The Hermetic Hour

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Tales of the Red Dwarf -The Magical Writings of Richard S. Shaver (re-broadcast) Sep 07, 2018

Show notes

The Thursday after Christmas, December 26th, 2013, the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the lost and forgotten magical fantasy novel by the infamous science fiction hoaxer Richard S. Shaver. Actually Shaver's editor Ray Palmer was the hoaxer; Shaver believed he was writing "the truth' about the survivors of ancient extraterrestrials still living in caverns below and plaguing surface people with mind-control ray machines. This dubious expose was called "The Shaver Mystery" and dominated the pages of AMAZING STORIES, America's most popular sci-fi mag in the 1940s. Shaver's weird tales of the subterranean "Dero World" are enjoying a modest revival in reprinted editions. We were among the first 21st century Shaver revivalists with our 2007 film BEYOND LEMURIA. In our new version of "The Shaver Mystery" we placed the Cavern World of the Deros in another dimension, a parallel world very close to our own. However Shaver himself always insisted that his underground Deros were in this physical dimension --whereas his editor Palmer insisted they were "disembodied spirits." Shaver was an empathic receiver, a rue mystic. He revealed what might be the real secret of his Cavern World in a marvelously crafted fantasy novel that never has had a title of its own. It appeared in three separate issues of AMAZING and FANTASTIC from 1947 through 1949. The first part was "The Tale of The Red Dwarf," next came the third part "Daughter of the Night," followed by the second part two years later called "Erdis Cliff." Shaver precedes Moorcock's fictional Multiverse, and even M-Theory by decades. -- So, if you want to discover a new dimension, tune in and we'll slide down the worm hole.

Philip K. Dick's Exegesis Aug 31, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday August 30th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will review and explore the almost one thousand page introspective philosophical and spiritual journal of the late California science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick. (1928-1982) This remarkable documentation of a classic mystical experience and its ramifications in and beyond the author's literary works. The exegesis is also a chronicle of a genius battling for sanity and a true religious philosophy as he lives and works through what is obviously and admittedly mental illness. Dick is best known for his darkly paranoid science-fiction novels and stories. The novel VALIS (vast active living intelligence system) is the fictionalized version of his 1974 vision and much of the exegesis ruminates on its impact and significance. As a Roman Catholic Dick's vision is Biblical, especially Christian, but he analyzes it as Gnostic and Neo-platonic (Hermetic) and defines Christ as essentially female. He later defines himself as a neo-Marxist philosopher and gives us insights into the spiritual aspects of the 1960s and 70s counter culture that continue to perpetuate the social and political divide in our society today. So, if you want to spend an hour in the mind of Philip K. Dick join us and we will inquire within. As Above so Below, As Within so Without.

John Michael Greer and The Celtic Golden Dawn (re-broadcast) Aug 24, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday December 19th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon, will have as its distinguished guest the noted author on subjects arcane and esoteric, John Michael Greer. John's first book "Paths of Wisdom" has been of considerable help to us as an authoritative source in our on-going series of lectures on the Hermetic-Qabalistic Tree of Life. John is also the translator of the medieval Latin version of "Picatrix", with Christopher Warnock, which has now become as important in the magical revival as Tyson's Agrippa. Although certainly a Hermetic scholar John Michael Greer's magical heart lies in the Celtic-Druidic tradition. He has written several books in this area and is a practicing Druid himself. His latest work combines the Hermetic Golden Dawn and the Druidic traditions, both of which were active in Victorian England. John discovered a historic interchange between these two very British expressions and he has lovingly reconstructed the synthesis in "The Celtic Golden Dawn," -- So, let us go out to Stone Henge and see how the Druids do a Pentagram Ritual.

Freedom is a Two-Edge Sword: Chapters Three and Four (re-broadcast) Aug 17, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday December 12th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour will present the second program devoted to Jack Parson's 1946 essay "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword" with the reading of chapters three and four: "The Sword and the Spirit" and "The Woman Girt with the Sword." These writings are the philosophical and spiritual meat of this masterpiece of modern mystical, spiritual and philosophical speculation. You will be amazed at the predictive quality of Parson's perspective. It seems to be an epitome of 1980's feminist, environmental and neo-pagan thought written over thirty years before the flowering of these ideas. So tune in and continue the journey into the future from the past with America's rocket scientist magician at the controls of the time machine.

Jack Parsons, "Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword" (re-broadcast) Aug 10, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday December 5th, 2013 The Hermetic Hour's host Poke Runyon will read chapters from the essay Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword by rocket scientist and magician John Whiteside Parsons. Along with being one of the original founders of JPL in Pasadena, California (sometimes called "Jack Parsons Library") and a developer of solid rocket fuel essential to the space program, Parsons was also an occultist and a magician. He ran an O.T.O. lodge and was a dedicated follower of Aleister Crowley. Parsons' colorful, but tragically short life has been celebrated in the recent books "Sex and Rockets" by someone calling himself "John Carter" and "Strange Angel" by George Pendle -- Also a very good stage play from the Cal Tech drama department called "Pasadena Babalon." Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was written at the end of World War Two. It is a remarkable prediction of liberalism, civil rights and women's rights -- in fact we might say that Parson's was the forerunner of feminist neo-paganism in California. His views on the mystical and spiritual superiority of women were much different than his mentor Crowley's. We received the Parson's Papers from Gerald Yorke in 1972. The first publication of Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword was my edited version published in our journal The Seventh Ray in 1976 through 1978. The essay has been subsequently published by the O.T.O. in 1990 and again in 2001. It is still in print and available from Amazon. We did a previous Hermetic Hour broadcast on Jack Parsons which you can find in our podcast archives -- now you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand and enjoy the writings of this rocket scientist, especially when he has a crater on the Moon named after him -- on the Dark Side of course.

Parallel Universes, Magonia in History and Fiction Aug 03, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday August 2nd , 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the alleged Parallel world or trans-dimensional ariel Queendom of the Sylphs known as "Magonia" that was documented in medieval histories and has recently inspired a fantasy novel of that title "Magonia" by Maria Headley (2015) and was the main theme for UFO authority Jacques Vallee's "Passport to Magonia" (1969-93) which delt with the Magonian "close encounters" from the 9th century and other supernatural visitations recounted in European folklore as early examples of alien sightings, close encounters, and abductions, on through to the mysterious "airship" reports from the American West in the 1890s, comparing them with modern reports and investigations. Vallee contends, and as Hermetic devotees we certainly concur, that most of these events are inter-dimensional rather than extra-terrestrial; that there are parallel worlds co-existing with us as near to us as our furniture. This is also the main theme of our film Beyond Lemuria (2007-14) and, as I mentioned last week, is set forth in the old Hermetic book "Comte d'Gablis" (1760) -- So if you'd like to spend an hour in the absolute elsewhere, tune in and we'll take you down the rabbit hole.

The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript Jul 27, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday July 26th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will discuss the Mysterious Voynich Manuscript (Beinecke MS. 408) a late medieval herbal, alchemical and astrological book written in an unknown language and illustrated with pictures of plants and astronomical arrangements that are not of this world. Authorship was originally attributed to Roger Bacon (1214 - 1292) but carbon-dating placed the MS. in the early fifteenth century. John Dee and Edward Kelley have been suggested because of their similar Enochian language creation, but there is no proof of their involvement. The mysterious MS has fascinated both scholars and amateur researchers alike with solutions announced every year since 1943 when the U.S. Government code-breakers attempted to decipher it. A new solution was announced just a week before this broadcast and has already been discredited. The main reason most experts fail seems obvious to a Hermetic scholar. The Voynich MS was not written in cipher. It was written in a language and in an alphabet that has no analog on earth or in this earthly dimension. The key to finding the origin of the Voynich material might be found in another mysterious manuscript published in 1670. We will read this revelation as our contribution toward solving the mystery -- so put on your Indiana Jones fedora and listen in.

The 24th Path from Netzach to Tiphareth - Death (re-broadcast) Jul 20, 2018

Show notes

On Friday, November 29th, 2013 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 24th Path on the Hermetic Qabalah's Tree of Life. This is the Path attributed to Death, the right hand guardian or gate to Tiphareth, with the Devil on the left side as Path 26. These two gates are considered soul testing challenges to the central Sun, and realm of the Solar Logos represented by Tiphareth. Our texts will be Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism and John Michael Greer's Paths of Wisdom. This Path will give us an opportunity to discuss the nature and meaning of Hermetic enlightenment, the concept of individual consciousness being eternal consciousness, and what Eliphas Levi really meant when he wrote: "Death is man's way of conquering immortality." --- So, if you want to live forever, tune in and get a head start on it.

Adventures in Pohnpei and Nan Madol with Lady Jo Carson Jul 13, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday July 12th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will be visited by Lady Jo Carson of Feraferia who has just returned from a pilgrimage to our favorite lost city Nan Madol on beautiful Pohnpei Island in Pacific Micronesia. (Merritt's Moon PooL and Beyond Lemuria.) Jo and John will share their adventure with us and we will recall ours back in 1988 and recount the wisdom of the last "chumaro" (Pohnpeian Kahuna) Maseo Hadley as reported by Peter Arthur. So if you want to vicariously visit Lemuria then turn on your immaginator and join us.

Fraternitas Saturni with Stephen Flowers Jul 06, 2018

Show notes

On Thursday July 5th, 2018 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will be joined by author Stephen Flowers, Ph.D. to review and discuss the new revised edition of "The Fraternitas Saturni" (2018). This being the fourth version of the original copyrighted in 1990, and including previously unpublished material making this rendition sensational in occult circles. Flowers traces the FS from its beginning, with Crowley and the O.T.O. inspiring Gregor Gregorius in 1925, through its activities in the Wiemar era, its suppression by the Nazis, its revival after WW II and its eventual split into three bodies after Gregorius died in 1964. We are introduced to the "Adonism" of Franz Sattler (Dr. Musallam) a neo-pagan Venus-Adonis cult (!) that included Wilhelm Quaintscher and Franz Bardon who carried it with them into the Frateritas Saturni. We revisit the infamous FOGC black lodge from Frabato, and the Weida Conference in which Crowley attempted to take over organized occultism in Germany. Most importantly Dr.Flowers presents a detailed analysis of the Gnostic and Luciferian philosophies and doctrines behind the Saturian Gnosis. He outlines their cumbersome 33 degree system and their training program; much of it very similar to Franz Bardon's work. Of course the FS is most noted for its sex magick and we have one of those rituals provided. Quite frankly, this book raises as many questions as it answers, but It is well documented with references to works in German that some of us are going to want translated. So, if you want the answers to questions you had, and more questions you may want to ask about the Fraternitas Saturni then tune in and take notes. .

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