It is hard to believe that March has arrived, meaning the wheel of the year has turned full circle since most of the world around us was shut down due to the global pandemic that is Covid 19. Many of us have experienced heightened emotions, unfamiliar stresses, and have had to change nearly every aspect of our daily lives in order to protect ourselves and other members of our clans and the greater society. It has been a difficult and uncertain year, when much of our world has become unfamiliar, without any promise of a return to “normal” anytime soon.
However, things have begun to feel a touch more hopeful as of late. For most of us, the new leadership has been a welcome change, creating an overall calmer atmosphere based on facts and reality rather than opinions and self interest. Multiple vaccines have been approved and millions have already been vaccinated, cases have begun to decrease in many places, restaurants and other businesses that were once closed are finally beginning to re-open, and things are slowly starting to look up. It is as though we are being reborn - slowly emerging from our cocoons like newly formed butterflies patiently waiting for their wings to unfurl and allow them to take to the skies. As Ostara is approaching, this seems quite fitting, for this is a Sabbat of renewal and new beginnings, and our entire planet is, in a sense, being reborn as the pandemic subsides, with the teachings of many hard lessons we learned along the way guiding us into the future.
Ostara marks the Vernal Equinox, and while it is rooted in pre-christian beliefs and saturated with pagan lore, like nearly all modern holidays, it has also been syncretized by the Christian faith, and from its pagan seed, emerged Easter. It is a sabbat which celebrates the awakening of spring, and as such, many Neo-pagan belief systems and Wiccan traditions link this holiday to the Teutonic Goddess of fertility, Ostara, also known as Eostre, from whom the sabbat derives its name. Very little is known about the Teutons and their beliefs, but what is known is that Eostre was worshipped by these Germanic, Celtic and Norse tribes, and this enabled Eostre and her celebration to spread all across Europe, evolving along the way. These ancient tribes did not have a written language beyond the symbolic and spiritual use of runes, so most knowledge of these pagan traditions were passed down through the observations of ancient Romans and later, more modern Christian researchers, making it difficult to be certain which traditions were original to the Teutonic tribes, and which were embellished to suit the cultures and beliefs of the Romans and Christians.
One thing we do know of Eostre was that she was traditionally honoured in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility, renewal and re-birth. Estrogen, the hormone essential to women's fertility was also named after this goddess. She was seen as the divinity of the radiant dawn, a vision that brings joy and blessing to those who witness it. This made her time of celebration an easy adaptation for the celebration of the resurrection of the Christian God. Like many ancient pagan belief systems, she was a therianthropic goddess, said to have had a woman's body with the shoulders and head of a hare. As you may have deduced, this has contributed to both the modern Neo-Pagan Sabbat and its syncretized Christian version using symbolism such as the hare in their traditions and rituals to this day.
The hare is a sacred creature to the Goddess in Celtic traditions, and is the totem animal of lunar goddesses including Hecate, Freyja and Holda. The hare is a nocturnal animal, and thus many ancient belief systems tie them closely with the moon and consider them a symbol for the moon, which dies every morning and is resurrected every evening. This also leads to the hare representing the rebirth of nature in the season of Spring. Both the moon and the hare were once believed to die each day in order to be reborn, making the Hare a symbol of immortality, and leading to it becoming a major symbol of fertility and abundance. Considering the hare also has the ability to conceive while already pregnant, I would say that it makes a pretty apt symbol of fertility! Over many centuries the hare has morphed the ubiquitous Easter Bunny, the fabled bunny who hides candy filled eggs and leaves baskets of pastel colored gifts for children on Easter morning. As the Christian day of rebirth and resurrection, I find it quite amusing that the pagan symbolism is actually being reborn year after year as people celebrate the season.
Other pagan symbolism, such as eggs and seeds, also remain closely tied to modern celebrations of Ostara, as these entities contain the potential and promise of new life within them, and symbolize the rebirth of nature, the fertility of the Earth and all creation.The egg is seen in many traditions as a symbol for the entire universe. It is, at once, both male and female, lightness and darkness, alive and lifeless. The golden orb of the yolk represents the Sun God enveloped by the white shell and clear yolk representative of the Moon Goddess; both in perfect balance and harmony to create the ideal vessel of life. This balance seems quite apropos for the Spring Equinox and Ostara, the singular moment of fertilization when all is in balance before being overwhelmed with energy of growth and expansion.
One of the first trees to burst to life this time of year is the Birch tree, making it an obvious choice to represent the emergence of Spring. This also leads to the Birch trees association with love and fertility goddesses, such as Eostre. Birch twigs were traditionally used to make besoms and signifies a new start, beginnings, birth and re-birth. If you live in an area where birch trees are prolific, now is a great time to look for deadfall from the winter to make wands, besoms or altar decor to honor Eostre and invite fertility of all forms into your life.
Another tree associated with March and Ostara is the Ash, a tree which is of the utmost significance in Norse mythology as it represents Yggdrasil (the World Tree), the great Ash which links the world of men with the realms of the Aesir, Vanir, the underworld, and afterlife, and which imparted deep understanding of the interconnection of all things. The god Odin hung himself from Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights to obtain enlightenment of all worlds and to be able to understand the secrets of the runes, and his spear was fashioned from one of its branches. Two springs flow from its roots, the sources of Wisdom and of Fate. Ash teaches that all life is interconnected on all levels of existence - past, present and future, spiritual, mental and physical. Death is not an end, it is simply another type of beginning.
There are many simple rituals you can perform at this time to manifest new beginnings and new life. Something as simple as writing a detailed list of what you wish to manifest in your life, and releasing your intentions in whatever way you feel guided to. Inscribe your intentions on an egg and bury it in the ground as if sowing a seed to grow and blossom in the coming year. Write on a stone or on a natural, biodegradable, and chemical free paper - such as food grade rice paper - and cast it into the sea. Or, keep it even simpler and write it on a standard paper and ignite it to send your desires into the unseen realms of gods and spirit. If burning isn’t your style, you can sleep with your list tucked safely under your pillow, or create a full moon wish bottle to carry with you or keep on your altar. The possibilities are truly endless.
Other workings you can perform are calling upon your spirit guides, deities, fairies, or any other spirits you work with, and petitioning them to help bring new things to your life that serve you, or for specific things you wish to manifest in the spring and summer seasons ahead. Connect with nature in any way you can, for the beginning of Spring can be a powerful time to work with nature and nature spirits. Connecting to Nature and the elements does wonders for the soul and can be very grounding, something I am certain we can all use after the past year plus the Pisces season and Mercury retrograde which precede March and the Vernal Equinox.
Ostara falls on the 20th of March in 2021 (a Saturday!), on the Solstice which marks the point of perfect balance between night and day; light and dark, masculine and feminine. This solstice is a moment where all contrasting energies are in perfect equilibrium; the time preceding was dominated by darkness and cold, and from this point forward, the year is waxing, and Ostara marks the moment when light defeats the dark and warmth begins to seep back into the earth. The Natural world is coming alive as the Sun's rays grow warmer and the days are becoming longer. The promises and plans we made during Imbolc are now in full bloom and abundance, just as mother Earth is displaying her fertility in blossoming flowers and fresh green grasses. This is the time that all of the seeds of hopes and dreams we planted during Imbolc are budding and coming into bloom.
Ostara is the beginning of our own personal rebirths into this new year, and summer will be the culmination of the energy and intentions we set now. Before the desire to spend more time outside basking in the rays of the warm summer sun increases, take some time to do some “Spring Cleaning” - physical, emotional, mental, spiritual - and release any energies, items, emotions, habits, etc. that are no longer serving you. Discover items you may have forgotten or lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life, release stale and old ways of thinking, white the final pages of life stories that you don’t see fitting into your new life, and smudge or spray any areas of your life or space that need it. Clear as much space as possible in your mind, soul, heart and home for new energy to flow into your life. Here at Infinity Coven, we welcome with open arms this expansive and exuberant energy of the first days of Spring after such a long and challenging year, and we hope that Ostara brings to you all intentions you set and new beginnings you are hoping for in the weeks, months and year to come.
Blessed Ostara to you and yours!
Comments