Due to the number of unsung geniuses seeking to innovate our lives and the life of our planet, we have continued the creative genius section of the LightNet News to shed light on the possibilities we have open to us if we only knew of the knowledge and achievements available to us. In this edition we are looking at the life and work of Viktor Schauberger, a well read but formally uneducated man who lived the greater proportion of his life observing and learning from nature. His insights and applications are so beautiful in their simplicity and in their application so harmonious with nature that his work and ideas deserve far greater recognition. In fact our planet is crying out for inventions based on Bio-technology such as Schauberger’s to become the norm of our industrial economy.
Schauberger was born on 30th June 1885 in Austria into a family who had been foresters for over 400 years and who had originated from a German Aristocratic land owning family dating back to 1230 AD at which time they had lost their lands in Germany. Viktor was happy to continue his family tradition and once wrote “From my earliest childhood it was my greatest ambition to become a forest warden like my father, grandfather, great grandfather and his father before him” (p18 Living Water by Olof Alexandersson) As a boy he showed great interest in everything to do with nature. He would roam the whole day among the forests around Lake Plockenstein which was almost untouched by human hands. From this background Viktor learnt to trust his observations and intuitive awareness, as had his father and his grandfather. He learnt from them that water when in shaded mountain areas produced plants and vegetation at their richest, and that fields irrigated by water transported to them at night yielded greater harvests than neighbouring meadows and fields.
From his research in adult life Viktor was able to explain the significance of water’s properties and devise various methods for promoting and maintaining water at its optimum level of purity and vitality. Viktor’s knowledge of the properties of water proved to have ecological and economic benefits. During the winter of 1918 a series of storms had brought down many trees up in the hillsides, while further down in the valley the town of Linz was suffering from a serious shortage of fuel. All animals and men had been taken to serve the war effort and there were no large watercourses by which to transport the timber. However Viktor was able to bring down the logs through a small stream which ran through narrow gorges. Viktor had observed that the mud banks that built up after the increased flow from a thaw was dispersed during clear cool nights when the water temperature was at its lowest.
However instead of violently compressing the atoms in hydrogen gas to create helium and a release of energy. Viktor wanted to ‘screw’ together water and air without resistance in the same way he perceived occurred in nature. His invention was developed into a domestic power station in which a small output of an electrical motor was multiplied many times in a trout turbine and used to drive a larger electrical generator. “The spiral feature of this apparatus was the amplification of input energy, and the fact that the water as it pours out of the outlets rose to the top of the system to be re-circulated. Schauberger claimed that the water rose because it was so strongly charged with biological magnetism, negating gravity” (p.87 ibid.) In 1958 the last model of this machine was taken to the USA and kept by the Americans.
Viktor also observed that like the trout, birds move through air using hyperbolic, centripetal spiral movements, when air flows through their feathers during flight, a strong counter circulation of updraft is created carrying the birds forward and upwards. Using this hypothesis Viktor developed an aircraft engine which would work on the same principle as the trout turbine but by using air as the fuel source. It would suck in air and convert it to fuel while flying, and at the same time create a vacuum in from in front of itself in which it could move continuously without resistance.
By the beginning of WWII Aloys Kokaly begun working with Viktor who was then developing flying objects driven by biotechnic means. These designs were taken up by Hertl, an industrial company and the reports were that the energy produced by these unusual mechanism were hard to control, one going through the rook of the factory. In 1943 Viktor was conscripted during WWII and after a short term as a commandant of a parachute company in Italy, he went on to design a submarine on the same principle as the trout turbine. Viktor was recalled by Himmler to further his research based in the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He was to be given charge of a scientific team of technicians and physicians drawn from among the prisoners or alternatively he could be hanged. Viktor worked at the SS college insisting that his helpers no longer be regarded as prisoners, an intensive period of study began which lead to the initiation of a ‘flying saucer’ powered by a trout turbine. The results of the research were both a success and a failure. Viktor describes in a letter to the West German defence minister Strauss on 28/2/1956; After about a year ” the first ‘flying saucer’ rose unexpectedly, at the first attempt, to the ceiling, and then was wrecked. A few days later an American group appeared, who seemed to understand what was happening, and seized everything.
Then, after a very thorough investigation by a high-ranking officer, I was taken in protective custody, and guarded by no less than six policemen for about six months. An important part of the apparatus was found in my apartment by the Russians.” (p.93-94 ibid.) The Russians blew up Viktor’s apartment when they left, probably to destroy any information they may have overlooked. Viktor had been working with a number of Russian prisoners of war who were later returned to the Soviet Union. It was surmised that the Russian’s rapid advanced into space rocketry involved the use of Viktor’s ideas.
In 1956 Viktor wrote of his immediate post war experiences; “At the end of the war, I was confined for nearly a year by the American forces of occupation because of my knowledge of atomic energy production. After my release, under the threat of re-arrest, I was forbidden to take up again any research in the atomic energy field, although it would have been concerned with new aspects of this technology. After the signing of the Far East Peace Treaty, I did take up my work once again. Since the end of the war I had lost all my assets, work proceeded slowly. I was refused any foreign financial aids, which is the reasons for the delay of the working models, but once the patents were granted, the matter was resolved.” (p.94 ibid.)
After his release Viktor moved to Linz and with limited finances he turned the attention of his research to agriculture. Viktor wrote; “The farmers work hand in hand with our foresters. The blood of the earth continuously weakens, and the productivity of the soil decreases. There is fortunately an awareness of the necessity of fertilizing, but now the chemist enters the scene and scatters his salts.
After only a few years there is evidence that soil treated with artificial fertilizer is reduced to dross. It is another example of man working against Nature and happily obstructing the last remaining source of nutrition, the capillary system of the soil. The field which had previously given the farmer abundance of produce had begun to deteriorate. He instinctively sought the solution by using his deep plough, thus destroying the system of capillaries in the soil. Now the same thing is happening in our forests. Externally everything seems to ripen and thrive, but it is only a façade. The ripening had emerged from putrid ground; the fruits of decay are cancer.” (p.96 ibid.)
For Viktor the growth process revolved around a sequence of the charging and discharging of energy. Growth is a balancing of the charges between the differing electrical voltage between the atmosphere and the earth. If the charge is to be utilized there must be some form of insulation between the two voltage polarities, or else there is only a wasteful short circuit. Viktor discusses this insulation in great detail, he describes it as a skin that the earth must have around it and it is important that the ground must not be stripped bare but must always have a covering of vegetation or something else. He concluded that if the forest can no longer provide a source of good water and if the water courses become Stagnant the water can no longer build up the important ground voltage. This encourages the formation of pathogens, disease producing parasitic bacteria that lower the quality of the produce grown. In an essay published in ‘Natural Farming’ Viktor describes an old farmer considered eccentric even though none of his neighbours could boast of such good harvests. Viktor describes how one day he came upon the old farmer standing in front of a large wooden barrel stirring its contents with a large wooden spoon while singing a musical scale into the barrel rich in tone, ranging from falsetto to double base. As he went up the scale he rotated the spoon in an anti-clockwise motion. When his voice deepened he changed the direction of the rotation. Upon approaching, Viktor saw that the barrel was full of clear water into which the farmer flicked bits of loamy soil while he continued to stir.
When the farmer finished he left it to ferment. By talking to the farmer Viktor discovered that clay mixed in cool water with air-evacuated carbonic acid which is then stirred in the right way will take on a neutral voltage. When this neutrally charged water was then sprinkled over newly harrowed and sown fields and left to evaporate it would leave a coat of exceedingly fine crystals which carried a negative charge. These crystals attract rays from all directions and then radiates them out again. From this a fine membrane, violet in colour between the geosphere and atmosphere builds up which acts as a filter allowing only rays in the highest value to enter and leave the earth. The farmer referred to this membrane as the virgin’s hymen. By this means the seed zone between the geosphere and the atmosphere remains at a practically constant temperature of +4 C even in the driest parts of the year the soil remains cool and moist. At this temperature the crop structure is at its highest potential and as a result of this simple caring for the surface breathing of the earth an increase in crops of some 30% was obtained compared with where it was not carried out. This process of caring for the natural breathing action of the earth was called ‘clay singing’
Viktor learnt other techniques from this farmer. It was important not to use metal ploughs and to plough furrows at right angles to the sun, this was called sun ploughing. Viktor set out to investigate the factual basis for these traditions. Through his careful observations Viktor found that when an iron plough was used, the heat generated by the ploughing action softened the outer layer of the iron so that a residue of iron dust was left over the soil. These iron particles quickly left a coating of rust which discharged the electrical voltage between the moisture, soil, and atmosphere, and so drained the earth of its potential for growth. Both the physical motion of ploughing and the after effects of iron dust lead to a drying and warming of the soil which is detrimental to its fertility.
In response to his findings Viktor focused on using copper, as copper rich soils retain their ground moisture well. He set out to test an iron plough coated with copper and the results proved very favourable to the copper which showed a 17-35% increase. When applied to a large farm near Salzburg the production level rose by 50%. On an hill farm outside Kitzbhul the quantity increased as well as an increase in quality, the crops were resilient to pests while neighbouring farms were attacked and the nitrogen requirements of the soil were reduced.
During 1951-52 tests were carried out by the farming chemical test station, using iron machinery, iron with added copper sulphate and a third area of copper only. Again the copper proved a remarkable success.
In 1948 Viktor had signed a contract with a company in Salzburg for the production of a large number of copper ploughs. However before the assignment was completed Viktor was visited by the Treasury Director from Salzburg’s treasury office. The Director’s purpose was to acquire a percentage of Viktor’s profits since he was at present receiving a royalty from the nitrogen industry for encouraging farmers to use more nitrogen. If the farmers were to change to copper ploughs the need for a nitrogen supplement would be permanently diminished and so the Director demanded compensation. Viktor was furious and sent him packing. However shortly after his contract was terminated by the company and representatives from the local agricultural society begun warning farmers against using the copper plough as it would lead to over production and the eventual fall in prices.
However in 1950 Viktor and Rosenberger and engineer obtained a patent on a method for coating the active surfaces of farm machinery with copper. Viktor went on to develop his plough further, looking next into its movement through the soil, he concentrated on whether the conventional plough even functions in a correct biologically manner. Again he worked on the principle that the soil should be moved in a centripetal motion, and through observing nature at work he designed the spiral plough based on the movements of a burrowing mole. The curling blades of the plough meant that the soil would be worked with almost no resistance, rendering it free from pressure and friction and the warming effect that leads to moisture loss from the soil. *See diagram inset. The design of the spiral plough was meant only for turning the surface layer of the soil. Viktor was against deep ploughing as were the biologically and ecologically influenced farming community, who thought this only disturbed the work of the micro-organisms and upset the natural levelling of the mouldy top soil.
It seems that Viktor’s designs for maintaining soil temperature and moisture through the use of the copper coated spiral plough, would be of most benefit in the arid regions of the earth, which through earth changes have become increasingly dryer and its people increasingly in need of food and drinking water. While in the industrialised world the increasing use and subsequent need of fertilizers is poisoning and deteriorating the soil and drinking wate
Viktor also designed a way of creating compost that increased the soils vitality and so its resistance to pathogens and vegetation disease. He was strictly against the use of phosphate, it being a product of the blast furnace which drains the soil of strength, and any artificial fertilizer that had been subject to fire or warmth, which disrupts the life processes, producing food that will in the long run be harmful to the human body, draining the physical and spiritual energies of the person eating them.
Viktor also gave much attention to designing water pipes that would allow water to follow the spiralling motion while travelling through to populated areas, of course these were made of suitably non polluting materials.
In 1952 Viktor and his son Walter were invited to the technical college of Stuttgart by Professor Popel of the management of water resources to participate in experiments. The initial intention was to discredit Viktor’s ideas but as the investigations got underway the Professor was surprised that the results verified Viktor’s understanding of the properties and principles of water and its movement.
Towards this stage of his life Viktor had experienced many years of strain, through war, financial limitations, arduous research and despair as to the direction humanity was taking over our beloved Mother Earth. His health was suffering from a weak heart and asthma.
In the winter of 1957/58 Viktor was approached by two Americans, drawn to him through the recent publicity given to his Implosion machine (trout turbine). Viktor was still working on perfecting this design although publicly it had been taken up by anti-nuclearists as an alternative source of power.
Shortly after in the following month of June, Viktor and his son were flown to Texas for what was to be a 3 month visit to investigate his work. His documents, models and equipment were also dispatched to the USA. The Schaubergers’ were housed in isolation in the Texan desert during the hottest months of the year. The research results were sent to an expert in Atom technology for analysis who verified their results 100%
After 3 months Viktor expressed his wish to return home but his hosts were reluctant to let him leave after such satisfactory results, it was their intention that the Schaubergers’ stay for the next few years. A month later in September and after much distress for Viktor, he was told that he could go home if he agreed to learn English, he was given 30 minutes to decide. Viktor agreed under duress and his son was also asked to sign a contract which he refused to do, for as a visitor this would have brought him under American law. The agreement also included a statement which precluded any of Viktor Schauberger’s work being passed to anyone other than Mr. Robert Donner, this included his thoughts and knowledge in the past, present and future.
Although shattered by their experience Viktor and his son were not allowed to rest before taking the 19 hour flight home. Unfortunately Viktor lost his will to live, and in only five days after returning home on the 25th September 1958 Viktor died in Linz aged 73. Despairingly he repeated over and over “They took everything from me, everything I don’t even own myself” (p.123 ibid.)
Viktor had given his life for water, the forests, the soil and for Nature’s wholeness and order. Academically untrained his writings and testimonials confirm his breadth of learning and his reseach reflects his extensive knowledge of physics, chemistry and hydrology. He was once asked to explain his authority and knowledge, he replied that no one had taught him but he had the advantage of inheritance which he defined further: “Everything is corpuscular, even energy and light waves. Even matter is inert energy. This also applies to blood, which is a materialised power flow that carries energy from past generations through present to future generations. This flow is not broken with the person’s death, but is carried further to his successors. However, this energy can be degenerated, for example, by negative technology, so that the thoughts and outlook which have accumulated within a person’s being over thousands of years, is lost. It is possible for the person who has the advantage of this gift of inheritance to summon up from his blood all this reservoir of knowledge.” (p.125 ibid.)
Walter Schauberger has promoted Viktor’s work through the Biotechnical Academy, which raises finances through increased interest in the courses and workshops they can provide. In the last 30-40 years the interest and the experimental application of Viktor’s work has continued to develop
Although so many of us live our daily lives detached from nature, I hope there are many of you who can appreciate the profundity of Schauberger’s work. If we can hold in our thoughts the wonderful possibilities that nature holds for us, if we were allowed to learn from and communicate with her. Our Goddess is calling us and though at this time our hands may be tied, our ears, eyes and hearts can still be open so that we can allow ourselves to imagine the purity that could be attained; since all things begin with a thought.
Source Material:
Living Water ~ Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
Olof Alexandersson
The Shocking Truth About Water
Patricia and Paul Bragg
The Water Wizard ~ The Extraordinary Properties of Water
Callum Coats
Living Energy
Callum Coats
With special thanks to James Warnell of Diamond Spring for his assistance in assessing the information in this article.
Researched and compiled by Denise Turner
