sibyls

One can only conclude from what Paglia says in this piece (admittedly an edited version of the introduction to her book) that it's just some kind of magic, akin to the "divination" she says is practiced by critics of poetry, which resembles "the practice of oracles, sibyls, augurs, and interpreters of dreams."

Poetry

Mythology: sibyls were oracles who relayed the messages of the gods.

15,000 Baby Names

The poor sibyls and Delphic oracles had it much harder, since at any one moment there were only a few people in the game.

Robin Lakoff: It's Not As Bad as All That

Just as the feminist role is revealed by repeated invocations of the moon and the catalogue of sibyls and rebels in her writing, so the Jewish aspect of her nature is shown through the many biblical accounts and references, and the race-memory of oppression and the Holocaust that color her poetry.

Ruth Fainlight.

Penitent monks draped in their severe cowls, sibyls outlining a graceful gesture, calmly gazing Madonnas: a whole colourful life thrives on the stone surfaces.

Archive 2009-06-01

I went back to old translations of "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," because the church fathers on this side of the Atlantic could not have "by ancient sibyls sung."

Tori Amos - Undented

“Nay, it is only worthy Master Henbane Dwining,” answered one of the sibyls.

The Fair Maid of Perth

And thus, croaking like the ravens when they anticipate pestilence, the ill-boding sibyls withdrew from the churchyard.

The Bride of Lammermoor

On any other occasion the speed of these reverend sibyls would have been much more moderate, for the first was eighty years of age and upwards, the second was paralytic, and the third lame of a leg from some accident.

The Bride of Lammermoor

An alternate spelling is sibyl, and a Wikipedia entry on sibyls can be found here.

Archive 2008-10-01