The Crying Of Lot 49

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          When I first began to read this book I wanted to finish 
          so I could learn what it all meant, including the title. 
          The ending has left me somewhat baffled. Pynchon 
          writes on page one hundred and fifty two, "She heard 
          a lock snap shut; the sound echoed a moment. 
          Passerine spread his arms in a gesture that seemed to 
          belong to the priesthood of some remote culture; 
          perhaps to a descending angle." I couldn't help but 
          think this might just be the end of Oedipa. Why the 
          locked door to an auction? Why a reference to an 
          angle? Is lot 49 more than the sale of some old stamps?

http://literaturelink.blogspot.com/2008/01/crying-of-lot-49.html

It's "Angel", of course, but let it ride:

          . . . In 49 voyces, or callings: which are the Natural Keyes, 
          to open those, not 49, but 48. (for One is not to be 
          opened) Gates of understanding, whereby you shall 
          have knowledge to move every Gate, and to call out 
          as many as you please, or shall be thought necessary, 
          which can very well, righteously, and wisely, open unto 
          you the secrets of their Cities, and make you understand 
          perfectly the [mysteries] contained in theTables. . . .

http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=7_x_7
http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/liber777.pdf