By David Montgomery and Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 10, 2009

Step right up, folks, no ticket necessary for this symbologic tour of the secrets of Washington.

All you need is the secret handshake. Don’t know the handshake? Never mind. Neither do we.

Just stand at the curb at Union Station and say in unison the ancient phrase of the Freemasons: “Is there no help for the widow’s son?”

Excellent. Come on board our vehicle today, the Esoteric Omnibus, painted black with golden stars, squares, crosses, triangles, pyramids and all-seeing eyeballs.

You know why we’re here. Six years after his blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code,” Dan Brown’s next novel, “The Lost Symbol,” will hit stores Tuesday with a massive print run of 5 million copies. The book’s contents remain a secret deeper than the whereabouts of the Holy Grail and the location of Christ’s genome, but the cover shows a blood-red Masonic seal and the sun glinting behind the Capitol dome.

Hmmm. Masons, Washington. Washington, Masons . . . .

Full story

From The New Age Magazine, December 1969 (pp. 34-6):

Astronaut Visits Grand Commander

The history of Masonry in the space age took another step forward on September 16, 1969, when Astronaut Brother Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., 32°, visited the House of the Temple in Washington. Accompanied by his father, Edwin E. Aldrin, Sr., also a Scottish Rite Mason, Astronaut Aldrin paused in his busy schedule to greet Grand Commander Smith and to present to him the handmade Scottish Rite flag he had taken to the moon.

The flag is made of white silk, measures 22 x 30 centimeters, and is edged by a band of gold. It is embroidered with the words “The Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, USA” and the motto “Deus Meumque Jus.” It is also decorated with the double-headed eagle, the crown of the Thirty-third Degree, the insignia of the Sovereign Grand Commander, and the insignia of a Master Mason.

On that historic lunar flight from July 16 to 24, 1969, the presence of this flag symbolized Masonry’s universal importance. When man reaches new worlds, Masonry will be there.

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