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William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision
The secret and mystical sexual practices at the heart of William Blake’s creative and spiritual life
• Reveals newly discovered family documents connecting Blake’s mother and Blake himself to Moravian and Swedenborgian erotic and visionary experimentation
• Shows Blake had access to kabbalistic and tantric techniques of psychoerotic meditation, which used sexual arousal to achieve spiritual vision
William Blake (1757-1827) has long been treasured as an artist and poet whose work was born out of authentic spiritual vision. The acutely personal, almost otherworldly look of his artwork, combined with its archetypal casting and depth of emotion, transcend societal conventions and ordinary experience. But much of the overtly sexual work has been destroyed or altered, deemed too heretical by conservative elements among the mystic Moravians and Swedenborgians, whose influence on Blake has been uncovered only recently.
The author’s investigation into the radical psychosexual spiritual practices surrounding William Blake, which includes new archival discoveries of Blake family documents, reveals that Moravian and Swedenborgian erotic and visionary experimentation fueled much of Blake’s creative and spiritual life. Drawing also upon modern art restoration techniques, Marsha Keith Schuchard shows that Blake and his wife, Catherine, were influenced by secret kabbalistic and tantric rituals designed to transcend the bonds of social convention. Her exhaustive research provides a new context for understanding the mystical practices at the heart of Blake’s most radical beliefs about sexualized spirituality and its relation to visionary art.
• Reveals newly discovered family documents connecting Blake’s mother and Blake himself to Moravian and Swedenborgian erotic and visionary experimentation
• Shows Blake had access to kabbalistic and tantric techniques of psychoerotic meditation, which used sexual arousal to achieve spiritual vision
William Blake (1757-1827) has long been treasured as an artist and poet whose work was born out of authentic spiritual vision. The acutely personal, almost otherworldly look of his artwork, combined with its archetypal casting and depth of emotion, transcend societal conventions and ordinary experience. But much of the overtly sexual work has been destroyed or altered, deemed too heretical by conservative elements among the mystic Moravians and Swedenborgians, whose influence on Blake has been uncovered only recently.
The author’s investigation into the radical psychosexual spiritual practices surrounding William Blake, which includes new archival discoveries of Blake family documents, reveals that Moravian and Swedenborgian erotic and visionary experimentation fueled much of Blake’s creative and spiritual life. Drawing also upon modern art restoration techniques, Marsha Keith Schuchard shows that Blake and his wife, Catherine, were influenced by secret kabbalistic and tantric rituals designed to transcend the bonds of social convention. Her exhaustive research provides a new context for understanding the mystical practices at the heart of Blake’s most radical beliefs about sexualized spirituality and its relation to visionary art.
416 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2008
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July 20, 2010Name-dropper's guide to the Swedenborgian/alchemical/kabbalistic hypnotists & occultist crazies of the late 1700s. Sloppy research but highly entertaining and a great backdrop for reading Blake. Most names dropped are prefaced with "Blake might have ... could have ... maybe encountered ... possibly met ... probably read ..." Sensationalism pretending to be serious academic work. Still, the book has its moments.
"Despite their efforts to recover biographical facts about Blake, none of his nineteenth-century defenders attempted to research the actual historical context of his esoteric and erotic experiences - a context that could reveal the sources of his sexual-spiritual philosophy. From Gilchrist onward, Blake's biographers agreed that he was influenced by the Swedenborgianism of his family, but they did not examine what Blake described to Robinson as the 'dangerous sexual religion' of the Swedish scientist-seer. Nor did they inquire into the sexual beliefs of Blake's Swedenborgian friends, neighbors, and associates. While Rossetti accepted the Swedenborgian claims, he also noted accurately the influence of Hermetic alchemists and Christian Kabbalists - such as Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Boehme - on Blake's youthful development. But even he did not relate the tenets of these writers to Blake's sexual pronouncements or, more importantly, to his erotic drawings and poetry.
"As an initiate of the Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn, Yeats was in a position to go further than Rossetti. Drawing on oral traditions and archival materials, he suggested that Blake was associated with a secret magical society, in which initiates learned the arcana of Jewish Kabbalism, Rosicrucian alchemy, and Swedenborgian theosophy. Yeats recognized that, like himself, Blake made a connection between the energy of sexual passion and the capacity for spiritual vision." (pp. 5 & 7)
"Despite their efforts to recover biographical facts about Blake, none of his nineteenth-century defenders attempted to research the actual historical context of his esoteric and erotic experiences - a context that could reveal the sources of his sexual-spiritual philosophy. From Gilchrist onward, Blake's biographers agreed that he was influenced by the Swedenborgianism of his family, but they did not examine what Blake described to Robinson as the 'dangerous sexual religion' of the Swedish scientist-seer. Nor did they inquire into the sexual beliefs of Blake's Swedenborgian friends, neighbors, and associates. While Rossetti accepted the Swedenborgian claims, he also noted accurately the influence of Hermetic alchemists and Christian Kabbalists - such as Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Boehme - on Blake's youthful development. But even he did not relate the tenets of these writers to Blake's sexual pronouncements or, more importantly, to his erotic drawings and poetry.
"As an initiate of the Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn, Yeats was in a position to go further than Rossetti. Drawing on oral traditions and archival materials, he suggested that Blake was associated with a secret magical society, in which initiates learned the arcana of Jewish Kabbalism, Rosicrucian alchemy, and Swedenborgian theosophy. Yeats recognized that, like himself, Blake made a connection between the energy of sexual passion and the capacity for spiritual vision." (pp. 5 & 7)
January 29, 2022
Enjoyable exploration of the miasma of psychosexual esotericism that forms an important context for Blake’s universe. The structure of the book, around the central premise of why Mrs Blake cried was sound & each of the relatively bite-sized chapters had a clear theme that acted as a building block to the bigger picture. The author conveyed a clear enthusiasm for the subject which makes it easy to read for anyone with a passing interest in spiritual sexuality, Blake or the period in history covered. As well as Blake’s work specifically it also puts much of the body of British occulture into context as an exposé of some interesting & eccentric characters, groups & movements that many readers may be unfamiliar with.
My main criticism is that the vast array of characters arriving & departing was somewhat confusing & distracting to the main points being made. There are several examples where the author has assumed knowledge of a person or group in the reader which means they have to go & Google them which interrupts the flow of the book occasionally.
Some might complain that there’s a lot of conjecture going on, I think that’s given in the idea of the book itself. A hefty chunk of the book is references so she’s done her best to tie things down where she can.
Ultimately, I suspect this will entertain & mostly satisfy a large section of the people drawn to it in the first place. It’s certainly enriched my enjoyment & added a dimension to my appreciation of one of England’s most brilliant, loved & distinctive artists.
My main criticism is that the vast array of characters arriving & departing was somewhat confusing & distracting to the main points being made. There are several examples where the author has assumed knowledge of a person or group in the reader which means they have to go & Google them which interrupts the flow of the book occasionally.
Some might complain that there’s a lot of conjecture going on, I think that’s given in the idea of the book itself. A hefty chunk of the book is references so she’s done her best to tie things down where she can.
Ultimately, I suspect this will entertain & mostly satisfy a large section of the people drawn to it in the first place. It’s certainly enriched my enjoyment & added a dimension to my appreciation of one of England’s most brilliant, loved & distinctive artists.
December 29, 2015
I was reading this to get research material for a book on Blake. While it does have a lot of background information on his mother, and specifically Emmanuel Swedenborg and Count Zinzendorf, along with the Moravian faith, it is not till you get over half way through the book that you get to Blake at all. The other part of this is that everything she states is supposition. This means there is no proof to back up anything she says. Phrases like, "this suggests" are peppered throughout the book, as well as, her attempting to ascertain Blake's feelings about his marriage (Were they happy, did Mrs. Blake cry?) from poetry and annotations in his notebook. However, as Tobias Churton says in "Jerusalem! The Real Life of William Blake", there is no hard evidence beyond speculation to back up any of these theories. Given that Catherine Blake did not keep a journal and many of Blake's notebooks, poetry and engravings are undated, taking something which was written in artistic form and attempting to make it into fact based evidence, seems dubious at best. The biggest problem though I had with this book is that it is not what it purports to be. When you spend over half the text on other people, and then the remaining on conjecture, it leaves one not only very unsatisfied, but feeling as if the author was trying to find connections where none exist. This is not to say that Blake was not a complicated person, or did not have unusual beliefs, but to take those theories and then make a leap from them, without hard evidence, is more than a little hard to swallow.
June 10, 2014
While this book investigated the radical psychosexual practices and the erotic and visionary experiments that fueled much of Blake's creative life, does it add to the already enormous amount of critical literature and commentary that has grown around Blake? Being enlightened and enjoying "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" in an honors high school course, my dangerously expanded mind was thoroughly blown with Blake's carnal theosophy, raging humor, and imaginable fire in his poetry and art. So, when I got the opportunity, I purchased the "repackaged for the American Market "William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision"(originally titled "Why Mrs. Blake Cried"). The author, Marsha Keith Schuchard, makes a strange and compelling case that Blake's imaginative universe was deeply shaped by a thriving London subculture of spiritual sexuality—as one person described it, "a mixture of Swedenborgianism, hermetic alchemy, Kabbalah, Tantra, and Moravian mysticism."
Maybe they were partly transmitted via the poet's parents, we learn to consider that those esoteric sources not only inspired many Blakean themes and images, but—and this is probably the key—they may have provided Blake with certain bedroom practices that helped the already inspired fellow, errr, further penetrate the veil? So to speak.
Maybe there are those of you who knew a little something about some of these groups...the gurus and spiritual paths...but I honestly had no idea that orgasmic mysticism was so rollicking and widespread in 18th-century England and Europe as Schuchard illustrates in this book. I guess even if you don't know much about Blake, Schuchard's rich, historical backdrop igoing to open a few eyes. Beyond any intrinsic interest—I mean, who knew the followers of Jesus could get so sex-positive!?—the material she offers goes a long way to correcting those mistaken assumptions that spiritual sexuality were exclusively the property of Hindus or Chinese Taoists that came into Western esoterica late in the game. Besides the deep sexual lore embedded in the Kabbalah, did you know that many hermetic and mystic Christian groups discovered that the emotional and sensual intensities of sex could lead to visionary trance? In Blake's words,
The author did trace some of the dense and interpenetrating sources for all this spicy sex mysticism: the heretical Kabbalists, the early Orientalist texts, the underground Rosicrucian rituals, and the obsessively physiological researches of the amazing Swedenborg. In addition to that Swedish mystical polymath, who was fascinated with the cremaster muscle and believed that angels (saying this as nicely as I'm able) fornicate, Schuchard also troted out a series of characters who would need be read about to be believed. Who? Oh, you want to read them? Well, her list included the likes of a Count Zizendorf, some controversial Moravian prophet who called on his congregation to snuggle into the vaginal "side hole" of Christ's spear wound and Dr. James Graham, a Scot who built a "Celestial Bed" for his Temple of Hymen where couples seeking beatific bliss could avail themselves of a Pacific King-sized contraption that was infused with electromagnetic currents, perfumed with incense, and decorated with sculptures of horny Greek gods.
She also managed to touch on the significant links between that subculture and the radical politics of the day and even suggested that the tie between visionary hedonism and social transformation was not restricted to the hippies.
Okay, so there appears to be a tremendous amount of research... unfortunately, at best, Schuchard is only an average writer. There is just too much fuzziness about a good deal of the prose; many sentences seem inserted in a willy-nilly fashion; and important points left "unclarified". I think it's the vague prose that stands out as particularly unfortunate given the subject, because the issue of sexual imagery in spiritual texts and religious records demands the utmost degree of clarity...or at least a clear acknowledgement of the limits of knowledge.
For example, the texts of alchemy that are rife with erotic energy and images. Is that material a code for explicit sexual practices? Did those sexual practices take place in the imagination or in the bed? Even with all of the author's tantra, her own loose metaphors are frustrating, IMHO—e.g., when she describes a wild performance at the pervert William Beckford's manse as "orgiastic" when an actual orgy just can't be inferred. Not to be too critical, but I think it should be shared that her tin ear for literary ambiguity marred some of her interpretations of Blake's poetry and came off as overly reductive. The full meaning of Blake's concept of "emanation," for example, can't be exhausted with a reference to some ungainly theory in Swedenborg's "Conjugial Love".
On the Plus side, I think some of her emphasis on the more explicit practices were excitingly, ummm, penetrating? Like in a portion of one of Blakes' poems, The Crystal Cabinet, she argued the following is depicting Blakes' attempt to restrain ejaculation and use the near-orgasmic bliss to enter the imagined realms of some "inmost Form". Thing is, unfortunately, the man can't keep it together and like so many male tantric trainees, he bursts the crystal cabinet with a spurt that sends him hurtling back to the outward earth.
The above is often times interpreted as a failure of the erotic imagination. For all her refreshing frankness about sex, I think Schuchard seemed rather critical of the horny excesses of her cast of characters. She may have admired their audacity and radical imagination to some degree, but she was also sensitive to the suffering it caused, especially to wives. Mrs. Blake cried because she married a mystic horndog who wanted to be flush with virile potency 24-7. As readers of Blake's often sexually frustrated verse know, this conflict was a major and painful issue in their lives.
I'd say this is a good read for anyone truly interested in a Blake biography but has also read other biographies.
Maybe they were partly transmitted via the poet's parents, we learn to consider that those esoteric sources not only inspired many Blakean themes and images, but—and this is probably the key—they may have provided Blake with certain bedroom practices that helped the already inspired fellow, errr, further penetrate the veil? So to speak.
Maybe there are those of you who knew a little something about some of these groups...the gurus and spiritual paths...but I honestly had no idea that orgasmic mysticism was so rollicking and widespread in 18th-century England and Europe as Schuchard illustrates in this book. I guess even if you don't know much about Blake, Schuchard's rich, historical backdrop igoing to open a few eyes. Beyond any intrinsic interest—I mean, who knew the followers of Jesus could get so sex-positive!?—the material she offers goes a long way to correcting those mistaken assumptions that spiritual sexuality were exclusively the property of Hindus or Chinese Taoists that came into Western esoterica late in the game. Besides the deep sexual lore embedded in the Kabbalah, did you know that many hermetic and mystic Christian groups discovered that the emotional and sensual intensities of sex could lead to visionary trance? In Blake's words,
"He whose Gates are opened in those Regions of the Body
Can from those Gates view all these wondrous Imaginations."
The author did trace some of the dense and interpenetrating sources for all this spicy sex mysticism: the heretical Kabbalists, the early Orientalist texts, the underground Rosicrucian rituals, and the obsessively physiological researches of the amazing Swedenborg. In addition to that Swedish mystical polymath, who was fascinated with the cremaster muscle and believed that angels (saying this as nicely as I'm able) fornicate, Schuchard also troted out a series of characters who would need be read about to be believed. Who? Oh, you want to read them? Well, her list included the likes of a Count Zizendorf, some controversial Moravian prophet who called on his congregation to snuggle into the vaginal "side hole" of Christ's spear wound and Dr. James Graham, a Scot who built a "Celestial Bed" for his Temple of Hymen where couples seeking beatific bliss could avail themselves of a Pacific King-sized contraption that was infused with electromagnetic currents, perfumed with incense, and decorated with sculptures of horny Greek gods.
She also managed to touch on the significant links between that subculture and the radical politics of the day and even suggested that the tie between visionary hedonism and social transformation was not restricted to the hippies.
Okay, so there appears to be a tremendous amount of research... unfortunately, at best, Schuchard is only an average writer. There is just too much fuzziness about a good deal of the prose; many sentences seem inserted in a willy-nilly fashion; and important points left "unclarified". I think it's the vague prose that stands out as particularly unfortunate given the subject, because the issue of sexual imagery in spiritual texts and religious records demands the utmost degree of clarity...or at least a clear acknowledgement of the limits of knowledge.
For example, the texts of alchemy that are rife with erotic energy and images. Is that material a code for explicit sexual practices? Did those sexual practices take place in the imagination or in the bed? Even with all of the author's tantra, her own loose metaphors are frustrating, IMHO—e.g., when she describes a wild performance at the pervert William Beckford's manse as "orgiastic" when an actual orgy just can't be inferred. Not to be too critical, but I think it should be shared that her tin ear for literary ambiguity marred some of her interpretations of Blake's poetry and came off as overly reductive. The full meaning of Blake's concept of "emanation," for example, can't be exhausted with a reference to some ungainly theory in Swedenborg's "Conjugial Love".
On the Plus side, I think some of her emphasis on the more explicit practices were excitingly, ummm, penetrating? Like in a portion of one of Blakes' poems, The Crystal Cabinet, she argued the following is depicting Blakes' attempt to restrain ejaculation and use the near-orgasmic bliss to enter the imagined realms of some "inmost Form". Thing is, unfortunately, the man can't keep it together and like so many male tantric trainees, he bursts the crystal cabinet with a spurt that sends him hurtling back to the outward earth.
"I strove to seize the inmost Form
With ardor fierce & hands of flame
But burst the Crystal Cabinet
And like a Weeping Babe became
A weeping Babe upon the wild
And Weeping Woman pale reclind
And in the outward air again
I filld with woes the passing Wind."
The above is often times interpreted as a failure of the erotic imagination. For all her refreshing frankness about sex, I think Schuchard seemed rather critical of the horny excesses of her cast of characters. She may have admired their audacity and radical imagination to some degree, but she was also sensitive to the suffering it caused, especially to wives. Mrs. Blake cried because she married a mystic horndog who wanted to be flush with virile potency 24-7. As readers of Blake's often sexually frustrated verse know, this conflict was a major and painful issue in their lives.
I'd say this is a good read for anyone truly interested in a Blake biography but has also read other biographies.
May 8, 2020
A sexy/tawdry/kinky DaVinci Code; meaning poorly researched but some dirty fun with interesting ideas and namedropping.
July 30, 2008
I think I did learn more about the influences on Blake's thought. Anything that can help explicate his prophetic books is a good thing! However, it somehow seemed that Blake was less the focus of the book (especially in the first half) than the chronological minutiae of the Moravians, Swedenborgians, Kabbalists and Tantrics during the late 1700's/early 1800's. Not that the info was bad. A chart of the characters on one or two pages might have helped to keep track of them all.
At times it felt like a lot of gossiping and name-dropping without adding much to the substance of the discussion re: Blake. Also, occasionally, the author would pose a question, like "Could Blake have done so and so?" that made it sound like "Could Jamie Lynn's cover glamorize teen pregnancy?" Those kind of hypothetical questions just kinda clanged in an otherwise scholarly book, as gossipy and name-dropping as it was. Also, be prepared to read the words "antinomian" and "millenarian" more than enough times.
So, for what the author intended to do vs. what I got out of it, I figure four stars is fair enough.
At times it felt like a lot of gossiping and name-dropping without adding much to the substance of the discussion re: Blake. Also, occasionally, the author would pose a question, like "Could Blake have done so and so?" that made it sound like "Could Jamie Lynn's cover glamorize teen pregnancy?" Those kind of hypothetical questions just kinda clanged in an otherwise scholarly book, as gossipy and name-dropping as it was. Also, be prepared to read the words "antinomian" and "millenarian" more than enough times.
So, for what the author intended to do vs. what I got out of it, I figure four stars is fair enough.
September 24, 2012
The suppositions Schuchard makes are far-fetched at times, but I suppose that's inevitable at this point when you're publishing on a much-researched and prominent figure like Blake. Simple put, Schuchard's research is so thorough, I'm pretty sure she's a supercomputer. How could anyone ever put a book like this together? Even if some of the claims are a little unfounded, her book does an EXCELLENT job of painting Blake's bizarre religious, artistic, and countercultural milieu.
September 1, 2013
A bit confusing.
March 6, 2015
Fun Filled Book.
Wholesome Antinomian sex magic ain't nothing wrong with that.
Wholesome Antinomian sex magic ain't nothing wrong with that.
November 16, 2020
A thorough attempt to explain the spiritual and sexual history of the Moravian and Swedenborgian roots of William Blake's writing and art.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews