Excerpt from the Theoclea (The Delphic Oracle) in Eleusis:
The last part of her speech at Eleusis...she looks at the blank side of the Medallion of Innana, and says...
“The letters are dimming, I can’t make out the last part. Ah, yes. “Because of YOU…others will be able and ready…to ascend…to the moon…and…to the stars!”
She then dropped her hands, looked upward and fainted. Morain and Panelle grabbed her and held her –her eyes fluttered- and she could barely move. Her right hand was rising and pointing upward, someone reached out and gave her a glass of water. Her hand shook, but she continued to point upward. Her eyes continued to flutter and roll.
Then someone in the crowd looked up at the sky and shouted-“What’s that, look, up in the sky!” “An Omen”, someone else said. “What is it?” said a woman with a child, sitting in the front. The twilight sky, a deepening dark blue with fiery patches of red, showed clouds that had streaks attached to them. The clouds seemed to be forming something. Someone shouted “Look, a Phoenix!”. The words spread. “A Phoenix”, "an Omen”, “a Miracle”, someone said. For a while all eyes were on the sky, but gradually people’s attention was brought back to the stage. A rumor had started “She’s dead”, someone said. The rumor spread quickly as the Phoenix continued to form. Morain and Panelle looked at each other and tried to revive Theoclea.
They lifted her up, and as they lifted her they both noted that there was blood on her right shoulder. Suddenly, Theoclea regained consciousness, looked at both of them and then at her shoulder. There was a gash. She saw the blood. Quickly she pulled the sleeve down so that no one else would see it.
She looked at the sky where the image appeared, and the image started to fade. She lifted an arm and gestured to it. While The Phoenix quickly continued to fade, the sky dimmed, and the stars started to appear. The Phoenix had faded to a wisp of a cloud in the center of the sky. A shooting star blazed across the sky. Morain and Panelle gazed at Theoclea with grave concern- the wards and the spells were down...anything could happen. Her eyes regained their clarity. She indicated to them that she needed some help. The crowd noise died down to a whisper, and then silence.
Theoclea lifted her right arm out in a “come hither” gesture, her palm up. Quickly, she brought her left hand forward, and placed it directly over her right hand so that the thumb and all fingers touched. She folded over the middle fingers, so that only the thumbs, forefingers and little fingers were touching. In an instant, she brought both hands to an upright position, the hands still clasped. The fingers and the thumbs were all pointed upward. The sign looked like the “Gates of Eleusis”. She then parted her hands, palms up, and mimicked the flowing strands of white crystal light that flowed away from the gate, forming the “Headdress of lights”.
“You are on the Plain of Eleusis!” she shouted.
“Remember my words, remember what Theoclea has said. All will remember that she was the Pythia, The Pythian Priestess, The Dragon Priestess of the Earth, my name, Theoclea means ‘The Glory of the Gods and Goddesses’. I am a priestess of both Apollo and Dionysus. Inanna watches over me, as well.”, she whispered. Everyone heard what she said thanks to the Heralds.
Theoclea held her shoulder. There was pain, a wound, but she dared not show it. Then, she looked up at the sky again. She glanced at the wound, and started crying. There was a double roll of thunder, one coming a second after the other. Within seconds of that, two jagged lightning flashes were seen, one following quickly after the other, one came from one direction, the other from another. They crossed directly under the wisp of a cloud that was left from the Phoenix.
“The Sign of the Delphic Oracle,” someone shouted. “Theoclea’s sign,” another said. The crowd shouted her name “Theoclea,” over and over. She had just enough energy to manage a weak smile and wave to them, then she motioned to Morain and Panelle, and they escorted her off the stage.
