S: you are listening to episode 12 all about Ostara. So this is our next holiday this year, you already listened to us talk about Imbolc so if any questions about the holidays and at the wheel of the year we refer you back to that podcast which was episode number five. so we are jumping into the next one Ostara, which, like all of these, corresponds with a lot of Christian holidays. Ostara is the spring Equinox and it falls between March 20 and 23rd for the northern hemisphere and September 20 to the 23rd or the southern hemisphere. and it is considered the first astrological date of spring. is the start of the growing season so basically all of the celebrations for this holiday are related to that. it is celebrated by pagans all over the world but the term and celebration comes from Germany and is named after the German goddess of spring which I cannot pronounce but it's spelled EOSTRE I think, so it's clearly very similar to Ostara but that's not how you pronounce it.
T: there's actually sorry I'm just looking at one of my notes here and there's 1-2-3-4-5 different ways to spell it so close enough.
S: so we're gonna be at a total loss. So there are a lot of different stories surrounding this holiday, where it Came from in the German traditions, which are all very interesting, if you want to look them up I highly recommend it, but they all end in the creation of the Easter bunny. a bunny that can lay eggs that's that's what it call comes to.
T: Technically, it was a hare.
S: Yes, a hare. A hare that can lay eggs. There's different ways to get to that ending, but they all end in the hare that lays eggs. which is obviously where it comes from in Easter because if you're Christian then you have all of these traditions with Christ, the cross and everything, you're kind of wondering where the Easter bunny comes from in relation to Christ, well, it doesn't. They stole it from the pagans.
So wicca has it's own traditions associated with Ostara which I will let you know, I will summarize quickly and Tara will let you know the actual details about. But it is that the goddess is born anew as the maiden, she is the representation of fertility, new growth, and abundance and that's all I know about wicca.
T: well spot on in what you know and it is all about fertility and fertility returning to the land that's why the maid is so important because she is the aspect of the goddess that is fertile and so that's why the maide starts to play a lot of rolls coming up here. there are, we actually like to die eggs which I know lotta people do for Easter, but again we invented that, we always die eggs but we hard boil them so that you can still eat them they're not wasted. it's been a thing that we've done as far back as I can remember for this holiday, but a lot of it is celebrating fertility and the return of it. one thing that a lot of people like to do is to seek balance at this time. So any negative acts you may have done or caused to be done this a good time to like pay back loans, to ask forgiveness from your family, it's a very family centered holiday at least the way I've always celebrated has been.
S: so we are going to give you the Ostara correspondences, just like we did with Imbolc. So the colors of the season as you can probably guess are all the Easter related pastels, pastel pink green purple and yellow all of the things traditionally associated with Easter. the animals are obviously in the hare, chicks, butterflies and lambs. the crystals are rose quartz amethyst aquamarine and rainbow moonstone.
T: which is beautiful.
S: yes the herbs are violet honeysuckle meadowsweet and catnip. the flowers and trees are birch alder tulips and daffodils. The foods are hot cross buns, which we will explain, eggs, lemon, honey, and leaft greens. The incense and oils are floral scents like rose and Jasmine and the spells like Tara talked about her balance, new beginnings, abundance fertility and finding lost items.
So how can you celebrate? Like we always talk about you can wear the colors or create decorate your altar and you can do another separate divination where you go from Ostara to the next holiday to see what's coming for you. and cooking and eating which we love. Now hot cross buns are traditionally associated with this, if you know anything about the Christian traditions the hot cross buns are also part of that and they say that the cross on the top of the bun is the cross of Jesus, but it's it's not. If you are Christian it could be for you but it is traditionally pagan, because they left traditional offerings to the German goddess and they represent the crossing of the equinoxes in the wheel of the year.
Another fun oneone because I actually really like this is lemon poppyseed bread. and because associated are poppyseeds and seeds in general breads in general and also lemons lemons are a good symbol of like new growth and you'll be getting something that comes up early spring. so I love lemon poppyseed bread for some reason. For decorating your altar you can also use all of those that same things and you can also do the painted eggs that Tara talked about, bringing the flowers, use the colors, and it;s also a good time to do meditation related to new beginnings, and a good time to start meditation so if you struggle with it want to get more into it this is a good time to start, it's a good time to start new things it's very related to Imbolc in that way, they're both related to the celebration of the coming of spring, because Imbolc is looking forward to it and Ostara is when Springs actually here according to the astrological calendar. that might not be the case where you are because it's not the case in Chicago or Iowa, I tell you that.
T: well and the reason these are so similar is at least for Wicca there's greater sabbats and then there's lesser sabbats, and the lesser sabbats are all the ones that are like the solstice, the equinox, that, so that's why it's very similar to the greater cause it's, it's kind of an extension of that holiday.
S: Yes, there are these middle you know holidays which is what they all are, they are solstice, equinox, and the midpoints in between. so Imbolc with one of those mid points looking forward to spring and now this is when it's actually here.
T: so yes the mid points are what are the greater Sabats are, which are usually more religious focused and then the actual equinox is, they're still celebrated and still important but everyone agrees on those more than the mid points, so they become less religious driven in some sects of Wicca.
S: And one way to celebrate at least I have shared that I was going to tell you something that you can create because I know a lot of witches love to get out in nature create things with their own hands, to use either as decoration or to give back to the earth, and we talked about the brigid dollies and crosses in Imbolc so I think a fun one for Ostara is to create a birdfeeder.
T: that is a good one
S: Seeds and birds are traditionally associated with this holiday but I think it's a good way to give back and put out a birdfeeder.
T: if you're making a birdfeeder I always like to recommend putting a bee box out somewhere as well because these are highly endangered and we need them. We need them real bad. Think about what the birds Eat and what we also need to ear - bees.
S: yes we would all die without bees.
T: we would all die and they're incredibly endangered so this is a...
S: yes take care of bees, do not confuse bees and wasps, bees are good wasps are not,so you can kill kill all the wasps. no we don't need those but we need a cute little bumblebees
T: yes yes we do we're desperately need of more. so I'm assuming that if you've thought about it, not going to put it in the middle your garden, you might also want to put a little bee box underneath it, just saying. it's a little public service announcement because I don't have a yard and I can't have a bee box.
S: so those are all the ways that I have to celebrate, any to add Tara?
T: no I will say that although the spring equinox happens at a very particular time don't be afraid to move your holiday celebration a little bit, I know this is right around the time religious holidays are Going on that your kids might learn about at school so you have like kids in school and things don't be afraid to move this a little bit for your celebration portion. I'm not saying don't do anything on the day but I've always thought of this one more is like a family holiday.
S: yeah so and a lot of people celebrate over the entire three days and generally will... the actual spring equinox date changes and it'll fall between March 20 and March 23 but you could celebrate that entire three day span. it would be just as effective.
T: and I know a lot of people do stuff for the week leading up to it as well just thinking of injustices that may have been done throughout the previous year or deaths, loans, just things of this nature that they can pay back or apologize to on the actual day ordering three days but it does take some prep work if you're going to go that route.
S: That is all we have to share with you.
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