461. THE SEAT OF CERTAIN ONES IN HEAVEN WHO ARE CALLED STARS We read in the Apocalypse [xii 4], about the dragon, that he drew down a third part of the stars with his tail. In the zenith, or directly overhead, is the seat of a certain one who calls himself Abraham. He is like a smooth serpent, for sometimes he seems to want to turn himself round, at other times the case is different; but still he continually labors to destroy all those whom he calls gentiles, except the posterity of Jacob, whom he calls his children; nor does he give attention to the other families, as the dispersed Israelites, because he hates Jesus and continually persecutes the Christians, and perverts their doctrine. It would be too prolix to enumerate all his deceits and wiles, which I have been given to know only from experience, for he has now persecuted me for nearly three years. He has a very great influence [influxus] because from phantasy he places himself quite in the zenith, so that he may thus look downwards upon all; he thus supposes that he directs the universe. Sometimes he seems to himself to be like the sun surrounded by such a sphere. That he is placed in the zenith is only a phantasy, for by phantasies he can be thrust down and turned about, and also acted upon in various ways, which he cannot but acknowledge, as happened today in a state of wakefulness. There was one who was said to operate by phantasies, which is very common with spirits. He placed the so-called Abraham behind me, besides other pranks, so that he is obliged to acknowledge that only the phantasy of pride had raised him up, and continually holds him there. (More about this elsewhere.) He also wanted to deceive me today, by the phantasy of a creator of the universe without mediation; but being deterred from doing so, he had to acknowledge that there must be a mediation and that he himself can never mediate, since he is a most malicious man, and hates all the faithful, the pious, and the innocent, and suffers himself to be worshipped as God. 1748, Jan. 11, o.s.