Many people -- including some Freemasons -- say it's a Masonic symbol, but that's not the case. UCLA's Margaret Jacob says these symbols have been used by many different groups, including Masons ...

But what exactly does all that symbolism mean, and where did it come from? Browse this gallery and peek inside the secretive ...

To separate Freemason fact from Lost Symbol-style myth, National Geographic News went inside the centuries-old order with two Masons and a historian of the ancient Christian order from which some ...

Freemasonry is an ancient fraternity, and just a decade ago, its leaders saw their membership getting pretty ancient, too. But best-selling novels like Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol&#822… ...

Best-selling author Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol, draws heavily on the lore and mystique of the Freemasons. A visit to one of the locations in the novel, a prominent Masonic building ...

Emblem Of The Masonic Lodge Flaming Star | Heritage Images/GettyImages. Symbols have long been crucial to Freemasonry. They’re used to codify and communicate important Masonic ideas and values ...

Update, October 8, 2009: Dan Brown's new novel The Lost Symbol takes readers on a spine-tingling tour of some of Washington, D.C.'s most famous buildings. With Masonic symbolism as its theme, the ...

Some of these symbols are so well known that they are familiar to non-Masons—for example, the Eye of Providence can be found on U.S. one dollar bills. Why Catholicism forbids Freemasonry ...

Freemasonry emblem (kaetana/Shutterstock) ... Masons, as members are called, progress through varying “degrees,” each of which requires its own unique initiation rituals and oaths.