193. 8. A woman is actually transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation. We are told in this book that woman was created from the rib of a man, and that when she was brought to him, the man said,

She...is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'Ishshah (Woman) because she was taken from 'Ish (Man). (Genesis 2:22-24)

In the Word, a rib from the breast symbolically means, in its spiritual sense, not a rib but natural truth. This is the symbolism of the ribs which the bear carried between its teeth in Daniel 7:5; for bears symbolize people who read the Word in its natural sense and see truths there without understanding. The breast of a man symbolizes that essential and distinctive quality which makes it different in character from the breast of a woman. This quality is wisdom, as may be seen above in no. 187; for truth supports wisdom, as a rib supports the breast. These distinctive qualities are symbolized, because the breast is where all the qualities of a person are, so to speak, at their center.

[2] It follows from this that woman was created from man by a transmission and replication of his distinctive wisdom, which is formed from natural truth, and that man's love for this wisdom was transferred to woman so as to become conjugial love; moreover, that the purpose of this was to replace love of self in man with love for his wife, who, from a nature innate in her, cannot help but turn the love of self in man to his love for her. I have been told, too, that this comes about as a result of the wife's love, without either the man or the wife being conscious of it. It is because of this that no one is ever able to love his partner with a truly conjugial love so long as he is possessed of a conceit in his own intelligence from a love of self.

[3] Once this secret of the creation of woman from man has been understood, it can be seen that in marriage a woman is similarly created or formed, so to speak, from her husband, and that this transformation is brought about by the wife - or rather, through the wife by the Lord, who infuses into women the inclination to achieve it. For a wife receives into her an image of her husband by assimilating his affections into her (see above, no. 173); by uniting the internal will of her husband with hers (concerning which below); and also by incorporating into her the propagations of his soul (of which also below).

It is apparent from this that a woman is transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation understood in respect to its inner meaning, and that she is transformed through the qualities she takes from her husband and his "breast" and implants in herself.

173. 15. A wife thus receives into herself an image of her husband, and from it perceives, sees and feels his affections. From the arguments presented above, it follows, as something already attested, that wives receive into themselves matters that have to do with the wisdom of their husbands, thus matters belonging to their souls and minds, and in this way, from being maidens, they turn themselves into wives. These are the arguments from which this follows:

1. Woman was created out of man.

2. Consequently, she has an inclination to unite and, so to speak, reunite herself with a man.

3. On account of and for the sake of that union with her mate, a woman is born a form of love for a man, and she becomes more and more a form of love for him by marriage, because her love then continually devotes its thoughts to joining her husband to her.

4. She is joined to her particular partner by appeals to his life's desires.

5. Married partners are joined together by the atmospheres surrounding them, which unite them overall and in every instance according to the nature of the conjugial love in the wives, and at the same time according to the nature of the wisdom receiving that love in the husbands.

6. Married partners are also joined together by assimilations of the husbands' powers by the wives.

7. From this it is apparent that something of the husband is constantly being transfused into the wife and infused in her as though it were hers.

It follows from all this that an image of the husband is formed in the wife, and that because of this image a wife perceives, sees and feels in herself the things that are in her husband, and herself therefore as being in him. She perceives from their communication; she sees from looking at him; and she feels from touching him. She feels the reception of her love by her husband from the touch of her hands upon his cheeks, arms, hands and breast - something that was revealed to me by the three wives in the hall, and by seven wives in a rose garden, spoken of in the narrative accounts. ¹

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