SIBYL Prophecy and Oracle of DELPHI SIBYL prophecy We seek to regain our psychic abilities, or the have our

powers restored, to see beyond and manifest freely. For most, the process involves healing to see clearly through the maze of information the brain processes from the moment we enter the physical, until we leave, when clarity comes to some, but not all. We look to prophets and prophecies to peer into the future and foretell what is to happen. There have always been famous seers in the past, present, and perhaps those sending us messages from a future/parallel timeline running simultaneously with our program. It is through their visions that one can piece together the patterns of our reality and where they are all going. To that end we are programmed to question, quest and find the truth. The program has always created prophets and magicians (wizards) to invoke that part of our soul experience which knows this is all illusion. We visit psychics, mediums, shaman, tribal elders, gurus, renown teachers, to gain insights. This propels us in the 21st century as we sense a movement of consciousness that is peeking sending us plummeting into truth and reality at Zero Point. Thursdays July 5, 2007, the History Channel aired "Decoding the Past - Doomsday 2012: The End of Days" which mentioned Sibly at Delphi, who allegedly is one of the ancient prophets who accurately predicted many important events, far into the future, including 2012. Many people believed her visions were 'a gas' The word Sibyl comes (via Latin) from the Greek word Sibylla, meaning Prophetess. The earlier oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend" prophesied at certain holy sites, probably all of pre-Indo-European origin, under the divine influence of a deity, originally one of the chthonic earth-goddesses. Later in antiquity, sibyls wandered from place to place. Homer seems to have been unaware of a Sibyl. "Frenzied women from whose lips the god speaks are recorded very much earlier in the Near East, as in Mari in the second millennium and in Assyria in the first millennium". The first Greek writer, so far as we know, who mentions a sibyl is Heraclitus, in the fifth century BC: 'The Sibyl, with frenzied mouth uttering things not to be laughed at, unadorned and unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice by aid of the god.' (Heraclitus, fragment 12) Until the literary elaborations of Roman writers, sibyls are not identified by a personal name, but by names that refer to the location of their temenos, or shrine. In Pausanias, Description of Greece, the first Sibyl at Delphi was of great importance in antiquity, and was thought to have been given the name "sibyl" by the Libyans. Plato speaks of only one Sibyl, but in the course of time the number increased to 9, with a tenth, the Tiburtine Sibyl added by the Romans.

According to Lactantius' Divine Institutions (4th century AD, quoting from a lost work of Varro, 1st century BC) these 10 sibyls were those who follow. Of them, the three most famous sibyls throughout their long career were the Delphic, the Erythraean and the Cumaean. Not all the Sibyls in the following list were securely identified with an oracular shrine, and in the vague and shifting Christian picture there is some overlap. Delphic Sibyl The Delphic Sibyl was a legendary figure who gave prophecies in the sacred precinct of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Delphic Sibyl was not involved in the operation of the Delphic Oracle and should be considered distinct from the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. Pausanias claimed that the Sibyl was "born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph". Others said she was sister or daughter to Apollo. Still others claimed the Sibyl received her powers from Gaia originally, who passed the oracle to Themis, who passed it to Phoebe. The Delphic Sibyl has sometimes been confused with the Pythia, who gave prophecies at the Delphic Oracle. The two are not identical, and should be treated as separate figures.

ORACLE OF DELPHI The first oracle at Delphi was commonly known as Sibyl, though her name was Herophile. She sang her predictions, which she received from Gaia. Later, "Sibyl" became a title given to whichever priestess manned the oracle at the time. The Sibyl sat on the Sibylline Rock, breathing in vapors from the ground1 and gaining her often puzzling predictions from that. Pausanias claimed that the Sibyl was "born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph". Others said she was sister or daughter to Apollo. Still others claimed the Sibyl received her powers from Gaia originally, who passed the oracle to Themis, who passed it to Phoebe. The Delphic Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian Oracle at Delphi, a Greek colony, located in a plateau on the side of Mount Parnassus. She lived on Mount Parnassus and was believed by many to be a prophet. The word sibyl comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word (sibulla), meaning "prophetess". There were many Sibyls in the ancient world, but the Delphic Sibyl was among the most renowned because of the famous receivers of her advice, who were said to be Aegeus, Cadmus, Herakles, Oedipus, Orestes, Perseus and Xuthus. Two places claimed to be the birthplace of this Sibyl, who is traditionally known as the third Sibyl, namely Marpessus in the Troad and Erythrse. There are various names for the Sibyl: Pythia, Herophile and Delphica. Pausanias claimed that the Sybil was "born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph". Others said she was sister or daughter to Apollo. Still others claimed the Sybil received her powers from Gaia originally, who passed the oracle to Thetis, who passed it to Phoebe. According to legend, the Sibyl was visited by Herakles after he slew his wife and children in a fit induced by Hera. The Oracle told him as penance he was required to carry out twelve tasks set by his arch-enemy, Eurystheus, who had become King in his stead.

According to legend, the Sibyl came from the Troad to Delphi before the Trojan War, "in wrath with her brother Apollo", lingered for a time at Samos, visited Claros and Delos, and died in the Troad, after surviving nine generations of men. After her death, it was said that she became a wandering voice that still brought to the ears of men tidings of the future wrapped in dark enigmas. Science and the Sibyl There have been occasional attempts to find a scientific explanation for the Sibyl's behaviour. Most commonly, these refer to Plutarch's observation that the Pythia's oracular powers appeared to be linked to vapors from the Castalian Spring that surrounded her, together with the observation that sessions of prophesy would either take place in, or be preceded by a visit to, an enclosed chamber at the base of the temple. It has been suggested that these vapors may have been hallucinogenic gases. In 2001 evidence of the presence of ethylene, a potential hallucinogen, was found in the temple's local geology and nearby springs. Inhalation of ethylene in an enclosed space might well have exposed the Sibyl to sufficiently high concentrations of the narcotic gas to induce a euphoric or trance-like state. This oracle exerted considerable influence across the country, and was consulted before all major undertakings: wars, the founding of colonies, and so forth. She also was respected by the semiHellenic countries around the Greek world, such as Lydia, Caria, and even Egypt. Croesus of Lydia consulted Delphi before attacking Persia, and according to Herodotus received the answer "if you do, you will destroy a great empire." Croesus found the response favorable and attacked, and was utterly overthrown (resulting, of course, in the destruction of his own empire). The oracle is also said to have proclaimed Socrates the wisest man in Greece, to which Socrates said that if so, this was because he alone was aware of his own ignorance. This claim is related to one of the most famous mottos of Delphi, which Socrates said he learned there, Gnothi Seauton: "know thyself". Another famous motto of Delphi is Meden Agan: "nothing in excess". In the 3rd century A.D., the oracle (perhaps bribed) declared that the god would no longer speak there.The temple to Apollo at Delphi was built by Trophonius and Agamedes. Fault Lines After investigating the site, archeologists were convinced that these vapours are only a myth, as no evidence for them could be found, and - so the then standard opinion in geology - gaseous emissions from rock only occur in conjunction with volcanic activity. However, recent geological research indicates that the site of the oracle shows young geological faults, and it seems plausible that these emitted in ancient times light hydrocarbon gases from bituminous limestone which do have an intoxicating effect. (de Boer et al., Geology 29 (2001) pp. 707; see e.g. here for a popular science coverage) Other archaeologists believe that the oracle also inhaled fumes of burning bay leaves.

National Geographic - Delphic Oracle's Lips May Have Been Loosened by Gas Vapors August 14, 2001

The oracle of Delphi in Greece was the telephone psychic of ancient times: People came from all over Europe to call on the Pythia at Mount Parnassus to have their questions about the future answered. Her answers could determine when farmers planted their fields or when an empire declared war. The Pythia, a role filled by different women from about 1400 B.C. to A.D. 381, was the medium through which the god Apollo spoke.According to legend, Plutarch, a priest at the Temple of Apollo, attributed Pythia's prophetic powers to vapors. Other accounts suggested the vapors may have come from a chasm in the ground. This traditional explanation, however, has failed to satisfy scientists. In 1927, French geologists surveyed the oracle's shrine and found no evidence of a chasm or rising gases. They dismissed the traditional explanation as a myth.Their conclusion was aggregated by a modern misconception that vapors and gases could only be produced by volcanic activity. Now, a four-year study of the area in the vicinity of the shrine is causing archaeologists and other authorities to revisit the notion that intoxicating fumes loosened the lips of the Pythia.The study, reported in the August issue of Geology, reveals that two faults intersect directly below the Delphic temple. The study also found evidence of hallucinogenic gases rising from a nearby spring and preserved within the temple rock. "Plutarch made the right observation," said Jelle De Boer, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and co-author of the study. "Indeed, there were gases that came through the fractures. Greece sits at the confluence of three tectonic plates. The shifting of these plates continually stretches and uplifts the area, which is riddled with faults." Several years ago, Greek researchers found a fault running east to west beneath the oracle's temple. De Boer and his colleagues discovered a second fault, which runs north to south. "Those two faults do cross each other, and therefore interact with each other, below the site," said De Boer. Interactions of major faults make rock more permeable and create passages through which ground water and gases can travel and rise. From 70 to 100 million years ago, the limestone bedrock underlying the oracle's site lay below sea level, enriched with hydrocarbon deposits. About every 100 years a major earthquake rattles the faults. The faults are heated by adjacent rocks and the hydrocarbon deposits stored in them are vaporized. These gases mix with ground water and emerge around springs. De Boer conducted an analysis of these hydrocarbon gases in spring water near the site of the Delphi temple. He found that one is ethylene, which has a sweet smell and produces a narcotic effect described as a floating or disembodied euphoria. "Ethylene inhalation is a serious contender for explaining the trance and behavior of the Pythia," said Diane Harris-Cline, a classics professor at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "Combined with social expectations, a woman in a confined space could be induced to spout off oracles." According to traditional explanations, the Pythia derived her prophecies in a small, enclosed

chamber in the basement of the temple. De Boer said that if the Pythia went to the chamber once a month, as tradition says, she could have been exposed to concentrations of the narcotic gas that were strong enough to induce a trance-like state. Waning Power The power of the Delphic oracle fluctuated and eventually lost favor as Christianity became the dominant religion of the land, said De Boer. Moreover, ancient legend suggests that the concentration of the vapors became weaker - possibly because the absence of a major earthquake failed to keep Earth's narcotic juices flowing. Today, the water that helped transport the gases to the Delphic temple is tapped and siphoned above the temple to supply the modern town of Delphi.The work by De Boer and his colleagues is an example of modern science helping archaeologists understand how ancient peoples lived. Another example among the ancient Greeks is the belief in Poseidon as the god of the sea and earthquakes. According to Harris-Cline, modern science associates the two with tectonic movement deep under the sea. "Our scientific techniques are just beginning to detect the natural phenomena which the Greeks celebrated and appreciated 2,500 years ago with ritual activities at these special places," she said. Treasuries From the entrance of the site, continuing up the slope almost to the temple itself, is a large number of votive statues, and numerous treasuries. These were built by the various states those overseas as well as those on the mainland to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for advice important to those victories. The most impressive is the now-restored Treasury of Athens, built to commemorate the Athenians' victory at the Battle of Marathon. The Athenians had previously been given the advice by the oracle to put their faith in their "wooden walls" taking this advice to mean their navy, they won a famous battle at Salamis. Another impressive treasury that exists on the site was dedicated by the city of Siphnos, who had ammassed great wealth from their silver and gold mines and so they dedicated the Siphnian Treasury.

The Tholos at the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia The Tholos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia is a circular building that was constructed between 380 and 360 B.C. It consisted of 20 Doric columns arranged with an exterior diamater of 14.76 meters, with 10 Corinthian columns in the interior. The Tholos is located approximately a half-mile (800 m) from the main ruins at Delphi. Three of the Doric colums have been restored, making it the most popular site at Delphi for tourists to take photographs. Modern Delphi The modern Delphi or Delfi or Delfoi is situated west of the archaeological site. It is passed by a major highway linking Amfissa along with Itea and Arachova. The main street is two-ways. Delphi also has a school, a lyceum and a square (plateia). The communities include Chrysso which in ancient times was Crissa.

References: Walter Burkert - Greek Religion 1985 Wikipedia www.crystalinks.com