oracles

Oracles And Omens

Rev. Linda Petersen Countryman H.P.S. January, 2010

Oracles and omens have been around since the dawn of time. It has been well documented. Some, for instance, such as Plato, Pythia the famous Priestess of Apollo at Delphia, the Priest of Dodona, and Clarus and Notradomus. Pythagorus was a guru who founded a philosophy religion, gathered disciples and performed miracles and made prophecies. Apollomus Of Tyana who lived in the first century A.D., performed many miracles and after he died he was worshipped as a God. Socrates was another, who thanks to his familar, knew things before they happened.
Pagan supernatural powers back then guided everything. The moving of the sun, where lightening hit, the path that birds flew, door banging, lights shining, you get the picture. Early Christians believed in Pagan miracles, although they often attributed them to Pagan demons. That did not stop some from searching out the seer to beg for readings.
Pagan prophecy miracles number in the tens of thousands. In 1692 the Christian church passed a law called the Canon Law that forbid the practice of divination. But that did not stop the seer. They just became more private in their ways of doing things. Of course some of them were out to make money, to scam. But there were people who had the gifts to see into the future. Back then fortune tellers were called Sybil. A Sybil was a person who spoke Gods words for him. A God would move Sybil to speak, someone would write it down and later the words would be consulted. In Rome, for instance, they kept them in Sybilline books. They were collected and carefully guarded.
Not only are there Pagan oracles, but Christian and Jewish as well were given the gift. Scholars agree that the oracles existed and even flourished in ancient times, but they do tend to agree on some of the customs. Omens are related to divinatins, fortune telling, premonitions, apparitions and prophecies. Omens appear outside of human control. They are also associated with black cats, nightmares, lucky and unlucky days and breaking mirrors. Omens may be
considered good or bad.  Some forms of divination are astrology, augury ( the study of birds in flight), tarot cards, palm reading, geomancy (markings in the ground), Iching, fend shui, numerology, spirit boards, runes, and scrying.
In future articles I will be presenting different types of omens and oracles. Explaining how they work or not. These are things that people believe that will either help or hinder a situation because of their own personal ideas and superstitions. One should be very careful when contacting a seer. Yes, some are very gifted in their areas, but there are also people in it who are not gifted and out to scam money. Research before you put your money down.

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Oracles & Omens

Mindy Lee May, 2009

Dreams III

You sit up straight in bed during the dead of the night, your forehead is damp with sweat, and your heart is racing.  It takes you a few moments to ground yourself and fade back into your reality.  You sit in the dark and remember the story that just played out in your mind. What type of message was your subconscious trying to send?  Often nightmares or night terrors will reflect fears from our past, situations we are currently battling or events that we are worried about in the future.

Sometimes it will help to talk with someone about any disturbing dreams you may have.  Another opinion can often prove useful for seeing things in a different light.  Here is an example of a dream interpretation that I did when I was studying for my 101 degree:

Dream:
In my dream I am in another time in my life.  I’m in a castle and I’m running away from someone who’s trying to hurt me.  I’ don’t know if he (it is a man) is trying to hurt just me of if he’s some sort of murderer running through the castle.  I am in the throne room.  There is a single golden throne with a red velvet curtain behind it.  I walk behind the throne and peer behind the curtain when whoever it is that’s chasing me grabs my left arm (I am right handed) and chops my hand off from the wrist.

Interpretation:
You said that the dream was from your past; perhaps you could look for some clues to help you clarify what point of your life the vision is coming from.  This could be the key to identifying the problem.  The castle seems to represent the situation that the dream is centered round, the large event that causing your anxiety.  Being aware that you are in the throne room signals that you are the one in charge of the situation.  You are the “king/queen”, or the one making the decisions.  My intuition tells me that the man pursuing you is your own conscious.  The red velvet curtain may represent factors being hidden from you, as the decision maker.  When you are peering behind the curtain it could be that you are unknowingly telling yourself that you need to have more information before you should make your final verdict.  With you loosing your left hand, rather than your right, it seems that if you make your choice before seeing all the variables that you will still progress, but it will be harder that it could be.  I would definitely consider keeping pen and paper close by while you sleep to write down any small details that you remember immediately when waking.

Next month I would like to share some ways to influence your dreams and make the most of their prophetic abilities.

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Oracles and Omens

Mindy Lee March, 2009

Dreams Part I

We all see them flooding our in box, our Facebook notes and our MySpace message folders, those surveys that delve into the deepest aspects of our being.  They ask everything from our favorite sea animal to what we had for dinner last night.  As overwhelming as they can be, let’s all admit that we get a little kick out of reading our friend’s most personal fears and feelings.  Recently while scouring over such-said questionnaires I noticed the answer that several of my contacts had given to a particular query.  The question “What did you dream about last night” and the answers surprised me.  The replies ranged from “I don’t remember” and “Nothing much” to “I don’t dream.”  I was saddened by those responses and it brought to mind how dreams have been used as a form of divination by interpreting their meanings and searching for their origins.

Dreams have played a substantial role throughout history.  Greeks and Romans felt that dreams were messages from the Gods and often took interpreters with them into battles.  They used the visions as advice in planning their strategies.  Priests in ancient Egypt often played a duel role as prophet and dream recorder and dreams are mentioned hundreds of times in the Christian bible.  These visions have been acknowledged, documented and read for eras, but their origins have been disputed nearly as often.

It is widely believed that dreams are our subconscious mind sending us messages, confirmations, and warnings.  I believe the key to reading your dreams is to know when you are having prophetic dreams and when your just jaunting through the thoughts from your day.  Every article you read on dreams will tell you to keep a journal near your bed to write your thoughts down as quickly as possible after you wake.  This is really a great suggestion.  I’ve written many things through the night that I don’t even remember writing.  I find it comforting to have a notebook and pen within arms reach, not only for writing my dreams, but also for when inspiration strikes through the night.  How many times have I composed a letter or poem in my mind when drifting off to sleep, only to have it dance away into the night, lost forever among scattered thinking.  Even if an entire idea can’t be written in detail, a few keywords may be enough to revive the thought.

One of the keys to interpreting your own dreams is to know what events translate for you.  For example, I have found that births and deaths are reversed for me in dreams.  If I dream of a death in the family, there usually will be a new arrival and vice versa.  Perhaps you will find your own message have a similar pattern or maybe they will be more direct in their meaning.  This is why it is not only important to keep your dream journal, but also to follow-up with actual happenings to see how your visions translate personally for you.

Dreams, like several forms of divination, have many aspects and are too large to be written into a single monthly column.  I would like to break this topic down into chapters to continue for the next several editions.  If you are having a recurring dream or seeing something in your mind that you are questioning I would love to give you my take on it.  Remember, that only you know what your dreams are telling you, but sometimes another view can put things into light for you.  Please be as detailed as possible in your description and be sure to include any colors, images or sounds you may recall.  I feel that we have barely scratched the surface of the divine dream, and am looking forward to continuing this discussion in coming months.

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Oracles & Omens

Mindy Lee January, 2009

    • Divination

    • , what a lovely word.  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition is: “the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers, unusual insight or intuitive perception”.  Sounds pretty complicated, and also a bit intimidating. I would be honored if you would join me in a journey down the winding path to explore the beginnings, history and many forms and tools of divination.  I tend to have a special place in my heart for the tarot, it was my introduction to my Pagan lifestyle and opened up an entire new world for me.  I spent many a night lying on my bed studying and reading on the meanings of my first deck.  The gift that my cards have given me have been numerous and have helped shed a new light on so many aspects of my life. Sometimes we don’t get the messages we were hoping for and that helps us to understand the bigger picture that is developing in our lives.  But, the tarot is just the tip of the divination iceberg.

    Methods of divining have their roots deeply embedded in history.  The ancient Greeks believed that the earth was a magickal place and this led them to use the most basic of elements in their divination practices.  Nature was considered to be the work of the Gods and so the signs that were given to them would often be seen as messages.  Water was thought to have  divine power and healing properties.  The Greeks believed that flowing water would bring dreams from the underworld and the dead and deliver them to the oracles who could interpret the messages.  Another commonly used water divining method was the use of healing wells.  It was believed that the position in which a coin would land in the well would predict the future of the sick and give advice on remedies.  Perhaps this is one of the earliest forms of today’s coin toss.  Bowls or copper vessels of water were often used to summon deities.  To evoke a God of the heavens you would use rainwater, if the God was earthly they would use sea water or river water and if they were contacting the dead they would use spring water.  Another ancient form of divination is aeromancy, the art of interpreting weather conditions and sky happenings as messages from the Gods.  This form of divination is still recognized today.  Christians attribute the star over Bethlehem as being a sign of the birth of Jesus, children delight in making a wish upon a falling star, and to this day many of us still recite the rhyme when we see the first star in the evening sky, “star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight”.  I find that to be one of the most interesting aspects of ancient divination, the way they have carried through the ages and are applied to our current lives.  Although some of the tools have changed, the basic concept still carries through.  Oracles in ancient Greco-Rome would often use cleromancy, also known as the casting of lots.  Through the ages the articles used were often bones and other  primitive materials, today they are available in pretty much any form that the seeker chooses.  I hope you will join me next month when we will dig deeper into the meanings and types of runes and stones used in past and modern times.

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