Robert Earl Burton and The Fellowship of Friends: July 1976

Introduction

Robert Earl Burton founded The Fellowship of Friends in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1970. Burton modeled his own group after that of Alex Horn, loosely borrowing from the Fourth Way teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. In recent years, the Fellowship has cast its net more broadly, embracing any spiritual tradition that includes (or can be interpreted to include) the notion of "presence."

The Fellowship of Friends exhibits the hallmarks of a "doomsday religious cult," wherein Burton exercises absolute authority, and demands loyalty and obedience. He warns that his is the only path to consciousness and eternal life. Invoking his gift of prophecy, he has over the years prepared his flock for great calamities (e.g. a depression in 1984, the fall of California in 1998, nuclear holocaust in 2006, and most recently the October 2018 "Fall of California Redux.")

According to Burton, Armageddon still looms in our future and when it finally arrives, non-believers shall perish while, through the direct intervention and guidance from 44 angels (recently expanded to 81 angels, including himself and his divine father, Leonardo da Vinci), Burton and his followers shall be spared, founding a new and more perfect civilization. Read more about the blog.

Presented in a reverse chronology, the Fellowship's history may be navigated via the "Blog Archive" located in the sidebar below.

Saturday, July 31, 1976

July 1976 Notes

"The Vine" newsletter [Summarized]

Mount Carmel name is discontinued. It is now "Renaissance."

$2,000 re-entry fee for those who leave the Fellowship and return

Additions to our collection: Paul Storr silver pieces, figurine cabinet, desk and chairs in Shakespeare Study

The Lincoln Lodge painted cream color with red trim

The Blake Cottage has a new lawn

80,000 grapevine cuttings planted in the vineyard nursery

10,000 grapevine rootings (last year’s cuttings) planted in the vineyard

Other Notes

As of July 1st, the minimum teaching payment will be $60 per month

July 23:

Robert stated that the Fellowship was considering the purchase of the nearby “Thousand Trails” property, including a lake.