3835. The evil spirits do not put up with them, being unable to connect anything with themselves. Those spirits understand the inward content of their mental imagery, so the evil spirits complained about them, both when they declared them to be good, meaning that they were performing a use, even to the good - averting evil, chastising the insolent, or tempting - and when they declared them to be evil, which they could not stand. So they were very much infested by those spirits, who were applying themselves to my left ear and saying that they are good spirits, and that it is their custom to speak in that way. I was told concerning them that they come thus flocked together, and do not know from where they come.
[2] And I realize that evil spirits are infested by them, and that the evil spirits infest them in whatever way they can, because they cannot stand such treatment. I perceived that the aura of evil spirits is most repugnant to them, and because they thus act against the evil in this way, they cannot help having them so to speak as companions. For the evil are mediums whom they harass in this manner, but the hostility is perpetual; so they are there to harass the evil. Their society, which is a wandering one, was portrayed by a man or woman in a front room, dressed in a garment that turned into a gown of sky blue color; it was a crude kind of person.
3835. Evil spirits do not tolerate those [above spoken of] because they cannot apply anything to themselves. They understand their interiors, for which reason the evil spirits complained of them, especially when they said that they [the evil spirits] were good, because they understand that they may perform a use even to the good, [whether] by averting evil, by chastising the insolent, or by tempting. Neither do they tolerate that they should be said to be evil, and on this account they are exceedingly hostile to them. They applied themselves to my left ear and said that they were good spirits, and that it was their custom to speak in this manner. It was said concerning them that they [usually] come congregated in this manner together, though they know not whence; and I perceive that evil spirits are infested by them, and the evils spirits on the other hand infest them also in a variety of ways, because they cannot bear anything of this kind. The sphere of evil spirits I perceived to be extremely repugnant to them, and because they thus act against the evil, they cannot but have them as it were for companions, for the evil are subjects which they vex in this way, but there is still perpetual enmity; wherefore the evil serve them for objects of vexation. Their society, which is a wandering one, was represented by a man or a woman in a chamber in front [clad] in a vestment, which, being changed into a gown of a sky-blue color, [the representation] became a gross kind of man. 1
Footnotes:
1. Compare AC 5189, where the same class of spirits is described.
3835. Mali spiritus eos non tolerant, quia nihil sibi adplicare possunt, [hi] intelligunt eorum ideae interiora, quare conquesti sunt de iis mali spiritus, tam cum dicerent quod boni, quia intelligunt quod utilitatem praestarent, etiam bonis, avertendo malum, castigando qui insultant, tentando, [quam] quod mali sint nec tolerant, quare iis sunt infesti valde; applicabant se auri meae sinistrae et dicebant quod boni spiritus sint, et quod eorum mos sit ita loquendi: dicebatur de iis quod sic congregati veniunt, et quod non sciant unde; et percipio, quod mali spiritus ab iis infestentur, et quod mali spiritus eos quocunque modo infestent, quia talia tolerare nequeunt, sphaeram malorum spirituum percepi iis maxime contrariam, et quia contra malos ita agunt, non possunt non eos quasi habere sicut comites, nam mali sunt subjecta, quae vexent ita, sed perpetua est inimicitia; quare pro vexandis malis sunt. Societas eorum, quae vagabunda est, repraesentata per virum seu faeminam in camera antrorsum habitu, qui versus in togam coerulei coloris, erat homo crassus.