Observations placeholder
Blake, William - The Flea
Identifier
000986
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
John Varley – an artist, astrologer and close friend of Blake – reported in his Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy (1882) that Blake once had a spiritual vision of a ghost of a flea and that ‘This spirit visited his imagination in such a figure as he never anticipated in an insect.’ While drawing the spirit it told the artist that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of men who were ‘by nature bloodthirsty to excess’. In the painting it holds a cup for blood-drinking and stares eagerly towards it.
A description of the experience
The source of the experience
Blake, WilliamConcepts, symbols and science items
Symbols
TheatreScience Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Overloads
AngstInsecurity
Psychological trauma
Suppressions
Manic depressionSuppressing memory