ENDLESS LIGHT: Dr. Thomas Henry Moray
There are those who claim to have retained some portions of these legendary materials. Nicholas Roerich, symbolic master artist, traveled to Mongolia in 1925 after learning from monks of a famed stone, which “fell from Orion”. Securing the stone on behalf of the monastery in which it was housed, he claimed to have discovered its amazing mind-expanding qualities. Both Nicholas and Helena Roerich accompanied a fragment of the stone to a neighboring monastery where it was enshrined.
These sacred stones, elements of the first world Nature, were said by him to radiate a sharply defined consciousness. The monks attested to the ability of this stone to “maintain peace and elevate consciousness to all the outlying districts”. In these mountainous lands, timeless traditions preserve what centuries of European history would have erased. Could this have been the very stone, which Marco Polo had reported? Was this one of the “magickal stones” employed by Prester John? The couple returned home, encrypting the truth of this remarkable find in a series of mystical books (“On Eastern Crossroads”, “Legend of The Stone”, Abode of Light”).
ELECTRIC ROCK
Numerous explanations for the phenomena of luminescence and phosphorescence flood the technical literature of the day. Each seek mechanistic explanation for the remarkable radiance of certain materials and apparatus. Despite these academic speculations, the phenomena of luminosity and phosphorescence represent some very essence of our deepest dreams and mythic desires. Strange light sources form the heart of all artifices of legendary magick. These are fascinating archetypes, which surpass our merely intellectual fixations. Why their mere mention fills us with an awesome reverence has much deeper source.
Each new technological epoch is always accompanied by the emergence of new and remarkable light sources. From the latter part of the nineteenth century until the middle 1930’s there was an abundant emergence of such devices. While many of these “lanterns” required the forced generation of energies, there were a significant number of devices, which did not. In the following account, we will see that the fables of “lost magickal elements” and “radiant rocks” are grounded in truth.
Dr. Thomas Henry Moray, an electrical engineer, began research on aerial static generators in 1910. He succeeded in deriving usable electrical energy from the earth’s electrostatic field. Many others had achieved similar results in the century preceding Dr. Moray. Patents of “aerial batteries” fill the archives (Vion, Ward, Dewey, Palenscar, Pennock, Plausen). Their remarkable efficiency required only the establishment of elevated stations in appropriate places, each differing in the actual mode of extracting the atmospheric energies. Some of these aerial battery systems successfully provided the utility requirements of small factories and telegraphic exchanges.
Dr. Moray was fascinated with the concept of drawing electrical energy directly from the environment. His initial and primitive tests brought a modest amount of electrical energy from his aerial battery design, producing clicking tones in a telephone receiver. With this device, he gradually developed enough atmospherically derived energy to light a small neon “arc lamp”. Dr. Moray was encouraged, but not satisfied with these results. There had to be a way to get much more energy from the environment.
Static-field systems are necessarily tall aerial structures, requiring a great deal of space. Some designers used large balloons to hoist their static collectors. Others simply utilized fixed structures: large mountain-poised screens, point-studded poles. Benjamin Ward used an astounding “directional chute” which “funneled” electrostatic winds. Aerial batteries relied on the surface area of structures to absorb electrostatic charges. The larger the system, the more the available electrical power. Moray wanted to miniaturize these large systems. If miniaturization was to be the design goal, there would be a necessary and revolutionary change in the approach.
While investigating the output of his device, he discovered a feature of the natural static energy, which had somehow been overlooked by other aerial battery designers. The electrostatic power had a flimmering, pulsating quality to it. He learned of this “static pulsation” while listening through headphones, which were connected to telephone wires. The static came in a single, potent surge. This first “wave” subsided, with numerous “back surges” following. Soon thereafter, the process repeated itself. The static surges came “like ocean waves”. Indeed, with the volume of “white noise” which they produced, they sounded like ocean waves!
These peculiar waves did not arrive with “clock precision”. Just like ocean waves, they arrived in schedules of their own. Dr. Moray was convinced that these were world-permeating waves. He came to believe that they represented the natural “cadence of the universe”. This intriguing characteristic suggested that small amounts of pulsating electrostatic charge might be used to induce large oscillations in a large “tank” of charge. The resultant oscillating power would be applied to industrial use. But experiments in these avenues were not very promising.
Dr. Moray believed that the earth’s natural electrical energies were derived from the mineral content of the ground. He therefore began examining minerals with a rare devotion. Everywhere he went, mineral hunting was the first impulse. These minerals became quite a collection. Each was examined in his small laboratory to discover any possible new electrical properties, which might reveal the truth of his ideas.
There was practical truth in his first suppositions. The early days of Radio utilized mineral crystals to detect signals. Tesla was perhaps first in announcing that selenium crystals could detect the special rays with which he was principally occupied. Thereafter several different personalities claimed to have “discovered” the crystal detection method.
Essentially solid state in nature, the method uses mineral crystals to “detect” radio signals. Fine wires (“catwhiskers”) touched mineral surfaces at specific “sensitive points” and were tuned with a small coil. One could receive radio signals without batteries by employing this detector. When connected with an aerial, a ground rod, variable coil tuner and headphones, the resulting “crystal set” provided a means for receiving strong radio signals. As children, many of us had these little crystal sets. They are still popular and may be purchased for a few dollars in science shops today.