William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision

Schuchard, Marsha Keith

ISBN 10: 1594772118 / ISBN 13: 9781594772115

Published by Inner Traditions, 2008

Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M01594772118-G

Synopsis:

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.

About the Author: Marsha Keith Schuchard received a Ph.D. in British literature for her explorations into the esoteric-erotic underground traditions of 17th- to 20th-century secret societies and their influence on British and Irish poets and artists. The author of Restoring the Temple of Vision and William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bibliographic Details

Title: William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual ...
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Publication Date: 2008
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: good