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"I AM" Religious Activity
I. Group Profile
- Name: "I AM" religious activity
1 - Founder: Guy Ballard
2 - Date of Birth and Death: Ballard was born in 1878 and died in 1939.
3 - Place of Birth: Ballard was born in Kansas.
4 - Year Founded: 1932
5 - How and Why: In 1930, Guy Ballard, having studied theosophical and occult teachings, traveled to Mt. Shasta to investigate rumors that strange occult events occurred there. While hiking the mountain, Ballard claims that a man, the Ascended Master Saint Germain , offered him a magical drink which renewed his body.
6 Saint Germain, as an Ascended Master, was once a human who had purified himself and ascended to become a member of the Divine Spiritual Hierarchy. This is a group of many Ascended Masters which controls the life of the universe. Saint Germain told Ballard that he was on a search for people who could act as intermediaries between the Masters and mankind. He chose Ballard and his family to be these messengers who would dictate the Masters' teachings and distribute them.7
In the following years, as the only "Accredited Messengers," Ballard, along with his wife, Edna, and son, Donald, began recording the teachings and first released them in 1932 when the church incorporated. Throughout the rest of the 1930s, Ballard and his "appointed followers" held workshops around the country, began "I AM" schools for children, and continued to publish more books. Some of the teaching seminars had attendances reaching into the thousands.8
After Guy Ballard's death, Edna continued to run the organization. Donald resigned from the movement in 1957, leaving it without an heir after his mother's death in 1971. The Board of Directors, which was founded in 1932 at the time of incorporation, then assumed control of the movement and continued its practices.9
- Sacred or Revered Text: Texts dictated by the Ascended Masters through the Ballards and The Bible
10 - Cult or Sect: Negative sentiments are typically implied when the concepts "cult" and "sect" are employed in popular discourse. Since the Religious Movements Homepage seeks to promote religious tolerance and appreciation of the positive benefits of pluralism and religious diversity in human cultures, we encourage the use of alternative concepts that do not carry implicit negative stereotypes. For a more detailed discussion of both scholarly and popular usage of the concepts "cult" and "sect," please visit our Conceptualizing "Cult" and "Sect" page, where you will find additional links to related issues.
- Size of Group: The number of members has not been released, but as of 1984, the group claims to have over 300 "I AM" centers in more than 25 countries.
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II. Beliefs of the Group
The Great White Brotherhood, a subgroup of the Ascended Masters to which Saint Germain belongs, has long been referenced in occult literature. However, Guy Ballard was the first to have contact with them. Through Ballard, the three-pronged truths of the "I AM" religious activity were released. These are:- The knowledge of the "Mighty I AM Presence," which is the individualized presence of God in action
- The use of the "Violet Consuming Flame of Divine Love"
- The Ascended Masters' use of "I AM," which is God's creative name
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Jesus , one of the Ascended Masters, was responsible for releasing the "Christ Light," which is the "Mighty I AM Presence." This made the Light available to all who wished to move out of darkness and into the Divine Light of Love. Because of this, "I AM" members consider themselves to be part of a Christian religion.
Because God, is present in everyone's higher being through the "Mighty I AM Presence," it is simply a matter of tapping into one's higher self in order to use the power. An "I AM" student, in conjunction with the teachings of the Ascended Masters, can use the Presence to eliminate evil and bring justice to the world. To aid them in this, believers may also call on the Violet Flame, which is a light, generated by the "I AM Presence," that surrounds individuals. When the Violet Flame is invoked, it obliterates evil and discord around the believer. The ultimate goal is to purify oneself, with the guidance of the Ascended Masters and the aid of the Violet Flame, so as to leave the human body and become an Ascended Master.
However, before ascension can occur, individuals must align themselves with the "I AM Presence" through meditation and the statement of affirmations and decrees. Members believe that by making positive statements while invoking the name of God, "I AM," they will come true. These affirmations are commonly used to activate the Violet Flame to clear away discord and give freedom in their lives. This idea of freedom manifests itself in patriotic themes throughout the "I AM" movement. American flags are common in "I AM" sanctuaries.
Books claimed by Guy Ballard to have been dictated to him by Saint Germain
Saint Germain is the central figure in the Saint Germain Series of Books published by the Saint Germain Press ( the publishing arm of the Saint Germain Foundation ). The first two volumes, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, written by Godfre Ray King, describe Saint Germain as an Ascended Master, like Jesus, who is assisting humanity. Godfre Ray King is the pen-name for Guy Warren Ballard. In these first two books, he discusses his personal experiences with Saint Germain and reveals many teachings that are in harmony with Theosophy and some other works referenced above. The third volume, The 'I AM' Discourses, contains material that is foundational to the sacred scriptures of the "I AM" Religious Activity, founded in 1930, the first of the Ascended Master Teachings religions.There are 20 Volumes in the Saint Germain Series of Books, which are also referred to as the "Green Books." Another work of great importance, the Comte de Gabalis, is said to be from the hand of Sir Francis Bacon before he Ascended and returned as Sanctus Germanus, the "Holy Brother Herman," or Saint Germain. First printed in 1670, the book includes a picture of the Polish Rider, a famous painting at the Frick Collection in New York City, which is said to be of Sir Francis Bacon, a.k.a the Comte de Gabalis, or the Count of the Cabala. Lotus Ray King ( Edna Ballard's pen name ), wife of Guy Ballard, talked about this book having been authored by the Ascended Master Saint Germain in the Round Table Talks of the "I AM" Religious Activity.
[edit] Claimed encounters with Saint Germain
Several Theosophists and practitioners of alternate esoteric traditions have claimed to have met Saint Germain in the late 19th or early 20th centuries:- Annie Besant said that she met the Count in 1896.
- C. W. Leadbeater claimed to have met him in Rome in 1926 and gave a physical description of him as having brown eyes, olive colored skin, and a pointed beard; according to Leadbeater, "the splendour of his Presence impels men to make obeisance".[9] Leadbeater said that Saint Germain showed him a robe that had been previously owned by a Roman Emperor and that Saint Germain told him that one of his residences was a castle in Transylvania. According to Leadbeater, when performing magical rituals in his castle in Transylvania, Saint Germain wears "a suit of golden chain-mail which once belonged to a Roman Emperor; over it is thrown a magnificent cloak of Tyrian purple, with on its clasp a seven-pointed star in diamond and amethyst, and sometimes he wears a glorious robe of violet."[10]
- Guy Ballard, founder of the "I AM" Activity, claimed that he met Saint Germain on Mount Shasta in California in August 1930, and that this initiated his "training" and experiences with other Ascended Masters in various parts of the world.[11]
- Edgar Cayce, the "Sleeping Prophet", was asked while in trance if Saint Germain was present. Cayce's reply was: "When needed." (From reading # 254-83 on 2/14/1935.)
- Paul Foster Case, founder of Builders of the Adytum claimed to have met the Count, in his incarnation as "Master R" in New York in 1921.
- Dorothy Leon, living author, has claimed to have had several encounters with Saint Germain and is an avowed disciple of his. end quote from Wikipedia end quote.
- This next segment is not necessarily positive but does give an academic view of the religion. However, since it is written by an academic and not a believer it might be helpful to some of you trying to understand more about the history and beliefs of people within this religion. Also, I was a member of the "I am Religion" from birth to age 21 in 1969 when I was asked to leave. Then in 1975 I got interested in the Summit Lighthouse(Church Universal and Triumphant) with Elizabeth Clare Prophet and I went through Summit University in the Archangel Gabriel and Hope quarter and was a member of the staff in the Computer department also for several months but my son got whooping cough and I left to take care of him. I feel Saint Germain had a hand in all these things as well as all of the major events in my life.
- Begin quote. unfortunately I may have lost the url for the following quote: I'll try to find it.
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THE "I AM" RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY
FOUNDERS: Guy W. Ballard (1878-1939), leader of the "I AM" Ascended Master Religious Activity and co-founder with his wife Edna of the Saint Germain Foundation (its corporate expression), was born in Kansas. He married Edna Wheeler (1886-1971) in 1916 and three years later their son Donald was born. After a period in the army during World War I, he superintended his uncle's lead mine in Tucson, Arizona. Edna was an accomplished concert harpist, and like her husband, had a deep interest in metaphysics and the occult.
1930 became the turning point in the Ballards' lives. Guy Ballard, widely read in theosophical/occult literature, had heard the reports of strange occult events that had been said to occur at Mt. Shasta, a giant volcanic cone in northern California. He developed a desire to visit the mountain to investigate the rumor that a group of Divine Men called the Brotherhood of Mt. Shasta were to be found there.
One day in 1930, while hiking around the mountain he encountered another hiker, "Directly behind me stood a young man, who, at first glance, seemed to be someone on a hike like myself". The man turned out to be the Ascended Master Saint Germain. The Comte de Saint Germain was one of the most famous occultists of modern time. He had lived in eighteenth-century France, had claimed to be several centuries old, and possessed a great reputation as a mystic, alchemist and generally mysterious figure. At the time of their meeting, Ballard, thirsty from his hike, had been looking for a spring. Saint Germain offered a more refreshing drink, a creamy liquid, which had an astonishing vivifying effect upon him. Saint Germain identified the liquid as a substance coming from the Universal Supply. Over a period of time, he introduced Ballard to the astonishing powers of the Ascended Masters and led him into a number of experiences which prepared him to assume his new role as the Messenger of the Masters.
According to Ballard, Saint Germain had ascended to become a member of the Divine Spiritual Hierarchy which rules the life of the universe, and had been assigned the task of initiating the Seventh Golden Age, the permanent "I AM" Age of eternal perfection on this earth. He had searched Europe for several centuries to find someone in human embodiment through whom he could release the instructions of the Great Law of Life. Not finding anyone, he began a search in America, where he encountered Ballard. He subsequently designated Ballard, his wife Edna, and their son Donald as the only Accredited Messengers of the Ascended Masters.
As the initial experiences with Saint Germain and the other ascended beings were occurring, Ballard wrote lengthy letters to his wife in Chicago introducing her to the events. He returned to Chicago in 1931 to initiate Saint Germain's instructions. In 1932 Ballard began to release the message of Saint Germain and to bring forth the visible manifestation of the "I AM" Religious Activity. Together with his wife, he founded the Saint Germain Press and Saint Germain Foundation. Two years later, under the pen name Godfre Ray King, he published his first book, Unveiled Mysteries (1934), an account of the encounter with Saint Germain, quickly followed by its sequel, The Magic Presence (1935). He also held the first ten-day class in Philadelphia. The class was repeated in Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Florida and Los Angeles. To assist in the work, the Ballards designated a group of "appointed messengers" from among their most capable students. These Messengers gave classes and toured the country speaking at various sanctuaries.
Through the 1930s, the other publications which were to become the major literary expressions of the Activity were released: "I AM" Adortions and Affirmations (1935), which gave the texts for the decrees, the affirmations and invocations regularly repeated by students of the I AM; and "I AM" Discourses (1936), a series of lectures by Saint Germain which contain the tenets of the Activity (1935). The Saint Germain Press also issued "I AM" Songs (1938), a hymnal, while Mrs. Ballard had already launched the Foundation's magazine, The Voice of the "I AM" (1936).
The success in Los Angeles led the Ballards to move there and establish a second headquarters. They also encouraged students to establish "I AM" sanctuaries and reading rooms to help strengthen the movement around the country. They promoted the idea of "I AM" schools, and the first one was established in Tenafly, New Jersey. Another was opened in Los Angeles. The movement grew in the face of public recognition of its unorthodox beliefs and practices and at one point claimed over a million students.
In 1939, because of attacks by the media and the appearance of hecklers in the midst of the classes and in order to keep a serene atmosphere in the classes (which had been attended by some 7,000 people in Los Angeles), Ballard discontinued the open classes. It became necessary for sincere followers to obtain a special card of admission. He continued regularly to instruct those who had become students of the teachings until his death in December 1939.
Shortly before Ballard's death, several former members of the movement became vocal critics of the Ballards. One former student, Gerald B. Bryan, wrote a series of booklets and one book, Psychic Dictatorship in America, attacking Guy Ballard's integrity and accusing him of plagiarizing much of the religion from old occult books. Other students initiated lawsuits against the Foundation. These suits in turn led to a criminal indictment of Edna and Donald Ballard, along with several staff members. They were charged with mail fraud, i.e., "for using the mails to operate a religion they knew to be false in order to obtain the money of their students". Overwhelmingly the student body supported the Ballards and the Foundation.
When the case finally came to trial in 1942, the Ballards were convicted. Subsequently, the Post Office Department denied the Foundation and Press use of the mails. The convictions were reviewed for the first time by the Supreme Court in 1944, and the Court ruled, in one of its most quoted opinions, that members of a new religion could not be held accountable before a judge and/or jury for the sufficiency of their faith as a grounds for continuing to propagate it. However, a lower court again upheld the conviction which was reviewed and reversed a second time by the Supreme Court in 1946. The criminal charges behind it, the "I AM" turned to the correlative actions against the Foundation. Another eight years of legal action was required before the Post Office removed its ban on the Foundation's use of the mails in 1954. Up to that time, it had been forced to distribute literature by American Express. Finally, in 1957, the Foundation's tax-exempt status was granted.
In 1941, as legal actions proceeded, Edna Ballard moved from the hostile atmosphere in Los Angeles and established her headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico (though the official headquarters always remained in Chicago). A branch of the Saint Germain Press, which had just been established in Denver that same year, also moved to Santa Fe, as did the school previously opened in Los Angeles. It offered classes for elementary and high school grades. She further expanded the youth program by initiating the youth conclaves in 1943.
The rebuilding of the movement could begin in earnest, after the final dismissal of the various charges. It was done with little public fanfare. In 1948 national conclaves of the membership were resumed, and that same year a twelve-story building was purchased in Chicago's Loop to serve both the large concentration of followers there and to be a national teaching center. In 1951, a resort center, the famous Shasta Springs Water Co., was purchased, and Mt. Shasta became the scene of two annual national conclaves for both youth and senior students. The youth conclave featured a pageant of the life of Christ, "I AM Come!", one of the few Activity events open to the public.
Throughout the 1950s Edna Ballard expanded the Teachings, The Saint Germain Series (the basic textbooks of the Activity which currently numbers eleven volumes). She also recorded over two thousand dictations from the Ascended Masters. Her son Donald had resigned in 1957 as vice-president of the Foundation and withdrew from the "I AM" Activity. He managed his own manufacturing business but continued to handle most of the recording activity for the Foundation and Press. By the mid-1960s she was heard on twenty-five radio stations. After her death in 1971, the movement's leadership passed to the Board of Directors, which had been established in 1932 and had previously served under the Ballard's guidance.
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES: Though the spiritual hierarchy, that group of beings who constitute the spiritual cosmos and are popularly called the Great White Brotherhood, have been referred to in occult texts for generations, the contact begun with the Ascended Masters through Guy Ballard led to the releasing of what the "I AM" Religious Activity believed to be a three-fold Truth not previously known outside of the Masters secret retreat centers:
- the knowledge of the Individualized Presence of God which is known as the "Mighty I Am Presence," God in Action
- the use of the Violet Consuming Flame of Divine Love
- the Ascended Masters' use of God's Creative Name, "I AM"
As the individualized "I AM Presence", God is the Master within each person, the Christ Self. God is also individualized within each of the members of the hierarchy who govern the cosmos, this planet and solar system. Members of the hierarchy are known as the Ascended Masters of Love, Light and Perfection. They are the guardians of humanity and have worked through the centuries from the invisible, as well as the physical, to awaken, bless, enlighten, and lift humankind out of the self-created situation in which it now finds itself. Once like other humans, they have, through a series of reembodiments, overcome the present condition and by atuning themselves to the I AM Presence, ascended into the light . To follow their path is the goal of each person. One of the Ascended Masters is the Master Jesus. Through his ministry and ascension, He released the Christ Light, the "Mighty I AM Presence", to give the earth the forward movement out of darkness and hate into the Light of Divine Love. A picture of the Master Jesus adorns the platform of every I Am sanctuary, next to that of Saint Germain. The emphasis placed upon his work and teaching by the Activity leads the members to affirm themselves as members of a Christian religion.
The Activity also teaches that each Ascended Master radiates a certain color, an aspect of the divine light representative of a specific divine quality. "Clean, clear, bright colors," said Mrs. Ballard, "are rivers of blessing from the realms of light, the source of all perfection". However, members generally refrain from wearing red or black or having objecta of these colors in their immediate environment. Black is indicative of hate, death and destruction. Red is associated with anger, irritation and impurity. When impurity is removed from red, for example, it will be transformed instantly into gold.
Within the "I AM" Activity, contact with the Ascended Masters and cooperation with their work is a central goal of each individual's life. Through their Authorized Messengers, the Ballards, the Ascended Masters regularly communicated with the "I AM" membership. Those communications were delivered before gatherings of members, published in the monthly periodical, and the more prominent ones collected and reprinted in the textbooks. (In all, over 3,000 dictations from the Masters were received during the Ballards' lifetime). In these dictations the Masters presented a total program of guidance for both individual development and effective action in the world.
Each person in his fullness is pictured in the chart of the "Mighty I Am Presence" which also is to be found on the platform of "I AM" sanctuaries. The individual is shown possessing a "Mighty I AM Presence", a higher self, which is the focus of the Light and Power of God within the self. The "I AM" is the designation of God's creative word or power in action in everyone. It is pictured as a being of light surrounded by a rainbow of lights, above each person and connected to each conscious self by a thread of luminosity. The purpose of the I AM Activity is to release the I AM power within and to make it available for the student to use, in cooperation with the Ascended Masters, in the elimination of evil and the advent of freedom and justice in the world. Each person is also shown surrounded by a violet flame, a cylinder of light created by the "I AM Presence". It is released to function whenever the individual calls forth his/her "I AM Presence" to consume discord and impurity in the world.
The most definitive activities for "I AM" members by which they seek to attune themselves to their "I AM" Presence," and thus align themselves to the path of the Ascended Masters, are
- quiet contemplation
- the repetition of affirmations and decrees
In the Name of God, the "Beloved Mighty I AM Presence", and in the Name of the Beloved Ascended Jesus Christ, I Am the Strength, the Courage, the Power to move forward steadily through all experiences, whatever they may be, by the glorious Presence with "I AM". "I AM" the Commanding Presence, the Exhaustless Energy, the Divine Wisdom, causing every desire to be fulfilled. The "Presence which I AM!" remains untouched by disturbing outer conditions. Serene, I fold my wings and abide in the Perfect Action of the Divine Law and Justice of my Being, comanding all things within my radiance to appear in Perfect Divine Order!.
Students are taught basic decrees from the beginning of their work in the movement, and booklets of decrees for every occasion have been published.
Freedom was a persistent theme in the teaching of the Ascended Masters, who assigned America a special role in the unfolding Plan for the coming Golden Age. As a result, the Activity and its members have become known for their patriotism and love of country. American flags are prominently displayed at all "I AM" centers, and patriotic literature is integral to all their teaching activity.
CURRENT STATUS: After the death of Edna Ballard, the governance of the Saint Germain Foundation and the Saint Germain Press and the supervision of the "I AM" Activity passed to a five-member Board of Directors. That board was expanded to eighteen members in 1982. The Foundation charters the local sanctuaries, which are otherwise autonomous centers of the Activity. It oversees the work of Appointed Messengers of Saint Germain who teach the introductory classes, which are open to the public, and other classes for "I AM" Activity students, as well as the several regional counselors, field workers, and local councils. The radio programs begun by Edna Ballard have been continued and may be heard weekly across the United States. In 1978 the headquarters of the Foundation was moved into a new Worldwide Headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. The Saint Germain Press moved into the new facilities in 1982, and the property in Santa Fe was sold. The press publishes the Saint Germain series, the eleven textbooks of the Activity, and the monthly periodical, The Voice of the "I AM".
In 1984 there were over 300 "I AM" centers in over twenty-five countries. One school owned and operated by the students of the Activity is located in Denver, Colorado.
New students in the Activity begin by reading the first three books of the Saint Germain Series and studying two series of Fundamental Lessons. After completion of these materials, the student may receive an admittance card to an Introductory Class, which is offered periodically in Chicago. The Saint Germain Foundation emphasizes that it does not charge for the teaching or the classes. Students frequently make gifts to assist and support the work of the Foundation or a local sanctuary, but no charge is ever made for instruction.
CONTROVERSY: Soon after its establishment as a national movement, the "I AM" Activity came under attack. The first significant critic was Gerald Bryan, author of Psychic Dictatorship in America (1940). However, as soon as the movement began to show signs of success, newspapers took a critical approach to what many saw as its very unusual teachings and frequently ridiculed the movement and its leaders. During the string of legal actions and especially the several trials during the 1940s, the sensational and hostile reporting drove many from the movement and drove the movement itself away from the public eye. Over the years, the leaders refrained from discussions with reporters and others who attempted to gather information about them. As a result little was written about the Activity after the lengthy chapter in These Also Believe, the 1949 survey of America's alternative religions by Northwestern University Professor Charles Braden.
Thus while the movement has slowly rebuilt itself into a significantly large religious organization, it has been almost totally unnoticed, and frequently reported as nonexistent. (The Foundation has a policy against advertising and promotion of itself and the Activity.)
During the decade, some recognition of the I AM Activity has come because other organizations that have derived some of its teachings and symbolism from the "I AM" Activity have received widespread media attention. One such group, the Church Universal and Triumphant, has emerged as a prominent and controversial organization. In the face of this variety of groups whose teachings resemble those of the "I AM" Activity, the Saint Germain Foundation has attempted to hold to the teachings of the Ascended Masters exactly as originally delivered by those whom they believe to be their only Accredited Messengers, the Ballards, unmixed with the teachings of other religious traditions or other Messengers.
- Godfre Ray King (pen name of Guy W. Ballard), Unveiled Mysteries (Chicago: Saint Germain Press, 1934).
- Godfre Ray King, The Magic Presence (Chicago: Saint Germaine Press, 1935).
- Ascended Master Saint Germain, The "I AM" Discourses (Chicago: Saint Germain Press, 1936).
- The Great Cosmic Beings, Ascended Master Light (Chicago: Saint Germain Press, 1938).
- Ascended Master Saint Germain, The "I AM" Discourses (Schaumburg, IL: Saint Germain Press, 1984).
- Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe (New York: Macmillan, 1949).
- Gerald B. Bryan, Psychic Dictatorship in America (Los Angeles: Truth Research Foundation. 1940).
- David W. Stupple, A Functional Approach to Social Movements with an Analysis of the I AM Religious Sect and the Congress of Racial Equality (Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, MA thesis, 1965).
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