Johann Ernst Elias Bessler was born simply Elias Bessler and is known to have added the other two names around the time he adopted his pseudonym, ORFFYREUS. No explanation has ever been offered; in fact I don’t think anyone was aware that he had done this. Why would he do this? He changed his surname, through the atbash cipher, from Bessler to Orffyreus, so logically one can extend the process to at least his initials including the new ones. J.E.E.B then becomes W.R.R.O. Bessler sometimes wrote his Ws like this: -

It is composed of two Vs which, given Bessler’s predilection for alphanumeric juggling and his use or abuse of Roman numbering, must have seemed the perfect solution to producing two 5s making 55. Not content, however with this simple method of including the number 55 in his name, Bessler has also used his pre-existing forename, Elias, to produce another 55, by adding another forename beginning with E for Ernst. E is the fifth letter of the alphabet, so again he has a hidden 55 within his name. .

So Bessler choose the name ‘Johann’ to produce, through the atbashg cipher, the letter ‘W’. One can see why he might have chosen the extra ‘E’ to accentuate the references to the number 5, but was the letter ‘R’ obtained through the atbash cipher significant? I believe it was. Two of them are placed on either side of the letter ’O’ which represents his wheel as well as his pseudonym, Orffyreus, and therefore they must have been important and not just decorative.

Bessler signed many of his letters with a kind of avatar, this is it:- Notice that there are two letter ‘R’s one facing each way and supporting what can only be the wheel. My research indicates that this figure shows the paths of the pairs of weights. It was therefore part of his intention to include the letter ‘R’ in his new name, albeit through the atbash cipher.

If he had used a name such as Ivan, instead of its alternative letter ‘J’, the ‘I’ would still indicate the atbash equivalent ‘W’, but names beginning with ‘I’ are less common. Ivan is one and is the quivalent of Johann but not typically German I believe that the letter ‘J’ was probably the least important initial as it had no purpose other than pointing to the letter ‘W’

So many small clues withing such a small feature are typical of Bessler’s work and in fact there is a considerable amount of evidence that shows that Bessler typically strove to include every possible way of incorporating clues in every method he chose to use.

For more information about Johann Bessler and to obtain copies of his books with English translations go to www.free-energy.co.uk

Copyright © 2009 John Collins.