I should have been more clear with my definition of "oracle," because I realize it has been used differently through history and even a the same time in modernity.
I see the oracle as a non-human intelligence that communicates things. So let's take tarot. To me, there are three things involved. A tarot oracle, the cards/symbols which are a language it uses to speak, and me, the receiver.
When I hear terms like Oracle at Delphi it definitely seems to refer to a human woman. I take it that something is communicating through her. Now it's possible that the tarot cards or the woman at Delphi are reading patterns in the astral light, and there is no intelligence involved at that end. This would change my hypothesis a little bit, not a lot. But to me, it feels like there is at last an egregore if not an intelligence guiding the sortilege or vision process.
For example in scrying, it involves perceiving images in the astral, but one often calls on gods or spirits to guide the process and communicate things. My working assumption, which could be wrong, is that well-established oracles have such a guide. As for making new divination systems, they may either pick up a congenial oracle (who may well have inspired the desire to create the system in the first place), or they may tap into a nearby intelligence or egregore.
JMG's Sacred Geometry Oracle works well, I assume because sacred geometry is so well-established and perhaps held many of those meanings latent in geometric symbols that were discovered rather than invented. Something like a Lenormand deck may have tapped into other cartomancy oracles (egregor or intelligence).
Hope that explains my position, but I posted this hoping to hear the flaws in my thinking and this is an important point, so thank you.
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Date: 2025-06-27 03:24 pm (UTC)I see the oracle as a non-human intelligence that communicates things. So let's take tarot. To me, there are three things involved. A tarot oracle, the cards/symbols which are a language it uses to speak, and me, the receiver.
When I hear terms like Oracle at Delphi it definitely seems to refer to a human woman. I take it that something is communicating through her. Now it's possible that the tarot cards or the woman at Delphi are reading patterns in the astral light, and there is no intelligence involved at that end. This would change my hypothesis a little bit, not a lot. But to me, it feels like there is at last an egregore if not an intelligence guiding the sortilege or vision process.
For example in scrying, it involves perceiving images in the astral, but one often calls on gods or spirits to guide the process and communicate things. My working assumption, which could be wrong, is that well-established oracles have such a guide. As for making new divination systems, they may either pick up a congenial oracle (who may well have inspired the desire to create the system in the first place), or they may tap into a nearby intelligence or egregore.
JMG's Sacred Geometry Oracle works well, I assume because sacred geometry is so well-established and perhaps held many of those meanings latent in geometric symbols that were discovered rather than invented. Something like a Lenormand deck may have tapped into other cartomancy oracles (egregor or intelligence).
Hope that explains my position, but I posted this hoping to hear the flaws in my thinking and this is an important point, so thank you.