← The Cult DossierThe Cult Dossier

← The Cult Dossier: all 182

The Cult Dossier · No. 037 · Occult / Esoteric / Satanic

I AM Activity

Saint Germain Foundation

1930 – present · Mount Shasta, California; Chicago

IV. THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

Fully religious — Ascended Master movement

Who led it

GUY WARREN BALLARD (1878–1939), a mining engineer who wrote as Godfré Ray King, and his wife EDNA BALLARD (Lotus Ray King), a harpist. Son Donald Ballard.

What it worshipped and taught

The Ascended Masters, chiefly the COMTE DE SAINT GERMAIN, who Ballard said met him on the slopes of Mount Shasta in 1930 and gave him a cup of pure electronic essence. Doctrine of the I AM Presence — an individualised portion of God above each person — visualised through the Chart of the Presence, and of the VIOLET CONSUMING FLAME, a decreed light that dissolves karma. Decrees were chanted aloud in unison, often for hours, and were also directed against named enemies of the movement.

Who was in it

Guy Ballard; Edna Ballard; Donald Ballard; Saint Germain; the Master Jesus; the Great Divine Director; Gerald B. Bryan, whose 1940 exposé Psychic Dictatorship in America attacked them; ELIZABETH CLARE PROPHET, whose Church Universal and Triumphant (see 060) is a direct descendant.

How it ended, or where it stands

Active, small, litigation-shy.

The dead

—

Of note

Its legal legacy outweighs its size: US v. Ballard is the reason American courts cannot adjudicate the truth of religious claims, which has protected every group on this list ever since.

Its timeline

  1. August 1930 Ballard's claimed encounter with Saint Germain on Mount Shasta.
  2. 1934 Unveiled Mysteries published; movement expands to a claimed one million adherents (probably closer to tens of thousands).
  3. 29 December 1939 Guy Ballard dies of arteriosclerosis — a serious problem, since he had taught that faithful students would ascend without dying. Edna announced he had ascended.
  4. 1940–1944 The Ballards indicted for mail fraud over claims of healing powers.
  5. 24 APRIL 1944 UNITED STATES v. BALLARD, 322 U.S. 78 — CONFIRMED AGAINST THE REPORTED DECISION. The Ballards were prosecuted under a MAIL FRAUD statute requiring proof of a knowing intent to defraud. The trial judge instructed the jury that it could not weigh the truth or falsity of the religious claims, only whether they were sincerely held; the Court of Appeals reversed that approach; and THE SUPREME COURT REVERSED THE COURT OF APPEALS, 5–4, JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS WRITING. The holding: the First Amendment does not permit courts or juries to inquire into the TRUTH of a religious belief, though SINCERITY may be examined. One of the most consequential religious-liberty rulings in American law — and it comes out of a cult prosecution.
  6. 1946 Convictions ultimately reversed; the movement continues quietly.

Its people

Guy Warren Ballard

Godfré Ray King

Co-founder, the I AM Activity · 28 July 1878 – 29 December 1939 · active 1930–1939

A mining engineer who said he met the Comte de Saint Germain on the slopes of Mount Shasta in 1930 and was given a cup of 'pure electronic essence'. His books, written as Godfré Ray King, built the Ascended Masters genre that Church Universal and Triumphant and much of the New Age would later inherit. He taught that faithful students would ascend without dying, which created an acute problem when he died of arteriosclerosis in 1939 — his wife announced that he had ascended.

Before the law. Died before the mail fraud indictment; his wife and son were prosecuted in his place.

Where things stand. Deceased 1939.

  1. August 1930 The claimed Mount Shasta encounter.
  2. 1934 Unveiled Mysteries published.
  3. 29 December 1939 Dies of arteriosclerosis, having taught that students would not die.

Checked

Edna Anne Ballard

Lotus Ray King

Co-founder and leader, the I AM Activity · 25 June 1886 – 10 February 1971 · active 1930–1971

A harpist and the movement's real administrator, who led it for 32 years after her husband's death. Her importance is legal rather than doctrinal. Indicted for mail fraud over claims of healing power, her case reached the Supreme Court, which held in UNITED STATES v. BALLARD (1944) that a jury may not decide whether a religious belief is TRUE, only whether it is sincerely held. That ruling is why American courts cannot adjudicate the truth of religious claims — and it has protected every group in this dossier ever since.

Before the law. Convicted of mail fraud; conviction ultimately reversed. HER CASE IS A LANDMARK OF US RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LAW.

Where things stand. Deceased 1971. The Saint Germain Foundation continues.

  1. 1930 Co-founds the movement with her husband.
  2. 1939 Takes over on his death; announces he has ascended.
  3. 1940 Indicted for mail fraud with her son Donald.
  4. 24 APRIL 1944 UNITED STATES v. BALLARD, 322 U.S. 78. The Supreme Court holds 5–4, per Justice Douglas, that juries may not rule on the TRUTH of a religious belief — only on whether it is SINCERELY HELD.
  5. 1946 Convictions ultimately reversed.
  6. 10 February 1971 Dies.

Checked

The Atlas   The Door