The scene is Ulro- a dangerous place. When Albion fell asleep, all sorts of bad things happens, typified by the daughters of Beulah clothing Albion with a dreadful garment. The yarn that they used, going straight to his navel and around his backside, looks suspiciously like the serpent (devil) who rules the world.
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars are part of Albion, everything material, temporal, opposed to Albion's true nature, which is Eternal. Erdman (304) refers to Albion as a victim of Druid sacrifice. He calls the three maidens the three fates; he cites Plates 9, 14, 19, 22, 24 with similar messages. (Look at them again.) (The garment is the material person. The soul is the Eternal person.) The two bright stars: on his arm Jupiter or Mars and on his leg Venus. Vala in the center holds up what Erdman calls an operating tent. The three females could be thought of as Vala, Rahab and Tirzah.
Vala has many identities (the Four Zoas was first called Vala, she was the
emanation of Luvah, and as the contrary of Jerusalem; Vala was always veiled,
Jerusalem always naked.
Tirzah is the religion of nature and materialism while Rahab represents the
religion of law, sin, and punishment; Jerusalem is the relgiion of Love and God. The last quote from Peter Berger's William Blake Poet and Mystic. The others primarily from Erdmans Illuminated Blake.
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