Lewis - The Order of the Solar Temple The Temple of Death

THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE

In October 1994, fifty-three members of the Order of the Solar Temple in Switzerland and Qubec were murdered or committed suicide. This incident and two later group suicides in subsequent years played a pivotal role in inflaming the cult controversy in Europe, influencing the public to support harsher actions against non-traditional religions.

Despite the importance of the Order of the Solar Temple, there are relatively few studies published in English. This book brings together the best scholarship on the Solar Temple including newly commissioned pieces from leading scholars, a selection of Solar Temple documents, and important previously published articles newly edited for inclusion within this book. This is the first book-length study of the Order of the Solar Temple to be published in English.

CONTROVERSIAL NEW RELIGIONS

Series Editors:

James R. Lewis, Lecturer in Religious Studies,
University of Wisconsin, USA

George D. Chryssides, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies,
University of Wolverhampton, UK

This new series on New Religious Movements focuses particularly on controversial new religions. The popularity and significance of the New Religious Movements field is reflected in the explosion of related books and articles now being published. This Ashgate series of anthologies will offer a valuable resource and lasting contribution to the field.

Forthcoming titles in the series:

Contemporary Religious Satanism
Who Serves Satan?
Edited by Jesper Petersen

New Generation Witches
Teenage Practitioners of 21st Century Witchcraft
Edited by Hannah E. Sanders and Peg Aloi

The Temple of Death

Edited by

JAMES R. LEWIS
University of Wisconsin, USA

ASHGATE

James R. Lewis 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

James R. Lewis has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work.

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Ashgate Publishing Company
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Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The Order of the Solar Temple : the temple of death.

(Controversial new religions)
1. Ordre du temple solaire
I. Lewis, James R.
299.9'3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Order of the Solar Temple : the temple of death / edited by James R. Lewis.

p. cm.(Controversial new religions)

Includes index.

ISBN 0-7546-5285-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Ordre du temple solaire. I. Lewis, James R. II. Series.

BP605.077073 2006
299dc22

2005032195

ISBN: 978-0-7546-5285-4
ISBN: 0-7546-5285-8
ISBN: 978-1-4094-7722-8 (ebk-ePUB)

James R. Lewis

Jean-Franois Mayer

Massimo Introvigne

Susan J. Palmer

John R. Hall and Philip Schuyler

Jean-Franois Mayer

John Walliss

George D. Chryssides

Henrik Bogdan

Marc Labelle

Roland J. Campiche

James R. Lewis

In October 1994, 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple (lOrdre du Temple Solaire, or OTS) in Switzerland and Quebec, Canada, were murdered or committed suicide. On 4 October, a fire destroyed a villa in Morin Heights, Canada, belonging to Joseph Di Mambro, the groups leader. Police found five charred bodies in the ruins. Three had been stabbed to death before the fire. At 1:00 a.m. on 5 October, a fire started in Ferme des Rochettes, near Cheiry, in the canton of Fribourg, one of the centers of the Solar Temple in Switzerland. Police found 23 bodies in a room that had been converted into a temple. Some had been shot; many others were found with their heads inside plastic bags. At 3:00 a.m. on the same day, three chalets inhabited by members of the Solar Temple caught fire almost simultaneously at Les Granges-sur-Salvan, in the Swiss Valais canton. Here police found 25 bodies, along with the remains of the devices that had initiated the fires as well as the pistol used in the Ferme des Rochettes shootings.

For many months prior to this initial spate of murder-suicides, rumors of financial mismanagement had been circulating among Solar Temple members. On 30 September, shortly before the groups dramatic final transit, a three-month-old infant was killed at their Canadian site by a wooden stake driven through its heart. The parents, who were ex-members of the Temple, were also brutally murdered. Surviving members explained that Joseph Di Mambro had ordered the killing because the baby was the Antichrist. Several days later, Di Mambro and 12 followers convened a ritual Last Supper together. The murder-suicides took place not long after this meeting. Fifteen members of the inner circlereferred to as the awakenedtook poison; 30 othersthe immortalswere shot or smothered to death; while another eight, termed traitors, were also murdered.

The plan seems to have been for the fire to more or less completely destroy everything in the Swiss centers. This would have compelled investigators to focus on the groups self-interpretation of their actionsa self-interpretation embodied in four letters, or Testaments, that were sent to 60 journalists, scholars, and government officials. However, because the incendiary devices at the main center in the Cheiry farmhouse failed to ignite, many documents and other artifacts remained intact. One of the Testaments, addressed To All Those Who Can Still Understand the Voice of Wisdom, issued a call for other Solar Temple sympathizers to follow their example: