# What is organite? What's a cloud buster? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632 "2004-06-16T11:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/1 "2004-06-16T11:50:26Z")
A guy who takes my bus gave me this handmade resin paperweight and said it was “Organite - it has many powers, it’s good for health and you can use it in your garden. Lots of people are doing it. Look it up on the web” [organite paperweight](http://fff.fathom.org/pages/ld/organite.jpg) I found some odd paranoid nut case message boards about it, but they don’t actually say what the main claims or its premise is. All I could find out was that “cloudbusters” are made from it, and you should make one and “good luck with your journey”. Anyone up on this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/2 "2004-06-16T11:56:42Z")
I couldn’t find anything either, but I think it might be made from _[Snake Oil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil)_. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/3 "2004-06-16T12:41:56Z")
From your pic and description, I’m guessing he was referring to “orgonite.” **Mangetout** was right in his assessment of its properties. A past column on orgon by the Master: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_073.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_073.html) ---
**Author:** ![Josh\_dePlume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Josh\_dePlume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Josh_dePlume)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/4 "2004-06-16T12:42:13Z")
This must be related to the teachings of Freudian disciple-turned-crackpot Wilhelm Reich. He believed in an “energy” called orgone that is supposedly responsible for all sorts of stuff, and is its name suggests is involved in orgasm. I suspect the word is actually something like “orgonite”. “Cloudbusters” were some sort of supposed weather-control devices whose operation involved orgone. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/5 "2004-06-16T12:44:29Z")
[First entry in this search proclaims:](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_qdr=all&q=organite+aluminum&lr=lang_en) > [@](#): > > These devices are made with resin, copper, steel, aluminum and zinc which is collectively known as Organite. The linked website no longer contains that sentence, but it does have a bunch of Orgone accumulators ala Wilhem Reich. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/6 "2004-06-16T12:45:00Z")
Other Kate Bush fans will descend on this thread… From [Gaffaweb](http://gaffa.org/diction/r.html)… > [@](#): > > Reich, Wilhelm > (1897 - 3 November 1957) A controversial psychoanalyst who took Freudian orthodoxy to an extreme and theorized that all personality disorders arose from sexual repression. Beginning his career at Freud’s Psychoanalytic Polyclinic in his native Austria, Reich moved to Germany, but upon Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 he was forced to leave the country. In 1942 he founded The Orgone Institute and acquired an estate in Maine which was dubbed Orgonon. Reich came to believe that his theoretical “orgone energy” was not merely the result of sexual repression, but was the fundamental energy of the universe – and that harnessing this energy through his “orgone accumulators” could alter the fundamental properties of matter, or even change the world’s climate, creating rain on command. > > In 1954, the American Food and Drug Administration issued an injunction against Reich for transporting his orgone accumulators across state lines. Refusing to appear at an FDA hearing – he deemed orgone energy to be a matter of the utmost national security, and refused to divuge its alleged secrets – Reich was charged with criminal contempt and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Reich died in a Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on 3 November 1957. Although Reich was demonstrably insane, it remains tragic that the FDA was able to order his books withdrawn from public circulation and summarily destroyed. > > Reich’s son Peter, nine years old at the time of his father’s imprisonment, wrote as an adult the autobiographical memoir A Book Of Dreams, which recounts his memories of his father. This book inspired the song Cloudbusting; in the video for the song, Wilhelm Reich – or a fictionalized avatar of Reich – is portayed by actor Donald Sutherland. I guess people have continued Wilhelms quest…or… some sort of [gemstone?](http://www.gemchanel.com/gemlore.asp) > [@](#): > > ::ORGANITE:: > > VARIETY INFORMATION: > · VARIETY OF: Beryl , Be3 Al2 Si6 O18 . > · USES: Gemstone. > · COLOR: various shades of pink. > · INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.57 - 1.60 > · BIREFRINGENCE: 0.004 - 0.008 > · HARDNESS: 7.5 - 8 > · CLEAVAGE: one direction, poor. > · CRYSTAL SYSTEM: hexagonal > · Pleochroic: weak > · SPECIMENS **Previews…** Gaah…too slow with the research… ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/7 "2004-06-16T12:47:13Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > I guess people have continued Wilhelms quest…or… > > some sort of [gemstone?](http://www.gemchanel.com/gemlore.asp) I saw that page. That’s actually a misspelling of the gemstone morganite. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/8 "2004-06-16T13:13:02Z")
Are you sure he didn’t say “Milorganite”. That is definitely good for your garden. It is processed sewage sludge. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/9 "2004-06-16T14:19:34Z")
[All about Cloudbusters](http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1287/Reich1.htm) (with pix!) [Build your very own Cloudbuster](http://www.metatech.org/cloudbuster_&_orgone_generator.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/10 "2004-06-16T14:39:13Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > [Build your very own Cloudbuster](http://www.metatech.org/cloudbuster_&_orgone_generator.html) Please tell me that page is a parody. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/11 "2004-06-16T17:37:39Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Please tell me that page is a parody. _Always_ with the skepticism **Mangetout**! Take a look at [this image](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040607.html), and then tell me you don’t see a real need for cloudbustiers. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/12 "2004-06-16T18:46:58Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Please tell me that page is a parody. Nope. I’ve read the book written by Reich’s son (scary Kate Bush fan, checking in), and this is very, very real. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/13 "2004-06-16T20:31:05Z")
Yeah, but you gotta admit that this orgone silliness did inspire a great song by Hawkwind (“Orgone Accumulator”–try listening to it on the “Space Ritual” live album). ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/14 "2004-06-16T21:17:05Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > _Always_ with the skepticism **Mangetout**! > Take a look at [this image](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040607.html), and then tell me you don’t see a real need for cloudbustiers. Cloudbustiers? That’s silly. Of corset it. Could be uncomfortable for the well-endowed cloud. RR ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/15 "2004-06-16T21:45:14Z")
I am the proud owner of a Orgone generator made for me by an acquaintance I met while living in Oregon, and holds the prize as one of the most sincere gifts I’ve ever received. It’s a large, conical hunk of epoxy resin, with several crystals embedded in it, and metal filings of a type sprinkled about. This man went about “sensing” bad energies in locations and dispersing them with his devices. He thought it important that I have one before moving back to Chicago, what with my proximity to O’Hare and the ever dangerous contrails left by jets. It is a prized possession of mine, and owns a proud place in my collection of really weird crap. So far it has demonstrated the ability to be quite ugly, and it can collect a fair share of dust. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-organite-whats-a-cloud-buster/250632/16 "2004-06-16T22:52:25Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > _Always_ with the skepticism **Mangetout**! > Take a look at [this image](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040607.html), and then tell me you don’t see a real need for cloudbustiers. The hoist of heaven mooning at the mortals after a particularly heavy night. Or something. I think the thing that tipped me over the edge with the aforementioned link was that he was waffling on about making this device (which, OK, is fairly nutty, but you could understand how someone could go along with it, even the chemtrails thing is just _ordinary_ paranoia), then, all of a sudden, he just matter-of-factly says “Do be discriminating which UFO’s you aim at, though. If they are not predatory and you make them mad…”