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Arica School (1968)
Bolivian philosopher Oscar Ichazo developed a theory that he called “protoanalysis,” out of which he developed the Enneagram of Personality. Ichazo argued that nine “ego fixations” are formed early in life, each becoming the core of a self-image and linked to a specific “passion,” or disordered emotional energy. The relationships between these fixations can be Continue reading
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Arcane School (1923)
Alice Bailey was born Alice La Trobe-Bateman in Manchester, England, in 1880. Though born wealthy, she said her childhood was isolated and unhappy. Her mother died when she was young and she described her father as indifferent. She attempted suicide three times by the age of 15. After the third attempt, she said she had Continue reading
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Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Plaster Rock (1928)
The Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Plaster Rock, now known as the Family Worship Center, was founded in 1928 in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, by William Rolston, an Irish immigrant who began his ministry with tent revivals in the late 1920s. By 1932, a permanent church building was erected, marking the formal establishment of the congregation. Continue reading
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Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All (1968)
J. Roy Legere set up the Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All, an organization for lay Catholics, in Warren, Massachusetts, in 1968. Though the group did not have official backing from the church, it had a good relationship with the local diocese, which shared information on its retreats and activities. But after about five years, Continue reading
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Antrovis (1993)
In 1983, Edward Mielnik, a 42-year-old Polish boiler stoker, claimed to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who urged him to save the Slavic people with the assistance of extraterrestrials. He began spreading his message in his native city of Wrocław and eventually expanded his activities to other cities. Mielnik taught that Slavs Continue reading
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Antoinism (1906)
Louis-Joseph Antoine was born in Belgium in 1846 and became a coal miner at age 12, later working as a steelworker. His harsh but steady life as a laborer was disrupted when he was in his late 40s by the death of his son in 1893. Though Antoine had limited formal education, he had already Continue reading
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Anthroposophy (1912)
Rudolf Steiner was born in a part of the Austrian Empire that is now Croatia in 1861. His father was a telegraph operator and the family moved regularly during Steiner’s childhood. Steiner would report supernatural experiences from early in life, including encountering the spirit of an aunt who told him she had recently died. This Continue reading
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Ant Hill Kids/Holy Moses Mountain Family (1977)
Roch Thériault was born in Thetford Mines, Quebec, in 1947. He was an intelligent and charismatic child, and he developed a deep interest in spirituality. He left formal education after seventh grade. In early adulthood, he moved to Montreal and met Francine Grenier, who he would marry in 1967. They had two sons, Roch Sylvain Continue reading
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Anglo-Saxon Federation of America (1930)
Howard B. Rand, born in 1889, was raised in the British Israelite tradition, which held the belief that those born in Britain, and their Anglo-Saxon descendants elsewhere, were the direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. British Israelism has its roots as far back as the 17th century but became most prominent in Continue reading
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Angel’s Landing (c. 2000)
Daniel Perez was born in Texas in 1959. Few details about his early life are known, but he fled that state in 1997 to avoid sentencing for a child sex crime conviction. He relocated to Kansas, where he adopted the name Lou Castro. He would later claim that he was assaulted by police officers following Continue reading
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Ancient Teachings of the Masters (1983)
After stints in Scientology, the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism, and several other groups, Paul Twitchell founded Eckankar in 1965. He claimed to be the 971st in the line of ECK Masters, the spiritual leader of Eckankar. Twitchell adapted many Sanskrit words into English in his teachings, and it is believed that “Eckankar” is a Continue reading
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Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (1915)
Though some Rosicrucians claim a direct lineage dating back to ancient Egypt, the first verifiable evidence of Rosicrucians came in the early 17th century with the publication of three anonymous texts in Germany. The first of these was the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, or “The Fame of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross,” which was Continue reading
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Ānanda Mārga (1955)
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was born in West Bengal in 1921 and studied at the University of Calcutta. He completed basic science studied but was forced to leave college to support his family after his father died, and worked as an accountant for the Indian railways system until the mid-1950s. But his chief interest was in Continue reading
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Ananda Church of Self-Realization (1968)
James Donald Walters was born in Romania to American parents in 1926. When he was in college, he read Autobiography of a Yogi by the Hindu monk Paramahansa Yogananda, which had recently been published. Walters made his way to the headquarters of Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in California and took vows of discipleship. Walters moved Continue reading
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Amway (1959)
The American Way Association, or Amway, is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company founded by lifelong friends Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel in 1959. The two had partnered on several endeavors and in 1949 created the Ja-Ri Corporation to import goods from South America. Later that year, they attended a seminar for Nutrilite food supplements, Continue reading
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Amica Temple of Radiance (1959)
The Amica Temple of Radiance originated in the early 1930s through the experiences of Ivah Bergh Whitten. She claimed that as a child she had overcome a seemingly incurable illness via “color awareness,” which she explored and then wrote about. Whitten launched a yearlong correspondence course called “The Initial Course in Colour Awareness,” and attracted Continue reading
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Altruria (1894)
Altruria was a utopian community founded in Sonoma County, California, that was inspired by A Traveler from Altruria, a novel by William Dean Howells published earlier that year. The novel, which had been published in serial form in The Cosmopolitan magazine in 1892 and 1893, was a critique of capitalism involving a visitor to a Continue reading
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Alcor Life Extension Foundation (1972)
In 1972, Fred and Linda Chamberlain founded the Alcor Society for Solid State Hypothermia, naming it for Alcor, a faint star in the Big Dipper constellation. They changed the name to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in 1977. Its intention is to develop a rational and financially reasonable approach to cryonics. Alcor’s initial human cryopreservation Continue reading
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Alcoholics Anonymous (1935)
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 by Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson, known as “Dr. Bob” and “Bill W.” within the group, as a mutual support system to aid them in ceasing their consumption of alcohol, to which both men were addicted. They were influenced by the Oxford Group, a Christian organization founded in Continue reading
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Alamo Christian Foundation (1969)
Bernie Lazar Hoffman was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1934. While the details of his early life are obscure, he claimed to have been abandoned at Father Flanagan’s Boys Town and said that he was abused there, in part because he was Jewish. By the time he was 21, he had been convicted of burglary, Continue reading
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Aiyy Faith/Kut-Siur (1990)
The Aiyy Faith is a contemporary Yakut religious organization that is the successor to Kut-Siur, founded in 1990 by philologist Lazar Afanasyev, known as Téris, during the period of religious liberation that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Afanasyev, who studied shamanism during the Soviet era, articulated his monotheistic modernization of Yakut teachings Continue reading
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Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (1889)
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born in 1835 in Punjab, India. He was well-educated and developed a particular interest in Islam. In the mid-1860s, he worked for several years as a clerk, and regularly took pleasure in engaging Christian missionaries in debate. He also developed a respectful sparring relationship with representatives of the Arya Samaj, a Continue reading
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Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (2015)
The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light was founded in 2015 by Abdullah Hashem, who was born in the United States in 1983 to an American mother and Egyptian father. He studied comparative religion at Purdue University, and in 2005, he and a friend traveled to Las Vegas to film a Raëlian seminar. They intended Continue reading
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Agni Yoga (1920)
Agni Yoga is a spiritual system with roots in Hinduism and Theosophy that was created by Nicholas and Helena Roerich in the early 20th century and that continues to have practitioners today. Though Nicholas Roerich was the public face of Agni Yoga, many of its ideas came primarily from Helena, who influenced her husband’s spiritual Continue reading
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Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (1981)
The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (ACMTC), which has also been known as The Foundation, Free Love Ministries, Holy Tribal Nation, and Life Force Team, was founded in 1981 by James Green and Lila (Deborah) Green. James Green was born in Kentucky in 1945 and hitchhiked to California as a teenager, where he met Lila Continue reading
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Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 