Visting the Oracle of Delphi

Priming the pump on spiritual imagination...

Delphi

Our thirsty eyes turn
towards the sharp sky, stretching
to where we imagine he sits,
the bright one of brutal clarity,
while the song of embodiment
fades in the wind.

Beneath the smoothly polished walls
on which silent columns stand tall,
the rock rests, as it has for ages more,
formed not by force of mind
but from the life of the earth itself.

I kneel and press my hands 
to the wet ground, listening
for that which prays to be heard,
still tasting last night’s dream
with six pieces of amethyst
and crossing a bridge at night
into a life kissed by magic.

While wisdom dances in the moonlight,
speaking in riddles and whispers,
soaked in ancient springs,
our minds strain to twist
the smoke of dreams into wire cages,
trapping birds with hungry wings.

I heal more from the stone
in my hand, bare feet on the earth,
and rain running across my lips
than from tossing scratched prayers
into the sky, hoping to catch
a fickle god’s eye.

And so pray:
Verbum caro factum est
Verbum caro factum est

--Stuart Higginbotham

Our group is back from our pilgrimage to Greece. So much to process, and I will take my time. Layers and layers…

My time at Delphi was particularly meaningful, and this poem began coming in as we arrived (and in pieces before that are in another poem, as I prepared to go) and especially after the dream the night before our visit. I started writing down the images, and I paid attention to what resonated while we walked through the site. It was powerful…and familiar.

This is the view of the Temple of Apollo from the theater, looking down from Mount Parnassus. Absolutely amazing… You can see the entrance to the temple to the left, with the columns, and the site where the oracle, the pythia, would have sat, in the hollow place where they have removed the stones.

Just below the temple itself, there is a space that was dedicated to the Earth Mother, Gaia—the original oracle before Apollo came and defeated the great serpent Pythos to establish his own temple on the site. A sybil (oracle) to Gaia would speak her messages here. This was a very powerful space, I think.

The myth itself describes how Apollo (archetype/symbol for reason, clarity) defeated the great serpent Pythos (sacred to Gaia, representing creation and embodiment). So, we can think of how the intent was for reason to supplant a more embodied practice. The age-old split between mind/spirit and body is deep.

However much the intent was to completely supplant a more embodied practice with reason, the deep resonance with the earth continued on at Delphi. And you can feel that resonance…

Delphi is, for me, a place that challenges/encourages me to delve more deeply into spiritual imagination. It is a place that invites a deep reflection on my own struggle with embodiment—and that impulse that finds us wanting to solve a problem with a clever answer rather than experiencing life through our embodied reality.

Much more to explore, but this helps me begin to reflect even more.

Blessings,

Stuart