" Reality is a flowing thing & through
psychic visualization we determine which way it flows"
-Oracular utterances
The idea that an Oracle was in a trance condition may have come from a misunderstanding of how the Greek words mania and pneuma were used in connection with oracles. While today the term mania refers
to various forms of hysteria and insanity, to the ancient Greeks it
meant ardor, rapture, enthusiasm, i.e., being infilled with a god.
The
word pneuma was used for "air," "vapor" and, philosophically,
for "soul" and "spirit." When the Oracle mounted the tripod she
received, according to Strabo, the pneuma, the divine "breath"
or afflatus, a word defined as a divine imparting of knowledge and power
and of inspiration, meaning in this case the divine wisdom or breath of
Apollo.
Initiates of the Greek Mystery schools were familiar
with the idea, having themselves undergone arduous moral, psychological,
and mental training and purification in preparation for the sacred
experience of transcendent Reality. In similar fashion, the Oracles, by
subjugating a portion of their nature, were able to receive and pass on
to others something of this import and wonder..
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