In the shadows of the (Highden) Temple

How the jewel of the Manawatū became a modern-day mystery school, and the controversy currently embroiling its association with the International School of the Temple Arts.

Highden Manor House (Source)

Part 1

I lived in Palmerston North for a few years, joined the Palmy Skeptics in the Pub (Hi Matthew Willey!), and got married. As an engagement gift, our friends shouted a night at Highden Manor, a drive up the highway in Awahuri. Back then, it was just a hotel/accommodation/Bed & Breakfast, and probably the grandest place I've ever stayed in before (or since). As part of the tour, the then owners shared a photo album and told us a bit about the history of the property.

The Palmerston North City Council's Manawatū Heritage website has the details mostly right. In 1888, Walter Woods Johnston, MP for the Manawatū, bought 1000 acres of land and named the estate after the Sussex property of his father-in-law, Sir Charles Forster Goring, 7th Baronet of Highden. The house was built in 1898, with the addition of the east wing and the conservatory in 1903. The land remained in the Johnston family until 1922, when Walter's wife Catherine died and the land was divided - and in 1923 the Marist Fathers purchased a portion which retained the house and farm buildings. The property changed hands again to the Dalziell family, who turned it into a dual family home/function centre.

The ghost of Catherine is said to rattle around the manor but for Highden, this barely moves the barometer compared to the high strangeness to come.

Manawatū Heritage says that a Dr. Humelgaarden bought Highden in 2000 and used it as a Shambala learning centre, but this is inaccurate. First, it is spelt Humlegaarden or Humlegården, and Humlegaarden was not a doctor but a now closed and bankrupt Danish clinic that specialised in alternative treatments for cancer. It was founded in 1945 by a raw food advocate who was excluded from the General Danish Medical Association due to errors made in the treatment of a diabetic who died in their care. Treatments at this clinic were costly, with a three-week treatment costing $13,181 NZD; one patient paid $233,000 NZD in 2011 to treat a giant stomach tumour. It should not be surprising to the readers of this newsletter that a regimen that included herbs and dandelions did not work, and the patient subsequently died. The clinic, and then head physician Finn Skøtt Andersen, were accused by surviving family members and a former employee of predatory practices against patients who had low to no chance of survival.

Finn Skøtt Andersen, head physician at Humlegården in Humlebæk (Source)

Finn Skøtt Andersen (or Finn Scott Andersen) led the clinic for over 30 years, from 1979 until his death in 2012. In the 2000s his interest did turn to New Zealand, but information on this via online archives is scant to say the least. Lamentably, the best bits of information come from the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA), which logs decisions made by the Overseas Investment Office which, in turn, unfortunately, have not made available online any decisions prior to 2005. According to the Manawatu Standard, it was announced that a Danish buyer had purchased the property for nearly $1.4 million, and the real estate agent demurred at revealing the buyer's intent, merely stating that its use was going to change substantially. CAFCA logs are more revealing and, if accurate, more damning for the Overseas Investment office for permitting the establishment of such bogus treatments:

“Humlegaarden Ltd, owned by Dr Finn Scott Andersen of Denmark, has approval to acquire 15 hectares at Highden Manor, Green Road, Palmerton [sic] North, Manawatu for $1,462,500. "Dr Andersen operates a complementary cancer care and educational facility in Denmark. Dr Andersen intends to establish a similar type of operation in New Zealand offering health care services of a hospice/complementary cancer care nature." It will also include an "education centre" and is modelled on his Denmark operations, which he has run since 1979.”

On September 5th, 2000 Humlegaarden A/S was incorporated with three directors, Andersen, Marth Mikkelsen, and Jyette Marke Laluland Aarup; all of whom listed residential addresses in Denmark. Bruce Lyon also appears on the application as a person authorised to accept documents on behalf of the company. In the same application, the purpose of the association was listed as being “...to run an International Healthcentre, which uses Methods of innovative, holistic and natural medicine in treatment of cancer”.

Whether Andersen came to New Zealand or offered any treatments in New Zealand is unknown, but Humlegaarden officially ceased to operate in New Zealand on June 4th, 2007 and officially dissolved by June 11th, 2007. Andersen continued to be a dangerous practitioner in Denmark, taking part in a documentary titled “Cancer is curable now” in 2011, and the subject of an investigation by Danish tabloid newspaper Ekstra Bladet in 2010-2011. When Andersen died in 2012, Ekstra Bladet reported that the doctor was suffering from stomach cancer and had been using his own methods in an attempt to cure himself.

However, we do know a bit about what was happening at Highden, even if Andersen wasn't around - and appreciation of this requires a bit of hunting around the Wayback machine into the ancient history of New Zealand esoterica, starting with the Trust Abundance Charitable Trust (TACT).

TACT began operation in the late 1980s as an educational and humanitarian venture devoted to spirit and soul-based initiatives, chaired by Joanne Miller, William Allan, Ngaire Craig, Maurice Field, and Frances Harris. I'm still hunting for information about what happened with TACT through the 1990s, but by the early 2000s the Trust appears to have linked up with Bruce Lyon and Vicktorya Stone, who became two of the now three trustees.

Vicktorya holds a telecommunications degree from a California University and was a web designer who produced products for Simply Sacred and TACT. Lyon had multiple degrees including a BSc from Auckland University, and an MSE (Master of Science in Esotericism) and Ph.D.E (Doctor of Philosophy in Esotericism) from the University of the Seven Rays. The latter is an offshoot of The Seven Ray Institute, and is steeped in the works of Theosophy and Alice A. Bailey, namely that the seven rays refer to seven primordial beings who are the seeds of everything in the universe; each ray governed a set of human characteristics, and was represented by its own adepts. Lyon was also the executive director of a foodstuffs company in Auckland at this time, and also stated that he was a fisherman, counsellor, and merchant banker. Together they were the directors of Simply Sacred, which offered talks and workshops that were designed to promote higher consciousness. They also sold copies of Bruce's book Standing for the Sacred, a book about New Zealand being in its adolescence and needing to chart its spiritual destiny… I think.

How Lyon and Stone came to collaborate with Andersen is unknown, but by September 2000 they were established in Highden Manor. Their stated goals were to continue with the hospitality business while setting-up spiritually-based education activities for young adults and adults. It was anticipated that the Humlegaarden clinic and local professionals would provide health services and other educational services on site. While TACT was presented as overseeing the educational aspects, the name was changed to The Shamballa School Trust on June 22, 2001, launching the esoteric residential school.

Highden School was seen as part of a larger movement to provide a deeper level of spiritual education and was, again, grounded in the work of Alice A. Bailey and theosophist H. P. Blavatsky. In particular, the latter's work promoting the so-called Ageless Wisdom Teachings. In Lyon and Stone's own words:

This school is part of the beginning phases of externalising several pairs of schools around the world. The intention behind these centres of soul-based education is to assist the spiritual unfoldment and illumination of humanity. Within the living centre of these schools, a measure of the spiritual evolution of certain aspects of human consciousness can be accelerated. While each school may have citizens of all nations cooperatively contributing to its functioning, these schools will eventually be powerful points of distribution for the Soul of the nation in which they are located.

Similar to the energy points or 'chakras' in a human body, certain countries during any world period can be viewed as key planetary focal points. These colleges are therefore seen as energetic points where specific qualities can be that will contribute to the global system, in terms of spiritual leadership, synthetic philosophic understanding, and humanitarian and creative services. Further information on the nature of these schools and their geographical location are described in the book, Letters on Occult Meditation, and the suggested curriculum is also modeled upon the outline given in this work by A. A. Bailey.

Highden would offer a three-year programme for 21 to 42 year-olds, with a curriculum rich in esoteric theory (i.e. astronomy and astrology), working with energies, psychology, magic and practical occultism, and finding one's soul vocation. There was no tuition for the school, but expectations that the students would contribute approximately $150NZD per week for room and board. The Highden school opened in June 2001, with 4 other teachers joining the mix and 12 students.

The name was changed to Shamballa School in October that year, and in January 2002 the school roll consisted of 8 students and 4 teachers in total. At the commencement of its second year, on June 21, 2002, only 3 students returned, with 9 new enrollees from New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, the US, Iran, and Columbia. 2003 was a year of upheaval. It appears that the initial concept of the Highden School as a postgraduate Hogwarts was not sustainable. The Shamballa School became a new entity with a core group of seven, while a small group of students returned for a final year under the name of the Preparatory School of Occidental Meditation with three returning students and 2 completing their own projects. Finn Andersen was also keen to sell the property, and despite offering it to Lyon and Stone first, they were unable to purchase it. A new buyer was found by late 2003, and Highden, albeit slowly, transitioned back to its traditional purpose.

Vicktorya disappeared from the Simply Sacred website and company listing by 2004. She returned to the USA and is now a self-published author.

What Bruce Lyon got up to in the intervening years, and the afterlife of Highden manor, will be the topic of Part 2.