William Blake and Newton's Apple

     In William Blake’s Newton, one sees a nude Newton sitting in a very uncomfortable position on a rock measuring out something out with a compass.  The compass is a symbol for geometry, with its most recent use by the Freemasons.  Upon closer examination of the engraving, one notices that the paper Newton is using the compass on is rolled up into a stylized “G”, another symbol for Freemasonry. And the last clue is on the paper that Newton is composing on, a right angle, or symbol for the Mason Square.  All of this arguable, and am not convinced myself, I decided to look more closely into Newton.  What little I knew of him came from rumors and few scientific principles I learned in college; however, the man himself or of his other works, I knew nothing. 

Newton's Coat of Arms

     The most popular thing I remember about Newton was his discovery of gravity while under an apple tree.  This image was always reinforced in TV via cartoons and sitcoms with Newton getting hit by an apple, and the hit serving as the impetus for his “discovery” of Gravity.  Or what I would come to learn as Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation.  But what I remember most, is the idea that he received his inspiration from under a tree; similar to Adam and Eve.  So before I even Google Newton, I had the feeling that I was going to connect him with Alchemy and the Occult, and sure enough I did; he even has his own WIKI entry under Isaac Newton’s Occult Writings.  Seemed like a good place to start.

     The first thing that jumped out at me was a quote from economist John Maynard Keynes, who purchased some of Newton’s work.  Consider the following:

after purchasing and studying Newton's alchemical works in 1942, economist John Maynard Keynes, for example, opined that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians". [1]

Newton lived in an age when many of the sciences where still being developed and had not come into their own, and alchemy was a science in Newton’s time.  Newton lived from 1642-1727.  Most of his work on alchemy was never published and much of it was purchased by John Maynard Keynes at an auction in 1936.  Among his writings were also the writing of others, and it turns out Newton had a great interest in the philosopher’s stone.  From Wiki:

Of the material sold during the 1936 Sotheby's auction, several documents indicate an interest by Newton in the procurement or development of the Philosopher's Stone. Most notably are documents entitled Artephius his secret Book, followed by The Epistle of Iohn Pontanus, wherein he beareth witness of ye book of Artephius; these are themselves a collection of excerpts from another work entitled Nicholas Flammel, His Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures which he caused to be painted upon an Arch in St Innocents Church-yard in Paris. Together with The secret Booke of Artephius, And the Epistle of Iohn Pontanus: Containing both the Theoricke and the Practicke of the Philosophers Stone.[2]

And:

Also in the 1936 auction of Newton's collection was, The Epitome of the treasure of health written by Edwardus Generosus Anglicus innominatus who lived Anno Domini 1562. This is a twenty-eight page treatise on the Philosopher's Stone, the Animal or Angelicall Stone, the Prospective stone or magical stone of Moses, and the vegetable or the growing stone.[3]

So, it appears that just by the name of the texts that Newton had, he was in a position to attempt to figure out mystery of the Philosopher’s stone.  He had a treatise with a title connecting the Philosopher’s Stone and the magical stone of Moses?  What if he had discovered that the Philosopher’s stone was the Amanita mushroom, and ingested it, became inspired as he did?  Then he too, is weaved into the mushroom mythology?  

In fact, one of the ancient texts, which Newton translated, was The Emerald Tablet.  

The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text, the first known appearance of the Emerald Tablet is in a book written in Arabic between the sixth and eighth centuries. The text was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century. Numerous translations, interpretations and commentaries followed.[4]

Here is his translation:

1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
2. That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing
3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse.
5. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
6. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
7. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.
8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth & receives the force of things superior & inferior.
9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world
10. & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
11. Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
12. So was the world created.
13. From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (or process) is here in this. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world[5]
14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.

     If Newton did discover the identity of the philosopher’s stone, did he enjoy it, or did he suffer a psychosis associated with a bad trip?  In 1692, Newton was to suffer what was called a nervous breakdown that would last for 18 months.  Consider the following behavior exhibited by Newton:

Newton recorded in his notebook of experimenting with chemicals during June of 1693. The limited evidence for symptomatic mental illness of Newton during this period stem from correspondences (c.f. The Royal Society) revealing melancholia, desire for withdrawal from relations including his good friends, insomnia, apathy, loss of appetite, delusion of persecution, possibly failures in memory (amnesia), and bipolar. In a letter written to Samuel Pepys, Newton stated he was...

extremely troubled by the embroilment I am in, have neither ate nor slept well in the last twelve months, nor have my former consistency of mind

13th September 1693 [8]

It has been suggested that mercury poising caused this, since he mentions ingesting it, and high traces were found in his hair samples after death.  The problem with this diagnosis is that Mercury poisoning caused by ingesting can be irreversible, and fatal[6].  However, compare Newton’s behavior to the effects of psilocybin mushrooms:

Reactions characterized by violence, aggression, homicidal and suicidal attempts, prolonged schizophrenia-like psychosis, and convulsions have been reported in the literature. A 2005 survey conducted in the United Kingdom found that almost a quarter of those who had used psilocybin mushrooms in the past year had experienced a panic attack. Other adverse effects less frequently reported include paranoia, confusion, derealization, disconnection from reality, and mania. Psilocybin usage can temporarily induce a state of depersonalization disorder. Usage by those with schizophrenia can induce acute psychotic states requiring hospitalization.[7]

Also, it is likely Newton would have used alchemical terms rather than actual terms to keep it secret.  Consider too the implications of mercury in the context of alchemy, it has been identified as Prima materia, or the first matter.  Alchemists thought of mercury as the First Matter from which all metals were formed.[8]  By 1612 Martin Ruland the Younger had compiled a list with over 50 synonyms for Prima material:

Names assigned to the Prima Materia in Ruland's 1612 alchemical dictionary, Lexicon alchemiae sive dictionarium alchemistarum.[9]

Microcosmos, The Philosophical Stone, The Eagle Stone,Water of Life,Venom, Poison, Chamber, Spirit, Medicine, Heaven, Clouds, Nebula or Fog, Dew, Shade, Moon, Stella Signata and Lucifer, Permanent Water, Fiery and Burning Water, Salt of Nitre and Saltpetre ,Lye, Bride, Spouse, Mother, Eve, Pure and Uncontaminated Virgin, Milk of Virgin, or the Fig, Boiling Milk, Honey, A Spiritual Blood, Bath, A Syrup,Vinegar, Lead, Tin, Sulphur of Nature, Spittle of the Moon, Ore, The Serpent, The Dragon, Marble, Crystal, Glass, Scottish Gem, Urine, Magnesia, Magnet,White Ethesia,White Moisture, White Smoke, Dung, Metallic Entity,Mercury, The Soul and Heaven of the Elements,The Matter of all Forms, Tartar of the Philosophers,Dissolved Refuse,The Rainbow,Indian Gold, Heart of the Sun, Chaos, Venus[9] 

Since there are so many words used to describe prima materia, I feel it would be difficult to actually assert what Newton ingested.  While mercury poising might be a possibility, I feel if he was really that damaged, it would have been permanently, and he would not of have been able to go on and be as productive as he was after his depression.  Consider the fact that he would go on to become warden of the Royal Mint, makes it suspicious that he would have endured any lasting effects of mercury poising associated with ingesting it.  

     What about Newton and secret societies?  Apparently there are secret societies that maintain secrecy.  According to one researcher trying to prove Rene Descartes was a memeber of the Rosicrucians, said this:

In identifying certain historical persons involved with Rosicrucianism we need to keep in mind that because of various religious and political persecutions of centuries past, Rosicrucians, for obvious reasons, were sworn to secrecy regarding their membership. Even known Rosicrucian apologists such as Robert Fludd and Michael Maier never publicly verified their Rosicrucian affiliation.

And yet, we know that a number of historical figures were Rosicrucian, and if one looks closely there are various references suggesting Rosicrucian affiliation that are often overlooked by historians as being insignificant. For example, the Royal Society of today is derived from the efforts of a group of known Rosicrucians: Theodore Haak, John Pell, and Samuel Hartlib, to name but a few. The group was first known as the "Invisible College," later as the "Rosicrucian College," and finally as the "Royal Society" a name conferred by King Charles II in 1662.

Newton was President of the Royal Society.  Consider that Newton’s occult work didn’t come to light until 1936, and was bought by another member of a secret society member John Maynard Keynes.  Keynes was a member of the Cambridge Apostles.[10]  It has been suggested by some that based on his work and associations that Newton was a member of the Rosicrucians, furthermore the Rosicrucians have claimed him as a member.[11]  Lastly, upon his death, Newton was in possession of over 160 manuscripts dedicated to alchemy, and some even Rosicrucian manifestos. 

At the time of his death, Isaac Newton had 169 books on the topic of alchemy in his personal library, and was believed to have considerably more books on this topic during his Cambridge years, though he may have sold them before moving to London in 1696. For its time, his was considered one of the finest alchemical libraries in the world. In his library, Newton left behind a heavily annotated personal copy of The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity R.C., by Thomas Vaughan which represents an English translation of The Rosicrucian Manifestos. Newton also possessed copies of Themis Aurea and Symbola Aurea Mensae Duodecium by the learned alchemist Michael Maier, both of which are significant early books about the Rosicrucian movement. These books were also extensively annotated by Newton.[12]

                                            

Also, the Masonic Square and Compass, images that led to this research, also come from the alchemical tradition, and first appear in a manuscript by Valentinus, called Materia Prima, in 1612.  Sound familiar?  Consider the following image in which a two-head hermaphrodite is holding the compass in one hand and the square in the other.  Here’s what Al Pike had to say about the mason and the square and what they represent:

You see at the beginning of this reading, an old Hermetic Symbol, copied from the "MATERIA PRIMA" of Valentinus, printed at Franckfurt, in 1613, with a treatise entitled "AZOTH." Upon it you see a Triangle upon a Square, both of these contained in a circle; and above this, standing upon a dragon, a human body, with two arms only, but two heads, one male and the other female. By the side of the male head is the Sun, and by that of the female head, the Moon, the crescent within the circle of the full moon. And the hand on the male side holds a Compass, and that on the female side, a Square. [13] 

And:

The Hermaphroditic figure is the Symbol of the double nature anciently assigned to the Deity, as Generator and Producer, as BRAHM and MAYA among the Aryans, Osiris and Isis among the Egyptians. As the Sun was male, so the Moon was female; and Isis was both the sister and the wife of Osiris. The Compass, therefore, is the Hermetic Symbol of the Creative Deity, and the Square of the productive Earth or Universe.

The COMPASS, therefore, as the Symbol of the Heavens, represents the spiritual, intellectual, and moral portion of this double nature of Humanity; and the SQUARE, as the Symbol of the Earth, its material, sensual, and baser portion. [14]

     I only wanted to try to show that Newton and Blake might be connected through Masonry, but I now feel it was through alchemy.  And I feel that Newton also discovered the identity of the Philosopher’s stone as a magic mushroom.  And that Blake knew of this and incorporated it into his art.

The first clue is the shape that Newton is drawn in, an incredibly uncomfortable position, with happens to resemble the shape of the mushroom.  Another hint adding to this, is the only piece of clothing appears like a white veil draping his arm.  This appears like the stalk of the amanita rising up to meet Newton’s red hair, like the cap of the mushroom.  Another mushroom hint is also hidden between crevice between Newton’s stomach and thigh; there is what appears to be a mushroom.  And the last hint is the fact that Newton is sitting on a stone or the philosopher’s stone, while he makes calculations.  Newton literally drew his inspiration from the philosopher’s stone, and Blake illustrated it here. And this is just one engraving.   

---

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet

[5] Ibid

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)

[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prima_materia

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Apostles

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mystical_Order_Rosae_Crucis

[12] White, Michael (1999). Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer. Da Capo Press. p. 117.

[13] Morals and Dogma: Consistory: XXXII. Sublime of the Royal Secret pg. 850-51

[14] Ibid

William Blake and Secret Societies

William Blake and New Age (Part 3)

Ancient Mystics/ Medieval Alchemists/ Freemasonry 

THE Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer & Ovid, of Plato & Cicero, which all Men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible: but when the New Age is at leisure to Pronounce, all will be set right & those Grand Works of the more ancient & consciously & professedly Inspired Men will hold their proper rank & the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration. Shak- speare & Milton were both curb'd by the general malady & infection from the silly Greek & Latin slaves of the Sword.   

Milton, William Blake [1]

 

    William Blake suggests in the above passage that the writings of Homer, Ovid, Plato, and Cicero were stolen, changed, and that “all men ought to contemn” them.  Furthermore, he adds that these works were interpreted in such a way as to make them hostile to the Bible.  Essentially, the Greeks and Romans were rationalists, who included warfare as part of their rational; where as Blake was a Romantic, who used his imagination to make war irrational.  In addition to that, the Greek and Roman republics were premised on the notion of Democracy, which excluded the majority of their populations, whom were slaves.  I mention this because democracy was the same form of government the founding fathers of America would choose; and they were also slavers, and members of Freemasonry, who would appear to be influential on Blake.

     Blake demonstrates in his writing knowledge of Freemasonry, Freemasons, and their symbols in his own art.  He essential writes a tribute to the Freemasons involved in the American Revolution in America: A Prophecy.  He also mentions ancient mystic Greeks: Pythagoras, Plato, Trismegistus.  In addition he shows knowledge of medieval Alchemists’ such as Paracelsus and Jacob Boehme.  It is through this lineage of secret societies has the mushroom secret been preserved and passed down; and used to initiate a select few into the inner circle; and William Blake was one such individual.

     In addition to being familiar with the classics, Blake was familiar with occult writing as well. One of the things that stands about Blake’s writing, are his references to alchemists and other mystics, such as Jacob Boehme, Paracelsus, Trismegistus, Pythagoras, Plato, and Swedenborg.   Considering that some of the books written by these authors were rare.  For example, only 9 copies of Blake’s own The Marriage of Heaven and Hell known to exist.[2] One can only assume that he had access via some secret society; it has been suggested that Blake was a Grand Master of the Ancient Order of Druids from 1799-1827[3]. Consider the following quote in which Blake mentions:

     Any man of mechanical talents may, from the writings of Paracelsus or Jacob Boehme, produce ten thousand volumes of equal value with Swedenborg's, and from those of Dante-or Shake-spear an infinite number.

     But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake [4]     

     Blake essentially provides a lineage of great occultists, starting with Paracelsus (1493-1541) the inventor of laudanum and father of modern Alchemy[5]. Next he lists Boehme (1565-1624), German mystic and Christian, who reintroduced Gnostic traditions into Christianity after a 1000-year hiatus.[6]  Last mentioned, Immanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), the Swedish inventor and theologian who’s Heaven and Hell inspired Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.  While Blake’s quote appears derogatory, he is actually claiming the works of these men contain a truth, which understood can serve as a model to reproduce similar works; which is what Blake does with the majority of his work. 

     Although many suppose alchemy to be the secret art of transforming lead into gold, it is much more than that.  It is a allegory for transformation: the useless into the useful; Heaven to hell; idea to reality.  According to H. J. Sheppard:

Alchemy is the art of liberating parts of the Cosmos from temporal existence and achieving perfection which, for metals is gold, and for man, longevity, then immortality and, finally, redemption. Material perfection was sought through the action of a preparation (Philosopher's Stone for metals; Elixir of Life for humans), while spiritual ennoblement resulted from some form of inner revelation or other enlightenment (Gnosis, for example, in Hellenistic and western practices).[7]

In fact, the quest for the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone was one of the main goals of alchemy.  Consider the following:

The philosophers' stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosophers' stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work").[8]

But what is the Philosopher’s Stone?  What substance could liberate one from the Cosmos, offer an inner revelation resulting in spiritual ennoblement?  Amanita muscaria mushrooms.[9]  When Blake writes that any man “mechanical talents” can create works equivalent to Swedenborg’s, Shakespeare, and Dante, he means that their works were inspired by mushrooms; and that any man initiated into the inner circle of various secretive societies will gain the insight required produce their own mystical works, which subsequently is what all of these men did.  They knew the secret, and veiled it with occult writings and images, which once made known, are obvious to the initiated. The literary term is irony.

     In The Song of Los, Blake mentions that his character Palamabron gave an abstract law (mushroom?) to Trismegistus, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato; and all these Greeks were associated with secret societies.  Blake writes:

To Trismegistus, Palamabron gave an abstract Law;  

To Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato.

Trismegistus, which means “thrice great Hermes”, was a mysterious character.  Little is know about him, but he: 

may have represented three different teachers in the Illuminist tradition described as a very powerful ancient mage, not a god in his writings, collectively called the Corpus Hermeticum, Hermes describes himself as "Philosopher, Priest, and King" wrote the Emerald Tablet and taught Pythagoras, among other exploits.[10]

Hermes Trismegistus

If Trimegistus was Pythagoras’ teacher, then Blake again has provided a lineage of teachings passed down through secret societies.  And perhaps even includes himself when he describe his own work as Illuminations. Pythagoras was also a teacher in a secret society and his followers were called Pythagoreans.  In fact, Pythagoras taught from behind a curtain, and only his most adapt students were permitted into this esoteric circle.[11] Interesting too that he should describe himself as a religious, philosopher king, which is exactly whom Socrates suggested should be our rules via the writings of Plato.  Plato’s, who’s real name was Aristocles, was also a leader of a secret society called the Academy, which continued the Pythagorean tradition.  

     Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of Alchemy, a new secret society would emerge in 18^th century Europe and New England, Freemasonry.  And Freemasonry was directly responsible for the French and American Revolutions (or social alchemy).  Blake continues listing men in his works who are associated with secret societies.  These men were his contemporaries and though separated by an ocean, they were his fellow Englishmen before the war.  In his tribute, America: A Prophecy, Blake mentions American revolutionaries whom were all freemasons.  Blake writes:

The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent,

Sullen fires across the Atlantic glow to America’s shore:

Piercing the souls of warlike men, who rise in silent night,

Washington, Franklin, Paine & Warren, Gates, Hancock & Green;[12] 

George Washington was the president of American Freemasonry, and consequently the first American President under the masonic Constitution; he is on the dollar bill; there is a temple for him and countless monuments (including the Washington Monument; a state named for him; his image carved into a mountain.  

Ben Franklin, was another Mason who used his Masonic connections to gather support from France; his image on the $100 bill.  

Thomas Paine, wrote Common Sense, as propaganda for revolutions; and he wrote a history of Freemasonry.  There was also a story that Blake and Paine were close friends, with Blake helping him escape England.  

Joseph Warren was also a member of the Sons of Liberty, another secret society dedicated to terrorist attacks and false flags designed to gain the conspirators sympathy from the majority of colonist who were against a separation from England.  

Joseph Warren

Horatio Gates, while not a turncoat, he was an original British officer, who left England for life in the colonies on a plantation.  He became a major figure in the American Revolution, wining and losing battles.[13]  

Horatio Gates

John Hancock, whose name is synonymous with signature, used his money to finance the war, and ships to fight and smuggle for the war.  

Nathanael Greene, another Freemason, who rose from the rank of private to general in the American Revolutionary War.

Nathanael Greene

     Blake was in his 20’s during the revolution, and one can only assume that he would have known these names through newspapers.  

William Blake

He would of course known many more, but chooses to mention men who would go on to be deified as the Founding Fathers of the United States, and some men’s faces would eventually grace our currency, as would their Masonic symbols.  Blake demonstrates in his work a knowledge of authors whose mystical writings influenced his own, giving some indication that he had access to these writings.  He also writes about his contemporaries who involved in Revolution, and was likely a friend of one the great propagandists of his time.  Through his occult knowledge, Blake would have known the identity of the Philosopher’s stone and Jesus to be one in the same. And that he used that knowledge to generate his own art in the same occult genre, writing for his brethren, not the public. 

      

---

[1] Blake’s Poetry and Designs, Page 237

[2] http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0234.html

[3] http://www.neopagan.net/AODbooklet.html

[4] Blake’s Poetry and Designs, Page 99

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Böhme

[7] Linden, Stanton J. (1996). Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English literature from Chaucer to the Restoration. Pages 7,11 University Press of Kentucky.

[8] Heindel, Max, Freemasonry and Catholicism

[9] http://www.ambrosiasociety.org/the_philosophers_stone.html

[10] http://www.lightparty.com/Spirituality/HermesTrismegistus.html

[11] http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/esoteric.html

[12] Blake’s Poetry and Designs, page 110 George Washington, Ben Franklin, Joseph Warren, Horatio Gates, John Hancock, Nathaniel Greene were all known freemasons.  Thomas Paine wrote a history of Freemasonsry, yet can not be identified for certain, yet who he keeps company with, and his revolutionary actions suggest he was.

[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Gates

William Blake and Magic Mushrooms

William Blake and Magic Mushrooms (Part 1)

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
"Proverbs from Hell", William Blake

I do not suggest that St. John of Patmos ate mushrooms in order to write the Book of Revelations. Yet the succession of images in his Vision, so clearly seen but such phantasmagoria, means for me that he was in the same state as one be-mushroomed. Nor do I suggest for a moment that William Blake knew the mushroom when he wrote this of the clarity of vision…Sacred Mushrooms: Secrets of Eleusis, (40) R. Gordon Wasson.

 I do suggest that St. John and William Blake used mushrooms, and both of their works are inspired by eating mushrooms. Consider the following quotes:

I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
  Revelations 10:10-11, St. John

Notice handle of the Torah (above)/scroll looks like mushroom.

A dragon red and hidden Harlot which John in Patmos saw
From Milton, William Blake

Part I

     In 1954, Aldous Huxley published The Doors of Perception, a book about his experience using mescaline, the active psychotropic in peyote.  He took the title from William Blake’s, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.”  In the 1960’s the psychedelic rock band The Doors, would take their name from the same quote. The full quote comes from Blake's A Memorable Fancy:

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite/ For man has closed himself up till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.  

If Aldous Huxley and Jim Morrison used psychoactive substances to open these doors of perception, it would seem likely that William Blake did as well. Yet, those such as Wasson claim that Blake could enter an altered state of consciousness without the benefit of psycho tropics. If one never looked at the art of William Blake or knew of his background in Gnosticism and alchemy, it is possible to come to the conclusion that he was simpley inspired. However, If one takes a closer look at his work, in conjunction with such works as John M. Allegro’s, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, or Jan Irving and Andrew Rutajit's Astrotheology and Shamanism, or my Hacking into Heaven: Mushrooms and the Bible, it should be obvious that William Blake knew the source of the Bible to be the mushroom, Amanita muscaria or fly agaric; and that he consumed them to become inspired. In this work, I will analyze the prints and writing of William Blake to demonstrate beyond a doubt that he used mushrooms, and incorporated them into his art, in an effort to emulate the Bible.

     Deconstructing a myth is a difficult task, for it involves tearing apart something sacred and rebuilding it into something more realistic; it is akin to ripping the wings off of an angel to bring the image back down to earth.  For example, part of the William Blake myth involves Blake having a vision of god at the age of four.  How can one confirm of deny this happened? How at four years old, do you have the linguistic ability to express a vision of god? Unless of course, Blake relates the story later in life to give credence to the narrative of his poetic vision.  This story comes to us from Blake’s wife, Kate, and is recounted in the Diary, reminiscences, and correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson: 

You know dear, the first time you saw god was when you were four years old, and he put his head to the widow, and set you a-screaming(77).  

Furthermore, this comes from a conversation Robinson had with Kate after Blake’s death in 1872.  Also, while Blake enjoyed some recognition during his own time, he was not published nor well read by his contemporaries, and most of his work was in private collections. 

     Alexander Gilchrist wrote The Life of William Blake, in 1863, nearly 40 years after Blake’s death.  While it provides a narrative of Blake’s life, it does so by relying on dated information given to Gilchrist by Blake’s surviving friends.  To really understand Blake’s work, it is more important to look at who inspired his style and philosophies: Jacob Boehm and Emmanuel Swedenborg.  Both Boehm and Swedenborg attempted to reinterpret the Bible, and created their own methodology for their exegeses.  Both men came to the conclusion that the Bible was a sort of code in which the truth was hidden.  Consider the following quote from Boehm’s Clavis :

10. Reason will stumble, when it sees heathenish terms and words used in the explanation of natural things, supposing we should use none but scripture phrase (or words borrowed from the Bible); but such words will not always ply and square themselves to the fundamental exposition of the properties of nature, neither can a man express the ground with them: also the wise heathen and Jews have hidden the deep ground of nature under such words, as having well understood that the knowledge of nature is not for every one, but it belongs to those only, whom God by nature has chosen for it.

And consider a similar quote from Swedenborg’s The White Horse:

7. The Word is not understood, except by those who are enlightened. The human rational faculty cannot comprehend Divine, nor even spiritual things, unless it be enlightened by the Lord (n. 2196, 2203, 2209, 2654). Thus they only who are enlightened comprehend the Word (n. 10323). The Lord enables those who are enlightened to understand truths, and to discern those things which appear to contradict each other.

Swedenborg

     Both excerpts suggest that the actual words of the Bible are not to be taken literally, but interpreted.  Furthermore, Boehme suggests that only those chosen by god will receive insight, while Swedenborg suggests that only the enlightened will understand these spiritual truths. Apparently, Boehme and Swedenborg felt they were in possession of this faculty to discern the truth of the word, but where did they get this divine knowledge? How where they selected?

     Secret societies abounded in medieval and industrial Europe, and it has been suggested by many that the secret of the Divine Mystery of Jesus Christ has been passed down through secret societies, especially through the alchemical works of Paracelsus and secret society of Freemasonry.  Rather than try to prove that William Blake lived across the street from a Masonic temple, and was a Freemason, as well as those who inspired him, I would rather focus on the work of Blake to demonstrate the themes he includes originate from Freemasonry and alchemy. It was through these secret societies that certain members were initiated in into the inner circle and given the true doctrine of the world’s great religions; civilization evolved out of mushroom use, more specifically the consumption of Amanita muscaria. 

     In 1957, the western world was introduced to magic mushrooms via Life magazine, in an article about R. Gordon Wasson’s rediscovery of the magic mushroom in Mexico. The ancient mushroom ritual was still being practiced by the Mazatec Indians.  Wasson followed up the article with a self-published book, Mushrooms Russia and History.  And in 1969, he self-published another book, Soma: The Divine Mushroom of Immortality, which consequently was sold out before it was even published.  Only a year later, John M. Allegro would publish The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, based on his translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in which he claimed that the god the ancient Israelites was the Amanita muscaria mushroom.  Then 2001, that Dan Merkur published, The Mystery of Manna, in which he suggested ergot rather than amanita was the basis for the Bible.  And in 2002, Clark Heinrich published, Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy, in which he suggests that the Amanita muscaria mushrooms was behind both religion and alchemy.  Then in 2006, Jan Irving and Andrew Rutajit published, Astrotheology and Shamanism: Unveiling the Law of Duality in Christianity and Other Religions, which reasserted the Amanita muscaria theory.  Most recently, I published my own, Hacking into Heaven: Mushrooms and the Bible, which I too assert that the Bible is based on the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria.  This work you are reading assumes that the reader is familiar with at least one of these books; however, I will include a previously written essay, “Language, Religion, and Slavery” to provide a brief model for how this paradigm works.