PERILOUS PATH

June Singer, in her book SEEING THROUGH THE VISIBLE
WORLD, explores Blake's perilous path in conjunction with
Jung's individuation (although she doesn't doesn't mention
that term). She associates the dangers of exploring deeper
levels of consciousness with encountering the lonely and
uncertain struggles of the 'just man'. The reversals of
definitions and values which occur as we explore the
hidden aspects of the psyche are reflected by the 'just
man's' journey on the perilous path.
Perilous Path

She further uses plate 17 of MHH to illuminate the threats in
the "struggles between the side of ego-consciousness and
the lesser known shadow side, or in the conflict between
inner opposites of the masculine and the feminine, or in
the battle between oneself and the tribal gods with their
repeated demands for fealty, devotion, and sacrifice."

Good and Evil Angels Struggling for the Possession of a Child

Blake, plate 17 MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL:

"An Angel came to me and said. O pitiable foolish young man!
O horrible! O dreadful state! consider the hot burning dungeon
thou art preparing for thyself to all eternity, to which thou art
going in such career.
I said. perhaps you will be willing to shew me my eternal
lot & we will contemplate together upon it and see whether your
lot or mine is most desirable
So he took me thro' a stable & thro' a church & down into
the church vault at the end of which was a mill: thro' the mill
we went, and came to a cave. down the winding cavern we groped
our tedious way till a void boundless as a nether sky appeard
beneath us & we held by the roots of trees and hung over this
immensity; but I said, if you please we will commit ourselves
to this void and see whether providence is here also, if you
will not I will? but he answerd. do not presume O young-man but
as we here remain behold thy lot which will soon appear when
the darkness passes away
So I remaind with him sitting in the twisted root
of an oak. he was suspended in a fungus which hung with
the head
downward into the deep:"

Blake gives an apt warning of the difficulty and danger of
undertaking the alteration of the psyche which is initiated by
choosing to explore the invisible world.

Fortunately as in "Joy and Woe", we see the prospect of
weaving these dark and bright threads into suitable clothing
for our spiritual bodies.