Ostra
Ostara
The holiday Ostara concerns the start of Spring and celebrates the Goddess once again a maiden. This is the time for fertility rituals as one cuts the first of spring's blossoms. It is time of life's renewal. ostara really means the spring equinox. It is the time when the day and night are equal time. It is a celebration and birth of the longer days and the shorter nights.
Day and night are equal at this time as Spring begins to awaken the Earth and all that inhabit her. For many people, this is a time for "rebirth" after the long and hard winters.
The goddess of this sabbat is Ostara or Eostre (Goddess of the Dawn) and is whom after Easter is named. That is the Germanic tradition. The Greek tradition celebrates the return from Hades of Demeter's daughter Persephone. The Celtics see the in the blossoms the passing of Olwen.
The Easter Bunny comes from the legend of the Goddess Eostre. A lowly rabbit wanted to please the Goddess so much that he laid the sacred eggs in her honor, gaily decorated them and presented them to her. Eiostre was so pleased that she wished all humankind could share her joy, so the rabbit traveled the world over to present these little decorated eggs.
Some of the activities you may partake in are below. But you may also want to do some of the following:
Go to a field and randomly collect wildflowers...(thank the flowers before picking them). If you can't get to a field, go to the florist and purchase some flowers which touch you. Once home, find the meanings of these flowers in your books or through the internet.....these flowers tell you about yourself and your inner thoughts.
Plan a walk through gardens or forests or some other form of nature. There should be no mission other than just to walk and to celebrate nature itself.
This is a great time to plant seeds or work on that magickal garden. One suggestion is to bury a dyed egg in your garden to ensure fertility.
Activities
Egg Decorating
Symbols
Cauldrons filled with water
Growing Plants
Symbols of animals and plants in abundance, especially rabbits
Nets and baskets, Containing knowledge, motherhood, giving life and gifts
Ladders: Searching, rising above the petty, ascending
Combs: Putting things in order
Rakes: Successful harvest
Trees: Strength, renewal, creation, organic unity, growth and eternal life
Leaves: Immortality., eternal or pure love, strength, persistence
Flowers: Beauty, children, principles of wisdom and elegance
Fruit: Continuity, good fellowship, strong and loyal love, love of the divine
Sunflowers:, Motherhood, life, love the Divine
Wheat: Bountiful Harvest
Stags: Leadership, victory, joy, masculinity
Horses: Wealth, prosperity, endurance, speed and the motion of the Sun
Rams: Leadership, strength, dignity, perseverance
Birds: All kinds, are messengers of the Sun and the heavens, pushing away evil; Fertility, fulfillment of wishes
Roosters: Good Fortune, masculinity, coming of the dawn
Butterflies: Ascent of the Soul, pleasure and frivolity of childhood
Spiders: Patience, artistry, industry, healing and good fortune
Fish: Abundance, sacrifice regeneration’s
Circles: Protection, everlasting life, continuity, completeness
Triangles: The elements of air, fire and water
Sun: The life-giving all embracing nature of the God
Tripods: Man, woman, and child; Birth, Life and Death
Stars and Roses: Purity, life, giver of light, the eye of God
Curls: Protection
Spirals: Mystery of life and death, divinity and immortality
Remember these are great symbols to decorate your eggs with!
Foods
Seeds such as sunflower, pumpkin and sesame and pine nuts
Sprouts
Leafy Green vegetables
Flower Dishes
Miscellaneous
Ostara is a time to wear your new clothes. It was considered bad luck to wear anything old on Easter/Ostara.
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