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Heide is a sectarian group active mainly in Tenerife (Spain) and Germany. This sect is believed to be a split of the Order of the Solar Temple and is known for an abortive attempt to commit ritual suicide in Teide National Park in Tenerife. It seems that the sect had no official name, but the media called it "Heide" in honor of its founder.
History
It was founded by a German psychologist Heide Fittkau-Garthe, who, on August 15, 1994 sold all her assets and moved to Tenerife.
On January 8, 1998, Fittkau-Garthe attempted suicide with her followers in Teide, an act that was aborted after 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 on October 4, 1994 in Cheiry and Salvan, two villages in Switzerland. On that occasion, the first of a series of suicides, 48 followers of the Order of the Solar Temple committed suicide to preempt the final cataclysm. The Order of the Solar Temple is still active in Tenerife; its founder Luc Jouret lectured on the island in 1984, including the leader of the Order of the Solar Temple in Spain lived in the south of Tenerife. Moreover, just three years later, in 1997, the Heaven's Gate cult, also committed ritual suicide in San Diego, California. These events alerted police about the sect of Fittkau-Garthe.
At the time of the arrest of the sect, cultists were celebrating their farewell dinner. Fittkau-Garthe was worshiped by her followers as "Mother Aida" and had spent many months preparing for the celebration: "Our last dinner on planet Earth will be in Tenerife", she said.
One of the police officers who took part in the operation came to tell, "They had not left anything to chance. All wore wide tunics, were barefoot and listened very soft music, like meditation. Had a huge pans full of vegetarian food". At the gate there were four cars owned by the psychologist, as well as other rented vehicles participants had used to get to Teide, where, they believed, a spacecraft would collect their spirits and move them to an unknown planet.
Beliefs
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 minor members of the same family.
There were two children in the sect, a boy of twelve and a girl of eight; apparently the sect believed that when the eight-year-old girl turned sixteen she would beget Jesus. In an orgy she would be impregnated by one of the men of the sect and nobody would know who was to be the child's father.
Apparently the 32 members of the sect believed that after suicide their souls would be collected by a spacecraft and taken to an unspecified destination. However, more recent articles in Tenerife News and Diario de Avisos doubt this, saying there was no intention to commit suicide by the group.
References
- ^ La policía frustra el suicidio colectivo de los 33 miembros de una secta en Tenerife (La Vanguardia, 9 de enero de 1998)
- Suiza cierra el caso de la matanza del Templo Solar
- ^ La líder de la secta de Tenerife recaudó 300 millones entre sus fieles
- Spanish police state they prevented mass suicide by Atma (Isis Holistic) Center cult
- Historia oculta de Canarias
- ^ Heide Fittkau y el "anillo del amor" La Opinión de Tenerife
- Beam them up, Heidi - Remembering the Las Cañadas suicide sect scare, Tenerife News Online, Retrieved, 2007-10-13
- Suicidio colectivo con zumo de frutas Diario de avisos, 21 april 2004
External links
- (Spanish)La líder de la secta de Tenerife recaudó 300 millones entre sus fieles. Noticia de El País.
- (Spanish)En casa de Heide. Noticia de El País.