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Training centre for release of the Atma-energy (German: Trainingszentrum zur Freisetzung der Atmaenergie), also called the Isis Holistic Center or the Atman Foundation, was a new religious movement founded by German psychologist Heide Fittkau-Garthe. A schism from the Brahma Kumaris, it was active mainly on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands and in Germany. It is best known for a media scare in which an alleged attempt to commit ritual suicide took place in Teide National Park in Tenerife in 1998. However, later commentators disputed this, claiming there was no intention to commit suicide by the group.

History

Heide Garthe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1941. Following her graduation from high school, she trained as a psychologist, receiving her doctorate at age 26. She married Bernd Fittkau, a psychology professor. She joined the Brahma Kumaris, a Hindu-based spiritual movement, in 1980, and would later become a high-ranking official of the group in Germany; after which she would divorce Fittkau. On 15 August 1994, she sold all her assets and moved to the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. She founded Training centre for release of the Atma-energy (German: Trainingszentrum zur Freisetzung der Atmaenergie), active mainly on Tenerife and in Germany. The group was a schism from the Brahma Kumaris.

According to Angela Gabriela, a former member of the sect, the highlight of the ritual was the "love ring." This practice consisted of huge orgies, even between members of the same family.

Alleged mass suicide plan

On January 8, 1998, Fittkau-Garthe was alleged to have attempted suicide with her followers in Teide National Park, resulting in a police raid on the premises that the sect had in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Apparently, the 32 members of the sect believed that they would be collected by a spacecraft and taken to an unspecified destination. Failing that, they were believed to be going to commit suicide. Following this, Fittkau-Garthe and other members were arrested. The group was thought to be planning to drink fruit juice laced with poison, which was confiscated during the raid. On analysis, the fruit juice was found not to contain any poison and were actually flower essences and homeopathic medicine. What was deemed a last supper turned out to be a picnic and meditation session.

Media reports and police following the arrest said that they were an offshoot of the Order of the Solar Temple (a group that had repeatedly died by acts of mass murder and suicide through the 1990s). The media across the world ran several headlines repeating this information, focusing on the Solar Temple and the mass suicide. It was later clarified that the group had nothing to do with the Solar Temple, though a family of ex-members said the group was "just as bad".

Aftermath

In Germany all charges were eventually dropped against members of the group due to lack of evidence, although the accusation still remained in Spain as of 2004 with no trial scheduled. The acquittal of Fittkau-Garthe in Spain received almost no attention in the news.

Later articles in Tenerife News and Diario de Avisos disputed the earlier story, saying there was no intention to commit suicide by the group. When interviewed by a local daily newspaper, Fittkau-Garthe claimed that the group was not a cult, and that a daughter of a member of the group had contacted Interpol and accused them of plotting a mass suicide after a family row. The rumor that it was mass suicide possibly stemmed from Fittkau-Garthe's estranged brother.

Susan J. Palmer viewed the group as an example of rumors leading to a miscarriage of justice around cults, while German researchers George Scmid and Oswald Eggenberger viewed of the concerns of the police as understandable, arguing the group had many similarities to those that had committed mass suicide in the past. They particularly noted the small size of the community as a cause for concern, arguing that those are susceptible to radicalizing in that sense more so than larger groups.

References

1. ^ Schmid & Eggenberger 2003, p. 269.
2. ^ Palmer 2011, p. 54.
3. Schmid & Eggenberger 2003, pp. 269–271.
4. ^ Richardson & Introvigne 2004, p. 157.
5. Herrero, A. (12 November 2009). "Heide Fittkau y el "anillo del amor"" [Heide Fittkau and the "ring of love"]. La Opinión de Tenerife (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
6. "La policía frustra el suicidio colectivo de los 33 miembros de una secta en Tenerife" [Police foil mass suicide of 33 cult members in Tenerife]. La Vanguardia (in European Spanish). No. 41719. 9 January 1998. p. 21. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
7. ^ "Beam them up, Heidi - Remembering the Las Cañadas suicide sect scare". Tenerife News. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
8. ^ Usher, Rod (19 January 1998). "Near-Death Experience". TIME. Vol. 151, no. 3. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
9. Ordaz, Pablo (18 January 1998). "La líder de la secta de Tenerife recaudó 300 millones entre sus fieles" [Tenerife cult leader raised 300 million from her followers]. El País (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
10. Alves, Jose (9 January 1998). "Une secte issue de l'Ordre du Temple solaire suicide collectif evite aux Canaries" [Order of the Solar Temple cult mass suicide avoided in the Canaries]. Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 17 August 2023.
11. ^ Lutzardo, Maile (21 April 2004). "Suicidio colectivo con zumo de frutas" [Mass suicide with fruit juice]. Diario de Avisos (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
12. "Judge frees spaceship cult". The Irish Times. 14 January 1998. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
13. Schmid & Eggenberger 2003, p. 271.

Sources

• Palmer, Susan J. (2011). "The Holy City of Mandarom: A Case of Médiabolization". The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects". Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973521-1.
• Richardson, James T.; Introvigne, Massimo (2004). "Brainwashing Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on Cults and Sects". In Richardson, James T. (ed.). Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe. Critical Issues in Social Justice. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1.
• Schmid, Georg; Eggenberger, Oswald (2003). "Theosophie und Esoterik". Kirchen, Sekten, Religionen: religiöse Gemeinschaften, weltanschauliche Gruppierungen und Psycho-Organisationen im deutschen Sprachraum: ein Handbuch (in German). Theologischer Verlag Zürich. ISBN 3-290-17215-5.

• Apocalyptic groups
• Cults
• Hindu new religious movements
• Organisations based in the Canary Islands
• Religion in the Canary Islands