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Following the Ptolemaic astronomy of his time Dante conceived of the earth as stationary and central in the universe, with the sun and moon and the five visible planets revolving about it at various speeds. Each of these seven heavenly bodies has its own sphere, or "heaven"; beyond them is the sphere of the fixed stars, and beyond that the ninth and last of the material heavens, called the Crystalline because it is transparent and invisible, or the Primum Mobile because from it in infinite speed the other lower heavens take their slower motions.

These nine spheres are severally moved and controlled by the nine orders of the angels, and all the spheres and the heavenly bodies in them have certain spiritual significances and certain influences on human life and character. As Dante passes upward with Beatrice the souls of the blessed appear to them in the successive heavens according to their corresponding predominant character in their earthly lives. Beyond the nine material spheres is the Empyrean, outside of time and space, the heaven of God's immediate presence and the only real home of the angels and the redeemed, whose blessedness consists in their eternal vision of Him.

The System of Dante's Paradise
The Ten Heavens

10. The Empyrean: the Holy Trinity, the Virgin, the Angels and the Saints
9. The Crystalline, or Primum Mobile: the Angelic Orders
8. The Fixed Stars: the Church Triumphant
7. Saturn: Temperance; Contemplatives
6. Jupiter: Justice; Rulers
5. Mars: Courage; Warriors
4. The Sun: Wisdom;Theologians
3. Venus: Love marred by wantonness
2. Mercury: Service marred by ambition
1. The Moon: Faithfulness marred by inconstancy