MDDM Hsi Ho and the 7 Sisters 628.35

[Doug Millison]

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9804&msg=26113&sort=date
Date:	Sat, 18 Apr 1998 13:56:43 -0700
Subject: Re: MDMD (21) Hsi Ho and the 7 Sisters
From:	millison@[omitted] (Doug Millison) a

At 12:20 PM 4/10/98, keith woodward wrote:
>623.3-5  'an eclipse . . . predict at all'  [snip useful background
>research -- great work Keith!] Newton also explains >that Hsi and Ho might
>also have been the names of minor solar deities, thereby making the
>Hsi-Ho story a description of a ritual that takes places when something
>goes wrong in the heavens during autumn (65).

Edward Schafer, in his book _The Divine Woman:  Dragon Ladies and Rain
Maidens_ identifies Hsi Ho as "the archaic sun goddess".

[...]

In the previous chapter, it seems likely that the wily Dixon has used
advance knowledge of the eclipse to profit from the side-bets on the
tree-felling contest. These zany Chinese astronomers use their predictive
power for their new boss, answering "to the Market, day upon day unending,
for 'tis the inscrutable Power we serve, an invisible-Handed god without
Mercy" (627.32) as they move from ritual service of an emperor who embodied
the forces of Nature, to the service of a god to be deified in the
Enlightenment as laissez-faire economics.

The "Seven Sisters of Industry" at 628.35 seems to nail down the parallels.
"Seven Sisters" is the appellation for the seven companies that dominated
the petroleum industry in the 60s and 70s, title of a book on that topic,
if I remember correctly.

Hsi and Ho are also mistaken for each other, as are Mason and Dixon during
their progress across country.

Hsi Ho could be an Ebonical pun, too. I believe "Hsi" (transcribed
in modern PRC pinyin romanization as "xi") would be pronounced "She."

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9804&msg=26145&sort=date
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9804&msg=26175&sort=date


http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9804&msg=26117&sort=date
Subject: Re: MDMD (21) Hsi Ho and the 7 Sisters
Date:	Sat, 18 Apr 1998 14:07:06 -0700


Here's some Multi-Kulti Seven Sisters imagery to amplify it even more:

Classical Mythology:
The seven Pleiades were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. When Atlas was
condemned to carry the weight of the Earth on his back, his daughters
grieved so much that Jupiter look pity on them and changed them into stars.
Others claim that Orion once saw the seven sisters in the woods and fell in
love with them. He began to chase them, and they cried out for help. Jupiter
took pity on them, changed them into a flock of doves, and placed them in
the sky.  [snip lots more good background]