The Saint Germain Movement is an American religious movement, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with a major facility just north of Dunsmuir, California, in the buildings and property of the Shasta Springs retreat. There is also a facility in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in downtown Denver, Colorado.
The organization's doctrines are based on teachings and wisdom received by Guy Ballard in 1930. Ballard was hiking on the slopes of Mount Shasta in California, and claimed that Saint Germain appeared to him and began training him to be a "Messenger".King, Godfre Ray. Unveiled Mysteries. Chicago, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 1934. page vii: "The time has arrived, when the Great Wisdom, held and guarded for many centuries in the Far East, is now to come forth in America, at the command of those Great Ascended Masters who direct and protect the evolution of mankind upon this Earth." Ballard published his experiences in a series of books. The organization's philosophies are known as the "I AM" Activity, and its members popularly known as "I AM" students.Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the "I AM" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation. Schaumburg, Illinois: Saint Germain Press 2003
There are hundreds of "I AM" temples and sanctuaries located in most principal cities of the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and locations in India, Latin America and Africa where members come together every week to decree for the benefit of mankind. There are also group meetings on various continents, as well as introductory classes and musicals. The Saint Germain Foundation and Press serves "I AM" students all over the world and performs pageants for residents and visitors alike in Mt. Shasta: "For more than 70 years, the 'I AM' COME! Pageant, on the Life of Jesus the Christ, has been given annually in the outdoor G. W. Ballard Amphitheater, with magnificent Mt. Shasta (California) as a backdrop."
J. Gordon Melton, an American religious scholar, studied the group and ranked it in the category "established cult". Also present in New Zealand, the St. Germain Foundation is considered by the writer Robert S. Ellwood as a religious group with theosophical and esoteric roots. It is recognized by the Theosophical Society and the Great White Brotherhood.
The group founded a community in France in 1956 that is located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It counts less than 50 members.Jean-Pierre Van Girt, La France aux cent sectes, Vauvenargues editions, 1997, p. 193,194 ()
The group refuses to grant hikers access to Mossbrae Falls near its land in Dunsmuir.
Worldwide, the religious group had over one million members in 1940, but it began to decline after Ballard's death. Among its splinter groups have been The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit Lighthouse, and the Church Universal and Triumphant.
See also Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard – co-founder
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External links
Publications of the FBI Case BALLARD, EDNA ANNE processed and released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a document with all published pages of this case. Release 1 of the Publications of the FBI Case BALLARD, GUY WARREN processed and released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a document with all published pages of this case. Release 2 of the Publications of the FBI Case BALLARD, GUY WARREN processed and released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a document with all published pages of this case.