The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Map of the Whorll

Burning Hair Woman, The

A constellation seen from the planets St. Anne and St. Croix pointed out to Sandwalker by the Shadow Child. 

Commentary

The "burning hair" of this woman is the color copper. In alchemy, copper a metal associated with the planet Venus and thus with Aphrodite. So in the mythology of the Shadow Children, the Burning Hair Woman is a fertility goddess, the second aspect of the trideitic Moon Goddess, and the Nymph aspect of the Mother Goddess as defined in Robert Graves' writings.  

Wolfe has from time to time used copper in his writings to represent the Nymph (see Copperhead at http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/wolfe/). 

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