Never Enough Marriage Weapons Department

So my Dearest Cynthia and I will be married together this Summer, and as a result we've been thinking about the ceremony. We don't want anything pricey, of course, but we'd like to add a few things to make it special and personal. And today, I had what I thought was a wonderful idea.

See, many of my friends are what I'd call "paganoid"--if they aren't pagan, they at least prefer a pagan atmosphere over a Christian one. Hence, two different weddings I've attended in recent years have involved the exchanging of swords and daggers. Needless to say, these weapons are a tad phallic, and thus not suitable for lesbians such as Cynthia and myself.

The perfect weapon to exchange, then, would be a double-bladed battle axe, or labrys. "Labrys" means "lip" and is etymologically related to "labia". The head of a labrys resembles a woman's labia, in fact. Because of this, it represents feminine power. Thus, the labrys used to be a sacred weapon to women, thousands of years ago. There were temples to goddesses that had a labrys--up to nine feet tall!--at the gate of the temple. There were also statues of goddesses that wielded a labrys in each hand. In some regions, only women were allowed to wield such a weapon.

Cynthia and I want to exchange these to represent: (a) That we'll protect each other no matter what; (b) that we are sharing in each other's femininty; and (c) that there is nothing wrong with being called a battle-axe. Plus, I'm sure it'll cause a few gasps when we pull these out after exchanging vows.