Surviving the Long Dark Night

LIVE (via ZOOM) online course

Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

April 10, 17, 24, 2024

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

For centuries, wisdom teachers have spoken about the dark night of the soul, a stage of emptiness and sometimes despair in the spiritual journey – a stage that is pronounced and identifiable, but mostly temporary. We may experience several dark nights of the soul, but as described by these teachers, the dark night is always followed by periods of comfort and resolution.  

What these teachers have not spoken of is the reality of a darker night – one that is not simply a stage but appears to be enduring and potentially everlasting. This is not the dark night of clinical depression (though the two can bear similar traits) but is instead –

a sign of having accomplished the spiritual state of embodiment.

Embodiment is that which surpasses ascension and is the culmination of the human spiritual journey. In becoming embodied (anthropos), we have integrated the union experienced at ascension and are now living more and more fully as Love within our human form and experience. In this state, Source is no longer perceived as outside of us. Neither is Source experienced as an ecstatic inner state.

Instead, Source is experienced only as ourselves.

In the long dark night, we

• experience what appears to be the absence of “God”
• miss the ecstasy and intimacy that often accompanies our experiences of union with the Divine
• feel empty, alone, and often afraid.
• experience a sense of abandonment
• become acquainted with the Void – the perceived absence of support, guidance, hope, and direction
• come face to face with Death
• become terrified by the possibility of there being nothing – both in life and on the other side of life.

The long dark night can be terrifying as it encompasses in its embrace, the opportunity to heal and transform the final vestiges of our ego attachments, false perceptions, and non-loving conditioning.  

The long dark night supports us in:

• knowing our own voice as the voice of God
• understanding our own needs as the needs of Source
• becoming empowered to trust ourselves as our own Source of guidance and support
• knowing we are the Love we seek, and living as the embodiment of that Love
• accepting our own sovereign nature as wonderfully and gloriously made
• finding peace in the perceived solitude of union/autonomy

In this live, online course, you will:

• Learn to identify the signs of the long dark night
• Come to understand the purpose of the long dark night
• Discover that you are not alone in this mysterious state of becoming
• Experience resources and tools for navigating the long dark night
• Be supported in surviving the confusion and desolation that often accompanies the long dark night