Origin 1988
A New Age school founded in 1988 in Yelm, Washington by JZ Knight, born Judith Darlene Hampton, who says she channels a spirit calling itself Ramtha, described as a 35,000-year-old warrior consciousness from the lost continent of Lemuria. Knight first announced the channeling publicly in 1977, and after a decade of smaller sessions formalized instruction as a residential school teaching what it calls "consciousness and energy" work, including a technique it markets as blindfolded horseback riding meant to demonstrate expanded perception. The school became the economic center of Yelm's small-town life for years, drawing thousands of students internationally, and it has drawn sustained controversy, including a widely reported 2013 episode in which remarks attributed to Ramtha during a livestreamed session were condemned as antisemitic and homophobic, prompting public apologies and the departure of some longtime students and teachers.
Facts
Trajectory
Membership Over TimeApproximately three thousand students drawn from more than twenty countries, as of the late 1990s, following steady growth since the school's 1988 founding near Yelm, Washington. 3 Membership Figure As OfThe source dates this only to the late 1990s; the year is approximated to the middle of that span. Basis of the Membership FigureScholarly or Demographic Estimate 3 Origins
Origin Period Origin Period Place of OriginYelm, Washington, United States 1 FounderJZ Knight (born Judith Darlene Hampton) 1 Status
Status TodayIn active religious use 1 Reach
Adherents TodayAn approximation described in the source as of the late 1990s; no more recent count with comparable precision was located. Contested Use
Contested or Appropriated Modern UseA 2013 livestreamed session in which remarks attributed to Ramtha were widely reported as antisemitic and homophobic drew public condemnation and the departure of some longtime students and teachers, alongside apologies from the school; critics separately dispute whether the channeling itself is genuine trance phenomenon or performance. 1 Connections
Objects and Practices of This Tradition
A film made by three students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment and promoting the being its founder says she channels, not an official production of the School itself.
Source What the Bleep Do We Know? (Not Even Wrong, Peter Woit)
Originated In
Source The Oxford Handbook of New Religious MovementsJames R. Lewis (ed.)
Sources
1. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
James R. Lewis (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2004Originated In: United States, Stored origin-place property on this entity, cited to this source: Yelm, Washington, United States
2. Ramtha's School of Enlightenment (Wikipedia)
Infobox, founded
1988
In Group: Esoteric Movements (New Religious Movements), Lead sentence, class
Ramtha's School of Enlightenment (RSE) is an American New Age spiritual sect near the city of Yelm, Washington, U.S.
View the Source3. Ramtha's School of Enlightenment (Encyclopedia.com)
J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia.com (Contemporary American Religion)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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