The Dark Mirror (1946)

What starts as an excellent example of the art of prophesy and evocation is ultimately tarnished by hubris
This video is a remastered version of that issued in September 2001, just before the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center. In it, Wayne Darwen, a professional maker of documentaries, visits "Poke" Runyon/Frater Thabion at the OTA temple in Southern California for an example of Goetic evocation. The gist of this documentary, unlike "Poke"'s very worthy "Magick of Solomon", isn't to walk one through a Goetic evocation step-by-step, but rather to illustrate the prophetic potential of the Goetic spirits. Thabion decides to evoke Vassago, the third of the Goetic spirits, and a Prince assigned to the sphere of Jupiter, who "declares all things past, present and future, discovers things lost or hidden". The ritual ensues, with Brother Michael/Frater Solomon, described as Thabion's "apprentice", serving as scryer and channeling the words of the Goetic spirit. As is typical of prophecy, Vassago's words are cryptic:

"War upon an Eastern star
The King of Oils joins the Union
36 items of note
A house divided
God against Mammon
Mammon claims to be God
God is called Mammon
Fiery scandals are covered by a deluge
3 ½ years of strife
A presiding one shows his genius
But it is not what you think
The slaying of a son of Africa undoes a man
The son of the South is truly the son of the North
Vidar sits in silence
Satan fights with violence
What is hanging by a thread is saved when the snake is shed"

Clear, right? Anyway, 10 days later, on January 13, 2001, Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was assassinated by a bodyguard. Darwen, who probably thought the whole OTA prophesy nothing worthy of note, suddenly had an event strikingly similar to part of the prophecy as well contemporaneous with the revelation itself. The documentary was broadcast on TV in February, 2001, thrusting Thabion and the OTA a bit out of the shadows of "that weird group of people" and into celebrity.

All would have been well and good had they chosen to stop there. "Poke" chooses to describe himself as "the Angel Magus" who is "friendly and reserved, with a certain distance in his eyes that seemed to say `I have seen strange things'". Had they left the obvious success of the Goetic operation to speak for itself, this would have been a vastly more successful work. However, "Poke", presumably an experienced magician, seems to fall prey to the limelight and overlooks or ignores the basic premise of prophesy (that all prophesies are understood only upon the cusp of the event, or after the fact), and elects to interpret, with Brother Solomon, the cryptic revelations of the demon. Ignoring the fact that the revelation which already seemed to come to pass dealt with the DRC - treating it as a side note from Vassago to simply get their attention, or enhance their celebrity - they proceed to "expose" the true meaning of the prophesy - all of which dealt with events in or around the USA and its allies. Anyone who has cracked open any attempts at interpretation of Nostradamas' prophesies knows that all outstanding prophesies focus entirely on events to come in the USA, or on events directly affecting it. Having been given a key as to the possible true subject of the prophesy, Thabion and Solomon instead go about fitting the pegs into odd shaped holes - anything as long as the USA is the subject of Vassago's words. "Stars" and "oil" and "sons of the south/north" and "presiding ones" all become references to America and Israel, reflecting the apparent preoccupation with the "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" and its allies in the spirit world. Hint, hint, fellas - have a look at the DRC and its history and politics of the time the prophecy was made.

Anyway, shortly after the video was released, we have the WTC attack. Thabion and Solomon, quoting "this information just had to come out" repeatedly like a mantra, create an addendum to the original, again re-interpreting what was previously so very clear, and again attempting to focus Vassago's words on the USA. This addendum was prepared in 2003, and tacked to the end of the re-mastered DVD for its issue later that year, along with a booklet thoroughly detailing Solomon's visions accompanying each of the elements of the prophesy. One would think hindsight would make the whole process more accurate, but one would be wrong.

This is all very sad, since the documented issuance of the prophecy itself on film, and the subsequent events of January 2001, make a compelling case for the potency of the operations undertaken. "Poke" has always struck me as a very modest man, often in the face of derision from both mundane observers and his magical peers. He's also quite the insightful fellow, as can be seen from the current practice of using dark mirrors in Goetic operations (he re-discovered the technique) - though his habit of re-organizing the angels of the Shemhamphorash is undeniably arrogant. Why he elects to abandon this at this point is a mystery, but he and Solomon manage to erode in the process much of the credibility they otherwise would have achieved.

Great New Magickal Info
It was awesome to actually see a Goetic Operation on camera. This is probably the first time such an evocation has ever been filmed and made availible to the public.

The Prophecy from Vassago was neat, because it only took 13 days for part of it to be fulfilled. Though I can't say I understand everything the Prophecy is about, the booklet that comes with it helps. Of course, like the prophecies of Nostradamus, they are cryptic. But when they are fulfilled, it becomes not only obvious, but clear the revealing spirit had the intelligence to conceal exactly what he knew until time unlocks the veil.

This whole tape is reminiscent of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, and St. Malachy, and I think centuries will look back on the revelations of Vassago as another milestone in the world of prophecy.

Not bad
The Dark Mirror of Magick is the second video by Poke Runyon following "The Magick of Solomon". My opinion is that it cannot compare to the first video but is still interesting and educational none the less. It was interesting to see the interior of his apparently new or maybe just redecorated temple and the various magical implements he uses.

A large part of it deals with the evocation of the spirit Vassago and trying to get him to reveal some prophecy about the future. Personally i find prophecy to be a big waste of time since its always so cryptic and overly useless and can always be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. It seemed like this video was aimed more at trying to convince people of the power of magical evocation by trying to verify the validity of Vassago's cryptic words of warning more than anything else.

I would say that most everyone who would buy this video does not require any convincing and that they would already most likely be studying or performing these rituals themselves at least to some extent.

On a more positive note I was most impressed with Poke Runyons ritual experience and knowledge of magick and its clear that he has been doing this for a long time. His voice is very hypnotic and magical and its like listening to Gandalph or Saraman from Lord of the Rings as he speaks. He is very confident and calming and i find my own beliefs in magick are strengthed and reaffirmed just by watching and listening to him speak. I completely enjoyed the interview section of the video with Poke answering some tough questions about his practice and belief posed by the interviewer. I would have loved to see more of him speaking about his beliefs and knowledge than anything else because i do think he has a lot to teach and say that is not coming across in his videos. He seems exceptionally gifted as a speaker and is very good at putting things into perspective in regards to the magical arts especially since the interview questions were completely spontaneous and unrehersed.

Overall i would say that there is not too much new information that is very useful in this video if you already own his first video "the magick of solomon" but if your a hard core magician and really into magical evocation then i would recommend it anyway at least for his interview session if nothing else.