Many, if not most, seem to be afraid of honesty – their own and that of others.
As I’ve come to know myself, my comfort with honesty has grown – especially about my own feelings, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. With this, I’ve become more bold in speaking my truth and being transparent with who I am and the journey that got me here. Funny thing is that many simply don’t know what to do with that level of truth telling. Those that don’t enthusiastically receive the truths I share, either run away in terror or project their own dishonesty onto me, making me the enemy. It seems the adage is true – many human beings simply cannot handle the truth.
For example:
When we share our weaknesses or vulnerability there are three ways in which people react:
It’s completely ignored (as people slink away from the sharing that is likely triggering their own unacknowledged vulnerabilities.)
It is welcome, and we are thanked for speaking something they may have felt themselves.
Some will catastrophize our words and then reach out to ask if we’re ok or if we need help.
When we share our feelings or attempt to name and claim our needs: Again, we are met with one of three reactions:
Projection. The recipient turns their own shame or inability to accept difficult feelings or set boundaries on to us – thereby turning us into the enemy.
Gratitude. The recipient gratefully accepts our words and if appropriate apologizes and accepts responsibility for any behaviors that may have hurt us or for infringing on our boundaries.
Respect. The recipient honors and respects our desire to set boundaries and upholds them willingly.
When we speak truth to power and point out societal and corporate injustice:
(issues of racism, sexism, corporate greed, white privilege, concerns about poverty, education, healthcare, homelessness, economic injustices, etc.), there are four predictable reactions:
Retaliation. This response most often comes from those benefitting from these injustices as they attempt to intimidate or justify their willing participation in injustices from which they benefit.
Explanations and excuses. Ahhhhhhh the corporate Koolaid! (more on that later). All the reasons and justifications people make for being part of an unjust system (I have bills to pay, they provide me with insurance, it’s a “good” company, yada yada yada).
Deaf Ears. This most often comes from those who are either in denial, or who are attempting to ignore the suppressed shame they feel for being part of an unjust system.
Agreement. Spoken loudly and clearly from those who also see the injustice and who are willing to risk rejection and condemnation by calling out and working against injustice.
I know! I’m preaching to the choir! You get it! If you don’t get it chances are you haven’t read this far anyway! 😊 So what’s my point? What’s the moral to the story? Why are people so uncomfortable with honesty – whether it be personal honesty spoken or more general honesty about an unjust system? The reason is simple:
People’s discomfort with honesty reflects their inability to be honest with themselves.
Lauri Ann Lumby
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.
It has been a productive week at Soul School as I prepare for some big bold moves. Fueling the big and the bold are this week’s video/podcast episodes. If you find these videos helpful, please share them with your friends! Let’s share the love! ❤
Soul Tending with Lauri includes:
Personality, Temperament, and Gifts Assessments.
Exploration of the Soul’s calling.
Uncovering and transforming the obstacles to living out that calling through a variety of mindfulness, creativity, and shamanic practices including Lauri’s trademarked Authentic Freedom™ protocol.
Depth work – identifying ungrieved losses, unhealed wounds, past traumas, ancestral trauma, and learning shamanic practices for transforming and releasing them.
Shadow work – uncovering the unintegrated and often rejected parts of self and bringing them into wholeness.
People often ask me, “How do you know this stuff?” The short answer is – a lifetime of study. The longer answer is what I have come to call “embodied learning.” Yes, I have read literally hundreds of books on the topics I teach and in the areas that I counsel. But more than just reading, I have done my best to embody the best of what scholars before me have articulated through their words, and have applied the practices of the mystics and contemplators and experienced the benefit of these practices in my own life.
Below is just a glimpse into the many books I have studied in forming the foundation of the offerings of Soul School. The benefit to my client and students is that they don’t have to read all these books. They can just show up for the classes and enjoy the distillation of all I have accumulated and gathered in a lifetime of study, integration, and practice.
Lauri Ann Lumby Reading List 2022
Books Related to Mary Magdalene:
Scholarly Works:
Begg, Ean, The Cult of the Black Virgin, Chiron Publications, 2006.
Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene – Discovering the Woman at the Heart of
Christianity, Shambhala Publications, 2010.
Haskins, Susan, Mary Magdalene – Myth and Metaphor, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.
King, Karen, L., The Gospel of Mary of Magdala – Jesus and the First Woman Apostle,
Polebridge Press, 2003.
Leloup, Jean-Yves, Judas and Jesus – Two Faces of a Single Revelation, Inner Traditions, 2006.
Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Inner Traditions, 2002.
Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Philip, Inner Traditions, 2003.
Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Thomas, Inner Traditions, 2005.
Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary – The Sexual Mystery at the Heart of
the Christian Tradition, Inner Traditions, 2005.
MacDermot, Violet, The Fall of Sophia – A Gnostic Text on the Redemption of Universal
Consciousness, Lindisfarne Books, 2001.
Starbird, Margaret, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, Bear & Company, 1993.
Starbird, Margaret, The Goddess in the Gospels – Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine, Bear &
Company, 1998.
Starbird, Margaret, Mary Magdalene – Bride in Exile, Bear & Company, 2005.
Fiction or Channeled Works:
Heartsong, Claire, Anna – Grandmother of Jesus. S.E.E. Publishing, 2002.
Heartsong, Claire, Anna – the Voice of the Magdalenes, S.E.E Publishing, 2010.
Kenyon, Thomas & Sion, Judi, The Magdalen Manuscript, Tom Kenyon Orb, 2006.
McGowan, Kathleen, The Expected One, Touchstone, 2007.
McGowan, Kathleen, The Book of Love, Touchstone, 2010.
Pevehouse, Dolores, I, The Christ, Hampton Roads, 2000.
Wilson, Stuart, Essenes – Children of the Light, Ozark Mountain Publishing, 2005.
Wilson, Stuart & Prentis, Joanna, Power of the Magdalene, Ozark Mountain Publishing, 2008.
Unitive Gnosticism/Gnostic Christianity:
Douglas-Klotz, Neil, The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus,
Quest Books, 1999.
Douglas-Klotz, Neil, Prayers of the Cosmos, Harper One 1993.
Eisler, Riane, The Chalice and the Blade, Harper Collins, 1987.
I have been profoundly honored to be invited to present for a wide variety of corporate gatherings. This coming week, I have two such events. On Thursday I will be presenting on Mary Magdalene for the Healer’s Playgroup out of the Twin Cities, MN, and on Saturday, I’m presenting: Supporting Resilience in Teens: Mental Health and Wellness for Dancers for the Wisconsin Dance Council annual conference. I’m grateful for these and other organizations who understand the value of personal development and are committed to bringing these resources to their employees, members, and clients.
It was so exciting to have Lauri, with 30 years of expertise in the field of human development, visit our craft-centered writing group, Much Ado About Writing. Her in-depth knowledge of enneagram types was the perfect complement to our discussions of characterization, and her presentation summarizing each of the types – their main traits, fears, and compulsions – had us all seeing the characters in our works-in-progress (and ourselves) in a new light. If you are looking to inject fresh energy and perspective into your writing group’s discussions of craft while deepening your understanding of human temperaments and interpersonal relationships, invite Lauri to come chat with your group about her work!
Kate Penndorf and Valerie Heller, Much Ado About Writing
Lauri Lumby partnered with my company Nutritional Healing to offer her Authentic Freedom education to clients of all backgrounds and needs. We offered a half-day workshop focused on ‘the mindful body’ for self-development that helped our clients learn how to bring awareness and joy back to eating. Lauri helped attendees focus on saying goodbye to things such as emotional eating, self-medicating, limiting beliefs, low self-esteem, and other bad habits. My clients also learned how mindless munching and emotional eating doesn’t serve us, and what steps we can take to become aware of what our body truly needs and become more body-aware with each bite we take.
Additionally, Lauri helped my clients beat stress and prevent any moments of emotional eating during one of the toughest times of year – the holidays. Lauri taught attendees how to acknowledge and recognize any triggers as they show up during the holidays, and how/why we often turn to food and alcohol to numb these feelings. From there, my clients were taught basic practices for dealing with these triggers.
I would recommend the work of Lauri Lumby on an individual basis as well as in a corporate setting to make an impact in helping individuals do the deep work we all need for true healing!
Kimberly Stoeger, Nutritional Healing
Ms. Lumby has been a returning implementer for Currie Management Consultants. Inc. We’ve been in business over four decades as consultants to industrial equipment manufacturers, dealers and distributors. We have included Enneagram work as part of our ongoing Leadership and Executive Development work. The Enneagram, and Lauri’s work, have become essential parts of our programs. Lauri engages our clients extremely well, delivers with precision, and her impeccable work ethic is highly professional. She is a respected colleague of ours and our hope is that this relationship grows and continues into the future. Experts like Lauri are necessary for developing strong corporate culture, and for building teams of effective leaders and executives that work with purpose and intention.
Robin P. Currie, Currie Management Consultants, Inc.
Lauri Ann Lumby designs workshops and tools to meet the individual needs of businesses and their employees.
In the summer of 1994, I had an experience that forever changed the course of my life. I had been languishing, feeling frustrated, unfulfilled, and out of place in my fifth corporate job in almost as many years. I knew that I was not in the right career path and that corporate work just wasn’t for me. I had been begging and pleading the universe for support in finding my true path – the path of my soul, and that which would lead to a sense of meaning and fulfillment and which might help to serve the betterment of our world.
The answer came in a startling and unexpected way. While attending mass one Sunday, the pastor, in his homily said, “If there’s something you want to do and you haven’t done it yet, get off your ass and do it now.” I felt his words like a lightening bolt through my entire body as I saw a red brick fly through the air and hit me in the head. Perhaps this was the answer – or at least the invitation. I scheduled an appointment with my pastor and thus began the beginning of the path that would lead me to where I am today.
What began as ministry formation through the Catholic Church led to training as a spiritual director, which then led me on the path of Reiki healing. I secured a paid position with the Church, eventually leaving the corporate world behind.
This, however, was just the beginning. I worked in the Church for ten years, and during that time, applied ancient knowledge and practice into what became a nine-month curriculum in human psycho-spiritual development. Through this training, participants began to discover their unique gifts and how they were being called to use these gifts in the world for the sake of their own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world. I saw the results of this training first in myself, and then in those I guided. This was meaningful and fulfilling work and I knew I was on to something.
Then Reiki happened. Suffice it to say that hierarchy and the movement of the Holy Spirit collided. Eventually I had to make a choice between my Church and the calling that God had given me. I chose God.
This choosing took place over many years with lots of bargaining and excruciating grief, but since 2008 I have been free of institutional constraints and have been leading individuals and groups on the journey of their own psycho-spiritual development using the curriculum that has its roots in my time in Church ministry, but which has unfolded in a way to speak to and meet the needs of a universal audience. Since then, I have published ten books, created over thirty courses geared toward supporting participants in their own journey of self-actualization, and led hundreds on that journey.
I do this work because I have seen the benefits in my own life and in the life of my clients and students. When we take the time to uncover our unique giftedness, discern how we are called to share the gifts in the world, and then move through the inner obstacles to living out of those gifts, we experience a sense of meaning and fulfillment in our lives which leads us to a deep state of inner contentment and joy. While attending graduate school, I learned that the word for this acquired knowledge and experience is self-actualization. I also learned, and have seen for myself, that self-actualized humans naturally and effortlessly work from their own unique gifts in support of their own fulfillment and for the betterment of the world. Self-actualization in one benefits our world in exponential ways. It has therefore become my mission to support the betterment of our world by supporting self-actualization one person at a time.
A Life of Meaning and Fulfillment
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 so that you might enjoy the meaningful and fulfilling life of your dreams.
I am honored and excited to now be offering Gnostic Tarot as one of my client services. I have been a student of TAROT (meaning wheel or law of life) for over thirty years. From its roots in Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), the Emerald Tablet, and Egyptian Gnosticism, to its evolution in medieval mystical societies to its modern-day use in Jungian Psychology as a useful archetype for the hero’s journey, I have found a universal application for TAROT wisdom as a personal guide, and as a tool for others in their Soul’s transformational journey. For me, TAROT has become part of my daily practice, and now I want to share it with you.
Gnostic TAROT guidance helps you in finding insights and support for where you are in the current stage of your Soul’s evolution, along with keys to answering the deepest questions of your heart. Employing my deep intuitive gifts and my knowledge and experience with the journey of human development, Gnostic TAROT guidance with me is more than just a reading. Through this work you will find inspiration, guidance, comfort, support, and even healing. Additionally, you will be given effective tools for deepening the insights gained from each session.
The Soul journey is ultimately about remembering WE ARE LOVE. We were created by Love, for Love, for the purpose of Love. In order to live that Love, however, we first have to heal the places within us where we have forgotten we were Love, or told we weren’t Love, loved, or lovable; or that love had to be earned. Remembering Love is a life-long journey, and each step brings us closer and closer to the FREEDOM we were meant to enjoy in the human experience.
Loving Myself
In becoming my Wild Divine
I have finally fallen in love with
Myself.
No more apologies or explanations.
I am the Wild Divine
Having left behind
Guilt
Shame
and encultured shoulds.
Walking my own path.
Living my own truth.
Uncompromisingly dedicated to ME.
I Am the Wild Divine.
Luscious in my fullness.
Softened by time.
Freed of rigid angles
The sharp edges of resentment’s scorn made soft.
Living beyond the fray.
Thriving outside the norm.
The world’s never seen a woman like me before.
Soul Tending with Lauri
Lauri Ann Lumby has over twenty-five years of experience as a soul-tender, educator and guide. She has supported hundreds through her one-on-one guidance, books, workshops, retreats, over thirty online courses, and online community.
Lauri Ann Lumby 