The Five Rites of Rejuvenation as described by Peter Kelder (Eye of Revelation) in 1937 are a striking example of how Orgone energy is created and circulated in the body. In that same year, in his work
Experimental Investigation of the Electrical Function of Sexuality and Anxiety, Dr. Wilhelm Reich, M.D. demonstrated his hypothesis that the storage areas of bioelectrical energy was the autonomic nervous system. Dr. Reich identified neurotic sexual stasis, on a physiological basis, as "the expression of the impaired functioning of the autonomic ganglia".
George Crile (in 1936) also in shows in "The Phenomena of Life- A Radio Electric Interpretation" how the glands govern the bodies electrical systems. "It is at once clear that there is within the organism an energy controlling system which is activated by the special senses primarily. Theoretically, this system would consist of the special senses the brain, the adrenal-sympathetic system and the thyroid gland."
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If one pays particular attention to the Five Rites they will see that in each position the head is tucked in or it is stretched back. These are not physical exercises or strenuous stretches meant to give you a work out. The very subtle and gentle action of tucking your chin next to your chest applies a very small amount of physical stress to the thyroid gland. This gland over time will begin to actually grow stonger cause of this stress. As the glands grow stronger, tougher, more resilient the body is able to create and circulate more bio-electricity.
The same holds true for stimulating the adrenal-sympathetic system. It is not hard to see how certain parts of the rites are meant to gently stimulate the kidneys and strenthen the adrenal cortex.
Peter Kelder in his original work (available only from Borderland Sciences Research Foundation since 1975) talks about how this energy is turned ever upward.
"...the SUPER-MAN turns the procreative urge upward and reproduces within himself a new man - a stronger, powerful, magnetic man who is constantly growing younger, day by day, moment by moment."
To fully understand the "intuitional" and "poetic" language Peter Kelder was using it will be vital to divert into a section of Wilhelm Reichs work on Orgone energy.
Excerpt from:
The Journal of Orgonomy
Vol 3, Num 2, Nov. 1969
Translated by Joseph Gross, M.D. and Barbara Goldberg Koopman, M.D.(Copenhagen, 1937)
Experimental Investigation of the Electrical Function of Sexuality and Anxiety
By Wilhelm Reich, M.D.
The experimental investigation of skin potentials in pleasure and anxiety has supported our hypothesis that the process of excitation gives rise to two opposite directions of flow of bioelectrical current: towards the periphery and towards the center. The question of the nature of the current may now be clearly answered, the sensation of streaming is not solely contingent upon the blood flow in pleasure and anxiety, but also on the transmission of electrically charged particles by the blood and lymph streams. It has long been known that ionic currents exist in the blood.
The skin now turns out to be the peripheral site at which the electrical charges are deposited or withdrawn; the autonomic periphery, so to speak. The existence of the direction "towards the world," on which we based our sex-economic: theory of the instincts, is clearly confirmed.
However, the nature of the direction "away from the world, into the self" has remained less clear until now. Where is the bioelectric current concentrated during anxiety? This brings up the question of the autonomic center.
The autonomic center:
Where in the body are the sources and storage areas of bioelectrical energy to be found? Our first hypothesis was-the autonomic nervous system (primarily the celiac; hypogasrtric, and pudendal plexuses). I will shortly offer clinical support for this assumption. The autonomic nervous system represents the generator, that is, the source of the electrical energy of the human body. The experimental investigations reported in the first part of this paper thoroughly substantiate this assumption. Now let us test to what extent it is supported by clinical facts and how it enables us to comprehend hitherto unexplainable phenomena in neurotic and emotional disorders.
To do this, we must free ourselves from a preconceived notion which conventional thinking in neurology and medicine tends to foster. The term "center" usually refers to the cerebrum and its associated relaystations through which the nerve impulses are conducted. It would be premature to discuss in detail the appropriateness of such a use of this term. In any case, it involves the mechanical concept of the cerebrum as the true control center and source of all impulses which are transmitted to the rest of the body. The cerebrum is seen as the ruler, so to speak, of all of man's actions. However, recent work in neuropathology (especially that of Goldstein) has sought to bring forth a completely new concept which seems to deprive the cerebrum of its hitherto dominant function. The discovery of the autonomic functions has excited the interest of all branches of medicine. Moreover, the essential workings of this system and its relationship to the psyche are being eagerly explored.
My formulation of the function of the vagal and sympathetic systems, the basic antithesis of vegetative life, is in complete accord with this newer direction and opposes on many counts mechanistic cerebral physiology. A lengthy discussion would be premature here but we must make clear that the expression "autonomic center" implies much more than merely the "center" of the autonomic nervous system: It really connotes the center of all biophysiological and character-affective functioning in general.
According to this view, the cerebrum--conservatively speaking is only a specially developed accelerating and braking apparatus for the totality of autonomic bodily functions. This view is supported by the undeniable fact that the living organism shows an instinctive purposefulness long before the cerebrum is developed. In particular, the emotional processes, such as pleasure, anxiety, and anger, which have so greatly concerned us here, are by no means dependent on the existence of the cerebrum. Autonomic functions are phylogenetically older than those of the cerebrum. Thus the expression "autonomic center" has a much deeper significance than might appear at first glance. We must assume that cerebral functioning is also dependent upon autonomic functioning in general.
If we place a grid electrode on the epigastrium, about halfway between the umbilicus and the xiphoid process, the skin potential usually registers about -20 to -40 mV. If a finger is pressed into the abdomen near the electrode, there is a steady drop in potential of about 10 to 20 mV. The same thing happens when the subject bears down as if at stool or inhales deeply. One may object that the fall in potential is due to the finger pressure on the skin. But, since deep inspiration produces the same kind of potential drop, this objection is invalid. When the subject exhales, the skin potential slowly rises to its previous level. During respiration, patients who are chronically held in the diaphragm and unable to exhale fully show lower and less clearly defined potential deflections than subjects with complete respiratory motility. This symptom warrants careful consideration. During inspiration, the diaphragm descends, compressing the organs beneath it; the abdominal cavity diminishes in volume, while the chest expands. During expiration, the opposite occurs: The chest contracts, and the abdomen expands. A second phenomenon points in the same direction. On deep inspiration, all vegetative streaming sensations subside completely in the upper abdomen. Conversely, on deep expiration, sensations akin to pleasure or anxiety appear in the upper abdomen or lower chest.
A glance at the organs of the abdominal cavity will clarify these experimental results. We see that two important organs lying beneath the dome of the diaphragm are mechanically displaced by the diaphragmatic movement. These are the stomach and the underlying Solar plexus, the largest plexus of the autonomic nervous system. We have observed empirically that pressure reduces the buildup of electrical charge. We must further assume that the skin is continually being charged by a steady bioelectric current arising from a "still un-determined center." With pressure or anxiety, the charge on the skin decreases. In a state of pleasure, the bioelectrical charge reaches out like an animal to contact the outside world; in a state of anxiety, it pulls back. Now let us try to picture what happens to the viscera surrounding the abdominal and pelvic nervous plexuses when a person is in a state of fright:
1.The breath is drawn in deeply, and the shoulders are pulled up;
2.the abdominal muscles contract tightly; and
3.the pelvic floor quickly pulls up.
Thus the abdomen behaves in anxiety like a creature that has some thing to protect. The walls press more closely on its contents. It seems obvious that what is being protected is the highly sensitive ganglia apparatus of the abdomen and the pelvis. The drop in abdominal skin potential upon compression or contraction of the abdominal wall can only be explained by the fact that an increased pressure is exerted on the plexus, which inhibits its bioelectrical activity. We will substantiate this theory in a later presentation of clinical data. Briefly stated:
Ii it now possible to understand neurotic sexual stasis, on a physiological basis, as The expression of the impaired functioning of the autonomic ganglia.
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Is it possible to heal or at least avoid the impaired functioning of the autonomic ganglia with The Five Rites described by Peter Kelder in The Eye of Reveleation?
Do the Five Rites supercharge your autonomic nervous system?
Hundreds of people since 1975 have reported back to Borderland Sciences feeling recharged after performing these rites for a period of time. These reports have been one of the key factors in keeping my personal interst renewed in a subject that would seem to have been exausted with new age thought and the kooky claims of The Fountain of Youth and Tibetian Secrets.
The Five Rites continue to be a profound tool for exploring the mind-body relationship.
From our research at Borderland Sciences Research Foundation we suggest that the scientific utility of The Five Rites in in creating and circulating Orgone energy (bio-electricity, ionized blood and lymph) in the body.
Peter Kelder
borderland sciences
Orgone
