I've neglected this blog since getting a full time job outside the home. That's a story for another time. Right now, I want to thank those of you who are still here, checking in on my blog, following me on Twitter, and who "like" my Facebook page.
I have these cute overall treat bags and I think they make the perfect "THANK YOU" for one of my readers. Although the giveaway ends ON Ostara and the winner won't have them in time for this Ostara, whomever wins is getting a nice Ostara gift AND can use them next year or this year for Easter, if you so choose...
SIDENOTE: I'm not big on celebrating Christian Holidays and a quick blog search on the matter will explain my 'why' - so feel free to read those entries if I've piqued your interest.
So anyway...check out these adorable Ostara overall treat bags! The photos don't do them justice.
Enter the giveaway below to win these cute Ostara Overall Treat Bags!
I cleaned up my altar today and decorated it for Ostara. So happy to see my little gnomes and flowers on the altar now!
Today is the Spring Equinox! Let's hope winter gets the idea and packs it in!
Every year around Ostara my Uncle Eddie brings me Daffodils. The daffodil is the first flower of spring and it symbolizes hope. Now, he doesn't bring me daffodils for Ostara, he's Catholic and doesn't really 'talk about the fact that I am no longer Catholic (It's been close to 20 years since I've found my Pagan path, you'd think he'd be used to it by now). He brings me the daffodils he gets from the American Cancer Society.
"To the American Cancer Society, it represents the hope we all share for a future where cancer is no longer a life-threatening disease."My cousin, his daughter, passed away from cancer at the age of 11, she died about 12 days shy of her 12th birthday; she would have been 32 years old this past March 16th.
Ostara and daffodils have a special place in my heart. Yay for Spring! Here it's 48 degrees and sunny right now, we're supposed to have sunshine and warm temps today, up to about 72! I have some work to do this morning but then this afternoon I will be redecorating my altar and spending some time outside with the Witchlets.
I hope today is a beautiful day, wherever you are; no matter what the weather is like.
Ostara and Easter are so closely related and twisted that Easter is perhaps the only “Christian” holiday that still has a Pagan title. Easter gets its name from the Teutonic Goddess of spring and the dawn, whose name is spelled Oestre, Eostre, or Eastre.
The ancient Saxons started most of this, actually. They celebrated the return of spring with the old adage, laugh, drink and make merry. This festival was held in tribute to their Goddess of fertility and springtime, Eastre or Ostara. When the early Christian missionaries met up with the northern Saxons, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. It's been a life long battle for the Christians, to convert Pagans into their beliefs system.
The Equinox and Easter are so close, those who celebrate Easter often see this holiday (which observes Christ's resurrection from the dead after his death on Good Friday) as being synonymous with rebirth and rejuvenation. However, look closer at some of the Easter customs, you will see that the origins are surprisingly Pagan! Eggs, bunnies, candy, Easter baskets, new clothes, all these "traditions" have their origin in practices which really have little or nothing to do with the Christian holiday.
Funny, I was raised Catholic and no one could ever explain the Easter bunny to me, or why we colored eggs. Let's take a look at those particular traditions:
- Coloring Eggs - eggs are clearly one of the most potent symbols of fertility, and spring is the season when animals begin to mate and flowers and trees pollinate and reproduce.
- Easter bunny - of course, another huge symbol of fertility.
- Daffodils - represent new beginnings, rebirth or resurrection.
No matter what the faith, The Spring Equinox is viewed as a time of rebirth an new beginnings. This is a good time of year to start your seedlings. If you grow an herb garden, start getting the soil ready for late spring plantings. Celebrate the balance of light and dark as the sun begins to tip the scales, and the return of new growth is near.
Take some time to celebrate the new life that surrounds you in nature and as you do so, observe all the new things beginning around you.
It's finally here - Ostara! The Spring Equinox is such an inner awakening for me!
I really look forward to hearing the birds singing in the morning! I love having the windows open and feeling a warm breeze sweep through the house. I love sitting outside in the evening watching the Witchlets play, they love being outside!
My daughter, Olivia is so excited because Spring begins in the same month as her birthday. I can't believe she will be 6 soon!
May the Balance of the God and Goddess awaken and stir your spirit from within!
Ostara Blessings to all my readers!
The Spring Equinox, Ostara, is upon us. The most potent aspect of this holiday is the balancing of the earth's gravity midway between the extremes of light and dark at Winter and Summer Solstice. In fact, try this:
On the day of the Vernal or Autumnal Equinox, just a few moments before the exact moment of the equinox, go outside with a raw egg. Find a reasonably level place on the sidewalk or driveway. For a few moments just before and just after the equinox, you can balance the egg upright (wider end down) by simply setting it down on the ground.
Another aspect of this holiday is the symbolism of the egg. The egg is one of the most notable symbols of Easter. Now, I was raised Catholic and believe me, I asked but was never told why we colored eggs at Easter, or why there was a bunny who delivered candy to us and I always wondered about this holiday. Easter has adapted many ancient Pagan symbols and customs in its observance.
Easter gets its name from the Teutonic goddess of spring and the dawn, whose name is spelled Oestre or Eastre (the origin of the word "east" comes from various Germanic, Austro-Hungarian words for dawn that share the root for the word "aurora" which means " to shine"). Modern Pagans have generally accepted the spelling "Ostara" which honors this goddess as our word for the Vernal Equinox.
This is how the 1974 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary defines Easter:
"orig., name of pagan vernal festival almost coincident in date with paschal festival of the church; Eastre, dawn goddess; 1. An annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon that occurs on or after March 21."The Vernal Equinox usually falls somewhere between March 19th and 22nd (note that the dictionary only mentions March 21st, as opposed to the date of the actual Equinox), and depending upon when the first full moon on or after the Equinox occurs, Easter falls sometime between late-March and mid-April.
Easter traditions and how they relate to Pagan traditions:
The traditional coloring and giving of eggs at Easter has very Pagan associations. Eggs are clearly one of the most potent symbols of fertility, and spring is the season when animals begin to mate and flowers and trees pollinate and reproduce. In England and Northern Europe, eggs were often employed in folk magic when women wanted to be blessed with children. There is a great scene in the film The Wicker Man where a woman sits upon a tombstone in the cemetery, holding a child against her bared breasts with one hand, and holding up an egg in the other, rocking back and forth as she stares at the scandalized (and very uptight!) Sargent Howie. Many cultures have a strong tradition of egg coloring; among Greeks, eggs are traditionally dyed dark red and given as gifts.
As for the Easter egg hunt, I have heard a rather scary history to this. As with many elements of Pagan "ancient history, " there is little or no factual documentation to back this up. With that being said, the story goes like this:
Eggs were decorated and offered as gifts and to bring blessings of prosperity and abundance in the coming year; this was common in Old Europe. As Christianity rose and the ways of the "Old Religion" were shunned, people took to hiding the eggs and having children make a game out of finding them. This would take place with all the children of the village looking at the same time in everyone's gardens and beneath fences and other spots.
It is said, however, that those people who sought to seek out heathens and heretics would bribe children with coins or threats, and once those children uncovered eggs on someone's property, that person was then accused of practicing the old ways.
The Easter bunny - well this is easy. Rabbits symbolize fertility and Spring is all about fertility and new life!
Source: witchvox.com
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