Five Public Opinions

From The Spirit of Things, 27/1/08:

Caroline Myss: By the time Teresa [of Avila] was in her 50s in the convent, not only did her sisters, the nuns that she lived with, realise that they were living with a saint. But the whole of Spain knew that, as well as Rome, the Vatican. Her experiences, her mystical experiences, had become famous, even though she was a cloistered nun. [. . .] But let me just give you an example: she would sometimes levitate.

Rachael Kohn: Levitate?

Caroline Myss: Yes.

Rachael Kohn: Other people witnessed this?

Caroline Myss: Oh yes. Now mind you, don’t picture her around the ceiling Rachael. She would go into states of ecstasy where she would hover over the ground by 2 inches, or something like that. Now that’s not unusual. I mean in the sense that Eastern mystics have been seen to do that.

Rachael Kohn: I’ve read that her face was illuminated.

Caroline Myss: Her face would be illuminated. [. . . emphasis added]

Oh, for fuck’s sake!