In Swedenborg's visions the 'realms' were arranged hierarchically,[11] Emmanuel Swedenborg, Heaven And Its Wonders, And Hell. translated by J.C. Ager. New York: The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Company. 1925. p.385.
with the Heavens above, the Hells below, and the 'World of Spirits' -
which would correspond to the astral plane - in the middle. He says that in the World of Spirits' there are hells under every mountain, hill, and rock, and under every plain and valley. The entire heaven and World of Spirits are, as it were, excavated beneath, and under them is a continuous hell'[11] 'The Hells are not seen', he says, 'because they are closed up. Only the entrances, which are called gates, are seen when they are opened to let in other spirits.' [12] Even' the gates and doors of the hells are visible only to those who are about to enter. '[13] Those gates which are beneath 'the mountains, hills, and rocks', he says, 'appear like holes and clefts in the rocks, some extended and wide, some straightened and narrow, and many of them rugged.'[14] As for those gates to be found beneath plains and valleys, 'some resemble those that are beneath the mountains, hills, and rocks; some resemble dens and caverns, some great chasms and whirlpools; some resemble bogs, and some standing water. '[15] At each gate' a monster commonly appears that represents in a general way the forms of those within'[16] 'When they are opened there bursts forth from them either something like the fire and smoke that is seen in the air from burning buildings, or like a flame without smoke, or like soot such as comes from a burning chimney, or like a mist and thick
cloud. ' [17] He says that' a dense fire' comes from the gates of hells' where the love of self prevails', and' a flaming fire' from the gates of hells 'where the love of the world prevails .. . . When the hells are closed this fiery appearance is not seen, but in its place there is a kind of obscurity like a condensation of smoke, although the fire still rages within ' The hell-dwellers, though, are' conscious of no burning' since' the fire is only an appearance'. They feel ' only warmth, like that which they had felt when in the world' since they' are as in their own atmosphere. '[18] All the hells, 'when looked into, appear dark and dusky.'[19] 'When they are opened gloomy and seemingly sooty caverns and dens in rocks [are seen] extending inward and then downward, either obliquely or vertically, into an abyss, where there are many doors. '[20] Some of these looked like ' dens and caves of wild beasts in forests', whereas others resembled 'the hollow caverns and passages that are seen in mines, with caverns extending towards the lower regions.' Now from' these caverns nauseous and fetid stenches exhale' which he compares with ' the odour from dung and excrement in the world .... In the worst hells [it is] like the odour of dead bodies. '[21] He says that ' evil spirits seek for [these smells] because they delight in them. For as every one in the world has been delighted with his own evil so after death he is delighted with the
stench to which his evil corresponds. '[22]
[12] Ibid. p.380.
[13] Ibid, p.263.
[14] Ibid, p.380.
[15] Ibid. p.381.
[16] Ibid, p.359.
[17] Ibid. p.381.
[18] Ibid. pp.372. 381.
[19] Ibid. p.380.
[20] Ibid. pp.263, 382.
[21] Ibid. pp.263. 75.
[22] Ibid. p.263.
This fits rather well with the caving story. Perhaps it indicates that a lot of astral realms are multi-layered and partially span the material world as well. Poor cavers breaking down into their own hell.
This story further demonstrates the grotesque nature of the caving story:
[30] Eliphas Levi, "La Clef des Grands Mysteres". Paris: Diffusion Scientifique, updated, pp.110-111.
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