402. Verse 13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth. That this signifies that the knowledges of good and truth have perished, is plain from the signification of stars, as denoting the knowledges of good and truth (concerning which see above, n. 72); and from the signification of falling unto the earth, as denoting to perish; for when the stars fall to the earth, they perish. The same is signified by, the stars shall fall from heaven, in Matthew 24:29 and in Mark 13:25. Any one may see that by the stars are not meant stars, for these cannot fall from heaven, as they are fixed or stand in their place; neither could they fall to the earth, because they are larger than the earth; therefore such things as pertain to the light of heaven, and give light, which are the knowledges of good and truth, are signified by them. Stars appear also in the angelic heaven, but they are appearances from the knowledges of good and truth, therefore they appear around those who are in those knowledges, especially when they turn them over in the mind, and are in the desire of knowing them.

252. The woman' is used to mean the Church. This becomes clear from the heavenly marriage, dealt with above in 155. The heavenly marriage is one in which heaven, and so the Church, is united to the Lord by means of the proprium, even to the extent of it existing within the proprium itself; for if there is no proprium the union does not exist. And when the Lord from His mercy instills into this proprium innocence, peace, and good, it still looks like the proprium, but it is now something heavenly and richly blessed; see what has been said already in 164. But the nature of the heavenly and angelic proprium obtained from the Lord on the one hand, and the nature of the hellish and devilish proprium deriving from self on the other, defies description. The difference is like that between heaven and hell.