The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday March 5th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will have a discussion on the magical heroic fantasy fiction of British literary lion Michael Moorcock. Moorcock. Although Moorcock did not coin the term Multiverse he did much to popularize it in his Elric of Melnibone series. H.G. Wells used it in Men like Gods, and Richard Shaver's Red Dwarf called it the "Simultane." Parallel Worlds is perhaps the best description of it. What Moorcock did coin was the "Chaosphere" that mace-like symbol of the black ball with eight spearheads emerging that was adopted by Peter Carroll as the symbol for their Chaos Magick system. Moorcock's literary concept of the Chaos world is presented as an ocean of swirling colors and energies dashing against the cliffs of his fantasy world -- and periodically invading and claiming lands ruled by the Lords of Law. The Lords of Chaos, one of which is Elric's patron, play a constant game with men as the pawns. Moorcock was perhaps influanced by Vance's Cudgel, to create his anti-hero The Albino ex-emperor Elric of Melnibone, who struggles to overcome the sociopathic heritage of his race and finally secumbs to it under the influence of his black-magick sword which is a vampiric weapon with a evil mind of its own. This was a perfect fictional character for the darkness that followed the era of the flower children, a presage of the current goth and black metal fads. Moorcock describes himself as an anarchist and is a controversial literary figure in Britain. He is presently writing a Dr. Who novel, his first using someone else's character. So if you want to discover the magick of Michael Moorcock tune in and we'll navigate the multiverse.

On Thursday February 26th, 2015 our very special guest will be philosopher, author, Magus, songwriter, and folksinger Lon Milo DuQuette. Lon will discuss his latest books "Homemade Magick" from Llewellyn, and as editor: "Horror and the Occult" from Weiser. He will also invite us all to hear him in concert at the MTG recording studio in Mission Viejo, California this Saturday night. So if you want to catch up on the latest doings and offerings from one of America's most creative and talented magicians, be sure to listen in.

On Thursday February February 12th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the late medieval Dutch surrealist painter Hieronymus Bosch whose remarkable works have not yet become the secret code behind a Dan Brown novel (hint Bro. Dan) but would certainly provide a great background for such a story. His most famous work "The Garden of Earthly Delights" is a phantasmagoria a of bizarre and nightmarish symbolism. Which scholars relate to the Gonostic sect of the Adamites -- a cult of mystic nudists who were trying to recreate the Garden of Eden. Super Catholic Spain had taken over the Netherlands in those days and the Inquisition was burning the Dutch Adamites as fast as Bosch could paint them but the King of Spain was Bosch's biggest fan, which probably kept Bosch alive.So you can look at some great Bosch graphics on your computer while you listen to us recount the tale of the Devil's painter.

On Thursday February 5th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the recent Dan Brown novel "Inferno" and the the cult of Transhumanism that it seems to advocate. This is a highly controversial subject and deals with issues that are deeply challenging from a moral and ethical position. We will also go back to an earlier novel by H.G. Wells "Men like Gods" which deals with the same issues and projects a genetically perfected future utopia that seems to be the goal of the transhumanists. We will compare this form of human elitism with the process of Hermetic self development and ask ourselves which way we would rather follow to become "more than human?" So tune in and find out what's coming in the next 100 years.

On Thursday January 29th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion and review on a newly published collection of Old Testament pseudepigrapha (apocryphal works) edited by Bauckham, Davila and Panayotov from Erdmans. What makes this 800 page doorstopper of particular interest to us is "The Legend of Melchizedek" and Solomon's Hygromancy which is very similar to the medieval Greater Key of Solomon and may be a later version of the Key's original source. Poke will be joined by Biblical scholar Frater Solomon who first discovered this very interesting publication and brought it to our attention. So if you want to hear about some strange old magical manuscripts that have just come to light, tune in and we'll delve into this collection.

On Thursday January 22nd, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on Hermetic Magical Ethics. This will be somewhat controversial in that we will examine the ethical aspects of Hermetic philosophy in comparison to Christianity and other Gnostic variations including Crowley's Thelema and Golden Dawn Rosicrucianism. We will also question the merits of egalitarian collectivism compared to the American/Masonic work ethic and personal responsibility standards. We will review our newly adopted Code of Conduct for members of our magical lodges and explain some of the reasons for establishing these guidelines. So if you want to know how well-behaved and nice to each other magicians ought to be, tune in and we will give you our Golden Rules.

On Thursday January 15th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a review and reprise of the host's own writing career as a novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. After three years in the Army most in Special Forces, Poke started off in 1965 with Night Jump - Cuba 1965 followed by Commando X in 1967 and a series of underwater adventure stories in ARGOSY magazine, on to Hollywood and a short stint as a screenwriter before getting a real job as a designer and technical illustrator for Shelby American and on to a career as an industrial artist. Eventually publishing his own fiction with Drell Master 2001 and From the Tower of Darkness in 2002 So if you enjoy macho action adventure stories or ever did, tune in and find out what old Frater Thabion writes about other than magick.

On January 8th, 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reprise of the 1977 article in the old Seventh Ray number nineteen by author Janine Renee titled: Parzival and the Hermetic Grail. The author researched and wrote this at our request. It forms an important element in our reconstructed linkage of ancient Phoenician rituals to early Valentinean Christian Gnosticism and to medieval Grail lore. The major source for Janine's article is the 1965 "The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic Sources of the Parzival by Henry and Renee Kahane. Modern neo-pagans have never lost their fascination for the Holy Grail quest. The idea that the Grail was originally pagan (The Hermetic Krater) goes along with the recent revelations of Jesus and Mary Magdalen and the paganizing of Christianity. So if you want to start on your own Grail Quest tune in and we will give you directions to to the Grail Castle Montsalvat.

On New Years Day 2015 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the importance of Canaanite/Phoenician mythology in Magick and magical Qabalah and in Solomonic ceremonial magick. We will explore how it can relate to Alchemy, astrology, and Hermetic Solarism. We will discuss the Alchemical symbolism of our Cannanite Seasonal rites and the relation of Canaanite Gods and Goddesses to the Sumerian and classical Greek Pantheons. So if you want to explore what lies behind the myth of Solomon being the Master Magician, tune in and we'll introduce you to the real "oldest religion".

On Christmas night December 25th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a special program in which Frater Thabion, your host and the founder of the Order of the Temple of Astarte, will trace the books and films that influenced and inspired him to create and develop his unique American system of Magick. I grew out of the Oz books and graduated to the Mars books (John Carter) then into a teenage fascination with Richard Shaver's hi-tech Lemurian survivor stories. I will go to my 1950s early college days watching films such as Jean Cocteau's Orpheus, and Orson Welles Black Magic (on Cagliostro and Mesmer) and move on through to a study of Voodoo in line with my Caribbean adventurer-fiction writer persona. The Saragossa Manuscript for Kabbalah and mirror magick, Graves The White Goddess. Then my illness which I tried to cure with self-hypnosis. This led to a serious study of hypnosis along with Tibetan Tantra (Evans-Wentz) and finally Western Magick. Mastering the Goetia with the mirror method led to Jungian psycho-philosophy and the study of anthropology culminating in a Master's Degree in the subject from California State University. During this program I created the modern Hermetically oriented Neo-Canaanite Seasonal ceremonies for our magical order The Temple of Astarte, The main purpose of our Goetia was to bring up and reestablish the Secret Goddess of old King Solomon himself. We use the 1770 Hermetic-Masonic rite of Crata Repoa as a structure for our system and I will discuss the sources behind this. Perhaps some of these books and teachings will help others to understand our perspective on the Western Tradition and what we expect to accomplish by what we call The Great Work.