According to ascended master teaching, The Ninth Initiation is the highest Initiation possible on, what is believed to be a 9th-dimensional planet grid such as Earth by Ascended Master Teaching believers. They believed this will be until the end of 21 December 2012. Sanat Kumara (a "Lord of the Flame" originally from the higher-dimensional levels of the planet Venus) was the original being who held the spiritual office of "Lord of the World" here on planet Earth. The term "Ascended Master" was first used by Baird T. Spalding in 1924 in his series of books, "The Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East" (DeVorss and Co.). Godfre Ray King further popularized this concept of spiritual masters who had once lived on the earth in his book "Unveiled Mysteries"  (1934) by Guy Ballard (1878-1939). Ballard was the founder of the first "Ascended Master Teaching" in modern times, known as The "I AM" Activity (in full: The "I AM" Religious Activity of the Saint Germain Foundation ). The teachings were continued and embellished by later organizations such as The Bridge to Freedom (founded 1951) (known in the 1980s as The New Age Church of the Christ, and later as The Bridge to Spiritual Freedom), The Summit Lighthouse (founded 1958) and its successor organization the Church Universal and Triumphant, and various other organizations such as the White Eagle Lodge (1936). A more modern form of the teachings, which did not rely on "channeled" messages, was given by a former associate of Godfre Ray King, Pearl Dorris, in Mount Shasta, California, beginning on October 20, 1972, and continuing until her death in Yreka, California in 1990 (See her biography: "Lady Master Pearl, My Teacher" by Peter Mt. Shasta, also the book she is said to have helped channel, "Step by Step: Ascended Master Discourses"). Her emphasis was on learning to feel and identify with the I AM Presence within, rather than invoking the "Presence" as an external mental principle. Under her tutelage, Peter Mt. Shasta was trained to continue the Masters' teachings, working today to incorporate the inner teachings of the Far East and their emphasis on self-observation, with the dynamic I AM teachings that uses affirmations to develop mastery in daily life. See "Apprentice to the Masters: Adventures of a Western Mystic, Book II".