Established by former Chicago fortuneteller Guy Ballard and his wife Edna, the Mighty I AM; melded H.P.Blavatsky’s Theosophical writings Christian Science, Unity, Rosicrucianism, with Pelley and Baird Spalding’s fantasies. While I AM represented the most popular diffusion of Theosophy.

The organization (new religious movement) began in 1930 when Guy Ballard allegedly met the legendary magician Comte de Saint Germain on Mount Shasta. Ballard swiped most of Helena Blavatsky's religious system placing St. Germain and Jesus Christ at the top of a pantheon of Ascended Masters.

Edna worked for a time in her sister's occult bookstore, Philosopher's Nook, and published the periodicals, American Occultist, and The Diamond. And the Ballards were also associated with William Dudley Pelley's Sil­ver Shirt group. In 1929, Pelley, a former Hollywood screenwriter, had as we have seen, written a magazine article called "Seven Minutes in Eternity" that described an out-of-body experience he had in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Response from the article was tremendous. People wrote him and wanted more information. To satisfy their desire, he published ongoing communications from Masters living on inner planes in his magazine, The New Liberator. Pelley's mystical focus took on a decidedly political turn when he began advocating Nazi- Fascist ways of changing the American government. The Ballards borrowed freely from Pelley's materials. They read his articles to members of their early meetings and persuaded many of Pelley's followers to join them.

In 1970, Donald Ballard gave a speech concerning the early years in the Ballard household. This fascinating peek into their home reveals how Guy developed the persona of the Masters and used them to manipulate members of his household: As I said in the beginning, from the time I was about six years old, the Ascended Masters spoke to the family, thru our beloved Papa ... My earliest recollection of the Masters speaking thru our beloved Papa was that of the Masters Kuthumi and Morya ... and the thing came about in more or less the following manner. Usually it would begin as a family group in the evening. Many, many evenings we would sit around the living room, we lived mostly in apartments in those days. Maybe Mama or Papa would read aloud to us or we would sit there and converse on many, many things. Subjects pertaining to the Divine Law in the search for the truth, as we knew it, were always uppermost in Mama and Papa's minds. Sometimes Papa would become very, very still. And something like this, I feel that Kuthumi's coming. He would be very still, then close his eyes. Something of a heave shudder would run thru his body and presently the Master would begin to speak thru him. The instruction at this time was more of personal nature, that it was strictly the explanation of the law. We were told how to handle certain problems within the family, more specific of how we should conduct ourselves. As time went along, these, which really later became the dictations, they started out more as intimate conversations. There would be other Masters beside Kuthumi and Morya. There was a Chinese Master by the name of Chan, and then one day, oh, I suspect, maybe a year or two years, after my earliest recollections, Saint Germain first spoke to us thru papa. This would put it between 1924 and 1926, some time. At that time we were living in an apartment here on Loyola Avenue, near the lake. Subsequently, we lived in fout or five apartments in different locations here in Chicago. In all these locations on an average of perhaps once a week I think, one of the Masters would come and speak thru papa. (D. Ballard)

Where did the name I AM come from? The following quotation from Mrs. G.W: and Donald Ballard's, Purpose of the Ascended Masters '7 AM, " summarizes their beliefs: When Moses was told to go forward and lead the children of Israel out of the wilderness,-hesitating he asked: "Who shall I say has sent me unto them?" He was told: "Say unto them: 'I AM' that 'I AM' hath sent me unto you." Who in the teachings in the outer world today, knows what that statemen t means yet, within that statement, lies the whole of the law. "I AM" is the individualized God presence of every human being on earth, which in the "I AM" Instruction is known as the "Mighty I AM Presence."

From out of the Heart Center ofInfinity, which we know as the Great Central Sun, comes forth the individualized Presence of God-The "Mighty I AM" -clothed in a Body of Pure Light Substance. This Electronic Body abides immediately above every human being on earth and pours down into the human form, the Life, the Light, the Substance and Energy that enables the physical body to move, breathe and have Self conscious Life. This Individualized Focus of the Great Supreme Source of all Life, is what was referred to in the statement made by Moses; which means he had been sent forth by the Divine Power of Life-his own "Mighty I AM Presence."

The I AMers believed that each person had a perfect, all-knowing God- Presence that hovered over him on the spirit plane. This Presence held all the knowledge gained throughout all the soul's embodiments and connected with the embodied person through a ray of light called the "crystal cord."
What forces impelled the Ballards to form the I AM group and set themselves above humanity as Messengers for the Great White Brotherhood? Rarely do we have the opportunity to glimpse pivotal events in the formation of messengers. This letter from a friend of the Ballards hints at a source of inspiration for the creation of the I AM movement.

I know whereof I speak, for I have known the Ballards intimately for about twenty-six years, I wrote to the Ballards for four years steady every week, then my husband died ... They invited me to visit them in Chicago, which I did March 12, 1919. I lived with them for seven months, sharing their poverty, their sorrows, and their woes, for they were as poor as the proverbial church mouse.They induced me to finance the trip to California ... The baby Eudonia [Donald] was just five years old ... while in San Francisco this great idea of Guy's was born. We went to a fake - church, and there was a lot of chicanery. The Priest and Priestess sitting in two gold chairs with the twelve vestal virgins as the choir. Behind them was a great illuminated cross with flashing lights. During the service the very lightly clad virgins threw flowers among the audience. It was a scream. Afterwards came the Love Feast. A virgin held a basket of strips of bread and the audience were asked to join this holy order, which was non-sectarian. Another virgin held a loving cup of wine. Talk of hypnosis, would you believe it, over one hundred and fifty people went forward and partook of that sacrilegious feast, a parody upon the Lord's Supper! During this scene Guy's face was a study. He was enchanted with the show, but did not join the ch. As soon as he reached me sidewalk, he could not stop talking about it ... and from what I now hear, he has fashioned his church upon me same lines with his illuminated background. He could not stop talking about this laughable service. (Bryan, 129-130)
Gerald Braden in his book, These Also Believe, recounted a converation with Dr. Robinson, founder of Psychiana, who told him that Guy Ballard had visited him in Moscow, Idaho, and told him he intended to start a movement. Ballard said, " I am going to make it dramatic" (268). Robinson encouraged Ballard's ambitions but cautioned him to avoid Robinson's ideas. It soon became evident that Ballard broke his word and did incorporate many of Robinson's teachings as his own.

Braden also quoted a former member of the I AM movement who described what Guy Ballard was doing during the years just prior to the founding of the I AM group. "[Guy Ballard] spent long hours in the occult library in Los Angeles, many times going without meals, for he vas not well provided for in those days, and all the time he was probably working on this story" (266). The story referred to is what became his first book, Unveiled Mysteries.

William Dudley Pelley, provided another source of material for the Ballards. Four years after Edna began reading from Pelley's writings in her early discussion groups, Saint Germain, on 3 August 1934, referenced "Christian Democracy," the name Pelley gave o his idealized political order, as having, "splendid ideals, possible of achievement." To keep racial purity, the Ballards excluded Blacks from heir movement.

Baird T. Spalding also played a role in the development of the I AM activity's Masters and the teaching of the I AM Presence. Spalding claimed to have traveled to the Far East in 1894 and met with Masters n the Himalayan mountains. Subsequently, he published five books filled with miraculous stories of his adventures. While he claimed his experiences were true, statements like those that follow cast doubt on the veracity of his work: [I made] no attempt to authenticate these experiences ... " and "I feel that I am at liberty to withhold names of places and locations, according the reader the privilege of accepting as fact or fiction, as he deems expedient, the accounts set forth herein, remarking only that facts are at times more astonishing than fiction. (Spalding, vol. 1: 9 and vol. 2: 1)

Spalding did apparently get to India by 1936, forty-two years after his original claim. There he met with another western guru-type, Paul Brunton (1898-1981). '''PB,' as his disciples called him, was a small man with a grey goatee and bald head who claimed to be a "messenger" for and member of the hidden brotherhood that guides the ways of the human race". Brunton confronted Spalding on the events related in his books. Spalding admitted to duplicity, as revealed in this quote from Brunton: An American, Baird T. Spalding, wrote three volumes on his visits to Tibet and about the lives and teachings of the "Masters of the Far East" before he had ever left the American continent. (He added two further volumes after he had gone to India and returned.) He attached himself, with a party of fourteen disciples, to me for a couple of weeks when he discovered that I was in India at the same time. I pointed out to him that his descriptions of the Masters did not tally with the facts as some of us knew them. He finally admitted that the books dealt with visits made in his astral body, not in his physical body as readers were led to believe. (Brunton, 252)

Brunton, in turn, was exposed as a "charlatan" in My Father's Guru by Jeffrey Masson, but that does not negate Brunton's analysis and comments on Spalding. Spalding's fantastic stories were used as models for the Ballards' books, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence. Both spoke of the Masters, the I AM Presence, the Ascension, and phenomena such as precipitated meals and gold coins, and dazzling Light Rays that were a sort of cosmic laser that reached from spirit realms to the earth. Spalding's first two books were published a decade earlier than the Ballard books.
Guy Ballard launched his messenger-ship in 1930 after what he claimed was direct, personal contact with the Ascended Master Saint Germain. As is usual in these cases, no verification was possible since he was alone on the slopes of Mount Shasta during the purported encounter. His fanciful stories attracted the curious and began the unique saga upon which he and his wife Edna would build their organization.

Guy and Edna wrote under the pen names Godfre Ray King and Lotus Ray King and founded the I AM movement in 1934. They claimed sponsorship from the Ascended Masters Saint Germain, EI Morya, and other members of the Great White Brotherhood. Both Guy and Edna Ballard were called ''Anointed Messengers" and gave "discourses" or "dictations" in which they channeled the Ascended Masters. They gave their son Donald the title of Messenger also, although he never spoke for the Masters. The Ballards' vehemently denied the authenticity of competing messengers, claiming exclusive rights as the mouthpieces of heaven. Students of Theosophy were scandalized to find their Masters speaking through new messengers. Not content with the limited palette of stodgy Theosophical Masters, the Ballards invented new Masters such as Ray of-Light, Electra, and Beloved Mighty Victory to suit their needs.

The I AM movement soon gained followers as the Ballards gave classes in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. Early meetings were small and they treated their followers with kindness. They found little support in the South but found eager audiences in Los Angeles, California. "Love gifts" poured in and soon adoring followers began calling them Mama and Daddy Ballard. As their group grew, so the Ballards' power increased. They became dictators who expected their students to obey their word without question.

The Ballards created multiple streams of income with seminars and sales of books, booklets, magazines, songs, musical recordings, decrees, pictures of themselves and the Masters, phonograph records of dictations, crystal cups, and various knickknacks-all for steep prices. Hopeful and desperate seekers sent love donations in hope of receiving divine blessings and physical healings.

New Thought affirmations were supercharged and transformed into I AM decrees by the Ballards, who claimed their rhyming ditties were divinely inspired and were vital to direct the actions of Ascended Masters, angels, and other divine beings in the affairs of humanity. Decrees were given to purifY oneself and guide the destiny of America and the world. Students of the I AM called themselves Minute Men and Women of Saint Germain and were fiercely patriotic to the divine plan of "Beloved Saint Germain" and the spiritual hierarchy. They battled evil with long hours of decrees and felt the burden of responsibility on their shoulders to bind demons, entities, and fallen ones that aided communist plots. They labored to make their ascension-physically raising the body into heaven like Jesus in the Bible-which, they were taught, was the goal in life.

I AM students strove for immortality and expected, like Jesus, to ascend into heaven at the end of their lives. They lived in hope of this ascension and trusted the Ballards to tell them exactly how to achieve it. The main requirements were these: support the messengers (the Ballards) financially, follow their teachings, and chant decrees every day.

The I AM movement simplified the dry, cerebral teachings of Theosophy and brought them to life with vibrant color paintings of the Ascended Masters, rousing music, and lavish pageantry. The teachings were made larger-than-life. The restrained, elusive Masters of Theosophy became Ascended Masters who spoke to enormous crowds in auditoriums and over the radio through their "Accredited Messengers," the Ballards. The sketches of Theosophy's Masters reappeared, revitalized with color. Arcane writings of Blavatsky, Alice Bailey, and Charles Leadbeater were relegated to the archives. The new dispensation was presented with fabulous stories of Guy Ballard's adventures with Masters who could vanish and reappear at will, caverns of gold, time travel, magical occurrences, and flying carpets. Ascended Masters' teachings de mystified and glamorized stuffy knowledge from secret societies and made them accessible to the common man.
Here are some Ascended Masters' teachings as preached by the Ballards: Enormous pockets of gas under the major cities of the United States could cause massive earthquakes at any time-save for the decrees of the I AM students. Lengthy decree sessions could transmute these "Gas Belts" into "pure metallic gold."-   "The sex urge is only to be used for procreation. When it was used for so-called pleasure, mankind loses the dominion of his physical form- When it is wasted, the body becomes decrepit and help less. Your aura becomes charged with the most vicious entities you can imagine." (Bryan 181)

The Master K-17 ran an "Inner Secret Service" that worked with the outer Secret Service and J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. 3 September 1939, K-17 and his crew claimed to have destroyed, with the help of! AMers decrees, 364 foreign spies along with three enemy submarines whose mission was to destroy the Panama Canal. (Ballards, Voice Oct. 1939: 30-31)

Saint Germain uncovered evil agents working against the United States. In one case, "I was compelled to turn back upon him his own viciousness, which destroyed his physical body." (Bryan 217218) Guy Ballard claimed he was George Washington re-embodied. Edna was the re-embodiment of Benjamin Franklin and Joan of Arc.

The record of the Ballards' lives does not reconcile with the praise they heaped upon themselves. The Masters, through the Ballards, spoke emphatically-and often---on the subject of the Messengers' characters and praised them in glowing terms as advanced initiates of the Great White Brotherhood: Beloved people, the Glory and Victory of these beloved Messengers, is the most magnificent thing on the face of this earth. We know, in spite of all mankind and their vicious falsehoods about them, never have any two human beings on the face of this earth poured forth in the face of such viciousness, such great Power of Divine Love, Forgiveness and Blessings to mankind. (Edna Ballard as Sanat Kumara, Voice Oct. 1941: 9)

In 1938, Guy and Edna Ballard published the following statement regarding their honesty: Mr. G.W: Ballard has never done a dishonest nor dishonorable thing in his entire life and never shall. We have never asked any human being for a thing, not even a dime nor a student list; and all who know us even slightly know THAT IS THE TRUTH! (Ballards, Voice Nov. 1938: 19)

This was confirmed by Ballard speaking as Saint Germain who said, in the same year:
to her by the pseudonym, "Clara." The year 1937 reflects the time the letter was written and sent to Bryan. The events described occurred nearly a decade earlier as will be seen on the dates of other letters: Chicago, Ill. Dec. 14, 1937  A friend, Mrs. __ showed me your letter to her of recent date, and as I am one of the Ballards' victims, I am very glad to tell you a few things of how I have been treated. I have known the Ballards for years, first meeting him through a mining proposition called the Gold Lake, and like everybody else I was fooled in the man. I borrowed $200 from a friend to put in the Gold Lake, having already several hundred in it, and he begged me to loan him that $200 for his personal use he was so up against it and he said he would give me double the shares in the mine out of his holdings, etc. It took me a long time to let him have it, and I asked him especially if he would be sure and give me credit on the books anyway so I would be sure to get my shares, and he promised, and which he NEVER did ... I have letters in which he says he does not owe me by 'Divine right.' A dear old lady in her 80's then, and has now passed away, felt so certain of this proposition going over she gave her all, her last $100 Ballard went and took from her. He went to see a couple of elderly ladies, two sisters, one totally blind, and he got some money from them presumably for the Gold Lake, and he gave a receipt but never put it on the books.

Following are excerpts from one of the letters that Ballard wrote to Clara in response to her requests for return of the borrowed money. The letter shows how he was living just prior to his supposed first meeting with Saint Germain in 1930:  My dear Miss ____ _
God bless you most kind friend. Your letter reached [me] after being forwarded twice, as I am changing about all the time trying to get something accomplished. The mining deals I came out here on did not work out. I have been trying to secure employment west, but so far have not been able to get work. You do not seem to understand (from your letter) dear friend the terrible sacrifice I made to try to serve those people in that lake enterprise.But some day God will place in my hands money to pay back every dollar that anybody ever assisted me with. At this time I haven't a dollar to help anybody ... When God sees fit to help me to success, I will be so happy and grateful to return every dollar of kindness that has been extended to me. Until then I am powerless to help . . . I know so well everyone who condemns me will be consumed by their own hatred. I am leaving for Nevada at once. If anything comes into my hands to help, I will gladly do it. A friend is trying to help me get on my feet again.

In 1934, Clara heard of Ballard's I AM movement, assumed that he now had money to repay her, and wrote him again. As you read his reply, remember that he claimed to be under the direction of the Master Saint Germain who, according to Ballard, precipitated a ten-dollar gold piece in his hand, showed him a room filled with gold coins and nuggets, and told him the location of a couple of Colorado gold mines: Miss ____ _
Your letter received after some delay, I have no money for myself, you or anyone else.
If you will remind yourself of the thought and feeling of condemnation, hatred and the wish to take away the liberty of God's children, then you will understand why you have no

                My dear Miss _____ _
God bless you most kind friend. Your letter reached [me] after being forwarded twice, as I am changing about all the time trying to get something accomplished. The mining deals I came out here on did not work out ...
I have been trying to secure employment west, but so far have not been able to get work ... You do not seem to understand (from yout letter) dear friend the terrible sacrifice I made to try to serve those people in that lake enterprise ...
But some day God will place in my hands money to pay back every dollar that anybody ever assisted me with. At this time I haven't a dollar to help anybody ...
When God sees fit to help me to success, I will be so happy and grateful to return every dollar of kindness that has been extended to me. Until then I am powerless to help.

. . . I know so well everyone who condemns me will be consumed by their own hatred.
I am leaving for Nevada at once. If anything comes into my hands to help, I will gladly do it. A friend is trying to help me get on my feet again.
In 1934, Clara heard of Ballard's I AM movement, assumed that he now had money to repay her, and wrote him again. As you read his reply, remember that he claimed to be under the direction of the Master Saint Germain who, according to Ballard, precipitated a ten-dollar gold piece in his hand, showed him a room filled with gold coins and nuggets, and told him the location of a couple of Colorado gold mines:   Miss ____ _

Your letter received after some delay, I have no money for myself, you or anyone else.
If you will remind yourself of the thought and feeling of condemnation, hatred and the wish to take away the liberty of God's children, then you will understand why you have no position, money, or health. For what you. think, feel and desire for another you draw with invincible power into your own life and experience whether you believe it or not ...
When you joined others with the intent to take away my freedom, you deprived yourself of every divine right of any assistance from me.
However, at some future time should abundance come into my hands I would gladly help you if only to return good for evil. May God's love and Light ever enfold you.
Clara replied to this remarkable letter by reasoning that if his accusations were true, they would apply to him as well as her and were the reason he was financially impoverished. She reminded him that the $200 she requested was a personal loan and that if he couldn't pay at once, then pay by the week. Here is Ballard's reply: Miss

Your second letter received. I have informed you this outer form has no money to assist you and no income to promise you or anyone anything definite.
In spite of reports to you, we do not own a home and no money is being received for the instruction that is being given. In regard to the letter that you sent me, I simply say God bless You.
What Guy Ballard taught and what he practiced in his personal life were two different things. While he refused to pay Clara the money he owed, he admonished the young people in his organization in this way: If you borrow either money or things, FEEL your responsibility and see that you return them to the one who was kind enough to accommodate you. Just because someone is kind and willing to make things easier for you is no reason you should fail to remember that the thing loaned to you should be returned. (Ballards, Voice Feb. 1938: 33-34)

It was difficult for members to discover the true nature of the Ballards because they isolated themselves from their followers. Only members who worked closely with them got to see their true natures. Many would have formed different opinions of the group if they had known more of the Ballards' personal lives. Members pointed to the Ballard's teachings to substantiate the goodness and rightness of their beliefs without knowing the true character or history of the Messengers. Those who received publications in the mail and attended occasional gatherings got a filtered view of the group.

Guy Ballard never apologized or took responsibility for those he defrauded. In 1938, Guy Ballard was sued for $10,906.55 by a woman in her sixties who claimed she lost $6,775 in the Lake of Gold deal. Ballard was presented with the summons while signing books in the lobby of the Chicago Civic Opera house during one of his classes. It became a media event and claimed headlines in the next morning's newspapers.In defense, Ballard dictated the Ascended Master Saint Germain: She KNOWS that the charge is NOT true! She KNOWS very well that this Messenger did NOT receive her money, and I know it! ... The vicious individuals who came into that lobby last night are dealing with Me, and not the Messenger! I always abide My time.I say to the newspapers who were unfortunate enough to print that, they too must pay the penalty for it ... Now begins the destruction of everyone who allows such things to continue. . . . say to every newspaper in the land-take heed! I am always present and watching everything, and surely when I am ready I will act. (Ballard, "Group Letter")
Beloved Ones, when I chose him [Guy Ballard] and the beloved Lotus [Edna] to be the Messengers of My Work, I knew every thought and feeling that is in their Beings. There is not one impure nor dishonest thought in their whole Life! (Ballard, "Group Letter")

If Saint Germain's words were true, then the Ballards were perfect human beings. If Saint Germain were telling the truth, then we should
find no fault in the Ballards as we examine their lives. If our examination uncovers impurity or dishonesty, to use Saint Germain's own words, then Saint Germain must be a liar and a fraud, or just the ranting of the fertile and imaginative mind of a deluded Guy Ballard. Unfortunately, we will never know what the United States courts would have decided because Guy Ballard died eleven days before the case came to trial.
The Ballards freely plagiarized from occult classics such as Myriam and the Mystic Brotherhood by Maude Lesseuer Howard; The Prince of Atlantis by Lillian Elizabeth Roy; Brother of the Third Degree by Will L. Garver; A Dweller on Two Planets or the Dividing of the Way by Frederick S. Oliver, alias Phylos the Thibetan; and The Secret Power by Marie Corelli (Bryan chap. 14).

Edna Ballard was probably the true author of their books. In Chicago during 1930, she began what would become the I AM movement with a small group of people, sworn to secrecy, to whom she read works of Pelley, Spalding, and other occult writers. She gradually introduced the "Discourses," which she later claimed came to her from the Masters, and she began telling stories of Guy's adventures with Saint Germain on Mount Shasta, which would become their first book, Unveiled Mysteries. Bryan explains:

Mrs. Ballard seemed sometimes to be more conversant with those marvelous experiences of Godfre Ray King [alias Gay Ballard] than Guy Ballard himselfl People who attended those early classes say that it was she who generally answered questions in regard to those experiences. (113)
Unveiled Mysteries along with their second book, The Magic Presence, were written as autobiographical fiction, although the Ballards claimed they were true. The books were filled with fantastic tales of flying carpets, reanimation of70,000-year-old bodies, visits to hidden retreats of the Masters, time travel, a Crystal Mirror that showed past embodiments, an Atomic Accelerator chair that raised one's vibration in preparation for the Ascension, precipitated diamond rings, a radio that reached the inhabitants of Venus, and many other bizarre and outrageous stories. The Ballards assured members that every word in their books was true and that there were no discrepancies in them. Their Think of it, We in the Octave of Light, Beloved Ones, We are just as Tangible as you are! Oh, just because you do not see Us, don't let your intellect say We are not Tangible. The Ascended Master is just as Tangible as you are; in fact, more so! (47)
Soon, if you will give your assistance, Blessed Ones, you shall know Me in My Own Tangible Body; and I shall shake your hands and congratulate you on the Strength of Light within your own body that enables you to make a condition where the Great Cosmic Light permits the Ascended Masters to come forth in the Tangible Body and walk and talk with you. (50)

I have asked the Students everywhere if they will give obedience and harmonize themselves enough, then I shall appear to them and shake their hands the same as the Messenger does. (64)

I have recently walked the streets in Washington, D.C., in My Own Tangible Body, Visible to everybody-changing My Appearance so I was not recognized, of course .... Ascended Masters, thousands of Them, stand ready to give Their Assistance and move among mankind. One day, when things are harmonious enough, I will come forth in that Tangible Body and shake your hand and thank you for your cooperation and assistance for the Blessing mankind needs. (applause) Do not question it for a second. (86-87)

So many times, and only last night, I came so near to standing forth Visible to you. That day will come; do not be concerned about it. It will come, and then you will all be satisfied forever that We are Real! (124-125)

Saint Germain further tantalized people by holding forth the possibility of a gift, but not giving it: I could bring to you within ten minutes the discovery that would heat and light your homes for fifteen cents a day (applause). (307)

We told you six months ago that We entered into definite action. I mean that and everything it conveys, for your government is going to change! (applause) Political intrigue and deception shall vanish from your America! (applause) (350, 351)

Sex was a recurring theme of the Ballards' lectures. Amorous feelings towards the opposite sex should be transferred to adoration of one's Mighty I AM Presence. Members were told to abstain from sex, except for procreation. Even childbearing was discouraged. It was better, they were told, to work towards your ascension than to start a family. Saint Germain on sex:

It is quite right for anyone who wishes to bring forth another form, procreation of their kind, to use the sex for that; but it never was intended for pleasure gratification, because that is the waste of that great Life. (110)

... and all the destructive forces of mankind are focused upon mankind today for that one thing-to get them to waste their [sex] energy so they cannot hold to their "Presence" and Power of Life and have Freedom. (122)

Remember, your human octave is from the surface of the Earth to approximately seven thousand feet-varying in certain localities and condition, but that is the only place that sex desire exists. (296)

The Ballards claimed the Masters of the Theosophical movement were speaking through them. Initially they used the Theosophical drawings of David Anrias from his book, Through the Eyes of the Masters. These simple line drawings of limited artistic quality portrayed the Masters as variations on generic European faces topped with turbans and other Eastern accouterments. Each drawing was accompanied by a few pages of words Anrias channeled from the Masters.
The Ballards took these pictures, added a bit of color and proclaimed them to be I AM Masters. Edna drew from Theosophist writers Leadbeater, Annie Besant, and Anrias to describe the Masters to her congregations (Bryan 115-116). Later, the artist Charles Sindelar claimed that Jesus and Saint Germain sat for him so he could paint their portraits. These pictures became famous with I AM students, were sold by the thousands, and could be found in every I AM sanctuary. The same pictures are used today by Church Universal and Triumphant and The Temple of the Presence.

k Theosophy appealed to the intellect, so the I AM group excited the emotions of its followers. Since Blavatsky revealed her Masters, numerous individuals claimed to receive communications from them. The Ballards dramatized portions of Theosophy's esoteric teachings to make them appeal to the masses. They made the Masters come to life and speak to the audience through Guy or Edna; dictations became the highlight of each event. At their peak, the Ballards packed large auditoriums, such as the Shrine in Los Angeles, and broadcast to the multitudes via radio. Guy Ballard wore tuxedos, Edna wore lavish gowns, and their followers attended their events in full evening dress. The Masters were the Ballards' ticket to success. Students purchased pictures of the Ballards and the Masters, recordings of lectures and dictations, books, magazines, decrees, and assorted knickknacks. Sales brought in thousands of dollars.

The Ballards were idolized. Devotees lived in anticipation of the next dictation. Where a handful of Blavatsky's students received letters from embodied Masters, thousands of I AM students listened to the ''Accredited Messengers" dictate words that supposedly came directly from a Master that overshadowed them. These dictations were given with the power of a good sermon, were received by reverent supplicants, and were subsequently sold in printed and recorded form which provided the Ballards with an ongoing income.

We can use these dictations, the words of the Masters, to examine their doctrine, consistency, style, and truthfulness. We can also study them to speculate as to their true authorship. The following thoughts of a modern writer may give us a clue as to how the Ballards could speak as so many different Masters. Newsweek wrote about the best selling novelist, Trevanian, in their 12 October 1998 issue:

Trevanian says he first conjures up an author capable of writing a particular novel. "I ask myself, 'Who can tell this tale best? Who would already have this information?'" He then uses Method acting techniques he picked up long ago when he worked in theater to embody this new writing persona. (83)
Likewise, a logical explanation for the dictations would be that they came from the mind of the Ballards who spoke in the persona of a Master.
The same small repertoire of words were used over and over in the dictations. Enemies were "vicious," "sinister," and must be "annihilated;" friends were "Beloved," "Dear ones," and "Precious ones."

"Saint Germain" sometimes resorted to a typewriter or telegraph to communicate with members in distant cities. He displayed a temperament similar to the authoritative Ballards in the following typewritten letter sent from Washington D.C. to the chairman of the Seven-fold Committee in Los Angeles, 26 November 1935:

You are now dismissed from any further privilege or authority to serve the Messengers, Myself, or any other of the Ascended Masters in this embodiment.
To willingly try to deceive earnest students seeking their freedom in the Light is unpardonable. You have made yourself a claw of the sinister force in coming into the association ____ [naming two leaders of two other movements]. My
        pity goes out to you and __________ [naming their own man-
ager]' for your complete freedom for both of you was at hand when the Messengers were in Long Beach. There was so much good in both of you and now to allow it to be so distorted as has been done. Too late will you cry out in agony for the mistake you have made.
Your earth span is very short. Make peace with your God and call on the Law of Forgiveness while there is yet time, less [sic] you deprive yourself of opportunity in the next embodiment. Do not try to bluff such deception through any longer, less you do this thing again in the next two embodiments.
When you willingly put yourself under the red Light, you cut off the White Light.
My love and hope goes out to you, that you may yet face about and calling on the Law of Forgiveness, call sufficient assistance to cut you free of this sinister claw.
I AM making this one last attempt to help you. Choose.
The All-seeing Eye of God is upon you. (Bryan 49-50)

Some people threw out all common sense in their pursuit of perfect obedience to the Masters' wishes. Wives suddenly denied their spouses sex because the Ballards taught that you couldn't earn your ascension unless you were celibate. I AM students abandoned or killed their pets upon learning that, "Animal forms were created in the beginning by powerful black magicians" (Ballards, Voice Oct. 1936: 22) and " ... It is the duty of every I AM Student to call the Mighty I AM Presence and Ascended Masters to free all animal life from its discord, limitation and imperfection" (Ballards, Voice Oct. 1937: 30).

The Ballard Masters took on superhero proportions. The Masters were no longer just embodied gurus hiding somewhere in Tibet, but Ascended Masters living in an invisible world. Ballard's Masters followed the pattern set forth by Spalding in his fictional, although presented as factual, account: They have all lived a certain time here in visible form, then passed on and taken their bodies with them, to a place in consciousness where they are not visible to mortal eyes; and we must raise our consciousness to the Christ Consciousness to converse with them. But those that have so perfected the body that they can take it to this Celestial Realm can return to us and go away at will. They are able to come and instruct all who are receptive to their teaching, and appear and disappear at will. It is these that come and teach us when we are ready to receive instruction, sometimes intuitively and at times by personal contact. (Spalding, vol. 1: 151)

Decrees were a vital part of the process the Ballards used to recruit new members and keep them in the organization. Affirmations or "declarations" were commonly used in New Thought groups such as Christian Science, but the Ballards' decrees were unique. A cross between Eastern chants and Western affirmations and prayers, decrees became a power prayer where petitioners emphatically proclaimed or shouted repetitive verses at the Divine, faster and faster, with absolute conviction that their decrees provoked a cosmic reaction.

During the early I AM meetings, Guy Ballard used hypnotic, Mesmeric motions of his hands, and carefully modulated his tone of voice to pull his audience into a trance state. He discovered that by having his
LET IT BLAZE AND REVEAL THE BEAUTY OF THE VICTORY OF THY LOVE!
(Repeat after each line)
Oh, "Mighty I AM"! [repeat 3 times] (Voices July 1945: 42)

The second type of decrees were directed at world affairs. They usually implored a list of Masters to change the actions of men or governments. New, more intense decrees were released as the Ballards' paranoia of attacks against themselves and their organization increased. Following are two examples: STRIKE, STRIKE, STRIKE in, thru and around all those cases and stop orders on the mail; all tax investigations; all taxation; all human authority, hypnotic control and suggestion; all legal action ordered, intended or desired, and all that is against Saint Germain's "I AM" Activities; Our Beloved Don; all our Beloved Attorneys and Accountants; Ourselves and all under This Radiation! [repeat 3 times]

BLAST them all from the earth today! [repeat 3 times] BLAST them all from the earth to stay! [repeat 3 times] STRIKE, STRIKE, STRIKE in, thru and around all the beasts of dope, alcohol, tobacco, meat, sex, serums, artificial vitamins and blood banks, today! [repeat 3 times]
BLAST them all from the earth today! [repeat 3 times] BLAST them all from the earth to stay! [repeat 3 times] (Voices July 1945: 37, 39)
The following decree was one of hundreds created to "smash," "blast," "shatter," "annihilate," "dissolve," "consume," "explode," "stop," and "destroy" people, organizations, and situations they opposed:

SILENCE the tongue and make HELPLESS and inactive all attempts to interfere with or cast discredit upon this I AM Instruction! ... BLAST and ANNIHILATE all that would interfere in any way with this Perfection! (Bryan 221)

Guy and Edna Ballard even went so far as to decree the death of certain individuals:

These decrees were supposed to have been dictated by and given by direction of the Ascended Masters.

The belief in a bodily ascension, to become free of the cycle of re-embodiment by balancing one's karma and reuniting with one's I AM Presence, was the primary goal of the I AM students. Guy and Edna Ballard repeatedly assured their followers they would ascend physically into heaven like Jesus. In fact, the membership was told that Guy, Edna, and their son Donald were all to ascend at the same time-a triple ascension. Doubt crept through the membership, as over the years, devoted, elderly members passed away without demonstrating this glorious transition to higher planes and realities.
For years, Guy Ballard had preached that his physical body was indestructible. He told his followers that he had been offered the chance to ascend, but had chosen to stay on earth, in embodiment, for awhile longer. He boasted that his body was so charged with light that nothing could harm him physically.

Edna, therefore, was forced to improvise when Guy Ballard, the Accredited Messenger of the Ascended Masters, died a very human death from heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver. The event occurred on 29 December 1939; Edna managed to keep the fact secret for two days. Three days later, on 1 January 1940, local and national newspapers announced his death with these colorful commentaries:

Chicago Tribune: Private funeral services conducted here today revealed that Guy W Ballard, founder and head of the Great I AM cult, has been dead since Friday ... After a funeral oration by Mrs. Ballard, the former Edna Anna Wheeler of Chicago, who served as high priestess of the cult, Ballard's body was cremated ... Ballard was born in Newton, Kansas, and gave up paper hanging about 25 years ago to delve into mysticism ... obtained large sums of money from his followers and lived expensively . . . because of his difficulties in Chicago, Ballard promised to send the cows, pigs, and sheep which have been slaughtered in the stockyards, to haunt the people. (Bryan 250-251)

These decrees were supposed to have been dictated by and given by direction of the Ascended Masters. The belief in a bodily ascension, to become free of the cycle of reembodiment by balancing one's karma and reuniting with one's I AM Presence, was the primary goal of the I AM students. Guy and Edna Ballard repeatedly assured their followers they would ascend physically into heaven like Jesus. In fact, the membership was told that Guy, Edna, and their son Donald were all to ascend at the same time-a triple ascension. Doubt crept through the membership, as over the years, devoted, elderly members passed away without demonstrating this glorious transition to higher planes and realities.

For years, Guy Ballard had preached that his physical body was indestructible. He told his followers that he had been offered the chance to ascend, but had chosen to stay on earth, in embodiment, for awhile longer. He boasted that his body was so charged with light that nothing could harm him physically.
Edna, therefore, was forced to improvise when Guy Ballard, the Accredited Messenger of the Ascended Masters, died a very human death from heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver. The event occurred on 29 December 1939; Edna managed to keep the fact secret for two days. Three days later, on 1 January 1940, local and national newspapers announced his death with these colorful commentaries:

Chicago Tribune: Private funeral services conducted here today revealed that Guy W. Ballard, founder and head of the Great I AM cult, has been dead since Friday ... after a funeral oration by Mrs. Ballard, the former Edna Anna Wheeler of Chicago, who served as high priestess of the cult, Ballard's body was cremated ... Ballard was born in Newton, Kansas, and gave up paper hanging about 25 years ago to delve into mysticism ... obtained large sums of money from his followers and lived expensively ... because of his difficulties in Chicago, Ballard promised to send the cows, pigs, and sheep which have been slaughtered in the stockyards, to haunt the people. (Bryan 250-251)

Os Angeles Times: Attracted a huge following across the nation ... preached that through 'thought octaves' he could defend himself against all enemies, all evils ... traveled in expensive fashion and owned four canary-colored high-priced automobiles ... used a suite of rooms at the most expensive downtown hotel. (Bryan 251)

Chicago Herald-American: Drew huge crowds to his meetings in the Civic Opera House ... unique among modern Messiahs ... it was estimated a least 50,000 men and women joined his movement in Chicago alone .... Followers of the cult were astonished when they learned of Ballard's death. (Bryan 251)
Later that day, Edna announced Guy's "Ascension" to applauding members at the class she was conducting at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles:
"Our Blessed Daddy Ballard made his Ascension last night at twelve o'clock from the Royal Teton Retreat, and is now an Ascended Master!" (Bryan 251)
With news of his death and cremation public knowledge, she could not hide the fact that his body did not rise in clouds of glory with the promised bodily ascension. Edna quickly dictated a revision of Cosmic Law to allow students of the Masters to make their ascension after death. Dictating the "Great Divine Director," she announced a "New Dispensation." The ascension could now be accomplished from inner levels after death. This was convenient because I AM students had been dying without ascending. Now, Edna with her cosmic connections could assure members that departed devotees were serving, gloriously transformed, as Ascended Masters. Soon, a list of I AM students joined the ranks of supposed Ascended Beings. Ironically, the preceding November, the Ascended Master Jesus had stated: There has been lurking in many the idea that one may make the Ascension after so-called death; but that cannot be accomplished because the call for the Ascension must be made to the "I AM Presence" and the Ascended Masters from within the physical side of Life. You cannot do it otherwise, no one ever did in the world. (Ballards, Voice 1949: 6)

Coincidentally, both dictations were published to AM's Voice of the I AM. So the announcement of the Director" that superceded this rule was in the same Vo said, "You cannot do it otherwise." There was no expl; contradiction. Edna used her husband's death to her best advan members that since Guy was now an Ascended Master, I special interest in their personal situations and respond 1 with vigorous action:

He is now our Beloved Ascended Master ofLigh give Limitless Help to all who will accept and app cended Masters' Instruction of the "I AM" which under the Direction of our Beloved Ascended Ma: Germain. He is glorious, beyond words to describe! and Light are Limitless and He pours them to all fOl dom of America and all mankind ...

In His Unlimited State, our Blessed Daddy can "Power of Light Rays, than he could through the phy: or than I can wield in this body. I want you to under clearly, so when the outer world has anything to say make your statement with positive force; for I assure telling the Truth and will never tell you anything but 1 ... We have nothing to cover up. (E. Ballard, Voice 1940: 26-27, 31)

The man, Guy Ballard, became the Ascended Mast the concept of imaginary friends entered a new era. Me pictures of "Godfre" and placed them on their altars. The pictures were so charged with Light that invocations tc would bring immediate physical response. Progressive revt Edna to manipulate the teachings to rationalize any ci. behavior.

Loyal followers rallied around Edna who continued the Masters, but the I AM group shrank after Guy's de regained the strength and momentum of its former days Edna continued to teach celibacy even in marriage, Blacks, pregnant women, or anybody who had taken drugs from her I AM Sanctuaries. These teachings along with legal problems fueled the group's decline. In 1940, Edna Ballard, her son Donald, and other I AM leaders were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on eighteen counts of mail fraud in California. Part of the indictment read: The jury charges that the defendants did unlawfully, knowingly, and willfully devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property and promises from a large number of persons ... and that class of persons who could or might be induced by means of any of the fraudulent or false devices, etc., to purchase books, magazines, etc., and each of them to become followers or who might be induced to accept the teachings of the I Am movement and who might be induced to give, send and pay their money and give other things of value to said defendants. (U.S.A. v. Ballard, Los Angeles Super. Ct., No. 14496)

The long trial concluded with a dismissal of charges 8 September 1941. Prosecutors reinstated the charges. The second trial began 2 December 1941. This time the Ballards were convicted. Edna Ballard and her son were fined and given suspended jail time.

Mrs. Ballard was under probation for a year, subject to very rigid restrictions that she cease operating, directly or indirectly, the I Am Movement or any enterprise connected with it, either press or foundation; that she not conduct meetings or make use of radio programs; that she not represent self as channel of healing, or publish literature alleging that the Ascended Masters appeared to the Ballards, nor that any person could obtain help from the Masters or any other deities; that she refrain from representing, orally or in writing, that the alleged powers of the Ascended Masters had the power to save the U.S. from destruction .... (U.S.A. v. Ballard, Los Angeles Dist. Ct., No. 14588)

The Ballards appealed; the judgment was reversed. The government appealed; the conviction was sustained in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ballards appealed again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944. With the decision split three ways, a second Supreme Court ruling voided the original indictments on improper grand jury selection. The Ballards' Pyrrhic victory at the U.S. Supreme Court established that the courts should not litigate the veracity of religious beliefs because of their unprovable nature. The courts should look at behavior, not beliefs. The group was denied use of the U.S. mail and was fotced to receive otdets via telegraph and deliver goods through private carrier. The ban remained in effect until 1954 (Braden 284-286; Miller and Flowers 15-20; Schmook 9-10; U.S.A v. Ballard 322 U.S. 78).

I AM students left in droves during the lengthy legal battles. Edna, Donald, and hundreds of followers retreated from Los Angeles to Santa Fe, New Mexico. During the I AM movement's years of decline, little was heard of the Ascended Masters. Edna Ballard could never recapture the energy of the I AM Activity's heyday. Opportunists, such as Geraldine Innocente and Frances Ekey, remembered the group's former glory and tried to reanimate the Ascended Masters myth. AD.K. Luk promoted the teachings and hooked up with Innocente's Bridge To Freedom group, but overall, things were quiet in the 1940s and 1950s. It wasn't until Mark and Elizabeth Prophet's Summit Lighthouse that the Ascended Masters again found a voice and vehicle capable of drawing thousands.

The I AM movement continues today (November 2007) as a shadow of its former self Edna passed away in 1971, convinced that her Masters were real. She is now the "Ascended Lady Master Lotus." Donald Ballard followed her in death two years later in 1973. The I AM no longer has an active messenger to speak for the Masters. Members study the Ballards' teachings quietly in their homes or reading rooms in the I AM centers and decree for the Masters to "pass through the veil" and appear in visible bodies to usher in a golden age for earth.

AD.K. Luk was a friend of the Ballards. She was introduced to the teachings when a friend gave her a copy of the I AM book, The Magic Presence. After she read it, she decided to join the I AM movement. She traveled with the Ballards from 1936 through the mid-1940s. The three initials of her name stand for Alice, Djwal, and Kul. She believed that Ascended Master Djwal Kul was her twin flame (cosmic soul mate or counterpart).

Luk took copious notes during her time with the Ballards and assembled them in a series of books called the Law of Life, which she wrote to make the teachings of the Ascended Masters available to students. Luk offered to produce a pamphlet or book to explain the basics of the teachings to new students, but the I AM group said no. Luk went ahead and published Law of Lift I in 1959 and Law of Lift II in 1960.
 
 

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