Posted by Laurie on March 15, 2004 at 22:25:28:
In Reply to: Vernal Equinox: Ostara, Eostre, Easter,Spring Equinox--First Day of Spring. posted by Laurie on March 15, 2004 at 22:10:30:
Activites and Ideas
You can also consider Ostara as a time of balance between light and dark. Night and day
equally divide the 24 hours now; the dark half of the year gives way to the light. You can
perform rituals to ask for balance in your life, and to honor both dark and light.
Go out and collect wild flowers if they are out in you area.
Take a walk and look for signs of emerging life in the forests and fields or in a local park.
Plant early seeds such as peas, lettuce, cabbage family. Start others indoors
Plan your magickal garden to plant after Beltane
Pick up litter at your favorite park or beach. Help the earth rejuvenate by getting rid of the
mess. Even an hour of cleanup can make a big difference.
Do a spring cleaning rites/ritual and cleanse your home of negativity and any energies that
might prevent you from taking advantage of prosperity in your life.
Perform oomancy (divination by eggs). To perform the most common form of
egg-divination, separate egg whites and yolks. You then drop the white into hot water and
divine from the shapes it assumes.
Celebrate Nawruz, the Persian New Year, which falls on the spring equinox by fixing a
special dinner of seven food dishes that begin with 'S.' Either look up the names of the
Arabic foods that you will want to use or use English words and eat salad, salami, soup,
squash, etc. Decorate the table with a mirror, a bowl of water with one freshly-picked green
leaf floating in it, a candelabra containing a candle for every child in the house, a copy of the
Koran (or other sacred text), rose water, sweets, fruit, a fish, yogurt and colored eggs.
Draw sprouting leaves on an egg and bury it in your garden to help stimulate your plants.
Perform magick by planting a seed to grow with your spell. You can use the energy of this
time of year to fuel any new project or goal. Think of how you wish to change and grow
while planting the seed and watch it flourish as you do. :)
Make hot cross buns **see recipe section below**
Light pairs of white and black candles, symbolizing dark and light, in different areas of your
home. Each time you pass a pair of candles, you can honor the balance of light and dark we
find this time of year, and the balance of light and dark within yourself.
Dye eggs with natural dyes and try decorating them with magickal or other symbols. Ideas
for thos you can use include runes, astrological symbols, elemental symbols, the Theban
alphabet, zodiac/planetarysymbols, Ogham writing, Native American pictographs, lunar &
solar symbols,stars, pentacles, Egyptian hieroglyphs, God/Goddess symbols, the triscale and
more! Try our magickal symbols and alphabet sections for great ideas.
Create an effigy of the dark half of the year and imbue it with the things of winter you'd like
to leave behind. You can then either burn it in a bonfire or drop it in the nearest watercourse
In ancient Italy in the spring, women planted Gardens of Adonis. They filled urns with grain
seeds, kept the in the dark and watered them every two days until they sprouted. You can do
this yourself with grass seed in baskets.You can then put your decorated eggs on the altar,
etc. in your grass filled baskets. Talk about how this custom persists today in Sicily, where
women plant seeds of grains--lentils, fennel, lettuce or flowers--in baskets and pots. When
they sprout, the stalks are tied with red ribbons and the "gardens" are placed along roads on
the Christian Good Friday. They are meant symbolize the triumph of life over death.
Have each member of your family/coven select a seed or bulb that they wish to plant. Bless
them (See the blessing below by Pauline Campanelli or make one of your own) and visualize
your plants in full bloom. Then you may wish to invoke each of the four elements necessary
for the plants' growth. You may either plant your items outside, or if it is too cold place them
in a pot of soil and pat down the earth (element earth), poured water on it (element water),
breath on it (element air) and then hold the pot over a candle (or up to the sun, if you are
outside) (for fire).
Give a potted plant to friends or family for their garden or window sill
Take time to notice what birds have returned from their winter homes. Place feeders and/or
a bird bath out for them.
Make a growth charm out of a hard-boiled egg -- decorate it with symbols, write on it the
quality you would like to manifest more fully within yourself, energize it, and then eat it.
Create ritual garment. Try our easy robe pattern. Embellish it with trims, embroidery, bells,
stones, sequins or anything else that strikes your fancy. Save it to wear until Ostara as it was
considered bad luck to wear it before then in ancient times.
Connect with plant energies. Choose a plant and spend time exploring the leaves and stem in
great detail, being careful not to harm it. Use a magnifying glass. Feel the textures and inhale
the scent of the plant.
Let the whole family create a dance depicting the rising of new shoots from the earth to greet
the sun. Create your own music with drums, rattles and whistles, or choose music that
reminds you of spring. Bundle up, spread out a blanket, and watch the sunrise. Eat honey
cakes and eggs for breakfast.
Do a spring rite Take walks in parks, woods or other green areas. Make the walking a ritual
in itself. Wear flowers in your hair, or as a necklace, and strew them around and on your
alter. Toss crushed eggshells into the garden and say: For fairy, for flowers, for herbs in the
bowers, The shells pass fertility with springtime showers. from: Green Witchcraft by Anna
Moura (Aoumiel).