NOVEMBER 2019 37
When Blake was 21, his apprentice-
ship was over, and he could look for
work on his own terms, at which time
he became a professional engraver. In
August of 1782, he married Catherine
Boucher, who was illiterate, as many
were at that time, so she had to sign her
marriage document with an X. Blake not
only helped her to learn how to read and
to write, but he also taught her how to
be an engraver. Catherine was more than
just a wife to Blake, as she was also his
work partner, and she helped him to print
his illustrated books.
Endless Nights
Agatha Christie used a line from one
of William Blake’s poems as the title for
her novel Endless Night, a dark tale of a
murder, complete with a surprise ending.
Christie’s grandson, Matthew Pritchard,
the guardian of her estate, once said that
he regards Endless Night as one of his
grandmother’s best books, as it is an
exploration of the evil inside a person’s
heart. The lines most pertinent to that
thought come from Blake’s poem “Augu-
ries of Innocence,” in which he contrasts
and compares images of innocence with
images of evil, especially when he says:
“Every Morn and every Night, Some are
Born to sweet delight, Some are Born to
sweet delight, Some are Born to Endless
Night.”
Sagittarius, which holds Blake’s Sun,
is the sign of the philosopher. He was
particularly interested in Emanuel Swe-
denborg, another visionary, whose best-
known work, Heaven and Hell, is about
revelations he received about what these
two places are really like, and who really
inhabits each place. Sagittarius people
such as Blake want to have answers to
the big questions of life, such as why we
are here and what our purpose in life is.
Is there an afterlife, and if so what does
that afterlife consist of? So his interest in
Swedenborg is not surprising.
Blake’s time of birth is not available,
so we cannot determine his Ascendant,
but we can determine his Moon sign,
since the Moon would have been in Can-
cer for the entire day when he was born.
The Moon in Cancer gave him a very
emotional nature, one that was extreme-
ly vulnerable to the energy around him.
Blake could easily pick up on their vibra-
tions, as he did when he was sketching in
the late afternoons in Westminster Abbey
in London.
His Mercury in Scorpio is the source
of his strong imagination. He had the
ability to probe deeply into the heart of
man, and he often commented on the
unfair treatment that he saw befall many
of his fellow men and women. He once
wrote about the plight of young boys,
aged four or five, forced to become chim-
ney sweeps, due to the poverty of their
parents, a tragic feature of the London of
those times.
Blake’s grave site was damaged in
World War II, and the exact location was
lost for a time. In August of 2018, thanks
to 14 years of diligent investigative work
by Carol and Luis Garrido, two Blake
admirers from Portugal, his grave had
been precisely identified, and a plaque
funded by the Blake Society was erected
in the correct spot. In bold engraved let-
ters, it says: PHere Lies William Blake
1757-1827
Poet Artist Prophet