Cloudbuster
A cloudbuster (or cloud buster) is a device designed by Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, which Reich said could produce rain by manipulating what he called "orgone energy" present in the atmosphere.[1]
The cloudbuster was intended to be used in a way similar to a lightning rod: focusing it on a location in the sky and grounding it in some material that was presumed to absorb orgone – such as a body of water – would draw the orgone energy out of the atmosphere, causing the formation of clouds and rain. Reich conducted dozens of experiments with the cloudbuster, calling the research "Cosmic Orgone Engineering."[1]
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Construction [edit]
A cloudbuster consists of an array of parallel hollow metal tubes which are connected at the rear to a series of flexible metal hoses which are equal or slightly smaller in diameter to the parallel tubes. Alternatively, the rear of the tubes are joined together to a single large diameter pipe and flexible metal hose. The open end of these hoses are placed in water, which Reich believed to be a natural orgone absorber. The pipes can be aimed into areas of the sky to draw energy to the ground like a lightning rod. The remains of one of Reich's cloudbusters can be found in Rangeley, Maine. [1]
In popular culture [edit]
Wilhelm Reich's cloudbuster was the inspiration for the 1985 song Cloudbusting by British singer Kate Bush.[2] The song describes Reich's arrest and incarceration through the eyes of his son, Peter, who later wrote the memoir A Book of Dreams, published in 1973. A cloudbuster, bearing only a superficial resemblance to the genuine article, was designed and built for the video. The video, intended by Bush to be a short narrative film rather than a traditional music video, was conceived by Terry Gilliam and Kate Bush, and directed by Julian Doyle.[3] The video stars actor Donald Sutherland as Reich and Bush as his son, Peter.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c Sharaf, Myron (1994). Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich. Da Capo Press (first published by St. Martin's Press, 1983), pp. 379−380.
- Also see Pilkington, Mark (Thursday 29 May 2003). "Orgone: cosmic pulse of life". The Guardian.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6uwLznbW2E
- ^ Moy, Ron (30 September 2007). Kate Bush and Hounds of Love. Ashgate. p. 99. ISBN 0-7546-5798-1.
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