5950. THE PROFANE. The profane have their hells in the west, a great way off, towards the south, deep down there. When they become profane, they are no longer men for they appear, in the light of heaven, as scorched mummies; wherefore, they are not spoken of in the feminine or masculine gender, but in the neuter, that.* By degrees, they lose human life and become like specters, and appear to themselves to flit in the air, now as females, now as males, now as infants, in different forms. One female was seen flitting about in this manner; and at such times she has not a vestige of thought, for she is in infernal phantasy, whence she so appears. She was also seen as a man with a blackish face, in the dark. In this manner, likewise, the face of the profane is by degrees darkened. * The English word itself occurs in the original here.