, what I’ve learned is that conquering evil is less about what we do “out there” and more about what we do within.

Those who operated in our world from a place of evil, gluttony, lust, wrath, envy, greed, sloth, and pride are doing so from a place of great emptiness. Due to their brokenness, they have no power of their own. As a result, they seek to get that power from others. Think of sexual predators, abusers, manipulators, and deceivers. They all do what they do so as to steal energy and power away from the (perhaps) less broken, but decidedly vulnerable.

Let’s use the “Big Beautiful Bill” as an example. Only powerless, hateful humans would come up with a plan to deprive the most vulnerable among us of the programs that provide for their most basic needs. I had a moment of fear and allowed myself a couple days to grieve after the tentative passing of the bill. Myself, my son, my father, and other people I dearly love, stand to lose access to life-saving care should the bill be implemented as planned.

This brings me back to power. It was appropriate for me to allow a day to grieve and process, but with this, and other situations I find myself facing in this moment, I also have a choice. Will I allow my own energy and power to be drawn from me by ill-intended beings? Am I willing to give my energy to worry, fear, anger, hatred, and rage (which is exactly what the ill-intended want), or do I call my energy back to myself and anchor it deep within my own being where it belongs?

The easy answer is the latter. Accomplishing this task, however, is easier said than done. It takes years, and sometimes a lifetime, to realize that we have been giving our energy away or that it is being stolen from us. Some never learn this. I’m grateful that sometime in the last 20ish years, I came to understand the energy draining behavior with which I had become familiar. Today, I’m still working on NOT giving my energy away and keeping it to myself. It is a daily, if not a moment by moment practice.

Our energy and power was never meant for anyone but ourselves. It is ours. It is what fuels our gifts and draws those in need of our gifts toward us. Unfortunately, it also draws to us those who want our energy for their own with no intention of acknowledging or applying the gifts we so freely share. Our power serves as a magnet, drawing toward us those of like mind, our “tribe,” along with those who would use our gifts for their own ill-intended benefit. I think of it this way, fully-in-power humans draw other fully-in-power humans along with those who are lacking in true power and think they can get some by spending time with us. The mythological name for the latter of these two is succubi. You know of whom I speak – those who are draining just to be around and those who enthusiastically claim to respect and honor your gifts and drink deeply of the well you provide, but who actually learn nothing for lack of application. Equally guilty are those who say they value your gifts but do nothing to engage, utilize, or share them.

Every time we give our energy to these kinds of people, we are depriving ourselves of our own power and diminishing that which we may be called to share with those who would actually benefit. You will know this experience by how you feel exhausted, frustrated, impatient, and even angry over how you’ve given your energy away or how it’s been stolen from you.

The key, is to STOP. Stop giving away your gifts, your energy, your time, your power, to those undeserving. The politicians and constituents who supported the “Big Beautiful Bill” are not deserving of your energy or power. Engaging in worry and fear, anger and hatred, the desire to do battle, serves no one except those who want you to feel afraid. Instead of giving into the temptation of allowing your energy and power to be drained away, CALL IT BACK. When you find yourself worried, impatient, afraid, angry, STOP and call that energy back. Draw it deep into yourself and hold it there.  Allow the magic of your power to gather, grow, strengthen, and become anchored in who you are as a person of Love. SIT in that Love and allow it to radiate from within you.  Sitting in the center of your own power deprives life-force vampires from taking your energy and triggering your fears. Keeping your energy to yourself prevents succubi and other ill-intended beings from their source of nourishment. Don’t let them have it -your power or your energy. Keep it to yourself. This is how we drain the swamp – not by giving into their ministrations, chaos, and bullying tactics, but by calling our energy back to ourselves and keeping it there. When we stop giving them our power, they have nothing left to live from. Then, they will either get help for their brokenness, or die from lack of nourishment.

When we stop giving our energy away, we and our solar plexus energy center will find itself healthy and wholly intact – as it was always meant to be.

PS  Thank you to Dr. Lee Stratton and his team at Aurora Hospital for your expert care and support.


In my online course, Into the Wilderness with Authentic Freedom, we do a deep dive into the chakra system – how each chakra corresponds to our physical, mental, emotional, and especially spiritual bodies. In this course, you learn how to identify the fears that are triggering energy leaks (for example) and other non-life-giving symptoms and how to heal and transform those fears so that you might return to your most authentic self.

Exorcisms at Midnight

This is for my fellow lightworkers, healers, shadow workers, love warriors, etc. – all those who are here to be and support the world through love.

Have you ever had a dream so intense that you feel as if it were real and that you were really and truly at the scene of the dream participating in it as you are seeing it? You know, those dreams that are difficult to wake up from, that give you a kind of sleep-paralysis, and leave your heart pounding and your lungs out of breath?  Yeah – that.  I had one of those last night.

The dream was long, drawn out and detailed, but at the center of it, I found myself performing an exorcism – removing an evil spirit or spirits from a 40ish year-old man while his family stood watch and my “team” bore witness and provided protection. In the past, I would have spent hours, days, weeks even, pondering the meaning of the dream. Today – it’s just another night in the life of Lauri Ann Lumby, doing healing and transformation on planes and within dimensions invisible to our own. I can’t explain it, but I can sure feel it. It took every semi-conscious effort to awake from the “dream,” returning to this dimension out of breath and heart pounding as if I had just run a marathon.

Last night’s dream, is just another in a long line of reminders that as much as I want myself and my work to be visible in this world, the truth is that it is in and on other planes that my work is most commonly utilized and perhaps needed. Is it having an impact on this plane? I believe so. But it’s often difficult, given our conditioning, to credit work done in invisible realms when the needs seem so great here.

I was speaking with a friend and soul-sister about this very phenomenon yesterday. We are conditioned to look for material and tangible ways that our gifts are having an impact on the world. We are taught to look for material rewards for the tangible work we are doing. And yet, as is so often the case, the work we are doing seems to be much more about what we are doing internally to support our own transformation, and on other planes to support (in theory) the transformation of our world, among others.

This attention to the invisible, subtle, and intangible seems strange, and yet, isn’t this exactly where the full impact of all the great spiritual teachers has actually been felt? In his lived experience, Jesus was left with only a handful of disciples. Today, millions claim him as their teacher (however right or wrong their interpretation of his teachings might be). The same is true of the Buddha, Mohammad, and Moses. And let’s not forget about the women!  How many people did Mother Mary reach in her lifetime? How many millions today claim devotion to her? The same is true of Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, and all the great spiritual teachers who in their material experience had but a handful of students, whereas today, millions seek after and follow their teachings.  More importantly, how many more are living the path of Love as modeled by these great teachers?

Life is not always what it seems and that is especially true for those of us called to spiritual and healing work. As Jesus was quoted as saying, “I am not of this world.” Neither are we. The work we are called to is the work we are called to no matter how it might appear to the naked eye and the impact is far greater than we could ever image despite our capitalistic conditioning that might tempt us to believe otherwise.

So if you find yourself in the middle of a dream performing exorcisms, know it to be true.

Thank you for all you are doing on behalf of Love and for the sake of the transformation of this world and those beyond!

With love,

Lauri

New Live Course: UNCHAINED

Six-week Live (via ZOOM) Course

(recorded for later viewing for those unable to attend live)

Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm Central Time

March 5 – April 9, 2025

Registration limited to 25 participants

(for people of all genders for we are all negatively affected by patriarchal conditioning)


Unchained – Freeing Yourself from Patriarchal Conditioning

For over five-thousand years, humanity has been imprisoned by patriarchal rule. Under the rule of patriarchy, human beings have been conditioned by fear to be subservient to an outside perceived authority. Under the threat of punishment, and wrapped in a cloak of false promises, humanity has given over its power to a seemingly powerful few.

Under patriarchy, toxic masculinity is the ruling force and privilege is afforded primarily to white men of wealth. All other human beings are then divided into a hierarchy of servitude to the powerful few.

The patriarchy requires:

  • ·         Blind obedience to a self-appointed outside perceived authority.
  • ·         Subservience to this authority.
  • ·         Expectations of duty.
  • ·         Dependency based on false promises of provision and protection.

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:

  • ·         In our own lives
  • ·         In our relationships
  • ·         In society
  • ·         In the workplace
  • ·         In our underlying sense of shame or guilt
  • ·         In our conditioned sense of duty
  • ·         In our search to be saved

We will then explore ways in which we can free ourselves from this conditioning.

This course will consist of:

  • ·         Inspirational readings
  • ·         Lessons
  • ·         Contemplation and Reflection
  • ·         Discussion

*Content portion of sessions will be recorded and available for viewing within 24 hours of the live gathering for those who are unable to attend live. 


There is No Sin

Below is an excerpt from my book Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy. Visit my Amazon bookstore to learn more.

If we look carefully at the life and teachings of Jesus, we see that he is inviting us to embrace an image of God that is a departure from the traditional image of the Hebrew religious authorities of his time.  Jesus was constantly being challenged by the religious authorities who believed in a God whose approval needed to be earned.  God’s love was thought to be conditional, at best, and only attainable through strict adherence to the law.  If you were disobedient to the law, you were known to have lost favor with God and were considered to be a “sinner.” 

Jesus invited those “who had ears to hear,” to consider another possibility.  He set forth not only a new image of God, but an entirely new paradigm – a paradigm based on personal relationship and compassion.  Having grown in the knowledge of God’s love and his Oneness with God, Jesus was able to lead us to his understanding as the truth which sets us free.  The God that Jesus knew was a God of unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness.  This is the God that Jesus invites us to embrace.  When we know God in this way, sin is no longer “that which separates us from God,” but merely a symptom of our own false perception of separation.  Jesus explains it this way in the noncanonical gospel of Mary Magdalene:

Peter said to Jesus: “Since you have become the interpreter of the elements and the events of the world, tell us:  What is the sin of the world?”

The Teacher (Jesus) answered, “There is no sin.  It is you who make sin exist, when you act according to the habits of your corrupted nature; this is where sin lies.”

Gospel of Mary Magdalene 7: 11-19

Sin, when viewed in this way, is no longer subject to judgment, but instead invites us into the greater depths of compassion.  “Love the sinner and not the sin,” becomes our mantra.  When sin is looked upon as a symptom of the fears that come about as a result of an unhealed core wound, then all sin becomes an invitation to healing. 

From this perspective, we can now look upon even the Jeffrey Daumers and Charles Mansons of our society with compassion.  This compassion does not excuse their behavior, but it allows us to see the deeper fears within them that drove them to such heinous acts of violence.  In our own journeys, it allows us to let go of the blame, shame and guilt that so often plague our lives.  Our compulsive behaviors (sins) are no longer something to look upon in anguish, but something to treat as a wake-up call to a deeper healing being called forth.  The compulsive behavior becomes the trigger that alerts us to our false sense of separation, to the need for healing, and invites us to name the fear and allow God to heal us of these fears so that we may once again live in the knowledge that we are loved.  In this knowledge of God’s love, we know peace, we know joy and we are able to openly and freely share our gifts in the world.  It is to this place of Oneness that Jesus invites us when he proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  (Matthew 4:17)


Learn Authentic Freedom

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

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

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

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

Wresting Satan

As much as I believe that Jesus came to realize the truth of Oneness and then sought to teach this to his disciples, including Mary Magdalene who went on to establish her own mystery school teaching the way to love; I am reminded today of the value of perceived separation – especially when it comes to those things outside of us which seek to keep us from the path of our truth.

Satan, meaning adversary, is the representation and embodiment of all that wants to keep us from our original nature as One in love – whether we perceive it as within us or outside of us. 

Outside of us, Satan shows up in:

  • Societal expectations.
  • Tribal customs and rules.
  • Worldly ideals which place value on externals – money, power, status, fame, material possessions, etc. etc. etc. over the place of real value which is within.
  • People who are threatened by our decision to step outside the tiny little box that our religions, communities, political parties, race, gender, orientation, etc. etc. etc. etc. seek to prison us within.
  • Any individual or structure which seeks to have power and control over another.
  • People who reject us or our gifts.
  • Feeling thwarted in the fulfillment of our gifts.

Every single thing which resides outside of us and tempts us to step away from our original inner state of contentment and joy is The Devil and when doing battle with Satan, it is helpful to think of it in this way.

I know, I know….this is the complete polar opposite of what all the new age/new thought/manifestation/secret and abundance people say.  They would say, “Everything that is happening outside of you is simply a reflection of what is happening within.”  But here’s the deal…..when I think of my own struggles in this way, it makes me feel TERRIBLE.   I feel shame.  I feel guilty.  I feel as if I am a failure and that I have done something wrong.  Believing in the idea that the difficulties happening outside of me are because I thought the wrong thoughts or didn’t believe hard enough or didn’t trust God enough or surrender enough, simply triggers my fear of not being perfect.  When this fear is triggered, the downward spiral of self-loathing begins.  You mean my anxiety is my fault because I don’t trust enough?  My fears over money are my fault because I’m not trusting in God?  I haven’t found “the one” because I’m not holding my vibration high enough to attract him?  Ignatius of Loyola would have had something to say about these so-called theories of “right thought.” 

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556) was a pioneer in and became one of the foremost authorities on the process of discernment.  In his writings on discernment, he describes two distinct energies – one that reflects the Divine path for us and the other that reflects “the devil.”  He calls these energies, respectively, consolation and desolation.  If I apply Ignatius’ guidelines for discernment to the idea that what is outside of me is a reflection of the energy I am holding within, I find I have to call it desolation – the energy that represents the mark of Satan.  Those things outside of me that are tempting me (which I experience as fear, anxiety, worry, self-loathing, depression) away from my Oneness with God (which I experience as peace and contentment) are the Devil and when I think of them in this way, instead of feeling powerless or despairing, I feel strong, confident and empowered because I know what to do with the Devil outside.

When I know that Satan is hard at work trying to keep me from my path, I know how to respond.  I have learned that calling temptation what it is, giving it a name and a face, deprives it of its power.  I stand toe to toe with Satan.  I look him in the eye.  I name him for whom and what he is.  I call on Michael the Archangel, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Archangels Kamael and Tzafkiel, all my ancestors and the communion of saints to surround me and I then proclaim Jesus’ own words when facing his own Satan, “Get behind me Satan.”  In this I feel strengthened and am able to return to the path of my truth – the path where I feel fulfilled and where I am at peace.

What tools are you using to confront that which tempts you away from your own natural state of inner peace?


Demon Binding and Banishing

A Seven Step Process for the healing, transformation and release of negative energetic influences.

Nine Instructional Modules

Self-Paced

Moderated Discussion