Friday, March 19, 2010

The Ostara Casket

For Imbolc, we did some housecleaning. From this point on you should have space to store your Ritual Caskets. This week we talk about the Ostara sabbat supplies.

This is an excellent time to do a little Spiritual Spring housecleaning. Do a house blessings ritual. Open the windows and let the fresh air in as you usher out the dark mustiness of the closed-up winter months.



The Ritual Casket

CANDLES & COLORS:
All the pastels… Yellow, Pink, pale green, soft blue, lavender and white. Think soft, cuddly, baby colors


SCENTS & HERBS:
Herbs/Flowers: daffodils, violets, forsythia, daisy
Scents: light floral or citrus


CHARMS & STONES:
Stones: rose quartz, moonstone, aquamarine, tourmaline, amethyst, citrine and clear quartz

Ostara

I am so ready for spring. Here in the Ozarks there are definitive signs. There is the mass of yellow daffodils in my backyard, crocuses in varying shades of purple, peeper frogs and masses of robins. And let’s not forget those cute little skunks with raging hormones and very little brains. Their remains litter the side of the highways. Poor creatures.

With the Spring Equinox upon us this weekend, I find myself referring to Llewellyn’s Sabbats Almanac. You can find info about the book here: http://tinyurl.com/yafcagb

The article on the Spring Equinox was written by a fellow writer, Deborah Blake (see her link to the right). Deborah provides us with excellent background on Ostara (pronounced Oh-STAR-Ah).

As I lean more toward the Celtic origin of many of my beliefs, I am most drawn to Deborah’s explanation of Ostara being referred to by the Celts as Lady Day. Lady Day celebrates the return of the Goddess after her winter hibernation. “Many of the early myths reflected the feeling of abandonment that people felt during the dark, cold myths of winter, and their joy at the return of the light and warmth which they associated with their gods.”

Balance is one of many magickal associations with this sabbat. We are shifting to the equality of lightness and of darkness, between the God and Goddess energies and of the meeting of worlds.

Now is the time to strive for balance in our life. Awaken ourselves to the possibilities all around us. Deborah sums it best when she says, “If Samhain is the sabbat that allows Pagans to acknowledge the darker side of life, then Ostara is one in which we embrace the light, opening ourselves to the energy of a reawakening Earth.” (from Llewellyn’s Sabbats Almanac pg. 125)

Be prepared for great things.
Many Blessings
Rain