One of the most controversial and important figures in the sphere of subtle energy history fought in World War 1, before becoming the prized student of the father of psychology, Sigmund Freud. In the 1940’s, Harper’s magazine dubbed him the leader of “a new cult of sex and anarchy.” The FBI has a whole section on their website dedicated to him. His radical views got him kicked out of countries, his inventions outlawed, and his books burned. What could one possibly do to cause such a radical reaction from the world?

Before he made massive waves on a global scale, psychoanalyst, author, and inventor, Wilhelm Reich, was born to a well-off farmer couple, in what is now Ukraine, in 1897. However, he became an orphan by the time he became an adult. As opposing forces invaded the land, he abandoned his home, and all of his possessions to become a soldier.

He observed the machine-like quality of war first hand. Experiencing such deep losses caused his mind to probe deeply into the nature of the human condition. Homeless and penniless, he entered the medical school of Vienna to pursue higher education. There, his paths crossed with the great Dr. Sigmund Freud, who instantly recognized that there was something special about Reich. 

Freud allowed Reich to begin conducting psychoanalytical sessions with patients when he was only 22. The foundations of Reich’s work are heavily inspired and influenced by the early ideas of Freud. He expanded on the original idea of what Freud called the “libido” which was a form of subtle energy in the body that could increase, decrease, and discharge itself. Reich found that his patients would suffer greater neurosis if they did not have a proper, fully satisfying sexual outlet.

This led to research of the nature of subtle energy within the human body and the root of why Reich became such a controversial figure in his time. Reich identified that emotionally fulfilling orgasm was the key to being able to release excess energy from the body. Without it, energy would build and stagnate, causing neurosis, or even physical symptoms and illness in patients.

Reich claimed that society’s collective sexual repression was the root of the repressive, political turmoil he witnessed in the world around him. By bringing politics into his work, he put himself on the radar of the global power structures and landed himself of several countries watch lists. In the “polite society” of the day, it was taboo to suggest that what was really needed was what Reich called a Sexual Revolution.

Although Reich thought healthy sexuality to be the key to regulation, this positive life-force energy that he termed “orgone” flows readily throughout the atmosphere, is channeled through the human body. As his work continued to advance, he turned his focus to building devices that could harness this energy for applications such as healing, weather modification, and even to power motors.

The first of these devices, the Orgone Accumulator, was a 6-sided box that used the layering of different materials to attract and then radiate energy towards the center of the box, where patients would sit, and absorb the energy. Although he attracted many who claimed to have had success with this machine, the US government moved in to limit its distribution. A technicality within this new legislation led to his imprisonment in Pennsylvania, where his life ended November 3rd, 1957 of heart failure.

During his lifetime, his books were banned and burned by Nazi’s & the American government alike. Reich was booted from several countries and even failed to find freedom in America. Soon after his death, the leaders of the Beat Generation including Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg embraced Reich’s theories as the Free Love movement of the ’60s began. Sean Connery is even said to have had his own orgone accumulator he would sit in to prepare for his role in the James Bond films.

“When I went into the accumulator and sat down I noticed a special silence that you sometimes feel in deep woods… My skin prickled and I experienced an aphrodisiac effect similar to good strong weed. Orgones are as definite a force as electricity.” —William S. Burroughs

Now, Reich’s work continues to climb in popularity as the world becomes more open-minded. Today, there are online tutorials for making “cloudbuster” weather modification devices, and orgonite energy generators. Wilhelm Reich’s legacy lives on through the trust that he started before the end of his life. Visit their site to learn more about Wilhelm Reich.

Sources:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mggzpn/the-american-quest-to-kill-wilhelm-reich-and-orgonomy

https://archive.org/details/wilhelm_reich

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/08/wilhelm-reich-free-love-orgasmatron

Film: Wilhelm Reich – Man’s Right to Know

https://www.thoughtco.com/wilhelm-reich-and-orgone-accumulator-1992351