A History of Orgonite

Wilhelm Reich and Orgone Energy

Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich

Orgone is simply another word for what is also known as “Qi”, “Prana”, “Ether” and “Akasha”.  The existence of a universal life-force energy which permeates all of nature has long been accepted with little questioning, even in scientific circles, until the 19th century when scientists sought to disprove its existence.  However, breakthroughs in the 20th and 21st century led by a few pioneers have rekindled interest in experimentation with life-force energy.  One of these pioneers was Dr Wilhelm Reich.

Dr Wilhelm Reich (1897 – 1957) was the Austrian psychiatrist who first coined the term orgone, and his research into orgone energy has paved the way for others.

Reich used a galvanometer to discover that our skin has a charge when we are in pleasurable situations, and he initially called this phenomenon bioelectric energy.  Later on, he discovered globules of energy that he called bions.  These globules gave off a kind of radiation which charged nearby objects.  He later found that this radiation was the same bioelectric energy that he had discovered earlier, and he termed it orgone.

Reich constructed the first orgone accumulator, also known as an ORAC.  It consisted of alternating layers of organic and inorganic material (in chemistry, “organic” refers to any carbon-based material).  It was intended to produce a strong concentration of positive orgone energy, which would have a healing effect.

Reich and his cloudbuster
Reich and his cloudbuster

Reich conducted experiments with an ORAC box using mice that had cancer.  He kept both healthy mice and mice with cancer in the box and compared them to a control group, and found that even the mice with cancer had longer life spans than the mice in the control group that were not kept in the ORAC box.  He later went on to treating human patients who had cancer and other ailments.

He also produced the first cloudbuster, a device made out of hollow pipes which he believed was able to draw deadly orgone energy out of the atmosphere.  He also used it to control weather – as deadly orgone energy is removed, weather patterns become more balanced, which means that cloudbusters can either dissipate clouds or trigger rain, depending on what is needed in that particular environment.

Unfortunately, Reich was imprisoned after the American FDA had him arrested for the unauthorised sale of his ORACs.  Much of his research was destroyed by the FDA, and Reich died in prison in 1957.

The Origins of Orgonite

It is probable that orgonite as we know it has been around for longer than we know.  Consider this anecdote by Don Croft:

Stacie sat on the beach at Cape Hatteras’ Outer Bank  last weekend and baited hooks for a knowledgable (sic) an old black gentleman who had made his own fishing weights of fiberglass resin, BBs (small ball bearings) and a quartz crystal.  His grandfather taught him to do that and he apparently catches more fish than anyone around.

“Granpappy was poor… loved to fish. And couldn’t afford weights but could always get hold of old cans [cut into little bits] and pine sap and energy rocks.”

The fisherman calls his sinkers ‘energy stones’ so if anyone asks who invented orgonite, the short answer is that nobody alive can claim credit for it 😉

Franz Bardon
Franz Bardon

In fact, one of the first mentions of a device very similar to orgonite was by Franz Bardon (1909-1958), a Hermetic practitioner who had great experience with the occult and healing.  Bardon was imprisoned for three years by the Nazis for refusing to reveal esoteric information.  In his 1956 book Inititiation into Hermetics – A Course of Instruction of Magic Theory & Practice – he mentions a device called a “fluid condenser” which can be used to store etheric energy.  These condensers can be solid, liquid or aeroform.  Bardon’s solid condenser consists of a mixture of the seven planetary metals (lead, tin, iron, gold, copper, brass and silver), coal and resin – practically the same ingredients as orgonite!

Orgonite as we know it was first made by Austrian Karl Hans Welz.  In 1991, he improved on Reich’s orgone accumulator by creating a device made of metal particles cast in resin.  Unlike the ORAC which accumulated both positive orgone (POR) or deadly orgone (DOR), Welz’ “orgone generator” turned DOR into POR.

Don and Carol Croft improved on the original orgonite formula in the early 2000s, by adding a crystal to the resin-metal mix.  The quartz crystal, with its piezoelectric effect, amplifies the energy and aids in transforming DOR.  Some believe that orgonite without a quartz crystal will over the long term become an orgone accumulator, which can be harmful if it is placed in an area heavy with DOR.  The Crofts were also pioneers in the orgonite gifting movement, which has now spread worldwide.