love

Easter Means Nothing if We Don’t Know Love.

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I’ve always struggled with the idea

that Jesus’ death and resurrection

opened the gates of heaven.

If we believe in the unconditionally loving God

about whom we were taught,

then to whom would those gates be closed?

As we sing our Alleluias

while closing our hearts to those

we don’t understand

or who believe differently,

then what good are our songs?

What are we celebrating

when we turn away from the poor,

reject the refugee,

and refuse care to those in need?

The purpose of the resurrection

is not so that “believers” might receive

their “get out of jail” card

while the rest suffer an eternity in hell.

Jesus’ rising simply proves that

Love is stronger than death.

The death that is made up of:

Prejudice and hatred.

Ignorance and greed.

Lust for power and pride.

And all the evils in between.

Love conquers it all.

But if we don’t know Love,

then Easter means nothing at all.

Copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

Live, Online Course

Starting April 10th

Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm central

Learn more HERE.

Tested in Fire: New LIVE Course

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Live online course with Lauri Ann Lumby

Six sessions

Wednesdays 6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

May 8 – June 12, 2024

Live via ZOOM*

After we have tasted the unifying experience of Union with God/Source/Love that we experience at ascension (enlightenment, bliss, etc.) we are cast out of that bliss into a process in which we are “tested like gold that is tested in fire.” The ancients have called this the journey of descent.  Here we come face to face with all the aspects of ourselves that are not wholly rooted in love: our unhealed fears, past traumas, societal conditioning, and ego attachments. In this we are invited to confront our own inner “demons” and transform them into vehicles of Love so that we might fulfill the purpose of the human spiritual journey – the embodiment of Love/God.

In this six-week course, you will:

  • Explore the psychology of the journey of descent as it relates to human development.
  • Acknowledge and confront the challenges inherent in the journey of descent.
  • Learn the language and stages of descent through the Tree of Life as articulated in ancient pre-Christian mystical traditions.
  • Come to understand the Tree of Death as a vehicle of liberation from egoic attachments.
  • Find support in identifying that which limits your ability to know and be Love.
  • Provided with tools for transforming the “demons” experienced in the journey of descent into vehicles of Love.
  • Grow in becoming the embodiment of Love.

This course is:

  • Inspired by scholarship
  • Anchored in original source material
  • Grounded in sound mindfulness and creativity practices
  • Incorporating tried and tested methods for transformation
  • Rooted in the psychology of human development

** For those who have already taken the Beyond Ascension course, Tested in Fire stands on its own while going into much greater depth than was able to be covered in the Beyond Ascension class.  

Learn more and enroll HERE

How Love Calls Us

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

This morning I received an email from a dear friend. In her email she shared a news video of the October 30th “Not in Our Name” protest at Grand Central Station in New York City calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war against Palestine. Most of those attending were Jewish Americans speaking out against the war, asking for an immediate ceasefire and demanding freedom for Palestine. As American citizens, they condemned the use of US tax dollars in support of the war and implored the US government to stop its complicit participation in the ongoing oppression of Palestine, including the murder of thousands of innocent people. (Watch video HERE).

This is how Love calls us!

  • Love calls us to look beyond human made dividers such as religion, race, nationality, gender, orientation, and belief to seek out the path of compassion, peace, and justice.
  • Love calls us to bear witness to genocide, hatred, and injustice, and to speak on Love’s behalf.
  • Love calls us to listen deeply to the voices of the oppressed and to be their voice in the places where they are unable.
  • Love calls us to see beyond the pride of nationalism so that we might work together for the cause of peace and justice that seeks to support the dignity of all.
  • Love calls us to risk ridicule and condemnation from those who want us to remain silent.
  • Love calls us to see and point out the evils before us and to hold the purveyors of evil accountable – even (especially) when the purveyors are our own elected officials.
  • Love calls us to move beyond any conditioning that may have attempted to cast “the other” in the role of “enemy,” and to seek instead, the Love that dwells within all.

The protest at New York’s Grand Central Station is the perfect example of how Love speaks and the power of Love speaking. Jewish Americans speaking out against the oppression of Palestine and the violence being inflicted upon the innocent at the hands of the Israeli government. Jewish Americans speaking out against the US’s complicit participation in the oppression and genocide of Palestinians. Jewish American taking a stand for Love and calling for the freedom of those that another wants them to call enemy. Jewish Americans saying, “NOT IN OUR NAME.” Jewish Americans acknowledging that being pro-Palestine does not make one anti-Semitic.

This is what Love does.

This is how Love calls us.

How is Love calling you?

Can We Love Humanity Enough?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

The most radical form of love is knowing when to let go. This is the way that we are loved by our creator. Love made us. Then Love let us go so that we could live our own life, pursue our own dreams, make our own mistakes, distance ourselves from Love, only to hopefully and eventually find our way back. But indeed, out of love, our Creator let us go. Not intruding. Not interfering. Not interjecting its own intention or desire for our lives. Instead, our Creator just is. Present. Watching. Listening. Holding us in Love. All while letting us live our lives in our own way.  

Love means letting go.

This is the meaning of the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32). The wise father, knowing his son, let him go. The father left his son to his own devices, knowing that his son’s wanderlust would not be quenched by forcing him to stay at home. He let him go to discover the world, apart from the love and protection of his father, where he could learn, and grow, have adventures, and make mistakes. It was through the father’s love that he let his son go. The father did not intrude. He didn’t go out and try to save his son or attempt to protect him from himself. Instead, the father let him be. In letting him be, the father never stopped loving his son. He never stopped waiting, watching, allowing, and hoping the best for his son. But he did let him go. And when the son returned, the father didn’t punish or shame him or taunt him for his mistakes. Instead, the father welcomed his son home with open arms and celebrated his return.

This is the radical kind of love that we are invited to embrace. Indeed, it may be in living this kind of radical love that we can finally be free from all the ways we wish, hope, dream, that humanity will one day work itself out, get its shit together, and learn to live as love. We cannot change those who don’t want to change, and we cannot heal those who don’t want to be healed. All we can do is be present.  Wait. Watch. Listen. And Allow. Humanity is working out its own salvation, in its own way, in its own time. And it is none of our business, except to be the Love that we are and welcome humanity home to that Love when they too are ready to embrace it.

Jesus Never Promised Utopia

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Jesus NEVER spoke about or promised utopia.  He never said that heaven would be brought to earth.  He never promised the golden age in which there would be peace on earth and that humans would live in peace.  In fact, he said quite the opposite, “there will always be poor among you,” “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”  Not once did he bother himself with the politics of humanity.  He never challenged or even mentioned the Roman rulers of the culture in which he lived.  And if he did bother himself with religion, it was to remind the religious leaders of the love that was at the core of their beliefs.  No, Jesus did not promise peace on earth and good will toward men and he did not work to make the world anew.  Instead, he made one promise, and one promise only:

The kingdom of God is within you.

THIS was the good news that Jesus preached – that the kingdom of God – the experience of peace, love, joy, harmony and contentment is right here, right now, when we take the time to go within and remember.  Jesus then demonstrated how remembering this truth of our original nature, brings forth all kinds of miracles in our lives.  In and through this connection, we come to know ourselves, we come to know our unique giftedness and we come to understand and then become empowered in how we are called to use these gifts for the sake of our own fulfillment and in service to others.

As Jesus taught his disciples, achieving this peace is an inside job and has absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in the outside world.  Nothing.  As Jesus himself demonstrated, we can be experiencing the most unspeakable form of torture (death on a cross) and still find this peace. 

Jesus taught his disciples how to remember the kingdom of God that was already there within them.  The word Jesus used to remind them of how to access this peace has been translated repent.  In the original Greek, however, this word has nothing to do with sin or punishment.  Metanoia (repent), means turning again and again and again and again to the place within where we know love, peace and joy, that which some might call God.  Period.  It is as simple as that. 

When the world out there disturbs us and causes us to fear, turn within.  When we are distracted by the events of the world that speak of violent, hatred, suffering, war, turn within.  When someone betrays us or breaks our heart, turn within.  When we experience loss, disappointment, condemnation, ridicule, turn within.  HERE is where utopia lies – not in some time or place light years away, not in some perfect alignment of the stars or when we finally think the right thoughts.  Heaven on earth is right here in the core of who we are when we take Jesus’ advice and remember. 

Living by Magic

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

My primary influences as a child were Samantha Stevens and Morticia Addams. To my young girl self, they provided a reflection of my truest nature. I saw in them the power of independence and inner authority along with the magic that I knew was in me, despite what the world would say otherwise.
I’ve always known I was magic and that like Samantha, I had the power to bring forth what I needed seemingly by magic. It is only cultural conditioning that has caused me to doubt my magic, or to act in ways compliant with the rules of a world separated from its truest nature.


We are all magic. Magic is a function of our true nature. We are magic because our true nature is Divine. We are the living, breathing, physical manifestations of Source – that which some call God. It is only in our conditioned state of separation that we would believe otherwise.


I’m here to prove this conditioning wrong.


Magic is another word for Love. Divine Love. The Love that is the Source of all. The Love that is the intelligent force of the universe bringing forth infinite expressions of that Love. The Love that lives, and dwells within us and seeks to be known by us and lived in the world through us. The purpose of the human experience is to remember that Love and to experience the inherent magic that comes forth from us when we are aligned with Love.


The even greater truth is that Magic comes forth from us even when we are not aligned with Love. Love operates on a dimension beyond division. As such, even our fears, doubts, unhealed wounds, and past traumas cannot infringe on that which is intended by Love for our life’s unfolding. We are Love experiencing Love’s Self in the world through the unique expression of Love that we are. The greater Love has a vision, a knowledge, a plan as to how this unique expression of self shall be in the world. As such, everything that occurs in our lives is a function and plan of that Love. It is only our conditioned separation that causes us to see it elsewise.


When we are aligned with this Love we are able to see how everything is a part of Love’s unfolding through us.

It is here that we can be witness to Magic. Witnessing our lives through the lens of Magic helps us to see how every disappointment, challenge, loss, heartbreak, betrayal has served a higher purpose. We can see how the suffering in our lives has created opportunities to gather strength and to gain acceptance of our humanness. Suffering also provides us with important lessons in humility and helps us to grow in empathy and compassion for the suffering of others. Viewing our life through the lens of Magic also helps us to see the miracle and wonder in those gifts that seem to come out of thin air. Synchronistic meetings and encounters. Doorways that open to new experiences for learning and growth. Work and creative opportunities that land in our laps. When the right teacher arrives at exactly the right time. When our whole life turns on a dime because of a single conversation, engagement, or introduction. When our poverty suddenly turns to abundance and when our suffering instantaneously turns to joy.


Magic is the true nature of the Universe and I’m grateful for Samantha Stevens and Morticia Addams for showing me that magic and for other teachers who have collectively shown me the way to living by that magic.


“Amen, amen, I say to you,
the one who believes as I do
will also do the works that I do,
and indeed will do even greater ones than these.”
-Jesus

Mary Magdalene’s Message to Humanity

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

An Eternal Easter Message

Mary Magdalene speaks to all of humanity about the current state of our consciousness revolution.  We are at a time of swift endings and great new beginnings.  We are observing the crucifixion and death of all that has been built on fear, power and control, as we are ushering in the second coming of humanity – the birth of the age of love and a joining together in unity consciousness.  She invites us all to step forth out of the tombs we have created for ourselves which have been made of our hesitation and fear and into the love we were meant to be.

My dear sisters and brothers,

Thank you for joining with me in celebration of Resurrection.  Two thousand years ago, I stood at the entrance of the tomb into which we had laid my Beloved, Yeshua and beheld the miracle and the truth of resurrection.  Whether you believe in the literal truth of Yeshua dying and rising from the dead, or prefer to think of it more as a mystical or metaphorical event, it matters not.  Yeshua proved to all that fear (death) has no power over the original nature of the human soul which is LOVE. Yeshua showed us, through his own example that the path to resurrection (freedom and love) was in conquering death (fear).

Yeshua was a normal man who discovered the keys to transcending the inherent suffering of the human experience – how to move beyond the fear, perceived separation, false perceptions and ego attachments that are the cause of human suffering and toward the peace, love and joy that are our original nature.  In this state of peace, we are whole and we know that we are One – within ourselves, with our Divine Source, with each other and with all of creation.  This is the truth that Yeshua promised would set us free.  The resurrection was proof that what Yeshua taught was true.  He then ordained me, Mary, given the title Magdalene, to share the message of the resurrection with the other disciples and with all who would listen.

Today, we commemorate the proof of LOVE – that fear/death has no power over the LOVE which made us and which is our true origin as unique expressions of our Mother/Father God.  We are the Divine seeking its expression in the world.  As such, we were meant, not to live in separation, but as ONE HUMAN RACE working toward the goal of love for the common good of the all.  When we come to know this sense of Oneness within ourselves, all separation falls away – we are no longer separated by gender, race, nation, religion, politics, sexual orientation, or by any of the infinite number of ways in which human beings, living in fear, create separation between ourselves and our fellow human beings.  We are one species, one world, one universe.  When we know this truth, we work for no other purpose except for peace and harmony between, not only all human beings, but all of creation.  We live as ONE, partaking of the great abundance of this Mother Earth, working to ensure that the needs of all are met – not just the needs of a powerful (fearful) few. 

This is the time we have all been waiting for.  It is here.  Now.  Our children have spoken and that which has been built on fear, power and control is in the midst of its own self-destruction.  Very soon (in this moment), Love will reign. This is the Second Coming Yeshua promised – not that which has been spoken of by those who have misunderstood Yeshua’s words.  Yeshua will not descend upon us in a fiery cloud.  Instead, the Second Coming is when the Christ (the Divine spark of Love that has lain dormant in humanity since the moment we chose separation over love), is awakened and born in each and every one of us.  You might call this heralded time Ascension, Enlightenment, Nirvana, the Death of the Kali Yuga, the Kingdom of God, the New Age, the Age of Aquarius.  The name matters not.  What matters is that you/we are all awakening to the Unconditional Love that we are and that we were born to know in the midst of the human experience.  It is here.  It is now.

As this is the Second Coming of the Christ, it is also the Second Coming of the Magdalene, for I am the Christ.  Unlike my Beloved who ascended to the plane of Divine Oneness, I have remained with you my sisters and brothers.  Present with you throughout these millennia, hidden away in the secret, mystical, contemplative, shamanic, esoteric, magical traditions of the West and in the East. Speaking and whispering into the hearts of the mystics.  Reaching into the consciousness of your prophets, activists and holy people.  I am the voice of Wisdom.  I am the Sophia.  I am the Great and Dark Mother, awakening you out of your complacency and into the Light.  I am compelling you to seek love, to demand peace, to work for justice.  I have been with you, silently guiding you through the truth that dwells deep in your heart – the place where you know what is right and good and merciful for the all.   I have never left you, but have remained until what Yeshua envisioned came to pass.    The time has come.  The time is now.  This is what we celebrate on this Resurrection Day…not the rising of Yeshua from the death….but YOUR rising from the dead!  Awake my sisters and brothers.  Come forth out of your tombs.  Accept your calling to be vessels of the Divine, turning our world from fear into love.

Amen!  Amen!  Alleluia!

Love,

Mary, called Magdalene

Magdalene Course Offerings:

The Search for Beloved Partnership

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I cannot say exactly when my search began, but for as long as I can remember, I have felt (what I now know to be) the longing that fuels this search.  It was both a longing and a deep inner knowing of a “love” that was deep, abiding, honest, loyal, supportive, and uplifting. In hindsight, I experienced glimpses of this love during the times of silent prayer. But mostly, I was inclined to look outside of myself for that love – primarily in the search for “the one” with whom I would enjoy the fairytale “happily ever after.”

Happily Ever After eluded me, even in marriage to who I thought would be “the man of my dreams.” As my marriage was falling apart, dreams of this elusive love became more potent and urgent.  I began having dreams of “the one” and visions of “him” while in prayer.  This “one” took on the appearance of any number of Jesus-looking men and started showing up in movies, television, advertisements, etc. Along with “hot Jesus,” a woman cloaked in red began to make her appearance. She revealed herself as Mary, called Magdalene, who I somewhat already knew through my academic studies. 

All of this was happening as I was experiencing the most profound emotional and spiritual crisis of my life.  The Universe had pulled the rug out from under my feet, and I was in the throes of clinical depression and spiritual collapse.  Through the help of a therapist and my spiritual director, I was brought back to the practices I had learned in my ministry training and began a deep, soul-eviscerating dive into the wounded areas of my Soul and began stitching myself back together.

As I was stitching, my marriage came to an end, and I began the search for the “one” to take my now former husband’s place. I continued to believe in a “love out there” that would make me happy, whole, and complete. In this I turned to the romantic ideas of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as ones who have lived and modeled the external love I imagined.

The “one” I dreamed of never came.  Instead, what arose out of that search was the profound realization that the love I was seeking for “out there” could only be found within.  This is the love that Jesus described as the kingdom of God and which both he and Mary Magdalene embodied in what gnostic scripture refers to as anthropos. This is the love that I have been seeking, nurturing, and cultivating since 1999 when the foundation of my life began its collapse.

As demonstrated by both Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Beloved Partnership is Union with the Divine within.  In this Union, we come to know the Love that we are in Union with our Source.  In this we know that there is no separation between ourselves and Source.  Who and what we are, and our purpose in this life, is to be the full embodiment of the Divine who lives in and dwells through us – through our own unique giftedness and calling. 

At 58, I cannot claim to have fully realized Beloved Partnership within, but I am much closer than I ever have been.  With this I feel I have the experience and wisdom to share what I have learned of this journey while providing a map for those who have heard a similar calling. 

Happily Ever After – the Transformational Journey from “You Complete Me” to Beloved Partnership presents a new model for intimate partnership along with the process for getting there. Happily Ever After recognizes that as long as we are looking outside of ourselves for completion, our relationships are doomed to fail.  Through personal narrative, informative dialogue, poetry, mindfulness practices, and creativity exercises; you will be invited to deconstruct existing and former patterns of co-dependency while building the foundation upon which you can find happiness and fulfillment within while preparing for the possibility of a mutually loving and supportive relationship with another. Interdependence, rather than co-dependency is the goal of this book and the outcome of this process.

BUY IT HERE

The Way of Love – Coming Soon

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The Way of Love – Weekly Web Show

The Way of Love with Lauri Ann Lumby is an inspirational journey into the ultimate purpose of our lives – to remember our true nature as Love. Gathering wisdom and insights from ancient wisdom traditions, Lauri pieces together the knowledge and tools needed to transcend division and return to Love. What begins as an individual journey blossoms into a movement that has the potential to change our whole world.

Be that Love. Be the Change!

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Falling in Love with Ourselves

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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.

Learn more HERE