Theos-Talk Archives (January 1995 Message tl00291)

Elizabeth Clare Prophet's pantheon derives from her late first
husband's work; he in turn seems to have borrowed freely for Guy
Ballard (aka Godfrey Ray King) I AM Movement's pantheon popular
in its heighday back in the late 1930's.  Ultimately, the source
is probably none other than Helena Blavatsky' s theosophical
messengers.

For an interesting article on the whole matter, see the late A.
Bharati's piece in the Tibet Journal "The Origins and Persistence
of Rampaism", early 1970's.

As for Ballard, he taught physical ascension; his sudden,
untimely death created a mess of sorts for the organization.  Mrs
Ballard's quick response, immediate creamation of the unascended
corpse, was foiled by an alert Los Angeles County Coroner's
department (unlike its actions with Nicole Simpson & Ron Goldman
of late); autoposy showed old Guy was made of the same stuff we
all are! Within months of his death the US Post Office brought
suit against I AM, severely crippling it.

Like Prophet, Ballard appealed to right wing fanatic groups of
his day, inducting virtually all of the American Brown Shirts
into I AM.  To this day Ballard's fanciful accounts of meeting
the Masters on Mt Shasta sell.  While Ballard reported those
meetings occured during his tenure as a US government worker, in
fact he was hiding out in LA due to outstanding warrants for his
arrest in the Mid West - for what? Fraud of course.

Ken O'Neill