Inner Life and Worlds of Soul & Spirit is the tenth volume of the long-awaited "New Light on the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich" series. The first part casts light on the nature of visionary experience, prayer, the rosary, the amen, and ways of healing. Part two presents both well-known parables and fascinating new teachings, including an allegory of marriage and of stars at birth. The third part is occupied with heaven and hell, work for "poor souls" in purgatory, the habitations of the heavenly Jerusalem, John's Book of Revelations, the "octangular church," and the Churches Triumphant and Militant. Part four focuses on such places as the spring at Matarea, the pool of Bethesda, the holy sepulcher, the praetorium, and the way of the cross in Ephesus. Part five considers Egyptian star wisdom, the star of the Magi, Jacob's ladder, the writing of the New Testament, the chalice of the Last Supper, the "twelve new apostles," dragons, and satan. The final section presents themes related to Jesus, including his two genealogial trees, baptism, voice, shoulder wound, the cloth used to lower him from the cross, Veronica's scarf, his mantle, and apparitions upon his death.
Anne Catherine Emmerich was born on September 8, 1774, at Flamske, Germany. From early childhood she was blessed with the gift of spiritual sight and lived almost constantly in inner vision of scenes of the Old and New Testaments. Later, her visions became concerned primarily with the life of Jesus Christ, although they encompassed also the lives of many saints and other personages (some unknown to history) as well as far-reaching insights into many other mysteries. In 2004 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
This series supplements an earlier Angelico publication: The Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Books I-III. In 2009 the original notes of Anne Catherine's visions (in 38 notebooks) became for the first time available for reference, and the present series incorporates much new material translated therefrom. With regard to both individuals and themes, every reference thus far located in the notes and in prior translations have been woven together, so the reader can find in one place almost all of what Anne Catherine had to say on each topic.
As regards the series as a whole, virtually every individual in the biblical visions (approximately 250 in total) is referenced in the five People of the New Testament volumes. The Life of the Virgin Mary is dedicated to Mary (and her Essene ancestry), and Scenes from the Lives of the Saints treats of fifty-nine saints. The present volume forms a set with Mysteries of the Old Testament and two further volumes cover a multitude of separate themes: Inner Life and Worlds of Soul & Spirit and Spiritual Works and Journeys. The final volume is The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich.
