Danced
A blood moon communion
“The witches had come. A coven of dancers, celebrating nature with The Dance.”
“Dance, dance, dance your life away
So far away…” Toyah
Strasbourg July, 1518
Frau Trauffea gazed with longing at the display case, the absurdity? She owned what was inside. Like souls they were bought and paid for. Stacked neatly upon elegant racks, each identical in design, varied in colour with diamond flowers. There were five that drew her eye, cream, crimson, fuchsia, emerald and black. But which shoe should she choose? Her indecision rooted her in place. Today was a special day: Her Day where she knew everything would change. After careful deliberation she selected her favourite, knowing it would more than serve its purpose.
“Imagery is everything. And I’m going out in style.” murmured Frau Trauffea as she put on her beloved crimson shoes.
Abercraf, July 2018
Sweet agitation pours through Cally Schumacher’s soul. A frequency she can’t divine, a subtle signal cuts through her like a knife. There is something in the air, a delicious vibrancy, an energy like a coded message, breathtaking, exhilarating. Her soul weeps and yet dances for joy, an emotional paradox both liberating and yet confining. She feels the walls close in and her chest tighten. As the woman scrambles to her feet in panic, Cally slips on her red heels without thinking, leaves her home, and does the unexpected: she dances.
Frau Trauffea
At first, she was not alone. People passed by noticing her, their whispered giggles, pointing fingers, and mocking laughter at an equation they couldn’t understand, a code they couldn’t decipher. But still, the woman danced. Others stood by watching, then one person joined Frau Trauffea and the dam broke; at first a trickle, then a stream which led to a tidal wave. Half the street joined in this joie de vivre.
The witches had come. A coven of dancers, celebrating nature with The Dance.
Spiritual communion was all. It was everything. It was a moment. A movement where a multitude became one graceful body: synchronised. A ballet whose rhythm only the dancers could hear. A phenomenon, unexplained and yet natural as breathing.
Cally
For one single moment, across the divide, Cally sees it all in her mind’s eye: her ancestress moves in lockstep. A spiritual connection, a communion; a soul-deep coadunacy blossoms between them. They know. Both women are oblivious to the world around them, ignoring the musicians, the music, unaware of the growing numbers joining them. They are caught in the moment of the dance.
Epilogue
“It’s the last day.”
“As surely as the sun sets, every season must end.”
“One last dance?”
“Yes, before the final curtain falls and this door closes.”
They danced, a coven, a sisterhood. Under a starless night, a blood-moon reigned. Before she saw the ancestress fade; two voices poured into her mind echoing.
“…She will be brought forth…
She will lead a great people by word and deed,
more than any other will she have fame and renown.”
Frau Trauffea and Michel De Nostradame
The 76th Quatrain
To its end and its beginning
This particular tale uses the visual prompt as a partial basis for the story that put in my mind Kate Bush’s The Little Red Shoes album. But the story is also based on the dancing madness of 1518 which I first came across by author Patrick Mill who wrote a compelling and highly intriguing article about it. My interest was piqued. It led me to do some research of my own. I have chosen to focus on the dance itself which I perceive as a spiritual communion spanning across space and time. The most powerful thing to witness is something synchronised so I wanted to explore that. From all accounts the dancing would have been chaotic — bedlam a mass hysteria, which was historically noted.
So I wanted to to instil mysticism, communion, spirituality. The song Azrael is married to the story, somewhat reflective of the communion and communication between the two protagonists who are aware of one another. I also connected Nostradame into the mix with the idea that he was a distant relative to Frau Trauffea. Who we find both speak simultaneously to Cally a descendant of the two. Nostradame is a conceit on my part. (Frau Troffea is what she is commonly referred to by historic accounts whereas Trauffea she is also known by).
Azrael
You know this leaves me feeling incomplete it’s sad I know but I just cant help myself from writing this a soul consumed by fire it could have been yours it’s true I know you so well. These melancholy harmonies haunting melodies playing on my heart strings sometimes you know it gets to me and its so frustrating a whirlwind of emotions tumult my mind and if you could grieve would you for me? Can you hear me? Can you see me are you there? Our father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. And when thy kingdom comes, and when thy kingdom comes there will be an unholy dark — Amen. Its so strange feeling you without you being there a shadow dancing playing tricks on the minds eyes. Is it you are you there or in my head or beyond the confines of human comprehension space and time. I cannot resist the thoughts from you and wherefore art thou dost thy shade never sleep? In this cold world, it’s a cruel world…
© Mizieya 2026
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This work is part of the Tzi Universe | Queerscape.
What stood out the most about this piece was how immersive it felt without trying too hard to force meaning. There’s a quiet confidence in the writing that pulls the reader deeper the longer they stay with it. “A blood moon communion” is such a strong phrase because the piece actually delivers on that atmosphere — it feels ritualistic, intimate, and emotionally aware at the same time.
I also appreciated how visual the writing was. Certain moments felt less like reading and more like standing inside a memory or symbolic space watching it unfold in real time. That balance between poetry, reflection, and emotional tension is hard to maintain, but you kept it cohesive from beginning to end.
Definitely one of those pieces that lingers after you finish it instead of disappearing immediately. Thoughtful work all around. I really appreciate your writing, Brother. You’ll always have my support!💯
Loved the shout out, I like the way you write, completely different to the way I do, you took it to a more personal level, well written good stuff!!!