Category: The Sabbats

How To Hold an Ostara Ritual for Solitaries

How To Hold an Ostara Ritual for Solitaries

By Patti Wigington, About.com Guide

Ostara is a time of balance. It is a time of equal parts light and dark. At Mabon, we have this same balance, but the light is leaving us. Today, six months later, it is returning. Spring has arrived, and with it comes hope and warmth. Deep within the cold earth, seeds are beginning to sprout. In the damp fields, the livestock are preparing to give birth. In the forest, under a canopy of newly sprouted leaves, the animals of the wild ready their dens for the arrival of their young. Spring is here.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Varied

Here’s How:

  1. For this ritual, you’ll want to decorate your altar with symbols of the season. Think about all the colors you see in nature at this time of year — bright daffodils, crocuses, plump tulips, green shoots — and incorporate them into your altar. This is also a time of fertility in the natural world — the egg is the perfect representation of this aspect of the season. Symbols of young animals such as lambs, chicks, and calves are also great altar adornments for Ostara.

  2. In addition, you’ll need the following:

    • Three candles — one yellow, one green, and one purple
    • A bowl of milk
    • A small bowl of honey or sugar

    Perform this ritual outside if at all possible, in the early morning as the sun rises. It’s spring, so it may be a bit chilly, but it’s a good time to reconnect with the earth. If your tradition normally requires you to cast a circle, do so now.

  3. Begin by taking a moment to focus on the air around you. Inhale deeply, and see if you can smell the change in the seasons. Depending on where you live, the air may have an earthy aroma, or a rainy one, or even smell like green grass. Sense the shift in energy as the Wheel of the Year has turned. Light the green candle, to symbolize the blossoming earth. As you light it, say:

    The Wheel of the Year turns once more,
    and the vernal equinox arrives.
    Light and dark are equal,
    and the soil begins to change.
    The earth awakes from its slumber,
    and new life springs forth once more.

  4. Next, light the yellow candle, representing the sun. As you do so, say:

    The sun draws ever closer to us,
    greeting the earth with its welcoming rays.
    Light and dark are equal,
    and the sky fills with light and warmth.
    The sun warms the land beneath our feet,
    and gives life to all in its path.

  5. Finally, light the purple candle. This one represents the Divine in our lives — whether you call it a god or a goddess, whether you identify it by name or simply as a universal life force, this is the candle which stands for all the things we do not know, all those things we cannot understand, but that are the sacred in our daily lives. As you light this candle, focus on the Divine around and within you. Say:

  6. Spring has come! For this, we are thankful!
    The Divine is present all around,
    in the cool fall of a rain storm,
    in the tiny buds of a flower,
    in the down of a newborn chick,
    in the fertile fields waiting to be planted,
    in the sky above us,
    and in the earth below us.
    We thank the universe* for all it has to offer us,
    and are so blessed to be alive on this day.
    Welcome, life! Welcome, light! Welcome, spring!

     

  7. Take a moment and meditate on the three flames before you and what they symbolize. Consider your own place within these three things — the earth, the sun, and the Divine. How do you fit into the grand scheme of things? How do you find balance between light and dark in your own life?

    Finally, blend the milk and honey together, mixing gently. Pour it onto the ground around your altar space as an offering to the earth**. As you do, you may wish to say something like:

    I make this offering to the earth,
    As thanks for the many blessings I have received,
    And those I shall some day receive.

  8. Once you have made your offering, stand for a minute facing your altar. Feel the cool earth beneath your feet, and the sun on your face. Take in every sensation of this moment, and know that you are in a perfect place of balance between light and dark, winter and summer, warmth and cold — a time of polarity and harmony.

    When you are ready, end the ritual.

Tips:

  1. * Instead of “the Universe”, feel free to insert the name of your patron deity or the gods of your tradition here.
  2. ** If you’re doing this rite indoors, take your bowl of milk and honey and pour it in your garden, or around your yard.

What You Need

  • Three candles – yellow, green and purple
  • A bowl of milk
  • A small bowl of honey or sugar
  • Seasonal decorations for your altar

Setting Up Your Ostara Altar

Setting Up Your Ostara Altar

By Patti Wigington, About.com Guide

It’s Ostara, and it’s a time of year in which many Wiccans and Pagans choose celebrate the balance of light and dark that heralds the beginning of spring. It’s a time to celebrate new life and rebirth — not only the physical embodiment of renewal, but the spiritual as well. Try some — or all — of these ideas to ready your altar for Ostara.

Colors

To get an idea of what colors are appropriate for spring, all you really have to do is look outside. Notice the yellows of the forsythia blooming behind your house, the pale purples of lilacs, the green of new leaves appearing in the melting snow. Pastels are often considered spring colors as well, so feel free to add some pinks and blues into the mix if the idea strikes you. Decorate your altar in any of these colors — try a pale green altar cloth with some purples and blues draped across it, and add some yellow or pink candles to carry the color up.

The Balance of the Equinox

Altar decor should reflect the theme of the Sabbat. Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark, so symbols of this polarity can be used. Use a god and goddess statue, a white candle and a black one, a sun and moon, even a yin/yang symbol.

New Life

Ostara is also a time of new growth and life — add potted plants such as new crocuses, daffodils, lilies, and other magical spring flowers. This is the time of year when animals are bringing forth new life too — put a basket of eggs on your altar, or figures of new lambs, rabbits, calves, etc. Add a chalice of milk or honey — milk represents the lactating animals who have just given birth, and honey is long known as a symbol of abundance.

Other Symbols of the Season

  • Seeds and bulbs
  • Caterpillars, ladybugs, bumblebees
  • Symbols of nature deities — Herne, Flora, Gaia, Attis, etc.
  • Gemstones and crystals such as aquamarine, rose quartz, and moonstone
  • Ritual fires in a cauldron or brazier

Correspondences for Ostara

Ostara Comments
Correspondences for Ostara

Alternative Names/ Spring Celebrations: Alban Eiber, Bacchanalia, Caisg, Eostre’s Day, Lady Day, Mean Earraigh, Pasch, Pess, Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox

Symbolism / Ritual Work: new beginnings, new life, rebirth, fertility, balance, communication, growth, agriculture, planting, love, sex

Decorations / Symbols: Eggs, new moons, butterflies, bees, cocoons, rabbits, baskets, sprouting plants, wildflowers, lambs, robins, chicks

Traditionally Worshipped Deities: Warriors, hunters, youthful, spring, horned, moon, sexual, of ove

Animals of Ostara: snakes, rabbits, chicks, hares, robins

Mythical Beasts of Ostara: Unicorns, merpeople, dragons

Stones: Aquamarine, amethyst, rose quartz, moonstone, bloodstone, red jasper

Plants: Blessed thistle, crocus, daffodil, jasmine, Irish moss, oak, snowdrop, ginger

Incense / Oils: Lotus, magnolia, ginger, jasmine, rose, sage, lavender, narcissus

Foods: Seasonal foods, seeds, edible flowers, eggs, fish, hot crossed buns, sweet breads, chocolate, honey cakes, fresh fruit, milk, dairy foods, nuts, sprouts, asparagus,

Drinks: Lemonade, mead, egg nog

Planet: Mars

Colors: pastels, grass green, robin’s egg blue, red

References:

Examiner

Kris Bradley, Domestic Witchery Examiner

~Magickal Graphics~

Beyond Eggs: Ways to Celebrate Oestara

Beyond Eggs: Ways to Celebrate Oestara

by Melanie Fire Salamander

 

The wheel of the year turns; the days get longer, dawns earlier. The Spring Equinox, Oestara, approaches. You want to celebrate, but how? The same way you did last year? Nah, boring. Or maybe you’ve never planned an Oestara ritual before. Maybe it’s a holiday you’ve always gotten stuck on: You understand Imbolc, you understand Beltaine, but Spring Equinox — what do you do then? Following are some ideas to get your imagination ticking.

First, as with any Sabbat, consider whether you want only to celebrate the time of year and the goddesses and gods of spring or also to perform magick to accomplish a goal. If you want to perform magick, what goals do you and your co-ritualists have, and how do you work for those goals in magick appropriate to the time of year?

Whether you perform magick or simply celebrate, your Oestara rites begin with understanding the time of year. If Litha, June 21 or thereabouts, is Midsummer, Oestara is Midspring. It’s the second of the three spring holidays, Imbolc marking spring’s first glimmer and Beltaine spring’s height and power. If Imbolc is about inspiration, Beltaine about consummation, Oestara is about growth. At Oestara, the seed that stirred at Imbolc sprouts and pokes its head above ground. At Oestara, you can begin to feel spring: The crocuses and daffodils are out; the cherries blossom. The air smells of wet earth and flowers; earth and air begin to warm. You see the tall spring cumulus, feel the first spring wind, greet kite-flying weather. You can make your Oestara ritual part of this burgeoning spring, celebrating Earth’s fertility and the fertility in your own life.

You can also consider Oestara as a time of balance between light and dark. Night and day equally divide the 24 hours now; the dark half of the year gives way to the light. You can perform rituals to ask for balance in your life, and to honor both dark and light.

You can also work with Oestara as the first quarter of the Sun-year, parallel to the first quarter of the Moon. It’s a time to start new things or to consolidate beginnings. If the first inspiration began at Imbolc, now is the time to pour on nurturance and growth. You can also plant new seeds now. Symbolic associations for Oestara include the element air, the direction east and the time of dawn.

In a related association, this time belongs to the Maiden and her parallel the Young God. Other gods and goddesses concerned with Spring Equinox include the Greek wine-god Dionysos and his Roman counterpart Bacchus; the Greeks held Dionysia at Spring Equinox, when the new wine made the previous harvest was first drunk. The Norse at equinox celebrated the feast of the goddess Iduna, bearer of the magick apples of life, symbol of the light half of the year. We get the name of the holiday from the Germanic goddess Eastre or Oestara, whose symbolism is similar to Aphrodite’s, whose associations include Near-Eastern Astarte and Indian Mother Kali and whose consort is the lusty Moon-Hare.

On the day before the equinox, the Greeks and Romans honored wisdom goddess Athena and her counterpart Minerva. Rhea, mother of Greek Sky-Father Zeus and an aspect of the Great Mother, has her feast day March 15. March as a whole is sacred to the Roman god Mars and his Norse equivalent Tyr, and to the Anglo-Saxon Earth-Mother Hertha.

To celebrate Oestara, you can do any of the following, or use these ideas as a springboard.

Get out in Nature.Take a walk around your neighborhood or favorite park. See which plants are sprouting, which budding, which blooming, which still are in the grips of winter. Feel the air; smell the scents of Oestara.

Clear a space for a garden, or start flowers, herbs or vegetables indoors.It’s too early in this climate to plant fruits and vegetables; frosts can happen as late as April in the Northwest. But you can clear weeds, grass and rubbish from the spot where you plan a garden, or you can start seeds indoors. Check with your favorite garden store what flowers and vegetables might best be started now.

Pick up litter at your favorite park or beach.Help the earth rejuvenate by getting rid of the mess. Even an hour of cleanup can make a big difference.

Ritually color hard-boiled or blown eggs.Eggs, a potent symbol of fertility, figured in pagan spring worship long before their appropriation by the Christian Easter. Ukrainian pysanky, blown eggs with patterns drawn in wax and dyed, are pagan amulets for fertility, prosperity and protection. Pysanky have come to us basically unchanged in form from the hunter-gatherers of Eastern Europe.

For your own rituals, you can draw in crayon or white wax on hard-boiled eggs symbols that represent things you want in the coming sun-year, or write on the eggs these things’ names, or both. You can then use Easter-egg or natural dyes to color the eggs; your wax symbols and writing will stand out against the dye-color. Next, raise energy in ritual for your goals, charge the eggs with that energy, then peel and eat the eggs, taking in the things you want to manifest. Alternatively, you can mark and dye unboiled eggs, then crack tiny holes in both ends with a pin and blow out the matter inside, keeping the eggshell on your altar.

Perform oomancy (divination by eggs).To perform the most common form of egg-divination, separate egg whites and yolks. You then drop the white into hot water and divine from the shapes it assumes.

Perform love or other divination with apples.Apples are a Northern European pagan symbol of spring and of love. You may recall from childhood two forms of love-divination by apple, using the seeds and the stem.

To divine whether someone loves you by apple seeds, choose and eat an apple thinking of your loved one. Next, split the core and count the seeds chanting this rhyme: One I love, two I love, three I love I say, four I love with all my heart, five I cast away; six she loves, seven he loves, eight they both love; nine s/he comes, ten s/he tarries, eleven s/he courts, twelve s/he marries. To divine the first letter of your spouse-to-be’s name, twist an apple’s stem while chanting the letters of the alphabet. The letter at which the stem breaks is his or her initial.

Both these love-divination techniques can be adapted to other uses. To adapt the former, alter the rhyme with words suiting your situation. To adapt the latter, you can simply chant yes and no while twisting till the apple stem breaks; you can also chant “yes, no, maybe” or use words more specific to your situation.

Meditate on the imagery of the seed.Consider a seed and how it relates to the earth, how it falls from its mother plant into a rich loam made from the breakdown of other dead plants. Consider how the seed is influenced by sun and rain, by the energy from sky and earth. Or contemplate as a seed an idea or situation in your life, then imagine the seed breaking open and sending out roots and sprouts. Study what these roots and sprouts look like, where they find barriers and where they grow most strongly.

Perform magick by planting a seed to grow with your spell.A traditional love-spell runs as follows. (Of course, you shouldn’t perform this spell to draw a particular person, but rather to draw the right person toward you.) Just after the New Moon, plant the seed of some sturdy plant in a pot. Water thoroughly, and charge your spell by raising energy and saying over the plant: As this root grows, and this blossom blows, may my true love be inclined toward me. You can adapt this spell to any purpose naturally achieved over time, such as the success of a business.

Meditate on the season’s flowers.Around us now bloom crocuses, daffodils and early tulips. You can find or purchase cut or living flowers and meditate on them. Sitting before the flowers, consider what is growing in your life. Flowers are the sexual organs of plants; consider what this says to you.

Perform magick to give back to the earth.Raise and send energy to return to the Earth, our mother, some of the bounteous energy and fertility She gives to us.

Meditate on the Moon-Hare.Rabbits provide an obvious symbol of animal fecundity. Meditate on the Moon-Hare, the animal the early German tribes and the Aztecs saw on the face of the moon, and see what comes to you about literal or creative fertility in your own life.

Honor the spring or Earth goddess or god of your choice, or a goddess or god of balance.To honor balance, venerate Roman Janus or his female counterpart Jana, or any pair of twin goddesses or gods. You can also honor goddesses and gods of spring or fertility now. Greet Oestara with rites like those of Aphrodite; drink new wine in honor of Dionysos; celebrate warlike Mars, deep and fertile Hertha or ever-young Iduna. Likewise, you can honor the Maiden, either sole and free or ripe for consummation.

Light around your house pairs of white and black candles, symbolizing dark and light.Each time you pass a pair of candles, you can honor the balance of light and dark we find this time of year, and the balance of light and dark within yourself.

Light a bonfire at dawn on the Equinox to honor the light half of the year.Not only did ancient Northern Europeans burn such fires, but also the Mayans.

Meditate or perform ritual at dawn or sunset.These liminal times are particularly significant now when we balance between dark and light.

Meditate or perform ritual for balance in your life and in the earth’s life.Meditate on that ancient Eastern emblem of balance, the Yin-Yang symbol. Consider what is dark and hidden, rightly or wrongly, in your life, and what is daylit. Consider how you best can create balance, honoring both sides of yourself. Likewise, contemplate what you see as dark and light in the world around you. Meditate upon what this year will bring, dark and light, and how best you can take right action in the world. You can also use these symbols actively, raising energy and asking that balance come to your life.

Do a ritual denoting the passing of the year’s dark half.Medieval Bohemians, after honoring the Christian savior on Easter Sunday, performed a ritual for his pagan rival on the following Monday, or Moon-day. Village girls sacrificed an effigy of the Lord of Death in the nearest running water, singing “Death swims in the water, spring comes to visit us, with eggs that are red, with yellow pancakes, we carried Death out of the village, we are carrying Summer into the village.”

As an updated variation, you can create an effigy of the dark half of the year and imbue it with the things of winter you’d like to leave behind. You can then either burn it in a bonfire or drop it in the nearest watercourse. (In the former case, you’ll want to make the effigy’s components flammable, in the latter biodegradable.) To return with the spring, bring back to your home greenery cut with respect or water from the stream.

Use the energy of the time of year as you would the first quarter of the moon.You can use the energy of this time of year to fuel any new project or goal.

Meditate on beginnings, on the East, on air, on dawn. This station of the year reflects these traditional associations. In meditation, note how these symbols connect organically and how you relate personally to them.

About Oestara

About Oestara

a guide to the Sabbat’s symbolism

by Arwynn MacFeylynnd

Date: March 21–23 (usually, the date of the calendar spring equinox).

Alternative names: Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox, Alban Eiler, Mean Erraigh, Eostre.

Primary meanings: Oestara is light and dark balanced, with light gaining power. It’s the turning point from winter to spring. It is a beginning of the agricultural year, and its rites ensure fertility of crops and flocks; it is a time of planting, nurturing and growth. The God and Goddess begin their courtship now. Oestara was not originally a part of the Celtic year but was named for a Teutonic goddess of spring and new life, Eostre. The holiday was probably brought to prominence in the Celtic world by the Saxons.

Symbols: The hare or rabbit, eggs, seeds, potted plants, the New Moon, butterflies and cocoons.

Colors: Lemon yellow, pale green and pale pink, all pastels, robin’s-egg blue and white.

Gemstones: Aquamarine, rose quartz and moonstone.

Herbs: Crocuses, daffodils, ginger, jasmine, Irish moss and snowdrops.

Gods and goddesses: All youthful and virile gods and goddesses, sun gods, mother goddesses, love goddesses, moon gods and goddesses and all fertility deities. Goddesses include Persephone, Blodeuwedd, Eostre, Aphrodite, Athena, Cybele, Gaia, Hera, Isis, Ishtar, Minerva and Venus. Gods include Robin of the Woods, the Green Man, Cernunnos, the Dagda, Attis, Mithras, Odin, Thoth, Osiris and Pan.

Customs and myths: Spell-work for improving communication and group interaction is recommended, as well as for fertility and abundance. Oestara is a good time to start putting those plans and preparations you made at Imbolc into action. Plan a celebratory walk (or ride) through gardens, a park, woodlands, forest or other green places. A popular Oestara activity is decorating and coloring or dying hard-boiled eggs, or other eggs such as those made of wooden or papier-mâché. Use gold and silver paint pens to draw pagan designs and magickal symbols all over your eggs, or use other color combinations. Try interconnected triangles, symbolizing the Triple Goddess, pentagrams and other God and Goddess symbols, or words written in magickal scripts. Other traditional activities include gardening and practicing all forms of herbal work — magickal, artistic, medicinal, culinary and cosmetic.

Ostara Oil

Ostara Oil

Put in soap or annoint candles
5 drops lavender
5 drops jasmine
5 drops patchouli
5 drops rose

Add a lavender bud and small lapis lazuli, rose, and clear quartz crystals. This has the gently smell of spring beginning to blossom. Very lovely!

Spring Equinox Ritual Potpourri

Spring Equinox Ritual Potpourri

Recipe by Gerina Dunwich

A small cauldron filled with homemade potpourri can be used as a fragrant altar decoration, burned (outdoors) as an offering to the old gods during or after a sabbath celebration, or wrapped in decorative paper and ribbons and given to a Wiccan sister or brother as a sabbath gift.


45 drops rose oil
1 cup oak moss
2 cups dried dogwood blossoms
2 cups dried honeysuckle blossoms
1/2 cup dried violets
1/2 cup dried daffodils
1/2 cup dried rosebuds
1/2 cup dried crocus or iris


Mix the rose oil with the oak moss, and then add the remaining ingredients. Stir the potpourri well and then store in a tightly covered ceramic or glass container.


(The above recipe for “Spring Equinox Ritual Potpourri” is directly quoted from Gerina Dunwich’s book: “The Wicca Spellbook: A Witch’s Collection of Wiccan Spells, Potions and Recipes”, pages 161-162, A Citadel Press Book, Carol Publishing Group, 1994/1995.)

Ostara Incense

Ostara Incense

Recipe by Scott Cunningham


2 parts Frankincense
1 part Benzoin
1 part Dragon’s Blood
1/2 part Nutmeg
1/2 part Violet flowers (or a few drops Violet oil)
1/2 part Orange peel
1/2 part Rose petals


Burn during Wiccan rituals on Ostara (the Spring Equinox, which varies from March 20th to the 24th each year), or to welcome the spring and refresh your life.


(The above recipe for “Ostara Incense” is directly quoted from Scott Cunningham’s book: “The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews”, page 83, Llewellyn Publications, 1992.)

Natural Oestara Eggs

Natural Oestara Eggs

by Ariadne


Natural egg-dying is like recycling. It takes a li’l bit longer to do, but gives you that Oh-Im-soooooo-WC (witchly correct) feeling.
Cover your plant material (see list below) with about 3 inches of water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the color looks good. You’ll probably have to let the eggs sit in the dye overnight, so if you’re planning more than one color per egg, start this a few days before Oestara. Experimenting is half the fun, but here are some hints to get you started:
Yellows- daffodil petals, saffron, turmeric, onion skins
Blues- blueberries, red cabbage leaves & vinegar
Greens-broccoli, coltsfoot
Pinks- cochineal, madder root
Browns – walnut shells, tea, coffee

Wanna get fancy? Gather some small leaves, ferns, flowers and grasses. Dip them in water (to help them stick) and press them onto your eggs. Wrap each egg in a piece of cut up pantyhose and secure it with a twist tie before dyeing. When you remove the flower or leaf, it’s design will appear (either in white or in your first dye-color). Rub your finished eggs with a tiny bit of vegetable oil on a soft cloth to shine them.
Too hard?? No hosiery??? Okay, try using crayons to draw spirals and pentagrams on the eggs before dying them.
Now, plan a fertility ritual for your garden. Bury an Oestara egg in the east corner of your garden, or one egg for each direction, or dig an entire circle for them (depends on how much you hate egg-salad).

OTHER WAYS OF MARKING OESTARA

OTHER WAYS OF MARKING OESTARA

 

* Celebrate the arrival of spring with flowers. Bring them into your own home and, in keeping with the theme of balance, give them to others. You do not have to spend a lot of money – one or two blooms given for no other reason than ‘spring is here’ can often bring a smile to even the most gloomy face.

* Do a bit of ‘personal housekeeping’. We live in an age where guilt is more often encouraged then pride, where we are encouraged to dwell upon our ‘negative’ points and habits. This is not the way of the Witch. As Witches we must learn to be as honest about our plus points as society would like us to be about our minuses.

Advertising, probably the most pervasive kind of propaganda, encourages us to think
of ourselves as ‘less than perfect’ unless we look and dress like the people in the
adverts and possess all the things that the advertisers would like us to spend money
on. It is worth bearing in mind that if we truly needed these products then there would
be no need to put them into commercials!

However, to return to the ‘personal housekeeping’, write a list of 20 of your plus points,
things you are good at, and 20 minus points, things you would like to improve. Try
not to be influenced by stereotypes – many female Witches include ‘outspoken’ on
their list of negatives, while males will describe the same quality as positive! If you
absolutely must include your physical attributes on the minus list, then make sure
that these are things which you can sensibly expect to change, but don’t fall into the
advertisers’ trap. From the perspective of the Witch it is far more important that you
should come to terms with the person that you are, rather than worry about the way
people see you.

One of the first tasks of the Witch is to understand and accept themselves, with all
their good and bad points, because it is only when you understand yourself that you
will be in a position to understand others, and therein lies a good portion of Witches’
Magic.

Start to learn about some of the plants and herbs which have been traditionally used
as remedies. A basic knowledge of herbs is part of the heritage of the Witch.

AN OESTARA RITUAL

AN OESTARA RITUAL

 

The main points of this sabbath are those of balance and of spring.

This ritual is best performed outdoors. In advance you will need to collect a small handful of old leaves and write on each something that you would like to be rid of. Also take a small number of seeds or seedlings (if these seedlings come from the seeds you planted at Imbolg, so much the better), one for each new thing that you wish to attain.

Silently ask the elements, the Goddess and the God to be with you, then when you are ready, dig a hole large enough to give space to the seedlings you wish to grow and place the dead leaves into it. Say, ‘Lord and Lady of this time of balance, these are the things I wish to be rid of. As these leaves wither and rot, may I let go of those things that might hold me back’.

Next place one or two seedlings on top of the leaves. Say, ‘Lord and Lady, these are the things which I wish to attain in the coming season. Let them grow strong and true from the remains of the old’.

As before, thank the elements, the Goddess and the God.

Remember that for ritual to work, you should give more thought to your preparations than the time you actually spend performing the ritual. In this case, that preparation includes carefully choosing the things you wish to leave behind and the things you wish to take on. On a more practical level, it will also include selecting plants appropriate to your area and climate outside, as well as a suitable place to plant them. If you cannot perform your ritual outside, then you can either scale down everything and work with a single plant pot or you can dedicate your leaves and plant indoors and go out to plant them at a later date.

Oestara Is Also The Spring Equinox

Oestara Is Also The Spring Equinox

It is no coincidence that the name for this sabbath sounds similar to the word ‘Easter’. Eostre, or Ostara, is an Anglo-Saxon Dawn Goddess whose symbols are the egg and the hare. She, in turn, is the European version of the Goddess Ishtar or Astarte, whose worship dates back thousands of years and is certainly pre-Christian. Eostre also lives on in our medical language in the words ‘oestrous’ (the sexual impulse in female animals) and ‘oestrogen’ (a female hormone). Today, Oestara is celebrated as a spring festival. Although the Goddess put on the robes of Maiden at Imbolg, here she is seen as truly embodying the spirit of spring. By this time we can see all around us the awakened land, the leaves on the trees, the flowers and the first shoots of corn.

Oestara is also the Spring Equinox, a time of balance when day and night are equal. As with the other Equinox and the Solstices, the date of this festival may move slightly from year to year, but many will choose to celebrate it on 21 March. In keeping with the balance of the Equinox, Oestara is a time when we seek balance within ourselves. It is a time for throwing out the old and taking on the new. We rid ourselves of those things which are no longer necessary – old habits, thoughts and feelings – and take on new ideas and thoughts. This does not mean that you use this festival as a time for berating yourself about your ‘bad’ points, but rather that you should seek to find a balance through which you can accept yourself for what you are.

There is some debate as to whether Oestara or Imbolg was the traditional time of spring cleaning, but certainly the casting out of the old would seem to be in sympathy with the spirit of this festival and the increased daylight at this time encourages a good clean out around the home.

 

Kate West

Ostara – Spring Equinox

Ostara – Spring Equinox

Ostara: Oestre, Easter, the Spring Equinox, Vernal (Spring) Equinox, Alban Eiler (Caledonii).

March 20 – 23 Northern Hemisphere / September 20 – 23 Southern Hemisphere

Traditionally March 21st

The Spring Equinox is the point of equilibrium – and it celebrates the arrival of Spring, when light and darkness are in balance but the light is growing stronger. The forces of male and female are also in balance.

The Easter Bunny also is of Pagan origin, as are baskets of flowers.

A traditional Vernal Equinox pastime: go to a field and randomly collect wildflowers (thank the flowers for their sacrifice before picking them). Or, buy some from a florist, taking one or two of those that appeal to you. Then bring them home and divine their Magickal meanings by the use of books, your own intuition, a pendulum or by other means. The flowers you’ve chosen reveal your inner thoughts and emotions.

Cultivating herb gardens is also a fine Ostara project . This is the time to free yourself from anything in the past that is holding you back.

Strengthen Your Magick by Learning Your Personal Color Key

Strengthen Your Magick by Learning Your Personal Color Key

by Melanie Fire Salamander

As I write, the deep green-blue of earliest dawn fades to clear royal blue, which lifts to a hovering grey that turns peach-yellow. Goddess Aurora, the herald of the sun, washes the east with color as every day begins.

For the sighted, color defines the first visual experiences of life. Before we see shapes, we see dappled colors moving before our infant eyes. From these shifting colors, the forms and the meanings of our lives come into focus.

Yet often, pagans take the color meanings for our magick from tables of correspondences. The rich traditional associations for color can certainly help drive your workings. But to work my own color magick, I have found it useful to discover the color meanings that already lie in my own deep symbol-speaking subconscious — the personal meanings that my deep self has accumulated for each color over my lifetime, and perhaps before. My teachers and my own work have shown me that the deep self is one of the main drivers of magick, and I find that my deep color resonances affect what my magick brings me. You too will probably discover that what your deep self associates with each color has resonances that affect your magick.

To discover your own personal meanings for colors, try the simple meditation following.

Color Meditation

1. Choose the colors you want to meditate on. For my work, I chose five: orange, green, red, yellow and blue.

2. Find a pure, unpatterned example of each color. I worked with sheets of colored construction paper, but use whatever you have handy, for example magazine pictures or plastic color gels. For best results, choose unmixed colors, without too much black or white muddying or clouding the tone. I chose colors that were all of similar intensity.

3. Cut a medium-sized, rectangular swatch of each color, say about five inches tall and three inches wide.

4. Set up your space for meditation. Find a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed; take the phone off the hook and if necessary shut out your pets. Make sure an even light falls where you will place each color swatch, so you get the best visual image of each.

5. Set the first color swatch at easy eye-level for meditation, and set the others so that they’re ready to trade for the first swatch.

6. Ground, center and get into light trance.

7. Meditate on each color swatch in turn for five to ten minutes, enough time that you feel that you’ve worked through all the meanings your deep self has to bring forward for you. Write down your results, if you so desire.

My Results

One reason I’m glad I performed this meditation is that I didn’t always get what I expected from each color, as you’ll see.

Orange, I found, raised my energy immediately. It made me feel tense and nervous; the feeling was intense and unpleasant. That didn’t throw me, but I was a little surprised at how quickly I felt the energy change and how negative it was, because when just looking at the color I liked it.

Green also changed my energy level immediately and strongly — I felt a strong, pleasurable sexual sensation in my groin, most intense about the level of my ovaries. The color warmed me up physically, and I felt an almost smug pleasure. I had an image of the woods and thought of the god Pan. I felt horny, but not for anyone specifically — just that energy, without an object. I’ve found that green correspondingly works for me in love and sex magick. (Note that, for best karmic results, it’s best not to work love or sex magick to change another person’s will, but rather work to let the universe bring you your best partner or partners, whomever that may be.) Orange and green were probably the biggest energy changers of all for me.

Red wasn’t as intense for me as green or orange. I felt a slight headache, and a change of emotion rather than a strong change in physical energy. The emotion I felt was one of yearning or longing, not so much mine as of an ancient tragedy. I had an image of smoke over a battlefield, and I thought of the goddess the Morrigan. That was interesting to me, because I’ve always consciously associated red with love: Valentine hearts.

Yellow was moderately intense, more so than red, not as much as green or orange. I liked yellow. It raised my energy in a positive way, made me feel cheerful and made me smile. I thought of grassy lanes in sunlight.

Blue I found trancing; it had a reverberatory effect. It didn’t change my energy as the other colors had, because blue had for me the same deep thrumming energy as meditation itself. Blue did intensify and deepen my meditation, and I felt it strongly in my heart chakra. Its strength was on a par with yellow.

Your Own Work

You don’t have to work with the same colors I did, of course. Try meditating on the colors that you like best or that repel you, and find out why you react that way. If you like, you can use meditation to clear a color of negative meanings — simply bring that color up in your mind’s eye and run neutral cleansing energy through it until its energy changes. When visualizing color, I have found it best to work with transparent colors; if you find muddiness or cloudiness in a color you’re working with, try running cleansing energy through it. Check in with colors over time — you may find that their meanings change for you.

Once you know your personal color meanings, try using those in your magick. Find out which colors mean willpower or cheerfulness for you, and wear those to draw those feelings to you, or incorporate them in spell-work. If orange helps you concentrate, use it for your computer desktop and in spells about mental tasks. If blue or purple calms you and makes you trancy, paint your meditation room with it. If a clear pink means sex to you, dress your love rituals and your boudoir accordingly. Knowing your own personal color associations will make color an even more useful tool in your magickal toolbox.

A Romp Through the Palette of Life

A Romp Through the Palette of Life

by Freya Ray

Personally, I love color. I’m not an especially visual person, and yet I am vibrantly aware of the magical properties of color every day. Since theory fails to fascinate me, and inspiration to play around with the possibilities of this luscious world always fascinates me, let’s have a romp through the rainbow, shall we? Here are some bright ideas for expanding the palette of your life, for fun and profit, color by color. And it’s my romp, so we’re not doing equal time — some colors are more fun than others.

Luscious, Bloody, Sexy Red

Red. The root chakra. The primal invitation to life. The blood of birth and death, the red clay of the mother between our toes, that haze that comes over your vision before you do something really really stupid, fire, rage, passion, life. Red is a color that knows it’s alive, that feels the heartbeat of its own jugular, that wants and demands more. More what? More of everything, most especially more life. Red does not ask why it’s here or if these pants make its butt look big. Red is too busy sinking its teeth deep, growling and getting lost in the sensations of the juice running down its throat. By all means, if your life has gotten a bit academic or routine lately, invoke red.

Wear lipstick of that shade fondly called “Fuck-Me Red.” Paint your nails to match, especially your toenails. Dye your hair.

Char a big slab of steak, leaving the center bloody. Cut it into strips, pile them in a bowl with the blood released by your knife, and eat it with your fingers. Drain the bowl, knowing in your mind you’re drinking the blood of the beast as you do it. No, tempeh cannot be substituted. Have dark chocolate for dessert.

Paint your body with tribal designs of your own delirious inspiration. Use red finger paint, or lipstick, or menstrual blood, or catsup. Dance naked, covered in slashes and spirals, to the beat of a drum.

In feng shui, red is the color of the “fame” corner. Red always screams “pay attention to me!” Wear the color and act as though you deserve to be noticed. Call attention to yourself in outrageous ways. Laugh loudly and refuse to be cowed.

Feel your heartbeat. Feel the blood pulsing just below the surface of your flesh, and know you are beast. Know you are life. Know you are passion, awaiting expression. Know your blood, your heartbeat, is the blood and heartbeat of all your ancestors, all the ancestors, all the peoples and creatures of this planet. Know that the pulsation of all life is one, in you.

Juicy, Tasty Orange

The belly chakra. Relationships, sexuality. It’s a great color, I’m sure, but it makes me look like I have hepatitis, so I have a slightly estranged relationship with orange. Nevertheless, I can make a couple recommendations.

Bake cookies with cinnamon in them. Add saffron to your rice. Make juice from fresh oranges — it takes what, five minutes, and what a difference! Better yet, let someone you love wake up to fresh-squeezed juice and your silent smile.

Meditate on a candle flame, letting the shifting play of tones awaken your memories of warmth, family or sexuality. Let the connection of the belly and the flame lead you back through the past, before this life, to the beds of all your wonderful lovers. Let the memories of loving bliss wash over you in waves of time and space. Light all those candles scattered about and make love to someone in a glow of shifting orange reflections.

Want what you can’t have, and then answer the question, “If I could have it, or the feelings that I believe it would evoke, how would I get it?”

Let lust — primal, unreasoning attraction — lead you to a new friend. Let yourself acknowledge the little belly flutters of lust you feel sometimes, in unguarded moments, for a dear friend. Know that all of life is about connection, and that lust and love are allies.

Yellow, the Sun of Shining Self

The light of all life. The shining disk of the solar plexus, the home of the will, of personal power. The gold glitter of success. Yellow evokes happiness, confidence and power.

Get some sun. I know it’s early spring in Seattle, but on those days when Father Sun emerges, go worship him properly. Get out your shades and tip your face up to the sky. Paint your entire body with gold glitter and go dancing. Have a power dinner: warm melty brie and crusty bread, crab legs and dripping yellow butter, champagne…

Meditate on your solar plexus chakra, seeing a shining sun at home there, and feeling the strength of your will, your ability to create the world of your choosing.

Abundant, Grass-Stained Green

The color of money. The wonderful power of our nation’s choice of paper currency. This color is also associated with healing and the heart chakra, but, truth be told, I think first of big wads of cash and second of doing summersaults down an immense hill.

Play with money. Do some fun work with your abundance issues: take $200 out of the bank in one-dollar bills. Scatter them all over your bedroom. Clear wads of them out of your bed so you can sleep at night. Find them everywhere. When they gather in the corners, pick them up in handfuls and toss them into the air. Money is energy crystallized. A truly magical photosynthesis, as the energy of work is stored in flat paper. Nothing more than love in material form.

Engage with life in a basic form — the creatures that photosynthesize so that the rest of us can live. Buy some houseplants, or more of them, and make a luscious jungle inside your home. Plant a garden in a couple of months. Grow wheatgrass and feed it to your cat. Notice the moss in the sidewalk. Find trees and hug them already!

Have a healing circle with some like-minded friends. Allow the healing color of green to travel where it is needed. Meditate on ideas of love and connection, your relationship with all life. Be in love, without concern for a suitable object. “I’m in love” is a sentence without referent, and a beautiful place to be.

I Ain’t Got No Chakra But Boy Do I Rock Pink!

Blushes. Where would we be without pink for blushes? Challenge yourself: find the compliment outrageously true enough to get every one of your associates to blush.

In feng shui as in Valentine’s Day, red, pink and white are the colors of love. Live it up! Decorate the back right corner of your home as a love altar with candles, ribbons, pictures of Hindu goddesses, massage oils, photos of your true love — whatever evokes the concept of loving connection for you.

Pink is your friend. Pink has never had a self-important moment in its entire career as a color on this planet. It is impossible to stand on your dignity or take yourself too seriously when wearing pink. This is good!

Calm, Cool Blue

Blue is a money color in feng shui. Adding an aquarium to your home or business is said to bring prosperity. Create an abundance altar in the back left corner of your home, including the colors of red, blue, and purple, along with candles, plants, lights, stones and pictures that evoke abundance for you.

Meditating on the color will put one in touch with calming influences and the state of mind where creativity can be expressed.

Water — deep, flowing blue water — is one of the most profound healers on the planet. Soak in it, bubble in it, stand under a moving stream of it and ask water to take away that which no longer serves you. Offer yourself naked to the ocean. I guarantee a rebirth as you emerge.

There are some very groovy blue stones, including sodalite and lapis lazuli.

Royalty Loves Purple

If red says, “Notice me,” purple says, “Respect me.” Perhaps even, “Obey me.” Purple is a power color, and wearing it is guaranteed to help you feel on top of your game.

Violet light is a strong tool for cleansing in visualization. Amethyst is known as the “sobriety stone” and has a remarkable ability to puncture denial.

Violet is the color of the third eye, of psychic awareness. Put some lavender oil in the bath, light a bunch of purple candles and see where your insight takes you. See that violet flame between your eyes, and let the images of your deeper mind flow into your awareness.

Basic Black

Black has been the color of choice for clergy in many traditions. It gives the sense that the person wearing it has access to mystical information, mysterious secrets. I could tell you more, but as my own wardrobe is mostly composed of black clothing, I’m going to leave this color as an exercise for the reader.

Champagne

I’m mentioning this vital color for two reasons. One: I look like crap in white and so ivory, champagne, whatever, is my best option for trying to look innocent. Not like anyone buys it anyway. Two: it’s the color of vanilla-scented candles, which are on the short list of reasons why this is a cool planet to live on. Put a vanilla bean in your sugar bowl.

Oh, and girls! Buy some pearls. Your grandmother knew about pearls, even if many of us have forgotten, and have caught the delusion that somehow diamonds are more important. It’s crap. Diamonds are the junkyard of stones, collecting every stray bit of energy that comes through their life and they can’t be cleared. But pearls, well, get enough strands of them so that you can feel their weight (cheapest method: gem show, buy a hank, string them yourself). Drape them on yourself, and you will know you are woman. Guys, by all means do this when you’re wanting to access your feminine side. But beware, they will bring up fonts of estrogen you didn’t know you had!

White

They say white contains all the colors together. Visualizing white light is a tree-hugging crystal freak cliché, but you know, it works. For healing, protection, and clarity, see that clear, bright, almost bluish light of a halogen bulb or clear sunlight on a brilliant day.

It’s also a reflection of the truth that all of life is a hologram, every part contains the whole, every individual is connected to all of the cosmos. The Akashic records are always available, and in every moment it is possible for you to know everything you need to. Practice believing that there is no separation. Even if you only pull it off for a moment. We are all one, the light of each soul shines brightly if we only choose to see.

Bathe yourself in moonlight. Put a jug of water outside at the full moon, and drink the essence of lunar wisdom. Know that everything happens in its own rhythm and in its own time. Know that the only guarantee is that all life is learning love, and that we will all find that loving union in time.

White is your canvas. Draw on it what you will, and harm none.

Magickal Ideas for Your Ostara Sabbat Ritual

Magickal Ideas for Your Ostara Sabbat Ritual

 

*Color and empower Oestre eggs for health, wealth and prosperity.

 

*Celebrate the return of the Goddess by conjuring potted plants and giving them to friends and loved ones.

 

*Incorporate chocolate into your Ostara ritual.

 

* Review the items in your magickal cabinet or box and replace what is needed. Empower the supplies during the Ostara ritual.

 

*Bless seeds for the garden.

 

*Hold your ritual at dawn.

 

*Ostara (spring equinox) is solar driven. The sun moves from mutable, watery Pisces to cardinal, fiery Aries. Aries is a great “starter” sign, but it manages to poop out along the way. Any magick done while the sun or moon is in Aries should be supplemented with other workings later on.

Significance of Colors for Ostara Eggs

Significance of Colors for Ostara Eggs

Black – Absorb and dispel negative influences, Mystery, Rememberance, Eternity, Constancy

Blue – Healing, Peace, Astral projection, Fidelity, Sleep, Unity

Brown – Animals, Helps connect to the rythms and energies of the Earth

Gold – Activity, Money, The God, The Sun

Green – Abundance, Calm, Fertility, Prosperity, Neutralize difficult situations, Renewal, Freshness, Hope

Indigo – Clairvoyance, Healing, Past lives

Orange – Attraction, Energy, Friendship, Willpower, Endurance, Strength

Pink – Romantic love, Peace

Purple – Communication with higher level beings, Connection with the Divine, Ending quarrels, Healing, Tranquility, Patience, Trust, Deep Sleep, Healing serious illnesses

Red – Courage, Lust, New life, Desire, Passion, Sexuality, Strength, Enthusiasm

Red Violet – Hidden knowledge

Silver – Psychic abilities, Spirituality, The Goddess, The Moon

Turquoise – Spiritual Knowledge

White – Good fortune, Healing, Purification, Virgin Goddess

Yellow – Creativity, Communication, Intellect, Knowledge, Youth, Mind Power, Light, Purity, Happiness, Wisdom

Natural Dyes for Ostara Eggs

Natural Dyes for Ostara Eggs

Yellow – Carrots, Fenugreek, Turmeric, White grape juice

Yellow Orange – Vanilla extract

Orange – Dandelions, Yellow onion skins, Paprika, Orris root

Pink – Heather, Iris blossoms

Red – Cayenne, Madder root, Red onion skins

Reddish Purple – Purple grape juice, Red raspberries

Blueish Purple – Beet juice, Blackberries, Mulberries

Blue – Black raspberries, Blueberries, Red cabbage

Green – Bracken, Carrot tops

Yellow Green – Daffodils

How the Ostara Egg Came to Be

How the Ostara Egg Came to Be

The modern belief that eggs are delivered by a rabbit, comes from the legend of the Goddess Eostre. Eostre was walking one fine Spring day and came upon a beautiful little bird. The poor bird’s wing was badly injured and Eostre, feeling great compassion for the little creature, wanted to heal it. But the little bird’ wing was so badly damaged that Eostre knew it would never be able to fly again even after She healed it. So, Eostre decided to help the bird by healing it in a way that would give it mobility and a little something more. She turned it into a rabbit!

 

 

During the transformation, the rabbit retained the ability to lay eggs. The rabbit was so grateful to Eostre for saving its life that it laid a sacred egg in Her honor, joyously decorated it and then humbly presented it to the Goddess. She was so pleased and so touched by the rabbit’s thoughtful gift that She wished all humankind to share in her joy. In honoring her wishes, the rabbit went all over the world distributing these beautifully decorated little gifts of life and continues to do so even today.

Ostara Symbols

Ostara Symbols

image Lilies – These beautiful flowers were a symbol of life in Greece and Rome. During the Ostara season, young men would give a lily to the young woman they were courting. If the young woman accepted the lily, the couple were considered engaged (much like accepting a diamond ring from a young man in today’s society).

 

image Lambs – This fluffly little mammal is an eternal symbol of Ostara, and was sacred to virtually all the virgin goddesses of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The symbol was so ingrained in the mindset of the people of that region that it was carried over into the spring religious rituals of the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter.

 

image Robins – One of the very first birds to be seen in the Spring, robins are a sure sign of the fact that warm weather has indeed returned.

 

image Bees – These busy little laborers re dormant during the winter. Because of this, the sighting of bees is another sure sign of Spring. They were also considered by the Ancient peoples to be messengers of the Gods and were sacred to many Spring and Sun Goddesses around the world.

 

image Honey – The color of the sun, this amber liquid is, of course, made through the laborious efforts of the honeybee. With their established role as messengers to the Gods, the honey they produced was considered ambrosia to the Gods.

 

image Faeries – Because of their ability to bring blessings to your gardens, protect your home, and look after your animals, it is beneficial to draw faeries to your life. Springtime is the quinessential season to begin drawing the fae again. You want to be sure to leave succulent libations or pretty little gifts for them. Some ideas for libations or gifts are… honey, fresh milk, bread, lilacs, primrose blossoms, cowslip, fresh berries, dandelion wine, honeysuckle, pussywillows, ale, or shiny coins.

 

image Equal-armed Crosses – These crossesrepresent the turning points of the year, the solstices and equinoxes and are often referred to as ‘Sun Wheels’. They come in many forms such as God’s eyes, Celtic crosses, Shamrocks, Brigid’s crosses, 4-leaved clovers, crossroads, etc.