Onaxis
Lee Harris-Onaxis & Suzanne Harris-Onaxis and their alleged cult
Notes by Joe Szimhart based on conversations and emails from eight ex-members during 2007-08.
Corrections and comments invited: jszimhart@dejazzd.com
Images of leaders 2002 from http://www.phoenix.de.com/
| Onaxis is what I call it and not what it
calls itself. Not all cults go by a name. The name comes from "on axis" a
concept channeled by one of the leaders from "John the Baptist."
By cult in this case I mean a system of devotion to a person or persons and their ideas that represent God or some transcendent notion to the devotees. Ex-members of this group say they followed "charismatic leaders with high demands." According to ex-members, the high demands on members included coercive persuasion to give large sums of money, time and labor as well as being battered by the leaders "for their own good" or to "knock the evil out." The leader Lee Harris claims to be Jesus reincarnated and his wife Suzanne, Mary Magdalena reincarnated. The couple also claims to be reincarnations of the gods Rama and Sita of Hindu tradition and Adam and Eve of Genesis according to ex-members. Channeling: The two leaders channel or represent divine beings. This cult claims many "ascended masters" as divine contacts and the primary one seems to be Onaxis. The leader Lee Harris has called himself Onaxis and Dr. Onaxis [no confirmation of how Lee got the title "Dr." but he once worked as a 'Physician Assistant']. Others in the Onaxis pantheon are John the Baptist a.k.a. EliAnu Ram, Mother God a.k.a. AnaMata RaMuAn, Father God a.k.a. Atmanu RamAnu. Sample of Onaxis channeling: http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/themagazine/vol14/articles/human-species.shtml Grandiose claims: Lee preaches that 'Habersham County will be known as the place on the planet where Prime Creator Source, Yeshu Ben Joseph, Magdalena, Atmanu Ram Anu, AnaMata RaMuAn, and two very human beings so much like you, Dr. and Mrs. Harris-Onaxis, exposed the entire new age community and spit them directly out of The Garden forever.' Lee claims the ex-members have "abused" him when his 'only intent, and Prime Creator's intent, was to build a place where all people would be welcome, [including] Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, so that all people could come to that fifteen acres to celebrate life and their own beautiful existence, any way they choose to do it as long as they live by The Golden Rule.' Paranoia: Lee/Onaxis blames the ex-members' "selfishness" for causing his stroke in 2006. In 2007 Suzanne claimed that for the past twenty years and more, some ex-members have been trying to kill her and Lee. The inference is that this is some kind of New Age style sorcery or black magic. Confusions: Lee both denies and claims to be a messiah. '...you have been so convinced that I am a crazy man claiming to be Jesus the Christ, that you have missed the entire operation.' Abuse: Several ex-members are willing to testify to Lee Harris's propensity abuse them emotionally and physically over the years. Typical accounts include hitting and bruising, knocking members to the floor and pulling hair out of female members' heads [last incident as recently as 2008]. Again, as mentioned above, group devotees tended to take this abuse as if they deserved it. Location: This group operates primarily at Mountain Meadows Estates in Habersham Co. near Clarksville, Georgia. MME is a small commune also known as "The Garden" begun around 1994. Eventually it contained seven homes for members. The leaders recruited a dozen or so couples to invest in the retreat center of MME and "The Garden" in the northern Georgia mountains. The beautiful grounds were a testament to the devotion of hardworking members in the community.
The leaders are Lee Harris (born in Alabama in 1948) and his wife Suzanne (born around 1960 in Indiana). Lee Harris had been married before. He was a "student" of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment or RSE based in Yelm, WA from around 1987 to 1990. Lee met Suzanne around 1990. Suzanne led Ah Ha Seminars at the time and gave something called an Ascension Retreat. She also founded a 'sacred places' tours for New Agers wanting to see the Pyramids and such to get a spiritual charge. Around the time they met, Lee separated from RSE and claimed that the leader, JZ Knight, no longer channeled Ramtha and was faking it. Lee retained many ideological similarities to the Ramtha group including signing off with "So be it", a common phrase used by Ramtha. Lee and Suzanne paired up to form their own movement. They have one daughter now age eleven. According to ex-members, Lee is yet recovering from a stroke he had over a year ago. The goal is the Great Work that would not only change the devotees but the whole planet. The leaders job was to implement and reveal to followers the transformative path to ascension. The path included total obedience to and support for the incarnated gods in the leaders. The leaders have recruited many German nationals, some of whom send significant support money from Germany. The members pay for workshops with titles like Onaxis Mastery: The Next Step. The Garden was also called 'an ascension corridor.' Ex-member description of her experience---an excerpt:
I think it was 1993 or 1994 they started Mountain Meadows
Estate. It was 14.74 acres with one house a small out building and a
barren field, with woods on one end of the property. The called it the
Farm. People gathered from the WA and GA groups to create community.
They were required to bring money to join the group. I think all
amounts were different, I know one person put in $5,000.00, and another
$2,000.00.
They all began building homes and planting vegie gardens.
I recall at a grouping in their home in the beginning days, where I
first saw him strike one member. Her nose began to bleed, and Suzanne
came to the rescue with ice and kind words. The name was changed to
Mountain Meadows Estate. Several people left, and others came in their
places, until the grouping was 11 not including them, nor the 3
children. We had a swimming pool, and a green house full of plants and
birds, finches, parakeets, and doves, also there were several hot tubs
on the property. We built a formal garden with many concrete statues, of
Jesus, lions, angels of all sizes, elephants, and a variety of huge
planting pots. We created fountains, ponds, pergolas, and a ships deck
for him. He also had tons of sand in his front yard, because he wanted
to create a beach. We planted thousands of trees of every kind, bushes
and other plants. We had lamas, horses, birds and many dogs and cats.
We all spent so much time working on the property or off the property
there was little time to enjoy all the beauty we had created. He
slapped everyone at one time or another telling us he was knocking off
evil from us. He slowly progressed into hitting people more often and
pulling hair, breaking things all over the property in our homes. He
spend a lot of time on the computer writing to a variety of people in
the community. We all pooled our money, and Suzanne was in charge of
where it was spent.
In 2003 he invited a group of Germans to visit us. He
met them through some friends who were doing work all over the world
with people. And he began his work with them over the internet. We
were to tend the every need of the Germans. He wined and dined them.
He was cruel to all the residents, and ridiculed us in front of the
Germans. This is the timing of the incident of Suzanne hitting me in
the face.....
My interviews with ex-members indicate that most left the commune with no return on their investment, some giving tens of thousands of dollars if not more. They left because they could no longer put up with the emotional and physical abuse from the leaders. Current status: Most long-time members of MME have defected in the past few years leaving only or less than a handful to support the leaders in America but many more in Germany who are apparently either disbelieving or ignorant of the reports and criticisms by USA ex-members.
News
1: "Lee Harris, a former student of RSE and a personal growth facilitator, began holding weekend therapy workshops in the Yelm area in the fall of 1991. Evidently displeased with the competition, J.Z.'s partner, J.O. Alt, informed Harris that he should discontinue his workshops. Harris refused. At the behest of J.Z., a chiropractor named Robert Provasoli signed up and attended one of Harris's workshops in order to find out what Harris was up to. J.O. Alt then summoned Harris to the Ranch for a meeting, at which Alt gave Harris an ultimatum: either cease leaching the workshops or leave the school. Alt's extensive knowledge of Harris' workshop content was so uncanny, Harris pressed Alt into admitting that the Ranch had employed Dr. Provasoli to attend a workshop as a spy- Disgusted by these shocking and unsavory machinations, Harris wrote a letter to Alt in November of 1991 saying: "That you have issued me ... an ultimatum in regard to this work, I have been driven much deeper within my own being to look at my choices and the reality that is created in the making of them ... In this process, I have come to clearly understand the distortions that are born from the great insecurity that surrounds these teachings both from within and from without ... When I contemplate aligning myself with a collective un-even-ness that has been and is currently present in the manner in which I have been spied upon, inquisitioned, and dictated to, it does not bring, me greater joy ... My best wishes to you and J.Z.... Sincerely, Lee Harris." J.O. Alt has never responded to Harris's letter." It appears that Lee Harris-Onaxis became what he despised. Joe Szimhart
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