The Order of the Solar Temple cult is widely known for the murder-suicide of many of its members. Between 1994 and 1997, roughly 77 people died (Bogdan 287). The group was originally founded in 1984 in Geneva, Switzerland by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro (Melton, 2015). There are many different controversies surrounding the group, however, the most well-known incident is the murder-suicides.
Luc Jouret
Luc Jouret was born in 1947 in The Republic of Congo (“Luc Jouret Biography”, 2014). Due to the fact that both of his parents were Belgian, in the 1950s he, along with his parents moved to Belgium (“Luc Jouret Biography”, 2014). While he was in Belgium he went to medical school at the Free University on Brussels and graduated in 1974 (Introvigne, 273). It was during this time, the 70s, that a case was open against Jouret by the Belgian police due to his connections to the communist group ‘Walloon Communist Youth’ (Introvigne, 273). However, due to the lack of research on this I am unsure of how the case proceeded. Moreover, in 1976, he joined the army as a paratrooper during the Kolwezi raid (Introvigne, 273). In 1977, after returning from the army, Jouret began to study homeopathic and spiritual healing techniques from locals in the Philippines (Introvigne, 273). It is around this time that he became a homeopathic physician (“Luc Jouret Biography”, 2014). Later reports, as well as a 1987 interview with Jean-Francois Mayer, showed that Jouret may have also travelled to Peru, China, and India, with India being the most influential of the three, to further study spiritual healing (Introvigne, 273). In the 80s, after travelling to study techniques, he opened up his own homeopathic practice in Annemasse, France (“Luc Jouret Biography”, 2014). After making this practice a success he opened up several other practices in Canada, France, and Switzerland (Introvigne, 273). As well as having the homeopathic practices, he also travelled throughout Europe and Canada, more specifically Quebec, to lecture on the paranormal and alternative healing (“Luc Jouret Biography”, 2014). It was through these lectures that he ended meeting future co-founder Joseph Di Mambro (Introvigne, 273). However, between the 2 leaders, Jouret was seen as more of Di Mambro’s second in command as opposed to an equal (Bogdan 288).
Joseph Di Mambro
Unlike Jouret, there is not much known about co-founder Joseph Di Mambro. Di Mambro was born in France, Pont-Saint-Espirt more specifically, in 1924 (“Joseph Di Mambro”, 2014). His life up until the late 1950’s/early 1960’s is a mystery and there is really no research available on it. However, in 1956 to the late 1960’s he got involved in an international spiritual group called the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis or AMORC for short (Bogdan 288). The reason as to why he left and when he left the group is unknown. However, shortly after leaving the group he fled France due to financial troubles that became legal issues (“Joseph Di Mambro”, 2018). Again, after this his life becomes somewhat of a mystery until roughly 1978 when he created the Golden Way group in Geneva (“Joseph Di Mambro”, 2018). It was through this group that Di Mambro met Jouret as Di Mambro invited him to give a lecture to his group (Introvigne, 274). The Golden Way was also seen as the “parent organization of the Amenta and Archédia clubs” (Bogdan 289). Both of these clubs will be explored later in the report.
Formation/Structure
There are 2 different viewpoints of the workings of the Order of the Solar Temple; the inside and the outside (Bogdan 288). Like most other new religious movements, there is the insider view and the outsider’s. For outsiders Jouret and his views and beliefs on homeopathic views and the lecturing and the workshops he gave were all that they saw(Bogdan 288). This was used to recruit new members as Jouret was seen as the charismatic public speaker who was able to find new members (Bogdan 288).
The inside structure is more complex. It is divided into different levels that account for different things and are arranged as a hierarchy (Bogdan 288). The most public and the outer level of the group was the Amenta Club, which later became the Atlanta (Bogdan 288). This is the section that the public saw as it was through this club that Jouret would lecture and recruit people to the next, more secret level (Bogdan 288). As Introvigne (1995) noted, the second group, The Archédia Clubs, was where the member initiation took place as well as rituals taken from Masonic-Templar (Introvigne 274). The final group was the International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition which was the secret inner circle made up of the leaders and the most trusted members from the Archédia Clubs (Bogdan 288-289). The two inner groups were both established in 1984 whereas the outer public section and the headquarters were established in 1978 (Bogdan 288-289). Eventually the International Order of Chivalry Solar Tradition became known as the Order of the Solar Temple within 1984 (Bogdan 289).
At its most successful in 1989 the group had just over 440 members total in France, Switzerland, Canada, United States, Martinique, and Spain (Bogdan 289). The majority of members being from Switzerland (90 members), France (187 members), and Canada (86 members) as this is where they were mainly located (Bogdan 289).
Beliefs and Practices
Many of the beliefs and practices of the Order of the Solar Temple were formed based on differet views of Neo-Templar groups (Sloan, 2001). Both Jouret and Di Mambro believed in the end of the world and apocalyptic ideas in general (Introvigne 274). Most of their beliefs were supported or came from the teachings of Jacques Breyer and Julien Origas separate groups (Introvigne 274). Jouret especially, heavily believed in the end of the world being caused by an ecological catastrophe (Introvigne 274). Another belief was in the popular neo-Templar “theory of a cosmic ‘renovation’ (Introvigne 274). The third and final fundamental belief was on the beliefs of survivalist groups on both extremist ends of the political spectrum (Introvigne 274).
Not only were there the fundamental beliefs promoted in the group’s teachings, from 1986-1993, both Jouret and Di Mambro claimed to be having revelations on four different sacred objects (Introvigne 274). It wasn’t until the end of 1993 that they had a revelation regarding their final ‘mission’ (Introvigne 275). It was revealed to them that “the Earth would [be] forsaken by its last ‘guardians’” (Introvigne 275). Many of their beliefs and reveltations were in regards to the end of the world and how to prepare for it. Essentially, the Order of the Solar Temple was a doomsday cult.
The final belief was what they called the ‘transit” (Bogdan 289). Di Mambro carried his beliefs of death being a transitional stage from his time in the AMORC into the beliefs of Order of the Solar Temple (Bogdan 291). He believed it to be the time when the soul can be free from the body (Bogdan 291). Furthermore, many of his beliefs regarding the freedom of the soul from the body, influences the rituals and the actual murder-suicides that occurred (Bogdan 291).
The ceremonial aspects of the group are typically broken down into 2 different categories based on the purpose and the actual ceremonies themselves (Bogdan 292). One category is the initiation ceremonies and rituals. As noted by Palmer the initiation rituals usually happen in different secret rooms with secret passages and contains 22 different steps (qtd. In Bogdan 292. However, it is unknown as to what those steps are (Bogdan 292). The other ceremony category contains the more magical or mystical ceremonies (Bogdan 292). However, similarly to the initiation ceremony, the extent and other details of these practices are unknown (Bogdan 292).
The Controversies
It was in the early 1990s that
the Order of the Solar Temple started to become publically criticized (Bogdan 289). Many of these criticisms came from ex-members, many of which were members of the secret inner circle and including Di Mambro’s son (Bogdan 289). Because of these criticisms, the group was quickly labelled as a cult (Bogdan 289). In 1993, the Canadian authorities raided the headquarters in Quebec on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons (Bogdan 289). There were also accusations made against the group by the Quebec police regarding a “suspected role in threats to kill the province’s Public Security Minister” (Farnsworth, 1994). Only weeks after the first raid, the Canadian authorities raided, again for weapons, in another one of the group’s locations in St. Sauveur (Farnsworth, 1994). Canadian authorities, especially those in Quebec, strongly believe that these raids may have prevented more deaths (Farnsworth, 1994). However, it is also possible that it had the opposite effect. The criticisms of ex-members and the media as well as the raids were believed by the group to be degrading and cowardly (Bogdan 289). Thus, it may have either triggered or sped up the process to their ‘transit’ or final mission (Bogdan 289).
Murder/Suicides
The Order of the Solar Temple is unfortunately a new religious movement that became violent. The first documented case of a violent outburst from the group was on September 30, 1994 when 2 ex-members and their 3-month-old baby were murdered due to the group’s belief that the baby was the antichrist (Bogdan 286). The Quebec authorities quickly linked the baby’s murder to the other deaths that would occur over the next few days (Farnsworth, 1994). Shortly after, on October 4th, Di Mambro stabbed 5 people in his villa (Bogdan 286). The same day as these murders, the villa as well as the headquarters in Fribourg Switzerland, the next morning, caught on fire (Bogdan 286). While the fire at the headquarters was not originally suspicious, after further investigations they discovered 23 bodies (Bogdan 286). Some of the people found at the headquarters had been shot and many of the others had been suffocated by plastic bags that were found still on the bodies (Bogdan 286). Only a few hours later there was another fire in different chalets at Les Granges sur Salvan, and again 23 bodies were found (Bogdan 286). Both leaders, Jouret and Di Mambro, were found dead at these chalets (Bogdan 286).
The murders and suicides that occurred on October 4th and 5th were looked at in 3 different groups; the Awakened, the Immortals, and the Traitors (Bogdan 286). The Awakened group was the inner circle, all 15 members had committed suicide by ingesting poison (Bogdan 286). The Immortals group was the largest of the 3 and consisted of about 30 members and all of them had either be found shot or suffocated by a plastic bag (Bogdan 286). The Traitors, the final group, and consisted of 8 members and the only details on their deaths are that they were murdered (Bogdan 286-287). Overall 60 people died between September 30th and October 5th.
However, as mentioned previously the Order of the Solar Temple was responsible for the deaths of 77 people (Bogdan 287). This means that even after the death of the leaders there were still more murders committed by group members. Roughly a year later in December 1995 there was another group suicide in France (Bogdan 287). 14 people “were found dead, had been drugged, shot to death, and then placed in a circle” there were also another 2 members who “poured gasoline over the bodies, set them on fire, and then committed suicide” (Bogdan 287). About 15 months later another 5 members in Quebec, Canada committed suicide (Bogdan 287). Not much other is known about how these final 5 members died. What is different about the deaths in 1995 and 1997 is that they still occurred after both leaders died and there is not really a known leader after that.
Conclusion
Overall the Order of the Solar Temple was a secretive group that did not allow outsiders a view into their inner workings. We can see this through the lack of details about the leaders themselves, Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro, and the lack of ceremonial rituals and beliefs. Moreover, many violent cults, and I do believe that this is an example of a violent cult, keep details like that out of view. However, with this group in particular I believe that their secretive nature made it hard to see what was happening and what their end game was. Another reason why it could have been hard to prevent the mass murder-suicide is the fact that the group was not around for very long. To me the time between the group was established and when they died seems very short. Other cults that we’ve looked into in class seem to have more time being active than the Order of the Solar Temple. Overall, I believe that this is unfortunately just another example of a violent cult.