AtDTDA (37) p. 1060Tree of Diana

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          Ian Livingston
          What comes to mind in all this for me, though, is another 
          one of those nagging suspicions prickling at the edge of 
          conceptual amalgamation.  That is that Pynchon is starting 
          to sound just a little more Transcendentalist than I have been 
          able to actually nail down anywhere before.  I wonder if this 
          holds any water or if I am barking up a Diana's tree?  It seems 
          like it dovetails nicely with the alchemical thread in TRP.

Well, Mr Livingston, I've been hunting down the spiritual/occult 
references in Pynchon's writing since pulling a stripped copy 
of "The Crying of Lot 49" out of Campus Textbook Exchange's 
dumpster back in 1979:

http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=7_x_7

Transcendentalist? I guess I'll have to look into that 
more. Against the Day folds Theosophists and Ceremonial 
Magicians into the text, along with Scryers, Psychics, 
Stage Magicians, Alchemists, Shamans and every now
and then throw in a Preacher or two—note bene, usually
espousing some king-hell heresy. Considering OBA's
famous resistance to the trappings of fame [like not letting
everybody know the name of his guru] and the fantastic
variety of spiritual experience found in Pynchon's novels
I'd only guess that TRP has a kind of wandering fondness
for heresy. The Unitarians, who cite William Pynchon 
[TRP's Great-Grandfather back ten generations as an
influence] are worth looking into, with their big tent of
inclusion. William Pynchon is worth looking into as well.

I used to live across the street from a 15 foot tall tank
of liquid nitrogen.

As for more hermetic materials:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism

http://books.google.com/books?q=hermeticism&um=1&as_brr=1

At least until you find your way to a bookstore with a 
well-stocked metaphysical section. I've been working
in stores with plenty of heretical books for the last 8
years. I don't know where you live, but if you're ever
in Oregon, head to Powell's in Portland, they have the
biggest, most inclusive, best stock of everything
imaginable, with a terrific metaphysical section.