(45) Seeing then that the Shriek of the Joy in the Virtue of God (which breaks the Doors of the deep Darkness) thus springs up in the Heart, and flies with its Glimpse [or Sparkling] into the Head, then the Virtue of the Joy sets itself above, as being the strongest, and the Flash [or Glance] beneath, as being the weakest; and so when the Flash [or Glance] comes into the Head into its Seat, then it makes itself two open Gates. For it has broken the Doors of the deep Darkness, and therefore it continues no more in the Darkness, but it must be free as a victorious Prince [or Conqueror,] and will not be held captive. And this signifies to us the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, who is now free, and will not be held [therein,] which in its due Place shall be very deeply described. And those Gates which the Glance holds open, they are the Eyes, and the Spirit of Joy is their Root, which [Spirit] springs up at first in the Kindling of the Life.

(57) But that they have hitherto ascribed such acute Knowledge to the Soul, after the Departure of the Body, that thing is very various, according as the Soul is variously armed. It it here (in this Body) entered into the new Birth, and if itself was entered, with its noble Champion [Jesus Christ,] through the Princely Potentates, Gates of the Deep, to God, so that it has received the Crown of the high Wisdom from the noble Virgin, then indeed it has great Wisdom and Knowledge, even above the Heavens, for it is in the Bosom of the Virgin, through whom the eternal Wonders of God are opened. This [Soul] has also great Joy and Clarity, [Brightness or Luster,] above the Heavens of the Elements; for the Glance of the holy Trinity shines from it, and clarifies, [brightens, or glorifies] it.

(9) This opening of a window in the heart towards the unseen also takes place in conditions approaching those of prophetic inspiration, when intuitions spring up in the mind unconveyed through any sense-channel. The more a man purifies himself from fleshly lusts and concentrates his mind on God, the more conscious will he be of such intuitions. Those who are not conscious of them have no right to deny their reality.

(4) But the Soul of Man, which is enlightened with the holy Spirit of God, (which in the second Principle proceeds from the Father and the Son in the holy Heaven, that is, in the true divine Nature which is called God;) this Soul sees even into the Light of God, into the same second Principle of the holy divine Birth, into the heavenly Essence: But the syderial Spirit wherewith the Soul is clothed, and also the elementary [Spirit] which i rules the Source, or Springing and Impulsion of the Blood, they see no further than into their Mother, whence they are, and wherein they live.

(46) For the Door of the Deep to the Light of God appears to thee no more; for thou art now a perfect Creature in the first Principle. And now though thou dost elevate thyself, and wouldst break open the Door of the Deep, yet that cannot be [done;] for thou art a whole Spirit, and not merely in the Will only, wherein the Door of the Deep can be broke open; but thou fliest out aloft over the Kingdom of God, and canst not enter in; and the higher thou fliest, the deeper thou art in the Abyss, and thou seest not God yet, who is so near thee.

(10) Now the Gate of the Light stands between both these Regions, as in one [only] Center inclosed with Flesh, and it shines in the Darkness in itself, and it moves towards the Might of the Darkness and Fierceness, and sheds forth its Rays, even to the Noise of the Breaking through, from whence the Gates of Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, and Feeling, go forth; and when these Gates apprehend the sweet, loving, and pleasant Rays of the Light, then they become most highly joyful, and run into their highest Region into the Heart (as into their right Dwelling-house) into the Essences of the Spirit of the Soul, which receives it with Joy, and refreshes itself therein; and there its Sun springs up (viz. the pleasant Tincture in the Element of Water) and by the sweet Joy becomes Blood. For all Regions rejoice therein, and suppose that they have got the noble Virgin again, whereas it is but her Rays, as the Sun shines upon the Earth, from whence all Essences of the Earth rejoice, spring, grow, and blossom. Which is the Cause that the Tincture rises up in all Herbs and Trees. 1 1. And here we must accurately consider wherein every Region rejoices; for the Sun and Stars apprehend not the Divine Light, as the Essences of the Soul [do,] and yet only that Soul which stands in the new Birth; but pthey taste the Sweetness which has imprinted [or imaged] itself in the Tincture; for the Blood of the Heart, wherein the Soul moves, is so very sweet, that there is nothing to be compared to it. Therefore has God by Moses forbidden Man to eat the Flesh in its Blood; for the Life stands in it. For the bestial Life ought not to be in Man, that his Spirit be not infected therewith.

(30) And they say, Yes, we will take thee in, for thou art a Member of our Spirit; thou shalt dwell in us, and strengthen the Essences of our Spirit, that it may not faint; yet we must also have the Children of the Earth (for they have our Quality also in them) that we may rejoice. And the Spirit of the Lungs says; Then I will live in you wholly, and rejoice myself with you. The Gate of the Syderial, or Starry Spirit. 3 1. Thus now when the Light of the Sun, which had discovered and imprinted itself in the Fire-flash of the Essences of the Spirit, and was shining in the Fire-flash (as in a strange Virtue, and not in the Sun's own Virtue,) [when he] sees that he has gotten the Region, and that the Essences of the Soul (which are the Worm or the Spirit) as also the Elements will rejoice in his Virtue and Splendor, and that the Elements have made their four Regions [or Dominions] and Habitations, for an everlasting Possession, and that he should be a King, and that they should serve at Court (in the Spirit of the Essences) in the Heart, and so exceedingly love him, and rejoice in their Service, and have besides brought the Children of the Earth, that the Spirit might present them (where then they will first be frolick and potent, and eat and drink of the Essences of the Children of the Earth) then i he thinks with himself, it is good to dwell here, thou art a King, thou wilt bring kthy Kindred [Offspring, or Generation] hither, and raise them up above the Elements, and make thyself Gate where the Children of this World are wiser than the Children of Light. O Man! consider thyself! And he draws the Constellations to him, and brings them into the Essences, and sets them over the Elements, with their wonderful and unsearchable various Essences, (whose Number is infinite,) and makes himself

(14) Now therefore the Soul stands in two Gates, and touches the two Principles, viz. the eternal Darkness, and the eternal Light of the Son of God, as God the Father himself does. Now as God the Father holds his unchangeable eternal Will to generate his Heart and Son, so the Angels and Souls keep their unchangeable Will in the Heart of God. Thus it [the Soul] is in Heaven and in Paradise, and enjoys the unutterable Joy of God the Father which he has in the Son, and it hears the inexpressible Words of the Heart of God, and rejoices at the eternal, and also at the created Images, which are not in Essence [or Substance,] but in Figure.

(1) EVERY Spirit sees no further than into its Mother, out of which it has its Original, and wherein it stands; for it is impossible for any Spirit in its own natural Power to look into another Principle, and behold it, except it be regenerated therein. But the natural Man, who in his Fall was captivated by the Matrix of this World, whose natural Spirit moves between two Principles, viz. between the divine and the hellish, and he stands in both the Gates, into which Principle he falls, there he comes to be regenerated, whether it be as to the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of Hell; and yet he is not able in this [life] Time to see either of them both.