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The Hermetic Hour

with host Poke Runyon

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#249
Yesterday · 51 min
Summoning in the Triangle: A Step-by-Step Guide
The Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will guide you, step-by-step through the entire procedure of summoning a Goetic Spirit to visible appearance in Solomon's Triangle of Art. We are not going to actually get something to appear on your computer screen (although we might do that next year....), but we will give all the necessary explanations and instruction necessary to perform such an operation -- the catch is, you first have to train yourself in the skills and internalize the rituals we are describing, so this is like someone telling you exactly how to sky down the north face of the Matterhorn. In other words, you can imagine how exciting it is, but you have at least a year's work ahead before you can do it. But then, who knows... you might have some interesting dreams... So, tune in, turn on, and let's see what appears in a glass darkly.
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#248
Wednesday · 50 min
Bringing Cosmic Power Down Through the Four Qabalistic Worlds
Host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Spheres of Malkuth and Yesod in the Hermetic Yoga system. We will develop the Western concept of bringing down cosmic power through the four worlds of the qabalah, the Cube of Space in the human head, with Saturn in Da'ath. How to awaken The Dragon (the Western kundalini). Seed letters, Roses and jewels of the psychic centers (chakras) and envisioning the Gods Within will be explored. This will be a workshop session, so tune in, turn on, and go deep with in yourself---and on to the Greater Self Beyond.
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#247
August 13 · 54 min
Listen to My Voice: A Guided Lesson in Self-Hypnosis
Host Poke Runyon will teach you how to hypnotize yourself -- and get started in Hermetic yoga. We will cover theory and practice, and demonstrate some induction techniques ......"Listen to my voice....You are completely relaxed....." and so on. Then on to pranayama, yoganindra, tratakam, and samadi. It's really not as complicated as it sounds, but the jargon is intimidating. Tune in and let us entrance you
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#246
August 5 · 54 min
Creative Visualization for Magical Results
Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon will discuss Creative Visualization, one of the essential techniques of magick. Starting with the theory of Platonic preform images vs. the kabbalah's magick of the Word, and the number, we will move on to explain the highly developed Tibetan tantric imagery and its effects. We'll give examples of successful creative visualizations (ours and others). We will discuss how people visualize, and how they can train themselves to control the process. The use of magical color will be explained. We will mention works by Franz Bardon, William G. Gray, Ophiel and others. We will discuss our particular methods and their applications. Tune in and get the picture.
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#245
July 24 · 51 min
Secrets of the Purple People: Phoenicians & the Hermetic Tradition
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the ancient Phoenicians and the Hermetic Tradition. This follows last week's review of "Jesus the Phoenician" by Karim el Koussa. The references for this evening's discussion will be the recent "Phoenician Secrets" by Sandford Holst and "The Phoenicians, the Purple Empire of the Ancient World" by Gerald Herm, Our focus will be on Phoenician contributions to, and influence on, Western occultism and magick. It has recently been established that the Phoenician culture is one of the oldest in the world. It's roots go back nine thousand years. The Phoenicians were building and sailing ocean-going ships long before the Pyramids were built. The first pyramid was built by European architects brought from Malta to Egypt by Phoenician contractors. The Phoenicians were very secretive about their business and their religion. We will discuss their astrological religion (the Labors of Hercules), their magical alphabet (the real origin of the Qabalah) and their possible connection with Atlantis. So, if you want to voyage with the Purple People on ancient seas, tune in and we'll hoist the mainsheet.
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#244
July 23 · 45 min
Orphic Hymns: Guiding Souls Through the Celestial Spheres
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 Mithraites, 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 Eleusinian 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.
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#243
July 10 · 53 min
"The Hermetic Link" a Review with Freeman Presson
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a review on a very important recent book on the Hermetic Tradition by Dutch author Jacob Slavenburg titled: "The Hermetic Link." Reviewing this book will be a team effort between the host and our esteemed guest Frater Ophis (Freeman Presson) who beat us to the punch and reviewed Slavenburg's book on his website two years ago. How did we miss it? No excuse because it should not have been missed. Certainly there have been other surveys of the Hermetic Tradition, usually combined with other related elements such as Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, magick, etc. but this is the best and most complete tracing of the great Hermetic Gnosis from ancient Egypt, through Alexandria, Harran, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the so-called "Enlightenment" and the present modern age. Slavenburg takes us from Zosimus to the Kybalion in a sympathetic, very thoughtful and comfortably philosophical style. He quotes Peter Kingsley ("Reality") frequently and does as good a job as Kingsley in getting across the deepest meaning of the Hermetic Mystery (the Great I AM) - perhaps he does it better in that he uses excerpts from Hermes to reveal the treasure we ardent Hermetic devotees hold so dear, whereas Kingsley in Reality depended on pre-Hermetic Parmenides and Empedocles. If all this is Greek to you, it shouldn't be and Slavenburg goes a long way toward establishing the true and enduring magnificence of our venerable Tradition. Tune in and get yourself Hermetically sealed. (Preserved for the next incarnation.)
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#242
July 7 · 49 min
Marcus the Valentinian: Father of Greek Kabbalah and the Soma Sophia
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 Kiren 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 Phonecian, 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 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.
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#241
July 1 · 55 min
The Naassene Document
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.
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#240
June 26 · 51 min
The Mystery of Melchizedek
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Biblical mystery man Melchizedek who appears in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and later in the New Testament. Melchizedek literally means King and Priest or Priest-King. He was said to have given the first communion to Abraham in the days before Joseph became a leader in Egypt. Although legendary he was said to have established an order of priesthood to rival that of Moses brother Aaron. He represented the original Canaanite god El ("the most High God") whereas Aaron's priesthood was that of Moses' Jehovah (Yahweh). After the Babylonian captivity Ezra attempted to overwrite all references to El in the Bible and make Jehovah the supreme being. The New testament declares twice that Jesus the Nazareen is a priest after the Order of Melchizedek -- We will look at this in relation to the Egyptian and Phoenician situation at the time and later Gnostic Christian writings. So if you want to do some Biblical detective work tune in and we'll solve the mystery.
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#239
June 17 · 34 min
Rosicrucian Yoga
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the the modern yoga ritual version of the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. This is the fully developed Rosicrucian version of Hermetic Yoga Beyond the Middle Pillar as presented in volume one of Hermetic Yoga, Beyond the Middle Pillar. This advanced version, draws upon The Naassene Document, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Mary, the Chemical Wedding itself, and the works of Jacob Boehme and Johann Gichtel. This reveals that the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O. and the Great Rite of the Gardnerians are both derived from original Valentinian Gnostic Christian sources. So if you want to experience some R-rated Rosicrucian yoga, tune in and we'll take you into the mirrored chamber of the Sacred Marriage
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#238
June 10 · 42 min
The Splendor Solis (1582)
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Alchemical Classic "Splendor Solis" by Solomon Trismosin 1582. This magnificently illustrated work is considered to be the most beautiful illuminated manuscript of all the Medieval and Renaissance occult books. It draws on all of the earlier Alchemical classics such as the Turba Philosophorum. Solomon Trismosin was said to have been the mentor of the most famous of all alchemists Paracelsus. The twenty-two beautiful allegorical paintings that illustrate the book are the work of the Renaissance master Lucas van Leiden. The symbolic paintings have been likened to the twenty-two greater arcana of the Tarot.This book has been a great influence on Rosicrucianism and deserves a place in any study of that tradition, so if you want to peek at the Splendor of the Sun, put on your dark glasses and tune in.
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#237
May 31 · 52 min
The Chemical Wedding, Part 2: Symbols of Internal Alchemy
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the second part of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz by Valentin Andreae 1616, followed by an interpretation of the symbolism in relation to internal alchemy, the extended Middle Pillar chakra system and Valentinian Gnostic Christianity. We will describe the Sacred Marriage within the adept him/or/herself as an analog to the operations on the Sixth Day in the Tower of Olympus. We will refer to works by Jacob Boehme, The creation of the Magical Child, Johann Gichtel and the mysteries of the Spiral and the Lightning Flash. And the Homunculus of Paracelsus. This is the lost Key to Rosicrucian Sex Magick and the ultimate secret of the Hieros Gamos. Tune in and be enlightened.
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#236
May 26 · 1 hr 14 min
The Chemical Wedding, Part 1: The Seven-Day Alchemical Quest
The Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present our interpreted and explained version of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1614). The Chemical Wedding is the third of the mysterious Rosicrucian documents that appeared in Central Europe in the early 17th century. It is an alchemical fantasy that might even be called "Science Fiction." Occultists have tried to unravel it's secrets for the last four hundred years and we will offer our interpretation tonight as we accompany old Christian Rosenkreutz on his visit to the mysterious castle and his participation in the alchemical operation to resurrect the King and Queen. The solving of its riddles has been just as exciting an adventure as the story itself. So tune in and come with us to the Castle of the Rosicrucians.
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#235
May 19 · 55 min
Cagliostro: The Count Who Promised Gold and Miracles
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the life and career of the 18th century magician and alchemical adept who called himself Count Alessandro Cagliostro. He was perhaps the most colorful and adventurous character in our Hermetic tradition. Vilified as a rogue, a scoundrel, and a charlatan by the academy and the Church in Europe he was loved by the common people for his healing touch and alchemical medicines which he administered freely to the poor, and dearly to the rich. He claimed to be able to create gold to support his charity work and lavish life style. He and his glamorous wife Lorenza founded an androgynous quasi-Masonic Egyptian rite which allegedly involved nudity and sex magick. Cagliostro was featured as an anti-hero in a series of novels by Alexander Dumas, and depicted on film by Orson Welles in the (1949 ) movie classic BLACK MAGIC. We will consult Sax Rhomer's ROMANCE of SORCERY ( 1914 ) for a more accurate version of the Count's adventures than Dumas' novels and the screenplay offer -- so if you'd like to meet the real Count Cagliostro, tune in and we'll follow him on his journey as he invented himself.
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#234
May 12 · 57 min
The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm
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.
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#233
May 3 · 47 min
"Original Magic" (2017) and "Real Magic" (2018) Reviewed & Compared
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review two recent books: "Original Magic" (2017) by Stephen E. Flowers and "Real Magic" (2018) by Dean Radin. These books don't have much in common. Original Magic deals with the ancient Persian Magi, whereas Real Magic focuses on ESP and those who have special talents and powers. Both books are of interest to Hermetic students for different reasons, The ancient Persian Magi have been largely ignored in the present occult revival and yet their beliefs and practices have had a strong influence on modern Magick. Real Magic champions the natural psychic and clairvoyant and presents the usual arguments and data to validate paranormal experience and suggest that it can be induced by shamanic techniques. Radin also deals with controversial Futurist issues such as the universal mind. Both books are subject to some philosophical and technical criticisms but both are well worth reading.
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#232
April 30 · 49 min
The Fraternitas Saturni with Dr. Stephen Flowers
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will be joined by author Stephen Flowers, Ph.D. to review and discuss the newly revised edition of "The Fraternitas Saturni" (2018). This being the fourth version of the original copyrighted in 1990, and including previously unpublished material making this rendition sensational in occult circles. Flowers traces the FS from its beginning, with Crowley and the O.T.O. inspiring Gregor Gregorius in 1925, through its activities in the Weimar era, its suppression by the Nazis, its revival after WW II and its eventual split into three bodies after Gregorius died in 1964. We are introduced to the "Adonism" of Franz Sattler (Dr. Musallam) a neo-pagan Venus-Adonis cult (!) that included Wilhelm Quaintscher and Franz Bardon who carried it with them into the Frateritas Saturni. We revisit the infamous FOGC black lodge from Frabato, and the Weida Conference in which Crowley attempted to take over organized occultism in Germany. Most importantly Dr. Flowers presents a detailed analysis of the Gnostic and Luciferian philosophies and doctrines behind the Saturnian Gnosis. He outlines their cumbersome 33 degree system and their training program; much of it very similar to Franz Bardon's work. Of course the FS is most noted for its sex magick and we have one of those rituals provided. Quite frankly, this book raises as many questions as it answers, but It is well documented with references to works in German that some of us are going to want translated. So, if you want the answers to questions you had, and more questions you may want to ask about the Fraternitas Saturni then tune in and take notes.
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#231
April 28 · 43 min
The Arbatel of Magic (1575)
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion, by guest speaker V.H. Frater SithMeth on the Arbatel of Magic (1575), a grimoire calling up a hierarchy of Olympic spirits which is featured in The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy attributed to Henry Cornelius Agrippa (1655). This is a very mysterious manuscript which was outlined and summarized in the first installment, but never finished. However there seems to be enough information, sigils and instructions in what was published for some practical application. Frater SithMeth will read his article on the Arbatel and we will explore the possible use in relation to planetary magick. So if quaint and forgotten books of lore fascinate you, join us and we will have a look at one of the most mysterious.
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#230
April 21 · 54 min
Franz Bardon: The Alchemist of Modern Hermetics
Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon will present a lecture on the magick of Franz Bardon, the 20th century European alchemist and magician. Bardon was the author of three books on magick, and one semi-autobiographical novel. His Eastern style methods of training, owing much to raja and tantric yoga, have had a considerable influence on modern Western practice. We will discuss each of his three books in sequence; where his information came from, and what his philosophy was. You will learn about "fluid condensers," "volts," "elementals," magnetic and electric fluids, and magick mirrors. His debt to P. B. Randolph will be mentioned. We will discuss the origins of his myriads of spirits, the way he derived his sigils, his unique concept of Kabbalah. Bardon's background as a professional hypnotist, alchemist and healer will be compared to his mundane life and problems. The Master was an over-weight chain-smoker who died after eating a bacon sandwich---but he was still "The Master," and we should appreciate him all the more for the faults that made him human. Tune in find out why Simon, King of the Witches kept saying "Magnetic-Electric," while having fun with the D.A.'s daughter.
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