The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday December 20th, 2012, the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will review William R. Mistele's latest book "Mermaids, Sylphs, Gnomes, and Salamanders." The author will call in and join us, as he did when we reviewed his first book on the subject "Undines, Lessons from the Realm of the Water Spirits." (see archives). Bill Mistele is a Hermetic magician of the Bardonian school and uses Franz Bardon's catalog of Elemental spirits as his happy hunting ground for channeling Elementals. Whereas Undines concentrated on the female water Elementals, this new book takes us through the whole spectrum. This time he refers to the classic Undines by their more common title "Mermaids," but they are the same Bardonian spirits. Mistele is a poetic, and very romantic writer--and a very talented skryer. He channels the Kings and Queens of the Elements, and presents their view and perspective with a sensitivity and insight that is as convincing as it is inspiring. These nature spirits are as Pagan as they are Hermetic, and in reading this latest book I am constantly reminded of the works of Fred Adams and the philosophy of Feraferia. I wish Fred and Svetlana were with us to enjoy Bill Mistele's revelations, and his delightful poetic prose style. So, tune in and meet the Boswell of the Elementals.

On Thursday December 6th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will present a discussion on the Masonic scholar and author Albert Pike, his legacy and his unique contributions to American Masonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition. Pike was and still is a very controversial figure. He was also a paradox: opposed to slavery, he still served as a general in the Confederate army. He was an advocate of Native American rights and led a regiment of Confederate Indians against the Yankees whom they hated. He was the father of Scottish Rite Masonry in America, rewriting and organizing a jumble of continental Masonic degrees into a coherent system that has become the largest Masonic jurisdiction in the world. He was an occultist much influenced by Eliphas Levi, and a proponent of the Hermetic Tradition which he showcased in his favorite Scottish Rite degree Knight of the Sun (the former 28th degree), which he devoted more text to than any other degree in his classic "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite." Even back in the 19th century he was a lightning rod for anti-masons, being the alleged Luciferian Master of the mysterious lady sex magician "Diana Vaughan" in the great French "Palladian Hoax". So if you want to get the inside story on this giant of American Masonry and his efforts to preserve the ancient mysteries behind Freemasonry, tune in and we'll shed some Light on the subject.

On Thursday November 15th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will discuss the legendary Balkis, Queen of Sheba and her place in the equally legendary tales of King Solomon. We will uncover the amazing historical facts behind her almost forgotten ancient empire, to which Arabia owed whatever traces of civilization it had remaining when Mohammed unified the Arabs under Islam. We will reveal a strange Turkish alternative version of the Masonic Temple legend, the Casting of the Brazen Sea, in which Sheba becomes one of the three Grand Masters. In this rendition of the story Sheba and the Architect are children of the Jinn, whereas Solomon is only human. We will mention Sheba in the medieval alchemical tradition, and her connection with the fifth degree of Crata Repoa. So tune in and we will learn what Solomon, Balkis and Hiram were doing behind the veil.

On November 1st, 2012 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the relationship of ancient Canaanite mythology to Solomonic ceremonial magick. We will begin by establishing the legendary Biblical background of Solomon the Wizard King and his mystical powers, his relations with Hiram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, and his building of a temple to the Goddess Astarte. We'll mention the Canaanite priest king Melchizedek who anointed Abraham long before Moses. We will mention the Masonic legend in this context, and how Solomon united the Jews and the Canaanites to build his Great Temple. We will cover the Ra- Shamra/Ugarit Canaanite texts, their connection to the Holy Grail legend, and our own reconstruction of ancient Canaanite seasonal ceremonies. Then, the following week we will present the conclusion of our reconstructed Canaanite legend: "Prince Aqhat and the Magick Bow." -- So, tune in and get the inside story on King Solomon's magical religion.

On October 18th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present another appreciation of magicians and writers on magick who have influenced modern Hermetic philosophy and practice. In this particular case Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1874) is the man to whom we owe the most and have remembered the least! He was a genius, a scoundrel, a best-selling novelist, an idealist and a marvelous clairvoyant. He was a champion of women's rights but he was also an advocate and a teacher of sex magick. He supplied most of the practical teachings for The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and also influenced Theosophy, the Golden Dawn, Franz Bardon and Aliester Crowley. He introduced concentration techniques for use with magick mirrors, but he also experimented with and recommended what are now illegal drugs. He was the bastard son of a high ranking White politician and his beautiful African American mistress. Randolph's life would make an exciting epic film. He was a merchant seaman, a world traveler, a spiritualist, an alchemist, and a mysterious celebrity that inspired and empowered magick in the early 20th century. So tune in and find out where the secrets really came from.

On Thursday October 4th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the anthropologist-shaman and allegorical fiction writer Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998) and the teachings of his mysterious mentor the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan Matus.  This serves to be more of an appreciation of Carlos and Don Juan than a critique. We will focus on what many consider his best work: "Journey to Ixtlan." So tune, turn on, and "stop the world."

On Thursday September 20th, 2012, the Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon and special guest Frater Osiris, Magister of the Atlanta Hermitage of the Church of the Hermetic Sciences, will recap the exciting magical weekend of festivities and initiatory rites held at the secluded estate of Frater Osiris and Soror Isis in the wooded hills north of Atlanta. The Festival of Seven Gates was performed by torchlight  at Morning Glory Henge within a beautiful garden setting on Saturday night. On Sunday Fra. Thabion and Sor. Zandria, assisted by Fra. Osiris and Sor. Isis, initiated the entire cast of Associate Members in attendance into the active fold of the Church in the Pastophoris rite of Crata Repoa, thus fully establishing the Encampment as a Hermitage of the Church. The entire weekend was wonderfully and graciously hosted, and skillfully organized and coordinated by Fra. Osiris and Sor. Isis. Associate Members from other nearby States made the trip to be initiated. The Atlanta Hermitage at Morning Glory Henge is now the Southeastern hub of CHS/OTA activity. So tune in and we'll exchange impressions of a truly magical event.

On Thursday September 13th, 2012 Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon will announce the release (to Associate Members) of our latest DVD video production "Pathworkings of Magick." This project has been in the works for some time and required considerable technical audio and visual effort to accomplish. It is a completely unique and original approach to magical training. We are providing hypnotic, visionary journeys to the magical Inner Planes, just the way you would experience them in an O.T.A.  temple, but on your t.v. or computer screen. We use traditional Tattwa symbols, the same narrative scripts we use in the lodge room, and the same hypnotic induction. The entry scenes were filmed in Montsalvat Temple using the Soul Door dark mirror. All four basic elemental pathworkings (Air, Earth, Fire, and Water) are included, with "Attention Points" and detailed instructions. Because these programs do require a proper attitude and discipline to be effective, they are not offered to the public. Associate Members may order the video as part of their instruction. So, if you want to find out how you can journey to magical realms through your own small screen, tune in and we will turn you on.

On Thursday September 6th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present a discussion on the work and the influence of the 19th century French occultist Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Constant), a former Catholic priest who embraced and codefied a Rosicrucian version of Kabbalah and Hermetic philosophy. Eliphas Levi launched the modern occult revival in 1856  with his book now titled "Transcendental Magic." He developed the theory of "Astral Light," and assigned Kabbalistic letter correspondences to the Tarot trumps. He considered the Tarot more ancient than the kabbalah itself. Levi was a seminal influence on Blavatsky, Pike, Westcott, Mathers and Crowley. He was sometimes wrong in his historical assumptions, but this was almost intentional on his part. He was creating a grand, unified scheme out of divergent myth-themes which he synthesized into what we now call The Western Esoteric Tradition. Tune in and we will spend an hour remembering "The French Magus."

On Thursday August 30th, 2012 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the persistent legend and rumor of Secret Underground Cities ruled by occult masters in Central Asia, Tibet and Mongolia. We will approach this subject from three directions: first the actual Asian source material: Shambalah, Oolamorang and the cave temples of India, second the Theosophic ruse of hiding their Hindu and Sikh masters in Tibet, resulting in a wide-spread Western misconception of Tibetan Buddhism. Third we will look at the confabulated writings of Lobsang Rampa (Cyril Hodgkins) and the German traveler's tale "Darkness Over Tibet" by T. Illion -- which may have influenced Himmler to send Nazi expeditions to Tibet in search of "The Masters". We will consider the more factual and authentic work of Ferdinand Ossendowski, "Beasts, Men, and Gods" and the Mongolian version of Shambalah which he confused with a French author's astral journey to Agartha in India. Finally we will consider the ancient evidence that has recently come to light indicating that some of this speculative, and misrepresented material may have some basis in fact. Behind every myth there is an element of truth -- so tune in and we will set forth like Indiana Jones in search of the remote and the mysterious.