Introduction

The following paper is a personal view about how the growing interest in the techniques of cloudbusting, or Cosmic Orgone Engineering (CORE), might best be channeled and developed for the long term benefit of life on Earth, and a frequently suffering but chaotically dangerous humanity. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion among those currently engaged in honest and serious research with the cloudbuster, as well as to sound a warning regarding those who are just learning about this new discovery, or who are already abusing it, mixing it with all kinds of false claims and mysticism. I assume the reader is generally familiar with the works of Wilhelm Reich, to include both his sex-economic and orgone biophysical findings. Both are necessary to understand the functions of the life-energy. If the reader is not familiar with both areas of research, and is contemplating, or has already undertaken use of a cloudbuster-type instrument, then this discussion is particularly pertinent to them.

Let's firstly give an overview of the issues and some of the problems involved.

Over the last decade or two, Reich's findings on the existence of a powerful atmospheric energy continuum, which underlies most weather phenomena, have been verified and strengthened. Reich's invention, the cloudbuster, has been used to break many droughts, and on occasion, to even bring rains to deserts. We know the cloudbuster has a powerful influence, and this has been proven out in any number of systematically-undertaken experiments. When properly used, it can trigger the genesis of large isolated storms, or even entire frontal systems, which can quench parched lands and change a stagnant atmosphere back to its more natural sparkling character. The technique has the general capability of affecting jet stream movements and steering large storms; even hurricanes may be diverted. Cloud cover can be increased to generate widespread rains, and possibly reduced to dry up rains during times of flooding. Fogs can be lifted or created. In skilled hands, the instrument has a variety of effects which can benefit a region, primarily in restoring natural cycles of rainfall to areas of drought or desert. There is evidence cloudbuster-produced rains have a more basic pH, thereby reducing the acidity of rainfall, or it can be used for smog-reduction more generally. However, there is a dark side to all of this, in the potential mis-application and distortion of Reich's findings.

There currently are two major methods by which Reich's works are being distorted today, and both fall under the category of what Reich called the Emotional Plague of Mankind, or more simply the Emotional Plague (EP). One is exemplified by the more rigid, protective aspects of the human character, which often casts a suspicious eye towards anything new. This approach kills new findings by attacking them with outright lies, and then repressing them, or simply stomping them to bits, using censorship or Police State tactics. People suffering from this first type of disorder tend to be attracted into high government positions, or into top influential spots in public media or scientific organizations, where they can do a lot of damage to anyone who innocently comes through their doors offering some new idea or invention which can benefit humankind. This is like the leftist New Republic magazine which attacked Reich with smears, which then provoked similar EP characters as in the US Food and Drug Administration, which used the Big Lie and legal "dirty-tricks" to persuade unsuspecting courts and policeman to "get Reich" and smash him down.

The other method for tearing down a new, disturbing discovery is more devious and hidden, less direct and straightforward, and therefore much more difficult to deal with. This method pretends to be a friend of the new discovery, but is actually secretly at work to kill it. This is done by diluting the discovery with peripheral issues, or injecting it with "friendly lies", until it is devoid of any power or strength. Parallel to this, the new finding has its core elements cut away, particularly those of a more socially-challenging nature. Proponents of this latter method often pretend to be friendly towards Reich's works, even though they have ripped the guts out of it. These pretenders also engage in attacks against anyone who does not accept their watered-down or pirated and distorted version as the truth, especially against those who dare to criticize them. Publicly, they may actually spread wild exaggerations, half-truths, or blatant distortions, which are designed, consciously or otherwise, to invoke rational skepticism among professionals and officials who might actually be able to open doors and apply the new discoveries in a rational manner. Instead, the mystic exaggerators attract groups of uncritical salvation-seeking followers, even as new and more extremely wild and unsupportable claims are made. Reich's work then becomes inappropriately associated with totally crazy things, such as the "chemtrail" claims, or the David Icke fairy-tale novels about "shape-shifting space aliens". It gets all mixed up with huge government conspiracy theory and other things which go well beyond the rational concerns about air pollution or even the rational examination of ufo phenomenon. And this, of course, obstructs progress in manner that is almost as efficient as censorship, as wherever a serious scientific inquiry about Reich's work is made in a professional organization, they have already heard about the "crazy Reich" a long time earlier, and nobody wants to hear anything more about it. In this paper, I will explore some of these social trends as they relate to Reich's atmospheric research. But first, let's discuss the issue of just what are the problems when people take up the cloudbusting method without sufficient background knowledge or training, even if their motivations are rational and heart-felt.

Rational Versus Irrational Use of a Cloudbuster

Cloudbusting must never become a tool for "weather modification" per se, for forcing or "fine tuning" the weather to do this or that. This concept of "modification" is as foreign to cloudbusting as "rape" is to a loving sexuality. The cloudbuster is simply a help to nature, an assist, only to be used at the right time and place, when the natural process of atmospheric pulsation is blocked, and stagnation sets in. It is only used to remove the "obstacle in the way" of natural functioning, to restore the natural, self-regulatory functions of atmospheric pulsation. The ultimate repository of the cloudbuster will be, perhaps a thousand years from now, in a display within some grand museum, after the crises of population, pollution, and atmospheric stagnation have been overcome, and world's deserts have been made green, or at least stabilized and pushed back to their present core regions.

To accomplish this goal, rational cloudbusting efforts, and centers where orgonomic education takes place, must discriminate among candidates for cloudbusting, avoiding at all costs the pitfalls of political or dogmatic positions. It is important to recognize that at least part of the increased interest in cloudbusting is derived from a recognition of very real environmental problems, such as droughts or heat-waves, massive forest fires and desert-expansion. Many people are attracted to Reich and cloudbusting solely due to a rational, honest feeling and desire to do something helpful and constructive. Each individual I have had approach me for information regarding cloudbusting has presented a unique set of circumstances which could only be evaluated on an individual basis. These sources of interest can be either rational or irrational. Some examples of a rational interest in cloudbusting might include:

Obviously, not all of the above persons should go out and build or use a cloudbuster, but the sources of their interest are rational. They may simply be unaware of the potential effects and range of influence of the instrument, or be ignorant of the personal health-hazards involved. Hence, these individuals are encouraged to engage in as much preliminary work as is possible while another person with more experience and training undertakes to remedy the atmospheric problem in their area. Specific proposals for training of cloudbuster operators are given below.

Now, let's talk a bit more about the irrational use of the cloudbuster. Examples of this are all too common today. In the United States, we have people who build cloudbusters, develop their own "theory" on how it functions, throw away Reich's scientifically-developed findings (but perhaps, keeping his name and terms attached to their ideas, for "credibility") and in general make a nuisance of themselves. Most of these people are harmless, but others do damage by creating drought, or making a drought even worse, or generating or amplifying very severe storms. A few examples include:

Anyone exhibiting the above characteristics is a poor candidate for training or working with the cloudbuster. There are, unfortunately, a number of cases where such individuals have built cloudbusters to the greater or lesser detriment of themselves and their surrounding communities.

Here are some more specific examples, which prompted me to write this article, the first version of which appeared in 1986.

And so on...

There also are major issues raised about when and for what exact reasons a cloudbuster project is undertaken, the question of it's necessity. Ending a severe drought or heat-wave, or working against wildfires are certainly good reasons, assuming one knows what they are doing. Working in ignorance of the basic fundamentals of orgone biophysics can actually worsen a drought, or inflame a wildfire, so in-depth study and training is a must. Beyond that, a serious issue has arisen in recent years on the subject of desert-greening, which constitutes a potentially risky form of climate modification, and about which the current knowledge from both orgone biophysics and classical environmental and climate science warns us against. I have personally used this term, "desert-greening", to describe my own past operations in the regions of the American Southwest, Israel, Namibia and Eritrea. However, in retrospect, none of those operations proceeded towards long-term climate-change goals. All were prompted by existing exceptionally dry conditions even for those marginal drylands. Once a rainy episode was initiated, our work ended. And we used operational procedures which led to a neutralization or transmutation of the stagnant atmospheric dor conditions into rainy conditions, rather than to merely "shove away" the stagnant air mass into someone else's back yard. It is therefore important to keep in mind that any kind of long-term desert-greening project runs the risk of long-distance and possibly long-term negative effects. A desert land might benefit from such a greening, but it becomes a disaster if accomplished only by displacing the dry desert air mass off to plague some other world region, placing an adjacent moist region under severe long-term drought. Several catastrophes along these lines have already been witnessed, from haphazard operations undertaken by inadequately trained individuals in Seattle (point #20, above) who merely wanted to cool down their vicinity and had not the wisdom to look how their operations were affecting other regions, or by fully trained persons in Algeria (point #21, above), in efforts towards greening the core region of the Sahara, but again being contactless about long-distance effects. This makes no more sense than trying to warm up the polar regions so one might grow bananas, or make the warm rainy tropics drier and cooler. Evidence from ancient climates suggests, a wetter Sahara is found only when Europe and North America are under ice-box conditions, given how the polar jet streams move far to the south during the Sahara rainy periods. Could "greening the Sahara" bring about this same result today?

This list on irrational activities can be closed with the following fully insane example which is related to the above points #18 amd #19: There are today many individuals who have made "cloudbusters" (sometimes called "chembusters" - click for more info) which are of a slightly different design from those of Reich, solely for the claimed purpose of "eliminating chemtrails". They believe the US government, or some conspiracy of government with evil space aliens, are deliberately spraying toxic chemicals into populated areas, and this is the reason for people's ill health. While the issue of toxic chemicals from jet aircraft exhaust, possible cloudseeding experiments, and air pollution in general is certainly an important subject requiring critical analysis, the accusations made by some in these groups go well beyond such a simple interpretation, and border into blatantly paranoid and psychotic territory: Accusations are made that "shape-shifting reptilian aliens" from outer space, and "evil entities" from other-worldly dimensions, have "taken control" over highly-placed persons in the government and military, and that they are now working, in conspiracy with the United Nations, to poison the citizens of the world. Some of the impulse in this direction comes from followers of the Saint Germaine cult, who mix up their mystic belief in a "violet ray" with Reich's blue orgone energy. One could ignore these people, except for the fact that its leadership has convinced them to construct these cloudbuster-chembuster type devices, for the claimed purpose of "repulsing evil entities", or "dissipating chemtrails" -- in the latter case, the aim is to dissipate the contrails of jet aircraft. Perhaps a hundred or more of the "chemtrail-busters" are already constructed, mostly in the USA but with a growing number in overseas locations. According to Reich's findings, however, the presence of well-formed jet contrails is a general indicator of a healthy cloud-forming atmosphere. The advocates of the "chemtrail" theory, however, "know better" than poor old stupid Reich and his followers; they consider jet contrails to be "bad", or evidence of concealed space-aliens and demons, or treasonous government and military people trying to poison the countryside. Consequently, the "chemtrail-busters" are set up and pointed into the atmosphere on a permanent basis, around the clock, month after month, year after year. The advocates of this madness claim, with much enthusiasm on special "cloudbuster" and "chembuster" email groups, how the clouds dissipate over their property, and sometimes how larger thunderstorm complexes were "deflected" or dissipated. Consequently, it appears the modified "chembusters" do have some kind of atmospheric effects. Since very few of them are farmers or foresters, whose primary consideration is the health of the natural landscape, one has no assurance that they would stop what they are doing if a drought began to develop. Indeed, many of the "chembuster" enthusiasts seem happy when the sky is clear and dry, but sad and worried when clouds appear.

For these and other reasons, international regulation and oversight of cloudbusting activity will eventually become necessary. Reich wrote about this also, including his fear that his discoveries would be abused. He was wrong on one account, however. The abuse has not taken place by "government officials" or "conspiring academics" so much as by the self-righteous anti-establishment and self-proclaimed "spiritual" types of the "alternatives" scene.

We currently have no clear certainty about what the long-term atmospheric effects will be from all of this, but assuredly it will not be a good thing, and will only add to broader atmospheric chaos. The "chemtrail-buster" network began in the Pacific Northwest USA in late 2000, for example, which is roughly correlated with the onset of a larger drought pattern across this same region, spreading eventually to the entire Western USA. Massive forest fires of historical magnitude subsequently appeared in Western States, as the normal rainfall cycles were disturbed. The atmospheric reaction to so many "chembuster" devices seems to be primarily a massive expansion of nearby desert regions into wetter regions, with around two years of heat-waves, drought and forest-fires! After the two years (our current estimate), the atmosphere finally self-adjusts and is no longer irritated by the chronic stimulus of the "chembusters". In 2003, the "chembuster" fad spread to Europe, which similarly had massive heat-waves, drought and forest fires, with around 3000 people dying in France alone from the horrible heat. Similar conditions might be projected to develop in Europe once again in 2004, with a lowered Wintertime precipitation as well. The atmospheric reaction in Europe was worse than in the USA, as the "chembusters" actually were expanding and attracting the Sahara Desert northward. The leaders of these cultish "chembuster" groups -- who also sell "Holy Hand Grenades", "orgonite", "orgone generators" and similar trinkets and gadgets, including devices to exorcize demons from inside the home -- none of which have any connections to Reich, but they will abuse his name and terms anyhow. They were informed of the dangers on many occasions, but dismissed them with arrogant contempt. (One primary person leading this "chembuster" movement basically told this writer to "fuck off" when the problem was pointed out to him, and he threw out of his his internet group anyone who dared to openly raise such questions.) Here, once again, we see the real-world effects of a deeply mystical self-proclaimed "expert" who has never studied Reich, never attempted Reich's basic experimental proofs, never apprenticed with any knowledgeable person so as to know what he was doing, never had a any orgone therapy to remove his own biophysical armoring... but who makes huge claims and assertions about "saving the world", and in the process helps to wreak horrible disaster around the planet. The "chembuster" groups are, in fact, the most dangerous of the mystical distorters of Reich's work today, given their great potentials to create massive droughts and heat-waves through deliberate mis-representation and mis-application of Reich's discoveries. As of 2005, the chembuster fad had invaded Australia, which began experiencing increasing drought, of historical proportions by 2007. If the two-year rule holds, nature will begin compensating naturally by 2008 -- but after what gigantic damages and loss of life will have occurred!

As a general rule, enormous hatred is provoked from these individuals when responsible cloudbuster operators try to speak with them and get them to stop or change what they are doing. Experience shows, luckily, that these irrational individuals eventually run from the work and, assuming they do have the sustained energy to actually build and use a cloudbuster, will eventually make themselves sick, and run from the work. Any program of cooperative work and learning exchange is impossibly irritating to such individuals, and one usually spots them right off. Their history is one of secrecy, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, public grandstanding and politicking, alliance with the enemies of orgonomy, and slander of rational work efforts.

The Problem of Operator Character Structure

Cloudbusting requires more of the people who engage in it than the mere "desire" to "get involved", or to "make rain", or the mere mechanical ability to assemble a few pipes and wave them about in the air. For safe and effective operations to occur, the operator must firstly have a high degree of personal health, and secondly to know exactly what they are doing, and why. They must have a good working knowledge of the cloudbusting techniques and methods which have been worked out over the last 35 years. They must be educated in basic climatology and atmospheric dynamics. Additionally, and most importantly, the cloudbuster operator must not possess any significant degree of biophysical, emotional armoring. They must be emotionally fluid, with a capacity for full bioenergetic contact with the natural environment. They must possess the capability of perceptively understanding the unspoken language of the living, which is energetically expressed in the atmosphere and landscape. This is important both for the outcomes of cloudbusting operations, that they not produce erratic or damaging weather reactions, but also because biophysical armoring places the cloudbuster operator at great risk for their health.

It must always be kept in mind that the cloudbuster is a tool by which the atmosphere is restored to a state of self-regulated functioning. It is not a "weather modification" apparatus, like cloudseeding, where the atmosphere is forced to do this or that, or is "pushed about" to do something it normally would not do. Anyone wishing to work with a cloudbuster must therefore have an intuitive, gut-level grasp of the concept of atmospheric self-regulation. For this, they must themselves be self-regulated people, free from significant biophysical emotional armoring. They must, as much as is possible, be what Reich called unarmored, genital characters, that is, individuals who have maintained, or regained through therapy, the capacity for making full contact with their deeper emotions, and who are orgastically potent as defined by Reich. They must not be openly or secretly cruel, sadistic, or domineering towards the opposite sex, nor be timid or fearful. This question of how the individual relates to the opposite sex is, aside from other characterological considerations, a give-away as to their deeper emotional self, and a clear predictor of the attitude and behavior towards the natural environment. Men who are sadists with women, for example, being cruel or rapine in attitude, will not be able to suddenly "change gears" and become contactful and gentle men, filled with a love of nature in the next moment. And the same is true for the guy who only sees dollar-signs in his eyeballs when thinking about the cloudbuster, which would also be a disaster for the atmosphere and environment. Likewise, if the operator is stoned on pot, or drunk on alcohol, they could no more undertake an effective operation than a similar drunkard or stoned-head could fly a multi-engine jetliner. It is an art and science that requires people who are serious of mind and character, who generally eschew the "big noise" of modern neurotic society, who are more comfortable with open living nature than in a sport's bar, and who don't frequent either brothels or sex-repressive churches.

Reich's initial point of departure from conventional modes of thinking was, as he put it, the discovery of "the bioenergetic function of excitability and motility of living substance". Through this discovery, he eventually clarified the relationship between psyche and soma, which are underlain by the deeper common functioning principle of the biological orgone energy, or life energy. As this energy flows or pulses through the body, it gives rise to a spectrum of psychic, emotional, and somatic, organic phenomena. The first volume of Reich's monumental work Discovery of the Orgone was subtitled Function of the Orgasm, as the orgasm was identified to have an important discharge function, the capacity for which was always present in emotionally healthy, non-neurotic people, but always absent in people with neuroses, or any other form of mild or severe mental illness. Disturbances in orgastic functioning, and pathological attitudes toward the opposite sex, underlay every neurotic, self-destructive, or sadistic component in behavior. Indeed, Reich came to view the love life of his patients as a primary indicator of emotional and mental health. He wrote extensively on the sexual psychopathology among power-hungry politicians and dictators, and among the masses of people who chased after them, doing their dirty work, casting off their social responsibilities for the comfortable yoke of despotism. Emotional health and sexual health were inseparable, and formed the basis of clear, unimpeded bioenergetic contact between the individual and the larger natural environment.

Just as Reich found that the unimpeded flow of life energy in the body was essential to psychic and somatic health, he also discovered, some years later, that a similar unimpeded flow of life energy in the atmosphere was necessary for maintenance of atmospheric pulsation and rainfall. Indeed, the properties and movements of the mass-free orgone energy in the atmosphere gave rise to similar life-like behaviors in the animal world, where the same energy pulsated inside an organisms's skin and organs. This life-like quality in the natural environment has actually been seen and felt by many of the more gentle, non-violent peoples of the world, and their very naturalistic religions were based upon such direct perceptions; among these non-violent peoples, the creative, spirit forces charged and animated the natural world, and were not "beyond the senses". But the capacity to feel, and make deeper contact with these forces, which Reich experimentally objectified as a specific life energy, named the orgone energy, has largely been lost among the authoritarian, sex-negative, war-making peoples of the "civilized" world. They simply cannot see it, or feel it, and therefore have greatly mystified perceptions of nature, to include the basic biological and sexual nature of their own selves and children. They may have an inkling or residue of feeling of this larger force at work within the cosmos. But because of a lack of direct perception, they project a human face upon it, claim that it is "non-physical" in nature, that it exists only in another dimension, in some far-removed "heaven" or "nirvana", and look to "spiritual experts" and "gurus" for assistance in restoring the lost contact. Or, they project their own inner demons into the outer world, claiming the beneficial life-force is filled with "evil entities", which are, in fact, only a misperception of their own bottled-up angry emotions. The majority of politicians, businessmen, scientists, priests, and yes, "spiritual experts" and "gurus" also, have lost this perceptive connection with nature, and so are more ready, willing, and able to participate in the wholesale destruction of natural pusling life-energy in the child, and in the natural world and atmosphere also. They do little more than lead a compliant and fearful humanity from one social disaster to another. Even so, many contemporary people have retained a bioenergetic perception of their connectedness with the natural world, and are very uncomfortable with the destructive nature of industry, Church, and State.

Unlike so many other scientific discoveries, which have been perverted into weapons to destroy or thwart life, Reich gives us a criteria for evaluating the character structure of those who wish to involve themselves in life-positive works. How can we best recognize the individual who is emotionally capable of restoring the flow of life energy in the atmosphere? The criteria are fairly simple, in principle at least. If a person can fully express their emotions, has a deep and full respiration and relaxed physical posture, does not possess tendencies of sadism and violent aggression, but is neither timid nor lacking in healthy, aggressive seeking-out for fulfillment of their needs, if they are gentle with children, capable of a warm and loving relationship with the opposite sex, and spontaneously respectful of nature and wild creatures, then that individual is a reasonable candidate for training in the authentic methods of cloudbusting. For if their bioenergy can flow and pulse freely, if they are emotionally fluid and contactful, they will possess the gut level feeling necessary to use the cloudbuster in a perceptive and effective manner.

On the other hand, it is not possible for a person who has devoted their entire life to the sequestration of emotion, to the negation of sexuality, through either antisexual celibacy or emotion-killing pornography, to maintain the kind of feeling necessary for being a good cloudbuster operator. Persons addicted to drugs or alcohol, or who hold fast to extreme religious or political viewpoints (ie, Nazism, Communism, Islamism) are likewise not candidates for this work. It does not matter if the individual is "highly respected" in the community, or if they are a successful farmer, rancher, or businessman, or if they have a Ph.D. or M.D. degree, or if they are a member of the National Academy of Sciences, or whatever. Nor does it matter if they are certified critics of mainstream scientism, outraged because Reich was thrown into prison, and are well-known "free energy" advocates. Desire alone is insufficient. Just as good vision and reflexes are necessary for being a good aircraft pilot, or good muscles and slim figure a necessity for a ballet dancer or ice-skating champion, a mobile and emotionally fluid bioenergy system, as Reich defined it, is a necessary prerequisite for engaging in cloudbusting. Nothing given above should be distorted to presume formal academic degrees or high social standing are intrinsically a barrier to this work. In fact, study of classical weather science is a definite prerequisite for this work. By themselves, however, they are simply not enough.

This emphasis upon maintaining a lively, self-regulated character structure, and a deeper emotional contactfulness, is the most important foundational consideration for a cloudbuster operator. With it, they can learn techniques and classical knowledege of weather science. But all the classical weather science in the world, and even fully intellectual study of Reich's findings, won't grant to people the deeper bioenergetic capacities which are necessary. The cloudbuster operator must be capable of organically feeling the various bioenergetic phenomena at work in the atmosphere. They must be capable of discriminating between states of atmospheric expansion or contraction, high or low charge, and stagnation or agitation. They likewise must be able to see the phenomenon of atmospheric sparkle and lustre, and the pulsing orgone units. The expressive "language of the living" is manifested in cloud forms, sky, atmosphere, and landscape, and is vital to understanding the functions of weather. Most importantly, they must also be capable of recognizing any traces of emotional plague or pestiness within themselves, any tendencies towards contactlessness or contraction or overcharge or dor-saturation of their organism, and learn to withdraw from the work at those times their own structure gets in the way, or when they are at risk for health deterioration.

These considerations of emotional contactfullness and health are most important, for the cloudbuster operator works with a tool capable of affecting broad regions of the atmosphere, for better or worse. Also, the operator can receive an overcharge, or dor contamination in their body which can bring on life-threatening sickness, or exacerbate latent or chronic aspects of existing characterological armoring. While therapy certainly reduces these tendencies, it is not an absolute guarantee either. Cosmic orgone engineering with a cloudbuster places one in a highly charged environment which can stimulate energy-overcharge and emotional flare-ups. For these and other reasons, cloudbusting must be carried out in a perceptively clear and emotionally clean manner, with cooperative oversight by other skilled workers in a spirit of scientific open critique and cooperation.

The Question of Operational Theory

Let us firstly acknowledge there are many things we do not know about Nature and the Universe, and about the orgone energy and cloudbusting as well. We are more like the Wright Brothers with the first models of the airplane. Of what could be know about jet engines and supersonic aircraft design, or about the Jumbo-Jet?! Even so, the basic designs and principles of the Wright Brothers remains valid and is incorporated into even the wings of the most advanced fighter-jets and commercial transport aircraft. The basic aerodynamic principles also remain basically the same, even if nearly all else has dramatically changed. There also always is a rational interest to explore new theoretical approaches which might be more clarifying, and offer something new. However, this does not mean throwing overboard what is already well-known and established, nor does it give anyone license to claim, without evidence, that by "revealed truth" they "know", without having done any serious work at all, so much more than what has already been established by the hard and patient work of others. Reich was clear about not only the properties of the orgone energy itself, but also about the kinds of materials which interacted with orgone in a good way, and those which reacted in a toxic manner (ie., copper or aluminum are not healthy). His discussions on the life-energetic properties and behavior of the atmosphere, its relationship to cloud formations and weather, on the cloudbuster's operational mechanism, and on self-regulatory and pulsatory orgone energy functions, the orgone energy streams in the atmosphere, etc., are known to everyone who has any kind of beneficial success with the apparatus. The more serious and dedicated persons surely have very large questions about the orgone energy itself, how it relates to the larger cosmic questions of life, about love, and human feeling of unity with the cosmos. The relationship of orgone energy to the cosmological ether of space, and to bioelectricity, or the "dark matter" claimed by astronomers, for example, are points of lively discussion among those who know and respect the authentic Wilhelm Reich. Reich also discussed these issues, and had many serious open questions. But they were specific questions on specific issues, and never stood as any kind of standing point for the aggressive dismissal of everything else that was known and established.

A few individuals who have undertaken cloudbusting in an irrational, untrained, and ill-prepared manner, are most emphatic in their desire to substitute their own theory for Reich's regarding the cloudbuster's functioning. For years they may have been working with electromagnetic energy, radionics machinery, or various other "subtle energy" phenomena, often with minimal effectiveness in demonstrating any kind of influence upon natural processes. Or they are students of oriental or metaphysical/religious philosophies which accept the existence of some form of "life energy", but not anything which governs our character structure and sexuality in the manner described by Reich (ie, they are often antisexual celibates, following the life-negative dictations of one or another guru, and consider life-energy to be something separate from, and subordinated to an other-worldly "spirituality".)

Then they build an orgone accumulator, or a cloudbusting instrument, and observe some kind of powerful biological or atmospheric response, which is greater than anything they have previously experienced. But this causes much confusion, because it casts doubt upon their own relatively ineffectual theories and philosophies, to which they strongly adhere for emotional reasons. Consequently, in such cases, Reich's theoretical discussions must be thrown out the window. Reich's inventions may then more easily be captured into their mysticism with a "reinterpretation" which discards the more socially-difficult aspects. Or, to preserve their dedicated interest in quantum mechanics or "twelve-dimensional reality" (Etc.) orgone energy is discarded in favor of abstract mathematics and invisible particles. In either case, Reich's ideas are confusedly picked at, diced up, and made into a casserole with other bits and pieces of every other kind of imaginable speculation! What indigestion!

The question of theory is therefore more important than most people recognize. Consider the following analogy: One man designs and builds a large suspension bridge according to the experimentally tested strengths of steel and concrete. Another man designs and builds a suspension bridge using a design and materials suggested to him in a drug hallucination, or from numerological interpretations of a Bible passage. Now, if I gave you the keys to a 20 ton truck, which bridge would you want to drive over? Which bridge would you want a school bus carrying your children to drive over? There is no question that you would not want to take a risk with the bridge built through "divine revelation". This is what the science of engineering is all about, and we have a natural respect for good engineering, with necessary laws and regulations to make sure bridges are build according to experimentally determined Natural Law, and not according to one or another person's conjured-up speculations. Now, a person could speculate about a new bridge design which was truly revolutionary, but then we would want to see it tested first, before being put into use. The same is true with aircraft design. Nobody wants to fly in a jet that has not been properly tested or which had expired maintenance. Even so, we still get bridges and jets with both design and construction flaws. But these can be recognized as such and, when uncovered, quickly corrected. Let's now take the example of cloudbusting.

A lot of people are concerned about drought, particularly farmers. But many are distressed by Reich's writings on sexual matters, and on matters regarding character structure. Reich holds up a mirror which exposes their personal misery and shameful behavior, and they don't like this one bit. They may also be hostile to people with advanced degrees, or towards German-speakers, or Jews (Reich was all these). Or they have been using radionics machines, or have been reading Steiner, and are used to speaking in very vague terms, about "vibration energy", the "ethers", and so on. To the unstudied person, Reich's "orgone" may appear likewise vague, but it is not really. It is a very specific term attached to a class of phenomena which have been empirically, or experimentally derived. It is a ubiquitous energy, filling all space, pulsatile (expanding and contracting), water-attracting, self-attracting, absorbed by non-metals, and reflected by metals. It is the medium though which electromagnetic waves are transmitted, but is not the wave itself. It can be excited by EM waves, however. It can absorb electromagnetic energy, and attenuate it. These are very specific details, for which specific experimental proofs have been developed. But, no matter. Those who wish to be rid of Reich's theory usually first dismiss the energetic aspects of sexuality and character, followed by difficult, but necessary concepts such as oranur (over-excited, agitated orgone) and dor (stagnant, or dead orgone). Or, "dor" is mystified, as they don't understand it. They take Reich's terms and use them confusedly, without clarity or knowledge of what they actually mean. The cloudbuster becomes a "particle sink" or "chembuster", and the orgone, one of the "ethers". Or "Dor" is confused with "demons". By doing this, a cloudbuster operator no longer needs to be a contactful and perceptive individual, capable of gut-level sensation of the atmospheric energy. Indeed, the atmospheric energy, by virtue of intellectual slight-of-hand, is made vague and intangible, beyond the senses. Oranur and dor therefore don't matter anymore, and Reich's findings about the energy streams in the upper atmosphere, well, who cares! So out into the fields they march, beating a drum, and waving cloudbuster tubes about in a phallic manner, making "grand connection with the cosmos"! And all the while, they bad-mouth those who at great personal sacrifice and risk, preserved and extended Reich's works over many decades! I previously outlined a number of examples of the results of this kind of irrational approach.

Like the bridge built upon questionable designs, the improperly performed cloudbusting operation yields either no result, or an atmospheric disaster! In many cases, these people state "my operations brought good rain here, when all around it was dry". Aside from the fact that they don't corroborate their observations with weather data, they are ignorant of the fact that an improperly used cloudbuster can stimulate widespread expansion and aridity, with a small localized center of slightly more humid conditions near, and only near, the working cloudbuster. In short, while they may have created the slight increase in moisture at the one place, they likely stimulated an intensification of more widespread drought conditions across the surrounding countryside! In the worst cases, the cloudbuster location may show some small persisting clouds overhead, but not much more, while the rest of the region totally dries out! But they will continue with this failed approach, on the basis of false hope conjured up by those few isolated clouds. This latter danger appears particularly acute where cloudbusters are used continually, for long periods without a break.

Often, out of sheer frustration with a drought, and from lack of immediately apparent atmospheric reactions to the cloudbuster, the errant operator will continue working the instrument, day after day after day, without a break, attempting to squeeze a drop or two of moisture from what appears to be a stubborn, unrelenting atmosphere. In this case, the operator wants to "make" the overcharged atmosphere contract and rain, but the continual operations only add to the excitation and overcharge. They may actually successfully convert a hazy dorish atmosphere into something which is clear blue and more transparent. However, the natural process is where clouds build and rains clean out the atmosphere, after which the bluish transparency is achieved. In those cases, by errant use they have by-passed the needed process of clouds and rain, and gone directly from hazy-dor to oranur-blue conditions. Oh, they will feel proud and omnipotent, about "what they have done", but the drought continues, on and on.

Now, there are techniques which can be successfully used in such a situation, which might turn things around. The first "technique" is that everyone using a cloudbuster in such a persisting drought condition -- and who obviously is not having any success -- must fully shut down all their devices. Sometimes, that measure alone will bring on a restoration of clouds and at least temporary rains. But what happens when you ask these people to try a different approach, to examine more closely what they are doing? From experience, I know. You get an outburst of self-righteous anger! "How dare you question our motives or techniques!" "We are saving the planet from drought," they say, when the facts, derived from the weather maps and climatology of the region, speak otherwise. Or worse, they say: "Our work has driven away the demons", or chemtrails, or shape-shifters... One cannot speak with pot-smokers or LSD consumers about such matters, and by hallucinations, they are living their worst nightmares.

Another example of the danger of improper operational technique, derived from a contemptuous dismissal of Reich's orgone theory, shows itself when individuals attempt cloudbusting in droughty or desert regions, which are charged with dorish, immobile, stagnant energy. One fellow designed a "better" cloudbuster by eliminating certain essentials from Reich's design. Using only the known principle of atmospheric excitation, which he falsely claimed as his own discovery, he went about creating large energy potentials in the dry areas of Southern California. So, in the midst of all that stagnation, large storm potentials appeared, and, predictably, the storms behaved furiously, much in the manner of a wild elephant caught in a trap, or a chained bull being hit stuck with knives. The storms raged, and many people were hurt or killed. The man claimed to be working with a superior theory, but in reality was working with a patently wrong, mystical theory. His theory of atmospheric functioning, like the bridge built upon faulty principles, did not help him to work properly. Just the opposite, in fact. There is, in my view, no excuse for this kind of arrogant, dangerous behavior.

As a society we do not allow untrained individuals to jump into the pilot seat of a large passenger-jet aircraft, nor hand over the controls of an oil tanker or aircraft carrier to just anybody who "wants" to do it. We require training, education, and specific physical characteristics necessary for safely doing the job. Today, there are places where one can go to obtain the necessary counseling, therapy, education, and training in cloudbusting. There also is a small network of trained individuals who share data and engage in critical review of each other's work: The CORE Network. Everyone doing good, rational, and effective work with the cloudbuster places great emphasis on emotional contact and training. Just as a pilot must have good eyesight, a good cloudbuster operator must be emotionally fluid, and this means, for most people, orgone therapy. So today we observe, without exception, that the decent, rational people interested in cloudbusting undertake this therapy, educate themselves, and apprentice in a careful, step-by-step manner, which requires commitment and years of dedicated work. If the real motivations for cloudbusting are clean and honest, with a desire to be genuinely helpful, the therapy will only reinforce those feelings, and make the individual feel more alive and perceptive. If not, the therapy will clarify one's limitations, or the lack of necessity for doing the weather work, or even unmask other hidden motivations. Unfortunately, the worst of the irresponsible cloudbuster operators run from therapy, and from contact with anyone who urges them to undertake it, as a means of hiding their sadism and hatred of nature, or with a running-away from deeper feelings of sadness or anger, and to preserve their facade.

Such individuals who undertake cloudbusting thereby become a danger to themselves and to the larger community in which they live, and must firmly be referred to the therapist's couch as an absolute prerequisite for any transfer of information or knowledge to take place. And if they persist in "cloudbusting", and continue to bring severe damaging effects upon the surrounding communities, they must be isolated from all support and association with rational efforts, and be pointed out to the appropriate legal authorities. The challenge here is for rational efforts to develop a system of documentation and evaluation that will provide proof of the cloudbuster's influence, and of the biophysical character of the orgone energy, in a form that can be understood by any open-minded scientist.

Orgonomy must break with the "tradition" of armored science, wherein so many potentially good discoveries are turned into weapons for the further destruction of life and nature. In this regard, the larger scientific community cannot be blamed, for they do not yet take Reich's energetic theories seriously. The major damage being done with the cloudbuster today is from the various contactless mystics and secret nature-haters of the "alternatives" crowd, those who, without a shred of evidence, claim great "benefits" from their atmospheric meddling. We presently do not know if this situation will diminish, or intensify when the larger community of classical scientists rediscover Reich's works. It is a major problem of human characterology, which can be overcome only by strongly resisting and countering any attempts to remove cloudbusting from the general body of orgonomic theory, out of which it developed. Indeed, every individual I have met who has done decent and helpful work with a cloudbuster has previously undertaken to clean up their own character structure as a necessary first-step. The men and women who will do this work, both now and in the future, must be an exceptional lot, responsible, contactful people, capable of deep emotional expression, love relationships, and also capable of grappling with important concepts and demanding work responsibilities. They must have a stick-to-it attitude based upon love, work, and knowledge, and do their very best to be well educated on important environmental and scientific issues. They must not shrink from either receiving, or giving rational constructive criticism.

Negative Biophysical Effects on Cloudbuster Operators

There are other reasons to insist upon good training and therapy for cloudbuster operators. The biophysical effects of the cloudbuster upon the operator's own organism can potentially be mildly sickening (headaches, nausea, sinus problems, etc.) or even life-threatening. This real danger has often been dismissed by various armored persons who were incapable of feeling the movement of the life energy within their own body, and who could not feel or see it move in the atmosphere. As a result, many people have been made sick. However, accidents can also occur even when the cloudbuster operator is skilled, and precautions are taken. For the reasons given here, cloudbuster operators must learn about the mechanisms governing atmospheric charge, and also techniques for dissipating an overcharge within their own organism, and for protecting themselves. For example:

Recommended Cloudbuster Operator Education and Training

The above facts speak loudly for ambitious and top-notch education and training for all cloudbuster operators. The responsibility for the rational development of cosmic orgone engineering now largely rests upon the shoulders of those who have continued to work with and research the technique in an open way, publishing the results of their experimental research. Individuals involved in irrational efforts also bear the responsibility for their actions, which, because of narcissistic bragging and loose talk, eventually do come to the light of day. An informal procedure is presently in place whereby individuals harboring irrational motivations are strictly excluded from the work, irrespective of their academic degrees, political standing, or economic power. An informal procedure also is presently in place to assist those rational, responsible individuals whose character and work, and the environmental conditions in which they live, dictate a need to know more about cloudbusting. It is anticipated that these informal procedures will become more formalized in the future, in a work-democratic manner, when the needs of the work require it. Presently there are around a dozen or so well-trained, senior cloudbusting operators, and their apprentices, who work on these questions in an open, responsible, and cooperative manner.

The following outline covers the kind of preliminary work which all candidates for cloudbusting should undertake. The ideas presented here are proposed for the younger student and would necessarily be tailored where a person's prior work and experience is firmly established. For more information on any of these points, or for specific information on courses and workshops, and the names of qualified orgone therapists, contact the Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory, at the address given below.

I. Character-Analytic Reichian Orgone Therapy for Emotional Fluidity: with a skilled and qualified therapist. Every skilled cloudbuster operator has at least some background in a personal program of emotion-release therapy. This is necessary to bring the candidate into contact with any buried feelings or hidden characterological tendencies; fears about taking responsibility, chronic anxiety which inhibits the capacity to feel the energy, or the narcissist's attitude to "save the world", or "make a million dollars" with cloudbusting are counter-productive traits, for example. While this form of therapy is no absolute guarantee of emotional health, and there are some people who are already in reasonably good shape biophysically, it is the best method known to address and soften or eliminate biophysical, characterological armoring, deepen the respiration, and make the individual more alive and contactful.

II. Formal Orgonomic Coursework:

III. Traditional Education:
Undergraduate and/or graduate-level studies in the traditional sciences, apart from any study of orgonomy. The major topic of study would be of the student's choosing, but should include coursework in Climatology, Meteorology, Earth Science, Physical Geography, Biology, Environmental Science, Ecology, Chemistry, Astronomy, and Physics. Exceptional scholarship of an interdisciplinary nature is strongly encouraged, but orthodox, classical views must be supplemented with the findings of various dissenting scientists as cataloged in the various books offered at the OBRL On-Line Bookstore. Knowledge of classical findings on atmospheric circulation, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, cloud dynamics, atmospheric electricity, and so forth would be absolutely essential. Courses on the methods and history of science are also encouraged.

IV. Independent Research in Orgonomy: