Yeats and Occult (1)

7/21/2019 Yeats and Occult (1)

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MARGARET MILLS HARPER

Yeats and the occult

Suppose, by some miracle or other, the essence o Yeats could be e!pressed in an ima"e or#"ure$ I by a urther miracle %e could as& him, Yeats %ould doubtless appro'e o such aspeculati'e pro(ect, %hich %ould #t %ith his amous notion that a poet )is ne'er the bundleo accident and incoherence that sits do%n to brea&ast* he has been reborn as an idea,somethin" intended, complete+ E&I -./0$ It %ould ma&e sense or this idea to be ima"inaryrather than denotati'e, since Yeats1s %or& rom start to #nish su""ests the pre2eminence o %hat can be en'isioned o'er %hat can be rationally e!plained$ In a letter %ritten a e%%ee&s beore his death, Yeats sounded a note o #nality3 )It seems to me that I ha'e ound%hat I %anted$ 4hen I try to put all into a phrase I say, 5Man can embody truth but hecannot &no% it1+ L /660$ Thus, as he had asserted se'eral years earlier, in an essay onShelley1s Prometheus Unbound, )the ultimate reality is not thou"ht, or thou"ht cannotcreate but 5can only percei'e1+* rather, )the created %orld is a stream o ima"es in thehuman mind+ E&I 78/0$ A human bein" %ho embodied truth %ould also, presumably, ta&e

the orm o an ima"e or symbol$ Yeats arri'ed early at this undamentally reli"ious con'ictionand &ept it throu"hout his lon" and much chan"in" career$ Another essay on Shelley, %ritteno'er three decades beore the one 9uoted abo'e, ma&es the connection bet%een ima"e andthe soul clearly$ Shelley, Yeats %rites, )could hardly ha'e helped percei'in" that an ima"ethat has transcended particular time and place becomes asymbol, passes beyond death, as it %ere, and becomes a li'in" soul+ E&I :.0$ ;ot only arepeople e!pressible throu"h ima"es* symbols, li&e emotions and ideas, may be 'itali<ed intoli'in" bein"s, i o a sort that transcend mortal comprehension$ Yeats re"ularly intert%inesart and %hat mi"ht or lac& o a better term be called reli"ion in (ust such outlandishly direct%ays$ I this poet %ere a symbol, then, %hat %ould the symbol be= >or such a chameleon#"ure as Yeats a static shape %ould not do, e'en or the completeness and intentionalitythat his ar"ument about the )bundle o accident and incoherence+ mi"ht su""est$ Those%ords, ater all, come rom a late essay %ritten to introduce a delu!e edition o complete%or&s ? an edition, tellin"ly, that %as ne'er published but %hose idea continues to haunt

Yeats scholars intent on #ndin" the intended orm o their sub(ect1s #nal and authoritati'eboo&$ Yeats is to be ound sailin" to @y<antium more oten than li'in" there, %e mi"ht say$Indeed, as anyone %ho has read his poem )@y<antium+ has disco'ered, e'en a destinationthat embodies a resolution o contraries does not itsel stay still3 it eatures )Those ima"esthat yet >resh ima"es be"et+ VP 7/:0 in a ury o brea&a"e and comple!ity$ A dia"ramdescribin" Yeats %ould need to be a mo'in" #"ure, but also one %hose mo'ement isinormed by pattern3 Yeats certainly ne'er proposes the natural o'er the arti#cially ordered$As the con'ersation in )Adam1s Burse+ has it, beauty must seem eCortless, but it al%aysta&es %or&3 )there is no #ne thin" Since Adam1s all but needs much labourin"+ VP 6.-0$

To indicate the dynamism o Yeats1s lon" career it %ould be best to use a continually mo'in"#"ure, perhaps turnin" or spinnin" rather than mo'in" in a sin"le direction, to indicate thatmo'ement is not necessarily pro"ress, that a'orite concept in popular thou"ht since thebe"innin" o the Industrial Re'olution$

Yeats despised the notion o pro"ress, much preerrin" the counterin" notion that older,e'en ancient, %as 'ery li&ely better than ne% and impro'ed, in most matters$ The #"uremi"ht also need to be double, to "i'e the sense that oppositions or antitheses de#ne Yeatsmore aithully than sin"le positions$ The po%er o Yeats1s poetry resides to a lar"e de"ree inits %illin"ness to ma&e 'isible its internal stru""les and 'acillations, bet%een such poles assel2deli"htin" art and political conDict, public and pri'ate spheres, lo'e and hatred, aith anddoubt, natural and supernatural, the interior sel and the dramati<ed mas&, detachment anddesire$ The one al%ays en"a"es %ith the other, li&e partners in a dance$ ur #"ure orYeats

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%ould need a central point, a ocus o "reatest intensity or center o "ra'ity that &eeps therest o the pattern in motion$ I Yeats %ere labelin" the dia"ram, there are se'eral possibleorces that he %ould identiy as such a hub$ ne o the most li&ely candidates %ould be hislielon" e!ploration o and belie in occult studies$ A "reat many o the elements composin"%hat is distincti'ely Yeatsian radiate out%ard rom a seemin" miscellany o ol&2reli"ious,psychical, spiritual, and ma"ical ideas and practices$ It is as close to a center as Yeats

comes, e'en thou"h, to use a metaphor rom )The Second Bomin",+ it cannot hold, in thesense o arri'in" either at certainty or internal consistency$ Indeed, malleability is part o theattraction$ In the same introductory essay to his ne'er2#nished collected %or&s cited abo'e,the poet ormulates a &ind o credo, one o se'eral that assert the crucial importance o hisaith to his %or&$ He claims that )the natural and supernatural are &nit to"ether+ and thatbelie in a )mechanical theory+ and a Bhrist out o )dead history+ %ill be replaced by areality and a reli"ion that are )Do%in", concrete, phenomenal$+ And he announces boldly, )I%as born into this aith, ha'e li'ed in it, and shall die in it* my Bhrist $ $ $ is that Fnity o @ein" ante compared to a perectly proportioned human body, @la&e1s 5Ima"ination,1 %hatthe Fpanishads ha'e named 5Sel13 nor is this unity distant and thereore intellectuallyunderstandable, but imminent, diCerin" rom man to man and a"e to a"e+ E&I -8:0$ Theseare stron" %ords$ Yeats intended the American audience o this edition to be sure o theimportance o %hat he called his aith to his %or&s and to his lie$ Ho%e'er, the essay is lessde#niti'e about the speci#cs o (ust %hat that aith entails andon %hat le'el he e!pects his audience to participate in it$ Allusions, to St$ Patric& andSha&espeare in addition to Bhrist, ante, @la&e, and the Fpanishads, set literary andreli"ious te!ts ne!t to each other %ithout seemin" preerences$ Is this an e!pression o belie in art or an artistic e!pression o reli"ious belie= I it entails diCerence rom person toperson, can it ha'e enou"h de#nition to be communicated, e'en throu"h art= Si!ty yearslater, readers o the essay and Yeats1s %or& "enerally are still in the process o comin" toterms %ith his metaphysical ideas and practices$ It is not as ashionable ater the turn o therecent millennium as it %as a "eneration or t%o a"o or mainstream 4estern culture tore(ect non2orthodo! spiritualities$ E'en so, readin" Yeats in the conte!t o his spiritual andma"ical lie is still problematic, despite a consensus that these belies are 'ital to andinseparable rom his aesthetic concerns$ Ironically, o all the poses, 'oices, and mas&s thatdominate his %or& ? Yeats the lo'er, the nationalist, the dramatist, the political actor o socialist or ascist leanin"s, the youn" dreamer or the %ild and %ic&ed old man ? the mostconsistently important to him are the 'ery personae that critics ha'e tended o'er the yearsto ma&e the most mar"inal and capricious3 Yeats the hermeticist, the theosophist, thema"ician, the spiritualist, the occult metahistorian, or the see&er ater Beltic or Indianmysteries$8

The reasons or this state o aCairs are multiple, o course, and ran"e rom the relati'elystrai"htor%ard to the 'aporously indirect$ >or e!ample, relati'ely little %as &no%n or sometime about Yeats1s decades o in'ol'ement %ith the Hermetic rder o the Golden a%n, ama"ical society, or the 'ery "ood reason that it %as a secret order$ n the other hand,

Yeats1s lo'e or Maud Gonne %as and is %idely &no%n, especially in a popular 'ersion thatdoes not include its occult resonances, in part because it had si"ni#cant political 'alue toher, to Yeats, and to others$ Academic studies o En"lish poetry tended or se'eral"enerations to re"ard literary criticism as somethin" amenable to 9uasi2scienti#c methods,so that any number o Yeats critics and teachers mana"ed to admire the poetry but to

re"ard the )embarrassin"+ belies as tri'ial and irrele'ant$ In an oten2repeated remar&,e'en as careul a reader as 4$ H$ Auden could as&, )Ho% on earth, %e %onder, could a mano Yeats1s "its ta&e such nonsense seriously=+6 arious other issues, includin" literaryBelticism, nationalism, re'isionism, and postcoloniality ha'e all been o "reater interest topublishers and buyers o boo&s about an Irish %riter than material about philosophical andreli"ious traditions that are dicult and predominantly En"lish or European$ In reli"ious lie,

Yeats %as ar"uably at his most bour"eois and @ritish as %ell as at his silliest to use another%ord Auden used to describe Yeats0$

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Perhaps most bothersome to many readers has been Yeats1s most e!tensi'e en"a"ement%ith the occult, in the automatic e!periments %ith his %ie Geor"ie Hyde Lees that resultedin the stran"e boo& A Vision$ A Vision, especially in its second, hea'ily re'ised, and muchmore %idely published edition the only 'ersion more or less consistently in print0, spends asi"ni#cant percenta"e o its pa"es preparin" readers to encounter its stran"e e!planationso the uni'erse throu"h "eometric symbolism$ An introduction recalls the arri'al o the

System, as the Yeatses called it, in messa"es rom realms beyond that %ere relayed by spiritBommunicators throu"h Mrs$ Yeats, %ho practiced %hat mi"ht no% be called channelin" torecei'e ans%ers to her husband1s 9uestions$ Then a second introductory section tellsanother ramblin" story, ob'iously #ctional, buildin" on an elaborate hoa! proposed in the#rst edition to e!plain %here the mysterious symbols ori"inated$ This tale introduces ne%characters %ho ta&e part in stran"e e'ents that si"nal the operations o the System in dailylie3 li&e Yeats, apparently, they )can embody truth but $ $ $ cannot &no% it$+ >inally, a letterrom one o the characters to Yeats not only reers to the history recounted in the #rstintroduction but also reers to e'ents rom an early story by Yeats as i those e'ents %erealso, and e9ually, true$ Truth is labyrinthine here* distinctions bet%een matters o art and)those thin"s that they %ere emblems o+ VP JK.0 are blurred beyond reco"nition$

The uncomortable e!perience o readin" A Vision only be"ins here$ It is part o that boo&1sdesi"n to unsettle its readers, and in this blur is a "eneral truth about much o Yeats1s %or&$As a e% critics ha'e reco"ni<ed, A Vision mimics a number o Yeats1s published positions,particularly in non2#ctional prose, in anticipatin" and in act encoura"in" the anta"onisticstances o unsympathetic readers$K So do Mrs$ Yeats1s more pri'ate eCorts, in another story%ell outside her husband1s public 'oices$ >rom behind the scenes, in the 8/7.s and 8/-.s,she pro'ided help and "uidance or many o the most inDuential critics o her husband1s%or& and thus also promoted, or at least did not impede, narrati'es about A Vision and othermatters that reduced the e!tent to %hich her years o %or& on occult matters %ere ta&enseriously$ espite recent studies that turn more ocus on her than she has recei'ed beore,Geor"e Yeats remains a some%hat occluded #"ure in Yeats studies, emphatically not one o the publicly inclined %omen and men %hose riendships and collaborations ha'e ormed aar lar"er part o Yeats1s reputation and de#nition3 %omen li&e Maud Gonne, >lorence >arr,Lady Gre"ory, or li'ia Sha&espear* men li&e AE Geor"e Russell0, E<ra Pound, or ohnMillin"ton Syn"e$7 Anyone amiliar %ith A Vision %ill already ha'e seen %here my "ame o ;ame That Symbol has been tendin", so I may as %ell return to it and propose that Yeats bee!pressed as one o his and Mrs$ Yeats1s o%n %heel and cone2li&e #"ures, subdi'ided intoconstantly mo'in" and inter2related Phases and doubled into a mirror ima"e o itsel, asecond cone sharin" a central point o "reatest intensity$ This double cone has a shado%other, its %ide end lin&ed to the narro% point o the other %hich is turned into a diamond,%ith sharp points at the ends and %ide middle0 by means o a mysterious orce o compression$ >or a poetic illustration o the ener"y that causes this blac&2hole2li&e eCect,note ho% the t%o parts o )The Second Bomin"+ VP 7.8?60 come to"ether 'iolently$ Thepoet1s lamentation about a "eneral state o aCairs suddenly turns into a moment o star&ear, tri""ered by the repetition o the %ords, )The Second Bomin",+ as i that repeatedphrase %ere the outer ed"e o one "yre and the point at the center o another$0 Such aproposal is o course (ust as silly as Auden accused Yeats o bein", %ith those persistententhusiasms or occultiana, rom airies to scryin" to emanations o disembodied spirits$ IoCer this unusual e!periment or se'eral reasons3 #rst, to oCset my suspicion that scholars

li&e me are a bit ridiculous %hen %e try to #t a comple! and spiritually adept poet into ouro%n pseudo2empirical2critical systems* and second, to "i'e mysel a structure %ithin %hichto su""est the intricacies o Yeatsian aith$ Third, it allo%s me room to describe and applythe System that A Vision uses to illuminate e'erythin", rom indi'idual personality to historyto the %ays o human souls bet%een incarnations$ The #"ure see >i"ure 80 can bee!pressed both as a circle, di'ided into t%enty2ei"ht pie2piece sections, each representin"one lunar Phase, or as an hour"lass2shaped #"ure created by the mo'ement into threedimensions o the t%o2dimensional spinnin" circle o Phases ? spin into spiral, circle intocone$ As the circle ma&es a round, the Phases increase and then decrease a"ain, rom the

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dar& o the moon to the ull and bac& a"ain to the dar&, a (ourney that symboli<es tra'elrom a state o complete ob(ecti'ity, %ith a correspondin" erasure o the sub(ect, tosub(ecti'ity and the absence o any ob(ecti'e reality$ Li&e the si"ns o the <odiac in anastrolo"ical system, aspects o human bein"s, moments in time, and any actions orconstructions that occur in time may all be located in a Phase and thus possess thecharacteristics o that Phase$ Incidentally, these Phases, bein" abstract, do not correlate

%ith the phases o real monthly cycles, althou"h any practicin" astrolo"er %ith a raction o the &no%led"e that the Yeatses had o the art can determine the actual lunar phase that %aspresent at a "i'en date$4illy and Geor"e Yeats, thou"h they lo'ed puttin" people or e'entsinto Phases the automatic script is ull o dialo"ue bet%een them about placement o oneitem or another0, %ere not interested in actual realities underpinnin" their System, anymore than @la&e and ante %ere$ The point, or both husband and %ie, %as ima"inati'etruth, %hich %as inseparable rom its source in spiritual 9uestionin"$

In a noteboo& &ept to or"ani<e the automatic messa"es into %or&able orm, Mrs$ Yeatsrecorded this re'elation rom the Bommunicators3 )A philosophy created rom e!perience,burns destroys* one %hich is created rom search, leads$+- The Yeatses created romsearch, and their System insists on the partial nature o "enuine re'elation$

The ull2blo%n System o A Vision is the most ori"inal as %ell as the most comple! o Yeats1sspiritual pursuits, but it should not be separated rom the conte!t o the numerous othera'enues o e!ploration that colored Yeats1s lie and thou"ht rom his youth until his death$Each Phase o his thou"ht comes out o another and leads to the ne!t, and to some de"ree itis important to &no% about them all in order to ollo% his mo'ement around the %heel$Fnderstandin" Yeats1s thou"ht can be dauntin" because o the comple!ity o the 'ariousbelies themsel'es as %ell as the nuances o the historical conte!ts in %hich they occurred,but also because reliable inormation about the 'arious societies %ith %hich he %asassociated, or practices in %hich he en"a"ed, is hard to come by$ Secret societies do notlea'e easily discernible histories o themsel'es or those %ho are not adepts$ cculttheolo"ies also tend to be ill2de#ned and syncretistic, pic&in" and choosin" amon" doctrineso any number o schools o thou"ht ? Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Babbalism, ;eoplatonism,Manicheanism, Noroastrianism, >reemasonry, and Rosicrucianism amon" others ? aboutmany o %hich little e'idence remains, i much publicly disseminated &no%led"e %as e'era'ailable$ Moreo'er, ma"ic and spiritualism are mar"inal reli"ious acti'ities, the &ind that

&eepers o public records such as (ournalists and archi'ists tend to a'oid, e'en in the periodsdurin" %hich such mo'ements are most popular$ To the e!tent that these mo'ements arenot ocially endorsed, they are also less %ell unded than others, meanin" that documentstend to be printed cheaply, in ormats that do not preser'e %ell* records are not &ept in %ell2maintained locations, and so orth$ At times psychic "its ha'e been do%nri"ht dan"erous3%itch hunts and punishments or heresy %ere all too real or any number o indi'iduals inEuropean history$ >or Yeats studies, an added, less "enerali<ed %rin&le is that Mrs$ Yeats %asreluctant to share occult manuscript materials or inormation %ith more than a 'ery e%interested scholars$ Her %ell2"uarded pri'acy, as %ell as the act that she li'ed or ascholarly "eneration lon"er than her husband, ha'e made this area o in9uiry one o theleastdocumented$ The Phases may be di'ided into our 9uadrants ormin" a tetrad, one o

Yeats1s a'orite #"ures0, and the pro"ress rom one 9uarter to the ne!t symboli<es chan"e

rom one sta"e o lie to the ne!t$ Bhild2li&e reshness yields to youthul passion, %hichbends to responsible speculation and then chan"es into a renunciation o responsibility thatcan loo& li&e both %isdom and oolishness as a"e turns bac& to%ards inancy$ In this lastre'olution, our symbol or Yeats mi"ht as %ell reDect his tendency to propose reincarnationin one "uise or another, soul into soul, state into state, mood into mood$0 A little poem%ritten directly out o Geor"e Yeats1s automatic %ritin", )The >our A"es o Man+ VP -J80,depicts the circular mo'ement as a series o battles3

He %ith body %a"ed a #"ht,@ut body %on* it %al&s upri"ht$

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Then he stru""led %ith the heart*Innocence and peace depart$ Then he stru""led %ith the mind*His proud heart he let behind$

The last stan<a ma&es plain that not only is each battle lost, but the %ar itsel is hopelessrom the be"innin"$ It %ill be important to remember that Yeats lo'ed a "ood #"ht, and that

he also &ne% that loss sometimes has more spiritual 'alue than "ain$ There is a hint o %isdom in the #nal deeat3 );o% his %ars on God be"in* At stro&e o midni"ht God shall%in$+ I should note that Yeats1s mo'ement throu"h the Phases as outlined belo% is not somuchchronolo"ical as symbolic o de'elopment3 the our broad areas o study and practice tracedbelo% o'erlap in Yeats1s e!perience, (ust as they are not completely separable rom eachother intellectually$ >or e!ample, Yeats attended sOeances rom the 8::.s, a decade thatalso sa% his #rst entrancement %ith Indian reli"ions, to %ell into the 8/K.s, and his interestin ma"ic %as a crucial aspect o his attraction to the Theosophical Society rom the start, notsupplantin" it$ >or the purposes o this dia"ram, thou"h, the #rst 9uadrant %ill contain

Theosophy* the second, ma"ic, includin" the Golden a%n* the third, spiritualism, includin"the Vision e!periments %ith Mrs$ Yeats* and the ourth, a cluster o reli"ious in'esti"ationsthat are dominated by Indian thou"ht and %hich ta&e se!, 'iolence, and death as controllin"

themes$J The #"ure as a %hole is colored by %hat the Yeatses termed )tinctures,+ the subtleinDuences o sun or moon, elements as basic as #re and %ater %ith %hich they areassociated0 and %hose opposition orms the conte!t or the System as a %hole$ >or this

Yeats dia"ram, it is temptin" to label the tinctures)Polle!en+ and )Yeats+ and identiy them #rst %ith his deeply held sense o the immanenceo a supernatural %orld, li&e the e'er2present airy people o Irish ol& reli"ion or the storieso second si"ht told by his mother, Susan Polle!en, and her Sli"o relations$ Second %ould be

Yeats1s constant need to test spiritual ideas and phenomena %ith methods deri'ed rom thesciences$ Li&e his a""ressi'ely rationalistic ather, and despite their lielon" disa"reements,

Yeats %as more inclined to%ards s&epticism and empiricism than he li&ed to admit$ He notonly listened to stories, attended sOeances, and participated in ma"ic rituals* he also madetranscripts, too& notes, and did historical research into the sub(ects that ascinated him$ This%heel al%ays includes 'aryin" proportions o the need to be sub(ecti'ely en"a"ed and the

counter ur"e to be ob(ecti'ely distanced$

Theosophy

It is common to be"in tracin" Yeats1s belies by recallin" his lielon" interests in ol& belies,be"innin" %ith the stories he heard as a child %hen the amily stayed in the Sli"o area$ >ormy purposes, it is important to note that by the time Yeats collected and publishedcollections o ol& tales in 8::/, 8:/8, and 8:/6, and added his o%n recollections in TheCeltic Twilight 8:/K0, his renditions o the &inds o stories that had lon" ascinated himalready sho%ed the totali<in" impulse o the body o ideas called Theosophy$ Irish myths andstories resonate beyond themsel'es, su""estin" uni'ersality and ancient truth and not thespeci#c practices o people rom particular places$ His prose sounds li&e a blend o reporta"e, story2tellin", the rhetoric o contemporary anthropolo"y in %or&s li&e >ra<er1s The

Golden Bough #rst published in 8:/.0, and somethin" that "i'es personal spiritual andaesthetic con'ictions the rin" o authoritati'e %isdom$ >or e!ample, ater "i'in" se'eralanecdotes about enchanted %oods in a piece by that title, Yeats %rites3

I oten entan"le mysel in ar"uments more complicated than e'en those paths o Inchy as to %hat isthe true nature o apparitions$ @ut at other times I say as Socrates said %hen they told him a learnedopinion about a nymph o the Ilissus, 5The common opinion is enou"h or me1$ $ $ $ I %ill not o acertainty belie'e that there is nothin" in the sunset, %here our oreathers ima"ined the dead ollo%in"their shepherd the sun, or nothin" but some 'a"ue presence as little mo'in" as nothin"$ I beauty isnot a "ate%ay out o the net %e %ere ta&en in at our birth, it %ill not lon" be beauty$ Myth JK?70

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This &ind o discourse underlies poetry %ritten durin" this period as %ell$ It is an interestin"e!periment to read short pieces rom The Celtic Twilight in connection %ith early poems$)Earth, >ire and 4ater+ Myth :.0, or e!ample, complements )The La&e Isle o Innisree+ VP880, addin" to the poem the su""estion that the ima"ined la&e %ater has a deeper spiritualsi"ni#cance than personal nostal"ia or one remembered place and time$ The Irish

landscape has lent itsel to mystical interpretation by any number o %riters and artistsbesides Yeats, o course, but it is important to remember that Yeats1s %estern countrysiderom the mid 8::.s is also the product o urban centers li&e ublin, London, and e'en ;e%

Yor&$ The oundin" o the ublin Hermetic Society in 8::- by Yeats, his riends Geor"eRussell QAE, Bharles ohnston, and a e% others0 mar&ed the be"innin" o the youn" poet1sormal study o the occult$ It did not ta&e lon" or the Hermetic Society to e!amine and bemore or less absorbed by thedoctrines o Theosophy$ This supposedly ancient but actually inno'ati'e mi!ture o Easternmysticism and 4estern science %ith a spiritualist o'erlay %as co2ounded in 8:- in ;e%

Yor& by Helena Petro'na @la'ats&y &no%n to her ollo%ers as )HP@+0 and an Americanla%yer named Henry Steel lcott$ @la'ats&y and lcott disco'ered, or redisco'ered, as theirsociety maintained, a combination o reli"ion, philosophy, and science that %as prooundlyinDuential amon" the proessional classes in the Fnited States and Great @ritain, %hich %ereits primary chosen audience$ 4hen Yeats %as a boy and a youn" man, the social %orld he&ne% %as saturated %ith crises in aith$ Proound chan"es in European society, comin" inthe %a&e o scienti#c disco'eries and technolo"ical ad'ances, had disturbed oundationalbelies in God as %ell as materialist paradi"ms, and in such di'er"ent concepts as pro"ressand tradition, social position and indi'idual identity, in any number o %ays$ The

Theosophical Society %as a ma"net or disaCected members o the educated public, bothmen and %omen$ HP@ %as its mystical center and a""ressi'e mar&eter o its secret po%ers*lcott, a practical man, promoted the Society as a sort o reli"ious debatin" society, li&e anumber o other similar "roups ormed in the post Bi'il 4ar period in the FSA, as %ell as inictorian En"land$ Yeats did not (oin the ublin branch o the Theosophical Society indeed,the Hermetic Society %as determined to remain separate rom sin"le2minded adherence to

Theosophical doctrine0, but he did meet H@P and commit himsel to Theosophy ater hemo'ed to London in 8::$ He (oined the Esoteric Section, a secret section o the Societyormed in 8::: or members %ho %anted a )deeper study o esoteric philosophy$+ He %asdeeply impressed by, i al%ays also some%hat s&eptical o, the Damboyant HP@$ Yeats %asdissatis#ed %ith the materialism endorsed by disco'eries in natural and applied science as%ell as the consolations and orthodo!ies o mainstream Protestant Bhristianity$ The

Theosophical Society pro'ided him %ith historical and cultural depth, the sense that hispresent2day acts, ideas, or ima"es could be placed in the conte!t o ancient and %orld%ideoccult &no%led"e$ Theosophy also stresses a hi"hly elaborated doctrine o reincarnation,%ith the t%in themes o a deterministic uni'erse that mo'es souls throu"h successi'e li'esin a pre2ordained pattern, and a parado!ical reedom o the soul possible by means o spiritual e'olution @la'ats&y1s replacement or ar%inian e'olution, %hich she denounced0$

Yeats %as dra%n intellectually to this t%innin" o choice and chance, amon" other ideas$ Thedialectic in Yeats o ate and %ill as irreconcilable opposites, and indeed his "eneraltendency to thin& in antinomies or opposites, o%es somethin" to Theosophy$ It also did nothurt that the Theosophical Society satis#ed a e% less abstract needs$ It promised a youn"

man, resh rom Ireland, uncomortable %ith the trade bac&"round o his maternal amily as %ell as the decreasin" ortunes o his ather1s London household, ane%2minted respectability amon" r!tres and sorores %ho li'ed comortable and inDuentialli'es$ Theosophy, amon" other chosen teachin"s,enables Yeats to )%al& upri"ht+ into other phases$

Magic

J



Yeats1s interests in theur"ic practice e'entually alienated him rom the Theosophical Society$;ot only did the Society ha'e aspirations to %ide social acceptance a common de'elopmentor alternati'e reli"ions0, aspirations that mi"ht be impeded by %ild practicin" ma"icians,but HP@, certainly a %ild character hersel, had theolo"ical reasons or a #rm opposition topractical occultism, includin" ceremonial ma"ic$ In 8:/. Yeats1s relationship %ith the Society%as se'ered because he reused to stop pursuin" )phenomena,+ attemptin" to dissol'e the

boundaries bet%een spiritual and physical planes by e'ocation and other methods$:

TheHermetic rder o the Golden a%n, a secret society ounded in 8::: under the principalener"y o another hi"hly unusual character, S$ L$ MacGre"or Mathers, seemed, or sometime, a perect #t$ The Golden a%n replaced the passi'ity o spiritualism and respectablepublic2spiritedness o the Theosophical Society %ith the e!citement o ma"ical po%er$ It %asan irresistible lure to a youn" %riter ea"er to create as %ell as learn, to become master inaddition to scholar, and Yeats (oined, and soon assumed mantles o leadership o'er, a "roupo acti'e ma"icians$ The eni"matic and obsessi'e Mathers pro'ided Yeats %ith the characterMichael Robartes, %ho plays a ma(or role in A Vision as %ell as the early stories$ theradepts became deep inDuences and intimate riends, and the systematic trainin" insymbolic systems, ritual practices, and mental discipline %as ormati'e as a &ind o uni'ersity2cum2seminary or Yeats1s later career$ Yeats1s dissertation, i you %ill, %as apro(ect he %or&ed on or some t%el'e years, the de'elopment o a distincti'ely Belticmystery reli"ion, to be based at an uninhabited castle on a la&e island$ The Beltic Mysteriespromised an eCecti'e marria"e o nationalism %ith esoterica by creatin" )an Irish Eleusis orSamothrace,+ as Yeats recalled in 8/8-$ The )Bastle o Heroes+ %ould satisy )the need o mystical rites ? a ritual system o e'ocation and meditation ? to reunite the perception o thespirit, o the di'ine, %ith natural beauty$ I belie'ed that instead o thin&in" o udea as holy%e should Qthin& our o%n land holy $ $ $+ Mem 86K0$ Amon" the pro(ect1s attractions %asthe interest that Maud Gonne had in spiritual collaboration, in their (oint 'isions, and in herritual role as Hi"h Priestess$/ In addition to the Belticism that the Mysteries pro(ect urthered,'isible eCects o this ma"ical Phase upon Yeats1s poetry include Rosicrucian and Babbalisticsources or speci#c symbols, such as roses and trees, %hich recall the Rosy Bross and the

Tree o Lie amon" other o'ertones, and a "eneral ti"htenin" o control o'er ima"e$ Moresi"ni#cant is a chan"e that aCects 'oice in the poems %ritten durin" and ater the 8:/.s$

The spea&er1s position shits rom recei'er o e!perience to ma&er o it, a %ielder o po%ero'er the material as %ell as the interior %orld, and the poetic 'oice ma&es parallel "ains inauthority$ The idea that the empo%ered adept %ould be personally transormed as he or shepro"ressed up%ard throu"h the 'arious "rades, one o the principles o the rder, alsochan"es Yeats1s aesthetics$ The intimate relation o belie'er to belie %as con"enial to

Yeats1s commitment to the @la&ean idea also common in Hindu and @uddhist thou"ht0 thatthe indi'idual is the artist or creator o an essentially poetic uni'erse, but a dynamic,pro"ressi'e sub(ecti'ity is added to the mi!3 ma"ician and ma"ic are increasin"ly related,uni'erse and ma&er "ainin" in po%er to"ether$ Such a ma"ical2poetic purpose is at the hearto the 'olumes The "ecret #ose and The $ind Among the #eeds$ The poetry in thesecollections imposes an essentially ritualistic set o symbols o'er e!perience$ The $ind

Among the #eeds transorms e'en the poet1s 'oice into mystical or occult personae, so thatnames li&e Robartes and Aedh appear in titles$ These %ere dropped in later editions andreplaced by a "eneric )He$+0 4ith beautiul emblematic co'ers and hea'ily, i secretly, codedsymbolism colorin" the narrati'es o the poems, these boo&s attempt, in Ste'en Put<el1s

%ords, )to close the "ap bet%een sub(ect and ob(ect, bet%een creator and created$+ Theattempt to transorm ritual into art is, as Put<el reco"ni<es, an )eCecti'e yet psycholo"icallydan"erous and artistically limitin" sub(ecti'ity,+ eCecti'e in thatit imposes symbolic order on intense personal e!perience, but troublin" in that it necessarilydistances the poet rom that e!perience$8. These %ere years o considerable )Qstru""le %iththe heart,+ in %hich lo'e, rustration, anddespair o'er Maud Gonne caused )Innocence and peace Qto depart,+ and poeticdisplacement is related to such personal trials$ In prose as %ell, the ma"e spea&s in essaysrom this period, i in a orm displaced into philosophy instead o lyricism$ )The Philosophy o



Shelley1s Poetry,+ 9uoted at the be"innin" o this essay, (oins )The Symbolism o Poetry,+ acontemplation inDuenced by Yeats1s connections %ith >rench Symbolism, and the especiallydeclarati'e )Ma"ic+ 8/.80, as representati'e pieces$ Ho%e'er, despite the concreteness o the Golden a%n rituals and symbols and the certainty %ith %hich Yeats proclaims thepo%er o the ocused mind o the transormed sel, he later described the %anin" o itsacti'e inDuence upon him by su""estin" that he %as lost amid conusion3

)ima"e called up ima"e in an endless procession, and I could not al%ays choose amon"them %ith any con#dence* and %hen I did choose, the ima"e lost its intensity, or chan"edinto some other ima"e+ A 68-0$ In practice, thepossibility that supreme art may result rom tappin" into a collecti'e )"reat mind and "reatmemory+ E&I 6:0 remains unreali<ed$ The de'elopment o the sel into di'inity that ritualma"ic claims is not conduci'e to the rou"hbeast that is literature$ Indeed, %ere a human bein" to attain communion %ith the All, Yeatscame to belie'e, his or her 'ery humanity mi"ht be in dan"er, not merely the ability to %rite$A triptych o stories, )Rosa Alchemica,+ )The Tables o the La%,+ and )The Adoration o theMa"i,+ sho%s the dan"er o allo%in" the sel to drit beyond the realms o conusion andimperection$ In 8/.8, Yeats %as one o the &ey combatants in a contro'ersy %ithin therder that led to a schism and its e'entual restructurin", an u"ly 9uarrel that played a lar"epart in his loss o enthusiasm$88 His inte"rity %as 9uestioned and his sel2assurancedama"ed, and he distanced himsel rom the rder in the atermath his timin" %as sure3 bythe end o the year the rder made headlines ater a raudulent American couple, ha'in"in#ltrated the rder, %as tried and con'icted or rapin" a youn" "irl in a a&e initiationceremony0$As he let, one o his partin" shots %as an essay published pri'ately, or his ma"ical r!tresand sorores only, %hich betrays both his ear o dissolution into chaos and his 'ision o therder as a corporate supernatural sel that unctions also as a symbol to enli"hten abeni"hted %orld$ He ur"ently ar"ues that hierarchy and order must be maintained because)a Ma"ical rder diCers rom a society or e!periment and research in that it is an Actual@ein", an or"anic lie holdin" %ithin itsel the hi"hest lie o its members no% and in pasttimes,+ and that i its unity is preser'ed, it %ill be )a sin"le 'ery po%erul talisman+ %hose)personality %ill be po%erul, acti'e, 'isible aar$+86 His char"ed rhetoric anticipates some o the less e!alted race theory o his later years, but it also illuminates con'ictions aboutmystical marria"e, supernatural collaboration, and lie as timeless idea as %ell as temporalbein"$

Yeats1s prose is much more direct in his secret communications than in his published %or&,but both ear and hope are recorded in the portion o his autobio"raphy de'oted to thisperiod$ The section ends %ith a memory o eelin" that diCerentiated personality %asdissol'in" into a riot o ima"es3 )I %as lost in that re"ion a cabbalistic manuscript, sho%n meby MacGre"or Mathers, had %arned me o* astray upon the Path o the Bhameleon, uponHodos Bhameliontos+ A 68-0$

Spiritualism

4ithin a e% years this situation shited drastically, as the autobio"raphy intimates byollo%in" the assertion abo'e %ith a re'erie about nestin" birds, a a'orite Yeatsian ima"eor innate &no%led"e, emale inDuence, and domesticity$ Yeats %rote o the dan"er to sel

rom the perspecti'e o a less emotionally troubled 9uarter$ );o% that I am a settled manand ha'e many birds,+ he be"ins, (oinin" birds to a e% anecdotes about his youn" amilyhis small dau"hter and her pre"nant mother0$ He then proceeds to muse on the sel, not%hat he and his %ie Geor"e came to call )daily sel+ but rather )that a"e2lon" memoriedsel, that shapes the elaborate shell o the mollusc and the child in the %omb+ A 68J0$ The#nal section o )Hodos Bhameliontos,+ the section o the autobio"raphy concerned %ith thee!ploration o ma"ical ima"es, spea&s in a lan"ua"e o "ender, complementarity, andprocreation, and closes %ith a #nal 9uotation rom the pi'otal poem )E"o ominus Tuus+about Sel and Mas& or Anti2Sel$ Autobio"raphy has yielded to e!position o some 'ery

:



subtle abstractions, and these ideas ha'e been #ltered throu"h the occult System that hadbeen arri'in" automatically or se'eral years by the time Yeats submitted this part o themanuscript to his publisher in 8/66$@et%een Yeats1s most acti'e commitment to the rder o the Golden a%n and hisrecollections o it or The Trembling o the Veil, as he titled the autobio"raphical %or& aboutthese years, he mo'ed rom ima"e to persona, %e mi"ht say, rom prop to character, as a

central ocus$ Meditations on and study o symbols, and %or& on rituals based upon them,yielded in Yeats1s occult practice to a rene%ed enthusiasm or spiritualist phenomena andpsychical research into the 'eracity o such occurrences$ In his secular lie, this shit %ascomplemented by the years o %or& %ith the theatre in %hich, in the %ords o the late poem)The Bircus Animals1 esertion,+ )Players and painted sta"e too& all my lo'e, And notthose thin"s that they %ere emblems o+ VP JK.0$ The poem e!a""erates3 Yeats %as ne'erar rom searchin" out )those thin"s+ behind orms$ ;onetheless, li&e the )painted sta"e,+the dra%in" rooms o spirit mediums and the spectacular eCects that oten occurred intandem %ith psychic e!perimentation %ere perormances$ Yeats %as not put oC bytheatricality, e'en cheap eCects$ >ar rom it3 the roles played by the sel or parts o the sel in e!plorin" relationships and communication %ith other aspects o a sin"le person, amon"sel'es, and bet%een li'in" and dead souls %as a topic o in#nite interest$ And as %ith thetheatre or e'en poetry, intellectual lines are not easy to dra% bet%een arti#ce and reality$>or e!ample, Yeats %ould not ha'e %anted absolutely to delineate the de"ree to %hichmediumistic messa"es are clair'oyant or created by subconscious di'isions o thepersonality, the le'el o inspiration rom a collecti'e soul in the %ritin" o a poem, theproportion or &ind o "enuine emotion present in an actor1s playin" o a scripted role, or the%ay that preparation or 'ision ma&es 'ision possible$ ;early a century later, psycholo"y hasde'eloped separately rom the study o psychic phenomena, and the latter has beende'alued as unscienti#c$ isual and aural technolo"y li&e photo"raphy and recorded soundno lon"er hint at the possibilities o auras or telepathy, and mainstream Bhristianityemphasi<es morality more than miracle$ It can be dicult to ima"ine the heady atmosphereo a time and place in %hich these distinctions %ere not yet clearly decided upon, but theyears precedin", durin", and immediately ollo%in" the Great 4ar in Europe and America%ere such a period, and Yeats thre% himsel into the s%irlin" currents o it$>rom about 8/./ until his marria"e in 8/8 Yeats attended numerous sOeances, in'esti"atedsupposed miracles sometimes in the company o other members o the respectable Societyor Psychical Research0, and spent aconsiderable amount o ener"y analy<in" the automatic %ritin" o a youn" %oman namedEli<abeth RadcliCe$8K An account o these e!plorations in his published %or& occurs %ithin alon" essay lin&in" spiritualism %ith the belies o Emmanuel S%edenbor" and those o Irishol& belie, published as an appendi! to Lady Gre"ory1s Visions !nd Belies in the $est o Irel!nd$ Most si"ni#cantly, Yeats de'eloped a curious relationship %ith a #"ure he came tobelie'e %as his o%n daimon, alter2e"o, or symbolic opposite, a 'oice that claimed to be thediscarnate spirit o the si!teenth2century Arican tra'el %riter and e!plorer Leo Aricanus AlHassan Ibn2Mohammed al24e<ar Al2>asi0$87 Leo %as summoned mediumistically in sOeances be"innin" in 8/86 ater a alse startin 8/./0$ @y the summer o 8/8-, Yeats %as suciently con'inced o the 'alue o Leo as"uide to en"a"e in an e!periment %ith hi"hly si"ni#cant rami#cations or his later %or&3 tosuspend authorial control and %rite as i throu"h the personality and a"ency o another$ He

%rote an essay in the orm o t%o letters, one rom Yeats to Leo and the other rom Leo to Yeats, %ritten at Leo1s su""estion, )as rom him to me,+ as Yeats remembered the re9uest$)He %ould control me i he could in that reply so that it %ould be really rom him$+8- Thecancelled %ords are si"ni#cant3 the process o %ritin" the letters %ould open Yeats to thepossibility o bein" controlled, but %ould not necessarily control him$ It %ould put him at theborderland bet%een traditional 4estern authorship, presided o'er by the stron" myth o thestable sel, and the uncharted territory o %riterly mediumship %ith its resonances o emininity, dar&ness, the irrational, and the non24estern$ It is urthermore no accident thatLeo is identi#ed %ith the rient as an ensla'ed Arab only partially con'erted to Bhristian

/



%ays, and that he tra'eled in and %rote about Arica$ His )o'ershado%Qin"+ o Yeats romthe East, as %ell as the importance o his boo& %escriione dell' A(ric! or Aric!e descri)tionori"inally %ritten in Arabic0 to the rientalist studies o Yeats1s day, su""est lin&s %ith thepo%erul ambi'alences o the e!otic ther and the so2called ar& Bontinent, and theirtantali<in" and threatenin" promise o release rom the control o the e"o$ Yeats %ouldemulate the emale mediums o his e!perience and relin9uish o%nership o his o%n pen

%ith all o its se!ual associations0 so that his %ords %ould be )but in seemin" mine$+ The %ords are still Yeats1s, o course, or all his attempts to ree them rom his o%n"o'ernance$ The dream o reedom rom sel occurs only %ithin the rame%or& and 'olitiono that sel* the ther e!ists as such only becauseo the sub(ect that places it in an ima"ined location outside that identi#ed %ith the sub(ect$

Yeats remained s&eptical o his o%n eCorts to replace consciousness %ith Anti2Sel as he%rote$ The essay is ull o his doubts3 )I thin& probable I am not con'inced that in this letterthere is one sentence that has come rom beyond my o%n ima"ination but I %ill not use astron"er phrase $ $ $ there is no thou"ht that has not occurred to me in some orm or otheror many years$+8J Leo has his doubts too, e!plainin" that he had better stic& to "eneraltopics because %hen he ocuses on speci#cs )I am not e'en certain, that I am not certainthat I did not mista&e the ima"es I disco'er Qin Yeats1s mind or my o%n memories $ $ $+;onetheless, the essay is distincti'ely bold and direct, a tonal 9uality %hich parado!ically,"i'en that t%o persona"es spea&0 deri'es rom a less multiple authorial sel than that oundin Per !mic! silenti! lun!e, the t%o2part essay published in 8/8: that puts orth in slipperyprose the doctrine o the Anti2Sel and the !nim! mundi or %orld soul$ Per Amic! eaturesthe poem )E"o ominus Tuus+ as its introduction$ Its dedication to Iseult Gonne, Maud1sdau"hter, is a reminder o the conused courtships o these years$ The poem is set besidethe stream beneath Thoor @allylee, the ;orman to%er that %as to be Yeats1s #rst purchasedhome and to %hich he lon"ed to brin" his bride, but Iseult %as not the %oman %hoe'entually mo'ed there$

The in'esti"ations o spirit phenomena and the eCort to #nd a %ie both came to ruition in8/8$ Geor"ie Hyde Lees, on %hom the choice #nally landed, had e!cellent personal andoccult connections amon" her other 'irtues$ In act, Yeats had initiated her into the rder o the Golden a%n se'eral years beore$ Yeats had 'isited her amily at the heat o hise!citement about Eli<abeth RadcliCe1s script$ The account o their marria"e and thebe"innin" o Mrs$ Yeats1s automatic %ritin" has been told many times, most notably by Yeatsin the introduction to the second edition o A Vision at her insistence, the #rst edition &epther a"ency secret0$ Almost e'ery day, in 'arious locations, throu"h her t%o pre"nancies,durin" re'olution and %ar in Europe and Ireland, and %hile he %rote poetry and plays%ithout a reduction o pace, the Yeatses sat at table and communicated %ith spirits and theiro%n daimons, he as&in" 9uestions, she %ritin" do%n ans%ers as her hand %as "uided$ @ythe time the )incredible e!perience+ as Yeats called it Q VB :0 %as #nished some t%o2and2a2hal years later, the System o A Vision had been in'entedrecei'ed, alon" %ith many otherhi"hly personal re'elations and 'arious ima"es and ideas that may be ound in his %or&rom this point on$ The Yeatses had also established an occult marria"e, meanin" that inaddition to the pleasures o "ood partnership on the secular plane, %ith the physicalintimacy, intellectual e9uality, and peace o settled domestic lie that the Yeatses achie'ed,both members o the couple had the "al'ani<in" sense that they %ere chosen to accomplishproound spiritual %or& that neither could ha'e achie'ed alone$ @y the mid 8/6.s, as Geor"e

Harper notes, they %ere li'in" their daily li'es %ith the )con'iction that by reco"ni<in", orli'in" as thou"h, the spirit %orld %ere e'ery%here at hand, it becomes so$+8 Theirhousehold %as a continual site o re'elation and producti'ity$ It too& years o %or& or the

Yeatses to e!cerpt, order, and comprehend the ra% data o the System$ Yeats composed AVision #rst as a dialo"ue and then in the our2part structure o the #rst edition, and yearspassed beore he elt competent to correct %hat he elt %ere its inade9uacies in a second'ersion, published less than t%o years beore his death$ A Vision is a uni9ue boo&, partcosmolo"y, part apocalypse, part psychoanalysis, part poetry, and part conusion$ It is ull o %ildly a2priori assumptions, unpro'en assertions, "ross "enerali<ations, and ahistorical

8.



pronouncements about "rand narrati'es o history and the human condition$ It is oteninternally inconsistent as %ell as sometimes repetiti'e$ Parts are %ritten in some o Yeats1sbest and most poetic0 prose, and other parts are amon" his more tedious$ It is %orthreadin", and some o its anecdotes and dia"rams are "reatly illuminati'e, but it ser'essomethin" o the same unction that *inneg!ns $!+e does or readers o oyce3 it is "ood toha'e encountered it, but it is not necessary to ha'e understood it$ Yeats e!plained its

purpose in typically ambi"uous lan"ua"e in the 8/K edition, %ritin" that in the #rst 'ersion)I tried to interest my readers in an une!plained rule o thumb that someho% e!plained the%orld+ VB :80$ A Vision is not, needless to say, a reliable rule o thumb or the late poetryand plays, any more than it is or the %orld$ @ut it is not unli&e Yeats1s other reli"ious ideasin some o its basic tenets, such as the sub(ecti'ity o history, the conse9uent parallelbet%een history and the human soul, cyclical reincarnations, and the perpetual tensionbet%een opposites$

Yeatsian terms li&e Mas&, Primary and Antithetical, the aimon, Fnity o @ein", andreamin" @ac& also recei'e their most elaborate e!position in A Vision$ The most dicult%or& o Yeats1s mature third 9uarter, it representsthe hei"ht o his )Qstru""le %ith the mind+ in his Phasal home3 he %as located in Phase 8,%hich the System terms aimonic Man, and he %or&ed most conspicuously %ith his daimon,his personal "enius, and spiritual Anti2Sel, on this pro(ect$ He also %or&ed most closely %ithGeor"e Yeats, %ho %as also a soul o the third 9uarter, belon"in" to Phase 8:$ The Breati'eMind o her Phase, that is, the part o the sel ha'in" to do %ith ho% one constructs one1s%orld intellectually, is listed as Emotional Philosophy$ This is as "ood a phrase as I can #nd todescribe A Vision, perhaps the least accessible o all Yeatsiana but also una'oidable or anyserious reader$

Hindu mysticism

Althou"h earlier preoccupations, capped by the System o A Vision, continued to spur Yeats1sthou"ht in his last years, the poet1s last reli"ious enthusiasm %as one appropriate to aperiod in %hich ill2health and the impendin"end o lie %ere e'er2present companions$ Yeats1s )%ars on God+ in his ourth Phase %ereessentially imperialistic3 the desire to control his o%n body %as allied %ith an imported

Hindu spirituality that promised him a chance to succeed at this dauntin" pro(ect$ 8: Yeats%ould not turn to the Protestant Bhristianity o his upbrin"in" in his last years, but to atradition that, in his understandin", posited a con9uerin" and eternal Sel as %ell asrecurrin" lietimes$ He tried 'aliantly to tie that tradition to ancient Irish parallels, to psychicresearch, to his and Geor"e Yeats1s 'isionary System, and to public prophecy about thenature o history and comin" times$ His second Indian phase %as to some e!tent a mirror o an early inatuation, spurred by Theosophical connections and embodied in an attracti'e#"ure named Mohini Bhatter(ee$ Similarly, Yeats1s riendship and collaboration %ith ShriPurohit S%ami, %hom he met in London in 8/K8, re2established India in his mind as thelocation o truths that allo%ed escape rom modern, materialistic, and scienti#c ormulationso reality$ This second period o interest in Hindu mysticism replaced the romantic %orld2%eariness o the #rst %ith a much more acti'e, e'en a""ressi'e personal searchaccompanied by public apolo"etics$ It should be noted that both periods are mar&ed by a

hea'ily orientali<ed sense o Asiatic spirituality, re'ealin" more about Yeats, %hose&no%led"e %as "ained at a si"ni#cant remo'e rom India, than about Hindu traditions$In one sense, Yeats1s late e!ploration o Indian thou"ht can seem merely one o a series o almost determinedly outlandish episodes in his last years by %hich an old man could almostcon'ince himsel that he could hold onto and come to ultimate terms %ith lie in the ace o approachin" death$ It is the eCort o a ool, and indeed the last Phase o the t%enty2ei"ht inthe System o A Vision is called the >ool, one step beyond the Saint$8/ Li&e the tarot card o the same title, and %ith some o the same meanin" as the card, Yeats consciouslytransormed himsel in his #nal years to a silly old man %ho also, perhaps, %as )the dreamer

88



and 'isionary, in closer communion %ith God than is "i'en to most men$+6. At the lastcrescent o his lunar %heel, Yeats made his lie into &inship %ith the card that can be placedeither at the be"innin" or the end o the se9uence o trumps in the tarot dec& and is,accordin" to Richard Ba'endish, oten considered the )most prooundly mysterious card inthe pac&$+68 >rom 8/K6 throu"h 8/KJ Yeats and Shri Purohit S%ami collaborated on atranslation o the U)!nish!ds ater the publication o the latter1s autobio"raphy, or %hich

Yeats supplied an introduction$ Yeats also %rote an introduction to a translation by ShriPurohit S%ami o a boo& by his Master, @ha"%an Shri Hamsa, recountin" a pil"rima"e toMount ailas, or Meru, aholy site in Tibet$ Yeats1s intense )Supernatural Son"s+ as %ell as the prose pieces )TheMandu&ya Fpanishad+ and the t%o introductions are a "ood deal more interestin" than thetranslation o The Ten Princi)!l U)!nish!ds$In act, the last is lac&luster enou"h to (ustiy Mrs$ Yeats1s doubts about the pro(ect rom theoutset$ Mrs$ Yeats may ha'e had doubts about more than the literary appropriateness o herhusband translatin" %hen he could ha'e been %ritin" poetry, in that part o Yeats1se!citement o'er Eastern reli"ion included the se!uality o Tantric doctrines, %hich do'etailed%ell %ith his personal stru""les %ith impotence$66 Tantrism, a mar"inal and radical oCshooto @uddhism, ainism, and Hinduism, diCers rom the orthodo!ies o these reli"ious systemsnot so much in theolo"y as in practice, in an emphasis on sensuality and eroticism as apath%ay to emancipation and rebirth$ The spirituality o non2or"asmic se!, an essentialarmation o the connection bet%een body and soul, and the eternal nature o desire asopposed to the atality o satisaction0, are themes in the late %or&s that are traceable tothis inDuence$

Yet the inamous se!ual 9uality o Yeats1s later years orms part o %hat he %ould ha'ecalled a phantasma"oria that has e!treme asceticism as its antithesis$ 4hile he %ase!plorin" se!ual encounters %ith a si"nal lac& o restraint, he %as also %ritin" ur"entlyabout the hi"hest sta"es o sensual depri'ation$ @oth states concern parado!es o loss and"ain aCectin" the core o the personality$ In lo'e, accordin" to Bra<y ane, it ta&es loss toachie'e "ain3 )5nothin" can be sole or %hole That has not been rent1+ VP -8K0$ In thede'otee, attainment o )absolute Sel,+ in %hich )there is nothin" outside his %ill,+ isachie'ed* those %ho ha'e attained this state )are saidto be physically immortal+ E&I 7JK?70$ Sensualism and asceticism are not reconcilable, andto propose both at the same time is preposterous, unless the human soul is cau"ht in anelaborate series o oppositions$ Yeats belie'ed this to be the case, but it is also true that inhis last years he %as more riendly to oolishness than to pretensions o %isdom$ In thepoem )The Pil"rim,+ #rst published in 8/K, the spea&er, a holy pil"rim, ater an ordeal o astin"and prayer, spea&s to anyone %ho %ill listen3;o% I am in the public2house and lean upon the %all, So come in ra"s or come in sil&, in cloa& orcountry sha%l,And come %ith learned lo'ers or %ith %hat men you may,>or I can put the %hole lot do%n, and all I ha'e to sayIs ol de rol de rolly ,$ VP -/K0

Ater a lietime o study, practice, e!perimentation, and search, Yeats %as content to sin", asindeed he had done all alon"$ The 'erses, shaped into the %hole o his oeu-re, may notattain )5the Human >orm i'ine1 o @la&e,+ as Yeats claimed occurs %hen an initiate attains

#nal illumination E&I 7:K0, but %e may be content to en'ision them, alon" %ith their ma&er%ho li'es only in ima"ined orm, as e'er e!pandin" and contractin" "yres, mo'ement andcounter2mo'ement, all (oined by shitin" alliances and unceasin" tensions$ This Yeats "yre,made up o smaller "yres, (oins other cones that may e'en reach beyond themsel'es tocontain the li'es o his readers$ nce there, %ould it be too much to hope that, li&e the)stylistic arran"ements o e!perience+ o A Vision, they mi"ht help others as Yeats claimedthey helped him to )hold in a sin"le thou"ht reality and (ustice+ VB 6-0=;TES8$ @y this "enerali<ation I do not intend to su""est that Yeats1s occult interests ha'e been sli"hted byall critics and scholars$ >or some o the more inDuential studies in this area seeir"inia Moore, The

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Unicorn.$illi!m Butler /e!ts' "e!rch or #e!lity ;e% Yor&3 Macmillan, 8/-7 Q8/-60* Geor"e MillsHarper, /e!ts's Golden %!wn. The In0uence o the 1ermetic ,rder o the Golden %!wn on the Lie !nd Art o $2 B2 /e!ts London3 Macmillan, 8/70* Harper, ed$, /e!ts !nd the ,ccult Toronto3 Macmillan,8/-0* Graham Hou"h, The Mystery #eligion o $2 B2 /e!ts @ri"hton3 Har'ester Press* Toto%a, ;3@arnes ;oble, 8/:70* athleen Raine, /e!ts the Initi!te. Ess!ys on Cert!in Themes in the$or+ o$2B2 /e!ts Mountrath, Ireland3 olmen Press, 8/:J0* and Geor"e Mills Harper, The M!+ing o /e!ts's 3AVision4. A "tudy o the Autom!tic "cri)t5 6 'ols$ London3 Macmillan, 8/:0$

6$ 4$ H$ Auden, )Yeats as an e!ample,+ in The Perm!nence o /e!ts. "elected Criticism5 ed$ $ Hall andM$ Steimann ;e% Yor&3 Macmillan, 8/-.0, p$ K77$

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