Crois et meurs dans l'Ordre du temple solaire

The Order of the Solar Temple (, OTS) was a new religious movement and secret society, often described as a cult, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Founded in 1984, it was a neo-Templar secret society with eclectic beliefs sourced from many different movements like Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and the New Age. It was active in several Francophone countries. The main aim of the group was to get humanity back on the right path, as they believed the Knights Templar had sought to do before they were eliminated. There were about 500 members in the years before the mass suicides. In October 1994, the Solar Temple committed several acts of mass suicide and murder in Salvan and Cheiry in Switzerland and in Quebec, which killed 53 members of the group. They called the deaths a "transit" and believed that through death their souls would transit to the star Sirius. In December of the next year, 16 more OTS members died in France in a similar fashion. At the time of the book's publication, 69 people had been killed in total. This resulted in international attention. == Author ==

The author, Hermann Delorme (born ), was a former member of the Solar Temple from Quebec. Delorme is bilingual in English and French; he did translation work and taught English as a second language in Quebec. He was an insurance broker and had three children. He also had an interest in martial arts and archery. At this time, the Sûreté du Québec was investigating the Solar Temple, believing them to be tied to a potential terrorist group. The firearms scandal contributed to the paranoia of the group's leaders, and the idea of "transit" was spoken of more afterwards. He was one of only a few former members of the group to speak publicly about his experiences. He said he did not entirely regret his time in the OTS, but that he would not do it again. He later expressed disgust with the media's treatment of the Solar Temple affair and how they had treated him. He said he had few emotions on the subject of the OTS anymore, "just memories". He further added that: "My experience was positive. I've gained a better understanding of why people seek out this kind of community. Everyone needs a base to work from. It's attractive to people. It fills a need. When people are fragile, they need answers." == Contents ==

The book opens with an introduction from Canadian sociologist Susan J. Palmer, who writes that Delorme dispels the myths of the Solar Temple and notes that he is one of the few Solar Temple survivors to speak of the events. She praises Delorme's courage in writing on his experiences, something few survivors had done, and his theory on what led to the deaths, and his admittance of his own faults as well as that of the OTS. The book's main section begins with Delorme's arrest as part of the gun scandal. It also recounts the infiltration of OTS members into several prominent Canadian companies, including Molson Brewery and Hydro-Québec. Despite Jouret and Delorme's manipulation of him, he says that he cannot manage to hate either of them. Delorme recounts his devotion to and worship of Jouret, calling him the single most important figure in the Solar Temple, rather than Di Mambro, who he does not remember as similarly charismatic. He believed for some time that Jouret was in contact with aliens. He says the roots of the suicides were in Jouret's immense stubbornness, commenting that "death was the only meaning he could give to his life!" and the "redemptive value of the OTS tragedy". He warns about the dangers of cults and attributes their appeal to a lack of warmth in an individualistic society, so people naturally look elsewhere. Rather than try to destroy cults, he says it is best to inform and spread awareness. If former OTS members were to try to remake the group, Lardanchet and Friedli were to kill them. When a few former Solar Temple members did try to reconstitute the OTS, Friedli and Lardanchet acted on Jouret and Di Mambro's instructions, murdering all the others before killing themselves. He writes that though Vinet and Jouret were especially afflicted in this regard, it was prevalent among those in the group, "so much so that I came to believe that any esoteric or initiatory approach is first and foremost the Way of the Ego." Delorme is critical of himself and considers that he is largely responsible for his time in the order and its mistakes and that brainwashing did not play a large role. He says of himself and his role that: Delorme writes that while he still does not know what the meaning of life is, he has tried to deprogram himself of what he had been taught by the OTS and to return to normal life. The book also contains several internal OTS documents and photos that had not been previously published. == Publication history ==

The book was first published in Canada on 9 October 1996 by the Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby-based publisher . Delorme started writing the book at the suggestion of Jean-Paul Tessier, the publisher. He said the intention was largely to explore his own experiences but said the work would "debunk a lot of myths" about the Solar Temple, as contrary to some popular theories, "there were no drugs, no money, no arms trafficking, no mafia". After the publication of the book, Delorme attended local book events in Granby. Prior to its publication on 5 September, he was hosted for a talk by the . After its publication, it received several co-publishing offers from other countries; initially contact was made with the Swiss publisher , though Tessier wished for larger publishers like Bernard Fixot or Éditions Robert Laffont, to distribute the book in other counties. It was considered that the Toronto publishing house Stoddart Publishing translate it into English. Several months after the book's release, in March 1997, a third OTS suicide occurred in Quebec, killing five people. This resulted in renewed attention to the book. He afterwards remarked that he was not surprised or upset by the third set of deaths, though he had no explanation for it. He expressed worry that some of them had been murdered rather like in prior cases but said he was not worried for his safety. He said he found the whole thing stupid and wished for a time he no longer heard about the Solar Temple. == Reception ==

Several reviewers praised the personal connection of the story, with some saying Delorme wrote as if to a friend, telling of the lessons he had learned from the whole affair. In a review of books published about the OTS, Canadian journalist Éric Clément said the book was most interesting due to Delorme's substantial role in the affair, being the person who had led to the gun scandal that had gotten police attention on the Solar Temple in the first place. Despite Delorme's denouncing of cults, Vigneault criticized what he saw as a conflation of the OTS and "great religions" like Christianity and Islam and said this and other writing choices showed that "the effects of the brainwashing practiced by the OTS take time to fade". After the third mass suicide in Canada, the book was discussed again by several outlets, with questions about the OTS on the mind of several commentators. One reviewer for the Canadian newspaper Le Nouvelliste compared it to , another book on the Solar Temple, in the aftermath. The reviewer noted as more of a personal account and more relevant to Canada, so said Quebec-based readers may prefer Delorme's book. The reviewer also pointed out Delorme's connection with two of the men who had died in the third mass suicide and its insights on the specifically Canadian operations of the OTS. == References ==