Ostara

The sun melts the snow and warms our hearts. The spring equinox announces that summer is getting closer. It happens between march 19th and march 21st, in 2024 it falls on the 19th. 

 Night and day are equal on this day light will start its reign, it is a time of balance and new hope. Following Imbolc, Ostara is also a fertility festival. The earth warms up, nature wakes up. If natures can go through dark times and wake up to evolve, grow and expand, so can we.

Hares and eggs are symbols of fertility and new life, they are associated with Ostara and still show up in today’s mainstream celebrations.

Ostara is deeply symbolic of rebirth, as plants grow and we step out of the wintery cocoon we created for ourselves. 

Persephone

Spring is said to be the ascension of the Greek Goddess Persephone who lives 6 months in hell and 6 months on earth. Both the Goddess of the underworld and the spring growth, she is the daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the harvest and fertility. Greek mythology is pretty wild so here’s what happened;

Hades( Ruler of the Underworld ) fell in love with the young Goddess. He asked her mother, if he could marry her. Her mother furiously refused. Hades couldn’t take no for an answer and abducted Persephone, brought her to hell where no one would look for her. But of course the all-seeing God Helios saw it happen. When asked if she wanted to go back to earth, Persephone, under the influence of a pomegranate which seduce people into enjoying living in hell, replied that she wanted to stay with her husband. Demeter unsatisfied with the situation threatened that she would never again make the earth fertile and make everyone on earth die from hunger. To solve this, an agreement was made; Persephone would live 6 months in hell with Hades and 6 month on earth with Demeter. While Persephone is gone, Demeter is sad and leaves the earth to decline. When she rises from the Underworld in the spring that’s when Demeter starts to make the earth fertile again, that would explain why nothing grows from fall until spring. 

How to celebrate Ostara:

Wear green or natural fibers. Bless seeds or the area they’ll be planted into if the weather doesn’t allow you to plant directly in the ground yet.

You can crush an eggshell, and sprinkle it in your garden while saying: For fairy, for flowers, for herbs in the bowers, the shells pass fertility with springtime showers. 

Decorate and paint eggs with symbols of love, protection, abundance and fertility. 

Make plans and use the fertile energy of the season to set some goals. 
Balance and the new beginning makes Ostara a great time to do some journaling.

Have a relaxing floral bath for prosperity.

Cook or bake with flowers!

How to decorate your Altar:

Ostara is a welcoming celebration of brighter days, of growth. Candles can be shades of green for hope, growth and nature. Seeds, flowers and buds are more than welcome. An wooden or terracotta bowl full of soil on the altar to represent the fertile energy of the festivity. Eggs, decorated or not will represent fertility,  birth and new beginnings. Representations of chicks, lambs, butterflies or rabbits to symbolize new life and fertility are a good way to decorate your space. Amethyst, aquamarine, clear and rose quartz are displayed on the altar. Place a jar or chalice of honey in your magical place to represent abundance. 

An outdoorsy altar ritual for Ostara;

You’ll need;

-thread, string or a ribbon 

-flowers, leaves or any other trinkets related to what you want

-crystals

-fruits

-a pen and a piece of paper

Go to you favourite tree, it’s even better if its leaves are starting to sprout, create an altar using your flowers, fruits, and crystals at its base. Select your elements with their corresponding powers to bring the desired energy to the ritual. Write on the piece of paper your intentions, and dreams of adventure you have for yourself for the next months. Dig a small hole in the center of your temporary altar and place your paper( a crystal or trinket can join it in the hole if you want it to) and cover up. You just planted some intentions, literally. You can leave the flowers and other organic matters as offerings around the tree. Before you go, take that ribbon and tie it around one of the tree branches, tie it loose so the tree has room to grow. Tie 3 knots while thinking of your intentions and desires. Every time you’ll walk by that tree you will be reminded that your wishes are on the way.

 

Bibliography;

Alison Davies, Mystical Year, London, Quadrille, 2020.

Ann Mouriel, Green witchcraft, St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

Joël Farrah, La Wicca, Québec: Les Éditions Quebecor, 2004.

 https://www.greeka.com/greece-myths/persephone/