William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision [Paperback]

Marsha Keith Schuchard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Influenced by alchemists, kabbalists, and Emanuel Swedenborg, Blake became interested in sexual techniques in order to achieve spiritual vision. . . . [This book] bravely explores the ‘sexual-spiritual underworld’ of this great poet and artist, drawing on newly uncovered archives and photographic techniques that reveal the extreme eroticism of Blake’s drawings before they were censored. . . . A fascinating history of both the erotic and the occult. The prose is fast-paced and accessible, and the author thoroughly reanimates her subject’s extraordinarily unorthodox ideals of sexuality.”
(
Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, The Sunday Times
)

“Fans of biographical minutiae will find it invaluable, and the closing insights into the refusal of Blake’s libido to synchronize with his fading physicality are deeply moving.”
(Niall Griffiths, The Telegraph )

“Schuchard reveals a weird esoteric, erotic, and apocalyptic counterculture, brewing in what we otherwise consider the ‘enlightened’ eighteenth century.”
(Gary Lachman, The Independent on Sunday )

“Schuchard places Blake at the heart of a secret London as high on spiritualized sexuality as San Francisco in the ‘summer of love.’”
(Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times )

“This remarkable book opens the reader’s eyes to what fired Blake’s writings and art.”
(David V. Bennett, The Independent )

“Exposes a forgotten visionary/sexual underworld. Scholarship with the momentum of a detective story.”
(Iain Sinclair, The Guardian )

"Dr. Schuchard has worked diligently to present information which expands our understanding of William Blake's lifetime (1757-1827), and its impact on his own and subsequent generations." (
Michael Gleason, Witchgrove.com, June 2008
)

"Blake's efforts to go very deeply into the physical in order to better experience the divine are typical of most refined thinking of his day, in which science lagged behind the longings of the human spirit for true unfettered spiritual opening. Its author is a recognized expert in this subject matter." (
Barbara Bamberger Scott, Curled Up With a Good Book, July 2008 )

"This is a landmark book and critical to anyone seeking to appreciate the cultural climate of esotericism in the late Eighteenth into the early and mid Nineteenth Century." (
Institute of Hermetic Studies, Aug 2008 )

"Fueled by new archival discoveries of Blake family documents, [Schuchard's] analysis probes spiritual paths and recreates sexual focuses of his work which were initially changed by his pious executor. New Age libraries will find it a winner." (
The Midwest Book Review, Aug 2008 )

" . . . using new and fastidious research methods, Schuchard breaks new ground with her investigation of the psycho-sexual practices that surround this famous artist." (
SirReadaLot.org, June 2008
)

"Dr. Schuchard (Ph.D. in British literature) has worked diligently to present information which expands our understanding of William Blake's lifetime (1757-1827), and its impact on his own subsequent generations.  He has been praised and vilified; exalted and suppressed; called a genius and a pervert.  Modern research has done much to flesh out the perceptions which have existed, and the author has made a major contribution by assembling much of this newly discovered information into an easily accessible, and readable, book."
(Spiral Nature, September 2010 )

From the Back Cover

Biography / Sexuality

“Schuchard places Blake at the heart of a secret London as high on spiritualized sexuality as San Francisco in the ‘summer of love.’”
--Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times

“This remarkable book opens the reader’s eyes to what fired Blake’s writings and art.”
--David V. Bennett, The Independent

“Exposes a forgotten visionary/sexual underworld. Scholarship with the momentum of a detective story.”
--Iain Sinclair, The Guardian

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--transcends social convention and ordinary experience. In this book, Marsha Keith Schuchard breaks new ground with her investigation of the psychosexual practices that surrounded this famous artist. Her fastidious research includes new archival discoveries of Blake family documents and reveals how early Moravian and Swedenborgian erotic and visionary experimentation fueled much of Blake’s creative and spiritual life and found expression in the explicit sexual imagery of his art. Much of this was lost to posterity, however, when religious conservatives pressured Blake’s pious executor to suppress the more overtly sexual aspects of his work, which were subsequently altered or destroyed.

Schuchard’s latest findings, combined with advances in photographic techniques used in modern-day art research, reveal this previously censored imagery. The recovery of these elements supports the belief that Blake explored kabbalistic and tantric extramarital sexual practices that were designed to transcend the bonds of social convention and that he pressured his wife to join him in these explorations. author’s 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.

MARSHA KEITH SCHUCHARD received a Ph.D. in British literature for her explorations into the esoteric-erotic underground traditions of seventeenth- to twentieth-century secret societies and their influence on British and Irish poets and artists. She is the author of Restoring the Temple of Vision and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (May 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594772118
• ISBN-13: 978-1594772115
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wealth of 17th-18th Century Esoteric Delights, October 24, 2010

By 

Jeff Farrow - See all my reviews

This review is from: William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision (Paperback)

One reviewer stated that the author of WILLIAM BLAKE, etc. focused too little on Blake & perhaps too much on other characters, events, spiritual practices & philosophies that were instrumental in forging Blake's unique artistic vision. The reviewer went on to state that there was too much of a gossipy, name-dropping nature in the book as well--enough so that the reviewer withheld a star from the over all evaluation. I think that reviewer had a legitimate point of view. In a sense WILLIAM BLAKE is not so much a traditional biography as an esoteric dissection & compilation of 17th-18th century European mysticism. The details are fascinating & I must admit that I am rather partial to the gossipy approach, so I had no problem with voting all 5 stars.

I learned a lot from reading this book--and it was entertaining as well.

For example, I had no idea how pervasive & influential secret societies such as the Freemasons & Rosicrucian were in this historic period, and that there was such close organizational interaction between Gentile & Jewish metaphysical groups. I was also unaware that so many non-Jews enthusiastically undertook the study of Kabbalah. Many esoteric concepts & events previously only intuitively glimpsed, fell perfectly in place for me. It certainly explains much of the 20th century Nazi antagonism to metaphysical individuals & groups in general.

Another fact that startled me was the practice of Christian eroticism by groups such as the Moravarians (never heard of them before reading BLAKE) and the Swedenborg Society. I was vaguely aware of Swedenborg's work, but was glad to go below the surface of my understanding. Even I--who felt I'd seen it all--was actually shocked by the overt religious sexuality of these Christian sects. You would think that this view of sex would have resulted in Blake illustrating sexually liberating images. However, to me many of his drawings seem a little dark & murky, with a pronounced sense of sexual restriction, even bondage. The antinomian or Left-hand Path of Tantric sexual practice in particular may well blow a few minds of sexually squeamish readers.

Other fascinating topics in WILLIAM BLAKE include the occult affiliations of the great womanizer Casanova, the mysterious courtier Cagliostro & his connection with the notorious "Diamond Necklace Affair" that heralded the first major ideological salvo against the French Monarchy, the influence of Gnosticism (the Sacred Marriage, Agape/Love Feast, etc.) and much more.

It became clear to me that the "Scientific Illuminism" promoted by these groups was the inspiration (from India via Swedenborg, Blake, etc.) for the 19th-20th century occult philosophies of Eliphas Levi, Madame Blavatsky & Aleister Crowley to name just a few. On an individual level, Blake's ideas regarding cultural transfusionist spirituality & development of a personal mythology over traditionalist religion are concepts that affirmed some of my own metaphysical speculation & experimentation. It all falls under the umbrella of what is esoterically known as The Great Work.

Anybody interested in William Blake or these parallel philosophies & disciplines will, I'm sure, find this book a sheer delight. It is an MUST for people involved in advanced Yoga and/or interested in the cultural origins of Thelema (Crowley's Western occultism). It's also a "must" for those studying comparative religion & European erotic mysticism.

This list should be displaying as links & I have no clue why they aren't:

Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and RitualThe Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Qabalism
The Secret Doctrine
The Book of the Law: Liber Al Vel Legis
Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley: Including Gematria & Sepher SephirothThe Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism
Emanuel Swedenborg: The Universal Human and Soul-Body Interaction (Classics of Western Spirituality)
Tantra: Path of Ecstasy
Mysteries of the Temple of Set (Inner Teachings of the Left Hand Path)

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of this and that with some of Blake, July 16, 2008

By 

Robert Hoeppner (Southwick, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision (Paperback)

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

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New age libraries will find this a winner, August 17, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision (Paperback)

William Blake's reputation as a poet and artist was born from his spiritual vision, and so William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision offers up a different kind of investigation based on the psycho-sexual practices which surrounded this artist. Fueled by new archival discoveries of Blake family documents, her analysis probes spiritual paths and recreates sexual focuses of his work which were initially changed by his pious executor. New age libraries will find it a winner.