The Controversial Cauldron Ostara - The Spring Equinox 2009 Inside this issue: Ostara ~ Pg ~ 2 Gods of the Season ~ Pg ~ 4 Ostara Ritual ~ Pg ~ 5 Animal Wisdom ~ Pg ~ 6 Crafter’s Corner ~ Pg ~ 8 Legacy ~ Pg ~ 9 Pagan Symbolism ~ Pg ~ 10 On the Rocks ~ Pg ~ 11 The Alder Tree ~ Pg ~ 13 Container Garden ~ Pg ~ 15 Pagan Kitchen ~ Pg ~ 18 Herb Garden ~ Pg ~ 25 Ostara Altars ~ Pg ~ 27 Divination Depot ~ Pg ~ 28 Artist’s Loft ~ Pg ~ 29 Festival of Nowruz ~ Pg ~ 30 Bard’s Corner ~ Pg ~ 32 Australia ~ Pg ~ 33 Edition 2:2 Sponsored by A Young Hare by Albrecht Durer (1502) Controverscial.com Group Information: Welcome to the Email Witches Newsletter • Members: 711 • Founded: Jul 17, 2002 • Language: English Email Witches is a pagan friendly email group attracting people • Representing: from all walks of life, from all spectrums of society and from all around the world. 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Since the early buds of nature appeared at Ostara Imbolc, the Sun has continued to climb and gain in strength until now, at Ostara, daylight and darkness are in (The Spring Equinox ) equal balance. As days lengthen and overtake night, so And the Spring arose on the garden fair, too does the earth begin to thaw from the last freezing grip Like the spirit of Love felt everywhere of winter. Now is the time our farmers make ready their And each wild flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast ploughs and prepare their oxen to pull them, and seed corn Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. saved from the last harvest is checked to ensure its quality The snowdrop and then the violet and suitability for planting. Arose from the ground with the warm rain wet And their breath was mixed with sweet odour sent To our ancestors, the success of the planting season and From the turf, like the voice and the instrument. the harvest to follow was of life and death importance, for the bounty to be gained from the new plantings would be Percy Bysshe Shelley needed to sustain them through the hardships of the next winter. Today, while agriculture is still a major stara, the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox, is one of the contributor to our national economy, many of our winter O food needs are subsidized by foreign imports, and given Lesser Sabbats of the Witch’s annual calendar and today, st modern farming techniques and the mechanisation of the in the northern hemisphere, is celebrated on the 21 industry, the hardships of the old days are but a distant March, although this date may vary by a day or two memory. Despite this, in some of the more remote parts depending upon the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. In of the country, the customs and practises of our ancestors the southern hemisphere the equivalent Sabbat is Mabon, are still being used. the Autumn Equinox. Ostara is the Anglo-Saxon term for Eostre, the Fire Teutonic Goddess of Spring and fertility whose festival of old was Ostara is one of the Fire Festivals celebrated on the day of the Vernal observed by our ancestors, who lit Equinox (the equinoxes are the bonfires and torches as a focal point points in Spring and Autumn at of the celebrations. Fire is which the Sun’s path crosses the especially symbolic of the rising celestial equator, at which time the Sun, and of old, it was customary to periods of day and night become light bonfires on top of nearby hills equal in length). in his honour. In Germany, Scandinavia and in the Norse Ostara is also known by various traditions of England, wheels made other names, such as: the Rites of from wood, straw and branches Spring, Lady’s Day, Alban Eilir, were assembled at the top of nearby Festival of the Trees, Eostre’s Day. hills. There at the appointed time, As was to happen with many normally at sunrise, the wheels popular pagan festivals, when would be set aflame and rolled Christianity arrived, Ostara was down the hill through the fields renamed and many of its customs below; a ritual performed symbolic and symbolism incorporated into of the Sun warming and thawing the the Christian holiday of Easter. "Ostara" (1901) by Johannes earth which would later be ploughed Easter takes its name from Eostre, Gehrts. and planted. Charred sticks from the same Goddess of Spring the Sun-wheels would then be saved The goddess Ēostre/Ostara flies associated with Ostara, and like and taken home to protect the home through the heavens surrounded by Ostara, its date is variable, being against fire and lightning. Roman-inspired putti, beams of calculated as the first Sunday after Likewise, the ashes from the fires light and animals. Germanic the first Full Moon, after the Vernal would be spread in the fields to peoples look up at the goddess from Equinox. protect them against future thunder the realm below. storms. In the mythology of the Witch’s Sabbats, Ostara celebrates the return of the Goddess from Today, more out of health and safety reasons, modern the Underworld. Warmed by the strengthening light of pagans might use a Catherine Wheel attached to the top of the Sun, she awakes bursting forth from her sleep and a pole to symbolise the old Sun-wheel fires. Likewise, the blankets the earth with fertility. As the Sun God stretches custom of rolling a flaming wheel down a hill was and grows to maturity, he and the Goddess walk the fields replaced. Now instead, brightly coloured eggs painted to and forests and, delighted with the abundance of life and represent the sunlight of spring are rolled down hillsides nature, inspire all living things to grow and reproduce. at Easter. The egg is a potent symbol of fertility and is one of the sacred symbols associated with the Goddess Ostara is a time to celebrate the arrival of Spring and the Ostara. renewal and rebirth of nature after the cold dark days of 3 Fertility years harvest, and meat saved from the last cull and slaughter of their animals, would now be running out. The main focus at Ostara was to honour the Gods and With the arrival of a new Spring and the renewed Goddesses whose blessings were invoked to promote regeneration of life and nature, many of their fears for fertility during the planting season. One of the fertility survival were over. Ostara to them marked an end to animals associated with the Goddess at Ostara is the eating cured and salted meat with dried vegetables. As Snake, which emerges from its winter hibernation to bask animals came out of hibernation, fresh game became in the spring sunshine. Due to the constant shedding of its available, and as the Sun climbed higher, herbs and new skin, the snake was seen as a symbol of new life. In many young plants replaced the old. As such, the Ostara feast of the world’s creation myths, the Goddess in the form of was always one to remember. a snake laid the “Egg of Original Beings”, better known as the “World Egg” or the “Cosmic Egg of Creation”, which Ostara correspondences was split open by the heat of the Sun God. The inside yolk of the Animals - Hares, Rabbits and egg represents the Sun God, Snakes. while the outside shell is seen as Plants and Herbs - Crocus the womb of the Goddess. The flowers, Daffodils, Jasmine, Irish whole, therefore, is uniquely Moss, Snowdrops and Ginger. symbolic of creation, birth and Incense - Jasmine, Frankincense, new beginnings. Myrrh, Dragon's Blood, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Aloes wood, It was an old custom at Ostara to Benzoin, Musk, African Violet, collect eggs, paint them to match Sage, Strawberry, Lotus, Violet those of the local wild birds and flowers, Orange peel or Rose place them in baskets woven petals. from straw, imitable of their Stones - Aquamarine, Rose nests. Birds were commonly Quartz and Moonstone. believed to be the messengers of Food - All food in tune with the the Gods, so these baskets were season, including: eggs of all given away to friends and types, hard-boiled or in a salad, neighbours as talismans for good honey cakes, first fruits of the luck and prosperity. Eggs were season, fish, cakes, biscuits, also ritually eaten at Ostara and cheeses, honey and ham, and the shells buried in the fields to whatever game you can hunt. promote fertility. In conclusion, metaphysically, Another fertility animal Ostara - the Spring Equinox is a associated with the Goddess at time of renewal and new Ostara was the Hare, this due to beginnings, a time to plant your its constant mating activity in seeds and plan for future. Change spring. Hares mate while they is in the air and if you don’t do it are still very young, and the female can produce several now, the year will creep in and you never will.