Today's Topics:
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Re: druids to the right of me....follied and blundered
Quote -Reply
Re: druids to the right of me....follied and blundered -Reply
Re: druids....follied and blundered
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Orc, his life and times
Quote
Blake was an Archdruid
Introduction...
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Blake, and Types of Druids.
Mental Travellers.......
Re: BLAKE SIGHTINGS: WILSON HARRIS AGAIN
Re: Small Fryes
This is the level of discourse Mr. SylvanBear truly achieves.
This is the "insulting" post to Mr. SylvanBear with the bad spelling
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Re: UNSUBSCRIBE PLEASE
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Re: Blake was an Archdruid
question
Re: question
Re: question
Blake and Cults
Private E-Mails and DEAD MAN
Re: question
Elohim
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 21:19:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: SylvanBear@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id: <970429211706_2016826532@emout14.mail.aol.com>
It is no wonder Blake kept his Druidism a secret. Druids were, and are,
oppressed. Yes, they performed human sacrifice...on criminals. AND, unlike
todays death penalty, those people died for something. Their death made the
winter end, and the harvest become fruitful. Modern criminals die because
society hates them.
Blake may have had problems with the human sacrifice ritae, but that didn't
stop him from becoming a part of a Meso-Pagan group. The Druids that
performed human sacrifice were Paleo-Pagans...long before Blakes group was
around.
There are many christians today, and most of them believe the crusades were a
bad idea. That doesn't stop them from being christian.
Blake was around during what we Pagans call the Burning Times. If you were
found to be Pagan, you were dead where you stood.
The Druid Order that Blake was a member of still exists.
Their address: BOUB, c/o David Loxley, 23 Thornsett Road, London SE20 YXB.
Write to them. They can give you full records of his actions as Arch Druid.
I asked for argument because I want to be proven wrong. Please send writtings
from Blake that show he wouldn't identify himself as a Druid.
Unfortunately, since his true belief had to be shrouded, no one can be sure.
Only the annals of the Druid group can say for sure.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 03:35:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: SylvanBear@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: druids to the right of me....follied and blundered
Message-Id: <970430033518_2083955493@emout01.mail.aol.com>
Blake insulted Paleopagan Druids. He was a Mesopagan Druid. BIG difference.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 09:44:22 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Quote -Reply
Message-Id:
I don't think one can adduce anything autobiographical in these
passages as Blake is dramatising the first mistakes which Urizen is
making in his thinking and which ultimately lead to his casting off the
divine vision of love in which Jerusalem and Jesus play a central role.
Pam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:12:23 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: druids to the right of me....follied and blundered -Reply
Message-Id:
Please define the two types of Druid for us. Thanks, Pam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 06:34:07 -0500 (CDT)
From: William Neal Franklin
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: druids....follied and blundered
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
I wonder if we can get an e-mail connection for the Druids:
On Wed, 30 Apr 1997 SylvanBear@aol.com wrote:
"The Druid Order that Blake was a member of still exists.
Their address: BOUB, c/o David Loxley, 23 Thornsett Road, London SE20
YXB.
>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:35:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Benson Smith
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Forget Druidism! Sources close to the Vatican inform me that Blake was,
in fact, Pope from 1803 (his real reason for leaving Felpham?) to 1828.
B.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:50:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Orc, his life and times
Message-Id: <199704301650.MAA09255@host.ott.igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
John William Axcelson well the narrative of the French Revolution and its unfortunate
>consequences, that I'm reluctant to surrender it. One can remain a
>a friend of liberty (as I'm sure Blake did) and yet deplore the
>consequences of revolution (cf. the anti-Stalinist left in the US),
>and even come to favor reform over revolution proper. I would not
>argue that Blake that ever took this last step, but I need a bit more convincing to relinquish the idea that Orc invariably lurches toward
>Urizen to protect his victory, and that Los doesn't take Orc's place
>in the later Blake as the source of positive social change, energy
>guided by vision.
When Blake critics these days tend to be critical of
Frye's opinion that Orc ages into Urizen, I think they
are basically just asking that the integrity of the
individual Zoas be respected.
The question that really ought to be asked: Where, in
the whole of the Blake Canon, is it said specifically that
Orc ages into Urizen? On what text did he base this opinion?
Did Frye just want to say: in historical cycles/intellectual
movements/etc there is usually an early phase shaped by the
emotions (Luvah with the reins in his hands) and a later phase
where the fallen cognitive energy has taken over the reins and
is directing the chariot? I guess everybody could agree with
that. But the statement "Orc now Urizen" (p. 229 FS) is just
too facile. Sadly it became the accepted gospel according to
Frye.
If one goes to "Prophet against Empire," nowhere, as far
as I can see, does Erdman ascribe to this line of thinking.
For him Urizen is England, Orc/Luvah is France. (Robespierre is
for him Fuzon, Napoleon is "this new Orc" accused of "copying
Urizen's book," but never called Urizen. He talks of the
"Satanic degeneration of Orc" into a Serpent. He calls Napoleon
"the militant Orc." Nowhere, as far as I can make out, is
Napoleon called Urizen.)
Whether Los "takes Orc's place" in the later Blake is a moot
point. It all depends what one means by that statement. Here I
want to refer to the exciting treatment by Jackie di Salvo in
"War of the Titans" of FZ Night VII A where, according to her
"we witness a breakthrough to a class conscious historical
vision... the integration of the fallen Urthona..reabsorption
of his Spectre in Los, Los's reunion with his Emanation Enithar-
mon, and their collaboration to liberate their abandoned child,
Orc...this struggle for his survival takes place in both politics
and thought... Night VII A introduces the intellectual shift which
began in the early nineteenth century and whose implications for
the future Blake was the first to realise." (p. 74) She goes on:
"The French Revolution had knocked a hole in the dominant culture.
opening a tunnel to the future from the underground past... Blake
is an archeologist of consciousness, chipping off artifacts of the
tradition in order to reconstruct the evolution of culture.."(p.92)
"What is adressed here is a theory of history, the chain of genera-
tions which Frye has termed the "Orc cycle" as a struggle of human
labour against nature, repression, and intellectual delusion.(p.222)
"Blake is demanding a transformation of society and culture so
total that it constitutes a critique even of those revolutions which
had gone before... a call for ongoing revolution." (p. 240,241)
"Blake had watched the English people drawn by government propaganda
from Jacobin fervor to patriotic enthusiasm for imperialist wars."(307)
She then looks to the events of the nineteenth century after the
death of Blake, when ".. the idea of just rulers has been totally
absorbed in the communist vision of a people collectively developing
the capacities of all.." (p. 308).. "a creativity which is democratized
and incorporated in all human activity."(p. 309) It seems to me that
di Salvo wants us to look at the ideas and actions of Marx and Engels,
Lenin and Trotsky when we are searching for the contemplation of Orc
bound, and plans to unbind him. If Orc is emotive revolutionary energy,
where today is he bound, and where is he being unbound?
Gloudina Bouwer
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:11:26 -0700
From: "Charlie K."
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Quote
Message-Id: <199704301708.KAA25720@gost1.indirect.com>
[from Blake's Descriptive Catalogue of 1809, pgs. 65-66]
. . . . the productions of our youth and of our maturer age are equal
in all essential points. If a man is master of his profession, he
cannot be ignorant that he is so; and if he is not employed by those
who pretend to encourage art, he will employ himself, and laugh in
secret at the pretences of the ignorant, while he has every night
dropped into his shoe, as soon as he puts it off, and puts out the
candle, and gets into bed, a reward for the labours of the day, such
as the world cannot give, and patience and time await to give him all
that the world can give.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:22:38 -0500 (CDT)
From: Darlene Sybert
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
It was my understanding that Blake used the Druids to represent
contemporary society which he saw as based on human sacrifice
(such as, little children used as chimney sweeps, etc).
Darlene Sybert vsa
http://www.missouri.edu/~engds/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You never know what is enough
until you know what is more than enough.
--William Blake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 14:31:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: WOLFMANDR@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Introduction...
Message-Id: <970430143103_419296723@emout09.mail.aol.com>
hello and thanx for putting me on the list. I am a student at UAB in
Biology. I became interested in Blake while taking a Poetry Workshop class
as an elective. So i have not read many works by blake but i am working on
it.
Truly...
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 15:15:08 -0500 (CDT)
From: Darlene Sybert
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Tue, 29 Apr 1997 SylvanBear@aol.com wrote:
>
> I asked for argument because I want to be proven wrong. Please send writtings
> from Blake that show he wouldn't identify himself as a Druid.
> Unfortunately, since his true belief had to be shrouded, no one can be sure.
> Only the annals of the Druid group can say for sure.
Assuming, of course, that they would practice human sacrifice and
burn you where you stood, but NEVER lie in their annals.
Darlene Sybert vsa
http://www.missouri.edu/~engds/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You never know what is enough
until you know what is more than enough.
--William Blake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 17:14:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: SylvanBear@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake, and Types of Druids.
Message-Id: <970430171427_-2069495805@emout01.mail.aol.com>
"Paleopaganism" or "Paleo-Paganism" refers to the original tribal faiths of
Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, Oceania and Australia, when they were (or
in
some cases, still are) practiced as intact belief systems. Of the so-called
"Great
Religions of the World," Hinduism (prior to the influx of Islam into India),
Taoism and Shinto, for example, fall under this category.
"Mesopaganism" or "Meso-Paganism" is the word used for those religions
founded as attempts to recreate, revive or continue what their founders
thought
of as the Paleopagan ways of their ancestors (or predecessors), but which
were
heavily influenced (accidentally, deliberately and/or involuntarily) by the
monotheistic and dualistic worldviews of Judaism, Christianity and/or Islam.
Examples of Mesopagan belief systems would include Freemasonry,
Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, Druidism as practiced by the
Masonic-influenced fraternal movements in Europe and the Celtic Isles, the
many
Afro-Diasporatic faiths (such as Voudoun, Santeria, Macumba, etc.), Sikhism,
several sects of Hinduism that have been influenced by Islam and
Christianity,
and early (1940s-1950s) Wicca. Also included would be the so-called
"Christo-Pagans," those who call themselves "monotheist Pagans," and perhaps
those Satanists who worship the Egyptian deity Set (if there are any). The
Satanists who insist that they don't worship anything other than themselves
but
who like to use the name Satan because it's "scary," are simply Christian
heretics,
along with the Secular Humanists and other Western atheists (because the
"God"
they don't believe in is the one defined by Christian doctrine).
"Neopaganism" or "Neo-Paganism" refers to those religions created since 1960
or so (though they had literary roots going back to the mid-1800's), that
have
attempted to blend what their founders perceived as the best aspects of
different
types of Paleopaganism with modern "Aquarian Age" ideals, while consciously
striving to eliminate as much as possible of the traditional Western
monotheism
and dualism.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 18:16:02 -0400
From: albright@world.std.com (R.H. Albright)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Mental Travellers.......
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Gloudina Bouwer:
I happen to see this as a Both/And situation, as you quoted John William
Axcelson. Not only the devolution of the French Revolution, but the
aspirations of Cromwell that then turned into authoritarianism, the old saw
of "if you're young and aren't liberal, you have no heart; if you're old
and aren't conservative, you have no head"; and then revisionist history
that I've seen in people who lived through the Hippie Revolution, and are
now trying to forget that they ever *saw* The Who as I remind their kids,
who now love them, that I saw them with these people... or that there ever
was a reason to support Cesar Chavez and illegal immigrants (the
anti-Hispanic tone by some of my once-liberal friends in California is
truly sad)....
Plus, you made me look at "The Mental Traveller" again, and I don't see how
the Old Woman is "nature". She's an old woman with very "civilized" tools
for attacking that "new"born.
So respecting the integrity of the individual Zoas, particularly coming out
of a man like Blake whose Good and Evil Angels went through many an
allotropic state... doesn't make sense to me!
>From a non-scholar point of view-------
I am-------
Randall Albright
.......And by the way, if you want the DEFINITIVE interpetation of what
"The Mental Traveller" means, it's on MY Website!..........
http://world.std.com/~albright/blake4.html
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 18:09:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: BUMTOMD@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: BLAKE SIGHTINGS: WILSON HARRIS AGAIN
Message-Id: <970430180853_1254835041@emout01.mail.aol.com>
Excuse me, but would you please tell me how to remove myself from this
distribution list? I have tried multiple times, and can't seem to get
through.
Thanks for your time.
BUMTOMD (S. Pasternack)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 18:10:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: BUMTOMD@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Small Fryes
Message-Id: <970430180754_1718754898@emout17.mail.aol.com>
Excuse me, but would you please tell me how to remove myself from this
distribution list? I have tried multiple times, to no avail.
Thanks for your time.
BUMTOMD (S. Pasternack)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 19:02:53 -0500
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: This is the level of discourse Mr. SylvanBear truly achieves.
Message-Id: <97043019025350@wc.stephens.edu>
From: SMTP%"SylvanBear@aol.com" 30-APR-1997 16:09:08.56
To: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu
CC:
Subj: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Forward my resposes to the list. I don't care. I have recieved many
responses, and none of them insulting like yours. I've gotten about 10
e-mail a day in response. Obviously not everyone is as close minded and
moronic as yourself. You should have kept your mouth shut. If you didn't want
to argue, you should have shut your hole.
You say argument is pointless, yet you claim to have a Ph.D. I don't think
so. Your spelling alone shows you aren't highly educated.
You shouldn't have started this. Your insulting e-mail concerning my religion
came back and bit you on the ass, and now you're mad. Get off your horse,
moron. You aren't as smart as you think you are, or you would have simply
proved me wrong, and been done with it.
Once again,
Blow Me,
SylvanBear
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Wed, 30 Apr 1997 17:04:36 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 17:04:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: SylvanBear@aol.com
Message-ID: <970430170332_-532262034@emout09.mail.aol.com>
To: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:00:50 -0500
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: This is the "insulting" post to Mr. SylvanBear with the bad spelling
Message-Id: <97043021004996@wc.stephens.edu>
From: COSMO::TOMDILL "TOM DILLINGHAM" 30-APR-1997 08:42:41.25
To: SMTP%"SylvanBear@aol.com"
CC: TOMDILL
Subj: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Maybe you need to understand that the Blake discussion list is not
a role-playing game, not a D&D site, but a scholarly discussion list
populated by a number of the most eminent Blake scholars in the world
as well as a number of well-informed amateurs. If you want to play
your fantasy games, I am sure there are lists more appropriate to
your activities. No one will bother to argue with your claims because
they are obviously not falsifiable (you claim to have secret knowledge,
making it impossible to discuss anything with you) and more because the
"issues" you try to raise have been thoroughly researched before, though
you will refuse to accept that because of your access to purported
arcana. Too bad for you.
I notice that your curb your language on the list, but do not hesitate
to use abusive and obnoxious language off the list. Once again, this
list is not a teenage roleplaying site, it is a scholarly discussion list.
If you persist in sending your offensive messages, I will forward them
to the full list for their edification (and for the listowner's
consideration).
Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:50:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: GaryG332@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id: <970430214733_-433736818@emout15.mail.aol.com>
OK, I agree with you, but wasn't Blake a professed "flat-earther?"
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:48:58 -0500
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id: <97043021485852@wc.stephens.edu>
If Mr. SylvanBear really means it when he says he wants to "learn" and
to see evidence that might contradict his view that Blake "was an
archdruid for twenty years," he can track down Peter F. Fisher's
article, "Blake and the Druids," (JEGP, 1959, reprinted in
_Discussions of William Blake, ed. John E. Grant, Heath and
Co. 1961) where he will find more authoritative discussion of
the Druidism of Blake's time than is likely to come from his
meso-pagan sources. Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 97 21:23:46 PDT
From: "fawman"
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: UNSUBSCRIBE PLEASE
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; X-MAPIextension=".TXT"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
please unsubscribe me - i'll be back!
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:23:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Josh J. Hansen"
To: blake@albion.com
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Mr. Bugbear of the Forest,
Thanks to you the group is presently occupied with a subject that
is connected to Blake studies in name only. I grow tired of deleting your
silly posts. The group has given you more than adequate time to state
your case and yet you still have yet to prove your connection. I happen
to like the discussions of the group and they have proven to be open and
fair to all ideas regarding Blake. Yours has run its course so give it a
rest.
Josh Hansen
P.S. Dead Man anyone??
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 02:12:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: SylvanBear@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake was an Archdruid
Message-Id: <970501021207_-64617964@emout05.mail.aol.com>
In a message dated 97-05-01 02:03:41 EDT, you write:
<< OK, I agree with you, but wasn't Blake a professed "flat-earther?" >>
I never said he wasn't a looney. I just said he was a Druid :-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 02:10:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: WOLFMANDR@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: question
Message-Id: <970501021006_436611094@emout07.mail.aol.com>
Why was Blake so obsessed with the book of Job, and moreover spiritual
entities if he did not believe in God....????
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 08:34:48 +0100
From: timli@controls.eurotherm.co.uk (Tim Linnell)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: question
Message-Id: <7833.199705010734@merlot.controls.eurotherm.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Why was Blake so obsessed with the book of Job, and moreover spiritual
>entities if he did not believe in God....????
I'm not sure I'd call Blake's interest in Job obsessive, but I think the
answer lies in the nature of the book. To my mind it stands out as very
unusual amongst all the books in the Bible: it presents a dialogue between
God and Satan who are portrayed almost as two equals having an argument in
the pub, and deals with fundamental philosophical questions such as nature
of the relationship of God and man, faith in adversity, and why God permits
human suffering, all of which is of great interest to anyone trying to
understand the nature of the divine. It is also most beautifully poetic, and
there is great food there for a visionary imagination (the morning stars,
Behemoth, etc), as Blake's paintings and etchings clearly demonstrate. There
is also something very Blakean in the way that horror upon horrors is piled
on poor old Job, recalling somewhat the catalogue of calamities that befall
his mythological figures*.
My understanding was that Blake believed in God (or at least the Divine),
but was sceptical of organised religion ("and men took rules of prudence,
and called them religion" (quoting from memory, sorry if I've got it
wrong)). He did after all come from a dissenting background. His angels and
divine messengers were certainly very real to him.
Tim Linnell
*Incidentally, may I take this opportunity to recommend a couple of quite
wonderful books that cover the same sort of area in a similar manner, and
which I'm sure Blake fans would enjoy. They are 'Le livre de nuits' (The
book of nights) and 'Nuit d'Ambre' (Night of Amber) by the French writer and
philosopher Sylvie Germain. They have been translated into English. Germain
is in my view the best living French writer of fiction, and it staggers me
that she is not more widely known. Her books are fantastic, in all the
senses of the word, and often intensely moving. (Here endeth the advertisement)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 05:49:17 PDT
From: "Jenny H."
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: question
Message-Id: <199705011249.FAA18708@f44.hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
The Book of Job seems to contain the major theme found throughout Blake's works;
that of the reconciliation of the supposed oppsites ("Behold Behemoth which I
made with you"). Blake was fascinated with the subjects of integration and
wholeness, which is what I see in the Book of Job.
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 11:59:05 +0100
From: timli@controls.eurotherm.co.uk (Tim Linnell)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake and Cults
Message-Id: <30995.199705011058@merlot.controls.eurotherm.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The discussion on Druidism has triggered a question I'd been meaning to ask
for some time, regarding the Raelien cult and its apparent appropriation of
some of Blake's ideas. For those who haven't come across this, it was formed
by someone (Rael*) who claims that the world was created by aliens, who are
now in contact with him and want to visit, I believe, at the turn of the
millenium. For this end he needs lots of money to build temples and
reception areas. Which his devotees happily provide.
Anyhow, the aliens in question are known as the Elohim, who do appear in
Blake's work as creators of the world. The question is: does anyone know
whether the Elohim were in fact Blake's own invention, or do they figure in
older mythology?
Tim Linnell
*The name seems to come either from the Who's 'A quick one' album, which of
course Randall's friends never listened to, or, perhaps, Genesis' The Lamb
lies down on Broadway, which I DEFINITELY NEVER OWNED. Or at least never
listened to... Ahem...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:39:30 -0400
From: albright@world.std.com (R.H. Albright)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Private E-Mails and DEAD MAN
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Mr. Dillingham, although SylvanBear has the courage and perhaps
inappropriate Netiquette to let you "share" with the group his and your own
private e-mails, I do notice a much higher ground taken by Pam Van Schaik
and others in Blake On-Line taken with this person.
A quick look at the early Blake On-Line archives shows Mr. Dillingham
rather self-righteously snarling (at least, to me the post sounded that
way!) "Should we FORGIVE..." all these atrocities which he lists... to see
what an intolerant person he can be at times. The point is, if you WERE a
Christian, the answer is simple: YES. And why? Because, as Jesus said, _Who
are YOU to judge?_
Blake may very well have dabbled with Druidism, only "officially"
renouncing it. I make this speculation because of so many criticisms he
makes in his canon. He only criticizes Swedenborg in "The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell", for example. One would hardly know how much he loved some
aspects of his thoughts, according to that poem. He hates Deists, and yet
Thomas Paine and Shelley were... exceptions to the stereotype! Blake tends
to hate Greco-Roman (and Egyptian) mythology, blaming much on "Priam's
wars", and yet has no problem creating his own pagan mythology, layering it
on top of his own warped views of Christianity. What was it he said at one
time? Something like "You read the Bible, but where you see black, I see
white"? Heresy, Mister Blake, some might say. Interesting new perspective,
others might say. Staying within the official canon, again one would hardly
know how much Blake liked some aspects of Newton, for example.
=======
Yes, I too would like to talk about Dead Man. Again, I ask how much of
"Milton" and "Jerusalem" is referenced in the film. Since I am much more
familiar with the _Songs_ and what I consider to be his masterpiece, "The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell", I saw much more of those going on in the film
than in those later, long-winded epics. But then again, I've always
preferred "Kubla Kahn" to "Christabel", too. Make sense? Or is that too
much of a disjointed JUMP? Maybe it's just too much of a *subjective*
opinion, based on my own relationship with the source imagery/text TO DATE,
which is always evolving. Any information on... the tie-ins with those
epics might help me to appreciate at least *some* aspects of them.
-Randall Albright
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 11:21:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Benson Smith
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: question
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Thu, 1 May 1997, Jenny H. wrote:
> The Book of Job seems to contain the major theme found throughout Blake's works;
> that of the reconciliation of the supposed oppsites ("Behold Behemoth which I
> made with you").
To me this plate suggests an awareness of the lower levels of the human
psyche: beneath the intellectual (Job), there is a part of the soul
common to all (warm-blooded) animals, and below that something reptilian,
more alien; not so much opposites, perhaps (though we may identify with
our intellects in opposition to them), as parts of ourselves--"which I
made *with* thee". One of my favorite engravings from the Job series.
B.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 May 97 13:30 CST
From: MLGrant@president-po.president.uiowa.edu
To: blake@albion.com, timli@controls.eurotherm.co.uk (Tim Linnell)
Subject: Elohim
Message-Id: <199705011836.NAA12369@cc-gate.uiowa.edu>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Elohim (a plural word in Hebrew) is one of the two names of God in
Genesis. The other is Yaweh. -- Mary Lynn
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End of blake-d Digest V1997 Issue #52
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