All Episodes

On Thursday August 13th, 2015 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Samaritans, and their position in Biblical and historical Palestine in relation to Magick and Qabalah. Poke will be joined by our Biblical scholar Frater Solomon. We will mention a remarkable discovery we have made in reviewing the newly translated Samaritan Torah, that tends to support our revision of the
Tetragrammaton. We will also discuss the Samaritan Book of Joshua and Budge's comments indicating that the Samaritans developed gematria before the Judeans. Also that famous, or infamous Samaritan magician Simon Magus. Did he really fly? So if you want to find out what the "cursed Cutheans" have been up to tune in and we will climb Mount Gerizim.
 

On Thursday August 6th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a shocking new Conspiracy Theory based on archaeology,
ancient history, mythology and anthropologica and medical research. It
boils down to this log line: "Refugees from Atlantis conquered the
ancient world with bread and beer." We will be citing current books by
David Perlmutter and William Davis along with a review of what human
beings are designed to eat and what wolves are designed to eat. How
hunting and gathering humans were re-programed or genetically modified
to eat grain as slaves of the Gods, and then they turned wolves into
dogs by a similar process. This is all highly controversial but there is
good science and anthropology behind it. So if you want to free yourself
of your slave collar (that's the spare tire around your waist), then
tune in and we will start the revolution!
 

On Thursday July 30th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on health and diet in relation to Hermetic Magick. We will discuss various aspects of health and diet including supplements, vitamins, so-called super foods and
various diet regimes, therapies, exercises, colonics, "The five rites," energized water, and vegan advantages and problems. We will also discuss the great grain conspiracy and genetically altered food. So if you want to go on the wizard's diet, tune in and find out how to lose twenty pounds of ugly ectoplasm.
 

On Thursday July 23rd, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Astrolabe as a magical device. Those of you who have seen John Carter will recall the medallion of the Holy Therns that enabled them, and Carter, to transmit themselves to other planets in the solar system. It was a magical device that required a conjuration to make it work. There is a very impressive scene inside a Thern temple with an illuminated solar system on the transparent floor that shows the vectors and the formulas. (if you can read Barsoomian.) Now this was created by an earthling screenwriter, so do we, or did we, have anything like the Thern Medallion in our magical tradition to inspire him? Yes, the Astrolabe -- a marvelous hand held
instrument from Classical times that could locate celestial objects (stars) calculate their exact altitude and position. Primarily used for navagation it was also used by astrologers and magicians. Combined with the Soma Sophia (the completely gridded celestial sphere, it also becomes a device to project consciousness (like the Thern Medallion) to other worlds. With Soma Sophia derived formulas of course. This is all Sixth Degree material but perhaps it will inspire some of you to keep climbing Mithra's ladder, So, if you are curious to know how wizards explore the heavens, tune in
and we will plot a course and set sail.
 

On Thursday July 16th,2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon and Frater Solomon will discuss and briefly demonstrate a Pathworking to the late medieval artist Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights created and narrated by Frater Solomon. This was recently performed at Montsalvat for Inner Order members and, because of the complexity of the imagery it should be considered an advanced working. The presentation was enhanced by graphic backgrounds and sculptural figures on the altar, making it something of a "Perky Pat" layout. The spectral guide was a figure from Bosch's Revelation of St. John the Divine called "Tytinillus" a surrealistic version of a church choir procter with an insect's tail. So, if you want to open your third eye and step into fantasy-land we will tell you how it's done.
 

On Thursday, July 9th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have a discussion on "Cliodynamics" a new "science" of socioeconomic and political trend and event prediction. Contrary to popular belief this discipline was not spawned by Issac Asimov's Foundation Series (Hari Seldon's Plan) but is very reminiscent of it.
One of the founders is Peter Truchin, a biologist at the University of Connecticut who has written a book called "War and Peace and War". In which he examines the rise and fall of empires on the cliodynamic scale. This book invites comparison to Oswald Spengler's "Decline of the West" which was avidly read by Hitler and George Bush's Neo-Cons.  It was the Machiavelli of the 19th century. Cliodynamics uses Malthusian
mathematical formulas to predict economic and political events. So if you want to know what the boys in the think tanks are reading, tune in and we'll invoke the muse of history (Clio).

On Thursday July 2nd, 2015, the Hermetic Hours host Poke Runyon will present an essay on The Curse of the Maskim, the planetary demons of ancient Babylon.
This will be an important commentary on the continuing influence of these ancient negative or demonic aspects of the seven planets upon magical theory and ritual.
The origin of the Maskim in the underworld of early Mesopotamian mythology will be explained, along with their revolt against the heavenly powers and its inf lance on
later Biblical themes of Wars in Heaven and Fallen Angels. The Maskim inf lance on Solomonic magick will be examined and Stephen Skinner's new book "Techniques
of Solomonic Magic" will be critiqued in relation to this ancient demonic influence. The concepts of Earth centered verses Cosmic oriented astrology will be compared
and explained -- This program may raise more questions than it answers but it will certainly stimulate thought, so tune in and cheer for the Lords of Chaos or
the Forces of Light.
 

On Thursday June 25th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have as it's guest the leading authority on the African-American folk tradition of Hoodoo magic, or "Root Work," Catherine Yronwode of the Lucky Mojo Curio company. Catherine is the author of "Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic" and "Paper in My Shoe" along with several other related titles. She will explain the differences between Hoodoo, Santeria and Vodoun, and describe how this unique American folk-magic tradition arrived here
with the slaves in the old South and continued to evolve incorporating European (Solomonic) and even Native American additions to become a living magical system now practiced all over the United States. So, if you want to catch up on your American magical cross-training (sneaky pete anthropology) this is a session you need to hear.

On Thursday June 18th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on ancient Mesopotamian Mythology and its relation to the Canaanite myths that comprise the Seasonal ceremonies of the Order of the Temple of Astarte. As our in studio guest we will have Frater Isa from our Ubar Encampment
in Dallas, Texas. We will touch on such subjects as the Anunnaki (Elder Gods), How Man was created by the Earth Goddess as a slave of the Gods, how Oannes brought civilization to the Summerians, and the numerous parallels between Canaanite and
Mesopotamian myth and legend. Our primary text will be John Gray's Near Eastern Mythology which is cross-comparitive. If you have been curious about the similarities between Ishtar and Astarte, or Baal and Marduk, then tune in and we will try to sort out the pre-Biblical family-trees for you.

On Thursday May 28th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have as its special guest Frater Julian of the Benjamin Franklin Encampment who is an expert in Pennsylvania folklore relating to witchcraft and magick. We will be discussing his paper on the mysterious Roman family in the colonial Quaker community, Johannes Kelpius "The Wizard of Wissahickon," and his Cave of Kelpius, and Apocalyptic prophecy in the 1690s. The Epherata Rosicrucian Cloister, then moving up toward modern times with Dutch pow-wow, hexcraft, the curious case of the Hexencat and its capture. The York County 1920s Hex murder case. So if you want to catch up on your American occult and witchcraft heritage be sure to tune in for Weird Pennsylvania
on the air.
 

On Thursday May 2ist, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present an interview with British author and magician Jake Stratton-Kent. Jake Stratton-Kent is especially noted for his defense and support of the Goetic aspect of ceremonial magick and his research linking this practice to the deities and oracles of ancient Greek mythology, especially the denizens of the underworld or Tartarus ruled by Hades or Pluto. He is more partial to the Grimorium Verum than the Goetia or Lesser Key of Solomon although he stresses that both are essentially Goetic from the ancient Greek word "Goes" meaning a necromancer. So if you want to meet a master of art magical, tune in and spend an hour with maestro Jake Stratton-Kent.

On Thursday May 14th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will
present the second part of a discussion on Gerald Gardner's 1949 novel of medieval British Magick and Witchcraft High Magic's Aid. The emphasis will be on readings
of the actual rituals from the book, including "Making the Great Circle," "the Witch Cult initiation," and "The Spirit Dantalion." Poke will be joined by his long time friend and colleague Gardnerian Elder Ed Fitch as they discuss the influence of Solomonic
Magick on Gardner's original version of modern Wicca. Gardner used rituals from both the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon in High Magic's Aid, so if you want to get the feel of the way it was in the beginning then tune in and we'll conjure some old fashioned spirits for you.
 

On Thursday May 7th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and discuss Gerald Gardner's classic novel of medieval magick and witchcraft in England "High Magic's Aid." We consider this a very important work in the Modern Hermetic
Tradition because it vividly describes the synthesis of surviving Paganism with the Solomonic school of ceremonial magick in the Middle Ages. A mix of esoteric themes that returned in the form of Gardenarian and Alexandrian Wicca in 1950s England, from which it quickly migrated to the United States. Gerald Gardner was a member of the O.T.O. and worked closely with Aleister Crowley to produce the first modern Book of Shadows. High Magic's Aid tells the story of three Saxon Solomonic magicians in the days of Robin Hood's King John 11th century, who are not able to work their magick effectively without the help of a female Witch. They rescue their priestess from the local inquisition and dig up her precious Athame and white handled knife without which they can not operate. The story is very well written and well researched. Better than Crowley's fiction although he was probably Gardner's editor. We strongly recommend this book to our neo-pagan and wiccan friends who may think that witchcraft and magick cannot co-exist. They can, and they did, and they do -- so
if you want to know where and how the wizards and the witches got together tune in and "Merry Meet!" and "Blessed Be!"
 

On Thursday April 30th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the quasi-Masonic Rite of Memphis, sometimes called the Rite of Memphis and Misraim which is highly irregular in orthodox Masonic circles and is usually considered a Clandestine (unrecognized and proscribed) organization to which regular Masons cannot belong. This collection of rites or degrees (96 of them) has a long and colorful history which we will delve into consulting Mackey, Calvin C. Brut, John Yarker and Allen Greenfield. In the 1880's the Rite of Memphis infiltrated the Scottish Rites Northern Jurisdiction and went into competition with Scottish Rite itself to see which system would become an accepted Advanced (Red Lodge) along with York Rite for regular American Masons. Scottish Rite's 33 degree system won the turf war, with Albert Pike's help and the Rite of M&M disappeared into the College of defunct Masonic Rites (yes there is such an institution). The same thing had happened to it in France a hundred years earlier when the Grand Orient absorbed it and locked it up in their archives -- but the M&M is not easily suppressed. Its founder, after signing it over to the Grand Orient, sneaked it into Moldavia (one of Dracula's hang outs) and it briefly rose again. Recently Masonic mavericks Allen Greenfield and Jeff Peace have tried to resurrect it here in the United States. Jeff Peace tried to get a number of regular Masons who were interested in the esoteric involved in M&M, at their peril. So if you would like to explore a delightfully conspiratorial and deliciously controversial secret society that claims to have "All the Secrets of ancient Masonry and certainly enough of its degrees" then tune in and we'll sail up the Nile to the Pyramids. 
 

On April 16th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review the new semi-biographical novel by fantasy grandmaster Michael Moorcock "The Whispering Swarm." This remarkable book should be of special interest to magicians and Hermetic students. Moorcock is the modern heir to the mantles of J.R.R. Tolkien, and Robert E.Howard. His fiction is deeply magical and steeped in Hermetic lore. The Whispering Swarm is somewhat experimental. His protagonist is himself and he tells his life story up to his passage from adolesence into adulthood through the entrance into a secret enclave in the multiverse, inhabited by historical and fictional characters he has read about. Raised in London during and after WWll, he discovers an ancient hidden medieval village called the Alsacia, or The Sanctuary, inhabited by magical monks in an old Abbey, a tavern full of swashbuckling cavaliers, including the Musketeers from Dumas and a glamorous Hughwaywoman called Molly Midnight. He also lives in the real world, having a wife and children and a job as an editor, but is driven to escape into The Sanctuary by the tumult of Whispering voices in his head (the Swarm). Most importantly it explores Moorcock's two warring personalities in emotional spiritual and political conflict. He is a romantic at heart and an agnostic socialist in intellect -- so he fights to save King Charles from Cromwell's Ax because his cavalier heroes need his abilities to walk between the worlds. One wonders all through the book, just how much of the fantasy is real, or a metaphor for reality. So, if you want to visit an adult's Land of Oz then follow us through the London fog to the hidden gates of the Sanctuary and we'll find the Swan with Two Necks tavern for a shant of ale and an hour of High Magical Adventure.