"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."
--From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)


The Interior Castle inspired the name of this web log. St. Teresa's beautifully written mystical explanation of the soul and its spiritual progress. St. Teresa describes seven different rooms in the great Castle of the soul which at its center, illuminating and filling the Castle with warm light, is the King on a heavenly throne. Outside the Castle exists a vile moat, filled with venomous creatures seeking the destruction of the soul.

Castle = the soul and its journey

Immaculate = the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Castle (soul) which belongs to the Immaculate will strive to imitate the Immaculate and all that the Castle (soul) possesses belongs to Her. So here, this weblog belongs to the Immaculate and the author is merely the instrument.

I work here with Our Lady in order to please the Lord.



St. Teresa of Avila:
Let us now turn to our castle with its many mansions. You must not imagine these mansions as arranged in a row, one behind another, but fix your attention on the centre, the room or palace occupied by the King. Think of a palmito, which has many outer rinds surrounding the savoury part within, all of which must be taken away before the centre can be eaten. Just so around this central room are many more, as there also are above it. In speaking of the soul we must always think of it as spacious, ample and lofty; and this can be done without the least exaggeration, for the soul's capacity is much greater than we can realize, and this Sun, Which is in the palace, reaches every part of it. It is very important that no soul which practises prayer, whether little or much, should be subjected to undue constraint or limitation. Since God has given it such dignity, it must be allowed to roam through these mansions -- through those above, those below and those on either side. It must not be compelled to remain for a long time in one single room -- not, at least, unless it is in the room of self-knowledge. [...], the soul must sometimes emerge from self-knowledge and soar aloft in meditation upon the greatness and the majesty of its God. Doing this will help it to realize its own baseness better than thinking of its own nature, and it will be freer from the reptiles which enter the first rooms -- that is, the rooms of self-knowledge. For although, as I say, it is through the abundant mercy of God that the soul studies to know itself, yet one can have too much of a good thing, as the saying goes, and believe me, we shall reach much greater heights of virtue by thinking upon the virtue of God than if we stay in our own little plot of ground and tie ourselves down to it completely.
The Interior Castle, Chapter 2