Celebrating Ostara (Spring Equinox)
Around the 21st of March each year (this year it occurs on the 20th) marks the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere, also known as Ostara on the Wheel of the Year. Equinoxes are a time of balance and awakening. Day and night are of equal length, and light and dark, our inner and outer world are in balance.
At this time, the very earth we walk on is bursting with potential growth and new life. You have a chance to harness this increasing natural light and energy! Intentions you set and plans you made over the darker months can now be seized upon and set in motion*.
Spring Equinox is a time to celebrate Ostara or Oestre (the root of the word oestrogen), the goddess of fertility and rebirth. Ostara is symbolised by the hare and the egg, symbols which are reflected in the Christian celebration of Easter and the Easter Bunny.
*I originally wrote this blog post in March 2021 and mentioned the heavy news cycle and ongoing lockdowns. The fact is the heavy news cycle never ended and now we’re expected to go on with business as usual in late stage capitalism with multiple genocides occurring.
Go gently. Being aware of the seasons and what they can mean for you is one thing, but pressuring yourself to align activities and plans with them when you actually just want to curl up in a ball or rage against the world is another.
Listen to your own mind and body before all else. If you need to rest, rest. If you need to rage, rage, but please be aware that we have been fooled into thinking that individual self care is what will help us feel better in dark times like these. As if turning away and isolating ourselves makes any sense at all. Yes rest, so you can keep acting for change in whatever way you can long term, but it is collective care and supporting each other in community (whether local or global) that truly nourishes and heals.
Align Your Activism with the Seasons
Beautiful artwork by Earth Liberation Studio.
Light and warmth are increasing, but you know what else is increasing? Global injustice and my fury, my friends!
How can you bring any increasing energy you are feeling to the movements around you?
What social justice or environmental issue is pulling at your attention?
How can you spread the word of what you care about in a new way? Do people know what your values are?
This is a time of rebirth and creating new things. How can you bring activism into your business in a sustainable way? Fundraising, regular donations, collaborations, adding a new series or regular content to your marketing?
Align Your Business with the Seasons
Are you on my mailing list yet? Join now to receive my mini video workshop, Imbolc to Equinox: Preparing to Emerge.
This is the perfect time to hold on to hope and look ahead.
What ideas or plans have been brewing away with you over the winter? How can they start to pop their heads up above the earth now (aka how can you start sharing them?)?
Time to thin out some of those seedlings and prioritise. What do you want to focus on in the coming weeks? What actually requires attention right now?
What feels exciting to you right now? Is it the same as the work that requires your attention first?
If you’d like support as you prioritise your plans, or as you bring a new exciting project to life, I’d love to hear from you. Find out how we can work together here.
Ways to Celebrate
Decorate wooden or blown eggs, grow seeds in the shells, or have an egg hunt in the garden or local green space.
Pack a picnic (hard boiled egg anyone?) and spend the day outdoors, spotting buds and blooms and enjoying the increasing light. If you can cope with the early wake up, rise and head out in time to hear the dawn chorus (around 6am GMT).
Decorate pots and planters and focus on the promises and plans you made over winter as you sow new seeds.
Make a spring bouquet or wreath with daffodils, crocuses, blossom, primroses, hawthorn, and any new greenery growing. As always, please gather responsibly and make sure you know what you’re picking.
Create a spring altar on a shelf, sill or table to celebrate the season and pay homage to Ostara. Decorate with blooms, feathers, seeds and (you guessed it) eggs!
The Wheel of the Year
“Beneath the manifestation of seasonal change, there is also change in the energy of the earth. These energy patterns affect us whether we are conscious of them or not.
By understanding the flow and direction of that energy, we can move with it, in harmony with it, as true inhabitants of our planet earth: belonging, part of, changing on all levels of our being.”
- Glennie Kindred, The Earth’s Cycle of Celebration
Most people are familiar with the spring and autumn equinoxes, and summer and winter solstices which mark the four quarter points of the wheel of the year. These are the solar festivals, marking the high points of the seasons, but there are four lesser known fire festivals (or cross quarters) which mark each season's beginning - Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain. So instead of dividing the year into 12 months, it is divided into eight sections - quarters and cross quarters.
People of different nature-based faiths celebrate the Wheel of the Year, including Pagans and Wiccans, and the festivals are influenced by folklore and ancient beliefs. I am not a religious person but have found following these celebrations a wonderful way to ground myself and a healthy reminder to change the way I work throughout the year.
I'd love to hear how you're celebrating this season? Do come and let me know on Instagram!
