"The Rose of Paracelsus," Leonard Pickard’s Psychedelic Alchemy
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a review of William Leonard Pickard’s magisterial novelized biography “The Rose of Paracelsus”(2019). This 650 page masterwork is already considered literature by the academic community. Like Mallory’s “The Morte de Arthur” “The Rose” was entirely written in prison. It recounts Pickard’s academic, scientific, and extra-legal career from the early 1960s until his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in 2000. It is beautifully written, fast paced and well structured. It is subtitled “On Secrets and Sacraments” which aptly describes what it delivers. Pickard was not only a psychedelic alchemist, he was also an intelligence asset (say researcher) for the Ivy League think tanks and indirectly for government agents. So conspiracy theory and even UFO buffs will be pulling quotes from The Rose for the next decade. Pickard connected with an international network of psychedelic alchemists and visited each in a world tour that reads like a James Bond adventure. Returning to the U.S. he visited his mentor the venerable psychedelic sage, Sasha Shulgin, who warned him against a demonic cultist who inhabited an abandoned underground missile base used for an LSD laboratory and an orgiastic temple. But like a character in a Richard Shaver or Sax Rohmer story Leonard Pickard was lured into this hellish underworld where psychedelics were used to enslave and abuse young women. And because this cult had better government connections than Pickard, he was set up to take the rap for their criminal activities. He was given two life sentences in Federal Prison. Fortunately he has just been released and we hope he will be listening to this broadcast. So. Turn on, Tune in, and learn what’s under the rose.
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Who Were the Three Initiates Who Wrote The Kybalion?
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will revisit the 1908 occult classic "The Kybalion" by Three Initiates and reveal just who those three initiates were. In 2008 Philip Deslippe issued the "Definitive Edition of the Kybalion" which he claimed was entirely the work of William Walter Atkinson (1862 - 1932)In the next few years Golden Dawn scholar Mary Greer did more research and discovered that Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland had written a version of the Hermetic corpus that presented the same seven principles as the Kybalion. Both Kingsford and Maitland had passed away by 1908 and Richard Smoley edited yet another Kybalion in 2018 (the centenary edition) returning the byline to the Three Initiates, declaring the authors to have been: William Walter Atkinson, Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland. We might also mention that Golden Dawn scholar Robert A. Gilbert discovered that Anna Kingsford was actually the mysterious Fraulein Sprengle who helped create the Golden Dawn. Her connection is revealed in our book: "Secrets of the Golden Dawn Cypher Manuscript" which is available from < pokerunyon.com > So let's take another closer look at the Kybalion and its recent editions.
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The Kybalion with Rev. Paul Clark
The Hermetic Hour with your host Poke Runyon will lead a discussion of one of the most influential modern occult classics, the mysterious, mystical "Kybalion" by "Three Initiates." This little blue book has been treasured by students of the Western Mysteries since its first publication back in 1912. Our very special guest will be Rev. Paul Clark, Steward of the Fraternity of Hidden Light (and the Master Jesus from "Beyond Lemuria") who is perhaps the best qualified scholar-teacher to explain who the original authors were, where their philosophy came from, and why the book is still very important and meaningful. I will try to explain the connections to actual Greek and Greco-Egyptian (Hermetic) philosophy in this modern classic. This is going to be an enlightening hour unveiling the secrets of an obscure and mysterious work. Tune in and get inspired and demystified.
Also discussed: the need for a scholarly, annotated reissue, the book's historical context in Alexandria and Theosophy, and how these ideas surface in contemporary fiction such as The Dark Brotherhood.
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Decoding "The Moon Pool" (1919) by Abraham Merritt
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 Pohnpei 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.
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The Subterranean War and the Shaver Mystery
The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on recent reports of an alleged underground war being waged by American special forces soldiers against a coalition of traitors and demonic aliens in a subterranean network of DUMBs (deep underground military bases ) connected to a tunnel network excavated and still inhabited by ancient Satanic humanoids usually described as “demons.” This vast underground network is said to extend worldwide. It was first revealed to the public in 1886 by French writer Alexandre St. Yves d, Alvedre, who claimed it was a subterranean kingdom under Tibet with tunnels that reached everywhere in the world. It was forgotten until 1922 when Ferdinand Ossendowski exposed it again in his best-seller “Beasts, Men and Gods.” Although he may have gotten the story from the Mad Baron of Mongolia who probably got it from St. Yves book, or perhaps from the drunken High-Lama of Mongolia who probably got it from the Mad Baron. In any case a Science-fiction writer (who was also mad) Richard S. Shaver re-ran it as series of truth-based fictional adventures in Amazing Stories right after the end of W.W. II. Shaver gathered a fan base of true-believers, including this reporter at age 16. This evil underworld was peopled by satanic mutants armed with ancient ray machines which could be used for mind-control, sadistic torture or seduction. It made great pulp fiction. Even after I outgrew Shaver, I couldn’t resist making a movie based on his Mystery. In 2007 we released BEYOND LEMURIA which includes all of the elements the present Underground War Reports are featuring: Government and military involvement, Satanic depravity, child-trafficking, and UFO super-science. Tonight we will focus on these current reports and the actual evidence of these underground facilities. So if you want to know what’s really down there stay tuned and we’ll go down the rabbit hole.
Tune in, turn on, and get magick with Poke Runyon, Archimage of the Ordo Templi Astartes. The O.T.A. is the oldest continually operating magical lodge in the US.
”Poke Runyon is the real deal ... an international magical treasure!” ~ Lon Milo DuQuette
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