715. Having seven heads.- That this signifies the knowledge (scientia) of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated, and consequent insanity, but yet craftiness, is evident from the signification of head, as denoting intelligence and wisdom, and in the opposite sense insanity and folly, (concerning which see above, n. 553, 577, and that it also denotes craftiness, n. 577); and from the signification of seven, which denotes all men and all things, and is said of that which is holy (concerning which see above, n. 257), in this case therefore, of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated. As seven is used in reference to holy things, it is also, in the opposite sense, used in reference to those things when adulterated and profaned; for in the Word every expression has also an opposite sense, and the opposite of what is holy is what is profane. It is clear from these things that the seven heads, which the dragon was seen to have, do not mean heads, or seven, but the knowledge (scientia) of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated, and, consequent insanity, but yet craftiness.

[2] Insanity is signified by the head of the dragon, because the intelligence of the man of the church is from genuine truths from the Word. The truly human understanding is formed and perfected by means of natural, civil, moral, and spiritual truths, the interior understanding by means of spiritual truths, but the exterior by means of moral and civil truths; such therefore as the truths are, such is the understanding that is formed from them. All spiritual truths are from the Word, and make one with the good of love and of charity. When therefore a man places everything of the church and of heaven in faith, and separates the good of charity and of love from that faith, as those do who form the head of the dragon, as stated in the preceding article, then the interior understanding cannot be formed, consequently, instead of intelligence in spiritual things, they have insanity. For from a false principle falsities flow forth in a continual series, and, in consequence of the separation of the good of charity, they cannot possibly have any genuine truth, since all truth is of good, and in fact, is good in form. From this it is clear that the head of the dragon signifies insanity in spiritual things.

[3] The head of the dragon also signifies craftiness, because all those who form its head are merely natural and sensual, and if such have at the same time studied the Word and the doctrine of the church, and have seized upon falsities instead of truths, and have also confirmed these by knowledges (scientifice), they are crafty above all others. But this craftiness is not so manifest in the world as it is afterwards when they become spirits; for in the world they cover over their craftiness with external piety and feigned morality, which conceal it from view, but as the craftiness is in their spirit, it is plainly manifest when externals are removed, as is the case in the spiritual world. But it must be understood that the craftiness which is signified by the head of the dragon is craftiness in perverting the truths and goods of the Word by reasonings from fallacies and sophistries, also from persuasive things, by means of which the understanding is fascinated, thus by giving to falsities the appearance of truths. That this is the case is also evident from the serpent by which the first parents were seduced, which is said, "to have been more crafty than any wild beast of the field" (Genesis 3:1); for the signification of that serpent is similar to that of the dragon. Therefore the latter is also called "the old serpent that seduceth the whole world," in the ninth verse of this chapter.

559. And they had tails like unto scorpions.- That this signifies sensual scientifics, which are persuasive, is evident from the signification of tails, as denoting sensual scientifics, concerning which in what follows; and from the signification of scorpions, as denoting things persuasive, infatuating, and suffocating (see above, n. 544). Hence tails like unto scorpions signify sensual scientifics, which are persuasive. Tails signify sensual scientifics, because the tails which the animals of the earth have, are continuations of the spine of the back, which is called the spinal marrow, and this is a continuation of the brain, and the brain like the head, signifies intelligence and wisdom, because intelligence and wisdom reside there in their beginnings, and because tails are the ultimates of it, they signify sensual scientifics, for these are the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom.

[2] Sensual scientifics are those scientifics which enter from the world through the five senses of the body, and hence, viewed in themselves, are material, corporeal, and worldly, as compared with those which are more interior. All those who are in the love of self, and have confirmed themselves against Divine and spiritual things, are sensual men, and when they think in their spirit, as is the case when they are left to themselves, they think concerning things Divine and spiritual things from sensual scientifics, and therefore they reject Divine and spiritual things as not worthy of belief, because they do not see them with their eyes, or touch them with their hands, and they apply their own scientifics, which they have made sensual and material, for the purpose of destroying them.

Take for example, learned men of this kind who are skilled in natural philosophy, anatomy, botany, and the other branches of human learning; when such persons see the wonderful things that exist in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, they say in their hearts that all these things are from nature, and not from the Divine, because they believe in nothing but what they can see with their eyes, and touch with their hands. For they cannot raise their minds, and thus see those things from the light of heaven, this light being thick darkness to them, but they keep their minds fixed on earthly things, almost like the animals of the earth, with which they also compare themselves. In a word, with such persons, all knowledges (scientiae) become sensual. For as is the man himself, such are all things pertaining to his understanding and will. If the man is spiritual, all things become spiritual; if he is only natural, all things become natural and not spiritual; if he is sensual, all things become sensual, and this is the case, however learned and scholarly he may appear to be before the world. But since all men have the faculty of understanding truths and perceiving goods, they are able to speak, by virtue of this faculty, as though they were spiritual-rational, but still they are sensual as to the spirit, for when such persons speak before the world, they do so not from the spirit, but from the memory which pertains to the body. These things are stated in order that it may be known what sensual scientifics are.

[3] The reason why these are exceedingly persuasive is, that they are the ultimates of the understanding; for the understanding terminates therein, as in its ultimates, and these captivate the vulgar, because they are appearances arising from such things as they see with their eyes in the world; and as long as the thought adheres in them, the mind cannot be disposed to think interiorly or above them, until they are removed. For the interior things of the mind all terminate in ultimates, and rest upon them as a house upon its foundation, wherefore [sensual scientifics] are exceedingly persuasive, but only in the case of those whose minds cannot be elevated above sensual things. But with those who are in the light of heaven from the Lord, the mind is elevated above these things, and the light of heaven dissipates them. Spiritual men therefore rarely think from sensual things, for they think from things rational and intellectual, while sensual men, who have confirmed themselves in falsities against things divine and spiritual, think only from things sensual when they are left to themselves.

[4] That tails signify sensual scientifics, is evident from the following passages.

Thus in Isaiah:

"Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush. The old man and honourable, he is the head; but the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail" (9:14, 15).

These words mean that all intelligence and wisdom are about to perish, and all the knowledge (scientia) of truth. By the head are signified intelligence and wisdom, therefore it is said, "the old man and honourable, he is the head," for an old man signifies the intelligence of truth, and the honourable, the wisdom of good. But by the tail is signified sensual knowledge (scientificum), which is the ultimate of intelligence and wisdom; when this is not conjoined with spiritual intelligence, it becomes false knowledge, or knowledge applied to confirm falsities, which is sensual knowledge like that of the sensual man, who sees nothing from the understanding. Hence the prophet that teacheth a lie is called the tail; for a prophet signifies the doctrine of truth, and therefore the knowledge (scientia) of truth, but in this case the doctrine and knowledge (scientia) of falsity. For a lie signifies falsity, and the teacher of a lie, him who teaches falsity by applying scientifics from the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm falsities.

[5] Again, in the same prophet:

"Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which may make the head and tail, branch and rush" (19:15).

Here Egypt signifies the knowledge (scientia) of both spiritual and natural things. By there being no work for it which may make the head and tail, is signified, that it possesses neither spiritual things, nor natural things that confirm the spiritual, the head there denoting the cognitions of spiritual things by means of which comes intelligence, and the tail denoting natural scientifics, which are serviceable to spiritual things as means of intelligence. Similar things are signified by the branch and the rush, the branch denoting spiritual truth, and the rush, the sensual scientific, which is ultimate truth; for if the prior and the posterior, or the first and ultimate, do not make one in man, then he has not the head and the tail.

[6] So in Moses:

"Thus Jehovah shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if that thou hearken unto the commandments of thy God" (Deuteronomy 28:13).

"To make the head" signifies to make [a man] spiritual and intelligent, so that he may be elevated out of the light of the world into the light of heaven; and to make the tail, denotes to make [a man] sensual and foolish, so that he looks not to heaven but to the world; therefore it is said, "and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath." To be above denotes to be elevated by the Lord so as to look to heaven, and to be beneath denotes not to be elevated by the Lord, but from self, and man from self looks only to the world. For the interiors of man which pertain to thought and affection are raised to heaven by the Lord, when he is in good of life and thence in truths of doctrine, but if he is in evil of life, and consequently in falsities, then lower things look downwards, thus only to his own body and to such things as are in the world, and thus to hell, whence he puts off the nature which is truly human, and puts on the nature of a beast; for beasts look downwards, and to such things only as they meet with in the world and upon the earth. Elevation into the light of heaven by the Lord is an actual elevation of the interiors of man to the Lord, and depression or casting down to such things as are beneath and outside of the eyes, is an actual depression and casting down of the interiors, and when this is the case, then all the thought of his spirit is immersed in the ultimate Sensual.

[7] Again, in Moses:

"The sojourner who is in the midst of thee shall ascend high above thee more and more, but thou shalt descend downwards more and more. He shall lend to thee, but thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the head, but thou shalt be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:43, 44).

These words must be similarly understood. To be the head signifies to be spiritual and intelligent, and to be the tail signifies to be sensual and foolish; therefore it is also said, "he shall lend to thee, but thou shalt not lend to him," by which is signified, that he shall teach thee truths, but thou shalt not teach him.

[8] So in Isaiah:

"Say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted, for the two tails of smoking fire-brands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah" (7:4).

Rezin and Syria signify the Rational perverted, and the son of Remaliah the king of Israel, also called Ephraim, signifies the Intellectual perverted. It is the Intellectual in relation to the Word that is signified by the king of Israel and by Ephraim, while it is the Rational in relation to confirmatory knowledges (scientiae) that is signified by Rezin and Syria. For a man must have a Rational in order that he may understand the Word. When these two are perverted, they look only downwards to the earth, and outward to the world, as sensual men do who are in the falsities of evil; therefore they are called tails. A smoking fire-brand signifies the lust (concupiscentia) of falsity, and thence wrath against the truths and goods of the church.

[9] So again, in Moses:

"Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take the serpent by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand" (Exodus 4:4).

That here also by tail is meant the Sensual, which is the ultimate of the natural, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6951-6955). Since tails signify the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom, which are sensual scientifics, and since all the details of the sacrifices signified celestial and spiritual Divine things, therefore also it was commanded that they should remove the tail near the spine of the back, and also should sacrifice it with other parts there mentioned (Leviticus 3:9; 8:25; 9:19; Exodus 29:22). That the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified celestial and spiritual Divine things, which are the internals of the church, and from which worship is performed, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8936). Because tails signify sensual scientifics, which, when separated from interior things which are spiritual - that is, when they do not with the interiors, look inwards and upwards, but outwards and downwards - signify falsities confirmed by scientifics, therefore also in the following parts of the Apocalypse, where falsities from that source are treated of, it is said that the tails of the horses seen in the vision were like serpents, having heads with which they do hurt (9:19); and afterwards that the dragon drew with his tail the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them upon the earth (12:3, 4). These things may be seen explained below.