Bibliography of the Order of the Solar Temple


Following the Order of the Solar Temple affair – a case that gained international notoriety when members of the group, a then-obscure neo-Templar group, orchestrated several mass suicides and mass murders in the 1990s – there have been several books and studies published about the events and organization. The case became a media sensation, with many conspiracy theories promoted by the media. As described by Susan J. Palmer, "false or unverifiable trails have been laid: secondhand testimonies are traded by journalists, ghost-written apostate memoirs are in progress and conspiracy theories abound." The OTS itself also published several writings espousing its beliefs.
Several academic studies have been published, focusing mostly on ideological aspects such as violence, leader charisma, and the concept of apocalypticism. Journalists also wrote books, such as Arnaud Bédat, Gilles Bouleau and Bernard Nicolas's 1996 work Les Chevaliers de la mort. The journalist Renaud Marhic also wrote a book on the case. Former members of the group also wrote memoirs, including Thierry Huguenin's Le 54e and Hermann Delorme's Crois et meurs dans l'Ordre du temple solaire. The first book on the OTS, Vie et Mort de l'Ordre du Temple Solaire, written by journalist Raphaël Aubert and theologian, was published only two months after the first deaths.

OTS publications

''Survivre à l'An 2000''

  • ,.
Name translated as, variously, 'How to Survive the Year 2000', 'Survival Beyond the Year 2000', or 'Surviving the Year 2000'.
Published in two volumes in Toronto by the OTS's Éditions Atlanta, it was originally intended as a series but only ever had the two volumes. It is prefaced by Jouret, Jacques Breyer, and Christian Pechot. The first volume tells of the group's occultist doctrine. It compares the apocalypse with Atlantis, and predicts that the ultimate apocalypse will happen before 1999 and be foretold by signs in the sky. It also teaches of the coming of a "solar race". The second, 150 pages long, is a guide on how to survive the apocalypse, going over what to store and how to do first aid, and how to survive nuclear, chemical and bacteriological attacks.
The second volume opens with a claimed letter from Nostradamus, and mixes scientific writings with a plethora of occultist and science fiction writers. The first aid information is largely copied from Red Cross and NATO manuals. It has been seen as evidencing the group's survivalist nature, and how they had initially had an optimistic message. Jean-François Mayer noted that "nothing in these volumes would lead one to suspect suicidal tendencies; to the contrary, it seemed as if the adepts hoped to find themselves among those who survived the apocalypse unscathed." Massimo Introvigne noted the second volume as being written "in the style of American survivalist literature."

''The Templar Tradition in the Age of Aquarius''

Written in English under the pseudonym Gaetan Delaforge. The person behind the pseudonym is a North American OTS member who survived and later defected. It was published in the United States by Threshold Books in 1987, to spread the order's Templar ideas into the United States. The book argues that the Templars survived to the modern day, and that the OTS was its ultimate successor. It was dispersed throughout occult and theosophical circles. Introvigne described it as a "curious book". It spread false claims about the excavation of supposed Templar treasure, and was traced as the source of these claims by one historian. These claims are unsourced and were described by writer Joel Levy as "almost certainly pure invention".
The same year, "Gaetan Delaforge" also wrote the article "The Templar Tradition: Yesterday and Today", which appeared in the Winter 1987-1988 issue, issue 6, of the magazine Gnosis.

Academic literature

Books and book chapters written by academic authors.

English

  • Non-English

  • Journalism

Books written by journalists.
  • * An expanded second edition.

  • Memoirs

Books written by those with personal involvement in the OTS, either as an ex-member or a relative of a member.

  • Journal articles

  • Documentaries

  • Reports

  • Works cited

  • *
  • *
Order of the Solar Temple
Category:Books about the Order of the Solar Temple