It’s funny how much of this occult stuff changes my tune on things I thought before starting it.

For example, a few years back, I had first heard of orgone, this Force-like universal life energy that surrounded and permeated all things.  Granted, it’s officially discredited and has always been on the fringes of science, and from what I’ve always heard about it, it’s kinda been ridiculous and unworthy of my attentions.  Until recently, that is.  One of my friends is an expert in energy work, reiki, and a good deal of nature magic, all things I’m not too acquainted with.  He was also moving from his old place to another, and I was helping him move.  I noticed a strange contraption on his desk: a sort of lantern-style candleholder with a pan in it, with a black box with some tubes sticking from it suspended above it.  I had guessed it was an orgone generator, even though I had never seen one, and my friend started describing to me how it works, supposedly.  Specifically, what he has is termed a “Babalon Matrix”, having its origins in Thelemite tech, but still falls under the orgone heading.  Later on, after we finished moving and got a few bites to eat, we started playing with it and he showed me how to activate it and the effect it’d have on various objects put into the focus.  I was impressed; now that I’ve got at least a modicum of astral sight to see things, I was able to get what was going on with the generator and the field it generated.  We tried stones that were tied to other places, my pendant I wear that’s closely aligned to my own energies, my reality-warping key, and a variety of other things.

From what my friend told me, a generator consists of a hollow tube that pierces through multiple layers of alternating organic and inorganic material (he used corkboard and steel wool), plus a series of perimeter markers (he used a set of long pure quartz crystals, flat on one side); the more layers the tube passes through, the more powerful the field generated.  Dissipate energy is collected on one end, concentrated through the generator, and passed out the other end as a focused “beam” of sorts; upon hitting a focus, the beam would branch out, pass through the perimeter markers, and back into the generator.  This would eventually form a field that would take on the force and energy of whatever object was in the focus.  This is done with the crystals facing flat side in; if the crystals were focused flat side out, the energy that took on the force of the focus would be dissipated outward.  Whatever was in the field would be affected by the force; whatever was in the focus itself would slowly gain more energy, sort of like a trickle charger for a car battery.  Once set up (the process of “turning on” the generator and field consists of energetically linking the crystals to the generator and providing a pulse of energy to get it started, which all takes seconds), the field continues to work until disassembled.

I’m not a firm believer yet, but seeing definitely helps believing.  Of course, as an engineer, there’s no way for this to work in any sensible terms; as a magician, I can definitely see how it works and how it can be used.  For instance, in conjurations, I could set up the crystals on the perimeter of the conjuration circle, set up the generator under the Table of Practice, and use the associated talisman of the force I’m conjuring (the Pentacle of Earth for Auriel, the Talisman of Mars for Kammael) as the focus, then have the entire ritual space take on the force of the angel; in Solomonic stuff, I could set up the crystals on the perimeter of the Circle of Art, set up the generator under me, and place the Ring of Solomon as the focus to fill the entire Circle with authority, light, and power.  I’m sure I could come up with more uses for this magical contraption, but these are things that are on my mind right now.

There were some questions that I had for my friend that, unfortunately, he didn’t know the answer to, mostly because he hadn’t experimented with some of these things.  Here are a few of the things I’d like to investigate:

• The crystals that form the perimeter are to be facing flat side in or flat side out, all at once.  What happens if one of the crystals is turned outward and the rest inward?  Would that produce a focused field applying in only one direction?  Would that simply cause the field to break apart like a water balloon?
• A generator is composed, in part, of alternating layers of organic and inorganic (metal) material.  These are assumed to be uniform, but what if they’re different materials?  Instead of using steel wool throughout the whole thing, why not use layers of lead foil, tin foil, steel wool, gold leaf, copper foil, pewter, silver leaf, and so forth separated by sheep’s wool, or steel wool separated by different sets of dried herbs?
• Could the layers of organic and inorganic material be anointed with planetary or elemental oils, or be combined with Bardon’s fluid/solid condenser technique?
• Orgone generators are supposed to stay away from the use of copper, supposedly because it creates “dead orgone”, or toxic/thanatoic energy.  However, my friend’s orgone generator used copper tubing for the generator, and it has (a) given our friend who works with death energy a lot a strong headache (b) hasn’t had any ill effects on his health for the past ten years.  Are there any materials that are really off-limits?
• The generator (or more accurately, accumulator or “shooter”) doesn’t appear to have any directional alignment; it’s fairly symmetric, with nothing differentiating the in-end and out-end.  Without obstructing the tube, would a “receiver dish” on one end, using a wire matrix, and/or a “transmitter” on the other, using wires or crystal points, affect the generator for good or ill?
• One of the main things my friend has experimented with is creating gates to other places, in the astral or wherever, by using an object aligned with that place as the focus.  Stepping into the field helps to astrally view or project into that place; I was able to see places I was not already acquainted with, describing things correctly according to my friend.  Could this be used with planetary talismans to better align myself or project into those spheres?

My friend had several of the crystals laying around, and sold a set to me.  Knowing what I do, after I consult him and some more sources, I’ll probably make my own device like this and experiment with them.

It’s definitely strange how much one’s opinion of this stuff changes once you actually fiddle around with it.  I mean, scientifically, it’s bunk, but then, so is the rest of my angelic, astrological, and divine work.  Keeping orgone in the sphere of magic and not in the sphere of (pop? fringe?) science works a lot better, and when presented to me in that manner, it becomes much more acceptable.  I mean, it’s like people want to still operate and deal with magic, but are too shamed or boxed in by scientism and modern sensibilities to admit a belief in it; to get around this, they have to use scientesque and needlessly complex mechanisms to achieve the same goals that have been done more simply and naturally for millennia.  I mean, if you’re going to do magic, call it magic.  I’m not saying that science and magic will never mix, but if the planes are discrete and not continuous, don’t try to get ahead of yourself and mix the two without actually having solid footing to do so (last I checked, orgone isn’t measurable by standard laboratory measurement tools).