GRGR(4) - PISCES?

[The Great Quail]

>Here's another "why" question:
>Why "PISCES?

If I may indulge myself and self-quote from an overly long essay I once
wrote on the occult & mythological structure of GR (It's easier that
paraphrasing!):

'Part 1 takes Pisces as its astrological sign, the sign that governs
dissolution, decay, strife, institutions, psychic phenomena and the
supernatural. (Although it should be noted that Sagittarius, and not
Pisces, is the correct sign for the calendar time covered by Part 1, there
are plenty of indications that Pisces is the operative mode. One must be
careful when analyzing Gravity's Rainbow; there are a variety of false
leads and clever illusions that may lead one astray.) Crowley indicates
that Pisces "represents the last stage of winter" and that it "might be
called the Gateway of Resurrection." The Tarot card associated with Pisces
is Key 18, the Moon -- card of the unconscious, of psychic powers and
hidden forces, where "all is doubtful, all is mysterious, all is
intoxicating." The Moon represents the Dark Night of the Soul. An occult
significance is further seen in the number of episodes -- 21, the amount of
numbered cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck. This is made even
more intriguing by the fact that the twenty-second card, the Fool, is
marked as Zero and is traditionally assigned to a place at either the
beginning or the end of the other 21 Arcana cards, a fact which gives the
title of the first book an additional resonance. The Fool -- understood to
be Slothrop's card -- is one of the most striking of all the Major Arcana,
representative of Force about to enter manifestation, and symbolic of the
redeeming power of pure innocence. It is the card of Parsifal, of Bacchus,
of the Green Man of the Spring festival and of the April Fool. Card 21
itself is the Universe, or sometimes called the World, and is compliment to
the Fool. It is symbolic of success, completion, triumph, and return. As
Crowley says, "The Fool is negative issuing into manifestation; the
Universe is that manifestation, its purpose accomplished, ready to return.
The twenty cards that lie between these two exhibit the Great Work and its
agents in various stages." The balance between these two cards then
represents many of the themes in Gravity's Rainbow, from the breaking of
the Word to the promise of a redemption, a return.'

Anyone wishing to view the references I used may consult:

http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/pynchon/pynchon.granalysis.html

--The Quail
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

The Great Quail, K.S.C.
(riverrun Discordian Society, Kibroth-hattaavah Branch)

For fun with postmodern literature, New York vampires,
and Fegmania, visit Sarnath: http://www.rpg.net/quail

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
    -- H.P. Lovecraft
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