Correspondences
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 and 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
Other Holidays: St. Patrick's Day (Christian-Mar. 17), Eostara (first full moon after equinox), Easter (Christian-first Sunday following Spring Equinox and full moon), Ides of March (Roman New Year March 15), Hilaria or the Day of Joy (Roman-March 15), Festival of Astarte (Mar 17), Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Passover (Judaism)
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
Ostara Incense
1 part Jasmine
1 part Rose
1 part Strawberry leaves
1 part copal
5 drops rose essential oil
Ostara Oil
8 drops frankincense oil
4 dropsbenzoil oil
4 drops dragon's blood oil
2 drops nutmeg oil
2 drops violet oil
2 drops orange oil
2 drops rose oil
Mix in 3 oz of olive, almond, grapeseed or carrier oil of your choice
Fun for the Kids or the kid in all of us!
Make your own mobile. (This idea comes from "Circle Round") This emphasizes the balance between day and night, and you can make these as simple or as elaborate as you like. Items to create or find to balance on the mobile are suns and moons, eggs (real, empty shells, plastic eggs or paper eggs made by your children), thematic designs for the season, or anything else, really.
Hunt eggs that you have dyed with natural dyes
Have an egg toss
Bunny Masks are fun for ritual!
Make little Flower Pot Bunnies to give as gifts to those who attend circle
Once you have eaten those eggs try making Egg Shell Mosiacs with the leftover shells or dig hole in the earth outside near flowers or trees and bury them in the soil to replenish calcium.
Read the story of Megan's Ostara
Sources:
Akasha
Cunningham, Scott. A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner
Klein, Kenny. The Flowering Rod: Men, Sex, and Spirituality
Fitzgerald, Waverly. The School of the Seasons
Budapest, Zsuzsanna E, The Grandmother of Time
Campanelli, Pauline, The Wheel of the Year
Cunningham, Nancy Brady, Feeding the Spirit
Farias, Helen, Octava
Murray, Gilbert, Five Stages of Greek Religion
Fox, Selena, Wheel of the Year: Circle of Sun and Seasons
Moura, Anna (Aoumiel), Green Witchcraft
Melanie Fire Salamander, Beyond Eggs: Ways to Celebrate Oestara
Mama Witches Pagan Parenting Pages
www.recipes.com
www.family.go.com
http://www.aquatabch.org/spiralscouts/spiralscoutsostara.html
Chants, Songs, Poems
Flowers
(Sung to the tune of "Pop! Goes the Weasel")
All around the forest ground
There's flowers everywhere.
There's pink, yellow, and purple too.
Here's one for you!
Spring Chant
By Ivo Dominguez, Jr
To hear this chant go to: http://www.dol.net/~panpipe/pgrn.ra
Joy In The Gold Buds Of Spring. Passion In The Greening Leaf
Joy In The Rising Day. Passion Neath The Glowing Moon
Come Swelling Tides Of Spring. Fill Me With The Promise Of Green
Spring Fertility Chant
Lyrics by: Jennifer Reif
Tune: original
Date: 1992
Recorded on: "Mysteries of Earth," Jennifer Reif (Memosyne Recording, P.O. Box 916, Venice, CA 90294)
Subject: Spring and Planting
Mother and father of all growing things
Unto my being your golden love bring
Bless this seed to fulfill its design
Of leaf and fruit, of blossom and vine
Come, Follow Me
Lyrics by: John Hilton
Tune: traditional
Date: 17th century (may have roots in an older song)
Recorded on: Wee Sing Sing-Alongs
Subject: Spring and Planting
(traditional three-part round)
Part I:
Come, follow, follow, follow,
Follow, follow, follow me.
Part II:
Whither shall I follow, follow, follow,
Whither shall I follow, follow thee.
Part III:
To the greenwood, to the greenwood,
To the greenwood, greenwood tree.
Click here for a MIDI rendition of the song
Spring Equinox
Poem By: Ivy goldmoon@wzrd.com
We celebrate the Spring Equinox
We gather our coven with care
We'll cast the sacred circle with rocks-
though the earth is no longer bare.
We dance on green grass-
We praise the sky blue...
We thank the God/dess for what each has,
and dance in the morning dew.
We see the Mother's soft tints
laid lightly on the earth,
though these are but little hints
of the wonders of rebirth.
We finish our Spring-time rites
and close the circle down,
knowing we have reached new heights
our love and joy abound.
I'll honor the God/dess in my heart,
and always remember when-
merry we'd meet, merry we'd part,
and merry we'd meet again!
Saying Farewell to Wintry spirits:
Excerpt taken from: Green Witchcraft by: Anna Moura (Aoumiel)
Farewell to wintry spirits and friends;
On morrow we greet the spirits of spring.
Our blessings to thee as your way you wend;
And merry we'll meet next winter again.
Blow out candle and say: Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!
Recipes
Ostara Oil #2
Bergamot 5 drops
Grapefruit 5 drops
Geranium 5 drops
Mix in a 1/2 ounce carrier oil of your choice
Activites and Ideas
You can also consider Ostara 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.
Go out and collect wild flowers if they are out in you area.
Take a walk and look for signs of emerging life in the forests and fields or in a local park.
Plant early seeds such as peas, lettuce, cabbage family. Start others indoors
Plan your magickal garden to plant after Beltane
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.
Do a spring cleaning rites/ritual and cleanse your home of negativity and any energies that might prevent you from taking advantage of prosperity in your life.
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.
Celebrate Nawruz, the Persian New Year, which falls on the spring equinox by fixing a special dinner of seven food dishes that begin with 'S.' Either look up the names of the Arabic foods that you will want to use or use English words and eat salad, salami, soup, squash, etc. Decorate the table with a mirror, a bowl of water with one freshly-picked green leaf floating in it, a candelabra containing a candle for every child in the house, a copy of the Koran (or other sacred text), rose water, sweets, fruit, a fish, yogurt and colored eggs.
Draw sprouting leaves on an egg and bury it in your garden to help stimulate your plants.
Perform magick by planting a seed to grow with your spell. You can use the energy of this time of year to fuel any new project or goal. Think of how you wish to change and grow while planting the seed and watch it flourish as you do. :)
Make hot cross buns **see recipe section below**
Light pairs of white and black candles, symbolizing dark and light, in different areas of your home. 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.
Dye eggs with natural dyes and try decorating them with magickal or other symbols. Ideas for thos you can use include runes, astrological symbols, elemental symbols, the Theban alphabet, zodiac/planetarysymbols, Ogham writing, Native American pictographs, lunar & solar symbols,stars, pentacles, Egyptian hieroglyphs, God/Goddess symbols, the triscale and
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 ancient Italy in the spring, women planted Gardens of Adonis. They filled urns with grain seeds, kept the in the dark and watered them every two days until they sprouted. You can do this yourself with grass seed in baskets.You can then put your decorated eggs on the altar, etc. in your grass filled baskets. Talk about how this custom persists today in Sicily, where women plant seeds of grains--lentils, fennel, lettuce or flowers--in baskets and pots. When they sprout, the stalks are tied with red ribbons and the "gardens" are placed along roads on the Christian Good Friday. They are meant symbolize the triumph of life over death.
Have each member of your family/coven select a seed or bulb that they wish to plant. Bless them (See the blessing below by Pauline Campanelli or make one of your own) and visualize your plants in full bloom. Then you may wish to invoke each of the four elements necessary for the plants' growth. You may either plant your items outside, or if it is too cold place them in a pot of soil and pat down the earth (element earth), poured water on it (element water), breath on it (element air) and then hold the pot over a candle (or up to the sun, if you are outside) (for fire).
Give a potted plant to friends or family for their garden or window sill
Take time to notice what birds have returned from their winter homes. Place feeders and/or a bird bath out for them.
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.
Create ritual garment. Try our easy robe pattern. Embellish it with trims, embroidery, bells, stones, sequins or anything else that strikes your fancy. Save it to wear until Ostara as it was considered bad luck to wear it before then in ancient times.
Connect with plant energies. Choose a plant and spend time exploring the leaves and stem in great detail, being careful not to harm it. Use a magnifying glass. Feel the textures and inhale the scent of the plant.
Let the whole family create a dance depicting the rising of new shoots from the earth to greet the sun. Create your own music with drums, rattles and whistles, or choose music that reminds you of spring. Bundle up, spread out a blanket, and watch the sunrise. Eat honey cakes and eggs for breakfast.
Do a spring rite Take walks in parks, woods or other green areas. Make the walking a ritual in itself. Wear flowers in your hair, or as a necklace, and strew them around and on your alter. Toss crushed eggshells into the garden and say: For fairy, for flowers, for herbs in the bowers, The shells pass fertility with springtime showers. from: Green Witchcraft by Anna Moura (Aoumiel).
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