Cult of the Week- Order of the Solar Temple

The Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire (OTS) in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the modern myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar. OTS was started by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret in 1984 in Geneva. The 1980's saw the charismatic Jouret, a doctor by trade, which added an air of credibility to his presentations, lead a very successful lecture tour that took him throughout Switzerland, France and Canada. The result of the recruiting drive lectures was that the order was divided into three distinct groups or levels of membership.

The first, called "Amanta" consisted of those brought in by Jouret's lectures and seminars. The next level "The Archedia Clubs" consisted of those who wished to go a little further with the ideas and teachings of the order. Lastly was the initiative arm of the order, "The International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition." Beliefs Jouret's more advanced members believed that he was a Knight Templar in a previous life and that he would lead his followers to a planet orbiting Sirius. The Solar Temple founder also believed that he was a third reincarnation of Jesus Christ, or at least that is the image he put forth to the rank and file member. The beliefs of the Solar Temple, which changed from time to time, seemed to be a blending of neo-Templarism, New Age philosophy, Christianity and survivalist paranoia.

The cult taught that life was an illusion and that followers would be reborn on a planet revolving around the Dog Star Sirius. This is most evident in a quote of Jouret's own words; "Liberation is not where human beings think it is. Death can represent an essential stage of life." The group under Jouret's teachings believed that the end was neigh and that the world would end by fire; concepts that were an undercurrent in Jouret's earlier lecture circuit. As leader of the cult, Jouret became increasingly eccentric. Prior to the order's ritual he would have sexual relations with one of the women in the flock in order to supposedly give him "Spiritual Strength" to enact the ceremony, which consisted of a "dog and pony show" where spiritual beings seemed to appear. These apparitions were nothing more than some expensive electronic projection devices operated by Di Mambro. Di Mambro, although a backstage member, was not behind the scenes when it came to his own share of authoritarian tendencies. He, like Jouret, was fond of engaging in sexual liaisons with the female members of the order, whether they were married or not. They complied willingly and unquestionably as members of a cult often do. There were many instances of couples being broken up by Di Mambro and Jouret if they were found not to be "cosmically compatible."

Controversy

A member, Dutoit, his wife Nicky and child were murdered in their home in Morin Heights, Quebec. The murder was most grisly. Police reports showed that Tony was stabbed some 50 times, while his wife Nicky was stabbed four times in the throat, eight times in the back and once in each breast. Their infant child was stabbed six times. His body was wrapped in a black plastic bag on which was placed a wooden stake. While many have said that the murder was part of the groups peculiar beliefs and that members felt that the Dutoit's baby, Emmanuel, was the anti-Christ, the evidence seems to support that the murder was the result of the public exposure of the group's practices. (Dutoit was the first to say that everything was smoke and mirrors).

Adding insult to injuy, Di Mambro own son, Elie publicly claimed that he witnessed fakery at the hands of this organization, which caused dozens of dissaffected to leave the group. This was a major blow to the beliefs of Di Mambro, since the group believed that Elie was a child of destiny and the product of "theogamy," which the dictionary defines as a marriage of the gods. Di Mambro made the claim that under direction of the Masters of Zurich, the supposed true leaders of the order and a group later shown to be fictitious, Elie was conceived in Israel on March 21st, the Vernal Equinox. This was a similar situation to Jouret's son, born in 1983, who was to be the premiere Grand Master of the "Temple of the New Age of the Era of the Virgin."

This was a destiny that did not meet with the child's mother who raised him in a normal fashion. As if the defection of Di Mambro's son was not enough of a blow to the order, the two founders were engaged in a growing series of disputes over the direction of the Order of the Solar Temple. The one thing that the two men seemed to be in complete agreement on was that they needed to start preparations for the "transit" to another world. While the order had always carried an apocalyptic tone in their teachings, this new direction would lead, at the end, to a fiery consequence.

Fiery Consequence

On the night of October 4th, 5th, 1994 residents of Chiery and Granges-sur-Salvan, Switzerland became aware of fires burning in the towns. By the next morning would be found the remains of 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple. While it at first appeared to be a mass suicide, the bodies at Chiery told a slightly different tale. Autopsy reports showed that two of the victims died of suffocation while another twenty-one were administered sleeping pills before being shot to death. According to a Time Magazine article of 1994, some of the victims had as many as eight bullet wounds in the head. Another ten victims were found with plastic bags over their heads. There was also evidence that several of the victims had shown signs of struggle, which indicates that the deaths were far from a willing suicide pact. A year later on December 23rd of 1995, at the time of the winter solstice, the bodies of another 16 members would be found in a burned out chalet in the Swiss Alps. The bodies were arranged in a star pattern with their feet towards the ashes of a fire. Among the dead were the wife and son of Jean Vuarnet of skiing and sunglasses fame. Like the murder / suicide of 1994, the victims had been either shot, stabbed or poisoned. Two years later, the beliefs of the order would take a final five lives in St. Casimir, Quebec in the burned home of Didier Queze, a member of the order. Four of the bodies were found in an upstairs bedroom arranged in the shape of a cross. The final body, Didier's mother, lay on a sofa in the living room; a bag over her head. Unlike previous Solar Temple suicides, the children of these final victims were spared. Awaking one morning to find that their parents had placed numerous propane tanks, hot plates and other paraphernalia to start fires, throughout the house, they realized that something was afoot. They negotiated with their parents to be spared and agreed to take sleeping pills in a workshop near the home, realizing that when they awoke both their parents and the family home would be no more. In all 74 members of the order met with a fiery and gruesome death at the hands of this neo-Templar cult.

"It is with unfathomable love, pure joy and no regret that we leave this world. Men, do not cry for our fate, but cry for your own,"

Barak Obama has been Palin-ized

Out 44th president continues to dissapoint all of his supporters to the point where there are no more hope t-shirts and a slow down on the O bumper stickers. I have said that Obama is Bush lite, but after a statement that he made this week, he is in orbit right up there with Sarah Palin.

Eric Holder on behalf of the administration has decided to try KSM,(Kalid Sheik Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11 for you uninformed), in Federal Court in New York City. This "trial is supposed to illustrate to the world that our rule of law is fair and anyone can receive a fair trial, even the mastermind of the deadliest attack on american soil. Some repugs are pissing that the trial will reveal defense and military secrets which inturn will undermine our national security. No one in their right mind should believe that any information that would undermine national security will ever make it to any type of public record. How do I know? Have you seen a declassified document? Some doc's you cant' read because of uber liberal redaction, so we know that nothing of any significance will get out.

Obama on an interview stated that we would have a trial, KSM would be comvicted and the death penalty would be applied...Seriously? This statement is unconstitutional. What kind of a fair trial can one have if judgment and sentence has been passed before the trial has happened? A show trial, an unconstituational trial, an illegal trial. Obama went to Harvard Law, he was a constitutional law professor and he made such a clearly biased statement. That was something that Sarah Palin would say. Clearly Palin would have no understanding of the judicial process and would make such a riduculous statement. Remember, she stated that the Vice President would be in control of the senate and would be "hands on" in the legislative process. Or the fact that she thought Africa was a country and not a continent and the fact that just this week she got around to answering that "gotcha ques" of what publications do you read to keep informed. (Just a year late). That type of ill preparation and ignorance is expected from the likes of Palin and her ilk, but Obama, a clearly educated, thoughtful man...It seems to me, that the business of governing is a bit more complicated than campaigning and if Obama want's to be successful he needs to focus his attention and not get sidetracked, which is exactly what has been happening for months. At this point, Obama has set the curve low and Bush has actually won out on this one.

Cult of the Week- Kirtland Cult (Jeffrey Lundgren)

This was a destructive, doomsday cult founded and led by Jeffrey Lundgren. He was the leader of a small group of about 2 dozen members that broke away from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), now called the Community of Christ. The RLDS Church has a membership of about 250,000, and is centered in Independence MO. The much larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints split from the RLDS when the former moved to Utah. Lundgren, in turn, split from the RLDS in 1987 because of its liberal tendencies (e.g. allowing women to be ordained as priests). There is also suspicion that he had embezzled money from the Church,(actually it was proven). Members prepared for an expected war in which they would attack the original Temple in Kirtland which is now preserved as a historical site by the RLDS. They engaged in strange sexual rituals, and para-military training. One family, the Averys, opposed some of Lundgren's rulings, were executed and buried on the group's ranch. He referred to the killings of the parents and three daughters as: "pruning the vineyard."

According to CNN:"In an unsworn statement at his 1990 trial, Lundgren told the jury that he and his cult were preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ, which they believed would occur at the Reorganized Church's temple in Kirtland. He said the spiritually unclean had to be dealt with.""Lundgren said a combination of messages from the Bible told him to kill the Averys. Cult members had testified that although the Averys were members of the sect, Lundgren considered them less enthusiastic." Lundgren was sentenced to death for his crimes; his wife and son received long prison sentences.Lundgen exhausted exausted all of his appeals, even the "I am to obese for lethal injection" defense, and was executed in 2006.

Once again, a prime example of religion in the hands of the stupid

My Thoughts On Music

I recenlly acquired xm radio and much to my amazement the same 5 songs are played over and over too, just like regular radio. But since I abandoned regular radio with such gems as "chain hang low" and "chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side", I have missed a whole lot of songs. So here are some of my thoughts...

Jayz's Death to Auto tune

Where do I begin? The premise of the song is great, the title is fantastic since I despise autotune with a passion, but the beat was lame. I mean, what kind of a diss album do you have with a beat that sounds like it was recycled from the 80's? and not the good part of the 80's. EPIC FAIL!

Chris Brown's I Can Tranfrom You

I admit, I like this song. I hate myself for admitting I like this song, since he transformed Rihanna's face. Of course he has Gila Monster Lil Wayne boozing and funking up the track. I swear you can catch herpes from hearing Wayne's voice alone. This would be a song that I would buy on itunes but for the above mentioned reasons I can't in good conscience give that brat any money.

Beyowulf's Beautiful Nightmare
HATED IT!

Becky, don't remember by who

I don't who in the hell let this swamp monster get to a mike, but I was embarrassed listening to this. Becky must be an analogy for the female anatomy but who could tell from all of that bad talking on the track. The only word that could be understood was Becky.

Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston

It is almost shameful what she has allowed to happen to that once angelic voice, but eventhough her voice isn't as strong as it once was and it has been ravaged by drug use, she can outsing all these skanks auto tuning and leotarding and posing. So if we compare this Whitney's vocals with young Whitney's vocals it's horrific. But if we value her as the artist she is, then we have to give her some props that pulled herself up out of the depths of addiction and a destructive codependent relationship.

Mariah Carey's ObsessedOk...Why in the hell is she using autotune? The stuff that she is doing in the song with autotune is what she can do naturally. Once again, she dumbs down her lyrics and does fluff when she is capable of so much more. By the by, if she want's to battle with Eminem lyrically, I think she get back to posing on the hood of cars again. AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN! and please call off your pet Nick Cannon, so long as he doesn't act and especially rap.

Money to Blow by Lil Wayne and some random dude

Good beat, but good lord, how many more of these I got money, weed, clothes and hoes songs do we need?

Ice Cream by some random dudeFrom what I can tell, it's about a car. Good beat, but again, another car song? Sigh.

Lastly, this is it by MJ.Once again, we all miss MJ and still rock to his classics, however, This is it sounds like it was written and recorded in the 90's. Basically like it should've been on History or Dangerous. He is a product of being stuck in a perpetual rut.

That's all I can remember.