So a couple of weeks ago, it was the pagan celebration of Ostara! This was a very busy few days for me as there was a ritual for the Full Moon in Virgo (creating my own besom which I can use to sweep/clear the energy out, like a spring-clean of myself), the start of a new Formula 1 season, a Priestess Path meeting, and seven other sporting events, as well as a Wardruna concert. That weekend was the busiest weekend I've had in the last couple of years!
Ostara is where Easter comes from - the eggs, the Easter Bunny, the flowers we see decorating the consumer adverts for Easter, even the name Easter was originally a Spring goddess by the name of Eostre - they're all pagan symbols of new life, hope and a new beginning. Ostara is full of fertile energy and the celebration of life returning to the earth after the season of winter.
Before anyone jumps on and argues that Christianity was the origin of Easter, Pope Gregory I decreed in 601AD that pagan temples, sacred sites and feast days were not to be destroyed; instead, they were to be Christianised, becoming Christian churches, sacred sites and feast days instead. Yule became Christmas as the Sun God was reborn (or the Son of God born); Samhain became All Hallows Eve, All Hallows and All Saints Days; churches have their own Harvest collections and decorate with seasonal foods and grains in September, which coincides with Mabon (one of the pagan harvest festivals) - I could go on but the fact is that Christian feast days originate from Pagan celebrations. Great, share one and all - I'm all for inclusivity!
What has been really exciting is that the concert coincided with Ostara, while the internet may say it was on the 20th March this year, I personally felt more called to celebrate on 21st March, which was the day of the concert. I will be writing about this experience and how magical it was, so keep a look out in the next week or so! Also, the Spring Equinox is usually between the 19th and 21st March so you don't have to celebrate on just one day either if you'd prefer to make it a social event or more spread out.
But the point here is that this was an important date for me in TWO ways now - Ostara coupled with a concert held by a Norwegian folk band whose music I absolutely ADORE!!!! So it became a whole day of energy for me - letting go of the past so that I can allow those new beginnings in and be filled with hope for the future. (Coincidentally, this also tied into the Priestess Path meeting about Spells so this was a really charged time for me personally.)
So, back to the ritual, I needed a few things with me to do it: an egg (hard-boiled or just as is, with a warning to be careful if it's not hard-boiled), a marker, a plant that was about to bud (with new leaves or flowers), something to write in and with, a seed (or a packet of seeds), and a representation of the elements. I also chose to wear a jumper that was covered in a variety of colours to showcase the fact that there are different coloured flowers making an appearance in the world now.
I gathered all of the above items in preparation for the ritual and joined the virtual meeting, ready for the "official" start of Spring!
We started with grounding, the casting of a circle and calling in the elements. This always makes me feel like I'm about to embark on something special and never fails to stir feelings of magick within me.
Then we embarked on a guided meditation, led by Erin LaFaive of Full Circle Herbals. This was incredibly interesting, as you'll see below.
The meditation led us to a hilly countryside at dawn on the first day of Spring, where everything was just starting to grow and flow. While walking along, I encountered the goddess of Spring who had an animal companion with her. She beckoned to me to follow her, so I did. Then I came upon an enclosed garden with a gate. The goddess invited me inside, to enter the garden of Spring, where I was given a basket to gather some plants.
As I walked around the garden of Spring, the goddess showed some plants to me: one that had the sweetest of smells to me as a rose, one that was a beautiful sight on its own as a golden marigold, and one that had a beautiful taste like a mix between violets and chives. I was also gifted a plant by the goddess, which was a sprig of lavender. (Lavender is a plant that I felt connected to in many ways before this.) A sprig of each plant was placed into my basket and these sprigs, and words I associate with them, played a role in the next part of the ritual.
When I left the garden of Spring, I didn't feel as if I was truly leaving it behind (despite the sudden cold weather the UK has been experiencing recently). I felt as if I was truly welcoming Spring into my own little home, and my life. The goddess of Spring and her companion bade me farewell as we wandered back to where I'd started from.
Based on the plants and the ideas/words that I associated with the entire journey which were discovered during a period of reflection on the whole journey, the egg then came into the ritual.
To start, lines were drawn to "divide" the egg into 4 sections using the marker. Then within the sections, a word is written - I used abundance, growth, protection and nourishment within my egg's sections. Once this had been done, the egg was used to divine what it is that I personally might want to focus on this season. As typically happens for me, my egg rolled and came to a stop with two sections equally upwards: Abundance and Growth. (Sadly, I didn't take any photos of my egg shortly after this ritual and one of my cats decided to play with it and knocked it off my coffee table which broke the shell.)
After spending some time reflecting on how these two ideas might go together, I discovered that there is a possibility of growing into abundance, possibly through growing my Witch's Garden into abundance using the seeds I have yet to plant (it's been too cold for me to consider doing this just yet). These words could also have a link to growing within my own power to attract abundance into my life. The possibilities within the combination of these words is endless but these were the possibilities that came to me at that time.
Over the coming weeks, I will be putting this growth of abundance into action by starting my witch's garden. Don't worry, you'll be able to follow along as there have been some coincidences recently that I can't ignore about this particular project.
I hope this inspires you with your own interaction with the season of Spring.
Peace and love to all!!
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