the group from behind the scenes, Jouret was its outward image and primary recruiter. The Solar Temple wedded the Templars tradition to the New Age. It drew its authority in part by an appeal to a lineage of grand masters that was claimed to go back to the medieval Order of the Temple that was suppressed at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Di Mambro assigned members a significant role as agents to bring the New Age into visible presence in the world. The temple offered a program of personal spiritual progress through the practice of occult disciplines and rituals that invoked the power of the Great White Brotherhood to bring forth the New Age. 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. Jouret and Di Mambro became increasingly pessimistic, especially after Jouret was arrested for attempting to purchase three handguns with silencers in Quebec. The incident was widely reported in the media and destroyed his reputation in Quebec. 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 in which they would 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. 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. 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. He died a fortnight before his 47th birthday. References 1947 births 1994 deaths 1994 suicides Belgian expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Belgian expatriates in Switzerland Belgian fascists Belgian homeopaths Belgian religious leaders Former Marxists Members of the clergy convicted of crimes Order of