Whenever one speaks of oracles, the Delphic oracle, the most famous one, comes to mind. It was believed to be the center of the universe, marked by a huge stone called the omphalos; by going to the center, one's questions could be answered. A priestess was consulted who is said to have sat over a cleft in the earth that descended into the depths and out of which vapors arose. She would inhale the vapors and go into a trance and then pronounce the oracle or the answer to the question, a precise analogy of our consulting the images that arise from the unconscious. The long pilgrimage required to visit the oracle, sometimes from as far away as Asia Minor, indicates that great import was attached to the enterprise

Evidently the replies received were often ambiguous, allowing for an experience such as takes place today when one consults the I Ching, the Chinese oracle book, where one projects into the ambiguous answer one's own unconscious wisdom, so to speak. A classic example of that ambiguity was the answer Croesus, the king of Lydia, received from the Delphic oracle. Yearning to invade Persia, he consulted the oracle about his prospects and was told that if Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. Elated by the response, he launched his campaign, only to discover that the great empire to be destroyed was his own. The story suggests the risk in consulting the unconscious for the ego's advantage

A second important pilgrimage was associated with the shrines of Asclepius; the two most significant ones were located on the island of Kos and at Epidaurus. Asclepius was the child of Apollo and Coronis, but Coronis proved unfaithful to her divine lover and was killed. Asclepius was then rescued and raised by the centaur Cheiron, who was responsible for all his healing knowledge. Cheiron, who had been injured by Heracles' arrows and suffered from an unhealing wound, stands for the wounded healer, the one who can cure others despite and because of his own suffering

Another expression of this paradoxical image is the myth that Asclepius received his healing potions or powers from Athena, who gave him the blood of Medusa. According to the story, there were two vials of that blood, one taken from Medusa's right side and the other from the left. The first was immensely healing in its powers and could even raise the dead, but the blood from the left side was instantly destructive. We have a residue of that paradoxical imagery in the two snakes that are wound around the winged staff of Hermes in the caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession. According to ancient belief, one of those snakes was poisonous and the other healing, as if one ejected blood from the left side of Medusa and the other from the right. This elemental idea appears in different symbolic images, but the basic notion remains the same, namely, that the unconscious has a double quality to it. One can never know in advance whether it will be beneficial or harmful, since this depends on the circumstances and also on the attitude of the ego that is relating to the unconscious power

A procedure prevalent at the shrines of Asclepius is described in some detail in C. A. Meir's book Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy. If one were ill and a cure did not promptly come, one considered making a pilgrimage to the shrine of the temple of Asclepius. (Here again, we must take into account the importance that was projected into the visit and the great effort of making the trip, which would affect the dynamics of what happened.) Once the patient arrived at the temple, certain purification ceremonies and bathings would be undergone. According to some sources, there were entrance requirements, partially having to do with one's moral character. Once these were passed, the patient would sleep in the sanctuary, where he would have a dream that would bring the healing. It was often thought that a god would come in the dream and touch the wounded or sick spot to heal it with his touch. This can be recognized as a precursor of our current thinking about the nature of the unconscious and the potential healing value of consulting it. Apparently, following the healing dream, the patient was required to relate it and discuss it with the priest of the temple, prefiguring the psycho-therapeutic process

MEANT TO DIE