AC 5246 [2]
A state of temptation, in respect to the state after it, is also like the condition of a pit or prison - squalid and unclean; for when a person is being tempted, unclean spirits are near him, and surround him, and excite the evils and falsities with him, and also hold him in them and exaggerate them, even to despair. So it is that the person is then in squalor and uncleanness. Moreover when this state is presented to view in the other life (for all spiritual states can there be presented to the sight) it appears like a thick mist exhaled from unclean places, and a stench from it is also perceived. Such is the appearance of the sphere that encompasses one who is in temptation, and also in vastation, that is, who is in a pit in the lower earth.
[3] But when the state of temptation ceases, the mist is dispersed, and the sky clears. The reason of this is that by means of temptation the falsities and evils with a person are laid open and removed; when they are laid open that mist appears, but when they are removed the clear sky appears. The change of this state is also signified by Joseph's "shaving himself and changing his garments."
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