The Oracle

Ostara - Mar 21st

This festival is otherwise known as the spring equinox. Ostarra is the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility, who was known in part of Germany as Eostre. Now you may have noticed that the name reminds you of a few things. We actually get the words Easter, Oestrus and Oestrogen from this very fertility Goddess. The spring equinox is when the length of the day is exactly equal to the length of the night, but from this day on the nights become shorter than the days. This is also the time when many herbs, flowers and trees begin budding, which many hay fever sufferers will tell you. It is also the start of the sowing season as farmers take to the fields.

This festival is one of the four-quarter festivals, and is also known as a solar festival, in which the sun is honoured for what it is unlike at Imbolc where fires are lit in remembrance of the sun. This festival has many associations with Beltaine, but it is mostly associated with the beginnings of life, birth and of rebirth.

Nature itself is undergoing a huge rebirth, and at this time of year there is an explosion of life wherever you look! Trees are covered in catkins and buds, herbs proliferate, and flowers such as seem to be plentiful, creating a myriad of colour. Small mammals come out of hibernation, birds return from their winter migrations, and the predators, after a long hard winter are once again on the hunt.

This is a time of hard work for those in rural areas, as the planting season has begun. The ground is frost-free and a new fresh wind is now blowing from the east, bringing with it the bountiful rain. The ground is also ready to be tilled; the soil is still hard enough to be turned, and dry enough not to drown the seeds after planting. You may think this all sounds a little like a farming holiday, but Paganism is full of metaphor. If we consider our lives the land then it is a time for turning over a new leaf, starting new ventures and preparing for the year ahead. A common symbol for this time of year is the egg, it is the literal embodiment of birth even though most birds have yet to lay.

Copyright Richard J Blackburn 2008