In the beautiful mountains of Switzerland lies Linden, a small, calm place surrounded by dozens of peaceful little villages.

The region is called Emmental, known for its Emmental cheese.

Linden itself is especially known for the Methernitha group that lives there, and for their Thestatika machine, built by Methernitha's founder, Paul Baumann.

This machine attracts many people from all over the world, for it produces electricity from what is called "free energy." Many think this Thestatika machine could be the answer to our world energy needs, but no-one outside of the Methernitha group knows how it works. And although the Methernitha people have demonstrated their machine to many scientists, the mystery of its operation remains a secret.

Methernitha — The Community

The story of Methernitha goes back a long time. Paul Baumann, its founder, had many visions that led him both to God and to the Bible. And in the fifties, he decided to form a community with others who, like himself, wanted to live their lives based on Christian principles. Thus, the Methernitha Alliance was formed, and the group started to live and work together as a social community, free from outside influences — and foreign money.

Paul Baumann grew up within the circles of the Bruderverein (brotherhood), a Lutheran society, and its influence can still be clearly felt. While it is emphasized that each individual must develop his own spirituality, it is still regarded as desirable that God's Law be adhered to in its entirety. For Baumann's wish was to found a cooperative clearly based upon Christian ideals. To this day many of the group (but not all) still follow strict guidelines, such as abstaining from alcohol.

The people are not organized like a club. They do not have a "guru," and there are no subscription fees. They have no desire to proselytize. They live on their own, and look after their own affairs.

Within Methernitha are departments specializing in precision mechanics, the making of appliances, gardening, and carpentry. All Methernitha members are aware of their responsibility within the social sphere and the balance of nature, and accordingly, an exemplary heating-system, based upon the incineration of wood-waste was installed.

Anyone can become a member of the cooperative who accepts its rules and is willing to do his best to supporting its aims.

The Mayor of Linden says of Methernitha:

They work and live within their community. Their products are of high quality and are partly globally well known. There are no fences or walls between Methernitha inhabitants and the village. The inhabitants — roughly 120 people, including children — have their own free opinion and philosophy, and also have their personal freedom and freedom of action which they never try to impose on other people. On a positive note, one has to take into account that their supporters will be looked after in old age and, if necessary, be provided with medical care and social welfare until death.

So today, Methernitha is a social model, proving the quality of its ideals through having functioned so well for just over forty years.

Methernitha and Free Energy

Ever since the foundation of Methernitha, there has existed a department for research, development, and electronics, which has been concerned with the problem of alternative energy sources. Their focus is on technologies suited to exploit the inherent forces of nature, thus unlocking sources of energy without disturbing nature's ecological balance.

Many believe that humankind's technology must serve us in the long run and not just in immediate terms, but at Methernitha this idea is being fully put into practice.

Although interested in many energy producing fields, Methernithans started more than 30 years ago to concentrate their efforts on lesser known, and even generally unknown, sources of energy. The result of this scientific work was the Thestatika machine. This wonder-machine is fueled from nature — nothing else.

The Methernitha people are very specific about why they could "make" the machine, saying that it is their oneness with nature and their isolation from society that opened up the knowledge.

"We are fortunate in gaining the experience that paradoxically the most beautiful and useful results can be achieved by just using the most simple means," they say. "Never did we use any borrowed capital, because we want to stay free Swiss citizens, and not be hindered or bound in any way in the pursuit of our aims."

The Thestatika

It was not possible to speak to the Methernitha people in time to create this article, and not much is known about the Thestatika, so I will simply report what the Methernitha group writes about it on their own website:

Two counterrotating discs generate an electrostatic charge. One disc represents the earth, the other the clouds. The charges are bound using grid electrodes. After that, they are collected by non-contacting so-called "antenna keys," and then sorted.

After being initially turned on by hand, the discs rotate by themselves according to the electrostatic laws of attraction and repulsion. A rectifying diode keeps the cycles in a steady state. Otherwise, the impulses of attraction and repulsion would accumulate and cause the discs to run faster and faster — the correct speed is of great importance. For optimal power generation, the discs have to run quite steady and slow.

By means of grid condensers, the energy is stored and then uniformly discharged, at the same time reducing the high voltage and building up power with additional devices.

Finally, the machine supplies a uniform direct current, which varies according to the size of the model. The machine furnishes about 3-4 kW permanent output, depending on humidity, whereby the electric potential ranges from 270 to 320 volts.

High humidity of the atmosphere prevents the build-up of electric potential, so the drier the air, the better. No doubt, through the so-far-achieved results, one main objective has been reached, namely, to prove that it is possible to use free energy.

Nevertheless the research work is not yet completed.

The Methernithans realize that to the educated physicist, their machine may seem impossible or even crazy. But they point out that, "A trained specialist should remain free and independent in his thinking, and should avoid being limited by the temporal framework of publicly admitted knowledge in any science. It has to be remembered that the established science has already been forced many times to change or give up some of its most fundamental concepts."

The Methernithans compare today's science to the butterfly, which as a larva must shed its cocoon to reveal the beauty that lies within. This revelation, they feel, "is only possible when man becomes aware of his true role within the whole creation, and again learns to recognize his true tasks. Because the whole universe functions within a strict and precisely structured order according to the will and word of the creator. Therefore, also, man should recognize and realize the universal laws that are valid within the whole and within every part of this creation."

To evolve a free energy technology — no matter how ecologically sound this may be — is not enough.

Thestatika Demonstrations

Over the years the Thestatika has been demonstrated to various technicians and engineers who have been invited to view different versions of Thestatika machines. Most of these technicians and engineers are now retired.

Hans Holzherr from Switzerland was one of those who attended a demonstration. Here is part of his report, as translated by Stefan Harmann:

I am referring in the following to the model with the 50-cm diameter disks. This machine was already running when the visitors stepped into the room, and was not halted during the whole time — we were there for about 1.5 hours.

As a first load, a 1000-Watt lamp was connected for approximately 10 seconds, whose brightness did NOT diminish . . .

The second load was a U-shaped heating element that Mr. Baumann handed to me. It became so hot within one second that I had to put it down immediately! What was particularly impressive was that while he pulled back one of the contact wires (that was with the lamp, I believe), a 1-cm long arc appeared between the output electrode and the connecting wire for approximately one second. The apparatus was under a Plexi-glass hood. Near the base it had two holes which Baumann used to insert the contact wires to touch the output electrodes. . . . .

It was really impressive! One can hardly believe it, with this slow rotation. In any case, this cannot be explained in terms of bare electrostatics in the sense of the Wimshurst machine. The perforated sheets seem to have a key function. Beside the pick-up and the drive electrodes there are a number of small plexiglass blocks with glued-on perforated sheets, whose function is unknown.

There is a great deal available on various websites concerning the design and operation of the Thestatika machine. It's all very technical and some of it is quite detailed. But as those who live and work at Methernitha believe, there is probably not going to be a working prototype developed outside Methernitha except by attention to the same spiritual aspects with which the original Thestatika was developed.

As the Methernithans believe:

To understand nature and to perceive its voice, man is obliged to experience silence and solitude. It was there that the knowledge about this technology was obtained. . . . in valleys and forests, in the mountains and on the shores of lakes, in places where, without being disturbed, one can study nature, one's own being, and the creator of all this universe in silence and concentration.