]> 2026-11-13T20:22:06+00:00 Pythia 0 en Pythia Pythoness Modern dictionaries inform us that the term means one who delivered the oracles at the temple of Delphi, and “any female supposed to have the spirit of divination in her — ''a witch''” (Webster). This is neither true, just nor correct. On the authority of Iamblichus, Plutarch and others, a Pythia was a priestess chosen among the ''sensitives ''of the poorer classes, and placed in a temple where oracular powers were exercised. There she had a room secluded from all but the chief Hierophant and Seer, and once admitted, was, like a nun, lost to the world. Sitting on a tripod of brass placed over a fissure in the ground, through which arose intoxicating vapours, these subterranean exhalations, penetrating her whole system, produced the prophetic ''mania,'' in which abnormal state she delivered oracles. Aristophanes in Væstas “ I., reg. 28, calls the Pythia ''ventriloqua vates'' or the “ventriloquial prophetess”, on account of her ''stomach''‐ voice. The ancients placed the soul of man (the lower ''Manas'') or his personal self‐consciousness, in the pit of his stomach. We find in the fourth verse of the second ''Nâbhânedishta ''hymn of the Brahmans: “Hear, O sons of the gods, one who speaks through his name (''nâbhâ''), for he hails you in your dwellings!” This is a modern somnambulic phenomenon. The navel was regarded in antiquity as “the circle of the sun”, the seat of divine internal light. Therefore was the oracle of Apollo at ''Delphi'', the city of'' Delphus,'' the womb or abdomen — while the seat of the temple was called the ''omphalos,'' navel. As well‐known, a number of mesmerized subjects can read letters, hear, smell and see through that part of their body. In India there exists to this day a belief (also among the Parsis) that adepts have flames in their navels, which enlighten for them all darkness and unveil the spiritual world. It is called with the Zoroastrians ''the lamp of '' ''Deshtur'' or the “High Priest”; and the light or radiance of the ''Dikshita ''(the initiate) with the Hindus. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]]<span style="color: grey; font-size: 90%; font-style: italic;"> (<span style="font-style: italic; border-bottom:1px dotted gray; cursor:help;" title="'Theosophical Glossary' by H. P. Blavatsky">TG</span>)</span>. <span style="border-bottom:1px dotted gray; cursor:help;" title="Greek">Gr.</span> Modern dictionaries inform us that the term means one who delivered the oracles at the temple of Del... Pythia Pythia • [[CTD term::Pythoness]] Pythia 2026-10-07T00:39:18Z 2461320.5272917 Pythia