ofcloudsandstars reblogged
✧ *.🐇Ostara Solitary Rituals🐇*✧
As fresh green sprouts spring from the earth and crocuses bloom, the Vernal Equinox is arriving! Melodic sounds of birds whistle in the air, buns emerge from their burrows, the earth is awake and life resumes again! It’s time to celebrate the start of a new cycle and sow seeds of personal growth for the cycle to come! The symbolism of the beginning and child is strong with this sabbat for it’s also the start of the Zodiac season where Aries the Ram charges into the new season ready to begin again!
A lot of us witches practice alone and have our own solitary rituals for each sabbat that we observe (or the ones we’ve created just for ourselves that we observe alone!) Like any solitary eclectic witch I do things my own different way but some of these things might line up with others practices. I do refer to some of the equinoxes/solstices/crossquarters by their celtic sabbat names but I celebrate them in a secular animist way and treat the wheel of the year I celebrate as more of an agrarian cycle and celebrating nature. I use sabbat names as a point of reference and also people that do celebrate these witches sabbats more traditionally might find value in my personal practice! Here is my personal correspondences post and my personal Ostara tag!
When I am alone and casting spells a lot of it is visualization/intent so my solitary rituals are more like activities I like to do then specifically casting a spell. If I am doing a spell with an activity based on it a lot would be listening to music to get in the mood and focusing on a candle while visualizing for a period of time! Eves are also important to my celebration as I like to stay up until midnight and cast a spell then!
Spring Equinox’s Eve
Monday, March 19th 2018
- Rain Cleansing Rain water is a common magic ingredient in some witches spell and especially with the passing Pisces season and winter’s end bringing a lot of rain, often this time of year there is no shortage of rain water. Use some collected rain water in a spray bottle and spray the air and yourself visualizing the spring rains washing away what’s left of winter. Open your window to let in fresh spring air and use the rainwater spray to energetically cleanse the space inside. Optional but you can add drops of eucalyptus fragrance or lily of the valley in it. (I prefer to have it plain since rain smells plain).
- Spring Cleaning Clear the last of what you don’t want in your space. Dump old things you’ve been holding on to but don’t necessarily need. Refresh your home. Light incense like rain, green tea or sweet grass as you clean.
- Eggshells Save eggshells and clean them out. Make a quiche for Ostara and save all the eggshells as much as possible. Try to make a small hole on one side (preferably the narrow side) to extract the yolk and clean the eggs to keep them handy. With cleaned eggshells you can:
- Make eggshell candles You can assign each candle an aspect you’d want to grow or something positive you’d like to manifest by ‘hatching’ into your life such as: prosperity, new friends or new connections. Examples: 1 , 2
- Make seed starters By sprouting some seeds in the eggshells you can cultivate herbs/plants you’d like to have for the year. Herbs for the kitchen are probably the easiest and once the plant exceeds the space of the shell, it can use the nutrients of the shell as food. It’s a personal tradition of mine where I enjoy repotting plants or planting things in general for Beltane so by Beltane the sprout would have grown large enough to be planted in it’s own pot or into the ground! Here’s a link on how to make seed eggshell starters.
- Spring themed snacks Enjoy some snacks while doing crafts such as pepita seeds, candy eggs, jelly beans, wasabi or snap peas, edamame, sour cream and onion chips and rice krispy treats or rice krispy bird nests if you want to be very festive lol.
- Decorate Cleanse and redecorate your altar and space with moss art, (they sell fake moss mats too at craft stores which make pretty centerpieces), egg candles, pussywillow, bulbs, crocus and sprouts. Use images of the march hare to invite energy of vitality, motivation and drive to inspire you to reach your goals for the upcoming cycle!
- Egg Tree Create an ostara tree by getting a vase and collecting any branches you find on the ground. Thank the trees for their offerings. Decorate eggs with symbols or whatever has meaning to you and what you’d like to attract to your life and tie them to the branches. Here is a DIY.
Midnight:
Ostara is the ideal time to focus on what you’d like to grow in your life. Focus on what you’d like to nurture for the cycle to come. Prioritize things that will help you reach your goals.
- Hatching and Manifesting You can write spells on your saved eggshells symbolizing things you’d want to grow and plant seeds in them. A lot of green witches do magic by tending to sprouts and plants as a link to their manifesting spell to help bring it to life! If planting seeds is not an option then make an eggshell candle and light it while visualizing your intent.
- Seeking a new direction Ostara is about life beginning again. If you feel like you need a fresh start, use a tarot deck and shuffle it a few times concentration on a new path. Once you are satisfied, look through it for the fool card. On the card next to it should be the direction you should go towards. If the fool is reversed and looking at the card behind it then it might symbolize you are on the wrong path and focused perhaps on something in your past. The one next to it (technically the one that comes after it in the deck) should be the direction you should focus on.
- Birds of a feather! Spring is definitely a time for finding your match whether it be new friends, new connections, new network or a new lover! People are more out and about. An animal that marks spring time to me and also socializing are spring birds especially like the robin or bluebirds. Use feathers in your spells to attract your kind or your mate. (March hare symbolism works too with attraction spells but in my opinion it’s way more sexual than it is about socializing or romance/friendship). Some ideas could be making a charm with a feather to keep on your person that you’ll use when you go out to meet people. The ideas for attraction glamours and spells are endless so I won’t ramble on here lol.
Ostara Day
March 20th 2018
- Wear bright greens!! (it’s funny cause it also kind of coincides with the green theme of march cause of st patricks day but I don’t really celebrate st patrick yet I wear bright greens for spring equinox to symbolize plants sprouting and reviving!) If green isn’t your thing wear pastels! A lot of my witchy friends and I LOVE the color Robin Egg Blue for Ostara so that soft blue is my second go to!
- Food ‘Growth’ Spell You can prepare a ‘Dragon’s Egg’ bless it with the intent that you’d want it to give you power of determination, courage and drive for the season to come and eat it (like consuming it’s power). I like to make these eggs by hardboiling a regular egg, preparing a sandwich bag of food coloring of your choice (reddish gold is great), add some chili powder and peppers and put the egg in (still with it’s hardshell on) and crush it up while it’s in there. Let the egg soak in the coloring and spices and once you peel it it’ll look like this. If you don’t eat eggs, a great alternative are lima beans. They are big green seeds! I also like to use pepita seeds in a food spell to manifest self growth. You can take a seed and put intention into it then swallow it after.
- Green Tea Such as the way pumpkin is the season-long flavor of autumn for me the seasonal flavor is green tea. I think it’s the combination of the color, it’s herbal earthy freshness and it’s ability to wake you up and energize you. Especially if you are on the go today and don’t have time for anything enjoy a matcha latte or a green tea. Savor it’s earthy flavor and feel it making you more awake and alert for the new season!
- Whistle to bring in good energy I find the sounds of light flutes and whistling to be the preferred music and or instrument of Ostara. To me it symbolizes the return of the birds and the lightness of spring and also the soft breeziness of the season (also in Wiccanism it’s ruled by Air which is interesting). If you are familiar with intoning you can try to cleanse your space with a light and powerful whistle.
- Ostara Music I have a few music links on my digital grimoire for each sabbat and some playlists. Flutes is the primary instrument I associate with this sabbat. I like to pick one of the flute sound tracks and open one of the white noise sound tracks and let them play together.
- I made a coherent music post here with instructions on how I listen to the music. (I like to layer sounds ontop of each other- usually a natural white noise soundtrack- in this case singing birds for Spring, and then play instrumental music over it).
- Connecting with your inner child Ostara is a playful holiday that also honors children. Be extra kind to children close to you today and also get in touch with your own inner child. Make art to welcome spring like watercolor outside or use crayons and don’t judge whatever you create. Or treat yourself with things your childself loves such as candy, cookies, blowing bubbles, swinging on swings, jumping on a trampoline. If it’s raining or too cold to be outside make a magical pillow fort to do magic in. Make a cream soda float, watch ghibli films. Do shadow work to connect with your inner child. Focus on this next cycle to come by satisfying your inner child’s dreams.
- Be Outdoors If the day is nice take yourself out for a bike ride or a picnic! Go on an ostara scavenger hunt for magical items for your craft such as a stone you might find and like that you could paint or a four leaf clover, a fresh bird’s feather or a blossom. Remember to ask the plants permission before you take and to leave offerings for gratitude. Seeds edible to animals or local wildflower seeds would be the nicest!
- Spring Showers Usually spring equinox has been gorgeous for the past few years but if the day is rainy collect the first spring’s showers! It has it’s own magical significance! Spring Showers brings growth for spring blossoms and plants and it is very reviving. If it happens to snow, spring’s first snow/frost is magical too but for curses.
- Flower Channeling It’s been way too cold for a while to be outside but if it’s nice take yourself to a park or your back yard, find a patch of crocuses or snowdrops and spend a moment to be barefoot on the earth. Feel their gentle energy pushing through the earth to start with fresh optimism. Find that energy within yourself to begin this new cycle.
- Rain Channeling If the weather is too unfavorable to do that then find a space in your home by a window and take a moment to channel the energy of Spring’s Shower to your body. You can either put your back against the window if possible or even open the window and let your palms out upright to capture the rain. (Bonus if you want to be that dramatic witch bitch and stand under the rain to really let it cleanse you but I don’t want to give advice that might get people sick if they aren’t careful lol.)
Evening
- Feast!! I love making food for Ostara! I always go for spring produce like onions, chives, spinach, butter lettuce, asparagus, carrots, parsnips, peas, sugar snap peas, sprouts and turnips. If I’m making food for myself I go for a nice quiche with a butter lettuce salad and simple dijon vinaigrette. Some dishes I love making are like the cucumber dill yogurt salad, split pea soup, chicken with spring onions and pastel colored deviled eggs. Even if you don’t feel motivated to make anything too complicated for yourself you can make something easily spring themed like ostara ramen lol. [Get a ramen packet and boil and egg in another pot. Top your finished ramen with chopped chives and sesame seeds and a boiled egg. Bam. (Bonus if its green tea ramen noodles).] For desserts I love things that are matcha, praline, pistachio or almond based. I love floral nutty flavors for spring. Getting a simple carrot cake to enjoy should be easy or you could enjoy a simple custard! Years ago I made an Ostara fantasy feast you can check out if you’d like some ideas!
- Leave offerings for the Spirits of Spring!
- Spring Birds are also always wonderful to work with and fun to leave offerings of food like seeds for! They will help you with socializing and making connections!
- It’s always lucky to befriend some stirring plants and leave them something as well. Especially if you whisper to them your secret wishes they’ll try to help them grow!