.:. Oestara .:.

.: Oestara :.

March 21(22), also celebrated on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon in April
AKA Spring Equinox or Vernal Equinox. Balance an egg on its end at the exact moment of Equinox and watch it stay up. This festival represents fertility and abundance. That rabbit has a meaning!

Oestara, Ostara, or the Spring Equinox, is a solar festival that occurs on or around March 21, the first day of Aries, and marks the coming of spring. It is sacred to the Saxon Goddess Oestara. At this time, day and night are of equal length all over the world. In Celtic times this was a state that was neither one thing nor another, neither day nor night being greater, and, therefore, was magickal. This festival should be celebrated at either dawn or dusk, which are also in between times, poised as they are between day and night.

Light and dark are in balance, but the light will soon become ascendant, so this is a time of resurrection, reincarnation and rebirth (christianized as the resurrection of christ). Because of this, eggs a symbol of rebirth whose golden yolks represent the sun, are decorated and eaten. We keep some of ours until the following year's Oestara celebration then dig them into the garden or flower pots prior to decorating new ones, thus keeping the theme of death and rebirth alive year after year. Sunwheels can be made from pliable thin branches like willow, then decorated with daffodils or forsythia. Many people eat hot cross buns; these are mini sunwheels, with their solar cross in the center representing the two solstices and the two equinoxia.

Everything in nature is stirring new, beginning to flower and mate. The hare, sacred to the goddess, dances in the fields. His present-day representation is the Easter Bunny, another symbol of fertility. The Goddess is the Spring Maiden from whose footprints flowers grow as she passes; the God is maturing into manhood; their passionate courtship is the fire that drives the fecund abandonment around Uus. Wwe, too, are preparing for outward growth and expansion in Oour lives, eagerly pressing forward with confident new plans.

The flowers at celebrations should be predominantly yellow for the early spring sun: daffodils, narcissi, primroses, forsythia, and winter jasmine. Burn pastel candles: pale yellows, blues, greens, pinks and mauves. Seeds can be blessed and planted to represent new projects/spells, as well.

Click Magick Circle if you do not know how to form a proper magickal circle, BEFORE attempting to perform the ritual below.

PREPARING YOUR ALTAR

° Altar candles should be light green.
° Incense should be jasmine.
° Circle may be decorated with spring wildflowers; have a bundle on the altar.
° Circle candles sould always be for the elementals (green, yellow, red, and blue).
° Have a piece of "organic" paper; ie, parchment, onion skin, rice, etc., preferably ink and a fountain pen, but anything to write with will suffice.
° Have an earthenware or wooden bowl containing soil on the altar.
° Place a large seed of some kind on the pentacle.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CEREMONY

Sweep circle area; lay out circle and altar items; bathe and robe. Light incense and altar candles. Ring bell three times and say,

"The circle is about to be cast and I freely stand within to greet my Lady and my Lord.

Take center candle from altar, light each candle of the circle moving north, then east, south and west and say,

(N) I call upon light and earth at the north to illuminate and strengthen the circle.
(E) I call upon light and air at the east to illuminate and enliven the circle.
(S) I call upon light and fire at the south to illuminate and warm the circle.
(W) I call upon light and water at the west to illuminate and cleanse the circle.

Take athame in upraised hand, begin circle at north and move around the circle north to east to south to west, and say,

I draw this circle in the presence of the Goddess and the God where they may come and bless their child, Say your magickal name.

Lower the athame at the north, and as you walk around the circle, envision a blue light shooting out from the point and forming the circle boundary and say,

This is the boundary of the circle. Only love shall enter and leave.

eturn to the altar and ring bell three times. Place point of athame in the altar bowl of salt and say...
Salt is life and purifying. I bles this salt to be used in this sacred circle in the names of the Goddess and the God.

Pick up the salt bowl and use tip of athame to drop three portions of salt into the altar bowl of water and set salt bowl back in its place. Stir three times with athame and say...
Let the blessed salt purify this water that it may be lessed to use in this sacred circle. In the names of the Goddess and the God, I consecrate and cleanse this water.

Take the salted water bowl in hand and sprinkle water from it as you move deosil around the circle, NESWN and say...
I (speak your magickal name) am consecrated in the names of the Goddess and the God in this, their circle.

Take the wand and hold it aloft, with both arms open and upraised, at the north of the circle, envision a powerful bull arriving and say...
I call upon you, Elemental Earth, to attend this rite and guard this circle, for as I have body and strength, we are kith and kin!

Lower wand and move to east, raise up wand, envisioning fairies devas or an eagle in flight arriving and say...
I call upon you, Elemental Air, to attend this rite and guard this circle, for as I breathe and think, we are kith and kin!

Lower wand and move to the south, raise up the wand, envisioning a fire dragon and say...
I call upon you, Elemental Fire, to attend this rite and guard this circle, for as I consume life to live, we are kith and kin!

Lower wand and move to the west, hold wand aloft, envision an undine, sea serpent or dolphin arriving, and say...
I call upon you, Elemental Water, to attend this rite and guard this circle, for as I feel and my heart beats, we are kith and kin!

Return to the altar and use wand to draw in the air above the altar the symbol of infinity (an 8 lying on its side), the sign of working between the worlds. Set wand on altar, raise up athame in both hands overhead and say:
Hail to the elementals at the four quarters! Welcome Lady and Lord to this rite! I stand between the worlds with love and power all around!

Pour wine into your cauldron as a libation to the Divine in which they are honored by offering to them the first draught, then you drink. Ring bell three times and say,

I call upon me the blessings of the Ancient Ones as merry do we meet at this springtime rite. Lady and Lord, hear your child, (speak your magick name) for I am here to celebrate with you and for you as we greet the spring together!

Take up flowers from the altar and moving clockwise (deosil) around the circle (always start at the north), drop the flowers inside around the circle. Ring bell three times and say...

Springtime is the time to sow the seed, and it is the time for me to plant what I want to grow. This season brings hope and joy; expectations for desires realized; and inspiration for new ideas. My life is brought into balance and I am reborn with the earth's renewal. I welcome thee, beautiful spring!

Visualize the seed on the altar as what you want to playt ( a quality, an opportunity, a creation, or whatever) so the seed represents the idea in the mind. Ring bell one time, then write on the paper the seed idea. LIght the paper from the center altar candle. Drop the burning ashes into the bowl of earth on the pentacle, and say...

Lady and Lord, receive the seed of my desire and let it grow and prosper that it may ripen and bear fruit.

Use the athame to mix the ashes into the soil. Take your wand, and with it upraised, dance around the circle three times to raise the energy. Return to the altar with the want still upraised and say...

By the power instilled in this raised want will the seed be planted in the ready soil. Belssed be the wand of spring and blessed be the earth that receives it!

Kiss the tip of the wand, transferring the raised energy into it, then make an indentation in the center of the soil with it and visualize the energy entering into the soil. Set down the wand. Hold the seed aloft, ENCHANTING it with your idea, place it in the furrow and close the soil over it with your hand, and say...

This seed is planted in the mother's womb to be part of the earth, of life, and of me. Let this seed and what it represents grow to manifestation. As I will it, so mote it be!

This seed and soil should be transferred to a pot, and lovingly tended until it is placed in a garden, or keep it inside if you do not live in a place where you can have a garden. As it blooms and flourishes, so will your life.

Wine and cakes are usual taken after any Green ritual or rite. Then, the elementals are thanked and dismissed, and the circle is taken down.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO THE LEFT IN ORDER TO SEE THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THE BUNNY BOX.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Have a traditional breakfast of buns, ham and eggs.

Toss the crushed eggshells into a garden and say...

For fairy, for flowers, for herbs in the bowers, The shells pass fertility with springtime showers.

Wear green clothing

Bless seeds to be planted in the garden this day

Eat an egg you have empowered with a quality you desire

Color hard boiled eggs and addthe symbols for fertility, the goddess, the sun god, unity, fire, water, agriculture, prosperity and growth, strength and wisdom, spring, love, affection and protection

Consecrate these eggs...
In the name of the Goddess of spring, And the ever returning God of the sun, By the powers of the four elements; earth, air, fire and water, I do consecreate these eggs of Ostara!

On Ostara eve, light a purple candle and burn patchouli incense. Carry them both through the house, and say...
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 the candle and say...
Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!

Š1996, Llewellyn Publications, "Green Witchcraft" by Ann Moura, pp 203-210

Click HERE to see where Easter Eggs Come From.