Mission/Purpose/Calling

Divinely Ordained

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

The other night I was gifted with a timely dream that provided both a reminder and an invitation.

In the dream, I was preparing to co-preside with two other priests of a different church. Both had already donned their traditional vestments. Not one to go for traditional, I was pulling on a long, black, cardigan made of light weight spandex/cotton. After pulling on the robe, I looked into the mirror and saw that my robe had changed and I was now wearing the garb of the ancient high priests. My first thoughts were of the High Priests of the Jewish tradition, but the robes seemed to predate even those. As I gazed into the mirror, I heard the following words:

“High Priest according to the Order of Melchizedek.”

The Order of Melchizedek is mentioned three times in scripture:

Genesis 14: 17-20:

Melchizedek, the king of Salem, offered bread and wine. As a priest of God Most High,he blessed Abram with these words,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
    Creator of the heavens and the earth.
And blessed be God Most High
    who has delivered your enemy into your hands.”

Then Abram gave him a tithe of all he had taken.

Psalm 110: 3-4

Yours is royal dignity in the day of your birth;
    in holy splendor, before the daystar,
    like the dew, I have begotten you.”[e]
The Lord has sworn,
    and he will not retract his oath:
“You are a priest forever[f]
    according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7: 1-3

This Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he was returning from his defeat of the kings, and he blessed him. Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. His name first means “king of righteousness,” and then “king of Salem,” that is, “king of peace.” Without father, or mother, or genealogy, and without beginning of days or end of life, thus bearing a resemblance to the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 

The Order of Melchizedek is considered a primordial priesthood, one that predates Judaism, and therefore Christianity, and is a priesthood available to anyone who is thusly ordained. Unlike the modern expressions of priesthood that requires a specific kind of formation, along with a formal ordination ceremony through which one human imparts the ordination onto another (as in Catholic Bishops ordaining Catholic priests), the priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek is divinely ordained. As such, the Order of Melchizedek transcends religion, dogma, doctrine, and belief. Instead, it is an inner calling, revealed over time to those so-called. While formation may establish the foundation upon which this calling may take root, that formation will be unique to each individual and may come formally through an outside guide, or inwardly through our own awakening and depth work.

For several years, I have been aware of this calling.  I have even developed a training program according to my own desire to be formed in and live out this calling.  I was simply led to the resources and tools, embarked upon the study and embodiment myself, and then put it into a form that could be undertaken by others. Even so, I’m still not sure what it means to be a high priest according to the Order of Melchizedek!

The timing of this dream is interesting as I find myself at a crossroads of sorts. I’m not alone in this crossroads as I am aware of many who are facing a similar point of no return. The lives we have lived and known for the past fifteen or more years are coming to an end. Those things that have provided a source of income, supporting (in many cases BARELY) our livelihoods are coming to a natural conclusion. In this, I currently find myself standing in the middle of a completely blank slate. It seems all I’ve known and all the ways I’ve provided for myself and my family have come to an end, and there is absolutely nothing on the horizon. To say I’m at peace with this crossroads would be a lie. It’s terrifying! In my best moments I can relax into trust. In my worst moments I feel lost, forsaken, and defeated.

Enter the dream. What does it mean? What is it heralding, acknowledging, affirming? When I enter deep reflection, I see two things: 1) The conclusion of my 3d mission. 2) Me standing in the 5d world with no idea of what I’m supposed to do or how I’m supposed to be in this new world. This is obviously related to an earlier post about adapting to a new way of being.

Is the High Priesthood according to the Order of Melchizedek the new way of being? What does that even mean?

What I do know is what it DOES NOT mean!  The priesthood that I have felt inwardly calling to me has absolutely nothing to do with what we have known and experienced as priesthood.  My priesthood has nothing to do with hierarchy, power, or privilege. My priesthood is not one of separation where the priest is set apart as special or better. My priesthood doesn’t require special robes, prescribed scriptures, ritual, a name, or even a building. My priesthood would be free of anything that creates and thrives in separation. Instead, my priesthood would be more of a heterarchy (involve relations of interdependence) – an interdependent collaboration of service to one another, each using their own unique gifts for the sake of their own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.  

But how does one live that out? How does one make that happen? As the dream seems to suggest, it’s already happened and is happening. The dream acknowledged the priesthood I have been given and have already been living out. Maybe that was all the dream was saying:

See. This is who you are.  Own it.

Unleashing Your Light

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

We will never truly be free until we confront our shadow.  The shadow is all of the parts of ourselves that have not been fully integrated: 

  • Everything we have denied.
  • Everything we suppress.
  • Everything we repress.
  • All the parts of ourselves we judge as negative so we hide them away from the world.
  • Our unacknowledged fears.
  • Our unhealed wounds.
  • The parts of our nature, personality or temperament that we reject.
  • The parts of ourselves we hide as they are judged as unworthy by our society.

The challenge with the shadow is that (as the Buddhists say), “What we resist will persist.”  Hiding, ignoring, denying, imprisoning, bargaining away these parts of ourselves actually does the opposite.  Instead of staying hidden, these parts of ourselves come out sideways – often in non-loving behaviors toward ourselves or others. 

If we do not confront our shadow and do the difficult work of bringing it to the light so that it can be healed, transformed and re-integrated, then we will never be free.  Without doing our shadow work, we will be forever condemned to “a life of quiet desperation” and our lives will amount to nothing because until we are free we will never know peace.

But herein lays the challenge.  Few are willing to stand toe to toe with their own inner demons and even fewer have the courage to keep standing there until all their wounds are healed and they are truly free.  Instead, they would rather avoid the shadow work while chasing after shiny objects – the illusion of achievement, success, money, power, and fame.  In the meantime, their shadow is coming out sideways, hurting themselves and all the people around them.  In the end, what they resist will be their demise.

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Stop Hiding Your Magic!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Each and every one of us is uniquely gifted to be a vessel through which the Divine is revealed in our world.  Some are gifted with the magic of teaching, others with healing, others with prophecy, support, guidance, compassion, mercy, humility, discernment, service, etc.  (In the Catholic Church is which I was raised, these gifts are known as charisms – gifts of the Holy Spirit.)  As part of our birthright, each and every one of us was imbued with some special magic. 

When engaged with this magic, in service to the betterment of the world, and in service to the Divine who seeks to live through us and be known through us, miracles happen.  Miracles happen because it is not we who are doing the magic; it is the Divine working through us.  It is through these unique gifts that the Divine plan of Love is made real on this plane and through which we have the opportunity to co-create heaven on earth. 

The problem is that early on, most of us learned that the world in which we were living was not a safe place for us to acknowledge, recognize, or share our magic.  We learn this when somewhere along the line, we dared to share a glimpse of our magic, and someone condemned us for it, made fun of us for it, we are told we were crazy because of it, or that our magic is the “work of the devil.”  As a result, our magic got hidden away. 

We hide our magic because the world is afraid of our gifts.  Our magic can’t be contained, defined, or even explained.  It doesn’t fit into the tiny little box humanity has crafted for itself.  It is for the sake of trying to fit into this too-small world that we hide our magic away. 

Without our magic, however, we are condemned to live a life of quiet desperation, forever longing for that which cannot be named. We look outside of ourselves for the satisfaction to this longing (shopping, food, drugs, alcohol, sex, TV, gambling, etc. etc. etc.), and find nothing but fleeting moments of “satisfaction” that ultimately leave us longing for more.  We suffer depression, anxiety, panic attacks, chronic pain, and unexplainable illnesses. This is the price of hiding our magic.  We might fit into the too- small world, but we find no joy in doing so. 

Even when we hide our magic, we still don’t fit in, because our magic can never be fully hidden.  Our magic leaks out of the corners of our being and no matter how hard we try, others know we are different.  We are thought of as strange, weird, or simply unconventional.  People grow uncomfortable in our presence and for no fault of our own they try to stay clear of us.  Our magic, even when we are hiding it, wakes people up….and some people do not want to be awakened.  Our magic, even when we think we have it contained, triggers other people’s unhealed wounds and unacknowledged fears.  They are then sure we are to blame and they project their wounds upon us.  This is the price of our magic – whether we hide it or not; but this is why we were given our magic in the first place.

We were given our magic for the sake of turning the world from fear into love.  We were gifted with our magic to serve the betterment of the world and the conscious evolution of the human race.  We were given our magic so that we might be healed and so that others might find healing through our presence and support.  We were gifted with our magic so that we might know love and all the world with us.

Don’t you think it’s time to stop hiding our Magic?????

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Mary Magdalene – The First Witness

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

an excerpt from my online course Resurrecting the Magdalene – part of the Magdalene Priestess Training.

Lesson Five:

In this lesson, we explore the four gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus.  When read side-by-side, what immediately becomes obvious is how much these four accounts differ from one another.  Did an angel appear first, or Jesus?  Did Jesus appear at all or did the disciples only witness an “angel” and an empty tomb? If Jesus did show himself, to whom did he appear – Mary Magdalene alone, Mary in the company of other women, Peter and/or the unnamed disciple? 

First Witness

Modern-day scripture scholars have helped us to understand the marked differences between the four gospels, not just in the disparity between the resurrection accounts, but in all that differs from one gospel to the next.  A few bullet points to help us understand this disparity:

  • In the first three centuries after Jesus’ death, hundreds of communities developed around his teachings, each led by one of the original disciples (with the exception of St. Paul) or others who closely followed Jesus, and their subsequent followers.
  • Each of these communities had their own version of the Jesus story and his teachings.
  • These stories were not written down until 30-70 years after Jesus’ death.  These writing were derived from oral tradition first (think of the telephone game) and it is unlikely that they are first-hand accounts. 
  • These stories were written by a specific author, speaking to a specific audience, desiring to make a specific point.  For example, the gospel of Matthew was written to a Jewish audience and attempts to prove, through the use of Hebrew scripture references, that Jesus was the foretold and promised Messiah. 
  • The literary genre of the gospels is unique unto its self, yet is consistent with the Jewish practice of Midrash – an interpretive and reflective narrative meant to plumb the deeper spiritual meaning within a religious text or teaching.  In other words, the gospels were never meant to be taken as literal truth. 
  • Only four of these hundreds of communities’ versions of the Jesus story made the “cut” and were included in what we now know as The Bible.  This decision was first asserted by Irenaeus in the second century because these specific books supported the political agenda of the emerging Church.  This decision was verified in the fourth century after Christianity was named the official religion of the Roman Empire, because these writings supported the political agenda of the Roman Emperor, Constantine. 
  • Many of the stories contained within the books that “made the cut” were redacted (altered) to fit the specific agenda of the emerging Church, first, and later, the Roman Empire (more on this when we discuss the gospel of John).

The bottom line is that we have no way of knowing the literal truth of any of the gospels, only that they communicate stories that were handed down for many years before they were written down by specific people for a specific audience, based on what they remembered or, more likely, what they wanted their audience to believe about Jesus, his life, and his teachings.  That is not to say, however, that the gospels do not contain deep and profound truths – especially when we extract the gospel stories from the doctrine that has been developed around then, bringing them into our own prayer, and allowing God to reveal the truths contained within the stories that are personally relevant to us in our own journeys. 

Teacher

Beyond our own personal reflections on the gospels, there are a few things we may be able to surmise from the texts, especially for our current purpose of understanding what might really have taken place during the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection.

  • In each and every gospel account, Mary Magdalene is named as one who is witness to the resurrection.  The same cannot be said of any other “named” witness.
  • Scripture scholars further highlight this point in noting that Mary is named.  Scholarly consensus holds that for a woman to have been named, she must have had a central and critical role in the story of Jesus (remember, women had no personal value within the culture of first-century Palestine).  Mary is named in every gospel account of the resurrection, including that portrayed in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (one of those that didn’t make the cut).   
  • Beyond being named in scripture as witness to the resurrection, Tradition has always honored Mary Magdalene as first witness to the resurrection, so much so that in the very early Church, Mary was identified as “Apostle to the Apostles,” for this is what she was.

“But what about Peter?” we might ask.  He is named in both the gospel of Luke and the gospel of John.  There is an easy explanation for Peter being named in Luke’s gospel.  Scripture scholars tell us it is unlikely that the author of Luke was a direct follower of Jesus.  Instead, Luke was most likely a follower of St. Paul, who actually never met Jesus personally.  Paul (as Saul of Tarsus) was initially a persecutor of the followers of Jesus, himself ordering the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr.  Paul later had some sort of mystical experience through which he encountered the risen Christ and then became a champion for the Jesus cause.  Paul likely gained his knowledge of the Jesus story from Peter and the other male disciples who presided over the first Christian community in Jerusalem, long after Mary Magdalene left the scene (more on that in the next lesson).  By this time, it is likely that the Petrine (Peter) agenda had already been cemented within the Jerusalem community.  Because Mary played such an integral part in the resurrection experience, she could not be omitted altogether, but her role was easily downplayed by having Peter, himself, witness to the empty tomb.   

Then there is the gospel of John.  John’s gospel is markedly different from any of the other gospels and seems to be of a genre unto itself – a gospel that is a theological reflection on the first 100 years of the Jesus movement and on some of the traditions, rituals, and practices that had already become part of the emerging Christian tradition.  While one of the later gospels written, John’s gospel also possesses parts of the Mary Magdalene tradition that are not present (or are downplayed) in the other gospels including the Wedding at Cana, the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well and the Anointing at Bethany.  In regards to the story of the resurrection, John’s gospel presents a study in contrasts.  First, Mary goes to the tomb.  She then runs to tell Peter, who comes to the tomb to see that it is empty.  After Peter (and the unnamed disciple) departs Mary sticks around and has a direct and personal encounter with Jesus, who then tells her to go tell the other disciples. 

Mystic

John 20: 1-18

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

The conflicting information in this gospel has confounded me for years, until I brought this reading into deep prayer and meditation.  Through this approach, the answer became glaringly obvious.  The gospel of John contains two separate stories of the resurrection account – one in which Mary is the witness, another where Peter is given privilege.  It is my personal belief that the passage regarding Peter was inserted into the Mary story to suit the later Christian Church (second – third century) who sought to put forth a decidedly patriarchal and hierarchical agenda and who had already designated Peter (in tradition if not in fact) leader of the early Church and the first Pope (Historically, Peter never acted in any role similar to that of Pope.  There is also doubt as to whether or not he actually made it as far as Rome).  Within this agenda, there can be no room for a woman who was obviously commissioned to a leadership role by none other than Jesus, himself.  But, don’t take my word for it.  Go back and re-read the resurrection account from John – first including the text highlighted in red, then without that portion of the text, and then decide for yourself. 

Liberator

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Choosing? Poverty?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

an excerpt from Whispers from the Cave. Learn more HERE.

For my entire professional career, I have lived off less than $30,000 per year – most years closer to $25,000.  Back in 1987 when I graduated from college, a single person could live off of $25,000 per year, especially when rent (in the Midwest) for a really nice one-bedroom brownstone was around $350.00 per mo. Fast forward to 2023, and $26,000 is a little (A LOT!) harder to stretch to make ends meet. By some miracle of the universe, I have managed to do it, but I really don’t recommend trying this at home!

People could come up with all kinds of reasons for why I’ve NEVER made an income commensurate with my education or experience. Some might judge me as lazy, or not trying hard enough. Others have suggested I’m “ahead of my time.” Conditioning suggests there must be something wrong with me. Some think it’s simply a matter of me living in the wrong market where people aren’t yet ready for me. The reality is that the answer lies in none of the above. For the entirety of my professional career, I have worked my ass off, done everything the so-called experts say will guarantee my success, and if I thought any more “right thoughts” about money, I’d be wealthier than Mr. Musk.

I sure as hell don’t know why with 14 years of post-secondary education, a pile of certifications, and 30 years of experience, I’m still living far below the federal poverty level, I just know I am. I also know I’m NOT ALONE IN THIS! With a very few exceptions, nearly everyone I know that is called to a more contemplative, self-aware, perhaps creative lifestyle, struggles with money. Either they aren’t getting paid what they’re worth, they’re forced to work a job they hate, or, in my case, they can’t find a well-paying job for their life!

Case in point. In the several (many) times I’ve tried to go against my Soul’s calling to seek out and secure a “real job,” my efforts have blown up in my face. Rather, my efforts simply die a slow and painful (or quick and explosive) death.  Just this morning, after a night of sleeplessness, I got up for an interview I had scheduled with a local service organization (I gotta pay my rent!).  I got up at 6, took a shower, got dressed up, put on my makeup, had breakfast and coffee, completed my morning meditation. At 9 am I checked my email for a second time and the interviewer had emailed me to say the position had been filled.  I wasn’t sure if I should be frustrated and angry (you couldn’t have emailed me on Friday?????) or elated. Truth be told, I’m a little bit of both. I have to believe this was Divine Intervention, but now I’m all dressed up and have nowhere to go!

What happened this morning is the perfect summation of what happens EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to find a job that is other than what my heart knows I’m supposed to be (and am already) doing. EVERY SINGLE TIME. It doesn’t matter how many applications I submit, interviews I have, or promises that are made to me about certain opportunities, the results are always the same. Zilch. Nadda. Nothing.

Again, I’m not alone in this!  I cannot possibly count the number of (mostly) women I know who find themselves in a very similar, or even more desperate situation. It’s definitely NOT because any of us have chosen poverty or taken some worn out vow.  Neither is it some past-life karmic agreement or vow (well, maybe it is?). The fact remains, many of us doing “this” kind of work, committing ourselves to being of service to Love and living a somewhat-mostly contemplative life find ourselves on poverty’s door. Not because we chose it, but simply because it is. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it. It’s not fun. I don’t enjoy it. But it seems that no matter how hard I try or through what means, it is the fate I/we’ve been dealt. There’s really nothing else I can say or do but accept it……while desperately clinging to the words gifted to me by a dear friend today in response to the cancelled interview:

I KNOW YOU as a member of GOD’s army.

If it ain’t aligned it ain’t happening.

YOU are carrying precious cargo.

I absolutely believe this to be true!  Now if everyone else would just figure it out!  😊

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I Write Banned Books

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With TexASS and FloriDUH leading the charge, the United States is once again having to confront the reality of a very vocal minority seeking to control what information and knowledge children have access to in the public areas of libraries and schools. 

In a recent study, it was determined that TexASS has banned more than 800 books in 22 school districts, closely followed by FloriDUH at 566 books banned across 21 districts. As an advocate of our constitutional right to freedom of speech (which to me implies freedom to read what I want), and as one who believes the decision to monitor a child’s reading lies in the hands of the parents, I am vehemently against banning books.  Furthermore, history has shown us that banning books is a tool of fascism, albeit an ineffective means of control.

That being said, I am proud to be an author whose books have been banned!  WHY?  Because the first thing thinking adults do when we learn of a book that’s been banned, is to go out and buy, and then read it!  We want to know what the fuss is about, while also giving the finger to those who attempt to control our access to information.

To my knowledge, my books have not been banned by any school districts or libraries. Instead, they have been condemned and therefore banned by the Catholic Church!  Could there possibly be a better endorsement than to have one’s book banned by the great and powerful Catholic Church!?   As a recovering Catholic, I consider this to be the best of all possible endorsements.

The presiding bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, for example, once told a friend and colleague that all of my books and anything I have created is forbidden to be used in his diocese. I laughed when I learned of this.  Then I wept for my friend who had spent a year attempting to get permission to teach my Authentic Freedom curriculum at her local parish. The bishop strung her along for a year before dropping this bomb. Apparently, the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her parish priest as a child wasn’t enough of a trauma. The bishop decided to heap on a bit more. (IMO, there’s a special place in hell for men like this!)

If the Church is willing to ban Authentic Freedom (a phrase inspired by Pope John Paul II himself!) for challenging the concept of original sin and providing people with the tools (inspired by the Catholic Contemplative tradition) to be free of the fears and compulsions that keep them from knowing they are LOVE, then you can bet they have banned my novel, Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene.

Song of the Beloved shares the fictional (based in canonical and non-canonical scripture) story of Mary, called Magdalene, and places her in her rightful role as devoted student, companion, and partner to Jesus (yep – that Jesus!).  Mary, once healed of her childhood trauma, is depicted as an eager learner, and empowered leader in her own right, and the one Jesus ordained to continue his ministry. I may have also suggested that they might have been married and (ahem) had sex. Yeah….the Church would definitely ban this book if they’d read it.

Then there’s Only One – the Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene, which among other things, proposes that Mary, called Magdalene may have had a hand in facilitating Jesus’ resurrection – as Jesus had done in raising Lazarus. Definitely blasphemy!   

Finally, there is Christouch. Christouch is my response to the United States Council of Catholic Bishop’s prohibition statement against Reiki. This prohibition was executed directly in response to my work (and other Catholic women like me) as a Reiki practitioner and inspired by the local diocese’s decision to lead the charge. In Christouch, I lay out the scriptural foundations of healing in the way that Jesus did, and the command he issued to his apostles to go out and heal. Christouch further provides a protocol for embracing that call to be a vessel of God’s healing and the foundational knowledge to further that calling. Christouch directly confronts the Catholic Church’s contention that only priests can be a vessel of healing through the laying on of hands. To this I say: READ YOUR SCRIPTURE!

In short, I believe we are gifted with a brain to reason and discern our own truth and to exercise that truth regardless of what institutional authorities might suggest otherwise. In my case, I say, “go ahead and ban my books, it just makes people want to read them.”

Lauri Ann Lumby

is a writer, author, educator, and mentor who has supported individuals in their journey toward self-actualization for over twenty-five years. Out of the Shadows is Lauri’s most recent and eleventh published work. 

You can reach Lauri directly at lauri@lauriannlumby.com.

Visit Her Amazon Store HERE.

Journey to the Holy Grail

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Cross land and sea
Time and tide
To misty Avalon I fly.
Seeking what?
I do not know.
Unless it be a place called home.
Where kindred spirit join by chance,
Round the fire – the sacred dance.

Drawn through dreams of lifetimes past,
Seems ancients did this circle cast.
To Tor and Well and ancient spring.
The place I thought my Soul could sing.

Take care all those like me who’d go
For Avalon’s gifts cannot be foretold.
Where Michael and Mary ley lines greet
Ego and fear did meet defeat.

Gwyn Ap Nudd appeared as guide
For the hell I created could not be denied.
Following the labyrinth to the depths of my fears,
Often wondering, “Is insanity near?”

Attachment, rage, resentment and grief
Transformed in the fire while I prayed for relief.
My warrior’s heart tested in flame
Hoping here would be the gain.
When at last released me at the top of the Tor,
I collapsed in a heap – wanting no more.
Processing along the dragon’s back,
My Beloved Christ kept me on track.
He explained the attachment that stood in the way
Of knowing the peace and the love of each day.

To Chalice Well he bid me rest,
In the Mother’s arms I’d completed the test.
Finding her love hidden in stone.
In bud, leaf and wood, I remembered my home.
Then verse 12, Chapter 12 of Testament Old
The world of Joel that made me whole:
“Return to me with your whole heart
Don’t let fear keep us apart.”

An ocean of tears the floodgate released
As I was reminded of the true source of peace.
The love of Divine that resides in my heart.
Return to the Oneness from where we all start.
The Holy Grail now fully revealed.
I am this love and through it am healed.

The truth that Christ came to remind.
Is that when we seek we shall find.
That home is the love of the Divine deep within
This is our origin and where we begin.
It is ego that creates the false separation.
That caused us to fear Divine reparation.
In fact this love of Divine that is me,
Is the ground of my being and the place I am free.

Seeking for home in someplace external
Led me within to the love that’s eternal.
The Holy Grail is the truth of our being.
When we’re vessels of love for everyone’s seeing.
Allowing the love that’s in truth who we are.
To flow from our hearts to all near and far.
So Dorothy’s words take on a new meaning,
“There’s no place like home,”
Divine love – what we’re seeking.
My quest for the Holy Grail will go on
Knowing where spiral ends, we’ve only begun.

copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

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Lesson One – God under the Tor

Lesson Two – The Horned God

Lesson Three – Celestial Origins

Lesson Four – Gwyn’s Animal Totems

Lesson Five – Gwyn’s Labyrinth

Lesson Six – Carnal Knowledge

Lesson Seven – Chamber of Shadows

Lesson Eight – Gwyn’s Magic Book

Lesson Nine – Shamanic Initiation

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Featured Course: Shamanism Intensive

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This Shamanism Intensive with Lauri Ann Lumby introduces you to the traditional shamanic practice of journeywork. Journeywork acknowledges the creative imagination as a gateway to Divine communion and as a tool for obtaining Divine guidance. You will be introduced to the foundations of a “shamanic call in a culture without a culture” and will then have an opportunity to learn and practice shamanic journeys. Working in five different “worlds,” you will meet your power animal, spirit teacher and other teachers and guides in those respective worlds who will support you through their unique gifts in discerning your Divine path. In addition to providing guidance, journeywork supports our inner healing and transformation both in this life and in lives we have already lived. After this course you will equipped to facilitate your own journeys and to lead journeys for others.

Start anytime! Complete at your own pace.

Lesson One: Defining the Shamanic Call

Lesson Two: Identifying the Shamanic Call

Lesson Three: Discernment – Shamanic Call or Psychosis?

Lesson Four: The Initiation Crisis

Lesson Five: The Shamanic Call and Shadow Work

Lesson Six: The Shamanic Journey – Lower World Journeys

Lesson Seven: Upper World Journeys

Lesson Eight: Underworld Journeys

Lesson Nine: Journeys to the Heavenly Realms

Lesson Ten: Middle World Journeys

Lesson Eleven: Bringing it all together.

Required Texts:

Tedlock, B. (2005). The woman in the shaman’s body: Reclaiming the feminine in religion and

medicine. New York, NY: Bantam Books

Walsh, R. (2007). The world of shamanism: New views of an ancient tradition. Woodbury, MN:

Llewellyn Publications.

Learn more and enroll here.

A Note from Lauri Ann Lumby, course creator and facilitator:

Before embarking on this journey, I want to thank you for stepping into the question of your own shamanic call. I wrote this course for those, like me, who have received the shamanic call, but have been mostly unsupported in this call because of the culture in which we were raised. For those of us who live in the West (Western Europe, United States, Canada, even Australia and westernized parts of South America and Asia), we are so far removed from our ancestral roots and from the indigenous traditions of our own native peoples that the shamanic call isn’t even a consideration. Instead, what shamanic cultures would understand as characteristic of a shamanic call, Western culture judges as illness, at best, or at the worst – insanity. As such, those living in a Westernize culture who are experiencing an authentic shamanic call are left to their own devises, most often misunderstood, judged and even condemned for the experiences of their shamanic call (including high sensitivities, vivid dreams and nightmares, intuitive and psychic abilities, strange and frequent illnesses, depression, anxiety and even psychosis).

Some have found their way through this call by adopting practices and traditions of indigenous peoples, ie: “walking the red road” as Caucasian Americans might refer to the Native American traditions they have adopted and attempted to make their own. Others might find support through practices of the Mayans, Peruvians, Inuit or Aboriginal people. While we have much to gain by learning from other cultures, for those with Western European roots, the best we can ever do is to pretend, because these practices are not authentically our own.

The purpose of this course is to validate and authenticate your shamanic call and to give you some simple tools and support for embracing and exercising this call in your daily life. While this course is just a beginning (Shamanism 101, if you will), through this process you will have an opportunity to:

  • Understand the characteristics of a shamanic call.
  • Discern your own shamanic call.
  • Understand the spiritual crisis that often heralds the shamanic call.
  • Learn basic tools for beginning to utilize this call.
  • Find your own language, arising out of your own mythology and spiritual background for embracing your shamanic call.
  • Discover the basic tools of the shaman of ritual and journeying.

Much of what will be shared here arose out of my personal journey of discovering and embracing my own shamanic call, along with contemporary research in the field of Transpersonal Psychology which has shed light on this call, especially for those in the Westernized world.

To complete this course, you will need yourself, a notebook or journal and a box of crayons. I invite you to enter into this process with an attitude of inquiry, curiosity and wonder, for this is ultimately what the shamanic call is all about – seeing the world and our life experience through the lens of magic – for as a shaman, this is what you are! The original title of this course was “Broken Wings,” because in a culture without a culture, we most often find the hallmarks of our call looked upon with suspicion and judgment, effectively clipping our wings and making it impossible for us to fly. In this course, I want to help you to fly!

Thank you for giving yourself permission to explore this call within yourself and for taking the time to more deeply discern this call. I am happy and grateful to be a source of support for you as you move through this process and toward that end, I am available for brief email exchanges and for more intensive private consultations at my regular hourly rate. Please consult my website for details.

In Gratitude and Love,

Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Soul School/Order of the Magdalene/Order of Melchizedek

http://www.lauriannlumby.com.

Learn more and enroll here.

Confessions of a Catholic Witch

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I have always known I was a witch.  For 364 days a year, however, I simply pretended I was not.   Only on Halloween as I donned my black robe, black pointy boots and a black did I feel completely at home.  For the remaining days of the year, I felt like a fake….sort of….for if there is one place where a witch is at home (until she is found out that is), it is in the Catholic Church.  

Nowhere else, among all of the western religions, is magic as prevalent as it is within Catholicism.  Where else can a man utter the phrase “hocus pocus” (hoc est corpus meum) and turn the simple elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or through the imposition of hands release a person from “the devil’s” grip? 

The smells, the bells, the little altars everywhere, the haunting strains of Latin chant, the saints to whom I could pray to remedy any struggle or ill, and the votive candles that I lit to solidify my intentions bring my dreams to fruition – all spoke to the witch inside of me who knew the world was magic and that magic could be brought forth in the world.  Magic in its truest sense – the Divine working through us in support of the love within that is seeking its place in the world.

The Goddess knew what she was doing when I was born into a devout Catholic family – one that had been Catholic for many generations. She knew what she was doing when she planted me within the single western religion that honors the worship of both a male and a female God.  (While Jesus’ mother, Mary, is not officially recognized as a goddess by the Catholic Church, people sure treat her as if she were.  Wouldn’t one have to be a goddess to be the “Mother of God?”)  She knew what she was doing when she placed me within the only western tradition that recognizes the use of amulets (saint medals, scapulars and rosaries), magical potions (holy water and anointing oils), incense and salt for keeping evil at bay.

Being a Catholic witch has not been easy, however, which is why I have hid my truth for many years. While I was drawn to everything that speaks magic within the Catholic Church, in being a witch, I also saw through the lies, the deception, and the subtle ways in which the Church manipulated people through fear.  At a very early age, I became aware of the hypocrisy within the Church and was not afraid to call it out.  As an adult, I have maintained this practice and there is a big file in our local Catholic diocese with my name on it to prove it.  Apparently the Church is not interested in those who see through the mask of piety and the illusion of holiness.

It was ultimately this hypocrisy that caused me to leave the Church I once adored – all because I dared to study and practice Reiki.  It is apparently ok for a priest to practice laying on of hands in support of a person’s desire for healing, but Goddess-forbid a lay person, OR WORSE, a woman should do the same.  By a Church that claims it is not doing magic in turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or in healing the sick through the imposition of hands, it was of witchcraft and sorcery I was accused and then condemned for doing “the work of the devil.”  Me thinkest they protesteth too much!

Because I no longer feel welcome in the local Church which has effectively burned me at the stake, I have chosen since 2008 to fast from the Eucharist.  This does not mean, however, that I ever stopped being Catholic – more importantly, a Catholic witch.  I heal the sick through the imposition of hands.  I ordain women and men into their own magic and send them forth into the world where their magic can be shared.  I baptize people into the love that they are and confirm them into being that love in the world.  I hear people’s confessions – and absolve them of their “sin” by helping them to heal the deeper inner fears that cause their addictive and non-loving behaviors.  I sit with people in the pain of grief and prepare them for their death.  I preside over weddings and funerals.  I provide spiritual nourishment through the Eucharist that is within each and every one of us when we allow ourselves to BE the Body and Blood of Christ.   

For living out my call in this way, you could call me priest, or priestess, but as it was in the most ancient traditions, and in response to the accusations against me, I prefer to be called a witch.

Lauri Ann Lumby has been called many things: mother, daughter, sister, friend, wife, lover, writer, author, poet, teacher, counselor, healer, priest, shit-disturber, heretic and witch. Lauri lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin near her two adult children and is the owner of Soul School where she helps her students and clients turn their world from fear into love.  Learn more about Lauri at www.lauriannlumby.com.

Work with Lauri One-on-One

Featured Course: Soul School Essentials 1

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6 online lessons

Done at your own pace

Online discussion board

Created and Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

To learn more and enroll click on image above.

Soul School with Lauri Ann Lumby is a one-of-a-kind education platform that provides the resources and tools to support you in becoming self-actualized.

We don’t just talk about self-actualization. We do it!

Self-actualization is known in your ability to:

  • Successfully reason, discern, and exercise your own truth.
  • Access and develop reliance on your own inner authority.
  • Identify and harness your own unique giftedness and contribution to the world.
  • Discover, nurture, and cultivate a sense of meaning and purpose in your life.
  • Name, claim, set and maintain boundaries around your personal needs.
  • Develop meaningful and satisfying relationships with others.
  • Exhibit care and concern for the betterment of the world for the benefit of the all.

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 including the Soul Tending and Eternal Flame in-depth packages.

Through Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame, you will discover new things about yourself while being affirmed in what you may already know. You will also 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 life of your dreams.

Soul

Soul is the uniquely creative way in which you have been gifted to find meaning and purpose in your life and the way in which you are called to find fulfillment in service to the betterment of the world. Soul is your true self – the part of you that knows your gift and your call, and is that which compels you to seek out, discover, cultivate, and nurture those gifts and their calling, thereby empowering you to share your gifts in service to the betterment of the world. -Lauri Ann Lumby

Soul School Essentials 1 Course Outline:

Lesson One: Soul’s Journey – The Map of the Soul

Lesson Two: Soul Design – Working with Jungian Archetypes

Lesson Three: Soul Purpose – Introduction to the Enneagram

Lesson Four: Soul Gifts – Discovering Your Unique Soul Gifts

Lesson Five: Soul Speak – Discernment 101

Lesson Six: Soul Success – Introduction to the Authentic Freedom Protocol for Overcoming Obstacles

Soul School Essentials 1 – Igniting the Flame includes lessons on each topic along with industry honored assessments and personality inventories.

Learn more and enroll here.