Celebrate Spring Equinox, Ostara

About the Spring Season
Ostara, March 21

This time of year marks when night and day are of equal length and in perfect equilibrium – dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer, in balance. The natural world is coming alive, the Sun is gaining in strength and the days are becoming warmer and longer.

Ostara or Eostre, is an Anglo Saxon goddess representing dawn. As a spring goddess she oversees the budding plants and fertility of the earth. She was traditionally honored in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility, renewal and rebirth. It was from Eostre that the Christian celebration of Easter evolved, and indeed the naming of the hormone Oestrogen – essential to women’s fertility.

Most of the symbolism around Easter holidays stems back to the pre-Christian Pagan celebrations of the Spring Equinox. Traditions such as painting Easter eggs with bright colors are a reflection of the spring flowers blooming. The hare is sacred to the Goddess Ostara and is a symbol for the moon, immortality and fertility. The date of the Christian Easter is determined each year by the phase of the moon.

Over the centuries the symbol of the hare at Ostara has become the Easter Bunny who brings eggs to children on Easter morning. Eggs symbolise the rebirth of nature, the fertility of the Earth and all creation. In many traditions the egg is a symbol for the whole universe.

Themes

Renewal

After being sluggish and hibernating during the winter months, it’s time to renew your energy. Circle is a safe space to renew your passion, energy and commitments.

Fertility

Circle is the perfect place to hold women as they give birth to new ideas, project and dreams. It’s a potent space to declare your intentions and declarations for what you want to birth (including getting pregnant). It’s also the perfect place to create Mother Blessing Circles.

Rebirth

After the season of death (winter) comes rebirth. We stretch our wings like new babies seeing life for the first time. Create circle as like a womb space to symbolize the journey of being birthed again into the world.

New Beginnings

When you fall off the wagon, you always have a chance to start again. Circle is the place to dust yourself off and prepare for the busyness of spring.

Blossoming

We have a theme at Sistership Circle called Blossoming into Beauty. What makes you feel beautiful in your own skin? Allow the space for women to express themselves and blossom into their beauty, boldness and brilliance.

Sensuality

Use the 5 senses to feel more alive and come out of the numbness that we can feel during the winter months. Use essential oils, music, massage, chocolate to heighten the senses of the body.

Seeding

This is the time to plant new seeds for the future using the energy of the new moon and the energy of the season. Dream of new possibilities together with sisters.

Ritual Concepts

Spring cleaning

The intention of this ritual is to spring clean and clear everything out of your system you no longer need or want. To get rid of the things, energies, beliefs, thoughts that are no longer serving you.

Egg Painting

Eggs are a symbol for rebirth and fertility. They represent what might be possible, what needs to be birthed, what’s stirring within. They’re also a representation of the Goddess Ostara. your egg will represent the thing that you feel needs to be born into this new season, the thing that’s been stirring within. Paint the visual representation of that to manifest it into reality.

Planting Seeds

You can set intentions for the dream seeds you want to plant for the future with a physical seed that you plant in the earth. Take a scoop of fertile soil in a milk pint and put it in your windowsill to remind you of your intentions as the plant grows.

Movement

After hibernating during the winter, it’s time to start moving the body more rigorously. Dance can be a powerful way to access the sensual feminine and release the stagnation from winter.

Symbols and Tools

Egg

In many cultures and belief systems, the egg is considered the perfect magical symbol. It represents new life, fertility, and have been used for countless magical and ritual uses through the centuries.

Flowers

Crocus is one of the first flowers of Spring. It is associated with new love. One of its popular uses is to enhance visions and intuitive dreams.

Daffodils are found in shades of white, yellow and sometimes orange. Associated with love and fertility, they are often used to bring prosperity and abundance. Wearing it close to your heart will draw love and luck to you. Daffodils are one of the most popular flowers for altar decorating during this time of year.

Dandelions are often associated with growth and transformation. They are thought to bring about positive change, and the flowers can be used in divination to draw good energy your way.

Serpent

In some mythologies the goddess Ostara is associated with serpent or dragon energy. At this point in the year the serpent or Kundalini is very strong.

Rabbit

In medieval European societies, rabbits were a major fertility symbol. Particularly a species of hare named lepus, which is nocturnal aside from mating season in March, where they are widely abundant during the day. Females can become pregnant with a second litter while still pregnant with the first.

Gardens

Gardens are also thought of as an image of the soul and innocence. It also symbolizes consciousness because of its enclosed characteristics, as opposed to the forest. Gardens are commonly considered feminine and represent fertility.

Get the Spring Equinox Circle outline HERE

Get the Women’s Circle Ritual Handbook, Spring Edition

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