Seeking the Sun

In the bright annals of sectarianism, the name of the Order of the Solar Temple is written in pale gold letters, an international cult that became famous through ritual suicides, murders, connections with organized crime and providing refuge to escaped Nazis. What more could you want from a sect?

Based in the Francophone world and founded in the fifties, this sect preached teachings based on Catholic mysticism mixed with general Esotericism, believed that they were the heirs of the Knights Templar and awaited the second coming of Jesus. In addition, they were actively engaged in the search for the Antichrist and in the collection of suspicious characters with a Nazi past, such as ex-Gestapo man Max Heindl. Among other things, they were inspired by the teachings of the Thelemic duke Aleister Crowley, although they were not strangers to the belief in aliens.

And it is well known that any sect that cares about its reputation must have contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, simply it`s a must...so the Order would have existed as another fringe group of sectarians, if there had not been a change in the leadership of the sect. Certain Joseph di Mambro and Luc Jure appeared on the scene in the eighties and began radicalizing the belief structure. The escalation began in 1993 when it is believed that the first ``purges`` were carried out, murders of members but also of ``civilians``, culminating in the murder of a baby who was liquidated due to unfounded suspicions that it was the Antichrist himself, I assume that they probably watched the movie Omen and took it all too seriously.

The baby was killed on a specially prepared altar using a wooden stake through the heart. Although it is more of an anti-vampire than an anti-devil technology, according to the sect members it was also effective against newborn devils.

A few weeks after the murder of the baby, convinced that they must ascend to a new dimension, in 1994 at several locations in France, Switzerland and Canada, the sect members organized a `last supper` (it is not known what the menu of that culinary event was), dressed in the latest sect fashion (quasi-knight's robes), committed mass suicides and murders of those who were `weak` in order to take their own lives... and in all of this, at least 54 people suffered, including the aforementioned sect leaders. The media and the police entered the scene, but despite this, the sect members continued with sporadic suicides and homicides at least until 1999, when it is believed that a total of 79 victims had fallen, although some speculate that the figure was between 100 and 110 dead.

The new leader of the sect in its post-suicidal version was tried in France in the early 21st century but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. This sect did not receive the media coverage of the People's Temple or Aum Shinrikyo (Canada may not be as televised as the United States), but it was nevertheless one of the most violent cults of the twentieth century, at the turn of the millennium - which for some reason irritated sectarians from Tokyo to Krakow and from Geneva to Pretoria and represented a serious motive for sectarian violence directed at itself...and at the world.

(Roger Mortis, 065)