Yule 2000
by Jo Dunster

Cast:
Storyteller
Quarter casters

Setup
Circle is pre cast, tree setup and decorated, food made ready, fabric laid out, matches red cloth cord and wrap fabric stowed out of sight near the storytellers stool

Props
Quartz point icicle tree decorations
Tree
Muslin (snow)
Red cloth (blood)
Cauldron
Fuel (kero)
Matches
Stool
Cord
Cloth for last crystal

Group enters pre-cast circle 

Everyone sits

In the centre of the circle stands the tree surrounded with muslin (to look like snow) decorated with the crystals. The cauldron with fuel and a stool where the Storyteller to sits

The storyteller speaks:

Close your eyes, 
Relax. 
Let the world around you fade into the cold. 
Feel beneath you the frozen ground, barren under the weight of winter. 
All around you is dark and quiet but for the wind rustling through the trees and the pale moon shining down. 
Another sound emerges coming closer. 
The crunch of hurried footfalls on snow. 
It draws nearer. 
A woman heavily pregnant emerges from the forest. 
She does not see you. You are an invisible observer. 
Follow her. 
She stops every now and then and leans against a tree, the pain of her contractions is strong but she does not cry out.
You hear a mans voice some way back in the forest call out to her 
“Stay with me”
She looks up determined and hurries on 
“I will be lost”
She stumbles
“We can reign forever”
She falls to her knees under the frail shelter of slumbering tree, hung heavy with ice and snow. 
She cannot go any further and the child is coming, 
He will catch her. 
The sound of his footsteps echoes through the forest, 
As he draws nearer she can see his shadow moving through the undergrowth. 
She sits leaning against the tree and waits. 
He steps from the trees into sight. 
She looks up and screams out in agony as the first ray of dawn pierces the sky. 
He sees the look of pain and determination on her face.
“Please, don’t!” he begs.
She tuns her face away from him
He sinks to his knees before her with an imploring look.
She will not answer.
He hangs his head He knows that he cannot win 
Her hands grip the snow, her breathing is hard and as she screams again he reaches out to her 
but it is too late, the child is free! 

Storyteller lights the fuel in the Cauldron

The sun breaks over the horizon illuminating the forest. 
Light gleams off ice and snow and for a moment the world is white and blinding. 
He is gone 
Nothing remains but blood on the snow 

Storyteller places the red cloth under  tree

She scoops up her child and looks into his radiant face 
“The gift of winter is the hope of spring, my child, and hope you will bring”
As the sun rises stronger in the sky she wraps her son up snug in her cloak and disappears back into the forest the sun warming her back. 
Watch her go. 
Have hope. 
Feel the warmth of the sun on your cheek and the crisp chill in the air.
Feel the world around you fade slowly back to the here and now and when you are ready open your eyes.    

All stand

Stoyteller:	Now is the time when the winters reign is at its height and is broken. The turning of the tide towards the spring. Though it is still cold and there is a long way to go it is a time of hope and of transformation.

Stoyteller motions to the tree
 
Stoyteller:	Take each of you winter’s gift, no longer ice but gems of hope. 

Each person takes a crystal decoration from the tree

Stoyteller: 	Hold them, feel their cold replaced by the warmth of your hands, they are a symbol of the winter and of your hopes for the spring.

Let people hold/empower their crystal 

Stoyteller: 	But we have hopes too for ourselves as a group and so there is a gem for us collectively

Storyteller holds up the last crystal and hands it to the person in the South

South person holds up crystal and asks for it to be cleansed with Earth and says something apropriate then passes it to the East

East person holds up crystal and asks for it to be cleansed with Air and says something apropriate then passes it to the North

North person holds up crystal and asks for it to be cleansed with Fire and says something apropriate then passes it to the West

West person holds up crystal and asks for it to be cleansed with Water and says something apropriate then passes it to the Center/Storyteller

Storyteller  holds crystal and starts the ball rolling

Stoyteller: 	I hope as a group…….(our  learning and freindship will grow strong/er etc) 

Storyteller  passes crystal to the next person, each person endows crystal with their hopes for the future and returns it to the storyteller

Storyteller  slowly wraps up the crystal in cloth and ties it with the cord

Stoyteller: 	Now our hopes and dreams for the future are tied together with the cord we empowered together

Storyteller Hands bundle to the South 

South person holds up crystal and asks for the groups hopes to be blessed with Earth and says something apropriate then passes it to the East

East person holds up crystal and asks for the groups hopes to be blessed with Air and says something apropriate then passes it to the North

North person holds up crystal and asks for the groups hopes to be blessed with Fire and says something apropriate then passes it to the West

West person holds up crystal and asks for the groups hopes to be blessed with Water and says something apropriate then passes it to the Center/Storyteller

Storyteller asks for the blessings of the Goddess and the God and then unwraps the newly made amulet. Makes a loop from the yule cord and hangs it off the cord and back on the tree

Rejoicing and merryment follow 

Cakes and ale 

Close down circle.