I have been recently reading James Hillman's Kinds of Power: A Guide to Its Intelligent Use. I was delighted to find that he delves deeply into the etymology of words, as this is also a passion of mine.
Since I have been working on bringing out a new boxed set of the Journey Oracle cards in early June, I decided to explore the meaning of "Oracle" and of "Journey."
An oracle is part of a small family of English words that go back to the Latin verb orare: to speak, as in orator, oration, oratory. Even more interesting to me, there is a subset of words that extend the meaning to the word pray: to adore. What a beautiful history of the word Oracle: speech that adores.
The word Journey, etymologically, means "a days travel." The word comes via Old French jornee from the Latin diurnum: the daily allowance or ration, which in turn is based on dies: day. By the 16th century the specific notion of a "day's travel" had died out, leaving only the more general "travel."
So the Journey Oracle will take you on a day's travel into the wisdom of the unconscious, empowering your speech as prayer to the Mystery. What a wonderful way to spend the day.
