Not Your Celebrity’s Kabbalah

October 6, 2025October 5, 2025 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Welcome to the official launch of my newly revisioned Order of Melchizedek Training! This is a training that has been around for awhile, but which needed to be reconfigured – certain courses removed, and others added. Additionally, as times have changed, so too have the images related to this intensive training program. Without further ado, let me introduce you to the newly envisioned Magdalene Order of Melchizedek – the primordial tradition of mysticism and magic.

In short, the Magdalene Order of Melchizedek training is a comprehensive and intensive dive into the most ancient systems of personal growth and transformation which later influenced and inspired Hebrew, Gnostic, Coptic, Orthodox, and Christian schools of mysticism. Whereas these ancient systems bear no identifiable origin or name, they have been most clearly articulated through the Jewish Kabbalah.

The Magdalene Order of Melchizedek, however, is not your celebrity’s Kabbalah. This training bears no resemblance to the “red string” Kabbalah that has been lauded by pop stars and the Hollywood elite. We do not promise wealth, outside power, or fame.

Neither is this training an attempt to appropriate the closely guarded Jewish mystical schools. As I am neither Jewish, nor have I studied with modern Jewish masters, it would not be appropriate for me to claim knowledge of their methods.

Instead, drawing from (as close to as possible) original source material and incorporating my lifetime(s) of cross-cultural mystical and theological studies, this training gets to the heart of the mystical intention which is, and has always been – UNION. Union with Source (that which some might call God), Union with our truest Self (what some might call our “God-self”), and Union with all of Creation.

LOVE is the ultimate goal of this training. LOVE, not of intellect or emotion, but LOVE that is embodied. Embodied Love is arrived at through a thorough and deep process of identifying, healing, and transforming all that is within us that has forgotten we are Love.

To support and facilitate Embodied Love, the Magdalene Order of Melchizedek guides you through ancient symbols, tools, and practices that illuminate the woundedness within us that seeks to be healed, while providing the foundation for healing those wounds. You are additionally supported through one-on-one mentoring.

The Magdalene Order of Melchizedek is not for the faint of heart. Neither is this a shiny object to be claimed. Instead, it is a deeply personal, intimate, and often challenging process for catalyzing change with an eye toward empowerment that endures. As creator and facilitator of this training, I will hold your feet to the fire, while providing comfort and encouragement through that fire. The Magdalene Order of Melchizedek is not a process to do alone, but only in the company of one who has walked that fire before you.

Learn more here

The Dangers of Spiritual By-Pass

February 9, 2024February 4, 2024 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Spiritual bypass can best be described as: “the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks”(Welwood, J. (2000) [1984]. “Between heaven and earth: principles of inner work”. Toward a psychology of awakening: Buddhism, psychotherapy, and the path of personal and spiritual transformation. Boston: Shambhala Publications. pp. 11–21.).

In spiritual bypass, we avoid, ignore, deny, suppress and repress the challenges, difficulties, disappointments, and suffering that are inherent within the human condition. Spiritual bypass also includes avoidance and denial of the shadow. The shadow is made up of our unhealed wounds, unacknowledged fears and includes all the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected because we have deemed them unacceptable.

Spiritual bypass takes many forms, but in essence the action is the same – hoping, believing, acting as if we can simply meditate, pray, chant, or positively affirmation our struggles away. The universal outcome of spiritual bypass is always the same and is best articulated in the Buddhist saying, “What we resist will persist.” Through spiritual bypass, we are not dealing with, confronting, healing or transforming anything; we are simply sweeping it under the rug. As is true of everything we avoid, deny, ignore, the rug can only hold so much. The rug will eventually explode and everything we have shoved under it will come out to haunt us. Even if we are successful in keeping it all under the rug, what we have resisted and ignored will find its way out sideways – usually in non-loving behaviors toward ourselves or others. Often these behaviors become compulsive (ie: addictions), are disproportionate or uncharacteristic of our true nature.

Some very clear examples of spiritual bypass and the negative consequence of this pattern of behavior includes: the clergy sex abuse crisis, narcissistic behaviors, abuse, co-dependency, homophobia, violence against children, school shootings and other forms of terrorism. What we resist will persist and what we suppress will find its way out whether we want it to or not. I would further suggest that we are currently living in a world seriously caught up in its own bypass – ignoring, denying, projecting away the darkness and pretending that it is all ok when in fact it is not! Societal bypass is exhibited in our divisive culture where many refuse to see the truth that is staring them in the face because it makes them feel uncomfortable (triggering their own unacknowledged anxiety or unhealed fears), or who instead of acknowledging their role in darkness that exists in our society, either ignore it or project the blame onto someone else. The bottom line is that we cannot meditate, mantra, pray,“beam love,” think good thoughts, repeat positive affirmations, “La La” the darkness away. Until we learn to face our darkness (individually and collectively) we are guilty of bypass and the darkness will not only persist, it will become worse.

Now, I will wholeheartedly admit that I am not innocent as it relates to spiritual bypass. I too have ventured down its path. I will admit that it felt good there – for awhile – but eventually it kicked my ass! I have since learned that the only way out is through. If we want to be free of our inner fears, unhealed wounds, and perceived imperfections, we have to go deep into them, feel them, wallow in them, and THEN through our spiritual practices, find our way through them. In this, we are not covering the darkness with the light; neither are we turning the darkness into the light. Instead, we are finding the light that is already present within the darkness – if only we have the courage to go there.

The work of dealing with our shadow and confronting all that is broken within us is hard! It requires personal accountability, self-knowledge, courageous honesty, humility, vulnerability, and discipline. It also requires the understanding and belief that in the overall scheme of things, what we are tempted to call “darkness” is in fact our light. Within the struggle, suffering, struggles, challenges and all the things we want to deny or reject about our human experience is there to serve the light. It is within these perceived challenges where we find our greatest gifts.

Beyond Ascension

Live, Online Course

Wednesdays, March 6,13,20, 2024

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

Learn more and enroll here

What You Resist Will Persist

February 7, 2024February 4, 2024 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

There is a quote that has been attributed to Buddhism that I have found to be uncompromisingly true:

“What you resist will persist.”

In my own journey of self-actualization and in the 25 years I have accompanied and guided others through theirs, I have witnessed the proof of this. To this statement, I would further add:

“What you resist, avoid, ignore, suppress, repress, deny, try to escape, etc. will persist.”

As much as we might try, we cannot run from our demons. That which we do not acknowledge and work on healing will find its way out sideways in non-loving and compulsive behaviors either toward ourselves or others. That which we do not heal as a culture/world is doomed to repeat itself. In this repetition, the oppressed becomes the oppressor; the abused becomes the abuser; and we end up marrying our unhealed wounds. We cannot escape this truth and we don’t need to look very far to see the proof of it. Most often, the proof is as close as looking in the mirror.

At the center of the process of human development is the healing of our wounds. By no effort of our own, that which is unhealed within us will make itself known for the purpose of being acknowledged and healed. When we ignore those wounds, or refuse to do the work of healing them, they don’t go away. Instead, they become magnified and compounded, making our journey even more difficult. Our compulsions become addictions. Our guilt-driven conditioning becomes a cycle of self-loathing which we feed through a wide variety of means. The places where we have felt rejected become a co-dependent drive to find someone (usually unhealthy) to love.

Ignoring, suppressing, repressing, denying our wounds only causes further harm. As long as we are bypassing our pain, we are its prisoner. We will never be free as human beings until we heal our wounds.

One of the great challenges to healing these wounds, however, are all the systems/programs/self-proclaimed teachers/conditioning that encourage distractions or denial over the gritty work of transformation. “Get over it and move on.” “Let it go.” “Offer it up.” “Just keep busy:” “Think positive thoughts.” “Just be grateful.” “It could be worse.” are all platitudes driven into us by systems that have failed to do their own healing and who are then projecting their unhealed wounds onto their followers. Anything or anyone that tells us to ignore/deny/suppress/avoid our pain is detrimental to our emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing; and is thwarting our path to true freedom.

While complete freedom can never be fully attained, our Soul compels us to continually seek it out. Confronting and transforming our wounds, and the conditioning that created them in the first place, is the only sure path to that freedom. Anything that tells us otherwise is a lie.

Moving Beyond Resistance

Ascension is not the goal, neither is it the purpose of the human journey. Instead, ascension is recognized as the midpoint of the human experience, and a danger for those who would seek to remain there. As was well-attested by the ancients, we are not meant to escape the human condition, but are meant to immerse ourselves fully within it. In this, we move beyond ascension (unity consciousness) and toward full Divine embodiment – the true purpose of the human experience.

Live, Online, Course

Wednesdays, March 6, 13, 20, 2024

6:30 – 8:30 pm central time

Learn more and enroll here.

When “the Devil” Comes a-Callin’

October 18, 2022 / Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Ahhhhhhhh. The Trickster. Satan. Beelzebub. Beetlejuice. By whatever name we call “him,” the role is the same:

That thing that shows up just as something amazing has happened, or as something magnificent is about to happen. That experience that attempts to throw a banana peel into our path. The person who throws spikes across the road of our enjoyment just after we get done fruitfully sharing our gifts in the world.

Yeah….you know of whom/what I speak. We’ve all had these experiences. I’ve gotten to the point now where I know the Trickster when I see it and I name it for who it is. This does not, however, prevent me from feeling the jarring impact of what can only be called a psychic attack.

Here’s how it went:

Thursday and Saturday of the past week, I had the profound gift of presenting to two different organizations. Thursday’s presentation was on Mary Magdalene for the Healer’s Playgroup. Saturday I presented on Mental Health and Resilience in Teens for the Wisconsin Dance Council annual convention. Both presentations were enthusiastically received and I felt completely in my element and anchored in my gifts and my calling. Everything felt right with the world as I gave my introvert/empath a well-deserved day (or two) of rest.

Then “the devil” came a callin’. I will say this is not the first time I’ve had to deal with severely disturbed individuals who are operating out of some sort of delusion that I am the cause of their current life situation. In this case, a person I don’t even know, but who apparently knows me through a shared membership on another platform. I won’t go into the details but to say their language was abusive, graphic, and venomous would be an understatement. Understanding the disease that provokes such outbursts did nothing to protect me from the daggers of hatred carried by these words. My rational mind knew how to respond. My empathic body felt the sting of her words. My inner healer knew what to do to support myself in being free of the venom and how to let my psychic body heal.

And, my inner spiritual teacher knew exactly what this was:

“Hello Trickster, the fact that you are here is telling me something magnificent is happening.”

Indeed. THIS is the role of the Trickster. To startle us out of our enjoyment, trip us up on our path, plant the seeds of confusion and doubt in our mind – all for the purpose of testing our resolve.

The Trickster is here to ask us: “Are you sure about this?”

Um. Yes, I’m sure. I’m certain about my gifts. I’m certain of my call to serve. I’m certain I’m called to serve the world through my gifts of teaching, providing guidance and counsel, and being a force of Love in the world. All the tricksters in the world are not going to convince me otherwise. As I reached out to a colleague who had a similar encounter with this individual, her words said it perfectly:

Not today Satan! Not today!

Where and how have you experienced the Trickster in your life?
What tools do you have for moving through and past the Trickster’s shenanigans?

Join Lauri Ann Lumby as she breaks open the ancient mysteries related to the adversary – the natural inner force that has been corrupted into an external demon that should be feared. Even the ancient names given to this helpful and benevolent force have been appropriated by those who seek to manipulate others through fear, intimidation, and threats of eternal damnation.

Discover the ancient names given to the adversary and their true meanings.
Understand the natural cycle of spiritual growth including necessary times of resistance characterized by temptation, doubt, confusion, and difficulty.
Learn to approach the adversary as advocate.
Release resistance through practices of welcome.

Learn more and enroll here.