Celebrating the Spring Equinox (Ostara)

The Spring Equinox is the traditional celebration of the new life that bursts forth with spring.
It has given us the modern celebration of Easter.

Spring Equinox traditionally falls on March 20-21, and is the exact midpoint between the winter and summer solstices. Starting at sundown on March 20, there are exactly 12 hours of night and 12 hours of daylight.

This is a time of huge energy. Nature is waking up after its long winter sleep and everywhere you look there is evidence of new life: trees are in bud, seeds are germinating and animals are preparing to bear their young.


Celebrating New Life

In Wiccan lore, the Oak King, the god of light, wins a victory over the Holly King, god of darkness. As light conquers dark, the great mother Goddess conceives a child. Nine months later, at Winter Solstice, the child will be born and the cycle begins again.

Easter: Spring Equinox in the World

The Easter festival we think of as a Christian celebration is the church's appropriation of this traditional Pagan festival. The resurrection is a tale of new life, but where do the Easter eggs and rabbits feature in the Bible?

Even the name, Easter, has Pagan roots--Eoestre is the goddess of light, who brings the spring. The root of the work comes from "estrus"--the time in an animal's sexual cycle when it is fertile. Eoestre's festival was held on the Spring Equinox full Moon; thus Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full Moon following the Spring Equinox.


Fertility and Rebirth

The Spring Equinox is often represented by a Spring maiden carrying a basket of eggs, the symbol of rebirth. The maiden is accompanied by a hare or rabbit, representing abundant fertility, from which comes our modern symbol, the Easter Bunny.

How to Celebrate the Spring Equinox

There are many simple ways to celebrate the season of rebirth--from spring cleaning your body and your home to cooking up traditional Easter treats for family and friends.


1. Spring Clean Your Home

In springtime, gardeners clear away the debris of winter from the base of plants, allowing room for new growth. So we, too, can make space in our homes for fresh ideas and projects to emerge.

Renew your Home

As the growing light shows up the accumulated dirt of winter, remove it.

*Go into those hidden places, under the sofa and behind the refrigerator, letting in the light and leaving everything fresh and new.

*Clear out any clothes you no longer wear from your closets.

*Wear green to symbolize the shoots of spring;this will remind you of the new beginnings spring represents.

2. Special Spring Food and Drink

Make a celebratory meal to share with your friends--perhaps a picnic outdoors, or inside, if the weather is bad.

Dishes for Spring

Create the following dishes for a symbolic spring meal:

-> Nettle Tea--The first edible green leaves of spring, nettles are rich in minerals such as iron

-> Quiche, the eggs in which are reminiscent of new life.

-> Hot cross buns are reminiscent of the Sacred Marriage. The arms of the cross are of equal length, which in some cosmologies represents the union of male and female.


3. Make Your Own Easter Egg

Traditionally, eggs were painted bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, or colored scarlet to represent life blood.

Spring Resolutions

As part of your ceremonies, you can paint an egg:

+ Decorate a hard-boiled egg with bright colors, symbols, or affirmations.

+ Write about a new project on the shell. If you are with friends, you can take turns to talk about what your eggs symbolize. Passing the eggs around the group will help to energize them and fill them with positive intent.

+ Absorb the energy you have invested in the egg by ceremonially shelling it and eating the contents.

+ Crush the painted eggshell and bury it--to sow you new hopes into the earth.

4. Spring Clean Your Body

After you have spring cleaned your home and it is clear of the previous season's old, stale energies, you can then cleanse yourself. Spring clean your body's systems by drinking a purifying tea of dandelion leaves and nettle tops.


New Beginnings

then make a spring altar, preferably in your garden to fully benefit from the new air of the season. On it, place spring flowers and fresh greens . Prepare an incense of purification herbs and spices, such as hyssop and juniper. As these offerings burn, meditate on the new projects you are ready to start--the seeds of new plans you wish to sow.

Making your own Sleep Charm

A couple of years ago, I found myself tormented by horrifying nightmares. I would avoid going to sleep at night because they terrified me so much. And, it was always the same theme, the same feeling of doom and no escape, leading into a terrifying leap from a building or falling from a ledge just to get away from the demons. I started sleeping with a very large amethyst geode on my headboard, and positioned it so my hand could rest on it. Then, I placed various gemstones in bed with me, touching my skin. I chose Tiger Eye, Amethyst, Sodalite, Moonstone, Hematite, and Rose Quartz. It was a strange site to be sleeping on purpose with rocks in my bed, but it worked for me. I fashioned a bracelet out of amethyst and moonstone to wear whenever I have bad dreams, and I have lavender scented air fresheners in my bedroom. (Can't do the candles as much anymore, now that I have cats). I found this Sleep Charm in my Book, and I am posting it with the hopes of helping others get through these times of unrest and fear.

Sleep charms offer you magical protection through the night, warding off demons--psychological ones as much as any other kind-- and stimulating your mind to produce peaceful dreams. Even the act of making your own sleep charm can help you to feel relaxed.

An inability to sleep well is often caused by daytime worries and anxiety that we fail to shake off before bedtime By making a charm and reactivating it every night, we make a clean break between waking and sleeping hours--a psychological change that will help us to relax.


Natural Aids to Sleep

There are many natural aids to help us sleep. Soft colors, such as pale blues and lilacs, help to soothe our mind and spirit, as do gentle aromas, such as lavender. By including these in our sleep charms, we can help to soothe ourselves to sleep and awake in the morning feeling spiritually and physically refreshed.

Your Sleep Charm Equipment:

*Sprigs of rosemary, thyme and lavender
*A white feather
*A blue ribbon
*A white candle
*A blue pen
*A sheet of white paper


Blue Magic

Blue, used for the ribbon and pen, is the color of a spring or summer sky. It is the gentle color of spiritual harmony and symbolizes peace.


White Magic

White, used in the feather, the candle and the sheet of paper, is the color of purification and cleansing. This significance means it is a good color to include in many spells and rituals.

Herb Lore

Rosemary, thyme and lavender can encourage restful sleep. Rosemary is thought to prevent nightmares, thyme can help to relieve disturbing dreams, and lavender can be used for protection.


Making your Sleep Charm

This step-by-step ritual of making a sleep charm can help, psychologically, to prepare you for sleep. Climb into bed ready for a tranquil slumber.

1. Sleep Visualization

Holding the white candle, imagine yourself sleeping easily and peacefully.

2. Light the Candle
Light it while saying out loud, "I light this candle in honor of the spirit of peace."

3. Make your Wish
Using the blue pen, write your wish on the paper--for instance, "I will fall asleep easily."

4. Parcel of Herbs
Place the herbs and the white feather on the paper and roll up these
ingredients so that they are contained inside the tube of paper.


5. Bind your Wish
Knot the ribbon three times around the roll while saying,
"By the power of three, so let it be.
Bring healing deep sleep here to me."

6. Seal you Wish
To secure your wish safely within the charm,
drip some candle wax over the ribbon knot to seal it.
Once you have done so, blow out the candle.

7. Place your Charm
Place the magic charm under your bed to encourage restful sleep.

8. Activate your Spell
Relight the candle as you prepare for bed each night. This will help to charge the charm.
After a week or so, when the candle has expired,
the charm will be fully activated and your sleep will be sound.

Celebrating Imbolc (Candlemas) February 1st

The fire festival of Imbolc brings the first thaw of winter. It is a time of rebirth, fertility and nurturing under the auspices of the Virgin Goddess.

Imbolc brings the very first whisperings of spring. Early spring flowers peep up through the cold earth and the tiniest buds begin to form on the trees. Winter is by no means over--in fact the worst is often still to come--but there is a glimmer of hope. Candles are lit to represent the return of the Sun and the divine spark of creativity.

The Virgin Goddess

In the Celtic Triple Goddess tradition, the Crone of winter is reborn as the virgin at Imbolc. Known to the Celts as Brigid, she was a fire goddess and one of her main aspects was as a healer.
The Celtic image of a virgin was of inherent sexuality and fertility. As the thoughts and ideas incubated over winter emerge at this time., it is necessary to heal old, outmoded ways to allow new ideas to be born.

Imbolc in the Modern World

The Pagan fire festival of Imbolc is still present in the modern world. At the beginning of February, the returning light is celebrated by the Christian church as Candlemas. Traditionally, the candles are blessed and taken home to use in times of trouble. The festival also recognizes the Purification of the Virgin Mary, when she went to the temple for 40 days after giving birth to Jesus.

Weather Forecast

Old country lore claims that the weather at Candlemas forecasts the climate for the next six weeks; if the day is sunny the remainder of the winter will be stormy, but if it rains, the next six weeks will be mild. This aspect has been taken up in North America where the emergence, or not, of the hibernating groundhog is believed to be a spring weather predictor. This is known as Groundhog Day.

Imbolc Celebrations

Celebrate the lengthening of days and the warming of the earth at Imbolc, with rituals of purification, fertility and renewal.

A Purifying Bath

The Romans named the month of February after a word signifying purification, as this was the time when ritual cleansing would prepare a person for a fresh start. So take a ritual bath at Imbolc in your own homemade "healing well".

**Collect some early spring flowers (in the U.K., snowdrops are often used) and then set the scene in your bathroom with lit candles around the bath tub to signify the burning away of old ideas as well as the coming of the light. Choose white candles for purity and green to recall and welcome the spring.

**Burn juniper oil and put a drop or two in the bathwater. This oil is chosen because it is a very powerful auric cleanser.

**Summon the goddess Brigid by scattering flower petals in the bath.

**Relax in the water, using an apple green soap.


Planting Seeds

Just as the seeds are germinating in the earth, Imbolc is a time when you should imagine your thoughts and ideas starting to warm up after leaving them to hibernate through the winter. Combine the correspondences of new life and light to perform this simple ritual for Imbolc.

1. Choose a quiet spot outdoors, in your garden or a local park, perhaps beneath your favorite type of tree or bush.

2. Plant a seed or bulb in the ground to make this place more special to you, choose the seed of your preferred plant or perhaps one associated with your Zodiac sign.

3. Now, light a small, white candle (to represent the Virgin Goddess's purity), sit and watch it burn down. As you do so, imagine that the seed you have planted represents the thoughts and ideas you have sown in hope for the year ahead.


A Brigid's Cross


At Imbolc, it was traditional to make a Brigid's Cross to welcome the goddess into the home. These were hung over doors or windows for the year, then burned and replaced at next Imbolc. You can make your own Brigid's Cross:

-> Bind two sticks of equal length to form a cross

-> Imagine your cross is made of four sticks and number them 1-4, from the top counting clockwise

-> Tie a silver ribbon around stick 1, close to the center of the cross, then take it to the right of stick 2 and wrap it around the back. From the left of stick 2, take the ribbon round to the right of stick 3 and wrap it around the back; take it from the left of stick 3 to the right of stick 4, and so on. Continue weaving in this way.

-> When it's complete, adorn your cross with other decorative items.

(My Simple Brigid's Cross, made with incense sticks and ribbon)