The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday February 27th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a purposefully cryptic lecture on the Hermetic conception of immortality and the concept of "The Great I AM," in Qabalah, astrology, alchemy, magick and Kalachakra. This profound and ultimate mystery can be explained briefly in fairly simple terms, but whenever someone tries to do this they are either laughed at, locked up, or put to death. The concept is so feared and reviled that it is demonized by psychologists and marginalized by modern philosophers, although the great pre-Socratean thinkers Parmenides, Empedocles and Heraclitus considered it primary: the starting point from which the science of logic and reason arise.The Great Secret is obviously not for everybody even though Jesus tried to get the common man to understand it in mythic rather than philosophic terms. And even though he mythologized it, he still got himself killed! So, we can't come right out and cast our pearls before swine, lest they "turn and rend us." But we can at least point to the philosophy and the science behind our mystery -- and encourage those who have "the mind" as well as "the speech" to find the center point and "the prize for the souls." So tune in and peek behind the veil.  

On Thursday February 20th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will welcome Frater Heracles, Master of the Austin, Texas Hermitage of the O.T.A. who will give us a reprise of his recent lecture to S.O.M.A. (Society of Magical Artists) entitled "Magical Balance." The gist of this talk is the proposition that Magick should be in all ways a balanced symphony of the positive Forces of Light controlling and directing the negative Forces of Darkness. This is a principal of operation that goes back to ancient Egypt and has been unchallenged in magick until the rise of the Faustian School in the 18th century. Today's Thelemites and Chaos magicians may not agree with it, but it is still the basic two-stroke engine that runs Golden Dawn and O.T.A. magick. John will discuss its aspects in Hermetic yoga, alchemy, qabalah, and the Elements. This is rich food for the mind, so tune in and be well served.  

On Thursday February 13th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present the founders of S.O.M.A., "The Society of Magical Artists," founded in Austin, Texas over a decade ago, discussing the formation of their council, its scope and agenda, and its schedule of coming events. This is a prestigious group of Hermetic magical scholars and facilitators. SOMA is interfraternal, and eclectic, including G.D., O.T.O. and others under its umbrella. We will have Paxton Knight, Jeffrey Lee Contreras, and Paul Edward Rana calling in. We are honored to have these distinguished leaders of the magical community on the Hermetic Hour. SOMA  is sponsoring The Third Annual Western Mystery Conference at the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin, Texas on October 24th, 25th, and 26th. SOMA holds monthly lectures as well. On February 15th, our own John Sheffield, Master of the Austin O.T.A. Hermitage, will be speaking on Solomonic Magick. - So, if you want to meet The Masters and learn what they have in store for us, tune in and get SOMA.

On Thursday February 6th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 21st Path of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, leading from Netsach to Chesed. This is the Path attributed to Jupiter, the Hebrew letter "Kaph", (the Hand), and the Tarot Trump "The Wheel of Fortune." The Sphere of Chesed is also attributed to the Planet Jupiter, making this a very powerful positive combination. We have a unique interpretation of The Wheel of Fortune which also appears in our Crata Repoa initiatory system. Chesed (Jupiter) is appropriately ruled by the Phoenician Father God El (AL) and we place the Phoenician God Dagon in residence. Chesed also relates to Atlantis as the ruling realm of the mythical world. So if you want to go back in time and meet an amphibious ancient astronaut, tune in make the journey with us.

On Thursday, January 30th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present a panel discussion on the 22nd Path of the Tree of Life, leading from Tiphareth to Geburah. The Path is attributed to the astrological sign Libra, the Scales of Balance, the Tarot Trump "Justice," and the Hebrew and Phoenician letters "Lamed," both representing the Ox Goad -- which has a remarkable symbolism relating to a Biblical-Canaanite mystery we will reveal for the first time. This Path also ends up at the narrow bridge leading to the Castle on the Edge of the Abyss (Geburah). Again we refer to John Michael Greer's "Paths of Wisdom" and Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism." Now, if you want to meet Osiris in the Great Hall of Judgement, remember, like Santa Claus, he has a list of who's been naughty and who's been nice -- so be good for goodness sake!  

On Thursday January 23rd, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 23rd Path of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, leading from the Sphere of Hod to the Sphere of Geburah on the Pillar of Severity. This Path is attributed to the Element of Water and the Tarot Trump "The Hanged Man." Once again our texts for reference will be Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism" and John Michael Greer's "Paths of Wisdom." We will delve into the history and the mystery of the strange "Hanged Man" and give you our own unique interpretation of its meaning from Greek Mythology. So, if you want to cross stormy seas to Anath's Castle on the Edge of Forever, be sure to join us for another exciting adventure in the Land of Otz Chiim.  

On Thursday January 16th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the ancient Phoenicians and the Hermetic Tradition. This follows last week's review of "Jesus the Phoenician" by Karim el Koussa. The references for this evening's discussion will be the recent "Phoenician Secrets" by Sandford Holst and "The Phoenicians, the Purple Empire of the Ancient World" by Gerald Herm, Our focus will be on Phoenician contributions to, and influence on, Western occultism and magick. It has recently been established that the Phoenician culture is one of the oldest in the world. It's roots go back nine thousand years. The Phoenicians were building and sailing ocean-going ships long before the Pyramids were built. The first pyramid was built by European architects brought from Malta to Egypt by Phoenician contractors. The Phoenicians were very secretive about their business and their religion. We will discuss their astrological religion (the Labors of Hercules), their magical alphabet (the real origin of the Qabalah) and their possible connection with Atlantis. So, if you want to voyage with the Purple People on ancient seas, tune in and we'll hoist the mainsheet.  

On Thursday January 9th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss the new book by the Lebanese Christian author Karim el Koussa "Jesus the Phoenician". This is a highly controversial subject. Karim's thesis is revolutionary but quite possibly true. He sets out to prove by the Bible itself - New and Old Testaments - that Jesus of Nazareth was not a Jew and that the God he called 'his Father" was the Canaanite "EL", not the Jewish YHVH. (Jehova). This should be a very provocative and enlightening discussion -- so tune in and get Salvation Phoenician style.  

On Thursday January 2nd, 2014 The Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, opens the New Year with a fascinating lecture from Chris Cooley, avant-garde film maker (Neptune Films), composer-musician-singer (Hyperfire Records) and author. Chris's talk is entitled: "The Sexual Mysteries - Beyond Good and Evil." Along with his creative activities Chris is a member of a traditional Magical Order with which we are closely affiliated, and is on his way to becoming a Hermetic philosopher, so if you'd like to listen to the wisdom of one we think may become a 21st century Master, tune in and be inspired.  

Happy Holidays! The Thursday after Christmas, December 26th, 2013, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the lost and forgotten magical fantasy novel by the infamous science fiction hoaxer Richard S. Shaver. Actually Shaver's editor Ray Palmer was the hoaxer; Shaver believed he was writing "the truth' about the survivors of ancient extraterrestrials still living in caverns below and plaguing surface people with mind-control ray machines. This dubious expose was called "The Shaver Mystery" and dominated the pages of AMAZING STORIES, America's most popular sci-fi mag in the 1940s. Shaver's weird tales of the subterranean "Dero World" are enjoying a modest revival in reprinted editions. We were among the first 21st century Shaver revivalists with our 2007 film BEYOND LEMURIA. In our new version of "The Shaver Mystery" we placed the Cavern World of the Deros in another dimension, a parallel world very close to our own. However Shaver himself always insisted that his underground Deros were in this physical dimension --whereas his editor Palmer insisted they were "disembodied spirits." Shaver was an empathic receiver, a rue mystic. He revealed what might be the real secret of his Cavern World in a marvelously crafted fantasy novel that never has had a title of its own. It appeared in three separate issues of AMAZING and FANTASTIC from 1947 through 1949. The first part was "The Tale of The Red Dwarf," next came the third part "Daughter of the Night," followed by the second part two years later called "Erdis Cliff." Shaver precedes Moorcock's fictional Multiverse, and even M-Theory by decades. -- So, if you want to discover a new dimension, tune in and we'll slide down the worm hole.

On Thursday December 19th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will have as its distinguished guest the noted author on subjects arcane and esoteric, John Michael Greer. John's first book "Paths of Wisdom" has been of considerable help to us as an authoritative source in our on-going series of lectures on the Hermetic-Qabalistic Tree of Life. John is also the translator of the medieval Latin version of "Picatrix", with Christopher Warnock, which has now become as important in the magical revival as Tyson's Agrippa. Although certainly a Hermetic scholar John Michael Greer's magical heart lies in the Celtic-Druidic tradition. He has written several books in this area and is a practicing Druid himself. His latest work combines the Hermetic Golden Dawn and the Druidic traditions, both of which were active in Victorian England. John discovered a historic interchange between these two very British expressions and he has lovingly reconstructed the synthesis in "The Celtic Golden Dawn," -- So, let us go out to Stone Henge and see how the Druids do a Pentagram Ritual.

On Thursday December 12th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour will present the second program devoted to Jack Parson's 1946 essay "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword" with the reading of chapters three and four: "The Sword and the Spirit" and "The Woman Girt with the Sword." These writings are the philosophical and spiritual meat of this masterpiece of modern mystical, spiritual and philosophical speculation. You will be amazed at the predictive quality of Parson's perspective. It seems to be an epitome of 1980's feminist, environmental and neo-pagan thought written over thirty years before the flowering of these ideas. So tune in and continue the journey into the future from the past with America's rocket scientist magician at the controls of the time machine.  

On Thursday December 5th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will read chapters from the essay Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword by rocket scientist and magician John Whiteside Parsons. Along with being one of the original founders of JPL in Pasadena, California (sometimes called "Jack Parsons Library") and a developer of solid rocket fuel essential to the space program, Parsons was also an occultist and a magician. He ran an O.T.O. lodge and was a dedicated follower of Aleister Crowley. Parsons' colorful, but tragically short life has been celebrated in the recent books "Sex and Rockets" by someone calling himself "John Carter" and "Strange Angel" by George Pendle -- Also a very good stage play from the Cal Tech drama department called "Pasadena Babalon." Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was written at the end of World War Two. It is a remarkable prediction of liberalism, civil rights and women's rights --  in fact we might say that Parson's was the forerunner of feminist neo-paganism in California. His views on the mystical and spiritual superiority of women were much different than his mentor Crowley's. We received the Parson's Papers from Gerald Yorke in 1972. The first publication of Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was my edited version published in our journal The Seventh Ray in 1976 through 1978. The essay has been subsequently published by the O.T.O. in 1990 and again in 2001. It is still in print and available from Amazon. We did a previous Hermetic Hour broadcast on Jack Parsons which you can find in our podcast archives -- now you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand and enjoy the writings of this rocket scientist, especially when he has a crater on the Moon named after him -- on the Dark Side of course.  

On Friday, November 29th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 24th Path on the Hermetic Qabalah's Tree of Life. This is the Path attributed to Death, the right hand guardian or gate to Tiphareth, with the Devil on the left side as Path 26. These two gates are considered soul testing challenges to the central Sun, and realm of the Solar Logos represented by Tiphareth. Our texts will be Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism and John Michael Greer's Paths of Wisdom. This Path will give us an opportunity to discuss the nature and meaning of Hermetic enlightenment, the concept of individual consciousness being eternal consciousness, and what Eliphas Levi really meant when he wrote: "Death is man's way of conquering immortality." --- So, if you want to live forever, tune in and get a head start on it.  

On Thursday November 21st, 2013 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the "Enochian" legend and tradition in magick, Freemasonry, the Bible, and the various versions of the Book of Enoch itself. We will examine the elements and sources of the Masonic Enoch legend, the lost Ethiopian Book of Enoch and its unique description of the Fallen Angels and their attributions, the Pagan Solarism of Enoch's Angelic vision, and the special Enochian universe of John Dee and Edward Kelley. We will also compare the Book of Enoch to the ancient Sumerian/Babylonian myth of the Anunnaki, the Goetia, and Milton's Paradise Lost. So once again tune in and get Enochulated.