8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

7026. 'And Moses took the rod of God in his hand' means that those things were from Divine power. This is clear from the meaning of 'the rod' as power, dealt with in 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, so that 'the rod of God' is Divine power. As may be seen above in 7011, 'the rod' means natural power while 'the hand' means spiritual power, and the natural derives its power from the spiritual; and this being so 'the rod' means power when it is being held in the hand. The origin of the meaning of 'the rod' as power lies in representatives in the next life, for there those who practise magic are seen with rods which also serve to provide them with power. This also explains why the magicians of Egypt had rods which they used in performing what seemed to be miracles, and why everywhere in their writings the ancients give magicians rods. From these considerations it may be recognized that 'a rod' is an emblem representing power, and also has a direct correspondence with it since rods are instruments through which power is actually exercised. But among magicians this involves a misuse of correspondence and is altogether ineffective except within the hells where they are, and then only within these because trickery and false impressions reign. Since there is a direct correspondence between a rod and power, Moses was commanded to take the rod in his hand and use it to do the signs. For the same reason kings have a sceptre, which is a short rod and serves as a sign of royal power. The correspondence of rod and power derives from the fact that a rod or staff supports the hand and arm, and so at the same time the body, and the hand and arm correspond to power in the Grand Man, see 878, 3387, 4931-4977, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6947, 7011.