Solar Temple Order

L'Ordre du Temple Solaire (OTS), “The Order of the Solar Temple,” is a generic title for a small, primarily European religious movement that consisted of groups with various names all led, directly or indirectly, by Jo Di Mambro (1924–1994). The Francophone apocalyptic new religion was founded in 1984 by Di Mambro and Luc Jouret (1947–1994). Between 1994 and March 1997, members of this secretive neo-Templar, quasi-Catholic group died in a series of ritualized murder-suicides in Switzerland, Quebec, and France. At its zenith in 1989, it appears to have had 442 members: 187 in France, 90 in Switzerland, 86 in Canada, 53 in Martinique, 16 [Page 1194]in the United States, and 10 in Spain. Notably, many members were wealthy and respected (e.g., Robert Ostiguy was Mayor of Richelieu; Robert Falardeau was an official in the Québec Ministry of Finance; and Guy Berenger was a French nuclear engineer).

Information about the OTS emerged in the early hours of October 5, 1994, when police were called to investigate a fire at a farmhouse in the village of Chiery in Switzerland. They discovered secret chambers and a makeshift temple within which there were 23 bodies, most of which were dressed in ceremonial robes, arranged in a circular formation, and had plastic bags placed over their heads, having first been shot in the head. Within hours of this grim discovery, an investigation into another conflagration at three holiday chalets in Les Granges sur Salvan revealed 25 bodies. The chalets belonged to Camille Pilet (a retired sales director of the Piaget watch company), Jouret, and Di Mambro. As news of these events was unfolding, police in Québec began to make connections with a similar tragedy in Canada on the morning of October 4. A fire had destroyed a condominium complex owned by Pilet, Jouret, Di Mambro, and another OTS member, Dominique Bellaton. Police found the bodies of four adults and a baby. Of the 53 who died, it was clear that some had been murdered. In 1995, the bodies of 16 members were found in France, and in March 1997, 5 more were discovered near Québec.

Di Mambro, a former member of the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, was a key figure in the Templar resurgence in France in 1952. He was introduced to Jouret, a charismatic physician and homeopath, in the early 1980s. Between its founding in 1984 and the beginning of its demise in 1990, there were three distinct areas of OTS-related activity. First, as Amanta, Jouret and others lectured and provided workshops. Second, those who expressed interest could attend the Archedia Clubs for further teaching. Finally, the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition was an advanced initiatory order.

OTS rituals mixed guided meditation, prayer, and the recitation of esoteric texts, such as Alice Bailey's Great Invocation, and biblical texts. OTS teaching included an apocalyptic focus on environmental catastrophe, extraterrestrial elements, Rosicrucian ideas, soul travel, and reincarnation.

Problems began to emerge in the early 1990s. The commitment and financial support of some members waned. More damaging still, Di Mambro, who had produced supposedly occult phenomena during the ceremonies, was publicly questioned by his own son regarding his teachings and exposed as a fraud. This led to the departure of a number of members. These challenges appear to have led to an apocalyptic focus on “transit” (i.e., soul travel) to Sirius where the faithful would assume glorious “solar bodies.” This transit required bodily death.

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