Emily Louise - The Cult of I AM : The WILD Story of Guy & Edna Ballard's New Age Religious Movement

[David McCarthy]

Kudos to Emily Louise for this very well researched documentary about Guy & Edna Ballard and their Church I Am"! that spawned a whole host of copycat cults.
Prior to opening RSE in 1988, around 1984 JZ Knight called her businesses Ramtha Dialogs and 'The Church I Am'! based out of Tacoma

The new age world is murky, filled with ascended masters, violet flames and people talking about their "I AM presence" - but where did all of that come from?

In the 1930's, Guy & Edna Ballard started their cult of I AM - a new age religious movement and offshoot of Helena Blavatsky's theosophical teachings, and the work of neo-theosophists like Alice Bailey and C.W Leadbeater. They were guided by the ascended masters - a group of spiritual advisors that Guy, Edna and their son Donald claimed to have direct contact with, including Jesus and St Germain.

But behind the brightly coloured charts and strangely aesthetically appealing artwork, lies a more sinister story, connecting this world of new age woo-woo directly to f*scists and right-wing ideology that's still very much present to this day.

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Special thanks to Triskaidekapho13ic for helping source archive materials & creating an amazing sources document for me...
The Cult of I AM : The WILD Story of Guy & Edna Ballard's New Age Religious Movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKt4edO98w

[David McCarthy]

Related:

Church I AM Dissolution April 15, 1988 - by Melissa Genson
There was no mention of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, or anything related, in the Church I AM documents. The Church I AM documents showed a non-profit church with JZ as pastor–no businesses were shown as operating out of it.
Owner (Registrant) ‘Knight; JZ d.b.a. The Church I Am’
Record 3 from 1982, Owner (Registrant) ‘Burnett; JZ d.b.a. Ramtha Foundation The Church I Am’

viewtopic.php?p=17609&hilit=The+Church+I+Am#p17609

Joe Szimhart - Dissociative Identity and Ramtha/JZ Knight +
Much of what Judy Knight as Ramtha teaches is derivative of 19th Century Theosophy, Sant Mat teachings in India, and New Thought—a common occult concoction used by earlier cults like The Order of the Golden Dawn, Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way, Crowley’s Thelema, Steiner’s Anthroposophy, the Roerichs’ Agni Yoga, Guy Ballard’s “I AM” Activity, and Elizabeth Prophet’s Summit Lighthouse. Theosophical societies gleaned much from Vedic tradition, accepting ideas of reincarnation and paranormal powers (siddhis) alleged to come to adepts and yogis who knew the secret, magical mantras and techniques handed down through the ages. The RSE incorporated blindfolds and a hyperventilation technique called “C&E” (consciousness and energy) in 1988 to enhance altered states to access siddhis or psychic powers.

viewtopic.php?p=17491&hilit=The+Church+I+Am#p17491