New Age Channeler Seeks a Spot Within the Religious Establishment

For a decade, lost souls have paid to enter JZ Knight’s palatial fortress to learn from Ramtha, the 35,000-year-old warrior she claims to “channel,” to find God within themselves.

Now, after years in seclusion from bad press and ridicule, Knight is emerging and seems to be searching for something herself: acceptance from the religious and academic worlds outside.

With a push from publicists, Knight’s New Age work may be gaining some credibility. Scholars see an emerging religion based on the ancient philosophy of Gnosticism, which calls humans divine.

Knight sees Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment not as a religion, but as a school for Ramtha’s teachings. More than seeking legitimacy, she says, she’s championing students ready to demonstrate what they have learned.

“A lot of people come here from faiths developed all over the world. And what they’re essentially developing is their own intuitiveness and their own relationship to God,” she said in a recent interview. “They’re learning to incorporate what they learn here into their lives and maybe enhance what they already believe in.”

There’s a definite religious tone to Knight’s actions, if not her words.

In May, Huston Smith, a prominent religion scholar, was her guest for four days. Smith, who has retired from teaching at some of the nation’s top universities, including Syracuse, would not confirm Ramtha’s existence, but he offered a qualified endorsement of Knight’s work.

In March, another religion professor retained by Knight published a book describing five years of study. He concluded that Knight is what she claims, the channel for a disembodied spirit, and that her students emerge from her seminars as confident people with something to contribute to society.

And last year, scientists paid by Knight declared that her body goes through profound changes when she’s channeling, although they refused to confirm Ramtha’s existence. “I don’t know what you are,” one parapsychology researcher told her, “but you’re not a fraud.”

Scholars and recent visitors note Knight’s desire to shift from mysterious cult status to an alternative religion that’s more acceptable, if not mainstream.

There are early signs of success. Knight recently welcomed 700 students, the largest beginners’ class in the school’s 10-year history.

“JZ is kind of the mother of channelers. She’s been around a long time,” says Sam Osborne, a divinity student at the Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry. He joined curious guests at a May reception for Smith in Knight’s mansion.

“Her staying power can’t possibly be the result of good finances and good public relations,” Osborne says. “There’s got to be something to it. And there’s something that’s drawing thousands of people to these teachings.”

Born Judith Darlene Hampton in Roswell, N.M., the 52-year-old Knight has been married and divorced three times. She has two sons from her first marriage.

She took on the initials JZ for Judith Zebra for the black and white she frequently wore. She is fascinated by flying saucers, a lifelong interest based on terrifying flashing lights she claims to have seen one night at a teenage slumber party.

But her defining moment dates back about two decades when, she says, Ramtha first appeared in her kitchen as a dazzling giant in a display of purple light.

Knight says he introduced himself as Ramtha the Enlightened One, a warrior from the lost continent of Atlantis, and said God would make her “a light unto the world.”

When channeling, observers say Knight goes into a trance, her eyes narrowing, her voice deepening. Afterward, she claims no recollection of what happened.

A college dropout and former cable TV saleswoman, Knight has turned the local enterprise into a multimillion-dollar spiritual empire. Besides the school, this includes a publishing company, bookstore, clothing store, catalog business and humanities foundation.

In the mid-1980s, Knight drew followers from around the world and became the leader of the New Age movement that promised physical healing, spiritual enlightenment and resolution of conflict.

About 3,000 students, including actress Linda Evans of “Dynasty,” now attend sessions that average $1,350 per person per year. Many have moved to this tiny town 65 miles south of Seattle to be closer to Knight.

In a converted arena for horses near her house, Knight lectures from a large wooden chair on a small stage. Lessons have been known to last for many hours.

It has been a secretive society. In the early 1990s, disgruntled students and angry parents offered bits of information about apocalyptic warnings and strange breathing techniques. Titillating details also emerged during her divorce in 1992. Jeff Knight received $800,000 after claiming she brainwashed him into accepting a fraction of her worth.

But now there are invitations to a compound once strictly off-limits.

“She has hidden behind these walls for years,” says Christina Zohs, a Ramtha student and editor of The Golden Thread newspaper, which publishes Ramtha teachings. “I think it’s time for the school to be more open and to show people what’s going on here. There’s nothing to hide.”

Some scholars agree.

J. Gordon Melton, a cult expert who heads the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, recently published a book, at her expense, of his lengthy study at Knight’s estate.

In “Finding Enlightenment: Ramtha’s School of Ancient Wisdom,” Melton says Ramtha echoes the philosophy of Gnosticism, which promises knowledge--or gnosis.

According to Melton’s book, students combine concentrated dreaming and intense breathing exercises, as well as quantum physics, to reach a higher plane of existence. There, they claim to experience extraordinary abilities, such as healing themselves and seeing with X-ray vision.

Melton and other scholars say Knight’s movement contains many characteristics typical of an emerging religion.

Its theology is based on the premise that students can learn to find God within themselves. Knight is the charismatic shaman or leader, and her students believe in a supernatural entity, Ramtha.

Smith, author of “The World’s Religions,” one of the most popular texts on comparative religions, says major religions share a belief in angels, demons or spirits. Ramtha fits right into the traditional view, says Smith, who also was paid to visit Knight.

Unlike many religions, however, students at Ramtha’s school are not taught to worship anyone, including Ramtha or Knight. And they do not conduct church services. But they are eager to talk.

Some scholars see this new openness as well-crafted public relations.

Rodney Stark, a professor of sociology and comparative religion at the University of Washington, calls Knight’s mix of Smith and the media brilliant.

“I’m sure she’s always wanted legitimacy. We all want to be approved and respected,” he says. But he doesn’t see her “being invited to join the local ministerial association.”

Patricia O’Connell Killen, associate professor of American religious history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, says this openness doesn’t emphasize Ramtha’s warnings of apocalyptic disasters.

Others see Knight’s wealth as an obstacle to legitimacy.

Though intrigued by Ramtha’s teachings, a Seattle University divinity student at the Smith reception found it hard to get beyond the opulence.

“My God, what a gorgeous room! I just couldn’t take my eyes off the pool,” Karen Taliesin said of the blue-tile pool in a rear wing. “It was stunning to be there. And yet there was that little nibbling thing in the back of my mind saying, ‘Why so much money?’ ”

Knight is unapologetic. Melton says that many New Age followers believe practicing what they preach will lead to wealth. Melton also believes that Ramtha’s school is approaching a crucial stage of development, beyond the 15 or more years it takes for a group to establish a base strong enough to survive its founder.

Ramtha apparently recognizes this, Melton says, and has been calling top students from the audience to teach for an hour at a time. Ramtha, through Knight, then offers criticism.

“That tells me in the near future they’re going to start taking over what he has pretty exclusively considered his domain,” Melton says. “That will allow for the expansion of the school, and possibly even other locations for it.”

More information about Knight and Ramtha is available on the World Wide Web at www.ramtha.com. More information about Gnosticism is available at www.gnosis.org.