The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday July 7th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on Ayn Rand's magnum opus Atlas Shrugged (1957) from a Hermetic Perspective. This book has been read by almost as many people as the Bible. It is particularly important today because it predicted the deterioration of American industry and infrastructure under socialist governmental regulation. Rand's principal characters are heroic industrialists struggling to keep their enterprises going under worsening conditions. Until a Genius inventor named John Galt convinces them all to quit and let the looters and the parasites of socialism try run the country without them. Hence the title: Atlas, he who holds up the world, Shrugged.. Whether you love it or hate it the novel is powerfully written and the characters are dynamic. They resonate with frustrated achievers in today's America. Atlas Shrugged is Hermetic in the same way that Freemasonry is Hermetic. It is an elitism of the creative mind. The builders, the doers, the engineers, and the artists. We will examine this principle in Hermetic philosophy and even compare Atlas Shrugged to Aleister Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend (1922). We will examine Ayn Rand's background in relation to the message of the novel – so if you find the world weighing down on you – and who doesn't these days, tune in and we'll try to shrug it off.

On Thursday June 23rd, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon and guest Jo Carson will present a preview- review of her forthcoming book: "The Green Pulse Oracle - A Tool for Eco-Psychic Insight." Lady Jo Carson is the President of Feraferia, America's First Goddess-centered, Ecology-oriented Neo-Pagan religion founded in 1967 by Artist and philosopher Frederick Adams (1928-2008). Jo Carson is the leader of Feraferia and dedicated to preserving and continuing the work of Fred Adams and his consort Lady Svetlana Butyrin. As a film maker Jo has produced and directed "Dancing with Gaia" (2009) a documentary DVD on ancient and modern Paganism centered on Fred Adams and Feraferian activities. She is the author of "Celebrate Wilderness" (2014) a portfolio book of Feraferian art, text and photos. She is presently readying "The Green Pulse Oracle" for publication. This is a system of divination similar to Geomancy and I-Ching. It is based on Fred Adams' further development of Robert Graves' Tree Alphabet from his modern classic "The White Goddess." Adams delineated and extended Graves' twenty Celtic Ogham glyphs into a twenty-four letter system that he mounted on a series of Hermetic Enneasphere mandalas coordinating them with the Trees, the Tarot Trumps, astrological and planetary signs, and myth themes. Jo Carson reconstructed the system from Fred's rudimentary publications, notes and graphics. We have experimented with the Oracle and found it to be remarkably accurate and inspiring. So join us as we explore the divinatory magick of an American master as revealed by his worthy successor.

On Thursday June 16th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon willl present a review of the 2010 book Babylon's Banksters, the Alchemy of deep physics, high finance and ancient religion, by Joseph Farrell. Although this book is somewhat dated in light of current events, it is important in that it presents the background of world-wide financial manipulation from a Hermetic and Magical perspective. Farrell quotes authoritative sources to establish a relation between business cycles planetary allignments and Solar activities, lending credit to astrology, ancient aliens and even the Pythagorean music of the spheres. The book raises more questions than it answers but it is fascinating and filled with provocative inormation, such as the investment formula developed by a Chinese communist Triad Tong family that brought on the 2008 Great Recession (shades of Fu Manchu !) So if you want to know how evil magicians manipulate the stock market tune in and we'll give you an overview.

On June 9th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with Host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the secret meaning behind Abraham Merritt's classic Fantasy novel “The Moon Pool.” (1919). This Lost Race fantasy adventure story, similar to Rider Haggard's “She”was very influential on other fantasy writers, movie makers and comic book writers and artists. It was one of the major sources of the 1940s “Shaver Mystery”. Moon Pool is based on the idea that the Moon was pulled out of the Earth half a billion years ago when our young world was in a molten state, leaving a huge cavity in the area of the Central Pacific, which sealed itself over and eventually became a vast air filled cavern under the ocean. A subterranean world with its own flora, fauna and people. Its only connection to the surface world is the ancient ruined stone city of Nan Modal on Panape island in the Central Pacific Ocean. In these haunted ruins is a mysterious doorway that only opens when the Moon is full, revealing The Moon Pool from which rises a fantastic alien being that resembles an animated and illuminated kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is called “The Dweller” or “The Shining One” – a beautiful, alluring vampiric creature that stalks human prey, harvesting and feeding on their souls. The Dweller or Shining One is worshiped as a god by a faction of the Murians, who are as evil as their diety and are plotting to conquer the surface world. Into this setting come a group of adventurers from our world – so we can have a hero and a heroine to save both worlds ( love conquers all) -- and someone to tell the story. That, as the Irish say, is the gist of it. But there is a lot more behind the scenes in Moon Pool than just a good story. So If you want to learn the horrible secret of the Shining One then tune in and listen as we open the door to The Moon Pool.

On Thursday May 26th, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a preview of his forthcoming occult adventure novel "Hell on Heaven's Reef" which takes place on mysterious Pohnpei (Ponape) Island in the centrral Pacific, home of the Lost City of Nan Modal which was the entrance to the undersea caverns of Lemuria according to writer Abraham Merritt in his 1919 adventure fantasy classic "The Moon Pool" Film footage of our expeditions to Nan Modal can be seen in Beyond Lemuria. The advance promo for this book in "Drell Master" reads: "Join former Green Beret treasure hunter Jason Hardee on an expedition to mysterious Pohnpei Island in the Pacific as he searches for an ancient relic that holds the dark secrets of world conquering power. Jason battles ruthless mercenaries, fanatical cultists, native black magick, giant tiger sharks, and a killer hurricane, while two ravishingly beautiful women battle over Jason! Hell on Heaven's Reef is is epic in scope, an adventure that begins before the Ice Age, carries through with 19th century American whalers of the Hardee family sailing from Maui to Ponape, and culminates with Jason Hardee returning to find the treasure of his ancestors. So join us and we'll set sail for High Adventure. Special thanks to Gordon White (Star.Ships) for inspiring us to finally get this book on the fast track.

On Thursday May 19th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will air a discussion on the noted British 19th century occultist, spiritualist and magician Frederick Hockley ( 1809 - 1885 ) mentor of Francis "the Magus" Barrett and Kenneth "the Cypher manuscript Mackenzie". Hockley was an ardent Freemason and Rosicrucian with genuine Rosicrucian connections and documents.He was a collector and a transcriber of occult manuscripts and several of his once rare treasures are being reissued today. We will read Hockley's account of "Raising the Devil" (a homunculus in a bottle) from "The Rosicrucian Seer" by John Hamill, and then discuss our own attempt to replicate this operation. We will discuss Hockley's influence on the Golden Dawn and the occult revival. So if you'd like to "Raise the Devil" with old Fred Hockley tune in and we'll get it on.

On Thursday May 12th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present an interview with British author Gordon White featuring his book "Star.Ships, a Prehistory of the Spirits." Gordon is a journalist, a magician, a scuba diver and a scholar of prehistoric archaeology. He and host Poke Runyon have both explored the lost city of Nan Madol above ground and underwater at different times. In the book Star.Ships Gordon focuses on the accumulating evidence of lost, sunken, and buried ruins from the antediluvian (Ice Age) period such as Gobekli Tepe and others along with genetic evidence of the migrations of early man to develop a remarkable thesis regarding our astrological mythology.  He proposes that the spirits of the stars, the zodiac, are antediluvian and that the rise of planetary gods and spirits are post diluvian -- with the end of the Ice Age (15 to 12,000 years ago) being the demarcation point. He will concede some extraterrestrial contact (Temple's Sirius Mystery) but prefers inter dimensional spiritual realms more in line with Jacques Valle and Carl Jung as the source of alien contact. Poke Runyon agrees with Gordon White on almost all of his points and heartily recommends Gordon's book. So if you want meet Gordon and spend an hour with us exploring this fascinating subject, tune in and we'll learn about the prehistory of the Spirits. Special thanks to Frater Isa for arranging this great show.

On Thursday April 28th, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present the concluding chapterof the first volume of my Inner Plane fantasy novel Adamson's Quest, The Library of the Ages -- in which the Hero Enoch Adamson in his role as the Fool of the Tarot finally reaches his goal the Library of the Ages, which represents the Sphere of Hod at the upward terminis of the 31st Path on the Tree of Life. Here Adamson will meet his mentor and sponsor Hermes Trismegistus and receive the answers to his questions from a council of sages including Jesus and Mary Magdalene and even Nicolo Machievelli at a dinner party which is modeled on Steve Allen's "Meeting of the Minds" format. This novel was begun in 1973 when we first began to develop our Qabalistic Path Working program. So if you want to sit in on an Inner Plane esoteric council meeting join us and be enlightened.

On Thursday April 21st, 2016 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will discuss his Magical Inner Plane novel Admson's Quest and offer a dramatic reading of Chapter Eleven. This fictional journey up the paths of the Tree of Life was begun back in 1979 in the old pamphlet style Seventh Ray and has been continued in the new journal version of T7R since 1999. The final installment Chapter Twelve is in the works and should be ready by next week. We did a show on Adamson four years ago that is still available in the archives for those who wish more background on the story. Adamson's experiences reflect the anxieties of the times (late 1970s) he tries to overcome psychosomatic illnesses, psychological neurosis, Freudian complexes, Jungian archetypes and Qabalistic paradoxes, while dressed as the Fool in the Tarot, more recently he deals with contemporary problems: reptilian illuminati, pollution, invasion of privacy, social engineering, virtual reality and military-industrial corruption. So, if you want to join the 2084 Army's virtual reality nano-tank corps and battle giant mole-crickets (Mike Charlies) in the non-whitehouse lawn then tune in and let's roll!

On Thursday April 7th, the Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will be joined by V.H. Frater Heracles for a discussion about the application of Traditional shamanic drumming techniques to Hermetic Magick. We will also review and discuss Michael Harner's latest book "Cave and Cosmos" in relation to the O.T.A.'s Qabalah, Solomonic ceremonial evocation, Initiations, pathworkings and Hermetic Yoga. Michael Harner is the founder and leader of The Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He is universally recognized as the foremost authority and most respected teacher on Shamanic philosophy, spirituality, and method. So if you would like to learn how to drum your way into the lower, middle and upper worlds, then tune in and pick up the beat (180-220 per minute).