MORAVIAN MOTHER 4

Library of Congress
Book of Urizen
Copy G, Plate 21

---

Symbolically the words heart and love are used as synonyms. In this passage from Road to Salem by Adelaide Fries we see how the Moravians equated the love within Christ with the love within the heart of mankind. William Blake may have grown up with the understanding that within our hearts is that love given by God but unless it is kept alive by faith and practice it may sleep unexpressed. 

From Road to Salem:

"It quoted the address which Brother von Watteville then made to the children, in which he 'spoke of the inexpressible blessedness which came through the birth of Christ,' spoke also of the 'flame of love' which burned in the heart of Christ, leading Him to give himself for the redemption of the world, which should kindle an answering flame in the heart of every child who heard the story. He told them that each child was about to receive a lighted wax taper, tied with a small red ribbon, to remind them all of what he had just explained to them; and the account in the old church paper even gave the verse he sang for them:

'Oh little Jesus, Thee I love!
Kindle a pure and holy flame
Within the heart of every child
Like that which from Thine own heart came.'" (Page 132) 

 

Songs of Innocence, Songs 9, (E 9)

"Little Black Boy

 

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 sun-burnt face      
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

SONGS 10  
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 & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.

 

---

Blake personified in the Zoa Luvah as the emotional nature of man. In its unfallen state it was uncontaminated by the distortions which characterize love's expression on our world. Blake looked at the dynamics of the Four Zoas to show ways in which each perfect state had become destructive rather than productive. Much of what Blake said about Luvah were expressions of his condition in the fallen world. In his poem William Bond, Blake recognized how love should be sought in the fallen world in which we live. The world of sorrow and darkness is the same world which moved the heart of the Christ to suffer for the redemption of the world. 

Songs and Ballads, William Bond, (E 497)
"I thought Love livd in the hot sun Shine                 
But O he lives in the Moony light
I thought to find Love in the heat of day
But sweet Love is the Comforter of Night

Seek Love in the Pity of others Woe
In the gentle relief of anothers care               
In the darkness of night & the winters snow
In the naked & outcast Seek Love there"

---

Blake used Jerusalem, the Emanation of Albion, the Eternal man, to represent the unfallen condition which gave access to the total love of the Eternal which was universally available. But access to the spiritual dimension is also provided in this world. Man is capable of passing through the gates to heaven when he recognizes them and accepts the invitation. There are however obstructions which the individual must clear away before the way is open. 

Jerusalem, Plate 24, (E 170)
"Yet thou wast lovely as the summer cloud upon my hills
When Jerusalem was thy hearts desire in times of youth & love."

Milton, Plate 5, (E 98)
"And this is the manner of the Daughters of Albion in their beauty
Every one is threefold in Head & Heart & Reins, & every one
Has three Gates into the Three Heavens of Beulah which shine
Translucent in their Foreheads & their Bosoms & their Loins
Surrounded with fires unapproachable: but whom they please
They take up into their Heavens in intoxicating delight"

Jerusalem, Plate 9, (E 152)
"I took the sighs & tears, & bitter groans:
I lifted them into my Furnaces; to form the spiritual sword.
That lays open the hidden heart: "

---

The Moravian religion is said to be a Heart Religion since the relationship with the Savior, to them, is first experienced through the heart. Understanding of the Christ comes from the head and develops after the love from God is experience by the heart. 

Faith as Individual and Communal by Arthur Freeman

"The theological understanding of the Ancient Moravian Church was particularly formed by its dividing all theological and ecclesial matters into essentials, ministerials and incidentals. For it the essential was the relationship with the Triune God expressed in the three-fold response of faith, love and hope. In the Zinzendorfian period we have the emphasis on basic truths or fundamentals, and Heart Religion (the heart relationship with the Savior) -- somewhat equivalent to the essential of the Ancient Church. This is a very explicit theology, though it is not a systematic theology. Zinzendorf, for example, did not write a systematic theology because he theologically believed that it was not possible -- one cannot know and express God that way."

Jerusalem, Plate 86, (E 244)
"I see thy Form O lovely mild Jerusalem, Wingd with Six Wings
In the opacous Bosom of the Sleeper, lovely Three-fold
In Head & Heart & Reins, three Universes of love & beauty"

---

Zinzendorf's refusal to formulate a systematic theology parallels Blake's using symbolic language to express in his poetry and designs the truth which he could not express in prosaic or scientific language. The struggle between Luvah and Urizen demonstrated the division between the heart and head which he experienced internally and which plagued the Age of Enlightenment in which he lived.  

Jerusalem, Plate 52, (E 201)
"Your Religion O Deists: Deism, is the Worship of the God
of this World by the means of what you call Natural Religion and
Natural Philosophy, and of Natural Morality or
Self-Righteousness, the Selfish Virtues of the Natural Heart. 
This was the Religion of the Pharisees who murderd Jesus.  Deism
is the same & ends in the same.
 Voltaire Rousseau Gibbon Hume. charge the Spiritually Religious
with Hypocrisy! but how a Monk or a Methodist either, can be a
Hypocrite: I cannot concieve.  We are Men of like passions with
others & pretend not to be holier than others: therefore, when a
Religious Man falls into Sin, he ought not to be calld a
Hypocrite: this title is more properly to be given to a Player
who falls into Sin; whose profession is Virtue & Morality & the
making Men Self-Righteous.  Foote in calling Whitefield,
Hypocrite: was himself one: for Whitefield pretended not to be
holier than others: but confessed his Sins before all the World;
Voltaire! Rousseau! You cannot escape my charge that you are
Pharisees & Hypocrites, for you are constantly talking of the
Virtues of the Human Heart, and particularly of your own, that
you may accuse others & especially the Religious, whose errors,
you by this display of pretended Virtue, chiefly design to
expose.

Jerusalem, Plate 98
"And the Bow is a Male & Female & the Quiver of the Arrows of Love,
Are the Children of this Bow: a Bow of Mercy & Loving-kindness: laying
Open the hidden Heart in Wars of mutual Benevolence Wars of Love
And the Hand of Man grasps firm between the Male & Female Loves  
And he Clothed himself in Bow & Arrows in awful state Fourfold
In the midst of his Twenty-eight Cities each with his Bow breathing"

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 62, (E 343)
"When satiated with grief they returnd back to Golgonooza     
Enitharmon on the road of Dranthon felt the inmost gate          , 
Of her bright heart burst open & again close with a deadly pain 
Within her heart Vala began to reanimate in bursting sobs       
And when the Gate was open she beheld that dreary Deep          
Where bright Ahania wept. She also saw the infernal roots        

Of the chain of Jealousy & felt the rendings of fierce howling Orc" 

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 85, (E 360)
She burst the Gates of Enitharmons heart with direful Crash
Nor could they ever be closd again the golden hinges were broken
And the gates broke in sunder & their ornaments defacd       
Beneath the tree of Mystery for the immortal shadow shuddering

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 95, (E 368)
If we unite in one[,] another better world will be      
Opend within your heart & loins & wondrous brain
Threefold as it was in Eternity & this the fourth Universe 
Will be Renewd by the three & consummated in Mental fires
But if thou dost refuse Another body will be prepared"

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 86, (E 369)
Los trembling answerd Now I feel the weight of stern repentance
Tremble not so my Enitharmon at the awful gates    
Of thy poor broken Heart I see thee like a shadow withering
As on the outside of Existence but look! behold! take comfort!
Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God
Clothed in Luvahs robes of blood descending to redeem
O Spectre of Urthona take comfort O Enitharmon   
Couldst thou but cease from terror & trembling & affright
When I appear before thee in forgiveness of ancient injuries   
Why shouldst thou remember & be afraid. I surely have died in pain
Often enough to convince thy jealousy & fear & terror
Come hither be patient let us converse together because  
I also tremble at myself & at all my former life

Enitharmon answerd I behold the Lamb of God descending
To Meet these Spectres of the Dead I therefore fear that he
Will give us to Eternal Death fit punishment for such
Hideous offenders Uttermost extinction in eternal pain"  

FOUR ELEMENTS

 

Fire

 

Earth

Air

Water

 

 

First posted Dec 2015

 Book of Urizen: full page images of the Four Elements. 

For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise, THE KEYS, (E 268) 

"2 Doubt Self Jealous Watry folly 

3 Struggling thro Earths Melancholy 

4 Naked in Air in Shame & Fear 

5 Blind in Fire with shield & spear"

 
 

Air - Urizen

Urizen's contribution was to 'divide the elements in finite bonds': to take the infinite archetypes and divide them into finite discrete entities which could be set against each other in warring factions.

Four Zoas, Night II, Page 30, (E 319)
"Then rose the Builders; First the Architect divine his plan
Unfolds, The wondrous scaffold reard all round the infinite
Quadrangular the building rose the heavens squared by a line.    
Trigon & cubes divide the elements in finite bonds
Multitudes without number work incessant: the hewn stone
Is placd in beds of mortar mingled with the ashes of Vala
Severe the labour, female slaves the mortar trod oppressed

Twelve halls after the names of his twelve sons composd          
The wondrous building & three Central Domes after the Names 
Of his three daughters were encompassd by the twelve bright halls
Every hall surrounded by bright Paradises of Delight
In which are towns & Cities Nations Seas Mountains & Rivers 
Each Dome opend toward four halls & the Three Domes Encompassd   
The Golden Hall of Urizen whose western side glowd bright 
With ever streaming fires beaming from his awful limbs

Water - Tharmas

Tharmas realized the the infinite elements which served the living would be left 'a formless unmeasurable Death' if he departed and they were left without the spirits which animated them.

Four Zoas, Night IV, Page 52, (E 334) 
"I will compell thee to rebuild by these my furious waves
Death choose or life thou strugglest in my waters, now choose life
And all the Elements shall serve thee to their soothing flutes
Their sweet inspiriting lyres thy labours shall administer
And they to thee only remit not faint not thou my son            
Now thou dost know what tis to strive against the God of waters

So saying Tharmas on his furious chariots of the Deep
Departed far into the Unknown & left a wondrous void
Round Los. afar his waters bore on all sides round. with noise
Of wheels & horses hoofs & Trumpets Horns & Clarions   

Terrified Los beheld the ruins of Urizen beneath
A horrible Chaos to his eyes. a formless unmeasurable Death"

Earth - Urhona

The 'shadowy semblance' of the detached elements seek existence in matter although they will suffer the pains of affliction common in the natural world.

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 136, (E 404)
"Forsaken of their Elements they vanish & are no more
No more but a desire of Being a distracted ravening desire
Desiring like the hungry worm & like the gaping grave   
They plunge into the Elements the Elements cast them forth
Or else consume their shadowy semblance Yet they obstinate       
Tho pained to distraction Cry O let us Exist for
This dreadful Non Existence is worse than pains of Eternal Birth    
Eternal Death who can Endure. let us consume in fires
In waters stifling or in air corroding or in earth shut up
The Pangs of Eternal birth are better than the Pangs of Eternal Death 

Fire - Luvah 

Blind in Fire with shield & spear

 Milton, Plate 31 [34], (E 130)
"And all the Living Creatures of the Four Elements, wail'd
With bitter wailing: these in the aggregate are named Satan.
And Rahab: they know not of Regeneration, but only of Generation
The Fairies, Nymphs, Gnomes & Genii of the Four Elements         
Unforgiving & unalterable: these cannot be Regenerated
But must be Created, for they know only of Generation
These are the Gods of the Kingdoms of the Earth: in contrarious
And cruel opposition: Element against Element, opposed in War
Not Mental, as the Wars of Eternity, but a Corporeal Strife      
In Los's Halls continual labouring in the Furnaces of Golgonooza"

Blake states that the Four Zoas are the 'Four Eternal Senses of Man.' At the Eternal level Albion incorporates all of the created world; his senses are the Zoas. When Albion splits and falls the Eternal Senses become the Elements which are expressed as forces which are active in defining the natural world. The raw power of the elements breaks forth in the destruction of the Whirlwind, Flood, Earthquake and Fire. Milder but no less insidious formulations of the Elements are the Fairies, Nymphs, Gnomes & Genii, unconscious instruments which instigate strife and war among political entities, whether they be families, religions, political parties, or nations. The elements have become the masters of man rather than his servants.

Mankind would like to be free from subjugation to the results of the conflicts manifesting in nature and politics, but the powers that sustain them go unrecognized. If we knew that we have Eternal Senses capable of enjoying the infinite and eternal panoply of the universe, we would relinquish our grip on the partial to perceive the whole.

Jerusalem, Plate 32 [36], (E 178) 
"And the Four Zoa's clouded rage East & West & North & South      
They change their situations, in the Universal Man.
Albion groans, he sees the Elements divide before his face.
And England who is Brittannia divided into Jerusalem & Vala
And Urizen assumes the East, Luvah assumes the South
In his dark Spectre ravening from his open Sepulcher             

And the Four Zoa's who are the Four Eternal Senses of Man
Became Four Elements separating from the Limbs of Albion
These are their names in the Vegetative Generation
[West Weighing East & North dividing Generation South
     bounding]         
And Accident & Chance were found hidden in Length Bredth & Highth
And they divided into Four ravening deathlike Forms
Fairies & Genii & Nymphs & Gnomes of the Elements.
These are States Permanently Fixed by the Divine Power

The Atlantic Continent sunk round Albions cliffy shore
And the Sea poured in amain upon the Giants of Albion      
As Los bended the Senses of Reuben Reuben is Merlin
Exploring the Three States of Ulro; Creation; Redemption. & Judgment

And many of the Eternal Ones laughed after their manner"

. 

DESIGN 3 - ORC

For each of the eight images in the Large Book of Designs, I will republish an earlier post to shed light on how the picture fits into Blake's overall myth of Creation, Fall and Apocalypse.

3) Orc 

________________

Friday, May 28, 2010

FIERY ORC

None of Blake's characters is more complex or contradictory than is Orc. You may remember him as the first son of Los and Enitharmon who so aroused his father's jealousy that he was taken to a mountainside and chained to a rock. Los as prophecy was jealous of Orc as revolution. However Rintrah (just wrath), Palamabron (pity), Theomorton (frustrate desire), and Bromion (logic) are also identified as Los's first four sons which Damon explains as representing an analysis of Orc. (A Blake Dictionary, Page 309)

Orc's body became so enrooted to the rock that when his parents later tried to release him, they were unable to do so. As this passage notes he was the embodiment of the 'fires of Eternal Youth'.

Milton, Plate 29 [31], (E 127)
"But Rintrah & Palamabron govern over Day & Night
In Allamanda & Entuthon Benython where Souls wail:
Where Orc incessant howls burning in fires of Eternal Youth,
Within the vegetated mortal Nerves; for every Man born is joined
Within into One mighty Polypus, and this Polypus is Orc."




In this picture Orc is both the chained youth in the cruciform position and the figure enclosed underground in a fetal position. Orc has taken on his function as revolution which must be controlled. The potential for revolution which has erupted in the colonies and threatened Europe was expressed by Orc in the book America. Revolution which had been attractive to Blake in theory became repulsive to him when he saw it in actual practice in France.



 
America, PLATE 8, (E 54)
"The terror answerd: I am Orc, wreath'd round the accursed tree:
The times are ended; shadows pass the morning gins to break;
The fiery joy, that Urizen perverted to ten commands,
What night he led the starry hosts thro' the wide wilderness:
That stony law I stamp to dust: and scatter religion abroad
To the four winds as a torn book, & none shall gather the leaves;
But they shall rot on desart sands, & consume in bottomless deeps;
To make the desarts blossom, & the deeps shrink to their fountains,
And to renew the fiery joy, and burst the stony roof.
That pale religious letchery, seeking Virginity,
May find it in a harlot, and in coarse-clad honesty
The undefil'd tho' ravish'd in her cradle night and morn:
For every thing that lives is holy, life delights in life;
Because the soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
Fires inwrap the earthly globe, yet man is not consumd;
Amidst the lustful fires he walks: his feet become like brass,
His knees and thighs like silver, & his breast and head like gold.
And Satan is the Spectre of Orc & Orc is the generate Luvah"


As the generate form of Luvah (emotion) which came into being as a result of the fall, Orc came under the dominion of Urizen the great lawgiver. As the dragon form, 'red Orc' is supressed energy seeking release. Suffering under the restraints of Urizen's system Orc explodes into revolution.

Milton Percival in William Blake's Circle of Destiny gives us this insight: "But, though the rational mind fears the fiery form of Orc, the imaginative mind knows that it is not evil, but rather an indictment of evil, a revelation of the mistaken character of the authority which has brought it into being. Orc is the personification of a deathless phenomenon, the spirit of revolution that arises when energy is repressed."

Urizen diverts Orc's energy into false religion, the Tree of Mystery, whereon Orc becomes the serpent and subsequently enters the state of Satan.

Four Zoas, Night viii, (E 380)
"The State namd Satan never can be redeemd in all Eternity
But when Luvah in Orc became a Serpent he des[c]ended into
That State calld Satan"

In the apocalypse Orc reverts to his eternal form Luvah and joins Jesus in ushering in the new age.

_________

As always we can see the psyche of Blake being dealt with in his characters. Forces within seek expression in Blake's life; prophecy or imagination cannot let revolution take over dominance. The energy or revolution is a valuable asset but unfortunately cannot be released at will. Reason, the conventional, conservative force may be able to control revolution, but to do so revolution's energy must be diverted in another direction since it can't be eliminated. This may lead to deeper degrees of error, since error given the freedom to act, will go to the extreme. Revolution is not permanent; it either subsides or or leads to a breaking up of the cycle and the initiation of a new paradigm.

.

WEAVING 3

Wikipedia Commons
Watercolors for Blair's The Grave
Christ Descending

These mortal bodies in which we live and move and have our being are constructed of bones and sinews and blood. These are the coverings for Souls Divine who have been given 'a little space' to 'work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.' For communicating about this covering which was afforded to Adam and Eve when they left Eden as naked beings, Blake developed the metaphor 'Robe of Blood.' More than a physical coating for the soul, it includes the psychic portion of man which Blake imaged as the Four Zoas.

The Robe of Blood is most often associated with the Zoa Luvah who is imaged a man's emotional nature in which is expressed all the joy and pain of relating to an exterior world. In solidarity with the predicament of man the 'Divine Lamb Even Jesus who is the Divine Vision' wore Luvah's Robe of Blood. In theological terms this is the incarnation, God becoming a living presence within man exemplified by Christ in Jesus and in each of us.

Four Zoas, Page 12, Night I, (E 307)

"Los saw the wound of his blow he saw he pitied he wept 
Los now repented that he had smitten Enitharmon he felt love
Arise in all his Veins he threw his arms around her loins
To heal the wound of his smiting

They eat the fleshly bread, they drank the nervous wine  -
PAGE 13 
They listend to the Elemental Harps & Sphery Song
They view'd the dancing Hours, quick sporting thro' the sky      
With winged radiance scattering joys thro the ever changing light

But Luvah & Vala standing in the bloody sky      
On high remaind alone forsaken in fierce jealousy                
They stood above the heavens forsaken desolate suspended in blood
Descend they could not. nor from Each other avert their eyes
Eternity appeard above them as One Man infolded
In Luvah[s] robes of blood & bearing all his afflictions 
As the sun shines down on the misty earth Such was the Vision    

But purple night and crimson morning & golden day descending 
Thro' the clear changing atmosphere display'd green fields among
The varying clouds, like paradises stretch'd in the expanse
With towns & villages and temples, tents sheep-folds and pastures
Where dwell the children of the elemental worlds in harmony,     
Not long in harmony they dwell, their life is drawn away     
And wintry woes succeed; successive driven into the Void
Where Enion craves: successive drawn into the golden feast

And Los & Enitharmon sat in discontent & scorn" 

Four Zoas, Night II, Page 32, (E 321)
The heavens were closd and spirits mournd their bondage night and day
And the Divine Vision appeard in Luvahs robes of blood          

Thus was the Mundane shell builded by Urizens strong power       

Sorrowing went the Planters forth to plant, the Sowers to sow   
They dug the channels for the rivers & they pourd abroad
PAGE 33 
The seas & lakes, they reard the mountains & the rocks & hills
On broad pavilions, on pillard roofs & porches & high towers
In beauteous order, thence arose soft clouds & exhalations
Wandering even to the sunny Cubes of light & heat               
For many a window ornamented with sweet ornaments                
Lookd out into the World of Tharmas, where in ceaseless torrents                                                   
His billows roll where monsters wander in the foamy paths

On clouds the Sons of Urizen beheld Heaven walled round         
They weighd & orderd all & Urizen comforted saw                 
The wondrous work flow forth like visible out of the invisible   
For the Divine Lamb Even Jesus who is the Divine Vision
Permitted all lest Man should fall into Eternal Death
For when Luvah sunk down himself put on the robes of blood
Lest the state calld Luvah should cease. & the Divine Vision
Walked in robes of blood till he who slept should awake   

Thus were the stars of heaven created like a golden chain
To bind the Body of Man to heaven from failing into the Abyss"
            
Four Zoas, Night IV, Page 54, (E 337)
"The Council of God on high watching over the Body   
Of Man clothd in Luvahs robes of blood saw & wept
Descending over Beulahs mild moon coverd regions
The daughters of Beulah saw the Divine Vision they were comforted
And as a Double female form loveliness & perfection of beauty
They bowd the head & worshippd & with mild voice spoke these words

PAGE 56 
Lord. Saviour if thou hadst been here our brother had not died
And now we know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God
He will give it thee for we are weak women & dare not lift
Our eyes to the Divine pavilions. therefore in mercy thou
Appearest clothd in Luvahs garments that we may behold thee      
And live. Behold Eternal Death is in Beulah Behold
We perish & shall not be found unless thou grant 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               

Such were the words of Beulah of the Feminine Emanation  
The Empyrean groand throughout All Eden was darkend
The Corse of Albion lay on the Rock the sea of Time & Space
Beat round the Rock in mighty waves & as a Polypus
That vegetates beneath the Sea the limbs of Man vegetated      
In monstrous forms of Death a Human polypus of Death

The Saviour mild & gentle bent over the corse of Death
Saying If ye will Believe your Brother shall rise again"  

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 87, (E 369)
"Los trembling answerd Now I feel the weight of stern repentance
Tremble not so my Enitharmon awful gates    
Of thy poor broken Heart I see thee like a shadow withering
As on the outside of Existence but look! behold! take comfort!
Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God
Clothed in Luvahs robes of blood descending to redeem
O Spectre of Urthona take comfort O Enitharmon   
Couldst thou but cease from terror & trembling & affright
When I appear before thee in forgiveness of ancient injuries 
Why shouldst thou remember & be afraid. I surely have died in pain
Often enough to convince thy jealousy & fear & terror
Come hither be patient let us converse together because  
I also tremble at myself & at all my former life

Enitharmon answerd I behold the Lamb of God descending
To Meet these Spectres of the Dead I therefore fear that he"

Songs and Ballads, Auguries of Innocence, (E 491)
"It is right it should be so 
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine 
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
The Babe is more than swadling Bands
Throughout all these Human Lands" 

Wikimedia Commons
The Angel of the Divine Presence clothing Adam & Eve with Coats of Skins 

Letters, To Butts, 1803, (E 729)
"I have now on the Stocks the following Drawings for you ...The Angel of the Divine Presence clothing Adam & EveAdam & Eve with Coats of Skins"

Genesis 3
[21] Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
[22] And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
[23] Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
[24] So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

.

LUVAH

Wikimedia Commons 

Book of Urizen

Copy C, Plate 22

On Plate 22 of the Book of Urizen which pictured all four of the elements, Blake gave us clues to how the Zoas were developing in his imagination. In copy C we see the most striking image of fire because of the coloring Blake chose. Of the four elements fire is one which is most active. It is unpredictable, capable of bringing about dramatic change, and it provides creative and destructive possibilities.

 

By associating Fire with the Zoa Luvah, Blake indicated the hazardous nature of his Zoa of emotion.

Milton Percival, in Blake's Circle of Destiny, introduces us to the Eternal Luvah who practices the joys of forgiveness, love and delight:
"For the moon of love signifies forgiveness of sin, the constant fulfilment of the religion of Jesus. No matter what mistakes may be committed, no matter how distraught the world may be, the solution of the problem, though unapparent to the mind at present, will eventually be found if only the emotions remain forgiving. For this reason Luvah shares with Urthona, another of the Zoas, the distinction of being a keeper of the gates of heaven.
 
'Mutual Forgiveness of each Vice Such are the Gates of Paradise'   

But Luvah is more than forgiveness. He is the whole gamut of the emotions, especially the active emotions as opposed to the passive ones personified in Vala, his Emanation. Conspicuous among the active emotions is 'eternal delight' which Blake associated with energy. In his unfallen state, when energy was not yet restrained, Luvah is that delight - the characteristic Blakean joy that springs from a believing head, a loving heart, a creative imagination, and open vigorous senses. Therefore he is the cupbearer, serving the golden wine around the eternal tables." (Page 29)

Wikimedia Commons
Marriage of Heaven & Hell
Plate 5

 

 

In his Eternal guise Luvah was privileged to be the cup bearer of the Eternals, and with Urthona was keeper of the gates of Heaven. But Luvah fell from his lofty height when he and Urizen plotted to change the arrangement of the psychological functions. This image from Marriage of Heaven & Hell portrays a fall of a man and his energies; his horse and his sword descend into the fiery excess of passion. We read about such a fall in the Four Zoas.

 

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 64, (E 344)
[Urizen speaks] 
"I well remember for I heard the mild & holy voice
Saying O light spring up & shine & I sprang up from the deep  
He gave to me a silver scepter & crownd me with a golden crown
& said Go forth & guide my Son who wanders on the ocean       

I went not forth. I hid myself in black clouds of my wrath       
I calld the stars around my feet in the night of councils dark
The stars threw down their spears & fled naked away
We fell. I siezd thee dark Urthona In my left hand falling

I siezd thee beauteous Luvah thou art faded like a flower
And like a lilly is thy wife Vala witherd by winds               
When thou didst bear the golden cup at the immortal tables
Thy children smote their fiery wings crownd with the gold of heaven
PAGE 65 
Thy pure feet stepd on the steps divine. too pure for other feet
And thy fair locks shadowd thine eyes from the divine effulgence
Then thou didst keep with Strong Urthona the living gates of heaven
But now thou art bound down with him even to the gates of hell

Because thou gavest Urizen the wine of the Almighty             
For steeds of Light that they might run in thy golden chariot of pride
I gave to thee the Steeds   I pourd the stolen wine
And drunken with the immortal draught fell from my throne sublime"

The high regard which Blake held for the passions is revealed in this passage: 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 564)
"Men are admitted into Heaven not because they have
governd their Passions or have No Passions but because
they have Cultivated their Understandings.  The Treasures of
Heaven are not Negations of Passion but Realities of Intellect
from which All the Passions Emanate in their Eternal
Glory   The Fool shall not enter into Heaven let him be ever so
Holy.  Holiness is not The Price of Enterance into Heaven Those
who are cast out Are All Those who having no Passions of their
own because No Intellect.  Have spent their lives in Curbing &
Governing other Peoples by the Various arts of Poverty & Cruelty
of all kinds   Wo Wo Wo to you Hypocrites" 

Each of the Zoas was associated with a World in which his dominant principles were held. Luvah's World was Beulah which Damon tells us, was created by the Lamb 'as a refuge from the gigantic warfare of ideas in Eternity.' The gentle emotions of 'love & pity & sweet compassion' were the healing balm in Beulah for the exhausted, weak and terrified.     

Milton, Plate 30 [33], (E 129)
"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."

The images of Fire which Blake engraved for the two versions of Gates of Paradise (For Children, and For the Sexes) show that he trusted emotions less as he aged because they 'end in endless strife.'

British Museum
For The Sexes: The Gates of Paradise
1820
Copy B, Plate 9

British Museum   
For Children: The Gates of Paradise
1793
Copy B, Plate 7

 

 

 

 

 

FIERY JOY

British Museum
Small Book of Designs

As Urizen functions as the setter of limits, the promulgator of laws to regulate behavior, Orc is symbolic of the energy which Urizen seeks to control. In one account of the Fall, Urizen and Luvah plot together and then turn against each other in distrust. Both become reduced as their eternal qualities are diminished when they enter the physical world. Luvah's name in the world of generation is Orc. His is the energy striving to be released without thought of restraint. Blake's Orc is a character who will be admired or feared, sought or despised, welcomed or rejected.  His fiery unpredictability makes him the perfect foil for Urizen's cold rationality.

America, Plate 7, (E 54)    
"Lover of wild rebellion, and transgresser of Gods Law; 
Why dost thou come to Angels eyes in this terrific form?
Plate, 8
The terror answerd: I am Orc, wreath'd round the accursed tree:
The times are ended; shadows pass the morning gins to break;
The fiery joy, that Urizen perverted to ten commands,
What night he led the starry hosts thro' the wide wilderness:
That stony law I stamp to dust: and scatter religion abroad      
To the four winds as a torn book, & none shall gather the leaves;
But they shall rot on desart sands, & consume in bottomless deeps;
To make the desarts blossom, & the deeps shrink to their fountains,
And to renew the fiery joy, and burst the stony roof.
That pale religious letchery, seeking Virginity,                 
May find it in a harlot, and in coarse-clad honesty
The undefil'd tho' ravish'd in her cradle night and morn:
For every thing that lives is holy, life delights in life;
Because the soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
Fires inwrap the earthly globe, yet man is not consumd;      
Amidst the lustful fires he walks: his feet become like brass,
His knees and thighs like silver, & his breast and head like gold."

John Middleton Murry, on Page 92 of William Blake, reveals the essential function of Orc:
"In the final lines of America we are brought back to the event of which the whole prophecy is symbolic: the consuming of the whole Creation by the cleansing of the doors of perception, so that instead of finite and corrupt, it appears infinite and holy. For the five gates  of the law-built heaven, which the Guardians seek to bar, are the five senses. These gates are consumed, as the doors of perception are cleansed: the consuming and the cleansing are the same act. This is accomplished, in Blake's revolutionary legend, by the flames of Orc- by those 'corroding fires' with which the mighty Devil wrote on the sides of the abyss of the five senses the words of liberation:    

"How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
   Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?""
Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 5

. 

THE JOURNEY XI

British Museum 
 For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise
Plate 3

For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise, Plate 9, (E 263) 
"9 I want! I want!" 


For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise, Plate 19, (E 268) 
Keys 
"9 On the shadows of the Moon Climbing thro Nights highest noon"




 
The picture shows a man beginning to ascend a ladder which reaches from the earth to a crescent moon. His path will lead him through the stars and away from an embracing couple. He is impelled by a desire strong enough to cause him to undertake such a task. 
 
The caption on the image issued when Blake republished For the Children as For the Sexes remained the same: simply "I want! I want!". The object of the desire is not specified. He could be pursuing material goods, power, success or any facet of achievement in the natural world. But he is leaving the earth and going to the moon which is a feminine symbol associated with love.
 
The Key to this gate alerts us to the dangers for the man of coming under the influence of the state of repose which the feminine represents. There is the back side of the moon which never shows its face to earth. And there is the Night of unconsciousness through which man must climb to reach a zenith. But perhaps he will return with a treasure from the feminine which he can integrate rather than either rejecting it or succumbing to it.

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 5, (E 303)
"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                

The Circle of Destiny complete they gave to it a Space
And namd the Space Ulro & brooded over it in care & love
They said The Spectre is in every man insane & most
Deformd     Thro the three heavens descending in fury & fire
We meet it with our Songs & loving blandishments & give          
To it a form of vegetation But this Spectre of Tharmas
Is Eternal Death What shall we do O God pity & help   
So spoke they & closd the Gate of the Tongue in trembling fear" 

. 

THE JOURNEY VII

British Museum For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise
Plate 5

For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise, Plate 5, (E 262) 
"5 Fire That end in endless Strife"

For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise, Plate 19, (E 268)
Keys
"5 Blind in Fire with shield & spear
Two Horn'd Reasoning Cloven Fiction 
In Doubt which is Self contradiction
A dark Hermaphrodite We stood
Rational Truth Root of Evil & Good
Round me flew the Flaming Sword
Round her snowy Whirlwinds roard 
Freezing her Veil the Mundane Shell"

 
Completing his emblems for the four Elements, Blake gives us an image personifying Fire. The other three images are of men seated or kneeling; Fire stands upright in a menacing position. In his hands are a shield for defense and a spear for offense. His lower  body is covered with scales in a late version of Gates of Paradise. 

The caption, "That end in endless Strife", suggests conflict with the other elements as well as internal conflict. The first line of Blake's Key to this plate refers to the individual element, Fire, who is blind and provided with weapons. The lines that follow summarize truths found in the first six plates. The status of dividedness with its consequences of "Doubt", "Self contradiction", darkness, and rationalization are brought together in one paragraph. The masculine/feminine division is emphasized by calling the Hermaphrodite: "We". The "me" near the end is associated with with the flaming sword; while the snowy Whirlwind is "her" symbol.

In the final line the "Mundane Shell", the egg-like enclosure of the world we know and live in, is recognized as the Veil that the feminine division makes possible to conceal Eternity. The "Root of Evil and Good" reflects back to the Key to Plate 3 and the choice which led to dualistic thought. 

From  the ancient usage of Fire as an Element of change, Blake adopted Fire as the representation of Luvah, the Zoa of the emotions or passions. Because of the battles which arise from the initial fall in which Luvah conspired with Urizen to displace Urthona, we see little of the gentler, loving side of Luvah. But along with his pugnacious side is his role as Prince of Love.  
 
Four Zoas, Night I, Page 22, (E 311)
"Luvah replied Dictate to thy Equals. am not I
The Prince of all the hosts of Men nor Equal know in Heaven
If I arise into the Zenith leaving thee to watch
The Emanation & her Sons the Satan & the Anak
Sihon and Og. wilt thou not rebel to my laws remain
In darkness building thy strong throne & in my ancient night
Daring my power wilt arm my sons against me in the Atlantic
My deep My night which thou assuming hast assumed my Crown
I will remain as well as thou & here with hands of blood
Smite this dark sleeper in his tent then try my strength with thee

While thus he spoke his fires reddend oer the holy tent
Urizen cast deep darkness round him silent brooding death
Eternal death to Luvah. raging Luvah pourd
The Lances of Urizen from chariots. round the holy tent
Discord began & yells & cries shook the wide firmament"

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 126, (E 395) 
"Luvah & Vala descended & enterd the Gates of Dark Urthona
And walkd from the hands of Urizen in the shadows of Valas Garden
Where the impressions of Despair & Hope for ever vegetate        
In flowers in fruits in fishes birds & beasts & clouds & waters
The land of doubts & shadows sweet delusions unformd hopes
They saw no more the terrible confusion of the wracking universe
They heard not saw not felt not all the terrible confusion
For in their orbed senses within closd up they wanderd at will   
And those upon the Couches viewd them in the dreams of Beulah
As they reposd from the terrible wide universal harvest
Invisible Luvah in bright clouds hoverd over Valas head
And thus their ancient golden age renewd for Luvah spoke
With voice mild from his golden Cloud upon the breath of morning 

Come forth O Vala from the grass & from the silent Dew
Rise from the dews of death for the Eternal Man is Risen

She rises among flowers & looks toward the Eastern clearness
She walks yea runs her feet are wingd on the tops of the bending grass
Her garments rejoice in the vocal wind & her hair glistens with dew    

She answerd thus Whose voice is this in the voice of the nourishing air
In the spirit of the morning awaking the Soul from its grassy bed"

Acts 2
[1] When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
[2] And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
[3] And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.
[4] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

.

HORSES OF LIGHT

During 1793 to 1795 Blake reached a pinnacle of productivity. He mastered the art of producing illuminated books combining his poetry and etched images as integrated productions completely under his control. The images which had been germinating in his mind over an extended period of time found expression in a total of nine original books containing the nucleus of the myth of fall, struggle, redemption and apocalypse which would evolve as he continued to exercise his imagination.

1793 Visions of the Daughters of Albion
          America. A Prophecy
          For Children: The Gates of Paradise
1794 Songs of Experience
          Europe. A Prophecy               
          The [First] Book of Urizen
1795 The Song of Los
         The Book of Ahania
         The Book of Los

Yale Center for British Art
America. A Prophecy
Plate 15, Copy M

Although Blake continued to write, he did not continue to publish for several years. The Four Zoas which started out with the title Vala never went beyond the manuscript stage. Milton and Jerusalem bear the date 1804 on their title pages but work on them was extended for years after that. It is possible that Blake, after 1795, experienced a crisis of confidence which interrupted his output of poetry.

The squabble between Luvah and Urizen over the horses of light may represent the struggle which formed a roadblock preventing Blake from confidently issuing more books until he resolved the dissension in his mind between the emotional and rational needs which required attention and expression.

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 10, (E 305)

"The Fallen Man takes his repose: Urizen sleeps in the porch 
Luvah and Vala woke & flew up from the Human Heart          
Into the Brain; from thence upon the pillow Vala slumber'd.
And Luvah siez'd the Horses of Light, & rose into the Chariot of Day"

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 18, (E 311)
"The Eternal Man wept in the holy tent Our Brother in Eternity
Even Albion whom thou lovest wept in pain his family
Slept round on hills & valleys in the regions of his love
But Urizen awoke & Luvah woke & thus conferrd

Thou Luvah said the Prince of Light behold our sons & daughters  
Reposd on beds. let them sleep on. do thou alone depart
Into thy wished Kingdom where in Majesty & Power
We may erect a throne. deep in the North I place my lot
Thou in the South listen attentive. In silent of this night
I will infold the Eternal tent in clouds opake while thou       
Siezing the chariots of the morning. Go outfleeting ride
Afar into the Zenith high bending thy furious course
Southward with half the tents of men inclosd in clouds
Will lay my scepter on Jerusalem the Emanation
On all her sons & on thy sons O Luvah & on mine       
Till dawn was wont to wake them then my trumpet sounding loud
Ravishd away in night my strong command shall be obeyd
For I have placd my centinels in stations each tenth man
Is bought & sold & in dim night my Word shall be their law 
 
PAGE 22
Luvah replied Dictate to thy Equals. am not I
The Prince of all the hosts of Men nor Equal know in Heaven
If I arise into the Zenith leaving thee to watch
The Emanation & her Sons the Satan & the Anak
Sihon and Og. wilt thou not rebel to my laws remain             
In darkness building thy strong throne & in my ancient night
Daring my power wilt arm my sons against me in the Atlantic 
My deep   My night which thou assuming hast assumed my Crown
I will remain as well as thou & here with hands of blood
Smite this dark sleeper in his tent then try my strength with thee 
While thus he spoke his fires reddend oer the holy tent   
Urizen cast deep darkness round him silent brooding death
Eternal death to Luvah. raging Luvah pourd
The Lances of Urizen from chariots. round the holy tent
Discord began & yells & cries shook the wide firmament"