ACO Full-Day Laboratory Course
Living Blood: The Reich Blood Test
September 7, 2024 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Course Syllabus
Faculty Biographies
Living Blood: The Reich Blood Test
Around 1936, Reich began observing microscopic vesicles formed by the swelling of organic and inorganic matter in fluid. In one preparation, which consisted of particles of heated coal dust, the particles were seen to take up fluid, swell, and soften their angular appearance when immersed in a solution of bullion and 0.1 n KCl and viewed under the microscope. These particles formed membranes and developed an intense blue color. They began to pulsate, as well as move about in the fluid. They even divided. Reich called these vesicles “bions.” While subsequently observing bions made from sand through a microscope, Reich developed an inflammation in one eye. This led to his discovery that bions emitted some form of radiation. Later, Reich was able to identify this radiation as the necessary biological energy implied by Sigmund Freud’s concept of a psychic libido. Reich had long recognized that the psychic energy described by Freud must be a manifestation of an actual, biological energy. Reich named this energy “orgone.”
Further observation convinced Reich that living red blood cells also function as orgone energy vesicles, and that the vitality of red blood cells directly reflects the energetic vitality of the donor individual. Subsequently, Reich observed that when red blood cells were immersed in saline for a period of time, they were seen to disintegrate into bions. Observing this disintegration, and assessing it through specific techniques which he had developed, Reich was able to further quantify the biological energetic vitality of red blood cells. These procedures became known as the Reich Blood Test.
“Living Blood: The Reich Blood Test” is a hands-on laboratory course designed to demonstrate these developments of Reich’s research and work. Each seminar participant, with the help and supervision of the lab faculty, will create bions, and through the microscope observe their formation and movement. Each seminar participant will then perform a Reich Blood Test on their own blood, again with the help and supervision of the faculty. The group will then observe as the Reich Blood Test is conducted on a patient with a history of cancer or another disease. This blood test will be administered by Steve Dunlap, the ACO lab technician. The course will also include a lecture on bions by Dr. Alberto Foglia and a lecture on the Reich Blood Test by Dr. Howard Chavis.
I hope you will join us.
Edward Chastka, M. D.
Living Blood: The Reich Blood Test Lab Application
Lab Course Fee: $300 adult, non-student / $150 full-time student
Readings
A student’s guide to the readings
In order to spend most of our time during the course with observations and practical demonstrations, we’ve supplied you with several on-line readings to help prepare you in advance. Below, find them listed according to priority and order to be read. We've also listed and added links to additional material that may be of interest if you have time. Following that, you will find some notes to help orient you to the material.
Required materials (Listed in the order to be read or viewed):
"Rules for Scientific Research" by Dr. Wilhelm Reich.
The Cancer Biopathy: The History of the Discovery of the Orgone, Volume II, Reich, W.R., Orgone Institute Press, New York, 1948. We’ve provided the first four chapters.
"Reich Blood Test Summary" a short summary by Mr. Steven Dunlap.
Also of interest (if you have time and want to read more in depth on subjects related to the bions as well as general introductions to orgonomy).:
“The Bions: An Investigation into the Origin of Life” by Wilhelm Reich. Serialized in the Journal of Orgonomy, volumes 10(1) through 13(1).
“Overview of Wilhelm Reich’s Work” by Dr. Peter A. Crist (on-line course)
"Wilhelm Reich's Legacy: Bombshells in Science" by Dr. Peter A. Crist
Notes on the readings
“Rules to Follow in Scientific Research” by Wilhelm Reich are as true today as when he wrote them in the 1940s.
Cancer Biopathy, by Wilhelm Reich, Orgone Institute Press, New York, 1948. We’ve provided the first four chapters that open The Cancer Biopathy: The History of the Discovery of the Orgone, Volume II. This classic volume that introduces Reich’s breakthrough into the biological realm and his concept of the bioenergetic basis of physical disease represents his own story about the discovery of orgone energy. These first chapters give the serious student of orgonomy a detailed introduction to the laboratory science of orgonomy in the biological and atmospheric/physical realms. Read as much as you'd like and have time for but for a better understanding of the bions, we recommend that you read Chapter II, Sections 1 and 2, pp. 11 to 26, and Sections 5 and 6 pp. 36 to 50.
“The Bions: An Investigation into the Origin of Life” by Wilhelm Reich, printed in seven installments in the Journal of Orgonomy, volumes 10(1) through 13(1) (1976 to 1979) is an English translation by Barbara G. Koopman, M.D., Ph.D. and Irmgard Bertelsen, B.S. of Reich’s 1938 monograph, Die Bione. These articles are not required reading for this course but a must-read for any serious student of orgonomy. The first in the series, in Volume 10(1), is available on the ACO website, the others are available as back issues of the Journal. The editorial note that opens the series, summarizing Reich’s work on the bions, is worth reading for this course for the way it puts the study of bions in historical perspective. Published in 1976, its opening lines say:
The Journal is proud to present the first English translation of Die Bione, a landmark monograph first published in Oslo in 1938 and still, today, decades ahead of its time.
The momentousness of Reich's discoveries set forth here cannot be over-estimated. While the scientific world still clung to the dictum that “every living thing comes from living matter,” Reich began to probe the origins of life from a functional point of view. He has already enunciated his orgasm formula of tension-charge-discharge-relaxation as specific to all living phenomena and encompassing every aspect of the autonomic life functions from ameba to man…
“Overview of Wilhelm Reich’s Work” by Peter A. Crist. This brief on-line course serves as a survey as from an airplane at 50,000 feet for the student who wants an introduction to the vast body of knowledge of orgonomy developed by Reich. It includes photos and videos that show Reich the man and scientist as well as illustrating some of the basic principles.
"Wilhelm Reich's Legacy: Bombshells in Science" article by Dr. Crist Journal of Orgonomy, Vol. 41(2), 2007: pp. 82-87. Of interest if you have time but not required reading. This article by Dr. Peter Crist touches on several of Reich’s groundbreaking discoveries ranging from psychology to physics.
