Exploring the Mysteries that Bind Us
The Grand Lodge of California’s annual symposium, held online and free to all, will discuss Fringe Masonry and explore the Mysteries that Bind Us.
According to some estimates, there are 3,361 fraternal organizations in the state of California alone. Freemasonry is among the oldest of them, and certainly the most influential.
But that influence goes both ways. Just as many fraternal organizations have borrowed from blue lodge Masonry, so too has the craft borrowed elements from other Masonic and quasi-Masonic rites—from groups as varied and mystical as the Swedenborgian Rite, the Zuzimites, and countless others. Those connections are at the heart of the 2024 California Masonic Symposium, being held Wednesday, August 28. Join Masonic scholars and experts for a range of presentations on some of the most mysterious and esoteric Masonic rites—what is often referred to as “fringe Masonry.”
Join us for a wide-ranging discussion of the ways groups like these have and continue to intersect with craft Masonry—and the legacy they’ve left behind.
Speakers include some of the foremost authors on these topics. This discussion will be led by Gabriel G. Mariscal, the senior grand warden of the Grand Lodge of California.
2024 California Masonic Symposium Speakers:
Angel Millar
Angel Millar is author of several books on Freemasonry, which include Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician; as well as The Crescent and the Compass: Islam, Freemasonry, Esotericism and Revolution in the Modern Age. His writing has appeared in several magazines, including Quest and Philalethes, and has been published in the Transactions of the American Lodge of Research and the Journal of Indo-European Studies. He also guest-edited the March 2019 edition of Fraternal Review, published by the Southern California Research Lodge. The issue explored Freemasonry’s influence on the contemporary arts, fashion, and culture.
Millar is the New York Ambassador for the Association of Masonic Arts. And, as an artist, several of his Masonic paintings are in the permanent collection of the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library, NYC, and were exhibited at the Henry W. Coil Library and Museum of Freemasonry in 2014.
He is the current editor-in-chief of the Fraternal Review publication.
Jaime Paul Lamb
Jaime Paul Lamb is the author of Myth, Magick & Masonry: Occult Perspectives in Freemasonry (The Laudable Pursuit, 2018), Approaching the Middle Chamber: The Seven Liberal Arts in Freemasonry and the Western Esoteric Tradition (The Laudable Pursuit, 2020), and The Archetypal Temple and Other Writings on Masonic Esotericism (Tria Prima Press, 2021).
He is a member of Old Well-Saint John’s Lodge No. 6, F.&A.M., in Norwalk, Connecticut, a charter member and worshipful master of Ascension Lodge No. 89, F.&A.M. in Phoenix, a member of the Valley of D.C., A.A.S.R., a frater of the Arizona College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis, and is a past master of Arizona Research Lodge No. 1 for the year 2016.
Joe Martinez
Joe Martinez is a veteran of the United States Army and former counterintelligence special agent. He is currently an executive and technologist for corporate and government legal practices in the Washington, D.C. area. Martinez graduated with a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of Phoenix, and a master’s degree in Information Security from Western Governors University, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Biblical Exposition.
Bro. Martinez is currently serving as the grand orator of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. He is a two-time past master of Manasseh Lodge No. 182, A.F. & A.M. under the Grand Lodge of Virginia. He is again serving as the district education officer for the 4th Masonic District of the Grand Lodge of Virginia. He is also a member of the premier esoteric lodge in D.C., Benjamin B. French Lodge No. 15, and a Mason in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kansas and the UGLE. He is a member of the York Rite, the Allied Masonic Degrees, Knight Masons, YRSC, Operatives, and the SRICF, and other initiatic orders.
Bro. Martinez is one of the co-hosts of the Masonic Roundtable, and he enjoys focusing on and researching the initiatic experience, rituals of initiation, and the mysteries of ancient civilizations, as well as their synergies with craft Masonry.
Moderator: Gabriel G. Mariscal
Born in Sacramento, Gabriel Mariscal served in the U.S. Army infantry for more than a decade. Today he is an expert with over a decade of executive management experience in the commercial property industry. He was initiated, passed, and raised a Master Mason 17 years ago in Mount Vernon, Virginia (Lodge No. 219) and is a two-time past master and content creator on YouTube.
He is currently a member of the Grand Lodge Leadership and Development Committee, which serves as the think tank of the Grand Lodge and creates content for the leadership retreats. He is also a member of the Grand Lodge Masonic Education Committee. He is the chairman of the Public Education Advisory Committee of Sacramento for the California Masonic Foundation and in 2023–24, he is serving as senior grand steward.
