Ascended master

Students of Ascended Master Teachings organizations (also known as Ascended Master Activities) believe that the Presence of Life—God—individualizes as "Mighty I AM Presences", which then incarnate in lower-dimensional subtle and gross bodies throughout the created universes. They believe that their teachings have been given to humanity by the ascended masters, believed to be individuals who have lived in physical bodies, acquired the wisdom and mastery needed to become immortal and free of the cycles of re-embodiment and karma, and have attained their ascension (the Sixth Initiation). They consider the ascension to be the complete permanent union of the raised and purified outer self with their Mighty "I AM" Presence—that true identity that is the unique individualization of Almighty God residing in each person.

It is believed by adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings that this wisdom was partially released by the Theosophical Society beginning in 1875, by C.W. Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey, and began to have more detailed public release in the 1930s by the ascended masters through Guy Ballard in the I AM Activity.[4][5] However, theosophists maintain that the concept of ascended master is an exaggeration and corruption of the more modest theosophical concept of "Master of the Ancient Wisdom".[6] A similar problematic conflation of the term exists in the case of the Alice Bailey teachings.[7] (p. 111)

The term "ascended master"" was first introduced in 1934 by Guy Ballard [note :contradicts earlier statement "The term "Ascended Master" was first used by Baird T. Spalding in 1924] in his work titled Unveiled Mysteries, a book which he said was dictated to him by the ascended master St. Germain.[3][8] Other Ascended Master Teachings are contained in The Bridge to Freedom (1951),[9] Mark Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet's The Summit Lighthouse (1958) (reorganized as the Church Universal and Triumphant in 1975),[10] The Temple of The Presence (1995),[11] The Hearts Center (2002), the I AM University (2004), and various other organizations such as The White Eagle Lodge (1936) and the Aquarian Christine Church Universal (2006).[12][13]

The founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Blavatsky, in the late 19th century brought attention to the idea of secret initiatory knowledge, by claiming her ideas were based on traditions taught to her by a group of highly enlightened yogis which she called the Mahatmas or Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. These Mahatmas, she claimed, were physical beings living in the Himalayas, usually understood as Tibet:

... they are living men, born as we are born, and doomed to die like every mortal. We call them "masters" because they are our teachers; and because from them we have derived all the Theosophical truths ... They are men of great learning, whom we call Initiates, and still greater holiness of life.[14]

After Blavatsky's death in 1891, the concept of the Mahatmas was developed by her successors in the Theosophical Society leadership, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater, who described them in great detail and added Master Jesus and Maitreya. In Leadbeater's book, The Masters and the Path (1925), the Masters are presented as human beings full of wisdom and compassion, albeit still limited by human bodies, which they choose to retain in order to keep in touch with humanity and help in its evolution.[15]

Later organizations that used many of the teachings of Theosophy for their own purposes developed concepts of Ascended Masters which bear some important differences with the Theosophical one. Peter Mt. Shasta, who claims to be channeling the ascended master Saint Germain, has been releasing the ancient teachings in a more modern and simplified form, emphasizing the teaching that the Masters can work with those who have an open heart and the desire to benefit humanity.[16]

Helena P. Blavatsky

Originally presented by Helena P. Blavatsky in the 1870s, the idea of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or Mahatmas was adopted by people who at some point had had a connection with the Theosophical movement, such as Alice Bailey, Helena Roerich, and Manly P. Hall. Later on many other organizations, especially in the United States, developed the concept of Ascended Masters, which departs from the theosophical one in several aspects. Adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings believe that this wisdom was partially released by the Theosophical Society beginning in 1875, by C.W. Leadbeater and Alice Bailey, and began to have more detailed public release in the 1930s by the Ascended Masters through Guy Ballard in the I AM Activity.[17][18] However, Theosophists maintain the concept of Ascended Masters are a corruption of the original Theosophical concept of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.

The term Ascended Master was first introduced in 1934 by Guy Ballard with the publication of Unveiled Mysteries, a book which he said was dictated to him by the Ascended Master: St. Germain.[19][20] Other Ascended Master Teachings are contained in The Bridge to Freedom (1951),[21] The Summit Lighthouse (1958), (Known also as The Church Universal and Triumphant[22] The Aetherius Society (1955),[23] The Temple of The Presence (1995),[24] the I AM University (2004), the White Eagle Lodge (1936) and the Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (2006).[25][26]

It is believed that Ascended Masters are individuals who were formerly embodied on the Earth and learned the lessons of life during their incarnations. They gained mastery over the limitations of the matter planes, balanced at least 51% of negative karma, and fulfilled their Dharma (divine plan). An Ascended Master, in such an understanding, has become God-like and a source of unconditional "Divine Love" to all life, and through the Ascension has united with his or her own "God Self," the "I AM Presence."

It is further claimed by various groups and teachers that the Ascended Masters serve as the teachers of mankind from the realms of spirit, and that all people will eventually attain their Ascension and move forward in spiritual evolution beyond this planet. According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity and act to inspire and motivate its spiritual growth. In many traditions and organizations, they are considered part of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Earth, and members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge, Great White Brotherhood, or Universal White Brotherhood (per Peter Deunov).[27]

According to Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme there are sixty Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, defined as beings who have reached the Fifth Level of Initiation or above, with Djwal Khul claimed as the (telepathic) source of many esoteric teachings in Baileys' books. Elizabeth Clare Prophet revealed, by taking "dictations" from them, the names of many dozens of additional Ascended Masters that were previously unknown.

The concept of recognizing the spiritual self, one's own psychological and karma battles and how to overcome them, and eventual Ascension of all humanity is covered in James Redfield's Celestine Prophecy and its sequels, The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision and The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight. These books, while controversial, are recent popularizations of the concept of Ascension.

In Ascended Master teachings there is also mention of Serapis Bey, a being who was incarnated as a high priest in one of the "Temples of the Sacred Fire" on Atlantis, and who migrated to Egypt at the time of the destruction of Atlantis.[28] It is also believed that he was incarnated as the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III (who constructed the Temple of Luxor to the god Amon)[29] and also as Leonidas, the King of Sparta,[30] who was killed in 480 BC defending the pass of Thermopylae against the invasion of ancient Greece by Emperor Xerxes I of the Persian Empire. According to teachings of Agni Yoga,[31] Serapis Bey, in past lives, was believed to have been the Roman king Numa Pompilius, and the philosophers Confucius, Plato and Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca). He is referred to in the book Supermundane as The Thinker.

Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the beliefs of various organizations that have continued and expanded the concepts released in the original Saint Germain instruction in the 1930s through The "I AM" Activity.[37][38][39][40][41] Examples of those believed by the ones proposing these teachings to be Ascended Masters would be the Master Jesus, Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Mary the Mother of Jesus, St. Paul of Tarsus (aka Hilarion), Megha Alcorn also known as Miss Megan Sebastian, Ashtar Sheran, Merku, Sanat Kumara, Aaron as known as Alaje, Aleph, Hatton, Melchizedek, Archangel Michael, Metatron, Kwan Yin, St. Germain and Kuthumi, as well as dozens of others.[42]

It is believed that Ascended Masters are individuals who were once embodied on Earth and learned the lessons of life in their incarnations. They gained mastery over the limitations of the matter planes, balanced at least 51% of negative karma, and fulfilled their Dharma (Divine Plan). An Ascended Master has become God-like and a source of unconditional Love to all life, and through the Ascension has united with his or her own God Self, the "I AM" Presence. It is claimed that they serve as the teachers of mankind from the realms of Spirit, and that all people will eventually attain their Ascension and move forward in spiritual evolution beyond this planet. According to these teachings, they remain attentive to the spiritual needs of humanity, and act to inspire and motivate its spiritual growth. In many traditions and organizations, they are considered part of the Spiritual Hierarchy for Earth, and members of the Great Brotherhood of Light, also known as the Great White Lodge or Great White Brotherhood.[18]

Unveiled Mysteries says:[34]

"Truly the Great Ascended Masters are Gods. It is no wonder in the mythology of the ancients that their activities have been brought down to us in the guise of myth and fable. They wield Tremendous God Power at all times because they hold with unwavering determination to the Great God Presence and hence all Power is given unto them for they are All-Perfection. "'When Jesus said, All these things I have done, ye shall do and even greater things shall ye do, he knew whereof he spoke,' continued Saint Germain. 'He came forth to reveal the Conscious Dominion and Mastery that it is possible for every human being to attain and express while still here on Earth."

Adherents of these Ascended Master Teachings believe that the All-Pervading Presence of God does not act nor create except through Its Individualizations. All creation comes forth through These Individual Identities and is sustained by Them. According to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, this Spiritual Hierarchy is a "Universal Chain" of Individualized God Free Beings fulfilling Attributes and Aspects of God's Infinite Selfhood. Included in this Cosmic Hierarchical scheme are Solar Logoi, Elohim, Sons and Daughters of God, Ascended Masters, Cosmic Beings, the Twelve Solar Hierarchies, Archangels, Angels, Beings of the Elements, and Twin Flames of the Alpha-Omega Polarity sponsoring Systems of Worlds and entire Galactic Systems. This Universal Order of Divine Self-Expression is the means whereby God in the Great Central Sun steps down [spiritual energy from] the Presence and Essence of His Universal Being/Consciousness in order that all Life in time and space might give and receive Unconditional Divine Love. One's placement on this "Ladder of Life" in the Spirit/Matter Universes is determined by one's level of Spiritual Attainment - measured by Awareness and Manifestation of balanced Love, Wisdom, and Power - as well as the embodying of other Divine Qualities."

Saint Germain explained through Guy Ballard:

"The 'Almighty God Flame,' breathing within Itself, projects Two Rays into the 'Great Sea of Pure Electronic Light.' This Intelligent Light-substance becomes the clothing, as it were, for these Rays of the 'Mighty I AM Presence.' Each Ray has all the Attributes of the Godhead within It, and no imperfection can ever enter into or register upon It. The Individualized Flame sends down into each Ray a Focal Point, or Spark, forming a Heart Center upon which gathers the 'Electronic Light Substance,' creating the Electronic Body." [17]

In 1937, The Voice of the I AM article on this subject elaborated:

"When the Ascension of both has taken place, each is the complete balance of all masculine and all feminine qualities within himself. Then the Threefold Flame of Life is completely unfolded, the individual becomes Master at Cosmic Levels of creation and does work with systems of worlds, as well as in this physical world. Thus, that which came out of the Great Central Sun as One Flame becomes Three complete Flames, each of the same full Limitless Power and Activity as the Great Central Sun. This becomes the Cosmic Activity of the Power of the 'Three times Three'. "When both Rays have made the Ascension, then the individual works with systems of worlds instead of just in one world. This is the way the Godhead is ever expanding the Perfection of Itself throughout Infinity and keeping order throughout interstellar space." [43]

Use of the "Violet Flame of Divine Love" is considered to be the 7th Ray aspect of the Holy Spirit and the "Sacred Fire" that transmutes and consumes the "cause, effect, record, and memory" of sin or negative karma. Also called the "Flame of Transmutation", the "Flame of Mercy", the "Flame of Freedom", and the "Flame of Forgiveness". "Our God is a Consuming Fire" in Deuteronomy 4:24 (KJV) and Hebrews 12:29 (KJV) is believed to be refer to this "Sacred Fire of God".

The "Violet Fire" is held to be a raising, transforming, purifying action of "Divine Love" from the "Heart of God" in the "Great Central Sun". It acts to transmute and consume human creation that is not worthy of becoming Immortal, and all negative karmic causes, effects, records, and memories, without the need to individually balance that karma face-to-face with each person back to the earliest beginning of one's individualized manifestation on this or any other world.[18]

Jesus is one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in Theosophy and is one of the Ascended masters in the Ascended Master Teachings. The Master Jesus is regarded by Theosophists, was regarded by Alice Bailey and was later regarded by students of the "Ascended Master Teachings" as the Master of the Sixth Ray.[44]

It is believed by Ascended Master Teachings organizations that the Master Jesus was "Chohan of the Sixth Ray" until December 31, 1959, when, according to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Lady Master Nada fully took on that Office in the Spiritual Hierarchy. According to Prophet, Jesus became World Teacher, along with Kuthumi, on January 1, 1956, succeeding Maitreya, who took the Office of "Planetary Buddha" and "Cosmic Christ".[45][46] This belief is not accepted by adherents of traditional Theosophy and the followers of Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme - they believe that the Master Jesus is still the Chohan of the Sixth Ray and that Maitreya is still the World Teacher.

According to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, the Prophet of the Church Universal and Triumphant, the largest Ascended Master Teachings religion, the Master Jesus incarnated twice as the Emperor of Atlantis, once in 33,050 BC and again in 15,000 BC.[47] She states that this was to aid the white magicians in the war of the white magicians and the black magicians that was going on in Atlantis at that time.

According to Alice Bailey, the Master Jesus was previously incarnated as Joshua, the Hebrew military leader in the 13th century BC, and Joshua the High Priest in the sixth century BC.[48]

According to the Ascended Master Teachings,[49][50][51][52][53] Jesus was also incarnated as Joseph of the Coat of many colors in the 17th century BC/16th century BC (approximately between 1650 BC and 1550 BC), as well as King David (who lived c. 1037 BC until around 970 BC), and Elisha in the 9th century BC.[54]

According to the post-1900 publications of Theosophy (specifically, the writings of Charles W. Leadbeater, Alice Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, as well as the Ascended Master Teachings of Guy Ballard, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Geraldine Innocente, Joshua David Stone, and other Ascended Master Teachings teachers), Sanat Kumara[55][56] is an "advanced being" of the Ninth Initiation (the highest Initiation possible on planet Earth) who is regarded as the Lord or Regent of Earth and of humanity, and the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Earth who dwells in Shamballah, a city said by Theosophists and those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings to be a floating city on the etheric plane above the Gobi Desert.

It is believed by these authors that he is the founder of the Great White Brotherhood, which is composed of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom (Fifth Initiation), Ascended Masters (Sixth Initiation), Chohans and Bodhisattvas (Seventh Initiation), Buddhas (Eighth Initiation), and highly spiritually-evolved volunteers from other worlds, who have all joined together to advance spiritual evolution on Earth.[57]

Sanat Kumara was mentioned briefly by the theosophist Helena Blavatsky.[58] She claimed he belonged to a group of beings, the "Lords of the Flame", whom Christian tradition have misunderstood as Lucifer and the fallen angels.[59]

Sanat Kumara gained greater prominence when her follower Charles W. Leadbeater wrote that Sanat Kumara was the "King" or Lord of the World, and the head of the Great White Brotherhood of Mahatmas who had revealed the principles of theosophy.[60]

Later theosophists such as Alice Bailey and Elizabeth Clare Prophet have embellished the story with further details. He is usually depicted as having the appearance of a 16-year-old boy.

There is considerable difference between the concept of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in Theosophy (as described by Blavatsky, Olcott, Sinnett, and others) and the current concept of Ascended Masters, developed by Guy Ballard and Elizabeth Clare Prophet fifty-five years after the Theosophical Society was founded.

They added more than 200 new "Ascended Masters" that they claimed to receive dictations from in addition to receiving dictations from the original Masters of the Ancient Wisdom of Theosophy.[61]

The Ascended Masters, as their name suggests, are supposed to be Masters who have experienced the miracle of ascension, as it is said Jesus did. The original teaching, channeled by Guy Ballard, was that a new Ascended Master would not die but would take the body up with him. This teaching of ascension is in direct opposition to the Theosophical teachings. Mahatma K.H. refers to the idea disparagingly in one of his letters to Sinnett:

There was but one hysterical woman alleged to have been present at the pretended ascension, and ... the phenomenon has never been corroborated by repetition.[62]

Blavatsky also rejects ascension as a fact, calling it "an allegory as old as the world."[63] In the Theosophical view, the Masters of Wisdom retain their physical bodies.

The Masters of the Wisdom are not like the Ascended ones, who are said to become Godlike, all-powerful beings beyond the laws of nature. In their teachings, the Theosophical Masters even denied that such beings exist. Mahatma K.H. wrote:

If we had the powers of the imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable laws were but toys to play with, then indeed might we have created conditions that would have turned this earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls.[64]

In their letters, the Mahatmas constantly talk about the "immutable laws" of the universe, and that they can help humanity only within the limits of these laws.

Proponents of the Ascended Masters sometimes attempt to account for these discrepancies by claiming that when the Theosophical Society (TS) was founded most of the Theosophical Mahatmas were still "unascended Masters". This leaves room to detach the Ascended Masters from the limitations. However, the Mahatma K.H. wrote: "We are not infallible, all-foreseeing 'Mahatmas' at every hour of the day."[65] As he explained: "An adept—the highest as the lowest—is one only during the exercise of his occult powers."[66] In fact, according to the Theosophical teachings, the higher the adept, the less we are likely to hear from him:

The more spiritual the Adept becomes, the less can he meddle with mundane, gross affairs and the more he has to confine himself to a spiritual work ... The very high Adepts, therefore, do help humanity, but only spiritually: they are constitutionally incapable of meddling with worldly affairs.[67]

In the Theosophical view the Masters do not pay attention to personal desires. Theosophy teaches that the psychological ego is false, that the idea that we are this body, emotions, and mind is a mistake of perception and the source of sorrow. It says that real happiness comes only as an unsought by-product of reducing rather than increasing our attachment and identification with the personal. Blavatsky wrote that "Occultism is not . . . the pursuit of happiness as man understands the word; for the first step is sacrifice, the second renunciation."[68] K.H. agreed with this when he wrote: "We—the criticized and misunderstood Brothers—we seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality—a passing flash—for the welfare of the whole humanity."[69] During the early times of the Theosophical Society, some members, misunderstanding the nature of the Mahatmas, would bring HPB some personal requests to ask of them. In a letter Blavatsky explained:

The Masters would not stoop for one moment to give a thought to individual, private matters relating but to one or even ten persons, their welfare, woes and blisses in this world of Maya [illusion], to nothing except questions of really universal importance. It is all you Theosophists who have dragged down in your minds the ideals of our Masters; you who have unconsciously and with the best of intentions and full sincerity of good purpose, desecrated Them, by thinking for one moment, and believing that They would trouble Themselves with your business matters, sons to be born, daughters to be married, houses to be built, ...[70]

This kind of interest is a very marked feature of the Ascended Masters. The Ascended Masters Teachings teach ways to attract material or emotional possessions to a person's life, and also how to dissolve unpleasant karma, a conception that the Theosophical Mahatmas emphatically opposed. For example, K.H. wrote: "Bear in mind that the slightest cause produced, however unconsciously, and with whatever motive, cannot be unmade, or its effects crossed in their progress—by millions of gods, demons, and men combined."[71] In fact, the Ascended Masters are portrayed as cosmic fathers who will take care of their followers' problems. In contrast, Mahatma M. said: "We are leaders but not child-nurses."[72]

Maitri is Sanskrit for "loving kindness." The historical Buddha was reported to have said near the time of his death in the 4th century BCE that many Buddhas (awakened ones) had come before him, and that in the future another Buddha would come who would be greater than him, and who would embody "Maitri." This prophecy created the expectation of a Buddha Maitreya, which was probably fulfilled in the advent of the being now called "Jesus," likely Apollonius of Tyanna, who on his travels in India and the Far East was reported in many texts to have been called, "Issa," probably short for "Rishi" (great sage). His teachings embody that principle of loving kindness. Maitreya or Lord Maitreya is described in Theosophical literature of the late 19th-century and subsequent periods as an advanced spiritual entity and high-ranking member of a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. According to Theosophical doctrine, one of the Hierarchy's functions is to oversee the evolution of Humankind; in accord with this function Maitreya is said to hold the so-called Office of the World Teacher. Theosophical texts posit that the purpose of this Office is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge about the true constitution and workings of Existence, thereby helping humanity in progression on a cyclical, but ever progressive, evolutionary path. This knowledge transfer is sometimes said to occur through Maitreya occasionally manifesting or incarnating in the physical realm, then assuming the role of World Teacher of Humankind.

The Theosophical concept of Maitreya has many similarities to the earlier Maitreya doctrine in Buddhism. However, they differ in important aspects, and developed differently. The Theosophical Maitreya has been assimilated or appropriated by a variety of quasi-theosophical and non-theosophical New Age and Esoteric groups and movements. These have added, and advanced, their own interpretations and commentary on the subject.

Initiation is a concept in Theosophy that there are nine levels of spiritual development that beings who live on Earth can progress upward through. Within these levels, there are four basic levels of spiritual development that human beings on Earth progress through as they reincarnate, although evil acts may cause bad karma which may cause one to temporarily regress. It is believed that when souls have advanced to the fourth level of initiation, they have reached enlightenment and have no further need to reincarnate. At the fifth level of initiation and beyond, souls have the opportunity to become members of the Spiritual Hierarchy. This concept was developed by both C.W. Leadbeater and Alice Bailey beginning in the 1920s.

According to C.W. Leadbeater, Initiation is a process by which "we try to develop ourselves not that we may become great and wise, but that we may have the power and knowledge to work for humanity to the best effect."[73] According to Alice Bailey, Initiation is the "process of undergoing an expansion [toward higher levels] of consciousness"[74] It is believed by Theosophists that all souls that have reached the fourth level of initiation and evolved beyond the necessity to reincarnate. Those who do not elect to become pratyeka buddhas and go directly into Spiritual Hierarchy governing nirvana, gradually evolving upward through all of these six higher levels of consciousness over thousands or millions of years, and later over billions or trillions of years, with other higher levels beyond.

The concept of Initiation is also recognized in the Ascended Master Teachings, a group of religions based on Theosophy. In the Ascended Master Teachings, the Sixth Initiation is referred to as Ascension. The first six initiations were named by Charles W. Leadbeater and Alice Bailey after the six most important events in the life of Jesus

The Ascension is believed to be the returning to complete "Oneness with God" - "raising the outer atomic structure of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies into the Electronic Structure of the I AM Consciousness", becoming an Ascended Master, eventually a Cosmic Being, and beyond. The Ascension into Immortality through reunion with the God Self requires the consuming of at least 51% of the records and memories of "negatively qualified karma" as well as:

The Great White Brotherhood, in belief systems akin to Theosophical and New Age, are said to be supernatural beings of great power who spread spiritual teachings through selected humans.[76] The members of the Brotherhood may be known as the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom or the Ascended masters.[76] Various people have said they have received messages from these beings, including most notably Helena Blavatsky (Theosophy), Aleister Crowley (Thelema), Alice Bailey (New Group of World Servers), Guy Ballard ("I AM" Activity), Geraldine Innocente (The Bridge to Freedom), Mark L. Prophet & Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Church Universal and Triumphant) and Benjamin Creme (Share International).[76]

The Masters are collectively called the "Great White Brotherhood" by various theosophists and esotericists. The use of the term "white" refers to their advanced spirituality (in other words, that they have a white colored aura) and has nothing to do with race. Blavatsky described many of the Masters as ethnically Tibetan or Indian (Hindu), not European.[77] She did, however, describe them as being from all cultures and races, such as the "Greek gentleman" known as Hilarion.[78]

Belief in the Brotherhood and the Masters is an essential part of the syncretistic teachings of various organizations that have taken the Theosophical philosophical concepts and added their own elements.[79] Examples of those believed to be Ascended Masters by these organizations are: Jesus, Sanat Kumara, Gautama Buddha, Maitreya, Confucius, Lord Lanto (Confucius' historical mentor), Mary (mother of Jesus), Lady Master Nada, Enoch, Kwan Yin, Saint Germain, and Kuthumi, to name but a few.[37] It is believed that all of these put aside any differences they might have had in their Earthly careers, and unite instead to advance the spiritual well-being of humanity.[80]

Within "The I AM Activity" (founded by Guy Ballard in the early 1930s), contact and cooperation with the Ascended Masters became a central part of each member's life. Through the Ballards as "Messengers", the Ascended Masters were believed to have regularly communicated with the students of "The I AM Activity." Those Addresses (known as "Dictations") were delivered before gatherings of members in Conclaves held throughout the United States of America, and published in the monthly periodical The Voice of The "I AM", and some were collected and reprinted in the "green books" of The Saint Germain Series. In all, 3,834 Dictations from the Masters were received through Guy and Edna Ballard. Other "Ascended Master Activities" believed that the Ascended Masters, Cosmic Beings, Elohim, and Archangels continued to present a program for both individual development and spiritual transformation in the world.[81] They believe that further instruction from the Ascended Masters and the rest of the Spiritual Hierarchy continued through new Dispensations with new Messengers, such as The Bridge to Freedom,[82] The Summit Lighthouse, and The Temple of The Presence.

The Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (ACCU) is a denomination founded in 2006 based on The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ transcribed from the Akashic Records by Levi H. Dowling. The Aquarian Christine Church actively promotes Ascended Master Teachings and shares many beliefs in common with the I AM Movement, White Eagle Lodge and New Thought and Theosophical groups. The book "Initiations of the Aquarian Masters: The Theosophy of the Aquarian Gospel" by ACCU founder Jacob L. Watson, expounds on the church's teachings which draw heavily from the writings of A.D.K. Luk (pen-name of Alice Beulah Schutz) (April 10, 1905 - Jan. 14, 1994), the Saint Germain Series published by the Saint Germain Press (The Saint Germain Foundation), and especially from "The Lost Years of Jesus" compiled by Elizabeth Clare Prophet and published by The Summit Lighthouse.[83]

René Guénon wrote a detailed critique of Theosophy titled Theosophy: history of a pseudo-religion (1921). In the book Guenon speculated that Blavatsky had acquired all her knowledge naturally from other books not from any supernatural masters. Guenon points out that Blavatsky spent a long time visiting a library at New York where she had easy access to the works of Jacob Boehme, Eliphas Levi, the Kabbala and other Hermetic treatises. Guenon also speculated that Blavatsky had borrowed passages from extracts of the Kanjur and Tanjur, translated by the eccentric orientalist Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, published in 1836 in the twentieth volume of the Asiatic Researchers of Calcutta.[84]

K. Paul Johnson suggests in his book The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Brotherhood that the Masters that Madam Blavatsky claimed she had personally met are idealizations of certain people she had met during her lifetime.[85]

Also see the article “Talking to the Dead and Other Amusements” by Paul Zweig New York Times October 5, 1980, which speculates that Madame Blavatsky's revelations were fraudulent.[86]

Robert Todd Carroll in his book The skeptic's dictionary (2003) speculates that Blavatsky used trickery into deceiving others into thinking she had paranormal powers. Carroll further speculates that Blavatsky had faked a materialization of a tea cup and saucer as well as written the messages from her masters herself.[87]

• Masters of the Ancient Wisdom

• Agni Yoga
• Benjamin Creme
• Hodgson Report
• Initiation (Theosophy)
• K.H. Letters to C.W. Leadbeater
• Master K.H.
• Master Morya
• Helena Roerich
• Theosophy

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• Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages "An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings Concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of all Ages" H.S. Crocker Company, Inc. 1928 (Reprint: Tarcher 2003) ISBN 1-58542-250-9
• Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, USA 2004. Describes The I AM Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse. ISBN 0195220420
• Partridge, Christopher ed. New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities Oxford University Press, USA 2004. Describes the Theosophical Society, The I AM Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse. ISBN 0-19-522042-0
• Saint Germain Foundation. The History of the "I AM" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation . Saint Germain Press 2003 ISBN 1-878891-99-5
• Saint Germain. I AM Discourses . Saint Germain Press 1935. ISBN 1-878891-48-0
• Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari. The Incredible Life of A Himalayan Yogi: The Times, Teachings and Life of Living Shiva, Baba Lokenath Brahmachari, Lokenath Divine Life Mission. 2004. ISBN 81-87207-07-8
• Mt. Shasta, Peter. My Search in Tibet for the Secret Wish-Fulfilling Jewel ISBN 978-0998414317
• Mt. Shasta, Peter. Apprentice to the Masters: Adventures of Western Mystic, Book II ISBN 978-0692570449
• Mt. Shasta, Peter. Lady Master Pearl, My Teacher ISBN 978-0692356661

• Campbell, Bruce F. A History of the Theosophical Movement Berkeley:1980 University of California Press
• Godwin, Joscelyn The Theosophical Enlightenment Albany, New York: 1994 State University of New York Press
• Johnson, K. Paul The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Brotherhood Albany, New York: 1994 State University of New York Press
• Melton, J. Gordon Encyclopedia of American Religions 5th Edition New York:1996 Gale Research ISBN 0-8103-7714-4 ISSN 1066-1212 Chapter 18--"The Ancient Wisdom Family of Religions" Pages 151-158; see chart on page 154 listing Masters of the Ancient Wisdom; Also see Section 18, Pages 717-757 Descriptions of various Ancient Wisdom religious organizations
• Melton, Gordon American Religious Creeds (Detroit: Gale, 1988; republished in three volumes, New York: Triumph Books, 1991)--See chapter on the Ancient Wisdom group of religions.
• Watson, Jacob L. "Initiations of the Aquarian Masters: The Theosophy of the Aquarian Gospel" 2009 Outskirts Press
• Mt. Shasta, Peter. "Apprentice to the Masters: Adventures of a Western Mystic, Book 2" 2010 Church of the Seven Rays

• Ageless Wisdom Teachings
• The Saint Germain Foundation , Original publisher of Ascended Master Teachings beginning in 1934