Channeling

★1597 ★

Anthropological Research Foundation

(Defunct)

In 1967 William Ralph Duby, the leader and channel for the Organization of Awareness (see Cosmic Awareness Communications), died. Over the several years following his death, the organization splintered into several groups. The Anthropological Research Foundation was founded in the early 1970s in San Diego by Jack T. Fletcher and Pat Fletcher. Among the members of the group was Danton Spivey, a trance medium who claimed to be a continuing voice for "Cosmic Awareness", the universal mystical voice who spoke through Duby. In 1972, the foundation began to issue a magazine, Aware, and announced plans for the organization based upon the messages given through Spivey.

The foundation saw itself as composed of ordinary people who had been exposed to extraordinary information. It viewed its task to expose those forces which divide humans from each other and from the divine, and to discover the new culture which is characterized by wholeness. To this end it proposed projects that looked at ancient cultures, especially those of Atlantis and Lemuria.

There is no indication thet the foundation survived more than a few years.

★1598 ★

Aspects of Light

12540 Braddock Dr., Ste. 218B Los Angeles, CA 90066

Aspects of Light is a channeling center built around the messages of a group of entities termed collectively the Counsel of Light as channeled by Cherryl Lynn Taylor. Taylor began channeling in the mid-1980s and established the present center in 1991. The counsel members have indicated that they have appeared to assist individuals to get in touch with their soul urges, to discover higher identities and bring those into manifestation. Human beings are Divine but often live in a state of separation from that Divinity. Such separation produces fear and leads to all variety of pain and suffering. The answer to fear is learning to love the self. To facilitate the process of learning to love, Taylor has prepared a set of tapes of dictations from the counsel that include both teachings and meditative exercises that the students learn and use in their life. Students also learn to picture themselves in three major aspects, physical, emotional, and mental, and to use the techniques as they monitor each aspect.

Aspects of Light carries on an intensive program that includes weekly healing and development classes and group channeling sessions. Tapes of a wide variety of previous channeling sessions are available.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Counsel of Light.

★1599 ★

Association for the Understanding of Man

(Defunct)

The Association for the Understanding of Man (AUM) was formed in 1971 as an organization to focus the psychic accomplishments of Ray Stanford (b. 1938). He is the brother of noted parapsychologist Rex Stanford. Ray Stanford began to manifest psychic abilities in his youth. In 1960, meeting with a meditation group, he slipped into an unconscious trance-like state from which he was able accurately to answer questions by group members. The next year he began giving readings to the general public. Over the years, five types of readings evolved: self-help, questionand-answer, dream-interpretation, group-help and researchreading. The self-help readings include reflections upon past lives; research-readings explore various issues in depth. In 1972, a book containing the research-readings on the Fatima prophecy was published. The book discusses the significance of the appearance and words of Mary, the mother of Christ, at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.

The "Source" of the Stanford readings is not a disincarnate entity, but is described as the unconscious and superconscious of Stanford, which contacts the object of the reading (the person the reading concerns). Recordings of all the readings have been kept. While no creed or dogma has been established, a consistent world-view has emerged. It includes Hindu concepts. The basic psychic/spiritual nature of man and the universe is accepted. Transcending the earth plane are various spiritual regions, including the lower astral and causal planes and, at the top, the "Abode of the Most High." From the higher planes emanates Aum, the great sound, and the music of the spheres, the audible life stream which underlies and sustains all creation, called by Hindus, "Nam." Among the inhabitants of the high planes are the Great White Brotherhood, beings advanced beyond the need of reincarnation.

Man is a spiritual entity, spirit individualized. Soul is the enduring vehicle of individual form which records all past experiences. Component parts of the self are the seven psychic centers (chakras) which serve as contact points between soul and body. The third-eye center (in the forehead, above the nose) is a point of contact with higher levels of consciousness.

Headquarters of AUM were established in Austin, Texas. Members could be found across the country and were of two kinds: recipient and full-participant members. Both a newsletter and the Journal of the Association for the Understanding of Man were published, as were a number of books and booklets. AUM was disbanded in the early 1980s.

Remarks: Stanford also possessed a lifelong interest in UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects). As teenagers in the 1950s, both he and his brother had professed contact with the space beings. Associated with AUM during its years of existence was Project Starlight International (also established by Ray Stanford), a sophisticated UFO detection system in Austin, Texas. It published the shortlived Journal of Instrumented UFO Research.

Sources:

McCoy, John, Ray Stanford, and Rex Stanford. Ave Sheoi…From Out of This World. Corpus Christi, TX: The Authors, 1956.

Speak Shining Stranger. Austin, TX: Association for the Understanding of Man, 1975.

Stanford, Ray. Fatima Prophecy, Days of Darkness, Promise of Light. Austin, TX: Association for the Understanding of Man, 1974.

——. The Spirit Unto the Churches. Austin, TX: Association for the Understanding of Man, 1977.

——. What Your Aura Tells Me. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.

★1600 ★

The Association of Love and Light

3399 Bennett, No. 28
Hollywood, CA 90068

The Association of Love and Light was founded in the 1980s to facilitate the work of Lyssa Royal, the channel for an entity named Raydia, described as a multi-dimensional consciousness system. Royal, a former secretary, began channeling in 1985. More recently she has also worked for Shirley MacLaine's Higher Self Seminars. Raydia is a non-physical entity who is seen as assisting people to discover their own potentials and the possibilities of ecstasy and joy. The work of Raydia is a natural part of the process of human evolution that occurs over many lifetimes. Individuals are seen as a part of the God force that exists immanently within each person rather than as an outside force. Each person can, by turning within, connect with Universal Energy.

The Association of Love and Light offers weekly events at various locations in the greater Los Angeles area including group channeling sessions, basic and advanced channeling classes, and a support group. Tapes of previous channeling sessions, including sessions on after death experiences, AIDS, and extraterrestrial contact, are circulated.

Membership: Not reported.

★1601 ★

Church of Amron

2254 Van Ness
San Francisco, CA 94109

The Church of Amron is a metaphysical church growing out of a spiritualist tradition founded in San Francisco in the mid-1980s. Its program is built around spiritual healing and channeling (mediumship). It holds weekly worship services each Sunday and midweek activities that include a Tuesday evening forum, healing circles, and an AIDS support group.

Membership: Not reported. In the late 1980s there were two congregations, both in San Francisco.

★1602 ★

Church of the White Eagle

2615 St. Beulah Chapel Rd. Montgomery, TX 77316

Alternate Address: International headquarters: New Lands, Rake, Liss, Hampshire, England GU33 7HY.

History. The Church of the White Eagle Lodge was establised in England in 1934 by Grace Cooke (d. 1979), affectionately known as Minesta, and her husband, Ivan Cooke (d. 1981), known in the lodge as Brother Faithful. For many years, Minesta worked as a medium in the Spiritualist church of England, primarily associated with the Stead Borderland Library in London. In 1930 she was contacted by a member of the Polaire Brotherhood from France, who informed her that a recently deceased author and Spiritualist, Arthur Conan Doyle, had chosen her as an instrument through whom he wished to speak. She was also given a six pointed star, symbolic of the Christ star (perfect balance) and asked to train men and women to work with and through the light of Christ to help the world through the "years of fire" into the coming of the "golden age." The star became the symbol of the lodge.

Clairvoyant from childhood, Minesta had long been guided by one whom she knew as White Eagle. Instead of giving personal spirit messages, as is commonly done in Spiritualist churches, she was used to transmit (or channel) a vast series of teachings, which provided the base of the training she had been asked to do. White Eagle, it is believed, is the symbol of St. John, the Beloved Disciple, a sign of the "age of brotherhood," the golden age, and a title given by the American Indians to a spiritual teacher of great wisdom.

The work spread to the United States in the 1950s and eventually a lodge was established in Texas. More recently lodges were opened in California and in Canada.

Beliefs. The church is built around the teachings of White Eagle. They convey the teaching of the brotherhood and emphasize the coming of a golden age when human intuition will arise as a greater force in human affairs. White Eagle's teachings are summarized in the "principles" of the lodge and include a belief in God as Father and Mother; the Cosmic Christ whose light shines in the human heart; and the five cosmic laws of reincarnation, cause and effect (karma), opportunity, correspondences, and compensation. The church teaches that every man, woman and child has in their heart a little spark of light which is the Christ Light, the spirit of Divine love.

To church members happiness is a realization of God and a quiet, tranquil realization of God's love for all of life. They seek a life which is gentle and in harmony with natural and spiritual laws. The basic law which controls life is love–love for God, for humanity, and for the animals and nature. A vegetarian diet is encouraged. Since God is the creative power within all life, individuals can look within and learn to contact the love of God, the Christ within their own hearts, and use that love to comfort and heal others. As one gives oneself in a life of service, joy and blessings from God are received.

Organization. The work in the United States is headquartered at the daughter lodge located on a 70-acre rural tract, the St. John's Retreat Center, where both spiritual guidance for humans and a sanctuary for wildlife is provided. The Texas lodge is one of 15 daughter lodges located around the world. Among other services, it provides training for center group leaders. The American daughter lodge oversees centers located in various parts of the United States, as well as work in Canada, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and Mexico. Conferences and retreats are held on a regular basis.

Membership in the church and lodge is open to all who feel in harmony with the basic teachings. Meditation and healing are an integral part of the work and there is a special program for children. Sacramental services are held around baptism, marriage, and funerals (with an understanding that there is no death, only eternal life). Members are encouraged to set aside a time daily for prayer using the six-pointed star, the Christ Star, as a focus while sending out the light of Christ. Members may also apply for the brotherhood, an order of men and women within the church who are committed to trying to follow a spiritual way of life and discipline while still living and working in the outer world. The work of the brotherhood includes using and working with the Christ Light for the healing of the planet as well as individuals. The motto of the lodge is "I Serve."

Membership: In 2002 the church reported 982 full members and 3,000 active supporters in 18 United States centers. There was one minister. There were four centers in Canada. Worldwide membership was more than 15,000 with centers located in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and South Africa.

Periodicals: Stella Polaris. Send orders to Newlands, Brewells Lane, Rake, Liss, Hampshire, England GU33 7HY. • Newsletterfor the Americans. Send orders to 9 St. Beulah Rd., Montgomery, TX 77356.

Sources:

Cooke, Grace. The Illuminated Ones. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1966.

Cooke, Grace. Minesta's Vision. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1992. 60 pp.

Cooke, Ivan, ed. The Return of Arthur Conan Doyle. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1956.

Lind, Ingrid. The White Eagle Inheritance. Wellingsborough, Northamptonshire: Turnstone Press, 1984.

The Living Word of St. John. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1985.

The Story of the White Eagle Lodge. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1986.

The Wisdom of White Eagle. Liss, Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1967.

★1603 ★

Church of Universal Love (Texas)

(Defunct)

The Church of Universal Love (Texas) is a New Age organization founded in 1968 and chartered in 1972. It was built around the channeling of Rev. Linda Forman, its founder. Forman channeled from the Cosmic Masters, believed to be extraterrestrials. Some of the channeled material is published for church members in the bimonthly newsletter, Cosmic Channelings. Members are scattered around the country and have access to Powers through private channelings, which are recorded and sent to members via mail. The single church center in El Paso offers a weekly schedule of worship and healing services, classes, and study groups.

Remarks: The Church of Universal Love (Texas) has no connection with the church of the same name which is headquartered in Washington state.

★1604 ★

Circle of Inner Truth

(Defunct)

Marshall Lever was a Presbyterian seminarian who developed the ability of trance mediumship. As a medium, he began to receive messages from a guide, Chung Fu. Chung Fu is viewed as a spirit last incarnated as a student of Lao Tzu in China. The Circle of Inner Truth was begun in 1970 by Marshall and his wife, Quinta Lever, as an instrument for the expression of Chung Fu's work and teaching. Through counseling in trance, Chung Fu offered help to individuals on personal problems, particularly health, and works with groups to teach spiritual truths. Health readings resembled those given through Edgar Cayce, the founder of the Association for Research and Enlightenment.

Lever taught that man has an immortal spirit within, which has evolved through many life forms and previous incarnations. This spirit is continually reincarnating until it breaks the cycle of reincarnations; man must identify with his spiritual self or God Force during an earth cycle, after which he is spiritually free, eternal and universal, and will not again incarnate. To aid its members, circles were developed for inner awareness through affirmative meditation, nutrition and health, and direct lessons from Chung Fu.

During the 1970s, the Levers had no home and spent all their time traveling among the several groups of the Inner Circle, which were widely scattered across the United States. One was located in London, England. A monthly, Our News and Views, was issued from San Francisco and mailed to approximately 600, of which 400 were in the United States. During the 1980s the Circle has ceased to exist and the Levers have moved into other psychic endeavors.

Sources:

Fu, Chung. Evolution of Man. Circle of Inner Truth, 1973.

★1605 ★

Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation was established during the 1980s to spread the teaching of Tawa, a spiritual entity, who speaks through Rey Fletcher. During the 1960s, when the Fletchers lived in a Chicago suburb, Rey's wife, Candy R. Fletcher, began a spiritual search that led her to reading metaphysical books and experimenting with the ouija board and hypnosis. Thus it was on August 22, 1968, that Tawa first made contact during a session in which Candy had convinced Rey to join her in asking questions of the ouija board. Tawa identified himself as a Blackfoot Indian in a previous incarnation though currently in a disembodied state. He also asked if he could speak using Rey's vocal cords. Prior to this time, Rey had also proved himself a good subject for hypnotism, and in the future Tawa spoke to him while he was in a hypnotic trance. Tawa's first spoken communication was on September 3, 1968.

Tawa continued to speak through Rey until the end of 1970, but for a time the material was put aside as he pursued a successful career. Meanwhile Candy considered writing a book based upon the teachings Tawa had given them. She began work on the text in 1979. Shortly thereafter, the Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation was formed. In 1984 the book was published at about the same time the Foundation moved to Victor, Montana. Assisting the Fletchers are Richard and Bobbie Graham who head the Foundation branch in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tawa identified himself as a contemporary of Jesus and the person who served as Jesus' original spiritual teacher. He remained with Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection. The resurrection was the proof that Jesus had been sent by God. According to Tawa, Jesus was reborn in the flesh somewhere in the Orient in 1962. At the time of Tawa's dictations, the reincarnated Jesus was not aware of his mission as Messiah. However, at some point in the near future he will take on his Christ essence and reveal himself to the world. This time he will be fully accepted. However, prior to his coming forth, the anti-christ, a person now residing in England, will exert power for one year.

The Fletchers see themselves as part of a chosen circle of followers who will be the messengers of the coming Messiah. The Foundation is bring together an initial group of 52 families/persons who will become the spearhead of the mission leading to Christ's next appearance. The Foundation plans to establish a network of lodges from which the message can be disseminated.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Bjorling, Joel. Channelling: A Bibliographic Exploration. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992. 363 pp.

Fletcher, C. R. Spirit in His Mind. Victor, MT: Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation, 1984. 618 pp.

★1606 ★

Cosmerism

(Defunct)

Cosmerism was the name of a short-lived group which began in September, 1972, when the Book of Cosmer was channeled by seven angels, the most important of whom was named "Ashram." Receiving the communications were a couple simply known as Luke and Mark (the latter a female). In accordance with the entities' instructions, an original group of thirteen was collected and each member received a Cosmerite name: Matthias, Matthew, Judas Secarius, Josephus, Ananda, Peter, James the Elder, Thomas, Paul, Thaddeus, John the Beloved, and Luke and Mark. In the summer of 1974, the first circle to begin the formal study of the Book of Cosmer was held, and the first issue of The Moon Monk, a periodical, was issued.

Cosmerites termed their message "the Way" of Cosmer, the creative force, innate in all things and the source of creation. The power of Cosmer focuses in small groups and goes out with them into the world. The Way is a beginning toward peace, both external and internal. Under the oversight of Cosmer, man is on a path toward final absorption, or the building into oneness of men and angels creative force.

Headquarters of Cosmerites in 1974 were at Winter Park, Florida, and the small group of followers was drawn from eastern Florida and Canada. Plans included the building of Ichikama, a wilderness Ashram (a secluded retreat) of peace and tranquility. These plans were never brought to fruition as a brief time later the group's address became obsolete and the periodical discontinued. No sign of the group has appeared since the mid-1970s, and it is presumed to have disbanded.

★1607 ★

Cosmic Awareness Communications

Box 115
Olympia, WA 98507

In 1962 a voice describing itself as "From Cosmic Awareness" began to speak through the body of ex-army officer, William Ralph Duby. In response to the question, "What is Cosmic Awareness?" the group with Duby was told it was "total mind that is not any one mind, but is from the Universal Mind that does not represent any unity other than that of universality."

As the voice continued to speak, its words of wisdom were collected. In 1963, instructions were received for the formation of an Organization of Awareness as a means of giving to individuals the teaching of the voice. The real organization is said to be composed of 144 entities on that inner plane known as Essence.

Communications from Awareness have covered the whole scope of subjects about which people have questions, but, through it all, a few central ideas have emerged. God is seen not as a personal deity, but as natural cosmic law. The spiritual life is stressed, as is compassion in our dealings with men. Man's purpose is to move toward cosmic awareness.

A summary of the voice's stance is contained in the "Laws and Precepts of Cosmic Awareness," printed below.

The Universal Law is that knowledge, that awareness, that all living things, all life has within it that vitality, that strength to gather into it all things necessary for its growth and its fruition.

The Law of Love is that law which places the welfare and the concern and the feeling for others above self. The Law of Love is that close affinity with all forces that you associate with as good. The Law of Love is that force which denies the existence of evil in the world, that resists not evil.

The Law of Mercy is that law which allows one to forgive all error, to forgive equally those who err against you as you err against them. This is to be merciful. To be merciful is akin to the Law of Love, and if one obeys the Law of Mercy there can be no error in the world.

The Law of Gratitude is that sense of satisfaction where energy which has been given receives a certain reward.

Judge Not. Be Humble. Never Do Anything Contrary to the Law of Love. Resist Not Evil. Do Nothing Which Is Contrary to the Law of Mercy.

Duby died in 1967 and a major splintering occurred in the organization. No fewer than seven bodies were formed, each claiming to be the continuation of the original. Disagreement over the publication of materials which some thought should remain secret was one major issue in the schisms. Largest of the several splinters is Cosmic Awareness Communications, which continues the 1963 organization. About four months after Duby's death, a channel emerged through which Cosmic Awareness continued to speak. In the late 1960s, messages received through this new channel, Paul Shockley, both clarified and altered the older material. The new voice revealed that the Organization of Awareness has helped to accomplish a vast shift of consciousness–a return to the Godhead, which for thousands of years Essence has willed would eventually occur. The return to the Godhead is equated with the return of Lucifer, the fallen angel of light.

The group's Internet site is at http://www.cosmicawareness.org.

Membership: Not reported, but in 1995 the newsletter reported a circulation of 3,000 copies. In the 1970s, Cosmic Awareness Communications claimed 75 centers (including three in Canada) and 144,000 members.

Periodicals: Revelation of Awareness.

Sources:

Cosmic Awareness Speaks. Olympia, WA: Servants of Awareness, n.d. Vol. II & III. Olympia, WA: Cosmic Awareness Communications, 1977,1983.

★1608 ★

Divine Word Foundation

c/o Edmund Spitzer
1999 Pine Grove Rd.
Rogue River, OR 97537

The Divine Word Foundation was founded in 1962 by Dr. Hans Nordewin von Koerber (1886-1979), formerly professor of Asiatic studies at the University of Southern California. The purpose of the Foundation is to disseminate the revelation of Jakob Lorber (1800-1864). An Austrian-born musician, Lorber in his fortieth year heard a voice in his heart, "Jakob, get up, take your pencil and write." Obeying, he began to function as the scribe to this Voice, which he believed to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Lorber, the Voice dictated twenty-five books and other, shorter works. The revelations did not end with Lorber. In 1870, Gottfried Meyerhofer (1807-1877), a retired Army officer living in Trieste and a student of the Lorber literature, heard the Voice, which began to dictate through him. Since Meyerhofer's death, others have continued in succession: Leopold Engel, Johanne Ladner, Bertha Dudde, Johannes Widmann, Max Seltmann, Johanna Henzsel, George Riehle, Johannes Friede, and others.

The works of Lorber were published primarily by Christoph Friedrich Landbeck of Bietigheim, West Germany, who headed the Neutheosophischer Verlag (after 1907 Neusalems-Verlag or New Jerusalem Publication House). In 1924, the Neusalem Gesellschaft (New Jerusalem Society) was formed. Adolf Hitler suppressed the Lorber work, but it was quickly re-established. The Society became the Lorber Gesellschaft and the publishing arm, the Lorber Verlag. In 1921, the Lorber revelations were discovered by Dr. von Koerber. As he accepted them, he began to translate them into English and introduce them to others.

The new revelation fills 42 volumes of approximately 450 pages each. For Lorber, God is the Infinite Spirit behind the universe. The Holy Spirit is the "external life ether" that permeates the universe. The universe is the expression of God, made up of tiny spiritual primordial sparks created to grow into the divine likeness. It is God's desire to create a society of living love.

The plan of God was thwarted by Lucifer who revolted with the spirits below him and became entrapped in matter: impure spirit condensed. God is using matter as a filtering plant through which the impure spirits can be purified. Earth is the place where the rebellious spirits are being given the chance to return voluntarily to God. God became man in Jesus to accelerate the redemptive process. The cross is a perfect example of love.

A human being is intended to learn, through the imitation of Christ, to love God and his neighbor as himself. He thus achieves rebirth and is allowed to participate in the work of redemption. At death, each soul discards the body and begins life as a spirit. It ascends, beginning from its point of development in the body, ultimately to the New Jerusalem. Christ will return in the near future to recreate the earth and establish the millennium, the first signs of which are worldly conflict and turmoil. The present period will culminate in Lucifer's making his final choice and a war of destruction of the most rebellious ones.

The membership of the Lorber Society is concentrated in German-speaking Europe, but has spread to every free continent. In the United States, individuals around the country study the revelation in the books published by the Divine Word Foundation. Study groups are located in San Diego and Newark, California; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Since Dr. von Koerber's death, his widow, Hildegard von Koerber, has continued his translating efforts. There is also a translator residing in Salt Lake City. Dr. Fred S. Bunger, the Foundation's first president, died in 1979 and was succeeded by Earl G. Fox of Melba, Idaho. Bunger co-authored with Dr. von Koerber the Foundation's basic text, A New Light Shines Out of Darkness.

The Foundation has a friendly relationship with the Lorber Verlag in Germany, though organizationally independent. It is also associated with another English-language translator in Great Britain. The organization's web site is http://www.divine-wordfoundation.com.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Bunger, Fred S., and Hans N. Von Koerber. A New Light Shines Out of the Present Darkness. Philadelphia: Dorrance Company, 1971.

Lorber, Jakob. The Three-Days-Scene at the Temple of Jerusalem. Bietigheim, Wuerttemberg, Germany: Neu-Salems-Society, 1932.

★1609 ★

Doctrine of Truth Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Doctrine of Truth Foundation was established in the mid 1970s to promulgate the research and ideas of Lewis E. Cook, Jr., and Junko Yasui, as contained in their book Goldot: Guidebook of Life and Doctrine of Truth. Following the Korean War, Cook (1925) worked in Korea as part of the reconstruction program and stayed on as head of a construction company. In 1964 he moved to Japan to establish a prefabricated-home business. There he met and fell in love with Junko Yasui. They were married in 1967, and soon afterward moved to the Philippines. In the islands, both began a period of heightened attention to their spiritual lives. They began to practice yoga, read metaphysical and occult books, and meditated.

The couple moved to the United States in 1970 and immediately began to teach all that they had learned in the Orient. They assembled a summary of their ideas in Goldot, and founded the Doctrine of Truth to disseminate those ideas. Goldot is acclaimed as the modern Bible and Guidebook for humanity. It covers all dimensions of life beginning with its origins. Creation was, it teaches, an emanation from Spirit. Spirit beget the Oversoul, which in turn led to the development of universal mind, the universe, light, darkness, heaven (the astral universe), and earth (the material universe). The astral light entered the material universe and all life forms resulted. God then released the individual soul within Itself, and these "gods of creation" then created the world and all of the plant, vegetable, and human life within it. The human life was in their image and likeness. The Astral gods took on physical bodies. However, the God Men violated their own divine mandate and began to intermingle with that segment of the human race who were not God Men.

According to Goldot, earthly life is governed by Truth, universal principles and laws. The principles produce life while the laws govern it. Underlying reality is Unity-Equilibrium, the infinite eternal presence within all phenomena, also known as Spirit or God. Unity-Equilibrium manifests as Mind, the essence of all phenomena. The Unity-Equilibrium particle of each human manifests as pure mind, also known as soul or ego. The universe is the result of the creative expressions of the Universal Mind, the collective ego of all souls. Every instant and every detail of an individual's life is the result of mental creative activity. Life equals creativity. We experience life through sensory perception. Our limited perceptions in the material realm create illusion.

The Life and its sensory experiences are governed by the laws of harmony, duality-polarity, cycles, cause-effect, and karma. The universe exists in harmony, disrupted only by human ignorance. Humans should strive for harmonious life and relationships. Since harmony undergirds the universe, in order for it to be perceived, it must manifest as either the negative or positive aspect of a neutral equilibrated image. Thus phenomena functions to produce the illusion of our world. The world of illusion goes through cycles of formation and dissolution. The ongoingness of the cycles follows a pattern of cause and effect. The law of cause and effect in human life manifests as karma, the consequences of the thoughts, words, and deeds, of individuals.

The Doctrine of Truth Foundation builds upon the basic principles and laws of life and disseminates teachings that explain the meaning of these principles and laws for all of life. In this endeavor, it publishes Goldot and other related literature. Related to the Foundation are the Doctrine of Truth Church, the Doctrine of Truth School, and the Doctrine of Truth Research Center.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Cook, Lewis E., Jr., and Junko Yasui. Goldot: Guidebook of Life and Doctrine of Truth. Oceanside, CA: Doctrine of Truth Foundation, 1976. Unpaged.

★1610 ★

EarthStar Alliance

Current address not obtained for this edition.

EarthStar Alliance was founded in the mid-1990s by Sara Mattoon and Scott Myrom to assist what they believe to be a planetary transformation now occurring on Earth. They view themselves as two of a number of masters who have incarnated on Earth during this generation who, having lived some years as just a normal human being, now have become aware of their task to aid in the creation of Heaven on Earth. They believe that Earth is in the process of becoming a star as the planet moves from one of dense physical reality into a radiant body of light. The movement produces stress in humans' dense earth bodies, and EarthStar Alliance provides a way of viewing the world, specific techniques, and new technologies to support the body during this change. These include bodywork, channeling sessions, and group events.

EarthStar Alliance teaches that each individual is both of the One, or God, as well as a separate unique individual. As being of the One, persons exist in one reality or dimension; as a separate individual, persons exist in a multitude of realms or dimensions. Most individuals live totally in the third (physical and mental) and fourth (astral) dimensions where the game of good and evil is played out. Individuals also exist in various nonphysical dimensions from the fourth (light) to the twelfth (experience of the One). Understanding the multiple existence of oneself on these various dimensions (including the lower ones) assists in one's comprehending one's divine nature. On the eighth and ninth dimensions, individuals see their Spirit manifesting as individual identities that represent groups, i.e., as part of a group soul. Individuals from various group souls are now on planet Earth.

In shifting one's perspective on who one is, the illusion of reality is also shifted and the manifestation of who one is in other dimensions begins to manifest in the third and fourth dimensions. Basic to the new view of the self is a shift of identity from that of struggling human to that of multi-dimensional divine self, and from that of student to that of master. Also, each should shift the way of measuring reality from the beliefs and feelings of the third and fourth dimensions to a fifth-dimension perspective (based in our knowingness and inner authority).

Members of EarthStar Alliance and those who resonate with its work are considered part of one group soul now manifesting on planet Earth. This group soul has a specific task in the period of transition as pathcutters bringing light, information, and energy from the more expanded dimensions.

Membership: Not reported. The alliance supports regular meetings in San Diego and is reaching out to other communities along the Pacific Coast.

Periodicals: True Reality.

★1611 ★

The Eliosts, Inc.

Drawer O
Duxbury, MA 02321

The Eloist Ministry was founded by Walter De Voe at the turn of the twentieth century. De Voe was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1874. As a teenager he became a sincere seeker of metaphysical truth, and in his search, found his way to the Chicago World's Fair and the Parliament of Religions in 1893. At that time he was exposed to the sacred books of all the major religions. There he also became acquainted with many individuals holding similar interests and subsequently became a part of the nucleus of thought that eventually evolved into the "New Thought" movement.

By 1902 De Voe began to work with his newly discovered abilities as a spiritual healer. He successfully pursued this work in Battle Creek, Michigan, and then in Cleveland, Ohio, where he published Healing Currents from the Battery of Life in 1904. In 1916 he was inspired to relocate his ministry to the Boston suburb of Brookline, which was a great center of metaphysical activity at the time, and in 1918 the organization was incorporated as a nonprofit, tax-exempt religious entity in the state of Massachusetts, with the name of "The Eliost Ministry." The Ministry continued its work of spiritual education and spiritual healing until 1954. At that time Walter De Voe's health began to fail with advancing age, and it was decided to relocate the headquarters to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where it remains today. The focus and emphasis of the organization's work changed somewhat over the years, and as a reflection of that fact, its name was abbreviated to The Eloists, Inc., in 1972.

Unlike a conventional church that emphasizes the seeking of converts and continual establishment of growing congregations, the Eliosts have remained a group of limited size because of the personal demands made by the group's commitment to a secific spiritual endeavor that, it notes, may not be for everyone. While not presuming to be "God's spokesmen" or believing they offer the only path to the Creator, the Eliosts strive to extend a helping hand to other sincere seekers they meet along the path to greater spiritual growth and understanding.

The Eliosts believe that there is but one Creator who is ever present with all of creation and whom cannot be seen as a finite entity, but whose works stand in perpetual glory and whose voice can be heard within one's consciousness and being when an individual is opened and attuned. People are responsible for their own spiritual growth, and no savior can substitute for good works and soul development.

While the primary source of inspiration comes from within, the Eliosts enlist the aid of a variety of inspirational books, among which is Oahspe, a book they were directed to read in the mid 1930s by an elevated angelic presence. The Eliosts believe the book to be genuine while making allowances for imperfections within it and do not interpret it literally as an inflexible book of rules, nor do they worship any book.

The Eliosts note that individuals from many other religious persuasions may find aspects of Eliost activities familiar, yet as a whole it has a unique position. While it is non-Christian, "New Thought" students would find similarities with Eliost perspectives on health care and spiritual healing; Quakers would understand its methods of conducting business, the unprogrammed meetings, the absolute commitment to nonviolence and the mystical religion. Shakers may identify with some aspects of Eliost ritual, while spiritualists could identify with its attention to spirit communion and the interest in developing psychic sensitivity. Eliost activities include, among others, educational instruction, spiritual counseling, publishing, and charitable work.

From 1983 until 1999 The Eliosts, Inc., published the Radiance journal. Back issues of the bimonthly periodical remain available, as is Healing Currents from the Battery of Life, revised for the fourth time in 1999. Send orders to The Eloists, Inc., at PO Box 83, Henniker, NH 03242.

Membership: Not reported. There are no clergy.

Periodicals: Eloist Focus.

Sources:

DeVoe, Walter. Healing Currents from the Battery of Life. N.p.

——. Mystic Words of Mighty Power. New York: Gordon Press Publishers, 1991.

The Eloists. Duxbury, MA: Eloist Ministry, 1990.

Oahspe: A New Age Bible. Los Angeles: Essenes of Kosmon, 1950.

★1612 ★

Family of Abraham

Box 690070
San Antonio, TX 78269

In the early 1980s channel Esther Hicks began to receive messages from Abraham, the name assumed from a group of evolved noncorporeal entities. In 1986, with the assistance of her husband, Jerry Hicks, who had received the initial messages, she began to inform some close friends and business associates of what was occurring and the messages they were receiving. These people began to offer questions to Abraham and found his answers useful and meaningful. Receiving a positive response, the Hickses made Abraham's teaching available to the general public, primarily through the circulation of tapes of the channeling sessions.

Abraham has spoken to a wide variety of issues of concern to the New Age community, such as coming earth changes, but has centered his message on the need for individuals to become conscious co-creators of their reality. This process is assisted by one's becoming aware of the laws of the universe and learning to move in accordance with them. Most important is the law of attraction, by which one can attract whatever he or she desires. It is used in connection with the law of allowing, by which one becomes free of the negativity that binds our life.

The Hickses have established a schedule of regular weekend "Dialogues" with Abraham around the country, and over the years Abraham study groups have formed across the United States. Those responding to the messages from Abraham have been informally dubbed the Family of Abraham. A quarterly newsletter, Abraham Speaks, was begun. It was superseded by the more substantive The Leading Edge in 1994.

Membership: In 1994 there were nine Abraham study groups and an unreported number of individuals receiving The Leading Edge.

Periodicals: The Leading Edge.

★1613 ★

Father's House

(Defunct)

Ralph F. Raymond (d. 1984) was a channel for spirit teachers. In the late 1960s he operated the Universal Link Heart Center in Los Angeles. In 1968, he was sent by the "Master" to England and Scotland to visit all the Universal Link centers and people. The centers in the United States were included in the tour. His findings were published in a booklet, The Universal Link Concept. Upon his return to the United States, he established the Father's House. The original seven-person board of trustees included several of the Link personalities.

The Father's House published The Father's House Quarterly and, through its pages, tied together the several hundred subscribers. A plan was initiated in 1973 to acquire a Center for Healing and Meditation. Brother Francis, as Raymond was commonly known, was joined in this endeavor by Ms. Carole Freeman. These plans had not materialized at the time of Brother Francis' death. Foreign affiliated groups were to be found in New Zealand and England.

The thrust of Brother Francis' thought was to provide guidance and leadership as the earth moves into the Aquarian Age. Though the Father's House was independent of other Link groups, informal contact was frequent. Selections of writings from other Link writers appeared in each issue of the quarterly. For example, Tarna Halsey regularly submitted articles channeled from the space people (beings in outer space). Brother Francis also circulated The Three Day Scene, one of the books of Jakob Lorber, whose American followers have founded the Divine Word Foundation. Almost every issue carried material from Illiana of New Age Teachings.

Sources:

[Raymond, Brother Francis Ralph]. Universal Link Concept. Los Angeles: Universal Link Heart Center, 1968.

★1614 ★

Fellowship of the Inner Light

℅ The Fellowship Center
620 14th St.
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

The Fellowship of the Inner Light was formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in October, 1972, by psychic Paul Solomon and his associates. In February, 1972, in a hypnotic trance, Solomon began to speak in a stern voice, a voice later to be labeled "the Source." As the trance sessions continued and Solomon began a vigorously disciplined life, the material which came through the readings began to provide for treatment of disease, prophecies which proved accurate, spiritual philosophy and a complete system for the development of "Inner Light Consciousness." The Fellowship was organized as a structure to further the work of Solomon and to disseminate the Inner Light Consciousness. In 1974, the Fellowship moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, the home of Edgar Cayce, to whom Solomon is likened by his followers. Cayce founded the Association for Research and Enlightenment, discussed elsewhere in this volume.

The material in the transcripts of the Solomon readings cover a wide range of topics–Atlantis, diet and health, healing, reincarnation, sex, spiritual development, and prophecies. The worldview closely parallels that of the Cayce readings. Man is a son of God trapped in material forms which had their first manifestation on Atlantis. By spiritual growth, the cleansing of the body and evolvement, the trapped soul can come back to be one with God. Also in the material are those who came to aid those who are trapped and who wish to return. Reincarnation allows time for the growth of the soul.

The Source for the information coming through Solomon is the Universal Mind and the Akashic records. All thoughts and actions are said to be recorded on the "universal ethers" of the Akashic records, and psychics "tap into" those records to obtain information. In the Fellowship of the Inner Light, contact with spirits is discouraged. From the readings, a course that places the student on the mystic path to cosmic consciousness has been constructed. The course emphasizes the Light Within (or Holy Spirit). Consciousness of the Light is the key to overcoming the limitations of the material. The methods of the course, including relaxation, meditation, prayer, self-control, occult law and psychic development, lead to mastery of one's psychic nature, to integration of the total person and to spiritual development.

The Fellowship is conceived of as a religious association serving the needs of the New Age community. During the 1970s, the Fellowship was headquartered in Virginia Beach, from where a vigorous local program was offered. Closely affiliated was the Heritage Store and Heritage Publications, which issued the material from the readings, the first volume of which appeared in 1974. Heritage Store began in 1969 to make available the remedies suggested in the Cayce readings to the general public. In 1978, however, a thirteen-acre tract of land near New Market, Virginia, was dedicated as "Carmel-in-the-Valley." Headquarters shifted to the rural site, and ambitious plans for the development of a new age community as the center of the fellowship were announced. Publication offices remained in Virginia Beach. Affiliated fellowships can be found across the United States, and in England, Holland, and several other countries.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Reflections on the Inner Light. Send orders to Rte. 1, Box 141, Timberville, VA 22853.

Sources:

A Healing Consciousness. Virginia Beach, VA: Master's Press, 1978.

Spiritual Unfoldment and Psychic Development through Inner Light Consciousness. Atlanta, GA: Fellowship of the Inner Light, n.d.

★1615 ★

Fellowship of Universal Guidance

c/o Bella Karish
1524 Glenoaks Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91201

The Fellowship of Universal Guidance was founded in 1960 by Dr. Wayne A. Guthrie and Dr. Bella Karish, both of whom serve as channels for the "great sources of light," teachers from the spirit world who guide Fellowship activities. The Fellowship has been associated with the Universal Link on occasion, but the thrust of the Fellowship's concern is the harmonizing of the three levels of consciousness. The Fellowship teaches that there are three separate entities within each person–the high self, the conscious self, and the basic self. The ultimate goal is to bring them into alignment for the eventual good of the karmic pattern by blending them for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual development. The high self is part of the super conscious structure and is located about three inches above the head. The conscious self functions in interpersonal relationships, and the basic self is that part that just evolved from the animal kingdom, according to the Fellowship.

Man reincarnates on earth once but is re-embodied until his goal is reached. The high self chooses where to incarnate. The basic self carries memory, emotions, and the masculine/feminine consciousness. Unfulfilled karma from previous embodiments can cause the basic self to open to negative forces that can cause disease, which can be healed only by discharging the karmic pattern. The Fellowship offers a "Three Selves Evaluation" to aid the individual in growth.

The insights of the Fellowship are given to the world through several series of lessons, beginning with the Wisdom WorkshopSeries I. Students may take these lessons by correspondence, and groups have formed to study the material collectively.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Uniguidance. Send orders to 1674 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Sources:

Master Apollonius Speaks. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, 1970.

The Prophetic Word. Revelation Number Two. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, [1980]

Wisdom Workshop Lessons. Series 1. 12 vols. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, n.d.

★1616 ★

Foundation Church of Divine Truth

c/o Holly Bianco
25961 Stafford Canyon Rd., F
Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381

The Foundation Church of Divine Truth (CDT) supersedes the former Foundation Church of the New Birth, based upon the writings of James Edward Padgett (1852-1923). Padgett, an attorney and Methodist Sunday school teacher, became interested in Spiritualism after the death of his wife in 1914. He was told by a medium to begin practicing automatic writing (writing or typing words believed to be dictated by spirit entities), and in a short time he became proficient. Within a year, Padgett began to receive messages purporting to be from Jesus of Nazareth, urging him to pray for the inflowing of the Father's diving love. On October 5, 1914, Jesus (Master of the Celestial Heavens) told Padgett that he had been selected to disseminate the Father's Truths to humankind. The result was some 1,500 messages received from Jesus, other high celestial spirits, and a variety of spirits either progressing through the Spiritual Heavens or stagnating in the lower spheres of the spirit world. The most important messages were published in four volumes, the first of which was printed in 1940. The sum total of these messages from Jesus were said to constitute his Second Coming to earth. Padgett received the messages between the years 1914 and 1923. After his death, the manuscripts were left in the custody of a close associate, Dr. Leslie R. Stone. Stone and others interested in the messages incorporated the Foundation Church of the New Birth in 1958 in Washington, D.C.

In 1982 the Rev. John Paul Gibson, the sole surviving founding trustee of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, died and was succeeded by Victor Summers. Soon afterward a reorganization of the church occurred and in October 1983 Summers moved its headquarters to San Diego, California, and then to Lake Helen, Florida. He resigned from any leadership role the following year and the church disbanded. A group of members, primarily in the D.C. area, reorganized as the New Christian Healing Sanctuary. They received permission to receive the mail at the former church's mailbox. In December 1985, nine former members (eight of whom were ordained ministers) of the Foundation Church of the New Birth formed the Foundation Church of Divine Truth to carry forward the work of the former church.

Beliefs. Since their initial publication, the volumes of messages have been variously titled Book of Truths; Messages from Jesusand Celestials; True Gospel Revealed Anew from Jesus; and most recently Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth (in two volumes). A summary of the material is found in the tenets of the church, given as direct revelation by Jesus of Nazareth and His disciples from the Celestial heavens. True to the Spiritualist heritage, the first tenet concerns the continuity of the soul after death. The soul enters the spirit world and continues to progress until it reaches the Sixth Sphere, which is the Paradise of the Old Testament, or the Kingdom of the Perfect Natural Man, beyond which no further progress occurs. Should the soul seek to be filled with the Divine Love of the Creator, however, its progress takes it to the Celestial Heavens, where it continues to receive in flowings of the Divine Essence of the Father and is conscious of its immortality. Jesus' mission on earth was to teach that this Divine Love had been bestowed by the Father and was available to all; that true salvation of the soul (the realization of immortality) comes through obtaining sufficient quantity of the Father's Divine Essence of Love through earnest, sincere prayer to Him for its inflowing into the soul, thus filling the soul with its Divine Nature, which is immortal. The potentiality for receiving this Love had been lost with the fall of the first created parents.

Organization. The Church of the Divine Truth is governed by a board of trustees that has the power to ordain ministers and charter churches. Members relate to the church primarily through the mail; CDT describes itself as "a through the mail, nonprofit Christian Spiritualist organization that exists solely for the purpose of spreading the truths of God's Divine Love taught by Jesus of Nazareth, as contained in its publications. The church is interdenominational in that it upholds the highest, spiritual teachings of all religions, with the added commandment given by Jesus when he was on earth to ]Love One Another As I Have Loved You' with the Divine Love of God received into the human soul." Spiritual Advisors are available to correspond via conventional mail. CDT's web site address is http://www.angelicmessages.org/moreinfo.htm.

Membership: Not reported. The church states that membership is "open to all who spiritually and morally uphold the purpose of the church to disseminate the truth's of God's Divine Love to humankind."

Sources:

Padgett, James E. True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. 4 vols. Washington, DC: Foundation Church of the New Birth, 1958-1972.

★1617 ★

Foundation Church of the New Birth

Box 996, Benjamin Franklin Sta.
Washington, DC 20044

The Foundation Church of the New Birth, reestablished in 1991, is a through-the-mail church organization that continues the work of the organization by the same name originally founded in 1958. The earlier church was built around the channeled messages of James Edward Padgett (1852–1923) who received numerous messages from Jesus via automatic writing between 1914 and his death in 1923. These messages were published by the church in four volumes under the title True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. During the mid-1980s, the church passed through a period of organizational disruption, and it was disbanded. An attempt to reorganize led, in December 1985, to the formation of the Foundation Church of Divine Truth, by nine of the former members. In 1991, another group of former members reorganized under the original name. The church is led by its trustees, with Rev. Jocelyn Harleston serving as current administrative head. They continue to reprint the first four volumes of True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus.

The church seeks to inform mankind of the availability of the Heavenly Father's Divine Love which is received into the soul when earnestly sought for through prayer and soul longings. Its inflowing is felt as a radiant glow in the heart region. Upon obtaining a sufficient abundance of this love, it will transform the soul from the image of the Father into His very substance, which is not only Divine but immortal.

The church teaches that Jesus of Nazareth brought this love to light during his public ministry on earth and continues to teach its availability today, from the realm of spirit. Its website is http://www.divinelove.org.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: New Birth Commentary.

Sources:

Padgett, James D. True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. 4 vols. Washington: Foundation Church of the New Birth, 1958-72.

★1618 ★

Foundation for the Realization of Inner Divinity

PO Box 458
White City, OR 97524

The Foundation for the Realization of Inner Divinity was founded in 1990 by Swami Paramananda Saraswati, and supersedes an earlier organization, MAFU Seminars. The founding of the foundation followed an intense religious experience by Penny Torres Rubin, a New Age channel (medium) of the entity MAFU. During the late 1980s, Torres Rubin had emerged as one of the most popular channels within the growing New Age Movement. She started channeling in 1986 when she began to communicate with the disincarnate personage, MAFU. Within a few months she was channeling regularly in public sessions in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California. Torres Rubin's organization, MAFU Seminars, circulated cassettes and videotapes of the channeling sessions around the world.

MAFU is characterized as a 32,000-year-old entity who has incarnated on earth at least 17 times. His enlightened messages insist that each person is, in essence, divine. God is equated with the power of life. Thus all things are of God and in God. The goal of life is to realize one's own divine nature, by which knowledge one becomes a master.

Towards the end of 1989, Torres Rubin traveled to Hardiwar, India, in the Himalayan foothills. She took the vows of a sannyassi (accepting the renounced life), and also accepted a mission as the "ordained leader of spirituality" for the present age. Here, she received her new name, Swami Paramananda Saraswatti. Upon her return to the United States, Saraswatti established the Foundation for the Realization of Inner Divinity and its subsidiary, The Center for God Realization, which now disseminates MAFU's teaching materials and regularly conducts seminars and retreats for thousands of seekers.

The Foundation has brought together all of the wisdom received from MAFU and presents it as a distinct path to God consciousness. The organization has purchased a campground near Ashland, Oregon, as a retreat center. It has also developed a mastery course that introduces people to MAFU's spiritual path.

Membership: In 1992 the foundation reported an active membership of 15,000.

Sources:

Torres, Penny [Mafu]. And What Be God?. Vacaville, CA: Mafu Seminars, 1989.

——. Reflections on Yeshua Ben Joseph. Vacaville, CA: Mafu Seminars, 1989.

★1619 ★

Freewill Foundation

(Defunct)

The Freewill Foundation was founded to facilitate the public's contact with the channeling activity of Gerry Bowman and the channeled teachings of the entity John. Bowman's channeling dates to the evening of January 22, 1976, when a group of people gathered to contact the spirit world through a ouija board. During the evening members of the group had previous lives described and were told how those lives affected their present life. Bowman, one of the people in attendance, was told that in the future he would become verbal and have no more need of the ouija board. It was some five years later, on August 2, 1981, that Bowman first went into a light trance and John announced his presence with the words, "We are known as John. We are here to assist you, and any who are willing to listen, to discover who, and more importantly, what you are." John was believed to be identical to the biblical Apostle John, the Brother of James, and follower of Jesus.

Bowman was assisted by Joe Albani, a former radio talkshow host, who transcribed what became weekly sessions with Bowman and John. Albani also contacted Los Angeles radio station KIEV and in 1984 arranged for a weekly talk show, "The Out-of the-Ordinary Show," each Sunday evening at midnight in which people called in and talked to John. The show was a success and Bowman and Albani created a series of workshops/seminars at which John periodically makes public appearances.

Within a general New Age framework, John's teachings centered upon a means to personal power through compassion, humility, and confidence. He also taught a simple technique to enhance the natural healing powers of the body through relaxation and concentration.

The foundation was composed of Bowman, Albani, and John. People who wished to relate to John were able to may arrange private sessions with him or attended groups sessions. Tapes and transcripts of the seminars were also circulated by the foundation.

★1620 ★

Grail Movement of America

2081 Partridge Ln.
Binghamton, NY 13903

Alternate Address: International headquarters: Internationale Gralsbewegung-Vomperberg, A-6134, Vomp., Tirol, Austria.

The Grail Movement of America is supported by the Grail Foundation, which is the structure for disseminating the teachings of Oskar Ernest Bernhardt (1875-1941) of Bischofswerda, Germany. In 1924, Bernhardt moved to Bavaria, where he began to write lectures under the pen name Abd-ru-shin. In 1928, he settled in Austria, where he wrote In the Light of Truth, the Grail Message. He continued writing until he was expelled by the Nazis in 1938. The first center in America was formed about 1939 at Mt. Morris, Illinois. Abd-ru-shin's message is termed the Grail Message, a reference to the Holy Grail as the power center of creation.

According to Abd-ru-shin, God created man equal and set him in search of self-consciousness and maturity. In his search, man was led to the world of gross matter. The physical bodies were fashioned for our true selves to function within while on Earth. The purpose of man is to learn to live in harmony with the divine laws that brought forth the creation and now maintain it. Eventually, man could return to the spiritual realm as a mature human spirit, ready to enter life-eternal as a fully seasoned and self-conscious entity capable of serving the Creator as a true human spirit.

The Grail Message is contained in the three volumes of In the Light of Truth. There are also other writings by Abd-ru-shin. They are circulated in North America by the foundation through its two headquarters in Binghamton, New York, and Quebec, Canada, formerly located in Mt. Morris, Michigan, and Lapeer, Michigan. The International Grail Movement also works in most European countries, Australia, and New Zealand. There is some work in South America, Asia, and Africa.

Membership: In 2002, the movement reported 400 active adherents in the United States and 1,000 in Canada. Worldwide the movement has some 19,000 adherents.

Sources:

Abd-ru-shin. Awake! Selected Lectures. Vomperberg, Tyrol, Austria: Maria Bernhardt Publishing Co., n.d.

——. In the Light of Truth. Vomperberg, Tyrol, Austria: Maria Bernhardt Publishing Co., 1954.

★1621 ★

HomeWords

Current address not obtained for this edition.

HomeWords is the outreach vehicle for New Age channeler Sheradon Bryce (born Susan Johnson). Since 1987 Bryce has channeled an entity named Philip, whose teachings have been compiled in a book, Joy Riding the Universe (1993). Bryce is a fulltrance channel (medium) who has moved to demystify the channeling process. She suggests that while channeling it is possible that the individual's mind taps into a larger body of knowledge than that known to the waking consciousness and then creates a new personality to hold that new knowledge. Perhaps channeling is simply a way of giving the self permission to do what it would not normally allow itself to do.

Each person, according to Bryce, is a god spark. That god spark inhabits a physical body as a vehicle for expression. It is common for individuals to put the power of the god spark outside of the self, to externalize it. That process occurs whenever individuals believe that they are not god. Whenever one worships a god apart from oneself, one has externalized one's god spark. The externalization also coincides with irresponsibility, the claim that one is not accountable for one's circumstances. One creates victims by externalizing one's godly power and then not understanding one's sense of powerlessness. To become fully functioning individuals, persons must first accept their status as gods in embodiment.

Bryce has been a prolific channeler and distributes her work via both tapes and written transcripts of channeled sessions. She offers periodic retreats and workshops, leads tours to "power" places of the world, and infrequently holds private sessions with Philip. Her channeled material, over 2,000 hours of sessions, covers a wide variety of New Age topics from earth changes to ascension, kundalini and sexuality, and prosperity consciousness.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Home Words.

Sources:

Bryce, Sheradon. Joy Riding the Universe: Snapshots of the Journey. Salt Lake City, UT: Home Words, 1993.

★1622 ★

Inner Circle Kethra E'Da Foundation, Inc.

Box 121722
San Diego, CA 92112-1722

The Inner Circle Kethra E'Da Foundation, Inc. was established in 1945 by Mark Probert (d. 1969) and his wife, Irene Probert of San Diego, California. Mark Probert, an orphan with little formal education, one evening began to speak aloud in his sleep. As described by his wife, he spoke in foreign languages and sang arias from operas. Dr. Meade Layne, founder-director of the Borderland Science Research Society, a large southern California psychic organization, recognized Probert as a trance medium and helped guide his development. Gradually, teachers from the spirit world began to contact Probert. One afternoon, five of his teachers appeared to him and told him that they wished to bring their teaching to the world using him as their channel. Many of the teachings were published in 1954 and 1955 in Mystic, the Magazine of the Supernatural and later collected in a book, The Magic Bag; also more recently the book Yada Speaks.

In all, 11 teachers manifested themselves in light bodies (figures similar to shining, brilliant ghosts), and Mark was able to make sketches of them. The three main ones were Professor Alfred Luntz, a Anglican clergyman, Ramon Natalli, a contemporary of Galileo, and Yada di Shi'ite, who lived half a million years ago in the ancient civilization of Yu in the Himalayas. These teachers are members of an Inner Circle, having been one time in a previous reincarnation, together with Probert, on earth. Eternal life expressive is at the heart of the teachings of the Inner Circle. The goal of life is to attain one's original state as a divine being. Earth experiences are seen as movement through a series of initiations into higher and greater states of awareness. When one attains a state where there is no break in consciousness, freedom is accomplished and there is no necessity to return to the physical. Work with love and sincerity is the way to awareness. Yoga practices, secret mantras, sitting in meditation, and deep concentration are considered futile attempts to hurry progress. The basic entity in the universe is the individual. The plan of the universe lies within the individual, as he solves his own riddle of the universe. God, or the Creative Force, is said to be the impersonal soul with which one becomes aware of the unification.

The foundation has preserved the numerous tapes of Probert's trance-lectures and disseminates them in both cassettes and transcripts. Members gathered on Friday evening for dictation prior to Probert's death in 1969, and now gather to listen to tapes and for discussions.

Membership: There is no formal membership. In 1997 there were three centers in the United States.

Sources:

Probert, Mark. Excerpts from the Mark Probert Seances: 1950 Series. 3 vols. San Diego: Inner Circle Press, 1950.

——. The Magic Bag. San Diego: Inner Circle Kethra E'Da Foundation, 1963.

Wassen, Ralph, ed. Yada Speaks. San Diego: Kethra E'Da Foundation, 1985.

★1623 ★

International Organization of Awareness

(Defunct)

In 1967, William Ralph Duby, leader of the Organization of Awareness (see Cosmic Awareness Communications) died. Within a short time, the organizations splintered into a number of factions. The International Organization of Awareness was one such, founded in Honolulu by Edward Young. This small body survived into the 1970s.

★1624 ★

Lifelight University

HC 73, Box 537A
Cable, WI 54821

Lifelight University, an esoteric college of Light, grew out of the channeling activity of Arlene Nelson. Since 1983 Nelson has channeled an entity named Sinat Schirah, who is generally referred to more simply by the nickname Stan. Nelson is a fulltrance medium. In 1986 a new intensity of the channeling work, described as pure channeling, began and now occurs one weekend a month from January to May each year. During these pure channeling sessions, Stan completely takes over and Nelson has no memory of the sessions. Nelson is married to Mervin Colver and believes that she, Stan and Colver have been reunited for present work because of their association together in previous incarnations.

Lifelight University opened in 1987 to assist people in assuming greater responsibility for their own spiritual, mental, and physical growth. It offers a year-round program of seminars, workshops, classes, and retreats for New Age seekers. Off-campus two-day intensives and introductory sessions are offered at which Stan gives instructions on a variety of topics. New students are invited to take introductory courses in meditation and then proceed through a set of progressive intensives. Material channeled through Nelson from Stan has been published in tapes and books. Weekly devotional sessions called "affirmative sharing" are held each Sunday. The organization's web site is http://www.lifelightuniversity.org.

Membership: Not a membership organization.

Periodicals: Lifelight Newsletter. • 7 Rays.

★1625 ★

Light of the Universe

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Light of the Universe group was formed in the early 1960s as a psychic interest group in Tiffin, Ohio. Its investigations included ESP, health foods, and UFOs. Gradually, a more formal organization emerged, and a teacher, Helen Spitler, known publicly as Maryona (one who has received teachings of light from a higher source) became the leader. In 1965, Maryona published a book, The Light of the Universe I, and in 1966, a quarterly periodical began. In December 1969, the first branch of the group was formed in Cortland, Ohio. Others have organized since then. Correspondence lessons are mailed to students around the country.

Behind the L.O.T.U. group lie a number of books that influenced both members and teacher. These books include The Aquarian Gospel by Levi Dowling, The Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East by Baird Spalding and Breathing Your Way to Youth by Edwin John Dingle (of Mentalphysics). A strong emphasis is placed upon helping those dissatisfied with false and outmoded traditions and upon teachings that include the problems in translating the Bible, information on the hidden years of Jesus, and corrections in Christian teachings, especially some corrections previously asserted in the Aquarian Gospel.

Great emphasis is placed on the great cosmic law of reincarnation. The soul progresses through various experiences and lessons. It is Maryona's teachings that a soul never goes backward; progress is ever upward. Each person is a master within himself, possessing unlimited power and potential. The god within is pointed to in the words of the Old Testament, "Ye are Gods." This power within, a shining inner presence, man's true self, the divine soul, rules the universe. As man turns from the mud and filth in which he is mired, he can turn to the light and claim his divine birthright. To accomplish this turning, a series of cleansing exercises and meditation techniques is offered to students.

Membership: Not reported. In 1988, there were two ministers. Members were scattered around North America and a few were located in Europe and Africa.

Periodicals: The L.O.T.U.S.. Send orders to 161 N. Sandusky, Tiffin, OH 44883.

Sources:

Maryona. The Light of the Universe I and II. Tiffin, OH: Light of the Universe, 1965-76.

——. Mini-Manual for Light Bearers. Tiffin, OH: Light of the Universe, 1987.

★1626 ★

Lighting the Way Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition. In the early book about Jeanne Dixon, A Gift of Prophecy by Ruth Montgomery, Dixon reported in a vision she had on February 5, 1962, that an exalted master was born somewhere in the Middle East. That same vision was given to Helena Elizabeth Ruhnau, a new Age channel. In 1969, Dixon, under heavy pressure from critics–primarily conservative Christian ministers–reversed her earlier claim. In My Life and Prophecies she suggested that the vision concerned the advent of the Anti-Christ. In the wake of Dixon's retraction, Ruhnau emerged as a champion of the original vision, and claimed that Dixon had allowed her human consciousness and lower mind to hold sway and reinterpret it. Ruhnau asserted her role as the Messenger of the New World Avatar, and founded the New World Avatar Link in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 1951, Ruhnau had an experience in which she felt someone tap her on the shoulder and a voice (later identified as that of the Christ) say, "Come, follow Me." In 1954 she had the experience of dying and leaving her body. However, she was returned to her body by the Christ. She spent the next 15 years studying theosophy and metaphysical writings and became a channel. She channeled from the Spirit of God, the masters of the Great White Brotherhood, and her own God Self. Her first book, Light on the Mountain, appeared in 1966. Along the way it was revealed to her that she was, in one of her past lives, Akhenaten, the Egyptian pharaoh who brought the religion of the one God to his people.

After her own vision of the new Avatar born in 1962, she was given a picture of him reportedly taken when he was four years old. She also reported that as he grew older, the image in the picture changed. It was not until 1970, however, that she was told what her mission in life would be and why she had been returned to her body in 1954. Having been related to the new Avatar in a previous life, it would be her task to explain to the world who he really was.

According to Ruhnau, an Avatar comes whenever evil increases and law and order break down. His coming was marked by the great conjunction of sun, moon, and planets in the sign of Aquarius in 1962. He would set affairs in order and teach the brotherhood of man to all nations. The idea of brotherhood is based upon the knowledge of the one God. There is only one true religion, the worship of the one God (ala Akhenaten) and the keeping of right relations with all.

Over the next few years she was given information on forthcoming catastrophic earth changes. In 1974 she began publishing a newsletter, Lighting the Way, in which she recorded the information she was receiving. All of this material was compiled in 1978 in her book, The Return of the Dove. She noted that the Avatar will make his appearance prior to the coming catastrophes and give time for people to move away from those portions of the planet that will be most adversely affected.

During the 1980s, Ruhnau relocated from Colorado City to Ava, Missouri, and the New World Avatar Cosmic Link was superseded by the Lighting the Way Foundation. Colleasius Press is an affiliated publishing concern.

Periodicals: Lighting the Way.

Sources:

Ruhnau, Helena Elizabeth. Let There Be Light: Living Water of Life for the New Age. Ava, MO: Lighting the Way Foundation, 1987. 171 pp.

——. Light from the Fifth Dimension (The Heaven World). Colorado Springs, CO: Colleasius Press, 1982. 171 pp.

——. Light on a Mountain. Riverside, CA: The Author, 1966. 168 pp.

——. Mirror of a Soul. Colorado Springs, CO: Colleasius Press, 1981. 80 pp.

——. Reappearance of the Dove. Colorado Springs, CO: Colleasius Press, 1978. 203 pp.

★1627 ★

Michael Educational Foundation

10 Muth Dr.
Orinda, CA 94563

In the years since the original contact of "Michael," the collective entity who has been communicating with the Michael Teachings group in the San Francisco Bay area, and especially since the publication of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's original book on Michael in 1978, several other teachers also claiming contact with Michael have appeared. Among these, J. P. Van Hulle and Aaron Christeaan founded the Michael Educational Foundation in 1984. While in basic agreement with the Michael Teaching group, the Michael Educational Foundation has expanded its teachings in some very different directions than that of the Michael Teachings group.

According to the foundation, Michael is the name of a group of 1050 souls, all people who have lived many previous lifetimes on Earth. These souls have come together as a single entity to share their vast experience with humanity and speak to the challenge of being human. Michael speaks through a number of human channels, offers guidance and mentorship to those who choose to listen, and offers a cosmic perspective on life.

Unlike the more anonymous Michael Teachings group, the foundation has carried on a high profile public program, has published a number of books and tapes drawn from the weekly channeling sessions, and sponsors various public events in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has nurtured the formation of Michael study groups at different locations around the United States. The group's newsletter, The Progress, is distributed nationally as well as in Scotland, Sweden, and Nepal.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Progress.

Sources:

Baumbach, Emily. Michael's Cast of Characters. Orinda, CA: Affinity Press, 1989.

Christeaan, Aaron, JP Van Hulle, and M. C. Clark. Michael: The Basic Teachings. Orinda, CA: Affinity Press, 1988.

Pope, Joya. The World According to Michael. San Mateo, CA: Sage Publishing, 1987.

Steven, Jose, and Simon Warwick-Smith. Essence and Personality: The Michael Handbook. Orinda, CA: Warwick Press, 1987.

★1628 ★

Michael Teachings

PO Box 5459
Lacey, WA 98509-5459

"Michael," a disembodied reunited entity, first manifested in 1970 during a dinner party in the home of Walter and Jessica Lansing, a couple living in the San Francisco Bay area. The couple was playing with a ouija board when a simple message appeared, "We are here with you tonight." When inquiry was made as to the identification of the "we," the response received was "Each soul is part of a larger body, an entity. Each entity is made up of about one thousand souls, each of which enters the physical plane as many times as necessary to experience all aspects of life and achieve human understanding. At the end of the cycles on the physical plane, the fragments once again reunite as we have reunited." Michael went on to indicate that he/they comprised an ancient entity that would come to those who requested valid assistance and instruct them in the nature of human evolvement.

Michael described a universe created by evolution from the Tao into seven planes of existence (buddhaic, messianic, mental, akaskic, causal, astral, and physical) similar to the Gnostic/ theosophical understanding. Michael resides on the causal plane. He/they call attention to the individual's personal life plan with particular emphasis upon aspects of choice. Understanding is centered upon agape, an all-embracing and selfless love.

The Lansings and their guests, Craig and Emily Wright, stayed at the board for the next five hours that first night. They were joined on subsequent occasions by Lucy North (the group's typist) and Leah and Arnold Harris. During the first six months the group steadily grew until it numbered around thirty members. In 1978, popular novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, who had long been a part of the group, took the material that had accumulated over the eight years of its existence and edited the book Messages from Michael (1979), which first brought widespread public attention to the Michael teachings. The initial group has remained together, and continuies to meet twice monthly. Yarbro has edited three subsequent volumes that expand upon the teachings.

Membership: There is one group of some thirty people who meet regularly to receive the messages. The much larger number of those who have received and found guidance from the teachings, especially since the publication of Yarbro's books, are unnumbered.

Sources:

Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. Messages from Michael. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1979.

——. Michael for the Millennium. New York: Berkley Books, 1995.

——. Michael's People. New York: Berkley Books, 1988.

——. More Messages from Michael. New York: Berkley Books, 1986.

★1629 ★

Morse Fellowship

(Defunct)

The Morse Fellowship was founded in 1959 by Louise Morse of Silver Springs, Maryland, and was named for Elwood Morse, her husband, who had died the year before. In 1961, the headquarters were moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico. Mrs. Morse began to travel, teach and publish lessons, mostly of material which had been channeled through her. In 1967, she met and married James Spence and, in 1968, they moved to Richardson, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). Two years prior to the founding of the Fellowship, Mrs. Morse had begun to publish the lessons.

The "Portals of Light" was the name given to the ministry of Mrs. Morse, who was seen as a channel for the Holy Spirit. Her ministry was also seen as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy concerning the last days when the spirit of truth would be poured out on all flesh. The whole range of psychic issues has been dealt with in the lessons given by the celestial teachers. The teachers, who have spoken through Mrs. Morse while she was in trance, were never identified, but were of both sexes.

According to the teachings, man had come forth from the God nature. The disobedience in the Garden of Eden had allowed sin to enter the race, for, through disobedience, the consciousness was lowered. The race entered the kingdom of Satan. In Jesus, man is given the chance to enter God's kingdom through obedience. By consciously identifying with Jesus, man is drawn back into the nature of God. The way back is through love. The reorientation to God's will allows one to become aware of the still, small voice within. As this voice becomes clearer and one follows it, one will be moving closer to God's will.

Mrs. Morse gave weekly trance sessions with a more or less stable group of sitters from the 1950s into the 1970s. The lessons are made available on tape and in printed form. By 1968, approximately 250 persons were receiving the lessons regularly. During the last years of her work, Morse was able to receive messages from the spirit world without going into trance.

Sources:

The Living Water. Richardson, TX: Morse Fellowship, 1970.

★1630 ★

New Age Teachings

Current address not obtained for this edition.

New Age Teachings was established in 1967 in Brookfield, Massachusetts, by Anita Afton (b. 1922), better known as Illiana, the name she uses as a channel. Illiana is referred to as the "soul which is in this body." In the beginning of her work as a channel, she reports, entities from a planet called Jamal spoke through her, but after a few years, as her own consciousness was "uplifted", the "I AM THAT I AM" was and remains the only voice that speaks through her.

Illiana had become influenced by Eastern philosophy while attending a Unitarian Church. She later joined the Self-Realization Fellowship of Paramahansa Yogananda (discussed in the chapter on Hinduism) and went through the entire set of lessons in Kriya Yoga. She learned of her past lives in India and how to meditate. In 1965, while in meditation, she received her first message as a channel. It was a rather mundane message concerning a lecture topic. A second, later message was a complicated code-like message drawn from several languages. Messages began to be received regularly from then on.

At the request of the cosmic being who issued messages through her, Illiana began to publish regular bulletins. They carry the messages from the cosmic hierarchy, the "I AM THAT I AM," which emphasizes the increasing Light coming into earth as a result of the New Age vibrations being poured forth upon the planet.

From the headquarters in Massachusetts, the bulletin and other publications are mailed to followers across the United States and around the world to every continent. Some members have formed study groups and centers from which the bulletins can be circulated locally. The bulletin is considered a "Universal Organ for World Upliftment though study and spiritual understanding." In 1976, a Spanish edition of the bulletin appeared and segments of the messages are regularly translated into several languages. Headquarters for the Spanish-language work are in Houston, Texas.

In the mid-1980s, a music ministry was begun. It is believed that music is a Universal Vibrational Aspect of the LIGHT and can assist in bringing people "in tune" with their higher selves. Each person, it is believed, has his or her own keynote, which, when sounded, brings harmony, peace, and openness. Individuals using the ministry receive a chart, a cassette tape of a complete life song, and a composition based upon the life song channeled by Illiana. The chart is based upon the person's birth data and birth name.

Membership: As of 1992, approximately 2,000 people in the United States received New Age Teachings. There are 30 study groups who use the material channeled by Illiana. It is mailed to some 3,500 followers in 35 countries around the world.

Periodicals: New Age Teachings.

★1631 ★

Open Channel Resources, Unlimited

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Open Channel Resources, Unlimited is the organization that facilitates the channelling work of Katar Schoenstadt, a channel of various ascended masters, collectively referred to as the Guides. The primary entities who speak through her include Tsen Tsing of the Council, Ariana, the Goddess of Truth, Clark, Seth, and Favor. They bring a message of the basic divinity of each human being. In the sessions students are linked to a network of energies that allow the acceleration of the individual's growth as limiting ideas and other blockages are removed. Ariana, the goddess of Truth, provides special contact with feminine energies.

Katar began channeling in the early 1970s and developed into a full body trance medium. During sessions her consciousness departs and the various entities speak through her. She is assisted by her husband Darryl Schoenstadt, who conducts the channeling sessions, leads students in discussions of the Guides' teachings, and assists in sharing their techniques for personal development. Primary in the techniques are the mastery of breath and the "Sword of truth," that each person carries in their hand "to cut the strings of attachment that cause us to feel separate from our Creation."

Open Channel Resources, Unlimited offers a wide variety of classes and "playshops" and personal sessions at which individuals may talk with the Guides. Cassette tapes of the Guides' teachings are also available.

Periodicals: Open Channel-A Journal with Spirit.

★1632 ★

Organization of Awareness (Calgary)

(Defunct)

In 1967 the Organization of Awareness which had formed in the early 1960s splintered when its main leader and spiritual channel, William Ralph Duby, died. Three branches retained the name of the original group, among them a small group in Calgary, Alberta headed by Nick Chwelos. It survived into the 1970s.

★1633 ★

Organization of Awareness (Federal Way)

(Defunct)

The Organization of Awareness (Federal Way) was one of several groups which splintered from the original Organization of Awareness after the death of its leader and spiritual channel, William Ralph Duby, in 1967. This branch was headed by Frances Marcx and headquartered in Federal Way, Washington. It was a small body which survived into the 1970s.

★1634 ★

Organization of Awareness (Olympia)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

One of several splinters of the original Organization of Awareness formed in the early 1960s (see Cosmic Awareness Communications which retained the name under which the organization operated until the death of its main spiritual channel, William Ralph Duby). In 1967, this branch was formed and headed by David DeMoulin. It was a small group headquartered in Olympia, Washington. It survived into the 1970s.

★1635 ★

Radiant School of Seekers and Servers

(Defunct)

The Radiant School of Seekers and Servers was founded in 1963 by a small group led by Kenneth Wheeler at Mt. Shasta, California. The mystic mountain had brought them together the previous year and, as a group, they moved to the village at the mountain's base. In the 1890s, an entity, Phylos the Tibetan, had begun to speak through Frederick Spencer Oliver, his amanuensis. The material by Phylos was collected into a book, A Dweller on Two Planets, published in 1899. It described the existence of a mystic brotherhood of survivors of Atlantis, who live inside the mountain. The existence of Phylos was further highlighted in 1940 by the appearance of An Earth Dweller Returns, a second book by Phylos. The Radiant School began channeling from Phylos in 1963 and offered to its members the material from Phylos in lesson form.

The material advocated belief in God's divine plan, which is for all and enwrapped in the "folds of every life pattern." Every life pattern is interwoven in a great universal pattern. Each person is expected to unfold his plan in full. There is opportunity to meet all others with whom we have interfered and created karma. Each divine plan includes the rights to health, happiness and prosperity.

Man resides in his physical body as a "Temple" and the Temple is the means of contacting the higher self. The self is overshadowed by angels and is thus never alone. Prayer is the expression of desires. Abundance comes in longing to know the great love of God. To be patient, willing, forgiving and enduring is the key to the soul's progress of perfection.

Headquarters of the Radiant School were in Mt. Shasta, California. The School was run by a six-person board of directors, a president, bishop and assistant bishop. Members received monthly lessons from Phylos. The school disbanded in the early 1980s.

Sources:

Phylos the Tibetan [Frederick Spencer Oliver]. A Dweller on Two Planets.

Los Angeles: Borden Publishing Co., 1899.

Van Valer, Nola. My Meeting with the Masters on Mount Shasta. Mount Shasta, CA: Radiant School, 1982.

★1636 ★

Ramtha's School of Enlightenment (RSE)

Box 519
Yelm, WA 98587

JZ Knight, born Judith Darlene Hampton, founded Ramtha's School of Enlightenment (RSE) in May 1988. Born in 1946, she was living in Tacoma, Washington, when she first encountered Ramtha in February 1977. In her autobiography, A State of Mind, My Story, she describes a "giant man at the other end of my kitchen … just standing there, aglow. His face … it was the most beautiful face I had ever seen … eyes that shone like ebony stones with copper flashes … skin, if that's what it was, the coloring of olive, bronze, illuminated, and a fine chiseled nose and a broad jawline and a smile that would rival any Hollywood star's."

"You are so beautiful. Who are you?" she asked. "I am Ramtha the Enlightened One. I have come to help you over the ditch. Beloved woman, the greatest of things are achieved with a light heart. It is the ditch of limitation and fear that I will help you over."

In the months that followed, Ramtha continued to appear to her and teach her. Eventually, he began to "channel," through her, i.e., take over the body of JZ Knight to deliver his message. According to RSE, this phenomena of channelling was tested in 1996 by a panel of twelve scholars composed of scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and religious experts, who utilized the most current technology to observe JZ Knight before, during, and after channeling Ramtha. They concluded that the readings taken from JZ Knight's autonomic nervous system responses were so dramatic that they categorically ruled out any possibility of conscious fakery, schizophrenia, or multiple-personality disorders.

The physical body and the material world, in Ramtha's thought, are only one aspect of the real world; in fact, they are only the product and effect of the real world constituted by consciousness and energy. The human person is best described as consciousness and energy creating the nature or reality. Ramtha uses the concept of the observer effect from quantum physics to explain his concept of consciousness and energy. He also uses the concept of God as creator and sovereign to describe the human person as consciousness and energy.

Ramtha himself is the embodiment of the philosophy, explaining that he is an immortal God, consciousness and energy, and that he lived once as a human being 35,000 years ago in the longgone continent of Lemuria. He grew up amont the Lemurians, then a despised minority living at Onai, the port city of Atlatia (Atlantis). He hated the dominant atlatians and eventually left the city and led a successful revolution against them.

He emerged as a powerful warrior/conqueror but his career was interrupted by a would-be assassin's sword which almost killed him. During his recovery, he had time to contemplate the unknown God initially manifest in the life force all around him and wondered what it would be like to be the unknown God. He was led to consider the wind, the powerful unseen force free of boundaries, limits, or form. After several years of contemplation of the wind, he discovered the ability to separate his consciousness from his body. Further contemplation led to further change; he was able to become one with light and to change his entire body. Eventually he ascended with his body into a new level of existence. In his lifetime he addressed the questions about human existence and the meaning of life, and through his own observation, reflection, and contemplation he became enlightened and conquered the physical world and death.

Beliefs and Practices. Ramtha's teachings derived from the Gnostic tradition that began with such ancient teachers as Valentinus and Plotinus amd were continued through modern movements such as Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and Theosophy. According to Ramtha, what we know as the universe originated in a sea of pure potentiality called the Void.

The Void is the source from which all that exists sprang. He describes the Void as "one vast nothing materially, yet all things potentially." The Void is self contained, self-sufficient, in a state of rest, and of no need. In its original state, this all-encompassing vastness contains no knowledge of itself, for knowledge is an action. The concept of God as creator and "first cause" is described by Ramtha in terms of the Void contemplating itself and knowing itself. This act of contemplation represents a unique movement in the Void that produced a point of awareness, referred to as Point Zero, the observer, primary consciousness, consciousness and energy, and God. Point Zero carries the primordial intent to make known and experience all that is unknown and in a state of potentiality within the vastness of the Void.

Between the two points appeared space and time. In the atmosphere resulting from the separation a flux emerged in which could be found the original particles of energy; the universe was created from the particles of energy (analogous to sub atomic particles). Existence was then characterized by the very high frequency at which the points of awareness (entities) and the particles of energy vibrated. At some point, desiring to explore the Void further, the points of awareness move further away from Point Zero. That movement led to the formation of a second level of existence characterized by the slowing of the frequency at which the points of awareness and the particles of energy vibrated. In a similar fashion, five additional levels were formed, each characterized by an increasingly slower rate of frequency. The universe which resulted from the entities following their original directive can be pictured as a triangle with Point Zero at the top. Once some entities came to the first level, they began the process of creation and evolution which has resulted over the millions of years in our present existence as human beings on Earth. The present gross material existence is at the first level along the bottom, the slowest level of frequency. This is the basis for evolution.

The four cornerstones of Ramtha's philosophy are the concept of the Void, consciousness and energy creating seven levels of reality, the statement "You are God," and the mandate to make known the unknown. Many traces of Ramtha's thought are found in ancient traditions, though usually in faint echos that have barely survived the passing of time and loss of the appropriate context for interpretation.

Ramtha considers the teachings concerning the creation of the world, the evolution of humanity, and the understanding of humans as gods who have forgotten their origin, as mere "philosophy." The adoption of that philosophy is a precondition to masters (students) recovering their divine status, however, change occurs as the philosophy is turned into truth. Truth is apprehended when the philosophy is experienced and believed. That is accomplished through the practice of the several spiritual practice at the school is termed Consiousness & Energy (C&E). Various additional disciplines provide a means of practicing C&E in different settings with specific goals to be accomplished as a means of training the self in the new reality being proposed by Ramtha.

Organization. People interested in the program at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment are shown a 1998 video recording entitled Creating Personal Reality, after which they decide whether they want to continue training. The next step is to complete an introductory retreat for one week. They are then incorporated into the general body of the school, and are asked to participate in a general retreat and a follow-up every year in order to retain their status in the school and participate in its ongoing program and activities and workshops.

RSE's Internet address is http://www.ramtha.com.

Membership: School records from the year 2002 show that there were approximately 3,500 current students worldwide. Half of this student body resides close to the school campus in the Pacific Northwest. An annual world tour that has visited Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Mexico has resulted in foreign students in more than 40 cities in 17 countries being supported in their continuing learning through regular showings of current events with Ramtha videotaped at the school in Yelm.

Periodicals: Windworks…Ideas for Awakening Masters. Send orders to Box 576, Rainier, WA 98576.

Remarks: During the early years of the school, Knight experienced a period of intense criticism, much of it directed at her channeling, an activity considered by many as inherently questionable. Some within the New Age movement, unaware of what was occurring within the school, suggested that Knight's withdrawal from the public spotlight signaled a change of focus toward a darker apocalyptic future. However, as she has again become relatively public, that image has been gradually dissipated. Also in the 1980s, Knights love of horses led her to begin a business of raising and selling Arabian horses. The business prospered until at one point in the mid-1980s, the Arabian horse market fell apart and the business went bankrupt. Knight was plunged into debt and a number of students who had invested in the business lost their investments; many had done so with an understanding that Ramtha had approved and sanctioned their investment. As Knight recovered financially, she offered to pay back all of the students (as well as the other investors) any money they had lost; while some refused her offer, she eventually returned the investment to all who accepted it.

Sources:

Kerins, Deborah, ed. The Spinner of Tales: A Collection of Stories as Told by Ramtha. Yelm, WA: New Horizon Publishing Co., 1991.

Knight, J. Z. A State of Mind. New York: Warner Books, 1987.

MacLaine, Shirley. Dancing in the Light. New York: Bantam Books, 1985.

—— (as Ramtha). I Am Ramtha. Ed. by Cindy Black, Richard Cohn, Greg Simmons, and Wes Walt. Portland, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, 1986.

Melton, J. Gordon. End Enlightenment: Ramtha's School of Ancient Wisdom. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, 1988. 216 pp.

Weinberg, Steven L., ed. Ramtha. Eastsound, WA: Sovereignty, 1986.

——. Ramtha: An Introduction. Eastsound, WA: Sovereignty, 1988.

★1637 ★

Robin's Return

1008 Lamberton St., NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505

Dorothy and Ray Davis founded Robin's Return from their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the mid-1960s, they began to receive messages from Paramahansa Yogananda (discussed in the chapter on Hindus). At the time, they did not know who Yogananda was. Then, in 1965, Robin, Dorothy Davis' son by a previous marriage, was killed when his bomber was shot down over Vietnam. After his death, both Ray and Dorothy began to receive messages from him, as well as from Yogananda and other masters. They gathered the messages together and began to publish them, first as a booklet entitled Robin's Return and then in a newsletter sent to a contact across the United States. During the last six months of 1966, Chimes, the Spiritualist magazine, ran a series of articles by the Davises on their experiences. Reader response led to the establishment of a national network of people who receive the Davis material. Though many of the early messages were from Robin, over the years the majority came from master spiritual teachers and a divine Spirit usually referred to as "I AM."

According to the Davises, light and love are the basic reality of the universe. The soul is evolving toward God through a series of incarnations in which the attempt is made to raise the vibrations of the soul. As one moves in the light of God, one is growing spiritually. Death is the gateway to a new sphere of light. Love is a means of raising one's vibrations, thus creating a channel of communication with the masters. The purpose of life is to become a living expression of love. Growth through the light and love are the essence of the great plan of the universe. Although Ray died in 1976, Dorothy continues spreading their beliefs.

The Davises have been close friends of Nellie Cain of the Spiritual Research Society and Illiana of New Age Teachings (discussed elsewhere in this chapter), and have moved freely in the Universal Link circles.

Membership: Several hundred people receive mailings from the Davis home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

★1638 ★

School of Natural Science

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The School of Natural Science is an organization of men and women devoted to the study and application of natural laws as these operate in all realms of life. The general purpose is to conduct education along moral, ethical, and spiritual lines, the basis of which is outlined in text books known as the Harmonic Series, written by John E. Richardson. Its specific purpose is to help individuals live in harmony with the Constructive Principles of Nature, thereby attaining self-unfoldment, self-mastery, and resultant health and peace. By achieving these goals, people become, in turn, wholesome units in the aggregate of individuals who comprise nations. The School of Natural Science makes no charge for its instruction–it is a Gift to those deemed qualified to receive it.

The School of Natural Science teaches that the Universal Intelligence is revealed through his immutable laws, that nature is engaged in the evolvement of individual intelligences, that nature impels individuals to higher levels of consciousness, that the soul is immortal and passes successively into physical and spiritual bodies, that man's free will works within a law of compensation (karma), that willing conformity to the laws of nature leads to selfmastery, poise and happiness, and that by living the laws of nature, people come to know instinctively that spiritual reality exists and that life continues after death. Correspondence courses based upon these teachings are offered to students.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Life In Action.

Remarks: The School of Natural Science was established in Stockton, California, in 1883 by John E. Richardson, a practicing attorney. According to Richardson, in the summer of 1883, he was encountered by a stranger at the Grand Central Hotel in Stockton. He had been drawn by a voice telling him, "There is someone at the hotel who wants to see you." The stranger, who identified himself as Hoo-Kna-Ka, told Richardson that he had known him all his life and had come over continents and oceans to see him. He described Richardson's spiritual journey from Baptist to Spiritualist to the decision that both hypnotism and mediumship were the results of the same destructive process. Hoo-Kna-Ka then invited Richardson to become an initiate of the School of the Master, headquartered in India, on the condition that he would begin an education movement of that school in the Western world. He was taught by Hoo-Kna-Ka without pay, and was instructed always to give the teachings as a gift: "By an endless chain of Gifts shall the Great Work be established."

In 1894 Richardson (popularly known as "TK") moved to Chicago and associated himself with Mrs. Florence Huntley. In 1907 he founded the Indo-American Book Company which became the publishing arm of the "Great Work," the name of the movement that spread Hoo-Kna-Ka's teachings. The company issued the Harmonic Series, still the basic teaching materials of the School of Natural Science. In 1916, after what was termed "certain disclosures," (which included charges of financial mismanagement), TK withdrew from the School in Chicago and the Great Work, and moved to California. In California, he reestablished the School and continued to teach and publish his books.

Sources:

Leech, W. Stuart. The Great Crystal Fraud or the Great P.J.. Chicago: Occult Publishing Company, 1926.

Richardson, J. E. The Great Message. Great School of Natural Science, 1950.

——. The Great Work. Chicago: Indo-American Book Co., 1907.

——. Who Answers Prayer?. Great School of Natural Science, 1954.

West, Sylvester A. TK and the Great Work in America. Chicago: The Author, 1918.

★1639 ★

Servants of Awareness

(Defunct)

In 1967, following the death of William Ralph Duby, the Servants of Cosmic Awareness (see Cosmic Awareness Communications) split into several groups. The Servants of Awareness was formed by David E. Worcester and was headquartered in Seattle. It continued into the 1970s with several groups around the United States, but has not been heard from in the 1980s. It is presumed defunct.

★1640 ★

Seth-Hermes Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Seth is a spirit entity originally channelled through Jane Roberts, a New York housewife. Her channeled material, which appeared in a host of books beginning with the 1966 volume, How to Develop Your ESP, stood at the fountainhead of the modern New Age movement in America, and is generally seen as one beginning point of modern channeling (mediumship). Among the people who responded to Seth was Thomas Massari. As early as 1972, Massari also began to channel Seth. Born and raised in Chicago, Massari moved to Los Angeles as a musician. A short time later, unplanned, he began to channel.

Seth first began to speak through Massari in 1972, but Massari eventually came to understand that prior to this incarnation he had made an agreement with Seth to be his voice. During the mid 1970s he taught in the ESP school managed by his sister in Milwaukee, and then founded his own organization, The Parapsychology Center. He moved back to Los Angeles in 1977 and in 1981 formed the Seth-Hermes Foundation. Through the foundation, individuals can relate to Seth who gives lectures and classes, leads retreats, and makes himself available for private consultations. A monthly mastery class is held for advanced students.

The Seth-Hermes Foundation views itself as dealing with the realities people create for themselves. It contends that most people simply create a world without knowing what they are doing or taking responsibility for it. Seth calls attention to the potentials humans possess for creating their world and the need to take action to make that world as positive as possible.

Membership: Not reported.

★1641 ★

Seth Network International

Box 1620
Eugene, OR 97440

Seth Network International is a network of people who follow and promote the teachings articulated by "Seth," a spirit entity who spoke (was channeled) through Jane Roberts (Mrs. Robert Butts). The network was founded in 1979 as the Austin Seth Center by Dr. Maude Caldwell. Following her death in 1992, the headquarters were moved to Eugene, Oregon, and the present name was adopted. The network is currently headed by Lynda Dahl.

Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence." Jane Roberts Butts (1929–1984) was a housewife and writer who began her life as a channel following some experiments with a ouija board in 1963. Seth first spoke through the board, and as often occurs, was soon speaking through an entranced Roberts, whose husband taped the sessions. Three years later, the first of what would become 22 books appeared based upon Seth's words, How to Develop Your ESP Power (1966), later retitled The Coming of Seth (1976). In these and the later books, Seth taught a metaphysical system that emphasized some basic ideas including the following: People form their experience through their thoughts, feelings, expectations, and focus; each individual is a multidimensional whole; together, human beings are cooperating in forming our present reality.

The network has as its goal the bringing of the Seth ideas into the mainstream of global consciousness. It hosts an annual conference, SethNet, which centers upon the reform of world society in a manner discussed in Roberts' book, Psychic Politics (1976). Human Journeys is a project to make Seth's teachings available in countries where the books are not yet distributed and in languages into which they have not yet been translated.

Membership: Not reported. As of 1993 members are found in 17 countries.

Periodicals: Reality Change: The Global Seth Journal.

Sources:

Melton, J. Gordon. Religious Leaders of America. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991.

Roberts, Jane. Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

——. Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment: A Seth Book. 2 vols. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986.

——. The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981.

——. How to Develop Your ESP Power. New York: Frederick Fell, 1966. Rept. as: The Coming of Seth. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.

——. Seth, Dreams and Projection of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing, 1986.

——. The Seth Material. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970.

——. Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

——. The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974.

Watkins, Susan. Conversations with Seth: The Story of Jane Roberts's ESP Class. 2 vols. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980-81.

★1642 ★

Sisters of the Amber

(Defunct)

As the message of the Universal Link spread in the United States, a number of informal centers developed. Some evolved into independent teaching organizations built around a single teacher-spiritual channel-writer, which published independently, though the teachings remained similar to those of the Universal Link. During the 1970s, the name most connected with the Universal Link operation in North America was Merta Mary Parkinson (d. 1983). Parkinson was, like Liebie Pugh, the British leader of the Link, a journalist and writer and, because of her interest in metaphysics, became an early devotee of the Link.

Parkinson created two more-or-less informal organizations to tie together students. The more general audience received material from the Dena Foundation. Many of the women were brought together as the Sisters of the Amber. Ms. Parkinson became intrigued with amber after a friend asked help in locating some for healing purposes. The Sisters are linked to each other by their dedication to loving service to each other and by the amber each has been given by Ms. Parkinson. She was directed by inner light to begin the work.

★1643 ★

SOL Association for Research

Box 2276
North Canton, OH 44720

The SOL Association for Research (SOLAR) is dedicated to preserving and disseminating the spiritual insights gained through the deep catatonic trances of psychic William Allen LePar. Paranormally gifted since childhood, LePar shunned these abilities until his early 30s, when he began to enter into periods of trance, at first involuntarily. In 1974 SOL was founded, and in the early 1980s was expanded to SOLAR.

While LePar is in the deep trance state, a voice identified as a union of 12 souls known as The Council speak through him. Considered especially significant in this situation is the exalted level of growth reached by those on The Council. They reportedly speak from the "Celestial Level of the God-Made Heavenly Realms," and they state that this is the only time in history that humanity has been directly contacted by beings in the God-Made Realms. More than 1.25 million words of dialogue with The Council have been recorded, covering virtually all areas of the human condition. This material constitutes one of the most extensive bodies of psychically derived (channeled) material available to mankind.

SOL, non-profit and tax exempt, offers a membership program with a lending library and a quarterly newsletter. Monthly meetings are held in Canton, Ohio, and LePar and SOL associates are available for lectures, presentations, interviews, etc. As of 1995, the organization had produced a dozen books, two video documentaries, and numerous audio tapes. SOLAR has several hundred members in the United States and in several foreign countries.

Membership: In 1995, SOL reported several hundred members in the United States.

Periodicals: SOLAR Newsletter of the SOL Association for Research.

★1644 ★

Spiritual Education Endeavors–The Share Foundation

1556 Halford Ave., No. 288
Santa Clara, CA 95051

Spiritual Education Endeavors (S.E.E.)–The Share Foundation was founded in the mid-1980s by Virginia Essene. In 1984 Essene had allegedly been contacted by The Christ, the same entity who had walked the earth almost 2,000 years ago as Jesus, and she was asked to be the instrument through which he brought his present message to humanity. She worked intensively over a six-month period in 1985 to receive his message via mental telepathy and produced what became a book, New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity, published in 1986.

In the book, The Christ issued a warning that failure to acknowledge God in our lives had given humankind a war-like mentality that threatened not only grave harm to the planet but posed the threat that weapons would be taken into outer space. He called for a new peace consciousness and called upon all to join together as light workers in a Light Corps to work for peace on earth. He was placing his Christ energy at humanity's disposal in this endeavor.

The Christ was also preparing for his Second Coming and a new Golden Age. By the end of this century, every loving soul would be given the opportunity to achieve self-mastery. Light workers were to choose a spiritual path that forewent all desire for war and hatred. To bring about this reality, The Christ proposed that each light worker meditate daily and gather with a group to meditate at least once a week. He also called upon people to join with others in efforts to influence governments to embody peace in all they did and intended.

Spiritual Education Endeavors was formed to help mobilize and organize the Light Corps, which could respond positively to Christ's call. It published New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity and through the Light Corps has sought to distribute it internationally. Especially for those just beginning in the work, a Newsletter was issued nine times annually. Since that time Essene has regularly received messages expanding upon the original words from The Christ and commenting upon ongoing earth changes. These messages have been published in several subsequent books and released in seminars. The period from 1987 to the mid 1990s has been designated a period of the awakening of humanity to the new age that is dawning. Shortly after beginning her work, Essene was joined by Ann Valentin who also channels from the Light realm.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Newsletter.

Sources:

The Christ (through Virginia Essene). New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1986. 197 pp.

Essene, Virginia. Secret Truths for Teens & Twenties. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1986. 120 pp.

Valentin, Ann, and Virginia Essene. Cosmic Revelation. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1987. 160 pp.

——. Descent of the Dove. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1988. 185 pp.

★1645 ★

Spiritual Research Society

(Defunct)

Edwin Cain, Sr., was the son of a Spiritualist medium. Shortly after their marriage, he and his wife, Nellie Cain recognized some spirit rappings (rhythmic noises made by spirits to communicate messages), which led to a "developing circle" and the emergence of Mr. Cain's mediumship in the early 1940s. Mrs. Cain also began to develop and to contact a group of Masters from the White Brotherhood (spirits who were once human and who, after death, evolved to levels of spiritual excellence and teach humans about spiritual reality). She was accepted by them as a novice and was presented with the robe of the initiate. The Cains founded the Spiritual Research Society, which evolved from the original circle.

The teachings, which came through the Masters, are based upon the evolution and progression of life and of the soul. The universe is organized on an upward spiral from electronic and mineral to vegetable, animal and human, to Christ-Buddhic or divine. The levels are likened to the rising frequency of the musical scale. The soul also evolves to higher levels of consciousness. The universe is organized on seven-fold structures and according to the universal laws of vibration, correspondence, cause and effect, rhythm, polarity and gender.

Following the publication of the first book on the Masters, a copy was sent to Merta Mary Parkinson of the Sisters of the Amber and an American representative of the Universal Link. Parkinson then forwarded a copy to Liebie Pugh, of the Universal Link in England. Subsequent correspondence brought the Cains into close association with Parkinson and Pugh. They were both disappointed by the nonoccurrence of the momentous event predicted for Christmas, 1967. They soon came to view the period since then as a time of great siftings in every area of man's life, a time of renewal and reevaluation and spiritual discoveries. In 1971, they received a message that the Linking had been completed on the outer levels, and the work now is one of radiating light in a collective "Nuclear Evolution" Operation.

Sources:

Cain, Nellie B. Exploring the Mysteries of Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Spiritual Research Society, 1972.

——. Gems of Truth from the Masters. Grand Rapids, MI: Spiritual Research Society, 1965.

★1646 ★

Star of Isis Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Star of Isis Foundation is a mystery school established in the 1980s by Christine Hayes, better known by her spiritual name, Chrystine StarEagle. Hayes is a channel and the Foundation is built upon the material she has channelled and continues to channel on a regular basis. The Foundation is built around the ancient myth of Isis retrieving the body parts of her slain and mutilated husband, Osiris, recast in the light of present planetary transformations. The purpose of the Star of Isis Foundation is to lead individuals in the "gathering" of the parts of their self into a whole entity/ consciousness that leads to a future resurrection of the archetypical Logos/Mind. Through this assemblage, the souls of people can ascend in a Phoenix-like flame, emancipated from earth, and reborn in a realm of Light and Air.

The Foundation initiates individuals into a specific form of meditation (termed Matrix) and teaches the initiate to tap the source of personal co-creative power. The foundation expounds the way to access the ancient archetypes of our spiritual-genetic memories that leads to the premise that all goodness comes from God and that God is found within (not outside) ourselves.

Chrystine StarEagle has channelled one volume, Magi from the Blue Star, from Elvis Presley. This book recounts Presley's past incarnation and his spiritual journey since the end of his earthly life. The volume also recounts his conversations with long-time friend Wanda June Hill and includes stories of his extraordinary effect upon people who knew him.

Membership: The foundation has one center, the Church of the Johannine Origin, in San Antonio, Texas, and in 1992 reported approximately 50 members.

Periodicals: Temple Doors Doctrine of Mysteries.

★1647 ★

Trilite Seminars

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Trilite Seminars is an organization that facilitates the work of a channel known as Shaari. Shaari is described as a walk-in, that is a soul that moved into the body of a person who had decided to leave their body. The personality who inhabited Shaari's present body before the walk-in took place had been a trance medium who channeled two entities named Abraham and Malaya. Shaari continues to channel these two entities.

Shaari describes herself as an extraterrestrial entity from Star Command who has a conscious memory of interdimensional and universal knowledge. She also operates as a "holographic" healer. She integrated into the body of the former trance medium in 1989 after that person had requested to leave her body following and automobile accident. Shaari now works to understand the complexities of communication between humans and the Star Command.

Abraham, whom Shaari channels, is described as a member of the Light Brotherhood and the Intergalactic Command whose teachings provide a practical understanding of individuals as dynamic beings in the Universe. Malaya, a feminine entity, brings forth a New Ray of Consciousness, and assists individuals in integrating the new information into their lives. Together, Shaari, Abraham, and Malaya form the triad of the Trilite Seminars.

Shaari holds regular workshops around the United States and Canada, triennial four-day retreats, and private sessions with individuals. Once or twice a year she offers sacred journeys to places considered power sacred sights such as the pyramids in Egypt or Machu Picchu, the Incan center in Peru. These journeys have a twin focus on healing the planet and individual growth.

Membership: Not reported.

★1648 ★

Trinity Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Trinity Foundation was founded in 1991 by Norma J. Milanovich, a channel who in 1981 had begun receiving messages from entities who identified themselves as originating from the Great White Brotherhood (the spiritual hierarchy that guides the affairs of the planet) and the Galactic Command, a group that rules this segment of space. Those who began to give messages to Milanovich bore names familiar to theosophists and those who were familiar with the world of flying saucers and the New Age– Kuthumi, Moinka, and Soltec. Much of this material was circulated informally, but a growing response led to the publishing of selected portions received from some entities who claimed to have visited earth from the star system of Arcturus. We, the Acturians, appeared in 1990. At about the same time, Milanovich was invited to share the material from the masters with the members of the United Nations Parapsychology subcommittee. These two events occasioned the inauguration of a newsletter, Celestial Voices, in October 1990.

Kuthumi, a representative of the Tribunal Council of the Space Command, has emerged as the major voice speaking through Milanovich. He delivered the first message to the United Nations Parapsychology Committee. He noted that the Space Command had made themselves available to assist humanity in transforming the earth into a world of peace and prosperity for all. The Space Command is composed of individuals who have completed their journey through earth incarnations and have learned the curriculum earth had to teach. They now exist at a higher frequency and now seek to bring the Light to the earth.

In subsequent messages, Kuthumi outlined his vision of coming changes. During the next 20 years (1991-2011) earth will be birthed into a star and individuals will emerge from the three dimensional world in which we now live into the fifth dimension. To prepare for this change, Kuthumi released a Curriculum of Thought manifestation, containing the material that must be mastered for entry into the fifth dimension. This world is composed of solidified energy perceived through the five senses. To move to the fifth dimension, one must first accept the possibility that other realities synchronized with the physical world exist and can be perceived as one raises their consciousness.

Also, one must learn that we create reality. Reality is created by thoughts, will, emotion, and actions. The path to higher consciousness is one of choosing right thought, right will, right emotion, and right action. As one changes consciousness, one changes reality. Consciousness creates with Light energy. Light is found by looking within.

On September 24, 1991, Kuthumi delivered an important message. He made public a project he had initiated two years previously, The Templar. It was imbedded in an understanding of the earth as an energy system with certain power points similar to the chakras in the tantric understanding of the human body. The United States represents the crown chakra at the top of the head. The crown chakra is being prepared to receive the energies from the Most High. The point of the earth that will actually receive the new energies is in process of being prepared to receive a structure known as the Templar. The Templar is designed to realign earth with the heavens and to stabilize it as it moves through the transition. The Templar will be a pyramid with a base of approximately 500 square feet and a height of 450 feet. Its face will be pink granite and its capstone will be obsidian. It will be surrounded by a sixsided wall.

Milanovich founded the Trinity Foundation to support the building of the Templar. Shortly thereafter, the foundation received a grant of land at Crestone, Colorado, upon which to build the pyramid. The proposed structure has become a major item of controversy in the small community. Meanwhile, Milanovich has published several other books detailing the Masters messages: Sacred Journey to Atlantis and Many Paths, One Way.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Celestial Voices.

★1649 ★

Universal Association of Faithists

℅ Pahspe Publishingq
6115 LaSalle Ave., Ste. 215
Oakland, CA 94611

John Ballou Newbrough (1828-1891) was a Spiritualist medium. In 1881, he received by automatic writing on a typewriter a revelation published under the title Oahspe. He rose early each morning for 50 weeks and, as the "lines of light" rested on his hands, he typed for an hour. The first edition of the resultant book was published in September 1882. The next year a convention was held in New York City to work toward founding a communal group to care for orphans and foundlings, as directed in Oahspe. A colony was founded in New Mexico, but failed after only a couple of years. Since that time, small bands of followers have kept Oahspe in print. The recently published Inside the Shalam Colony (1991) by Elnora Wiley is a partly romantic, partly historical account of the original colony.

Oahspe is a large volume, written in the style of the King James version of the Bible. It contains the story of human creation about 78,000 years ago and the upward struggle of the race. Humanity originated on Pan, a Pacific continent much like Lemuria, which was the sole victim of the Biblical flood. Religion evolved through 11 prophets, beginning with Zarathustra and continuing through Joshu (Jesus). All religion and effort have been guided by angelic forces toward the Kosmon Era. During this era, which began in the nineteenth century, a new people will emerge, and will transform the world into a place of joy and beauty.

Over the decades, a wide variety of Faithist groups have emerged and disappeared. The movement is sustained through a number of independent groups who stay in touch through several informal networks and periodicals. The most active center is the Universal Faithists of Kosmon (a church). Its headquarters is in Riverton, Utah, with affiliated centers in Colorado, Utah, California, and West Virginia. It publishes a newsletter, Kosmon Voice. The Faithists also sponsor a committee, the Global Council, which carries out various projects suggested and inspirited by Oahspe, and holds an annual conference. The leaders of the committee meet monthly through a conference call.

The Eloists, Inc., headquartered in Henniker, New Hampshire, is another active Oahspe group. It publishes a periodical, Radiance. The Faithist Journal is published by Oahspe followers in Arizona. During his mature years, Ray Palmer, the founder/publisher of Search Magazine became an enthusiastic believer in Oahspe and added "The Oahspe Circle" as a column to the magazine. The "Circle" carried news of Oahspe groups, discussed its main ideas, and promoted networking among the scattered believers. Search is now published by Judith M. Statezny at Owl Press in Rosholt, Wisconsin, but still carries "The Oahspe Circle."

Worship among Faithists follows the format suggested in The Kosmon Church Service Book, kept in print by some British Faithists. It includes liturgy for worship, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Ministerial training is offered and ordinations of new ministers scheduled as appropriate.

Membership: Unknown. There are several hundred people who have identified themselves with the Faithists and have agreed to have their name published in their directory. Many more have purchased Oahspe (over 20,000 in the last decade) and, though unaffiliated with any of Oahspe groups, are sympathetic to the movement's teachings. Groups active in the informal networks can be found in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, the Nigeria, and Ghana.

Periodicals: The Faithist Journal. Send orders to Drawer 4670, Hualapai, AZ 86412. • Kosmon Voice. • Radiance. Send orders to Box 83, Henniker, NH 03242. • Kosmon Unity. Available from Kosmon Press, BM/KCKP, London, England WC1N 3XX. • Global Council Newsletter. • Four Winds Village News. Send orders to Rte. 1, Box 2120, Tiger, GA 30576.

Sources:

Dennon, Jim. Dr. Newbrough and Oahspe. Kingman, AZ: Faithist Journal, 1975.

——. The Oahspe Story. Kingman, AZ: Faithist Journal, 1975.

Oahspe. Los Angeles: Essenes of Kosmon, 1950.

Stowes, K. D. The Land of Shalam, Children's Land. Evansville, IN: Frank Molinet Print Shop, n.d.

★1650 ★

Universal Life: The Inner Religion

PO Box 651
Guilford, CT 06437

Alternate Address: International Headquarters: Universelles Leben, Postfach 5643, 97006 Wuerzburg, Germany. Canadian Headquarters: Universal Life: The Inner Religion, PO Box 54002, Toronto, ON, Canada M6A 3B7.

Universelles Leben or Universal Life: The Inner Religion is a worldwide free Christian movement that originated in 1975, when, as those affiliated with the movement believe, Christ entered the life of Gabriele Wittek, a woman and mother, revealed to her His plan to use her as His instrument on earth. Since then, she has served as His prophetic instrument and ambassadress in fulfilling this plan, which is to show His children the way back into their eternal home and to build up His Kingdom of Peace on earth. In 1980, the first Original Christian Gathering Places for All Godseekers, The Cosmic School of Life emerged– formerly called the Inner Spirit Christ Church–where people came together as in early Christianity to hear the prophetic word, to pray together, and to speak openly with each other about all questions of life, using the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments as a basis.

In the same year, the movement believes that Christ also called into being the spiritual, mystical schooling path within to the divine self, the Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ. In this schooling, the Spirit of God teaches all seekers on this earth the Inner Path, the path to experiencing God in one's own inner being. On this Inner Path, the person attains the spiritual expansion of consciousness, becoming one with Christ, God and all forms of nature, by gradually overcoming sinfulness step by step with the power of Christ. On this foundation, in 1984, Universelles Leben was established through the prophetic word.

In the late 1990s, a community of inner Christianity has emerged again. Adherents consider themselves Original Christians who strive for an inner religion, a religion of the heart, an inner striving for the liberation from sin and for gradually becoming one with Christ in the innermost being. They believe that all people are the temple of God and that the Spirit of the Christ of God, which is a spirit of freedom, dwells in everyone. It is a religion without human leaders, rituals, dogmas, or temples of stone, and is not tied to denominations, dogmas, rites, or institutions. Such movements of inner Christianity are not new. They believe that since the time of Jesus of Nazareth, there have been groups of people who took seriously the high ethics of Jesus the Christ's teaching, who with His life gave mankind an example of how to live in the Spirit of God in unity with our neighbor, with the animals, with nature, with all of creation, by observing the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments.

Universal Life is based on the prophetic word of this generation, given in the form of revelations. These revelations are seen to deepen and clarify the divine laws of God and their application in daily life, explaining many basic spiritual principles such as the why and how of our earthly existence, eternal damnation, reincarnation, the law of sowing and reaping, active faith, health and illness, life after death, man's relationship to the cosmos, and much more. This information is made available to all who desire it through the books and tapes produced by Universelles Leben, whose members believe that only the actualization of the laws of God makes us free, glad, healthy, and loving persons.

Membership: Universal Life is not a membership organization. In 1997 there were three centers in the United States and two in Canada, and an unnumbered number in Europe. Additional centers have opened in Africa, Australia, South America, and Asia.

Periodicals: The Prophet.

Remarks: Universal Life has emerged as one of the more controversial groups in German-speaking Europe as a growing concern over new religions has swept across central Europe. Several books denouncing Universal Life have appeared from an anti-cult perspective.

★1651 ★

Universal Link

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Universal Link and the Universal Foundation are two closely related British organizations which trace their history to April 11, 1961, to the visionary experience of Richard Grave of Worthing, England. While working on a newly-rented house, he saw "a bearded Christlike figure" who blocked his path. Pointing to a picture, the figure touched the glass, causing it to explode and pulverize, driving fragments into the picture. The being then disappeared in a blaze of orange light. The picture, a representation of an angel announcing the birth of Jesus, soon gained reknown as the "Weeping Angel of Worthing" as salty drops of moisture formed on its surface.

The being, who called himself "Truth," visited Grave often after that and left him a series of messages. The messages were apocalyptic, concentrating on the imminent second coming of the Christ as mankind seems on the brink of disaster. The message and events were carried in a Psychic News article on May 4, 1961. Liebie Pugh, an artist of St. Anne's, England, heard of Grave through the articles. After meeting Pugh, Grave realized the spiritual being that had visited him was the one portrayed in a sculpture by Ms. Pugh which she called simply "Limitless Love."

Ms. Pugh is regarded as the architect of the Universal Link, a linking of a number of individuals and groups to the Highest, who in this period is breaking through in an ever-increasing way. The Link developed as an informal fellowship of like-minded individuals centered upon a number of "channels." These channels were delivering revelations of the cosmic operation ushering in the new age.

The critical period in the revelation was from 1961 to 1967. An early revelation through Grave said the following: "No one can know the day nor the hour of MY COMING, or when the great Universal Revelation will be enacted; however by Christmas morning 1967, I will have revealed myself through the medium of nuclear evolution. This is MY PLAN which is absolute."

During the six years, a major effort was made to spread the message and tie together other channels, primarily through the travel and work of Anthony Brooke. Brooke, a descendant of Sir James Brooke, the first "White Rajah of Sarawak," ruled that land before it became a British colony in 1946. In the mid and late 1960s, Brooke traveled widely, locating and tying together individuals and groups. In England, the Universal Foundation was formed, with Brooke and Monica Parish at its head.

As December, 1967 approached, a great feeling of expectancy pervaded the movement. There was hope for an objective event, a spectacular change-over in universal thinking, which would signal the coming new age. When no event occurred, a spiritualized explanation was sought. For Brooke, attention was focused on the purpose of Liebie Pugh. Liebie had become identified with the entity known as Limitless Love, and, as early as 1964, the hypothesis had been put forth that Limitless Love was Liebie herself in the form of a constellated fragmentation of her own personality. Liebie was, reasoned Brooke, "an extension or a projection–a secondary personality, if you like–of Truth or Limitless Love." In January, 1966, Liebie was given a prophecy of her death in December, 1966. After she died in December, members of the Universal Link groups discovered that "Limitless Love is appearing with ever greater frequency in the actions and to the vision of more and more people."

Thus the work of the Universal Foundation became the linking together of groups and individuals who were working toward the spiritual evolution of mankind around the world. These people form a vanguard who are attuned to the cosmic lights and are awaiting the yet-to-appear day of manifestation which will mark the Christing of the whole earth and the beginning of the Golden Age.

The Universal Link was brought to the United States in the late 1960s, primarily through the visits of Anthony Brooke. Initial centers were formed in Elkins, Pennsylvania; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri; Brookfield, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California. During the 1970s several of these centers died out, but others became independent centers in their own right, publishing their own books and newsletters. In effect, their work superceded that of the Foundation for North America, though they remained more or less loosely affiliated with the work in England and acknowledged their debt to it. In Grand Rapids, Nellie Cain and Edwin Cain, Sr. developed the Spiritual Research Society. In Kansas City, Merta Mary Parkinson began to issue material under the name of the Sisters of the Amber and the Dena Foundation. In Brookfield, Illiana (Anita Afton) developed an international network receiving her New Age Teachings. From Los Angeles, Brother Francis (Ralph F. Raymond) moved the Universal Link Heart Center to Santa Monica, where it was renamed the Father's House and then later in the decade to Santa Clara, California, where it existed for many years. Each of these centers is covered elsewhere in this chapter.

Membership: Not reported. There is no direct affiliate of either the Universal Foundation or Universal Link currently functioning in America.

Sources:

Brooke, Anthony. The Universal Link Revelations. London: Universal Foundation, 1967.

Pugh, Liebe. Nothing Else Matters. St. Anne's-by-the-Sea, Lanc.: The Author, 1964.

[Raymond, Brother Francis Ralph]. The Universal Link Concept. Los Angeles: Universal Link Heart Center, [1967].

★1652 ★

Universalia

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Universalia is a New Age channeling group which grew out of a study group that formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1981. Meeting weekly, the group began to channel by a technique that it termed "thought plane transference," i.e., clearing one's mind, being open to whatever information comes, and writing it down as it enters the consciousness. As a mass of information was accumulated, the group incorporated and in May 1985 released the first issue of a newsletter, The Universalian.

Universalia means "of the universe." Information from the process of channeling comes through the individual members of the group from such energies as Kyros, the Brotherhood, Archangel Michael, and so on. Two books of channeled works by Universalia members have been published: The Kyrian Letters; Transformative Messages for Higher Vision by Sandra Radhoff and The Wisdom Teachings of Archangel Michael by Lori Flory as told to Brad Steiger. The thrust of Universalia's teaching is toward the expansion of conscious awareness and follows the main affirmation of New Age philosophy. God, the I AM, resides within each person. Spiritual life is perfect; the physical dreamspace dimension is illusionary. Having created illusions, humans tend to believe in them and empower them. Hence, they follow outward form instead inward reality. Members are taught that they are the loved and beautiful expressions of God and have unlimited potential. As they are connected to all of creation, service is an integral part of their life.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Universalian.

Channeling

Aspects of Light

Church of Amron

Church of the White Eagle

Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation

Cosmic Awareness Communications

Crest in the Stone Mystery School

Divine Word Foundation

Doctrine of Truth Foundation

EarthStar Alliance

The Eloists, Inc.

Family of Abraham

Fellowship of the Inner Light

Fellowship of Universal Guidance

Foundation Church of Divine Truth, Inc.

Foundation Church of the New Birth

Foundation for Meditative Studies

Grail Movement of America

Inner Circle Kethra E’Da Foundation, Inc.

Lifelight University

Michael Educational Foundation

Michael Teachings

Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (RSE)

River of Crazy Wisdom

Robin’s Return

Royal Priest Research

School of Natural Science

SOL Association for Research

Spiritual Education Endeavors–The Share Foundation

Trinity Foundation

Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Inc.

Universal Life: The Inner Religion

Universalia

Aspects of Light

12540 Braddock Dr., Ste. 218B, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Aspects of Light is a channeling center built around the messages of a group of entities collectively termed the Counsel of Light, whose utterances are channeled by Cherryl Lynn Taylor. Taylor began channeling in the mid-1980s and established the present center in 1991. The counsel’s members have indicated that they have appeared to assist individuals to get in touch with their soul urges, to discover higher identities and bring those into manifestation. Human beings are divine, but often live in a state of separation from that divinity. Such separation produces fear and leads to all variety of pain and suffering. The answer to fear is learning to love the self. To facilitate the process of learning to love, Taylor has prepared a set of tapes containing dictated messages from the counsel, which concern both teachings and meditative exercises that the students learn and use in their life. Students also learn to picture themselves in three major aspects—physical, emotional, and mental—and to use the techniques as they monitor each aspect.

Aspects of Light carries on an intensive program that includes weekly healing and development classes and group channeling sessions. Tapes of a wide variety of previous channeling sessions are available.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

The Counsel of Light.

Church of Amron

2254 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94109

The Church of Amron is a metaphysical church that was founded in San Francisco in the mid-1980s. Growing out of a spiritualist tradition, it has a program built around spiritual healing and channeling (mediumship). It holds weekly worship services each Sunday and midweek activities that include a Tuesday evening forum, healing circles, and an AIDS support group.

Membership

Not reported. In the late 1980s there were two congregations, both in San Francisco.

Church of the White Eagle

2615 St. Beulah Chapel Rd., Montgomery, TX 77316

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: New Lands, Rake, Liss, Hampshire, U.K. GU33 7HY.

HISTORY

The Church of the White Eagle Lodge was established in England in 1934 by Grace Cooke (1892–1979), affectionately known as Minesta, and her husband, Ivan Cooke (d. 1981), known in the lodge as Brother Faithful. For many years, Minesta worked as a medium in the Spiritualist Church of England, primarily in association with the Stead Borderland Library in London. In 1930 she was contacted by a member of the Polaire Brotherhood from France, who informed her that a recently deceased author and Spiritualist, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), had chosen her as an instrument through whom he wished to speak. She was also given a six-pointed star, symbolic of the Christ star (perfect balance), and asked to train men and women to work with and through the light of Christ to help the world through the “years of fire” into the coming of the “golden age.” The star became the symbol of the lodge.

Clairvoyant from childhood, Minesta had long been guided by one whom she knew as White Eagle. Instead of giving personal spirit messages, as is commonly done in Spiritualist churches, she allowed herself to be used to transmit (or channel) a vast series of teachings, which provided the base of the training she had been asked to do. “White Eagle,”it is believed, is the symbol of St. John, the Beloved Disciple; a sign of the “age of brotherhood,”the golden age; and a title given by the American Indians to a spiritual teacher of great wisdom.

The work spread to the United States in the 1950s and eventually a lodge was established in Texas. More recently, lodges were opened in California and in Canada.

BELIEFS

The church is built around the teachings of White Eagle. These convey the teaching of the brotherhood and emphasize the coming of a golden age in which human intuition will arise as a greater force in human affairs. White Eagle’s teachings are summarized in the “principles”of the lodge and include belief in God as Father and Mother, in the Cosmic Christ whose light shines in the human heart, and in the five cosmic laws: reincarnation, cause and effect (karma), opportunity, correspondences, and compensation. The church teaches that every man, woman, and child has in their heart a little spark of light that is the Christ Light, the spirit of Divine love.

To church members, happiness is a realization of God and a quiet, tranquil realization of God’s love for all of life. They seek a life that is gentle and in harmony with natural and spiritual laws. The basic law that controls life is love—love for God, for humanity, and for the animals and nature. A vegetarian diet is encouraged. Because God is the creative power within all life, individuals can look within and learn to contact the love of God, the Christ within their own hearts, and use that love to comfort and heal others. As one gives oneself through a life of service, joy and blessings from God are received.

ORGANIZATION

The work in the United States is headquartered at St. John’s Retreat Center, a lodge located on a 70-acre rural tract, where both spiritual guidance for humans and a sanctuary for wildlife are provided. The Texas lodge is one of 15 “daughter lodges” located around the world. Among other services, it provides training for center group leaders. The American daughter lodge oversees centers located in various parts of the United States, as well as work in Canada, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and Mexico. Conferences and retreats are held on a regular basis.

Membership in the church and lodge is open to all who feel in harmony with the basic teachings. Meditation and healing are an integral part of the work and there is a special program for children. Sacramental services are held around baptism, marriage, and funerals (with an understanding that there is no death, only eternal life). Members are encouraged to set aside a time daily for prayer using the six-pointed star, the Christ Star, as a focus while sending out the light of Christ. Members may also apply for the brotherhood, an order of men and women within the church who are committed to trying to follow a spiritual way of life and discipline while still living and working in the outer world. The work of the brotherhood includes using and working with the Christ Light for the healing of the planet as well as individuals. The motto of the lodge is “I Serve.”

Membership

In 2002 the church reported 982 full members and 3,000 active supporters in 18 U.S. centers. There was then one minister. There were 4 centers in Canada. Worldwide membership was more than 15,000, with centers located in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and South Africa.

Periodicals

Stella Polaris. Available from Newlands, Brewells Lane, Rake, Liss, Hampshire, U.K. GU33 7HY. • Newsletter for the Americans. Available from 9 St. Beulah Rd., Montgomery, TX 77356.

Sources

Church of the White Eagle Lodge. www.whiteaglelodge.org.

Cooke, Grace. The Illuminated Ones. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1966.

———. Minesta’s Vision. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1992. 60 pp.

Cooke, Ivan, ed. The Return of Arthur Conan Doyle. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1956.

Lind, Ingrid. The White Eagle Inheritance. Wellingsborough, Northamptonshire, U.K.: Turnstone Press, 1984.

The Living Word of St. John. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1985.

The Story of the White Eagle Lodge. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1986.

The Wisdom of White Eagle. Liss, Hampshire, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1967.

Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

The Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation was established during the 1980s to spread the teaching of Tawa, a spiritual entity who speaks through Rey Fletcher. During the 1960s, when the Fletchers lived in a Chicago suburb, Rey’s wife, Candy R. Fletcher, began a spiritual search that led her to read metaphysical books and experiment with the ouija board and hypnosis. Thus it was that on August 22, 1968, Tawa first made contact during a session in which Candy had convinced Rey to join her in asking questions of the ouija board. Tawa identified himself as having been a Blackfoot Indian in a previous incarnation, and asked if he could speak using Rey’s vocal cords. Rey had proven himself a good subject for hypnotism, and after this first encounter Tawa spoke to (and through) him while Rey was in a hypnotic trance. Tawa’s first spoken communication occurred on September 3, 1968.

Tawa continued to speak through Rey until the end of 1970, but for a time the material of these communications was put aside as Rey pursued a successful career. Meanwhile, Candy considered writing a book based on the teachings Tawa had given them. She began work on the text in 1979. Shortly thereafter, the Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation was formed. In 1984 the book was published at about the same time the Foundation moved to Victor, Montana. Assisting the Fletchers are Richard and Bobbie Graham, who head the Foundation branch in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tawa identified himself as a contemporary of Jesus and the person who served as Jesus’original spiritual teacher. He remained with Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection. The resurrection was the proof that Jesus had been sent by God. According to Tawa, Jesus was reborn in the flesh somewhere in the Orient in 1962. At the time of Tawa’s dictations, the reincarnated Jesus was not aware of his mission as Messiah. However, at some point in the near future he will take on his Christ essence and reveal himself to the world. This time he will be fully accepted. However, prior to his coming forth, the anti-Christ, a person now residing in England, will exert power for one year.

The Fletchers see themselves as part of a chosen circle of followers who will be the messengers of the coming Messiah. The Foundation was formed to bring together an initial group of 52 families/persons who will become the spearhead of the mission leading to Christ’s next appearance. The Foundation planned to establish a network of lodges from which the message can be disseminated.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Bjorling, Joel. Channelling: A Bibliographic Exploration. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992. 363 pp.

Fletcher, C. R. Spirit in His Mind. Victor, MT: Circle of Power Spiritual Foundation, 1984. 618 pp.

Cosmic Awareness Communications

PO Box 115, Olympia, WA 98507

In 1962 a voice describing itself as “From Cosmic Awareness” began to speak through the body of ex-army officer William Ralph Duby (1917–1967). In response to the question, “What is Cosmic Awareness?”the group with Duby was told it was “total mind that is not any one mind, but is from the Universal Mind that does not represent any unity other than that of universality.”

As the voice continued to speak, its words of wisdom were collected. In 1963, instructions were received for the formation of an Organization of Awareness as a means of giving to individuals the teaching of the voice. The real organization is said to be composed of 144 entities on that inner plane known as Essence.

Communications from Awareness have covered the whole scope of subjects about which people have questions, but, through it all, a few central ideas have emerged. God is seen not as a personal deity, but as natural cosmic law. The spiritual life is stressed, as is compassion in dealings with men. Man’s purpose is to move toward cosmic awareness.

A summary of the voice’s stance is contained in the “Laws and Precepts of Cosmic Awareness,”printed below:

The Universal Law is that knowledge, that awareness, that all living things, all life has within it that vitality, that strength to gather into it all things necessary for its growth and its fruition.

The Law of Love is that law which places the welfare and the concern and the feeling for others above self. The Law of Love is that close affinity with all forces that you associate with as good. The Law of Love is that force which denies the existence of evil in the world, that resists not evil.

The Law of Mercy is that law which allows one to forgive all error, to forgive equally those who err against you as you err against them. This is to be merciful. To be merciful is akin to the Law of Love, and if one obeys the Law of Mercy there can be no error in the world.

The Law of Gratitude is that sense of satisfaction where energy which has been given receives a certain reward.

Judge Not. Be Humble. Never Do Anything Contrary to the Law of Love. Resist Not Evil. Do Nothing Which Is Contrary to the Law of Mercy.

Duby died in 1967 and a major splintering occurred in the organization. No fewer than seven bodies were formed, each claiming to be the continuation of the original. Disagreement over the publication of materials that some thought should remain secret was one major issue in the schisms. Largest of the several splinters is Cosmic Awareness Communications, which continues the 1963 organization. About four months after Duby’s death, a channel emerged through which Cosmic Awareness continued to speak. In the late 1960s, messages received through this new channel, Paul Shockley, both clarified and altered the older material. The new voice revealed that the Organization of Awareness has helped to accomplish a vast shift of consciousness—a return to the Godhead, which for thousands of years Essence has willed would eventually occur. The return to the Godhead is equated with the return of Lucifer, the fallen angel of light.

Membership

Not reported, but in 1995 the newsletter reported a circulation of 3,000 copies. In the 1970s, Cosmic Awareness Communications claimed 75 centers (including 3 in Canada) and 144,000 members.

Periodicals

Revelation of Awareness.

Sources

Cosmic Awareness Center. www.cosmicawareness.org.

Cosmic Awareness Speaks. 3 vols. Olympia, WA: Cosmic Awareness Communications, n.d., 1977, 1983.

Crest in the Stone Mystery School

c/o Johannine Grove Ministry, PO Box 235, Crestone, CO 81131

The Crest in the Stone Mystery School (formerly known as the Star of Isis Foundation) is a mystery school established in the 1980s by Christine Hayes, better known by her spiritual name, Chrystine StarEagle. Hayes is a channel and the School is built upon the material she has channeled and continues to channel on a regular basis. The School is built around the ancient myth of Isis retrieving the body parts of her slain and mutilated husband, Osiris, recast in the light of present planetary transformations. The purpose of the Crest in the Stone Mystery School is to lead individuals in the “gathering”of the parts of their self into a whole entity/consciousness that leads to a future resurrection of the archetypical Logos/Mind. Through this assemblage, the souls of people can ascend in a Phoenix-like flame, to be emancipated from earth and reborn in a realm of Light and Air.

The School initiates individuals into a specific form of meditation (termed Matrix) and teaches the initiate to tap the source of personal co-creative power. The School expounds a way to access the ancient archetypes of our spiritual-genetic memories that leads to the premise that all goodness comes from God and that God is found within (not outside) us.

Chrystine StarEagle has channeled one volume, Magi from the Blue Star, from Elvis Presley. This book recounts Presley’s past incarnation and his spiritual journey since the end of his earthly life. The volume also recounts his conversations with long-time friend Wanda June Hill and includes stories of his extraordinary effect on people who knew him.

Membership

The School has one center, the Church of the Johannine Origin, in San Antonio, Texas, and in 1992 reported approximately 50 members.

Periodicals

Temple Doors Doctrine of Mysteries.

Divine Word Foundation

c/o Edmund Spitzer, 1999 Pine Grove Rd., Rogue River, OR 97537

The Divine Word Foundation was founded in 1962 by Dr. Hans Nordewin von Koerber (1886–1979), formerly professor of Asiatic studies at the University of Southern California. The purpose of the Foundation is to disseminate the revelation of Jakob Lorber (1800–1864). An Austrian-born musician, Lorber in his fortieth year heard a voice in his heart saying, “Jakob, get up, take your pencil and write.” Obeying, he began to function as the scribe to this Voice, which he believed to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Lorber, the Voice dictated 25 books and other, shorter works. The revelations did not end with Lorber. In 1870 Gottfried Meyerhofer (1807–1877), a retired Army officer living in Trieste and a student of the Lorber literature, heard the Voice, which began to dictate through him. Since Meyerhofer’s death, others in succession have continued to hear the Voice, including Leopold Engel, Johanne Ladner, Bertha Dudde, Johannes Widmann, Max Seltmann, Johanna Henzsel, George Riehle, and Johannes Friede.

The works of Lorber were published primarily by Christoph Friedrich Landbeck of Bietigheim, Germany, who headed the Neutheosophischer Verlag (after 1907 Neusalems-Verlag or New Jerusalem Publication House). In 1924, the Neusalem Gesellschaft (New Jerusalem Society) was formed. Adolf Hitler suppressed the Lorber work, but it was quickly reestablished. The Society became the Lorber Gesellschaft and the publishing arm, the Lorber Verlag. In 1921, the Lorber revelations were discovered by Dr. von Koerber. As he accepted them, he began to translate them into English and introduce them to others.

The new revelation fills 42 volumes of approximately 450 pages each. For Lorber, God is the Infinite Spirit behind the universe. The Holy Spirit is the “external life ether”that permeates the universe. The universe is the expression of God, made up of tiny spiritual primordial sparks created to grow into the divine likeness. It is God’s desire to create a society of living love.

The plan of God was thwarted by Lucifer who revolted with the spirits below him and became entrapped in matter: impure spirit condensed. God is using matter as a filtering plant through which the impure spirits can be purified. Earth is the place where the rebellious spirits are being given the chance to return voluntarily to God. God became man in Jesus to accelerate the redemptive process. The cross is a perfect example of love.

A human being is intended to learn, through the imitation of Christ, to love God and his neighbor as himself. He thus achieves rebirth and is allowed to participate in the work of redemption. At death, each soul discards the body and begins life as a spirit. It ascends, beginning from its point of development in the body, ultimately to the New Jerusalem. Christ will return in the near future to recreate the earth and establish the millennium, the first signs of which are worldly conflict and turmoil. The present period will culminate in Lucifer’s making his final choice and in a war of destruction of the most rebellious ones.

The membership of the Lorber Society is concentrated in German-speaking Europe, but has spread to every continent. In the United States, individuals around the country study the revelation found in the books published by the Divine Word Foundation. Study groups are located in San Diego and Newark, California; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Since Dr. von Koerber’s death, his widow, Hildegard von Koerber, has continued his translating efforts. There is also a translator residing in Salt Lake City. Dr. Fred S. Bunger, the Foundation’s first president, died in 1979 and was succeeded by Earl G. Fox of Melba, Idaho. Bunger coauthored with Dr. von Koerber the Foundation’s basic text, A New Light Shines Out of Darkness.

The Foundation has a friendly relationship with the Lorber Verlag in Germany, though it is organizationally independent. It is also associated with another English-language translator in Great Britain.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

www.j-lorber.com/English/.

Bunger, Fred S., and Hans N. von Koerber. A New Light Shines Out of the Present Darkness. Philadelphia: Dorrance Company, 1971.

Lorber, Jakob. The Three-Days-Scene at the Temple of Jerusalem. Bietigheim, Würtemberg, Germany: Neu-Salems-Society, 1932.

Doctrine of Truth Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Doctrine of Truth Foundation was established in the mid-1970s to promulgate the research and ideas of Lewis E. Cook Jr. and Junko Yasui, as contained in their book Goldot: Guidebook of Life and Doctrine of Truth. Following the Korean War, Cook (b. 1925) worked in Korea as part of the reconstruction program and stayed on as head of a construction company. In 1964 he moved to Japan to establish a prefabricated-home business. There he met and fell in love with Junko Yasui. They were married in 1967, and soon afterward moved to the Philippines. There, both began a period of heightened attention to their spiritual lives. They began to practice yoga, read metaphysical and occult books, and meditate.

The couple moved to the United States in 1970 and immediately began to teach all that they had learned. They assembled a summary of their ideas in Goldot, and founded the Doctrine of Truth to disseminate those ideas. Goldot is acclaimed as the modern Bible and Guidebook for humanity. It covers all dimensions of life, beginning with its origins. Creation was, it teaches, an emanation from Spirit. Spirit begat the Oversoul, which in turn led to the development of universal mind, the universe, light, darkness, heaven (the astral universe), and earth (the material universe). The astral light entered the material universe and all life forms resulted. God then released the individual souls within Itself, and these “gods of creation” then created the world and all of the plant, vegetable, and human life within it. The human life was in their image and likeness. The astral gods took on physical bodies. However, the God Men violated their own divine mandate and began to intermingle with that segment of the human race who were not God Men.

According to Goldot, earthly life is governed by Truth, universal principles, and laws. The principles produce life, whereas the laws govern it. Underlying reality is Unity-Equilibrium, the infinite eternal presence within all phenomena, also known as Spirit or God. Unity-Equilibrium manifests as Mind, the essence of all phenomena. The Unity-Equilibrium particle of each human manifests as pure mind, also known as soul or ego. The universe is the result of the creative expressions of the Universal Mind, the collective ego of all souls. Every instant and every detail of an individual’s life is the result of mental creative activity. Life equals creativity. We experience life through sensory perception. Our limited perceptions in the material realm create illusion.

Life and its sensory experiences are governed by the laws of harmony, duality-polarity, cycles, cause-effect, and karma. The universe exists in harmony, disrupted only by human ignorance. Humans should strive for harmonious life and relationships. Because harmony undergirds the universe, in order for it to be perceived, it must manifest as either the negative or positive aspect of a neutral equilibrated image. Thus, phenomena function to produce the illusion of our world. The world of illusion goes through cycles of formation and dissolution. The ongoingness of the cycles follows a pattern of cause and effect. The law of cause and effect in human life manifests as karma, the consequences of the thoughts, words, and deeds of individuals.

The Doctrine of Truth Foundation builds upon the basic principles and laws of life and disseminates teachings that explain the meaning of these principles and laws for all of life. As part of this endeavor, it publishes Goldot and other related literature. Related to the Foundation are the Doctrine of Truth Church, the Doctrine of Truth School, and the Doctrine of Truth Research Center.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Cook, Lewis E., Jr., and Junko Yasui. Goldot: Guidebook of Life and Doctrine of Truth. Oceanside, CA: Doctrine of Truth Foundation, 1976.

EarthStar Alliance

1163 N Thunder Ridge Dr., Tucson, AZ 85745-3378

EarthStar Alliance was founded in the mid-1990s by Sara Mattoon and Scott Myrom to assist what they believe to be a planetary transformation now occurring on Earth. Mattoon and Myrom view themselves as two of a number of masters who have incarnated on Earth during this generation who, having lived some years as just a normal human being, now have become aware of their task to aid in the creation of Heaven on Earth. They believe that Earth is in the process of becoming a star. As the planet moves from its state of dense physical reality into being a radiant body of light, stress is produced in humans’ dense earth bodies. EarthStar Alliance provides a way of viewing the world, specific techniques, and new technologies to support the body during this change. These include bodywork, channeling sessions, and group events.

EarthStar Alliance teaches that each individual is both of the One, or God, and also a separate unique individual. In their aspect as part of the One, persons exist in one single reality or dimension; as separate individuals, they exist in a multitude of realms or dimensions. Most individuals live totally in the third (physical and mental) and fourth (astral) dimensions, where the game of good and evil is played out. Individuals also exist in various nonphysical dimensions, from the fourth (light) to the twelfth (experience of the One). Understanding the multiple existence of oneself in these various dimensions (including the lower ones) assists comprehension of one’s divine nature. In the eighth and ninth dimensions, individuals see their Spirit manifesting as individual identities that represent groups— that is, they see themselves as part of a group soul. Individuals from various group souls are now on planet Earth.

When one shifts one’s perspective on who one is, the illusion of reality is also shifted and the manifestation of who one is in other dimensions begins to manifest in the third and fourth dimensions. Basic to the new view of the self is a shift of identity from that of struggling human to that of multidimensional divine self, and from that of student to that of master. Also, each person should shift the way of measuring reality from the beliefs and feelings of the third and fourth dimensions to a fifth-dimension perspective (based in knowingness and inner authority).

Members of EarthStar Alliance and those who resonate with its work are considered part of one group soul now manifesting on planet Earth. This group soul has a specific task in the period of transition to serve as path-cutters bringing light, information, and energy from the more expanded dimensions.

Membership

Not reported. The Alliance supports regular meetings in San Diego and is reaching out to other communities along the Pacific Coast.

Periodicals

True Reality.

Sources

Good Timing Guide. www.goodtimingguide.com/index/index_questions.htm.

The Eloists, Inc.

Drawer O, Duxbury, MA 02321

The Eloist Ministry was founded by Walter De Voe at the turn of the twentieth century. De Voe was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1874. As a teenager he became a seeker of metaphysical truth, and in his search, found his way to the Chicago World’s Fair and the Parliament of Religions in 1893. At that time he was exposed to the sacred books of all the major religions. He also became acquainted with many individuals with similar interests and subsequently became a part of what eventually evolved into the “New Thought”movement.

By 1902 De Voe had begun to work with his newly discovered abilities as a spiritual healer. He successfully pursued this work in Battle Creek, Michigan, and then in Cleveland, Ohio, where he published Healing Currents from the Battery of Life in 1904. In 1916 he was inspired to relocate his ministry to the Boston suburb of Brookline, which was a great center of metaphysical activity at the time, and in 1918 the organization was incorporated as a nonprofit, tax-exempt religious entity in the state of Massachusetts, with the name of “The Eloist Ministry.”The Ministry continued its work of spiritual education and spiritual healing until 1954. At that time Walter De Voe’s health began to fail with advancing age, and it was decided to relocate the headquarters to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where it remains today. The focus and emphasis of the organization’s work changed somewhat over the years, and as a reflection of that fact, its name was abbreviated to “The Eloists, Inc.,” in 1972.

Unlike a conventional church that emphasizes the seeking of converts and continual establishment of growing congregations, the Eloists have remained a group of limited size because of the personal demands made by the group’s commitment to a specific spiritual endeavor that, it notes, may not be for everyone. While not presuming to be “God’s spokesmen” or believing they offer the only path to the Creator, the Eloists strive to extend a helping hand to other sincere seekers they meet along the path to greater spiritual growth and understanding.

The Eloists believe that there is but one Creator, who is ever present within all of creation. This Creator cannot be seen as a finite entity, but the Creator’s works stand in perpetual glory and the Creator’s voice can be heard within one’s consciousness and being when an individual is opened and attuned. People are responsible for their own spiritual growth, and no savior can substitute for good works and soul development.

While the primary source of inspiration comes from within, the Eloists enlist the aid of a variety of inspirational books, among which is Oahspe, a book they were directed to read in the mid-1930s by an elevated angelic presence. The Eloists believe the book to be genuine, but make allowances for imperfections within it and do not interpret it literally as an inflexible book of rules; nor, indeed, do they worship any book.

The Eloists note that individuals from many other religious persuasions may find aspects of Eloist activities familiar, though as a whole Eloist belief is unique. While Eloist belief is non-Christian, Christian “New Thought” students would find Eloist perspectives on healthcare and spiritual healing to be similar to their own positions; Quakers would understand Eloist methods of conducting business, the unprogrammed meetings, the absolute commitment to nonviolence, and the mystical religion. Shakers might identify with some aspects of Eloist ritual, while spiritualists might identify with Eloist attention to spirit communion and the interest in developing psychic sensitivity. Eloist activities include, among others, educational instruction, spiritual counseling, publishing, and charitable work.

From 1983 until 1999 the Eloists, Inc., published the journal Radiance. Back issues of this bimonthly periodical remain available, as does Healing Currents from the Battery of Life, revised for the fourth time in 1999.

Membership

Not reported. There are no clergy.

Periodicals

Eloist Focus.

Sources

De Voe, Walter. Healing Currents from the Battery of Life. Brookline, MA: Eloist Ministry, 1919.

———. Mystic Words of Mighty Power. New York: Gordon Press Publishers, 1991. The Eloists. Duxbury, MA: Eloist Ministry, 1990.

Oahspe: A New Age Bible. Los Angeles: Essenes of Kosmon, 1950.

Family of Abraham

Box 690070, San Antonio, TX 78269

In the early 1980s channel Esther Hicks began to receive messages from “Abraham,” the name assumed by a group of evolved noncorporeal entities. In 1986, with the assistance of her husband, Jerry Hicks, who had received the initial messages, she began to inform some close friends and business associates of what was occurring and the messages they were receiving. These people began to offer questions to Abraham and found “his” answers useful and meaningful. Upon receiving this positive response, the Hickses began to make Abraham’s teaching available to the general public, primarily through the circulation of tapes of the channeling sessions.

Abraham has spoken to a wide variety of issues of concern to the New Age community, such as coming earth changes, but has centered his message on the need for individuals to become conscious co-creators of their reality. This process is assisted by one’s becoming aware of the laws of the universe and learning to move in accordance with them. Most important is the law of attraction, by which one can attract whatever one desires. It is used in connection with the law of allowing, by which one becomes free of the negativity that binds our life.

The Hickses have established a schedule of regular weekend “Dialogues” with Abraham around the country, and over the years Abraham study groups have formed across the United States. Those responding to the messages from Abraham have been informally dubbed the Family of Abraham. A quarterly newsletter, Abraham Speaks, was begun. It was superseded by the more substantive The Leading Edge in 1994.

Membership

In 1994 there were nine Abraham study groups and an unreported number of individuals receiving The Leading Edge.

Periodicals

The Leading Edge.

Remarks

In 2006 Esther Hicks came to the fore in the metaphysical community as one of the featured presenters of prosperity-consciousness ideas in the original release of the movie The Secret, developed by Australian filmmaker Rhonda Byrne. In spite of the success of the movie, she declined to participate in the second expanded version.

Sources

Family of Abraham. www.abraham-hicks.com.

Fellowship of the Inner Light

c/o The Fellowship Center, 620 14th St., Virginia Beach, VA 23451

The Fellowship of the Inner Light was formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 1972 by psychic Paul Solomon (1939–1994) and his associates. In February 1972, in a hypnotic trance, Solomon began to speak in a stern voice, a voice later to be labeled “the Source.”As the trance sessions continued and Solomon began a vigorously disciplined life, the material that came through the readings began to provide techniques for treatment of disease, prophecies that proved accurate, spiritual philosophy, and a complete system for the development of “Inner Light Consciousness.”The Fellowship was organized as a structure to further the work of Solomon and to disseminate the Inner Light Consciousness. In 1974 the Fellowship moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, the home of Edgar Cayce, to whom Solomon is likened by his followers. Cayce founded the Association for Research and Enlightenment, discussed elsewhere in this volume.

The material in the transcripts of the Solomon readings covers a wide range of topics: Atlantis, diet and health, healing, reincarnation, sex, spiritual development, and prophecies. The worldview closely parallels that of the Cayce readings. Man is a son of God trapped in material forms that had their first manifestation on Atlantis. Through spiritual growth, the cleansing of the body, and evolvement, the trapped soul can return to oneness with God. Also discussed in the material are the ones who came to aid those who are trapped and wish to return. Reincarnation allows time for the growth of the soul.

The source for the information coming through Solomon is the Universal Mind as manifested in the Akashic records. All thoughts and actions are said to be recorded on the “universal ethers” of the Akashic records, and psychics “tap into” those records to obtain information. In the Fellowship of the Inner Light, contact with spirits is discouraged. From the readings, a course that places the student on the mystic path to cosmic consciousness has been constructed. The course emphasizes the Light Within (or Holy Spirit). Consciousness of the Light is the key to overcoming the limitations of the material. The methods of the course, including relaxation, meditation, prayer, self-control, occult law, and psychic development, lead to mastery of one’s psychic nature, to integration of the total person, and to spiritual development.

The Fellowship is conceived of as a religious association serving the needs of the New Age community. During the 1970s, the Fellowship was headquartered in Virginia Beach, from where a vigorous local program was offered. Two entities, Heritage Store and Heritage Publications, were closely affiliated. Heritage Publications issued the material from the readings, the first volume of which appeared in 1974, while Heritage Store was begun in 1969 to make available to the general public the remedies suggested in the Cayce readings. In 1978, however, a 13-acre tract of land near New Market, Virginia, was dedicated as “Carmelin-the-Valley.” Headquarters shifted to this rural site, and ambitious plans for the development of a new age community as the center of the fellowship were announced. Publication offices remained in Virginia Beach. Affiliated fellowships can be found across the United States, and in England, Holland, and several other countries.

In the years since Solomon’s death, the fellowship has cooperated with the Paul Solomon Foundation, which has charge of all of the recorded readings that Solomon left behind. The Foundation has engaged in editing and transcribing this material, and in making it available to the public. Both organizations perpetuate the notion of Solomon’s likeness to Edgar Cayce (1877–1945), and describe him as America’s “second sleeping prophet.”

Membership

Not reported. There is one center of activity, located in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Periodicals

Reflections on the Inner Light. Available from Rte. 1, Box 141, Timberville, VA 22853.

Sources

Fellowship of the Inner Light. www.fellowshipoftheinnerlight.com/.

Paul Solomon Foundation. www.paulsolomon.com/.

A Healing Consciousness. Virginia Beach, VA: Master’s Press, 1978.

Spiritual Unfoldment and Psychic Development through Inner Light Consciousness. Atlanta, GA: Fellowship of the Inner Light, n.d.

Fellowship of Universal Guidance

c/o Bella Karish, 1524 Glenoaks Blvd., Glendale, CA 91201

The Fellowship of Universal Guidance was founded in 1960 by Dr. Wayne A. Guthrie and Dr. Bella Karish, both of whom serve as channels for the “great sources of light,” teachers from the spirit world who guide Fellowship activities. The Fellowship has been associated with the Universal Link on occasion, but the thrust of the Fellowship’s concern is the harmonizing of the three levels of consciousness. The Fellowship teaches that there are three separate entities within each person: the high self, the conscious self, and the basic self. The ultimate goal is to bring them into alignment for the eventual good of the karmic pattern by blending them for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual development. The high self is part of the superconscious structure and is located about three inches above the head. The conscious self functions in interpersonal relationships, and the basic self is that part that evolved from the animal kingdom, according to the Fellowship.

Man reincarnates on earth only once but is re-embodied until his goal is reached. The high self chooses where to incarnate. The basic self carries memory, emotions, and the masculine/feminine consciousness. Unfulfilled karma from previous embodiments can cause the basic self to open to negative forces that can cause diseases, which can be healed only by discharging the karmic pattern. The Fellowship offers a “Three Selves Evaluation”to aid the individual in growth.

The insights of the Fellowship are given to the world through several series of lessons, beginning with the Wisdom Workshop Lessons, Series I. Students may take these lessons by correspondence, and groups have formed to study the material collectively.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Uniguidance. Available from 1674 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Sources

Fellowship of Universal Guidance. www.foug.org.

Master Apollonius Speaks. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, 1970.

The Prophetic Word: Revelation Number Two. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, [1980].

Wisdom Workshop Lessons, Series 1. 12 vols. Los Angeles: Fellowship of Universal Guidance, n.d.

Foundation Church of Divine Truth, Inc.

FCDT Publishing, PO Box 802694, Santa Clarita, CA 91380-2694

The Foundation Church of Divine Truth (FCDT) supersedes the former Foundation Church of the New Birth, based upon the writings of James Edward Padgett (1852–1923). Padgett, an assistant district attorney in the Washington, D.C., area, and a Methodist Sunday school teacher, became interested in Spiritualism after the death of his wife, Helen, in 1914. He was told by a medium that he had the gift of automatic writing (the process by which mediums convey, either by writing or typing, thoughts and words transmitted through them by a spirit entity). Padgett received his first message from his wife, Helen, describing her passing into the spirit world and then later her spiritual progress into the Celestial Heavens.

Within a year, Padgett began to receive messages purporting to be from Jesus of Nazareth, urging him to pray for the inflowing of the Father’s Divine Love. On October 5, 1914, Jesus (Master of the Celestial Heavens) told Padgett that he had been selected to disseminate the Father’s Truths to humankind. The result was some 2,500 messages received from Jesus, other high Celestial spirits, and a variety of spirits either progressing through the Spiritual Heavens or stagnating in the lower spheres of the spirit world. The most important messages were published in four volumes, the first of which was printed in 1940. The sum total of these messages from Jesus were said to constitute his Second Coming to earth. Padgett received the messages between the years 1914 and 1923. After his death, the manuscripts were left in the custody of a close associate, Dr. Leslie R. Stone (1876–1967). Stone and others interested in the messages incorporated the Foundation Church of the New Birth in 1958 in Washington, D.C.

In 1982 the Rev. John Paul Gibson, the sole surviving founding trustee of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, died. A group of members, primarily in the Washington, D.C. area, reorganized as the New Christian Healing Sanctuary. They received permission to receive mail at the former church’s mailbox. In December 1985, nine former members of the Foundation Church of the New Birth (eight of whom were ordained ministers) formed the Foundation Church of Divine Truth to carry forward the work of the former church.

BELIEFS

Since their initial publication, the volumes of messages have been variously titled Book of Truths, Messages from Jesus and Celestials, True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus, and, more recently, Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth (in two volumes), New Testament Revelations of Jesus of Nazareth, and What Happens After You Die. A summary of the material is found in the tenets of the church, given as direct revelation by Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples from the Celestial Heavens. True to the Spiritualist heritage, the first tenet concerns the continuity of the soul after death. The soul enters the spirit world and continues to progress until it reaches the Sixth Sphere, which is the Paradise of the Old Testament, or the Kingdom of the Perfect Natural Man, beyond which no further progress occurs. Should the soul seek to be filled with the Divine Love of the Creator, however, its progress takes it to the Celestial Heavens, where it continues to receive inflowing of the Divine Essence of the Father and becomes conscious of its immortality. The potential for receiving this Divine Love had been lost with the fall of the first created parents. It was restored in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, a human son selected by God as the first recipient of this Love and as his message bearer (Messiah). Jesus’ earthly mission was to inform humankind that possession of Divine Love was now available to all through fervent prayer to the Father for this Gift, the ultimate result of which would be transformation of the soul from mortal to immortal and its eventual angelic status in the Celestial Heavens.

ORGANIZATION

The Foundation Church of Divine Truth is governed by a board of trustees that has the power to ordain ministers and charter churches. Members relate to the church primarily through the mail or e-mails. The church describes itself as “a through the mail, nonprofit Christian Spiritualist organization that exists solely for the purpose of spreading the Truths of God’s Divine Love as taught by Jesus of Nazareth, and as contained in its publications.”The church is “interdenominational in that it upholds the highest spiritual teachings of all religions, with the added commandment given by Jesus when he was on earth to ‘Love One Another as I Have Loved You’ with the Divine Love of God received into the human soul.” Spiritual advisors are available to correspond via conventional mail or e-mail.

Membership

Not reported. The church states that membership is “open to all who spiritually and morally uphold the purpose of the church to disseminate the Truth’s of God’s Divine Love to humankind.”

Sources

Foundation Church of Divine Truth. www.fcdt.org/.

Padgett, James E. True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. 4 vols. Washington, DC: Foundation Church of the New Birth, 1958–1984.

———. Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth. 2 vols. Santa Clarita, CA: Foundation Church of Divine Truth, 1989–1992.

———. New Testament Revelations of Jesus of Nazareth. Santa Clarita, CA: Foundation Church of Divine Truth, 2003.

———. What Happens after You Die. Santa Clarita, CA: Foundation Church of Divine Truth, 2003.

Foundation Church of the New Birth

Box 996, Benjamin Franklin Sta., Washington, DC 20044

The Foundation Church of the New Birth, reestablished in 1991, is a through-the-mail church organization that continues the work of the organization of the same name originally founded in 1958. The earlier church was built around the channeled messages of James Edward Padgett (1852–1923), who received numerous messages from Jesus via automatic writing between 1914 and his death in 1923. These messages were published by the church in four volumes under the title True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. During the mid-1980s, the church passed through a period of organizational disruption, after which it was disbanded. An attempt to reorganize led, in December 1985, to the formation of the Foundation Church of Divine Truth, by nine of the former members. In 1991, another group of former members reorganized under the original name. The church is led by its trustees, with Rev. Jocelyn Harleston serving as current administrative head. It continues to reprint the first four volumes of True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus.

The church seeks to inform mankind of the availability of the Heavenly Father’s Divine Love, which is received into the soul when earnestly sought for through prayer and soul longings. Its inflowing is felt as a radiant glow in the heart region. When sufficient abundance of this love is obtained, it will transform the soul from the image of the Father into his very substance, which is not only divine but also immortal.

The church teaches that Jesus of Nazareth brought this love to light during his public ministry on earth and continues to teach its availability today, from the realm of spirit.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

New Birth Commentary.

Sources

Foundation Church of the New Birth. www.divinelove.org/.

Padgett, James D. True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. 4 vols. Washington, DC: Foundation Church of the New Birth, 1958–1972.

Foundation for Meditative Studies

PO Box 908, Ashland, OR 97520

The Foundation for Meditative Studies, originally known as the Foundation for the Realization of Inner Divinity, was founded in 1990 by Swami Paramananda Saraswatti, and supersedes an earlier organization, MAFU Seminars. The founding of the foundation followed an intense religious experience by Penny Torres Rubin, a New Age channel (medium) of the entity MAFU. During the late 1980s, Torres Rubin had emerged as one of the most popular channels within the growing New Age Movement. She started channeling in 1986 when she began to communicate with the disincarnate personage known as MAFU. Within a few months she was channeling regularly in public sessions in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California. Torres Rubin’s organization, MAFU Seminars, circulated cassettes and videotapes of the channeling sessions around the world.

MAFU is characterized as a 32,000-year-old entity who has incarnated on earth at least 17 times. His enlightened messages insist that each person is, in essence, divine. God is equated with the power of life. Thus all things are of God and in God. The goal of life is to realize one’s own divine nature, by which knowledge one becomes a master.

Toward the end of 1989, Torres Rubin traveled to Hardiwar, India, in the Himalayan foothills. She took the vows of a sannyassi (accepting the renounced life), and also accepted a mission as the “ordained leader of spirituality” for the present age. Here, she received her new name, Swami Paramananda Saraswatti. Upon her return to the United States, Saraswatti established the Foundation for the Realization of Inner Divinity and its subsidiary, the Center for God Realization, which now disseminates MAFU’s teaching materials and regularly conducts seminars and retreats for thousands of seekers.

The Foundation has brought together all of the wisdom received from MAFU and presents it as a distinct path to God consciousness. The organization has purchased a campground near Ashland, Oregon, as a retreat center. It has also developed a mastery course that introduces people to MAFU’s spiritual path.

Membership

In 1992 the foundation reported an active membership of 15,000.

Sources

Foundation for Meditative Studies. www.foundationformeditativestudies.org/.

Torres, Penny [MAFU]. And What Be God? Vacaville, CA: Mafu Seminars, 1989.

———. Reflections on Yeshua Ben Joseph. Vacaville, CA: Mafu Seminars, 1989.

Grail Movement of America

2081 Partridge Ln., Binghamton, NY 13903

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Internationale GralsbewegungVomperberg, A-6134, Vomperberg, Tyrol, Austria.

The Grail Movement of America is supported by the Grail Foundation, which is the structure for disseminating the teachings of Oskar Ernest Bernhardt (1875–1941) of Bischofswerda, Germany. In 1924 Bernhardt moved to Bavaria, where he began to write lectures under the pen name Abd-ru-shin. In 1928 he settled in Austria, where he wrote In the Light of Truth, the Grail Message. He continued writing until he was expelled by the Nazis in 1938. The first center in America was formed about 1939 at Mt. Morris, Illinois. Abd-ru-shin’s message is termed the Grail Message, a reference to the Holy Grail as the power center of creation.

According to Abd-ru-shin, God created man equal and set him in search of self-consciousness and maturity. In his search, man was led to the world of gross matter. Men’s physical bodies were fashioned for our true selves to function within while on Earth. The purpose of man is to learn to live in harmony with the divine laws that brought forth the creation and now maintain it. Eventually, man can return to the spiritual realm as a mature human spirit, ready to enter life-eternal as a fully seasoned and self-conscious entity capable of serving the Creator as a true human spirit.

The Grail Message is contained in the three volumes of In the Light of Truth. There are also other writings by Abd-ru-shin. They are circulated in North America by the foundation through its two headquarters, formerly located in Mt. Morri and Lapeer, Michigan, and now in Binghamton, New York, and Quebec, Canada. The International Grail Movement also works in most European countries, Australia, and New Zealand. There is some work in South America, Asia, and Africa.

Membership

In 2002 the movement reported 400 active adherents in the United States and 1,000 in Canada. Worldwide the movement has some 19,000 adherents.

Sources

Grail Movement of America. www.grailmessage.com.

Abd-ru-shin. Awake! Selected Lectures. Vomperberg, Tyrol, Austria: Maria Bernhardt Publishing Co., n.d.

———. In the Light of Truth. Vomperberg, Tyrol, Austria: Maria Bernhardt Publishing Co., 1954.

Inner Circle Kethra E’Da Foundation, Inc.

Box 121722, San Diego, CA 92112-1722

The Inner Circle Kethra E’Da Foundation, Inc., was established in 1945 by Mark Probert (d. 1969) and his wife, Irene Probert, of San Diego, California. Mark Probert, an orphan with little formal education, one evening began to speak aloud in his sleep. According to his wife’s description, he spoke in foreign languages and sang arias from operas. Dr. Meade Layne, founder-director of the Borderland Science Research Society, a large southern California psychic organization, recognized Probert as a trance medium and helped guide his development. Gradually, teachers from the spirit world began to contact Probert. One afternoon, five of his teachers appeared to him and told him that they wished to bring their teaching to the world using him as their channel. Many of the teachings were published in 1954 and 1955 in Mystic, the Magazine of the Supernatural and later collected in a book, The Magic Bag; more recently, they were gathered in the book Yada Speaks.

In all, 11 teachers manifested themselves in light bodies (figures similar to shining, brilliant ghosts), and Mark was able to make sketches of them. The three main ones were Professor Alfred Luntz, an Anglican clergyman; Ramon Natalli, a contemporary of Galileo; and Yada di Shi’ite, who lived half a million years ago in the ancient civilization of Yu in the Himalayas. These teachers are members of an Inner Circle that at one time existed on earth, with Probert (in an earlier incarnation) as a member. Eternal life is at the heart of the teachings of the Inner Circle. The goal of life is to attain one’s original state as a divine being. Earth experiences are seen as movement through a series of initiations into higher and greater states of awareness. When one attains a state in which there is no break in consciousness, freedom is attained and there is no necessity to return to the physical. Work pursued with love and sincerity is the way to awareness. Yoga practices, secret mantras, sitting in meditation, and deep concentration are considered futile attempts to hurry progress. The basic entity in the universe is the individual. The plan of the universe lies within the individual, and becomes apparent as one solves one’s own riddle of the universe. God, or the Creative Force, is said to be the impersonal soul with which one becomes aware of the unification.

The foundation has preserved the numerous tapes of Probert’s trance-lectures and disseminates them in both cassette form and as transcripts. Members gathered on Friday evening for dictation prior to Probert’s death in 1969, and now gather to listen to tapes and for discussions.

Membership

There is no formal membership. In 1997 there were three centers in the United States.

Sources

Probert, Mark. Excerpts from the Mark Probert Séances: 1950 Series. 3 vols. San Diego: Inner Circle Press, 1950.

———. The Magic Bag. San Diego: Inner Circle Kethra E’Da Foundation, 1963.

———. Transcript from Deep Trance-Lecture. 10 vols. San Diego: Inner Circle Kethra E’Da Foundation, n.d.

Wassen, Ralph, ed. Yada Speaks. San Diego: Kethra E’Da Foundation, 1985.

Lifelight University

4030 Dodd Dr., Cable, WI 54821

Lifelight University, an esoteric college of Light, grew out of the channeling activity of Arlene Nelson. Since 1983 Nelson has channeled an entity named Sinat Schirah, who is generally referred to more simply by the nickname Stan. Nelson is a full-trance medium. In 1986 a newly intense phase of the channeling work, described as pure channeling, began and this type of channeling now occurs one weekend per month from January to May each year. During these pure channeling sessions, Stan completely takes over and Nelson has no memory of the sessions. Nelson is married to Mervin Colver and believes that she, Stan, and Colver have been reunited for present work because of their association together in previous incarnations.

Lifelight University opened in 1987 to assist people in assuming greater responsibility for their own spiritual, mental, and physical growth. It offers a year-round program of seminars, workshops, classes, and retreats for New Age seekers. Off-campus two-day intensives and introductory sessions are offered at which Stan gives instructions on a variety of topics. New students are invited to take introductory courses in meditation and then proceed through a set of progressive intensives. Material channeled through Nelson from Stan has been published in tapes and books. Weekly devotional sessions called “affirmative sharing” are held each Sunday.

Membership

Not a membership organization.

Periodicals

Lifelight Newsletter. • 7 Rays.

Sources

Lifelight University. www.lifelightuniversity.org.

Michael Educational Foundation

10 Muth Dr., Orinda, CA 94563

In the years since the first contact with “Michael,” the collective entity who has been communicating with the Michael Teachings group in the San Francisco Bay area, and especially since the 1979 publication of the original book on Michael by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (b. 1942), several other teachers also claiming contact with Michael have appeared. Two of these teachers, J. P. Van Hulle and Aaron Christeaan, founded the Michael Educational Foundation in 1984. Though in basic agreement with the Michael Teachings group, the Michael Educational Foundation has expanded its teachings in some very different directions.

According to the Foundation, Michael is the name of a group of 1,050 souls, all of people who have lived many previous lifetimes on Earth. These souls have come together as a single entity to share their vast experience with humanity and to speak to the challenge of being human. Michael speaks through a number of human channels, offers guidance and mentorship to those who choose to listen, and offers a cosmic perspective on life.

Unlike the more anonymous Michael Teachings group, the Foundation has carried on a high-profile public program, has published a number of books and tapes drawn from the weekly channeling sessions, and sponsors various public events in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Hawaii. It has nurtured the formation of Michael study groups at different locations around the world. The group’s newsletter is now available by e-mail. Personal channeling appointments are available with J. P. Van Hulle and Michael North. The Foundation also hosts weekly “telegroups”(meetings via telephone), Wednesday evening gatherings in Orinda, California, and free bimonthly Saturday events around the Bay Area held to introduce new students to Michael’s work.

Membership

As of May 2008 the Foundation had 700 members.

Periodicals

MEF Monthly Newsletter. Available by e-mail only. • Michael’s Monthly Forecast. Available via e-mail subscription. • Michael’s State of the Planet Annual Forecast. Available via e-mail and on CD. (To obtain any of these three periodicals, contact the group at [email protected].)

Sources

Michael Educational Foundation. www.michaeleducationalfoundation.com/.

Baumbach, Emily. Michael’s Cast of Characters. Orinda, CA: Affinity Press, 1989.

Christeaan, Aaron, J. P. Van Hulle, and M. C. Clark. Michael: The Basic Teachings. Orinda, CA: Affinity Press, 1988.

Pope, Joya. The World According to Michael. San Mateo, CA: Sage Publishing, 1987.

Steven, Jose, and Simon Warwick-Smith. Essence and Personality: The Michael Handbook. Orinda, CA: Warwick Press, 1987.

Michael Teachings

PO Box 5459, Lacey, WA 98509-5459

“Michael,”a disembodied reunited entity, first manifested in 1970 during a dinner party in the home of Walter and Jessica Lansing, a couple living in the San Francisco Bay area. The couple was playing with a ouija board when a simple message appeared: “We are here with you tonight.”When inquiry was made as to the identity of this “we,”the response received was: “Each soul is part of a larger body, an entity. Each entity is made up of about one thousand souls, each of which enters the physical plane as many times as necessary to experience all aspects of life and achieve human understanding. At the end of the cycles on the physical plane, the fragments once again reunite as we have reunited.” Michael went on to indicate that he/they comprised an ancient entity that would come to those who requested valid assistance and instruct them in the nature of human evolvement.

Michael described a universe created by evolution from the Tao into seven planes of existence (buddhaic, messianic, mental, akaskic, causal, astral, and physical) similar to Gnostic/theosophical understandings. Michael resides on the causal plane. He/they call attention to the individual’s personal life plan, with particular emphasis on aspects of choice. Understanding is centered on agape, an all-embracing and selfless love.

The Lansings and their guests, Craig and Emily Wright, stayed at the board for the next five hours that first night. They were joined on subsequent occasions by Lucy North (the group’s typist) and Leah and Arnold Harris. During the first six months the group steadily grew until it numbered around 30 members. In 1978 popular novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (b. 1942), who had long been a part of the group, took the material that had accumulated over the eight years of its existence and edited the book Messages from Michael (1979), which first brought widespread public attention to the Michael teachings. The initial group has remained together, and continues to meet twice monthly. Yarbro has edited three subsequent volumes that expand upon the teachings.

Membership

There is one group of some 30 people who meet regularly to receive the messages. In addition, a much larger number of people have received and found guidance from the teachings, especially since the publication of Yarbro’s books.

Sources

Michael Teachings. www.michaelteachings.com/.

Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. Messages from Michael. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1979.

———. Michael for the Millennium. New York: Berkley Books, 1995.

———. Michael’s People. New York: Berkley Books, 1988.

———. More Messages from Michael. New York: Berkley Books, 1986.

Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (RSE)

Box 519, Yelm, WA 98587

J. Z. Knight, born Judith Darlene Hampton, founded Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (RSE) in May 1988. Born in 1946, she was living in Tacoma, Washington, when she first encountered Ramtha in February 1977. In her autobiography, A State of Mind: My Story, she describes a “giant man at the other end of my kitchen … just standing there, aglow. His face … it was the most beautiful face I had ever seen … eyes that shone like ebony stones with copper flashes … skin, if that’s what it was, the coloring of olive, bronze, illuminated, and a fine chiseled nose and a broad jawline and a smile that would rival any Hollywood star’s.”

“You are so beautiful. Who are you?”she asked. “I am Ramtha the Enlightened One. I have come to help you over the ditch. Beloved woman, the greatest of things are achieved with a light heart. It is the ditch of limitation and fear that I will help you over.”

In the months that followed, Ramtha continued to appear to her and teach her. Eventually, he began to “channel”through her—that is, he began to take over the body of J. Z. Knight to deliver his message. According to RSE, this phenomena of channeling was tested in 1996 by a panel of 12 scholars composed of scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and religious experts, who utilized the most current technology to observe J. Z. Knight before, during, and after channeling Ramtha. They concluded that the readings taken from J. Z. Knight’s autonomic nervous system responses were so dramatic that they categorically ruled out any possibility of conscious fakery, schizophrenia, or multiple-personality disorders.

The physical body and the material world, in Ramtha’s thought, are only one aspect of the real world; in fact, they are only the product and effect of the real world constituted by consciousness and energy. The human person is best described as consciousness and energy creating the nature of reality. Ramtha uses the concept of the observer effect found in quantum physics to explain his concept of consciousness and energy. He also uses the concept of God as creator and sovereign to describe the human person as consciousness and energy.

Ramtha himself is the embodiment of his own philosophy, as he is an immortal God, consciousness, and energy, and lived once as a human being 35,000 years ago in the long-gone continent of Lemuria. He grew up among the Lemurians, then a despised minority living at Onai, the port city of Atlatia (Atlantis). He hated the dominant Atlatians and eventually left the city and led a successful revolution against them.

Ramtha emerged as a powerful warrior/conqueror but his career was interrupted by a would-be assassin, who almost killed him with a sword. During his recovery, Ramtha had time to contemplate the unknown God manifest in the life force all around him, and wondered what it would be like to be the unknown God. He was led to consider the wind, that powerful unseen force free of boundaries, limits, or form. After several years of contemplation of the wind, he discovered the ability to separate his consciousness from his body. Further contemplation led to further change; in time, he was able to become one with light and to change his entire body. Eventually, he ascended with his body into a new level of existence. In his lifetime he addressed the questions about human existence and the meaning of life, and through his own observation, reflection, and contemplation he became enlightened and conquered the physical world and death.

BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Ramtha’s teachings derived from the Gnostic tradition that began with such ancient teachers as Valentinus and Plotinus and were continued through modern movements such as Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and Theosophy. According to Ramtha, what we know as the universe originated in a sea of pure potentiality called the Void.

The Void is the source from which all that exists sprang. He describes the Void as “one vast nothing materially, yet all things potentially.”The Void is self-contained, self-sufficient, in a state of rest, and of no need. In its original state, this all-encompassing vastness contains no knowledge of itself, for knowledge is an action. The concept of God as creator and “first cause”is described by Ramtha in terms of the Void contemplating itself and knowing itself. This act of contemplation represents a unique movement in the Void that produced a point of awareness, referred to variously as Point Zero, the observer, primary consciousness, consciousness and energy, and God. Point Zero carries the primordial intent to make known and experience all that is unknown and in a state of potentiality within the vastness of the Void.

Between the two points there appeared space and time. In the atmosphere resulting from the separation a flux emerged in which could be found the original particles of energy; out of these particles of energy (analogous to subatomic particles), the universe was created. Existence was then characterized by the very high frequency at which the points of awareness (entities) and the particles of energy vibrated. Eventually, desiring to explore the Void further, the points of awareness moved further away from Point Zero. That movement led to the formation of a second level of existence characterized by the slowing of the frequency at which the points of awareness and the particles of energy vibrated. In a similar fashion, five additional levels were formed, each characterized by an increasingly slower rate of frequency. The universe that resulted from the entities following their original directive can be pictured as a triangle with Point Zero at the top. Once some entities came to the first level, they began the process of creation and evolution that has resulted, over millions of years, in our present existence as human beings on Earth. The present gross material existence is at the first level along the bottom, the slowest level of frequency. This is the basis for evolution.

The four cornerstones of Ramtha’s philosophy are the concept of the Void, the idea of consciousness and energy creating seven levels of reality, the statement “You are God,” and the mandate to make known the unknown. Many traces of Ramtha’s thought are found in ancient traditions, though usually in faint echoes that barely survived the passing of time and loss of the appropriate context for interpretation.

Ramtha considers the teachings concerning the creation of the world, the evolution of humanity, and the understanding of humans as gods who have forgotten their origin to be mere “philosophy.”While the adoption of that philosophy is a precondition if masters (students) are to recover their divine status, change occurs only as the philosophy is turned into truth. Truth is apprehended when the philosophy is experienced and believed. This is accomplished through pursuing several spiritual practices collectively termed Consciousness & Energy (C&E). Various additional disciplines provide a means of practicing C&E in different settings, with specific goals to be accomplished as a means of training the self in the new reality being proposed by Ramtha.

People interested in the program of study offered at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment are shown a 1998 video recording entitled Creating Personal Reality, after which they decide whether they want to continue training. The next step is to complete an introductory retreat for one week. Students are then incorporated into the general body of the school, and are asked to participate in a general retreat and a follow-up every year in order to retain their status in the school and participate in its ongoing program, activities, and workshops.

Membership

School records from the year 2002 show that there were then approximately 3,500 students worldwide. Half of this student body resides close to the school campus in Yelm, Washington. An annual world tour that has visited Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Mexico has resulted in foreign students in more than 40 cities in 17 countries being supported in their continued learning through regular showings of videotapes made at the school in Yelm.

Periodicals

Windworks: Ideas for Awakening Masters.

Remarks

During the early years of the school, Knight experienced a period of intense criticism, much of it directed at her channeling, an activity considered by many to be inherently questionable. Some within the New Age movement, unaware of what was occurring at the school, suggested that Knight’s withdrawal from the public spotlight signaled a change of focus toward preparing for a darker, apocalyptic future. However, as Knight once again became relatively public, that conception gradually dissipated. Also in the 1980s, Knight’s love of horses led her to begin a business of raising and selling Arabian horses. This enterprise prospered until the mid-1980s, when the market for Arabian horses collapsed and the business went bankrupt. Knight was plunged into debt and a number of students who had invested in the business lost their investments; many had done so with an understanding that Ramtha had approved and sanctioned their investment. As Knight recovered financially, she offered to pay back all of the students (as well as other investors) any money they had lost; while some refused her offer, she eventually returned investment capital to all who accepted it.

Sources

Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment. www.ramtha.com.

Knight, J. Z. A State of Mind. New York: Warner Books, 1987.

Ramtha (J. Z. Knight). A Master’s Reflections on the History of Humanity. 2 vols. Yelm, WA: JZK Publishing, 2001–2002.

———. I Am Ramtha, ed. Cindy Black, Richard Cohn, Greg Simmons, and Wes Walt. Portland, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, 1986.

Melton, J. Gordon. End Enlightenment: Ramtha’s School of Ancient Wisdom. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, 1988. 216 pp.

Weinberg, Steven L., ed. Ramtha. Eastsound, WA: Sovereignty, 1986.

———. Ramtha: An Introduction. Eastsound, WA: Sovereignty, 1988.

———. The Mystery of Birth and Death: Redefining the Self. Yelm, WA: JZK Publishing, 2000.

River of Crazy Wisdom

c/o Rio Sabe Loco, PO Box 65870, Tucson, AZ 85728

The River of Crazy Wisdom (formerly HomeWords) is the outreach vehicle for New Age channeler Sheradon Bryce (born Susan Johnson). Since 1987 Bryce has channeled an entity named Philip, whose teachings have been compiled in a book, Joy Riding the Universe (1993). Bryce is a full-trance channel (medium) who has moved to demystify the channeling process. She suggests that it is possible that the individual’s mind taps into a larger body of knowledge during channeling than is available to the waking consciousness, and then creates a new personality to hold that new knowledge. Perhaps channeling is simply a way of giving the self permission to do what it would not normally allow itself to do.

Each person, according to Bryce, is a god spark. That god spark inhabits a physical body as a vehicle for expression. It is common for individuals to put the power of the god spark outside of the self, to externalize it. That process occurs whenever individuals believe that they are not god. Whenever one worships a god apart from oneself, one has externalized one’s god spark. This externalization also coincides with irresponsibility, the claim that one is not accountable for one’s circumstances. By externalizing one’s godly power and then not understanding the resulting sense of powerlessness, one makes oneself into a victim. To become a fully functioning individual, one must first accept one’s status as a god in embodiment.

Bryce has been a prolific channeler and distributes her work via both tapes and written transcripts of channeled sessions. She offers periodic retreats and workshops, leads tours to “power” places of the world, and infrequently holds private sessions with Philip. Her channeled material, over 2,000 hours of sessions, covers a wide variety of New Age topics from earth changes to ascension, kundalini and sexuality, and prosperity consciousness.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

HomeWords.

Sources

River of Crazy Wisdom. www.riosabeloco.com/.

Bryce, Sheradon. Joy Riding the Universe: Snapshots of the Journey. Salt Lake City, UT: HomeWords, 1993.

Robin’s Return

1008 Lamberton St., NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505

Dorothy and Ray Davis founded Robin’s Return from their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the mid-1960s, they began to receive messages from Paramahansa Yogananda (discussed in the chapter on Hindus). At the time, they did not know who Yogananda was. Then, in 1965, Robin, Dorothy Davis’s son by a previous marriage, was killed when his bomber was shot down over Vietnam. After his death, both Ray and Dorothy began to receive messages from him, as well as from Yogananda and other masters. They gathered the messages together and began to publish them, first as a booklet entitled Robin’s Return and then in a newsletter sent to a contact across the United States. During the last six months of 1966, Chimes, the Spiritualist magazine, ran a series of articles by the Davises on their experiences. Reader response led to the establishment of a national network of people who receive the Davis material. Though many of the early messages were from Robin, over the years the majority came from master spiritual teachers and a divine Spirit usually referred to as “I AM.”

According to the Davises, light and love are the basic reality of the universe. The soul is evolving toward God through a series of incarnations in which the attempt is made to raise the vibrations of the soul. As one moves in the light of God, one is growing spiritually. Death is the gateway to a new sphere of light. Love is a means of raising one’s vibrations, thus creating a channel of communication with the masters. The purpose of life is to become a living expression of love. Growth through the light and love are the essence of the great plan of the universe. Although Ray died in 1976, Dorothy continues spreading their beliefs.

The Davises have been close friends of Nellie Cain of the Spiritual Research Society and Illiana of New Age Teachings (discussed elsewhere in this chapter), and have moved freely in Universal Link circles.

Membership

Several hundred people receive mailings from the Davis home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Royal Priest Research

PO Box 30973, Phoenix, AZ 85046

Royal Priest Research was founded in the 1980s to facilitate the work of Lyssa Royal, the channel for a variety of entities, some of which are extraterrestrial.

Royal experienced a UFO sighting in 1979 that sparked her interest in extraterrestrial consciousness. While in college, she developed the ability to put herself into a hypnotic state in order to manage stress, which then led her to discover her natural intuitive abilities. Through these experiences, she developed the ability to channel other beings.

Through the organization’s books, tapes, and sacred site tours, Royal Priest Research explores teachings from historic and extraterrestrial cultures and applies lessons learned from those cultures to the present day. Teachings present lessons that strengthen human potential and encourage self-development, as well as a sense of interconnectedness with all life. Royal currently gives seminars on channeling throughout the world.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Royal Priest Research. www.lyssaroyal.com.

Royal, Lyssa. Millennium: Tools for the Coming Changes. Hollywood, CA: Light Technology Publications, 1998. 206 pp.

Royal, Lyssa, and Keith Priest. Preparing for Contact: A Metamorphosis of Consciousness. Hollywood, CA: Light Technology Publications, 1994. 188 pp.

———. The Prism of Lyra: An Exploration of Human Galactic Heritage. Hollywood, CA: Light Technology Publications, 1993. 110 pp.

———. Visitors from Within. Albuquerque, NM: Wildflower Press, 1999. 201 pp.

School of Natural Science

PO Box 1115, Cedar Ridge, CA 95924

The School of Natural Science is an organization of men and women devoted to the study and application of natural laws as these operate in all realms of life. Its general purpose is to conduct education along moral, ethical, and spiritual lines, the basis of which is outlined in textbooks known as the Harmonic Series, written by John E. Richardson. Its specific purpose is to help individuals live in harmony with the Constructive Principles of Nature, and to thereby attain self-unfoldment, self-mastery, and resultant health and peace. Those who achieve these goals become, in turn, wholesome units in the aggregate of individuals who comprise nations. The School of Natural Science does not charge for its instruction—it is offered as a gift to those deemed qualified to receive it.

The School of Natural Science teaches that the Universal Intelligence is revealed through his immutable laws, that nature is engaged in the evolvement of individual intelligences, that nature impels individuals to higher levels of consciousness, that the soul is immortal and passes successively into physical and spiritual bodies, that man’s free will works within a law of compensation (karma), that willing conformity to the laws of nature leads to self-mastery, poise, and happiness, and that by living the laws of nature, people come to know instinctively that spiritual reality exists and that life continues after death. Correspondence courses based on these teachings are offered to students.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Life in Action.

Remarks

The School of Natural Science was established in Stockton, California, in 1883 by John E. Richardson, a practicing attorney. According to Richardson, in the summer of 1883, he was encountered by a stranger at the Grand Central Hotel in Stockton. He had been drawn by a voice telling him, “There is someone at the hotel who wants to see you.”The stranger, who identified himself as Hoo-Kna-Ka, told Richardson that he had known him all his life and had come over continents and oceans to see him. He described Richardson’s spiritual journey from Baptist to Spiritualist to the decision that both hypnotism and mediumship were the results of the same destructive process. Hoo-Kna-Ka then invited Richardson to become an initiate of the School of the Master, headquartered in India, on the condition that he would begin an education movement of that school in the Western world. He was taught by Hoo-Kna-Ka without charge, and was instructed always to give the teachings as a gift: “By an endless chain of Gifts shall the Great Work be established.”

In 1894 Richardson (popularly known as “TK”) moved to Chicago and associated himself with Mrs. Florence Huntley. In 1907 he founded the Indo-American Book Company, which became the publishing arm of the “Great Work,” the name of the movement that spread Hoo-Kna-Ka’s teachings. The company issued the Harmonic Series, still the basic teaching materials of the School of Natural Science. In 1916, after what was termed “certain disclosures” (which included charges of financial mismanagement), TK withdrew from the School in Chicago and the Great Work, and moved to California. In California, he reestablished the School and continued to teach and publish his books.

Sources

School of Natural Science. www.gsns.org/.

Leech, W. Stuart. The Great Crystal Fraud or the Great P. J. Chicago: Occult Publishing Company, 1926.

Richardson, J. E. The Great Message. Great School of Natural Science, 1950.

———. The Great Work. Chicago: Indo-American Book Co., 1907.

———. Who Answers Prayer? Great School of Natural Science, 1954.

West, Sylvester A. TK and the Great Work in America. Chicago: Author, 1918.

SOL Association for Research

Box 2276, North Canton, OH 44720

The SOL Association for Research (SOLAR) is dedicated to preserving and disseminating the spiritual insights gained through the deep catatonic trances of psychic William Allen LePar. Paranormally gifted since childhood, LePar shunned these abilities until his early thirties, when he began to enter into periods of trance, at first involuntarily. SOL was founded in 1974, and in the early 1980s was expanded to SOLAR.

While LePar is in a deep trance state, a voice identified as a union of 12 souls known as the Council speaks through him. The Council’s members have reached an exalted level of growth. They reportedly speak from the “Celestial Level of the God-Made Heavenly Realms,” and they state that this is the only time in history that humanity has been directly contacted by beings in the God-Made Realms. More than 1.25 million words of dialogue with the Council have been recorded, covering virtually all areas of the human condition. This material constitutes one of the most extensive bodies of psychically derived (channeled) material available.

SOLAR, which is non-profit and tax exempt, offers a membership program that includes access to a lending library and quarterly newsletter. Monthly meetings are held in Canton, Ohio, and LePar and SOLAR associates are available for lectures, presentations, and interviews. As of 1995, the organization had produced a dozen books, two video documentaries, and numerous audiotapes.

Membership

In 1995, SOLAR reported several hundred members in the United States, along with members in several foreign countries.

Periodicals

SOLAR Newsletter of the SOL Association for Research.

Sources

SOL Association for Research. www.solarpress.com.

Spiritual Education Endeavors–The Share Foundation

1556 Halford Ave., No. 288, Santa Clara, CA 95051

Spiritual Education Endeavors (S.E.E.)–The Share Foundation was founded in the mid-1980s by Virginia Essene (b. 1928). According to her account, in 1984 Essene was contacted by the Christ, the same entity who had lived on earth almost 2,000 years ago as Jesus, and was asked to be the instrument through which he brought his present message to humanity. She worked intensively over a six-month period in 1985 to receive his message via mental telepathy and produced what became a book, New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity, published in 1986.

The book records the Christ’s warning that failure to acknowledge God in our lives had given humankind a war-like mentality that not only threatened grave harm to the planet but also posed the risk that weapons would be taken into outer space. He called for a new peace consciousness and called upon all to join together as light workers in a Light Corps to work for peace on earth. For this endeavor, his Christ energy would be put at humanity’s disposal.

The Christ also declared that he was preparing for his Second Coming and a new Golden Age. By the end of the twentieth century, every loving soul would be given the opportunity to achieve self-mastery. Light workers were to choose a spiritual path that forsook all desire for war and hatred. To bring about this reality, each light worker was to meditate daily and gather with a group to meditate together at least once a week. The Christ also called upon light workers to join with others in efforts to influence governments and to embody peace in all they did and intended.

Spiritual Education Endeavors was formed to help mobilize and organize the Light Corps, so that it could respond positively to Christ’s call. It published New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity and through the Light Corps has sought to distribute it internationally. A newsletter especially intended for those just beginning in the work was issued nine times annually. Since that time Essene has regularly received additional messages expanding on the original message from the Christ and commenting on ongoing earth changes. These messages have been published in several subsequent books and released in seminars. The period from 1987 to the mid 1990s has been designated a period of the awakening of humanity to the new age that is dawning. Shortly after beginning her work, Essene was joined by Ann Valentin, who also channels from the Light realm.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Love Corps Newsletter.

Sources

Share Foundation. www.sharefoundationnetwork.com.

The Christ (through Virginia Essene). New Teachings for an Awakened Humanity. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1986. 197 pp.

Essene, Virginia. Secret Truths for Teens and Twenties. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1986. 120 pp.

Valentin, Ann, and Virginia Essene. Cosmic Revelation. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1987. 160 pp.

———. Descent of the Dove. Santa Clara, CA: Spiritual Education Endeavors Publishing Company, 1988. 185 pp.

Trinity Foundation

c/o Athena Leadership Center, 11827 E Cannon Dr., Scottsdale, AZ 85259

The Trinity Foundation was founded in 1991 by Norma J. Milanovich, a channel who in 1981 had begun receiving messages from entities who identified themselves as originating from the Great White Brotherhood (the spiritual hierarchy that guides the affairs of the planet) and the Galactic Command, a group that rules this segment of space. Those who began to give messages to Milanovich bore such names as Kuthumi, Moinka, and Soltec—names familiar to theosophists, flying saucer groups, and New Age seekers. Much of this material was circulated informally, but a growing response led to the publishing of selected portions received from a number of entities who claimed to have visited earth from the star system Arcturus. We, the Arcturians appeared in 1990. At about the same time, Milanovich was invited to share the material from the masters with the members of the United Nations Parapsychology Committee. These two events occasioned the inauguration of a newsletter, Celestial Voices, in October 1990.

Kuthumi, a representative of the Tribunal Council of the Space Command, has emerged as the major voice speaking through Milanovich. He delivered the first message to the United Nations Parapsychology Committee. He noted that the Space Command had made themselves available to assist humanity in transforming the earth into a world of peace and prosperity for all. The Space Command is composed of individuals who have completed their journey through earth incarnations and have learned the curriculum earth had to teach. They now exist at a higher frequency and seek to bring the Light to the earth.

In subsequent messages, Kuthumi outlined his vision of coming changes. During the next 20 years (1991–2011) earth will be birthed into a star and individuals will emerge from the three dimensional world in which we now live into the fifth dimension. To prepare for this change, Kuthumi released a Curriculum of Thought Manifestation, containing the material that must be mastered for entry into the fifth dimension. This world is composed of solidified energy perceived through the five senses. To move to the fifth dimension, one must first accept the possibility that other realities synchronized with the physical world exist and can be perceived as one raises one’s consciousness.

Also, one must learn that we create reality. Reality is created by thoughts, will, emotion, and actions. The path to higher consciousness is one of choosing right thought, right will, right emotion, and right action. As one changes consciousness, one changes reality. Consciousness creates with Light energy. Light is found by looking within.

On September 24, 1991, Kuthumi delivered an important message, making public a project he had initiated two years previously, the Templar. It was imbedded in an understanding of the earth as an energy system with certain power points similar to the chakras in the tantric understanding of the human body. The United States represents the crown chakra at the top of the head. The crown chakra is being prepared to receive energies from the Most High. The point of the earth that will actually receive the new energies is in the process of being prepared to receive a structure known as the Templar. The Templar is designed to realign earth with the heavens and to stabilize it as it moves through the transition. The Templar will be a pyramid with a base of approximately 500 square feet and a height of 450 feet. Its face will be pink granite and its capstone will be obsidian. It will be surrounded by a six-sided wall.

Milanovich founded the Trinity Foundation to support the building of the Templar. Shortly thereafter, the foundation received a grant of land in Crestone, Colorado, upon which to build the pyramid. The proposed structure has become a major item of controversy in the small community. Meanwhile, Milanovich has published several other books detailing the Masters’ messages: Sacred Journey to Atlantis and Many Paths, One Way.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Celestial Voices.

Sources

Athena Leadership Center. www.athenalctr.com/.

Milanovich, Norma. The Light Shall Set You Free. Albuquerque, NM: Athena Publishing, 1996.

———. Sacred Journey to Atlantis. Albuquerque, NM: Athena Publishing, 1992.

———. We, the Arcturians. Albuquerque, NM: Athena Publishing, 1990.

Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Inc.

c/o C. Vostatek, Sec’ty, 3439 Grand Valley Canal Rd., Clifton, CO 81520

Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Inc. (previously known as the Universal Association of Faithists) is a group devoted to disseminating the knowledge received by the Spiritualist medium and channeler John Ballou Newbrough (1828–1891). In 1881, Newbrough received through automatic writing on a typewriter a revelation later published under the title Oahspe. Newbrough rose early each morning for 50 weeks and, as the “lines of light” rested on his hands, typed for an hour. The first edition of the resultant book was published in September 1882. The next year a convention was held in New York City to work toward founding a communal group to care for orphans and foundlings, as directed in Oahspe. A colony was founded in New Mexico, but failed after only a couple of years. Since that time, small bands of followers have kept Oahspe in print. The recently published Inside the Shalam Colony (1991), by Elnora Wiley, is a partly romanticized, partly historical account of the original colony.

Oahspe is a large volume, written in the style of the King James Version of the Bible. It contains the story of human creation about 78,000 years ago and recounts the upward struggle of the human race. Humanity originated on Pan, a Pacific continent much like Lemuria, which was the sole victim of the biblical flood. Religion evolved through the messages of 11 prophets, beginning with Zarathustra and continuing through Joshu (Jesus). All religion and spiritual effort have been guided by angelic forces toward the Kosmon Era. During this era, which began in the nineteenth century, a new people will emerge, and will transform the world into a place of joy and beauty.

Over the decades, a wide variety of Faithist groups have emerged and disappeared. The movement is sustained by a number of independent groups who stay in touch through several informal networks and periodicals. The Universal Faithists of Kosmon (a church) is the most active center. It is headquartered in Riverton, Utah, with affiliated centers in Colorado, Utah, California, and West Virginia. It publishes a newsletter, Kosmon Voice. The Faithists also sponsor a committee, the Global Council, which carries out various projects suggested and inspirited by Oahspe, and holds an annual conference. The leaders of the committee meet monthly through a conference call.

The Eloists, Inc., headquartered in Henniker, New Hampshire, is another active Oahspe group. It publishes a periodical, Radiance. The Faithist Journal is published by Oahspe followers in Arizona. During his mature years, Ray Palmer, the founder/publisher of Search Magazine became an enthusiastic believer in Oahspe and added “The Oahspe Circle” as a column in the magazine. The “Circle” carried news of Oahspe groups, discussed its main ideas, and promoted networking among the scattered believers. Search is now published by Judith M. Statezny at Owl Press in Rosholt, Wisconsin, but still carries “The Oahspe Circle.”

Worship among Faithists follows the format suggested in the Kosmon Church Service Book, kept in print by a group of British Faithists. This book includes liturgy for worship, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Ministerial training is offered and ordinations of new ministers scheduled as appropriate.

Membership

Unknown. There are several hundred people who have identified themselves with the Faithists and have agreed to have their name published in their directory. Many more have purchased Oahspe (over 20,000 in the last decade) and, though unaffiliated with any of the Oahspe groups, are sympathetic to the movement’s teachings. Groups active in the informal networks can be found in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Periodicals

The Faithist Journal. • Kosmon Voice. • Radiance. • Kosmon Unity. • Global Council Newsletter. • Four Winds Village News.

Sources

Dennon, Jim. Dr. Newbrough and Oahspe. Kingman, AZ: Faithist Journal, 1975.

———. The Oahspe Story. Kingman, AZ: Faithist Journal, 1975.

Oahspe. Los Angeles: Essenes of Kosmon, 1950.

Stowes, K. D. The Land of Shalam, Children’s Land. Evansville, IN: Frank Molinet Print Shop, n.d.

Universal Life: The Inner Religion

PO Box 651, Guilford, CT 06437

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Universelles Leben, Postfach 5643, 97006 Würzburg, Germany. Canadian Headquarters: Universal Life: The Inner Religion, PO Box 54002, Toronto, ON, Canada M6A 3B7.

Universelles Leben, or Universal Life: The Inner Religion, is a worldwide free Christian movement that originated in 1975, when, those affiliated with the movement believe, Christ entered the life of Gabriele Wittek (b. 1933) and revealed to her his plan to use her as his instrument on earth. Since then, Wittek has served as his prophetic instrument and ambassadress in fulfilling this plan, which is to show his children the way back into their eternal home and to build up his Kingdom of Peace on earth. In 1980 the Cosmic School of Life, the first “Original Christian Gathering Places for All Godseekers,” emerged, initially under the name the Inner Spirit Christ Church. Here people came together as in early Christianity to hear the prophetic word, to pray together, and to speak openly with each other about all questions of life, using the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments as a basis.

Also in 1980, the movement believes, Christ called into being the spiritual, mystical path to the divine self, the Homebringing Mission of Jesus Christ. Through the Homebringing Mission, the Spirit of God teaches all seekers on this earth the Inner Path, the path to experiencing God in one’s own inner being. On this Inner Path, the person attains a spiritual expansion of consciousness, becoming one with Christ, God, and all forms of nature, by gradually overcoming sinfulness step by step with the power of Christ. On this foundation, in 1984, Universelles Leben was established.

Since the late 1990s, an inner Christianity community has emerged. Adherents consider themselves Original Christians who pursue an inner religion, a religion of the heart, and strive for liberation from sin and gradual oneness with Christ in their innermost being. They believe that all people are the temple of God and that the Spirit of the Christ of God, which is a spirit of freedom, dwells in everyone. Theirs is a religion without human leaders, rituals, dogmas, denominations, institutions, or “temples of stone.”Such movements of inner Christianity are not new, they maintain. Since the time of Jesus of Nazareth, there have been groups of people who took seriously the high ethics of his teachings, who perceived how Jesus gave mankind an example of how to live in the Spirit of God in unity with neighbors, animals, nature, with all of creation, by observing the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments.

Universal Life is based on the prophetic word of this generation, given in the form of revelations. These revelations are seen as deepening and clarifying the divine laws of God and their application in daily life. They explain many basic spiritual principles, such as the why and how of our earthly existence, eternal damnation, reincarnation, the law of sowing and reaping, active faith, health and illness, life after death, and man’s relationship to the cosmos. This information is made available to all who desire it through the books and tapes produced by Universelles Leben, whose members believe that only the actualization of the laws of God makes us free, glad, healthy, and loving persons.

Membership

Universal Life is not a membership organization. In 1997 there were three centers in the United States and two in Canada, and an unknown number in Europe. Additional centers have opened in Africa, Australia, South America, and Asia.

Periodicals

The Prophet.

Remarks

Universal Life has emerged as one of the more controversial groups in German-speaking Europe as a growing concern over new religions has swept across central Europe. Several books denouncing Universal Life have appeared from an anti-cult perspective.

Sources

Universelles Leben/Universal Life: The Inner Religion. www.universal-life.cc.

Universalia

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

Universalia is a New Age channeling group which grew out of a study group that formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1981. Meeting weekly, the group began to channel through a technique that it termed thought plane transference, i.e., clearing one’s mind, being open to whatever information comes, and writing it down as it enters one’s consciousness. As a mass of information was accumulated, the group incorporated and in May 1985 released the first issue of a newsletter, The Universalian.

Universalia means “of the universe.”Information from the process of channeling comes through the individual members of the group from such energies as Kyros, the Brotherhood, Archangel Michael, and so on. Two books of channeled works by Universalia members have been published: The Kyrian Letters: Transformative Messages for Higher Vision, by Sandra Radhoff, and The Wisdom Teachings of Archangel Michael, by Lori Flory as told to Brad Steiger. The thrust of Universalia’s teaching is toward the expansion of conscious awareness and follows the main affirmation of New Age philosophy. God, the I AM, resides within each person. Spiritual life is perfect; the physical dreamspace dimension is illusionary. Having created illusions, humans tend to believe in them and empower them. Hence, they follow outward form instead of inward reality. Members are taught that they are the loved and beautiful expressions of God and have unlimited potential. As they are connected to all of creation, service is an integral part of their life.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

The Universalian.

Sources

Flory, Lori Jean, and Brad Steiger. The Wisdom Teachings of Archangel Michael. New York: Signet, 1997.

Radhoff, Sandra. The Kyrian Letters: Transformative Messages for Higher Vision. Virginia Beach, VA: Heritage Publications, 1992.

Channeling

A contemporary term for the earlier Spiritualist idea of mediumship, spirit entities conveying philosophical or spiritual advice or healing through mediums. Mediumship is generally thought of as the special activity of a few people who operate primarily to put people in contact with their dead friends and relatives. Channelers operate primarily to bring philosophical and theological teachings from a disembodied entity. Since the development of modern Spiritualism, mediums have also operated as channels and many channels also operate as mediums.

The channeling of philosophical teachings, especially on the nature of continued existence in the afterlife, began with Andrew Jackson Davis, who published a number of volumes of channeled material. Numerous platform mediums became known for their spirit discourses, which they would offer in place of lectures or Sunday sermons. Compiled into books, channeled material would often become the basis of new religious groups, one notable example being Oahspe: The New Age Bible (1881), channeled by John Ballou Newbrough and around which he organized the Faithist religion.

Through the twentieth century, other important channeled works such as Levi Dowling's The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (1907) and James Edward Padgett's True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus have appeared in profusion. The channeled material of Grace Cooke became the basis of the White Eagle Lodge in Great Britain and those of Osker Ernest Bernhardt the basis of the Grail Movement in Austria.

A great deal of channeled material originates from ultraconservative Catholic sources as revelations from the Mother Mary. This phenomenon is known as apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

The term "channeling" as presently used seems to have arisen within the UFO contactee community, which found its focus around individuals who claimed to regularly channel material telepathically from the space brothers. In the 1950s Charles Boyd Gentzel and Pauline Sharpe began their channeling activity, which still exists as Mark-Age, Inc. Violet Gilbert of the Cosmic Star Temple began her public work in 1960. Even earlier, flying saucer channel Dorothy Martin, better known by her spiritual name, Sister Thedra, became the subject of a classic sociological study, When Prophecy Fails.

The present popularity of channeling stems mainly from the activities of Jane Roberts (1929-1984), the channel for the entity "Seth" beginning in 1963. Roberts's first books, The Seth Material (1970) and Seth Speaks (1972), became best sellers, led to some 20 additional volumes, and gave channeling a popularity it had never previously experienced.

The Seth books expounded a coherent philosophy dealing comprehensively with alterations of consciousness, grades of reality, reincarnation, psychology, and a spiritual universe. Roberts also channeled communications claimed to be from psychologist William James and psychotherapist Carl G. Jung. Her first communications were by Ouija board, many were transcribed by her husband as she spoke them in trance, while others were recorded by automatic writing.

After the death of Jane Roberts in 1984, her husband Robert Butts edited new Seth manuscripts, which were published by Tam Mossman in his journal Metapsychology; The Journal of Discarnate Intelligence. Mossman himself also channels an entity named "James."

Other channelers appeared by the end of the decade, the most prominent through the 1980s being JZ Knight, who channels "Ramtha, " and Jach Pursel, who channels "Lazaris. " Channeling became an integral part of the New Age movement and numerous New Age channels arose. Included in their number are Ken Carey, Virginia Essene, Ruth Montgomery, and Penny Torres. Their number has continued to grow.

Also at the end of the eighties Janet McClure began to channel both spiritual and extraterrestrial information from her guides. Her Tibetan Foundation trained many others and a trend became established which continues to this day. With her boldness came a divergence from the traditional message of ageless spiritual wisdom. McClure's contactee messages center on our place in the universe, our origin as a planet whose life was seeded by other civilizations and our need to honor the Earth.

Actress Shirley MacLaine 's several New Age books, especially Out on a Limb (1983), which was televised as a five-hour prime-time ABC mini-series in 1987, and Dancing in the Light (1985), further popularized the concept of spirit guides and underlined her spiritual odyssey and New Age beliefs. She also made special mention of JZ Knight. Knight began to channel "Ramtha" in the late 1980s. She now heads a school for the more serious students of "Ramtha's" gnostic teachings.

Alan Vaughan, who first became known as a writer on psychic topics, emerged as a channel in 1987. In a useful survey of the phenomenon in New Realities, he disclosed that he had commenced channeling in 1983. He had been teaching at a psychic seminar in Sedona, Arizona, and was asked by a couple if he could tell them something about their past lives. Although at the time he was editing Reincarnation Report, he was somewhat skeptical about past-life readings. He describes the incident:

"Suddenly a tremendous energy flooded over the top of my head. It was like watching a dream, as the Chinese entity Li Sung began to speak through me. He gave them [the couple] some detailed information about past lives and how they fit into their present life paths. The couple verified many specific details. For me, it was the beginning of an enlargement of consciousness."

Sixteen years earlier, Vaughan had been told by three British mediums that he would begin "channeling" the Chinese guide one day, but he was skeptical about the prospect of being invaded by some Chinese spirit. After the first channeling of "Li Sung," the Chinese guide continued to manifest and has offered treatment at healing sessions. Vaughan has now channeled "Li Sung" to thousands of people, including radio and television audiences.

Another well-known channeler is former insurance executive Jach Pursel. One day, while relaxing after a busy executive program, he went into the trance state in which he was first contacted by the entity "Lazaris." With the encouragement of his wife Penny, "Lazaris" began to manifest regularly to friends and small groups and gave both personal advice and philosophical teaching. Eventually Pursel gave up his business career and devoted himself full time to channeling "Lazaris."

Popular in the nineties are prolific channels named Neale Donald Walsch and Lee Carroll [Kryon] both of whom have a strong web presence. As the century drew to a close many channeled works made prophetic references to earth changes and ascension scenarios.

It has to be admitted that the names of spirit guides are often unconvincing and seem like parodies. In the heyday of nineteenth-century Spiritualism, Native American guides were more frequent, and even today such claimed personalities still appear to manifest, usually speaking in broken English but unable to communicate in Indian dialects. Other guides have represented themselves as famous characters in history, such as Socrates, Confucius, Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, St. John the Baptist, and even Jesus Christ or God. The communications channeled from such exalted guides were not always of the high intellectual or philosophical level that might be expected, and in many cases consisted merely of banal platitudes.

Many claimed entities of channeling may be regarded as fictional creations. The measure of their importance, at least to those who look to channeled entities as authorities, is whether they give information, insights, or philosophical teachings that are beyond the normal capacity of the channeler. For example, one of the spirit guides of the celebrated medium Eileen J. Garrett (1893-1970) was named "Uvani," a name that does not seem to belong to any known Oriental tradition of nomenclature, but the communications received through "Uvani" were of a highly evidential nature.

It may well be that in many cases a claimed spirit guide is merely a personification of an individual's unconscious or "higher self." In other cases, communications may emanate from an impersonal source of intelligence that establishes a channel by assuming a conventional personality.

Throughout history, popular religions have found it difficult to establish contact with a more austere impersonal deity, such as the concept of Brahman, the Infinite, in esoteric Hinduism, and have found it convenient to postulate a host of anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, which become a familiar focus for worshipers in societies based on interpersonal relationships. Religion requires the spiritualization of emotions, and it is difficult to attach emotions of love or veneration to an impersonal absolute. In Christianity, the concepts of God the Father and God the Son have provided a familiar and helpful focus for worshipers, while older religions have favored the concept of a Mother Goddess. Throughout India, millions of worshipers have found the gods and goddesses of their sect or tradition a personification of divinity.

Parapsychologists have found that the personalities of communicators channeling through mediums may be manufactured consciously, and that such fictional entities can produce paranormal phenomena, as in the famous case of "Philip." Such experiments have validated the concept that spirit guides may often (but not invariably) be an artificial creation of sub-conscious mentation by the psychic or the sitters. Sometimes spirit communications are a strange mixture of genuine and false information, perhaps influenced by the conscious memory of the channeler.

The reemergence of the concept of spirit guides in North America comes at a time when popular interest in traditional Spiritualism seems less widespread than in Britain. It may be that the new name "channeling" and its disassociation from the fraud associated with Spiritualism, provides an attractive image for a new generation of spiritual seekers.

Sources:

Anderson, Rodger I. "The automatic writings of Frances Bird: A review and a discussion of channeled Communications." The Journal of the American Society for Psychical research 85, no. 4 (October 1991).

Bjorling, Joel. Channeling: A Bibliographic Exploration. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992.

Caddy, Eileen. The Spirit of Findhorn. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Reprint, London: L. N. Fowler, 1977.

Carroll, Lee [Kryon]. Kryon: The End Times. Del Mar: Kryon Writings, 1992.

Channelings and Higher Realms. http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/channelings.html. April 10, 2000.

Channeling Links. http://www.wholeagain.com/channeling.html. April 10, 2000.

Decuypere, J.M.. "Channelling—Sick or scientific?." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 63, no. 3 (July 1999).

Garrett, Eileen J. My Life As a Search for the Meaning of Mediumship. New York, 1939. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1975.

Hastings, Arthur. With the Tongues of Men and Angels: A Study of Channeling. Fort Worth: Holt, Reinhart & Winston. 1991.

Kardec, Allan. Spiritualist Philosophy; The Spirits' Book. London, 1893. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1976.

Kautz, William H., and Melanie Branon. Channeling: The Intuitive Connection. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.

Klimo, Jon. Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1998.

MacLaine, Shirley. Dancing in the Light. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.

——. Out on a Limb. New York: Bantam Books, 1983. Re-print, London: Elm Tree Books; Hamish Hamilton, 1983.

Melton, J. Gordon, Jerome Clark, and Aidan Kelly, eds. New Age Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990.

Moses, William Stainton. Spirit Teachings, Through the Mediumship of William Stainton Moses. London, 1883. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1976.

Roberts, Estelle. Fifty Years a Medium. London, 1959. Re-print, New York: Avon, 1972. Reprint, London: Corgi, 1975.

Roberts, Jane. The Seth Material. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1970.

——. Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Engle-wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1972.

Silver Birch. More Philosophy of Silver Birch. Compiled by Tony Ortzen. London: Spiritualist Press, 1979.

Vaughn, Alan. "Channeling." New Realities 3, no. 3 (January/ February 1987).

Vaughan, Alan, and Bobby L. Oller. Doorways to Higher Consciousness. Williamsburg, Va.: Celest. 1998.

Walsch, Neale Donald. Conversations with God, Vol 1. New York: Putnam's, 1996.

Westen, Robin. Channelers: A New Age Directory. New York: Perigee Books (Putnam), 1988.

What is Channeling and Prophecy? http://www.wholeagain.com/channelingfaq.html. April 10, 2000.

White, Ruth, and Mary Swainson. Gildas Communicates; The Story and the Scripts. London: Spearman, 1971.

White, Stewart Edward. The Betty Book. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1930.

White Eagle. The Path of the Soul: The Great Initiations of Every Man. Liss, U.K.: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1959.

World Channelers Directory. http://www.channeling.net/channelers/. April 10, 2000.

Channeling

Channeling might be broadly defined as an individual receiving or transmitting information through a consciousness not his or her own. By this definition there are certain continuities between channeling and many other forms of religious revelation, including those of shamans, oracles, and prophets. Channeling's closest predecessor in American religion is perhaps spiritualism, a nineteenth-century movement concerned with contacting the spirits of the dead.

But if channeling is more narrowly defined as a person (the "channel" or "channeler") inviting an entity to speak through his or her body for a certain period of time, then channeling is best seen as a late-twentieth-century phenomenon. Noted scholar of the New Age J. Gordon Melton has argued in his New Age Almanac that the term itself dates to the UFO contact movement of the 1940s and 1950s, and the use of radio and television as metaphors, when contactees would claim to have received messages "channeled" from the flying saucers.

The era of modern channeling might be said to have begun in 1963, when Jane Roberts (1929–1984), a housewife from New York state, began channeling "Seth." Roberts's books, such as The Nature of Personal Reality and Seth Speaks (in which she writes as Seth), have sold in the millions.

Channeling became part of American popular culture when it played a part in Shirley MacLaine's series of New Age autobiographies and the TV movies based on them. The channeler Kevin Ryerson played himself in MacLaine's 1987 TV movie Out on a Limb.

The most successful channels currently active are J. Z. Knight and Jach Pursel, who channel the warrior from Atlantis Ramtha and the disembodied entity Lazaris, respectively. Their organizations gross millions of dollars annually. But for every high-end channel there are thousands of small-scale ones, who might channel for a few people at a time and work free or for donations.

A typical channeling session might begin with the channel closing his or her eyes, perhaps first making an invocation. Then the "entity" would speak from the body of the channeler, often using different mannerisms, vocabulary, and accents from the host. The "entity" might lecture on a specific topic, or take questions from the audience. The content of channeled information varies somewhat but actually is fairly consistent and might include alternative histories (Atlantis, etc.), individual psychic readings, predictions of upcoming events, and techniques for healing the mind and body.

Anthropologist Michael Brown has pointed out that channeling has spread across America and is "now a well-established form of religious exploration that is likely to be with us for a while." One 1987 estimate was that tens of thousands of people had consulted channels and millions more had read up on them ( John Klimo, Channeling). "Do-it-yourself" channeling is increasingly popular as more and more classes and books are available for getting in touch with your own spirit guide.

See alsoLazaris; New Age Spirituality; Occult, The; Psychic; SÉance; Shamanism; Spirit Guides; Spirit Possession; Spiritualism; Trance; Unidentified Flying Objects.

Bibliography

Brown, Michael F. The Channeling Zone:AmericanSpirituality in an Anxious Age. 1997.

Klimo, John. Channeling. 1987.

Melton, J. Gordon. The New Age Almanac. 1991.

Elijah Siegler