Featured Course: Order of Melchizedek

For my entire life I have been fascinated by magic. Naturally drawn to the mystical, I found my childhood role models in Samantha Stevens, Morticia Addams and Lily Munster. In my teens, I become overwhelmingly obsessed with anything that had to do with King Arthur and read every book on the subject that I was able, ultimately culminating in the Arthurian masterpiece, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. To say that I loved Tolkien and Star Wars would be an understatement, and Excalibur was my friend.

This love for magic was further supported by my Catholic upbringing which brought me up close and personal to magic that “turned bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ,” that healed the sick, exorcised demons, and made a humble human into the “child of God.” Jesus magic was everywhere and the rituals which facilitated this magic spoke to something very deep within my Soul.

Fast forward into adulthood, along with formation as a Catholic lay minister, I studied Wicca, Native American spirituality, Celtic myth and magic. I set up my home altar and when I asked for guidance it came in the form of a brick which flew through the air, awakening me to my true purpose which had to do with Priesthood – but not the priesthood I had grown up with. As it turned out, neither was my call to Priesthood somehow wrapped up in any of the neo-pagan, priestess or goddess movements. Instead, it seems like it was a Priesthood that predated all of these – what I have heard recent authors call “the primordial tradition.”

In the Judeo-Christian tradition in which I was raised, this primordial tradition is given a name: The Order of Melchizedek. First mentioned in the Book of Genesis as relating to the High Priest of Salem, Jesus is also mentioned as associated with this tradition. What distinguishes the primordial tradition from the systems of magic popular today is that in the Order of Melchizedek:

  • Magic is not done for the sake of “getting what we want,” but for the sake of aligning our purpose with that of the Divine.
  • It is not we who are “doing” the magic; it is the Divine working through us.
  • The Order of Melchizedek “keeps it simple,” acknowledging that the true power of magic is not in complicated rituals, invocations, chants or spells, but is in our intention to be One with the Divine – surrendering our own will to the Divine, and emptying ourselves so that the Divine might live in and through us.
  • We acknowledge and accept what was said to be true of Jesus:

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

Phil 2: 5b8

It is for all of these reasons that in spite of more training programs on magic and ritual (including the ancient Jewish mystical system of the Kabbalah) than you can shake a stick at; I have endeavored to create a training program that presents magic in another light.


Online course

20 lessons

at your own pace

Embodied Learning

Facilitated Discussion

The Call of the Bean Sidhe

In a far-off land

‘neath a hill of grass and stone

lives the Bean Sidhe.

Cloaked in rags

Dreaded silver locks

Tattoos of woad telling stories of her life

Her face a skull

One clear eye seeing without

The cloudy one seeing within

Her skeletal finger pointing out the eternal

Her life will never end

With her knowing eyes she’s seen it all

Nothing you could say would surprise

Nothing you do could shock

She sees only Truth

A mirror for those who dare –

who can endure her eternal screaming.

A witness to all of humanity’s sorrow

and a voice for all who weep for humanity’s doom –

They’ve no one to blame but themselves.

I am She and She is me.

art and poetry copyright Lauri Ann Lumby

What Are Your Soul Gifts?

Online course

13 lessons done at your own pace

Created and Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby

Protecting Our Magic

Do you ever get the feeling you weren’t really made for this world?  That this world simply feels too loud, violent, harsh, bright, etc. etc. etc.?  Me too!  Do you suffer with symptoms that might indicate that this world is indeed too harsh for you?  Symptoms like anxiety, panic attacks, vertigo, unexplained pain, fatigue, depression, sun or light sensitivity, tinnitus, migraines, or any other number of “unexplained illnesses with seemingly no cause and definitely no cure?” Me too.  Do you find it (increasingly) difficult to be around people and have an aversion to crowds?  Me too!  Have you been told there might be something wrong with you?  That you need to seek medical or psychological help to overcome your symptoms?  Have you been told to just get over it? Do people look at you like you’re nuts when you try to explain these symptoms and how they make you feel?  Have you been tempted to believe these voices because it’s what our society tells us as well?  Yep.  Me too!

What if there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU and the “symptoms” you are experiencing are your body’s way of telling you the world is wrong and that it has the potential to cause harm to something precious and sacred inside of you?

What if your “symptoms” are not a disease,

but instead are signs of your magic?

On day five of a full body migraine, with no evidence of a cause and no sign of a cure, this is what I am considering.  What if all the symptoms I’ve been trying to manage or make go away (migraines, physical pain, intermittent vertigo) are signs of my magic – magic trying to be made known while also seeking my protection.

The truth is, I’ve been so busy drinking the patriarchal Kool-aid (work= success, hard work = more money, doing has value, being is laziness), that I have missed the opportunity to see these experiences in another light. To see these signs in another light, we must ask ourselves what magic needs?  This may differ from person to person, but for me,

My magic needs:

  • Solitude.
  • Quiet.
  • Gentle movement.
  • Stillness.
  • A safe place to live and work.
  • Deep listening.
  • Deep seeing.
  • The freedom to do things in my own way and in my own time.
  • People with whom to share my magic.
  • Vehicles through which I can share my magic.
  • A simple lifestyle.
  • Honesty.
  • Integrity.
  • Authenticity.
  • Sacred practice.
  • Meaningful and purpose-filled work.
  • Loving friendships.
  • Sacred community.

Recently my magic has also reminded me to bloom where I’m planted and has done so forcibly by making it impossible for me to stray far from home (without my protective charioteers).

(The travel thing is the hardest thing for me right now!  I want the freedom to go where I want to go when I want to go there – but apparently my magic has other ideas.)

This is what I’m talking about!  What if the things we’ve been calling disabilities, disorders, disease, impairments, illness, etc. etc. etc. are none of these, but are instead, our magic

  1. wanting to be known and
  2. letting us know what keeps our magic safe and what puts it at risk.

Remember: they once burned witches!

While this is (currently) illegal in this country, believe me, our culture finds other ways to punish and do harm to women who demonstrate certain kinds of power. While they might not be able to burn us, their actions might make us feel as if they are!

Bearing this in mind, it might be helpful to take another look at our magic and the threats to its safety.

  • Where have your gifts been questioned/challenged?
  • Where have you been punished/demonized/pathologized for your gifts (sensitivities, intuitive sensations, inner knowings, visions, prophecies, etc.)?
  • Where have you been told you’re crazy for knowing/sensing certain things?
  • When have you walked into a room and had the immediate sensation you should run?
  • Where have people clung to you and drawn energy and power from you, making you feel drained?
  • What environments or people feel draining?
  • What feels like pressure to you (expectations, the wagging finger of “should”)?
  • When have you been told you’re being judgmental when you share your bad feelings about a person you hardly know?
  • When have you been called a bitch for setting boundaries?
  • Where have others tried to damage your reputation or harbored jealousy over you?

All of the above are examples of how our magic is being threatened, along with an invitation to be more mindful of what our magic needs to feel safe and sacred. There is no one who can care for our magic but ourselves.  There is no one who can create the space and environment in which our magic can survive and thrive but ourselves.  Isn’t it time we do for ourselves what we so readily do for others?

Your magic is a sacred gift. Give yourself permission to treat it that way – no matter what society tells you otherwise!


What is Your Magic?

Each and every one of us has our own unique magic. Soul Gifts provides an opportunity to explore the depths of what your gifts might be so that you can claim them, while freeing yourself from the burden of trying to carry gifts that are not yours.

Her Mouth is Full of Magic

Her mouth is full of magic.

Words of power.

Vibrational medicine.

Shattering illusions.

Piercing veils.

Tearing away the masks that hide the Truth.

Welcome by some.

Shunned by many.

Celebrated by those with nothing to hide.

Abhorred by the duplicitous.

Curious to those who yearn to know their Soul.

She need not even speak

nor make a sound.

Her very presence a sword of Truth.

Footprints like earthquakes

Shaking off the weak

while revealing the strong.

From her light no one can hide.

Her darkness sheltering truths newly known

and that which is too tender for the world.

Her mouth is full of magic.

Her gaze the dawning of a new world.

Her heart the love that abides there.

Her touch bringing comfort.

Her listening the soil for your revelation.

Seek her and you too will be found.

words and art copyright Lauri Ann Lumby


On YouTube and Spotify!

Video and Podcast

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!

When Given the Gift of Prophecy

One does not ask for the gift of prophecy.  If one were to ask for this gift, they would not know for what they are asking as the gift of prophecy often feels more like a curse than a gift.  I know this because I am one who has been given this gift. It is not with pride, but with deep humility and some personal agony that I acknowledge this gift.

used with permission: Catherine E. Case

Prophecy is a many-edged sword.  It allows us to see the sign of the times – to understand what will happen if humanity (or individuals) continues on its current path. With this gift we are provided with the tools and steps that could be taken to turn a path of potential destruction into one of peace, harmony, and fruitfulness.  We are called (compelled, forced) to share what we see and know with an audience that is most often deaf to our words. Herein lies the pain of being a prophet:

  • We often find our words and our very selves ignored.
  • We are accused of being insane.
  • People turn against us for speaking the truth. (Sometimes we don’t even need to speak it.)
  • People hate us for seeing the truth they don’t want to see for themselves.
  • We are condemned for challenging the world to let go of the status quo and the perceived comfort therein in favor of actions that could lead to a better world.

Being a prophet is a lonely calling for which we don’t get paid.  Prophecy leads not to welcome and acceptance, but to rejection and condemnation. I know this because it is exactly what happened to me – most specifically in my (now former) relationship with the Catholic Church – more generally as it relates to some acquaintances, friends, and the world at large.

No one in their right mind would ask for the gift of prophecy.  

And yet, here it is. As it relates to the gift and calling of prophecy, I take comfort in these words from the prophet Jeremiah:

The word of the LORD came to me, saying:
            Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
                        before you were born I dedicated you,
                        a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

            But do you gird your loins;
                        stand up and tell them
                        all that I command you.
            Be not crushed on their account,
                        as though I would leave you crushed before them;
            for it is I this day
                        who have made you a fortified city,
            a pillar of iron, a wall of brass,
                        against the whole land:
            against Judah’s kings and princes,
                        against its priests and people.
            They will fight against you but not prevail over you,
                        for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19

As one endowed with the gift of prophecy I have no other choice but to continue in its use – seeing the signs of the times and sharing what I see as a way humanity just might save itself from itself. As Jesus often said, this gift is will be received by “those who have ears to hear.”


What is Your Magic?, created by Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS  was created to support you in knowing the truth that YOU are uniquely gifted to experience meaning and purpose in your life and to find fulfillment in the use and engagement of your gifts, first for yourself, and then, in service to the betterment of the world.

Online course. 13 lessons at your own pace.