Oracles

The word orcale dervices from the Latin word orare which means "to speak" An orcale is a person, or in come cases a group or council of persons to be the source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually they were of a spirutal nature. In many cases orcales were seen as having the ablity to act as direct communication from the Deities to the people. And usually this was acheived by the orcale going into a trance like state, and speaking in a voice which was not thier own.

It can also be a prediction of the future, from deities, that is spoken through another object or life-form that is not nessciarly human. In the ancient world many sites gained a reputation for the dispensing of oracular wisdom: they too became known as oracles

The practice of using an oracle in one form or another is widely dispersed throughough many cultures.

One of the most well known and famous Orcales, is the Orcale of Delphi, whom was so named becasue she was located in Temple of Delphi, which was dedicated to the Worship of Apollo. It is beleived that people would come from all acorss the world to gain her wisdom. The orcale of Delphi was a young virginal woman whom was said to be a messenger of Apollo, and spoke through him. She would sit upon a tripod within her chamber, holding laural leaves, and a cauldron of Kassotis water, (Kassotis was a spring near the temple) which she gazed into. When she was asked a question, she would go into a trance like state, which sometimes became violent, causing her to be thust about, as if something was pushing and pulling against her, as she would speak unconsiously, not knowing what she said during the process and usually in a strange and unusal voice. There are some soruces that say that there were also varrious incense, or herbs which were burned that helped put the Orcale into her trance like state.

In China, they held the practice of using what were known as orcale bones, and well the complex divination system known as the I Ching or Book of Changes, was a collection of linear signs used as oracles.

In Egypt there was said to be a powerful Orcale in the Temple of Amun, Alexander the Great had visited the Orcale of Amun, and though it is not known what he asked, it is said that the Orcale pronucned him as the sun of Ammon, an Egyptian Orcale God