I've been celebrating the Spring Equinox and the wider Celtic Wheel for over 20 years, and it's a wonderful time of rebalancing and planting seeds for the year ahead, here are some of the stories and ways you can celebrate the magic of this time.
Why Ostara stories invite us to find balance in our lives as well as the light and dark of our day:
Ostara - the Spring Equinox is the point of balance of light and dark, a celebration of the blossoming of Spring that has been taking place quietly gently under our feet and our noses for weeks.
Ostara is loaded in tradition, myth and magic. As we notice the point of balance between day light and night time, this point of balance calls us to balance our light and our shadow, masculine and feminine, outer and inner balance. We become aware of the aliveness of the natural world around us and energy building. The increasing length of the days brings a boost in energy and feeling of wanting to spring clean, sort out and move forward with our lives, plans and ambitions.
You can invite this festival of rebirth to call you back from the darkness. For it is only with the connection to our light that we can be the change that we want to see in the world. Explore what will be 'born' from the ideas and seeds you plant into the world right now.
Ways to celebrate:
Honour the light and dark within you with quiet and with movement, with rest and with doing, with music and sound and space for quiet and listening. Let the goddess of this time, break through the last of the cold to welcome the blossoming part of mid Spring, while heeding the wind and rain as it blows the cobwebs away and reminds you to release all that has been holding you back. May you Spring forward at this Equinox but also remember that even the mad March hare rests!
Ways to connect to this time include spending time in nature, looking for the signs of mid Spring, celebrating with friends and sharing what this time of year means to you, planting seeds and seedling-sharing in your community and taking time to notice where the balance of doing and dreaming is in your life right now.
Perhaps you've been working hard and some time off to pause and rebalance is just what you need? Perhaps work has been slow and you've been caught in dreaming of new possibilities so it's time for some action to make your dreams happen? It's a great time to reset, review and plant both physical and metaphorical seeds for your success this year.
Spend some time in reflective journaling on meditating on the questions: Who are you today? Who are you becoming? What happens when you invite the possibility of letting go into your life and surrender into the possibility of being more of yourself?
What happens when you review the balance in your life, in activity, in quiet and mindful practices, in the fuel you consume both in terms of food and drink, media, books and company? Are you out of balance in laughter and playfulness? But in balance in work and productivity? Take some time to contemplate, review and set yourself gentle steps to change.
What is an Equinox anyway:
The Spring Equinox or Ostara in the Northern Hemisphere, falls around the point of balance between light and dark in daylight, a point that happens twice a year - at both Spring and Autumn Equinox. Here in the UK, day and night become equal on 20th March 2024 at around 3.06am (the exact time will depend on where you are based).
An equinox is described as the moment when the sun appears to rise due east and set due west, occurring around 20/21 march and 22/23 September each year, with a slight variation in timing each year.
The Spring Equinox is loaded with promise of fertility as it brings the point of mid Spring when all of a sudden buds that have been working their way out, seem to 'almost overnight' burst into blossom and leaf. It's often a time for baby animals in the farming calendar, so you'll see lambs and calves in the fields, and be aware of birds making their nests.
Ostara Stories
The stories of this time of year, come from many different cultures, but most centre with a belief around this rising feminine, fertile energy and a balance of male and female energy represented by the balance between light and dark in the sky. Eostre is believed to be an anglo-saxon goddess of fertility and new-life and an influence in the naming of Easter and the hormone oestrogen, in connection to the time of feminine energy. Closely linked to the Germanic goddess Ostara/Oestre of the same intention, awakening spring and the dawn of new beginnings. She is the dawning of the Sun and as the Sun warms, her presence grows stronger wherever she is seen; the year dawns, the snow melts, plants rise up from the frozen ground and she makes new life possible.
In days when our ancestors had no electricity or modern comforts, this time of year was an important period of festivity as communities celebrated surviving winter, and the approach of Summer. People thanked the unseen beings who ruled the world for the breaking up of the frost-time and prayed for plenteous harvests and fruitful flocks and herds to the gods and goddesses of nature.
Across all the traditions of goddess Ostara, they bring the myths of the goddess of spring dancing through the land and waking up the last of the land that is still under the spell of Winter's slumber. Tales talk of birds and hares helping the goddess wake up the land, with the Ostara hare being a bird whose wings became frozen. The goddess took pity on this bird as it lay on the edge of death and transformed him into a hare who would help bring the awakening of Spring even to the cold places of the North, where birds could not fly. The hare in gratitude, retained it's bird-like ability to lay eggs and laid coloured eggs as a token of gratitude, and way of bringing the blessings of Spring to all upon it's journey."
Hares are nocturnal and bring a connection to the moon, lunar cycle, spring, and fertility and rebirth are intertwined by various spins on these tales.
The Hare is a curious symbol shared by the medieval cultures of Europe and Asia; Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, where many of these traditions saw hares as representative of femininity and magic. At times, hares can be portrayed as clever and foolish, cowardly and courageous, virginal and sexualised. But in many stories the hare is a spiritual messenger for the feminine energy of the world, moving under the protection of moonlight between the human world and the world of the gods.
Interestingly in other cultures, the hare is a god in his own right, hiding in plain sight amongst the people.
The astrology of this time sees us step out of dreamy Pisces on March 19th with a reminder to notice magic around us before the fiery sign of Aries bursts in with the start of the astrological year. As we move into the sun sign of Aries, it triggers a burst of 'doing' and 'making it happen' energy - that we need to balance with the fact that while it is getting lighter, it still gets dark of an early evening, and we may yet have some frosts. It's not yet time to plant all of your seeds, too soon!
The wonderful poet Donna Ashworth writes of this time in her poem Spring from her book 'Wild Hope' :
I have always believed March to be the harbinger of hope, the launch-pad to lighter days, the gateway to Spring. March soothes our winter-worn souls with anticipation and its promise of more. It gently shakes our hibernating toes and whispers ‘wake now, your wintering days are done’. And so, with each earlier sunrise, we emerge, we reignite, we reenergise. As with the nature around us, we begin to rise. Come on in March, we have waited for your light, for your joy, for your new. We are ready.
Donna Ashworth
Spring from ‘Wild Hope’
For those curious to explore the spring equinox see what's happening on your doorstep, get out and look for the signs of spring around you.
We're hosting a series of magical events to connect to the season,
Join our women's only,
goddess gathering on Friday 22nd March at Amner's Farm near Burghfield, Reading for an evening of connection, sisterhood support, full moon meditation and journaling to restore the feeling of being 'out of balance' within you.
Be part of our
evening retreat, open to all, men, women all welcome in our inclusive, full disabled access venue at Beech Hill, near Mortimer on Friday 29th March for
a celebration of the Magic of You. A shamanic offering in collaboration with Heather Parker, bringing soothing sound through drum, wooden flute and her hypnotic voice and folk-tunes, while Judy guides you through meditation magic, with hands-on reiki-healing and heart-opening cacao.
Keep up to date with all our events on
eventbrite,
instagram and
facebook
And whatever you do, may the bright blessings of Ostara bring you balance!
