The Hermetic Hour

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 July 2nd, 2020 - the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will reveal the lost Initiatory Scroll of the Soul Travel Boat written in the early days of the Order of the Temple of Astarte. This lost document was recently rediscovered while we were doing research for the second volume of Hermetic Yoga and we have decided to release it along with one of the advanced Pathworkings that uses The Soul Travel Boat. From Malkuth to Chesed via the 29th and 21st Paths. So if you want fly the skies of the Astral Plane with us tune in and climb aboard the Soul Travel Boat.

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 Annunaki (Elder Gods), How Man was created by the Earth Goddess as a slave of the Gods, how Oannes brought civilization to the Sumerians, 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-comparative. 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 June 18th,2020 at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time the Hermetic Hour hosted by Poke Runyon will broadcast live the 46th Consecutive annual performance of the Order of the Temple of Astarte's Summer Solstice "Adonia" celebration. Based on the ancient Canaanite Ra Shamrah tablets the drama depicts the death of the Year King Prince Baal at the hands of the Dark Lord Mot on the longest, brightest day of the year after he has joyously served the Dew of Heaven to the celebrants in a Golden Goblet that would be remembered as the Holy Grail. He is mourned by his consort the Goddess Astarte who promises to resurrect Baal and vanquish Mot in the the Festival of Seven Gates at Autumn Equinox. This is the second time we have had to perform one of our Seasonal Rites on the radio rather than in our sacred henge at Rivendell but we urge you to vue our video version of this event in "Rites of Magick" on YouTube.     Baal: "Behold the Golden Dew of Heaven        Born of Thunder Clouds on High        Drink with me this Life Elixir!        Dance ye round 'til the Cup be Dry!"   Astarte: "Each rose is the blood of the Year King           Burn it and thy sorrows be forgot           These waters are the tears of the Goddess,           Shed them and thy sadness shall pass."

On Thursday June 11th, 2020 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Pagan Hermetic origins of the Sepher Yetzirah. This ancient book is the Philosophical and mystical foundation of the Medieval Hebrew Kabbalah. And eventually the Hermetic Qabalah which seems to recover its actual origins. It is traditionally attributed, by the Hebrews, to Father Abraham and was said to have been written by him in Harran where he is said to have “Made Souls” The Harranians were star-worshipers who preserved the star lore of ancient Babylon and eventually joined the Pythgorean - Hermetic magical tradition. The Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Creation describes how the Universe was created by the Word of God, using the proto-Hebrew Phonecian alphabet, the first alpha-numeric letter system. Which acquired twenty-four letters to accommodate the entire celestial sphere and the elements, and then became the origin of ancient Greek—which passed on its alpha-numeric heritage to Medieval Hebrew and Arabic. It has even been suggested that the second century Valentinian Magician Marcus wrote the earliest version of the Sepher Yetzirah. Even Gershom Scholem admits that the philosophy of the Sepher Yetzirah is Pythagorean. So, if you want to delve in to the depths of the mysteries join us for an hour of speculation on the origins of The Book of Creation.

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 21st, 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 21st 2020 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Twisted History of Christianity. The general theme of this presentation is how the distortion of its original principles perverted its mission for the following two thousand years of world history. We will examine how the Christian religion, which was supposed to bring peace, love and comfort to the people who accepted it, brought instead War, hatred, persecution and despair. We will begin by recalling what Christianity was supposed to be and who Jesus’s Father in Heaven really was. We will remember how his wife, Mary Magdalene and later the bishop Valentinian and his follower Marcus tried to carry on the original teachings. We will recall how the Roman Church created its Inquisition to stamp out the resurgence of original Gnostic Christianity in Southern France where Mary Magdalene and Marcus had preached, and how the Roman Church launched a genocidal crusade against these innocent Cathars killing millions. The Inquisition went on to murder thousand of heretics and witches while the Church bishops exploited the poor and offered salvation for money. Finally Northern European Christians revolted in a movement called the Reformation, but the Protestants failed to correct the original mistake the Roman Church had made in accepting Yahweh as the father of Jesus and incorporating the corrupted Old Testament as part of the Christian Bible. By the 18th century all forms of Christianity were challenged by the rise of a new atheistic religion that offered the same promise: peace, love and comfort. It emerged from the horror of the French Revolution. You can call it socialism, humanism, or communism – but what ever name it goes under, it is actually a Christian Heresy. It is Christian altruism without salvation. So, If you want to want to know how the early Christians got it wrong and how we can fix it, tune in and we’ll reveal a real New Testament.

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!"