CELBRATE OSTARA & SPRING EQUINOX
WITH SIMPLE WITCHERY
March 20 is the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere this year. Official spring not withstanding, the weather in March is usually a mixed bag. Depending on where you live, it could be warm and sunny one day, and blowing up the worst winter has to offer the next. No matter the weather, March definitely brings thoughts of spring.
When I was a child, the grounds outside the Old Main building of our local university had settled into a bowl. Each spring when the snow began to melt, the water runoff collected in the little basin, freezing overnight. Every afternoon the warm sun melted more snow, leaving several inches of water on top of the mirror-ice base. Walking home from elementary school, I’d cut across that campus to ice surf, running as fast as I could then sliding across the smooth ice, sending up a fin of water in my wake — sometimes on my feet, sometimes on my seat, always soaking myself in the process.
Now that I’m older (by quite a bit), falling on the ice and getting soaked is not as entertaining as it once was, but that hasn’t dampened my puddle lust. Now, instead, I race my little, baby blue VW Bug through the water, sending a 10-foot spray up into the air. When I hear the sound of that water hitting the undercarriage and see it spinning up from the tires, I know winter has seen it’s last. This is my yearly rite of spring.
Ostara is about that exuberance and anticipation that came so easily in youth, about cutting lose, opening up, and jumping in with both feet.
On the wheel of the year, Ostara celebrates the fertility of the earth and all living things. It’s the barely contained exaltation of the mating dance. It manifests in physical vigor and youthful passions. Ostara is represented in the flirtatious maiden and randy suitor. It’s the foreplay leading up to Beltane.
But amidst all of this spring revelry and frolicking, Ostara also projects the energy of balance in the push and pull of opposites, male and female, yin and yang. The very function of spring itself is a balancing act between winter and summer.
These Ostara activities will help you honor the season and invoke the energies of fertility, growth and balance.
Planting seeds in anticipation of a reaping a harvest is the ultimate act of magic. Whether you do this literally, by purchasing seeds and planting a garden, or figuratively by making to do lists, journaling life goals, or creating a vision board, you are invoking the energy of Ostara.
Springtime offers an excellent opportunity for connecting to the vibrations of life. Just visiting a park, formal garden, or botanical gardens will fill you with inspiration. Did you know the word inspire comes from old Latin meaning to breathe in, or the drawing of air into the lungs? To breath in is to inspire, and that is never more true than in a garden.
Try your hand at growing your own witchy herbs in a windowsill garden. Basil, sage and rosemary and thyme do well in sunny locations. Other herbs such as mint, chives and coriander do better outside. Try planting them in a large container along with flowers like marigolds, nasturtiums and violas that can be used in potions, elixirs and essences.
Get the kids involved to help you call the wee folk to your yard with a fairy garden. Gather small bibs and bobs for decoration and magical energy, like crystals, marbles, tiny fairy statues, frogs and toadstools. Plant with small flowers, like violas, impatiens, lobelia, wild strawberries, and succulents like hens and chicks.
Plant your wishes and watch them grow with magical seed bombs using paper coffee filters. Have kids write wishes on the coffee filters (you can do the same!), then put a small amount of potting soil in the center. Add flower seeds of choice and gather the filter into a bundle, securing with cotton string. Bury the seed bombs in flower beds or container gardens and water. Say something like “What I plant and tend — so it grows ’til summer’s end. Water, earth, air and fire, bring the harvest I desire.”
Try working a little color magic by dying eggs with natural ingredients, like onion skins, beets, and tumeric (root crops with powerful earth energy). Fair warning, you’ll have to invoke patience for this lesson in magical earth science.
Or opt for this quick and easy method I’ve gone back to year after year that cooks and colors the eggs at the same time, using only onion skins. The color variation from pale yellow to deep copper are very earthy and the marbling effect is stunning.
Banish winter sluggishness by brewing up an herbal tea using spring greens. Dandelion leaves and roots make a wonderful herbal diuretic and help support kidney function. No need to wait for the snow to melt for a harvest, there are many commercial varieties available. Or try green tea with two or three lemon slices for a similar effect to flush the lymphatic system.
Dandelions are one of the first sources of pollen for honeybees, so when they do show up in your yard, let the pollinators feast on them. When they go to seed, project any bad habits or stagnant energy you want to be rid of onto the fluff and blow it away in the wind.
Try these fun and easy activities to connect your energy to Mother Earth and to the cycles of life, death and rebirth. And don’t forget to try standing an egg on end at the exact time of the equinox. Hint — like all magic, it takes secret knowledge . . . and practice.
Blessed Be and Journey Well
