Flea market photo by Janne Hellsten

The ancient Greeks thought a marketplace was a good place to go in order to pick up messages from the world. A popular oracle in ancientGreece, at Pharai in thePeloponnese, was located in a walled market. At the center of the market was a simple rough-hewn statue of Hermes, who plays messenger between gods and humans.

Consulting the oracle was as simple as this. You enter the market through the gate in the wall towards the close of business, as the vendors are packing up their stalls. You bring your question for the oracle with you. You walk to the statue of the god and whisper that question in his ear. Then you plug your ears, or press your hands over them, shutting out external sounds as you walk back to the gate. At the exact moment you reach the gate, you unplug your ears. The first sounds you hear – a snatch of conversation, the cry of a bird, the creak of an overloaded wagon – will be the response of the oracle. The god will speak to you directly through the everyday noise of the world, once you have set a clear intention and put yourself in a frame of mind to receive the message.

We can reinvent the  oracle of Pharai in our own neighborhoods. . Give yourself five minutes in your favorite supermarket — or one you have never visited before — with a question in mind and see what the world says to you. There are certain special markets where I particularly like to play this game, like the Santa Fe Flea Market and the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Adapted from The Three “Only” Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination by Robert Moss. Published by
New World Library.