then having gained
One raptured glance, I’ll die content,
For I the source of beauty, warmth and life
Have in his perfect splendor once beheld.”
[198]. The light-substance of God.
[199]. The light-substance of the individual soul.
[200]. The bringing together of the two light-substances shows their common origin; they are the symbols of the libido. Here they are figures of speech. In earlier times they were doctrines. According to Mechthild von Magdeburg the soul is made out of love (“Das fliessende Licht der Gottheit,” herausgegeben von Escherich, Berlin 1909).
[201]. Compare what is said above about the snake symbol of the libido. The idea that the climax means at the same time the end, even death, forces itself here.
[202]. Compare the previously mentioned pictures of Stuck: Vice, Sin and Lust, where the woman’s naked body is encircled by the snake. Fundamentally it is a symbol of the most extreme fear of death. The death of Cleopatra may be mentioned here.
[203]. Encircling by the serpent.