The Lost Symbol

What happened next, Langdon never saw coming.

CHAPTER 85

Transformation.

Dean Galloway heard it happen, and so he didn’t need to see it.

Across the desk from him, Langdon and Katherine were dead silent, no doubt staring in mute astonishment at the stone cube, which had just transformed itself loudly before their very eyes.

Galloway couldn’t help but smile. He had anticipated the result, and although he still had no idea how this development would ultimately help them solve the riddle of the pyramid, he was enjoying the rare chance to teach a Harvard symbologist something about symbols.

“Professor,” the dean said, “few people realize that the Masons venerate the shape of the cube — or ashlar, as we call it — because it is a three-dimensional representation of another symbol. a much older, two-dimensional symbol.” Galloway didn’t need to ask if the professor recognized the ancient symbol now lying before them on the desk. It was one of the most famous symbols in the world.

Robert Langdon’s thoughts churned as he stared at the transformed box on the desk in front of him. I had no idea.

Moments ago, he had reached into the stone box, grasped the Masonic ring, and gently turned it. As he rotated the ring through thirty-three degrees, the cube had suddenly changed before his eyes. The square panels that made up the sides of the box fell away from one another as their hidden hinges released. The box collapsed all at once, its side panels and lid falling outward, slapping loudly on the desk.

The cube becomes a cross, Langdon thought. Symbolic alchemy.

Katherine looked bewildered by the sight of the collapsed cube. “The Masonic Pyramid relates to. Christianity?”

For a moment, Langdon had wondered the same thing. After all, the Christian crucifix was a respected symbol within the Masons, and certainly there were plenty of Christian Masons. However, Masons were also Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and those who had no name for their God. The presence of an exclusively Christian symbol seemed restrictive. Then the true meaning of this symbol had dawned on him.

“It’s not a crucifix,” Langdon said, standing up now. “The cross with the circumpunct in the middle is a binary symbol — two symbols fused to create one.”

“What are you saying?” Katherine’s eyes followed him as he paced the room.

“The cross,” Langdon said, “was not a Christian symbol until the fourth century. Long before that, it was used by the Egyptians to represent the intersection of two dimensions — the human and the celestial. As above, so below. It was a visual representation of the juncture where man and God become one.”

“Okay.”

“The circumpunct,” Langdon said, “we already know has many meanings — one of its most esoteric being the rose, the alchemical symbol for perfection. But, when you place a rose on the center of a cross, you create another symbol entirely — the Rose Cross.”

Galloway reclined in his chair, smiling. “My, my. Now you’re cooking.”

Katherine stood now, too. “What am I missing?”

“The Rose Cross,” Langdon explained, “is a common symbol in Freemasonry. In fact, one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite is called ‘Knights of the Rose Cross’ and honors the early Rosicrucians, who contributed to Masonic mystical philosophy. Peter may have mentioned the Rosicrucians to you. Dozens of great scientists were members — John Dee, Elias Ashmole, Robert Fludd —”

“Absolutely,” Katherine said. “I’ve read all of the Rosicrucian manifestos in my research.”

Every scientist should, Langdon thought. The Order of the Rose Cross — or more formally the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis — had an enigmatic history that had greatly influenced science and closely paralleled the legend of the Ancient Mysteries. early sages possessing secret wisdom that was passed down through the ages and studied by only the brightest minds. Admittedly, history’s list of famous Rosicrucians was a who’s who of European Renaissance luminaries: Paracelsus, Bacon, Fludd, Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Newton, Leibniz.

According to Rosicrucian doctrine, the order was “built on esoteric truths of the ancient past,” truths which had to be “concealed from the average man” and which promised great insight into “the spiritual realm.” The brotherhood’s symbol had blossomed over the years into a flowering rose on an ornate cross, but it had begun as a more modest dotted circle on an unadorned cross — the simplest manifestation of the rose on the simplest manifestation of the cross.

“Peter and I often discuss Rosicrucian philosophy,” Galloway told Katherine.