Originally, the Sibyls were the priestesses and oracles of the Goddess Kybele. The Romans knew Kybele as the “Magna Mater,” Latin for “Great Mother.”
The women who served as Sibyls were physical oracles, individuals whose counsel and prophecies were sought by all, whether royal or peasant, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. In fact, the legacy of the Sibyls is so old that it predates the civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and can be traced back to the Stone Age.
The Sybils were often associated with particular locations such as caves, forests, grottoes, spring wells, and circle temples. The locations of several prominent Sybils are documented in ancient sources from Cumae, Italy; Delphi, Greece; Erythrae, Ionia; Ethiopia; Rome; Libya; and Persia.
The prophecies of the Sibyl oracles were not just given in the name of God; the Sibyls would enter a trance and, in that state, were considered to be in direct contact with the Spirit of God. An answer from a Sibyl was considered to be an answer from God.
Sibyls were often consulted about matters of war, business, politics, and even personal relationships.
According to Nevill Drury, the author of The Dictionary of the Esoteric, an oracle is “A person serving as an intermediary between a supernatural being and those seeking a counsel or prophecy. Often the oracle takes the role of a medium and becomes possessed by the god from whom the prophecy is sought. At Delphi, in ancient times, the Pythian oracle would enter a trance state and make oracular pronouncements that were said to be communications from the sun god Apollo. These statements were then communicated to the gathering by the officiating priests.”
Before the Pope of the Catholic Church usurped the role, the Sibyls were the original Logos who spoke the Word of God.
Before the rise of the male prophets and priesthoods of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Sibyls were known to be the voice of the Earth’s divine and spiritual traditions of Mother Goddess and Nature worship.
