Tap Into The Energy Of Spring: Ostara Rituals 🌱🌷

Do you feel it? The parts of you coming alive in ways they never have before? Welcome to the Spring Equinox. Nature is waking up and being reborn. The same is happening within you. Embrace this new beginning. The spring energy will fuel your growth as the days get longer and the sun grows warmer.

Growth requires implementing change. The energy from this transition in the wheel of the year shifts from an inward-focus to outward-focus, making you feel a bit unstable after a long hibernating winter. With the Spring Equinox, the Earth returns to a place of equilibrium. Day & night are equal bringing the return of balance into your own life.

This time of year brings bright spirits, new ideas, inspiration to try new things, and that long anticipated vitamin D (if you’re from the northern part of the country like me). Your self growth work this season is to determine which of your winter dreams you want to focus spring’s powerful energy on. Which seeds are you going to plant in the ground to tend and harvest?

Ostara: The Season Of New Beginnings

A Short & Sweet History Lesson

The Earth becomes warmer and more fertile as the Goddess is coming into the full power of her Maiden aspect. The promise of greener, warmer, more bountiful times is becoming apparent as buds and blossoms emerge from the trees and shrubs, bees return to begin the pollination cycle, and fields of grass wake up from their winter slumber.

Before Christianity came to dominate the cultures of Europe, most pagans celebrated festivals on or near the Equinox, often honoring deities associated with fertility and abundance. One such deity was Ostara (also known as Eostre), a Northern European goddess of fertility who was worshiped in many areas populated by Germanic tribes.

Similar to the symbols observed at Easter, like eggs, rabbits, new bulbs of flowers, and seedlings bursting forth from the earth, many Pagans embrace these symbols to represent the fertility of spring and incorporate them into rituals, altars, and celebratory feasts.

Rituals

Pic via @unicornmanor on Instagram

Your Get Out Of Jail Free & Be Creative Card

Who doesn’t love an excuse to put adulting aside and set up a Spring altar? To honor the energies of this time of year, you can decorate your altar with fresh flowers and a small potted plant or two. Use flower petals to mark the sacred circle, and fill your cauldron, if you have one, with fresh spring water to float petals upon. Images of hares, eggs and pastel colors are also traditional decorations. They don’t have to take much time and shouldn’t need to cost you a dime. Although, I always love a good excuse to buy myself some flowers.

Did We Mention There’ll Be Food?

If you celebrate the Wheel of the Year you know that it’s essential to celebrate with a Sabbath dinner. This is a great excuse to invite friends or family for a dinner. Make it potluck style and share the good company and good fortune that comes with a Sabbath celebration. Foods appropriate for Ostara celebrations include eggs, sprouts, salads/greens, and other seasonal crops such as asparagus and fiddlehead ferns. One of my FAVORITE things to make is lavender lemon bread. I've linked a fabulous recipe for it HERE

Ostara is a great time of year to cook because produce is bountiful and colorful. Try something new or stick to an old favorite. Either way, take a moment to reflect on the burgeoning spring as you chop, stir, and season. And as always, make sure to say a blessing and show gratitude for the sacrifices made for your meal, especially if it includes meat! (Oh, and don’t forget the wine).

Pic via @kutovakika on Instagram

Planting Seeds of Intention

This is a good time of year to start your seedlings. If you grow an herb garden, start getting the soil ready for late spring plantings. You local flower shop or hardware store most likely sells small envelopes of seeds--herbs or flowers. The dollar section of my local target had small grow kits for sunflowers, cone flowers, cosmos and other flowers. This is a very inexpensive way to start supplying yourself with  flowers to be planted in your garden come May/June.

1. Start by poking a few holes in the bottom of a plastic cup filling it with about 2-3 inches of dirt or a small dirt pellet
2. Place no more than 5 seeds on top and lightly press them into the dirt
3. Place by a window with sunlight and keep them moist
4. Transplant when the plants are 3 inches tall to a larger pot or to your garden.
5. Make sure to add plant food when the plants are 3 inches tall.

I always like to plant my flowers with intention. I’ll focus on a positive affirmation for myself or others that can harvest along with the flower. All this really takes is focus. Focus on your intention, and imagine that intention flowing out from your hands and into the soil with the seed. When you water your plants, imagine you’re also nourishing your intention to grow. Writing a word that symbolizes the intention on the pot is a wonderful reminder.

Many modern Pagans/Witches mark Ostara as a time of renewal and rebirth. Take some time to celebrate the new life that surrounds you in nature–walk in a park, lay in the grass, hike through a forest. As you do so, observe all the new things beginning around you–plants, flowers, insects, birds. Meditate upon the ever-moving Wheel of the Year, and celebrate the change of seasons.

For more Ostara rituals, foods, and ideas check out our Ostara/Spring Equinox Pinterest Board

Art by: Tati Moons

Happy Early Birthday Aries Angels!

The spring equinox marks the start of the astrological calendar. This is the first day of the astrological sign of Aries, the ram. Charging forth with passion, the ram exemplifies the reemergence of life after a frozen winter. Wishing you the most abundant and fulfilling day and many more trips around the sun to all the Aries babies!

I wanted to take this opportunity to share the importance of birthdays. Whether yours is in this sun sign or months from now please take note:

Your birthday is your most powerful time of the year. Do things on your birthday that you enjoy and bring you fulfillment and happiness. What you do on your birthday sets the theme for your entire year. This is the best time to set goals / intentions to manifest them.