Esotericism in Freemasonry 2026 — Seattle, September 19

Br. Lon Milo DuQuette, 32°

“The Tarot Architect”

The Three Working Tools of the Tarot Architect

Qabalistic tradition tells us that self-realization brings a perfect understanding that each human being is a reflection of Deity, and that the stones which build the great temple are reflected in you and me. The Building Code of Qabalah is disarmingly simple: ten Numbers that come out of Nothing, and twenty-two Sacred Letters. Br. DuQuette explores how a simple deck of Tarot cards can become the perfect Ashlars of our own spiritual temples.

Author of twenty-one critically acclaimed books translated into twelve languages, Lon Milo DuQuette is one of the most respected and entertaining writers and lecturers in the Western Mystery Traditions. An internationally recognized authority on tarot, hermetic qabalah, and ceremonial magick, he has been a governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis since 1975 and is a noted authority on Aleister Crowley. He is also a singer-songwriter and recording artist whose career spans nearly six decades. He lives in Sacramento, California with Constance, his wife of fifty-nine years.

Br. Ike Baker

Catechism in the House of Life

This presentation examines Ancient Egyptian initiatory ritual as a foundational paradigm for Freemasonic and other Western initiatory traditions. Ike compares the broad outline of Freemasonic ritual with the Book of Thoth, dating to the Graeco-Roman period of Egypt (c. 300 BCE to 400 CE), a manual of ritual initiation in the Per Ankh, or House of Life, undergone by apprentice scribes. The startling parallels point to a potential source-point for modern initiatory formulae as systematized by the Craft degrees.

Ike Baker is a practicing ceremonial magician, author, independent scholar, Masonic historian, and international lecturer. He hosts the ARCANVM YouTube channel and podcast, producing documentary-style presentations and conversations with leading scholars and practitioners of occultism, philosophy, and the Western esoteric traditions. With over twenty years of study and practice, he is a senior initiate in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Martinism, and several Rosicrucian lineages. He is a co-founder of the Hermopolis Symposium in Minya, Egypt, and host of the annual Southeastern Masonic Symposium in Asheville, North Carolina.

Br. Dago Rodriguez, PM

Fight Club & Freemasonry

Secrecy. Mischief. Brotherhood. Mayhem. Initiation. Is this Freemasonry or the misunderstood post-modernist novel and film Fight Club? It is actually both. Dago examines the symbolic parallels between Palahniuk's cult classic and the Craft — masculine anxiety, isolation, consumerism, and the tools Masonry offers the modern seeker navigating them.

Br. Dago Rodriguez is a Past Master of the Southern California Research Lodge, which produces the award-winning Fraternal Review magazine, where he has served as Creative Director for the past ten years. He is a twice Past Master of South Pasadena Masonic Lodge No. 290 F&AM, a founding member of The Masonic Legacy Society, and a 32° Mason of the Guthrie, Oklahoma Valley. In 2019 he spearheaded the first West Coast Masonic-Con educational weekend in South Pasadena.

Br. Josef Wäges, 32°

Josef Wäges is a member of the Board of Directors of the Scottish Rite Research Society, the Blue Friars, Plano Lodge No. 768 of the Grand Lodge of Texas, La France 93, Adhuc Stat 1782, and Le Sentir UD of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, and the Dallas Valley of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Southern Jurisdiction). He is a Fellow of the Grand College of Rites, a full member of the Texas Lodge of Research and the Michigan Lodge of Research, and a life member of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Editor of several books and films, he is at work on the forthcoming Ecossais Masonry: A History of the High Degrees from the Scots Master to the Order of the Royal Secret, The Columbian Illuminati, and The Improved System of the Illuminati.

Br. C. Douglas Russell

Why Do Masons Memorize?

Doug's fascination with memory began the night of his Entered Apprentice degree in January 2012, watching officers deliver their work entirely from memory and asking a simple question: why do Masons memorize? That question led him deep into the classical art of memory — from ancient Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages and Renaissance — and into its surprising role in the development of speculative Freemasonry. Drawing on centuries of Masonic catechisms, constitutions, and writings, he traces memory through three lenses: exoteric, esoteric, and self-remembering.

C. Douglas Russell is a retired psychotherapist with a specialty in spiritual psychology and the author of several published scholarly articles in that field. He brings a personal esoteric background to this work, having studied for decades through the Arcane School of Alice A. Bailey and maintained a daily meditation practice for over forty years. His forthcoming book, Remembering the Past, Present and Future: Esoteric Memory Arts and Spiritual Freemasonry, is written for scholars and newcomers alike, accessible to Masons and non-Masons, offering a rare psychological, esoteric, and historical view of what memory has meant to Freemasonry since its earliest days.

Bro. Troy Spreeuw

Troy Spreeuw has spent over three decades walking the Western esoteric path, studying the Tarot, practicing within Freemasonry, and engaging with the deeper currents of the occult tradition. Through readings, podcasts, and live events, he shares what he has learned with those who take this work seriously. He is the Co-founder and Co-host of the Esotericism in Freemasonry Conference.