Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely

by Theo Paijmans

  It was the Fraternitas Saturni that evolved out of the Pansophia lodge, and which was an occult society that followed Crowley's doctrine to some extent, that definitely conducted experiments along those lines where technology and the occult meet. Although it is undisputed and historical fact that the order did so, very little is known about these researches. "Certainly one of the most unique aspects of Fraternitas Saturni magical technology," writes Flowers, "is (or was) its involvement with electrical instruments to enhance or to effect magical ends. This was part of a general field of interest among initiates of the Fraternitas Saturni, a field which included the study of, and experimentation with, the magical effects of high-frequency sound, electromagnetic fields, so-called 'Tesla energy,' ozoniation of the atmosphere, ultraviolet light etc." These experiments were put in a theoretical framework of teachings concerning "aethric waves," or the chakra system, thereby providing these with a magical basis.44

  As is clear from the writings of the Pansophia lodge, the foundation was already in place, and in that respect the research of the Fraternitas Saturni may be seen as a continuation of that tradition. Certainly, Germany had somehow survived the First World War, although not under the most favorable circumstances. But with its survival and the ensuing economic disorder, the occult substrata blossomed again into strange foliage.

  That curious fusion of technology and occult lore also infected the German film industry and in some instances the fringes of fantastic literature. In 1916, during the height of the devastating world war, a six-part serial, Homunculus, was released, its theme relying heavily on Paracelsus' concepts of creating an artificial man and on Shelley's Frankenstein, which had received a reprint three years earlier by Altmann's publishing house. Coincidentally the same year that Frankenstein received its reprint, German filmer Paul Wegener came across that other ancient legend of the creation of an artificial man; the legend of the Golem, which led him to film the tale a number of times, in 1914, 1917 and in 1920.

  The year 1919 saw the appearance of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in which hypnosis, Mesmerism and somnambulism, so assiduously studied by the German occult milieus, played an integral part. A year later the Austrian magazine solely dedicated to fantastic and horror literature and one of the very first in the world, Der Orchideengarten or The Garden of Orchids, published a special issue consecrated to "the world call of the German electronic industry" as it stated on its first page. It did this in its own unique way. The special issue was titled Elektrodamonen or Electrodemons and it featured such tales as H.G. Wells, "Lord of the Dynamos," Hans Reisiger's "Elektrischer Sabbat" or "Electrical Sabbath" and Alf von Czibulka's "Das Wiehern in den Transformatoren" or "The Whirling in the Transformators." The tales were accompanied by weird etchings of machines and grotesque demons, which were melted into a bizarre configuration. A portfolio of drawings of Otto Muck, titled "Maschinen," was advertised in which he rendered machines and engines into a hybrid of biological and mechanical creatures, gifted with a strange semblance of life.45 The founder of one of the most striking magazines of the fantastic ever produced and that lasted only three years was Karl Hans Strobl, a then well-known writer of dark, unusual tales who had studied at the University of Bingen at the same time that Hugo Gernsback, who would become Tesla's friend, studied there.46

  Also in 1920, the German film Algol was released in which an evil extraterrestrial entity from Algol, in occult lore known as the demon star, donates superior technology to an earthling, a machine with which one can become master of the world. In 1922, Nosferatu appeared in the German cinemas. The film superbly transformed Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, into a haunting play of light and shadow. The sets of Nosferatu were designed by Albin Grau, a leading member of the Fraternitas Saturni.47 And in 1926, the same year that the demise of the Pansophia lodge from the occult stage made way for its successor the Fraternitas Saturni, the magnificent Metropolis was released. In one of its more disturbing scenes, ancient magic and avant-garde science in unison create an artificial human in a laboratory filled with sparkling technology, but also a clearly visible upside-down giant pentagram.48

  Although not much is known about the researches of the Fraternitas Saturni, some light can be shed upon this matter by studying the beautifully printed issues of the official organ, the Saturn Gnosis. Its pages are riddled with terms as "electromagnetic fields" and "planetary spheres," "etheric planetary forces," "cosmic will" and "ether movements."49 We read of the etherwaves of the Weltgeist, a concept not unlike Mesmer's animal magnetism, which also appears in the writings of Bloomfield-Moore: "The word ether is from 'aitho,' to light up or kindle. According to Pythagoras and all the oldest philosophers, it was viewed as a divine luminous principle or substance, which permeates all things, and, at the same time, contains all things. They called it the astral light. The Germans call it the 'Weltgeist,' the breath of the father, the Holy Ghost, the life-principle."50

  Expressionist trance studies of Atlantic and Saturn demons, an exposition of which was held in Berlin in 1931,51 stand side by side to references to the Akasha chronicles, pictures and articles on by-now familiar figures as Wronski, Levi, Paracelsus and Agrippa and comments on the writings of Jennings, Hartmann, Maack and Rudolf von Sebottendorff, the founder of the infamous Thule Society, which branched off the Germanen Order whose spiritual fathers were such men as Guido von List and Lanz von Liebenfels.52

  The initiates of the Fraternitas Saturni perceived man as an "electromagnetic power plant," and electrolysis, electricity, ultraviolet, infrared, rontgen rays and radio activity are being discussed together with the magical concept of "radioactive electromagnetic space-force fields," which "through certain centers in man's etheric body and in the nerve system" make an exchange of "cosmic and human rays" possible.53

  The Fraternitas Saturni conducted its magico-technical rituals in order to create with their will "impulse waves, which reach into the cosmos. In their rhythmic change these will reach the electro magnetic force fields, not only reach, but in their radiation create from them."54 There are veiled allusions as to the magical technology involved in all this: "One can also see sacred cult ritual as cosmic physicism. First a concentration of energies in a suitable and chosen matter, such as in the most used cult devices, led, copper, silver, gold, which represent the chiefly magical metals. By word or vibration the atomic structure of these metals is set in motion. By the magnetic wailing the etheric radiation of the force motion is centralized, directed in a given direction, to achieve a binding to astral matter."55

  There are hints of the devices used in their curious techno-magical rituals and experiments through which "etheric rays may be assimilated and transformed." "Through the use of antennas built of copper, silver and gold — because of the motions of their electrons have a bigger absorption for cosmic rays — which are switched on through persons with a certain state of mind and through auto-suggestion."56

  Glimpses are given of other devices such as Korshelts' Solar ether Waves-Apparatus of which much of the technology apparently was derived, judging from the above and following descriptions, and a certain Dr. Eckhoff who invented devices which "through their spiral working of to opposite placed spirals," made out of an "extraordinary metal," provided the human body with "etheric rays," a process that he called "telesion. "57

  The author also tells how, "In our circles an engineer has constructed a copper spiral with 27 windings, the center of which is a copper bowl. An antenna is created thus, which is able to receive ethereal waves." The device apparently worked better when a person with "strong magnetic powers would radiate on it," and it is commented that "similar methods, although of a different kind, have given likewise results through the appliance of high frequency electricity, that go back to the research results of Nikola Tesla." It is also stated that "modern high frequency devices are being used."58 The concepts of "fields with crystalline structures that are short circuited whirlfields," "Euclidian-Newtonian-Galilean-Space-Time worlds," and "the giant organ of
our starry worlds" are discussed, together with the "power currents of cosmic and mathematical structural laws, built on sound systems (Klangsysteme)" and "gravity potentials of electromagnetic and mechanical laws."59

  We learn of "primary suns and their force fields," the energy of which is "ultra energy in a total vacuum," and we are confided that "this central or primary solar field has a cellular structure with the possibilities of aggregation of the space-substance in its highest form." Then it is stated that, "The condition of this space-sub stance as fleeting electricity has, changes itself in the central solar field in a plus condition and — Vril."60

  And with this statement from the pages of the official organ of the Fraternitas Saturni the wheel has turned full cycle. Keely's visions of obtaining a force through the ether from the "very wheelworks of nature," — an idea derived from the learned cabalist Pancoast and Nathan Loomis, linked to Bulwer-Lytton's vril-force — had traveled a long way, had crossed the fin de siecle with theosophy and had survived a devastating world war with anthroposophy. The original concepts had transmutated on each occasion when occult groups applied their wonderful ideas for their own quests. They surfaced again in Berlin of the interbellum, where the German Vril Society, another occult order or group obsessed with strange technology, fully allied itself with Bulwer-Lytton's vril ideology and Keely's discoveries and took its tenets to the very limit. Although the existence of a society by that name never was,61 the group as such did exist, but under a totally different name, and totally different from what modern mythology would want us to believe.62

  In 1930, the year that Surya's Moderne Rosenkreuzer went into its seventh edition, the last of the magical issues of the Fraternitas Saturni was issued and the magical order went underground, ultimately to be banned by the Nazi regime three years later, a little booklet of a mere 60 pages appeared under the imprint of the "Astrologische Verlag Wilhelm Becker," located at Schlosstrasse 59 in Berlin-Steglitz. This booklet bore the appropriate title Vril. Die Kosmische Urkraft. Wiedergeburt von Atlantis. The author chose to hide himself or herself under the pseudonym "Johannes Taufer." The publisher was an organization that named itself "Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft Das Kommende Deutschland," whose headquarters were also located in Berlin, at the Pallastrasse 7.63

  A second booklet appeared the same year, also by the "Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft" and titled Weltdynamismus, but issued by a different publishing house, Otto Wilhelm Barth Verlag. Both booklets referred to each other. It was this Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft which would be the model for the legendary Vril Society. Peter Bahn, who can be credited with the discovery of the true identity of the Vril Society, found no clues as to the nature or origin of the group itself, and we learn little of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft from their own description in their "Vril" booklet. But it is likely that this group was somehow a continuation of the Pansophia lodge or the Fratres Saturni. Since the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft left no clues it is now open to conjecture, but we may safely assume that at one time members of this group not only shared the same occult substratum in Berlin but also shared the same ideas on the fusion of technology and the arcane. A passage on Atlantis in the booklet of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft that describes the Atlanteans as "psychophysical dynamotechnicians and not mechano-machin-ists"64 involuntary evokes the earlier cited shimmering visions of the Pansophia lodge: "...mankind will unriddle the secret of its existence through a variety of inventions and discoveries, through which those mechanic material, chemical-technical conjunctions will disappear into nothingness."

  Not only that, they evoke the same passion for a search for alternative technology in the light of occult doctrine as demonstrated by a book that was also published in 1930, the same year that the booklets of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft were published and Surya's book was reprinted. As Surya's book, the book was issued in Leipzig, the place where occult publisher Altmann resided. It was titled Verschollene Kulturen, or Hidden Cultures and written by Eugen Georg. In the ponderous tome Georg digressed on topics such as magic, the occult, Atlantis, Lemuria and Horbigers' Welteislehre, but also on the "cosmic propelling forces" and the proper use of solar, wind, tide, thermal and earth rotational energy. Explaining these topics, Georg confronts the reader with a multitude of terms as "metamechanical-organic," "energetic-metatechnical," "organic-technical" and "machine technical," "magia-technology" and "meta-technology." Amongst others, Georg cites as his sources the writings of Hartmann, Maack, Liebenfels, List, Levi, theosophist Scott-Eliott whose remarks on Keely we have read, and Surya's Moderne Rosenkreuzer. Georg also mentions Schappeller's space-force engine and vril several times in connection with Atlantis, like the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft would do the same year. One of Georg's conclusions was that to him magic is in fact technology, but with other means.65

  Here it is important to stop for a moment and study Surya's most puzzling book Moderne Rosenkreuzer or Modern Rosicrucians more deeply. For while its title might suggest a study on Rosicrucian topics of his day, in fact the book is quite different and, as is the case with Georg's Hidden Cultures, its contents clearly help define the occult surroundings in which the mysterious Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft came into being.

  The name G.W. Surya was a pseudonym; behind it hid the person Demeter Georgiewitz Weitzer (1873-1949). Weitzer knew Hartmann and wrote about Kellner's alchemical work in his "well equipped alchemical laboratory."66 Weitzer, or Surya as he choose to name himself, also belonged to the resurrected Rosicrucian occult subscene of his day and published a number of treatises on alternative medical science, astrology and Paracelsus.67 But it is with him that we may see how the German occultist-technicians were influenced by Keely.

  In the pages of his book, Surya mentions Zanoni on several occasions, quotes Hartmann, discusses thought photography, Korschelt's devices, the Od-rays and the ether while using a single term that also appears in the writings of the Pansophia lodge and the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft: "Electricity is but a special form of the general cosmic energy. By and by science has arrived at Dynamism... for the ether is... the foundation of all electrical manifestations, but also matter! "68

  But the most curious and interesting part, presented in such a way that one is not sure whether the anecdote concerns actual incidents or a fictional account, involves the ship of a certain Lord E., called the Sirius. The ship, traveling more than twice as fast as "the best Lloyd steamboat" was "a hundred meters long and had four mighty funnels placed behind each other, which through their intervals, indicated that the boiler-rooms occupied one third of the length of the ship," Surya writes. The Sirius had double lining, watertight compartments and was equipped with two screws69 and a smaller rescue-vessel aboard, called Dependance of Sirius. His vessel has "its own machine," a powerful petroleum engine of 300 horsepower, but also a mysterious "additional machine," that Lord E. invented and similar to one that also propels the Sirius.10

  Mysterious as the additional machines may be, Lord E. nevertheless wishes to explain their working: "...five years ago I made wonderful discoveries during my experimental studies of the ether. You know my friend, that I have set it as my task to fathom the double sphinx of force and matter. ...The speed that my additional machines, built on the ground of my discoveries and inventions, grant my Sirius... was for me a sublime moment, when my Sirius cleaved the waves, propelled by 'Ether Force' ...Never must mankind, in its current stage of development, obtain these terrible forces that I have discovered."71

  Here Surya momentarily interrupts his account to insert a large note that occupies most of the page. "Compare The Secret Doctrine... The coming force," Surya hints in the note. And it is a hinting that he employs, for while he cites several lines from her chapter that delivered Keely's discoveries to the occult world, Surya, further digressing on the nature of the ether and also citing Tesla does not mention Keely, the central character of that particular chapter in The Secret Doctrine, although Surya would do so in another book.72

  We further learn from the mysterious Lord E. that,
"In 1877 a German scientist had already penetrated the physics of the ether or in the secret of matter.. ,73 and that two of the four funnels of his Sirius are camouflage, 'to divert curiosity,' and that his 'additional machines' are also called 'etheric machines'... So you see that the name 'additional machine' is also a kind of mask, so that I won't betray my principles during a conversation. "74

  Finally a mere glimpse is offered on those etheric machines: "just somewhat above the water... two short bronze tubes with horizontal axles showed, similar to torpedo launching tubes, each with a diameter of 60 centimeters. From these a hurricane-like constant jet of air ejected." The bow of the ship had the same two tube-like appendages. "When I want to obtain a counter motion, the forward tubes will start working and the backward ones stop, that is, they will not obtain ether power anymore. Diagonal tubes, simultaneously switched on, turn the boat. .. .This is everything that I will explain .. .How I obtain this enormous ether wave is my secret and it must stay that way. In order to obtain power I proportionally dematerialize a small amount of matter; 4-5 milligrams pro second for the two tubes. In reality a thousand explosions pro second take place, and this seems to us a constant stream. "75

  What is left for Surya to remark is that Stefan Brandt, the protagonist through whom we learn of the existence of Lord E. and his ether-driven vessel, mutters that "the Atlanteans must have built their airships the same way." Indeed Lord E. confidently admits that this must be the case, and he in turn muses, "It would be easy to build a veritable airship with these forces. ...To build an airship of 25,000 kilos one only needs a tube with half the diameter of one of the reaction-tubes of my Sirius. "16 But Lord E. leaves it at that, since "One who has traveled so far to self knowledge, will not be smitten down by arrogance, pride, the will to rule, just to play 'Master of the World' for a short time."77