carolinepmannWhile it is not possible to seek advice from the oracle at Delphi anymore, it is possible to create your own historically-inspired oracle with just two beans!
This post is from the Ancient Divination for the Modern World series.
Delphi
The oracle at Delphi is perhaps the most famous oracular center in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Powerful rulers sent there to consult a woman, the Pythia, who would become possessed by the god of prophecy, Apollo. The oracle would reply in Greek poetry, in the same pattern as Homer’s epics. The priests at the temple would then interpret the poems for the questioners.
The Story of Croesus
In the 7th century BCE, there was a king of Lydia (now western Turkey) called Croesus who needed to consult an oracle. (The phrase “rich as Croesus” comes from this Croesus.) At the time, there were major oracular centers across the Mediterranean Sea which commanded great prestige. Nations consulted these oracles about decisions about whether to go to war and other important matters of state; their accuracy was of paramount importance.
The story I am about to tell about Croesus and the oracle is likely not strictly true. It comes to us from Herodotus, a noted fabulist, but it is useful here as an illustration of how prestigious oracles were imagined to have worked in ancient Greece.
Croesus is said to have decided to test the most well-known oracles of his day, selecting several in Greece and one in Libya. He was worried about a looming war with Persia and wanted to know which to trust for advice. Croesus sent agents out to ask each oracle what he was doing on a pre-appointed day. He reasoned that, if the oracle were reputable, it would be able to say what action Croesus was taking no matter how strange.
On the day in question, Croesus cooked a tortoise in a cauldron of lamb broth, figuring that this was a sufficiently absurd activity that it could not be guessed randomly. The oracle at Delphi replied:
“I know the number of the sands and the measure of the ocean
and I understand the mute, and I listen to the unspeaking.
The scent came into my mind of a shelled tortoise
boiling in a pot with lamb meat
and it is topped with bronze and sits upon bronze.”
Herodotus 1.47.3
The oracle had guessed his highly improbable act, so Croesus reasoned that the Delphic oracle was accurate. He began making lavish donations to the oracle to curry the god’s favor before asking whether to send his army against the Persians. (This didn’t work out for him.)
Lot Oracles
Croesus’ story represents the ideal experience we imagine questioners would have had at Delphi. However, not everyone got to ask their question directly to the inspired oracle, and sometimes the Pythia herself would use methods besides inspiration. There is evidence that even high-ranking officials used other divinatory techniques at Delphi.
One of these methods was a particular kind of lot oracle. A lot oracle is a style of divination in which someone places tokens endowed with an oracular meaning into some sort of vessel and draws one or more at random. Tarot as it is practiced now is akin to a lot oracle. There were a variety of types of lot oracles in ancient Greece and Rome, but one of the varieties attested at Delphi was the bean oracle.
Robert Parker, an Oxford-based scholar of Greek religion, explains that the Delphic oracle actually selected the new king of Thessaly (a kingdom in central mainland Greece) with beans. They would write the names of the possible kings on beans, put them in a vessel, and the priestess would draw out one bean to name the king (Plutarch, De fraterno amore 21).
Parker explains questioners usually phrased their queries by asking “is it better and more profitable” to do a certain thing, or “is it better and more profitable” to do something else. They asked the god to “pick up” the better option rather than to say the answer or to make a prediction. The options were limited to the lots placed into the vessel, and the god could only choose the most desirable of the presented options. (The exact formulas are not based on firmly attested practices at Delphi specifically. Parker suggests them on analogy with surviving written oracles and limited literary evidence about Delphi.)
Sources
Parker, Robert. 2015. “The Lot Oracle at Dodona.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 194, 111-114.
Robbins, F. E. (1916). “The Lot Oracle at Delphi.” Classical Philology, 11(3), 278–292. https://doi.org/10.1086/358831
Practical
The Bean Oracle
While consulting a possessed prophetess is likely beyond most people’s ability (in ancient Greece and now!), reenacting the historical Delphic bean oracle is more accessible. The bean oracle is best for choosing between multiple known options and also works well for yes-no questions.
Materials
- Vessel, like a bag or a box or a tin
- Two or more tokens that can be visually distinguished but not distinguished by touch (Beans, pennies, etc. all work. Today I used dried cannellini beans and colored one with a sharpie.)
Method
While placing each token into the vessel, pronounce the following formula, using the traditional phrase: “If it is better and more profitable to do [insert your proposed action] let me pull this one.” For the other token, say “If it is better and more profitable to do [OPPOSITE of your proposed action or OTHER proposed action] draw out this one.”
For example:
If it is better and more profitable to become a lawyer, draw out this one.
If it is better and more profitable to become an accountant, draw out this one.
Without looking into the vessel, draw one token; this is your answer. For greater authenticity, have a designated spiritual guide draw the token for you, as at Delphi a priest, possibly the Pythia herself, would have likely conducted this rite on behalf of the questioner.
Variation
Like the Thessalians at Delphi, it is possible to designate more than two tokens. Perhaps you are choosing from a set of multiple options. Simply indicate each option on a token with writing or a symbol. Place it into the vessel with the same spoken formula as above. The process of selecting a token will be the same as for the two-token method.