Day 11: Travel Day and Delphi

Day 11: Travel to Meteora and a stop in Delphi

Welcome back to the blog! If you noticed, we skipped day 10 on the blog. This is because we had a day for us all to breathe, and having time to do that is an important part of the "know thyself" process.  Many of us chose to spend the day on the beach. We enjoyed quality time with each other, getting to know each other more, but this time in the ocean. After all our busy days of learning about ourselves, it was nice to have a day to unwind.

Now for today! We woke up earlier today and started our 3-hour drive to Delphi. We started at the museum and then went up to the temple where the Oracle resided.  We then had some time to explore, and some of us went up to the theater and then to the stadium at the top. 

Delphi is a place where myth and reality coincide.  One story is that Zeus identified this place by looking the center of the Earth.  He sent out two eagles, one going east, and one going west. The point that the eagles met was at Delphi. Apollo is also important here. The term Delphi is derived from the Greek word for Dolphin, because in one story Apollo arrived in the port near Delphi on a ship led by dolphins. 

Actual people would travel a long way to go to Delphi (and spend a lot of money to get there) so that they could hear from the Oracle. On the sacred way to Delphi, travelers would pass by the treasure house  built by the Athenians, meant to show the dominance of Athens. Continuing along the walk, there were walls covered in graffiti. This graffiti included hymns written for Apollo. When the people made it up to the temple they had to sacrifice a goat. They would pour water on the goat first because they believed if it made the goat shiver, that Apollo was present and ready to deliver messages, if not they would wait until the next month to receive messages.

In the temple sat the Oracle, who was chosen by Apollo to speak his prophecies through her. The Oracle was usually an older lady who came from a more prestigious family. It would be a great honor for this woman to be chosen although she had little power. She would enter a trance like state and mumble her prophecies, and the priests would translate but would always give vague answers. The reason for the Oracle's trance like state and mumbling was because she would inhale a gas that was released naturally in the area, the people of the time described it as ecstasy. However, archeologists and researchers have discovered that gas released in that area contains chemicals similar to what we have in modern day anesthesia, hence the trance and mumbling. 

Tonight, we did a group reflection where we thought of a question that we would want to ask the Oracle, and our other group members played oracle. Rather than giving us a vague, mumbling answer, our group members would ask leading questions to help guide us to the answer we were searching for. I (Laura) found it easier to be the oracle, as it's easier to ask people more questions about themselves than it is to answer the difficult ones about myself. I (Makenna) found it slightly easier being the seeker in a way because it helped me validate the way that I knew I felt. The questions I was asked were easy to answer because I trust my friends and we have a deep, raw, and trusting relationship. However, I also felt it was easy to be the oracle because the questions I asked, I also answered in the back of my head which helped me learn what I want as well. I really enjoyed this experiment and think if I continue this with other people, it will help me to continue the journey of finding myself.

After reading this, what would you ask the Oracle, and how do you think the Oracle would respond to you?

Thanks for Reading!

Laura and Makenna