The Grove

"....And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice,
Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice...',"
(Little Black Boy)

"Planting these Oaken Groves: Erecting these Dragon Temples" (Erdman 170)
"Patriarchal Pillars & Oak Groves) over the whole Earth..." (Erdman 171)
"If we are wrathful Albion will destroy Jerusalem with rooty Groves
If we are merciful, ourselves must suffer destruction on his Oaks:
Why should we enter into our Spectres. to behold our own corruptions
O God of Albion descend! deliver Jerusalem from the Oaken Groves!"
(Erdman 184: Jerusalem Plate 38/43 lines 9-12)

"And build this Babylon & sacrifice in secret Groves" (Jerusalem, 60.23; E210)

"For a Spectre has no Emanation but what he imbibes from decieving
A Victim! Then he becomes her Priest & she his Tabernacle.
And his Oak Grove. till the Victim rend the woven Veil."
( Jerusalem, 65.60-62; E217) (See also Matthew 27:51)

"Till I turn from Female love
And root up the Infernal Grove,
I shall never worthy be
To step into Eternity.

Let us agree to give up love,
And root up the Infernal Grove;
Then shall we return and see
The worlds of happy Eternity. (My Spectre)

In his Complete Works Blake used the word 'grove' (or groveling) 26 times; you might wonder how Blake related the two words or about their etiology.

Notice that the 'love' in the last verse is the 'female love' of the earlier one. This 'love' in Blake's poetry is nothing like godly love; in fact it's just the opposite; it's love of fallen materiality- love of things, like Money, or Golf, or Whiskey, or your Stomach; see (See Philippians 3:19)

So what did Blake mean with his groves. Damon said it's a "symbol of error"; I say it's a symbol of the 'fallen material world' where the Druid Priests built their Temples and Altars.

Blake used thousands of words to describe his primary myth: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Return, and many many pictures to portray it, and many, many capsules of two lines that state it. He wanted us to get it.

7 PERSPECTIVES

The seven writers who have been of the most help to me in attempting to understand Blake's poetry and thought have dramatically different perspectives on discerning the meaning in Blake's work.

Northrup Frey, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake - reveals the symbolic language of Blake within a literary context.

David V. Erdman, Blake: Prophet against Empire - explores historical and political significance of Blake's writing.

Milton O. Percival, William Blake's Circle of Destiny - relates Blake's myth to esoteric symbols, including those in the Bible, Alchemy, and Astrology.

George Wingfield Digby, William Blake: Symbol and Image - sheds light on psychological implications and symbolic meanings through commentary on The Gates of Paradise and the Arlington Tempera.

John Middleton Murry, William Blake - expounds the teachings of Blake and includes the influence of Blake's personal experience on his work.

S. Foster Damon, A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake - provides information on the major ideas in Blake's writing with references to locations of passages where they occur.

Kathleen Raine, Blake and Tradition - shows classical and literary sources and influences for Blake's ideas and images by placing him within traditional metaphysics.

It is because Blake thought and wrote over as broad a field of intellectual knowledge as was possible in London in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, that scholars have been able to study his work from so many points of view. These authors have immersed themselves in the whole body of Blake's work and found themselves able to focus on specific areas where their interest and expertise could shed light onto what Blake communicated. There are more books to be written, perhaps you will write one.

You are invited to read Larry Clayton's unpublished book, Ram Horn'd with Gold, focusing on Blake's spiritual development.

Writing Books

Some Significant Symbols

Much of this is taken from Digby's 'Symbol and Image in William Blake':

ALBION (Glad Day) was Blake's name for Everyman, Adam Kadman, Cosmic Man, the Eternal Great Humanity Divine (See Milton, plates 2 and 30) or in Quakereze 'that of God in Everyone'. Albion asleep is an apt commentary on Blake's age-- and ours.

"Every human life is part of Albion and can realize more or less the Cosmic Man's total nature... Albion suffers and triumphs in each individual, as is described in ...Jerusalem
..The Dance of Eternal Death" Digby p.12.

ETERNAL DEATH: Blake used this phrase 78 times; it's mortal life;I translate it to 'this vale of tears', the Sea of Time and Space from which we may emerge at the end; "whenever any Individual Rejects Error & Embraces Truth a Last Judgment passes upon that Individual.." [[A Vision of the Last Judgment] PAGE 85] (Erdman 562)

From Milton: In Heaven, having heard the Bard's Song,
"Milton said, I go to Eternal Death! The Nations still
Follow after the detestable Gods of Priam; in pomp
Of warlike selfhood, contradicting and blaspheming.
When will the Resurrection come; to deliver the sleeping body.."

JERUSALEM: This image cannot be defined; we can only begin a journey of 1000 miles. The Concordance has 288 occurences and Damon has 7 pages trying to describe it. Blake used it as the title for his largest poem; 'Jerusalem' the (smaller) poem, appears in the Preface to Milton (and in many hymnbooks): "till we have built Jerusalem in Englands green and pleasant land."

Jerusalem is the bride of Christ (the conventional church considers itself to be the bride of Christ, but to Blake the bride of Christ was the human race). Jerusalem was Albion's wife-- until he went to sleep; at that point he turned to Vala.

VALA is fallen Jerusalem. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the relationship betwem Vala and Jerusalem can be best understood in this plate (click on the pic for an enlargement). Jerusalem stands out in light with (supposedly) her three daughter, while Vala, in a dark vale, attempts to entice Jerusalem into her darkness. The two battle through The Four Zoas and Jerusalem (the large poem). In your life you can see the 'good girl' and 'bad girl' fighting for supremacy. A woman may become a thief, and/or she may give birth to a spiritual genius. Such is life.

Blake did not believe in 'good and bad'; he believed in Truth and Error. At the Last Judgment Error is burned up and we live (eternally) in Truth.

LOS, LUVAH & URIZEN

Labor of Los

Quoting from A BLAKE DICTIONARY, S. Foster Damon, Introduction, Page XI:

"Every sect is self-limited, whereas Truth is Universal. Instead of any religion, Blake wanted the truth - the whole truth including all errors, life including death, the soul including the body, the world of mind including the world of matter, the profound discoveries of the mystics reconciled with the scoffing of the skeptics, heaven and hell married and working together, and in the ultimate heart, Man eternally in the arms of God."

The puzzle of the shift in relationship between Luvah and Urizen deserves careful consideration. Neither Urizen nor Luvah had an indisputable claim to the horses of light or the dominant position they represented; that should should have fallen to Urthona whose 'Vehicular Form' is Los. (Percival refers to Urthona as the 'essential' man.)

The struggle among Urizen, Luvah and Los occupies Blake's imagination. The conflict may be interpreted internally. In Blake's myth either reason or emotion is frequently firmly in control of the psyche. The balance between them shifts as they negotiate and seize power. Sometimes reason is recognized as the higher function and emotion is at the service of reason (or visa versa). Disasters ensue as each function tries to eliminate the other. The higher function, inspiration or Los, eventually succeeds in wresting power and reconstructing the psyche.

Often it is easier to observe the operation of the functions externally before we can recognize them internally. Blake's portrayal of the 4Zs may show us aspects of ourselves we do not already recognize. Likewise, we are more likely to identify another person under the domination of one aspect of the psyche (suppressing the expression of the others), before we can see the same thing in ourselves. But to have it brought to our attention either by reading Blake, or by observing associates consistently and unconsciously coming under the dominion of reason or emotion, may encourage us to deal with unconscious forces which are controlling us. (So too, these imbalances are visible in societal behaviors.)

In The Four Zoas, Night Four, Blake portrays a violent confrontation between Urizen and Los. Urizen is subdued but the cost to Los is high. Los has come under the dominion of his lower nature, expressing revenge, wrath and cruelty, and having taken on the characteristics of the entity whom he was trying to eliminate .

FZ4-53.11; (E335)
"The lovely female howld & Urizen beneath deep groand
Deadly between the hammers beating grateful to the Ears
Of Los. absorbd in dire revenge he drank with joy the cries
Of Enitharmon & the groans of Urizen fuel for his wrath
And for his pity secret feeding on thoughts of cruelty

The Spectre wept at his dire labours"

FZ4-53.21; E336
"And thus began the binding of Urizen day & night in fear
Circling round the dark Demon with howlings dismay & sharp
blightings
The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass
And as he beat round the hurtling Demon. terrified at the Shapes
Enslavd humanity put on he became what he beheld"

Some scholars have suggested that the portrayal of this type of situation in The Four Zoas led to Blake's abandonment of the writing of the book. In Blake's later poetry, the solution to the problems between Los and Urizen comes through recognition of error, forgiveness, anniliation of the Selfhood, and restoration of Brotherhood.

The unity of the psyche - allowing each function to play its ordained role is the goal toward which Blake directed his readers.

LOS, LUVAH & URIZEN

Labor of Los

Quoting from A BLAKE DICTIONARY, S. Foster Damon, Introduction, Page XI:

"Every sect is self-limited, whereas Truth is Universal. Instead of any religion, Blake wanted the truth - the whole truth including all errors, life including death, the soul including the body, the world of mind including the world of matter, the profound discoveries of the mystics reconciled with the scoffing of the skeptics, heaven and hell married and working together, and in the ultimate heart, Man eternally in the arms of God."

The puzzle of the shift in relationship between Luvah and Urizen deserves careful consideration. Neither Urizen nor Luvah had an indisputable claim to the horses of light or the dominant position they represented; that should should have fallen to Urthona whose 'Vehicular Form' is Los. (Percival refers to Urthona as the 'essential' man.)

The struggle among Urizen, Luvah and Los occupies Blake's imagination. The conflict may be interpreted internally. In Blake's myth either reason or emotion is frequently firmly in control of the psyche. The balance between them shifts as they negotiate and seize power. Sometimes reason is recognized as the higher function and emotion is at the service of reason (or visa versa). Disasters ensue as each function tries to eliminate the other. The higher function, inspiration or Los, eventually succeeds in wresting power and reconstructing the psyche.

Often it is easier to observe the operation of the functions externally before we can recognize them internally. Blake's portrayal of the 4Zs may show us aspects of ourselves we do not already recognize. Likewise, we are more likely to identify another person under the domination of one aspect of the psyche (suppressing the expression of the others), before we can see the same thing in ourselves. But to have it brought to our attention either by reading Blake, or by observing associates consistently and unconsciously coming under the dominion of reason or emotion, may encourage us to deal with unconscious forces which are controlling us. (So too, these imbalances are visible in societal behaviors.)

In The Four Zoas, Night Four, Blake portrays a violent confrontation between Urizen and Los. Urizen is subdued but the cost to Los is high. Los has come under the dominion of his lower nature, expressing revenge, wrath and cruelty, and having taken on the characteristics of the entity whom he was trying to eliminate .

FZ4-53.11; (E335)
"The lovely female howld & Urizen beneath deep groand
Deadly between the hammers beating grateful to the Ears
Of Los. absorbd in dire revenge he drank with joy the cries
Of Enitharmon & the groans of Urizen fuel for his wrath
And for his pity secret feeding on thoughts of cruelty

The Spectre wept at his dire labours"

FZ4-53.21; E336
"And thus began the binding of Urizen day & night in fear
Circling round the dark Demon with howlings dismay & sharp
blightings
The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass
And as he beat round the hurtling Demon. terrified at the Shapes
Enslavd humanity put on he became what he beheld"

Some scholars have suggested that the portrayal of this type of situation in The Four Zoas led to Blake's abandonment of the writing of the book. In Blake's later poetry, the solution to the problems between Los and Urizen comes through recognition of error, forgiveness, anniliation of the Selfhood, and restoration of Brotherhood.

The unity of the psyche - allowing each function to play its ordained role is the goal toward which Blake directed his readers.

BEULAH

When Larry retired from working for the government in Washington, DC, we left the 'fast lane' and removed ourselves to the foot of the mountains in South Carolina. For the first and only time in our lives we had a few acres of land to enjoy and to tend. This retreat from congestion, traffic and competition, Larry was fond of calling Beulah.

He was following the nomenclature of his hero, William Blake, who called the level of existence just below the level of Eden, by the name Beulah. From Beulah one may return to 'the severe contentions of eternity' after a period of stress-free relaxation in Beulah. If one got addicted to a life of ease and intellectual laziness, one might slip down into the level of Generation or Ulro. Beulah was meant to be a transitional state not a permanent way of life.

Here is a passage from Symbol and Image in William Blake, by George W Digby, Page 51:

"The 'Daughters of Beulah' are man's inherent powers of recovering his inner harmony and sense of direction. They hold him by secret threads and represent a sort of psychological umbilical cord. They represent the power of the imagination to throw up symbols and present them intuitively to the mind (as these symbols come from the region of the mind most remote and other than ego-consciousness, they appear to come from the unconscious.) By means of these symbols, which are the 'Daughters of Beulah', the lost man may be rescued. Although they may become more and more obscure and tenuous the farther he sinks into the meshes of maya, yet the threads are always there and do not break. The compassion of the 'Daughters of Beulah' endures, as does man's capacity for acceptance and assimilation."

Milton, Plate 30 (E129)

"But the Emanations trembled exceedingly, nor could they
Live, because the life of Man was too exceeding unbounded
His joy became terrible to them they trembled & wept
Crying with one voice. Give us a habitation & a place
In which we may be hidden under the shadow of wings
For if we who are but for a time, & who pass away in winter
Behold these wonders of Eternity we shall consume
But you O our Fathers & Brothers, remain in Eternity
But grant us a Temporal Habitation. do you speak
To us; we will obey your words as you obey Jesus
The Eternal who is blessed for ever & ever. Amen

So spake the lovely Emanations;"

Four Zoas, Night 1, Page 5, Line 29 (E303)

"There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreams
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death"

MILTON: BOOK THE SECOND, PLATE 30 (E129)

"There is a place where Contrarieties are equally True
This place is called Beulah, It is a pleasant lovely Shadow
Where no dispute can come. Because of those who Sleep.
Into this place the Sons & Daughters of Ololon descended
With solemn mourning into Beulahs moony shades & hills
Weeping for Milton: mute wonder held the Daughters of Beulah
Enrapturd with affection sweet and mild benevolence

Beulah is evermore Created around Eternity; appearing
To the Inhabitants of Eden, around them on all sides.
But Beulah to its Inhabitants appears within each district
As the beloved infant in his mothers bosom round incircled
With arms of love & pity & sweet compassion. But to
The Sons of Eden the moony habitations of Beulah,
Are from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant Rest."

In the Blake Dictionary, Damon states that Beulah is the subconscious. As such it is out of touch with what we call the 'real world' of conscious thought, sensation, and ego-control. Since what it presents to consciousness is non rational - dreams, fantasy, intuitions,and imaginary constructs - we tend to classify it as illusionary. Psychologists however have found it an avenue for healing the psyche by revealing hidden damage deeper within the unconscious.

An Image of Beulah

Blake seems to have recognized the healing nature of a state where ideas were not rejected or judged; where there was not pressure to produce or conform; where the darkness could appear but not harm; where one could feel that one was held in compassionate arms. Blake's Beulah could be entered through gates from his other worlds, to provide the healing which souls needed to progress along their journeys. Perhaps he saw himself as requiring such recovery from his trials and toils, and wanted to share with us his gentle place where his imagination could spread its wings.

BEULAH

When Larry retired from working for the government in Washington, DC, we left the 'fast lane' and removed ourselves to the foot of the mountains in South Carolina. For the first and only time in our lives we had a few acres of land to enjoy and to tend. This retreat from congestion, traffic and competition, Larry was fond of calling Beulah.

He was following the nomenclature of his hero, William Blake, who called the level of existence just below the level of Eden, by the name Beulah. From Beulah one may return to 'the severe contentions of eternity' after a period of stress-free relaxation in Beulah. If one got addicted to a life of ease and intellectual laziness, one might slip down into the level of Generation or Ulro. Beulah was meant to be a transitional state not a permanent way of life.

Here is a passage from Symbol and Image in William Blake, by George W Digby, Page 51:

"The 'Daughters of Beulah' are man's inherent powers of recovering his inner harmony and sense of direction. They hold him by secret threads and represent a sort of psychological umbilical cord. They represent the power of the imagination to throw up symbols and present them intuitively to the mind (as these symbols come from the region of the mind most remote and other than ego-consciousness, they appear to come from the unconscious.) By means of these symbols, which are the 'Daughters of Beulah', the lost man may be rescued. Although they may become more and more obscure and tenuous the farther he sinks into the meshes of maya, yet the threads are always there and do not break. The compassion of the 'Daughters of Beulah' endures, as does man's capacity for acceptance and assimilation."

Milton, Plate 30 (E129)

"But the Emanations trembled exceedingly, nor could they
Live, because the life of Man was too exceeding unbounded
His joy became terrible to them they trembled & wept
Crying with one voice. Give us a habitation & a place
In which we may be hidden under the shadow of wings
For if we who are but for a time, & who pass away in winter
Behold these wonders of Eternity we shall consume
But you O our Fathers & Brothers, remain in Eternity
But grant us a Temporal Habitation. do you speak
To us; we will obey your words as you obey Jesus
The Eternal who is blessed for ever & ever. Amen

So spake the lovely Emanations;"

Four Zoas, Night 1, Page 5, Line 29 (E303)

"There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreams
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death"

MILTON: BOOK THE SECOND, PLATE 30 (E129)

"There is a place where Contrarieties are equally True
This place is called Beulah, It is a pleasant lovely Shadow
Where no dispute can come. Because of those who Sleep.
Into this place the Sons & Daughters of Ololon descended
With solemn mourning into Beulahs moony shades & hills
Weeping for Milton: mute wonder held the Daughters of Beulah
Enrapturd with affection sweet and mild benevolence

Beulah is evermore Created around Eternity; appearing
To the Inhabitants of Eden, around them on all sides.
But Beulah to its Inhabitants appears within each district
As the beloved infant in his mothers bosom round incircled
With arms of love & pity & sweet compassion. But to
The Sons of Eden the moony habitations of Beulah,
Are from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant Rest."

In the Blake Dictionary, Damon states that Beulah is the subconscious. As such it is out of touch with what we call the 'real world' of conscious thought, sensation, and ego-control. Since what it presents to consciousness is non rational - dreams, fantasy, intuitions,and imaginary constructs - we tend to classify it as illusionary. Psychologists however have found it an avenue for healing the psyche by revealing hidden damage deeper within the unconscious.

An Image of Beulah

Blake seems to have recognized the healing nature of a state where ideas were not rejected or judged; where there was not pressure to produce or conform; where the darkness could appear but not harm; where one could feel that one was held in compassionate arms. Blake's Beulah could be entered through gates from his other worlds, to provide the healing which souls needed to progress along their journeys. Perhaps he saw himself as requiring such recovery from his trials and toils, and wanted to share with us his gentle place where his imagination could spread its wings.

WORK OF LOS

At the end of the First Book of Milton, Blake sums up the
work of Los by explaining how spirits are vegetated. It is
a clear explanation except much of the terminology is
peculiar to Blake. So I have consulted Damon's A Blake
Dictionary for definitions.

Milton Plate 29, (E127):

"Then Los conducts the Spirits to be Vegetated, into
Great Golgonooza, free from the four iron pillars of Satans
Throne
(Temperance, Prudence, justice, Fortitude, the four pillars
of tyranny)
That Satans Watch-Fiends touch them not before they
Vegetate.

But Enitharmon and her Daughters take the pleasant charge.
To give them to their lovely heavens till the Great
Judgment Day
Such is their lovely charge. But Rahab & Tirzah pervert
Their mild influences, therefore the Seven Eyes of God walk
round
The Three Heavens of Ulro, where Tirzah & her Sisters 
Weave the black Woof of Death upon Entuthon Benython
In the Vale of Surrey where Horeb terminates in Rephaim
The stamping feet of Zelophehads Daughters are coverd with
Human gore
Upon the treddles of the Loom, they sing to the winged
shuttle:
The River rises above his banks to wash the Woof:     
He takes it in his arms: be passes it in strength thro his
current
The veil of human miseries is woven over the Ocean
From the Atlantic to the Great South Sea, the Erythrean.

Such is the World of Los the labour of six thousand years.
Thus Nature is a Vision of the Science of the Elohim." 

      End of the First Book.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Golgoonza - Los's city of "art and manufacture." (M24:50)
Enitharmon's looms are in the golden hall of Cathedron. Its gates
open into Eden, Beulah, Generation, and Ulro.
(Damon, Page 162-5)
Enitharmon - with her daughters, she weaves beautiful, spiritual
bodies (the web of life) for the Spectres about to be born.
(Damon, Page 124-5)
Entuthon Benython - a land of Urizen east of Galgonooza: "a dark
and unknown night, indefinite, unmeasurable, without end. Abstract
Philosophy warring in enmity against Imagination" (J5:56)
(Damon, Page 126)
Horeb - where Moses saw the burning bush, Blake associates with
rock. (Damon, Page 189)
Rephaim - "Miltonic limbo of amorphous decaying superstitions"
(Damon, Page 346)
Rahab - harlot of Babylon, symbolizes false church of this world, the
opponent of Jerusalem. She imputes sin and righteousness to
individuals. (Damon, Page 338-9)
Tirzah - daughter of Rahab; Tirzah weaves natural, physical bodies;
she represents sex; she is the mother of death; she is a temptress of
men. (Damon, Page 407)
Ulro - the material world, the world of death, the world of spectres who
are dead to Eternity. (Damon, Page 416)
Zelophehads - five independent Female Wills who restrict the senses
of man, Tirzah is the fifth. (Damon, Page 457)
Seven Eyes of God - "the path of Experience fixed for the Individual
by the Divine Mercy, so that proceeding through his errors he may
eventually reach the true God." (Damon, Page 134)
Science - "True Science is eternal and essential, but it turns bad
when it cuts loose from Humanity". "Science can assimilate its
material and communicate it, but cannot create."
(Damon, Page 359-60)
_________________________________________________________________

Los has provided a way that the Spectres not fall into non-existence, but it requires that they take on a physical body in a world of illusionary material existence under the dominance of mistaken morality and religion. Los parallels John the Baptist, he can prepare the way, but he cannot initiate the coming of the Kingdom.

The Arlington Tempera, which has been mentioned in other posts, can be viewed in the light of this passage.

WORK OF LOS

At the end of the First Book of Milton, Blake sums up the work of
Los by explaining how spirits are vegetated. It is a clear
explanation except much of the terminology is peculiar to Blake.
So I have consulted Damon's A Blake Dictionary for definitions.

Milton Plate 29, (E127)

"Then Los conducts the Spirits to be Vegetated, into
Great Golgonooza, free from the four iron pillars of Satans
Throne
(Temperance, Prudence, justice, Fortitude, the four pillars of
tyranny)
That Satans Watch-Fiends touch them not before they Vegetate.

But Enitharmon and her Daughters take the pleasant charge.
To give them to their lovely heavens till the Great Judgment
Day
Such is their lovely charge. But Rahab & Tirzah pervert
Their mild influences, therefore the Seven Eyes of God walk
round
The Three Heavens of Ulro, where Tirzah & her Sisters    
Weave the black Woof of Death upon Entuthon Benython
In the Vale of Surrey where Horeb terminates in Rephaim
The stamping feet of Zelophehads Daughters are coverd with
Human gore
Upon the treddles of the Loom, they sing to the winged shuttle:
The River rises above his banks to wash the Woof:        
He takes it in his arms: be passes it in strength thro his
current
The veil of human miseries is woven over the Ocean
From the Atlantic to the Great South Sea, the Erythrean.

Such is the World of Los the labour of six thousand years.
Thus Nature is a Vision of the Science of the Elohim."    

         End of the First Book.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Golgoonza - Los's city of "art and manufacture." (M24:50) Enitharmon's
looms are in the golden hall of Cathedron. Its gates open into Eden, Beulah,
Generation, and Ulro. (Damon, Page 162-5)
Enitharmon - with her daughters, she weaves beautiful, spritual bodies
(the web of life) for the Spectres about to be born. (Damon, Page 124-5)
Entuthon Benython - a land of Urizen east of Galgonooza: "a dark and
unknown night, indefinite, unmeasurable, without end. Abstract Philosophy
warring in enmity against Imagination" (J5:56) (Damon, Page 126)
Horeb - where Moses saw the burning bush, Blake associates with rock.
(Damon, Page 189)
Rephaim - "Miltonic limbo of amorphous decaying superstitions" (Damon,
Page 346)
Rahab - harlot of Babylon, symbolizes false church of this world, the
opponent of Jerusalem. She imputes sin and righteousness to individuals.
(Damon, Page 338-9)
Tirzah - daughter of Rahab; Tirzah weaves natural, physical bodies; she
represents sex; she is the mother of death; she is a temptress of men.
(Damon, Page 407)
Ulro - the material world, the world of death, the world of spectres who are
dead to Eternity. (Damon, Page 416)
Zelophehads - five independent Female Wills who restrict the senses of man,
Tirzah is the fifth. (Damon, Page 457)
Seven Eyes of God - "the path of Experience fixed for the Individual by the
Divine Mercy, so that proceeding through his errors he may eventually reach
the true God." (Damon, Page 134)
Science - "True Science is eternal and essential, but it turns bad when it cuts
loose from Humanity". "Science can assimilate its material and communicate it,
but cannot create." (Damon, Page 359-60)
_________________________________________________________________

Los has provided a way that the Spectres not fall into non-existence, but it requires that they take on a physical body in a world of illusionary material existence under the dominance of mistaken morality and religion. Los parallels John the Baptist, he can prepare the way, but he cannot initiate the coming of the Kingdom.

The Arlington Tempera, which has been mentioned in other posts, can be viewed in the light of this passage.

FEMALE & MALE

Nobody can really explain Blake, and that's the way he wanted it. We can listen to him, try to experience with him, and draw from our own lives scraps and pictures to associate with his words and images. So do what you can with what he says here.

Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)

"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"

Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:

"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."

Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'

In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.

"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"

Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.

Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly

FEMALE & MALE

Nobody can really explain Blake, and that's the way he wanted it. We can listen to him, try to experience with him, and draw from our own lives scraps and pictures to associate with his words and images. So do what you can with what he says here.

Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)

"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"

Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:

"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."

Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'

In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.

"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"

Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.

Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly

BLAKE & PAUL

Returning to an important concept in Blake, that of Fourfold Vision, I find a familiar passage from Paul can be seen as recognizing Fourfold Vision. In a letter to Thomas Butts, Blake says:

"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep" To Butts, 22 Nov 1802

Illustration for Milton's Paradise Lost

Now looking at I Corinthians 13 we read:
9
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away.
11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.
12
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known."

The 'child' can represent single vision, Newton's sleep or sensation. Seeing 'through a glass darkly,' as a limited form of vision can be twofold vision: 'Always' (or ordinary), using only the intellect. The term 'face to face' suggests relationship or threefold vision referred to as 'in soft Beulah's night,' where emotion of feeling is introduced as an additional factor. Fourfold vision is 'knowing as we are known,' Blake's supreme delight, which Blake called Imagination and Jung called Intuition.

In A Blake Dictionary Damon explains on page 436 that, "Single vision is not properly "vision" at all: it is seeing with the physical eye only the facts before it. It 'it leads you to Believe a Lie / When you see with, not thro' the Eye'" (Everlasting Gospel, E 520)

BLAKE & PAUL

Returning to an important concept in Blake, that of Fourfold Vision, I find a familiar passage from Paul can be seen as recognizing Fourfold Vision. In a letter to Thomas Butts, Blake says:

"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep" To Butts, 22 Nov 1802

Illustration for Milton's Paradise Lost

Now looking at I Corinthians 13 we read:
9
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away.
11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.
12
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known."

The 'child' can represent single vision, Newton's sleep or sensation. Seeing 'through a glass darkly,' as a limited form of vision can be twofold vision: 'Always' (or ordinary), using only the intellect. The term 'face to face' suggests relationship or threefold vision referred to as 'in soft Beulah's night,' where emotion of feeling is introduced as an additional factor. Fourfold vision is 'knowing as we are known,' Blake's supreme delight, which Blake called Imagination and Jung called Intuition.

In A Blake Dictionary Damon explains on page 436 that, "Single vision is not properly "vision" at all: it is seeing with the physical eye only the facts before it. It 'it leads you to Believe a Lie / When you see with, not thro' the Eye'" (Everlasting Gospel, E 520)

ANIMA & EMANATION

Blake’s women - Enitharman, Enion, Ahania, Vala, and Jerusalem are each associated with a male - Los, Tharmas, Urizen, Luvah, and Albion as an Emanation. In Eternity the Emanations do not have a separate existence. As the fall occurs they acquire outer forms, independent wills and the desire to dominate. Daman says they ”fight regeneration (which seems to them like annihilation).”

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Title page (How many paired figures do you see? and Why is she suspended above the abyss?)

In Jungian psychology there is an aspect of the unconscious which is called the Anima. In the process of individuation, the Anima which has been projected on the people to whom one is related (mother, sister, wife, boss) is explored and assimilated through bringing unconscious material to light. Since the unconscious inner Anima determines relationships to outer persons by projecting the inner content onto real people, outer relationships are repaired by withdrawing projections (removing the Anima’s will or ability to dominate.)

Carl Jung states:
“The projection-forming factor is the anima. Wherever she appears in dreams, phantasies or visions, she appears personified, thereby demonstrating that basically she possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a female person. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous production of the unconscious; neither is she a substitute figure for the mother. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that those numinous attributes which make the Mother imago so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype, the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child." (Spring, 1950, p. 5)

Quoted in an article By Paul Watsky

As Blake dealt with unconscious factors in the psyche as characters in his mythic constructions, he explored the relationships and the dynamics of achieving mental wholeness which he associated with Albion and his Emanation Jerusalem. In describing the conclusion of Jerusalem Damon says, “Albion awakes and rises; Jesus appears; and Albion sacrifices himself;...Then Eternity is re-established, and all becomes one in the Divine Vision.” (A Blake Dictionary, page 213)

The following interchange between Enitharmon and Los (Jerusalem, Plate 92) expresses Enitharmon’s fear that she will be replaced by another female if she accepts annihilation but Los reveals that there will be no division into sexes in Eternity.

“My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.

Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish & cease
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely Enitharmon:”

But as Los states, it is not that the Emanations are lost in Eternity, but that the division into ‘sexes‘ will be no more. The multiple facets of the psyche will be acknowledged, balanced, and restored to their proper roles as they are integrated into a unified functioning whole.

In Blake as in Jung, masculine and feminine aspects of the personality contribute to the complete individual. The Anima in Jung and the Emanations in Blake can be the root of harmful behaviors; but when properly recognized and attended to, they fulfill vital roles in the human psyche.

ANIMA & EMANATION

Blake’s women - Enitharman, Enion, Ahania, Vala, and Jerusalem are each associated with a male - Los, Tharmas, Urizen, Luvah, and Albion as an Emanation. In Eternity the Emanations do not have a separate existence. As the fall occurs they acquire outer forms, independent wills and the desire to dominate. Daman says they ”fight regeneration (which seems to them like annihilation).”

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Title page (How many paired figures do you see? and Why is she suspended above the abyss?)

In Jungian psychology there is an aspect of the unconscious which is called the Anima. In the process of individuation, the Anima which has been projected on the people to whom one is related (mother, sister, wife, boss) is explored and assimilated through bringing unconscious material to light. Since the unconscious inner Anima determines relationships to outer persons by projecting the inner content onto real people, outer relationships are repaired by withdrawing projections (removing the Anima’s will or ability to dominate.)

Carl Jung states:
“The projection-forming factor is the anima. Wherever she appears in dreams, phantasies or visions, she appears personified, thereby demonstrating that basically she possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a female person. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous production of the unconscious; neither is she a substitute figure for the mother. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that those numinous attributes which make the Mother imago so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype, the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child." (Spring, 1950, p. 5)

Quoted in an article By Paul Watsky

As Blake dealt with unconscious factors in the psyche as characters in his mythic constructions, he explored the relationships and the dynamics of achieving mental wholeness which he associated with Albion and his Emanation Jerusalem. In describing the conclusion of Jerusalem Damon says, “Albion awakes and rises; Jesus appears; and Albion sacrifices himself;...Then Eternity is re-established, and all becomes one in the Divine Vision.” (A Blake Dictionary, page 213)

The following interchange between Enitharmon and Los (Jerusalem, Plate 92) expresses Enitharmon’s fear that she will be replaced by another female if she accepts annihilation but Los reveals that there will be no division into sexes in Eternity.

“My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.

Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish & cease
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely Enitharmon:”

But as Los states, it is not that the Emanations are lost in Eternity, but that the division into ‘sexes‘ will be no more. The multiple facets of the psyche will be acknowledged, balanced, and restored to their proper roles as they are integrated into a unified functioning whole.

In Blake as in Jung, masculine and feminine aspects of the personality contribute to the complete individual. The Anima in Jung and the Emanations in Blake can be the root of harmful behaviors; but when properly recognized and attended to, they fulfill vital roles in the human psyche.

Circle of Destiny II

The last post included a link to the Arlington Tempera. You may see it as an excellent portrayal of the Circle of Destiny.

One of the common names for the picture is The Sea of Time and Space. However Damon suggested The Circle of Life as a more appropriate term.

The sea in the picture is only one of several vital scenes; it occurs in the left foreground. The right hand part portrays the Cave of the Nymphs, found in the 13th book of the Odyssey. In fact it's from an interpretation of the cave by Porphyry, a 3rd century a Neoplatonist philosopher.

The upper left portrays Eternity. The center shows two prominent characters. The man kneeling on the shore has been given several names: Odysseus by Kathleen Raine, Luvah by Damon, Albion/Jesus by Digby, or better yet, Everyman (you and I). He has gotten close to completion of the circle of destiny; without looking at the sea he is throwing the girdle of Leucothea which she had lent him to be able to swim ashore (Blake used Book 5 of the Odyssey for this feature).

Behind 'Everyman' stands a woman, perhaps Athene (Raine), Vala (Damon), the anima (Digby). (This shows how Blake says different things to different people -- much like the Bible!)

On the right side of the picture there's an image you might imagine as a double escalator with the right side going down and the left up. Down the northern come the souls with a hankering for mortal life. Up the southern may go Everyman:
"when once he did descry 
the immortal man who cannot die  
Through evening shades he hastes away
to close the labors of his day."

We can only suppose that Everyman, responding to the radiant woman's signal, looked up and moved!

There's a lot more to the circle of destiny; if anyone shows an interest, I'll be glad to expand on it.

Tell me what you think.

Circle of Destiny II

The last post included a link to the Arlington Tempera. You may see it as an excellent portrayal of the Circle of Destiny.

One of the common names for the picture is The Sea of Time and Space. However Damon suggested The Circle of Life as a more appropriate term.

The sea in the picture is only one of several vital scenes; it occurs in the left foreground. The right hand part portrays the Cave of the Nymphs, found in the 13th book of the Odyssey. In fact it's from an interpretation of the cave by Porphyry, a 3rd century a Neoplatonist philosopher.

The upper left portrays Eternity. The center shows two prominent characters. The man kneeling on the shore has been given several names: Odysseus by Kathleen Raine, Luvah by Damon, Albion/Jesus by Digby, or better yet, Everyman (you and I). He has gotten close to completion of the circle of destiny; without looking at the sea he is throwing the girdle of Leucothea which she had lent him to be able to swim ashore (Blake used Book 5 of the Odyssey for this feature).

Behind 'Everyman' stands a woman, perhaps Athene (Raine), Vala (Damon), the anima (Digby). (This shows how Blake says different things to different people -- much like the Bible!)

On the right side of the picture there's an image you might imagine as a double escalator with the right side going down and the left up. Down the northern come the souls with a hankering for mortal life. Up the southern may go Everyman:
"when once he did descry 
the immortal man who cannot die  
Through evening shades he hastes away
to close the labors of his day."

We can only suppose that Everyman, responding to the radiant woman's signal, looked up and moved!

There's a lot more to the circle of destiny; if anyone shows an interest, I'll be glad to expand on it.

Tell me what you think.

CHIMNEY SWEEPER

SONGS of INNOCENCE 12
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

"When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep.
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep,

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl'd like a lambs back, was shav'd, so I said.
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.

And so be was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight,
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black,

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm."

Weep, weep, weep doesn't just mean sweep, sweep, sweep it
also means weep, weep, weep!
This introduces a note of sadness, an emotional content to the
poem. The plight of the child and of children like him is brought
to our attention. The child is aware of  his situation and  feels it
deeply. His dream of seeing himself and  his friends being locked
in coffins frightens him as would  the actual experience of
climbing the narrow spaces within chimneys.
The Angel has a 'key' to release him and his friends. From the
experience the children have with the Angel, I suspect Blake was
using the Angel to represent  the religious position taken by the
established church saying: 'forget about your pain', 'be a good
boy', 'God will reward you later.' Could the Angel's key be church
doctrines which soothe the conscience of the believers? That
Tom was 'happy and warm' because of his experience with the
Angel seems false, spoken ironically.
Can children be trapped in many ways - by their poverty, by the
neglect of their families, by the economic structure of  their
society, by living in this mortal flesh, by a church whose doctrines
supported oppression? Yes, in all these ways and many more, of
which Blake was acutely aware and to which he wanted to
sensitize us.

SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

Blake doesn't set limits on how his poem can be interpreted.
He presents it to us, and we respond according to our
psychological, spiritual, social or political condition. As Damon
(A Blake Dictionary) says, "symbolism is a dream which fails it its
entire meaning is obvious."    

CHIMNEY SWEEPER

SONGS of INNOCENCE 12
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

"When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep.
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep,

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl'd like a lambs back, was shav'd, so I said.
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.

And so be was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight,
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black,

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm."

Weep, weep, weep doesn't just mean sweep, sweep, sweep it
also means weep, weep, weep!
This introduces a note of sadness, an emotional content to the
poem. The plight of the child and of children like him is brought
to our attention. The child is aware of  his situation and  feels it
deeply. His dream of seeing himself and  his friends being locked
in coffins frightens him as would  the actual experience of
climbing the narrow spaces within chimneys.
The Angel has a 'key' to release him and his friends. From the
experience the children have with the Angel, I suspect Blake was
using the Angel to represent  the religious position taken by the
established church saying: 'forget about your pain', 'be a good
boy', 'God will reward you later.' Could the Angel's key be church
doctrines which soothe the conscience of the believers? That
Tom was 'happy and warm' because of his experience with the
Angel seems false, spoken ironically.
Can children be trapped in many ways - by their poverty, by the
neglect of their families, by the economic structure of  their
society, by living in this mortal flesh, by a church whose doctrines
supported oppression? Yes, in all these ways and many more, of
which Blake was acutely aware and to which he wanted to
sensitize us.

SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

Blake doesn't set limits on how his poem can be interpreted.
He presents it to us, and we respond according to our
psychological, spiritual, social or political condition. As Damon
(A Blake Dictionary) says, "symbolism is a dream which fails it its
entire meaning is obvious."    

BLAKE AND EVIL

Blake was outspoken in his opposition to oppressive behaviors and to mistaken ideas. Because the enforcement of an external law was the root of much of mankind's suffering, and his inability to perceive the infinite; Blake relentlessly spoke against the law as the construction of Urizen.

The term 'error' was what Blake used to refer to what many call evil. He considered error to be a state and not a person. Error could be brought to light, dealt with and eliminated. Blake's goal was that every person may reach the state of internal unity and brotherhood with man.

Mercy and Truth are met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other
click on picture to enlarge

Athough this passage at first appears to be harsh condemnation, its meaning changes a we look at it in the light of Blake's vocabulary.

InscrDante5; E689|
"Swedenborg does the same in saying that in
this World is the Ultimate of Heaven
This is the most damnable Falshood of
Satan & his Antichrist"

Notice what Blake is saying:
The idea of 'this World' being the 'Ultimate of Heaven' is abhorrent to him, since his whole psyche and philosophy are committed to the notion that Eternity is the only true reality. As always he wouldn't use prosaic language (as I have used) to state this. He states his reaction according to his system of thought.

'Damnable' means being worthy of complete rejection.
'Falsehood' is error - a state which is created so that the individual should not be blamed.
'Satan' is another word for error, he is the "State of Death and not a human existence."(J49:67)

Since in Blake's system, "One Error not remov'd will destroy a human Soul" (J46:11), it is merciful to remove error. Antichrist is that which opposes Christ, another error to be replaced by truth.

Blake doesn't call Swedenborg evil, he says he is in a state of error. What Blake is doing is speaking the truth in as direct and powerful a way as he is capable of.

(Thanks to Damon's A BLAKE DICTIONARY for help in explaining this)