Orgone energy, and orgonite’s effect on it can’t yet be reliably scientifically measured, resulting in mainstream science and academia largely ignoring or not acknowledging it.

In any case, a great deal of anecdotal evidence has been amassed, with hundreds if not thousands of people dedicating their lives to furthering the development of the field.

We have summarised the main developments in orgone and orgonite in chronological order in the below timeline. This includes the coining of the term “orgone”, the invention of the orgone accumulator, the origin of the term “orgonite”, the creation of towerbusters and cones, and the start of the gifting movement.

1930s: Orgone term created Wilhem Reich created the term orgone to describe an invisible subtle energy that he was observing in lab experiments that did not obey the laws of electricity or magnetism. It is not known exactly why he named it orgone, but “org” derives from the Greek “erg-“ or “org-” (meaning “work” – as used in energy, energetic, ergonomics, organ, organic, organism), and the suffix “one” generally indicates a group, or something large or important. Concepts of similar invisible life force energy have been present for thousands of years, known as qi, ch’i/chi, khi, gi and ki in traditional Chinese/Qigong, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese cultures respectively. Similar concepts are known as prana, chi, pneuma, mana, lüng, manitou, ruah and vital energy in Hinduism/Indian culture, Igbo religion, ancient Greece, Hawaiian culture, Tibetan Buddhism, indigenous peoples of the Americas, Jewish culture and Western philosophy respectively. Reich himself sometimes referred to orgone energy as “life energy”, and various other names for subtle energy include aether, odic force, reiki energy, bioenergy, bioetheric energy, biomagnetic energy, huna energy, animal magnetism, astral energy, 4th dimensional energy, and emotional body energy. In terms of properties, through observation it is thought that orgone is polarised, mass free, affected by living things, able to penetrate and travel along all known materials at different speeds, and in constant motion. Orgone flows in the direction of magnetic fields, moves at right angles to electrical fields, travels relatively slowly (50 meters in 20 seconds), tends to flow upwards, radiates a great distance, follows optical laws, is present everywhere in variable concentrations, is affected by weather, and travels more efficiently and with less resistance through water and earth than it does through air. It is thought that orgone fields can transmit information without transmitting energy, and that every physical object has a characteristic orgone field. To summarise, the energy that Wilhem Reich named “orgone” in the 1930s is thought to be an omnipresent invisible sea of subtle etheric energy that is usually found in higher concentrations within living tissue. It interacts with the physical environment, having an effect on magnetic, optical, thermal, electrical, metabolic and chemical properties to varying degrees.

1940: Orgone accumulator invented Wilhem Reich invented what he called an orgone accumulator, which consisted of a box, constructed of alternate layers of organic (fibreglass) and inorganic (steel wool) material. It drew in, concentrated, and condensed ambient orgone energy to the inside of the box. As orgone energy is invisible, it was difficult to provide proof that this device was accumulating orgone energy as claimed.

However, one important anomaly remains to this day; Reich noticed that the temperature inside the orgone accumulator was regularly higher than that inside dummy boxes or the surrounding environment.

In 1941, Albert Einstein confirmed in writing to Reich that he was also observing this thermal anomaly, with the orgone accumulator showing “a temperature of about 0.30-0.40 degrees Celsius higher”. In more recent times (1986-1987 and 1995), two double-blind controlled experiments have confirmed this thermal anomaly. Researcher James DeMeo also confirmed this in 2009, and stated “This confirmation is beyond all known thermodynamic expectations, and is now documented in a most carefully-conducted experimental protocol. There is no other known cause for the anomaly, other than a true and real effect of the orgone energy, or something very similar to it.” In addition to the thermal anomaly, it has been noted that plant growth is positively affected inside orgone accumulators. A multi-year controlled laboratory study of sprouting mung beans showed significant growth-enhancement inside the accumulator over controls, with an average 34% increase in sprout length.

1981: Military use of orgonite-like material About a decade before orgonite was invented, the US military (and others shortly after) applied a very similar material to the exterior of stealth aircraft such as the F-117A Nighthawk.

The material is known as radiation-absorbent material (RAM), and consists of epoxy, iron and quartz. This scavenges and dissipates EMR to reduce or block radar signals, increasing stealthiness. Orgonite (resin, metal, quartz crystal) is also thought to scavenge and dissipate EMR.

1992: Orgonite invented Karl Welz created the term orgonite to describe a material he invented for use in his radionics devices, using resin, metal powder and quartz crystal powder. The term orgonite comes from the combination of “orgone” (a term created by Wilhem Reich meaning life force energy) and “ite” (a suffix normally used to name a rock that is composed of a specific mineral).

“ite” is derived from the Greek word lithos (from the adjective “ites”), meaning rock or stone. So orgon-ite loosely means life force stone. Welz discovered that using a matrix or mixture of organic material (resin) and inorganic material (metal powder) instead of much thicker individual layers such as the fibreglass and steel wool used in Reich’s orgone accumulator box, was much more efficient and powerful.

This was a breakthrough discovery that enabled orgone generating devices to be constructed quicker, cheaper and in much smaller sizes.

1999-2000: Orgonite tower busters and cones invented Don Croft, inspired by Welz’s orgonite, and with the help of his daughter Nora and wife Carol, used resin, metal shavings and quartz crystals to create what he called towerbusters (TBs) and holy hand grenade cones (HHGs). At around 7cm (2.5"), these pieces were much larger than Welz’s original 1-2cm (0.5") sized orgonite pieces. There was also a difference in materials, with Croft using metal shavings instead of powdered metal, and quartz crystal pieces instead of powdered quartz. Despite the differences in size and materials, Welz’s original term orgonite was adopted to describe the altered material.

Early 2000s: Orgonite gifting movement born Don Croft and his wife Carol noticed that orgonite was useful for keeping around the home, as well as for travelling. However, they also found that when orgonite is placed near to large electrical equipment outside (especially transmitters such as mobile phone masts or cellphone towers), it managed to reverse the negative effects the towers have on orgone energy – turning the bad orgone that mobile phone towers output into good, restoring and enhancing the environment and atmosphere nearby. Croft estimates that he has distributed 100,000 orgonite pieces in this manner, and kept detailed accounts of his expeditions. His reports and observations of the resulting benefits inspired others, and gave rise to a gifting movement, where “gifters” distribute orgonite around their local area and wider environment. One of the most prolific gifters is Georg Ritschl, who has distributed over 30,000 TBs in and around South Africa. It has been suggested by Croft and others that amongst many other benefits, extensively gifting cities in a grid-like pattern has contributed to lower crime rates.