Doug Russell on the esoteric art of memory
Doug Russell is back, and this time he is revealing the book he has spent more than a decade building. Remembering the Past, Present, and Future is about memory, and about how deeply memory runs thro…
Doug Russell is back, and this time he is revealing the book he has spent more than a decade building. Remembering the Past, Present, and Future is about memory, and about how deeply memory runs through the spiritual and esoteric heart of Freemasonry.
The night he took his first degree, Doug watched the officers deliver the entire ritual from memory and asked a simple question. Why do Masons memorize? This episode is his answer, and it runs from Noah's Ark to the tracing board on the lodge floor.
New Episode
Episode 47: The Esoteric Art of Memory
w/ Doug Russell | Esoteric Memory Arts and Spiritual Freemasonry
On the night he was initiated, Doug Russell watched the ritual delivered entirely from memory and set out to understand why. Fourteen years later the answer is a 470 page book. He walks us through three kinds of memory drawn from Aristotle, Plato, and Gurdjieff, the ancient art of placing vivid images inside an imagined building, and the memory palaces hidden in plain sight across the Craft: Noah's Ark, the Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple, and the tracing board itself. The book launches at the Esotericism in Freemasonry Conference in September.
From the Blog
The Lion, the Ox, the Eagle, and the Man
Four of the Royal Arch banners carry a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. They are not just tribal standards. They are the four fixed signs of the zodiac, and their trail runs from the palace gates of Babylon to the chapter room. A companion piece to this episode.
In Case You Missed It
Episode 46: "The Secret Freemasonry of a Priest in the Temple of Nature"
w Bro. Josef Wages
Bro. Josef Wages returns to the show to discuss The Secret Freemasonry of a Priest in the Temple of Nature, an eighteenth century Rosicrucian Masonic system recorded by Johann Samuel Mund. The manuscript predates the Golden Rosy Cross by three years, and until Bro. Wages and his research partners transcribed, translated, and published it, no one had ever studied the system at all. The book appeared in a limited run of only 500 copies, and the last of them are disappearing fast.
Upcoming Events
Esotericism in Freemasonry Conference 2026
Saturday September 19th | Ballard Masonic Centre, 2006 NW Market St, Seattle, WA
Keynote: Br. Lon Milo DuQuette on "The Tarot Architect"
Also appearing: Br. Ike Baker on "Catechism in the House of Life"
$50 · Brethren and Invited Guests Only. Business casual dress.
Tickets and full details are now available at the conference website.
We are looking to create a directory of Freemasonic events and publications. If you are aware of something coming up please let me know by email. In the meantime check out the Masonic Conferences website.
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