Wishing Machine
When author G. Harry Stine chose to include the Wishing Machine as a subject in
his On the Frontiers of Science (NYC: Simon & Schuster,
1985), he claimed to be hesitant owing to the machine's unconscionable truculence. In order to properly
use a Wishing Machine, one devises a wish (in the form of a brief text, representative image, or diorama
consisting of smallish objects) and places it between the copper plates, throws the
switch, and waits. That's it—no complicated dial settings. The copper-plated chamber serves
as a vast capacitor, ultimately
charging the outer ether with the contents that inform its amplified
signal. With the addition of fur, Stine's
electronic invention becomes orgonomically active as well, per Wilhelm Reich's
theory that alternating layers of inorganic and organic material (e.g.,
copper and fur) will effectively yield Orgone energy. Like electricity, Orgone
pervades the etheric realm in which we live. Unlike electricity, it is not electromagnetically measurable. A wish placed by the fingers inside the
fur-lined copper chamber now transmits two distinct types of subtle
organic signal—amplified together, in tandem.
When Woodard asked Stine, shortly before his passing, to inscribe
a copy of the 2nd edition of Frontiers (retitled Mind Machines
You Can Build) for William S. Burroughs, Stine asked Woodard to
clarify the spelling of Burroughs' name—and whether the middle initial were really necessary. He then confirmed his
unawareness of the poignant tale about the machine that appears in the closing pages (PDF) of Burroughs'
Midwestern/Egyptian novel Western Lands (NYC: Viking,
1987), an enduring
tribute to Stine's pioneering, granted intrinsically anal/obscurantist, spirit. (LINK and LINK)
