Brighton-based filmaker and journalist, Mark Bennett, is looking for people to become involved in his 2017 Orgonite Trials

Orgonite is a solid, resin-based material with unusual properties, one of which is the uncanny knack of enabling plants to grow to abnormal sizes. Mark and his partner, the Raw Health Bar in Brighton Open Market, are inviting local gardeners to take part in an informal experiment.

This trial will help define how Orgonite performs under different conditions. The trial can be carried out by anyone with an interest in citizen science with a mobile phone camera. The open trial will run all year and is limited only by the supply of Orgonite.

A simple mixture of resin, aluminium shavings and a crystal, the Orgonite technology is derived from Freud’s contemporary, Wilhelm Reich, who developed the idea of orgone energy and studied how it affects the human body and nature.

Orgone is known in different cultures as chi, prana, ki, or mana and Reich developed a range of technologies to harness and focus this energy. Kate Bush sang about it in her hit song, ‘Cloudbusting’. William Burroughs was known to be a regular user of an Orgone Accumulator, which is claimed to focus life energy. He attributed it to his vitality in later life. Photos of Kurt Cobain in Burrough’s accumulator can be found on Google. Jade Smith is currently experimenting with it.

Orgonite can be moulded into any shape for purposes ranging from beautiful indoor transparent ‘outsider art’ to outdoor soil-enhancers made in muffin tins. Orgonite of various forms, complexity and beautycan be found on Esty, eBay, and for sale at various festivals.

The results of the 2009 trial can be found in the Fortean Times Feature in April 2010 issue (http://bit.ly/2q5OAw6), GQ India and in the X-FILES inspired documentary ‘The Truth is Out There’ (http://bit.ly/2pc6twc) with comedian Dean Haglund.

A more detailed coverage of Orgonite is due to appear in ‘The Truth is Out There 2: Ancient Mysteries’ scheduled for film festival premières in early 2018.

“I’ve spent some time looking into Orgonite,” said Mark. “I’ve always been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding it and this experiment will be my largest project yet and the biggest thing we can do without serious funding and support. I have working models that mirror these experiments and I just want to see how the public takes to these magic rocks.”

In a previous study, P. Barker from Brighton used Orgonite to aid his beetroot, which were fast to germinate and grew strongly. He was rigorous in his methodology, planting two identical patches in his allotment – one with Orgonite and one without – and growing organically (see http://bit.ly/2p9hRqj). He has been continuing the trials in polytunnels and established a ‘fall off’ demonstration where plants were largest next to orgonite and slowly fell away at the full length of the polytunnel.

“At first, I was mildly surprised by the different crops,” he said. “The area was mostly root crops – parsnips and different types of beetroot and some early carrots. The plot with Orgonite at each corner produced a whole lot more than adjacent plots. I ended up giving a lot of my produce away. A major surprise was a crop of self-sown tomatoes in between the beets. Normally I can’t get tomatoes to grow outside so this was an unexpected bonus.”

To join the trial, enquire at Raw Health Bar, Open Market, London Road, Brighton.