Unarius also boasts a prophecy of the landing of 33 starships, or flying saucers, in the year 2001. Although “communicating” with extraterrestrials remains an important practice, Unarius also focuses on healing and spirituality.Unarius considers its science a corrective therapy that can help anyone.As a benefit of the science, followers believe they can heal themselves of all physical as well as spiritual maladies. Historically, Unarius had three major leaders: Ernest L. Norman (1904-1971), Ruth Norman (1900-1993), and Charles Speigel (1921-1999). Members call themselves “students”; the core members call themselves the “nucleus.” Since all the major leaders have passed away, their center is now being managed by the remaining students in a the form of a board of directors.

Unarius began in 1954 when Ernest Norman (the Moderator) met Ruth Norman (also known as Uriel) at a psychic convention. Ernest, who had worked with spiritualist churches, did a psychic reading for Ruth. In Unarian lore, the initial earthly meeting of these two ascended beings inaugurated the Unarian Mission. The mission is to bring peace and love to earth through the teaching of the celestial science of logic and reason. This science was brought to earth by the channeling efforts of Ernest Norman. His large treatises, The Cosmic Continuum (1956) and The Infinite Concept of Cosmic Creation (1960), are used as the basis for course curricula.

Originally titled the Unarius Science of Life, the group went through several major transitions. Throughout the 1950s Ernest Norman channeled various books; the most widely read is The Voice of Venus (1954), about a clairvoyant tour of Venus. Ruth typed manuscripts while Ernest occupied the limelight. She “transmitted,” or channeled, her first book, Bridge to Heaven, in 1969.Until Ernest’s death, they held classes and gave psychic readings through the mail.During this time they discovered their many past lives, including one “cycle” when Ernest lived as Jesus of Nazareth and Ruth was Mary of Bethany (Mary Magdeline).When Ernest passed away,Ruth took over the organization. With the help of two of her students, Cosmon (Thomas Miller) and Antares (other names include Louis Spiegel, Charles or Vaughan Spaegel, Charles von Spraegel, and Sir Charles), Ruth channeled many more messages from the Space Brothers. Ruth’s status rose to that of Cosmic Visionary. Cosmon occupied a leadership role for a few years but was evidently expelled from the organization, as was his successor,Arieson (Stephan Yanconski). In 1973 Ruth had a revelation that Antares had been Satan in his past life. Antares became Ruth’s most devoted student, and he remained her close assistant while also directing the center until his own demise. His past life as Satan won him great affection from Uriel, because he had supposedly come to her to be healed and transformed by her powers.

Ruth opened the Unarius Center in 1972.Originally, she called it the Academy of Parapsychology, Healing, and Psychic Science. By 1975 Unarius incorporated as an educational foundation, and the organization bought the building that houses it today. The center includes offices, classrooms, a library, a print shop, and a video studio. The most adept students learned to channel “higher intelligence” and transmit messages from the Space Brothers. The transcripts of these channelings, as well as testimonials about past lives, supply the content of Unarian books that are printed on the premises. During 1973 Unarians held a gala celebration at an upscale San Diego hotel to re-create one of Uriel’s visions. Uriel and Antares reenacted the celestial marriage of Ioshanna (one of Ruth Norman’s personas) and Michiel (a member of their spiritual hierarchy). This vision where “two God forces unite” is transcribed in the book Conclave of Light Beings (1973). At this point, she announced that she progressed in her evolution enough to be crowned Healing Archangel on the inner dimensions, or Queen Uriel.

In 1973-1974 the channeling of messages from outer space began to rapidly increase. Ruth received messages from dead scientists from other dimensions in the universe, specifically the planet Eros. She established the contact with beings on 32 previously unknown planets, and she also spoke to the crews of flying saucers through her channeling mediumship. Ruth proclaimed that an interplanetary confederation had been formed.Unarians believed that the 32 planets in this confederation were now readying themselves to send their starships to earth. Around this time, Ruth purchased 67 acres of land in the mountains near the center in order to establish a landing strip for flying saucers. The prophecy of the spacefleet landing went through several revisions. The first date in 1975 was hastily disconfirmed.A new date was set in March 1976.Ruth and some of her students wagered $4,000 with Ladbrokes, a British bookmaker, that the spaceships would land on earth within a year. The prophecy became a regular news item for the tabloid press. Ruth eventually lost that bet, but the organization endured to set a new date-Ruth’s 101st birthday (i.e., 2001; Ruth was expected to live long enough to greet the Space Brothers when they touched down). Ruth’s contact with the Space Brothers was only part of her legacy. Ruth’s higher self was consid-ered to be a supernatural being by her followers.

In all respects, her charismatic authority was absolute in the organization. Throughout the years, her past lives revealed themselves; only a few are cited here.According to Unarius, she had been the inspiration for the Mona Lisa. In ancient Egypt as the goddess Isis, she brought the fourth-dimensional science to her followers. Long ago, she reigned as Ioshanna, the Peacock Princess of Atlantis. Some 800,000 years ago she came as Dalos to the planet Orion. In 1975 she received knowledge from the inner worlds that she lived in the spiritual dimensions as the Spirit of Beauty, Goddess of Love. In this form she held aloft the Sword of Truth while projecting healing rays from her eyes. In 1979 Ruth Norman received a mental transmission that she, as Uriel, was crowned Prince of the Realm, a higher rank than her previous title of archangel. As such, she would rule as one of the Lords of the Universe on the planet Aries.

Much of Unarian cosmology and lore revolves around the past lives of Uriel.While she was alive she was treated with the greatest of deference by her pupils. As Uriel, Ruth Norman appeared costumed in long capes with high collars.Wielding a royal scepter, she also acted out her charismatic persona, crowned in a tiara of glittering stars. Her students immortalized her in paintings that adorn the Unarius Academy. Now that she has passed away, it was expected that she would return with the spaceships in 2001. Uriel is believed to be closer than ever, because she is now free from the bonds of earthly energy.

Currently, Unarius is passing through a transitional period. Uriel was supposed to greet the Space Brothers at the beginning of the new millennium. Until 1991, members believed that she would live to be well over 100 years old. However, in that year she suffered so many health problems that she longed for release from her physical body. The first transitional problems were solved by Ruth Norman herself. About two years before she died, she began to prepare her students for her passing with dissertations from a Space Brother named Alta.Antares channeled the messages from Interplanetary Ambassador,Alta of the Planet Vixall that gave her permission to die. Her mission, according to Alta, was accomplished: She was free to leave her body. In the interim, students rededicated themselves to the Unarius Mission. They adjusted to the fact that Antares would be left in charge. Ruth Norman died quietly in her sleep on August 12, 1993. Before making it to the millennium, Antares passed away on December 22, 1999. Most Unarian beliefs and practices come from an oral tradition that has been improvised over the years. The practice of channeling mediumship endures as the accepted pathway to higher knowledge.

Channeling or “inspiration” is considered the best way to bring forth “infinite intelligence.” The emphasis on flying saucers obscures the spiritualist roots of the group that are evident in the belief system. Unarians have also borrowed from such diverse ideologies as scientism, Theosophy, the cultic milieu, and Swedenborg. Unarians give credence on lost continents, The White Brotherhood, messages from ascended masters, and scientific rationalism, among a host of other beliefs. Their philosophy has been elaborated upon and altered over the years so as to synthesize these older notions with the emergent revelations of Ruth and Ernest Norman.

At the Academy, Unarian science and its branches, the “psychology of consciousness” and past-life therapy, remain the courses of study. The Academy is open to anyone.Art therapy classes are also held regularly. The most adept pupils learn to channel higher intelligence and transmit messages from the Space Brothers. Few actually acquire this ability. Students attend classes at the center about three nights a week. At home they study their science through books, audio-tapes, and videos. Those who live too far away engage in home study and correspond with the group. Students receive guidance by reading the texts of channeled messages and by obtaining psychic readings from leaders. In October the students annually celebrate the formation of the Interplanetary Confederation. Members accept that they have always been students of Uriel on other planets or in different civilizations throughout time and space. Outwardly, the group pursues an ordinary lifestyle with a few exceptions.

These exceptions include dressing in costumes for celebratory events, such as Interplanetary Confederation Day, or for the making of films. Celebrations and films memorialize the core beliefs of their worldview. While waiting for starships to arrive in 2001, Unarius serves the expressed function of spiritual growth and healing. Most dedicated students “get healings” and adopt lifestyle changes, such as giving up drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. Most students share apartments and homes with each other out of economic necessity and for social support. In addition, some members regularly go on radio and television talk shows to let the world know of their teachings. In several cities in Southern California, the local public access channels carry weekly showings of Unarian films. Unarians distinguish themselves from similar groups by their profuse cultural productions in the area of book publishing, art, and film-making.

They have produced over a 150 books that explain their teachings. Unarius does a brisk mail-order business in books, tapes, and pins. Many books are handsomely illustrated by student artwork. Murals and paintings decorate the inside and outside of the center. Jewelry, in the form of handmade flying saucer pins, are produced by volunteers and sold through the center.All Unarian films use students as actors. Some films, such as The Arrival, can compete with any “B” movie, although others are blurry and amateurish. Producing books, art, and films are at the heart of Unarian projects. Unarian films are essentially psychodramas wherein students act out their past lives. The plots of the films sometimes utilize student testimonials of healings. Often the films celebrate stories about the “accomplishments” of Uriel, while other videos herald the prophesied landing or depict legends of colonization from outer space. One of the most easily understood films is called The Arrival. In this film, a student acts out his past life as Zan, a primitive man of Lemuria. He is visited by the Space Brothers in their dazzling spaceship. The Brothers enlighten him by giving him the memory of his previous life on the planet Orion when he had commanded a battle cruiser that destroyed other civilizations. Zan receives a healing by Uriel, who comes to him out of a vortex of stars.

Paintings and videos about flying saucers and outer space often interest outsiders, but understanding the complicated nature of Unarian thought can prove more difficult.Unarians interpret events on the basis of their specific presuppositions about reality. Sociologically speaking, their science involves an elaborate interpretive framework that gives rise to a continuous narrative. Their science uses electronic metaphors for social and spiritual interaction. Their storytelling runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous.During meetings or in everyday conversation one can hear how earthlings battled Mars millions of years ago, how messages have been transmitted from scientists in outer space, how the Space Brothers are polarizing earth, how Uriel oscillates energies to other planets, or how osteoporosis is caused by space travel during a past lifetime.Though seemingly random, the Unarian accounts revolve around established tenets and stories and ways of explaining experience. Unarius is basically an oral tradition improvised over the years and transcribed into books and films. This oral tradition contains a strong mythological component, some of which is borrowed from world history, television, movies, and the tabloid press. The remainder relies upon direct revelation from channeling mediumship.

Through independent invention, Unarians have constructed origin myths that group members formally act out and recount to others. In these stories, Uriel and the flying saucers are the foremost symbols. The myths account for a member’s role in other universes and civilizations throughout time, but most of all they place members in mythic history in relation to their leader, Uriel. Dozens of stories involve colonization from outer space. The tales differ from ordinary fantasies in as much as they function as the collective biographies of Unarian members who are believed to have followed their interplanetary leader, Uriel, throughout time. From their point of view, Unarians practice a objective, rational science that brings them face to face with their past lives and gives them the tools for “progressive evolution.”

According to research by sociologists R. George Kirkpatrick and Diana Tumminia, some demographic information exists about Unarians. Findings from a survey and subsequent field research show that the core group has never numbered more than 65 people. Although Unarius has reportedly gained thousands of members around the world, their “nucleus” has averaged around 45 to 50 people per year until recently when it began to decline. Two small satellite centers exist, one in North Carolina and one in Nigeria. Those who live too far away from El Cajon engage in home study and correspond with the group. Almost every student is white. Women slightly outnumber men. Most Unarians are unmarried; those who choose to marry do so within the group. The majority of students hold working-class jobs or incomes. In the years subsequent to Uriel’s death, dedicated membership in the group has waned. A significant portion of long-time, dedicated students have defected from the core group.With the death of Antares in 1999, their future seems uncertain.