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. But there is more. We discussed the fact that a pentagram or pentagon was revealed inside the Apologia wheel, and the angles of the pentagon are all based on the angle, 18 degrees. The letter ‘R’ used in Bessler’s name when ’atbashed’ from ‘E’, is the 18th letter of the alphabet.

It is common knowledge that the alphabet used in Germany had only 24 letters in it because the ‘I’ and the ‘J’, and the ‘U’ and the ‘V’, were interchangeable. I have tended to use the 26 letter alphabet to obtain the atbash cipher for Bessler’s name because that is what I thought he used, but some will argue that because there were only 24 letters in their alphabet, then ‘R’ was actually the 17th letter and therefore we cannot make the assumption that Bessler intended this letter to represent the 18 degrees of his pentagram. In which case there is another reason for the inclusion of the letter ‘R’.

A simple search for the letter ‘J’ in Apologia Poetica reveals that there are none, which appears to confirm the belief that a 24 letter alphabet was used, however the letter ‘J’ was used in proper names as in Johann’s case. The ‘R’ is the atbash equivalent of the ‘E’ and is the same regardless of how many letters are in the alphabet. If it can be shown that there was a deliberate requirement for the letter ‘J’ to be included in his name, other than as the atbash equivalent of the letter ‘W’, then this might lend more weight to my contention that the 18 degrees was also intentionally included as a means of identifying the presence of a pentagram. In fact the evidence is available although none as far as I know are aware of it.

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 indicate the atbash equivalent ‘V’, which might have sufficed as another indicator of the number 5, but the 55 in the ‘W’ was better and since the ‘J’ was used it must indicate ‘W’ so he must have intended the 26 letter alphabet. Therefore ‘R’ represents 18.

It seems self-evident that such care would include the proviso that the angle 18 was conveniently included. 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.