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Delphi is the place of encounter with truth. It is both a specific place with its own history and customs, and a general metaphor for all such places, inner and outer, at that time and in our time. Delphi is rediscovered wherever human beings question intently and receive – from a helpful person, from inner resources, from on high – insights that suggest not just an immediate solution but a sense of the path ahead, of a destiny that invites or commands the inquirer to be all he can.

The question of what Delphi might mean for us now remains. This book probes for that answer, and each reader will ultimately decide the question privately.
Rating: 4 / 5

Lipsey’s book gathers together tales and anecdotes of the people who consulted the Oracle at Delphi. He attempts to draw spiritual wisdom from these tales for modern man. His approach is more philosophical than historical or scholarly which makes for a more interesting read than “Classical Athens And The Delphic Oracle” by Hugh Bowden. Throughout the book he makes a distinction between the Delphi of the mind and the Delphi of fact. Every tale is followed by the author’s illuminating commentary.

The book delves into such matters as the ambiguity of the oracle’s answers. When an answer was particularly cryptic it would be the responsibility of the inquirer to “complete the oracle” by reflecting upon its message and coming to the correct interpretation. There were attempts to bribe the oracle which could lead to a cruel fate. A chapter is devoted to the trial of Socrates who invoked Delphi in his defense. Socrates claimed his philosophical quest to humiliate the wise was a pious attempt to determine the meaning of a flattering message from Delphi. The oracle was asked if there was anyone wiser than Socrates and the priestess replied that there was no one. Other philosophers debated the nature of the prophetic faculty or expressed doubts. An interview with the son of the Tibetan State Oracle provides a contemporary example.

The author favors the assumption that the Pythia entered into a trance to serve as a medium or channel for the god Apollo. Other theories are that the priestess used some sort of psychoactive substance but the legends and myths only mention chewing laurel leaves or drinking spring water. Another theory is that she sat over a cave in a tripod and the vapors from this opening inspired her divine frenzy. There is considerable debate over whether she gave her response in poetry or prose which was then rendered as poetry by the temple poets.

A trance is probably experienced more often than is thought. Most people will not claim to have ever experienced a trance because they have been given exaggerated descriptions that do not match their experience. And too many fanciful claims have been made for states of trance which creates more skepticism than there should be. However, a trance state does bring the mind more closely in contact the spiritual side of human nature. And in a state of trance the mind is capable of greater intuitive comprehension. Although this will not result in prophesies direct from the all knowing gods, it may lead to more intuitive guesses about the course of events than is otherwise possible. Finally, it seems appropriate that the oracles are given in riddles because it is better to express intuitive insights poetically and speak to the soul than to use the language of concrete thought and merely speak to the mind.
Rating: 5 / 5

This book is elegantly written, thoughtful, sensitive, impeccably researched, and thought-provoking. Lipsey is an enthusiast rather than a scholar, but only a mean scholar would resent the attempt to make the ancient oracle live for modern readers. To take a phrase from Lipsey himself, the book is a ‘tap on the shoulder’ – a reminder that there is more to the world than meets the eye or ear. So Lipsey tells all the available tales of the Delphic oracle as a way of making the numinous world more accessible. By and large he lets the tales speak for themselves, while adding pertinent but not intrusive commentary. Highly recommended for visitors to Greece and metaphysical searchers.
Rating: 4 / 5