TY - JOUR AU - Lindhard, Tina PY - 2018/08/31 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - When a Virgin is not a Virgin JF - Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal JA - ASSRJ VL - 5 IS - 8 SE - Articles DO - 10.14738/assrj.58.5022 UR - https://journals.scholarpublishing.org/index.php/ASSRJ/article/view/5022 SP - AB - <p>My fascination with the <em>Pythia</em> began several years ago when I was writing a<strong> </strong>paper on different ways of knowing. Although the <em>Pythia </em>is surrounded in myth and has been written about by numerous authors both in the past and present, it seems to me she still has a story to tell which has not been touched on before. The<em> Pythia</em> was the priestess at Delphi and among other things, she had to be a virgin (<em>pathenos</em>), or at least originally. We also know that inscribed on the forecourt temple of Apollo was the maxim "<strong>Know Thyself</strong>". When we put these aspects together with the non-denominational method of meditation used by early cults in the Mediterranean area and other parts of the world known as Prayer of the Heart, a different meaning of the word <em>virgin</em> starts to reveal itself. This also suggests that these priestesses might have been mystics trained in an esoteric tradition, which leads to Self-discovery or the Godliness of humans.  </p> ER -