52 - The Saint Germain Foundation

It's time to catch up with our favorite villainous magicians. Between 1934 and 1939 Guy and Edna Ballard brainwashed and robbed blind upwards to a million Americans through the "'I AM' Religious Activity" using hypnosis, parlor tricks, force of will, and a bunch of members of William Dudley Pelley's Silver Legion - the most successful American Nazi organization - with the stated goal of overthrowing the government and installing Guy Ballard as ruler of America in Saint Germain's "Seventh Golden Age". The teachings of the I AM Activity are some of the primary influences on both New Age spirituality (twin flames, ascension, ascended masters, the violet flame, Mount Shasta, etc.) and Q Anon. Guy died at the tail end of 1938, but the story doesn't end there. Edna Ballard, son Donald and the parent corporation of the "I AM" Activity, The Saint Germain Foundation, would go on to operate from the shadows for decades, co-opting and subverting American spirituality up to and through the present day. The Saint Germain Foundation owns hundreds of perfectly manicured properties in extremely desirable locations, does no active recruiting, and is just generally incredibly creepy. This week we go over the nearly 1000 pages of declassified FBI documents relating to the SGF, testimony of former members, the strange death of Donald Ballard, and whatever is going on currently at Mount Shasta.