OSTARA, THE SPRING EQUINOX 2007

The Equinox is Tuesday, March 20, at 19:07, or 7:07 PM Central Standard Time. There is alot of strong magick power available to witches who are tapping into it. Try to take a walk and really tune into the birdsong, new green growth, and awakening earth.

The Spring Equinox (here in the Northern Hemisphere--it's Autumn for Aussies and the rest in the Southern Hemisphere) is called Ostara in modern Pagan/Wiccan calendars. It is considered one of the 8 Sabbat Feasts of the year.

Modern Pagans graft two ancient--and slightly incompatible during their time--calendars together. The Equinox/Solstices would have been mainly agrarian and Saxon-- hence "Ostara" the same root word and goddess that "Easter" comes from--and the Druidic Celtic Fire festivals of Bealtaine and Samhain. Many debate whether Imbolc and Lughnassadh were celebrated by the Celtic Druids, despite their Celtic names. Lughnassadh is "First Feast" the cutting of cultivated grain. Imbolc is First Milk, from the birth of the winter lambs.

The Celts certainly herded sheep and cattle, so Imbolc seems a likely celebration, but would it have ranked with the fire feasts marking the two halves of the year--Bealtaine and Samhain? And certainly some agricultural would have existed among all but the most nomadic of the early Celtic tribes, but again, Lughnassadh seems more in keeping with settled Celts, living along side their Nordic invadors/neighbours.

None of this is academic, of course, and I invite you to research it yourself if you are interested. As with any research into Celtic magical practices I encourage you to stay away from books that are written using anything beyond primary or secondary resources, and stick to the scholars, at least at first. Too many publishers (like Llewellyns' --and I like Llewellyns for many reasons, but they are NOT known for their research or adherence to scholarship) and witches will take something that they intuit, or that fits their premise, and ignore historical research. (IE, Read Peter Beresford Ellis and Jeffrey Gantz, then read Graves, etc.)

You needn't reseach anything though, to do magick and commune with the earth, sun, spirits, and gods! Light a candle, say a prayer, open your arms to the wind, toss a pebble across a stream, dance in a circle around a beloved tree, leave some food out for the birds and bunnies and other creatures.

One of the best Ostara spells is to plant seeds with intention. Hold each seed in your hand and visualise a goal or desire, then plant it in a pot or in the ground. Each time you tend the plant, think about your goal. As you nurture the seed also nurture your dream.

Another fun thing for an Ostara rite is to try to balance an egg. Alas, in these days when chickens are fed sawdust (food) and concrete (to make shells) supermarket eggs probably won't work. You would need to buy cage free, free range, organic feed eggs (if it doesn't say all three things the chickens weren't really free or fed properly.) And the egg needs to be room temperature.

I would encourage you tomorrow, at some point, to look ahead to April 1st, which I have declared ALL DREAM'S DAY. What would you do if you were King or Queen for the day, and could change the whole world? What would Planet You look like? Jot a few notes down for April 1st. Maybe if we all Dream together we will change the world. Only a Fool would believe it true, and only on the day when the Fool, the court jester, the clown, was crowned Regent, would it be possible for dreams to change the world.

BLESSED OSTARA!!!

PRAISES, THANKS, & BLESSINGS!!!

PS-- My series on THE SECRET and laws of attraction, etc, will continue later this week.