There were of course others who experimented with the etheric force that seemed to have a use to everyone's liking. In 1891, Prof. Oskar Korshelt while living in Leipzig, invented, built and experimented with a device which he called a Sonnenather-Strahlapparat, or Solar-ether ray apparatus. As Keely before him, Korschelt thought that the ether could be used for the treatment of various diseases, and his Solar-ether ray apparatus was meant as a healing device. Korschelt also published a book about his invention and the use of ether.104
The Solar-ether ray apparatus collected from sunlight "the living force of the ether," that could be "radiated parallel in any preferred direction or from such a collecting point evenly in all parts of a room." The Solar-ether ray apparatus also worked on humans, animals, plants and even crystals, "very much like the sun itself, but without the harmful influences of heat and light." Korschelt had succeeded "with this apparatus, without any intermediating human nerve-system, only with instruments, to establish the working of the force which Reichenbach called 'the Od,' and which is generally called since Mesmer organic (animal) or healing magnetism."105
Korschelt stated that his device "after countless tests" had finally solved the riddle of healing magnetism or mesmerism; "the ether particles, collected and radiated from the fingertips of a mesmerist or through the ejecting of the body molecules, especially the skin, prove that there are two kinds of healing magnetism; that which functions with a foreign force and that which functions with its own force. ...The first kind is not different from the working of the Solar-ether ray apparatus."106
Wilhelm Hubbe-Schleiden, chairman of the German branch of the Theosophical Society, proudly announced a few months later that, "the researches continue with the same quietude, and are now expanded on plants in the living room and in the fields," and persons who had acquired Korshelt's device were asked to communicate their experiences.107
Korschelt kept on improving his device, and from these reports we learn something of the appearance of his Solar-ether ray apparatus. During 1893, he developed a "new wire disk (nr.7), mat in the same manner, but much more powerful, has strange windings." The disk was 13 cm in diameter, and consisted of two disks, the one on the bottom made of zinc, the one on top made of copper. This disk was "bored through with spiral windings," and through these openings a "wire cable made out of five wires of copper, of which each one was gilded, one was silvered, one nickeled and one was covered with zinc, the fifth however being without a covering." The disk contained another small appendage or spire, around which "another spiral wire enveloped itself around copper pins, which are turned upwards with the spire." Both sides of the device could be used, during a period of 10 to 30 minutes. Korschelt believed that he was successful, as "very sensitive persons had seen the ether rotate around the wire disk." These sensitive persons also saw another etheric ray rotating counterclockwise with the first ray, and slightly above the device a "conus formed," in which "various sparks of different colors in their confusion form all the colors of the rainbow."108
That Korschelt's devices, long after their initial conception, enjoyed some success in those quarters where such strange inventions were appreciated we may surmise from the writings of 1920s German occultist and neo-Rosicrucian G.W. Surya. Surya, of whom more is written in the next chapter, relates that he witnessed how "again and again under the Korschelt devices which were put on a tripod, sick persons would sweat profusely for fifteen minutes" and he refers to Korschelt's devices in his writings. According to Surya, Hartmann also "observed the healing of an old woman through these devices."109
A year later, in 1894, while in America Colville's and Astor's books were published, the Golden Dawn opened a temple in Paris, and French journalist magnetizer Auguste Van Dekerkove suddenly decided to change his name to "Zanne." This peculiar name was given to him by his mysterious "spiritual masters." Zanne at once started to write his occult history of the world, a book that would eventually number more than 2,000 pages.110 His great interest was to find a means to reconstruct the primordial language of all mankind. His interest was similar to that of Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, who tried to reconstruct the true meaning of the symbolic signs with the help of the language of the Atlantean red race, the alphabet of which he had placed on his Archeometer. Both the interests of the French occultists were similar to the pursuits of J.K. Rensburg, the friend of Belinfante.
Also in 1894, Belinfante started to lecture in Holland about the forces of the ether in connection with gravity,111 and Dutch inventor Robert Pape, while residing in the Frisian province, claimed to have discovered a ray in which life could be prolonged. Pape built a device which he called a "Life Wave Generator." Unfortunately neither the device itself, nor a coherent description, has survived. Pathogenic and dangerous microbes placed in the field of the ray showed no sign of growth, Pape claimed, and it is alleged that his device was looked at and even tested by the scientific community.112
But the rewriting of history was one thing, as was the construction of the primal mother tongue. With the ultimate aim of a modification of the surrounding universe in mind, man would recreate creation or at least redefine reality. In 1896, a Ulysses Grant Morrow, ardent follower of Cyrus Reed Teed's hollow earth doctrine, invented and completed work on a measuring device that would prove that the earth was not only hollow but that it reclined upwards, since the doctrine of Cyrus Reed Teed, also known as Koresh, held that mankind was living on the inside of this hollow sphere. The device that was actually built was called the Rectilineator.113
In 1902, Clemente Figueras claimed to have built a device that could generate electricity without the use of fuel. Tesla was aware of Figueras' claims, for he sent a clipping to his friend Robert U. Johnson, the editor of Century Magazine.114 In Russia, Michail Filippow (1858-1903) claimed to have invented a method for the wireless transmission of the effect of an explosion from one place to another.115Filippow belonged to that part of the Russian intellectual coterie that blended metaphysics, esoterism, science, technology, mysticism and religion into a curious whole. The central figure of these circles that included amongst others Tolstoi, who was mentioned in connection with Keely in one of Steiner's lectures, Dostojevski, and Gorki who admired Filippow, was the orthodox-Christian author Nikolaj Fjodorow.
Fjodorow is a remarkable case of a highly religious and mystically inclined person who saw avant-garde technology as a means to achieve an incredible spiritual end, much as the 19th century occultists did with their passion for technology, but with lesser ambitions. His case serves as an illustration of where such a road of thought might ultimately lead. It would be interesting to trace certain elements of Fjodorow's philosophy in some of Tesla's experiments, such as the never properly explained Wardenclyffe Tower, and in some theories of the brilliant Constantin Tsjolkovski.
Fjodorow, who died in 1903, led a humble and ascetic life. The librarian with the long beard never slept more than five hours a day on a hard wooden board and sustained himself only on tea, cheese and salted fish. He was a staunch believer in judgment day, but in his opinion this could only be achieved through man himself. One thought apparently obsessed him: to find a way to raise the dead. If only the ancestors would be given a new life, man would be truly equal to Christ. The first step to reach this would be the construction of a gigantic electrical ring around the earth that would obtain the energy from the sun and the magnetism of the earth. With this ring of electrical force man would thus be able to create artificial earthquakes and floods, so that the dispersed molecules of our ancestors would be lifted out of the soil. In order to recognize these particles, man would grow special organs, so sensitive that man would perceive "the growing of the grass and the movement of all the molecules of the universe." Then the particles of our ancestors would be "sowed together."116
In his remarkable visions that preceded those of Liebenfels and traveled in many aspects far beyond those of the German ariosophist, Fjodorow expected that the earth was far too small to contain all our ancestors; h
owever, man would be completely "biologically transformed" and would recreate his "own organism" into a "perfect work of art." Mankind would be thus transformed into a "new, cosmic and immortal being" that could take "any form" and would "colonize the entire universe." The entire universe, all its suns and planets, would be used as raw material for the construction of this "new being." Universe would be liberated of the force of gravity and would become a continuation of mankind — in fact, one giant conscious being. And, as a brilliant echo or evocation of the age-old occult doctrine that was assiduously studied by its initiates, new man would be equal to God.117
11
Vril from Atlantis Keely's Legacy
"Just imagine a machine that is constructed in such a way, that it does not operate by steam or electricity, but by those waves that man generates in his tone, in his speech. Just imagine such a motor that one may operate by those waves or perhaps by the generation of his spiritual life. It was still an ideal. Thank god that it was an ideal at that time, because what would have become of this war when this Keely-ideal had become a reality in those days!"
Rudolf Steiner
Weltwesen und Ichheit, lecture held in Berlin, June 20, 1916
When Steiner lectured about Keely on several occasions between 1905 and 1920, he found an occult landscape that was already riddled with experiments with the ether and strange devices that were sometimes commercially exploited, as in the case of Korschelt’s apparatus. In all probability some of Steiner’s occult associates learned about Keely as early as 1882 after Hartmann's visit or perhaps by reading The Secret Doctrine, which was published in 1888. It must be taken into account that the occult underground with all its connections, alliances and liaisons was hardly a coherent whole, aiming to achieve unison through one thing although often its inhabitants strived at the same idea.1
There is a mere glimpse of what Steiner meant and enclosed in a riddle. He made elaborate drawings and sketches of mysterious devices called the Strader Apparatus and its three accompanying devices. Although as we have seen, there were many more devices sprinkled across the occult spectrum, Steiner's Strader Apparatus has attained somewhat mythical proportions. However strange these devices were, they were meant to be seen; the four devices were to be used in Steiner's theater plays, known as the Mystery Plays. The original models of the devices disappeared from the first Goetheaneum that burned down. The origin of the fire that destroyed the building has sometimes been explained as the doings of Nazis who hated Steiner, or as the result of faulty wiring. But we might also speculate that the fire may actually have been started by the highly unusual experiments involving the research of the forces of the ether which were conducted there and which might have gone wrong, experiments of which years later the experimenter was still not allowed to talk about.2
The first Goetheaneum building was built out of the same wood as that used in the construction of violins, thus ensuring the large domed hall capabilities of resonance and vibration. Steiner's devices did survive the fire that struck the building though, since so conveniently "for some kind of reason they were not present during this night."3 An explanation for the disappearance of the original models was that they were not cared for because the significance of them was not recognized at the time.4
Likewise, little documentary information survived. Although the Strader Apparatus was the main device, it was accompanied by three other, smaller and equally enigmatic devices. Steiner made three sketches of the main device and its three accompanying devices, which were used as an ensemble in his fourth part of the third of the Mystery Plays, titled Der Huter an der Schwelle, or The Guardian at the Threshold, its title a veiled tribute to Zanoni.
There are also a number of drawings made by Oskar Schmiedel, who built the Strader devices to Steiner's specifications, in addition to a number of unidentified sketches. Schmiedel claims that Steiner gave him elaborate and very detailed descriptions for the construction of the models,5 which he and some technicians built in the winter of 1912-1913,6 coincidentally the same period that Keely's "secrets" were allegedly sent to Sweden.
What function the Strader Apparatus and its three accompanying devices exactly had is not clear. Steiner's orders for the staging of the devices in the fourth part are only minimal: "On his (Strader's) table are to be found models of mechanisms." Walter Kugler remarks that, "it could be of significance for a further exposition of the Strader Apparatus that there is no mention of an 'apparatus,' but of 'models of apparatus,' which are the first prototype, and still need a further development."7
Schmiedel nevertheless speaks of how "impressive" Steiner's specifications were: "One part was even to consist of a metal or a substance, that was not yet discovered. It is difficult to say with any certainty what the means of these devices were. The main device appeared to me to be something like a condensator for rays and workings that would emanate from the cosmos, possibly also a transformator for these. Various metals: antimonium, copper, nickel and also uranium pitchblende were used; besides a surrogate for the above referred to and not yet discovered substance that was to be painted blue. Except from this main device, a number of others were indicated. On the wall hung a half globe of copper. Its inner side was pointed towards the main device. Another device represented perhaps some kind of measuring device. ... Once he also mentioned when this invention of Strader would become reality. It would be in a not too distant future. Unfortunately I do not recall these dates."8
When the play Der Huter an der Schwelle was performed in 1912 in Munich, there had been so little time that only a contrivance was ready, — a shadow of what was to be — built on Steiner's directions by Imme von Eckartstein. During the winter more time was available to build an exact model by using different metals for the half globes; one made out of antimonium, one made of nickel, the fourth half globe, or shell, was half made of copper, the other half made out of the metal "which was not discovered yet." Under this half globe hung the thinnest "feeler organs," made out of very thin goldwire. On the fourth side of a lead cross was to be assembled a spire of uranium pitchblende. The connections of the six spires were partly copper and partly tin. From one shell to another opposite led a spiral glass tube. But "even more mysterious were the three accompanying devices, one of which representing a glass bowl with a platinum wire, molten or hung in it, the second was a flat lying figure eight made of glass tubing, adorned on the top with a spire of coal, with a small shell of copper on it. The third contrivance was to be again equipped with four uranium spires in horizontal fashion. The shape of this device suggests that it could rotate. Electricity should be kept away from it."9 The main device was to be put on a table: somewhat in the distance stood the other three devices, also on a table. The copper bowl adorned a wall.10
Owing to its mysterious nature, the Strader device invited several occult explanations, the most interesting and complex being that it could be seen as "the inversion of Steiner's design of his Heavenly Jerusalem" of 1908. From there a deep plunge is taken into the fourth dimension, cabalistical doctrine, the tarot, Gnosis, heat and light as more-dimensional phenomena, related to movement and vibration, Atlantean energy precedes, and crystals as the "substitute for the perpetuum mobile." The Strader device, we learn from all this, was the pre-design of an ether converter, which, "contrary to Keely's converters, had almost no moving parts (transformator part) that lead to the increase of power. "11
With the ideas behind his Mystery Plays and the construction of the curious Strader devices, Steiner found himself in very good company. A year later in 1913 in France, Albert Caillet published his massive bibliography on the occult sciences: a staggering compendium of the occult, hermetic, alchemical and Rosicrucian publications from the earliest days of printing until that time, a work so complete that it is in use even today and has not been surpassed. But in Germany, other things were taking shape. The occult was rapidly transfiguring itself into a new order. A whole occult movement blossomed feverishly, deeply embedded in the German social strata,
with as its most important philosophical cornerstones Mesmer, Von Reichenbach, Bulwer-Lytton and ultimately Keely, who in the eyes of many a theosophist and anthroposophist had discovered a force that was best kept hidden from mankind. And they had good reasons for thinking so; Europe was creeping towards what would be the First World War, and a 1913 wave of unexplained aerial objects equipped with powerful lights that struck parts of England, Holland, France and Germany was explained as the doings of "spy ships of the enemy." The mysterious objects were accordingly nicknamed in the newspapers as "scareships."
Fevered and strange the times must have been, just a year away from the horrors of the First World War. But in the meantime, Steiner had conceived his devices, and experiments were made by others, such as the photography of thoughts — called psychography — in which Friedrich Feerhow claimed that he had succeeded.12 Feerhow also published his theories on the human aura, subtitled "a new contribution to the problem of the radioactivity of man,"13 and also his "influence of the earth magnetic zones on man," in which he considered the aurora borealis "an odic phenomenon," in accordance with Von Reichenbach, who also thought so.14 Feerhow mused on the Od-rays and the N-rays as discovered by the French scientist Blondot, "named N-Rays because the French researchers had no knowledge of the results of their German predecessor."15 Pamphlets, booklets, books and learned treatises were issued in which not only Blondot's N-rays, but also Dubois' "organic fluorescens," Prof. Jager's "An-thropin," Justinus Kerner's "Nervengeist" or "Nervespirit," Dr. Baraduc's "Biod," Ziegler's "Pouviour irritant," Darget's "V-rays," Korschelt's "Dark suns (etheric) Rays," of course Mesmer's "Animal magnetism," Luys' and Rochas' "Effluviums," Dr. Narkiewicz-Jodkos' "Electrographics" and a multitude of other discoveries of new forms of force and energy were discussed.16
Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely Page 40
