I Am

A 1947 bulletin of the I Am movement

Mary Marie Pennington was born October 16, 1907 in Pewamo, Michigan, but moved to East Lansing with her family when she was eleven years old. She passed away in the family home on October 14, 2005. Mary lived for ninety-seven years, a time spanning two world wars, the Depression, the atomic bomb, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, Watergate and more. To most, Mary probably seemed ordinary. But as you’ll find she had an interesting life and family that is documented in the Mary Pennington Collection at the Archives of Michigan.

The I Am Movement

In 1945, Mary needed a change. She was tired of teaching home economics in Michigan. Her mother, Eva, suggested that she move to Sante Fe, New Mexico, in order to study and work at the compound of the “I AM” religious movement.

“I AM” was founded in 1930 by Guy and Edna Ballard, a Chicago couple who were interested in the study of theosophy. Theosophy incorporates aspects of Buddhism and Brahmanism. Reincarnation and spiritual evolution are among these incorporated beliefs. Guy Ballard’s journey began on a hike at Mount Shasta in northern California. While on the mountain, Ballard stated that he met and conversed with the Ascended Master St. Germain (To be “Ascended” means that you ascend out of earthly existence and are no longer reincarnated.). After Mount Shasta, Ballard, under the pen name Godfre Ray King, recounted his interviews with Saint Germain through two publications, Unveiled Mysteries (1934) and The Magic Presence (1935). These books were published in Chicago by Saint Germain Press, a publishing firm founded by the Ballards. Armed with these publications and others, the Ballards promoted study groups and research centers in urban areas and acquired followers.

Mary Pennington, circa 1940

The “I AM” movement melded reincarnation, chanting, color and spiritual ascension. By using decrees or affirmations, members could harness the “I AM” power for health, happiness and prosperity. The movement also stressed patriotism, and appealed to conservative Americans who decried the New Deal. “In A Religious History of the American People,” Sydney E. Ahlstrom writes that “the Ballards may have reached as many as three million people . . . their vast program emphasized healing; like the later New Thought, it stressed the vast powers latent in man by virtue of his unity with Being (I AM) and the aid to be received from ascended cosmic beings.” (Claire Hoffman, “Today’s New Religion: ‘I am,’ Washington Post“, January 30, 2008.)

Mary Pennington and the Movement

By the time Mary Pennington went to Sante Fe, the membership rolls had declined. The group went through a series of litigation starting with the IRS revoking their tax exempt status on the grounds that it was not a religion (1941). Legal troubles continued. Edna and her son, Donald, were convicted of mail fraud in 1942. In 1944, the charges were rejected by the United States Supreme Court in a landmark religious liberty decision. The litigation of the 1940s did not dissuade Mary Pennington. She followed the “I AM religious Activity” and corresponded with other believers throughout her life. She attended study group meetings in East Lansing, even when group membership was down to two or three people. Mary Pennington was an indefatigable letter writer, note taker and diarist. The documentation in the Pennington Collection presents a picture of Mary’s rather new age beliefs.