Ostara

Ah.. Spring. finally we scent its sweet coming. The promise of Imbolc is maturing into the inevitability of Ostara and we respond to its call. As the days grow perceptibly longer, we find ourselves making plans, going outside, reorganizing, moving. We have energy again, and it feels GOOD.

Get your 'Spring cleaning' done soon so you can get outside and play. For pagans, the concept of spring cleaning actually has a deeper meaning. You are not only freshening your house after the stuffy, dusty months of winter, but cleaning away the psychic cobwebs as well.

Put a little salt into your cleaning water and murmur :
"Lord and Lady, cleanse my house,
make it clean and sweet.
Wash away all dirt,
as I will, so mote it be!"

Rosemary is nice as well. Even mint (um!) and lemon.

Then, while you are cleaning, scrub in a clockwise direction and visualize all unwanted energies lifting away (like the dirt) and being washed out of the home. {I perform this ritual twice a year -- in the Spring and Fall, just before each Equinox.} Try to open all your doors and windows. Make a point of 'sweeping' (or washing or vacuuming) all the rooms in a clockwise direction, ending by pushing all the accumulated stale energy out the door.

Then stand in the middle of your house, breathe deeply of the fresh air and enjoy the feeling. If you want, you can then perform your favorite house blessing to 'seal' the freshness in. Its the perfect time!

I have put together a collection of information about this quietly wonderful Sabbat, including a few charms to perform and instructions for making dyed eggs. A new telling of the Demeter/Persephone myth casts a fresh light. From the Witches Voice comes an essay by Peg Aioli discussing how our Ostara is related to the Christian Easter. There are rituals suitable for solitary performance, and a variety of magickal correspondences.