Editing Order of the Solar Temple (section)

=== Transit ===
[[File:Supposed UFO, Passaic, New Jersey (cropped).jpg|alt=A black and white photo of a blurry, disk shaped aircraft.|thumb|A supposed image of a [[flying saucer]], one of the initial proposed methods of "transit"]]
The "transit" terminology and concept is derived from [[AMORC]], which Di Mambro had been a member of. AMORC uses "transit" as a term meaning death, among other vocabulary the OTS borrowed from the organization.{{sfn|Mayer|2006b|p=91}}{{sfn|Bogdan|2006|p=143}} AMORC, as with the OTS, saw death as merely a "transition", in which the physical body separates from the soul; unlike the soul, the physical body will change and decay.{{sfn|Bogdan|2006|p=143}}

The concept had first been brought up by Di Mambro in 1990 or 1991. It was to mean a voluntary departure of the members to another dimension in space, or an act of consent to bring the "germ of life" to another planet.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|pp=228–229}}{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pp=181–182}} He told the members that they would be summoned on short notice, and would need to be ready as this could occur any day.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pp=181–182}} They conceptualized the transit as a ritual involving magic fire, where they would undergo a spiritual voyage to the star [[Sirius]].{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|p=221}} According to Di Mambro, he did not know yet how they would transit, though he metaphorically evoked the idea of being picked up by a [[flying saucer]] or passing across a mirror.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pp=181–182}} OTS members were familiar with similar ideas prior: in 1987, Jouret had for sale at one of his lectures a comic strip,''[[Voyage Intemporel]],'' that tells of a group of UFO believers who are picked up before a great cataclysm.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|p=181}} Following the gun scandal, Jouret began speaking of the transit concept as well.{{sfn|Clusel|Palmer|2020|pp=228–229}}

Palmer argued that the transit could have been viewed as a solution for many of the problems the OTS faced. It prevented the "loss of charisma" that Di Mambro would have to deal with given his old age and illness, as well as his suffering personal relationships with others.{{sfn|Palmer|1996|p=315}} The problems of succession that the group faced, with conflict between Jouret and Di Mambro and Jouret's leadership problems in Canada, would also be solved. One interpretation was that it may have been a funeral intended for a [[Pharaoh]] (as Di Mambro was interested in [[Egyptian mythology]]), intended to bring Di Mambro's "retinue" with him into the afterlife and keep his power.{{sfn|Palmer|1996|p=315}}

According to the later testimony of members, they did not interpret it as mass suicide, with one stating that they believed the transit was instead the idea of being ''saved'' from disaster.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pp=181–182}} Members otherwise interpreted it innocuously or as an ephemeral concept, such as one interpretation of the transit being that the group would simply move to another geographical location or leave [[Geneva]]. According to Mayer, the transit concept was perhaps not a break with the OTS's earlier survivalist ideas, but instead a continuation, a survival in other dimensions where this one was irreversibly doomed.{{sfn|Mayer|1999|pp=181–182}} Academic [[Massimo Introvigne]] wrote that their suicide "elude[s] easy comparisons with Jonestown and Waco", but was actually far more comparable to the later [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]] group.{{sfn|Introvigne|2000|p=138}}