AtDDtA(15): Imum Coeli

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

             Dave Monroe:
                "At Candlebrow U., the crew of the Inconvenience 
             would find exactly the mixture of nostalgia and 
             amnesia to provide them with a reasonable 
             counterfeit of the Timeless.  Appropriately, perhaps, 
             it would also be here that they would make the fatal 
             discovery which would bring them, inexorable as the 
             Zodiac's wheel, to their Imum Coeli." 
             (AtD, Pt. II, p. 406)

             "nostalgia and amnesia"

             Main Entry: nos·tal·gia
             Pronunciation: nä-'stal-j&, n&- also no-, nO-; n&-'stäl-
             Function: noun
             Etymology: New Latin, from Greek nostos return home + New Latin
             -algia; akin to Greek neisthai to return, Old English genesan to
             survive, Sanskrit nasate he approaches
             1 : the state of being homesick : HOMESICKNESS
             2 : a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of
             some past period or irrecoverable condition; also : something that
             evokes nostalgia

With that first definition Dave digs up in the general vicinity of 
Candlebrow U---Homesick nostalgia---I think of Saturnalia:

http://tinyurl.com/avzg
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~Mclennan/BA/Saturnalia.html 
http://www.e-sheep.com/Saturnalia/

. . . .a moment on the Calendar that emerged from an older pagan layer 
dealing with the natural [subjective] stoppage of the passage of time as one 
is drawn towards the winter solstice. [This applies to the more northern parts
of the world that developed these traditions, like Scandinavia]. 
The features of Saturnalia remind me more than a little of:

             Imum Coeli

             406; In astrology, the Imum Coeli (Latin for "bottom of the sky"), 
             IC, is the point in space where the ecliptic crosses the meridian 
             in the north, exactly opposite the Midheaven. It is said to refer 
             to our roots and also to the least conscious part of ourselves. 
             It symbolizes foundations, beginnings in life, what may have 
             been experienced through parental inheritance and homeland 
             influences, need for security and relationships with the home 
             and family life;

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I

[. . . .the sun appears at the bottom of the sky during Saturnalia, 
mythologically this opens up a window to the "Golden Age", a nostalgic 
return to a happier past, a crude form of time travel usually aided and 
abbeted by seasonal, ritual inebriation. Of course, all this stuff points to 
the deities of agriculture and Santa's bright red nose. . . .]

. . . .but what I'm really pointing to is:

             I believe it's in reference to Lucina/Santa Lucia, a light 
             bearing Goddess originally from Rome, transplanted 
             to Sweden:

             Juno Lucina, Mother of Lights, was a goddess of childbirth 
             whose festival was celebrated with torchlights and bonfires 
             in Rome in early December.
             As midwife of the miraculous Sun Child born at Winter 
             Solstice, it was said she brought children to light. Later 
             converted to Christianity as St. Lucy, she found a home in 
             Sweden, where Yuletide celebrations today still include 
             the procession of the Lussibruden (Lucy Bride), led by
             a young girl wearing a crown of candles.

http://www.crystalforest3.homestead.com/Yulelore.html

             So, on one level, "Candlebrow" references a midwife 
             to the light. 

Again and again in Pynchon: Light/Illumination/Revelation results
in destruction/ruination/tower card for the long run.

"Too much light means trouble, and trouble is my business": 
Dick Private, Erect Detective

http://tinyurl.com/3ex559

http://tinyurl.com/2qzdzn

http://tinyurl.com/27pcca

http://tinyurl.com/322fd3

http://tinyurl.com/37ebs7

"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."

http://tinyurl.com/2tz3d5

http://www.wake.dk/facts2.lasso?n=1