ly; there were further scenes between Annie and him on this account.
Lore’s visits became rarer as the forties progressed. The long-standing alliance of
Lore with her mother deepened. In 1948, Lore paid a surprise visit to Reich in Forest Hills
after years of separation. According to Ilse, Reich had just had a series of painful tooth
extractions and her visit occurred when his jaw was so swollen he was unable to talk to any-
one. He refused to see her, a rejection so total one cannot attribute it solely to his pain,
silence, and facial disfigurement. In addition, he had grown to feel that Lore did not belong
to his way of life, and once such a decision was made he could be ruthless. Understandably,
Lore was deeply hurt and there was practically no further contact between them.
Wolfe was the first co-worker to join Reich in spending summers in Maine. He
bought a cabin very near Reich’s so they could have easy access to each other and the oppor-
tunity to discuss translations and other matters in a far less hectic atmosphere than New
York City. At the time Wolfe was living with Jo Jenks, a sensitive, spirited sculptress whose
work Reich very much admired. Jo was also a patient of Reich’s—and much in awe of him.
Reich’s attitude toward the relationship between Theo, as Wolfe was called by those
close to him, and Jo vividly illustrates how important Wolfe was to him. In 1942, Wolfe had
a recurrence of his tuberculosis and was invalided for some months. After his recovery,
Reich told Jo in a therapeutic session that Wolfe was so valuable to orgonomy he must ask
her to end the relationship. Jo had three children from a previous marriage, and Wolfe was
not prepared for that kind of familial burden, Reich maintained; it would interfere with his
work. Jo, stunned, took up the matter with Theo that night over dinner at a restaurant. His
silence led her to believe that he concurred with Reich. She left the restaurant abruptly and
the relationship broke off. She maintained her contact with Reich, however, and later
became friendly again with Theo^11.
I have heard this incident only from Jo herself; there may have been mitigating cir-
cumstances. On the face of it, Reich’s self-serving directive violated the true therapeutic
spirit. It is another frightening example of the lengths he would go to protect his vital inter-
ests or,as he would put it,the vital interests oforgonomy.
In the summer of1942,it was Jo who discovered the abandoned farm that Reich
would later buy and name “Orgonon” and that would become his scientific base. Located a
few miles west ofRangeley village and a few miles east of Mooselookmeguntic Lake, the
farm was part woodland and part meadow. The hill, which Reich thought would be the ideal
site for a future observatory, had a beautiful view of the mountains and lakes. There were a
well and a spring on the land, and about half a mile of shoreline on Dodge Pond. In 1942,
when Reich bought the land, the 280 acres cost about $4,000.
Orgonon grew over the years. In 1943, Reich built his first cabin on the land, a one-
room structure that provided some isolation for his writing while the family remained at the
small Mooselookmeguntic cabin. In 1945, he had a laboratory constructed, which could
accommodate a large number of students who wished to observe the energy phenomena,
to learn the Reich Blood Tests, to study the effects of orgone energy application on cancer
in mice, and to study protozoa and bions under the microscope. The Students’ Laboratory
24 : Personal Life and Relations with Colleagues: 1941-1950 317