Unarius Academy of Science

Unarius Academy of Science

Type	Organization
Also known as	Unarius

Unarius, formally the Unarius Academy of Science, is a nonprofit UFO-based spiritual movement. It was founded in Los Angeles in February 1954 by Ernest Norman (1904–1971) and his wife Ruth Norman (1900–1993), and is based in El Cajon, California.^[1] The name stands for "Universal Articulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science". Unarius teaches what it calls an "interdimensional science of life" based on "fourth-dimensional" physics, as channelled from advanced beings on higher planes. More than 100 volumes have been published since 1954.^[1] It is best known for Ruth Norman's flamboyant public image and its home-made films. It is also known for its prophecy that a fleet of 33 spaceships from an interplanetary confederation would land on Earth, a date later set as 2001.^[1] It has centres in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Nigeria.^[1]

Founders

Ernest Norman said he had been a child prodigy. According to Unarius, he was a scientist and aeronautical engineer from whom the idea of the television tube was stolen.^[1] He began his metaphysical career reading palms. During the Second World War he claimed to tell women where their loved ones were and often of their deaths. He later lectured in theosophical churches and gave readings at spiritualist churches.^[1] Ruth, the eldest of eight children, had worked as a fruit packer, live-in maid, motel owner and cannery worker.^[1]

Both had been involved in spiritualism before the UFO craze of the late 1940s. Unarius says mystics at a psychic convention told each of them, before they met, that they were followed by bearded wise men carrying books.^[1] Unarius dates their marriage to 1954 and celebrates the anniversary on 14 February. Within weeks Ernest began writing the first Unarius book, The Voice of Venus, published in 1956.^[1] The Normans later claimed to have lived past lives as Jesus and Mary Magdalene.^[1]

Early teachings

Ernest Norman "wrote" his books by channelling, a relaxed state in which thoughts and images were voiced as messages from a higher consciousness. He combined this with past-life readings.^[1] He said he received transmissions from "great teachers" on Mars and Venus. The Voice of Venus, he said, was spoken normally and recorded on tape. In it, Mal-Var of Venus gives a tour of the capital, Azure, whose people have "energy bodies" invisible to humans.^[1]

• The Pulse of Creation. This series of seven books describes seven spiritual planets, or planes of "Shamballa", each a teaching centre: Venus (healing), Eros (science), Orion (education), Hermes (philosophy), Muse (the arts), Unarius (leadership) and Elysium (devotion).^[1]
• Cosmic Creation. With The Infinite Concept of Cosmic Creation, a set of 13 lectures from 1956, the series formed the core early teachings.^[1]
• Flying saucers. Like other early 1950s contactees, Ernest wrote that beings from more spiritual worlds, worried by atomic testing, had made their craft visible to attract attention.^[1] But he stressed spiritual teaching over saucers, and once called saucer-chasing an "escape mechanism".^[1]
• Mars. In The Truth About Mars Ernest claimed that the Chinese descended from interstellar migrants who had colonised Mars a million years ago.^[1]

Beliefs

Unarians believe in the immortality of the soul and in many reincarnations. They also believe the Solar System was once home to ancient interplanetary civilisations.^[1] They teach that "everything is energy", vibrating in frequencies and waveforms.^[1] Its beliefs fall into four themes: intelligent life elsewhere, an infinite creative intelligence, human development towards higher consciousness, and the hope of a landing.^[1] The extraterrestrial "Space Brothers" are described as more advanced "human beings" who have lived on Earth and other planets.^[1]

The group resembles the Aetherius Society and Raëlism in its emphasis on Space Brothers arriving in 33 spaceships. However, these beliefs are not held by all Unarians, and many reject them as contrary to Unarian principles.^[1] Unarius strongly objects to being called a religion and calls its teaching "inter-dimensional science". The Wikipedia account notes that its beliefs meet many religious criteria, such as channelled texts that read like scripture, karma and supernatural beings, though it lacks clergy and services.^[1] Ernest Norman criticised religion, agreeing with Karl Marx that it was "the opium of the people".^[1]

Practices

The central practice is "past-life therapy". Members believe present problems stem from trauma in earlier lives, which they heal by "reliving" it.^[1] It became a formal part of the curriculum in 1976. The scholar Diana Tumminia suggests that its collective weaving of past-life stories among members may be unique.^[1] In the late 1970s and 1980s these re-enactments became elaborate costumed "psychodramas" on video, used for teaching and outreach.^[1] Every October Unarius holds its "Interplanetary Conclave of Light".^[1]

Ruth Norman's leadership

After Ernest died in 1971, Ruth led Unarius with two "sub-channels", Thomas Miller and Louis Spiegel.^[1] Her aim became bringing Unarius to a mass audience. She published more than 80 books and claimed more than 200 past lives.^[1]

• New names. After a channelling revealed an Atlantean life as Ioshanna, she took that name. In 1973 she became known as "Uriel the Archangel", said to be her "higher self".^[1] Much of Unarian lore revolves around Uriel's past lives.^[1]
• The landing site. In November 1973 she bought 67 acres at Jamul, California, as a landing site for the Space Brothers.^[1]
• The prophecy. In the 1974 "Tesla Speaks" volumes she introduced the Interplanetary Confederation and the prophecy of a 33-ship space fleet landing, with the date later revised to 2001.^[1] Failed prophecies were explained as reliving past lives.^[1]
• El Cajon. In 1975 Unarius moved from Glendale to a storefront centre in El Cajon and was incorporated as a nonprofit educational foundation.^[1] Ruth became known for a 1969 Cadillac painted with spaceships and topped with a metal flying saucer. It is still driven each year in El Cajon's Mother Goose Parade.^[1]
• Media. She gave interviews and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and The David Susskind Show. In the late 1970s she built a video studio whose films ran on public-access cable channels across the US.^[1] Around 2000, several Southern California public-access channels still showed Unarian films weekly.^[1] The author Alex Heard called her "a true American original".^[1]

Many Unarians were sceptical of the landing predictions channelled by Spiegel, and a schism followed. Miller left around 1980.^[1] In the early 1980s the group opened centres in the US, Canada and Nigeria, and its public image shifted to that of a "flying saucer group". Students loyal to Ernest's original texts blamed that shift for the ridicule it attracted.^[1] In 1984 Ruth renamed Spiegel "Antares". He channelled a new planet, Myton, that would send a ship in 2001.^[1] Ruth broke her hip in 1988, became bedridden and died in 1993. Her death disproved the prophecy that the landing would happen in her lifetime, and her will said she would return with the Space Brothers in 2001.^[1]

After 1993

Charles Louis Spiegel led Unarius until his death on 22 December 1999. He wrote books on reincarnation and said he channelled Ruth. Some long-time students left to refocus on Ernest's teachings.^[1] From 2000 a board of directors has guided the centre. It draws its authority from channelled messages from Ruth and Spiegel, now regarded as Space Brothers.^[1] The group has struggled since 2001, when the predicted landing did not happen.^[1] It then returned to its roots and its millennialism became more private, while still expecting a future landing. It remains active in the US and several European countries.^[1] A documentary about the group, Welcome Space Brothers by Jodi Wille, was made in 2023 and released in 2026.^[1] See Heaven's Gate for another UFO religion.

References

Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Unarius Academy of Science”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.