St. John of the Cross

The Poet of the Dark Night, who realized that when all lamps are extinguished, the soul finally finds its way by the light of its own burning. He represents the "Luminous Shadow," the necessary descent into the abyss where the ego is undone. He is the ladder climbed in secret, the one who found that the most intimate embrace happens in the total absence of the self. In the night of the senses, the spirit finds its morning.