Sixth Mansion — Spiritual Betrothal and Trials

The longest and most turbulent mansion. The soul has tasted union and now suffers its absence — spiritual raptures alternate with physical illness, persecution, interior anguish, and the terrifying sense that God has withdrawn. Teresa describes visions, locutions, flights of the spirit, and a wound of love that both tortures and delights. Hex 47 (Oppression/Exhaustion) is the lake with no water — confinement that tests whether the superior person can remain cheerful when speech fails. Both describe an extremity where conventional resources are exhausted and only the deepest reserves sustain. The hexagram says 'though oppressed, he does not lose his will.' Teresa says the soul is purified precisely by what seems to destroy it.

Cross-Tradition Resonances