THARMAS & URTHONA

 

British Library

Four Zoas Manuscript

End of the Dream

When William Blake developed the characters who peopled his myth he used  methods which had been passed down from ancient times. He looked within himself, found diverse ways in which his mind worked and gave form to ideas. Although the Zoas, Emanation, Spectres and others came from Blake's mind, they were not unique to Blake. Under different names they lived in other mythologies and belief systems. 

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We have often pointed out the similarities between Blake's four Zoas and Jung's four functions. There is not evidence that Jung studied Blake and copied the system Blake developed. Four ways in which both viewed the structure of our thinking came from self reflection. But it is not just that each divided the mind into four parts which function in the same ways as those proposed by the other thinker. The two men recognized that the four formed two pairs which operated in the same ways.

Jung identified Sensation and Intuition as the two kinds of perception; Thinking and Feeling were the two kinds of judgment. Jung's pair of Thinking and Emotion matches Blake's pair of Urizen and Luvah. Jung's pair of Intuition and Sensation matches Urthona and Tharmas. 

The two Zoas who initiated the fall were Urizen and Luvah: reason and emotion, Jung's judging functions.

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 64, (E 343)

[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"

 After the fall Urizen attemped to establish his kingdom based on rigid principles of law and control. When Urizen was unsuccessful Tharmas declared himself God, Urthona he named his son, and Los he designated Urthona. 

Four Zoas, Night iv, Page 51, (E 334)

"Tharmas before Los stood & thus the Voice of Tharmas rolld

Now all comes into the power of Tharmas. Urizen is falln
And Luvah hidden in the Elemental forms of Life & Death
Urthona is My Son O Los thou art Urthona & Tharmas
Is God.
...
O why did foul ambition sieze thee Urizen Prince of Light  

And thee O Luvah prince of Love till Tharmas was divided         
And I what can I now behold but an Eternal Death
Before my Eyes & an Eternal weary work to strive
Against the monstrous forms that breed among my silent waves
Is this to be A God far rather would I be a Man
To know sweet Science & to do with simple companions             
Sitting beneath a tent & viewing sheepfolds & soft pastures"

Urizen's ploy to enlist Luvah in a takeover of as much of the territory of the brain as he could, had repercussions for Tharmas and Urthona as well.

Four Zoas, Night iv. Page 49, (E 332)

"O how Los howld at the rending asunder all the fibres rent
Where Enitharmon joind to his left side in griding pain 
He falling on the rocks bellowd his Dolor. till the blood
Stanch'd, then in ululation waild his woes upon the wind 
And Tharmas calld to the Dark Spectre who upon the Shores
With dislocated Limbs had falln. The Spectre rose in pain
A Shadow blue obscure & dismal. like a statue of lead
Bent by its fall from a high tower the dolorous shadow rose

Go forth said Tharmas works of joy are thine   obey & live
So shall the spungy marrow issuing from thy splinterd bones
Bonify. & thou shalt have rest when this thy labour is done
Go forth bear Enitharmon back to the Eternal Prophet
Build her a bower in the midst of all my dashing waves
Make first a resting place for Los & Enitharmon. then            
Thou shalt have rest. If thou refusest dashd abroad on all
My waves. thy limbs shall separate in stench & rotting & thou
Become a prey to all my demons of despair & hope

The Spectre of Urthona seeing Enitharmon writhd  
His cloudy form in jealous fear & muttering thunders hoarse      
And casting round thick glooms. thus utterd his fierce pangs of heart

Tharmas I know thee. how are we alterd our beauty decayd
But still I know thee tho in this horrible ruin whelmd
Thou once the mildest son of heaven art now become a Rage
A terror to all living things. think not that I am ignorant      
That thou art risen from the dead or that my power forgot
Page 50 
I slumber here in weak repose. I well remember the Day
The day of terror & abhorrence 
When fleeing from the battle thou fleeting like the raven
Of dawn outstretching an expanse where neer expanse had been
Drewst all the Sons of Beulah into thy dread vortex following 
Thy Eddying spirit down the hills of Beulah. All my sons
Stood round me at the anvil where new heated the wedge
Of iron glowd furious prepard for spades & mattocks
Hearing the symphonies of war loud sounding   All my sons
Fled from my side then pangs smote me unknown before. I saw      
My loins begin to break forth into veiny pipes & writhe   
Before me in the wind englobing trembling with strong vibrations
The bloody mass began to animate. I bending over
Wept bitter tears incessant. Still beholding how the piteous form
Dividing & dividing from my loins a weak & piteous               
Soft cloud of snow a female pale & weak I soft embracd
My counter part & calld it Love   I named her Enitharmon
But found myself & her together issuing down the tide
Which now our rivers were become delving thro caverns huge
Of goary blood strugg[l]ing to be deliverd from our bonds        
She strove in vain not so Urthona strove for breaking forth,
A shadow blue obscure & dismal from the breathing Nostrils

Of Enion I issued into the air divided from Enitharmon"

Four Zoas, Night vi, Page 68, (E345)
[Urizen spoke]
"I will give
Chains of dark ignorance & cords of twisted self conceit
That they may curse Tharmas their God & Los his adopted son
That they may curse & worship the obscure Demon of destruction
That they may worship terrors & obey the violent
Go forth sons of my curse Go forth daughters of my abhorrence
Tharmas heard the deadly scream across his watry world
And Urizens loud sounding voice lamenting on the wind"

The injuries to Tharmas (the body) healed but Urthona (the spirit) was left with a limp, an imperfection which connected him with the frailty of humanity in whom he dwelled.

At the ending of the Four Zoas Tharmas is the companion of Urthona. They join together at the Golden Feast in 'mirth and joy'. Urthona (no longer Los) is not deterred from his task of providing the bread and wine to feed the soul of man.  He retreats to the inner world within man's subconscious. 

 Four Zoas, Night ix, Page 137, (E 405)
"The Eternal Man darkend with Sorrow & a wintry mantle   
Coverd the Hills   He said O Tharmas rise & O Urthona

Then Tharmas & Urthona rose from the Golden feast satiated
With Mirth & joy Urthona limping from his fall on Tharmas leand
In his right hand his hammer Tharmas held his Shepherds crook
Beset with gold gold were the ornaments formed by the sons of Urizen 
Then Enion & Ahania & Vala & the wife of Dark Urthona
Rose from the feast in joy ascending to their Golden Looms"
Four Zoas, Night ix, Page 137, (E 405)
"Urthona calld his Sons around him Tharmas calld his sons
Numrous. they took the wine they separated the Lees
And Luvah was put for dung on the ground by the Sons of Tharmas & Urthona
They formed heavens of sweetest worlds of gold & silver & ivory 
Of glass & precious stones They loaded all the waggons of heaven
And took away the wine of ages with solemn songs & joy

Luvah & Vala woke & all the sons & daughters of Luvah
Awoke they wept to one another & they reascended
To the Eternal Man in woe he cast them wailing into              
The world of shadows thro the air till winter is over & gone

But the Human Wine stood wondering in all their delightful Expanses
The Elements subside the heavens rolld on with vocal harmony

Then Los who is Urthona rose in all his regenerate power"
Four Zoas, Night ix, Page 138, (E 406)
"Such are the works of Dark Urthona Tharmas sifted the corn
Urthona made the Bread of Ages & he placed it
In golden & in silver baskets in heavens of precious stone
And then took his repose in Winter in the night of Time
...
For Tharmas brought his flocks upon the hills & in the Vales
Around the Eternal Mans bright tent the little Children play
Among the wooly flocks The hammer of Urthona sounds              
In the deep caves beneath his limbs renewd his Lions roar
Around the Furnaces & in Evening sport upon the plains
They raise their faces from the Earth conversing with the Man
...
Urthona is arisen in his strength no longer now
Divided from Enitharmon no longer the Spectre Los                
Where is the Spectre of Prophecy where the delusive Phantom
Departed & Urthona rises from the ruinous walls
In all his ancient strength to form the golden armour of science
For intellectual War The war of swords departed now
The dark Religions are departed & sweet Science reigns           

                  End of The Dream 

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