All Episodes

The Hermetic Hour for Thursday April 1st, 2021 with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the forthcoming Bishop’s Consecration ceremony and investiture we will be performing this weekend upon one of our senior Rosicrucian adepts. It will be modeled after the Roman ceremony altered to conform with Hermetic and Gnostic Christian (Valentinian) dogmas and symbolism. It will be divided into the traditional three parts: The Examination, The Consecration, and The Investiture. In our case The Communion of the Elements will replace the Mass as the ceremony of Consecration. Honey replacing wine. In The Investiture, Hermes will replace Moses, Melchizedek replaces Aaron and through Christ our Lord is extended to: “Through Christ our Lord and Mary Magdalene our Lady.” Although our broadcast is on April fools day the actual Ceremony will take place on the 3rd – but if the broadcast date casts aspersions on the merit of the occasion we might ponder why the Fool is at the top of the Tree?

On Thursday February 4th, 2016 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a discussion on the fascinating military and occult career
of Lt.Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (1863-1942) the conqueror
of Tibet (1904) and the author of several books on travel, adventure and
mystical philosophy. Colonel Younghusband was an officer in British
Special forces in India during a cold war between the British and the
Russians for control of the Central Asian highlands north of India in
the latter days of the 19th century. Their covert conflict was called
"The Great Game" and was the stage for high adventure. Rudyard Kipling
novelized "The Great Game" in Kim. In 1904 Lord Curson the Viceroy of
India sent Colonel Younghusband up into Tibet with an invading British
army to flush out the Russians whom Curson was convinced had infiltrated
the mysterious country. After slaughtering the primitive Tibetan army,
Younghusband took Lhasa but could not find a single Cossack, or even a
Russian rifle, However he did stay long enough to have a mystical
experience that transformed him from a ruthless conqueror into a
peaceful mystical philosopher. He retired to England to write books
about his adventures and his visions, which included life on other
planets, a philosophy of free love, a spiritual drama society and an
expedition to climb Mt. Everest. -- If you want to spend an hour with
the Colonel, tune in and we'll hit the trail going up.
 

In the Elizabethan period the Italian Renaissance came to England. Even though the English had broken with the Roman Church they were still following the Italians in astrology, philosophy, alchemy and Magick. During the reign of The Virgin Queen the British would exceed the Italians in that one aspect of the Hermetic Arts – Magick. The Angelic Revelation of Dr. John Dee is certainly the high water mark of Renaissance Theurgy. But we magicians sometimes forget that the English Elizabethan period was a Magical Age. It was the Time of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Spencer’s “The Faerie Queene.” Magick was in the air. So let us look back on this golden age and recall some of its magical treasures.

On Thursday January 28th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Biblical personages Simon Magus and John the Baptist. We will discuss their association, their influence on the Gnostic movement and the rise of Christianity. We will have Frater Solomon as a guest commentator. Sources will be the works of Tobias Churton "Gnostic Mysteries of Sex" and "Mysteries of John the Baptist" also G.R.S. Mead's "Simon Magus" and "The Book of Enoch" which influenced Gnostic cosmology and the Mandanean books attributed to John the Baptizer. So if you want to be demystified about the Gnosis, tune in and we'll part the veil.

On Thursday March 4th, 2021 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on recent reports of an alleged underground war being waged by American special forces soldiers against a coalition of traitors and demonic aliens in a subterranean network of DUMBs (deep underground military bases ) connected to a tunnel network excavated and still inhabited by ancient Satanic humanoids usually described as “demons.” This vast underground network is said to extend worldwide. It was first revealed to the public in 1886 by French writer Alexandre St. Yves d, Alvedre, who claimed it was a subterranean kingdom under Tibet with tunnels that reached everywhere in the world. It was forgotten until 1922 when Ferdinand Ossendowski exposed it again in his best-seller “Beasts, Men and Gods.” Although he may have gotten the story from the Mad Baron of Mongolia who probably got it from St. Yves book, or perhaps from the drunken High-Lama of Mongolia who probably got it from the Mad Baron. In any case a Science-fiction writer (who was also mad) Richard S. Shaver re-ran it as series of truth-based fictional adventures in Amazing Stories right after the end of W.W. II. Shaver gathered a fan base of true-believers, including this reporter at age 16. This evil underworld was peopled by satanic mutants armed with ancient ray machines which could be used for mind-control, sadistic torture or seduction. It made great pulp fiction. Even after I outgrew Shaver, I couldn’t resist making a movie based on his Mystery. In 2007 we released BEYOND LEMURIA which includes all of the elements the present Underground War Reports are featuring: Government and military involvement, Satanic depravity, child-trafficking, and UFO super-science. Tonight we will focus on these current reports and the actual evidence of these underground facilities. So if you want to know what’s really down there stay tuned and we’ll go down the rabbit hole.

On Thursday January 14th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a commentary on and a reading of the Rubaiyat a Sufi poem
from medieval Persia by the mystic and astronomer Omar Khayyam
translated by Edward Fitzgerald and published in 1859. The Rubaiyat is
quintessentially romantic in style and content. It is said to reflect
the ancient cyrenaic hedonistic philosophy of Aristippus and extols a
libertine lifestyle in preference to piety. When I was a teenager I
needed to break away from Christian fundamentalism so I adopted the
Rubaiyat as my alternative to the Bible. I memorized the entire poem so
that I could quote seductive passages to Baptist virgins while drinking
beer on the beach at sunset. Ah! Those were the days! Or as Omar would
put it: "Alas that Spring should vanish with the rose, and youth's sweet
scented manuscript should close, the nightingale that in the branches
sang, ah whence and wither flown again who knows?" And so, if you yearn
to know "What Omar's moving finger writ, " then tune in and we will
inoculate you against excessive piety.

On Thursday December 10th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Valentinian Gnostic origins of the Dee-and-Kelley Enochian 30 Aethyr system. This ancient configuration indicates that John Dee had more to do with the actual construction than previously imagined. Apparently the Aethyrs did not spring full-armed from the brow of Kelley, like Athena from the brow of Zeus. Dee was the scholar and must have discovered the Valentinian model in research, thus directing Kelley's scrying. This has prompted us to add Valentinian angelic invications to the Aethyrs, similar to the way the Shemehamphorash angels are used in Goetia. It acts as a spiritual safety on what is otherwise an entirely elemental process and makes Enochian visions more spiritually and psychologically digestible. So if you want to experience sanctified Enochian, tune in and we will fire up the Tablets.

On Thursday November 19th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present the final discussion on the Tree of Life -- Kether and the
Supernals. In our series on the Tree we have worked from the bottom up,
and now we will have to shift into reverse and start down from above. We
will outline the theory of four dimensions on the tree and how each
dimension contains its own Tree. Kether of Malkuth being the heaven with
God on his throne (if that's what you want) We will also deal with the
two higher dimensions Atziluth and Briah and the Chokmah-Binah yin-yang
effect, Our main text will be Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah which is
the main source for both Gareth Knight and John Michael Greer's works on
the the subject. There will be some surprises in store, so tune in and
we will take heaven by storm.

On Thursday February 4th, 2021 - the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 9th century Arab treatise on Stellar Rays by the Baghdad sage Abu Yusuf Al-Kindi. This work had a considerable influence on Medieval astrology and magick. Its influence continues to this day in the New Age astrology of Alice Bailey and in the revival of Picatrix an astrological magick grimoire from the 9th century that al-Kindi's work influenced. So if you want to find out where the mysterious Seven Rays came from, tune in and we will return to Baghdad in the days of the Arabian Nights.

On Thursday November 12th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon,
will present a discussion on our Astral Time travel method and its use
in connection with Hermetic Yoga. We will explain our method of
celestial consciousness projection in relation to stellar distances
(light years) and our use of the Tesseract as a sighting and measuring
device. We will also discuss the remarkable video The Star of Bethlehem
which reveals, using the Starry Night program a conjunction of Jupiter,
Venus and Regulus when the nativity was said to have taken place. We
will mention our Soma Sophia magical celestial tablature in relation to
these phenomenon and cite the philosophy and the writings of Hermes to
back up our methods. So if you want to learn about magical time and
space travel tune in and we'll open the Star Gate.

On Thursday January 21st, 2021 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, Frater Thabion, will present a discussion on The Outer Planets in astrology and magick, joined by astrologer and occult author Ann Finnin, V.H. Soror Urania.  As most of us known astrology, Hermetic Magick and Alchemy arose and flourishied in the years before the modern trans Saturnian planets were discovered. In ancient times it was believed that Saturn was the outer limit of the Solar System and Astrology and its dependent sciences: magick and alchemy factored celestial influences based on what could be observed with the naked eye. According to Hermetic philosophy the Macrocosm of the heavens was reflected in the human Microcosm. We all behaved prospered or failed on the whim of the planets within and the surrounding signs of the zodiac. In magick we all had seven planets in our horoscopes to contend with and we created talismans and rituals to deal with them. In the middle ages and the Renaissance this astrological magick grew into an elaborate system. Which has continued into modern times but since 1791 when Herschel discovered Uranus beyond Saturn followed by the discovery of Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1030,the Hermetic Microcosm had to be extended. Astrologers managed to factor in the newly discovered heavenly bodies but magicians and alchemists were slow to adapt. These slow moving long term bodies have profound effects on individuals and societies. We will discuss the creation of talismans (kameas) and mythological  applications to the outer planets. So if you would like to know what lies beyond the abyss, tune in and we'll take you to the Outer Limits.

On Thursday November 5th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon
will present a discussion on the mysterious hypothetical Sephira of
Da'ath. The eleventh sphere of the Tree of Life which was an actual
sphere in the so-called Tree before the Fall. This sphere is on the
brink of the Abyss between the dimension of Briah and Yetzirah and was
originally attributed to Saturn which is the most distant planet visible
to the naked eye in ancient times, thus theorized as the beginning of
the physical universe. Da'ath means knowledge and is related to the
descent of the Fallen Angels. This sphere is vitally important to magick
and to magical yoga. Our texts will be Dion Fortune, The Seventh Ray,
Book Three, The Red Ray, Hermetic Yoga, and The Book of Enoch, so for
Halloween let us journey to Mot's domain in the mountain of darkness at
the edge of the abyss.

On Thursday January 7th,2021 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review "The Lost Pillars of Enoch" by Tobias Churton (2021)This is an important book on one of the most important themes underlying the Western Esoteric Tradition: the legendary secret wisdom  of the antediluvian civilization from before the Biblical flood that inspired later astrologers, alchemists, magicians, Kabbalists, Freemasons and Rosicrucians from the first century to the present. Beginning with Enoch's two pillars as recalled in Josephus, Churton follows the Ancient Wisdom theme through through Hermetic, and alchemical writings and on into the beginnings of Masonry. He cites the remarkable account of Scottish explorer James Bruce who brought the first copies of the Book of Enoch out of Ethiopia and reveals that Issac Newton was an alchemist and a Freemason. He carries his theme of ancient wisdom on through Blavatsky to Crowley, giving us a philosophical history of the Western Esoteric Tradition. This book is highly recommended.
 

This Thursday December 31st, New Year's Eve the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present our annual review of all the new shows aired in 2020. So keep your notebooks handy to jot down the dates and titles you may have missed so you can find them in the archives. We will try to recall some of the highlights as we go through the list. Due to the virus we did our seasonal ceremonies live on the Hermetic Hour with our members as the cast. So if you want to relive the sacred year, tune in and celebrate with us.

On Thursday October 29th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will
present a discussion on the Fourth Sphere of the Qabalistic Tree of Life
Chesed or Gedulah the sphere attributed to Jupiter the King of the
planets, and the physical locus of the Third Eye. We consider Chesed the
home of Dagon, Capricorn, the amphibian god of ancient Canaan, who is
related to Poseidon the patron deity of ancient Atlantis which we also
place in the Jovian sphere. Once again our texts will be Dion Fortune,
Gareth Knight, Michael Greer, and our own Hermetic Yoga, Volume One. So
if you want to visit the sphere of prosperity (and we could all use some
of that) join us for an eye opener (Third eye that is).And those of you
here in Southern California don't forget our Halloween Party Saturday
night, with the infamous Mot Mass honoring the dead.