VISIO NONA, cap. I

VISIO NONA, cap. I

Then, near the northern corner that faced east, I saw an image whose face and feet shone with such brilliance that the same radiance struck my eyes. It had clothed itself, as it were, in a garment of white silk, and over it wore a tunic of green color, which appeared adorned everywhere with varied pearls, and it carried, as it were, earrings in its ears, necklaces on its chest, and bracelets on its arms, all of which were like the purest gold, adorned with precious stones. But near the middle of that same northern region I saw another image, standing upright, having a wondrous form, and at the top of it, where its head should have been, such brightness of radiance shone that the same radiance struck my eyes. In the middle of its belly, however, the head of a man appeared, having gray hair and a beard, and its feet were like the feet of a lion. But it also had six wings, of which two rose upward from the shoulders and curved toward each other, joining together, and covered the aforementioned brightness; two extended downward from those same shoulders to the top of the head mentioned above; and two descended from the loins of the same image to the soles of its feet, spreading out a little as if for flight, while the rest of the body was covered entirely with feathers like those of fish and not of birds. And on the two wings that extended to the top of the aforementioned head, five mirrors appeared: one at the tip of the right wing, on which was written, 'The Way and the Truth,' and one in the middle of it, having written upon itself, 'I am the door of all the secrets of God,' and one at the end of it, on which was written, 'I am the showing forth of all good things'; and at the tip of the left wing, one mirror contained the writing, 'I am the mirror in which the intention of the elect is considered,' and one at the end of the same wing bore the writing, 'Tell us if you are the one who is to reign over the people of Israel.' And this image had its back turned toward the north. Across the entire western region I beheld, as it were, most foul, smoking darknesses, but near the corner of that same region which faced toward the north, a pitch-black fire with sulfur and thickest darkness boiled up, stretching, as it curved back on itself, nearly to the middle of the northern part. And I heard a voice from heaven speaking to me.