Ostara | Vernal Equinox
The Wheel Brings Us to Springtime! Life is Bursting Forth...
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Dear ones,
If you are a new subscriber, a special WELCOME! I follow the Pagan/Celtic seasonal wheel of the year, honoring and taking part in each Sabbat. On March 19/20, here in the north, Ostara arrives. Ahhhh spring is here! Sharing with you today its wonder, magic, meaning and ways to celebrate it. Ending with a meditation/ritual. I am posting earlier this week to accommodate this Sabbat. Enjoy. Love to all!
Welcome to Ostara
The wheel of life is always turning, cycles that have ended return but fresh and anew. Here in the northern hemisphere, we are at the threshold of the spring equinox. Night and day are of equal balance. Shifting from longer nights into longer days.
The weather is warming, a calling forth of what was dormant to bud. Evidenced by the many trees in my area that are flaunting their white and pink blossoms. I live in a climate like the Mediterranean. Summers are dry, warm to hot. Winters are wet, mild to cold. We do get frosts, but snow is rare and usually only powdering. I came home from a walk a couple of days ago literally feeling that the line between winter and spring had been crossed, no turning back! Collaborated by the first leaves bursting forth from a maple tree in my front yard. So exciting!
Even amid a world in turmoil, there is an amazing amount of incredible beauty, creativity and potential happening right now. Nature has much to teach us, for she knows how to recycle and renew. After a time of hibernation, death and decay comes a celebration of birth and life!
A time to plant seeds for the flowers, vegetables and herbs of summertime. But first what is the condition of the soil I am putting these seeds into? How am I tending the ground. Looking to myself, if I plant seeds of openness, confidence and creativity in a soil that has become depleted from overuse of doubt, fear and shame then my harvest will be limited at best.
In my garden I see dirt as so much more than an inert vessel to plant in. I see us the same way. An invitation into the Divine Feminine, connection with the ground, Gaia, everyone and everything. Am I generating separation or relaxing into the natural interdependence with all aspects of life? Am I editing and holding myself back or connecting with love, a deep passion within?
And to those in the southern hemisphere, blessings on your autumnal equinox, the lengthening of the dark and the sabbat of Mabon! May your harvest be plentiful and your meeting with the dark insightful.
OSTARA
Ostara is part of the wheel of the year. One of the eight sabbats that are celebrated at the equinoxes, solstices, and the points between the two. This year the Spring Equinox falls on March 19th or the 20th depending on where you live. Yet Ostara as a festival is celebrated from March 19th through the 23rd.
Ostara is a time of rebirth, a resurrection of new life. Honoring the Spring goddess (Eostre) and our Earth Mother (Gaia). Eostre is considered an Anglo-Saxon deity, even though there isn’t much academic history about her, none the less her traditions have been orally carried through time. A fertility goddess of flowers, eggs and bunnies. The Christian holiday of Easter is derived from this pagan tradition. The date is also based on this sabbat, being the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the Spring Equinox.
RETURN OF PERSEPHONE
Like many myths and legends, the story of Persephone and Demeter has many variations. Summarized… Hades had fallen in love with the maiden Persephone. Knowing Demeter, her mother, would never approve of their marriage, he abducted Persephone. Back in the underworld, he showered her with gifts and made her a queen. Above ground, Demeter, who is the life-giving goddess of agriculture and the harvest was so filled with grief that everything around her started withering and dying. To save the earth, Zeus declared that Persephone would spend half the time with her husband and the other half with her mother. Thus, we have a creation story of the seasons.
At this time of the year, Persephone emerges from the underworld, relieving her mother’s grieving. What became haggard, shriveled, cold and barren in autumn through winter, is now blossoming and returning to life in spring. Reunited again with her mother Demeter, brings hope of renewal. Once again, the land becomes fertile and abundant.
EGGS AND BUNNY’S
EGGS: The roundness of an egg is a representation of the earth, of a woman’s pregnant belly. A symbol of wholeness and fertility. The fecundity of life where everything emerges from, like a chick breaking out of its shell. The egg is a powerful metaphor for possibility and transformation. A necessary part of the cycle of birth and death.
HARES & BUNNYS: As highly reproductive animals they too are symbols of fertility. Illustrating the abundance of this season! They are speedy and agile as well as timid and sensitive. Able to be mindful while also being able to swiftly navigate their environment when needed. Associated with the moon they are symbols of intuition, the mystery and the unseen.
THE MOON
Ostara occurs on March 19 at 8:06 pm PDT. The phase of the moon is a waxing gibbous in the sign of Leo.
The moon is building up to the full moon which takes place on the 25th. Like Spring there is a momentum unfolding. Leo reminds us to express ourselves, be creative. A good time to have fun. So, if you need an excuse to celebrate Ostara wholeheartedly, here it is!
Celebrating Ostara
There are many ways to celebrate:
Create an Ostara altar.
Plant seeds in the garden or start them in containers.
Make egg-based dishes. (custards, frittatas, etc.)
Decorate and color eggs.
Clean and declutter your environment.
Consider what seeds you want to plant in your own life. What intentions do you want to sow.
Do an oracle/tarot reading.
Take a walk in nature. Look for signs of Spring.
I have already created my Ostara altar. One of my favorite ways to honor the sabbats, it stays up till the next sabbat. And I did my Ostara tarot reading for this season. Asking questions similar to what I list at the end of this post. And of course, as always, being in nature is a must!
OSTARA RITUAL
This Ostara meditation brings you into the balance and liminality of this time. An invitation to plant new seeds into your life!
It starts with centering and creating sacred space. Then a contemplation with some pauses so you may integrate and receive. Ending with a blessing.
PRAYER AND BLESSING
May this time of Ostara be a season where we come into a greater balance. Both inwardly within ourselves and outwardly in the world. Recognizing the most profound gift we can offer is love. Collectively, these are the essential seeds we need to plant right now. As self-care, collaboration, and coherence. Don’t ever underestimate the power of inner transformation and its outer effects. We are completely interconnected; we are a web of existence. All of this palpably present as the fecundity of the land, nature’s fertility, and life’s creative expression. All this lives within each one of us. May we come together as the true family we are!
Blessed Be.
Questions for you, to use in a tarot reading or to contemplate:
Where in my life is balance needed?
How am I preparing my body as the soil & ground of my being?
What seeds/intentions am I planting?
What is being born or renewed?
Where is abundance showing up in my life?
Would love to know your thoughts and feelings. Let’s have a conversation…
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Ostara blessings, Julie! Your Ostara altar is gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing pictures of that. And thank you, too, for the meditation. Instead of listening to it at my own altar as I would normally do, I feel called to listen to it on my morning walk, as I pass by all the blooms and hatchlings in the neighborhood. I feel ready to emerge!
Thank you for this beautiful invitation for reflection. 💖