The Māra-Rūpas — Devils
Franz Hartmann[i]
Translation from French by Robert Hütwohl
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Translator’s note (Robert Hütwohl):
Earthbound souls, after death, assume animal forms reflecting their passions, as their astral bodies express their true nature. Boehme and Swedenborg describe these spirits as appearing animalistic, with Swedenborg noting their human-like features upon closer inspection. These forms, often manifesting during spiritual awakenings, can be objectively observed, as seen in the visions of Saint Anthony.
End of note.
These earthbound souls, once the spirit has departed them, may assume the animal forms that best correspond to their passions—the astral body serving as the expression, the symbol of the fundamental nature that constitutes the core of a creature. The physical body, being less plastic, retains the human form, even in a man who has become completely bestialized; yet the astral body does not prevent the man—or rather, the animalistic part of the man—from assuming, after death, the animal form that serves as the expression of his character.
Boehme said:
“Thereby, everyone must learn that he is what his will makes him, and that if his desires are those of animals, he is not a man, but an inhabitant of the animal kingdom—a creature of the dark world: A voracious dog, a fickle bird, a lewd beast, a furious serpent, or a wretched toad full of venom. All these properties have their source within him and provide the wood with which he fuels the fire of his life. Thus, when he departs from the external wood—that formed of the four elements—nothing will remain of him but the poisoned source of his torment. What form, then, will such a property assume? None other than that which corresponds to the dominant property within him—a form he will take on through the power of the infernal Word—such that he will become a dog, a serpent, a toad, or any other animal. The properties that the will has brought to life impose their shape upon his soul.” (The Six Points VII, 37).
Swedenborg, in his visions of the astral world—to which he gave it an ecclesiastical guise—describes these spirits as appearing from a distance to be animals, yet recognizable up close as men. In our world, it is quite the opposite.
Anyone who finds these things strange need only look within themselves to discern the animal species teeming within their astral soul. Perhaps they will find there a complete menagerie; and these properties or states of soul may even, under certain circumstances, manifest objectively—as recounted in the legends of the saints, and as evidenced by numerous examples found in the annals of modern and contemporary spiritualism.
These forms manifest themselves with great ease when an awakening to true spirituality drives them out of a person—repelling them like a morbid sweat that cannot remain within a body returning to health; they may then become visible both to the one casting them off and to any onlookers.
We are told that Saint Anthony, in his solitude, was tormented by all manner of visible devils. If we accept that these forms emerged from his prior moral nature—that they were produced by his will and his thoughts—and that, simultaneously, he possessed a mediumistic temperament through which he materialized these forms, we can believe in the reality of his visions, thereby replacing religious superstition with scientific understanding.
Franz Hartmann.
Note:
[i] The Māra-Rūpas — Devils. [Dr.] Franz Hartmann. Le Lotus bleu 5, no. 129-130 [Translation from French by Robert Hütwohl, ©2026]