Chapter 10
The Oracle Messages
The Sibylline Oracles
The Sibylline Oracles (Latin: Oracular Sibyllina; sometimes called the pseudo-Sibylline Oracles) are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophets who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state.1
The Sibyls were the oracles of ancient Greece and according to legends, similar throughout antiquity, prophesied at holy sites (temples).
Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity; originally at Delphi and Pessinos. In Late Antiquity, various writers attested to the existence of sibyls in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and Asia Minor.2
Only fourteen books and eight fragments of the ancient Greek Sibylline Oracles have survived in an edition that was printed in the 6th or 7th century CE. Regretfully, the original Sibylline Books of oracular texts from the ancient Tuscans and Romans were burned by order of the Roman Flavius Stilicho in the 4th century CE. I have read the Sibylline Oracles and I agree with many other historians and herstorians that in their existing form they are a bit chaotic but definitely interpretative and meaningful. Of unknown authorship with mixed religious beliefs, they are like a medley of fragmented phrases and words. The Oracles are housed within hexameter verses with a diverse character referencing royalty, temples, kingdoms and various people. There is a definite mystery surrounding the Sibylline Oracles. Are books 3-5 really the oldest and as legend records partly composed by Alexandrian Jews; were books 1-2 written or recorded by Christians? I chose to follow herstory and my belief that the fragmented phrases within these books were actually spoken by ancient Sibyls and Oracles, whoever recorded them. Whatever the controversary, there is value in these ancient words.
Milton Terry (1840-1914) was a Professor of Hebrew, Old Testament exegesis and Theology. He has translated a version of the Oracles that seems to have been privately printed for there is no publisher listed. Here is an excerpt from the beginning in 1. Book 1.
Beginning with the generation first
Of mortal men down to the very last
I’ll prophecy each thing: what erst has been
And what is now, and what shall yet befall.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states, “Through the decline and disappearance of paganism, however, interest in them gradually diminished and they ceased to be widely read or circulated, though they were known and used during the Middle Ages in both the East and the West.”3
Plutarch on the Cessation of Oracles
Plutarch was a Greek philosopher, historian, biographer and essayist. He spent the last decades of his life as a Priest at the Temple of Apollo and thus had first-hand knowledge of the lives of the Pythia Priestesses. On the Cessation of Oracles is a collection of memories in essay format with an occasional phrase from a Pythia. But his work can be summed up in this verse:
Plutarch’s answer to the question why many oracles in Greece have ceased to function is that the population is now much less than it was, and so there is less need for oracles now than in earlier times.4
Endnotes:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylline_Oracles
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyl
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylline_Oracles
4. www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0251
Oracles of Lady Haight-Ashton
I am an Oracle draped in a gossamer veil who can descend into trance meditation. I can communicate between the spirits of the dead and the living. Following in the footsteps of my ancient Oracle and Sibyl ancestors, I also channel Divinity. Each Sabbat I allow myself to go into a trance meditative state and receive an Oracle message. I have included many of these Sabbat messages in this book starting with the important Samhain of 2019.
In October of 2019 I received numerous messages that revolved around the “three fates” and the fate of the world. At that time no one fully grasped that the pandemic would have such a devastating outcome. Here is a sequence of events that was played out in Salem, Massachusetts (with my oracle messages and visions) during our Samhain Ritual on Gallows Hill. Three witches joined in channeling the fates and weaving a spell of awakening. For I believe I was given a message that as a society we needed to be awakened to the dangers that lay ahead and with that information we could protect ourselves.
Oracle given in October 2019 - Samhain Ritual on Gallows Hill, Salem, Massachusetts
Three veiled Priestesses/Witches moving/dancing around a cauldron fire near the Altar. saying these words three times:
We conjure thee O Fates of three
Mistresses of Destiny, Fortune and Chance
Spinners, weavers and cutters of thread
Priestesses three, our time has come
As old things die and blow away
The New Year dawns - so mote this Spell
Let shadows fade and light shine through
For a better future and peaceful today
For all of humanity and the world
Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit
Bring to us the outcome we desire
As born by three - we invoke the eternal harmony
This is our will – So Mote It Be
Three Priestesses take the cords and together braid the Spell one begins to braid while another reads this - three times:
Braiding the Cords
Over, under, weave the threads of Fate
As in life, so in all things
By the powers of old our Magick grows
Nimble hands intertwine our cords
Weave the pattern of Awakening
By the power of Three Times Three
As we will it, So Mote It Be
And finally, an Invocation spoken by all three:
Invocation to the Three Fates
O Lady with the spindle
Weave my destiny
Spin the thread of my beginning
Weave the truth of my spirit
O Lady with the shuttle
Let the shuttle work back and forth
Creating the tapestry of my life
Whose threads become my strength
O Lady with the shears
Whose wise hand is my fate
And likewise, my truth.
Oracle given for the Samhain Ritual, October 31, 2020
I am Lilith the Goddess of Wild Freedom…I am the Goddess of Death and Transformation. Listen to the words of the Oracle. Be generous to your fellow humans, animals and all creatures. A candle flame is not lessoned when light is taken from it to light many candles. Share your light and love with all and you will gain all.
Oracle given for the Yule/Winter Solstice Ritual, December 221, 020
I call forth the voice of the Sacred Oracle…allow Her Divine words to resound through our mortal beings…welcome contemplation and reflection. The purpose shall bring the prospect of expectation.
Let our hearts seek the hallowed pathway that will bring us to the purest essence of the Goddess and God. The ancient wheel turns, light returns. What will be is now. What was will coexist with all that is of this day and age. The world has wept through glistening tears for too long. Wipe them away and let the shadows fade…let the sunshine glow with yellows, oranges and the vibrant reds of passion and all life.
Oracle given on for the Imbolc/Candlemas Ritual, February 2, 2021
The Oracle speaks
Holy Mother Brid calls to us with Her chorus
As the mighty winds of change blow; the oceans, rivers and streams begin to tremble
Everything pours into the Center
The Sacred Well shall surge until the rhythm of water becomes audible
All rise to the reverberation of the harmony
Witness the flowing waters of holy source
The consecrated shall sustain all
Behold the gentle silence of the Universe that will envelope all things
As dust vanishes, brightness begins to glimmer
Observe! The Wheel of Destiny turns yet again
Dismiss all arrogance and injustice
Let honor and tolerance prevail
For with pure reverence, we shall never want
Ah! we are all supplicants to Divinity
Oracle given on for the Ostara/Spring Equinox Ritual, March 20, 2021
Harken to the voice of the Oracle, for her words shall “Lift the Veil”. She speaks softly in unison within the etheric essence of the unknown that surrounds us. Listen to her, for the Goddess speaks through her and she will transport you to an initiation of realization.
Feel the persona of the Empress who becomes the expansive Sophia transporting us through the Cosmos into our physical world. She allows us to become open enough to receive, to melt into a surrendered state of soothing exchange. Reach for the tender Yin flow. The Emperor’s persona is collective as the universe smiles and the Yang merges with the Yin. He holds court at the throne of the Goddess. Here we have the subtle duality of the Cosmos that connects us to the new cycle of our physical earth.
Arouse yourself from your worldly slumber to become an open channel by which the spirit of the Goddess can be heard within you. Dissolve into a state of perceptive understanding.
Take heed, for the Oracle is wise…from the stirred tears of her soul to yours let the Divine essence of transcendence fill you, as you fill others with hope. Move tenderly into the gentle relaxation of euphoria, as you enter into the spacious aura of the Goddess. There is only unconditional love in an accessible and receptive heart.
Oracle given on Beltaine/May Day, May 1, 2021
I call forth the voice of the Sacred Oracle…allow Her Divine words to resound through our mortal beings.
Sophia, Goddess of Divine contradiction. She is the Celestial seed of spirituality in a material world. Within her myth lies her ancient wisdom. Through her we can find the missing part of our understanding. Our journey is to cultivate compassion. If we open up to the existence of suffering only then can we aspire to its healing. Empathy becomes our strength, kindness becomes our courage, tolerance becomes equality. There is joy in being human even in loss and separation. Honor yourself while you seek the essence of exploration within your being.
The wheel turns yet again and the natural world transcends into the ethereal dimensions of the mystical. The incandescence rays of the Sun blaze forth into the luminous fires of Beltaine. The realm of the Faerie folk beckons us to join in their ravenous dancing and celebration. Colorful ribbons mimicking our destinies intertwine around the phallic Maypole. Goddess and God fertility abounds within the sacred bonfires where the mysteries of life, death and rebirth lay hidden in flames. Rejoice in your life, your future and all that destiny will show you.
Oracle given on Litha/Summer Solstice Ritual, June 20, 2021
Let the voice of the Oracle be heard. We are surrounded by shadows. Hidden within our unconscious mind is the light where the realm of wholeness within our soul fulfills our highest purpose. But first we must descend into the darkness, where all things are hidden. Draw aside the Veil to see the path that leads to the Temple of the Sun. Follow the cavernous path that leads you to the gate that can only be opened with the key of destiny. Summon your heart to true wakefulness.
Rise up and walk forward into the light of the eternal dawn to see the Goddess who wears the solar crown. From her the brilliant radiance of the rainbow’s rays spirals down upon us. She is the life-seed of the Great Mother who holds the plump seeds of life that will reach the air and the sky.
Oracle given on Lughnasadh/Lammas Celebration, August 1, 2021
Hail the Oracle speaks. Blessings bestowed upon the great Goddess Tailtiu whose scythe sheaves the grain as she perishes from exhaustion. The Wheel of Life spins around once again. Let us bless this abundance, let us bless the grain that is the life blood of civilization in her honor.
Feed your shadow with this abundance so that you may feel your physical body. Touch your physical self as you remember that you are a part of the eternal life of the earth. Become aware of the radiance of your body of light. Open your heart to those in need. If you truly achieve love, you can awaken all of your senses. Your shadow shall turn to light and will be reflected in the sphere of Divinity. You are part of the cosmic whole as the spiritual milk of life runs through your veins. Build the transcendent essence within your soul and reflect upon your mortality.