The I AM Group in Mount Shasta
Guy Warren Ballard (1878-1939), Godfre Ray King, founded the I AM Movement in 1932 with his wife, Edna Wheeler (1886-1971). He successfully combined elements of Theosophy, Christian Science, Rosicrucianism, and Hindu Swamis to appeal to followers. Before his I AM activities, Ballard sold stock in imaginary gold mines to Gold Lake in California. Ballard met Saint Germain, an Ascended Master and part of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s (1831-1891) Great White Brotherhood, on the side of Mt. Shasta from August through October 1930. Blavatsky, a prominent 19th-century occultist and founder of the Theosophical Society, wrote extensively about the concept of the “Great White Brotherhood” or “Masters of Wisdom.” It was not until 1934 that Ballard publicly announced he was in contact with the Ascended Masters.
According to Blavatsky, the Great White Brotherhood is a group of highly evolved spiritual beings believed to guide and direct the evolution of humanity from behind the scenes. These beings have mastered karma, reincarnation, and ascension to heaven before becoming an Ascended Master and returning to Earth. Ascended Masters are unseen and move to help Americans reach a new level of freedom by becoming one with God. This freedom is possible in America because freedom of religion, speech, and press provides a solid foundation for pursuing higher consciousness. The concept of the Great White Brotherhood has been a central part of the Theosophical movement and has influenced other New Age and spiritualist groups.
Blavatsky claimed to have directly contacted the Great White Brotherhood members and communicated their teachings through her writings. She also believed that the Great White Brotherhood had influenced various religious and philosophical traditions throughout history, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and the ancient mystery schools of Egypt and Greece. While the existence of the Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood remains unproven, many people continue to find inspiration and guidance in Blavatsky’s teachings and the broader Theosophical philosophy. There are 42 Ascended Masters, including the Egyptian God Osiris, Count Saint Germain, Judean preacher Saint John the Baptist, Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968), and Hindu god Vishnu.
The Ascended Masters
The I AM group describes an Ascended Master as someone who has gone through the process of ascension and reached a high state of spiritual awareness. “The Ascended Masters are those Beings who are wholly Divine, for They have made the Ascension as Beloved Jesus did. They are the elder brothers, the teachers of mankind on this Earth.” The problem with humanity is that the individual has forgotten the divine power within the body to manifest God, and the Ascended Masters return to Earth to instruct humans. The Ascended Masters are “…the Only Infallible Source of Instruction to the Humanity of this Earth because They are Wholly Divine and One with the God Self of every individual. They are the Living Fulfillment of the Law They teach and are the Only Ones who have manifested Complete Victory over so-called death.”
It is important to note that Ballard says that the Ascended Masters are not symbolic but are believed to be actual physical beings. While a few Masters are considered interplanetary, most were humans who have evolved over many lifetimes through reincarnation and have reached an apex where they could choose this role as Masters to help human beings. In the coming Golden Age, the Masters will return to walk amongst humans as they did in the former golden ages on Earth.
An enlightened person, in the Buddhist sense, is different from an Ascended Master. In Buddhism, enlightenment is a state of a perfect being possessing knowledge and infinite compassion towards all sentient beings. Enlightenment implies that a person has no more need for further lifetimes and has extinguished their accumulated karma. In contrast, ascension is an alternative to death, where people command the physical realm and can manipulate their energy to shapeshift. Therefore, the goal of life was an ascension to God, which would result in immortality. For example, in his book Unveiled Mysteries (1934), Ballard writes how he assisted a man at Mt. Shasta in making his physical ascension to heaven. The Magic Presence also describes a golden chair called the “Atomic Accelerator” that helps people physically ascend to Heaven.
Further Reading
Ballard, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence – Free resource
Blavatsky – Free resource
Author: mountshastamyths
Lurking around here with more questions than answers