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Other Planets
In Other Planets, Emanuel Swedenborg offers us a panorama of a unified and purposeful universe based on his visionary journeys through the unimaginably vast reaches of the spiritual world.
Cast in the form of a travelogue, Swedenborg describes having contact with the spirits of people who had lived on Mercury, Jupiter, and other planets and satellites in our solar system and beyond. This may present a challenge for those who interpret it literally, but just as it is with other of Swedenborg’s “memorable occurrences” in the spiritual world, the goal is to consider and explore the deeper insights that he reveals regarding the universal principles that unite the human with the Divine. The discussions of faith in Other Planets are framed by Swedenborg’s own Christian beliefs; however, a key takeaway for readers will certainly be the feeling that there are multiple ways of approaching belief and religious practice that can all lead to heaven.
Also published under the titles Earths in the Universe, The Worlds in Space, and Life on Other Planets, this work provides seasoned students of Swedenborg with a renewed take on the fundamentals of his theology. At the same time, this short piece opens a window onto how the people of the eighteenth century sought to integrate science and religion in ways that are still relevant and meaningful today.
Cast in the form of a travelogue, Swedenborg describes having contact with the spirits of people who had lived on Mercury, Jupiter, and other planets and satellites in our solar system and beyond. This may present a challenge for those who interpret it literally, but just as it is with other of Swedenborg’s “memorable occurrences” in the spiritual world, the goal is to consider and explore the deeper insights that he reveals regarding the universal principles that unite the human with the Divine. The discussions of faith in Other Planets are framed by Swedenborg’s own Christian beliefs; however, a key takeaway for readers will certainly be the feeling that there are multiple ways of approaching belief and religious practice that can all lead to heaven.
Also published under the titles Earths in the Universe, The Worlds in Space, and Life on Other Planets, this work provides seasoned students of Swedenborg with a renewed take on the fundamentals of his theology. At the same time, this short piece opens a window onto how the people of the eighteenth century sought to integrate science and religion in ways that are still relevant and meaningful today.
118 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 2018
About the author
Emanuel Swedenborg
1,691 books305 followersEmanuel Swedenborg (born Emanuel Swedberg; February 8, 1688–March 29, 1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. At the age of fifty-six he entered into a spiritual phase in which he experienced dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, where he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. For the remaining 28 years of his life, he wrote and published 18 theological works, of which the best known was Heaven and Hell (1758), and several unpublished theological works.
Swedenborg explicitly rejected the common explanation of the Trinity as a Trinity of Persons, which he said was not taught in the early Christian Church. Instead he explained in his theological writings how the Divine Trinity exists in One Person, in One God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Swedenborg also rejected the doctrine of salvation through faith alone, since he considered both faith and charity necessary for salvation, not one without the other. The purpose of faith, according to Swedenborg, is to lead a person to a life according to the truths of faith, which is charity.
Swedenborg's theological writings have elicited a range of responses. Toward the end of Swedenborg's life, small reading groups formed in England and Sweden to study the truth they saw in his teachings and several writers were influenced by him, including William Blake (though he ended up renouncing him), Elizabeth Barrett Browning, August Strindberg, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Baudelaire, Balzac, William Butler Yeats, Sheridan Le Fanu, Jorge Luis Borges and Carl Jung. The theologian Henry James Sr. was also a follower of his teachings, as were Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller.
In contrast, one of the most prominent Swedish authors of Swedenborg's day, Johan Henrik Kellgren, called Swedenborg "nothing but a fool". A heresy trial was initiated in Sweden in 1768 against Swedenborg's writings and two men who promoted these ideas.
In the two centuries since Swedenborg's death, various interpretations of Swedenborg's theology have been made (see: Swedenborgian Church), and he has also been scrutinized in biographies and psychological studies.
Swedenborg explicitly rejected the common explanation of the Trinity as a Trinity of Persons, which he said was not taught in the early Christian Church. Instead he explained in his theological writings how the Divine Trinity exists in One Person, in One God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Swedenborg also rejected the doctrine of salvation through faith alone, since he considered both faith and charity necessary for salvation, not one without the other. The purpose of faith, according to Swedenborg, is to lead a person to a life according to the truths of faith, which is charity.
Swedenborg's theological writings have elicited a range of responses. Toward the end of Swedenborg's life, small reading groups formed in England and Sweden to study the truth they saw in his teachings and several writers were influenced by him, including William Blake (though he ended up renouncing him), Elizabeth Barrett Browning, August Strindberg, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Baudelaire, Balzac, William Butler Yeats, Sheridan Le Fanu, Jorge Luis Borges and Carl Jung. The theologian Henry James Sr. was also a follower of his teachings, as were Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller.
In contrast, one of the most prominent Swedish authors of Swedenborg's day, Johan Henrik Kellgren, called Swedenborg "nothing but a fool". A heresy trial was initiated in Sweden in 1768 against Swedenborg's writings and two men who promoted these ideas.
In the two centuries since Swedenborg's death, various interpretations of Swedenborg's theology have been made (see: Swedenborgian Church), and he has also been scrutinized in biographies and psychological studies.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 1, 2025
Very weird book. I remain skeptical on how Swedenborg obtained all this supposed intel on spirits from other planets. I also don't agree with his definition of spirits and angels as being human. In fact, I think his very definition contradicts some of his most important discoveries about these spirits from other planets (unless I am just totally misunderstanding the book). For example, he reports that the spirits from other planets do not understand why humans use words, facial expressions, and actions that don't match their real thoughts. However, if these spirits and angels were, in fact, human, they would understand why Earth humans practice these deceptions (usually to "play nice" in society or as a means of self-protection). The spirits he describes lead very human lives, working and living together in families and communities, so how would they not understand? Unless, they are able to lead a purer existence which, to me, would indicate they are not human. In general, I just found Swedenborg's use of Christian theology weird; his definitions of spirits, angels, and God just don't match my own (which are mostly taken from the old Baltimore Catechism).
That being said, I was very entertained by this book as a student of astrology. Swedenborg's descriptions of the spirits on other planets mostly matched my understanding of those planetary energies. I most enjoyed his descriptions of the spirits on Mercury, especially how they spend most of their time gathering knowledge and even spy on spirits of other planets to get information. They like to learn for the sake of learning, not to use the information for any practical purposes, and don't care to share their intel using verbal speech. Instead, they transmit what they know through mind connections but only to other spirits of Mercury. As a Gemini, I found this way of being very relatable.
Overall, I think this may be an interesting read if you are a student of astrology and want to get a deeper insight into planetary energies. The Christian theology could be a bit off-putting to some, particularly to those who are of a more traditionalist Catholic bent and to those who don't accept Christian theology in any form.
That being said, I was very entertained by this book as a student of astrology. Swedenborg's descriptions of the spirits on other planets mostly matched my understanding of those planetary energies. I most enjoyed his descriptions of the spirits on Mercury, especially how they spend most of their time gathering knowledge and even spy on spirits of other planets to get information. They like to learn for the sake of learning, not to use the information for any practical purposes, and don't care to share their intel using verbal speech. Instead, they transmit what they know through mind connections but only to other spirits of Mercury. As a Gemini, I found this way of being very relatable.
Overall, I think this may be an interesting read if you are a student of astrology and want to get a deeper insight into planetary energies. The Christian theology could be a bit off-putting to some, particularly to those who are of a more traditionalist Catholic bent and to those who don't accept Christian theology in any form.
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July 28, 2019Misc. memorable passages (copied & pasted from free PDF ed.):
"…I perceived they [spirits from Mercury] were thinking that knowledge in our world exists on paper and not in human minds. In fact, they made jokes about pieces of paper on Earth knowing things that the people there do not know.…" (14)
"The Scholastics did not go from thought to terms but from terms to thoughts, which is moving in the wrong direction. Many of them did not even get to thoughts, but simply stayed focused on terms; and the use they made of those terms was only to confirm whatever they chose and to superimpose an appearance of truth on things that were false in accordance with their zeal to persuade others. For them, then, philosophy was a means of going insane rather than becoming wise, and brought them darkness instead of light." (20)
"Lastly, he [Aristotle] let me know the concept of the human soul or spirit he had formerly held, which at that time he referred to as the pneuma—that is to say, he had understood it as an unseen vital force, like something made of ether. He also said that he had known his spirit was going to live on after death, since it was his inner essence, and that essence is not subject to death, because it possesses the power of thought. Beyond that, however, the concepts he had formed concerning the soul were more vague than clear, because everything he had known about it he had come to on his own; very little had come from other ancients. Aristotle himself is one of the sane spirits in the other life; many of his followers, though, are among the foolish." (39)
"I have been told by angels that on every planet the very first form of speech has been facial, using the two basic means of the lips and the eyes. The reason this kind of speech comes first is that the face has been formed to reflect what we think and what we want. That is why the face is called the image and index of the mind. It is also because honesty was a characteristic of the earliest or primal times. People did not have thoughts, and did not want to have thoughts, that they were unwilling to show in their faces. This allowed the feelings of their minds and their consequent thoughts to be vividly and fully presented in their faces. So their thoughts and feelings were visible to others’ eyes in a single form containing many details at once. This kind of speech therefore surpassed verbal speech the way seeing something surpasses hearing about it—for example, seeing a field for yourself as opposed to hearing and understanding a verbal description of it.…As should be clear to everyone, the earliest people could not have had verbal speech, because the words of a language are not instilled directly but must be invented and associated with things, something that can happen only with the passage of time." (30)
"They represented the intellectual mind as a beautiful form and portrayed the living force of desire as a motion that was shaped to fit that form." (69)
"The angelic spirits [from Mars] talked with me about the way the inhabitants of their planet live. They do not have any kind of government there but reside in separate communities, some of which are relatively large and some of which are small, and these communities are made up of people who share a similar disposition. The inhabitants recognize this similarity immediately from each other’s faces and speech, and are rarely mistaken. They instantly become close friends." (52)
"They also showed me that belching the sound out of their abdomens gave it this thunderous quality. I perceived that this practice arose out of the fact that the inhabitants of the Moon do not speak from their lungs like the inhabitants of other planets, but from the abdomen and therefore from some air that is stored there. This is because the Moon is not surrounded by the same kind of atmosphere as other planets are." (65)
"…I perceived they [spirits from Mercury] were thinking that knowledge in our world exists on paper and not in human minds. In fact, they made jokes about pieces of paper on Earth knowing things that the people there do not know.…" (14)
"The Scholastics did not go from thought to terms but from terms to thoughts, which is moving in the wrong direction. Many of them did not even get to thoughts, but simply stayed focused on terms; and the use they made of those terms was only to confirm whatever they chose and to superimpose an appearance of truth on things that were false in accordance with their zeal to persuade others. For them, then, philosophy was a means of going insane rather than becoming wise, and brought them darkness instead of light." (20)
"Lastly, he [Aristotle] let me know the concept of the human soul or spirit he had formerly held, which at that time he referred to as the pneuma—that is to say, he had understood it as an unseen vital force, like something made of ether. He also said that he had known his spirit was going to live on after death, since it was his inner essence, and that essence is not subject to death, because it possesses the power of thought. Beyond that, however, the concepts he had formed concerning the soul were more vague than clear, because everything he had known about it he had come to on his own; very little had come from other ancients. Aristotle himself is one of the sane spirits in the other life; many of his followers, though, are among the foolish." (39)
"I have been told by angels that on every planet the very first form of speech has been facial, using the two basic means of the lips and the eyes. The reason this kind of speech comes first is that the face has been formed to reflect what we think and what we want. That is why the face is called the image and index of the mind. It is also because honesty was a characteristic of the earliest or primal times. People did not have thoughts, and did not want to have thoughts, that they were unwilling to show in their faces. This allowed the feelings of their minds and their consequent thoughts to be vividly and fully presented in their faces. So their thoughts and feelings were visible to others’ eyes in a single form containing many details at once. This kind of speech therefore surpassed verbal speech the way seeing something surpasses hearing about it—for example, seeing a field for yourself as opposed to hearing and understanding a verbal description of it.…As should be clear to everyone, the earliest people could not have had verbal speech, because the words of a language are not instilled directly but must be invented and associated with things, something that can happen only with the passage of time." (30)
"They represented the intellectual mind as a beautiful form and portrayed the living force of desire as a motion that was shaped to fit that form." (69)
"The angelic spirits [from Mars] talked with me about the way the inhabitants of their planet live. They do not have any kind of government there but reside in separate communities, some of which are relatively large and some of which are small, and these communities are made up of people who share a similar disposition. The inhabitants recognize this similarity immediately from each other’s faces and speech, and are rarely mistaken. They instantly become close friends." (52)
"They also showed me that belching the sound out of their abdomens gave it this thunderous quality. I perceived that this practice arose out of the fact that the inhabitants of the Moon do not speak from their lungs like the inhabitants of other planets, but from the abdomen and therefore from some air that is stored there. This is because the Moon is not surrounded by the same kind of atmosphere as other planets are." (65)
July 25, 2022
Fascinating
For those who enjoy Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe or My Big TOE by Tom Campbell , Outer Planets describes a similar reality, 2 centuries earlier.
It is strongly influenced by Swedenborg’s religious worldview, but I found the insights thought provoking and profound.
Particularly the reiteration that “spirit travel” is accomplished by “internal” phase or frequency modulation.
For those who enjoy Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe or My Big TOE by Tom Campbell , Outer Planets describes a similar reality, 2 centuries earlier.
It is strongly influenced by Swedenborg’s religious worldview, but I found the insights thought provoking and profound.
Particularly the reiteration that “spirit travel” is accomplished by “internal” phase or frequency modulation.
January 10, 2025
Very interesting book. The author talks about his travels to other planets, and the peoples and spirits of each. One point comes up again and again, is that the travelling is not done by traditional means, like locomotion. Instead, you find yourself in a place based on your inner being. Change yourself, change your location.
This was a very neat concept.
Very god heavy, but nothing too preachy.
An eye opening read, one I'm happy to keep on my shelf.
This was a very neat concept.
Very god heavy, but nothing too preachy.
An eye opening read, one I'm happy to keep on my shelf.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews