Understanding the Book of Revelation

Revelations – the great mystery book of the bible.  For centuries, used as a tool to strike fear in the hearts of humanity.  Touted as a prophecy of things to come if humanity doesn’t get their moral act together, and told as bedtime stories to scare children into good behavior.  If we don’t obey God we will suffer “His” wrath…but wait, even if we are good, kind, loving, and obedient, the end times will still come…..and it is coming soon!  (It’s been coming soon for 2000 years!) With the end time comes war, pestilence, frightening beasts, and terrifying portents in the skies.  But if we can endure the trauma, then we will be rewarded with the coming of the King, and the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven, heralding the reign of peace.  It seems no matter what we do, the apocalypse is coming and only the few and the brave will be rewarded with an eternity in heaven.  The question that hangs in the balance is “Are you one of the 144,000?” 

But here’s the deal, the Book of Revelations has nothing to do with the end times.  It never did.  It has always been about NOW.  Revelations is not a book of prophecies; neither is it a warning of God’s wrath; nor a manual for the end times.  While Tim LaHaye and his buddies made millions on their Left Behind series, Revelations has forever and always been about RIGHT NOW.  Revelations, plain and simple, is an allegory expressing the difference between a life with “God” and a life without.  When we lose track of our connection with the Divine, we suffer torment and unspeakable horrors.  When we remember this connection, we experience heaven on earth.  But here’s the twist – when we suffer it isn’t because God is punishing us.  It is simply the natural consequence of turning away from our true nature which is in Union with God (Love).  When we are One with our true nature (God/Love), we know peace, joy, contentment, and are able to live from compassion and love. 

It really is this simple.  And the formula is even easier:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

This single proclamation of the Divine, repeated over and over and over throughout the Book of Revelation, is the key to it all.  When we make our union with the Divine the center of our life, we know peace.  When we forget this union, we are disturbed.  That’s it!  End of story!

But, maintaining our attention to this union is easier said than done.  We live in a world of distractions.  The human condition is a distraction.  There are (seem to be) a million things vying for our attention.  TV.  Work.  Family.  Friends.  Money, OBLIGATIONS.  Ugh!  Yes, we must provide for ourselves and our families.  Yes, our relationships require our attention.  But really, how much of our time is simply wasted on unnecessary tasks, unfulfilling “obligations,” things that we are simply doing out of habit or because we were told we had to do this by our societal conditioning.  Or maybe we are keeping ourselves busy to avoid the real task at hand which is the invitation to get right with Ourselves. 

Right with Ourselves!  Not right with God.  God loves us for who we are….IN THIS AND EVERY MOMENT!  We are the ones who are not right with ourselves.  Every time we deny the yearning and calling of our Soul.  Every time we ignore our inner pain.  Each time we distract ourselves from our true self and its needs and wants.  When we are not right with ourselves, we suffer anxiety, worry, restlessness, fear, emotional and physical pain.  When we are not one with ourselves, we are not one with God.  Or rather, we have forgotten our Oneness with God…..because in spite of all our efforts to separate ourselves from our Truth, God remains.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

God is all there is.  All there is is God.  And we are part of and an expression of the Divine Source that is within and through us all.  If we are feeling unrest, it is because we forgot this singular truth.  This IS the truth that will set us free – if and when we remember it. 

So this is our task – to remember our Union with the Divine and in remembering this Union, coming home to ourselves.  The “New Jerusalem” isn’t a castle in the clouds, and neither is it happening in some future time in a Heaven light years away. It is NOW.  It is within us.  WHEN we remember this Truth.  So, let’s get to it, shall we?


Suggested Spiritual Practice

This is the hard part.  Remembering our Union with the Divine is an every moment of every day job.  It requires discipline, persistence and PRACTICE.  And we will never, ever, ever, in our human experience perfect this remembering.  All we can do is take it moment by moment, day by day and practice forgiveness of ourselves WHEN we forget.  J  We will forget and we will fail.  But the task is to keep coming back, again and again and again, to this truth:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”

In the coming week, I invite you into a practice of observation.  Through this practice, you are invited to observe where you are remembering this truth and feeling that sense of Union with God and your higher self and where you are not.  You will notice oneness vs. separation in the following:

Oneness = peace, contentment, joy.

Separation = anxiety, worry, fear.

I also invite you take note of where your attention is placed.  When is your attention on your Soul and God and when is it elsewhere?  Make note of the difference you feel within yourself when you are connected to Soul/God and when you are not.

Connection = peace, contentment, joy, fulfillment, flow.

Separation = restlessness, boredom, anxiety, worry, fear, frustration, impatience.

Simply take note.  Then, if you feel so-called, begin the work of turning away from those experiences that cause separation and turning instead toward those that support you in feeling Union.


Victory of the Holy Bride shatters over 2000 years of patriarchal dogma that cast the Book of Revelation in the role of doomsday prophecy and presents to you the tools for discovering a profoundly simple truth that is the key to inner peace and the formula through which we endure the “times of tribulation” while building a whole new world – one rooted in peace, understanding, wisdom, harmony and love. 

Featured Course: Mary Magdalene and the Path of Beloved Partnership

Thirteen Sessions

online and at your own pace

Beloved Partnership is a term that has been alternatively associated with concepts such as soulmate or twin flame. Beloved Partnership is neither of these. Beloved Partnership has nothing to do with the human pursuit of external love.

Instead, the longing for Beloved Partnership and its resulting pursuit can only be satisfied from within.

The journey of Beloved Partnership has been portrayed throughout history in legend, myth, and fairytale. The story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is one such tale – one that institutional religion would like to ignore, and which popular culture has turned into a romance. Whether Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed a romantic partnership is immaterial to the Beloved Partnership that they both embodied within themselves.

This course explores Beloved Partnership as the process of human self-realization reflected in the embodiment of the Beloved within as it was achieved through both Mary, called Magdalene, and Jesus, called Christ.

Beloved Partnership is nothing short of the embodiment of that which some might call God.

Week One: Lovers Meet

Week Two: Courtship/Infatuation

Week Three: Consummation

Week Four: Marriage

Week Five: Dark Night of the Soul

Week Six: Abandonment

Week Seven: Solitude

Week Eight: The Void

Week Nine: The Final Trial

Week Ten: Breakthrough

Week Eleven: Living as the Beloved

Week Twelve: Alchemical Fulfillment

Week Thirteen: Holy Matrimony

Each session will include:

  • An opening meditation, song or prayer.
  • A scripture reading reflective of the week’s theme.
  • A live lesson given by Lauri Ann Lumby spiritual director of the Order of the Magdalene.
  • A spiritual practice that will be completed inside or outside of class.
  • Moderated discussion and sharing

Mary Magdalene and the Kabbalah

Beyond the trappings of pop-culture commercialization, the Kabbalah is an ancient and sacred system of mysticism firmly rooted in Judaism, whose origins may truly precede the culture which embraced and then formalized it.  Like the mystical beliefs and contemplative practices of Christianity, the Kabbalah has been guarded for centuries by those who could comprehend and responsibly employ her teachings and practices.  The Kabbalah is at once a theology (a study of and discussion about the Divine), a cosmology (an articulation of how the universe is ordered), and a developmental psychology (the study of human nature and how to support its development). The purpose of the Kabbalah is to support us in coming to know ourselves through our intimate understanding of and relationship with the Divine and to support us in becoming our most authentic selves. In this, the Kabbalah is at once a guide and a tool.

Unfortunately, human beings have twisted the meaning of the Kabbalah as something to use for their own personal gain – to get what they want by using the Kabbalah as a tool of magic.  This was and has never been the intention of the Kabbalah. While the Kabbalah can be thought of as a system of and for the purpose of magic, this is true only when we understand how magic is defined in the authentic Kabbalistic system.  The magic brought about through the proper study of and engagement with the Kabbalah is Union – Union with the Divine, Union with ourselves, Union with each other and Union with all of creation.  In this, our true Divine nature becomes fully embodied and fully engaged in our human form.  The earthly goal of the Kabbalah is Malkuth – what Jesus referred to as “the Kingdom of God.”

Kingdom of God, however, is an error in translation.  Being feminine in form, Malkuth can more accurately be described as the Queendom of God – or more accurately, The Bride.  The fulfillment of the Kabbalah is the revelation of the ineffable Source (Keter) through The Bride (Malkuth).  It is only in knowing and embodying The Bride that the Source can be known and fulfilled.  In the passion play lived out through Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Jesus was the Son (Tiferet) and Mary Magdalene was the Bride.

Mary Magdalene and her beloved Jesus provide the archetypal examples of the fulfillment of the Kabbalah.  Through diligent study of the Kabbalah and applying its principles in their lives, they ascended beyond the ignorance of the human condition to discover their true, Divine nature. They then brought that Divine nature into their human experience through the process of descent.  Through the process of descent, they faced their demons, unhealed wounds, past traumas, unacknowledged fears and societal conditioning so that they could fully embody LOVE, thereby fulfilling the mission and purpose of their Soul.  Mary Magdalene and Jesus both became fully Divine and fully Human which is the goal of the Kabbalistic process.


Learn more about the Kabbalah and its connection with the Magdalene through these courses. Click on the image to learn more and enroll.

Featured Course: Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride

Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride

(it’s not what you think!)

Online course, at your own pace.

13 Lessons including “Putting on the Red” final ritual

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride provides an opportunity to discover, learn and embody the path completed by Mary Magdalene in becoming the Holy Bride.** The Holy Bride is the fulfillment of the journey of merging with and embodying the Divine – both for our own sake and in service to the betterment of the world.

Explored through the lens of the Divine Feminine and gathering from traditional and gnostic scripture in partnership with the Jewish mystical tradition of the Kabbalah, you will learn the path that Mary Magdalene followed in becoming the Holy Bride. Like Mary, you will discover the deepest secrets hidden within these sacred texts of becoming The Holy Bride and you will be given the resources, tools and support to need to grow in that journey of becoming.

Course Outline:

Week One: Introduction to the Course

Week Two: Mother of the Living

Week Three: The Sophian Mysteries

Week Four: Immaculately Conceived

Week Five: Logos

Week Six: Full of Grace

Week Seven: The Fierce Mother

Week Eight: The Holy of Holies

Week Nine: The Bridal Chamber

Week Ten: The Dark Mother

Week Eleven: The Shekinah

Week Twelve: The Holy Bride

Week Thirteen: Putting on the Red

**Contrary to popular belief, the Holy Bride has nothing do with the human construct of marriage or sexual union.

Guilt and Shame in Christianity

Exploring the role of guilt and shame in the formation of the Christian religion

Since the time of its inception, Christianity has been a religion rife with conflict.  One such conflict is the 2000 year old battle between the two sides of the Christian message – that which is based in fear and the other which is rooted in love.  Understanding the experiences out of which Christianity emerged, one has to wonder, is the religion of Christianity merely an expression of the unresolved guilt and shame experienced by the disciples who denied and abandoned Jesus at his greatest hour of need? When we look at the long dalliance between Christianity and guilt, one has to wonder.

What follows is a “fictional” account of what may have happened:

Once upon a time, there was a bunch of fishermen who met this dude named Jesus.  They thought this Jesus was pretty cool.  First he taught them a better way to fish, and then he showed them how to walk on water.  After the theatrics he taught them how to love. These fishermen thought Jesus was the next best thing after leavened bread – something that was a luxury for fishermen – because which one among them had time to wait for bread to rise?

Things were really cool with this Jesus guy.  They got to travel.  Meet new people.  Hear amazing stories.  They got invited into the homes of those they never thought they’d be able to dine with.  They saw amazing things happen and miracles performed.  The sick were healed.  The blind were able to see.  And Jesus spoke in a way that made their heart feel warm and their soul feel at peace.

But then one day, people started to become angry over Jesus’ words.  Angry words were exchanged and the next thing the fishermen knew, their buddy Jesus was hauled off to prison and brought before the Roman governor where he was tried for treason.  Treason?  (They also heard words like blasphemy….and other scary words).  Jesus was just trying to teach people how to love.  The fishermen were surprised, but mostly they were afraid.  If people came to know that Jesus was their friend, would they be imprisoned and tried too?  So they hid.

And they kept hiding.  They heard that Jesus’ trial didn’t go well and that he had been sentenced to death.  Now they were really afraid.  So they kept hiding.  They hid all the while the women knocked on their door saying, “Come out.  Come with us.  We need to support our friend.  We need to be with him.  We need to offer our love and support.”  But the women’s pleas could not break through the fishermen’s fears.  So they continued to hide. 

They hid after the women came and told them Jesus had been crucified and that he had died.  They hid after the women came to tell them Jesus had been buried.  And they continued to hide until three days later, on the morning after the Sabbath when Mary Magdalene (Jesus’ favorite) knocked on the door and proclaimed that Jesus lived.  But even then, they only opened the door a crack, and then swiftly slammed it in Mary’s face.  “She must have lost her mind.  Jesus cannot have survived a crucifixion.  And ‘he has risen?’  What does that even mean?”

But then, Jesus himself showed up.  He walked right through the closed and bolted door and showed them.  “See.  I have not died so as never to be seen or known again.  I am now with you, always, along with the Spirit who is with and in me.” Only then did the fishermen open the door to Mary Magdalene who stood there tapping her feet with her arms across her chest…saying with her eyes, “I told you so!” For a brief moment, the disciples hung their head in shame – first because they had not listened to the Magdalene, the one Jesus favored above them all; and secondly, because they had abandoned their friend at the time of his greatest need.  But just as quickly as the guilt and shame surfaced, they began to make their excuses.

Jesus listened to their bargaining and then began to remind them of all he had taught them about peace and love and how they could experience the kingdom of God right here in the midst of the human experience.  Jesus continued to teach them, empowering them with the light of his Spirit so they might go forth and share the good news he had proclaimed:  “Turn your gaze only toward the Divine within, for here is where you will find the kingdom of God.”  (While the disciples were being tutored for the umpteenth time, Mary Magdalene and the other women were already about their mission of teaching people how to love.) Then Jesus told the disciples, “I must ascend,” and took off for good.  Now the disciples were on their own, so they did what Jesus told them to do, “go out and preach the good news.” 

This would have been all fine and good except that the male disciples could not let go of that sense of guilt and shame over having abandoned their friend.  The wound of shame festered and soon, they could only remember Jesus’ message through the lens of their unhealed shame.  As a result, they went forth preaching “the good news,” but soon it took on a new flavor.  This message was not the pure message of love Jesus had proclaimed and which Mary and the other women continued to share in the world.  Instead, the message became tainted by shame.  Instead of the overwhelmingly uplifting message of unconditional love, the love of God became conditional and wrapped in fear.  God was no longer the prodigal father of which Jesus spoke; instead he became a wrathful God making impossible demands on his children with the overarching and overwhelming threat of eternal punishment in a place called hell.  The cause of Jesus’ death became the sin of humanity.  Judas was Jesus’ betrayer and it was the Jews who killed him.  Women and sexual intercourse became the cause of original sin.  As the wound of shame continued to fester, the message of love became eclipsed to the point where it no longer remained. 

But, while the disciples who retained the wound of shame preached a message tainted with fear, those who had no shame, because they had stood by the side of their beloved teacher and friend – Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Martha, the other Marys, the youngest disciple (and Jesus’ own brother) John, and a few others taught a message of love.  They went out into the world doing what Jesus taught them to do.  They began with showing people how to connect with the Divine within.  Then they supported them in coming to know that this connection – which felt like peace, love, contentment and joy – was their original nature and what Jesus called “the kingdom of God.”  Then they taught them how to connect with their own unique gifts and to hear the voice of the Divine which led them to their truth and to the purpose of their life path.  They gathered in community for meditation, contemplation and prayer.  They broke bread together and shared all things in common for the sake of the common good.  They went out into the world teaching, healing, supporting and empowering people – showing them how to be free by teaching them how to love.  In this expression, God was not to be feared but was instead, the source of unconditional and unmerited love. In this they came to know that there was indeed no separation – only love – and they lived in peace and walked softly upon the earth while diligently praying that their brothers and sisters might find healing and self-forgiveness for the guilt and shame they have been harboring for the past 2000 years.

What role have guilt or shame played in your own religious upbringing?

How do you find yourself STILL plagued by this shame-based conditioning?


LIVE ONLINE COURSE:

Freedom from Shame

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

Enrollment limited to 25. Register now to reserve your seat.

Conditioned by Shame

Shame is one of the forces of manipulation that we are currently unraveling from at this stage in our cultural/spiritual evolution.  Specifically – the shame we have been conditioned to feel by the patriarchal/hierarchical power structures who for the past 5000 years have ruled our world.  These power structures, which are rooted in fear, power and control, have fashioned “rules” from which they benefit while the rest of us suffer.  Shame is the tool they use to get us to comply with their rules. Let me offer a few examples:

  • If you anger, disappoint or turn away from “god” you will go to hell and here are the ways you will anger and disappoint “god.”
  • If you don’t dress a certain way, carry a certain purse, if your body isn’t a certain size, people won’t love you.
  • If you don’t succeed in school, you are a failure.
  • If you didn’t learn the lesson, or if you did learn it but can’t communicate it in the way we expect you to, you will get a bad grade.
  • If you don’t pay your bills on time, you will be punished.
  • If you don’t make a certain amount of money, you are a failure.
  • If you are sick and need medical care, but don’t have money to pay for it, you are lazy.
  • If you are a working mother and can’t get to work on time because you have to take your child to work, you will be fired.
  • If you got pregnant out of wedlock, you are a whore.
  • If you are having sex outside of marriage you are also a whore.
  • If you are raped, it’s your fault.

The list goes on and on and on.

These are the threats that have been doled out to us by the existing power structures to imprison us with fear and manipulate us with shame. 

NO MORE! 

It is time for us to unravel from this shame by:

  1. Refusing its power over us.
  2. Taking back our own power.
  3. Healing the wounds that have been implanted within us by this shame so that we are less likely to be vulnerable to shame’s manipulations.

Join us for our first Master class of 2023:

Freedom from Shame

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

LIVE via ZOOM

Enrollment limited to 25. Register now and reserve your seat.

The Purpose of Evil

Before diving into the purpose of evil, I must first share a story. This is a conversation I had with my daughter when she was somewhere around the ripe old age of 14:

Me: “I wish all the evil and bad in the world would just go away.”

Daughter: “But mom, if that happened, there would be no anime.”

Me: …….

Me: …….

Daughter:  “You know, no heroes’ journey! What fun would that be?”

Me: …..

Me: “Sigh. You’re completely right! Out of the mouths of babes!”

This was not the first time I was bested by my wise daughter!  At the young age of 14, my anime-loving daughter was able to clearly see what I could not:

We need evil in our lives! Evil has a reason and a purpose.

The purpose of evil is ultimately for our benefit.

As my daughter so cleverly pointed out, if there wasn’t evil in the world, how would we ever be challenged to grow? In referring to the classic archetype of the heroes’ journey, my wise daughter said it all:

Evil provides the resistance we need to grow.

Human beings are not unlike plants in this regard. As a germinating plant needs the resistance provided by the seed to grow and is then further strengthened by the resistance provided by the rock and soil through which it must climb to reach the sun, so do we need resistance to grow. Being confronted by evil and the other difficulties and struggles of the human condition, we are being provided with an opportunity for this growth.

Unlike a plant which has no choice but to push through (or die), facing evil also gives us the opportunity to cultivate our will and our power to choose. Struggling with the evils of the human condition supports us in honing our conscience and our consciousness. Who do we want to be and how to we want to live and act? Continually, we are given an opportunity to succumb to evil, be led by evil, or alternatively to make the choice for love. When we choose evil, we suffer the consequences of that choice and are given one opportunity after another to choose otherwise. When we choose love, our path takes on a greater sense of ease as we flow gently toward the next opportunity for our growth. Then we have another opportunity to choose.

Evil is always working for our highest good – continually providing us with opportunities to choose and to grow. Our invitation is not to run from evil, but to face it head on, welcoming its lesson, and accepting the opportunity for growth.  In welcoming evil as a teacher, we are fully participating in our own heroes’ journey, and in doing so, writing our own anime adventure!

What kind of hero are you choosing to be?


Courses in support of your own heroes’ journey. Click on the images below to learn more!

Uchiha Image credit: https://wallpaperaccess.com/sasuke-and-itachi-uchiha#google_vignette

Trusting First Thoughts

You know your truth and you know your path. You immediately know if you can trust a person or if caution must be exercised. You know if you are in danger.  You know if you are safe. You know when something is right for you and when it is not. At the deepest and most immediate levels you know this, but if you are like most human beings, this knowing has been conditioned or punished out of you.  Most often, this knowing has been sequestered into box called “can’t” “should” or “shan’t.”

You can’t possibly know that!

You shan’t be so judgmental.

You should give people and situations the benefit of the doubt.

You should give it a chance.

But why?  If you know, you know!  Remember that tiny hair on the back of your neck that stood up when you met that person who later of turned out to be a complete jerk?  How about that clenched feeling in your belly when you were left alone in the room with Uncle ____.  Or that tickle in your ear that said, “don’t take this road” but you took it anyway and rolled your car? How about that snap moment of panic just before you got rear-ended? Or the outside force that picked up your leg and moved it to slam on the brakes saving you from getting t-boned by the big green van running the red light?

Or more subtly: the sneaking feeling that a co-worker had it out for you? The lightning bolt that went up your arm when you shook the hand of a new acquaintance and you immediately knew they were a liar and a manipulator?  The feeling that something felt too good to be true – and it turned out to be!

You know!  You know your truth.  You know what’s right for you.  You know when you are to remain on your current path and when you are being called to change it.  You know what is life-giving for you.  You know what is soul-sucking. You know when you want to share your energy and time; how and with whom. You know when you simply want to be alone. You know who your allies are.  You know your enemies.

This knowledge is communicated in your very first thoughts. Trust them!


Lauri Ann Lumby supports you in trusting your first thoughts!

Lauri has over twenty-five years of experience as an educator, facilitator, soul-tender, and guide. She has supported hundreds through her one-on-one guidance, books, workshops, retreats, over thirty online courses, and online community.

Imprisoned by Belonging

One of the greatest traps we experience as human beings is that of belonging. Belonging has rules. Belonging must be earned. Once earned, there is the constant threat of belonging being taken away. Belonging arises out of a self-created power structure that grooms us to seek after and maintain its approval, and when we break the rules of the power structure we are banished from that place of perceived belonging.

Conditioned belonging exists in every single aspect of our human experience – in our homes, churches, schools, workplaces, etc. The desire to belong reflects our woundedness. Groups of belonging take advantage of this woundedness by extending a promise of acceptance. But in nearly every single case, this acceptance proves to be conditional.

Belonging is a vicious trap that keeps us imprisoned in our woundedness and insecurity. The threat of belonging being taken away keeps us from being able to see the world’s truths, let alone our own. With belonging hanging over our heads, we are unable to name, claim, and live as our most authentic selves. It is for this reason, among others, that much of humanity is living a life of “quiet desperation” – unfulfilled, anxiety and shame-ridden.

Escaping the prison of belonging, is simple, yet likely the most difficult task we will ever undertake. When we know and understand our true nature as Love, we learn that the only one to which we truly belong is to ourselves. After this, no other belonging is necessary:

It takes more courage than most possess to truly see.

Seeing means losing that which

most tightly seals humanity’s prison –

Belonging.

Or rather, the threat that they

are nothing

and no one

if they don’t belong.

What is belonging if not the constant threat that

Love must be earned and

can even more easily be taken away.

All these threats keep them from seeing that the only belonging one ever needs

is belonging to themselves.

And in belonging to themselves,

they know that

they are Love.

How have you been groomed by belonging? Where did you find belonging conditional? How has the need to belong prevented you from living your most authentic truth? How are you working on remembering your true nature as Love?


Stay up to date on all our classes, programs, and offerings.

Soul School with Lauri Ann Lumby

supports you in remembering your true nature as Love through one-on-one mentoring, spiritual direction, online courses, training programs, books, and more. Start that journey of personal and spiritual mastery today!