In the
northern and southern quarters there are many hells; and in them are
those who while in the world were in love of the world, and in
various kinds of evil therefrom, such as enmity, hostility, theft,
robbery, cunning, avarice, and unmercifulness. The worst hells of
this kind are in the northern quarter, the milder in the southern.
Their dreadfulness increases as they are nearer to the western
quarter, and also as they are farther away from the southern quarter,
and decreases towards the eastern quarter and towards the southern
quarter. Behind the hells that are in the western quarter there are
dark forests, in which malignant spirits roam like wild beasts; and
it is the same behind the hells in the northern quarter. But behind
the hells in the southern quarter there are deserts, which have been
described just above. This much respecting the situation of the
hells.
588. In regard to the number of the hells, there are as many of them
as there are angelic societies in the heavens, since there is for
every heavenly society a corresponding infernal society as its
opposite. That the heavenly societies are numberless, and are all
distinguished in accordance with the goods of love, charity, and
faith, may be seen in the chapter that treats of the societies of
which the heavens consist (n.
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