John eats the little book: sweet in the mouth, bitter in the belly.
symbol for prophetic initiation.
prophecy as ingestion revelation becoming embodied wisdom that tastes sweet but becomes suffering when assimilated the poet/prophet/mage as one who must internalize the Word
The Angel and the Small Scroll
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 2He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.
4When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”
5Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. 6And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! 7But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.”
8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
9And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.”
“Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”a
10So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
11And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”