Ostara (Spring Equinox) Blessings!

Ostara (Spring Equinox)(Northern Hemisphere) March 19, 2024 – a celebration of fertility and the Goddess of Spring.

(Southern Hemisphere: Mabon – The Autumn Equinox)

How to enjoy and celebrate Ostara/Eostre and the Spring Equinox!

The celebration of the first day of Spring is also called Ostara, which is also one of eight sabbats on the Wheel of the Year. Ostara/Eostrehas deep roots in Norse culture, well before adopted by Christians in their Easter Celebrations.

Ostara/Eostreis generally held around the time of the spring equinox; that is, around March 21st in the Northern Hemisphere and September 21st in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ostara/Eostre

Named after the Germanic Goddess Eostre, this celebration honors the divine feminine and the resurrection of life after the cold, brittle death of winter. The sunlight greets us with rays of hope for the coming seasons, insects and animals are abuzz with springtime fervor, and farmers are sowing the seeds that will hopefully sustain them throughout next winter.

Ostara vs Eostre

Eostre is the Goddess of spring and the dawn. “Ostara” is not a Goddess but a Wiccan and Neopagan holiday and it is one of the eight sabbats or festivals in the Wheel of the Year. The word Ostara is related to the name of the Germanic Goddess Eostre or Eastre, honored in the month of April.

Ostara vs Easter

Ostara is not the same as Easter. The Christian holiday, Easter, marks the observance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ostara comes from a Germanic festival also known as Ostern, celebrated in April, marking the resurrection of plants and flowers in the spring.

The Easter Bunny and the hare as a symbol of Easter, however, may be related to Ostara, the pagan festival. Many folk customs involved hares around the Easter season in Northern Europe, including folk tales of the Goddess changing a bird into a hare on Her day (Ostara), where the Easter egg and the Easter bunny come into play on this sabbath.

Simple Ostara 7 Spring Equinox Rituals

Plant Seeds in Your Garden

As the first day of Spring, this sabbat is a crucial time to plant seeds in order to ensure a fulfilling harvest. In colder zones, you can start seedlings indoors to get a head start on the year’s crops. You can also bless your seeds or ask for blessings from your fertility deity of choice to increase your chances of a bountiful harvest.

Set GOOD Intentions

As you plant seeds in your garden, this is also a great time to consider the seeds you are planting in your everyday life. What new ventures are you starting? In what ways can you tend to these seeds a little bit, each and every day? Much like a garden, you will need daily tending in order to blossom into the best possible version of yourself.

GOOD Intentions Jar Spell

A quick lesson on how to set intentions + an easy jar spell to give them shape! Add herbs, crystals, oils and other magical ingredients. Smudge with sage or incense, and say a prayer for your GOOD intentions. Never create a BAD intentions spell jar, as these can come back on to you three folds.

Sage Smudging

Follow up with a Sage Smudging to cleanse out all negative energy, use a white candle to bring in positive energy! Take this opportunity to honor and bless your home by thanking it for all it does for you.

Burn Incense

Burn incense for the season, burn floral and fresh scents, letting these scents permeate through your home helping to cleanse the stale odors and energy out from winter.

Create an Altar for Ostara

Whether or not you worship the goddess of spring, you can devote an altar to the season of Ostara or to your favorite fertility goddess such as Brigid, Freyja, Isis, Demeter, Hathor or Xochiquetzal. Here are some other colors, items, and associations with Ostara that you can incorporate into your altar:

Color associations: Lavender, pink, light yellow, sky blue, spring green, pastels.

Altar Decorations: Freshly-picked spring flowers, decorated eggs, statues of rabbits or hares, feathers, seeds, a small broom.

Plants: Spring flowers (crocuses, violets, iris, tulips, etc.) lemongrass, thyme, red clover.

Do not use Lillies as Lilies are very toxic to cats, small dogs, and other animals. Do not bring lilies into your home if you have pets that may ingest them.

Decorate & Hide Eggs

This is a family-friendly Ostara activity that everyone can enjoy! Although performed at the Christian celebration of Easter, the hiding and decorating of eggs is actually a tradition that stems from Germanic pagan practices. These decorated eggs were created as offerings to an ancient goddess of the Spring as a symbol of fertility, creativity, and humility from a humble hare.

In modern traditions, eggs are hard-boiled before being dyed in a menagerie of colors. On Easter morning, children awaken to find that their eggs have been scattered around by the Easter bunny and set out to find them in exchange for chocolates, toys, and treats.

You can use Natural ingredients to dye eggs, such as Onion peels; Blueberries; Mulberries/BlackBerries/Raspberries; Red Beets; Turmeric, Carrots and other natural staining ingredients along with white vinegar to naturally dye your eggs.

Bake or make candy for the Season

A common practice to welcome the warmth of Ostara into the home is baking. If you’re looking to create a springtime work of art, you can bake a beautiful loaf of bread decorated with flower petals, peppers, or other vegetables. These gorgeous hand-crafted loaves make wonderful offerings to deities. Back a carrot cake, or make some coconut or cream candy or candy eggs.

Spring Cleaning

As the weather now allows us to open up our homes to the fresh Spring breeze, it’s a great time to sweep away the negative energies that have been lying stagnant in the home all winter long.

Cast a banishing spell as you listen to some spring music along with a spring blessing chant. If you’ve collected some clutter or extra layers throughout the cold months, then it may be warm enough to start packing these things away and organizing your home.

Decorate for Spring

Once you’ve cleansed your home, it’s time to start decorating! You can bring in a freshly-cut bouquet of spring flowers, carefully craft a besom, or place beautifully-decorated eggs around your home – the possibilities are endless!

Research & Pray to Eostre

As more and more pagans find their unique path, more of us are discovering the goddess Eostre and other manifestations of the Divine Feminine or the Triple Goddess, especially those that connect with the Wheel of the Year.

Whether she is a trusted archetype that you work with or a goddess that has newly revealed herself to you, you can honor Eostre and the spirits of the Earth by taking time to learn about the history and customs that brought about the holiday of Ostara and how the spring goddess of the dawn relates to you.

If it fits into your practice, you may choose to write a prayer to Eostre to thank her for the return of the sun and ask for her blessing in matters of fertility or cultivation. Once we better understand these deities and the way our ancestors interacted with them, we can reclaim our history and faith to reconstruct meaningful rituals of generations past.

Greet the Dawn

Not only a goddess of spring, Eostre was also a goddess of the dawn. Much like the rebirth of springtime, the dawn introduces new light into our lives. Each day presents a chance to reinvent ourselves to make sure we are in alignment with our highest form.

• On the morning of Ostara, wake up early, before the sun rises.
• Put on a pot of coffee or your favorite tea – bonus points if it’s a tea made with spring florals!
• Find a quiet place to sip your tea and meditate as you watch the eastern horizon for the sunrise.
• You can take this time to journal on your reflections or set a new intention as your bid good morning to the dawn.

Whether you’re a newly-practicing pagan or have been on your path for many years, we welcome all practices and hope this helps you in crafting your own traditions and finding new ways to honor your faith. Ostara blessings!