Editing Atman Foundation (section)

== 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]].<ref name="LaVanguardia1998">{{Cite news |date=1998-01-09 |title=La policía frustra el suicidio colectivo de los 33 miembros de una secta en Tenerife |trans-title=Police foil mass suicide of 33 cult members in Tenerife |url=http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1998/01/09/pagina-21/33817323/pdf.html |access-date=2013-10-31 |work=[[La Vanguardia]] |page=21 |language=es-ES |issue=41719}}</ref><ref name="TenerifeNews">{{Cite news |title=Beam them up, Heidi - Remembering the Las Cañadas suicide sect scare |url=http://www.tenerifenews.com/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=70&idart=5389 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021134/http://www.tenerifenews.com/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=70&idart=5389 |archive-date=2007-09-28 |access-date=2007-10-13 |work=[[Tenerife News]] |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Usher1998">{{Cite magazine |last=Usher |first=Rod |date=1998-01-19 |title=Near-Death Experience |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980119/europe.neardeath_experie15.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522162815/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980119/europe.neardeath_experie15.html |archive-date=2011-05-22 |access-date=2016-03-19 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |volume=151 |issue=3}}</ref> Following this, Fittkau-Garthe and other members were arrested.{{sfn|Palmer|2011|p=54}} 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.{{sfn|Palmer|2011|p=54}} What was deemed a last supper turned out to be a picnic and meditation session.{{sfn|Palmer|2011|p=54}}

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).{{sfn|Palmer|2011|p=54}}<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Ordaz |first1=Pablo |date=1998-01-18 |title=La líder de la secta de Tenerife recaudó 300 millones entre sus fieles |trans-title=Tenerife cult leader raised 300 million from her followers |url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/SANTA_CRUZ_DE_TENERIFE/lider/secta/Tenerife/recaudo/300/millones/fieles/elpepisoc/19980118elpepisoc_5/Tes |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207100513/https://elpais.com/diario/1998/01/18/sociedad/885078005_850215.html |archive-date=2015-02-07 |access-date=2013-10-31 |newspaper=[[El País]] |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Alves |first=Jose |date=1998-01-09 |title=Une secte issue de l'Ordre du Temple solaire suicide collectif evite aux Canaries |trans-title=Order of the Solar Temple cult mass suicide avoided in the Canaries |url=https://www.lesoir.be/art/Fune-secte-issue-de-l-ordre-du-temple-solaire-suicide-co_t-19980109-Z0EPMF.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-08-17 |work=[[Le Soir]] |language=fr-BE}}</ref> The media across the world ran several headlines repeating this information, focusing on the Solar Temple and the mass suicide.{{sfn|Palmer|2011|p=54}} 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".{{sfn|Richardson|Introvigne|2004|p=157}}<ref name="Usher1998" />