The second
vignette:
The oracle approached the tripod of
Pythius with slow, measured steps. Her crimson hair was as a flame
upon the candle of her slender white robed body. Her bearing was
regal, yet carried also a humility born of service.
As an oracle priestess of Delphi,
Cassandra was not lured by the elaborate ceremonial proceedings to
believe she was anything but what she was, a servant of the Goddess.
She served the Great Mother, who pressed Her whispering lips against
Cassandra's heart and psalmed Her inviolate song into the priestess'
most inner spaces. But in the age that was upon Greece in Cassandra's
day, there were those of high rank in the Temple, who under pressure
from men of prestige and power had displaced the true emphasis of the
Goddess at Delphi. Instead they brought to the fore her consort, the
Sun God Apollo, as designate for the fountain of Light residing
within this holy and most ancient place.
Cassandra's walk to the tripod was a
path of sorrows, as she knew she would be asked questions fastened
boldly to her own destiny. Men with power over her mortality would
have her proclaim the answers they wished to hear. If she succumbed
to their jaded demands, Cassandra knew she would forever reside as a
false oracle of smoke and mirrors. Should she blanch at such
sacrilege, her soul would be preserved, though her body would surely
perish before the morrow. This oracle priestess had met a similar
crisis before in a distant land, where she proclaimed a prophecy upon
a people who wished not to hear what their own folly was about to
place before them. By the rites of war, she should not have survived
to prophecy again. Her beloved Troy was no more, it had lain upon its
own sword in the dying fields, where none shall rise again. Yet
Cassandra, of flesh and blood, breathed now the pungent air of the
cavern fumes and felt her life surge evermore within her. It was an
eternal streaming of her true nature, which was above all else, to be
a mouthpiece of the Sacred Knowledge Eternal.
As she positioned herself upon the
Pythian tripod, the Trojan felt within her breast the rapid beating
of a dove in flight, pounding for release from a gilded cage, to soar
free once again. Cassandra knew what her choice must be. The dove
must rise above the sun.
The third vignette:
Swans glided effortlessly across
tranquil waters, their limpid reflections belying their powerful
majesty. Elaine relaxed her gaze upon them, as she bent her slender
swan-like neck to drink from the spring at her feet. Hair the color
of sunlight cascaded about her face. She brushed the locks back to
reveal a mouth of soft roundness set firm with resolve. Youth blessed
her with its often fickle touch, yet no trial of years could ever
find despair in her blue eyes, the color of the Mother's holy robe.
Elaine bore the radiance of one whose beauty would survive long after
the lilies of the valley had dried and blown away. Such a destiny had
come to her from her generation, through the blood of the
faerie.
As one of the priestess oracles of
Iona, Elaine was positioned in time between the pages of an ancient
and sacred book Divine. It was her oath of life to become a bridge
between the fasted melodies of the Goddess, echoing as a last refrain
from the stilled groves of old, and the holy verses of the Father God
and his Eternal Son.
In the early morning of her hours
this day, Elaine had been brought by the High Priestess of Iona
before a woman bending as a branch with heavy fruit, leaning against
the arm of a sunburned man of middle years, a fisherman by trade. The
woman, her arms about her swollen body, glowed with the familiar
light of one entwined with Spirit. Her name was Mari, a sacred name
to Elaine, as it signified the veil of those chosen to serve the Star
of the Sea, the Mother of innermost graces. It was explained to
Elaine by the High Priestess, that Mari carried the child of the Son
of the Father God. Mari was the chosen vessel for His seed in the
Earth. The Holy Son's mother, also a Mari, had blessed this child in
the womb, conceived by Mari of Magdalene through an act of spirit
after the death of the Holy One.
Elaine was given the knowledge of the
role she would play in the new life that stirred in Mari that day.
She, Elaine, her name meaning ‘light upon the waters', was to
become the guardian of this child, when it entered the world his
father had come to redeem. After the birthing, Mari would leave her
son John Martinus, with the Priestesses of Iona. Upon his eighth
year, Elaine would escort him across the waters to the Crystal Isle
of Glastonbury, where he would receive his spiritual
instruction.
But all this was still ahead of her
wondering mind that morning, as she left the presence of the High
Priestess, Mari, and the fisherman then running barefoot to her
special place of swans.
Whatever her future may be, she felt
a gentle hand upon her shoulder, and sighed in the knowledge that
this guiding presence would lead her upon her path as guardian to the
Sun God's child.
With the sight of the Records of Ages
upon her, she mused at the irony of this life, that had brought her
once again, to the Throne of the Sun.
According to Earlyne Chaney in
‘Lost Secrets of the Mystery Schools': "The word oracle is
derived from the Latin word oraculumm through the verb orare, meaning
to speak. ‘Speaking' referred to messages of the gods given to
seekers through priests and priestesses."
Webster's Dictionary defines oracle
as:
"1) among the ancient Greeks and
Romans, a) the place where, or medium by which, deities were
consulted; b) the revelation or response of a medium or priest. 2a)
any person or agency believed to be in communication with a deity; b)
any person of great knowledge or wisdom; c) opinion or statement of
any such oracle 3) the holy of holies of the ancient Jewish
Temple"
The most ancient definition of an
oracle as given by Tehuti best suits us in this study:
" A person who has been born
and in some manner groomed, to receive spiritual discourse with
divine beings for the purpose of planetary evolution. Such oracles
are also opened in sight to the recording crystals of the Earth (the
Akashic), and under the guidance of the Masters, are in the service
of disseminating this knowledge."
In this article I have narrowed the subject further to the category
of priestess oracles. After the ‘renting of the veil' biblically
represented by the ‘Fall from Grace', the first oracles were
female. In the Lemurian and Atlantean Melchizedekean Temples, the
oracles were also priestesses, dedicated to using their gift with
sacred intent. Among the male priests of the Temple were the consorts
of the oracles. Each priest consort was selected with great care to
form a spirit bond with a specific priestess oracle. Through the
bonding of this couple (both sexually and spiritually), the oracle
was given a means to ground her vision into the physical world. The
consort created a knowledge form that polished the pure essence the
oracle received. The inner intricacies of this procedure are far
beyond present day esoteric perspective, nor am I at liberty to
discuss the innermost workings of these sacred and magical rites. Yet
it needs to be understood that the sexual aspect of these
relationships was far removed from the consciousness of carnal
sexuality. Nor was physical sexual interaction the major definition
of the magical practice.
The priestess oracle and the priest
consort worked outwardly in specific roles as well. Sometimes the
oracle would speak directly to the Temple, but never to the masses.
Always when communicating to the masses, and often within the
function of the Temple, the oracle would connect her source flow into
the essence and being of her consort who would then be the one to
speak the oracle's truth.
In later periods this process was
altered somewhat, with the consort silently focusing the frequency of
the oracle's receipt on the cellular level, thereby grounding it into
the human element so that as the oracle spoke her message, it was
more comprehensible on the feeling level.
With the take over by the male
priests of the Melchizedek Temple in Lemuria and later in Atlantis,
most of the female oracles who had not been killed receded into
caverns of solitude far from the newly formed patriarchy present at
the Temple complexes. Yet as age turned into age, and both Lemuria
and Atlantis were plunged into the seas, so the female oracles once
again brought their Light Seed into the Temples. In this period, they
were mostly remnant Temple Cities of Atlantis, such as on the Isle of
the Sun in Lake Titicaca, Peru, and the Bimini Islands in the
Atlantic. While there were some exceptions, the priestess oracles in
this post Atlantean age seldom included males in their practice, nor
were there many male oracles. The few that existed then, were
considered Mages by title and seen as a different sort of spiritual
facilitator, more along the lines of a magical instructor. Most
priestess oracles in this age were understandably touchy about
placing males in any position of power within their realm. These
women were the original Sea Priestesses, the Stella Maris (stars of
the sea) which appeared in the legends of future civilizations such
as the Greeks, Romans and Celts.
The next age of the oracle found
itself spreading into the largely unpopulated and dense forest
regions of Europe and Asia after the post Atlantean Temple oracles
had reached their zenith. The European-Asian oracle was also mostly
female (there were more frequent exceptions in this period), although
men were brought into the sacred procedure as consorts once again.
These oracles built no Temples unto themselves, instead integrating
their spirit and magic with nature in the sacred groves and mountain
recesses. However, they were often called upon to preside in certain
services within the monolithic structures of the period, those sacred
Temples of galactic resonance.
By Cassandra's time, oracles had
become fashionable to the masses. The enclave at Delphi in Greece had
once been a remote oracle cavern complex that served only those who
would have been guided by spirit and persistence to find them. As the
oracle trend developed, Delphi became as popular as a current day
tourist attraction, but with implications of power and rulership
attached to its destiny. If the people believed in and acted on the
messages of the oracles, so it stood to reason that those who sought
power by controlling the people, would seek to also control the
oracles. Thus, the insidious internal struggle began. It was at first
resisted, but just as a single raindrop at a time can eventually wear
away a granite boulder, so Delphi like many sacred oracle shrines,
finally succumbed to the debacle of entertainment concealing a more
lustful design.
Originally, a true priestess oracle
was not solely restricted to prophecy, but was a vehicle for a wide
range of wisdom and insight. In fact, foretelling the future was
seldom incorporated in their ‘speakings'. Only when it was
deemed granted by the divine beings with which they communed, could
the oracles speak with the tongue of forecast. It was understood that
too much prophecy interfered with the co-creative aspect of human
spiritual evolution. Planetary events were more likely revealed than
were individual destinies.
The first Lemurian and then Atlantean
oracles focused their power and intent mostly through the movement
and configuration of the stars. This is not to say that they were
astrologers, although this knowledge was a part of their learning
process. These priestess oracles worked directly with the dynamics of
the star fields, the energies moving through the Universe, only a
small portion of which can be determined through astrology. As
oracles became more connected to the Earth in the post Atlantean
period (most especially in the European-Asian phase), they aligned
more with the natural ley lines of the Earth, and the purpose
for which they could better incorporate them in their whole dynamic.
They never abandoned the stars, nor were the most ancient oracles
unconscious of the Earth, but there was a definite shift of major
focus through the ages. Largely, this was due to the female having
been cast out of the star Temples by the radical priests of
Melchizedek. Thus, she sought an even greater connection with her
primal Mother. She literally burrowed herself into sacred ground to
find the healing and nourishment she had been denied by the male
usurpation of the star consciousness.
There are many sacred cavern areas on
the planet that once were the womb centers for priestess oracles.
These were no ordinary caves however, each contained a special
interaction with a planetary power zone. They were therefore often
geologically active places.
Norma Lorre Goodrich writes in her
book, ‘Priestesses':
"Chasms above all, are fearsome
places. Delphi is chasm, precipice, dark mountainside, murderous sun,
with eagle's shadows overhead. Delphi soars, appears out of nowhere,
is a navel situated, as were most oracular shrines, near the
sea....The Oracle's dark, prophetic cave must always have felt like a
shrine so awesome that the feet can only stumble over worn white
squares. The eyes can afford only a quick glance now and then up to
the darkness of the cliff sides."
From Manly P. Hall, in ‘The
Secret Teachings of All Ages':
"The most famous oracles of antiquity
were those of Delphi, Dodona, Torphonius, and Latona, of which the
talking oak trees of Dodona were the oldest. Though it is impossible
to trace back to the genesis of the theory of oracular prophecy, it
is known that many of the caves and fissures set aside by the Greeks
as oracles were sacred long before the Greek culture. The oracle of
Apollo at Delphi remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the
ancients. Alexander Wilder derives the name Delphi from delphos, the
womb. This name was chosen by the Greeks because of the shape of the
cavern and the vent leading into the depths of the Earth....Some
believe that the Delphic fissure was discovered by a Hyperborean
priest, but as far back as recorded history goes the cave was
sacred....For many centuries during its early history, virgin maidens
were consecrated to the service of the oracle. They were called the Phoebades, or
Pythiae, and constituted that famous order know known
as the Pythian priesthood. "Iamblichus, in his dissertation on
The Mysteries, describes how the spirit of the oracle - a fiery
daemon, ‘Daemon' is a nature or elemental being, and does
not denote the same meaning as does the word ‘demon'. Even
Apollo himself - took control of the Pythoness and manifested through
her: ‘But the prophetess in Delphi, whether she gives oracles to
mankind through an attenuated and fiery spirit, bursting from the
mouth of the cavern; or whether being seated on the adytum on a
brazen tripod, on a stool with four feet, she becomes sacred to the
God; whichsoever of these is the case, she entirely gives herself up
to a divine spirit, and is illuminated with a ray of divine fire. And
when, indeed, fire ascending from the mouth of the cavern circularly
invests her in collected abundance, she becomes filled from it with a
divine splendor. But when she places herself on the seat of the God,
she becomes co-adapted to his stable prophetic power: and from both
of these preparatory operations she's become wholly possessed by the
God. And then, indeed, he is present with and illuminates her in a
separate manner, and is different from the fire, the spirit, the
proper seat, and in short, from all the visible apparatus of the
place, whether physical or sacred.'
"Serpents were much in evidence at
the oracle of Delphi. The base of the tripod upon which the Pythia
sat was formed of the twisted bodies of three gigantic
snakes."
The serpent (and dragon) in most
ancient times, was a representation of the primal Mother Earth.
However, with the assuming of male dominance in religion, the
symbology of the serpent was changed to suit the patriarchal
dismemberment of the Goddess, and thus, the serpent became the power
that must be vanquished beneath the heel of the God. In
‘conquering' the serpent, so the Delphic oracle sanctuary
demonstrated to its following the power of their Gods to overcome the
Old Religion of the original priestess oracles.
As Earlyne Chaney writes in
‘Lost Secrets of the Mystery Schools':
"The image of the kundalini or primal
force of the serpent goddess was very much evident at most oracle and
school sites
"Serpents carved in stone were very
conspicuous in the sacred cave (at Delphi), which again alerts us to
the realization that the cave had much to do with transformation of
consciousness and raising the kundalini."
Although many eons have passed and
the priestess oracle has undergone a de-evolution of her role through
time, her true essence remains in the consciousness of the Earth. The
age is upon her once again to come forth into the world. What is the
‘pure essence' of a true priestess oracle, whether it be one of
ancient Atlantis, or one in our current ‘New Age'
cycle?
Tehuti's definition is revealed as
follows:
"Firstly, a priestess oracle is in
her fullness when she is receptive to the balance of duality, able to
accept her role as a feminine receptor to be integrated and grounded
through the masculine charge. In other words, the role of the consort
should not be shut away. This does not imply that every female oracle
must have a male partner in the consort role, but that she must be
receptive to this principle and open to the possible experience in
her life."
The application of balance in duality
is also seen in the oracle's embrace of both masculine (God) and
feminine (Goddess) root consciousness in her Work.
Her highest watermark of achievement
should be one of integrity. Many outside forces are forever active
around and within her, consciously and unconsciously, magnetically
attempting to pull her focus toward the lower desires of others or
self. To remain centered in the pure streaming of the source is the
one essential principle that must be adhered to by the oracle,
both female and male alike.
Yet her focus is not austere.
Rigidity has no place in one who administers to others, whether it is
in the manner of physical healing, or as with the oracle, spiritual
revelation. The oracle in her truest role, must find her heart to be
the innermost Temple of her passage to the Otherworld. She must
connect that heart centered consciousness to the Earth through her
ability to be compassionate to the emotions of those for whom she
divines, without becoming entangled within their lower desirous
forms. She needs to recognize that although her gift is of a divine
nature, she is still within the human element, and therefore subject
to her own process of evolution. Only by clearly defining what that
process is for her, may she be able to operate as a clear receptor to
the source.
The true oracle refrains from over
prophesying, especially concerning individual destinies. She
maintains a sense of absolute discernment as to when such an
insertion into the personal and world consciousness on that level
should take place, so as not to offset the delicate co-creative
balance within the human condition.
The Akashic records tell us that at
Ephesus in ancient Turkey, the priestess oracles were descendants of
the Amazons, the original founders of the Temple City. It was the
custom of the Amazons to take into individual families a foster child
from the Temple. Thus at Ephesus, a young girl being groomed by the
Temple as an oracle, would live with a foster family of the city from
the age of 12 to 16, so that she would know the sorrow and suffering
in the world and not be set apart from it. By the age of 12, most of
these young girls had been ‘Temple-raised' since their fourth or
fifth year, and thus were well on their way to being molded into
their roles. Yet lest they become too sculpted with otherworldly
ways, they were to live five years of their lives within the world
they would one day serve as oracles. They still received training
during this period, primarily focusing upon the goal of integrating
spirit and matter.
The current day oracle is unlikely to
have undergone such conscious training in her life. Yet all oracles
have received instruction through a combination of past life
experience, inner plane development and Otherworld guides and
mentors.
We are moving ever closer to what
Tehuti calls the ‘New Earth Star', which is that next step in
our spiritual evolution, when we ascend or break through the veil of
this current reality to reestablish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
As we progress toward this transcending point Tehuti calls
‘LP-40', the priestess oracle's role will become more akin to
the most ancient doctrines of her service on the planet. The
beginning and the end of all things stem from the one sourcing. Yet
the priestess oracle will also reveal a new face, upturned to star
patterns never seen before by this world, and the dynamics they
insert into our field of cognition. The Earth under our feet will
shiver in the coming dawn of a new wonder, and the priestess oracles
will be among those whose sensitivity to the greater truth within,
will be the way showers for many. Of course, as humanity further
integrates with their individual God-Selves, each will become his /
her own oracle. This occurrence will truly be rejoiced by those
Radiant Ones who have had to speak through the select few to the all
through so many ages of time. It will then become evident that the
‘voice within' is the harmonic of a Universal knowing which
transcends even the need for the Masters themselves as our guiding
lights.
