Tree of Mystery

Genesis 2:7-17

[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
[8] And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
[9] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
[10] And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
[11] The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
[12] And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
[13] And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
[14] And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
[15] And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

This is the biblical source of the Tree of Mystery and of many other things in 'Blake'.

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The Tree of Mystery occurs once in the Book of Ahania and nowhere else except in the Four Zoas.
This extract comes from 'Ahania':

"3: For when Urizen shrunk away                        

From Eternals, he sat on a rock
Barren; a rock which himself
From redounding fancies had petrified
Many tears fell on the rock,
Many sparks of vegetation;                             
Soon shot the pained root
Of Mystery, under his heel:
It grew a thick tree; he wrote
In silence his book of iron:

- 86 -(of Erdman's book)

Till the horrid plant bending its boughs    
Grew to roots when it felt the earth
And again sprung to many a tree.

4: Amaz'd started Urizen! when
He  beheld  himself compassed round
And high roofed over with trees             
He arose but the stems stood so thick
He with difficulty and great pain
Brought his Books, all but the Book

PLATE 4
Of iron, from the dismal shade

5: The Tree still grows over the Void
Enrooting itself all around
An endless labyrinth of woe!

6: The corse of his first begotten          
On the accursed Tree of MYSTERY:
On the topmost stem of this Tree

Watercolor Illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost by William Blake

Look also at this 'Good and Evil'

Albion

Albion has a composite character second to none. It means (originally) England, but at a deeper level it means the cosmos, which is a man!. (In this Blake agrees with the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalah, the Heavenly Man of Philo, St. Paul's heavenly man, the second Adam, and the cosmic man of Gnostic mythology, and the Hindu god, Krishna.)

       Albion, the eternal man, fell asleep into mortality in Beulah. We read at the beginning of Night 2 these ominous words:

Rising upon his Couch of Death Albion beheld his Sons
Turning his Eyes outward to Self, losing the Divine Vision. Albion called Urizen & said:
"Take thou possession! take this Scepter! go forth in my might
For I am weary, & must sleep in the dark sleep of Death.

He divides and divides into four parts, the four zoas (strangely similar to the four functions promulgated a hundred years later by Carl Jung).

       This dissolution of the cosmic man, described at the beginning of The Four Zoas, passes through the Circle of Destiny, and at the end of The Four Zoas he awakens from his mortal sleep and resumes his place in Eternity. That in essence is a thumbnail account of Blake's myth: descent from Eternity, struggle, and eventually return.

Jerusalem plate 76

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the archaic name for Great Britain. For other uses, see Albion (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Alban.

The White Cliffs of Dover may have given rise to the name Albion

Albion (Ancient Greek: Ἀλβίων) is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island. The name for Scotland in the Celtic languages is related to Albion: Alba in Scottish Gaelic,Alba (genitive Alban, dative Albain) in Irish, Nalbin in Manx and Alban in Welsh,Cornish and Breton. These names were later Latinised as Albania and Anglicised as Albany, which were once alternative names for Scotland.

New Albion and Albionoria ("Albion of the North") were briefly suggested as names of Canada during the period of the Canadian Confederation.^[1][2] CaptainArthur Phillip originally named the Sydney Cove "New Albion", but for uncertain reasons the colony acquired the name "Sydne

Blake and Dante

You may read in Milton O. Percival's Circle of Destiny  page 1:

"I predict then, that when the evidence is in, it will be found that in the use
of tradition Blake exceeded Milton and was second, if to anyone, only to Dante."

In the concordance Blake mentioned Dante 27 times; many could be searched,
but I show here only 2:

Look at the Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Plate 22):
Have now another plain fact. Any man of mechanical talents may, from the writings of Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volumes of equal value with Swedenborg's, and from those of Dante or Shakespear an infinite number.
But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine.

In Letter 62:|       
 Mr. Fuseli's Count Ugolino is the father of sons of feeling |        
and dignity, who would not sit looking in their parent's face in 
the moment of his agony, but would rather retire and die in         
secret, while they suffer him to indulge his passionate and         
innocent grief, his innocent and venerable madness, and insanity, 
and fury, and whatever paltry cold hearted critics cannot, 
because they dare not, look upon. Fuseli's Count Ugolino is a 
man of wonder and admiration, of resentment against man and 
devil, and of humilitation before God; prayer and parental 
affection fills the figure from head to foot. The child in his 
arms, whether boy or girl signifies not, (but the critic must be 
a fool who has not read Dante, and who does not know a boy from a         
girl); I say, the child is as beautifully drawn as it is       
coloured--in both, inimitable! and the effect of the whole is 
truly sublime, on account of that very colouring which our critic 
calls black and heavy.

0ld

Look first at the

You may read in Milton O. Percival's Circle of Destiny  page 1:

"I predict then, that when the evidence is in, it will be found that in the use
of tradition Blake exceeded Milton and was second, if to anyone, only to Dante."

Parad 7

From Paradiso XXXI 1-12 etc:

CANTO XXXI

In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then
Before my view the saintly multitude,
Which in his own blood Christ espous'd.  Meanwhile
That other host, that soar aloft to gaze
And celebrate his glory, whom they love,
Hover'd around; and, like a troop of bees,
Amid the vernal sweets alighting now,
Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows,
Flew downward to the mighty flow'r, or rose
From the redundant petals, streaming back
Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy.
Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold;
The rest was whiter than the driven snow.
And as they flitted down into the flower,
From range to range, fanning their plumy loins,
Whisper'd the peace and ardour, which they won
From that soft winnowing.  Shadow none, the vast
Interposition of such numerous flight
Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view
Obstructed aught.  For, through the universe,
Wherever merited, celestial light
Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.

All there, who reign in safety and in bliss,
Ages long past or new, on one sole mark
Their love and vision fix'd.  O trinal beam
Of individual star, that charmst them thus,
Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below!

If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roam'd,
(Where helice, forever, as she wheels,
Sparkles a mother's fondness on her son)
Stood in mute wonder 'mid the works of Rome,
When to their view the Lateran arose
In greatness more than earthly; I, who then
From human to divine had past, from time
Unto eternity, and out of Florence
To justice and to truth, how might I choose
But marvel too?  'Twixt gladness and amaze,
In sooth no will had I to utter aught,
Or hear.  And, as a pilgrim, when he rests
Within the temple of his vow, looks round
In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell
Of all its goodly state: e'en so mine eyes
Cours'd up and down along the living light,
Now low, and now aloft, and now around,
Visiting every step.  Looks I beheld,
Where charity in soft persuasion sat,
Smiles from within and radiance from above,
And in each gesture grace and honour high.

So rov'd my ken, and its general form
All Paradise survey'd: when round I turn'd
With purpose of my lady to inquire
Once more of things, that held my thought suspense,
But answer found from other than I ween'd;
For, Beatrice, when I thought to see,
I saw instead a senior, at my side,
 Rob'd, as the rest, in glory.  Joy benign
Glow'd in his eye, and o'er his cheek diffus'd,
With gestures such as spake a father's love.
And, "Whither is she vanish'd?"  straight I ask'd.

"By Beatrice summon'd," he replied,
"I come to aid thy wish.  Looking aloft
To the third circle from the highest, there
Behold her on the throne, wherein her merit
Hath plac'd her."  Answering not, mine eyes I rais'd,
And saw her, where aloof she sat, her brow
A wreath reflecting of eternal beams.
Not from the centre of the sea so far
Unto the region of the highest thunder,
As was my ken from hers; and yet the form
Came through that medium down, unmix'd and pure,

"O Lady! thou in whom my hopes have rest!
Who, for my safety, hast not scorn'd, in hell
To leave the traces of thy footsteps mark'd!
For all mine eyes have seen, I, to thy power
And goodness, virtue owe and grace.  Of slave,
Thou hast to freedom brought me; and no means,
For my deliverance apt, hast left untried.
Thy liberal bounty still toward me keep.
That, when my spirit, which thou madest whole,
Is loosen'd from this body, it may find
Favour with thee."  So I my suit preferr'd:
And she, so distant, as appear'd, look'd down,

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Wiki Common Last Plate of William Blake's Illustrations of Dante

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parad 6

Dante in the Empyrean Drinking at the River of Light

Object 101 of William Blake's Illustrations of Dante

Parad 8

The Empyrean[edit]

From the Primum Mobile, Dante ascends to a region beyond physical existence, the Empyrean, which is the abode of God. Beatrice, representing theology,^[45] is here transformed to be more beautiful than ever before, and Dante becomes enveloped in light, rendering him fit to see God^[45] (Canto XXX):

"Like sudden lightning scattering the spirits
of sight so that the eye is then too weak
to act on other things it would perceive,

such was the living light encircling me,
leaving me so enveloped by its veil
of radiance that I could see no thing.

The Love that calms this heaven always welcomes
into Itself with such a salutation,
to make the candle ready for its flame."^[46]

Dante sees an enormous rose, symbolising divine love,^[45] the petals of which are the enthroned souls of the faithful (both those of the Old Testament and those of the New). All the souls he has met in Heaven, including Beatrice, have their home in this rose.^[45] Angels fly around the rose like bees, distributing peace and love. Beatrice now returns to her place in the rose, signifying that Dante has passed beyond theology in directly contemplating God,^[47] and St. Bernard, as a mystical contemplative, now guides Dante further (Canto XXXI).

The three circles of the Trinity(illustration by John Flaxman), Canto 33.

St. Bernard further explains predestination, and prays to the Virgin Mary on Dante's behalf. Finally, Dante comes face-to-face with God Himself (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII). God appears as three equally large circles occupying the same space, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:^[48]

"but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger,
that sole appearance, even as I altered,
seemed to be changing. In the deep and bright

essence of that exalted Light, three circles
appeared to me; they had three different colors,
but all of them were of the same dimension;

one circle seemed reflected by the second,
as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third
seemed fire breathed equally by those two circles."^[49]

Within these circles Dante can discern the human form of Christ. The Divine Comedy ends with Dante trying to understand how the circles fit together, and how the humanity of Christ relates to the divinity of the Son but, as Dante puts it, "that was not a flight for my wings."^[50] In a flash of understanding, which he cannot express, Dante does finally see this, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:^[48]

"But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,