spring equinox: ostara
I have come to deeply value the annually occurring markers of Time and Season and Purpose that occur on any old “ordinary” calendar. These markers are easy to let slip by if we don’t prioritize and ritualize them as the milestones of meaning that they are. For more on why rituals play an important part in the Well-Seasoned Woman’s experience, read my blog about rituals here.
One of the “Big Four,” seasonal markers that occur annually is the Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara, by those with a nature-based spiritual practice.
brief festival background
One of the “Big Four,” seasonal markers (the 2 solstices & the 2 equinoxes) that occur annually, the Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara is the time we welcome the official beginning of Spring.
The word equinox comes to us from the Latin words, equ= equal + nox = night, so an equinox is a day with roughly equal amounts of light and darkness, and they occur twice a year, somewhere around March 21 and then again around September 21 (the Autumnal Equinox in this hemisphere).
The holiday, Ostara, takes its name after the Germanic goddess, Eostre/Ostara, who was traditionally honoured in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility, renewal and re-birth. Interestingly, Ostara is depicted having the head/shoulders of a hare. The word, Ostara, comes from the same word as our English words estrogen, the female hormone, and estrus, the word to describe a female animal in heat/rut. This makes this anciently celebrated milestone distinctly feminine in nature, for who is more associated with the physical act of fertility, giving birth, and embodied creativity than women?
Eostre/Ostara is also where we most likely get our word for Easter. I find it sad that modern, patriarchal, Christian interpretations exclude the distinctly feminine thread in modern celebrations, focusing exclusively on the story of the paschal mystery (in essence the celebration of the Life-Death-Rebirth cosmic pattern) as told only through the Jesus narrative. Important feminine, “springish” symbols of fertility and birthing, such as the hare (aka The Easter Bunny) and the egg remain as slightly bewildering additions to our current holiday’s symbology.
Because of what gets lost in translation, I find it most helpful to separate the two events in my mind and in my holiday-making. I celebrate Ostara on or near the annual solar equniox and Easter at its designated time annually (Easter is determined by both the solar and lunar calendars). However, if you look at the themes of the holiday below, you could most certainly tease out some of the threads common to both events.
the key themes of ostara worth honoring
When celebrating Ostara/the Spring Equinox, you’ll want to include at least several of these key ideas:
Rebirth/renewal
Fertility & sexuality
Creative potentials & allowing what has been concealed to reveal itself
Budding, blossoming, blooming
Springing forth in abundance
The gift of curiosity
Spring is the season for taking creative risks, exploring what’s coming to life (in nature, in our bodies, in our hearts, in our minds, in our imaginations). It’s the season for paying attention and taking action on what attracts us and for responding (one way or the other) to what is attracted to us! It’s the season for creating options. for not being afraid to try something new (and make mistakes & learn from them).
I’ve found that a brilliant, thematic way to honor the transition from season to season and to deepen my experience of daily living into the current season is to keep a daily, affirmation practice. To read more about affirmations for the Well-Seasoned Woman, check out this blog post and this one. I begin saying this affirmation aloud daily on the Spring Equinox and continue until the Summer Solstice in late June.
I NOW AFFIRM THE BLOSSOMING OF MY UNIQUE, CREATIVE POTENTIALS
some ritual-making ideas for ostara honoring
Spring is the season of “Saying Hello!” to life, to rebirth, to the feminine power of creativity, to the hatching of new, creative potentials, and the blossoming of curiosity and its juicy, awkward, untried, attractice, captivating messiness.
Rituals are an important meaning makers for our lives. To learn more about the simple, 5-step ritual template I developed for my own use for my individual and shared ritual celebrations, read my blog here.
While all rituals seem to take root in our heart and minds more when they are embodied, surely the Spring festivals are the most in sync with their seasonal energies when they include the idea of “springing” into action! So, if our ritual is limited to sitting and dreaming by the fire, we’ll be missing out on a fuller, richer, more juicy opportunity to sync with the energies rising up to begin manifesting a new growing season!
What follows is a quick list of ideas to spark the content of your own Ostara celebration. If you’re following the WSW’s 5-part ritual template, these ideas would be used for #Step 4.
Bedeck a doorway (in your home or outside—like mine, pictured above). Compile a list of experiences you’d like to try & risks you’d like to take. Then, hold your list and stand on one side of the threshold. Say aloud, “I now gratefully leave the season of dreaming & hibernating.” Then, as you step across the threhold, say, “and I now enter the season of action and curiosity, where I commit to stepping out of my comfort zone and exploring ___(read your list).”
Gather 4 plastic eggs. On small slips of paper, write one of the creative and/or pure FUN ideas you’ve been harboring in your heart & mind for the last little while. Repeat until you have a slip of paper inside each egg. Place the eggs on your altar and smudge them. Then, on every New Moon of Spring, open one egg and spend the next two weeks (until the Full Moon) practicing being brave & curious and putting that idea/dream into action At each Full Moon, celebrate your progress, your risks, your mistakes, your participation in Life!
Ritualize an egg dying or rock-painting session. Use words, images, and symbols to express some of the themes of the season. Then place some of your eggs/rocks on your altar and give others away, or scatter some rocks across your neighborhood walkways for others to discover!
Alternately, use canvas shopping bags as the literal canvas for some sharpie-magic “bedazzling” with images and words that afirm your seasonally thematic intentions (See image below)
Here are some seasonal prompts for you to use for journaling/oracle card pulling. Use them to help set your intentions for the coming ACTIVE season of Spring:
What new creative potentials are on the verge of hatching in my life? How can I best nurture those potentials?
How does my WOTY (Word of the Year) want to blossom now?
What is lighting me up?
Where am I playing it too safe?
How can I raise my frequency to attract my highest/best?
What new thing am I most attracted to right now?
If you’re feeling sluggish, stagnant, and in need of a new attitude right this very minute, then get busy and gather some branches (and maybe a blossom or two if you have any around) from outdoors Tie the bundle off with ribbon, rubbberband, or cordage. Then, walk through each roon of your home, open the windows, and “sweep out” the old, stagnant air of Winter by waving your broom in the air & into the corners of the room as you whisper, shout, or sing— Welcome, Spring!
However you decide to celebrate, practice syncing with the seasonal energies of Spring rather than being stifled by perfectionism—the artificial need to do everything perfectly— okay? We Well-Seasoned Women are not about perfect, we’re about practice—showing up to celebrate Time, and Season, and Purpose!