ll him that perhaps this was a sign that he would soon be
received. The angels then told him to cast off his raiment, which,
from the ardency of his desire, he did with a quickness that could
scarcely be surpassed. By this was represented the character of the
desires of those who are in the province to which the seminal vesicles
correspond. It was said that such spirits, when prepared for heaven,
are stripped of their own garments, and clothed with new shining
garments, and become angels. They were likened to caterpillars, which,
having passed through their vile state, are changed into chrysalides
and then into butterflies, when they are given other clothing, and
also wings of a blue or yellow, a silver or golden colour. Then, too,
they are given the freedom to fly in the open air as in their heaven,
to celebrate their marriages, and lay their eggs, and so provide for
the propagation of their kind; then also there are given to them sweet
and pleasant food which they suck from the juices and odours of the
various flowers.

80. In what precedes nothing has been said as to the character of the
angels who are from that earth; for those already mentioned (no.
73), who come to the men of their earth, and sit at the head, are not
angels in their interior heaven, but are angelic spirits or angels
in their exterior heaven. And as it has been disclosed to me what the
character of those [interior] angels is, it is permitted me to relate
what it has been given me to know concerning them. A certain one of
those spirits of Jupiter, who inspire fear, approached my left side
beneath the elbow, and spoke to me from thence. His speech was harsh,
and his expressions were not very distinct and separate from each
other, so that I had to consider a long time before I could gather
the sense; and while he was speaking he inspired some degree of fear,
admonishing me in this way to receive the angels well when they came.
But it was given me to reply that this did not depend on me, but that
with me all were received according to what they themselves were.
Soon after this the angels of that earth came, and it was given me to
perceive from their speech with me that they differed entirely from
the angels of our Earth; for their speech was not effected by means
of words, but by means of ideas which diffused themselves through my
interiors from all sides: and for this reason also they had an
influx into the face, so that the face accorded with each pa