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Heide is a sectarian group active mainly on the island of Tenerife and in Germany. This sect is believed to be a split of the Order of the Solar Temple and is known for a police and media scare in which an alleged abortive attempt to commit ritual suicide took place in Parque nacional del Teide (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 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 on October 4, 1994 in Cheiry and Salvan, two villages in Switzerland.

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. All charges were eventually dropped against members of the group due to lack of evidence.

When interviewed by a local daily, Fittkau-Garthe made the following statement, "The group was no sect and I have never worked in one. I was accused of planning the suicide of a group of friends who had merely come over to spend Christmas in Tenerife. What actually happened in 1998 was the result of an act of a daughter’s vengeance on her mother who was one of the group. Six months before they had had an enormous family row and it was the daughter who contacted Interpol and told them her mother and another hundred people were in the mountains of Tenerife intending to commit mass suicide. The daughter, she said, had informed the authorities that the group was a destructive sect. What happened was terrible. And the worst of it all were the lies that were told concerning children."

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 between 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 question this, saying there was no intention to commit suicide by the group.

References

1. ^ La policía frustra el suicidio colectivo de los 33 miembros de una secta en Tenerife (La Vanguardia, 9 de enero de 1998)
2. Suiza cierra el caso de la matanza del Templo Solar
3. ^ Beam them up, Heidi - Remembering the Las Cañadas suicide sect scare, Tenerife News Online, Retrieved, 2007-10-13
4. La líder de la secta de Tenerife recaudó 300 millones entre sus fieles
5. ^ http://archivo.diariodeavisos.com/epoca1/2004/04/21/hoy/noticias/tenerife/P40252A.html Suicidio colectivo con zumo de frutas] Diario de avisos, 21 april 2004
6. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/judge-frees-spaceship-cult-1.124111
7. ^ Heide Fittkau y el "anillo del amor" La Opinión de Tenerife

External links

• 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. (Spanish)

• UFO religions
• Secret societies