The Order of the Solar Temple

Abstract

This page intentionally left blank receive those who are worthy of joining us. [See Appendix 1 for the complete text of the Testaments.] This invitation from the Temple members to join them in the beyond found a receptive audience. On 16 December 1995, 16 of the remaining European members disappeared from their homes in France and Switzerland. Four left notes hinting at a second mass suicide. Thirteen adults and three children were later found dead in a remote forest in southeast France. Investigators concluded that at least four of them did not die willingly. Most had been drugged. Two of the 16 had shot the others, poured gasoline over their bodies, set them on fi re, and then shot themselves so that they would fall into the fl ames. Finally, fi ve additional adult members and three teenage children apparently tried to commit suicide on the spring equinox of 20 March 1997, in Quebec. The attempt failed due to faulty equipment. The teenage sons and daughter of one of the couples convinced their parents that they wanted to live. They were then allowed to leave, and the adults subsequently succeeded in burning down the house with themselves in it. Four of the bodies were arranged to form a cross. The teens were found drugged and disoriented, but otherwise safe, in a nearby building. A note was found describing the group's belief that death on earth leads to a transit to a new planet where their lives would continue. The Solar Temple tragedies played a pivotal role in infl aming the cult controversy in Europe. Although European anticultists had been active for decades, the spectacle of the murder-suicides infl uenced public opinion to support harsher actions against new religious movements (NRMs). Interestingly, this came at around the same time that the North American anticult movement suffered a severe setback as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the Cult Awareness Network (Melton 1999: 229). The Solar Temple incidents were directly responsible for prompting European governments to begin issuing offi cial reports on the dangers posed by nontraditional religions (Introvigne 2004: 207) and, particularly in France and Belgium, a growing campaign emerged to "combat" alternative religions (Hervieu-Léger 2004: 49; Palmer 2004: 65; Lucas 2004: 346). The incidents also helped bolster the North American anticult movement, which supplied consultants for European governments, as well as the mind control ideology that became a central element of European reports and subsequent legislation (Shupe et al. 2004: 198). Neo-Templarism The Solar Temple's founder, Joseph Di Mambro, had sampled a variety of esoteric groups, including the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC). In the 1960s, he came into contact with several persons who would later play a role in Solar Temple history, including Jacques Breyer, who had initiated a "Templar resurgence" in France in 1952. Several groups, including the Order of the Solar Temple, have their roots in Breyer's work. "Templar" in this context refers to the Knights Templar, the medie...