 New
mother Millie Gounder-Flynn awakens to the season of
birth and promise heralded by Ostara, the Spring Equinox.
A cool breeze dances past my face,
sunlight kisses my forehead as I gently embrace the
fortifying touch of the Sun Father. A feeling of unfettered
joy pulses through my body. The ground is alive as the
radiant fertile body of Mother Earth exudes the sublime
scent of life. As I peer across the land with my heart's
eye, I see her, resplendent and fertile. The trees quiver
with excitement as new leaves clothe their bodies, a
symphony of flowers opens, cascading aroma, colour and
life upon the world. It's a sumptuous feast of life
at a time when I myself awaken to the birth of my first
child.
Maiden Spring has laid her fertile signature upon the
land and we are all transfixed under her spell. Spring
Equinox or Ostara, is one of the eight yearly celebrations,
or Sabbats, of the Pagan Wheel of Life. Ostara is a celebration
based on an astrological activity, in this case when night
and day become equal. From this point onwards, daylight
will dominate as we all bask in the longer days of sunlight
that will remain with us until Midsummer. Ostara is a
wonderful celebration of new life in the Pagan calendar
that falls between the 20th and 23rd of September each
year in the Southern Hemisphere, and marks the beginning
of the vibrant Spring season. In the Northern Hemisphere,
Spring Equinox coincides with the celebration of the Christian
Easter festival, and it is no coincidence that their messages
are very similar. Many Easter traditions are founded upon
ancient pagan folklore.
Spring Equinox is named after the Goddess Eostre (sometimes
also known as Ostara), whose fertile nature is still held
sacred by Germanic tribes today. It is widely believed
that Christian Easter derived its modern name from this
fertility Goddess, as well as the corresponding symbols
of fertility - colourful eggs and bunny rabbits. Coincidentally,
Ostara also denotes a connection to the Germanic word
"Ost" or "East", again a reference
to dawn and this season as a marker of renewed life. This
vital time of the year oozes potential and abundance;
the land will yield again whatever we need to sustain
us. These ancient celebrations connect us in many ways
to the daily reality of the old world, when agriculture
and living in harmony with the land were an issue of survival
as much as a system of belief.
Ostara celebrates that life has triumphed once again across
the land, that the dance of fertility between Mother Earth
and Father Sky is still potent. Internally, many people
also feel this inner renewal within their own life's journey.
Many will feel reinvigorated and inspired to create or
pick up projects long left fallow, waiting on the right
time to take form. This season and celebration sings a
great song of potential and our ability to plant and tend
to wonderful creative pursuits in our life. As we honour
these instincts internally, nature offers Her support
as this very same energy is mimicked all around us in
the fertile dance of growth occurring across the land.
Just as Winter offered a wonderful time to honour releasing
those thoughts and feelings that don't support our higher
good, Spring is a fantastic time to plant deep within
the ground - and deep within our hearts - seeds of happiness,
fertility and abundance, seeds that will bloom light and
love into all aspects of life and not just in our own
life. It is a wonderful time to acknowledge how profoundly
interdependent we all are. As we plant seeds of happy
thoughts for our friends, family, workmates and the Earth
so, too, do we set our own path towards greater peace
and contentment as we honour an energy of harmonising
with the greater good.
As Spring dawns upon us, there are many ways to celebrate
this rush of sublime youthful energy. Physically, we can
honour our bodies, empowering this energy by allowing
it to function at its peak. We can do this by nurturing
all aspects of our body with vibrant and clean energy,
by honouring our primal instincts, replenishing our core
with vital fresh fruits and vegetables, cleansing water
and herbal teas and refraining from processed foods that
seem to slow down a system that is trying to spark up.
Skin brushing, gentle exercise, and regular meditation
are all wondrous tools to help our innate creative abilities
bloom and shine forth. A healthy system generally manifests
as a happy demeanour, so honour your new growth with lush
and organic delights.
There are many beautiful ways to harmonise your spirit
by celebrating new life at this wondrous time of year.
Decorate your home with bunches of beautiful and colourful
flowers, allowing the aromas to drift delightfully through
your sacred space. Pick your own garden flowers - vibrant
wattles, for instance, offer a distinctly Australian energy.
Green is often cited as a wonderful colour that represents
Ostara, symbolising the vibrant growth issuing forth in
nature all around us. Hence, decorating the house in green
candles and wearing green will symbolically connect you
with the Spring energy. Eat seeds like sunflower, sesame
or pepitas, acknowledging that you are fertile ground
for change, renewal and new creative endeavours.
Eggs are wonderfully symbolic of this time of the year,
and of life, which is why they are used in both Pagan
and now Easter celebrations. In the Southern Hemisphere,
our Equinox does not coincide with Easter, but that doesn't
mean we cannot still use the symbolic eggs in our rituals.
Painting eggs with symbols of fertility, growth, strength,
unity, love, prosperity, protection and wisdom is a wonderful
ritual. Or empower an egg with a quality you desire to
foster in your life, then cook and eat it on the Equinox.
Afterwards, use some of the eggshell crushed up and sprinkled
in your garden, invoking the fertile qualities to pass
into your crops, and even into the elemental creatures
that might live there, like the magical fairies!
Make some time in your day on the Equinox to be outside
in nature and spend some quiet time absorbing and reflecting
on this truly awesome natural spectacular. A lovely sunsoaked
ritual can be as simple as taking some paper and colourful
pens and writing in a circle all the "seeds"
you are planting into your life right now, all you are
grateful for and all you will support with conscious energy.
Then, let this circle sit in the sunlight, absorbing its
nurturing and life-giving rays. Always offer thanks to
the Divine that all outcomes come in positive, perfect,
and grace-filled ways. Finally, plant this sacred piece
of paper in the bottom of a new pot, placing some soil
and seeds above it. As the seeds grow, you can visualise
all those prayers and ideas growing, too. Alternatively,
you can ritualistically burn the circle, releasing the
outcome to Spirit. A great way to develop this idea is
to sing your dreams into nature. Simply close your eyes,
allow the sun to soak into your senses, feel Mother Earth
pulsing up beneath you. Breathe in this sacred moment,
connecting with the pulse of life both inside and outside,
and then just start singing.
Celebrate Ostara by visualising your connection to the
land, that you, too, are going through your own internal
Spring Equinox. A beautiful visualisation can be as simple
as going into a quiet and safe place after a lovely refreshing
ritualistic bath.
Light a candle and focus on the light. Close your eyes,
and visualise that you are that light, and that you are
now roaming the land as this transient light. Take a moment
and just breathe in the beauty of the land which you see
as a vast and unending vista of radiant beauty and breathtaking
magick. Look around at your sacred space - is it full
and vibrant, or does it need some maintenance? Take some
time here, and help your garden evolve. This is your special
place so let your imagination run wild, free and joyful.
See seeds falling into the fertile ground and wriggling
in, and then instantaneously budding. Each seed carries
a new positive quality that you endeavour to embrace.
Anchor this energy with breath, breathing gently in and
out the blessings of these new qualities. Most of all,
this is a time of exquisite fertility, so if you are trying
to conceive, visualise that you are the land - radiant,
sublime, ever fertile, your body yearns to be full of
life, and thus it is. Visualise your most sacred dreams
evolving within this magical world, thanking the Universe
for all the gifts and abundance of this special time of
the year. When you are finished, simply open your eyes
and you will back in the present.
In the yearly sojourn, the season of Spring is symbolic
of the new, of beginnings and awakenings. I surrender
into this moment and, instinctively, my body softens.
I surrender into this rite of passage - birth is here
and shining upon my own personal journey, for soon our
own first child will breathe the blessed vitality of Mother
Earth, too. I close my eyes and smile. Life is such Divine
bliss.
Blessed be.
|
