1 2 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 1921, 58): “Now let us see what becomes of the ‘silkworm,’ for all I have been saying leads to this. As soon as, by means of this prayer, the soul has become entirely dead to the world, it comes forth like a lovely little white butterfly!” The preparation for spiritual marriage starts in the Sixth mansion, which is also a place where states of ecstasy often come with visions, inner voices, and similar occurrences. Spiritual completion (spiritual marriage) is realized in the Seventh mansion of her Interior Castle, where the spirit is unified with God. St. Teresa (Teresa 1921, 121) explains in these words: “But spiritual marriage is like rain falling from heaven into a river or stream, becoming one and the same liquid, so that the river and rainwater cannot be divided; or it resembles a streamlet flowing into the ocean, which cannot afterwards be disunited from it. This marriage may also be likened to a room into which a bright light enters through two windows – though divided when it enters, the light becomes one and the same.” We can say that energies that St. Teresa metaphorically describes as light, fire or milk-like rays of light, served for freeing consciousness from the body and its unification with God. In the Seventh mansion, St. Teresa (Teresa 1921, 121) offers a lively description of “spouting water”, “milk-like rays” that flood the body and even swallow it up: “For from the bosom of the Divinity, where God seems ever to hold this soul fast clasped, issue streams of milk, which solace the servants of the castle.” We can finally conclude that there definitely are descriptions of subtle energies in St. Teresa of Ávila and that these constitute an important component of her spiritual development. Fig. 3 St. Teresa of Ávila with Golden Aura Around the Head Resembling the Sahasrāra Chakra
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