Re: Albion to rise again

["S R.-Weiser" <s_dweisr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:19 AM 3/10/98 -0600, Jean Lorrah wrote:
>On Mon, 09 Mar 1998 13:33:01 -0500 Kevin Wilson <KMWILSON@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>writes:
>>    "Oh, Albion remains,
>>     Sleeping now to rise again."
>>Does anyone know what Albion refers to?  
>
>It's an ancient term for England.
>
Dear Jean,
Your'e right but there's a lot more to it than that.
Here's what I found.
Albion was a term often employed by the spiritualistic Romantic period
artist and writer William Blake(1757-1827). What we'll have to surmise is
that Robert is acquainted with Blake's ideas and art.
  William Blake did indeed assign geographical regions England to the limbs
of the giant Albion. His right hand covers Wales, London is between his
knees, and so on. I guess that would place the head somewhere at the top of
Scotland. And perhaps the left hand at Canterbury.
But wait there's more.
Albion is tied in with the alternative belief that Jesus visited England in
person with Joseph of Arimathea and spent time with the Druidic order that
was allegedly operating there. Jesus left a resonance or an echo of his
being behind for Albion to get in tune with.
Albion is a term that goes far beyond simply representing England in a
geographical sense. That equation is only a small part of what Albion was
about. More correctly Albion represented Adamic (fallen) humanity.
Specifically I am referring to one of the illustrations for Blake's work
"Jerusalem" (1804-1820). In the image a personified Albion "rises again" or
is "revived" by a picture of Christ on the Cross of Golgotha as the Redeemer:
"Awake! O sleeper of the land of shadows; wake! expand!
I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine."
According to the source I looked at Blake's ideas about this rising again
of Albion stemmed from the alchemist Paracelsus. Blake was a Hermeticist as
well as a writer and artist. Blake portrays Albion becoming what he sees.
Paracelsus essentially said "What man thinks,
he is, and a man is also as he thinks. If he thinks a fire, he is a fire;
if he thinks a war, he is a war.(De virtue imaginativa , 1526)
So perhaps what Robert is saying is that within our own imaginations lies
the power for Albion to truly rise again.
As another note to this.
>From the words of William Blake in "Jerusalem",
"For all are Men in Eternity, Rivers,
Mountains, Cities, Villages.
All are Human and when you enter into their bosoms you walk
In Heavens & Earths, as in your own bosom you bear your Heaven
And & Earth and all you behold; tho it appears Without,
it is Within, In your imagination,
of which this World of Mortality is but a Shadow.
 Anyway Blake's hymn on the subject, also called "Jerusalem" gives a little
more depth to his concept.

There's a lot more depth to the Albion idea, but I leave it for the rest of
you to look again at what you see.
Most of this material comes from a wonderful book called, "Alchemy and
Mysticism," by Alexander Roob. Also check out the works of Marion Zimmer
Bradley, especially "The Mists of Avalon," "The Forest House," and 
"The Lady of Avalon." There's also a wonderful monograph on William Blake,
but the name of the author escapes me at present.
Sincerely,
Shar
The Pink Lady
Robert Plant (April'70),
"I think we'll play an extra hour, 'cause we're having such
a good time tonight!"