MDDM Ch. 71 Flower of Light

[Dave Monroe]

   "Mason eagerly rushes to inspect the Map of the
Boundaries, almost instantly boggling, for there bold
as a Pirate's Flag is an eight-pointed Star,
surmounted by a Fleur-de-Lis.
   "'What's this thing here? [...]  Doth it not
signify, England's most inveterately hated Rival? 
France?'
   "'All respect, Mason,-- among Brother and Sister
Needle-folk in ev'ry Land, 'tis known universally, as
the "Flower-de-Luce."  A Magnetickal Term.'
   "'Flower of Light'?  Light, hey?  Sounds
Encyclopedistick to me, perhaps even Masonick,' says
Mason.
   "A Surveyor's North-Point, Dixon explains, by long
Tradition, is his own [...].  It becomes his Hall-Mark
[...].  Further, as with many Glyphs, 'tis important
ever to keep Faith with it,-- for an often enormous
Investment of Faith, and Will, lies condens'd within,
giving it a Potency in the World that the Agents of
Reason care little for.
   "''Tis an ancient Shape, said to go back to the
earliest Italian Wind-Roses,' says Dixon, '--
originally, at the North, they put the Letter T, for
Tramontane, the Wind that blew down from the Alps...? 
Over the years, as ever befalls such frail
Bric-a-Brack as Letters of the Alphabet, it was beaten
into a kind of Spear-head,-- tho' the kinder-hearted
will aver it a Lily, and clash thy Face, do tha deny
it.'" (M&D, Ch. 71, pp. 687-8)

"the Map of the Boundaries"

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000017/000013/images/d005018b.gif

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000017/000013/html/0000.html

"bold as a Pirate's Flag"

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000017/000013/images/d005018d.gif

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000017/000013/images/d005018c.gif

And see as well resources @ ...

http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/md/mdindex.html

Danke schoen there, Otto ...

Main Entry: glyph 
Pronunciation: 'glif
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek glyphE carved work, from glyphein to
carve -- more at CLEAVE
Date: 1775
1 : an ornamental vertical groove especially in a
Doric frieze
2 : a symbolic figure or a character (as in the Mayan
system of writing) usually incised or carved in relief
3 : a symbol (as a curved arrow on a road sign) that
conveys information nonverbally
- glyph·ic  /'gli-fik/ adjective

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

"an often enormous Investment of Faith, and Will, lies
condens'd within, giving it a Potency in the World
that the Agents of Reason care little for."

Cf./vs. ...

"'Light, hey?  Sounds Encyclopedistick to me, perhaps
even Masonick'"

Main Entry: en·light·en·ment 
Pronunciation: in-'lI-t&n-m&nt, en-
Function: noun
Date: 1669
1 : the act or means of enlightening : the state of
being enlightened
2 capitalized : a philosophic movement of the 18th
century marked by a rejection of traditional social,
religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on
rationalism -- used with the ...

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

"Encyclopedistick"

http://encyclopedie.inalf.fr/

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/projects/encyc/

Vs./cf. ...

"Masonick"

http://www.iosphere.net/~dixonr/masoniclight.html

And I suspect this site has certain Biases, but ...

http://www.angelfire.com/mac/freemasonry/Masonic_Light/masonic_light.html

Point is, EnlightenmentS, vs. THE Enlightenment ...

"''Tis an ancient Shape'"

At first, compass cards were marked out not in
degrees, but in points. There were 32 points, matching
the directions of winds which sailors would be
familiar with at sea. The four main points – North,
South, East and West – are called the cardinal points.

Old compass cards are very ornamental, often covered
with decoration and painted figures. All cards have
the North point decorated with what is often called a
fleur de lys, like the old royal symbol of France. In
fact, the sign comes from a very decorated 'T' for
Tramontana, the Latin word for the North wind.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/education/fact_files/fact_compass.html

One of the most ancient compass point name
conventions was to call the cardinal points of the
compass by the standard winds. This may by the reason
the fleur-de-lis is used to mark north. North on the
wind name system was Tramontana. The T in Tramontana
became stylized into a fleur-de-lis as a decorative
item.

http://www.mcallen.lib.tx.us/staff/compcrd.htm

And recall ...

"Dixon, as a Needle man anxious to obtain the latest
Magnetick Intelligence of the Region that awaits them,
Rumors reaching him of a Coffee-House frequented by
those with an interest in the Magnetick, however it be
manifested, shows up one night at The Flower-de-Luce,
in Locust-Street." (M&D, Ch. 30, p. 298)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0201&msg=64596&sort=date

"'Doth it not signify?'"

Heraldry

http://www.heraldica.org/topics/fdl.htm

Botany

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/i/iripse09.html

Miscellany

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0201&msg=64641&sort=date

Apologies that some of those links might have since
become unlinked, but that's why I posted the relevant
text, and thus the link to my post, as well, so ...

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