Editing Order of the Solar Temple (section)

=== Planning ===
Given the scale of the issues facing the group's leaders, it was decided they would "transit" to [[Sirius]].{{sfn|Michaud|1996|p=35}} The OTS described transit as "in no way a suicide in the human sense of the term".{{sfn|Hall|Schuyler|2000|p=117}} In their view, traitors would be simply murdered, while "weaker" members would be "helped" to transit, and the remaining members considered strong enough would kill themselves. Members believed that, upon death, they would acquire "solar bodies" in a faraway location in space (typically given as the star Sirius, but alternatively [[Jupiter]] or [[Venus]]).{{sfn|Labelle|2006|p=162}}{{sfn|Wessinger|2000|p=219}}{{sfn|Palmer|1996|p=303}} The group's leaders wrote four letters expressing these views, known as ''The Testament'', which contained expressions of the order's beliefs.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=218}}{{sfn|Palmer|1996|p=303}} Patrick Vuarnet was instructed by Di Mambro to mail the Testament letters to several people.{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=20}}{{sfn|Bédat|Bouleau|Nicolas|1997|p=214}} Shortly before the end of the group, the OTS was renamed Alliance Rosy-Cross ({{langx|fr|Alliance Rose Croix}}, ARC, with the public name Association for Cultural Research) in a final meeting in September 1994,{{sfn|Labelle|2006|p=161}}{{sfn|Bogdan|2006|p=140}} though this may have actually been intended as a new organization.{{sfn|Bogdan|2006|p=140}}

The Testament letters divided the dead into three groups.{{sfn|Palmer|1996|pp=303–304}}

* "Traitors", who were murdered
* "Immortals", who had been "helped" in death (killed) by other members
* "Awakened", who had committed voluntary suicide