Spring Equinox, as written by Layla
I love the Spring Equinox! It’s a wonderful Sabbat of new life, growth & knowing that the lighter part of the year is truly upon us at last.
The word Equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus (meaning equal) & nox (meaning night) which denotes that on each Equinox the day & night are of equal length, heralding a time of longer, warmer days & lighter evenings approaching.
Spring Equinox is also known as Eostre or Ostara, named after the Germanic fertility Goddess of Spring herself & is celebrated traditionally within the Pagan, Druid and Wiccan community on & around the 21st of March, the first day of Spring.
Interestingly the female hormone oestrogen is named after her.
This Equinox is a fire festival and the true beginning of Spring. Mother Earth has now awoken from her yearly slumber & she brings with her a beautiful entourage of radiant yellow daffodils, purple crocuses & the birth of her beloved creatures in the fields & woodlands, a joyous time for all to behold.
Now is an excellent time on the wheel of the year for us to see the plans, ideas & aspirations that were planted at Imbolc last month come to fruition, into reality, to bloom & put into action in our everyday lives now & for the year ahead.
We can cast off anything that no longer serves us or is holding us back or weighing us down. These can be situations, habits, unhelpful thought patterns, or even people that we need to unburden ourselves from.
A very simple but extremely effective way to do this is get a bay leaf (or however many you feel you need) & write down whatever or whoever you need to be rid of then walk to a hilltop or open fields on a windy day. Tear up the bay leaf into pieces & throw them high up into the air & let the breeze take the pieces away. With your arms still above your head in warrior pose let the refreshing winds & the element of air cleanse & regenerate you. It’s very liberating J
Ostara’s sacred animal is the Hare and the symbols that resonate for her are the egg, fire & spring flowers. The egg is simply a symbol of life & rebirth.
The Christian festival of Easter has its roots completely in Ostara with her hare being replaced by the Easter Bunny.
If you are thinking of lighting a candle at this time Her colours are light green, yellow with purple & pale pink.
Ostara has some interesting stories & this is one of my favourites:
All the animals in the woodland were very excited as they’d heard that Ostara, the Goddess of Spring was on her way to visit them.
Every creature wanted to give her a special gift, Hare was particularly excited as he loved the Goddess very much.
He hurried back to his humble home & began searching to see what he could find to be his special gift. He was very poor & though he hunted high & low there was nothing in his home, even his larder was bare except for a single, solitary egg.
Hare took the egg from the shelf & very carefully & thoughtfully decorated it with all his love & intention. Hare was very worried as lots of the other animals had gifts of gold, silver & precious jewellery while he had just his egg.
All the other gifts had been presented to Ostara until Hare was the only animal left to give his gift. He very nervously lifted the egg up to the Goddess & as she took it from him she saw the true spirit of Hare & knew that he had given her his only possession. Ostara immediately made Hare her sacred animal because he had given all he had to her out of love & kindness.
Have a wonderful Spring Equinox,
Love & blessings, Layla xxx
