Places of power are special areas with unusual energy that have a profound effect on the human psyche.
Usually they are given special sacred significance, in such places are located most of the shrines and temples that are especially popular. Moreover, if you look deep into history, it turns out that one and the same place is used by successively replacing religions and a new temple is being built on the ruins of the old one.
In this article, readers will take a unique journey together with a subtle connoisseur of the topic who has visited many sacred places of our planet, professor, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Yevgeny Faydysh.
One of the most famous oracles of antiquity was in Greece, in the Temple of Apollo, on the slope of Mount Parnassus in the town of Delphi. This was not the only oracle in the ancient world. Other temples are known where they were engaged in divination: on Athos, on the territory of modern Turkey and even Russia, where in a cave not far from Anapa, or rather, the then ancient Greek polis, Gorgippius, was the second most important oracle. But none could match the strength of the Delphic.
Mythological history
She dates the Delphic Oracle back to the time of the Titans. It was believed that originally it belonged to the goddess of the Earth Gaia, guarded by her son, the dragon Python; the place itself was called Pifo, and the first medium was the nymph Daphne. Another version, the prophecies were made by Python himself. From Gaia, the oracle passed to her daughter Themis, and then to her sister Phoebe.
With the grandson of Phoebe, Apollo, a new thread of the history of the Delphic oracle begins, but this was already the era of the gods of Olympus, led by Zeus, who defeated the titans. After learning the art of divination from the Pope, Apollo appeared in Pifo, killed Python and subdued the oracle. After the battle, he poured the dragon's ashes into the sarcophagus, placing it in the place of divination. It is possible that the Delphic oracle was the spirit of Python himself.
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Apollo, meanwhile, went in search of the priests and found them on a ship sailing from Crete. Turning into a dolphin, he bewitched the sailors and brought Chris to the coastal city, where he appeared in his divine guise, initiating them into a future mission.
Since then, Apollo himself has been considered the source of divination, and the oracle acts as an intermediary between him and people. Sometimes the oracle is identified with Apollo himself.
It is believed that the first wax temple was brought by bees from the country of the Hyperboreans, and all subsequent ones were made according to its model. The mythical Hyperborea - the dwelling place of the blessed people - was considered closely related to Apollo. He spent the winter months there, flying there in a chariot drawn by swans. Well, the name "Delphic", according to one version, arose in honor of the image of a dolphin, in which Apollo appeared to the sailors.
Archaeological history
Modern excavations have shown that Delphi has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. And the cult of Apollo is formed in the period 1000. Don. e. The first temples were made of laurel wood, beeswax and wings, copper and stone. A stone church close to the modern one was built only in the 7th century. BC, it was destroyed several times and rebuilt after fires and earthquakes. The modern ruins remain from the temple, built already in 369-339. BC.
The maximum flowering of the Delphic Oracle falls on the 7th-5th centuries BC. e. At this time, not a single important issue of personal and state life was resolved without an appeal to the oracle. Well, the protection of the incredibly rich temple was guaranteed by an alliance with Sparta. And yet the temple was repeatedly plundered, burned, and then rebuilt again and again. It was finally closed under the Emperor Theodosius (391 AD), during the centralized Christianization of the Roman Empire.
To this day, evidence has been preserved describing the process of divination. Particularly successful was the famous biographer and writer Plutarch, who himself was a Delphic priest and knew about divination firsthand. Other famous names include the philosopher Plato, the historians Pliny and Diodorus, the poets Aeschylus and Cicero, the geographer Strabo.
Geological faults
As studies have shown, under the Temple of Apollo, where the fortune-telling took place, there is the intersection of two geological faults - Delphic and Kernsky, along which the line of sources runs. Now this fault is hidden by fragments of crumbling rocks and ancient terraces, but it was this zone that was under the place of divination and was called Aditon.
Its inner part was inaccessible to the questioners. There were: a golden statue of Apollo, a laurel tree, a sacred spring, a white marble phallic symbol of Omphalos with two golden eagles, under which a sarcophagus with the ashes of Python was hidden.
In the middle, from a crevice in the rock, ground gases were rising; near there was a golden tripod with a cauldron on which the pythia was sitting. Inhaling pneuma (gases) coming out of the crack, she entered a trance state.
According to Plutarch, Apollo, or oracle, was likened to a musician, pythia to an instrument, pneuma to a mediator. At the same time, he emphasized that pneuma only creates conditions for prophecy. The main role is played by the preparation and purification of the pythia, including sexual abstinence and fasting. Initially, the Delphic Oracle had young virgins with the Pythias. They had to lead a very strict lifestyle, observe bodily and spiritual purity, celibacy, and fast before entering a trance. But after one of the Pythias fell in love and fled with the local king, who had come for divination, this order was changed. In the Pythia, they began to take older women. Before that, they could be married and even have children, but, having become Pythias, they had to observe strict celibacy, fasting and other rules of purity.
Plutarch describes that pneuma gave off a scent reminiscent of perfume, rose as a gas, and dissolved in water. At the same time, in the closed space of the adyton, where the pythia sat, there was an abundance of it.
Nowadays, chemical analysis of water from springs over the Kernsky fault has shown that gases such as methane, ethane and ethylene are present in the water. Ethylene has the most pronounced hallucinogenic effect. It has a sweetish smell, which is consistent with Plutarch's story.
Kastalsky spring
Now access to the territory of the Temple of Apollo is closed, you will not find indications of the location of the Adyton and even its existence. We had to conduct an almost detective investigation ourselves.
It was only by chance that we met an old bookstore seller, who showed the location of the Kastalsky spring. But it turned out that the passage to it was closed allegedly because of the stones falling from the rocks. Since then we have visited Delphi five times, but the source is still closed.
But it was fenced off with several rows of hedges, including barbed wire, and the area itself looks mysteriously well-groomed. Last year, they even installed a ground lighting there. So someone is allowed in?
One cannot help but recall conspiracy theories, globalization and the new world order. Apparently, all the most important magical rarities are withdrawn from circulation and become available only to the shadow elite. Ordinary visitors have access to the lower pool, where water flowed from the place where the pythias and other participants in divination were bathed. True, it also dried up, only a stream of water from the Kastalsky spring gushes from the wall with a small fountain. In ancient times, this was the first stop for pilgrims to the Temple of Apollo, where they had to wash their hair, and weighed down with murder, they had to wash their whole body.
However, no "secrecy" of the Kastalsky spring can hide its unique energy. It is literally amazing. With the help of one of our developments - a computer virtual oracle - we carried out a scan, having received a diagram of its archetype. In the middle of the scan, a fractal phallic archetype is clearly visible, surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped arch - a symbol of the feminine principle. And in the very center there is a convex polyhedron with triangular and square edges. The square is a symbol of the Earth, associated with the very foundation of the oracle; the triangle is one of the symbols of Apollo, male and female spiritual energy, depending on the orientation of the peak, and, of course, one of the associations with Plato, a researcher of the psychoenergetics of polyhedrons.
The Temple of Apollo was located at an altitude of about 700 meters on the slope of Parnassus. The rocky slopes on the back of the complex are surprisingly reminiscent of magic mirrors. There is a cliff ahead, and in the distance you can see the sea bay. Today only the foundation and a few columns have survived. In ancient times, the sayings of seven wise men were inscribed on the pediment: "Know thyself", "Nothing beyond measure" and the mysterious image of the letter "E". The wooden image of the letter was an offering of the seven sages, then it was replaced with a gold one. Its meaning is still being debated. A little below the temple is Omphalos, which marks the center of the earth. In reality it is the center of the ancient Greek Ecumene.
Supply and demand
At the very beginning, the traditions of divination were given only once a year, on the birthday of Apollo. It was believed that it was on this day that he returned from the Hyperboreans. But the number of clients grew, and these were usually kings, people were not poor. And from the VI century. BC. divinations began to be carried out on the seventh days of each month, with the exception of three winter days, when Apollo flew to Hyperborea. The temple grew richer, divination was very expensive, and over time they began to be held daily, except for unclean days.
Plutarch writes that once the priests forced the pythia to work on such an unclean day. He himself saw how she, against her will, descended into the Adyton, suddenly screamed shrilly and, rushing to the exit, fell unconscious, and died a few days later.
In addition, the pythia usually refused to divine to a defiled person, a criminal.
Before the prophecy, the pythia, the priest and the client were purified. To do this, they walked along the path along the cliff to the Kastalsky spring, where ablution took place. Returning to the temple, the Pythia, dressed in gold-woven clothing and loosening her hair, put a wreath of laurel branches on her head and descended into Aditon.
After receiving a question from a client, the Pythia prepared for the divination ritual: she chewed the leaves of the sacred laurel, drank water from the sacred spring, then sat on a golden tripod, placed over the crevice, and inhaled the fumes.
At the same time, the Pythia often fell into ecstasy, uttered vague individual phrases and mutters, which were recorded and interpreted by the priests of the temple. The answer was usually clothed in a poetic, allegorical form.
What is the question, so is the answer
Many examples of the prophecies of the Delphic Oracle have survived to this day. Of the most important, the prediction of the victory of Athens over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon can be noted. Prophecy about the coming of Jesus Christ. It is known that the oracle predicted to King Oedipus the murder of his father and marriage to his mother.
The illustrative story of the prophecy is associated with the famous king of Lydia Croesus (595-546 BC). Even to this day, the saying has survived - "rich as Croesus." Indeed, he became fantastically rich thanks to the campaigns of conquest. But greed, as you know, knows no limits, and Croesus decided to conquer Persia.
Before the outbreak of war, he went to Delphi with rich gifts. His question went something like this: "What will happen if I go to war against the Persians?" The priests interpreted the answer of the Pythia as follows: "If Croesus goes to war against Cyrus (the then king of Persia), he will crush the great kingdom."
Croesus was delighted, deciding that he was predicted to be successful. The prophecy has indeed come true. A large kingdom perished, but not Persia, but Lydia. After the defeat of Croesus's army, it became part of Persia.
Cyrus saved Croesus's life, even allowed to send ambassadors to Delphi. They put the royal chains on the altar of the temple and asked: "Is it common for the Greek gods to deceive those who come to them for advice?" He was answered in approximately the same spirit that he himself was to blame, since he did not specify which kingdom was discussed in the divination. As they would say today: what is the question - so is the answer.
The ancient tradition of divination is preserved in some corners of the Earth to this day. The unique experience of tradition, its study makes it possible to further develop this amazing technology, and most importantly - to adapt it to the realities of our time.
Evgeny Faydysh