Luc Jouret
Luc Jouret | |
|---|---|
| Born | Luc Georges Marc Jean Jouret 18 October 1947 |
| Died | 5 October 1994 (aged 46) |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, Order of the Solar Temple |
Luc Georges Marc Jean Jouret (French: [ʒuʁɛ]; 18 October 1947 – 5 October 1994) was a Belgian cult leader and homeopath. Jouret founded the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) with Joseph Di Mambro in 1984. He committed suicide in the Swiss village of Salvan on 5 October 1994 as part of a mass suicide. In total, the group would claim 74 lives.
Early life
Luc Georges Marc Jean Jouret[1] was born on 18 October 1947 in Kikwit, in what was then the Belgian Congo. His Belgian parents returned to their homeland in the 1950s.[2] At the age of 20, Jouret began to experience severe pain, and was diagnosed with coxarthrosis (osteoarthritis of the hip joint),[3] a diagnosis unusual for someone his age. As a result of this he spent 14 months mostly immobilized in bed and subject to constant medical care, an event which he described as making him lose his faith in modern medicine. Faced with the reality that he would no longer be able to become an athlete as he had wanted, Jouret was distraught.[4]
Visiting students discussed with Jouret
During his college years he joined the Walloon Communist Youth, which resulted in the police placing him under surveillance. According to left-wing author
Following his time in the army, he began a formal study of
Among the groups for which he lectured was the Golden Way Foundation, a New Age group in Geneva, Switzerland, and he became close friends with the foundation's leader, Joseph Di Mambro. Di Mambro had been a Rosicrucian and Jouret had in 1981 affiliated with the Renewed Order of the Temple, an occult order founded in the 1970s by Julian Origas (1920–1983).[9] They soon discovered their mutual interests and in 1984 together founded the Solar Temple. By this time Jouret was traveling widely through French-speaking Europe, Eastern Canada and Martinique as an inspirational speaker. While Di Mambro directed the group from behind the scenes, Jouret was its outward image and primary recruiter.[10]
The Solar Temple
The Solar Temple wedded the
Jouret led a growing organization through the 1980s, but in the 1990s, troubles began to plague the temple. Members began to depart, Di Mambro fell ill, and authorities in several countries began to investigate its activities.[citation needed] Jouret and Di Mambro became increasingly pessimistic, especially after Jouret was arrested for asking two members of the OTS to purchase three semiautomatic guns with silencers in Quebec, illegal in Canada.[14][15] A warrant for Jouret's arrest was issued, which could not be carried out as he was in Europe, and the Canadian press's attention was drawn to the OTS.[16]
Mass suicide and death
In 1993 Jouret, Di Mambro, and several members travelled to Australia. By this time they were beginning to discuss the refusal of the public to evolve and bring in the New Age. They began to put together a set of documents that would be mailed out in October 1994 detailing their rationale for their final act, mass suicide, which they believed would let them escape the world to a higher dimension. On 3–5 October 1994, Jouret and some 12 other members of the temple died by suicide at two locations in Switzerland.[17] The night before he died, Jouret joined Di Mambro and a small group of members in a lavish last meal together at a local restaurant. Prior to their own death, the group assisted other members who had taken tranquilizers to die. These members were shot.[18] The Solar Temple disbanded after Jouret's death, though a year later another group would commit suicide and in 1997 five more died believing that they were following the first group to a higher dimension.[19]
References
- ^ Bédat, Bouleau & Nicolas 1997, p. 109
- ^ a b c d Introvigne 2006, p. 28
- ^ Bizot, Arnaud (7 August 2019). "Luc Jouret, le boucher des Templiers - Les gourous de l'Apocalypse" [Luc Jouret, le butcher of the Templars - Gurus of the Apocalypse]. Paris Match (in French). Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ Bédat, Bouleau & Nicolas 1997, p. 52
- ^ Bédat, Bouleau & Nicolas 1997, p. 53
- ^ Bédat, Bouleau & Nicolas 1997, pp. 54–55
- ^ Daeninckx, Didier (6 August 2002). "Du Temple Solaire au reseau Gladio, en passant par Politica Hermetica..." [From the Solar Temple to the Gladio network, via Politica Hermetica...]. www.amnistia.net (in French). Archived from the original on 6 August 2002. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ Introvigne 2006, p. 29
- ^ Palmer 1996, pp. 305–306
- ^ Marhic 1996, p. 276
- ^ Introvigne 2006, pp. 19–20
- ^ Champion 1997, p. 91
- ^ Chryssides 2006, p. 119
- ^ Introvigne 2006, pp. 31–32
- ^ Mayer 1999, pp. 179–180
- ^ Introvigne 2006, p. 32
- ^ "Swiss Police Identify Cult Leader's Body; Cause of Death Unknown". Los Angeles Times. 14 October 1994. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
- ^ Lewis 2006, p. 1
- ^ Lewis 2005, p. 296
Bibliography
- Bédat, Arnaud; Archive.org.
- Champion, Françoise (1997). "Les Mythes du Temple Solaire" [The Myths of the Solar Temple]. Archives de sciences sociales des religions (in French). 43 (98): 91–92. Retrieved 8 October 2023 – via Persée.
- ISBN 978-0-19-515682-9.
- OCLC 1027650107.
- Introvigne, Massimo. "Ordeal by Fire: The Tragedy of the Solar Temple". In Lewis (2006).
- Chryssides, George D. "Sources of Doctrine in the Solar Temple". In Lewis (2006).
- JSTOR 10.1525/nr.1999.2.2.172.
- Marhic, Renaud (1 December 1996). L'Ordre du temple solaire [The Order of the Solar Temple]. Enquête sur les extrémistes de l'occulte (in French). Vol. 2. Horizon Chimérique. ISBN 978-2-907202-58-9.
- ISSN 1353-7903.
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