MICHAEL&SATAN

Harvard Art Muaeum

The Angel Michael Binding Satan

Jewish tradition holds than the angel Michael was the protector and defendor of Israel. Blake was inspired to picture the struggle between Michael and Satan that he read of in the in the Book of Revelation. Milton wrote of Satan and his Angels having been expelled from Heaven. Subsequently when they arrived on Earth they became the tormentors of humankind. The Angel Michael was not of Satan's party but played a militant role on the side of the celestial forces combatting the powers of Hell.

More about Michael.

Michael in Blake's Milton.

Milton, Plate 8, (E 102)

"Wildly they follow'd Los and Rintrah, & the Mills were silent
They mourn'd all day this mournful day of Satan & Palamabron:
And all the Elect & all the Redeem'd mourn'd one toward another  
Upon the mountains of Albion among the cliffs of the Dead.

They Plow'd in tears! incessant pourd Jehovahs rain, & Molechs
Thick fires contending with the rain, thunder'd above rolling
Terrible over their heads; Satan wept over Palamabron
Theotormon & Bromion contended on the side of Satan            
Pitying his youth and beauty; trembling at eternal death:
Michael contended against Satan in the rolling thunder
Thulloh the friend of Satan also reprovd him; faint their reproof.

But Rintrah who is of the reprobate: of those form'd to destruction
In indignation. for Satans soft dissimulation of friendship!  
Flam'd above all the plowed furrows, angry red and furious,
Till Michael sat down in the furrow weary dissolv'd in tears
Satan who drave the team beside him, stood angry & red
He smote Thulloh & slew him, & he stood terrible over Michael
Urging him to arise: he wept! Enitharmon saw his tears         
But Los hid Thulloh from her sight, lest she should die of grief
She wept: she trembled! she kissed Satan; she wept over Michael
She form'd a Space for Satan & Michael & for the poor infected[.]
Trembling she wept over the Space, & clos'd it with a tender Moon

Los secret buried Thulloh, weeping disconsolate over the moony Space     

But Palamabron called down a Great Solemn Assembly,
That he who will not defend Truth, may be compelled to
Defend a Lie, that he may be snared & caught & taken"

Milton, Plate 12 [13], (E 106)

"The Harrow cast thick flames & orb'd us round in concave fires
A Hell of our own making. see, its flames still gird me round.
Jehovah thunder'd above! Satan in pride of heart
Drove the fierce Harrow among the constellations of Jehovah      
Drawing a third part in the fires as stubble north & south
To devour Albion and Jerusalem the Emanation of Albion
Driving the Harrow in Pitys paths. 'twas then, with our dark fires
Which now gird round us (O eternal torment) I form'd the Serpent
Of precious stones & gold turn'd poisons on the sultry wastes    
The Gnomes in all that day spar'd not; they curs'd Satan

Michael in Revelation.

Revelation 12

[7] And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
[8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
[9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 20
[1] And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
[2] And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
[3] And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Notice that in Blake's image Michael is not pictured as are typical angels with wings, He looks more like Los with red curly hair and the muscular physique of a blacksmih. Neither is Satan  pictured as he was in Blake's Illustrations to Paradise Lost, but as the dragon or old serpant who fought Michael in the Book of Revelation.

MOUNTAIN

Jacob's Dream

British Museum

We return to Northrop Frye's last major work Words With Power: Being a Second Study of "The Bible and Literature."  Part 2 of his book Frye devotes the four chapters to four metaphoric topics : the Mountain, the Garden, the Cave and the Furnace. The Garden was my first post on these topics; the second is the Mountain.  

The image at the top of this page titled Jacob's Dream shows a spiral stairway between two levels of existence which we identify as earth and heaven. Jacob sleeps and dreams of a ladder between himself asleep on earth, and heaven above him in the sky. Angels of God traverse in both directions connecting heaven and earth.

Blake uses the term ladder only four times in his poetry but he uses mountain 224 times in his writings: poems, letters, and annotations. From this we may assume that mountain was an important symbol to Blake. Frey sees the symbol mountain to represent "a cluster of images" including ladders, towers, temples, winding of spiral stairs, "all with the symbolic sense of connecting with a higher a higher state of existence from the ordinary one."

This passage is from a poem enclosed in a letter which Blake wrote to Anna Flaxman in gratitude for her help with his and Catherine's move to Felpham. Notice the words Heaven, Ladder, Angels, descends, Turret, spiral, Ascend - all words that Frye associates with the symbol mountain. Blake's enthuiasm for the move to Felphem led him to feel transformed to a higher plane of existence.

Letters, To Mrs Anna Flaxman, 14 Sepr 1800 (E 709) 

"Away to Sweet Felpham for Heaven is there The Ladder of Angels descends thro the air On the Turret its spiral does softly descend Thro' the village then winds at My Cot it does end You stand in the village & look up to heaven The precious stones glitter on flights seventy seven And My Brother is there & My Friend & Thine Descend & Ascend with the Bread & the Wine"

From Page 151 of Words with Power:

"To the imagination, the universe has always presented the appearance of a middle world, with a second world above it and a third one below it. We may say with some qualifications, that images of ascent are connected with the intensification of consciousness, and images of descent with the reinforcing of it by other forms of awareness, such as fantasy or dream. The most common forces of ascent are ladders, mountains, towers, and trees; of descent, caves or dives into water." 

Genesis 28

[10] And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
[11] And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
[12] And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
[13] And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
[14] And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

"The ladder of the dream was a ladder from heaven rather than to it; it was not a human construction but an image of the divine will to reach man." (Page 152)

In this letter Blake cites the book of Ezra as an early influence on his spiritual development:

Letters,  to Flaxman, (E 707)

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood & shewd me his face Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet,"

A passage in Ezra points out the loving care that that God has for his creation. The connection between God and man is indicated to be in the direction of a providential God to mankind.

4Ezra.8

[47] For you come far short of being able to love my creation more than I love it. But you have often compared yourself to the unrighteous. Never do so!
[48] But even in this respect you will be praiseworthy before the Most High,
[49] because you have humbled yourself, as is becoming for you, and have not deemed yourself to be among the righteous in order to receive the greatest glory.
[50] For many miseries will affect those who inhabit the world in the last times, because they have walked in great pride.
[51] But think of your own case, and inquire concerning the glory of those who are like yourself,
[52] because it is for you that paradise is opened, the tree of life is planted, the age to come is prepared, plenty is provided, a city is built, rest is appointed, goodness is established and wisdom perfected beforehand.

In this passage from the Four Zoas, Urizen the Zoa of reason has been forced into the unconscious or the 'deep dens of Urthona' as a result of refusing to allow his energies to be dedicated to the service of his Lord or the unified wholeness. His mountains symbolize where his thinking took place, and his sons represent the wisdom originating in his brain. Blake insinuates that the loss of his reasoning function had changed Urizen's perception and left him without joy or discernment.

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 63,(E 343) 

"The Woes of Urizen shut up in the deep dens of Urthona

Ah how shall Urizen the King submit to this dark mansion
Ah how is this! Once on the heights I stretchd my throne sublime 
The mountains of Urizen once of silver where the sons of wisdom dwelt
And on whose tops the Virgins sang are rocks of Desolation

My fountains once the haunt of Swans now breed the scaly tortoise
The houses of my harpers are become a haunt of crows
The gardens of wisdom are become a field of horrid graves        
And on the bones I drop my tears & water them in vain

PAGE 64 
Once how I walked from my palace in gardens of delight
The sons of wisdom stood around the harpers followd with harps
Nine virgins clothd in light composd the song to their immortal voices
And at my banquets of new wine my head was crownd with joy

Then in my ivory pavilions I slumberd in the noon 
And walked in the silent night among sweet smelling flowers
Till on my silver bed I slept & sweet dreams round me hoverd
But now my land is darkend & my wise men are departed

My songs are turned to cries of Lamentation 
Heard on my Mountains & deep sighs under my palace roofs         
Because the Steeds of Urizen once swifter than the light
Were kept back from my Lord & from his chariot of mercies"

Blake & Quakers

Posted to another blog in Dec 2023

William Blake

Illustrations_to_Robert_Blair's_The_Grave

Friendship

Before his death in 2016 my husband, Larry Clayton, wrote this about how William Blake's thought and experience paralleled the development of Quakerism as George Fox brought it into being.

"The proliferation of radical believers brought forth by the Puritan Revolution included a group called Ranters, who had descended from the the 16th Century Familists of Holland. The direct guidance of the Holy Spirit freed the Ranters from most or all legal restraints, and they were given to extreme statements (and demonstrations!) of their freedom. The Society of Friends grew out of this fertile soil.

In the 17th Century George Fox, an idealistic young man, explored the wide variety of religious options present in the Commonwealth. From a strictly scriptural view point he found something lacking in each of them. For example Jesus had insisted that there should be no preeminence among the faithful ("Call no man father"). Fox found an unchristian preeminence in every religious group which he observed.

After several years of spiritual travail Fox came into an experience of grace. Thereafter he enjoyed the direct and continuous presence of the Holy Spirit guiding his words and actions; he recognized no other control. The ultimate anti-authoritarian, Fox began going to what he called the steeple houses, where he proceeded to denounce the preeminent in each of them. Naturally he won a lot of trouble for his pains. He saw the inside of many jails (like Paul had done), but he started something that's still going on. Modern Quakers still try to be the church together without preeminence. Fox and his friends refused to doff their hats and discarded all titles of honor in favor of the familiar 'thee'. Both of these postures were solid blows aimed at the demise of hierarchical society in favor of the brotherhood of man.

Through the centuries the idea of the inner light in a man's heart has caused various excesses, but Fox's heart was good and the Holy Spirit led him to gather numbers of people around the most admirable moral and social values. The strong anti-authoritarianism of the Friends incurred wrath and persecution from many directions; still they multiplied, witnessing to their spiritual power. By the late 18th Century they had become numerous, prosperous and respectable, and no doubt more conformed to the world than Fox's generation had been.

Blake undoubtedly knew something of the power embodied in the Quaker movement. After the Moment of Grace which Blake experienced, the Quaker term 'self-annihilation' became a key construct of his theology. We could relate other Blakean expressions to the Quaker language. Although Blake preferred to engrave his human forms nude, when he did represent man clothed, the traditional Quaker garb appeared as a symbol of the good and faithful man. Study of Blake's works and his biographers has revealed no formal connection with the Quaker community. Nevertheless many of Blake's values clearly resemble those of the Friends:

The Friends were anti-sacramentarian; they did not practice Baptism or Holy Communion, the two Protestant sacraments. In 'A Vision of the Last Judgment ' Blake put an apostle on each side of Jesus representing respectively Baptism and the Lord's Supper, but he proceeded to define them as follows: 'All Life consists of these Two, Throwing off Error and Knaves from our company continually, & Receiving Truth or Wise Men into our Company continually.'

He also said "The outward Ceremony is Antichrist." And in the famous lines of My Spectre he identified the bread and wine with forgiving and being forgiven, without which we can only commune unworthily.

'Throughout all Eternity

I forgive you you forgive me

As our dear Redeemer said 

 This the Wine & this the Bread'

As already noted Fox and his disciples had no use for priests. Blake used priests repeatedly as objects of derision. In his French Revolution for example the archbishop attempts to speak but finds that he can only hiss. In America Blake has the 'Priests in rustling scales Rush into reptile coverts'. Other examples could be given to show that Blake generally thought of priests as serpents though he did not apply this evaluation to the poor and powerless priests of the people.

The Quakers have always been noted for their refusal to participate in war. Blake held similar perspective on war. 

      The Grey Monk

'But vain the Sword & vain the Bow 
They never can work Wars overthrow
The Hermits Prayer & the Widows tear
Alone can free the World from fear

For a Tear is an Intellectual Thing   
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King 
And the bitter groan of the Martyrs woe  
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow

The hand of Vengeance found the Bed 
To which the Purple Tyrant fled
The iron hand crushd the Tyrants head 
And became a Tyrant in his stead'  

Throughout the 18th Century the Quakers vigorously opposed the slave trade, which had become a profitable element of England's commercial life. Unlike much of the establishment they had enough integrity to see clearly the spiritual implications of human bondage. They formed the first abolitionist society in England and disowned any Friend involved in the slave trade. John Woolman, perhaps the outstanding Quaker of the century, devoted his life to achieving the abolition of slavery. Blake was no Woolman, but one of his earliest prophetic works, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, is among other things a spirited outcry against slavery.

The Quaker oriented reader who becomes familiar with Blake will find other significant correspondences. (Look at the Pendle Hill document Woolman and Blake.) Of all the religious groups in existence today the Quakers in their theology most nearly approximate the thought forms and theology of William Blake. Borrowing a phrase from Northrup Frye the Quakers and Blake both understood 'the central form of Christianity as a vision rather than as a doctrine or ritual' ".