6109. [numbered by Tr.] About those who constitute the soles of the feet, and those who are beneath them

I was given the opportunity to see those who make up the Toenails. They are those who praise and find fault without understanding, yet are not evil.

[2] Those who make the right sole near the big toe [are] spenta stickor ¹ ; and with their skill they create light outdoors from which they have light in their rooms.

[3] Those who constitute the middle of the sole of the foot make beautiful leather which they sell [and] from which they make sma scatuller, wackra ² .

[4] Those who constitute the heel make talglius ³ which they sell [and] from which those who live there have candles. They can make lights that last virtually forever and that last but a short time. The light of candles is from these spirits.

[5] The ones beneath the sole of the foot are newsmongers: They ask about what is new everywhere and relate it to others. They have communication with those who are on the top of the brain. I felt that communication. There is a large number [of them].

I heard those who make up the nails singing, or rather, in their own way confessing the Lord, and also those who are beneath the nails. And they were loved by all, and gifts were given to them that they carried back to their companions.

Footnotes:

694. Just as heaven, deriving as it does from the Lord, constitutes through mutual love one human being and one soul so to speak, and consequently has one end in view, which is to preserve and save all men eternally, so conversely does hell, deriving as it does from the proprium, constitute through self-love and love of the world, that is, through hatred, one devil and one frame of mind (animus), and consequently has one end in view, which is to destroy and condemn all men eternally. That this is the nature of their endeavours I have perceived thousands and thousands of times. Unless therefore the Lord were preserving everybody in every fraction of a moment, man would perish.