The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday February 25th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading and commentary on a chapter, by Fraters Thabion and Solomon, from the forthcoming book Hermetic Yoga, Beyond the Middle Pillar, Vol. 2, titled Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Holy Grail. This will trace the story from Bethlehem to Camelot with some remarkable surprises, such as Jesus was the grandson of King Herod the Great, Jehovah was not his Father in Heaven, that he believed in equality for women, and tolerance for the Gentiles. That he married a Phoenician princess and sought to unite all Israel under the original Most High God EL That his cousin Herod Antipas bribed Pontius Pilate to have him executed, and that Mary Magdalene barely managed to escape with their son to Southern France where they founded the Cult and the lineage of the Sangreal -- Its all documented with the latest discoveries from ancient archives, so tune in and we'll go beyond The D'Vinci Code.

On Thursday February 4th, 2016 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the fascinating military and occult career of Lt.Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (1863-1942) the conqueror of Tibet (1904) and the author of several books on travel, adventure and mystical philosophy. Colonel Younghusband was an officer in British Special forces in India during a cold war between the British and the Russians for control of the Central Asian highlands north of India in the latter days of the 19th century. Their covert conflict was called "The Great Game" and was the stage for high adventure. Rudyard Kipling novelized "The Great Game" in Kim. In 1904 Lord Curson the Viceroy of India sent Colonel Younghusband up into Tibet with an invading British army to flush out the Russians whom Curson was convinced had infiltrated the mysterious country. After slaughtering the primitive Tibetan army, Younghusband took Lhasa but could not find a single Cossack, or even a Russian rifle, However he did stay long enough to have a mystical experience that transformed him from a ruthless conqueror into a peaceful mystical philosopher. He retired to England to write books about his adventures and his visions, which included life on other planets, a philosophy of free love, a spiritual drama society and an expedition to climb Mt. Everest. -- If you want to spend an hour with the Colonel, tune in and we'll hit the trail going up.

On Thursday January 28th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Biblical personages Simon Magus and John the Baptist. We will discuss their association, their influence on the Gnostic movement and the rise of Christianity. We will have Frater Solomon as a guest commentator. Sources will be the works of Tobias Churton "Gnostic Mysteries of Sex" and "Mysteries of John the Baptist" also G.R.S. Mead's "Simon Magus" and "The Book of Enoch" which influenced Gnostic cosmology and the Mandanean books attributed to John the Baptizer. So if you want to be demystified about the Gnosis, tune in and we'll part the veil.

On Thursday January 21st, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review the highlights of the previous year and discuss some of the more noteworthy 2015 shows. This will also be a general call in night for you regular listeners to give us your feedback and comments -- also suggestions and criticisms (however we decapitate trolls so don't be one) Suggest subjects in the Hermetic area that you would like us to discuss and cover in broadcasts this coming year. Our guest call in number is: 347 857 1830. We go on the air at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time and sign off at 9:00 p.m. -- so let's hear from you.

On Thursday January 14th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a commentary on and a reading of the Rubaiyat a Sufi poem from medieval Persia by the mystic and astronomer Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald and published in 1859. The Rubaiyat is quintessentially romantic in style and content. It is said to reflect the ancient cyrenaic hedonistic philosophy of Aristippus and extols a libertine lifestyle in preference to piety. When I was a teenager I needed to break away from Christian fundamentalism so I adopted the Rubaiyat as my alternative to the Bible. I memorized the entire poem so that I could quote seductive passages to Baptist virgins while drinking beer on the beach at sunset. Ah! Those were the days! Or as Omar would put it: "Alas that Spring should vanish with the rose, and youth's sweet scented manuscript should close, the nightingale that in the branches sang, ah whence and wither flown again who knows?" And so, if you yearn to know "What Omar's moving finger writ, " then tune in and we will inoculate you against excessive piety.

On Thursday January 7th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will celebrate the New Year by announcing the release of "Hermetic Yoga, Beyond the Middle Pillar, Volume One", on Amazon.com. Until this January the sale of this book has been offered only to Active and Associate Members of our Church and the O.T.A. at a special discount. Now we are offering it to the Magical community at large. Hermetic Yoga is somewhat controversial in its theoretical structure. It is a fully developed and extended version of the Golden Dawn's "Middle Pillar" system which is based on the downward progression of the Lightning Flash rather than the planetary letter assignments on the Paths on the Tree of Life. Citing Pythagoras, Robert Fludd, Jacob Boehme, Johann Gichtel, Rudolph von Sebottendorff and Manly Hall, this Rosicrucian version of the Western Interior Stars offers all the power and visionary magick of Eastern Tantric practice to those of us here in the West. So if you'd like to get inside yourself in a magical way and meet your Goddesses and Gods then tune in and we'll raise your dragon for the New Year!

On Thursday December 24th, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. PT, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss the magical historical novel "Pythagoras the Mathemagician - by our friend and distinguished author Karim El Koussa. This is a very important book for Hermetic students because it makes the Pythagoras contributions to our Hermetic and Qabalistic systems come to life by by recreating the life and work of the man to whom we owe so much. And who better than a Phoenician scholar to give us a biographic novel of the greatest of the Phoenicians, the father of philosophy and the original Master of the mysteries. In this book you will learn about the Masters' Egyptian initiations (very much like our Crata Repoa), his mystic mathematics, sacred geometry, moral and ethical teachings, vegetarian (vegan) dietary regime and his cosmology The Music of the Spheres. So, if you want to find out how to painlessly acquire a knowledge of the greatest of ancient Magicians, tune in and we'll vist Crotona.

On Thursday December 17th, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. PT the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have as our very special guest Dr. Paul Clark, Steward of the Fraternity of Hidden Light and author of the recent biography "Paul Foster Case" his life and works. Its Dr. Paul on Dr. Paul. Quite a fitting combination, as Paul Clark is certainly Paul Case's successor in his Great Work in the Western Tradition. Paul Case (1884-1954) was a Golden Dawn adept who specialized in a study of the Tarot. When the Golden Dawn deteriorated in America in the 1920s Case carried on the tradition in his own school The Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.). After Case's passing in 1954 the B.O.T.A. was continued by Case's protege Ann Davies. Paul Clark joined the B.O.T.A. under her tutelege and in 1982, after Ann had passed on Paul Clark and two others founded The Fraternity of Hidden Light which carries on Paul Case's school in an G. D. style initiatory structure. Paul's biography of his Master is a labor of love and a must read for anyone interested in the history of occultism in America. You will learn more about the Golden Dawn in New York, Philly, Chicago and California than you ever expected to see in print. This book is a treasure of occult history and lore. And no one is better qualified to write it than Maestro Paul Clark, so tune in and spend an hour with Doctor Paul on Doctor Paul.

On Thursday December 10th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Valentinian Gnostic origins of the Dee-and-Kelley Enochian 30 Aethyr system. This ancient configuration indicates that John Dee had more to do with the actual construction than previously imagined. Apparently the Aethyrs did not spring full-armed from the brow of Kelley, like Athena from the brow of Zeus. Dee was the scholar and must have discovered the Valentinian model in research, thus directing Kelley's skrying. This has prompted us to add Valentinian angelic invoications to the Aethyrs, similar to the way the Shemehamphorash angels are used in Goetia.It acts as a spiritual safety on what is otherwise an entirely elemental process and makes Enochian visions more spiritually and psychologically digestable. So if you want to experience sactified Enochian, tune in and we will fire up the Tablets.

On Thursday December 3rd, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will rebroadcast an interview of Merrick Rees Hamer by Ed Reib (V.H Fra. BT) the host of the esoterinerd podcast. Appropriately enough this is number 33 in that series. Merrick talks about his Masonic and Golden Dawn interests, but most importantly he presents a cycle of original Seasonal poems that are beautiful and inspiring. He also discusses his role as Master Phylos in our 2007 film Beyond Lemuria, so we invite you to spend an hour with the Master as he delivers a memorable performance in magical style.