Beyond Eggs: Ways to Celebrate Oestara

[icymist]

The wheel of the year turns; the days get longer, dawns earlier. The Spring Equinox, Oestara, approaches. You want to celebrate, but how? The same way you did last year? Nah, boring. Or maybe you've never planned an Oestara ritual before. Maybe it's a holiday you've always gotten stuck on: You understand Imbolc, you understand Beltaine, but Spring Equinox -- what do you do then? Following are some ideas to get your imagination ticking.

First, as with any Sabbat, consider whether you want only to celebrate the time of year and the goddesses and gods of spring or also to perform magick to accomplish a goal. If you want to perform magick, what goals do you and your co-ritualists have, and how do you work for those goals in magick appropriate to the time of year?

Whether you perform magick or simply celebrate, your Oestara rites begin with understanding the time of year. If Litha, June 21 or thereabouts, is Midsummer, Oestara is Midspring. It's the second of the three spring holidays, Imbolc marking spring's first glimmer and Beltaine spring's height and power. If Imbolc is about inspiration, Beltaine about consummation, Oestara is about growth. At Oestara, the seed that stirred at Imbolc sprouts and pokes its head above ground. At Oestara, you can begin to feel spring: The crocuses and daffodils are out; the cherries blossom. The air smells of wet earth and flowers; earth and air begin to warm. You see the tall spring cumulus, feel the first spring wind, greet kite-flying weather. You can make your Oestara ritual part of this burgeoning spring, celebrating Earth's fertility and the fertility in your own life.

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