I just thought I'd add it for something different, after all most of my other writing will go up here at some point, why shouldn't this?
Casting the circle as people are entering, V.minor non-flouncy version. Tea - lights lit at each quarter, walk circle, short invocation:
I call upon the Lady and Lord, I call to the elements, I ask of them Watch and guard me Protect and guide me Grant me safe return
Circle cast. When all are seated light candles at either side of the mirror:
I call upon the moon and sun To break the threads of time now spun An let this spirit soar To a life of mine no more Let me see faces of past with this spell I now cast Don’t let my spirit wander free But bring it safely back to me As I will so mote it be
Pause in which two figures enter from opposite sides behind the screen.
I stand in an open space; grass beneath my feet, the green is unrecognisable slick and dark with blood. My hair is pale red, the bulk of it caught up under a helm to keep it from my face as I move, my eyes flash ice blue from beneath the same helm. My name is lost to my memory in the heat of battle. I look to one side, gauging the motion of those around me, movement flowing naturally I step to block an axe blow, I have done it a thousand times before in a dozen different battles. I am my partner’s left arm, his shield bearer, we move as one, equal in power and need for the other. He turns to me on matters of healing and those things which, by virtue of my sex, I am more closely affiliated with. I am respected for my ability to bear new life. I turn to him for strength when I need more than my own. As I protect him so he fights for me.
Shorter pause during which there is a bow of acknowledgement between the figures behind the screen before they move to a second position. A hand is passed in front of the mirror.
I lounge in luxury here waiting to find someone who appeals to me. My name is Selene. Breathed from the lips of many young men. I was seventeen, this birthday, and I have been of marriageable age for two years. The entire estate hangs on my words wondering who and when I will choose. My father presents me with men he thinks would be suitable and refuses entry to my presence for those suitors who he does not deem appropriate for me. He claims to have control of me as his daughter but my softest word of persuasion or pleading can change his course to mine. I push pale hair from my eyes and look over yet another who would request me as his wife. He barely knows me but would marry me for my father’s wealth and the fact that I have no brothers as yet. This man has already pleased my father or he would not be here he must now do everything he can to please me. I have the power to sway any man but they believe they can control me. They are fools with only the power that we deign to allow them.
Again a pause, the bow and movement to a new position reflecting the relationship suggested in the spoken text.
I stand in a broad hallway the floors are dark wood, glowing with polish. I have walked this hall many times, from the kitchens or the laundry to my master’s room and back again. I move as he summons me, he keeps me in a house and well enough fed, pays my wages. For this I serve quietly. My dress is plain, as I am expected to be, total obedience is demanded. I am unimportant although needed in an obscure kind of way. Needed to do the tasks which are below him, fetching, carrying, serving. No one would ever admit that I am needed, a mere serving girl, I am replaceable. I will always be replaceable. This is a man’s world, so they say, and Woman’s place is to meekly serve. We are supposedly nothing but they have such high expectations of us.
Pause etc.
A long table stands before me a half dozen people are clustered around it, sheaves of paper before them. I sit near the top of the table although there are still men above me. My ideas are listened to, not immediately disregarded as coming from the weaker sex; I can command respect when I speak. My name appears on the list of the board of directors, I have power here. I am young, good looking, perhaps this is why I am successful in this place where so many of my superiors are male. Were it not so it is still acknowledged that I can be as intelligent as those I work for. It is strange, I am still looked down on for being female, told I can not handle the ruthless world that has been built while I was at home looking after the children. While they tell me this they listen to my voice as a worthy contributor to this same world. I am looked on as a partner not yet equal but an asset rather than an accessory.