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NewYeaarsEdition200912_june_july_2009.qxd 16/12/2009 2:32 PM Page 9 9 Prophetic Revelations 9 Prophetic Revelations PROPHETIC PROPHETIC REVELATIONS REVELATIONS Not all diviners read the future in the stars. Some claim to have undergone visionary experiences, while others say they have dreamed the future. And there are those who make prophecies based on the appearance of natural objects. Prophetic techniques have changed little over the centuries, though the variety of methods employed is enormous. Some seers claim that visions of the future appear to them, unsought, like images on a television screen flashing before their eyes. For others, prophecy is considered a science. This may involve, for example, interpreting flames and smoke, the amphitheatre, at the foot fo Mount Parnassus. around 45 B.C.) supported the use of augury shape of an animal’s liver, or the flight of birds. Zeus, the king of the gods, declared this to be (divination by omens) for reasons of state but In some parts of the world the art of rejected all other forms of divination.The divination is surrounded by rituals intended to the center of the world. hypocrisy can be explained by the fact that The priestess through whom the oracle bestow special powers on the diviner, shaman, spoke, known as the Pythia, had to be past Cicero had held the office of augur since 53 priest, or priestess. Often these practices involve child-bearing age. She would set herself on a B.C. As the Romans became more sophisticated entering a trance state, and the actual prophecy tripod after elaborate purification rites and wait and Christianity’s influence spread, divination appears to come from some supernatural source, for questions. slipped into decline. such as a god, goddess, or spirit. The person who consulted her would present a cake and sacrifice a sheep or goat Prophetic Centuries The will of the gods before being able to consult the oracle. The In the Middle Ages, however, prophecy Pythia was said to be speaking on behalf of the The purpose of divination in the ancient enjoyed a revival. In 1556 the French seer world was to discover the will of the gods. This god Zeus and her reply would usually be Nostradamus was summoned to court by incomprehensible. Priests, however, were on reflects the fatalism of early religions. The hand to interpret the god’s meaning, most often Catherine de Medicis to explain a prediction Sumerians and Babylonians believed that in the form of verse. concerning the death of a French king, made a everything that happened to men and animals year earlier in his Centuries. After the prophecy was a portent, and it was the priest’s job to Predictive verses was tragically fulfilled with the death of interpret these events. By 3000 B.C., the Catherine’s husband Henry II, Nostradamus Sumerians - who lived in the area that today is At the peak of the Delphic oracle’s returned to the court to predict the destinies of Iraq - had evolved a staggeringly complex array popularity, two Pythias were used, and a third her seven children. of divinatory techniques, ranging from was held in reserve. The inquirers ranged from In the same century, English occultist interpretation of dreams and the movement of kings and emperors to humble people. John Dee acted as philosopher and adviser to animals to the direction of the winds and The answers were usually presented in a Queen Elizabeth I. His knowledge of future deformities in children. The study of a liver bad verse and ambiguously phrased. In time events was said to come from peering into the from a sacrificed animal was an important such flawed responses undermined the depths of a crystal the size of an egg. There method of divination - unusual bumps and reputation of all oracles. At the same time, were many others probing the boundaries formations on the organ were interpreted by the Greek political factions began to use the between science and the occult in those days, priest as good or evil omens. but their achievements were largely eclipsed by Delphic oracle for their own purposes and the temple at the site was looted, burned down, and the Age of Reason and the growing materialism The sacred art of the 18th and 19th centuries. rebuilt. The oracle was consulted more and more about trivia, and after the 4th century A.D. The Sumerians used these techniques Modern believers both for personal concerns and for important there are no further records of it. matters of state. The diviners of the Etruscan The mighty and the humble Yet now, in the 21st century, we find civilization in ancient Italy used animal entrails belief in prophecy almost as widespread as it to foretell the future.Both the Etruscans and the The Egyptian god Amon was also was 2,000 years ago. Many of the early Mayas fo Mexico held the role of the diviner- thought to speak through oracles. Amon’s oracle techniques are still employed and even people priest as sacred, and considered his center in the Libyan desert kept in touch with holding high office are known to consult those prognostications to represent no less than the the oracle of Zeus at Dodona by using doves to who profess to be capable of foretelling the destiny of his people. future. carry messages between them. Are believers just gullible? Or have The Romans also had official prophets, The oracle at Delphi they, too, been given a glimpse of tomorrow numerous oracles, and various magicians and which has convinced them that the future can be soothsayers, of whom Sourinna is the best Divination played a significant role in known. He warned Julius Caesar of his seen? [] the daily life in the ancient Mediterranean impending death on the ides of March. region, and Greece in particular was noted for Apollonius of Tyana, who was born in Asia its oracles. Although Dodona in northwest Minor around 4 B.C., was known as a fortune Greece was the first prophetic center, the most teller throughout the Roman Empire. He gave famous was at Delphi, just north of the Gulf of away his possessions and lived in poverty so Corinth. that he could wander from temple to temple Legend had it that the Delphic oracle giving advice, preaching and healing the sick. was founded by the god Apollo on the site of an Cicero’s book On Divination (written ancient temple, located in a naturally occurring