Term now familiar in Western mystical psychology: 16th-century Spanish Carmelite St. John of the Cross (whose writings reveal much Qabalistic understanding) used it to describe the intense desolation which characterized the eighth of his ten stages of spiritual ascent, corresponding to the experience of Binah, the Third Sephira.
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Sandra Kynes, author of several books, including The Herb Gardener's Essential Guide, Plant Magic, and the new Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants, among many others.
Although a few old books...