Sunday, March 14, 2010

Uriel

Jutta shared this illustration of Uriel, from this site:


The image is an engraving in The Poetical Works of John Milton by W. Harley, 1794. The site also offers some of the accumulated lore about Uriel, including the information that:
"He (or she) is the keeper of the mysteries which are deep within the planet, underground and in the hidden depths of the living world."
Which is interesting in "light" of Milton's making clear that the sun touches not merely surfaces, but depths as well:

What wonder then if fields and region here
Breathe forth Elixir pure, and Rivers run
Potable Gold, when with one vertuous touch
Th' Arch-chimic Sun so farr from us remote
Produces with Terrestrial Humor mixt [ 610 ]
Here in the dark so many precious things
Of colour glorious and effect so rare?

A pointer on the site takes us to South America, where Uriel's connection with ripening grain gives us this image:

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