The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday October 13th, 2016 Poke Runyon host of the Hermetic hour will present a reading of the mystical magical poem "The Hashish Eater" by the late Poet and Fantasy writer Clark Ashton Smith. Smith was a friend and colleague of H. P. Lovecraft whose magical fantasies were also featured in Weird Tales in the 1930s and 1940s, and in "Dark of the Moon" from Arkham House and in "New World's for Old" edited by Lin Carter. This poem is a fantastic magical experience and invokes dreamlike visions. Tune in and discover a magical psychedelic masterpiece.

On Thursday September 15th, 2016 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.

On Thursday September first, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will discuss James Branch Cabell's romantic fantasy novel JURGEN (1919).This delightfully satirical and deeply esoteric work is considered Cabell's masterpiece and a classic of American literature. It might best be quickly described as an Oz book for adults. Modern readers will liken Cabell's tale to a Monty Python script. Chapter XXII was inspired by Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass which prompted Crowley to praise Cabell as America's greatest novelist. We will read the infamous 22nd chapter along with some of the symbolically described erotic passages that got the original book banned in New York. This backfired and made JURGEN a national bestseller in the 1920s. And it is still a great read -- so if you want to spend an hour with Messers Cabell and Crowley, tune in and we will follow Jurgen chasing his first love all the way from puberty to Hell, which is a liberal democracy and up to Heaven which is a Southern Baptist dictatorship, administered by a black house slave. Maybe we can get it banned again!

On Thursday September 23rd, 2021, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review Journey to the Castle (2021) by Ann Finnin who will join us on the show to guide us recalling her journey to find the roots of Traditional British Witchcraft. As most of us know modern British witchcraft is divided between Gardnarian and Robert Gravesian branches. The Gravesian branch springing mostly from Bill Gray and Robert Cochcrane (Roy Bowers) and imported to America by Joe Wilson as the Order of 1734. Dave and Ann Finnin’s Coven of the Roebuck grew out of 1734 but they wanted to get to the real roots of their inspiration. Go to England, meet the elders, walk the lay lines, visit the castles. Learn the truth first hand. This book recalls that quest, documents their discoveries and presents Ann’s insights on the meanings and significance of this most shamanic form of modern witchcraft. If you want to know how to cross the moat tune in and take notes.

On Thursday August 25th, 2016 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on two modern classics that hold up mirrors to modern society and recent history: George Orwell's 1984 (1949) and Ortega de Gassett's Revolt of the Masses (1929).Both authors were socialists and both were involved in the Spanish Civil War. 1984 is called a "dystopia"and describes British post World War II socialism evolving into a nightmarish double-plus-ungood (Stalinistic) tyranny where everyone is brainwashed into believing that: "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength." In "Revolt of the Masses" Ortega de Gassett disputes the liberal dictum that universal literacy and education can ennoble and uplift "the common people" into a body politic capable of rational and reasonable self government, Hence democracy must be controlled by an intellectual elite (sound familiar). Both these books are classics and more important today than when they were written. We will try to put them in a Hermetic perspective for you (sociology is the new black magick) so if you want to peek into the future from way back when, tune in and we'll part the veil.

On Thursday August 18th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review new issues of old Hermetic Magick books. Starting with Zoroaster's Telescope (1796-2013) and on to Urania's Mirror (1822-2004) and finally The Harmonia Macrocosmica of Cellarius (1660 - 2013). The first item on our list is more of a board-game than a book; a very elaborate and frankly confusing French divinatory system that uses hexagonal "tiles" with magical and astrological data drawn from an urn or box and applied to a board called a mirror. which has hexagonal compartments. Divination follows from the numbers in the mirror's cells and the pattern various tiles make on the mirror. Urania's Mirror is a small book describing the astrological constellations and their mythology accompanied by a set of thirty-two cards on which the mythical figures of the zodiac are depicted in very romantic style. This style is influenced by our last selection: The Harmonia Macrocosmica of Andreus Cellarius, a magnificently illustrated atlas of the heavens. So if you'd like to explore some recent revivals of ancient wisdom tune in and we'll have a look.

On Thursday August 26th, 2021, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will explore the place of Hermetics and Hermetic Magicians in the coming Futurist society influenced and augmented by genetic engineering, nanotech, computer technology, artificial intelligence, and Clio-dynamics We will refer to our broadcasts over the past few years dealing with these super-humanizing or DE-humanizing techs and tech-systems predicted by science fiction authors such as A.E. Van Vogt, L. Ron Hubbard, Issac Asimov, and Frank Herbert. We will consult current works on the subject by Michio Kaku and Marc Zimmer. We will suggest that much of this futurism derives from Hermetic philosophy and therefore we magicians should embrace it providing we can become more than human rather than a swarm of sub-human drones in a hive. So if you wanna be Slans. (Fans of the Slans are today’s futurists) tune in and we’ll open the gate for you.

On Thursday August 19th the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present two Prophetic essays by American rocket scientist, magician and philosopher John Whiteside Parsons. Chapters Two and Three of "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword taken from The Seventh Ray, Book IV, Omnibus, The Violet Ray" a reprint of the original publication in the Seventh Ray, issue 19, 1977 (Chapter 3) and a previously unpublished chapter 2, "The Sword and the State." These essays from the 1950s are particularly important in the present political, spiritual, and socio-economic situation. They should be of particular interest to our Thelemic listeners and Hermetic students generally. I do not always agree with Jack but I do agree that his work should be revived and reviewed at this critical time. So if you want to know what Maestro Belarion predicted tune in and find out.

On Thursday August 11th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will discuss two prophetic science fiction stories from the 1950s: C.M. Kornbluth's "The Marching Morons" and A.E. Van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher." Both are considered classics of the genre and deal with controversial social issues. Kornbluth's "Morons" predict a future where the average I.Q. is 45 and a tiny intelligent elite struggle to preserve the self-destructive swarming mass of sub-human humanity. In Van Vogt's "Weapon Shops" a group of gun manufacturers and dealers struggle to arm the citizens of a tyrannical and corrupt world government headed by a psychopathic empress (she sleeps with snakes) who is determined to disarm and enslave them. Both of these stories deserve to be looked at again in light of present and pending events. So if you want a glimpse of today and tomorrow as seen by the prophets of yesterday, tune in and we'll roll back the clock to the 1950s.

On Thursday August 5th, 2021 - the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on Magical (Electional) Astrology from Ficino to Campanella with Bishop Michael Beeson (V.H. Frater Suen). We will refer to D.P. Walker's book Demonic and Spiritual magic from Ficino to Campanella, recounting Campanella and Pope Urban's magical astrological operation. We will discuss Planetary Hours, Lunar Mansions, and other aspects of electional astrology. We will recommend the books of Christopher Warnock (Renaissance astrology) and Michael Beeson's own podcast, Hacking Fate. So if you want to know how the old wizards did it, tune in and find out.