Iatromantis

Iatromantis (from iatreia "healing, care" and manteia "divination, oracle") is a Greek word whose literal meaning is most simply rendered "physician-seer." Perhaps the most famous iatromantis was the Greek presocratic philosopher Parmenides, best known as the founder of western logic. Iatromantis, a form of Greek shamanism, is related to other semimythical figures such as Abaris, Aristeas, Epimenides, and Hermotimus.^[1]

According to Dr. Peter Kingsley, iatromantis figures belonged to a wider Greek and Asian shamanic tradition with origins in Central Asia.^[2] A main ecstatic, meditative practice of these healer-prophets was incubation (enkoimesis). More than just a medical technique, incubation reportedly allowed a human being to experience a fourth state of consciousness different from sleeping, dreaming, or ordinary waking: a state that Kingsley describes as “consciousness itself” and likens to the turiya or samādhi of the Indian yogic traditions.

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