The Hermetic Hour

On New Years Day 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the importance of Canaanite/Phoenician mythology in Magick and magical Qabalah and in Solomonic ceremonial magick. We will explore how it can relate to Alchemy, astrology, and Hermetic Solarism. We will discuss the Alchemical symbolism of our Cannanite Seasonal rites and the relation of Canaanite Gods and Goddesses to the Sumerian and classical Greek Pantheons. So if you want to explore what lies behind the myth of Solomon being the Master Magician, tune in and we'll introduce you to the real "oldest religion".

On Christmas night December 25th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a special program in which Frater Thabion, your host and the founder of the Order of the Temple of Astarte, will trace the books and films that influenced and inspired him to create and develop his unique American system of Magick. I grew out of the Oz books and graduated to the Mars books (John Carter) then into a teenage fascination with Richard Shaver's hi-tech Lemurian survivor stories. I will go to my 1950s early college days watching films such as Jean Cocteau's Orpheus, and Orson Welles Black Magic (on Cagliostro and Mesmer) and move on through to a study of Voodoo in line with my Caribbean adventurer-fiction writer persona. The Saragossa Manuscript for Kabbalah and mirror magick, Graves The White Goddess. Then my illness which I tried to cure with self-hypnosis. This led to a serious study of hypnosis along with Tibetan Tantra (Evans-Wentz) and finally Western Magick. Mastering the Goetia with the mirror method led to Jungian psycho-philosophy and the study of anthropology culminating in a Master's Degree in the subject from California State University. During this program I created the modern Hermetically oriented Neo-Canaanite Seasonal ceremonies for our magical order The Temple of Astarte, The main purpose of our Goetia was to bring up and reestablish the Secret Goddess of old King Solomon himself. We use the 1770 Hermetic-Masonic rite of Crata Repoa as a structure for our system and I will discuss the sources behind this. Perhaps some of these books and teachings will help others to understand our perspective on the Western Tradition and what we expect to accomplish by what we call The Great Work.

On Thursday December 18th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Mission Statement of the Church of the Hermetic Sciences and the Ordo Templi Astartes. This is one of the topics that was discussed at our last Board of Director's Meeting as especially important with our membership increasing and new lodges begin opening around the country. In the magical community we are known as the folks that know how to make ritual magick work, but that in itself is not enough of a reason for people to join us unless they simply want to learn our techniques and methods to use for their own purposes. Frankly, that is not what we are here for and we are not teaching magick so that it can be misused. We consider magick to be a system of mental and spiritual development that leads to what we refer to as enlightenment -- which we define as a close personal relationship with God. We follow a pattern of hermetic mytho-philosophy born in Alexandria in the first century and perfected by the Renaissance neo-platonic/hermetic magi in 14th-15th-16th century Europe culminating in the Rosicrucian tradition. We combine paganisn, Qabalah, astrology and alchemy in line with Jungian psychology in a neo-romantic Quest for the Holy Grail based on a linage of eternal goddesses and dying gods from the time of Melchizedek to the beginnings of Christianity. So, if you have wondered just why we do what we do and where we are going with it, tune in and be enlightened.

On Thursday December 4th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with Host Poke Runyon will review and discuss the latest controversial book attempting to prove a marriage between Jesus and Mary the Magdalene: "The Lost Gospel" by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson. This is basically a reinterpretation of an ancient text, the elaborated story of Joseph and Aseneth from Genesis seen as a coded allegory for Jesus and Mary the Magdalene being married and having a family. They make some very good arguments for this interpretation. Apparently this is not a new idea but this "Lost Gospel" has been speculated as a coded text for hundreds of years. We find it particularly important because it lines up with the Nassaene Hippolytus document behind our conception of the secret Holy Grail history suggested in From Ritual to Romance. Frater Solomon discovered a link from The Lost Gospel to the Crata Repoa that I find is quite significant. It also seems that Mary the Magdalene (Mary the Lady of the Tower) may have been known to the original Rosicrucians. So if you want to get a Hermetic view on "The Lost Gospel" tune in and we will start decoding.

This Thursday November 20th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have a call-in night for our regular listeners. We are on the air from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm pacific time. Our call in number is: 347 857 1830 so give us a ring and ask about anything we've covered on the air or suggest new topics for us to present. We have been putting out a great deal of interesting magical and occult material latley and we need to know what you think about it. So let's hear from you. We'll try to have our regular guests on also that's Fraters Osiris and Heracles. So it will be a sort of Hermetic chat room.

On Thursday November 13th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the relationship between the mystic roses or chakras of yoga with the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation in the Bible. This is of special interest to Rosicrucians and the Rosicrucian tradition in our own Inner Order the O.R.C. We will follow the order of the Seven branch candlestick as does the Golden Dawn but we will mention other arrangements, such as suggested by James Pryce (1910) in Apocalypse Unsealed and his current immitator: Zachary Landsdowne, author of "The Revelation of Saint John" (2006). Revelation has been the cornerstone of Christian mystical texts since the first century of the common era. So if you want to discover what those Seven Seals are hiding then tune in and let's open them up.

On Thursday November 6th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will report on our visit to Austin Texas' Avalon Lodge and participation in the recent S.O.M.A. magical conference there along with initiations and our Mot Mass.  The next week we were off to visit Atlantis Lodge in Atlanta Georgia there to deliver a lecture at the Atlanta Masonic Center, do another Mot Mass (our Halloween cermony honoring our ancestors) and confer fourth degree Ordo Rosae Crucis initiations on our Texas and Georgia Lodge Masters. Very. Honored. Fraters Heracles Avalon and Osiris Atlantis will both be our call-in guests. Their hospitality in Texas and Georgia was wonderful and for V.H. Sor. Zandria and myself it was more like an extended vacation than a fraternal business trip although we all worked hard to make all these events successful and rewarding. Members came from all over the United States to help and participate. We thank you all and consider ourselves honored by your support. It was a magical adventure we will remember always, so if you want to catch up on our nation-wide progress be sure to tune in and be informed.

On Thursday October 16th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present an advance review on his forthcoming book Hermetic Yoga Beyond the Middle Pillar this is a new offering from CHS/OTA that has been a long-time in the works. The yoga system described and brought to life in this book has been practiced by the O.T.A. since 1975 and is an extension of Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn Middle Pillar exercise following the Lightning flash going down the spheres from Kether to Malkuth forming a complete straight line chakra system similar to the Hidhu system of Laya Yoga, In this case the Spheres of the Tree of Life are the planets within. this system traces its origin to two German Rosicrucian mystics Jacob Bohme and Johann Gitchel. The late Frederick Adams of Feraferia was also working on a similar system and an essay of his is included Adams also provided the beautiful cover art depicting a Goddess in the stars. Also included is an essy by Frater Osiris (Michael S. Downs) linking Hermetic Yoga to The Chemical wedding of Christian Rosencrutz via Johann Gitchel' s spiral path of the planets in his natural man drawing which is one of the keys to the Hermetic Yoga conception. The book will be followed with a deck of Yoga cards which will enable the practitioner to carry the system in his pocket for meditation and study. This is going to be a great aid to magick and spiritual development and provides a vital resource that Western magicians have needed for centuries. Now we can call on the Gods within and exercise all of the powers that our oriental colleagues have called upon for centuries. So if you want to get a head start on the latest magical tools of empowerment tune in and we'll start warming up for the session.

On Thursday October 9th 2014 the hermetic hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the mysterious Naassene document featured in Hippolytus's influential refutation of all brassieres. Everybody loves a secret document especially if it is ancient and reveals secrets, and the good bishop Hippolytus had a real doozie in his purported Naassene Gnostic sermon, which forms chapter five of his marvelous refutation of all heresies which before Nag Hammadi yielded much of our knowledge of what the Gnostics were actually preaching. This Naassene Gnostic sect is according to the good bishop venerating the cosmic serpent hydra draco et all there are several. but they are mainly trying to do is equate the Christian passion and resurrection with a series of ancient dying gods from Osiris Persephone to Adonis Phoenician and Attis Anatolian and establish Jesus as the last of the year kings or green men of antiquity. Fortunately Hippolytus provides us with a full transcript of his copy like Beowulf his original has suffered rewrite by both Jewish and Christian editors in attempts like making Grendal a descendant of Cain to add Old testament prophecy and New Testament symbolism into the otherwise pagan dying god theme.The Naassene document has influenced many modern occult writers For us in the O.T.A. the main inspiration for our seasonal ceremonies besides the Ras Shamrah tablets was Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance (1920) which owes much to the Naassenes. So if you want to find out where the Holy Grail's first holy blood came from tune in and we'll open the old bishop's secret book.

On Thursday October 2nd, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on Princess Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils. which was actually the Phoenician version of Babylonian Ishtar's descent into the underworld to resurrect the Dying God; in her case Tammuz, in our case Ba'al Hadad We have used this obviously fact-based legend to reconstruct Anath's vanquishing the Lord of Death at Autumn Equinox to revive Prince Ba'al the rain and vegetation god of ancient Canaan. If you are wondering about where the head of John the Baptist comes into this, we will solve that mystery also. Our special guest for this program will be Frater Heracles of our Austin, Texas lodge who just presented a spectacular Festival of Seven Gates and will give us his first hand impressions of this revived ancient rite and how it is done in the 21st century. So, if you want to know where the Dance of the Seven Veils started -- and is still going -- tune in and chant: "Down and down the path we go, to the caverns far below!"