WEBVTT - Part One: Romana Didulo: Queen of Canada 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:08.720 Also media, welcome back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.280 brought to you by no major streaming networks. That's not 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.600 a thing that we're doing. Ignore whatever it is, Sophie 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:16.279 says after me. 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:18.800 That was so fucked up? 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.560 Was up? That was so fucked up. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.439 I can't even tell you, guys, so many meetings that 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.040 I've been in. I can't even tell you. I was 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.400 like up at five in the morning clipping together something 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:39.240 for I work so hard, and Robert's like, mind you. 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:38.560 You work so hard. 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.959 We're trash anyway, work hard for our network that has 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.040 nothing to do with a major streaming service anyway. 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:46.599 Try so hard and come so far. 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:51.000 Wow, Wow, I'm really glad props here for this anyways, 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:53.159 Just just wanted to give a little PSA at the 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.680 top that if you're an audio listener, not a single 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.320 thing has changed for you, my friends, you can still 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.760 listen to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts. iHeartRadio, 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:04.800 app podcast blah blah blah blah blah. And there's a 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.760 PSA at the end if you're forgetting what I'm saying 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.560 up top. Also full video episodes of Behind the basswards 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.200 and now streaming on Netflix, Dropping every Tuesday and Thursday. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.440 So hit remind me on Netflix so you don't miss 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:16.000 an episode. 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.880 Yeah, and look, I know what you're all saying. Netflix 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.840 only had one demand, which was that we stopped making 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:26.240 actionable threats against it. Yeah so, and you know, I 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:27.720 feel like that's a fair compromise. 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:29.760 Yeah, so, hit remind me of Netflix you don't miss 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.039 an episode, and then for clips in older episode catalog, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.000 continue to subscribe to our YouTube channel. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:36.880 Yeah. 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.479 Respect, that's that's that's what's up. 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.600 Yep, look, mama mon Netflix, there you go. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:49.040 I'll say, well, let's stop talking about streaming and start 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.160 talking about something important, which is our guest for this episode, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:02:01.240 Jason aka Prop the best guy here. I'm so we're 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.200 back back baby, back in the New York mood. Not really. 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.360 We got photos back from the live show we did 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.120 last year, and I was just looking at at it 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:10.480 and it's the three of us. I was like, damn, 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:11.520 I gotta frame this ship. 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:12.320 We look like. 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.480 It's like it's like our family photo album. I need it. 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:18.720 I love you guys, listen. 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.240 It is a blessing and honor to be here to 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.000 talk about some sort of piece of ship. 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.720 Yeah. Yeah, man, you know what I'm saying. I'm talking about. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.840 I was just over here jamming some Barrington Levy calling 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:32.880 ice murderers. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:34.040 You know what I'm saying I have. 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.799 I have shocking news to start this episode. 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:37.760 Oh that's that. 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.560 The pastor of this episode is not a man. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.320 No, no, no, we're doing We got a lady bastard this, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.480 We've got. Things are dark in the old United States 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.480 these days, so I figured we'd take a trip up 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:56.120 north to our our normal and mentally healthy neighbors where 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:01.520 nothing crazy ever happens. Obviously in Canada. And let's talk 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.040 about one of Canada's most notable bastards of the moment, 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:10.000 Queen Romana Didulo, the Queen of Canada, which does not 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.919 have a queen. Uh I did for a while. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.000 Ka who. 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.120 Yeah, So she she is talking about. She's essentially a 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.280 Queanon influencer who's starting in like twenty twenty one, declared 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.360 herself the Queen of Canada and she's been declaring things 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.079 ever since, living in like an RV caravan with all 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:33.760 of her followers. It's good stuff. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:39.080 Oh my god, on behalf of everyone who's just nervous. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.240 System is beat to crap. Man, Thank you, thank you 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:44.440 for giving me some fun. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.840 This absurd mystical creature, no gicide, no real body count. 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.120 She's oh man, I need to do so much. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:56.720 She's you know, and Robert scripts it says she might 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:57.960 be an alien. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:03.320 Like I love it. She might be an alien, she 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.480 might be psychic. But she's definitely a cult leader, right, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:08.800 thanks me. She's not a good one, which we don't 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.000 talk about enough. Oh god, dog listen man. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.600 I was here for the the Thomas Jefferson's I was 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.320 here for the Lost calls for the crack attack. 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:20.120 I was here. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:26.080 Yeah, you know, fun's good. Yes, yeah, we have a 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.720 good Yeah. I feel like this is also, you know, 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.400 because Himler. If you're comparing if you're out there trying 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:34.440 to make your mark as a monster and you're comparing 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.080 yourself to someone like Himmler, you know, you're just kind 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.120 of wind up feeling inadequate. And I don't want any 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.440 of the cult leaders that listen to this podcast to 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.719 feel inadequate. You know, there's been a series of threads 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.800 going around on Reddit where people are pointing out that, like, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.200 you know, how few people actually make over one hundred 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.000 thousand dollars to be like, hey, if you're making less 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:53.440 than that. You don't have to feel bad. And I 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.680 want to do the same thing to the cult leaders 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.880 out there. If you're a working class cult leader, you know, 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.000 really busting your to keep a dozen or so people, 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.919 you know, locked mentally in the chains of slavery to 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.760 your insane will, this is for you. You know, we cannout. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.200 You can't all be all Ron Hubbard, can all have 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.040 a skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles. 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.080 You know again, I appreciate you saying this. This is 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:23.800 like the the DEI affinity group of That's right, bastards. 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.680 And trust I appreciate this. 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.120 And you know what, it's just like, listen, man, all 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.560 of us don't start off you feel me, Like we 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.880 all don't start off with the privilege of being a 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.000 six foot white dude. You know what I'm saying with 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.720 the money endowment where you can just buy land, you 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.520 feel me. Jim Jones, you know what I mean, Like 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.320 some of us got to get it out the mud. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.400 Yeah, you have to like get people okay with the 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.320 fact that, like, if all you can do is really 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:53.480 completely destroy the mental freedom and sovereignty of like ten people, 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.679 you know that's enough. You're valid as a could leader. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.440 And that's what we're telling Romana. You know, I get 0:05:59.480 --> 0:05:59.839 it all. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:01.080 So you know what I'm saying. 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.159 If we talk about Canada, I mean they got stuff 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.800 like healthcare and like you know what I'm saying, so 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.880 they're kind of like they kind of really don't got 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.080 nothing to complain about, you know, So to get somebody 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.679 to fall into a cult in Canada, like I mean, 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:16.680 good for you. 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:19.320 You feel like they have something to complain about. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.719 They've got played about largely the cult leader. The Coles 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:23.760 destroyed their lives. 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.880 I was gonna say, I was gonna say, uh uh Drake, but. 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.280 I was gonna say Tim Bets, but he's already. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.880 Yeah, car Kenny already took care of that. 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.200 I'd also like to say that, like not that I 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.719 would ever, ever ever give a high five to any 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.520 sort of Western world leader, but Matt Carney just got 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.880 his bars off, like I'm gonna I'm gonna give our 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:52.479 Mark Corney. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.320 He was a good little Davos speech. 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.279 Yeah, he got his bars OFFNA appreciate that. He was like, 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.839 can we just stop capping, y'all? Can we just stop pretending? 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.120 And again that's part of why I support the Queen 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:06.920 of Canada, right, is that for too long Canada has 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.480 sat in the shadows as American cult leaders have gotten 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.640 all of the attention, you know, just because we're better 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.560 at cults than Canadians, you know, a lot better, like 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.880 way better. But that doesn't mean there aren't Canadian cult leaders. 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:29.880 And today we're going to talk about one right now. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.680 As I noted, Americans are better at cults. And so 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.760 before we get to her Royal Highness, I want to 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.800 talk about a different cultic movement that people generally say 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:42.400 helped prepare the ground for Romana's cult. And this is 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:47.000 an American cultic movement, The I AM Activity. And it's 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.600 always spelled I AM in all caps and quotations in 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.240 an activity with a capital A. That's the name of 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.400 the movement. And it's like a Christian faith movement from 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.400 the United States. Kind of that turned it like a 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.240 self help cult got cropped up. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.520 You got to say the whole thing like a pim 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.000 named slick back, the I am the I. 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:13.440 Am exactly the im activity. Yes, you have to say, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.120 can't abbreviate it. People will know what you're talking about. 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.200 So cropped up during the peak of the Great Depression 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.040 at the start of the thirties, which is, you know, 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:23.800 a good time to be starting a cult. A lot 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.440 of our New Age movements have some to some extent 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.880 their origins and the Great Depression, and the I AM 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.960 movement has its roots in the city of Mount Shasta, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.120 which is the least surprising thing on earth. You've ever 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.360 been to Mount Shasta? 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.840 The Californians in the chat Yeah. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.440 Yeah, you know they're already in cults. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.200 You already know liked you, you feel, you feel the 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.480 cult vibration as soon as you leave the Bay Area. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.240 Like you live in Mount Shasta, you've already been told 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.840 to cut ties with your friends and family and hand 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:57.040 all of your money to a carra. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.360 Over They guy Rica, brother. 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.800 It's a lovely town. But Mount Shasta is a big 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.959 volcano situated in northern California, not that far from the 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.400 border of Oregon. It's very pretty, it looks kind of 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.280 like a lady h and the town there has a 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.040 reputation for being a hub of the New Age movement 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.880 and various cultic groups like today, if you go there today, 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.719 there's a lot of wou shit in Mount Shasta. And 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.439 this has been the case for a long time. Shasta 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.880 kind of helped lot of birth to the New Age movement. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.840 A mountain looks like a lady, yeah. 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.560 It was a new one kind of Yeah, yeah, the 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.520 mountain yet it kind of has like the silhouette of 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.120 a lady, so the native said, And it does. If 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:39.800 you look at it during the sunset, it looks like 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:40.920 it you can see your face. 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.520 Oh, I gotta know, she's a pretty mountain. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:47.240 Sie. 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.199 Shasta would just like white women with dreadlocks. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.840 Well, yeah, there's there's them there too, but they didn't 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:59.480 start being there. So it has a reputation for being 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.000 a hub of the Age movement. There's also persistent rumors 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:06.600 that aliens live inside the mountain, right, yes, yes, And 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.240 I can confirm that there are mushroom aliens living inside 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.520 Mount Shasta via four independent interviews that I conducted with 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.920 guys I got stoned with at growhouses in the area. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.959 So you know, that's that's as solid evidence as you're 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.080 going to get that there are in fact aliens living 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:22.079 in Mount Shasta. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:22.600 Yeah. 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.520 Anyway, that's a triple source confirmation. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:30.080 Exactly exactly. Any newspaper would print that. Yeah. Anyhow, the 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.840 root of the proud tradition of kookiness in Mount Shasta 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.280 starts with a local man named Guy Ballard, who, while 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.360 hiking on Mount Shasta, received a vision from Saint Germain. Now, 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.120 when I heard that, I was like, Oh, this guy's 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.640 probably Catholic. Some Saint visited him, right, that makes sense. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.440 You know, Catholics are always talking about the Saints visiting them. 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.880 That's not what Saint Germain is. If you look up 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.320 Saint Germain online, you come across two different things. One 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.960 is a kind of elderflower liqueur that you've probably seen 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.840 in bars. It's got a pretty distinctive looking bottle, okay, 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.000 and it I think it's named after a long dead 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.680 confidence man who was not at all a saint, who 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.520 described himself as a count, and who made a bunch 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.679 of famous friends, including Voltaire, and told them stories about 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.800 being five hundred years old and all knowing. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:17.240 Right. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.959 Oh yeah, this was a guy a few hundred years 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.960 ago who just kind of he got famous for going 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.280 to parties and lying about himself, right, which was easy 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.480 to do back then. Yeah, you know you was gonna check. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.160 We're gonna check if you won't five hundred. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.400 Like, yeah, exactly, as long as you're as long as 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.760 you're in a different city than you're from. No one's 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:39.800 figuring this shit out. 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.560 There's there's a little bit of like I kind of 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:47.640 like like gaze back longingly over those days because I 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:49.520 just feel like, like if you think about like the 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.560 whole plot of like the born Identity, it's just with 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.960 facial recognition, you just don't have a movie like this 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.320 guy got all kind of like passports to say where 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.000 he's from. It like excuse me, sir, can you step 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.520 over here please? Like there's just you can't have a 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.760 fake ID, you know what I'm saying. So the idea 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.719 of saying, because the Internet exists, that I could be like, oh, yeah, no, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.800 we're actually royalty. I'm from Ethiopia, Royalty. Like there's no 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.400 way for you to check. Like now it's like, sir, 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.400 you were born in Inglewood. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:29.040 Yeah yeah. And Guy Ballard is yeah one of these 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.760 he sees this Saint Jermaine fella, and I don't know 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.240 exactly they had to categorize Saint Jermaine. I think we 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.440 have to file him under the category of like con 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.920 artists whose cons have been lost to obscurity because he's 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.600 he's hanging out only around rich people, and he's lying 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.040 to them incessantly. But I don't know, like entirely what 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.319 the grift was, right, Like, what was he what was 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:50.800 he getting out of this? Was it just that he 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:52.679 got invited to parties and he got to stay at 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:57.200 rich people's fancy mansions. It may have been that, right, Yeah, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.600 And he was He was a charming guy by all accounts, 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.520 and multi talented. He was good at music and stuff, 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:05.800 so he was fun. You didn't have TV back then, 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:07.800 so a lot of prominent people. If you're just interesting, 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.560 you could get invited to rich people parties and make 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.200 an okay life for yourself because there was nothing going 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:15.840 on and all of the other rich people are pretty boring. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.200 He published a bunch of sheet music in his time, 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.120 and he wrote two books of magic. One was shaped 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.520 like a triangle and detailed a ritual that would provide 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.480 the practitioner with unnatural wealth and long life, just as 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.640 the Count was said to possess. And his books became 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.960 influential among the occult and as a result, when the 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.520 Theosophists came around in the late eighteen hundreds, Helena Blovotski 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.040 declared Saint Germain to have been the most powerful wizard 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.880 of his kind in several centuries, and that his astral 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:45.120 form had visited her and bestowed secret wisdom on her. Right, 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.840 this is amazing. There was kind of when we get 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.160 in the end of the eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.400 that big occult wave that kind of does in a 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:54.400 lot of ways leading to like the Nazis and stuff. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.079 Saint Germain is just from a previous era are a 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.560 couple hundred years earlier. He's one of them those famous 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.800 guys who was like into magic and everyone just wrote 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.920 about him. So she says, oh, he visited me and 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:07.800 he taught me his secret powers, you know. 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:09.480 And so he visited. 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.239 Right exactly forty years like forty years after he visits Olovotsky. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.800 And so, okay, I bring all this up because Guy 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.000 Ballard didn't just invent Oh, Saint Germain, that's an interesting 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.120 figure from the past who said taught me something. He's 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:26.080 ripping off Blovatsky, right, got it, Like she was the 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.120 first one doing this. And so Guy is like, well, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:29.920 I'm looking to make a name for myself. I want 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.840 people to see me as a as a cultic leader. 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.360 I guess I got to have Saint Germain back me 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.400 up too, right, okay, And so Guy Ballard takes this this, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:41.560 you know, and he says, basically, Saint Germain told me 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.080 his secrets to long life and you know, mental powers, 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:47.360 and I'm going to teach him to you. That's the 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.560 that's the basis of the I Am Activity, right, which 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.640 is this mystic educational movement based on Saint Germain's supposed 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.560 teachings right up on the website the I Am Activity 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.960 always all captain in quoation marks I Am. Don't you 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:03.240 ever say it differently? 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.480 Listen like a tribe call quest. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.480 Got to say it exactly exactly yes, so write up 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.080 on the website New Religious Movements dot org. The core 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.040 teachings of the IAM Activity center around the presence of 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.400 the I Am or God presence within each individual, a 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.560 divine spark that connects everyone to the Creator. Through specific 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.480 practices such as decree, spoken invocations, and affirmations, followers aim 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.680 to realize their divine nature, achieves self purification, and ultimately 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.240 ascend the higher spiritual realms, emulating the ascended masters. The 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.400 Ballad's teachings also incorporated elements of American patriotism and nationalism. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.760 Clearly the United States had a unique role in the 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:40.360 world's spiritual destiny. 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:41.200 Bro. 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.840 This is so there's so many like like uh, seasonings 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.440 of like Pentecostal Christian in that like you're declaring the 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.160 I am that I am, and you get to speak 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.000 speak the power of existence. 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.680 Bro, Like let me tell you something, right, Like. 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.440 I could already see where that hot does got how 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:00.440 did Christian? 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.760 And that's it's worth it. As you pointed out, the 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.600 I am and I am activity is a reference to 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.120 the Bibles and to God. I am that God said 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.440 to Moses. Yeah, what God said to Moses? Right, And 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.400 and that's what you know, it's possible. We don't know. 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:18.160 Romana is going to say a lot of stuff that 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.960 references aspects of the I AM activity. I don't know 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.720 if she's aware of the original cult or if it's 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.280 just because the I am activity kind of becomes part 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.040 of foundational American cultic lore, and as is always the 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.320 case with the stuff, pieces of it wind up picked 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.640 up by generations of later cultames and thrown in not 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.160 just cults, but thrown into different aspects of like New 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.640 Age thinking. So think pieces of Ballard's work kind of 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.160 wind up in self help books and stuff for decades 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.400 to come, which may just be the extent of like 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.000 where how she picks up on little elements of this 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.520 right now the I AM activities. You may have guessed 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.560 with the fact that most of you probably hadn't heard 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.520 of this this night before. It was not a huge hit. 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.040 It's just it's best it was not. It was like middling. 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.280 I'll say that it's great. Claim to fame was a 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.480 Supreme Court case US v. Ballard over whether or not 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.480 it was fraud for leaders of a supposedly religious movement 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.439 to collect donations based on religious claims they did not 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.359 themselves believe, and the case was launched after Ballard's death. 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.760 People sued and argued that like his wife and son 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.399 who'd helped with the cult, didn't really believe in anything, 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:24.320 and thus we're committing fraud when they took it more 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.879 than three million dollars worth of donations. The Supreme Court 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.760 ultimately decided the question itself is inappropriate for a court 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:33.920 to ask, right, we can't even rule on this because 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.840 us the idea that a court would have anything to 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.000 say about whether or not someone legitimately believes in a 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.439 religion they espouse is inappropriate basically like we shouldn't even 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.840 we shouldn't even be here, you know yah, which is 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.919 I'm so mixed about it because both, if they had 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.240 ruled yeah, that's fraud, maybe a lot would be better, 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.600 But also it really isn't a court's place to say, 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.200 I think that guy doesn't believe what he says he believes. 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.880 That's not really weird, like a religion, you know, crime, Like. 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.160 That's interesting, and and like how could a court call 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.679 that like to be like it's, yeah, that was super interesting. 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.320 It's like I don't know about your faith, buddy. You 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:14.040 know what I'm saying. You said you believe you believe it, Like. 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.160 Because it's it's one of those things. I can imagine 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.120 a million problems we could have avoided if they ruled differently, 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.480 but also a million new problems that we would have 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.480 told we were Like, now the court gets to decide 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.520 if you really believe in whatever you. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.040 Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's one of the problem Which one 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.280 of these cans of worms do we want to open? 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.440 You know what I'm saying, like, yeah, because because you 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.639 like you know, even fast forward to you know again, 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.760 American Pentecostalism, Like, how many of you would have been like, hey, bro, 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.560 you you really don't believe you could heal that person, 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:48.240 do you? 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:48.560 Yeah? 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:49.479 You mak it. 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.240 But what you pulled out of them, that's chicken gizzard. 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:53.560 You don't think that's really. 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.639 That That is not real, sir, Yes, And he's like, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.480 it would be your project. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:02.600 I feel like there is a line where it's like, yeah, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.280 if you're like pulling chicken gizzard out of people pretending 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.760 it's cancer, you're probably committing fraud. That's right. Cross it 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.600 a line. But if you're just asking do you really 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:16.160 believe that people can chant themselves in immortality doing this 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.879 or whatever? Like, yeah, I guess I can kind of 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.359 respect the Supreme Court being like, this isn't even our place, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.040 Like this isn't even an appropriate thing for there to 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.760 be a court case of att It's really mixed. But 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.919 I can see the logic, you know. So the movement 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.679 limped along, the IAM movement. They won this case, and 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.080 they limp along until Ballard's wife dies in the early 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.640 nineteen seventies, at which point leadership passed to a board 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.400 of directors. The group is still kind of existent today, 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.560 the I am, but like they've got like a newsletter. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.720 They publishers of shit. But it's not like a thing anymore, 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.919 not really. As I said, it's relevant to us because 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.719