Take a Tour of DC's Esoteric Roots

In 2009, the author Dan Brown, most famous for his novel The Da Vinci Code, released The Lost Symbol, a thriller centered around the history of Freemasonry in Washington, DC. Given that this is a work of fiction, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it’s largely a tall tale based based on imaginative fabrications playing off of urban legend and conspiracy theory. However, don’t let that lead you to the conclusion that DC isn’t jam-packed with Masonic architecture and symbols you can see first-hand today.

Since its initial planning, DC has been influenced by Freemasonry, a secretive fraternal society that first took shape in England in the early 18th century and quickly moved to North America. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were both Freemasons, and Washington in particular played a leading role in establishing the capital city that now bears his name. In 1791, Washington appointed a French-American engineer named Pierre L’Enfant to plan out the city. L’Enfant had been initiated into Freemasonry in 1789, at the same time the U.S. Constitution took effect and gave Congress the authority to establish a federal district.

L’Enfant’s grand design for DC was based around so-called sacred geometry -- certain shapes and proportions that have been associated with spiritual enlightenment since ancient times. L’Enfant centered the city plan around Capitol Hill and worked outward in circles who size and position were determined using the “golden ratio.” L’Enfant then segmented each circle using five points in the shape of pentagrams pointed to the east. Some of these lines formed by pentagrams would become the diagonal avenues in DC that are named after states.

Beginning at the center of things, the Rotunda of the Capitol Building contains a fresco called the Apotheosis of Washington. This huge painting is suspended 180 feet above the Rotunda floor and depicts Washington, flanked by a number of mythological maidens, being raised to the status of a god in heaven.

Not far from the Capitol Building, in the National Mall, stands Washington Monument, a simple obelisk whose shape and dimensions are brimming with esoteric symbolism.

No tour of esoteric DC would be complete without a stop at the statue of Albert Pike, a well-known Freemason, author, and the only Confederate officer to have a statue in DC.

Also be sure to check out the House of the Temple, which is the headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

Without leaving your home, you can even see the Masonic influence on government programs like Social Security. FDR was a Freemason who reached the senior officer position of "Right Worshipful Master," and in 1935, he signed the Social Security Act as part of the Second New Deal. According to the Social Security attorneys at the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod, and Baril, “The Social Security Act was designed to aid the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled and children.” Social Security expresses the principles FDR doubtlessly learned through Freemasonry that good men have the duty to provide public services and economic security to their fellow citizens.