The tense, strained, fearful looks relaxed, and a long sigh of relief escaped their lips, while an electric thrill ran through the crowd, and many of them wept unrestrainedly.
The gates of the enclosure swung open, and Imos stood within, facing the sun. Then Yermah took Oahspe by the hand, and led her to Imos, who made a sign of hierarchal blessing and poured a few drops of olive oil over her hair. The high-priest stepped back, and, placing his right hand over his heart, held his left up to the figure of Maia, the Cosmic Virgin, and proclaimed in a loud voice:
“It is consummated!”
There was a moment’s silence.
The sunshine faded from the golden hair of Oahspe, and a light, made by no mortal hands, flickered around the statue, illuminating the whole niche.
“In thy strength and wisdom, O Father-Mother, join Thou the heavens above with the earth below!” cried the people in response.
Again the music swelled through the temple and the warrior-priests made use of their long spears to light the lamps.
Yermah received the three-handled silver cup of humiliation from the high-priest Imos, and partook of its bitter contents. From him it passed to Oahspe, then to Orondo, Setos, Alcamayn, Ildiko, Rahula, Cezardis, Ben Hu Barabe, and Alcyesta and then on to every man and woman in the temple.
The priests composed and arranged the music used in the temples; and now a choir chanted a funeral text from their sacred books, referring to the sinking in earlier cataclysms of the continents of Ruta and Daitya, which extended into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
These continents included the Azores, the Cape Verde and Grand Canary Islands, while the peaks of Teneriffe are all that is left of Poseidon’s kingdom. The latter, an island three hundred and fifty miles long and two hundred miles wide, contained the crystallization of ancient civilization, and had colonies in the four quarters of the globe.