Since late last year, the Temple Twelve – a dedicated group of Bockists and amateur archaeologists who have dedicated their lives to proving the reality of the Bock Saga – have been getting worldwide attention.
To my mind, this ‘fame’ is long overdue, but if you are only just now learning about this merry band then this following extract from my memoir about the Temple Twelve, Temporarily Insane will help fill in the picture.
Open Sesame by Lola
The opening of the mythological but until that moment secret Lemminkäinen Temple was scheduled om the 24th of July 1987. Exactly a thousand years before, the ancestors of Ior Bock had foreseen and maybe hoped that this would be a good moment to reveal to the world the treasures that were crafted and collected since times immemorial.
During the lead up to the magical day, 24 friends who had been listening to Ior’s stories in Goa arrived. Twelve beautiful girls dressed in hippie colours and twelve beach bums similarly dressed, all of whom were excited to be part of this magical gathering. Ior had also arrived, and we talked late into the night about what would happen and what we would do once the temple was open.
We were all wizards and witches. We were beautiful and radiated energy from the sun that never sank below the horizon. When we were tired, we all slept together on the floor around the fireplace. We felt part of a single organism that was big and strong and that had been there forever and would live until eternity and turn the world into paradise once again. We were the opposite of lonely and empty, which is how we’d all felt before arriving in Goa. We were going to jump together hand in hand into the greatest adventure mankind had ever experienced. We felt safe and complete, and we were so happy that the happiness flowed out of our ears, tears, and pores.
The next morning, we woke up and soon the room was filled with a chattering sound like that of hundreds of little birds. We were so positively excited. Casper made tea for everybody, and someone had gone out to buy cheese and bread from the Gumbostrand kiosk. We had our breakfast on the veranda, overlooking the Finnish gulf. The haze of the morning, which hid the myriad of little islands and rocks in front of us, slowly dissolved in the heat of the sun that walked slowly across the sky.
Ronan:
Ior had told us that the time to open the temple would be twelve noon. It was the time when the sun would be at the highest point towards the zenith. It was the time when Akka lifted her stick towards the sun in the Etta Stupa ritual. In prehistoric times, the rock next to the Etta Stupa had a sun dial on it that marked that exact moment. Just before twelve, we walked together from the cabin towards the Etta Stupa. We kept so close together that we resembled a large millipede. Twelve girls and twelve boys and Ior Bock; we were about to witness a key moment in the history of mankind. From here on, everything would change radically. Paradise would come. We would prove that the Bock Saga and its mindset were true, logical, and honest, which was actually the motto on the Bock family crest.
When we arrived at the spot, we spread out and sat on different rocks. Each rock had a name: Etta Stupa was the big and steep rock in the middle. To the right of the temple’s entrance was the Auringonkellokivi, or ‘clock stone’, on the other side was Sibbo Berget, or Kypelli Vuori. From where we each sat, we could all see the slab of granite, approximately three by three metres in size, that lay central between the rocks. We had been informed that underneath this slab were two more slabs of granite.
Ior told us that the Bock Saga describes the situation as follows:
“First, there are ‘sten slivor’, the stone slabs. Behind these, a hallway leads to a ‘water lock’. Then, we should find the golden doors that are the entrance to the Lemminkäinen temple. These lead to a corridor towards the Bock family treasure chamber, the conical-shaped cavity the top of which is right under the ancient North Pole. In addition to this, there should be two ventilation shafts that supply the treasure chambers with fresh air.”
We sat looking at the large stone slab, wondering if we were about to experience an ‘Open Sesame’ moment. The sun travelled to the zenith and nothing happened. The first questions were asked.
“Maybe because it’s summertime, it’ll happen an hour later?”
Yes, maybe. We waited another hour. Nothing happened.
“Maybe it’s the wrong day?”
No, that was impossible, Ior assured us. It had to be now.
“Maybe we’re supposed to dig the stone slabs out ourselves?”
Could this be? The moment of magic passed, and the first cracks of doubt appeared in the world vision that had glued our fates together. With these cracks, came the first jokes. But I knew in my heart that every word of the Bock Saga was true. It was just too logical not to be.
I looked Mr Yeah in the eyes. He was still a believer.
“It’s not a matter of believing the Bock Saga for me, I simply understand it and know it’s the truth!” he declared.
Casper, Cliff, and Ior all had the same expression in their eyes. But Mats was looking frantically from person to person.
“We’ve been cheated into this crazy story. Anyone who believes that a temple with golden doors will just suddenly materialise is crazy!”
This was exactly what all his friends at home had told him. He knew now they’d been right, and that they would take the piss out of him mercilessly for this. Mats looked at his friend GM and saw the same cracks of suspicion forming.
All the men were emotional, regardless of what they thought about the situation. The girls, however, took it in their stride. It didn’t really matter too much to the girls whether the story was true or not. Lola proposed to head back to the house for lunch. Everyone welcomed the idea and we sauntered back.
We all ate in silence, and the mood felt strange and confused. What a stark difference from a few hours before. As we finished off our food, Lola stood up.
“Well, we’re having a party tonight, right? We better start preparing for it!”
This was certainly something we all knew how to do. We’d had plenty of practice, after all. We spent the rest of the day painting the trees in fluorescent colours and setting up a sound system that consisted of many little sound systems borrowed from Finnish friends. That night, we had a great party and we danced for hours in the twilight of the Finnish summer. We paid our respect to Kristina Victoria. Like all great parties, it only came to a stop the next morning when the police arrived. We could have gone on forever.
The next day, those who wanted to continue putting effort into opening the temple gathered to talk. A consensus was reached that the Bock Saga was true and not a fairy tale. It was now clear that we should stop treating it as such. The temple wasn’t going to magically open on its own, we would have to do the heavy lifting ourselves. Yes, it was time to get practical.
Twelve of the twenty-four were gone. The other twelve put their hands together and vowed to open the Lemminkäinen temple. The Temple Twelve have spent the rest of their lives digging for the fabulous Lemminkäinen hoard…