Conclusion
You have now learned two systems of divination based on inspired wisdom engraved on ancient stone tablets. The Alphabet Oracle, which we know from tablets more than 1,800 years old, is under the patronage of Apollo and Hermes, and the Oracle of the Seven Sages, which was inscribed on tablets in Apollo’s temple at Delphi, is at least 2,400 years old (and perhaps 2,600: the era of the Seven Sages). These two Oracles of Apollo are complementary. The Alphabet Oracle is most suited to answering practical questions about your plans and how best to pursue them (or, sometimes, to abandon them). Whatever your journey, it is your guide along the way. The Oracle of the Seven Sages gives a different kind of advice, for it offers broad philosophical and moral principles to guide you through your life.
You have learned also that oracles are enigmas, for Apollo and Hermes are riddlers, whose words are obscure and ambiguous. In this way they challenge you to exercise and improve your intelligence so that you can understand their wisdom and act wisely in any situation. You must look through the most obvious or desirable meanings of an oracle to see what its meaning is for you now. Accept it and do what is best.
In order to use these oracles more effectively, you have learned rituals for consecration and divination, and magical operations to manifest your destiny better. These are supported by symbolic actions, signs, and correspondences that connect you with divinity. Practice will improve your skill in using them.
Finally, you have learned how our Pagan ancestors used divination to improve their lives. Although our world is very different from theirs, the gods are the same, and you can use these ancient sacred tools to live better today. Through this ancient sacred art you may, as Iamblichus taught, share in the divine life of the gods, partaking of their wisdom and providence.152 That has been my goal in writing The Oracles of Apollo.
152. Iamblichus, Iamblichus on the Mysteries, X.4 (¶289; p. 346).