This requires some knowledge of The Secret History--I'm reading it for the first time so if anyone is more familiar with it it would be helpful.
The notorious chapter on Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard (this is a strange turn)--in it, Dougie Milford is interviewing Parsons and congratuling him on his marriage to a striking redhead--echoes of Diane after Coop's comeback--who appears in an old Buick roadster convertible--is that the car that they drive to the 430 mark?
Also, Parsons' ex-wife who left him for Hubbard is named Betty, like Hastings' lover who died in the car explosion, and Betty Briggs. Common name, in itself I suppose it doesn't mean anything.
OH.
If you keep reading beyond these pages., OH CRAP--I think I know what was going on (in part, of course all speculation) between Cooper and Diane after she showed up with the red hair.
That wasn't a Tantric/Buddhist sex ritual, it was probably a Thelema ritual. I think they were channeling more than Richard and Linda. I think Cooper and Diane are involved in some shady stuff (not sure they understand what it is). Perhaps reenacting sex magick of Parsons and his wife back in the 40s. Parsons (the rocket engineer turned occultist) was trying to raise "the Mother of Abominations," or Babylon.
The red-headed woman that Parsons married is named Margaret Cameron and she shows up one day on his doorstep, out of nowhere.
She had a movie and art career. Worked with Kenneth Anger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Cameron
This is starting to work for me. I think they were channeling Jack and Marjorie in the motel in episode 18 (before he wakes up in Odessa). (The weird hair change, which people noted, is a signal.) Marjorie not Margaret--I can't edit my post above this for some reason. Why? It probably has to do with the spot, which is a portal to the lodge, and the "Working" sex ritual seems associated with bringing out the Mother of Abominations ie The Experiment that took place in 1945 in the desert. Either for some reasons the forces that be want Cooper to relive that or they needed him to participate in it. Also think about it: We've always known Diane as Cooper's "working" partner and it makes more sense than the whole soulmate narrative.
I just found this--someone wrote about the same ideas in this blog, plus other references to the influence of Kenneth Anger on the finale. Really cool.
https://unwrappingtheplastic.com/2017/09/07/sex-magick-the-scarlet-woman/
The notorious chapter on Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard (this is a strange turn)--in it, Dougie Milford is interviewing Parsons and congratuling him on his marriage to a striking redhead--echoes of Diane after Coop's comeback--who appears in an old Buick roadster convertible--is that the car that they drive to the 430 mark?
No, it's a Ford Galaxy 1963.
Fire walk with