All Episodes

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
Hindu 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
Rosencreutz 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 August 29th, 2919 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss the new translation (2006) of the 15th century German Book of Abramelin attributed to Abraham von Worms, translated by Steven Guth and edited by Georg Dehn from Ibis Press. This new translation directly from the original German manuscript supersedes MacGregor Mather's translation of the French version in 1893 Which has been a cornerstone of magical libraries since the beginning of the last century. The new Abramelin is excellently introduced by my esteemed colleague Maestro Lon Milo Duquette. The old French version was poorly translated (from the German) and incomplete. The original has all four books and completes all the magic squares. This German version was used by Franz Bardon to name his solar spirits. It should go on the shelf of every magical library. So if you want to square-up with the Angels tune in and we'll run the numbers.

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 August 15th,2019 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the ancient "Sibylline Oracles" created, or re-created,in Greco-Roman Alexandria in the first centuries of the common era.These prophetic verses, attributed to the Sibyls, or prophetic priestesses of ancient Greece were actually a hoax, written by Jewish and Christian Gnostics in an attempt to recast the legendary lost prophetic books of ancient Rome to include the Bible and predict Christianity. They were so successful and popular that the early Christian Church approved of them. They were accepted into the Hermetic tradition, along with The Orphic Hymns and the Chaldean Oracles.They became an influence on western magick and Fairy lore. We will refer to Jake Stratton-Kent's summary of the Oracles in "Geosophia" (2010) and Milton Terry's translation 1899. So, if you want to catch up on this often forgotten aspect of western magical lore, tune in and we'll lift the veil.
 

On Thursday September 25th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a discussion of The Orphic Hymns which are the Western Esoteric
Tradition's oldest liturgy. These hymns to the planets, the gods and
goddesses, the stars and all aspects of ancient Greek mythology were used by
the Orphic sect before the Golden Age of Greece, in the days of Pythagoras,
to guide the dead souls on their spiritual journey up through the celestial
spheres and into the realm of the zodiac and beyond. This was a special and
separate aspect of Greek mysticism which had its influence on Pythagoras`,
the Gnostics, the Mythraites, and the Italian Renaissance Hermetics. Most
recently Christopher Warnock has included the hymns in his "Planetary
Magick." We will concentrate on the 18th century Thomas Taylor
translation -- which we use -- and read a Robert Graves poem combining a
number of Orphic memorials into a connected instruction which may have
played some part in the Elusinian Mysteries. So. if you want to know what
that strange stuff they sing to harp music accompaniment at the beginning of
Seasonals, then tune in and we'll take you back three thousand years.
 

On Thursday September 18th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a discussion on the career and contributions of Marcus the
Valentinian (died 175 a.d.). Marcus was as much a Hermetic as he was a
Gnostic Christian. The Church Fathers accused him of being more Pythagorean
than Christian. He was the developer of the Soma Sophia system of celestial
Greek qabalah which we have decoded and perfected (see The Seventh Ray, Book
III ) and, according to Kieren Barry, Marcus had an influence of the creation
of the later Sepher Yetzirah. Marcus developed some of the basic concepts of
what became the qabalah. Marcus was a Phoenician, influenced by the earlier
Samaritan Simon Magus. Like Simon Marcus had a Priestess whom he venerated
as an equal. He gave communion with his priestess by his side and turned
water into wine at the altar. The early Church Fathers considered this
blasphemous. Marcus's cult spread from the Middle East to Southern France in
the days Gnostic Christian Marcus - the First Rosicrucian? before Constantine
force-reformed Christianity. So, if you want to explore the most ancient
origins of what we call "The Western Tradition," then tune in and we will
spend an hour with a man who may have been the first Rosicrucian.
 

On Thursday September 11th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will review the new book "The Chemistry of Alchemy" by three chemists Cathy
Cobb, Monty Fetterolf and Harold Goldwhite. The authors are all chemists and
chemistry teachers, but they have a fond affection for Alchemy and reveal
the Art as their hobby. This is a one-of-a-kind book: an introduction to
practical laboratory Alchemy through history from a scientific perspective
so that the student learns what alchemical terms really mean ( for instance
Mercury can mean any metal in liquid or molten form, and Sulfur is any
sulfide) and what the old alchemists were trying to do and how they actually
tried to do it -- and in some cases did it. The book is filled with
fascinating experiments that the apprentice can try in his or her kitchen
laboratory with the professional chemists' emphasis on safety and with safer
substitutes for dangerous materials such as real mercury. They even have a
recipe for making what some alchemists thought was The Philosopher's Stone.
You will also learn how to make "alchemical gold" good enough to have gotten
you buried alive or burned at the stake in the Middle Ages. Although the
authors retain their scientific perspective they have profound respect for
the genuine accomplishments of The Art and its venerable adepts. This book
is a must-have for anyone who aspires to be a modern alchemist. -- So tune
in and we will spend an hour in the laboratory with modern masters of the
ancient Art.
 

On Thursday July 18th, 2019 the Hermetic Hour will review and discuss "American Cosmic" by Diane Pasulka. Again our guest reviewer will be Frater Dumuzi. Diane Pasulka is a professor of religious studies and approaches the UFO phenomenon from her academic perspective. She is a colleague of Jacques Vallee and shares many of his views. She quotes Carl Jung and cites the experiences and work of numerous "experiencers" (her term for contactees). She compares the UFO sightings and encounters to religious and mystical encounters such as the Miracle of Fatima and UFO artifacts to the Shroud of Turin. She also suggests that popular media feeds and perpetuates the phenomenon. Her approach is very subjective and impressionistic and her narrative is rambling and not well focused, but this, in and of itself, reflects the history of the activity she is attempting to describe. So, if you think "The Truth is Out There" tune in and we'll look in Dr. Pasulka's X-Files.
 

On Thursday July 11th, 2019 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon and his colleague Frater Dumuzi will present a review and discussion of the recent Graham Hancock books Magicians of the Gods (2015) and America Before (2019). These works are the latest in a series of speculative efforts to support the long-standing theory that our present civilization (especially Western Civilization) was preceded by an advanced antediluvian culture that might have been Plato's Atlantis. The survivors of which, according to Hancock, created the monolithic architecture of the late neolithic and passed on their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to the Sumerians, and Egyptians. Recent discoveries such as the 12,000 year old temple complex of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey lend these ideas credibility but they are still resisted by the Cultural Marxists who believe that civilization must evolve from the simple to the complex. Hence Hancock's books are controversial. So, put on your fedora, oil up your bull-whip and join us for an hour of adventure.
 

On Thursday September 4th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on Shamgar, son of the Canaanite War Goddess Anath "who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad and saved Israel "(over a hundred years before Samson) and became a Judge (ruler of all the tribes) of Israel. Shamgar's story is briefly told in the Biblical Book of Judges. Beyond that lies the realm of myth and legend in which it is suggested that Shamgar was a Phoenician pirate called "Tekheleth Tholi." The Purple Dragon based in Tyre and sent by King Abi Milki to aid the Israeites against the Philistines. He joins the host of the Hebrew Judge Ehud, and marries his daughter Jael, who eventually tries to kill him. His ox goad is said to have been a magical weapon forged by the blacksmith Tubal Cain. The legend is perpetuated in the Gnostic Christian tradition of Marcus from whom we get the Greek Qabalah. Shamgar's exploits should be considered symbolic rather than historic, like the story of Hiram Abiff in Masonry or the Labors of Hercules in Phoenician and Greek astrological lore. If you want to return to the days when Gods and Giants walked the earth, tune in and we'll evoke the shade of Shamgar.

On Thursday August 21st, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time the Hermetic Hour
with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the historical
development of "cultism" in esoteric societies, staring with Baron von
Hund's Masonic Strict Observance in the mid 1700s, which in turn influenced
Weishaupt's Illuminati, Blavatsky's Theosophy and even The Golden Dawn with
their "Secret Chiefs" and more modern groups we will tactfully leave
unmentioned.This is an important issue because the paradigm that began with
Strict Observance and was adapted by Blavatsky has since been applied to any
esoteric group that has an initiatory structure. So if you want to find out
what was and what is behind esoteric cultism, tune in and we will lift the
veil.
 

On Thursday June 20th, 2019 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a report on the modern versions of the 6th and 7th degree initiations of the 18th century Crata Repoa. This system was originally intended to replicate an ancient Alexandrian mystery school initiatory program. Manley Hall called it "Egyptian Freemasonry." It was created by a committee of German Masonic scholars who accessed the Classical pagan works of Iamblichus, Porphyri, Plutarch and others to create an outline for a system of Seven Degrees, intended to convey the secrets of ancient Hermetic magick to initiates. But it was far from complete. It was an outline. It declared what was to be taught without providing the actual lessons. When we adopted it as an initiatory structure in 1970 we updated it with additional source material extending from Classical times through the Dark Ages, Medieval times, the Renaissance and the Rosicrucian era. We made the Crata Repoa the repository of the Western Esoteric Tradition, from King Solomon to the Holy Grail, to Christian Rosencreutz. We have discussed the degrees from Pastophoris through Alchemia on previous Podcasts so tonight we will put the cap on it (the four-corned red cap) with the final chivalric degrees the 6th Astronomus, (At the Gate of the Gods) and the 7th Propheta (one who knows the mysteries). So tune in and we'll tell you how the modern Crata Repoa culminates.
 

On Thursday July 24th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading of his 1977 article in Gnostica No. 44, "The Magick of the O.T.A." This article described the philosophy, structure and activities of the Order thirty-seven years ago. You may be surprised to discover how long some of our advanced programs have been operative, such as our unique Hermetic Yoga system, our Celestial Magick Vault and our Magical journal The Seventh Ray. The article is short enough for the author to informally update the information given out at that time. So, if you want to learn where we were and what we did back then, and how we have evolved in the intervening years, tune in and be enlightened.
 

On Thursday July 17th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Order of the Temple of Astarte's unique method of Astral Time Travel. We first conceived and developed this method back in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of our Pathworking program. It has much in common with remote viewing in that a "target area" and, in our case, a time in the past, is selected and mapped. Then a celestial reference point and distance in light years is selected. This data is absorbed and studied. For example: if we want to visit ancient Alexandria (one of our favorite tours) we consult archaeological books with accurate graphic recreations to set the general environment at the time. We can use the overhead mirror or the Soul Door as our launch portal. We can use Kusor's Boat if we are launching through the Soul Door. In either case we will use a constellation rather than a Tattwa for a concentration point on the mirror. This is a second degree practice because previous Pathworking experience is required for it to be effective. It is a deep trance activity and can produce significant results. The more precise, well documented and prepared these operations are, the more impressive they will be. So if you want to read lost books in the Great library you should at least know what ancient Greek looks like. Tune in and we'll take you on a very long journey. 

On Thursday May 23rd, 2019 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading of Kiefer and Oren, the Story of a Tree by Merrick Rees Hamer. Merrick is a leader in Masonry, The Golden Dawn and the Church of the Hermetic Sciences. As a Librarian he is also a professional story teller. This particular story is about a boy and a Tree. The story is a beautiful expression of the rapport we can have with nature if we personify it, and the depth of meaning we can find in the loss of natural beauty. If time permits we will present another short story by our host from The Seventh Ray 1975, Daughter of the Oak, about a boy and a girl and a Tree. In this tale the Tree comes to a similar fate but the boy learns the wrong lesson. So if you want to visit the forest with us, tune in and have a seat on the stump.