"I AM" Religious Activity

Theosophical religious movement that originated in the 1930s. It was founded by Guy W. Ballard (1878-1939) and Edna W. Ballard (1886-1971), who claimed to be the "accredited messengers" of the ascended masters of the Great White Brotherhood. In 1929 Guy Ballard visited Mt. Shasta, a volcano in northern California that had for several generations been the object of legends and mysterious stories, among them that it was hollow and the home to occult adepts. In the slope of the mountain, Ballard, as he later recounted the story, encountered the ascended master Saint Germain. Saint Germain supposedly assigned Ballard the task of initiating the Seventh Golden age, the permanent "I AM" age of eternal perfection on earth. The saint designated Ballard, his wife, and their son Donald as the only accredited messengers of the masters.

Staying near Mt. Shasta, Ballard wrote about his experiences in a series of letters to his wife. He returned to Chicago and they initiated the "I AM" Religious Activity and organized the Saint Germain Foundation and the Saint Germain Press. In 1934 and 1935 the press issued two initial volumes, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, which describe Ballard's experiences with the masters. In 1934 Ballard held his first ten-day public class, in which he delivered messages for the masters by a process known today as channeling, though leaders of the movement reject that term. These messages were published in The Voice of the "I AM" beginning in 1936, and the most important were compiled into a set of books.

The "I AM" teachings build upon previous claimed contact with ascended masters by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Ballard claimed to have contacted not only the several masters who spoke to Blavatsky but also a host of additional exalted beings. By far the largest number of messages were from Saint Germain and the master Jesus.

Through Ballard the masters taught of the "I AM," the basic divine reality of the universe, God in action. Individualized, the "I AM" is the essence of each person, they said, and should be constantly invoked and activated. It is pictured as an entity residing above each person's head and surrounded by golden light and a rainbow of color. It is connected to the person by a shaft of white light. The "I AM" presence is invoked by use of decrees, affirmative commands that the "I AM" presence initiate action in the self and the world. Basic in the daily activity of an "I AM" student is the violet flame decree, in which a violet flame is pictured surrounding the person and purifying him spiritually.

The "I AM" movement has published a wide variety of decrees to be used for all life situations. Included are a set of decrees used for removing negative conditions from the individual's life or environment. These negative decrees have been occasionally misunderstood, and the movement has occasionally been accused of using them to curse someone, which the movement denies. The decrees picture the blasting away of negative energies in the world, and strict instructions are given to students not to decree against any person.

The "I AM" movement grew spectacularly during the 1930s but ran into significant problems shortly after Guy Ballard's death in 1939. Several former students began to organize against the movement, charging that its leaders were religious frauds. In 1942 Edna Ballard, Donald Ballard, and a number of leading students were charged with mail fraud. In the trial the prosecutor argued that Ballard had made up the religion and that he and other members did not believe it and operated the foundation purely as a fraudulent moneymaking scheme. Although the defendants were initially convicted, the convictions were eventually overturned in an important Supreme Court decision holding that one's religious faith could not be put on trial. Not until the early 1950s was the damage done by the initial indictments reversed.

Meanwhile Edna Ballard had assumed control of the movement, taking it out of the public spotlight. She refused to give interviews to outsiders, and through the next decades many supposed the movement had died out. It had actually expanded. As of the early 1980s there were more than three hundred "I AM" sanctuaries and centers in North America. The movement is now led by a board and several teachers appointed by the Ballards. Since Edna Ballard's death, no messages have been received from the masters.

The Saint Germain Foundation and Press are located at 1120 Stonehedge Dr., Schaumburg, IL 60194. A summer retreat center is located not far from Mt. Shasta, California. Every summer, members gather for various events, closing with the public presentation of a pageant on the life of Christ. The pageant tells the story of Jesus' life without mentioning the Crucifixion and emphasizes Christ's ascension.

Ending one's life on earth by ascending to the realm of the masters is a goal of "I AM" activity.