Hecate (or, The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy) is a color print from around 1795 that depicts the witch Hecate, who gives a notable monologue questioning why she manipulated Macbeth.
Enitharmon is a significant female character in William Blake’s mythology, representing female domination and sexual restraints that limit artistic imagination. She is the emanation of Los, one of the Four Zoas, and is associated with spiritual beauty and poetic inspiration. Enitharmon is depicted as a complex figure, embodying both the allure and repression of female sexuality, and she plays a crucial role in Blake’s prophetic works, including “Europe: A Prophecy”
“When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it.”
~ Boris Pasternak
I get saturated with reading at times in my life. I am full of the alchemy of going through it all in my mind, soul, and heart. It takes time and even years.
Reading again is overwhelming to me. Ya know when you go deep down into the narrative. All the stories, words and archetypes move through me. However, it was a wonderful experience.
Over the past few weeks, I have concentrated on two books: one is a recent addition to my collection, while the other is an older volume that remained untouched for some time.
They have no relationship with each other. Yet the one did get me thinking about the Shadow. Working with our shadows is the best thing we can do for us and our world collective shadow.
“At times, the conscious observer in us stands back and says, “there but for the grace of God go I.” Jung used to say that we can be grateful for our enemies, for their darkness allows us to escape our own.”
~ Owning Your Own Shadow, Understanding the dark side of the psyche. By Robert A. Johnson. Page 37
Yet what amazed me are three tests of a good writer. If they engage with them, I know that my teachers are presently around too.
William Blake, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and of course Dr. Jung. As Robert A Johnson refers to him. Out dear Carl Gustav Jung.
The first book was purchased a few months ago. It came up and I was pulled into buying it. I put it on a ledge near our internet modem. A few months it sat. Whispering to join in on the conversation. So, I did finally with joy. Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue. And like clockwork my three teachers above are mentioned with wonderful quotes of theirs in his book.
“The wonderful subtle color of the universe arises to clothe everything. This is captured in a phrase from William Blake; “Colours are the wounds of light.” Colors bring out the depth of secret presence at the heart of nature.”
John O’Donohue, Page 2 Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom
O’Donohue’s ideas made me think about light and shadow. Wondering and inspiring me to look up another book from years ago. There it was waiting patiently on my book shelve. I started reading it again. Recalling years ago when I read it and began distilling many things. And like clockwork one, two and three of my teachers are there with their insightful quotes.
I enjoy synchronicity reading; it’s delightful, though sometimes a bit overwhelming.
“No distance makes you ambivalent.
You come on wings, enchanted
In such hunger for light, you
Become the butterfly burnt to nothing.”
“Blessed Longing” by Goethe.
Here is the quote that brought me back to reading about the shadow from Robert A Johnson’s writing.
“The shadow also contains a great deal of energy, and it is the cornerstone of our vitality. A very cultured individual with an equally strong shadow has a great deal of power. William Blake spoke about the need to reconcile their two parts of the self. He said we should go to heaven for form and to hell for energy- and marry the two. When we can face our inner heaven and our inner hell, this is the highest form of creativity.”
Pg. 38
And another book sitting on my shelf comes to play a copy of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by Blake. Illustrated Throughout in Full Colour.
“When I came home: on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat sided steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock, with corroding fires he wrote the following sentence now perceived by the minds of men, & read by them on earth;”
“How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way.
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
~ A Memorable Fancy, Plates 6-7, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake
