4573. About the hells of the Sirens

What sirens are like has been described several times before [see the index]. These women are extremely malicious and have learned in the world how to simulate those who are good, as if they were angels. For the purpose of doing this they radiate good affections and thus slip in among simple spirits that relate to a person's outward qualities of thought or earthly characteristics. In this way they keep themselves in the world of spirits and can be forced out only with difficulty, for such things elevate evil spirits from hell for quite a long time and through such things they enter into people's thoughts and lead them entirely. Consequently, because they are of an inward nature, they are the very worst of spirits who take possession of a person's mind, from whom a person can never be defended except by the Lord. They act very stubbornly and fear nothing, trust in their own arts, and know how to slip in by labyrinthine gyres. They speak from these, sometimes in such a way that they are heard elsewhere than where are they really are, so that they are sought in vain. It has granted me to learn this by many actual experiences.

[2] They are of two kinds. Certain ones have the goal of ruling over others and over every society to which they can gain access, doing so by possessing and leading their thoughts. These women are the most annoying. The second kind does likewise but does not have such a wild obsession with ruling. They take freedom entirely away from those who want to have good thoughts and give freedom to those who want to have evil thoughts. These are very obscene women; they are sorceresses and are against everything good and true. Where this gang comes from has been explained before [cf. 3205 ff]. Their hell was in front at some distance toward the left there; the men who want to rule, a little toward the right, in various caverns. But I saw that their hells had been changed and moved to the back toward the left, rather deep down, from which they can never again break out and attack spirits and people on earth. They are there under a thick cloud which their tricks can in no way get through. They were forced in there in crowds of between fifty and a hundred sirens. This went on for many hours.

Above the hell, there is something like a maw with jaws that open. And the moment they arrived, it opened the maw, twisting and bending it like labyrinths into which they put themselves, and it swallowed them up and then thrust them deep under the disreputable earth there, from which they cannot emerge, this appeared to me in 1752, Aug. 5, 6., for they form snakelike connections, in which they fix themselves and then cannot be moved by others except by means of similar connections. Such it is in the other life.

9227. 'On the eighth day you shall give it to Me' means that in the initial phase of the following state when they lead a life of good they dwell with the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eighth day' as the initial phase of the following state, dealt with in 2044, 8400 (end); and from the meaning of 'giving to Jehovah' as giving to the Lord since 'Jehovah' is used in the Word to mean the Lord, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6303, 6945, 6956, 8274, 8864. The reason why when they lead a life of good they dwell with the Lord is meant is that the internal sense deals with both states experienced by a person who is being regenerated. The first state is when the person is led by means of the truths of faith towards the good of charity, and the second state is when he has come into that good. Since the person then dwells with the Lord, these things are therefore meant by 'you shall give it to Me'.

A person has two states while being regenerated, the first when he is led by means of the truths of faith towards the good of charity, and the second when he has come into the good of charity, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701.

A person is in heaven and so dwells with the Lord when he has come into the good of charity, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139.

[2] Something more must be stated briefly concerning the nature of these two states with a person who is being regenerated. It has been shown already in 9224 that truths which are called matters of faith enter by the external route with a person, and that good which is the good of charity and love enters by the internal route. The external route lies through hearing into the memory, and from the memory into the person's understanding, the understanding being a person's inward sight. The truths which are to become matters of faith enter by the external route to the end that they may be introduced into the will and so be made the person's own. The good which flows in from the Lord by the internal route flows into the will, for the will is the person's inward self. The good coming from the Lord meets, in the outer reaches of the will, the truths that have entered by the external route, and by joining itself to them causes the truths to be converted into good. And to the extent that this takes place order is turned around, that is, the person is not led by truths but by good, consequently is led by the Lord.

[3] From all this one may see the way in which a person is raised from the world to heaven when being regenerated. For everything that enters through hearing enters in from the world; and the things that have been deposited in the memory, then come from the memory and present themselves to the understanding, are seen in the light of the world, which is called natural illumination. But the things which enter the will or come to belong to the will are in the light of heaven, the light of heaven being the truth of good from the Lord. When these things go out of the will into actions they go back into the light of the world; but they now take on in this light a completely different appearance. For initially the world was present within each one of those things, but afterwards heaven is present within each one. These considerations also show why a person is not in heaven until he does truths because he wills them, and so because he has charity and affection for them.