The Hermetic Hour

On Thursday August 14th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a report on our East Coast initiations and how two officers can, with preparation on both ends, actually confer, rather than communicate, both First and even Second Degree initiations upon qualified candidates in other States. This subject is particularly important in light of our recent growth and the inquiries we receive regarding active membership from people in other States and Canada. So if you want to learn how to invite the traveling Temple to your home, tune in and we'll give you a preview.

On Thursday, August 7th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will present a report on the August 2nd Feraferian Lugnasad (Lammas) ceremony that Soror Zandria and Frater Thabion attended as guests of Lady Jo Carson, Avatrix of Feraferia, and her husband John presented at their woodland-surrounded home north of San Francisco, California. The Lugnasad ceremony is described in Fred Adams' "Nine Royal Passions of the Year" as: "The Festival of Fruiting and Beginning of Harvest. The meanderings of the Honeymoon as fruits in scented groves ripen, the breasts of the Goddess swell." Our special guest will be Lady Jo herself who will give us a more profound and intimate description of the event in its idyllic forest setting. Feraferia is the oldest, most elegant and sublime expression of American Neo-Pagan, Goddess centered nature religion. If you are new to this tradition, or if you are already attuned to its enchantment, be sure to join us.

On Thursday July 24th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading of his 1977 article in Gnostica No. 44, "The Magick of the O.T.A." This article described the philosophy, structure and activities of the Order thirty-seven years ago. You may be surprised to discover how long some of our advanced programs have been operative, such as our unique Hermetic Yoga system, our Celestial Magick Vault and our Magical journal The Seventh Ray. The article is short enough for the author to informally update the information given out at that time. So, if you want to learn where we were and what we did back then, and how we have evolved in the intervening years, tune in and be enlightened.

On Thursday Juky 17th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Order of the Temple of Astarte's unique method of Astral Time Travel. We first conceived and developed this method back in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of our Pathworking program. It has much in common with remote viewing in that a "target area" and, in our case, a time in the past, is selected and mapped. Then a celestial reference point and distance in light years is selected. This data is absorbed and studied. For example: if we want to visit ancient Alexandria (one of our favorite tours) we consult archaeological books with accurate graphic recreations to set the general environment at the time. We can use the overhead mirror or the Soul Door as our launch portal. We can use Kusor's Boat if we are launching through the Soul Door. In either case we will use a constellation rather than a Tattwa for a concentration point on the mirror. This is a second degree practice because previous Pathworking experience is required for it to be effective. It is a deep trance activity and can produce significant results. The more precise, well documented and prepared these operations are, the more impressive they will be. So if you want to read lost books in the Great library you should at least know what ancient Greek looks like. Tune in and we'll take you on a very long journey.

On Thursday July 10th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will continue our discussion of the Western psychic center (chakra) arrangement established by Boehme and Gitchel based on the Qabalah in relation to the Eastern (an adopted Western) sequence based on Alchemy. Again our guest will be Frater Osiris. We will look at the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkrutz and conjecture what the secret "Key" to its symbolism might be. We will examine David Goddard's "Tower of Alchemy" in relation to these themes and attempt to reconcile the practice of both systems. This will be an exploratory symposium which may generate as many questions as it answers, but we at least promise to stimulate your mind -- so tune in and we will at least try to define the mysteries even if we cannot solve them.

On Thursday July 3rd, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion and readings by the host from his forthcoming book "Hermetic Yoga, Beyond the Middle Pillar." This will be an important advance preview in our series on modern Hermetic practical magick. We will trace the concept and the development of this tantric yoga of the West from its origins in Ancient Alexandria starting with the Orphic-Pythagorean "Music of the Spheres" through the astrological Soma Sophia and the Alchemical "Ladder of Metals." We will show how the blending of the Hebrew Kabbalah, with its Tree of Life and Adam Kadmon concepts, into the Rosicrucian Hermetic expression led German mystics Jacob Boehme and his follower Johann Gitchel to conceive of a Western chakra arrangement similar to that used in the East. A short version of this technique survived as the Golden Dawn's "Middle Pillar" ritual. Now we can reconstruct and operate the full system. So if you want to bring power down the Lightning Flash and activate all your mystic roses in the Western manner, tune in and we'll raise the Dragon.

On Thursday June 26th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the magical aspects of Abraham Merritt's (1884 - 1943) novels and stories of exotic fantasy adventure. Merritt was a highly respected journalist who wrote his colorful tales of the occult and the bizarre for his own pleasure and not as pot-boilers for the pulps even though ARGOSY and other pulps were his main outlet. His work had the quality of literature and the mytho-folkloric erudition of a Robert Graves. Merritt had a library of over 5000 books on myth, folklore and the occult. His tales of lost cities, ancient secret cults and strange other-worldly phenomenon are unparalleled in beauty and imagination. His "People of the Pit" (1917) was a profound influence on H.P. Lovecraft and his masterpiece "The Ship of Ishtar" (1924) described Richard Shaver's inter-dimensional "Simultane" concept. (It was also the template for our path-working soul-travel boat.) His "Dwellers in the Mirage"(1932) was an inspiration for my sc-fi novel "Drell Master." Merritt was steeped in Blavatsky's Atlantis and Lemuria lore and the obscure legendary sources behind these lost civilizations. His "The Moon Pool" (1921) lured us out to the ruins of Lemuria in the Pacific (see Beyond Lemuria). So, if you want to spend an hour with the Dream-maker, tune and we'll set sail to evening Isles fantastical.

On Thursday June 19th, 2014 the Hemetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the English translation of "Secret Practices of the Sufi Freemasons" by Baron Rudolph von Sebottendorf first published in German in 1924. This is a highly controversial book by a notorious author. Sebottendorff was the founder of the Thule Society which Germinated (pun intended) into the Nazi Party. When he tried to take credit for that the Nazis kicked him out and sent him back to Turkey. How he managed to be a devout Muslim and a Nordic pagan at the same time is one of the many mysteries this book conjures up. Transcending his politics and fanaticism there is very provocative and profound occult knowledge in this book --- much of it hidden even to European students until recently. We will compare Sebottendorff's revelations with Gerard de Nerval's "Sufi" version of The Masonic Temple Legend, and P.B. Randolph's discovery of a Syrian Love Cult which may have been the original source of the O.T.O.'s 9th Degree. So, tune in and find out how the Sufis get a grip on themselves.

On Thursday June 12th, 2014 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on ancient and modern Multiverse concepts in relation to Hermetic Magick, the Qabalah, astrology and Fortean phenomenon. We will examine philosophical. scientific, literary and cinematic models of the Multiverse, sometimes called the "Holographic Universe" or "Parallel Worlds." We will trace the idea through the "nesting spheres" of the geocentric age, to the heliocentric Renaissance, the invention of the telescope and the discovery of other galaxies and anti-matter, both in terms of science and the pages of science fiction. Our references will be Mary-Jane Ruberstein's "Worlds Without End," Michio Kaku's "Parallel Worlds," the science fiction of Phillip K. Dick, and Richard S. Shaver, and films such as "The Matrix," "Dark City," and "Lost Highway." Our challenge will be to reconcile ancient Hermetic philosophy with the Multiverse concept --- so, if you want to go through the looking glass or down the rabbit hole, tune in a we will tour the endless "nows" of the Simultane.

On Thursday, June 6th, 2014 The Hermetic Hour will present a reading by Poke Runyon (Fra. Thabion) of his 1976 essay "Negative vs. Positive Gnosis" from Gnostica magazine, no. 40. This is an important instructive paper dealing with the ancient and modern spiritual differences between Thelemic (libertine) Gnosticism, Hermetic neo-Platonism and ancient and modern Paganism (wiccans, druids, etc.) These differences are so deep and so misunderstood that many New-Agers involved in the Occult do not know what they profess to believe in. They participate in various groups simply because they are attracted to the style and glamor of the organization and because it provides a rebellion against the religion of the parents. The article explains the fundamental differences between  Gnosticism of the negative world view and Hermetic magick of the positive world view, comparing them to the Pagan and neo-Pagan "natural" world view. You will discover how similar Thelemic Gnosticism is to the Fundamental Christianity it rebels against, and how similar Hermetic magick is to Tantric Buddhism. This paper will be reprinted in text form and posted as an instruction on our web site. So tune in and become transcendentally demystified.