Occult Masters and the Temple of Doom: The Fiery End of the Solar Temple

Introvigne, Massimo; Mayer, Jean-François

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511499326.010

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…It is possible, therefore, that Di Mambro's solution to these mounting problems was to put an end both to himself and to the organization. Introvigne and Mayer (2002) question this explanation, pointing out that the subsequent deaths in 1995 and 1997 occurred after Di Mambro's death. (Sixteen members died in similar circumstances at Vercors, Grenoble, on 23 December 1995, and a further fi ve were found dead at Saint-Casimir, Quebec on 21 March 1997.)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Order of the Solar Temple

Bogdan¹

2014

Controversial New Religions

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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...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"gullible." It was also claimed that the members had been brainwashed by Jouret and Di Mambro (Campiche 1995;Introvigne 2000;Introvigne and Mayer 2002).…”

Section: Accounting For the Transitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Order of the Solar Temple

Bogdan¹

2014

Controversial New Religions

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“…Massimo Introvigne proposed Di Mambro and Jouret linked three ideas in the OST: (1) a looming ecological catastrophe; (2) the renewal of the world by the Ascended Masters of the Grand Lodge of Agartha; and (3) a final war of the type propagated "by survivalist groups both on the extreme right and the extreme left" (Introvigne 2006: 30). The crisis that precipitated the mass deaths seems to be the failing health of Di Mambro, which combined with the group experiencing persecution, an intense apocalyptic vision, and internal dissent (Bogdan 2014;Introvigne and Mayer 2002).…”

Section: The Order Of the Solar Templementioning

confidence: 99%

The Demise of Religion

Baffelli

2020

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Her latest book publication is The Sacred in Fantastic Fandom: Essays on the Intersection of Religion and Pop Culture (co-edited with John W. Morehead and Venetia Laura Delano Robertson, 2019). Erica Baffelli is Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester (UK). Her latest book publication is Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese "New" Religion: Transformations and the Founder (with Ian Reader, 2018). Eileen Barker, FAcSS, FBA, OBE is Professor Emeritus of the Sociology of Religion at the London School of Economics and the founder of INFORM (www.Inform.ac), an educational charity providing information that is as reliable, contextualized, and up-to-date as possible about minority religions.

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“…Subsequently, on the night of 21 March 1997, another ®ve members of the OTS committed suicide in Saint-Casimir, Quebec. The OTS, whose story has been told in detail elsewhere (Introvigne, 1999;Mayer, 1998Mayer, , 1999Introvigne and Mayer, 2002), was an NRM drawing on the western esoteric tradition, established by French esoteric teacher Joseph Di Mambro (1924±1994), who later recruited the Belgian homeopathic doctor Luc Jouret (1947±1994). A number of dieÂ rent organizations created by Di Mambro in the 1970s and early 1980s led to the legal establishment of the OTS in 1984.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…deep estrangement from this world, perceived opposition by former members wellacquainted with the inner dealings of the group, threats from outside agencies (real or imaginary) and the feeling that there was no possible way to escape``but up'' seem to constitute an ideal combination of factors leading to self-destructive and criminal behaviour in small religious groups. (Introvigne and Mayer, 2002) Without accepting the rhetoric of``crazy gurus'', we also added that``the role (and mental condition) of the leader of the group seems to be decisive in persuading followers either to choose the radical option, or to adjust as well as possible to adverse circumstances''.…”

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“There is No Place for Us to Go but Up”: New Religious Movements and Violence

Introvigne¹

2002

Social Compass

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While the “cult wars” of the 1970s-1980s largely ended in the USA with the Fishman decision (1990), between 1994 and 2000 mass suicides and homicides perpetrated respectively by the Solar Temple, Aum Shinri-kyo, Heaven's Gate and the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God revived anti-cult feelings which eventually led to administrative and legislative action in several European countries. The author criticizes two anti-cult explanations of the incidents, one based on brainwashing and the other on psychopathology and fraud, and suggests that scholars of new religious movements and critics of “cults” may both learn from these cases and start a fruitful dialogue by revisiting the original literature on thought reform and the works of Robert Jay Lifton and Edgar H. Schein. Ultimately, and without denying that “cults” may carry out illegal activities other than those involving the actual loss of human lives, as far as “critical incidents” are concerned content-neutral models of persuasions and influence should be supplemented by an examination of which ideologies may be more conductive to suicide and violence.

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Occult Masters and the Temple of Doom: The Fiery End of the Solar Temple

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

The Order of the Solar Temple

The Order of the Solar Temple

The Demise of Religion

“There is No Place for Us to Go but Up”: New Religious Movements and Violence

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