Ramtha the Barbarian

This is the first of two clips about J Z Knight, an American New Age channel who is supposedly possessed by a 35,000-year old spirit named Ramtha. You can easily find the second part on YouTube. Both clips are from an ABC News feature from 1988.

I have to admit that I got *even less* respect for New Age channels (except maybe our very own Ambres) after watching these clips. Ramtha is so obviously fraudulent, that it challenges my credulity how anyone can possibly believe any of this. For starters, Knight is obviously not in a trance when transmitting Ramtha´s messages. She looks like a cringey amateur actor when playing out her part as the 35,000-year old “spirit”. According to the back story, Ramtha is a warrior from ancient Atlantis (or perhaps Lemuria – Wiki´s version is somewhat different from ABC´s) who seems to resemble Conan the Barbarian, except that in this version, the barbarian is saved by the light and ascends to heaven á la Jesus (again according to Wiki).

Despite the above, Knight has or had many prominent supporters, including “Dynasty” actor Linda Evans and the ever-present Shirley MacLaine. Knight lives in a stately mansion in the Pacific Northwest and breeds Arabian horses. The money comes from her own devotees. More disturbingly, Ramtha´s message has apocalyptic overtones but apparently the Northwest will be saved from the floods and earthquakes, making many of the true believers move there (closer to Knight, that is). Needless to say, none of the converted barbar´s prophecies have come to pass.

ABC has interviewed critics, including disenchanted former associates, who claim that the whole thing is a hoax and that Knight is simply greedy. One former classmate from high school claims that Knight was at one point channeling a demon! The mostly female devotees come across as incredibly stupid women taken in by America´s largest Gypsy scam, or something to that effect.

But then, I suppose it´s always possible that *something* is coming through in the séances. However, I don´t think it´s a 35,000-year old Lemurian (or lemur). Rather, it´s a very modern egregore, known as Mammon…