A Family Guide to Celebrating the Pagan Sabbat Ostara
By Kerrilyn Bachler-Connor
Ostara
– Spring (Vernal) Equinox
The Spring Equinox is a time when day and night are equal and the Earth is
getting ready to burst forth in all it’s beauty.
Once again light reigns. It is the
first official day of spring and named for the Goddess Eostre, a Goddess of
dawn, rebirth and fertility. Eostre’s main symbols are the rabbit
(for fertility) and the egg (representing creation).
The Goddess is in her
Maiden form and the God is the form of a young virile man. At this time the
Goddess mates with the young solar God and
conceives a child.
Ostara
Festivals may include the celebration of the Goddess and God and their
Hand-fasting.
This is a wonderful
festival to celebrate outdoors as the world is beginning to come alive
again. Ostara is a Sun festival and honors fire,
light and fertility.
Gardens and crops are
planted, and prosperity is hoped for. Amulets for prosperity may be made and
displayed through out gardens. Garden magick and
rituals are performed and blessings for abundance requested from the Goddess
and God.
In times past, farmers and their families went out into the tilled and
planted fields and leaped as high as they could in the air to encourage the
crops to grow. Through this use of sympathetic magick – the crops are
encouraged to imitate the farmer’s leaps by growing as high as the farmer
can leap.
The Roman holiday was
known as Bacchanalia, a celebration of resurrection. Signifies the moment of
balance – the switch from winter to summer, from
rest to activity.
Nature Spirits
Mer-people, air and water beings who are concerned with spring rains and
storms. Because the rainy season is beginning, all creatures associated with
watered are revered and at their liveliest at this time as they soak up the
new fresh waters falling from the skies above. Mer-people are generally
friendly but do not care for people who pollute their waters. Merpeople
do not give their trust away freely.
Colors
Green is used for
abundance, growth, healing, prosperity, fertility, employment, luck,
jealousy, personal appearance, neutralizes
difficult situations, calming, finances, security and career.
Violet
aids in success, intuition, self-improvement, spiritual awareness, deep
sleep and healing.
Yellow represents joy,
vitality, intelligence, study, persuasion, charm, creativity, communication,
mind power, sun, psychic ability, attraction,
examinations and tests.
Pink bestows compassion,
tenderness, harmony, affection, love, romance, spiritual healing, spring,
household peace, honor, virtue, morality,
success, and contentment.
Flowers
Jonquil draws love and
affection.
Daffodil honors Gods and Goddesses of spring, fertility, wishing and love.
Violet
imparts spiritual protection, luck, love, wishes, peace, sleep and healing.
Tulips grant love,
happiness, dreams, and purification.
Narcissus
provides peace, love and harmony.
Crocus attracts love.
Scents
Honeysuckle aids in gaining money,
retaining and discovering memories, healing, honesty, weight loss,
prosperity, psychic and mental powers.
Apple
Blossoms are for love, friendship, celebrating life cycles, garden magic,
immortality and peace.
Lemon Grass grants psychic
awareness and purification.
Stones
Aquamarine encourages courage, purification, peace, psychic awareness and
self-expression.
Bloodstone promotes courage, strength, victory, wealth, and self confidence,
while aiding in business and legal affairs.
Incense, Herbs, Trees and Woods
Broom is
for purification, protection, wind spells and divination.
High John Root is for money, love, success, and happiness
Yellow dock aids in healing and drawing material wealth.
Wood Betony assures protection, purification and love.
Irish Moss grants luck and protection.
Alder
is beneficial for scrying, support, foundation, magickal beginnings, fire
and water magick.
Dogwood provides for granting wishes and protection.
Animals and Birds
The
Cougar symbolizes coming into your own power.
A Hedgehog represents self preservation.
The
boar is a symbol of masculine power. The meat of the boar was served at
Otherworld feasts for the deities.
Sea Crow signifies a
carefree attitude, Versatility, Freedom.
The rabbit is the symbol of fertility and the Goddess Eostre herself.
Other Symbols
Baskets
are a symbol of gathering, to encourage the crops to grow so there will be
an abundant harvest in the fall.
Eggs symbolize creation
and recreation, also a sign of fertility. Eggs can be colored to give them
even more significant meanings.
Chicks and ducklings
represent the birth of a new generation. These also represent fertility and
a sign of things to come. Springs baby animals
become falls final harvest and meats stored for winter.
Energy and Power Flows
Energy breaks into the
open, growing, prospering, exploring and exploding as life bursts forth from
the ground and animals giving birth to their
young.
It is a time for new
beginnings and leaving the past behind, starting over with a clean slate –
rebirth. Balance is celebrated and set as a
state to thrive for throughout the year.
Traditions
Spring traditions are a
time of planning for the future. Whether it be planning your garden to soon
be planted, or planning what you want to do with your life, since Spring is
the time of beginnings, planning is important aspect. Use this time to
prepare yourself
for what is to come and think about what gifts you want to be able to bestow
on others. Spring traditions include:
Bless seeds to later be planted, or to start plants growing indoors.
Color Ostara eggs.
Ostara
egg color representations:
Yellow: Creativity, mind
power, intellectual pursuits, and communication.
Orange: Attraction, friendship and willpower.Red:
Desire, courage, love, and strength.
Green:
Abundance, prosperity, personal appearance and fidelity.
Blue: Sleep, dreams,
peace, healing, fidelity, unity, and astral projection. Violet: Deep Sleep,
healing of serious illness, and uncovering past lives.
White: Healing and purification.
Brown: Earth and it’s animals.
Black: Absorbs negative energy.
Pink:
Spring, household, peace and romantic love.
Silver: Moon, psychicism and the inner self.
Gold:
Wealth and employment.
Take a spring nature walk.
This nature walk is to map out where you will be able to find things to use
later on. Perhaps you find an oak tree on your
walk, write down where it is so you
will know where to go to gather acorns in the fall. Keep track of whatever
you find that you will be able to use later on.
Also while on your
nature walk, make sure you pay attention to spring blossoming around you.
What signs of spring do you see? What signs of
rebirth and renewal? Write about it in your journal.
A third idea for your nature walk is to watch for damaged trees. Trees that
may have lost branches or suffered other damage over the winter. Keep track
of where these trees are, figure out if there is anyway you can help the
tree mend itself. Offer the tree
blessings and perform a healing ritual for it. You can also use this walk to
collect dead wood for your bonfires.
Some seeds can be found
at this time and collected to save – watch for pine cones getting ready to
open. You can save
these and put them into a
paper bag and keep it in a warm location. When the pine cones open all the
way, you can remove the seeds to plant and grow
more trees from. Save the pine cones to use later as altar and home
decorations in the fall and at Yule.
Cascarones
Make cascarones for your
family members and friends (see the craft section on how to do this.
Cascarones are hollowed out eggs painted in
colors and filled with dried herbs that represent the gifts you want to
bestow upon the receiver.
Leave gifts for spring fairies
Every season place gifts
scattered on rocks and in glass bowls throughout your yard or fairy garden.
The gifts to leave for spring fairies are: fresh
milk, home baked bread, honey, berries, ale and shiny coins. Other items
that make good gifts include dandelion wine, honeysuckle, primrose blossoms,
pussy willows and cowslip.
Moonlight Dancing
Spring is the perfect
time for moonlight dancing. It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold. A full moon
on a clear spring night,
dressed in light and
flowing gowns or robes creates a mystical and enchanting setting for some
energy raising dance.
Experiment with the
music you use until you discover your perfect match. Try the Fairy
collections by Gary Stadler. Remember if you
have neighbors living close by; be considerate of the volume level.
Garden planning
It’s important to diagram what type of plants go where in your garden –
annuals and perennials - so nothing gets dug up that shouldn’t be!
Start tilling the ground as soon as you can after the ground thaws and till
it several times to help cut down on weeds later in the season. If you are
an organic gardener, you know the importance of removing weeds without
chemicals!
Next we go over your
list from the previous year – what was planted where, how well it did, and
any other information you may have recorded
Plants that do not do well in one location, may do better if you plant them
in a different location. This can help you achieve optimal performance from
your garden.
Third, begin the blessing
process. Use whatever you are comfortable with. All of our seeds our blessed
through what I
refer to as a moon to moon ritual. We begin on the full moon in March and
bless the seeds each night until the full moon in
April.
On the night of the April
full moon some items (such as our peas) are sowed directly into the garden
by the moonlight. Others (tomatoes) are started
indoors as it is still too chilly for them to make it outdoors.
Our herb and fairy garden
do not require as much work since they both contain perennial plants. The
annuals in the herb garden are replaced using
the same process we use in our food garden.
Each year we add
something new to both the fairy and herb garden. Watching them grow each
year brings a sense of accomplishment. This also
helps cut down on the herbs I need to buy each year, as we do harvest, dry
and grind many of our own herbs.
Even if you live in an
apartment you can create your own windowsill or container gardens. Old
aquariums that are no longer good for fish
because they leak are really good for apartment size gardens. Hanging plant
baskets are also
wonderful too. Once your plants are growing well and in full bloom you will
find you have a beautiful backdrop for your
Midsummer rituals!
New Broom
Traditionally this is the time to purchase a new broom, so why not purchase
more than one? Buy a new broom for your “regular” cleaning of your home, a
broom for your ritual and spell workings and finally, buy or make a new
altar broom or brush to keep your altar dust free.
Crafts
Cascarones
Blow the egg yolk and
whites out of the egg by making small holes in each end of the egg, Color
the egg. Fill the egg with glitter, confetti,
spices and ground herbs (use your herb guides) that correspond with the
“gift” you want to bestow upon your family and friends. Use tape or clear
glue to fill the holes in.
It’s best to exchange cascarones outside for two reasons. First of all, you
want to spend as much of your Ostara ritual
outdoors as possible to celebrate
nature. Second, when you give a cascarones to someone you are supposed to
crack it over their head so they are “anointed” with the contents. Since
this can be a bit messy, doing it outside saves on clean up
and
returns the ingredients back to the earth.
Dandelion Painting
What you
need:
Several
dandelions, including leaves
Paper
Paints
What you do:
There are two different ways of doing dandelion painting. The first way is
to use the dandelion head and leaves, not only as your brushes, but as your
“paint” as well. By smearing the dandelion flower on your paper, you will
get yellow, by smearing the leaves, you will get green.
You can also use the
flower heads as paint brushes and dip them into paint to make your pictures.
Either way is easy and can be hours of fun!
Constellation Projector
Although it may still be
a little bit chilly to stay outside late and look at the stars, you can make
your own star gazing constellation projector to
use indoors.
What you
need:
Oatmeal box or other round container such as a coffee can with the bottom
removed
Pencil
Diagrams
of constellations
Fat
needle or nut pick
A
flashlight that will fit inside your container.
What you do:
Choose a constellation
you would like to make. Using either the bottom of the oatmeal box (or the
plastic lid of the coffee
can) and the pencil
draw dots where the “stars” should go in the correct pattern. Use the fat
needle or nut pick to poke
holes
through the pencil dots.
Turn off the lights and
make sure you have a dark room. Turn the flashlight on and while holding it
inside the box, shine it through the holes and
at the ceiling. You have made your own constellation!
Garden Signs
Garden signs can be as
simply or as elaborate as you choose to make them, but many people
underestimate the importance of these handy
little guides. For herb gardens, especially, they are a must! If you can
make waterproof signs (try laminating the seed packets and attach them to
sturdy pieces of wood to keep them from blowing)
Lady Bug Magnet
What You Need:
Red sheet of craft foam
or felt Black
sheet of craft foam or felt Hole punch
Scissors
Pen
Glue
Magnet
What
to do:
Draw or
trace a circle on the black foam or felt and cut it out. This will be the
lady bug’s body.
Draw or trace a slightly
larger circle on the red foam or felt, cut it out, and cut it in half. These
are the wings. Using the hole punch, punch out
black dots for the wings and glue them on.
Cut a small egg shape
out of the black for the head. Glue the small end of the egg shape to the
underside of the body so the head sticks out.
Glue the
magnet to the lady bug’s back.
Finally glue the wings
to the front of the lady bug’s body putting points of the wings close
together by the head so the wings angle out and
away from each other to create an “open wing” effect.
Eggshell Plant Pots
What you
need:
Egg shells – keep as much
as the egg shell whole as possible breaking out just the top of the small
end. Potting soil
Grass
seeds (try Cat Grass)
Paint
Glue
Any
color pipe cleaner
What you do:
Wrap the pipe cleaner in
a circle several times around the bottom of the egg forming a rim like
stand. Glue the egg to the stand and let dry.
Paint
the egg shells any way you like and let the paint dry.
Fill the eggs with potting soil about 3/4 of the way full and add lots of
grass seeds.
Plastic Egg Bunnies
You will
need: (for each bunny – some items such as the foam sheets can be used for
several bunnies)
One plastic fillable egg
2 medium
sized white pompoms
1 small
pink pompom
1 sheet of white foam or felt
1 sheet of pink foam or felt
Small
white or silver pipe cleaners for whiskers
Hot glue
Scissors
2 googly eyes
What you do: