Ostara
Celebrating the Seasons Lore and Rituals; Copyright by: Selena Fox Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara, occurs in the middle of March. It marks the beginning of Spring and the time when days and nights are of equal length.
The Goddess manifests as Ostara or Eostre with her basket of eggs. She is accompanied by the Hare or Rabbit, a manifestation of the God. Green has been sacred to this Sabbat since ancient times, because it represents the greening of the land with vegetation. This is a festival of new growth.
Prepare egg dishes and share them with friends. Organize egg games, such as egg hunts. Decorate your home with spring flowers and sprouting greens.
Wear green clothing as an affirmation of new growth within yourself and Nature. Bless any seeds you plan to plant in your garden. Begin a new project.
Make a growth charm out of a hard-boiled egg -- decorate it with symbols, write on it the quality you would like to manifest more fully within yourself, energize it, and then eat it.
Click here to read an Egg Rolling Choices Divination ritual
Click here to read an Ostara Meditation
Click here to read about the Welcome Spring Festival at Circle Sanctuary
Date: Celebrated on or about March 21st on the date of the Veranl Equinox (a time when the sun passes the celestial equator and day and night are equal in both hemispheres). Also the day the sun enters the sign of Aries. Falling in 2001 on the 20th of March
Activities and Rituals: Planting, welcoming spring, coloring eggs, making/wearing new clothing, fertility rites, rituals of balance, herb work - magical, medicinal, cosmetic, culinary and artistic, spells for prosperity/fertility, new beginnings, potential, action
Stones/Gems: Jasper, amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone, red jasper.
Incense: African violet, jasmine, rose, sage and strawberry
Herbs/Flowers: Honeysuckle, Iris, Peony, Violet, Woodruff, Gorse, Olive, Iris, Narcissus, Daffodils, Jonquils, Primrose, Forsythia, Crocus, all spring flowers, pine tree
Colors: Green, Yellow
Symbols & Decorations: Four leaf clover, baskets, eggs, lambs, flowers, chicks, bunnies, budding twigs, flowers, pussy willows, sprouting bulbs, colored ribbons
Foods: Jelly eggs (jelly beans), chocolates, lamb, eggs, seeds, leafy green vegetables, spiced or flower cupcakes, fruits, hot cross buns, sprouts, honey cakes, unleavened bread
Deities: The Maiden, Astarte, Aurora, Eostre, Eos, Ostara, Kore or Persephone (as the maiden), The Green Man, Ares, Mars, Attis, Adonis, Osiris, Narcissus, Hyacinth and Dionysus
Animals: Rabbits, hares, robins, dragons (associated with eggs the earth and fertility), lambs, chicks
Also called: Lady Day, Alban Eiler (Druidic), Eostara (Teutonic), Oestara, Eostra, Alban Eilir (Druidic), Vernal Equinox, Summer Finding (Asatru), Naw Ruz (Persian New Year), Alban Elfed, Festival of Trees, No Ruz, Ostra, Rites of Spring
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