9188. A sorceress. That this signifies those in whom something of the church has been conjoined with the falsities of the evil of the love of self, is evident from the signification of “sorceries,” as being the falsities of the evil of the love of self conjoined with such things as are of the church. There are two things which make heaven and thus spiritual life with man-the truth of faith in the Lord, and the good of love to Him. And there are two things which make hell and thus spiritual death with man-the falsity of faith, and the evil of the love of self. The two latter are conjoined in those who are in hell, and make the infernal marriage; but the two former are conjoined in those who are in heaven, and make the heavenly marriage. So far as possible, the Lord withholds man from the conjunction of truth and good with falsity and evil, because this conjunction is profanation. Nevertheless many of those who are within the church cannot be withheld, because from early childhood they have learned the things of the church from the Word, and from doctrine drawn from the Word; and some of them have become imbued with such things, and have made them of their faith. When these persons have arrived at mature age, and have begun to think from themselves, and not as before from others, then they have made nothing of the things they had made of their faith, and in their stead have seized on falsities and imbued themselves with them. These are they who have conjoined within them truths with falsities; for those truths which have once become truths of faith remain, and cannot be rooted out; and the falsities which are afterward made of their faith conjoin themselves with them.
[2] It is this conjunction which is signified in the internal sense by “sorceries.” The reason why these falsities are falsities of the evil of the love of self, is that all evil springs chiefly from this love, and together with evil, falsity, because they cohere together. From this it is evident that in such persons there is no spiritual life, because it has been destroyed by falsities of evil; and insofar as they have conjoined these falsities with truths, so far they have extinguished spiritual life within them; and as in this way instead of being alive, they have become dead, it is said, “Thou shalt not suffer them to live.”
[3] That the conjunction in question is signified in the Word by “sorceries,” is plain in Isaiah:
She said, I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children; but these two things shall come upon thee in a moment in one day, loss of children, and widowhood, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, because of the exceeding greatness of thy magical deeds. Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have led thee astray; when thou saidst in thine heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee which thou shalt not know how to ward off; and calamity shall fall upon thee which thou shalt not be able to atone: devastation shall come upon thee suddenly, thou not knowing. For indeed persist thou in thy magical deeds, and in the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsel. Let the searchers of the heavens, the stargazers, and those who know the new moons, now stand and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee. Behold they are become as stubble; the fire hath burned them; they shall not rescue their soul from the hand of the flame (Isaiah 47:8-14).
[4] That “sorcerers” denote those who conjoin the falsities of the evil of the love of self with the truths of faith, and thus perish, is plain from every particular in the above passage viewed in the internal sense, for they are here described. The extinction of their spiritual life is described by “widowhood and loss of children.” “Widowhood” denotes the privation of truth and of the derivative good; and “loss of children” the privation of truth and good. The origin of falsity, as being from the evil of the love of self, is described by these words, “thy wisdom and thy knowledge have led thee astray when thou saidst in thine heart, I am, and there is none else besides me;” and the evil itself of the love of self, by these words, “behold, they are become as stubble, the fire hath burned them, they shall not rescue their soul from the hand of the flame;” “fire” and “flame” denote the love of self. That everything of spiritual life has been extinguished, is described by these words, “evil shall come upon thee which thou shalt not know how to ward off, and calamity shall fall upon thee which thou shalt not be able to atone.” They are called “searchers of the heavens, stargazers, and those who know the new moons,” from being in external things without any internal; for such see from the external man and not at all from the internal, thus from natural light and not at all from spiritual light; for in the internal sense “heaven,” the “stars,” and “new moons” denote knowledges and memory-knowledges; here, such as are seen from the world, and not from heaven.
[5] That “sorceries” denote such falsities, is also plain in Micah:
I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds; I will cut off sorceries out of thine hand; and thou shall have no soothsayers (Micah 5:11-12):
“the cities of the land” denote the false doctrinal things of their church, which are called “sorceries” because they destroy the truths of faith.
In Nahum:
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored 1
harlot, the mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations in her whoredom, and families in her sorceries (Nah. 3:4);
“whoredoms” denote perversions of truth; and “sorceries,” the falsities thence derived. In like manner in the second book of Kings:
Jehoram said unto Jehu, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, even unto the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her many sorceries? (2 Kings 9:22).
[6] That those are “sorcerers” who have been taught by themselves, and trust in themselves alone to the extent of loving themselves and desiring to be worshiped as deities, is also plain from passages which treat openly of the coming of the Lord, who will teach them and cast out the sorcerers; for he who shall be taught in the truths and goods of faith must be taught by the Lord, and in no wise by himself. Wherefore it is thus written in Malachi:
Behold I send Mine angel, who shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the angel of the covenant whom ye desire. And I will draw nigh to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and those who swear to what is false (Malachi 3:1, 5);
“sorcerers” denote those who have been taught by themselves, and who thus destroy truths which are from the Lord; “adulterers” denote those who destroy goods; and “those who swear to what is false,” those who confirm falsities. That it is the Lord who will cast them out is plain, for it is said, “the Lord shall come to His temple, even the angel of the covenant.”
[7] So also in Moses:
When thou comest unto the land which Jehovah God will give thee, there shall not be found in thee anyone that maketh his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one that divineth divinations, and one that questioneth the hells, and an augur, and a sorcerer, and an enchanter, and one that consulteth a familiar spirit, and a soothsayer, and a questioner of the dead. For everyone that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah; and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Jehovah thy God will raise up to thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; him shall ye obey. Jehovah said in Horeb, I will raise him up a prophet from the midst of their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, that he may speak unto them all that I shall command him. Whence it shall come to pass that the man who will not obey My words, which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him (Deuteronomy 18:9-19).
[8] By “diviners,” “augurs,” “sorcerers,” and the rest who are here named, are meant in the internal sense those who destroy the truths and goods of the church by means of memory-knowledges wrongly applied; thus who do so from their own intelligence and through falsities from the evils of the love of self and the love of the world, consequently who learn and teach from the cupidity of profit and of honors, and not from any affection for the truth of faith and the good of life. And as all falsities of doctrine and evils of life come forth from this source, mention is made of “a prophet who shall come and teach.” That this “prophet” is the Lord, is known in the church, and was known also to the Jews and Gentiles of that time, as is evident in Matthew 21:11; Luke 1:76; 7:16; 13:33; Mark 6:4. Those are taught by the Lord who read the Word not for the sake of self and the world, but for the sake of good and truth itself, for then they are enlightened. But when men read it for the sake of self and the world, they are blinded. “A prophet” signifies one who teaches, and in a sense abstracted from person, doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); thus the Lord as to the Word, that is, as to Divine truth.
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