Guy Warren Ballard (July 28, 1878 – December 29, 1939) was an American mining engineer who, with his wife Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard, founded the "I AM" Activity.
Ballard was born in Newton, Kansas and married his wife in Chicago in 1916. Ballard served in the U.S. Army in World War I, and then became a mining engineer. Both Edna and Guy studied Theosophy and the occult extensively.
Revelation
Living at the base of the California volcano Mount Shasta in 1930, Ballard frequently hiked on the mountain, where he reported the following to have occurred.<blockquote>It came time for lunch, and I sought a mountain spring for clear, cold water. Cup in hand, I bent down to fill it, when an electrical current passed through my body from head to foot.
I looked around, and directly behind me stood a young man who, at first glance, seemed to be someone on a hike like myself. I looked more closely and realized immediately that he was no ordinary person. As this thought passed through my mind, he smiled and addressed me saying:
"My Brother, if you will hand me your cup, I will give you a much more refreshing drink than spring water." I obeyed, and instantly the cup was filled with a creamy liquid. Handing it back to me, he said: "Drink it."</blockquote>The young man later identified himself as the Count of St. Germain. Ballard provided details of his encounters with St. Germain and other Ascended Masters in the books Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, using the pen name Godfré Ray King.
Activity
The "I AM" Activity started from public lectures about these encounters and grew rapidly in the 1930s. Ballard lectured frequently in Chicago about Saint Germain's mystical teachings, in which America was destined to play a key role. By 1938, there were claimed to be about a million followers in the United States. In 1942, they began the I AM Sanctuary at a Presbyterian missionary school.
The "I AM" Activity began after Mr. Ballard's alleged meeting with Saint Germain, an Ascended Master, whose experiences are outlined in Volume One of the Saint Germain Series of Books, "Unveiled Mysteries", published by the Saint Germain Press.
Deaths of Ballard and his wife
Ballard died on 29 December 1939 and Edna Ballard died on 12 February 1971. and that his previous incarnations include Richard the Lionheart and George Washington. They also believe that Edna Ballard became the "Ascended Lady Master Lotus", with previous incarnations including Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I of England, and Benjamin Franklin.