It’s that time again for another Sabbat! This is one I am
especially excited for because it marks the beginning of Spring, which I love!!
After a bland winter my soul gets itchy to be outside and see all the beautiful
colors that Mother Earth has to share with us. This sabbat is Ostara, and a
special note as it’s also my youngest daughter’s birthday.
The
spring equinox is called by many names: Ostara, Oestara, Eostre’s Day, Rite of
Eostre, Alban Elir, Festival of the Trees (I like that one lol) and Lady Day.
It is known as one of the lesser sabbats, however I think solstices and
equinoxes have added punch to their power through the energy of the universe,
as on this day, the night and day are of equal lengths.
A quick tip on remembering which are the main sabbats and
which are the lesser are the dates:
Solstices & Equinoxes (lesser sabbats) (March 21, June
21, September 21, December 21) – all on or close to the 21st.
4 Major Imbolc Feb 2, Beltane May 1, Lammas Aug 1 and
Samhain 31 – First or last day of the month, barring Imbolc.
Winter is a time where everything is dead and/or dormant.
Spring is when everything is brought back to life, so for spell work, Ostara is
the time to invoke those qualities/personalities into your life that you are
wanting and letting go of those that you don’t want with the passing winter.
This is the perfect time to renew yourself and find balance within.
An example of a great spell/ritual that you can do on Ostara
is to take some old leaves, write on them qualities that you wish to get rid of
and plant it in the ground to “ground out” those qualities. You can also do the
same thing but plant it with a seedling, yet these words are to qualities that
you want to bring forth in your life, as the plant grows, the abundance will
flow to you.
The symbolisms for Ostara are much the same as Easter, eggs
(fertility/abundance), rabbits (fertility) and fertility in and of itself is
the embodiment of LIFE, which spring is all about bringing the earth back to
life.
Here is an explanation of the word Ostara and Easter in
comparison from The Real Witches Handbook, by Kate West:
“It is no coincidence
that the name for this Sabbat 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).”
Now in my personal life, I have been blessed with seeing
rabbits the other day. One had just given birth and I saw it’s babies! I also
watched as two more female rabbits made their nests and I got to learn a bit
about the nature of rabbits as well. The whole time I just smiled and kept
thinking, “Well, Ostara IS coming up…,” seeing what you believe in IN action is
pretty cool. I felt honored to have experienced that so close to the sabbat
that embodies it.
Now before I forget, this is also the time to get planting!
Fertility isn’t just for the cute little bunnies and other critters, it’s for
us to reap the benefits of our own gardening.
I’m not going to list animal/color/candle/herb/oil/food
correspondences because I believe we each walk a unique path and what’s right
for one isn’t right for another.
Enjoy this Blessed time! ~*Spirit*~
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