[march 21/22
spring equinox
fourth spoke on the dark side of the modern wheel of the year]
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.
—Pablo Neruda
Light and dark meet in the middle twice a year. Ostara is the spring equinox, which means that the length of night and day are equal. Equinox descends from aequus, the Latin word for “equal,” and nox, the Latin word for “night.”
Thought to be Roman in origin, Ostara predates Wicca and Christianity. Ostara is thought to have been established by Caesar to mark the beginning of the tropical year. And contrary to popular belief, while Easter does share a lot of similarities with Ostara, they are not the same thing. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. That is why Easter can be celebrated in late March or early April. In general, the religious celebration of Easter has nothing to do with the secular traditions of eggs, rabbits, and candy that are popular with the springtime holiday today.
There is variance of the Ostara holiday found all throughout the world. The spring equinox symbolizes rebirth, revival, and resurrection, as it is the last festival in the dark half of the wheel. The warming temperatures also lead to increased fertility, and it is a great time to begin planting the seeds of love magick. To look around outside, you would begin to notice that the earth is fertile, pregnant with the possibility of life just about to spring forth from the ground. Some Wicca traditions hold that the Goddess and the God are married at Ostara.
Throughout European history, and much of world history even, it was commonplace to give a couple livestock to encourage and promote fertility in their union.
Spring brings with it a wealth of gods and goddesses coming out of winter and rejuvenating the earth with life! There are so many worshipped across all cultures, but here are some of the most popular:
Eostre: Ostara is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, Seostara or Eostre. Even with a modern holiday being named after her, not much is actually known about the goddess Eostre.
Pan: Ostara brings with it the return of the Horned God in a new form, Pan. Pan is a god of nature and the wild. He brings in the coming spring with his songs, waking up the slumbering animals through the wilderness.
Triple goddess: Looking at the gods and goddesses of Ostara, we also tend to see various goddess aspects of the great triple goddess as she resumes her Maiden form. This is true of any triple goddess, and not delegated to a particular one.
Persephone (Kore): In Greek mythology, Persephone is also linked to Eostre, as the flowers and birds are beginning to return from their winter hiatus. We can find Demeter, who is caring for her daughter Persephone, after her time spent in the underworld.
It is no coincidence that we have a tradition of spring cleaning. As the last spoke on the dark half of the year, Ostara is just on the cusp of a new season of life in nature. Not only have our physical spaces gotten dusty, sometimes our mental spaces have too. Spring, and Ostara in particular, is where we tend to ourselves and restore the balance in our physical and spiritual spaces.
Most of us know Marie Kondo's theory for decluttering and cleaning our lives. This is a physical practice that deeply affects our spiritual well-being. Cleaning, tidying up, and decluttering not only allow us to breathe, but they allow us to decide what we devote energy to daily. We have the choice to maintain lots of things or fewer things. When we have lots of things in our lives, the physical clutter is a direct reflection of internal clutter that we may have.
I see this as kindly as I can, as I am a clutterer myself, and I feel fairly confident in saying that if you clutter your space, there is some aspect of either your spiritual or mental life that is cluttered as well. It's one of those basic concepts that you can find in almost any self-help book, but it's really true. Do we control our belongings, or do our belongings control us?
If you think things have gotten out of hand, don't worry. You can follow the basic process of decluttering that follows. And remember, you're not decluttering just to declutter; your decluttering to allow spiritual growth and energy to flow through your space.
SPRING CLEANING AND DECLUTTERING RITUAL
I will be the first person to admit that I am cluttered. I have tried nearly every “hack” to get organized yet still find myself amid a sea of chaos in my daily life. Sound familiar? If so, this one is for you.
You will need:
Begin by lighting the candle and placing it on your working altar. Ask your higher powers to lend you peace as you begin this task. Leave the candle burning as much as possible, preferably letting it burn straight through.
Take a few moments to center yourself in meditation. Reflect on what area in your physical world brings you the most stress. When you feel grounded, grab those trash bags and head to that area.
Put everything (except furniture and items that are 100 percent necessary for daily function) into the bags and place them in a closet or closed room.
Grab your broom and sweep in a clockwise motion, moving the dirt out of the room and out the front door.
Next, prepare your mop by placing a pinch of salt and a generous amount of cleansing herbs (see p. 45) or Florida water into a bucket of cold water. Mop the floor in a counterclockwise motion. Allow your floors to dry completely before using them again.
Do not return to the bags of stuff until the seven-day candle has burned all the way down (or wait seven days before going back to the bags). This will allow you the clarity and space to declutter and start fresh.
Dyeing Easter eggs is a popular secular tradition we've probably all partaken in at some point in our lives. In the Middle Ages, Europeans began decorating eggs as a treat following Easter Sunday mass. These eggs were eaten to break the fast from Lent, and this is still something that occurs in parts of Europe today. The original intent behind dyeing eggs was to encourage the sun to get brighter, which is why so many Easter eggs incorporate the color yellow. Eggs are the ultimate symbol of fertility and potential, a time when we are finally coming out of the darkness of winter and the light of spring is just around the corner.
Regardless of its actual origin, what we do know is that decorating eggs is a central activity in today's modern Easter traditions. So why not have a little bit of fun with it?
OSTARA EGGS
There are tons of ways to dye eggs, but the best way to foster that energy of fertility is to use natural elements instead of boxed dyes. There are tons of plants that can provide beautifully colored eggs if you're willing to give it a shot.
When selecting materials for naturally dyed eggs, it's best to use fresh or frozen produce. Canned vegetables and fruits typically lose their color and aren't very pleasing. Here are a few ingredients I have found over the years to dye eggs natural colors. Some work better than others, but I have successfully (or unintentionally) managed all of these colors using these ingredients:
When you're using natural dyes, it's easiest to hard-boil your eggs and your dye materials at the same time. Boil eggs as you usually would and set them aside. In a large mason jar or bowl, prepare your boiled dyes. When you have placed the dye in whatever container you will use for your eggs, place the eggs in and let them sit for a few hours. Adding a little bit of vinegar to the water will help enhance the color. Remove them from the liquid, and allow them to dry.
Alternatively, you can soak hard-boiled eggs in room-temperature dye for longer.
(Note: Red eggs need to be boiled with copious amounts of yellow onion and vinegar, and will take longer.)
When you dye eggs with natural products, they aren't glossy like how boxed dyes make them. However, you're probably not done with your eggs yet, and will use paint or markers to add designs. Once you've finished designing your eggs, coat them with a little bit of vegetable oil to give them a nice sheen.
Ostara is this unique time of year when we are just coming out of the dormant stages of winter but are not quite able to jump into the active stages of spring and summer. For whatever reason, I am really averse to the light that filters through in April and find that the earth is overall too bright and buzzy and happy. Maybe I just wish that it were still autumn, or perhaps I am just going through a little bout of seasonal depression. Either way, I find that during this time I often struggle with maintaining motivation to work toward the goals I set in the Imbolc period—this is the time of year I am most inclined to be lazy.
So I created a spell against laziness for just this type of problem. Performing a series of steps is actually very similar to forming a new habit. We can't objectively target and work on our problems unless we are able to identify them. By giving ourselves the ability to objectively look at what is working and what is not working, we empower ourselves to maintain power over our reality.
DUST-BANISHING RITUAL
(OR: A RITUAL TO FORM A NEW HABIT)
This ritual is perfect for whenever you feel as though you've sort of lost track of your goals or your momentum to accomplish the things you want to get done. It helps you hit the reset button and come back to your focused self with fresh eyes and energy, a kind of antidote to that post–New Year's resolution slump.
You'll need to assemble a few basic supplies to start:
A talisman is a piece of jewelry or other trinket that is used in spellwork for protection and to bring good fortune or wealth. This doesn't have to be some large sign of paganism if you are either closeted or work a professional day job. Personally, I like to wear Alex and Ani charm bracelets. They are inconspicuous enough to wear in daily life without question, affordable, and have tons of different varieties for whatever the mood of my spell is.
To set the tone, light your seven-day candle and invoke the elements, spirits, gods/goddesses, or guides that you would like to walk with you on your path to activity. Do not call on someone unless you want to work with them continually for the next few weeks.
Grab your notebook and pen, sit back, and jot down what your day looks like. Start from the time you wake up to the time you lay downall of the things you usually do and how you do them.
Look objectively at the list and write down some of the areas you want to work on. Which one of these is most manageable right now? Circle one item on the list of changes that you'd like to make. (Note: This shouldn't be the biggest problem on the list, because that problem probably isn't manageable right now.)
Write out the sequence of events in which this problem or behavior occurs.
Then write out the sequence of events as you want them to happen, changing the process.
Whatever your pattern is, write it down on a new sheet of paper. As a bonus, drawing a sigil to charge your new daily ritual can help you maintain motivation during the first few days. Sigils are small symbols made by a witch or occultist to embody a particular spell or manifestation.
When you've figured our your new pattern (and sigil), leave the paper, along with your talisman, to charge with the seven-day candle. Leave the candle burning and come back to it each day for the duration of the burn.
With each day that passes, assess what is working about your new pattern and what isn't.
The reason we are leaving the talisman with the burning candle is because creating a new ritual to replace a faulty one rarely works the first time around. Allow yourself a few minutes throughout each day that the candle is burning to come back and be honest about your progress and what might need correcting.
At the end of the seventh day (or however long it takes your jar candle to burn), pick up the talisman and prepare to “banish the dust.” Grab some good old-fashioned cleaning supplies and literally dust off all the surfaces in your house, setting your intention to continue with your new patterns and rituals daily.