4594. About the gang of Sirens, and their hell
Those women become sirens who think about nothing else than entering the affections of men over whom they want to rule and by whom they want to profit, alluring them to self-love or else self-esteem so that the men finally let themselves be taken possession of and ruled by them and squander all their wealth on them, when yet those women do not have even the least love for the man but in their heart utterly despise him, doing this with many, one after the other, or also at the same time.
So it is that in the other life, as soon as they come to spirits, they enter into their thoughts and keep their thought wholly occupied until the spirits are freed by the Lord. From a practice acquired in bodily life, they cannot but at once force themselves into thoughts, and possess them. There they are (spiritual ohyra 1), and if the Lord did not liberate the world of spirits from such, scarcely any good spirit would be able to exist in that world without being led captive by them. Moreover, they don't care about right and wrong, or even abominable crimes. In short, they practice extremely diabolical [crimes] and regard them as of no account. When they first enter into a [man's] thoughts, they follow his thinking very closely; afterwards they lead it.
Footnotes:
1. Swedish for "vermin"
4594. CONCERNING THE CREW OF SIRENS AND THEIR HELL.
Those women become sirens, who devise nothing else than how they may enter into the affections of men, over whom they wish to rule and by whom to profit, by enticing their self-love or even self-esteem, so that, being by-and-by captivated, they may suffer themselves to be ruled by them, and devote all their powers to them, when yet these women have not even the least love towards the men, but in their heart, wholly despise them. They thus act with many in succession, or even simultaneously. Hence, in the other life, as soon as they come to spirits, they enter into their thoughts, and hold the thought entirely obsessed, until they [these spirits] are liberated by the Lord. They cannot but at once intrude themselves into the thoughts and obsess them, from a habit acquired in the life of the body. There, they are spiritual vermin; and, unless the Lord should free the world of spirits from such ones, hardly any good spirit would be able to be in that world, without being led captive by them. Moreover, they do not care for right and wrong: they also practice abominable crimes, in a word, even extremely diabolical [crimes], and count them as nothing. When first they enter into the thoughts [of a man] they then follow his thought strongly; afterwards, they lead it.
4594. De Sirenum turba et earum inferno
Sirenes fiunt illae faeminae, quae nihil aliud cogitant quam ut intrent in affectiones virorum, super quos imperare volunt, et quibus lucrari, alliciendo illos ad sui amorem vel etiam aestimationem, sic ut demum capti [se] patiantur ut imperentur ab illis, et omnes opes suas impendant illis; cum tamen faeminae illae ne quidem minimum amoris erga illum habeant, sed corde suo prorsus vilipendant, ita cum pluribus successive vel quoque simul faciunt; inde in altera vita ut primum ad spiritus veniunt, intrant in cogitationes illorum, et prorsus tenent cogitationem obsessam, usque dum liberantur a Domino, non possunt quam illico intrudere se in cogitationes, et illas obsidere, ex more in vita corporis capto; sunt ibi (ohyra 1
spiritualis:), et nisi Dominus liberaret mundum spirituum a talibus, vix aliquis spiritus bonus in illo mundo potuisset esse, quin captivus ab illis duceretur; praeterea non curant fas et nefas, facinora etiam abominabilia, verbo summe diabolica exercent, et pro nihilo reputant; cum primum intrant in cogitationes, tunc sequuntur valide ejus cogitationem, postea ducunt illam.
Footnotes:
1. = insecta noxia (vox suecica)