All Episodes

On Thursday December 12th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour will present the second program devoted to Jack Parson's 1946 essay "Freedom is a
Two-Edged Sword" with the reading of chapters three and four: "The Sword
and the Spirit" and "The Woman Girt with the Sword." These writings are
the philosophical and spiritual meat of this masterpiece of modern mystical, spiritual and philosophical speculation. You will be amazed at the predictive quality of Parson's perspective. It seems to be an epitome of 1980's feminist, environmental and neo-pagan thought written over thirty years before the flowering of these ideas. So tune in and continue the journey into the future from the past with America's rocket scientist magician at the controls of the time machine.
 

On Thursday December 5th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will read chapters from the essay Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword by rocket
scientist and magician John Whiteside Parsons. Along with being one of
the original founders of JPL in Pasadena, California (sometimes called "Jack Parsons Library") and a developer of solid rocket fuel essential to the space program, Parsons was also an occultist and a magician. He ran an O.T.O. lodge and was a dedicated follower of Aleister Crowley. Parsons' colorful, but tragically short life has been celebrated in the recent books "Sex and Rockets" by someone calling himself "John Carter" and "Strange Angel" by George Pendle -- Also a very good stage play from the Cal Tech drama department called "Pasadena Babalon." Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was written at the end of World War Two. It is a remarkable prediction of liberalism, civil rights and women's rights --  in fact we might say that Parson's was the forerunner of feminist neo-paganism in California. His views on the mystical and spiritual superiority of women were much different than his mentor Crowley's. We received the Parson's Papers from Gerald Yorke in 1972. The first publication of Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was my edited version published in our journal The Seventh Ray in 1976 through 1978. The essay has been subsequently published by the O.T.O. in 1990 and again in 2001. It is still in print and available from Amazon. We did a previous Hermetic Hour broadcast on Jack Parsons which you can find in our podcast archives -- now you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand and enjoy the writings of this rocket scientist, especially when he has a crater on the Moon named after him -- on the Dark Side of course.
 

On Friday, November 29th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a discussion on the 24th Path on the Hermetic Qabalah's Tree of Life. This is the Path attributed to Death, the right hand guardian or gate to Tiphareth, with the Devil on the left side as Path 26. These two gates are considered soul testing challenges to the central Sun, and realm of the Solar Logos represented by Tiphareth. Our texts will be Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism and John Michael Greer's Paths of Wisdom. This Path will give us an opportunity to discuss the nature and meaning of Hermetic enlightenment, the concept of individual consciousness being eternal consciousness, and what Eliphas Levi really meant when he wrote: "Death is man's way of conquering immortality." --- So, if you want to live forever, tune in and get a head start on it.
 

On Thursday November 21st, 2013 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the "Enochian" legend and tradition in
magick, Freemasonry, the Bible, and the various versions of the Book of
Enoch itself. We will examine the elements and sources of the Masonic
Enoch legend, the lost Ethiopian Book of Enoch and its unique description of the Fallen Angels and their attributions, the Pagan Solarism of Enoch's Angelic vision, and the special Enochian universe of John Dee and Edward Kelley. We will also compare the Book of Enoch to the ancient Sumerian/Babylonian myth of the Anunnaki, the Goetia, and
Milton's Paradise Lost. So once again tune in and get Enochulated.
 

On Thursday November 14th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will review and discuss the new book by Robert Sullivan, Esq, 32 "The Royal Arch of Enoch." This is a 600 page magnum opus which sets out to document the premise that one of Freemasonry's most important high degrees, The Ninth Arch, or Royal Arch of Enoch, establishes Masonry's underlying mythology as an antediluvian (before the Flood) Graeco-Egyptian (Hermetic) Solarism deriving from The Book of Enoch -- specifically Ethiopian Enoch -- which was not available to the Western World until the early 1800's. The author will call in and give us a summary of his book and the points of argument he seeks to establish. This book is impressive and deeply researched. Much can be learned from it, and the mysterious nature of Masonic symbolism will become more understandable in 'Light' of Brother Sullivan's revelations. This will be an intriguing disclosure of Masonic "secrets" that fans of Dan Brown and Indiana Jones will find fascinating -- so tune in and get Enochulated.

On Thursday November 7th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Twenty-fifth Path of the Hermetic Qabalastic Tree of Life. This Path goes up the Middle Pillar from Yesod to Tiphareth and has the Tarot Trump "Temperance" attributed to it. Regardie considers it related to the Holy Guardian Angel as your guiding spirit. The astrological reference is Sagittarius and relates to an arrow shot directly upwards. The Hebrew letter is Samech and the traditional reference is "the Tentative Intelligence." Again our texts will be Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism," and John Michael Greer's "Paths of Wisdom." So if you want to keep going up the Tree with us, tune in, close your eyes, and we'll take a shot at the Sun.

On November 1st, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a serious and a lighthearted look at Halloween. Every Halloween we hold "The Dark Mother of All Halloween Parties" on the nearest Saturday to the 31st. We have a serious ritual in the outdoor henge, invoking "Mot" the Lord of Death who asks each one around the circle "What say you to honor the dead?" -- followed by a jovial Halloween costume party which features a comedy skit. This year we did an impromptu radio play "Sherlock Holmes and the Necronomicon," based on a Seventh Ray feature. We will read the ritual and then play part of the
radio drama skit -- This is our Halloween Party on the air, so tune in, answer Mot's somber question, and then join the fun.

On Thursday October 24th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present another of our on-going lecture series on the Paths of the Tree of Life. This time we deal with 'The Devil', the Tarot Trump and other relevant symbolic aspects of the Path that leads from Hod, the
Mercurial Sphere of the intellect, to Tiphareth, the Solar Sphere of Mystical Transformation and beauty. Once again our primary texts for reference will be Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism" and Israel Regardie's "Garden of Pomogranates" (first edition), so if you want to journey from the laboratory to the temple,
and meet the devil on the way, tune in and travel with us from Darkness to Light.

On Thursday October 17th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a dramatic reading of occultist and psychologist Dion Fortune's fictionalized account of one of her mentor's strange "cases." Dion Fortune was very influential on modern Hermetic magical theory and practice. Her occult novels such as "Moon Magic" and the "Sea Priestess," are considered classics of occult literature. Her work is carried on by the Society of the Inner Light. Early in her career her master in both occultism and psychology was a man she called "Dr. Taverner." He operated a private sanitarium in a secluded moorland setting in England and the 1920s. There he treated unusual cases of dementia that responded to his occult methods of healing and exorcism. Dion Fortune claimed that these "Secrets of Dr. Taverner" were really true accounts, especially the vampire episode called "Blood Lust" which we will read and then discuss on this broadcast. So, if you've ever wondered just what vampires really are and how they operate, tune in and Dr. Taverner will explain how the dead can possess the living.

On Thursday October 10th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will present a reading of Frater Thabion's ominous apocalyptic, conspiratorial speculation: "Return of the Dragon Lords" which first appeared in The Seventh Ray, Book II, The Red Ray, thirteen years ago and seems to be increasing in credibility as we move further into the 21st century. Dragon Lords is the esoteric "Dark Side" of UFO
abductions, Satanic ritual abuse, Illuminati mind-control and the Reptillian bloodlines of sensational writers such as David Icke -- who may be right for the wrong reasons. The "truth" about the reptilian menace to humanity might go deeper and actually be more disturbing....You are welcome to consider this only speculation, metaphor, and conjecture --but if you believe it, then keep it to yourself, because if you know about them, they know about you!

On October 3rd, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a dramatic reading of the ritual of the 30th Enochian Aethyr "TEX" (pronounced Tay-ets), which will include an opening by Watchtowers, a reading of the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs in Enochian and in English, and a reading of Aleister Crowley's vision of the Aethyr from "The Vision and the Voice" Equinox No. 5, 1911. We will give a short introduction to the Enochian Aethyr system and explain how the temple is to be arranged for the ritual. Those who have reproductions of the Enochian tablets on hand should pay particular attention to the Water Tablet. The four Governors for this Aethyr are all invoked from Water. So, if you would like to visit our virtual temple and go on a magical journey with Thabion (First Priest of the Phoenicians) and Therion (The Great Beast), then tune in and get Enochiated.

On Thursday, September 26, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on The Legacy of Mithraism on Magick and Masonry. We will trace the origins of the Mithra sect from the ancient Persian Magi -- an offshoot of Zoroastrianism -- through the Greco-Roman
Middle East, into the mileau of classical Alexandria, where its western branch acquired a cosmology that was largely Hermetic. In fact one might say that the Greco-Roman Mithra sect was ritualized Hermeticism. For several centuries it rivaled Christianity but was eventually overcome when emperor Constantine, himself a Mithraite, made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire for practical political reasons. The Mithra sect was an elite, initiatory, all male religious fraternity that extolled honor, bravery and loyalty. Great for the Roman army but not for the downtrodden masses. Its influence on the later Masonic
fraternity is obvious. Mithraism had seven initiatory degrees so similar to Crata Repoa that John Yarker called his Crata Repoa degree in Rite of Memphis "The Sage of Mithras." We will unravel the complex astrological symbolism of the "Tauroctony", the ritual slaying of the bull, the mystery of the strange lion-headed god, and the theory that the secret communion meal was the old Persian-version of Soma. Our main text reference will be D. Jason Cooper's "Mithras" (1996) with references to Franz Cumont's (1912) "Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans" and "Mushrooms, Myth & Mithras" by Carl A. P. Ruck,
et allia (2011). So, if you want to follow us down into the underground temple of the Mithraeum for a look into the origin of many of our rites and degrees, then tune in and we'll lift the veil.

On Thursday September 19th, 2013, the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on "Soma," the Elixir of immortality in the Shamanic, Magian, Vedic, Mithriatic, Orphic, Magical and Alchemical traditions. We will refer to the works of Gordon Wasson, Andrija Puharich, Clark Heinrich, James Arthur and Carl Ruck, along with the personal reflections of a magician familiar with the sacrament's use in magical practice. Although the use of this entheogen is legal, we do not require it in our degrees, we do not recommend it, and we will provide no detailed instructions for its use, however, we would be skipping over a very significant aspect of the Western and Eastern Magical Traditions if we ignored "Soma." Let me assure those of you who are still confused about the identity of the legendary Magical Plant, and its effectiveness, your questions will be answered. So tune in and we will go in search of the Food of the Gods. 

On Thursday September 12th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will introduce distinguished guest Dr. Ralph Metzner who will discuss his latest book "Worlds Within and Worlds Beyond," the seventh in his series of books on "The Ecology of Consciousness." All of Dr. Metzner's works are of special interest to students of the Western Esoteric Tradition. Check out his web site at www.greenearthfound.org. He was one of the original psychedelic experimenters and facilitators of that tempestuous era, an Oxford graduate, psychotherapist and a philosopher. His latest book will be of particular interest to students of Magick who may wish to compare his system of therapeutic soul travel to the Buddhist Six Worlds of the Wheel of Existance, the nine realms of the Nordic Yggdrasill World Tree, and the Octaves of Pythagoras with our own Pathworkings on the Qabbalistic Tree of Life. Many of his insights are applicable to our venue regardless of technique. He refers to his method as Alchemical Divination. Although we may use different techniques, and different mythologies we can always learn from the insights and the visions of a master -- so turn us on, tune us in, and don't drop out.

On Thursday September 5th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present a discussion on the 27th Path of the qabalistic Tree of Life leading from Hod to Netsach, This is the lowest of three cross members uniting opposite pillars on The Tree. Gareth Knight considers it "The main girder of the personality." It connects the sphere of the Intellect with the sphere of Natural Forces, so sparks are bound to fly. The Path is attributed to the planet Mars and the Tarot trump "The Blasted Tower." This prompted Gareth Knight to relate the Path to the mysterious alchemical allegory "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz;" which he summarizes in the "Practical Guide." So tune in and we will walk the Path to "The House of God."