"I AM" Activity
The I AM Activity, also referred to as the I AM Temple, is a neo-Theosophical religious movement founded in the early 1930s by Guy Ballard and his wife Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard in Chicago, Illinois, based on the purported teachings of "ascended masters" It is an offshoot of theosophy and a major precursor of several New Age religions including the Church Universal and Triumphant.
The movement had up to a million followers in 1938 and is still active today on a smaller scale. Upon Ballard's death, several members founded their own splinter groups, adding their own beliefs and teachings to those of the original movement.
The parent organization of the movement is the Saint Germain Foundation, which maintains its worldwide headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. In 2007, the Foundation's website said the movement was represented internationally by 300 groups, operating under names such as "'I AM' Sanctuary" and "'I AM' Temple." As of 2025, the website describes "hundreds" of Sanctuaries and Temples, in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia; additional groups are located in Latin America, India, and Africa. The organization has stated that its purpose is "spiritual, educational and practical", and that no admission fee is charged for their activities.
The term "I AM" is a reference to the ancient Sanskrit mantra So Ham and the divine biblical name "I Am that I Am".
Overview
The "I AM" Activity was influenced by the teachings of Helena Blavatsky and William Quan Judge, two of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. The movement also adopted elements of New Thought. To these spiritual movements, Ballard added a strong nationalistic flavor, claiming a new golden age would emerge in the United States.The Ballards also borrowed from William Dudley Pelley's spiritual writings, with Edna allegedly attending several classes offered by Pelley. While there are no indications that Pelley was a member of I AM, Ballard early on recruited several members of his fascist organization, the Silver Legion of America.
The movement believes in the existence of a group called the "ascended masters", a hierarchy of supernatural beings that includes the original theosophical masters such as Jesus, El Morya Khan, Maitreya, and in addition several dozen more beyond the original 20 Masters of the Ancient Wisdom of the original theosophists as described by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
These ascended masters are believed to be humans who have lived in a succession of reincarnations in physical bodies or cosmic beings. Over time, those who have passed through various "embodiments" became highly advanced souls, are able to move beyond the cycles of "re-embodiments" and karma, and attained their "ascension", becoming immortal. Ascended masters are believed to communicate to humanity through certain trained messengers per Blavatsky, including Guy and Edna Ballard. Because Jesus is believed to be one of the ascended masters, making the "Christ Light" available to seekers who wish to move out of darkness, many of the members of the "I AM" Activity consider it to be a Christian religion. According to the Los Angeles Magazine, Ballard said he was the re-embodiment of George Washington, an Egyptian priest, and a noted French musician.
Ballard died in 1939. In 1942, his wife and son were convicted of fraud, a conviction which was overturned in a landmark Supreme Court ruling which determined that the beliefs the Ballards espoused should not have been submitted to a jury regardless of their veracity.
History
Founding
The "I AM" Activity was founded by Guy Ballard in the early 1930s. Ballard was well-read in theosophy and its offshoots, and he claimed to have met and been instructed by a man who introduced himself as "Saint Germain" while hiking on Mount Shasta looking for a rumored branch of the Great White Brotherhood known as "The Brotherhood of Mount Shasta". Saint Germain is regular component of theosophical religions as an ascended master, based on the historical Comte de Saint-Germain, an 18th-century adventurer.The Ballards said they began talking to the ascended masters regularly. They founded a publishing house, Saint Germain Press, to publish their books and began training people to spread their messages across the United States. These training sessions and "conclaves" were held throughout the United States, open to the general public and free of charge. A front-page story in a 1938 edition of the Chicago Herald and Examiner noted that the Ballards "do not take up collections or ask for funds". Meetings became limited to members only after hecklers began disrupting their open meetings. Over their lifetimes, the Ballards recorded nearly 4000 live dictations, which they said were from the ascended masters. Guy Ballard, his wife Edna, and later their son Donald, became the sole "accredited messengers" of the ascended masters. In 1942, they began the I AM Sanctuary at a former Presbyterian missionary school.
Popularity
The Ballards' popularity spread, including up to a million followers in 1938. Donations were not formally required, but it was made clear that they were necessary in order to receive blessings from the masters.The first of many "conclaves" held in scores of cities in their national tours was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 10–19, 1934. According to a Los Angeles Magazine article, in August 1935, the Ballards hosted a gathering at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that drew a crowd of 6,000. Guy Ballard spoke under the pseudonym he used in authoring his books, Godfre Ray King, and his wife used the pseudonym Lotus. The meeting included teachings they described as being received directly from the ascended masters. They led the audience in prayers and affirmations that they called decrees, including adorations to God and invocations for abundance of every good thing, including love, money, peace, and happiness.
The "I AM" Activity spread to parts of Canada, entering Alberta in 1937, with the first meetings held in Calgary, organized by a telegraph operator who had brought back a copy of Unveiled Mysteries from California. A second group was started in Edmonton, and the movement grew in Alberta until Ballard's death in 1939, then declined with the United States government's denial of mailing privileges in 1940. A slight revival of the group in Alberta came in 1945, with a new policy of lending literature, but by 1947, it was estimated there were less than 100 followers in the province.
Guy Ballard's death and splintering
At the height of his popularity, Guy Ballard died from arteriosclerosis at 5:00 A.M. on December 29, 1939, in Los Angeles, in the home of his son Donald. On December 31 his body was cremated. On New Year's Day during the annual Christmas Class, Edna Ballard stated that Guy had completed his Ascension at midnight December 31, 1939, from the "Royal Teton Retreat".Ballard's death deeply affected the movement, which saw several splinter groups emerge.
- I AM former member Geraldine Innocente quickly founded an offshoot of the movement, targeting the Spanish-speaking community.
- Francis Ekey, another member, founded Lighthouse of Freedom to offer classes allegedly disseminating the teachings of ancient masters.
- One of Ekey's collaborators, Mark Prophet, founded the Keepers of the Summit Lighthouse in 1958. To I AM's teachings, Prophet added a proclivity for conspiracy thinking, UFOs and a staunch opposition to communism. His wife Elizabeth Clare Wulf would eventually share leadership and succeed him, rebranding the organization as the Church Universal and Triumphant.
- Important elements of Ballard's theology, symbolism and nationalism can also be found in Romana Didulo's movement in the 2020s. These include the use of decrees, the purple flame and the mythological ascended masters.
Copyright infringement civil action
Fraud trial of Edna and Donald Ballard
Based on statements made in books sent via the mail, Edna Ballard and her son Donald were charged with eighteen counts of mail fraud in 1942. The presiding judge instructed the jury not to consider the truth or falsity of the religious beliefs, but only whether the Ballards sincerely believed the claims or did not, and the jury found them guilty. The Ninth Circuit overturned the conviction on the grounds that the judge improperly excluded the credibility of their religious beliefs from consideration, and the government appealed to the Supreme Court. In United States v. Ballard, the Supreme Court in a 5–4 landmark decision held that the question of whether Ballards believed their religious claims should not have been submitted to the jury, and remanded the case back to the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the fraud conviction. Interpreting this decision, the Ninth Circuit later found that the Court did not go so far as to hold that "the validity or veracity of a religious doctrine cannot be inquired into by a Federal Court".On a second appeal, the Supreme Court in 1946 vacated the fraud conviction, on the grounds that women were improperly excluded from the jury panel.