The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday April 19th, 2018, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review a book titled LeMulgeton, Goetia and the Stellar Tradition by Leo Holmes (2013) a Brazilian author who has examined the 72 Spirits of the Goetia in relation to the earliest Zodiacal and fixed-star arrangement that we have, the Mul.Apin of the Babylonians, hence his title “Le Mul ge ton.” Holmes has also included references to the Egyptians, the Magi, the Yazidis, the Tarot, Lovecraft and Kenneth Grant. He has a complete sequence of sigils for the Behemian stars. Which is a valuable asset to any magician’s handbook. He agrees with us that Bael and Ashteroth are Ba’al and Astarte and advances his zodiacal circle from the Age of Taurus to the age of Aries, as we have in our Master Mandala and he has also declared that Zagan (number 61) is the Caananite God Dagon, which we will certainly consider. This is a small quarto book in limited edition published by The Fall of Man Press. Our copy, provided by Frater Damuzi, is number 260 of 300, so if you Goetic magicians want the book you should order it soon.

On Thursday March 12th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will chair a discussion on the recent Neocoris initiations at Avalon Lodge near Austin, Texas. We will be joined by Very Honored Frater Heracles, Master at Avalon and Hierophant at the initiation and other cast members and candidates. The Neocoris Grade in Crata Repoa is where we introduce the candidate to Solomon's magical art of evocation in the dark mirror. This ceremony is dramatic and challenging with tests and ordeals. It is based on Paul Christian's One degree condensation of Crata Repoa in his "History and Practice of Magic" (1870) and is a rite of passage in every sense of the word. Following the initiation, Soror Zandria and I presented a Charter Warrant for a full-fledged O.T.A. Lodge to V.H. Frater Soun and V.H. Soror Ningal of Ubar Hermitage, now Ubar Lodge, in Dallas, Texas. We followed this by a brief ceremony ordaining both Frater Soun and Soror Ningal as ministers in The Church of the Hermetic Sciences.

On Thursday March 22nd, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the second part of the Legenda of the O.T.A.'s Second Crata Repoa Degree, Neocoris. The Legenda is essentially the same as the degree script with a few secrets deleted. It is the story of the degree. This was the first O.T.A. degree back in the early 1970s and was moved up to second when we began to do all seven of the Crata Repoa system. Last week we covered the reception, testing, and the ordeals, in Section One. Tonight we move through the obligation and on to the knowledge lectures in Section Two. Our instructions in Solomon's magick are delivered in a biblical style like Mather's used in some of his G.D. lectures. So if you want to experience a magical initiation, tune in and we'll give you a word picture of the process.

On Thursday March 15th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the first of a two part presentation on the Legenda of the O.T.A.'s Second Degree, Neocoris in the Crata Repoa System. This initiation was originally inspired by the French version of Crata Repoa from Paul Christian's 1870 History and Practice of Magic, called the Mysteries of the Pyramids. It has been performed here in Southern California since 1970 and is a very dramatic and challenging experience. A rite of passage one never forgets. A Legenda is the story of an initiation. It reveals the deeper meaning of the ritual while keeping things such as passwords, symbols and formulas secret. The Legenda gives you the meaning, so if you'd like to know about one of the oldest magical initiatory rituals, tune in and we will share it with you.

On Thursday February 22nd, 2018 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.

On February 8th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the Legenda of the first Degree of Crata Repoa Reformado. Which we call the Fellowship of the Grail. A Legenda is the scenario of a esoteric degree. It describes the degree delivering most of the essential knowledge and symbolism but leaves out certain "secrets" such as grips, secret words and procedures. Crata Repoa is the oldest system of Magical degrees and is based on first century Alexandrian Hermetic writings and rituals. We will briefly outline the original 18th century system and explain some of our modern additions and inclusions. So if you'd like to find out what really goes on in a Magical Initiation tune in and be illuminated.

On Thursday February 1st, 2018 The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, and honored guests will reprise a Golden Dawn memorial service for lately departed Cris Monnastre, Patricia Behman, founder of the Los Angeles Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This ceremony was held at Culver City Foshay Masonic Lodge on January 21st. Patricia Behman was a close associate of the late Francis Israel Regardie and received her original dispensation from him to establish a Temple of the Golden Dawn in Southern California.The memorial and requiem was performed by officers of the R.R. et A.C. who will repeat the presentation on this broadcast. Patricia Behman was  loved and honored for her dedication to preserving the Western Esoteric Tradition. Please join us as we say farewell to a great lady and a beloved Temple chief.

On Thursday January 25th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will re-visit and review the 1950 science fiction novel “Wine of the Dreamers” by John D. MacDonald (1918-1986) This was his first science fiction novel. MacDonald went on to become one of America’s best Detective Story writers. “Wine of the Dreamers” set twenty-five years in the future (1975) the story interweaves two sets of characters on two different planets. The director of an early United States space program Bard Lane, and his staff psychiatrist Sharan Inly on Earth and Raul Kinson and his sister Leesa on the distant planet of the Dreamers. The Dreamers are the decadent descendants of the original human race. Millions of years ago they colonized Earth and two other planets in other solar systems. They maintain contact with the colony worlds, including Earth, by the use of long-range telepathic dream-machines. They call themselves “The Watchers” and they have a prime directive: To keep the colony worlds from developing space travel. And the dreamers do this by demonic possession sabotaging space programs such as the one Bard Lane and Sharan are managing in New Mexico. But the dreamers have degenerated to the point where they no longer believe that the people on the other worlds whom they possess have any real reality. They think they are creations of their dream machines for their entertainment. Very much like our video games. So the dreamers can create mayhem and chaos for amusment. However Raul Kinson is a throwback to an earlier age. He knows the truth and wants to help Bard and Sharan. The end result of this alliance of the minds between the worlds makes for a fascinating sequence of what-ifs – so if you want to find out who is watching and listening between your ears, from beyond the stars, tune in and we’ll go back to a future that never was but might yet be coming.

On Thursday January 11th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with Host Poke Runyon will review all of the live broadcasts of the preceding year 2017 so that our listeners can go to our archives with the title, subject and date of a show they missed. So keeping a note book at hand while you listen is recommended. Following this recap of 2017’s broadcasts, we will discuss what we have planned for 2018 and a look at forthcoming publications and productions from The Church of the Hermetic Sciences, So if you want to know where we’ve been and where we are going, tune in and get caught up.

On December 21st, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will review Dan Brown's new novel "Origin" (2017). Other reviewers have called Origin either Brown's best or his worst novel. On a scale from one to ten we would give it an eight. As in all his thought provoking thrillers he follows the Dean-Koontz formula plotting for maximum suspense and action while keeping the big secret hidden as long as possible, thus managing to tantalize and entertain his readers as well as educating them into the essential mystery or problem central to the plot. In the Da Vinci code, it was the Holy Grail, in Inferno, it was the population explosion, in Origin it is the origin of life on earth and the destiny of the human race. Once again Brown creates a modern Frankenstein in the person of a billionaire inventor, computer programmer and futurist, Edmund Kirsch. Kirsch and his Android Igor "Winston" have decided to destroy religion by releasing a scientific documentary proving that there is and never was a divine creation and that humankind is rapidly evolving into a new species of cyborgs. (Much of this speculation has already been aired on documentary t.v. channels). Modern Spain is the venue for this drama and Brown treats us to his usual educational travelog. Before the world wide release of his production Kirsch is assassinated on stage (like Howard Beale) and this leaves Brown's hero Robert Langdon aided by the future queen of Spain and Kirsch's trusty A.I. "Winston" to find the secret Password to release the program. He does and they do -- but Langdon debunks Kirsch's premise that DNA evolved like amino acids in the primal soup of the earth's beginnings so God is saved. If you want to unravel the codes and untangle the twisted plot of this contemporary thriller tune in and we'll seek our Origin and our Destiny.