by Texe Marrs
The staff at the Omega Institute operate the community all twelve months of the year. Students come in for anywhere from four to 13 weeks to take part in the programs. Catalogs and course brochures are sent out by mail to a substantial mailing list. The training and courses are on a variety of New Age topics. Indeed, almost nothing is excluded from the curriculum. In a recent year, the Omega Institute invited Catholic priest Matthew Fox to teach on “Creation Spirituality,” author Michael Harner to speak on the “Shamanic Journey,” Englishman Philip Carr-Gomm to speak on “The Druid Path,” Native American Indian leader Dennis Banks to speak on “The Sacred Circle,” and David Spangler to teach on “Divine Play.”
Other well-known New Age leaders who have come to Omega Institute include novelist Joseph Heller, Ninja martial arts teacher Stephen Hayes, self-esteem teachers Nathaniel and Devers Branden, and humanist Ashley Montagu. Courses are also offered on Zen, Dervish Dancing, Ritual Arts of Tibet, Gaia the Earth Goddess, Emotional Healing for Adult Children of Alcoholics, Tarot Astrology, and the I Ching.
Chapter 63: ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN
The Order of the Golden Dawn is an elitist occult society that had its origins in 1887 in England. Over the years its membership has included some of the most renowned men in the world—for example, the Irish poet W. B. Yeats—as well as some very curious characters, such as Arthur Madras, the creator of Dracula, and occult author Dr. Israel Regardie.
The current head of The Order of the Golden Dawn (more recently called The Golden Dawn Society and Temple) is a man named Christopher Hyatt. Hyatt was interviewed in 1987 by fellow occultist Antero Alli in Magical Blend magazine (issue number 16, pp. 20-22). His comments during this interview were quite instructive as to the thinking of both himself and his organization. Complaining that fundamentalists were “digging their heels into the ground” and attempting to “enforce their dogma,” Hyatt predicted that the fundamentalist forces will be overcome. There will be a “changing of the guards,” he declared.
Exactly how will this “changing of the guards” take place? “I see,” he stressed, “that the earth still requires some blood before it is ready to move into new and different areas.”
The Guards of the Ancient era... the ones dying right now... are not willing to give up their authority so easily. I foresee, on a mass scale, that the New Age is not going to come into being as so many people believe and wish to believe. I see it as requiring a heck of a lot of blood, disruption, chaos, and pain for a mass change to occur.
Chapter 64: THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE
It was his course on “New Age Thinking for Achieving Your Potential” which made Louis Tice’s organization The Pacific Institute, one of the leading lights in the United States among the mind dynamics and psychological motivation seminar companies. However, in the mid-80s, as conservative Christians began to catch on to the dangers of the New Age, the Pacific Institute rethought its marketing strategy. “New Age Thinking for Achieving Your Potential” was retired and a new curriculum, “Investment in Excellence” took its place. Critics noted, however, that the new training series employed most of the same rhetoric, encouraging the belief that through visualization and mantra-like affirmations, people can change their behavior patterns and influence others.
The Pacific Institute insists it has no affiliation with the New Age Movement but its courses’ suggest otherwise. Although there is no evidence of blatant occultism in the curricula, still one can easily see the definite signs of New Age influence and human potential psychology. In the teaching manual which accompanies the 19-part video presentation of “Investment in Excellence” we immediately see that Unit One has course material on “The Wizard.” The course guide explains that:
The session closes with a discussion of the Wizard of Oz—how, through one-time affirmation, through the power of psycho-linguistics, our lives are influenced. We see how powerful ‘wizards’ determine our behavior. We also see that we can be our own wizards; how through positive affirmations we can truly be our own person, our own authority...
Elsewhere in the training guide the student is taught that visualization and imagery can change habits and reduce stress. There is also an emphasis on self-talk, another humanistic psychology technique. The material suggests that self-talk can have a powerful influence on a person: “In effect, it makes you your own prophet.” As to whether a person should seek outside of themselves to discover the reality of a transcendent God, the material remarks: “All lasting and meaningful change starts on the inside and works its way out.” This is certainly in contradiction with the Bible which tells us that the transformation experience—being born again in the spirit (John 3:3)—is a gift of God, not of our own doing, and that no man can come to the Father except the Holy Spirit draw him.
The psychological techniques employed by the Pacific Institute may not be overtly occultic, but they are of decidedly little worth in enhancing human effectiveness. It is shameful that many of America’s top corporations and governmental agencies have paid the Pacific Institute untold millions of dollars to present courses which provide such minimal, if any value. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, in its prestigious report, Enhancing Human Performance (1988), determined that there was no scientific basis at all for such concepts as self-talk, visualization, guided imagery, and so-forth.
In addition, employees who are compelled by their employers to attend training courses and seminars on-the-job— whether they come labeled as “New Age” or not—should know that they are not required to go to these courses, and the employer cannot retaliate in any way. If the employee believes that such training violates his or her religious beliefs, civil rights or conscience, the employee cannot be compelled to attend. The law stands behind the Christian in this matter according to an important ruling of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For more information about this EEOC ruling (refer to: EEOC ruling #N-915.022, February, 1988), write to Coordination and Guidance Services Office, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1801 L Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20507, or phone toll-free 1-800-USA-EEOC.
Chapter 65: PEACEVISION
PeaceVision, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an organization “committed to peace and planetary upliftment and dedicated... to peace and cooperation on a global scale.” This statement comes from PeaceVision itself. This is the group which makes and distributes the popular bumper stickers you have probably seen on dozens of cars which implore us to “Visualize World Peace.” PeaceVision also sells and distributes mini-stickers which are in the form of the all-seeing eye with a globe inside and also state “Visualize World Peace.” In the New Age theology, it is believed that if enough individuals across the planet visualize world peace simultaneously that the collective thought powers accumulated will cause humanity to take a quantum leap into the New Age, supposedly to be an era of global harmony, love, sharing, and peace.
Chapter 66: PERELANDRA COMMUNITY
Though it may shock some Christians who admire his books, fantasy writer C. S. Lewis, the late Englishman who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and many other books, is a great hero to New Agers. They view his writings, especially his novels, as the embodiment of New Age teachings on the sacredness of earth and a confirmation of the essential New Age doctrine that “all is one.” Especially beloved of New Agers is C.S. Lewis’ novel Perelandra, which promotes the concept of the entire planet as the “Green Lady.” The Green Lady, they say, refers to the Goddess of the pagan mythologies. Indeed, New Agers have even established the Perelandra Community based on the writings of C.S. Lewis.
Recently, an interviewer for New Realities magazine (May/June 1988) interviewed Machaelle Small Wright, the founder of the Perelandra Community. Located some 60 miles south of Washington, D.C., near the tiny hamlet of Jeffersonton, Virginia, Perelandra sits astride 22 acres of meadows, woods, streams, and gardens. Wright welcomes visitors to the community but one cannot become a resident until Wright is satisfied that the person has
read Lewis’ novel Perelandra.
In an article written for the Virginia Biological Farmer, Machaelle Small Wright was pictured as a woman who talked to fairies and angels and who believed she could materialize manure out of thin air. Wright also is presented as able to persuade moles and other garden creatures to do her bidding and insects to leave her garden alone. She has authored a “how-to” book entitled Perelandra Garden Workbook: A Complete Guide to Gardening With Nature Intelligences.
As Wright describes Perelandra, the name was chosen because of C. S. Lewis’ Perelandra. For example, the word “perelandra” means “venus, planet of perfection.” Among occultists, it is believed that Lucifer, a good being, came from the planet Venus to Earth. The residents of Perelandra believe that Lewis’ concepts of good and bad countervailing each other in a harmonious balance is a picture of the real metaphysical world.
Wright and her Perelandra Community are not the only ones to laud C. S. Lewis as a fellow New Ager. The “Books of Light” New Age Bookclub has chosen C. S. Lewis’ novels as main selections. One New Age publisher actually named their company Aslan Publishing, after the main character, the god-lion Aslan, in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.
Jean Houston, of the New Age’s The Mystery School, has also highly commended C. S. Lewis’ mythological book Perelandra. In a recent brochure sent out by The Mystery School she exclaims: “The fictional works of visionary writers like Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)... and the fantasies of C. S. Lewis (Perelandra) and Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time) and many others may serve to inspire our creation of the new myth.” In the New Age, the “new myth” is a cult phrase for the New Age kingdom on planet earth.
(Note: Several of his biographers noted that C. S. Lewis was not a fundamentalist Christian. He did not believe that the Christian Bible is inerrant or that it is the only set of inspired scriptures. Instead, Lewis expressed the belief that Jesus and Christianity were the fulfillment of all the ancient pagan myths—“the myth that came true.” For more information about Lewis’ unorthodox views, please see the book, C. S. Lewis on Scripture, by Michael J. Christensen (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1979).
Chapter 67: PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY
The Philosophical Research Society was founded in 1934 by Manly P. Hall, an esoteric occultist and 33rd degree Mason. Hall’s book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, is a massive compendium of esoteric philosophies and occult doctrines over the ages. He has authored many other works which are of intense interest to intellectually-minded New Agers, occultists, and researchers of comparative religions. The Philosophical Research Society has its headquarters in Los Angeles, California, with offices, a bookstore, and an auditorium where numerous lectures are regularly presented on a variety of topics.
The Society also publishes a great number of books including reprints of rare esoteric manuscripts and books. Subject matter includes esoteric astrology, angels and spirits, Cabala and Tarot, magic, reincarnation, karma, and death, the oriental religions, and medieval alchemy. Manly P. Hall also has written a book greatly admired by fellow Masons entitled Lost Keys of Freemasonry. Although brief, this book is very revealing of the true teachings of the Masonic Lodge.
Chapter 68: RAMTHA
JZ Knight is perhaps the best-known of all New Age spirit channelers. Her contention is that a 35,000-year old warrior/spirit named Ramtha began coming to her in 1978 and became her teacher. At the time, Knight was a housewife in Washington state who had been dabbling with a number of occultic methods, including pyramid power. After Ramtha came into her life, JZ Knight became famed throughout the New Age world. She traveled from city to city charging hundreds of dollars to the individuals who came to hear Ramtha speak from her mouth.
Ramtha, whose voice is very stilted and foreign, spouts much the same occultic gibberish as other spirit guides. Through JZ Knight, Ramtha tells his followers that “Love” is everything, that they are themselves divine, and that even Lucifer is a divine entity. Typically, Knight introduces Ramtha by going into a semiconscious state, shaking, then going limp. Suddenly, she becomes animated again as Ramtha. JZ then walks through the audience speaking in Ramtha’s low, rhythmic voice, spouting great “wisdom.”
JZ Knight has certainly enriched herself through the teachings of Ramtha. According to news reports (for example see Newsweek, December 15, 1986), she has been able to buy a large ranch in Washington state and stock it complete with Arabian thoroughbred horses. Visitors report that they are shocked to find that her horses live in an utter state of luxury: Indeed, crystal chandeliers hang from the rafters of the stable.
It hasn’t hurt JZ Knight’s reputation that such celebrities as Linda Evans, of TV’s Dynasty fame, frequently travel to see her in Washington and seek advice from Ramtha. Reporters who have attended sessions in which JZ Knight channeled Ramtha say that people cry, sob, and a few of them have flung themselves at JZ Knight’s feet. Some begin to jerk their bodies, others break out in uncontrollable laughter. Such devotees are brisk buyers of Ramtha’s teachings in the form of audiotapes, videos, and books.
Chapter 69: THE REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (RLDS)
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS) is the second largest Mormon sect. When the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage, Illinois, awaiting trial, most of the members left with Brigham Young and settled in Utah to found what has become the main group of Mormons. A smaller group, claiming to be “The True Church,” continued with Joseph Smith’s son Joseph III as their prophet. This group continues to the present time as the RLDS with sons in the family replacing the elder Smiths.
The RLDS fully believes that The Book of Mormon is the Word of God and accepts many of the occult practices of its larger cousin in Salt Lake City. There are several traditional Mormon doctrines that the RLDS has rejected, such as baptism for the dead and the multiple god theory. However, over the years, the RLDS has adopted fresh new doctrines which are even more stunning in their occultic foundations. In the 1970s the then prophet of the RLDS church, W. Wallace Smith, proclaimed that he had received prophecies which directed the church’s mission in certain new directions. Consequently, the RLDS began to associate with and support such groups as the liberal, feminist National Organization for Women (NOW) and the World Council of Churches. The RLDS hierarchy became involved in the peace movement. Some in the RLDS structure began to promote gay rights, abortion rights, and other liberal and socialistic causes.
Though some of the membership were unhappy with these goings-on, most kept quiet because they believed that W. Wallace Smith was called of God to be the prophet, seer, and revelator of the Church. In 1984 the new prophet/head of the RLDS, Wallace B. Smith, son of W. Wallace, received his famous revelation declaring that women could be ordained into the RLDS priesthood. Prophet Wallace also put out the word that a temple that had been in the works for many years and which was to be constructed in Independence, Missouri, where the headquarters of the RLDS is located, shall be dedicated to the purpose of peace.
The RLDS temple under construction has a spiral design much like the famed Babylonian ziggurat which the Bible calls the Tower of Babel. Indeed, prophet Wallace B. Smith, speaking of the temple design, has stated: “The design gives the impression of seeking to link that which is earthbound with the creator who is beyond our reach.” (Saints Herald, October 1988). The new spiral tower temple will be 340 feet high, 26 stories tall in all, and will be the center of what the RLDS calls “the coming Theocratic Democracy.” The reorganized Mormon church has congregations throughout the United States and the world, and is especially strong in Third World nations.
Chapter 70: ROSICRUCIANS
There are dozens, maybe more, of groups which call themselves Rosicrucians. Generally, though their organizational structure and beliefs may vary somewhat, the basic theology and teachings of all these groups is remarkably similar. The best known Rosicrucian society is the group known simply as �
�the Rosicrucians,” or formally as the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, whose Supreme Grand Lodge is in San Jose, California. This group goes by its initials, A.M.O.R.C. The AMORC declares itself to be the only authorized ancient fraternity of Rosicrucians perpetuating the true traditions of the original society.
The Rosicrucians say that theirs is an illustrious historical order and that such men as English mathematician Isaac Newton, French composer Claude Debussy, English philosopher Frances Bacon, and American statesman Benjamin Franklin were all Rosicrucians. There is some evidence that this is true. History records that Rosicrucianism originated from Freemasonry orders and spread throughout Europe in the 17th century, attracting many influential proponents. The first American Rosicrucian chapter appears to have been founded in Pennsylvania in 1694, while the AMORC group was evidently formed by Harvey Spencer Lewis (1883-1939), a writer and occultist from New York City, in 1915. Immediately, the group’s publication, The American Rosae Crucis, began distribution and in 1917 the first national convention was held. The AMORC order spread rapidly thereafter.
Two other important Rosicrucian groups in America are the Rosicrucian Fellowship, founded by Max Heindel in 1913 and now headquartered in Oceanside, California, and the Fratemitas Rosae Crusis, founded in 1858 by Pascal B. Randolph. The latter group grew rapidly in numbers about the turn of the century as a man named R. Swinburne Clymer established its headquarters in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The present Grand Master is his son, Emerson.