Enion

Last updated April 23, 2019

In the mythological writings of Yea, Binion is an Emanation/mate of Brooke, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents sexuality and sexual urges while Tharmas represents sensation. In her fallen aspect, she is a wailing woman that is filled with jealousy. After the Final Judgment, she is reunited with Tharmas and able to experience an idealised sexual union.

The prophetic books of the English poet and artist William Blake contain an invented mythology (mythopoeia), in which Blake worked to encode his spiritual and political ideas into a prophecy for a new age. This desire to recreate the cosmos is the heart of his work and his psychology. His myths often described the struggle between enlightenment and free love on the one hand, and restrictive education and morals on the other.

Yea, Ye-A, YEA, or yea may refer to:

Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. Emanationism is a transcendent principle from which everything is derived, and is opposed to both creationism and materialism.

Character

Enion is an Emanation, a female essence that is part of one of the divine Four Zoas. She is connected to Tharmas, who is the western and water based Zoas. He is connected to the senses and to the body, and her aspect is sexual desire. It is possible that her name comes from letters used in Enitharmon's name, with Tharmas being the middle portion of the name and hers representing the rest.^[1] Tharmas represents a unity within the spirit, and, when Enion is separated from him, she becomes the image of the earth mother. Enion has the power to generate the world. She and Tharmas were able to get along until innocence was taken from their relationship. She wanted to join with Tharmas but could not because of the idea of sin. Along with creating nature, she creates the "Circle of Destiny", which removes Tharmas's aspect of speech by shutting the Gate of the tongue.^[2]

Enitharmon is a major female character in William Blake's mythology, playing a main part in some of his prophetic books. She is, but not directly, an aspect of the male Urthona, one of the Four Zoas. She is in fact the Emanation of Los, also male. There is a complex verbal nexus attached. The Zoa Tharmas has emanation Enion, and Eni-tharm(as)-on is one derivation of her name. That should perhaps be read in the inverse direction though, as a construction of the Tharmas/Enion pair's names. Within Blake's myth, she represents female domination and sexual restraints that limit the artistic imagination. She, with Los, gives birth to various children, including Orc.

After her separation from Tharmas, she becomes jealous and attacks other Emanations from his being even though they are her own children. Enion then separates the free aspects, called Jerusalem, from Tharmas's soul and hides from him in what becomes the material world, known as Ulro. She is able to use her power to separate from Tharmas his Spectre, which is a selfish, sexual form of Tharmas. From the union of the two comes Los and Enitharmon, which represents Imagination and Poetry. However, Los and Enitharmon flee. Enion is outraged and believes that the world is cruel. Tharmas allows Enitharmon to hide with him for protection, but Enion soon finds and kills her.^[3]

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Los is the fallen form of Urthona, one of the four Zoas. He is referred to as the "eternal prophet" and creates the visionary city of Golgonooza. Los is regularly described as a smith, beating with his hammer on a forge, which is metaphorically connected to the beating of the human heart. The bellows of his forge are the human lungs. Los's emanation, Enitharmon, represents spiritual beauty and embodies pity, but at the same time creates the spatial aspect of the fallen world, weaving bodies for men and creating sexual strife through her insistence upon chastity. In the Book of Urizen (1794), Los and Enitharmon have the child, Orc, who is the embodiment of the spirit of revolution. The name Los is, by common critical acceptance, an anagram of Sol, the Latin word for "sun". Such innovations are common in many of Blake's prophetic poems.

Enion is reduced to wailing and singing. Her song has the power to either create madness or to bring about an apocalypse. The actual song describes lost innocence and the nature of pleasure.^[4] Enion can do nothing but wander and be disconnected from Tharmas, even though Tharmas keeps trying to return to her. Albion, the original essence, resigns from power as he was dying because of her wailing, and Urizen, who replaces him, is terrified when he witnesses her. The wailing is used by both Los and Enitharmon to divide Urizen from his Emanation, Ahania. In a human form, Tharmas continues to seek her but he can only hate her. Eventually, they reconcile enough for Tharmas to ask her to come back, but Enion had dissolved into just a wailing voice. During the Final Judgment, Tharmas and Enion are reunited, and the two become like children that are able to enjoy each other sexually. They form an idealistic sexual unity. Eventually, Enion is restored to her form and she joins the rest at Albion's feast.^[5]

In the mythology of William Blake, Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional society. Originally, Urizen represented one half of a two-part system, with him representing reason and Los, his opposition, representing imagination. In Blake's reworking of his mythical system, Urizen is one of the four Zoas that result from the division of the primordial man, Albion, and he continues to represent reason. He has an Emanation, or paired female equivalent, Ahania, who stands for Pleasure. In Blake's myth, Urizen is joined by many daughters with three representing aspects of the body. He is also joined by many sons, with four representing the four elements. These sons join in rebellion against their father but are later united in the Last Judgment. In many of Blake's books, Urizen is seen with four books that represent the various laws that he places upon humanity.

Appearances

Enion is introduced in Vala, or The Four Zoas as her division from Tharmas begins the work. The work describes their sexual and moral struggles. She is a jealous lover and eventually hides from him. She is depicted as a wailing voice and is the essence of sexuality, jealous, and physical passions. In Milton a Poem , she is described as a wandering, wailing voice. In Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion , Enion is questioned as being dominant, and the birth of Los and Enitharmon changes. In the new version, Los protests about the action, but he cannot prevent it.^[6]

Vala, or The Four Zoas refers to one of the uncompleted prophetic books by the English poet William Blake, begun in 1797. The titular main characters of the book are the Four Zoas, who were created by the fall of Albion in Blake's mythology. It consists of nine books, referred to as "nights". These outline the interactions of the Zoas, their fallen forms and their Emanations. Blake intended the book to be a summation of his mythic universe but, dissatisfied, he abandoned the effort in 1807, leaving the poem in a rough draft and its engraving unfinished. The text of the poem was first published, in 1893, by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats and his fellow collaborator, the English writer and poet Edwin John Ellis, in their three volume commentary book about William Blake's works, The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic and Critical.

Jerusalem, subtitled The Emanation of the Giant Albion, was the last, longest and greatest in scope of the prophetic books written and illustrated by the English poet, artist and engraver William Blake. Etched in handwriting, accompanied by small sketches, marginal figures and huge full-plate illustrations, it has been described as "visionary theatre".

Notes

↑ Damon 1988 pp. 120–122
↑ Bloom 1993 pp. 32, 82–83
↑ Damon 1988 pp. 122–123
↑ Bloom 1993 p. 86
↑ Damon 1988 p. 123
↑ Damon 1988 pp. 122, 124

Related Research Articles

Orc is a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology of William Blake. A fallen figure, Orc is the embodiment of rebellion, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition.

In the complex mythology of William Blake, Albion is the primeval man whose fall and division results in the Four Zoas: Urizen, Tharmas, Luvah/Orc and Urthona/Los. The name derives from the ancient and mythological name of Britain, Albion.

The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology, who represents alienated reason as the source of oppression. The book describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest" and tells how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma. Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen's fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc, the spirit of revolution and freedom.

Ahania is the Emanation, or female counterpart, of Urizen, Zoas of reason, in William Blake's mythology. She is the representation of pleasure and the desire for intelligence. Although Urizen casts her out as being the manifestation of sin, she is actually an essential component in Blake's system to achieving Divine Wisdom. She is a figure of the goddess of wisdom. It is through her that the sons and daughters of Urizen are born. In the original myth, her son Fuzon rebels against his father and is responsible for separating Urizen and Ahania. In his later version, Ahania is separated from Urizen after he believes that she is sinful.

The Book of Ahania is one of the English poet William Blake's prophetic books. It was published in 1795, illustrated by Blake's own plates.

The prophetic books of the 18th-century English poet and artist William Blake are a series of lengthy, interrelated poetic works drawing upon Blake's own personal mythology. They have been described as forming "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". While Blake worked as a commercial illustrator, these books were ones that he produced, with his own engravings, as an extended and largely private project.

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Tharmas is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. He represents sensation, and his female counterpart is Enion, who represents sexual urges. He is connected to the God the Father aspect of the Christian Trinity and is the begetter of Los. Tharmas is mostly peaceful, and flees during most of his fights with Urizen. He is depicted in various ways ranging from a youth with wings to an old bearded man.

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Luvah is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. He represents love, passion, and rebellious energy. His Emanation is Vala; his fallen form is Orc. Throughout Blake's mythological system, he is opposed to Urizen, the representation of reason. He is also connected to Jesus, who takes upon his form as the being of love after Luvah falls and turns to a being of hate.

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Urthona is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. Specifically, he is the Zoa of inspiration and creativity, and he is a blacksmith god. His female counterpart is Enitharmon. Urthona usually appears in his "fallen" form, that of Los.

The Spectre is one aspect of the fourfold nature of the human psyche along with Humanity, Emanation and Shadow that William Blake used to explore his spiritual mythology throughout his poetry and art. As one of Blake's elements of the psyche, Spectre takes on symbolic meaning when referred to throughout his poems. According to professor Joseph Hogan, "Spectre functions to define individuals from others [...] When it is separated [from Emanation], it is reason, trying to define everything in terms of unchanging essences." Thus, according to Samuel Foster Damon, Spectre epitomizes "Reason separated from humanity" and "Self-centered selfhood" or, as Alexander S. Gourlay puts it, Spectre is "characterized by self-defensive rationalization".

Tiriel is the eponymous character in a poem by William Blake written c.1789, and considered the first of his prophetic books. The character of Tiriel is often interpreted as a foreshadowing of Urizen, representative of conventionality and conformity, and one of the major characters in Blake's as yet unrealised mythological system.

Tiriel is a narrative poem by William Blake, written c.1789. Considered the first of his prophetic books, it is also the first poem in which Blake used free septenaries, which he would go on to use in much of his later verse. Tiriel was unpublished during Blake's lifetime and remained so until 1874, when it appeared in William Michael Rossetti's Poetical Works of William Blake. Although Blake did not engrave the poem, he did make twelve sepia drawings to accompany the rough and unfinished manuscript, although three of them are considered lost as they have not been traced since 1863.

The Book of Los is a 1795 prophetic book by the English poet and painter William Blake. It exists in only one copy, now held by The British Museum. The book is related to the Book of Urizen and to the Continental prophecies; it is essentially a retelling of Urizen from the point of view of Los. The book has been described as a rewriting of the ancient myth of creation that equates Fall with the loss of spiritual vision brought about by selfhood.

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Vala is an Emanation/mate of Luvah, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents nature while Luvah represents emotions. Originally with Luvah, she joins with Albion and begets the Zoa Urizen. In her fallen aspect, she is the wandering figure known as the Shadowy Female. After the Final Judgment, she is reunited with Luvah but placed under the dominion of the restored Urizen.

References

Bloom, Harold. The Visionary Company. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.
Damon, S. Foster. A Blake Dictionary. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988.

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[1] Damon 1988 pp. 120–122

[2] Bloom 1993 pp. 32, 82–83

[3] Damon 1988 pp. 122–123

[4] Bloom 1993 p. 86

[5] Damon 1988 p. 123

[6] Damon 1988 pp. 122, 124