The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday May 4th, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will  review and discuss "The Red Goddess" (2007) and "Lucifer Princeps"  (2015) by Thelemic magician Peter Grey. The Red Goddess is devoted to  establishing the history and mistique of the Thelemic composite pagan  goddess "Babalon", which he correctly derives from Ishtar and Astarte.  This evolution is for the most part well-researched and well reasoned  from a Thelemic perspective, although Grey is critical of Crowley and  seems to think that Babalon is too good for the Beast. Most importantly  he supports the Divine feminine in magical religion. In "Lucifer  Princeps" he does the same for Lucifer on the male side of the magical  religious pantheon. In this case he works from Isaiah back to the Book  of Enoch, correctly concluding that Lucifer was originally Semyaza and  of Canaanite origin. With the exception of his interest in Simon Magus  Grey seems to ignore the early Christian Gnostic contributions to Magick  but his books are nonetheless readable and thought provoking -- so tune  in and we shall look at our magical history through a glass darkly.

On Thursday April 2Oth, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon  will continue to review and discuss the modern English (2004)  translation of Otto Rahn's 1937 Lucifer's Court. This was Rahn's travel  journal from Southern France to Iceland when he researched his personal  quest to solve the mystery of the Holy Grail as described in the  Medieval romance Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Rahn believed that  the Medieval Cathars -- the Gnostic Heretics who were wiped out by the  Roman Catholic Albigensian Crusade in the 1300s, were the keepers of the  Grail. In this instalment we will get into the possible Persian  Manichean origin of Parzival (Aryan of course) and Rhan's fascination  with Hercules and the Argonauts legends (also Aryan) We will also  discuss Nigel Graddon's 2008 Bio on Rahn and his rundown on all of our  favorite Nazi Spook Books influenced by Rahn's quest. So tune in and we  will follow the shadow of the swastika from Southern France to Tibet and  back again.

On Thursday April 13th, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon  will review and discuss the modern English (2004) translation of Otto  Rahn's 1937 Lucifer's Court. This was Rahn's travel journal from  Southern France to Iceland when he researched his personal quest to  solve the mystery of the Holy Grail as described in the Medieval romance  Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Rahn believed that the Medieval  Cathars -- the Gnostic Heretics who were wiped out by the Roman Catholic  Albigensian Crusade in the 1300s -- were the keepers of the Grail and  that they were devotees of Lucifer. He was very favorable to Nazi Aryan  race theories and was invited to join Himmler's SS. Rahn's veneration of  Lucifer as the God of the Medieval French and German heretics may be the  main source of what has been called Nazi Satanism. Lucifer was actually  another name for Semyaza, the leader of the Fallen Angels in the Book of  Enoch. We will try to sort out the errors in Otto Rahn's work and give  him credit where credit is due. In spite of his political incorrectness  he was an intrepid anthropologist and folklorist and his book is a  fascinating read for those interested in the occult history of Europe.  So tune in and we will explore the castles and caverns of the lost land  of the Troubadours in search of the Holy Grail.

On Thursday March 30th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon (or Roygnon) will review and discuss the 1982 Bestseller "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. This is the book that generated "The Da Vinci Code" and is the first mainstream modern speculation on Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene and possibly having heirs who become The Grail Family and, according to the author's become the magical, holy bloodline of the Legendary Merovingian dynasty of French Kings in the days of King Arthur. This bloodline is perpetuated and protected by a medieval secret society that still exists in modern France, The Priory of Sion (Zion). The book is a door-stopper and not very well organized. They try to make it read like a detective story rather than a straight forward documentary presentation. Unless you are fascinated by the subject you may get bogged down with all the mystery before you reach the solution -- but if you stick with it the overall effect is convincing. And to devout Christians perhaps shocking. There are some problems, not with the idea of the Grail family. That is very well presented, but with the authenticity of the Priory of Sion itself. Yes there was one back in medieval times -- but is today's fraternity and its family leadership directly connected to the early medieval Merovingians? In any case the book is a great introduction to this fascinating subject. It certainly got me to looking into my old French antecedents. I discovered the Merovingian "golden bees" on the Roygnon family crest and began to wonder if I had a little of this magical blood? I recall Hamlet said: "To bee or not to bee." I wonder if he was Merovingian. Tune in and we'll explore the mystery of the Grail Family.

On Thursday March 16th, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss Joseph P. Farrell's 2014 book "Thrice Greatest Hermetica and the Janus Age".This is a confusing title for a sometimes confusing book, but it is still worth our attention. Basically it outlines an historical conspiracy theory that goes this way: The Medieval Knights Templar (the first military industrial and international banking conglomerate) in collusion with the Republic of Venice launch a Roman Catholic Crusade allegedly aimed at Palestine but deflected to Constantinople to destroy and loot the Byzantine Greek Orthodox half of the old Roman Empire. The Templars are okay with this but when the greedy Pope sicks them on the Gnostic Christians (Cathars) in their own home turf, Southern France, they back out. The Cathars are destroyed. The Pope's buddy the King of France asks a loan from the Templars, they refuse him, so he and the Pope turn on them and destroy them in France. But they survive in Scotland, England and elsewhere. and they are still allied with wealthy Venice. They are an underground network, Meanwhile the Roman Church allies with Genoa, Florance and Spain. The Venetians and the Templars make it to America before Columbus (a Genoavian-Spanish agent) but Columbus plants the Spanish flag. The Templars and Venetians infiltrate England with a culture war -- infusing the English (Dee, Fludd and Shakespeare) with Hermeticism and the proxy war for the New World is on. Drake, Morgan et allia against the Spanish. What a plot! Sounds crazy but Joe has a PhD from Oxford in Medieval Church history so he is worth reading on subjects like this. Tune in and we'll check it out.

On Thursday March 9th, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar Winning 1976 motion picture Network. Network is a scathing satire on the intellectual and moral corruption of American Television networks, especially their News Departments. Much of the corruption Network presents was just beginning to come about in 1976, but was fully in place by the 1980s according to Dave Itzkoff in his book “Mad as Hell” 2014, and is presently erupting in the Network News Media's efforts to actually support the overthrow of the elected government of the United States of America. The focus of the 1976 film is t.v. Anchorman Howard Beale who is about to be fired for low ratings. Depression and alcohol have driven Beale to madness and he becomes The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves preaching his mantra chant: “I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!” This drives his ratings sky high until the Network entertains a bid from a Saudi Arabian conglomerate. Beale urges his viewers to protest the Arab deal to the White House and is successful in delaying the procedure. The head of the Network's corporation Arthur Jensen confronts Beale and convinces him that the New World Order has made populist democracy obsolete. So Beale goes back on the air trying to sell the Globalist agenda. Telling his followers that democracy is obsolete and that they should accept dehumanization. Of course his ratings drop to the cellar. But Jensen won't let the Network fire him, so the executives convince the radicals of their documentary Mao Tse Tung hour to machine-gun Beale in the studio as he comes on stage for his show. This will up their ratings and pay for Beale's deficit. It's all a business. That's the gist of it but stay with us and we'll dig deeper into this masterpiece of American prophetic cinema.

On Thursday February 23rd, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the the modern yoga ritual version of the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. This is the fully developed Rosicrucian version of Hermetic Yoga Beyond the Middle Pillar as presented in volume one of Hermetic Yoga, Beyond the Middle Pillar. This advanced version, draws upon The Naassene Document, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Mary, the Chemical Wedding itself, and the works of Jacob Boehme and Johann Gichtel. This reveals that the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O. and the Great Rite of the Gardnerians are both derived from original Valentinian Gnostic Christian sources. So if you want to experience some R-rated Rosicrucian yoga, tune in and we'll take you into the mirrored chamber of the Sacred Marriage.

On Thursday February 9th, 2017 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the second part of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz by Valentin Andreae 1616, followed by an interpretation of the symbolism in relation to internal alchemy, the extended Middle Pillar chakra system and Valentinian Gnostic Christianity. We will describe the Sacred Marriage within the adept him/or/herself as an analog to the operations on the Sixth Day in the Tower of Olympus. We will refer to works by Jacob Boehme, The creation of the Magical Child, Johann Gichtel and the mysteries of the Spiral and the Lightning Flash. And the Homunculus of Paracelsus. This is the lost Key to Rosicrucian Sex Magick and the ultimate secret of the Hieros Gamos. Tune in and be enlightened.

On Thursday February 3rd, 2017 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present our interpreted and explained version of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz (1614). The Chemical Wedding is the third of the mysterious Rosicrucian documents that appeared in Central Europe in the early 17th century. It is an alchemical fantasy that might even be called "Science Fiction." Occultists have tried to unravel it's secrets for the last four hundred years and we will offer our interpretation tonight as we accompany old Christian Rosencreutz on his visit to the mysterious castle and his participation in the alchemical operation to resurrect the King and Queen. The solving of its riddles has been just as exciting an adventure as the story itself. So tune in and come with us to the Castle of the Rosicrucians.

On Thursday January 19th, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss the 1934 horror classic "Creep Shadow, Creep" by Fantasy Grand Master Abraham Merritt. This forgotten tale has influenced such modern films and t.v. shows as Dark Shadows and recently "Outlander." It deals with a family feud that carries on for thousands of years between reincarnating ancestors of two ancient Breton Celtic clans. The lord of Carnac and the Royal family of the legendary sunken city of Ys. In their present (1930s) incarnations an anthropologist, specializing in the occult (like Indian Jones) and a psychiatrist specializing in hypnotic age-regression with a beautiful daughter who was and is a reincarnating evil soul-stealing witch. This story was the second in a series of such tales by Merritt, being the sequel to "Burn Witch, Burn" (1934) which was made into a film with Lionel Barrymore and influenced both Twilight Zone and the "Chucky" series. So if you want to discover the roots of ancient evil surviving in the deep mind, tune in and we will explore the dark world of the creeping shadows.