Ostara is a time of balance between, well in theory, all things. It’s balance, innit? Daytime and nighttime are the sametimes. I love the equinoxes, the planetery celebrations of the Goddess’ wheel – when you can see the seasons changing. I’ve always seen the pagan wheel as divided into sections by the equinoxes and solstices, and then the agricultural festivals being celebrated at the height of that section.
I love the feel of the inbetween times – probably something to do with being a faery person. We are halfway between spring and winter – it smells of summer but it still feels a bit like february. Mmmm mmm.
I am deeply not good at celebrating sabbats – I know pagan peeps get excited about there being eight festivals a year as opposed to the christian two or three, but there are so many I usually feel like I am running to catch up! I get into the energy of one sabbat and it changes. However, this sabbat I decided to get my witch on.
I did a cool little Ostara set up on my baby table and dedicated it as an altar again. It’s my trusty little table that I have been using for most of my 10 years as a witch and my my it is beginning to look more than a little knackard. As part of the Priestess of Avalon book I am following, it’s suggested I make a wand for Ostara, as wands are associated with Fire, and ostara is the Fire Festival (more on that later – the wheel of Ana (basically the wheel of brittish goddesses) is a bit different to the regular pagan one). I never really much got the point of wands. I do have one that I made from a willow tree, which has been living in a jam jar with some paintbrushes for a while, and inexplicably a woodworm got in there and made a tunnel in it. I think that means time for a new one. As I am crazy about the sea, forthwith I shall be using a lovely bleached driftwood stick I picked up in Wales. Hurrah! And I trekked along to nature (the graveyard, which has lots of trees and birds and no people except ones sleeping in the ground) to let the nature know that this is my wand now.
As is the weird way of these things, I found myself talking to my original deities before all this Priestess of Avalon stuff came into play, and it felt more natural and powerful and easy than connecting with the Priestess of Avalon Goddesses. I love POA but I keep getting signs that it is really not for me. Sigh. As Ostara is a season of balance I was thinking about my imbalances and how to right them, which is scary stuff.
Now we are the other side of Ostara, everything feels a bit different – we are on our way to Summer again and I can feel it in the air! Hooray!