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Training centre for release of the Atma-energy (Template:Lang-de), also known as the Atman Foundation or the Isis Holistic Center, was a new religious movement, founded by Heide Fittkau-Garthe, active mainly on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands and in Germany. It is best known for a police and media scare in which an alleged attempt to commit ritual suicide took place in Teide National Park in Tenerife in 1998. However, later articles disputed this, claiming there was no intention to commit suicide by the group. All charges against Fittkau-Garthe were eventually dropped.

History

Heide Fittkau-Garthe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1941. She was a psychologist and, on 15 August 1994, 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 (Template:Lang-de), active mainly on Tenerife and in Germany. The Spanish media referred to the group as "secta de Heide Fittkau," after its founder. 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.

According to Spanish and German police, the group was going to perform a sacrifice similar to that performed by the Order of the Solar Temple and linked the group to the OTS. It was later clarified that the Atman Foundation had nothing to do with the Solar Temple. Just three years later in 1997, the Heaven's Gate sect also committed a ritual suicide in San Diego, California. These events may have alerted the police about the Heide sect. 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.

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.

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.

Susan J. Palmer viewed the group as an example of rumors leading to a miscarriage of justice around cults, while German researchers Gerog 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 & Eggenberg 2003, p. 269. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSchmidEggenberg2003 (help)
2. Schmid & Eggenberg 2003, pp. 269–271. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSchmidEggenberg2003 (help)
3. ^ Richardson & Introvigne 2006, p. 157. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRichardsonIntrovigne2006 (help)
4. Felipe, José Antonio (23 April 2024). "El caso de Heide Fittkau: la secta que organizó un suicidio colectivo en Tenerife" [The case of Heide Fittkau: the cult that organized a mass suicide in Tenerife]. Diario de Avisos (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 October 2024.
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. Alves, Jose (9 January 1998). "Une Secte Issue De L'ordre Du Temple Solaire Suicide Collectif Evite Aux Canaries" [A Cult From The Order Of The Solar Temple, Mass Suicide Avoided In The Canaries]. Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 17 August 2023.
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. 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.
11. ^ Palmer 2011, p. 54.
12. ^ 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.
13. "Judge frees spaceship cult". The Irish Times. 14 January 1998. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
14. Schmid & Eggenberg 2003, p. 271. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSchmidEggenberg2003 (help)

Sources

• Palmer, Susan J. (2011). "The Holy City of Mandarom: A Case of Médiabolization". The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la Republique, 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
• UFO religions
• Hindu new religious movements
• Organisations based in the Canary Islands
• Religion in the Canary Islands