This cult is yet another one centered on apocalyptic principles ending in a mass-murder/ suicide, but I hope you find it interesting. The Order of the Solar Temple or Ordre du Temple Solaire was founded in 1984 by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro in Geneva. Jouret was a legitimate health professional with a medical degree who found himself disenchanted with medicine, looking for more out of life which led him to travel and become affiliated with several groups including Templar Renewed Order, where he eventually met Di Mambro in ‘81. Di Mambro was less legit, he scammed his way as a psychologist and was charged with a few things including fraud and violation of confidentiality (Butz). Di Mambro got very wealthy and owned a 15 bedroom home in France which raised some eyebrows, forcing him to move to Switzerland.
The Order of the Solar Temple was derived from after the french revolution when Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat revived the Knights Templar, a religious order from the 12th century which was banned by the Pope in 1312. This revival split into many factions, one of which was the Templar Renewed Order, based on the idea that the world was going to end. In The Order of the Solar Temple, they preached that the world would in a catastrophe in the mid 1990’s (Melton). In 1986 they moved the OST headquarters to Quebec, where Jouret claimed the world would end in a great famine but Quebec would be the only place to end up okay.
Jouret and Di Mambro lead in different ways. Jouret was only really interested in the sex and money. Before every ritual he would have sex with one of the women members to give him spiritual strength. He had many wives and switched them out frequently. Di Mambro had a strong need for power, anything he told the followers to do, they would do. Their followers believed everything DiMambro said because he could perfectly manipulate them.
Between 1994-96, in anticipation for the end of the world, numerous groups of around 20 members were found dead in burning buildings. Some were shot in the head, others overdosed on drugs and injections. Their bodies “On the floor, arranged in a sun shaped circle with their feet pointing inwards, were 22 bodies: nine men, 12 women and a 12-year old boy.… Some of the dead were wearing the coloured ceremonial robes”(Butz 2). I found this especially interesting, that they were so systematic in their deaths. Today, there are said to be somewhere between 150-500 members of the The Order of the Solar Temple.
Sources:
Melton, J. Gordon. “Order of the Solar Temple.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Nov. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Order-of-the-Solar-Temple.
Butz, Mary . “The Order of the Solar Temple.” Watchman Fellowship Profile, www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/ordersolartempleprofile.pdf.
Image:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbiddensymbols.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Forderofthesolartemple.png&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbiddensymbols.com%2Fthe-order-of-the-solar-temple%2F&docid=6i42YBq691swrM&tbnid=610-yjrlPuPQkM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjYpOOf2rvgAhUGSK0KHRBHA5wQMwhnKBwwHA..i&w=300&h=306&bih=731&biw=1187&q=the%20order%20of%20the%20solar%20temple&ved=0ahUKEwjYpOOf2rvgAhUGSK0KHRBHA5wQMwhnKBwwHA&iact=mrc&uact=8
Tiara says:
It is crazy that apocalypse based cults were so popular and continue to have some success to this day. One would think the narrative was worn out. It is also interesting that there are still members to this day.
February 15, 2019 — 2:12 am
Kristin Reed says:
For whatever reason, I’ve always associated cults with America, so reading about one that was started in France kind of surprised me! Especially considering how atheist France and Europe is and has been for the past few decades, it’s surprising to me how an apocalypse-based cult was able to get so many followers.
February 16, 2019 — 3:10 am
Austin Hepburn says:
This sounds like Jouret and Di Mambro were using the power of the cult for their own personal gain with sex and money at the head of the directory for the cult.
February 21, 2019 — 5:15 pm
Mary Jo Fernandez says:
One question, does the cult still exist today? I can’t find anything on the Internet about it, at most hints that it could still exist. On the other hand, I have read many times that experts say that the cult no longer exists. Does anyone know anything about it?
November 21, 2019 — 2:07 pm
Robert Gordon says:
were Casting that evil sophia smith into hell…….were casting that evil satan smith into hell…….were casting that evil carl jones into hell…….were casting that evil david jones into hell…..were casting that evil eve smith into hell……were casting that evil caine into hell……were casting that evil seth into hell…….were casting those evil children of caine into hell…….were casting those evil children of seth into hell…….were casting that evil diana into hell……..were casting that evil lillith into hell……..were casting that evil lucifer into hell……were casting that evil vlad tepes into hell…….were casting that evil kunta kinte into hell…….were casting all that evil out of the temple of God and we are casting all that evil out of the church of jesus……..in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost god and jesus in one……praise Jesus……the eternal son of the living god………god came in the form of his son and spoke through Jesus……..when adam died his human death that was of sin…..the arc angel michael took adam to heaven to be judged by god and god forgave adam………adam was in heaven……..Mary was in heaven with Adam….in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost god and jesus in one………..God is our father in his name of Adam and Eve gave birth to us all……in the name of the father and the son and of the holy ghost god and jesus in one……….god is our father in his name of adam and mary is our mother in heaven….in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost god and jesus in one………god is our father in his name of adam and mary gave birth to us all……in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost god and jesus in one………praise jesus……..the word is alive in jesus……..the word of God is living in jesus……and the word of God is with Jesus……..the living word is everywhere……praise Jesus
January 21, 2020 — 9:05 pm