Illuminati

You’ve read the thriller or watched the film. The suspense, the mysterious symbols, the secret societies. Dan Brown’s bestseller Angels & Demons has captivated millions of readers with tales of the Illuminati and their alleged war against the Catholic Church. But how much of that symbolism is actually real? And what do Freemasons have to do with any of it? If you’ve ever wondered where the line falls between gripping fiction and historical fact, this article offers practical tools to help you tell the difference for yourself. What Are Ambigrams — and Why Are They So Fascinating? In Angels & Demons, ambigrams play a central role. These are words or designs that can be read from multiple orientations — most commonly, they look the same when turned upside down. In the novel, branding irons featuring this property are presented as ancient Illuminati symbols. The fascinating thing about ambigrams is that they do exist as an art form, but they are modern typographic creations from the twentieth century, not relics of a bygone era. The ambigrams in the book were specially designed for the novel by a contemporary graphic artist named John Langdon (whose surname, not coincidentally, Brown borrowed for his […]