El Cajon, a city 15 miles east of San Diego, isn’t famous for much — except for being music journalist Lester Bangs’ hometown, and the location of Unarius, a group whose beliefs include UFOs, reincarnation, and extraterrestrial intelligence. After years of being fascinated by Unarius, a friend and I trekked out to their famed headquarters to see it for ourselves.

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Downtown El Cajon, where the Unarius Academy of Science center is located, features all the standbys of a Southern California inland suburb — mom and pop shops and Mexican restaurants, with the random Starbucks thrown in. It’s the kind of town where you could probably expect to encounter some good thrifting. In fact, there's an abandoned Salvation Army store right next to the Unarius headquarters. Later I’d learn that store had been an important element in creating the grandiloquent costumes worn by the group’s charismatic leader, Ruth Norman, a.k.a. Uriel, back in her day.

Unarius stands for UNiversal ARticulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science, and was founded by a married couple named Ernest and Ruth Norman in 1954. Though a humble man, Ernest was reported to be a very advanced clairvoyant who helped to create the Unariun belief system based on the "interdimensional understanding" of energy, karma, and past lives. This kind of avant-garde philosophy — which includes contact with benevolent extraterrestrials called the "Space Brothers" — was almost unheard of in the ‘50s. Unarius doesn’t consider themselves a religious group, but a spiritual school with the purpose of self-healing.

After Ernest’s death in 1971, Ruth would take responsibility of the group’s operations and subsequently ascend as their new leader. She claimed to have received psychic messages from her husband after he crossed over, which revealed her true spiritual identity: a supreme being named Archangel Uriel. She would also learn that before her life as Ruth Norman, her past lives included Socrates, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Maria Theresa of Austria. In 1975, Ruth moved the group’s base from Glendale to El Cajon, where students today can learn how to achieve a higher spiritual understanding of life. Over the next two decades, Ruth would write over 80 books for Unarius.

In 1978, Ruth, now referred to as Uriel, began to film "psychodramas" with the students. This is when things got next level. These psychodramas were improvised performances of the students’ past lifetimes — spent together in ancient civilizations — for the purpose of healing the karmic damage done in the past. The Unariuns believe if you were able to work out this old baggage through dramatic reenactments, you’d be free to move forward to a better future. But these reenactments weren’t performed on a small stage in plain clothes; they were elaborate productions featuring Uriel and her students in flamboyant garb.

The movies were one part Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain, two parts early John Waters, with costumes that would make Liberace and Lady Gaga’s jaws drop. Uriel looked like Endora from Bewitched crossed with Glinda the Good Witch — a septuagenarian goddess in glittery gowns and candy-colored wigs. 200 videos were completed, as well as 80 public access shows; many of them available to view today on demand.

In a film titled The Arrival, a man is welcomed by Archangel Uriel as she floats in the sky, decorated in sparkles and bling. "I am light, I am wisdom, I am your future. Come with me through this tunnel of stars!" she announces. In another re-enactment, Uriel sails around in a glorious swan boat, dressed in white feathers; a star-shaped tiara perched atop her head. There are almost 200 of Uriel’s dresses in the Unarius archives, and a project is currently underway to catalogue, clean, and preserve the costumes, headwear, and jewelry. Pairing these exuberant costumes with Uriel’s charismatic persona put Unarius in the limelight, including an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

As a fan of dressing in theme, I couldn’t help but pay homage to Archangel Uriel during my visit to their HQ. I wore a pastel blue, giant bell-sleeved vintage ‘70s dress just for the occasion. Upon arrival, I was greeted by two Unarius students, a middle-age woman named Celeste Appel, who serves as the group’s spokesperson, and an older lady named Billie McIntyre. The women weren’t sporting the colorfully cosmic gowns I had hoped for, but instead looked like regular moms in casual clothes.

Perhaps the glitz and glamour isn’t for everyday wear, but reserved for special Unarius events, such as their Interplanetary Conclave of Light, a sort of United Nations celebration for outer space. At the annual function, students would be encouraged to dress in theme. While the modern-day gatherings feature less outrageous costumes, there are still students who dress as trumpeters and perform a choreographed routine. Their bright blue dresses, white berets, and knee-high boots would have given my high school drill team uniform a run for its money.

The center is filled with paintings and portraits of Uriel and Ernest Norman. When you first walk in, the main area is bisected with a row of Roman columns adorned with plastic flower garlands. Murals depicting Atlantis cover the Star Center room, which was originally created as a place for Uriel to meet with media and entertainment show hosts. The room's ceiling is painted with clouds, fittingly-inspired by the Caesar’s Palace Forum Shops in Las Vegas. Nowadays, Unarius students use that room for classes and workshops.

To the right of the entrance is a large model depicting what is known as "Future City." A craft queen’s dream, the colorful, light-up diorama is made up of plastic crystal towers glued together, and surrounding a miniature Tesla tower — what Unariuns believe will be the primary source of energy in Earth’s future (they're big on Nikola Tesla). Two of Uriel’s costumes, which appeared to be Baroque-inspired dresses, were also on display, likely representing one of Uriel’s past lives, as Maria Theresa of Austria. A glass case holds a Uriel’s wands, a tiara, and a glass rose, as she was also referred to as "The Rose," and was frequently photographed holding one in her hands.

Perusing through a book from Unarius’ vast library, I can’t help but notice a photo of Uriel dressed as "The Generator," an astonishing ensemble with a significant purpose. Featuring an enormous collar surrounded by flames, a light-up headpiece, and 33 colorful spheres sewn into a large velvet skirt, the costume was symbolic of Uriel’s role as a spiritual dynamo, supplying energy into the 33 planets known to Unariuns as the Interplanetary Confederation. The spheres, which were made up of plastic balls found at the aforementioned Salvation Army, were wired to light up. Contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race would be in tears with envy.

Recently, Unarius has experienced somewhat of a renaissance in the public eye. Jodi Wille, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who co-directed 2012’s The Source Family is currently developing a documentary on Unarius. Last year, Wille hosted screenings of the group's films at LA’s Cinefamily theater and curated an exhibition called The Visionary Experience at Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum, featuring the group’s artwork and Uriel’s Peacock Princess of Atlantis cape. Wille first discovered them in the 1990s, a time when counter-culture aficionados were trading bootlegs of Unarius videos. It’s not difficult to see why artists were interested in the culture of the Unariuns. The kitschiness of the costumes and movies are certainly an attractive factor, but there’s also an impressive DIY ethic.

"They are one of the most extraordinary creative collectives I’ve ever encountered," says Wille. "What they had going on was almost like a Warholian factory scenario, but with the objective of spiritual healing and transformation." The films were a collaborative effort, created by Unarius students with a very small budget. The do-it-yourself aspect of their costume department was almost like Project Runway, but with a higher purpose. As the Unariuns healed themselves from their karmic pasts, they allowed their creativity to flourish.

"Uriel worked with all of us to be creative and bring that through," McIntyre explains, "But we were also learning something as we were doing it." The outfits were not only thrilling to look at, they served a purpose. Like the costumes worn in historical period dramas, the outfits Uriel wore helped recreate what life was like during the students’ previous incarnations.

"We always learned something about our own past lives by doing these projects for her. That’s what they were for," said McIntyre, a self-taught artist who created many of Unarius’ paintings and who was one of the students who helped design Uriel’s outfits. As someone with little experience in sewing, she describes a time when she was having trouble cutting chiffon for a gown. "Finally, I got the fear out," says McIntyre. "You let Uriel work with you to [remove the fear] this way and you just know it will happen."

Appel insisted they do not worship Uriel as some sort of god, but the way they speak of her, as a supreme higher being, it’s clear that if anything, she was and is their Beyonce. Wille explains, "Whatever anyone can fit into their own conception of the universe, there was some psychological component within the psychodramas and whatever they were doing with Uriel — that was clearly, very powerfully transformative for them. When you hear how their lives changed after meeting Uriel, the stories are very moving."

Wille also explains how even though Uriel was a charismatic leader, she insisted everyone had psychic abilities they must develop for themselves. "Unarius lessons are all about teaching you how to tune into your higher self, and other benevolent entities that could inspire and help you be your own healer; your own super being," Wille says. That’s why, she says, Unarius was able to go on after Ruth Norman’s passing in 1993.

Beyond the sartorial wonders and low-budget videos, the Unariuns might be most interesting for their outlook on life, which is undoubtedly a positive one. "Anybody can be a conduit for these higher energies," explains Appel. "But you have to take personal responsibility for your life. You can’t look out there for someone else to change everything."