faith

Magdalene Training Open For Enrollment

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

As the current group of students in the Magdalene Training Program are approaching the end of their training, and preparing to celebrate their final ordination, I am opening the Magdalene Training Program for the next group of interested students.

The Magdalene Training Program provides resources, knowledge, and tools to support you in your journey of self-discovery and empowered self-actualization.

Through this eighteen-month training program, you will:

  • Become rooted in scholarly and intuitive knowledge of the Magdalene, her role in the ministry of Jesus, and her leadership in the ongoing mission of Love.
  • Discern your own unique giftedness and how you are called to use these gifts for the sake of your own fulfillment and in service to the world.
  • Learn practical skills for uncovering and healing all that separates you from Love and from living as your most authentic self.
  • Rediscover ancient knowledge and practices for self-healing.
  • Cultivate and deepen your contemplative life while growing in contentment and compassion.

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

64 weeks of content

7 individual courses

6 private mentoring sessions

With its focus on developmental psychology, mindfulness practices, and the historical Magdalene, this training is unlike any other out there. This program maintains the integrity of the psychological and healing training that Mary, called Magdalene undertook through the guidance of her teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, by keeping the story of the Magdalene in its proper place within the Judeo-Christian narrative. Consistent with the Way of Love as Jesus taught it, the Magdalene Training program transcends dogma and doctrine, thereby restoring the essence of Jesus’ authentic teachings as they were lived out uniquely through the Magdalene and those who eventually became her students.

Resources used in this training include:

  • Canonical and non-canonical scripture (including The Gospel of Mary Magdalene).
  • The Universal Spiritual Gifts Inventory
  • The Enneagram Temperament Profile
  • The Aramaic Lord’s Prayer
  • The Chakra System
  • The Authentic Freedom™ Protocol
  • The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises
  • Ignatius’ Rules of Discernment
  • Meditation and Mindfulness
  • Creativity Practices
  • Guided and self-created ritual

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

64 weeks of content (done in your own time at your own pace)

7 individual online courses

6 private mentoring sessions (via ZOOM)

To learn more and begin your enrollment, please click HERE.

Not Quite Sure?

Please enjoy the FREE Magdalene Training preview course by clicking on the image to the left.

Does the Universe Have a Plan?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I’m starting right off with all the caveats to what I’m about to write.  Yes, my observations could be 100% white, ableist privilege. They may also be (a term I recently learned) confirmation bias. Or I’m naïve, thrive on wishful thinking, or believe in magic. Any and all of this and more are possibly true.

HOWEVER

Every ancient spiritual text, including the Tao te Ching, the Torah, and Christian scripture seem to agree on one thing: the Universe (aka God) has a plan, and that our lives flow more peacefully and with more ease when we align ourselves with that plan and surrender to it.

BUT HOW DO WE DO THIS?

The Tao says (in so many words) that whatever is happening RIGHT NOW is the plan. Zen teachings say something similar. The present moment just is, and it is a part of the constant unfolding of the Universes’ becoming. We are part of that becoming.

To put it in theistic terms, God/Goddess/Source is experiencing itself in every possible way through every expression of creation – from the smallest atom to entire universes. We are God expressing God’s Self in the unique creation we were made to be. Cells being cells, trees being trees, humans being humans – all are part of the unfolding/becoming of Source with a destination that is infinite and timeless, perhaps even unlimited. (we are NOT getting into the topic of entropy here!).

This brings us to the unanswerable question. Is this unfolding of Source random (chaos theory) or is there an intelligence that drives that unfolding.

I tend to lean in the direction of the latter – that there is an unknowable intelligence driving this unfolding, and that this intelligence knows exactly what it is doing in its becoming/expressing. I have also come to believe (or chosen to believe) that this intelligence is benevolent and desires the highest good for its expressions of self.

But what does highest good mean? In the psychology of Sri Aurobindo, (and similarly in the Kabbalah) each of us are here for the purpose of learning and growth. Each life we live serves the learning and growth of the Soul which in turn influences our subsequent lives. The human journey is like being cast out to sea so that we can find our own way home. We experience ourselves as separate from Source so that we might have a unique human journey, all the while trying to find our way back to Source. As if journeying down a funnel, each life brings us closer and closer to complete reunion with Source.

We are not, however, cast out to sea without guidance or equipment. Instead, there is a plan for the journey along with a plan for our return. Accounting for freewill, the plan is loose. We can go along with the plan, or we can stray from it. We can surrender to the plan, or we can resist. Surrendering to the plan may include loss, sorrow, betrayal, and pain; but in finding acceptance we experience comfort. Resistance causes suffering. The human journey is not meant to be easy as growth requires struggle. We can, however, choose to make the journey a bit easier on ourselves by trusting in and surrendering to the plan.

BUT WHAT IS THE DAMN PLAN? This is the burning question to which we will never likely receive an answer. Instead, we are left only with what ancient wisdom seems to agree upon:

There is a plan. The plan is in this moment. Trust in and surrender to the plan.

This is where I find myself today. (let’s ground this thing…shall we!?).  For the past thirty-one years, I thought I understood the plan. I received a calling that I followed. I pursued education and training in that field. I’ve been doing the work in any and all ways I could figure out. I’ve made changes where needed. I’ve adapted to different audiences. I’ve networked myself to death. Now it seems I’ve reached the end of the trail with nothing in front of me except for the VOID. Every effort comes up flat and lifeless and I’m all out of ideas. I could continue to beat this (seemingly) dead horse, or I can just sit my ass down at the end of the trail until something shows itself. I know, from previous experience that attempting anything else will only leave me beaten and bloody. So instead:

I anchor myself in this present moment and trust that the Universe is taking me somewhere, it’s just not yet ready to show me. Or maybe, I just go to sleep knowing the Universe is carrying me to wherever I’m next meant to be.

And just to prove my point: this was my first week off since January. I had great plans on what to do with this time – including searching job postings to help fill some financial needs. Instead, the Universe intervened. Instead of allowing me to get in my own way by not trusting the plan and surrendering to Tao, the Universe gave me a case of the feverish creeping crud. I could do nothing that I had planned for the week except writhe in misery while trying to find something entertaining to watch on TV. Ugh.

Another thing I’ve learned, when we turn away from surrender and attempt to control the plan, we get our ass handed to us. May as well let go and surrender even (especially) when we have no idea of the plan.  It’s just easier that way!  

Finally: a little inspiration from my favorite band, The Osmonds, from their album THE PLAN!

I’m not sure if this, or any of my other trainings will be part of “the plan.” My Magdalene training is available now as are any of my other Magdalene-themed courses. Click on the button below to learn more:

Magdalene Courses

Being Love in a World that Wants to Hate

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

Being Love requires persistence, discipline, personal responsibility, accountability, and courage. Being Love requires vulnerability and humility. Being Love asks us to be willing to admit where we have been wrong, especially when our being wrong has wronged another. Being Love requires forgiveness – forgiveness of self and other – but likely not the kind of forgiveness you learned about in church. Being Love requires commitment along with countless opportunities to re-commit.

Being Love is an inside job. Being Love takes work. Being Love is hard. It is for these reasons, and the ones mentioned above, that so few even attempt, let alone succeed at being Love. This is especially true in a world that wants to be hate and which appears to be overwhelmingly successful in being hate.

Hate is easy. Born out of our instinctual drive to be suspicious of that which is unfamiliar, hate separates and divides in an attempt to keep us safe from the unknown. As reasoning animals, we are supposed to evolve past this drive to separate. Sadly, most have not evolved past this, simply because evolving takes work. Hating is easy. Being Love is hard.

Even with intention, desire, commitment, and drive, being Love is hard. I’ve learned and experienced this in my own life. One of the reasons hatred is so easy is because it feeds us. Hatred allows us to believe we are right and everyone else is wrong. Hatred fills us with a charge that can feel energizing and empowering. Hatred makes us feel powerful. Hatred allows us to feel superior. Hatred creates in us the illusion of being safe from those who have or could cause us harm.

Feeding on hatred, however, is like ingesting poison. Feeding on hatred makes us sick. Many years ago I became aware of the ways in which hatred was harming me. Eventually I decided to stop.  

Deciding to stop was only the first step, however.  From then on, I have dived deeply into researching and applying a multitude of wisdom practices that have helped me move from being hate to being Love.  In applying these practices, this is what I’ve learned:

  1. We cannot just “think” our way into being Love.
  2. Instead, we must go deep within ourselves to the places we have forgotten that we are Love and heal those.
  3. Over and over and over and over and over and over again.
  4. Being Love (and by association forgiveness) has NOTHING to do with “the other,” and everything to do with ourselves.
  5. As we heal the inner obstacles to Love, we are not only healing ourselves, others are healed as well.
  6. Another human’s inability to being Love is none of our business, except as an invitation to being more loving ourselves.
  7. We cannot heal or change anyone but ourselves.
  8. We can despise an individual’s actions while still having Love for them.

This #8 may in fact be the single most important challenge to us as we try to be Love. Every single day we encounter wounded and broken human beings who do not know they are Love. Having never been given a chance, or having never chosen to evolve, they find themselves living solely out of their instinctual center. From this fear center, the only way they know how to function is to divide themselves from that which they perceive as different. It is out of this fear that things like racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia arise. While our reasoning minds might not be able to understand how someone would purposefully choose hatred, until we evolve beyond our instinctual drives, anything other than hatred might not be a choice. To put it succinctly, hatred is just another word for fear. While we might despise the actions of someone choosing hatred over Love, we can have compassion and love for the wounded human inside of them who doesn’t know any other way to respond to fear.

While responding to fear/hatred with more fear/hatred might be easy, it is not how we bring more Love into our world. The only way for Love to grow is to be Love ourselves. In being Love and continuing to heal the places in ourselves that have forgotten we are Love, we are  providing humanity with an example of what Love looks like which then gives them an opportunity to make another choice.

Being hatred or being Love?  It is a choice.

Being Love begins with self-knowledge.

The Order of the Magdalene Formation Program provides you with resources, knowledge, and tools to support you in your own journey of self-discovery and empowerment. 

Learn more HERE

Christians Giving God a Bad Name

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

Ugh!  Where do I even begin? I guess the best place is what is right in front of our noses as we seem to be living through some sort of apocalyptic fever dream created by a certain kind of so-called Christian. This apocalyptic fever dream is predicated on the defense of perceived white, straight- male privilege, fortified by the narcissistic belief of having been chosen by God, and enforced through illegal capture and incarceration. In this fever dream, there are those chosen by God and those who are the enemy. Those chosen are male of white, straight, European descent who claim to be Christian (and their complicit women). The enemy is everyone else.

These so-called chosen ones claim a white, male God who loves them and hates everyone else. They believe in a time of God’s choosing where they will be ushered into heaven while the remaining are cast into hell. They believe it is their duty to first impose and then enforce “God’s law” (as they understand it).  Any and every means of enforcement is allowed and even celebrated. They consider themselves to be soldiers for God and many have the arsenal to show for it. Their God is the only god, and all other expressions of God are wrong. They celebrate power and wealth and worship the prosperity gospel – believing wealth is their divine right and that if they don’t have it, “the enemy” is at fault. It is therefore their right to destroy the enemy because the enemy is keeping them from what God wills for them. It is their duty to hate those who God hates.

These people call themselves Christian. They claim to know Christ, but I’m quite certain they do not. They may know some version of Christ that they learned from their parents or pastors, but I’m fairly certain if the Love that is Christ showed up in the form of Jesus – a dark-skinned Palestinian man – they would seek to crucify him. (interesting how history unhealed repeats itself).

The very human part of me becomes enraged when I hear people who call themselves Christian preaching racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and sexism. I want to go into battle when I hear Christians justifying evil as “God’s-will.” I want to throw bibles at those who believe it is their divine mission to ignore the needs of the poor and eradicate the programs that provide for their basic needs. I want to throw stones at those who believe food, clothing, shelter, education, and healthcare are solely the right of the privileged and not rights for all. I want to tar and feather them with the words of Jesus (and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) that say otherwise.

I want to but I won’t. While I feel insane hearing these people speak of their God and their divine rights, the compassionate part of me also understands what I can only imagine as deep, impenetrable wounds that would cause one to see right past the Love that is God and was modeled and taught by Jesus (and a whole slew of other great humans), and into the eyes of hate.

I don’t understand it. But, I wasn’t raised in a home or by a religion that taught me to hate. Sometimes, delivered by imperfect humans (we’re all imperfect), the messages caused confusion, and at times the messages were conflicting, but at the end of the day, I saw past the human imperfection to the Love that was either right in front of my eyes, or hiding beneath the surface. While divine punishment and threats of hell may have been uttered, Love always won out. I heard the Love louder than the fear and it is that which guided me to the “God” that I know today.

My “God” isn’t the old man in the sky (even though that image still persists). To me, God is Love (1 John 4:7). As Love, I can no longer imagine a hell or a devil whose job is to drag us there. God, to me, is not defined by form, but is omnipresent – PRESENT IN ALL THINGS. God is imminent and immanent. God is in us (Luke 17: 20-21) and all around us. God is everything and is Ain-Sof (the no-thing). God is the Source from which all things come forth and to which all things return. This Source is LOVE.

This is the “God” that I have come to know in being raised Catholic, thirty years of dedicated study of scripture including modern-day scripture scholars, and over sixty years of personal meditation, contemplation and prayer over the life of Jesus and his teachings. This Love/God is what has guided me on my path, initiated corrections when I veered from that path, and led me to the deep well of inner peace and contentment that can only come as one comes to know that Love.

When Christians give God a bad name, I think of this.  I think of the God that I have come to know and the hate that is impossible in the face of this Love. I find myself sad for those who think they know God when all they truly know is hate. I wish and pray that one day Love will break them open and show them the peace, joy, and wonder that this Love brings, and how in the face of this Love all fear and separation falls away. I wish for them to realize the Love they are in this Love, and the Love that is in all things. I pray for them to understand that they, and all of creation are expressions of God’s Love. I want for them to have the change of heart that this understanding brings. This change of heart will then empower them to lay down their swords and replace them with Love. Love will then compel them on the path of goodness that knows we are here, not to serve our fear-driven desires, but to be and do the work of Love in the world – healing the sick, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing shelter for the homeless, and setting captives free, as Jesus called us to do. In doing this, they will be proof of the time-honored hymn: “They will know we are Christians by our Love.”

Letting Life Run Its Course

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

As human beings, we are hard-wired for control. We seek after, grasp, and cling to control in an attempt to make ourselves feel safe. We are especially vigilant in these attempts when life places uncertainty before us.

We are living in uncertain times. We don’t have to look far to see the ways in which the collective human species is grasping after control. Neither do we have to look deep to see the ways in which we, ourselves, are equally seeking after control.

The reality is that control is an illusion and the formula that suggests control equals safety is a bold-faced lie. In fact, the opposite is true: the quicker way to peace and contentment (ie: safety) is to completely let go of control and let life run its course.

Letting go of the compulsion to grasp after control is exactly the posture I am taking at this point in both our collective as well as my own individual journey. This is a posture that demands a bit of trust/faith, but even more so, it requires diligence.

Diligence is the ability to make a commitment and stick with it. Diligence demands discipline and persistence. As an imperfect individual who at times is excruciatingly human, it is easy to fall off course – to lose my sense of commitment and become distracted by externals which attempt to trigger my fears. Self-awareness supports me in knowing when I have strayed from my committed path and lost the inner peace that comes in letting things take their course. Diligence puts me back on the path and leads me back to the peace of letting go.

Let me give you an example from my own life.  At this point in my journey, I am acutely aware of certain things coming to an end (or at the very least dramatically changing). These things provide the financial resources for my basic needs including shelter and food. Interestingly two of these things seem to be ending at exactly the same time. Together they provide for 80% of my current income. YIKES.

In the past, the imminent collapse of income would have freaked me out.  I would have been bombarding the internet with information on my programs and services, hastily applying for jobs, losing sleep over worry, and likely experiencing break-through panic. Yes, I am aware of the anxiety that threatens to shove me off course, but my response to that anxiety is to hold my ground. Life has taught me that when something leaves, it is only creating room for something better to take its place. Life has also taught me that I am being provided for – maybe not through the accumulation of wealth, but through exactly what I need IN THIS MOMENT. While life has called me to be creative, it has never really let me down. I don’t know what will be and I am not being given a glimpse. I do know that I will be ok, and even if I’m not, I will be fine. If nothing else, life has taught me resilience. (as one friend recently said, this is one word I too would like to retire!!!!!)

But, how do I know? How can I be sure? How can I let life take its course when it sometimes looks like complete and utter collapse is pending?

In a word:  PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.

Every moment of every single day is a practice. Are we at peace or in a state of panic or confusion? If the latter, I turn to my practice. When it’s the former, I remain in my practice. Returning again and again and again to the practices that help me maintain peace, equanimity and to meet life from a place of wisdom.

When the shit hits the fan, and I am overwhelmed with life, the world, my own unhealed wounds, I turn within and if that fails, I turn toward (that which some might call) God. Just yesterday, I was begging “God/Self” for relief. Then I asked for healing, letting go of my need to avert the inner pain I was feeling, and let Life/God take its course.

This is how it is with our world. As the world around us writhes in its death throes, seeking to trigger our fears and we are tempted to grasp after control, the only thing we can really do is let the events take their course. When not immersed in the detailed actions of the pretenders in office and the silence of the supposed balances and checks, I see a bigger picture. Something new trying to be born. As this new is coming forth, it is breaking apart the lies upon which the world has been built and showing us where there are kinks in the chain. As the new is coming forth, that which has long basked in their illusion of power and control are freaking out. Their fear of losing power is driving them to grasp, wrestle, tantrum, cling and rage. As we would do for any other toddler, let them rage. As they are not ours to protect or save, we let them tantrum. Eventually, they will either grow tired or destroy themselves. Then there will be room for the emotionally mature grown ups to step in, clear away the debris, and start the building of something new.

In the meantime, it is our job to stand back, allowing Life run it’s course.

Support through Uncertain Times

If you are struggling to maintain peace during these uncertain times, I can help. Through one-on-one mentoring, I can support you with practices that help us to reclaim peace and clear the inner wounds we carry that stand in the way of our knowing peace.

Email: lauri@lauriannlumby.com to learn more.

Hold the Line

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 3 Comments

Hold the Line

Love isn’t always on time.

These are the words that keep dancing around in my head. As we are continuing to be witness to the collapse of the world as we have known it, these are important words to remember.

Love does not come in our time.  Love comes in “God’s” time. We are not in charge of the unfolding of current events. Instead, we are witnesses and Love-bearers.

As witnesses our job is to watch, observe, and hold space for all the many faces of grief we will experience in the face of the death-throes of the patriarchy. As Love-bearers, we are meant to observe the unfolding from a place of non-judgment and detachment.

Love is universal. All are made by and for Love. Even (especially) those we perceive to be living a life contrary to Love. Jesus said “Love thy neighbor,” and “Pray for your enemies.”  Our neighbors are those we perceive to be like us. Our enemies – well, we know who they are. We are called to Love them – one and all.

I know, easier said than done. When we watch humans being cruel toward each other, treating one another with disrespect, acting as if some are deserving of liberties and others are not, it is hard.

When it is hard, we are called to pray for ourselves.  “Help me in my unbelief.” “Forgive them, they know not what they do.” “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”  “Teach me how to Love.”

All are wounded seeking to be free. Some know they are wounded and are seeking their own healing. Most aren’t even aware they’re wounded and are simply acting out of those wounds.

Love one another. Pray for each other’s healing.

And don’t interfere. It is said “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”  The same is true of humans. The difference between horses and humans is that humans can’t even be led. All we can do is our own work of being Love in the world and being that Love more fully. Sometimes, our presence awakens others to the Love within themselves, and to the invitation to knowing that Love. Sometimes our presence pisses people off. Neither is within our control. It’s not personal. It’s none of our business.

Each of our names are written on the palm of God’s hands. Our lives are written in Her book. If you are reading this, you are here simply for the purpose of Love. Be that Love and live from that Love and that is all you need to know.

Hold the line. The Love that you are is always on time.

STARTS TOMORROW!

6-week Live online course

Learn more HERE

When the Invisible becomes Visible

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

I have lived my entire life simply by the whisperings of faith. If it feels right, or hits me square between the eyes, I have pursued it. No questions asked. (No, that’s a lie. I’ve had lots of questions, doubts, bargaining and asking, “God, are you really sure about this?”  God has always been sure. My human self – not so much).

Faith is a strange thing because we are most often taught that faith requires effort. We’re told to “believe,” and we will be rewarded for that belief. We’re taught that “faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains,” implying that if we can’t move the mountain, we either don’t have enough faith or we’re not trying hard enough. The same is true about walking on water.

This has not been my experience of faith at all!  Instead, faith has been like a wave in the ocean that pushes me forward into a certain direction and try as I might, I cannot resist that flow. Faith has lifted me out of certain life situations and my own ill-conceived plans, and dropped me on another shore. Faith is a force I have ceased from resisting, as I have learned that there is nothing but hardship in denying ourselves the force of faith’s movement. Faith knows better what is right for us than what we could ever conceive of ourselves.

Faith is what has kept me going when I thought all was lost and there was no more hope. Faith has kept me true to my path despite my doubt and the outward appearance(s) of failure. Faith has moved me beyond western definitions of success and into a place where I (mostly) know and trust that my presence is planting some kind of seed and my efforts are producing a kind of fruit that I just don’t yet see.

Recently, I was gifted with several opportunities to see that fruit. This fruit was not what I was looking for, neither was it what I had expected. Yet, the visible appearance of this fruit filled my heart to overflowing, gave validation to my choices, and has made me profoundly grateful and humbled.

Western conditioning trains us to look for proof of our success in something big. We’re told to look for the flashing billboard and a pile of wealth. We’re instructed to believe that a teacher is measured by the number of students they have (not the number of teachers they empower).

Faith has shown me something else. Instead, of the above, what I was given to see is that the fruits of my efforts are subtle, invisible, yet deeply rooted. I was given to see that my presence and the simple effort of me just being me has had a profound impact on several people’s lives. In not one, but several conversations in the past week, I was told, in very visible terms, how my presence has impacted people’s lives.

I can only respond to the gratitude expressed by these many acquaintances/friends with my own gratitude along with a deep humility in knowing that I did not do that! Yes, I was the vessel through which they experienced my presence as gift, but it was, and has always been, God/Faith working through me. And here’s the most startling fact about this fruit – the majority of those who shared their gratitude, only two had ever set foot in my office or taken one of my classes. These were mostly people I have simply encountered in my journey of being me.

I guess we never truly know the impact we have in other people’s lives until Faith steps in to show us, making the invisible visible.

Comfort for a Friend

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 6 Comments

The following is a copy of a letter I sent to one of my dearest friends who has been rightfully angry and frustrated with the state of our world and the actions of a certain administration. I trust these words will be a comfort to others.

Dear Friend(s):

For awhile now I’ve been wanting to offer some words of comfort as we are moving through this massive upheaval of what we once believed in as a political system. There can be no mistaking, the Republic is in the midst of its own collapse, in this case, by its own hand.

I know this causes you much fear and concern – rightly so. I know it also ignites anger and rage – again, rightly so. Today I heard someone call this “a war on women.”  Indeed, that often appears to be the case. Equally, it appears as a war against everything that we all hold dear as it relates to universal civil rights and the promises of liberty – for all.

Unfortunately, the system was never made to support anyone other than white, wealthy, men – regardless of what we’ve been told. In the simplest of words, a system that was never meant to support us is showing itself for what it truly is and in its revelation, it will ultimately destroy itself. As scripture says:

“a house divided against itself cannot stand. (Matthew 12:25)”

Knowledge, of this destruction, however, is not necessarily a source of comfort. To offer that, I will have to go back fifty-five years.

Somewhere around the age of five, while vacationing with my family at Lake Lumby, under the light of a bright orange harvest moon, I was given a dream. In the dream the end of the world was about to happen, and I pleaded  “how can we stop this and save humanity?”  The answer – cryptic as dreams often are was, “Gather your friends and dig up Lincoln’s real bones and restore them to their rightful place.” I was five – but even at that young age, I had a sense of the dream’s meaning. It meant that what Abraham Lincoln represents to many of us (honesty, integrity, equal rights, etc.) needed to be restored to our world.  I knew this dream to be true and a prophecy of what was to come.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s and I start to see the proof of this dream playing itself out. In prayer, through dreams, and in connection with others receiving similar messages, there seemed to be a great unfolding taking place. The great unfolding is and has been an ongoing revelation of the division and fear that have shaped western culture (especially) and the United States specifically. We might call the cause of this division patriarchy but it is much more than that. It is every single system that has its roots in fear, and which seeks to manipulate others by this fear so as to serve the self-appointed ruling class. (The movie/documentary Origin explores this in depth.) 

The good news is that a system built on fear is unsustainable. The challenging news is that we are witnessing proof of this as we are living through one of the many times that a system such as this has collapsed under the weight of its own arrogance and greed  – ie: The Fall of Rome. (I have often wondered if Rome knew it was falling and what the impact was on those NOT of the ruling class.)

Since 2016, and even more so since 2020, the pace at which the empire is falling has quickened. We have seen it most obviously on the political stage, but it is indeed impacting every single institution that is rooted in fear, power, and control. The experiment of capitalism has worn itself out and is proving itself to be unsustainable – at least in the way it has been lived out in our lifetimes. Unbridled capitalism has no destination except failure – especially since much of what we understand as wealth today is purely imaginary! It’s a folly. It’s a ruse. It’s a straight up lie.

The house of cards is falling about itself, and those who have benefitted from the lie are clinging and grasping after power and control in their attempts to save the system that has given them perceived power.

They cannot, however, save a dying system. They will, however, become louder and more desperate as it all slips through their fingers.

It all must die. It is not going to be pretty. Death never is. In the face of this dying, we will witness and likely experience fear, anger, depression, and helplessness. We may disassociate, bargain with ourselves, and spend moments in denial. So too will the dying system. Apply what you know about the faces of death (E. Kubler Ross), and this is what we can expect – in fact, we’re already seeing it in droves.

Kamala was not going to save the dying system. Trump may strangely be the hammer that brings the system to its knees. He sure is working hard to destroy it from within and in doing so, showing us the vulnerabilities of the system. UGH!

What I was shown in my dream, was not the salvation of the current system, but the creation of something new. Something built on integrity, honesty, collaborative effort, and true liberty for all. In this, I find the following words of Abraham Lincoln a balm for our times:

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” – Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862

We cannot remain in the dream of a once virtuous United States. We must look at the failings that have been present since its inception and then look beyond them. Should the current system collapse (I am certain it will), we must envision something new. The new that we envision is already planted in our hearts and we are reminded of it every single day as our souls rile against injustice, poverty, hunger, homelessness, the destruction of our environment, corporate greed, human trafficking, sexism, racism, genderism, xenophobia, etc. etc. etc. We KNOW the world we want to live in and as much as we had hoped it was or would have been, the world we have lived in IS NOT THIS. Live for what you dream – not what you had hoped it would be.

One final word of comfort, I KNOW a new world is coming into being and I have seen signs of its emergence. It is present in the mass of people who came together in support of one another, for clean-up, and to begin the steps of rebuilding after Hurricane Helene. It is in our children who carry the vision of the new world within them and who are quietly – and perhaps unknowingly – contributing to its birth. It is in all the individuals I know who have seen the dying, along with the vision of something new.

One final reminder that supports my words being true and not just something I cooked up in my head to make myself feel better. I have been through the death and dying of several institutions. It is hell. I also learned through these experiences that we can and do survive and that on the other side of the death is always something better – something new and improved – or even more likely – something entirely new that leads us toward the freedom that our souls long for and know to be true.  Faith in this is what keeps me going.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. – St. Paul

I love you and your magical family, and we are together in this time to bear witness to the death of the empire and to be support for a new world that is in the process of being born. Thank you for being one of those gathered friends my dream so-boldly promised!

Love,

Lauri

Hope in the Perceived Darkness

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

Donald J. Trump has officially been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Across social media platforms, the reactions have been either silence or sentiments of despair and hopelessness. I haven’t yet seen celebration, but I’ve definitely seen grief.

As for myself, I have spent too many years and too much time in deep prayer over the role Donald Trump is playing in the unfolding human drama to get upset. Once I got over the initial shock in 2016 of his victory over Hillary Clinton (let’s be honest, Hillary was less than a perfect candidate), I prayed, “Please help me understand the larger purpose at work here.” I’ve shared before what I was given to understand, but I’ll share it again in case you missed it:

Donald Trump is playing the role of the Angel of Death.

Biblically, the Angel of Death arrived at crossroads times to bring liberation to the enslaved by destroying the power of the ruling class. The Angel of Death is perceived as benevolent from the perspective of those being liberated, and malevolent by those who are losing their power.

In the short term, it may appear as if a Trump presidency will deprive some of freedoms they once had while elevating the status of the ruling class, but there is so much more at play here than what is in our immediate sight.

Stepping back……way back…..away from the media propaganda, political rhetoric, and those who benefit from creating (perceived) division….is a 10,000 year old human experiment coming to an end. This experiment began with fear and ended with patriarchal power. This experiment has reached its limits and will result in the extinction of humankind if equilibrium is not restored.

Donald Trump is being called to play a role in the restoration of that equilibrium.  In the short term, and through eyes conditioned by division, we may not like what we see. To see evidence of this restoration we will have to look at things through a new set of eyes.  Some of this evidence we may already see. For some, we will have to look beyond what is right in front of us to a time that we do not yet know.

Hope and Trust are two words that may prove helpful as we navigate this transitory time.

Hope – not in that which is outside of us, in some person of perceived authority and power – but hope in ourselves. A big part of the dying system is the savior complex – the idea or illusion that there is someone outside of us who is going to save us. Instead, we are here to save ourselves. We are the hope we’ve been looking for.

Trust – in a bigger story at play. In the natural unfolding of the universe story. In a higher plan. In God (if that is your thing). But most importantly – Trust in yourself. Trust in the Love that you are. Trust that this Love has the power to not only transform yourself, but also has the power to transform the world.

As the Angel of Death, Donald Trump is helping to facilitate the destruction of all the institutions and systems that have benefitted from the conditioning that has left us feeling powerless. On the other side of this destruction, should we accept the invitation, is a world in which all of humanity is empowered to come forward with our own unique giftedness for the sake of our own fulfillment, and in service to the good of the all. This can only happen, however, if we have hope and trust in ourselves and believe in the power of Love.

By dividing we have been conquered.

By uniting we will be set free.