(33) I see them all seven very well, but when I speculate into them, then the spirit riseth up in the middlemost fountain or wellspring, where the spirit of life generateth itself, which goeth now upwards, now downwards, it cannot apprehend all the seven spirits in one thought, or at once, but only in part.

(9) For the seventh spirit is the body, and the other six are the life, and in the middle centre is the heart of light, which the seven spirits continually generate as a light of life; and that light is their son; and the welling out or penetration through all the spirits expandeth itself aloft in the heart, in the exit or rising up of the light.

(7) This seventh spirit has a colour and condition or kind of its own, as all the other spirits have; for it is the body of all the spirits, wherein they generate themselves as in a body: Also out of this spirit all figures, shapes and forms are imaged or fashioned; moreover, the angels also are created out of it, and all naturality stands therein.

(1) THE Seventh spirit of God in the divine power is the corpus or body, which is generated out of the other six spirits, wherein all heavenly figures subsist, and wherein all things image and form themselves, and wherein all beauty and joy rise up.

(67) But all the seven are one in another as one spirit; as this may be conceived in man, who has several thoughts, because of the operation of the seven spirits of God, which keep and reside in the human body.

(107) Thus one tasteth and feeleth another, and in the sound one heareth another, and the tone presseth forth from all the seven spirits towards the heart, and riseth up in the heart in the flash of the light, and then rise up the voices and joyfulness of the Son of God; and all the seven spirits triumph and rejoice in the Heart of God, each according to its quality.

(30) The seventh spirit is nature, in which stands the corporeal being of all six spirits, for the six spirits generate the seventh. In this spirit stands the corporeal being of angels, devils, and men, and it is the mother of all the six spirits, in which they generate themselves, and in which they also generate the light, which is the heart of God. Of the Third Birth or Geniture.

(61) The seven forms are the seven qualifying or fountain spirits of the body; when these are kindled each spirit generateth a special or particular enmity against God.

(45) The seven qualifying or fountain spirits have their compacted or incorporated body out of nature, that is, out of the seventh nature-spirit in the divine power; which in this book I call the Salitter of God, or the Comprehensibility, wherein the heavenly figures or shapes arise.

(6) Now the seventh form, or the seventh spirit in the divine power, is nature, or the issue or exit from the other six. For the astringent quality attracteth the Salitter together, or the fabric or product of all the six spirits, even as a magnet or loadstone attracteth to itself the Salitter of the iron; and when it is attracted together, then it is a comprehensibility, in which the six spirits of God qualify, act or operate in an incomprehensible way or manner.

(30) Summary The student must not fall into the error of supposing that man really has seven separate and distinct souls, either tied together like a bundle of twigs, or else worn as one would wear seven overcoats, one over the other. The symbol is only figurative, and must not be construed literally. There are not seven selves in man—but only One Self concealed by seven veils, each of which while serving to conceal the real nature of the Self yet serves to disclose the presence and power thereof to some degree. It is as if seven planes of variously colored glass, ranging from the darkest to the almost-transparent and colorless, were to be placed before a brilliant light. The darker glass would almost entirely obscure the Light, though yet revealing its presence in some of its rays; the next lighter would reveal more, and obscure less; and so on to the last in which the obscuration was but slight, and the revelation almost perfect. All illustrations of this ineffable fact of the Eternal are, by the very nature of things, imperfect, faulty, and misleading if taken too literally.

(103) For the seven spirits are the seven head sources or springs, and when Mercurius riseth up therein, that stirreth all, and the bitter quality moveth it, and distinguished it, and the astringent drieth it up.

(13) The Salitter, out of which the earth is come to be, was from eternity, and stood in the seventh qualifying or fountain spirit, which is the nature spirit, and the other six have generated the seventh continually, and are encompassed or surrounded therewith, or lie captivated or enclosed therein, as in their mother, and are the power and life of the seventh, just as is the astral birth in the flesh.

(4) From two letters, or forms He composed two dwellings; from three, six; from four, twenty-four; from five, one hundred and twenty; from six, seven hundred and twenty; from seven, five thousand and forty; and from thence their numbers increase in a manner beyond counting; and are incomprehensible. These seven are Planets of the Universe, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars; the seven days are the days of creation; and these an the seven gateways of a man, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and a mouth, through which he perceives by his senses.

(53) For the seven spirits had this in perfect knowledge, for they were united and actuated with God the Father, so that they could all see, feel, taste, smell and hear what God their Father did, or wrought and made.

(12) For the creatures cannot comprehend at once all the seven spirits, one in another, but they look upon them; but when one spirit is touched or stirred, then that toucheth or stirreth all the others, and then the birth or geniture stands in full power.

(42) Whereof you have an image in the Revelation of John, where he seeth seven golden candlesticks or lights before the Son of God, which signify the seven spirits of God, which shine in great clarity, brightness or lustre before the Son of God, out of which the Son of God is continually generated from eternity to eternity, and is the Heart of the seven spirits of God, and which I will here describe in order one after another.

(2) These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

(10) And this is the spirit of all the seven spirits, that goeth forth out of the heart of God, which there, in the seventh spirit, formeth and frameth all, and wherein the qualifying or fountain spirits, with their lovewrestling, shew themselves endlessly.

(114) In that seventh spirit of nature rise up also the heavenly fruits and colours, and whatsoever is apprehensible or comprehensible, and is like to such a form or manner as if the angels did dwell between heaven and earth in the deep, where they ascend and descend, and wherever they are, there their foot resteth, as if it stood upon the earth.