I AM MOVEMENT

religious movement in the United States that taught that the Mighty I Am is the source of power and of all things necessary for everyone. It was begun in the 1930s by Guy Ballard (18781939), a mining engineer, and his wife, Edna (18861971). The name of the movement came from the Bible verse (Exodus 3:14) in which God replies to Moses, I am who I am. Although not consistent in their teachings, the Ballards essentially taught that the power of the Mighty I Am was available to individuals through many Ascended Masters, the principal ones being Jesus and St. Germain. The Ascended Masters spoke through their special representatives on earth, the Accredited Messengers, who were Edna and Guy Ballard and their son, Donald. Guy Ballard's professed first meeting with St. Germain, said to have taken place in 1930 at Mount Shasta in northern California, was recounted in Ballard's book, Unveiled Mysteries (1934). St. Germain was said to have lived on earth and been reincarnated several times before reaching the desired state of an Ascended Master. He had been Samuel in the Old Testament, Francis Bacon of England, and, apparently, the Count de St. Germain, an 18th-century Frenchman who was involved in politics and interested in the occult. According to Ballard, St. Germain took him backward in time and revealed many of Ballard's previous lives (he had been George Washington) and those of his wife and son. Ballard was introduced to many mysteries, and it was revealed to him how the Ascended Masters would work through the Accredited Messengers on earth. Unveiled Mysteries was sold extensively throughout the United States. In 1934 the Ballards began holding classes in Chicago in which messages were given through the Ballards from the Ascended Masters. The Ballards began traveling to other cities to conduct classes and meetings. In the early part of the movement their religious presentations and life-style were quite simple, but as the movement gained followers and financial success, more elaborate meetings were developed. During the most successful period, in 1938, the movement was estimated to have from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 members, but no official statistics were available. It was true, however, that thousands of people filled the largest auditoriums in the large cities of the United States to see and hear the Ballards. Local organizations were formed to carry on the movement, and a monthly periodical, The Voice of the I Am, was published. Headquarters were in Chicago. The Ballards were increasingly criticized by the press and were accused of fraud. In 1939 Guy Ballard announced that he had been instructed by St. Germain to suspend all public meetings. In the future, meetings and classes were to be open only to those accepted into the movement. A major reversal occurred when Guy Ballard died on Dec. 29, 1939. Mrs. Ballard had his body cremated and on Jan. 1, 1940, announced in a class that Ballard had ascended and was now an Ascended Master. News of his death, however, led many followers to leave the movement, since the Ballards had taught that the ascension, the liberation forever from the physical body and from reincarnation, would come without the experience of physical death. Edna Ballard carried on as leader of the movement and often reported messages from her late husband. Another crisis occurred in 1940 when Edna, Donald, and several other leaders in the movement were indicted for fraudulently obtaining money from believers by deceptive means. The trial, long and sensational, led to the conviction of Edna and Donald on several counts. After various appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1946 set aside the indictment because of a technicality. The use of the mails, however, was denied to the Ballards. The vitality of the movement declined, but at the time of Mrs. Ballard's death in 1971 there were still some faithful followers.