Ostara

"o-star-uh"
The dates of the Solstices and Equinoxes can change each year but are always between the 20th and the 23rd of the corresponding month.

2008

Vernal Equinox

Mar 20 2008

05:48 UT

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Ostara marks the first true day of spring. It is the vernal equinox. It is believed that the name Ostara comes from the Germanic Goddess Oestara. Oestara is the Goddess of Fertility. For this holiday we picture the goddess in her Maiden form. Ostara is the time when witches celebrate the balance of the seasons and the passage of nigh into day. The Goddess blankets the Earth with fertility, bursting forth from her sleep, as the God stretches and grows to maturity. He walks the greening fields and delights in the abundance of Nature. On Ostara the hours of day and night are equal. Light is overtaking darkness. This is a time for beginnings, of action, or planting spells for future gains, and of tending ritual gardens.

As spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect balance, with light on the increase. The young Sun God now celebrates a hierogamy (sacred marriage) with the young Maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine months, she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great fertility, new growth, and newborn animals. The next full moon (a time of increased births) is called the Ostara and is sacred to Eostre the Saxon Lunar Goddess of fertility (from whence we get the word estrogen, whose two symbols were the egg and the rabbit. Although Ostara is a festival of fertility, however, unlike Beltaine, it is not a festival of human and animal fertility, but of the fertility of the earth.

Other Names: Eostre (OHS-truh or EST-truh), spring equinox.

Correspondances

Colors: Light green, lemon yellow, pale pink.
Food: hard-boiled eggs, honey cakes, 1^st fruit of the season, leafy greens, dairy foods, nuts, sunflower seeds, flower dishes.
Deities: Diana, Artemis
Symbols: eggs, rabbits, spring flowers, green and yellow jellybeans
Incense: African Violet, Jasmine, Rose, Sage and Strawberry
Candles: gold, green and yellow
Gemstones: amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone and red jasper.
Herbs: Daffodil, jonquils, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, narcissus, acorns, celadine, cinquefoil, dandelion, dogwood, jasmine, rose, tansy, honeysuckle and all spring flowers.

Activities and Traditions

- Adults only or with adults help - may be dangerous

- Ask permission from parents first

• Color eggs and place on altar as magickal talismans
• A visit from the Easter Bunny
• Decorate home with baskets of flowers
• Planting seeds or start an herb garden
• Take a long walk in nature
• Spring cleaning - Clear out old clothes, books, toys etc..
• Have a sunrise observance
• Bless some seeds with a wish. Plant them, and as they come up, the wish is fulfilled
• Write and perform a mystery play about the God's resurrection. Write one about Ishtar and Tammuz or Isis and Osiris
• Plant your live Yule tree if you bought one
• Do something new. This is a great time to try something new, to renew our thoughts and dreams.
• A good time for spells of love, healing and protection.

Poems and Invocations

Eostre

When the snow melts
And winter breathes its last
Then do we dream of you
Eostre Lady of Springtime
Bringer of new growth and freshness.
The frozen Earth beneath your feet
Becomes soft and yielding
Now ready to burst forth with new life.
Return to us, Eostre.
Return to us, Sacred Hare.
Melt the snow from the ground
The ice from the streams
The frost from our hearts.

- GateWest Invocations (link no longer works, don't know if they've moved or not)