The Bajoran name for a sacred vision granted by the Prophets, a state that Sisko enters in Rapture when an accident leaves him able to see patterns across time.
A pagh'tem'far is a holy vision sent by the Prophets. Bajorans regard anyone who experiences one as touched by the divine, and what the visionary says is given great weight.
The term is used in the Deep Space Nine episode Rapture. After a plasma burst in a holosuite overloads his brain, Sisko begins to perceive hidden patterns. He uses them to find the lost holy city of B'hala and then foresees a swarm of locusts passing over Bajor towards Cardassia. Kai Winn, until then his opponent, accepts that he is truly the Emissary.
The visions are killing him. Sisko refuses treatment long enough to interrupt the ceremony admitting Bajor to the Federation and warn that Bajor must stand alone. Jake then authorises the surgery that saves his father and ends the visions, to Sisko's lasting regret.