A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult (45 page)

P. Still, there is one of your expressions which I find it impossible to comprehend - "the truly substantive vastness of infinity."

V. This, probably, is because you have no sufficiently generic conception of the term "substance" itself. We must not regard it as a quality, but as a sentiment: - it is the perception, in thinking beings, of the adaptation of matter to their organization. There are many things on the Earth, which would be nihility to the inhabitants of Venus - many things visible and tangible in Venus, which we could not be brought to appreciate as existing at all. But to the inorganic beings - to the angels - the whole of the unparticled matter is substance; that is to say, the whole of what we term "space," is to them the truest substantiality; - the stars, meantime, through what we consider their materiality, escaping the angelic sense, just in proportion as the unparticled matter, through what we consider its immateriality, eludes the organic.

As the sleep-waker pronounced these latter words, in a feeble tone, I observed on his countenance a singular expression, which somewhat alarmed me, and induced me to awake him at once. No sooner had I done this, than, with a bright smile irradiating all his features, he fell back upon his pillow and expired. I noticed that in less than a minute afterward his corpse had all the stern rigidity of stone. His brow was of the coldness of ice. Thus, ordinarily, should it have appeared, only after long pressure from Azrael's hand. Had the sleep-waker, indeed, during the latter portion of his discourse, been addressing me from out the region of the shadows?

From Magick in Theory and Practice

ALEISTER CROWLEY

HYMN TO PAN

SOPH. AJ.

From Heaven and Hell

EMANUELSWEDENBORG

THERE IS A CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EVERYTHING IN MAN

The nature of correspondence is unknown nowadays; this for several reasons. The foremost reason is that man has moved himself away from heaven through love of self and love of the world. For a person who loves himself and the world primarily focuses on worldly things only, since these appeal to his outward senses and gratify his inclinations. He does not focus on spiritual things because these appeal to the inner senses and gratify the mind. As a result, people of this kind reject spiritual things, calling them too lofty to think about.

The ancient people behaved differently. As far as they were concerned, a knowledge of correspondences was the finest of all knowledges. They drew discernment and wisdom through it; through it, church people were in touch with heaven. For this knowledge of correspondences is an angelic knowledge.

Using correspondence itself, the most ancient people (who were celestial people) thought like angels and actually talked with angels as a result. For the same reason, the Lord often appeared to them and taught them. Nowadays, though, this knowledge has so vanished that even the nature of correspondence is unknown.

Now, without insight into the nature of correspondence, nothing can be known in clear light about the spiritual world, nothing about its inflow into the natural world, or even about what the spiritual is relative to the natural; nothing can be known in clear light about man's spirit, called his soul, and how it acts on the body, nothing about man's state after death. Because of this, the nature and character of= correspondence needs to be presented. This will pave the way for further matters.

Let us then first state the nature of correspondence. The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world - not just the natural world in general, but actually in details. So anything in the natural world that occurs from the spiritual world is called a correspondent. It is vital to understand that the natural world emerges and endures from the spiritual world, just like an effect from the cause that produces it.

The natural world means all the expanse under the sun, receiving warmth and light from it. All the entities that are maintained from this source belong to that world. The spiritual world, in contrast, is heaven. All the things that are in the heavens belong to that world.

Since man is both a heaven and an earth in smallest form, on the model of the greatest, he has a spiritual world and a natural world within him. His spiritual world comprises his more inward elements, belonging to his mind and having to do with discernment and intention. His natural world comprises his more outward elements, belonging to his body and having to do with its senses and behaviour. So anything that occurs in his natural world (his body, its senses, and its actions) from his spiritual world (his mind, its discernment, and its intention) is called a correspondent.

The nature of correspondence is visible in man in his face. In a face which has not been trained to pretend, all the mind's affections stand out visibly, in a physical form as in their imprint. This is why the face is called the index of the mind, a person's spiritual world contained within his natural world.

In much the same way, the elements of discernment are represented in speech and the elements of intention in bodily attitudes. So these things that happen in the body - face, speech, or attitudes alike - are called correspondences.

This may also serve to clarify what the inner person is and what the outer person is. The inner is what is called the spiritual person; the outer, the natural. Further, the two are quite distinct, as are heaven and earth, in such a way that, further still, everything that happens or emerges in the outer or natural person happens and emerges from the inner or spiritual.

All this has to do with the correspondence of the inner or spiritual realm of man with his outer or natural realm. Now we must deal with the correspondence of the totality of heaven with the details of man.

It has been pointed out that the whole heaven reflects a single person, that it is a person in all appearance, and that it is therefore called the Greatest Man. It has also been pointed out that the angelic communities that constitute heaven are therefore arranged like the members, organs, and viscera in a person. So there are some which are in the head, some in the chest, some in the arms, and some in specific parts of them.

So communities that are in a particular member there correspond to the like member in man - those in the head, for example, correspond to the head in a person, those in the chest to the person's chest, those in the arms to his arms, and so on. Man has being from this correspondence, for man has being only from heaven.

The division of heaven into two kingdoms, one called celestial and one called spiritual, has been pointed out above in the appropriate section. In general, the celestial kingdom corresponds to the heart and to everything dependent on the heart throughout the body. The spiritual kingdom corresponds to the lungs and to everything dependent on them throughout the body. Heart and lungs constitute two kingdoms in man, with the heart's domain extending through the arteries and veins, and the lungs' dominion through the nerve and motor tissues. Both are involved in whatever effort or activity occurs.

There are also two kingdoms in every individual's spiritual world, which is called his spiritual person. One of these belongs to his intention and the other to his discernment. Intention's dominion extends through affections for what is good, and discernment's through affections for what is true. These kingdoms correspond to the kingdoms of the heart and the lungs in the body.

The situation in the heavens is similar. The celestial kingdom is the seat of heaven's intention, where the "good" of love reigns. The spiritual kingdom is the seat of heaven's discernment, where what is true reigns. These are what correspond to the functions of the heart and lungs in man.

This correspondence is why "the heart" in the Word indicates intention, also the good of love; while "the breath" of the lungs indicates discernment and what is true of faith. This is also why affections are attributed to the heart, even though they are not in or from the heart.

The correspondence of heaven's two kingdoms with the heart and lungs is the general correspondence of heaven with man. Less general is the correspondence with his particular members, organs, and viscera, whose nature will now be noted.

In the Greatest Man, or heaven, people in the head are those who are involved in everything good more than others are. They are in fact involved in love, peace, innocence, wisdom, discernment, and in joy and happiness as a result. They flow into the head, and into things dependent on the head, in man; and they correspond to such things.

In the Greatest Man, or heaven, the people who are in the chest are involved in the good of charity and faith. They flow into man's chest, and correspond to it.

In the Greatest Man, or heaven, people in the loins or organs for generation are involved in marriage love. People in the feet are in the outmost good of heaven, which is called natural-spiritual good. People in the arms and hands are involved in the power of what is true from what is good. People in the eyes are involved in discernment; people in the ears, in hearkening and obedience; people in the nostrils, in perception; people in the mouth and tongue, in discussing on the basis of discernment and perception. People in the kidneys are involved in truth as examining, distinguishing, and correcting. People in the liver, pancreas, and spleen are involved in various kinds of cleansing of what is good and true. Other functions are performed elsewhere.

These flow into parallel elements in man, and correspond to them. The inflowing of heaven is into the functions and uses of the members of the body. The uses, being from the spiritual world, take form by means of such materials as occur in the natural world. So they present themselves in their effect, which is the source of correspondence.

This is why these same members, organs, and viscera are used in the Word to denote parallel things; for everything in the Word has meaning according to correspondence. "Head" is therefore used to denote discernment and wisdom, "chest," charity; "loins," marriage love; "arms" and "hands" the power of what is true; "feet," what is natural; "eyes," discernment; "nostrils," perception; "ears," obedience; "kidneys," examination of what is true; and so on.