The Mistery of Belicena Villca Snakes ; Serpents of exceptional realism . Her hair was made up of eighteen Stone Serpents : eight , of different length , fell on either side of the Face and two others , much smaller , bristled on the forehead .
Each pair of the eight Serpents were at the same height : two at Eye level , two at the Nose , two at the Mouth and two at the Chin ; emerging from a previous level of Hair , the remaining eight Ophidians returned and placed their heads among the previous ones . And each Serpent , by separating from the remaining locks , formed in the air with its body two opposing curves , like an ess ( S ), which allowed it to announce the next move : the mortal attack . And the two Serpents on the Forehead , despite being smaller , also showed the same aggressive attitude . In short , by Squarely admiring the Face of the Smiling Goddess , the arch of eighteen Serpent heads emerged strongly from Her Hair ; and all heads were turned forward , accompanying with their eyes the Eyeless Gaze of the Goddess ; and all heads had their jaws hideously gaping , exposing deadly fangs and abysmal throats . It should not be surprising , then , that that impressive apparition of the Goddess terrified its most faithful worshipers .
Logically , such a composition had an esoteric meaning that only the Hierophants and Initiates knew , although , eventually , they had an acceptable exoteric explanation . In the latter case , they notified the traveler who sometimes could be an ally King or an important ambassador that could not be denied outright the knowledge , that the eighteen serpents represented the letters of the Tartessian alphabet , the one they claimed to have received from the Goddess . During the ritual , they claimed , the Initiates could hear the Serpents of the Goddess recite the sacred alphabet . The esoteric Truth behind all this was that the eighteen letters actually corresponded to the eighteen Vrunes of Navutan and that with them the Sign of the Origin could be understood and with it the Serpent , the highest symbol of human knowledge . But such truth was barely intuited by the Tartessian Hierophants , since in those days nobody saw the Sign of the Origin nor did remember the Vrunes of Navutan : by instituting the Cold Fire Reform , the Lords of Tharsis had received the Word of the Goddess that the House of Tharsis , descendant of the white Atlanteans , “ would not be extinguished while at least one of its members did not recover the lost Wisdom ”, and for Her Word to be fulfilled , “ less than ever should they become detached from the Wise Sword ”. That moment had not yet come and no descendants of the House of Tharsis understood the deep meaning of that esoteric Truth revealed by Pyrene ' s Stone Head . So for them it was also an unquestionable truth the fact that the eighteen Serpents represented the letters of the Tartessian alphabet : the two smaller serpents , for example , corresponded to the two letters introduced by the Lydians and its pronunciation was kept secret , as was the Name of the Goddess Moon formed by the three vowels of the Iberians . In this case , the two vowels allowed to know the Name that the Goddess Pyrene gave herself when she manifested as Cold Fire in the heart of man , that is , " I am " ( something like Eu or Ey ).
Every year as the winter solstice approached , the Hierophants determined the nearest full moon , and , on that night , it was celebrated in Tartessos the Cold Fire Ritual . There would not be many Chosen who , finally , would dare to defy the Cold Fire test : almost always a group that could be counted on the fingers of the hand . The menhir was aligned west of the Tharsis Apple Tree , so that the Moon Goddess would invariably appear behind the tree and travel through the sky until reaching the zenith , from where she would just fully illuminate the face of the Goddess Looking West . Since dusk , with eyes directed to the East , the Chosen were sitting in the clearing , gazing at the Face of the Goddess and , further back , the Apple Tree of Tharsis .
When the Brightest Face of the Moon Goddess rested upon the Sacred Forest , the Chosen ones kept quiet , cross-legged and expressing with the hands the Mudra of the Cold Fire : in those moments it was only allowed to chew willow leaves ; otherwise they were to remain in rigorous stillness . Until the zenith of the full moon , the dramatic tension grew moment after moment and , at that point , it reached such intensity that it seemed that terror of the Chosen extended into the environment and became breathable : not only did they
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