Universal White Brotherhood

The Universal White Brotherhood is a New Age-oriented new religious movement founded in Bulgaria in the early 20th century by Peter Deunov and established in France in 1947 by Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (1900–1986), one of his followers, then renamed Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov. The group proposes a Christian esoterism characterized by a number of practices, including prayer, meditation, breathing exercises, yoga of nutrition and paneurhythmy. A person can be both member of the group and of another religion. In France, the group achieved notability in the media in 1971. It has two centers located in Sèvres and Fréjus and 2,000 followers in France, and is present in many countries, including Canada, Switzerland and Belgium. The 1995 and 1999 reports established by the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France, as well as the 1997 reports issued by the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission in Belgium listed the group as a cult. The main criticisms by anti-cult associations are the alleged harmful effects of the doctrine on the psyche of some followers, the diet that can lead to nutritional deficiencies, and the authoritarian nature of education.

The Universal White Brotherhood’s name can be easily misunderstood because of the connotations that people have about each individual word. It is easy to assume that the use of the term “white” has a racist connotation, which is compounded by the ambiguity of the term as well as the vagueness of the terms “universal” and “brotherhood”. “Universal” refers to humans’ ability to understand universal concepts about life. It speaks to the idea that people can expand their consciousness with these concepts that extend to more than just one person or group. “White” does not refer to a person's skin tone, rather, it is, “the highest spiritual symbol, which is the synthesis of all colors…being the manifestations of the soul’s virtues." This group respects each race, religion, and nationality, which leads to the final term of “brotherhood”. “Brotherhood” is meant to indicate that the Universal White Brotherhood’s teachings are for every human no matter what community, religion, or group they belong to. The Universal White Brotherhood’s name symbolically represents the groups belief that their teachings are for everyone so that they can expand their consciousness and embrace a virtuous spirituality.

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