LARGE COLOR PRINTS 6

First posted Feb 2014

Genesis 4
[19] And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
[20] Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
[21] His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
[22] Zillah bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Na'amah.
[23] Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say: I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

Large Color Printed Drawings
Lamech and his Two Wives

Having left Eden, man set forth as a divided psyche. But the divisions and threats he encountered were experienced as external not internal. Man had programed himself to misunderstand what was going on within and around himself. 

In the outer world Lamech had killed men for striking or wounding him. He resorted to murder when reconciliation may have sufficed. Blake's Four Zoas operate within the psyche of man as the four functions operate in the psyche described by Jung. The passage from Jerusalem, Plate 37 starts with the Zoas 'in terrible combustion clouded rage'. The Spectre has control of the mind removing all possibility of respect and cooperation among the Zoas. The Spectre turns virtues into vices and redefines holiness as every destructive tendency.   

Lameck has fallen under the dominion of the Spectre in killing fellow human beings. Although he regrets his violence he feels trapped in the cycle of vengeance which started with the jealousy of Abel by Cain.

In the previous image Adam and God were both seen to be wounded by the separation between them. Lameck and God are both pulled down by involvement in vengeful behaviors. Blake traces vengeance among the Zoas as they fall further away from their original attitudes of faith, reason, love and imagination.

Jerusalem, Plate 37 [41], (E 183)
"The Four Zoa's in terrible combustion clouded rage
Drinking the shuddering fears & loves of Albions Families
Destroying by selfish affections the things that they most admire
Drinking & eating, & pitying & weeping, as at a trajic scene.
The soul drinks murder & revenge, & applauds its own holiness   

They saw Albion endeavouring to destroy their Emanations.  

[inscription in reversed writing] 
'Each Man is in
his Spectre's power
Until the arrival
of that hour,
When his Humanity
awake 
And cast his Spectre
into the Lake'

Plate 38 [43]

They saw their Wheels rising up poisonous against Albion
Urizen, cold & scientific: Luvah, pitying & weeping
Tharmas, indolent & sullen: Urthona, doubting & despairing
Victims to one another & dreadfully plotting against each other
To prevent Albion walking about in the Four Complexions."      

Jerusalem, 47, (E 196)
"And the Veil of Vala, is composed of the Spectres of the Dead

Hark! the mingling cries of Luvah with the Sons of Albion
Hark! & Record the terrible wonder! that the Punisher
Mingles with his Victims Spectre, enslaved and tormented         
To him whom he has murderd, bound in vengeance & enmity
Shudder not, but Write, & the hand of God will assist you!
Therefore I write Albions last words. Hope is banish'd from me.
Plate 48
These were his last words, and the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him, in the arms of tender mercy and repos'd
The pale limbs of his Eternal Individuality
Upon the Rock of Ages. Then, surrounded with a Cloud:
In silence the Divine Lord builded with immortal labour,         
Of gold & jewels a sublime Ornament, a Couch of repose,
With Sixteen pillars: canopied with emblems & written verse.
Spiritual Verse, order'd & measur'd, from whence, time shall reveal.
The Five books of the Decologue, the books of Joshua & Judges,
Samuel, a double book & Kings, a double book, the Psalms & Prophets 
The Four-fold Gospel, and the Revelations everlasting
Eternity groan'd. & was troubled, at the image of Eternal Death!" 

Jerusalem, Plate 10, (E 152)
"And this is the manner of the Sons of Albion in their strength
They take the Two Contraries which are calld Qualities, with which

Every Substance is clothed, they name them Good & Evil
From them they make an Abstract, which is a Negation             
Not only of the Substance from which it is derived
A murderer of its own Body: but also a murderer
Of every Divine Member: it is the Reasoning Power
An Abstract objecting power, that Negatives every thing
This is the Spectre of Man: the Holy Reasoning Power             
And in its Holiness is closed the Abomination of Desolation

Therefore Los stands in London building Golgonooza
Compelling his Spectre to labours mighty; trembling in fear
The Spectre weeps, but Los unmovd by tears or threats remains

I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Mans           
I will not Reason & Compare: my business is to Create"