Oracle - prophecy or clairvoyance
- Written by Portal Editor
In some of our texts you will find references to places worth visiting that have been designated with the addition of "oracles": Oracle of Didyma, Oracle of Olympia, Oracle of Delphi, Oracle of Klaros, etc. So what is the oracle, which comes from the Latin and could be translated as "Gods saying"?
In ancient times there were some places where one could question the gods with the help of a ritual or medium with regard to decision-making aids or future decisions. Here, through divine revelation, often transcendent answers to the questions of the supplicants should be answered. Even today, in Enlightened times, there are still similar practices in some religions. These hints, obtained with the help of the oracle, were then often used, especially by the rulers, as a justification for their own decision. The form in which the “godly pronouncement” was made was mostly known, as it is still today, only to the supplicants.
In contrast to clairvoyance, the oracle is always the question of a supplicant to a higher, divine authority, not the questioning on the basis of the individual abilities of a real person. The place of the oracle also plays a decisive role here, because it can be a sanctuary or a temple, which became a consecrated place due to mostly mythological origins. These oracle places only lost importance between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD.
In ancient Egypt, oracle interpretations were even consulted on important legal problems, such as in the oracle of Siwa. As adoptions from the religions of the Etruscans, the Roman oracles initially included interpretations from the heavenly signs such as thunder and lightning in their decisions.
And today? Which modern oracles are consulted for assistance? Even if you say, there is no such thing as “signs” are interpreted differently and are still often used to assess a situation.
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