Legends, Myths & Tales
Perhaps the most intriguing legend associated with our mountain concerns Guy Ballard’s claim to have met the Ascended Master Saint Germain in 1930 while hiking on the mountain. Ballard’s encounter, as well as subsequent interactions with Ascended Masters, were published under the pseudonym of Godfre Ray King in a series of books that now serve (along with The Bible) as the texts for the “I AM” religious activity …
The I AM Story
The “I AM” chapter of the Mt. Shasta Story was in many ways the most difficult to compile. During our initial research into this unusual story, we were confronted with many distorted fragments of hearsay that very nearly discouraged our attempt to include this important and certainly integral portion of the mountain’s past. The local citizens of the Mt. Shasta region had many varied versions of what was known as the “Saint Germain Legend,” yet few, if any, were near the truth. The story in its original form was truly amazing but the invented variations were pure conjecture, elaborated beyond recognition with each telling …“I AM” Activity
The “I AM” Activity is the original Ascended Master Teachings religious movement founded in the early 1930s by Guy Ballard (1878–1939) and his wife Edna (1886–1971) in Chicago, Illinois. It is an offshoot of theosophy and a major predecessor of several New Age religions including the Church Universal and Triumphant. The movement had up to a million followers in 1938 and is still active today on a smaller scale. According to the official website of the parent organization, the Saint Germain Foundation, its worldwide headquarters is located in Schaumburg, Illinois and there are approximately 300 local groups worldwide under several variations of the names “I AM” Sanctuary, “I AM” Temple, and other similar titles. As of 2007, the organization states that its purpose is “spiritual, educational and practical,” and that no admission fee is charged for their activities. The term “I AM” is a reference to the ancient Sanskrit mantra “So Ham”, meaning I Am that I Am …Today’s New Religion: “I AM”
I was talking to a reporter for the Religion News Service today and he made a complaint that every journalist covering religion I know has made: that they rarely are able to write about the thousands of new religious movements that made them want to cover religion in the first place. Religion reporters must write constantly about the crimes of the Catholics and the policies of the Episcopalians and neglect meanwhile the wild quilt of small faith organizations that envelop this country. After I hung up the phone, I decided that from time to time I would write here about these movements (they used to be called cults but no more). First one in the spotlight? I AM‘Mount Shasta: An Annotated Bibliography’ – Legends: Ascended Masters
Mount Shasta has been an inspiration to many people interested in the Ascended Master teachings of Guy Warren Ballard and his “I AM” religious activity. Ballard, writing under the pseudonym Godfré Ray King, stated in his 1934 Unveiled Mysteries that he met the Ascended Master Saint Germain on the slopes of Mt. Shasta in 1930. The Ascended Masters, according to Ballard, are great spiritual teachers who have mastered the relationship between thought and feeling and have learned to manifest the “Luminous Essence of Divine Love.” These Ascended Masters are said to have ascended to a higher dimension from which they guard and help the evolving human race. The teachings learned from Saint Germain, as presented in Ballard’s books, the fantastic parts notwithstanding, have an undeniable empowering appeal to many persons. Ballard’s books and religious movement attracted many followers. Splinter groups based on similar teachings have formed. Over the years, other authors, including Nola Van Valer, Earlyne Chaney, Mah-Atman-Amsumata, Pearl Dorris, and Elisabeth Clare Prophet, have written of their own experiences with Ascended Masters on Mt. Shasta. Many of these writings are of the ‘channeling’ genre … end quote from:http://mtshastaspirit.org/msspirit/category/ascended-masters/
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