Other Names: Ostara, Easter, Spring Equinox, Easter

Eostre Symbols: Egg, Rabbit, Equilateral Cross, Butterfly.

Eostre Deities: all Youhful Deities, Warrior Gods, Deities awakening to sexuality, all Corn Maidens.  Cernunnos, Druantia, Attis, Eastre, Persephone, Nerthus, Ashera.

Eostre Colours: all pastel colours.  Lemon, pale pink, pale green, silver.

Eostre Herbs: celandine, cinquefoil, jasmine, rue, tansy, lavender, marjoram and violets may be burned; acorn, crocus, daffodil, dogwood, honesuckle, iris, lily, and strawberry may be decorations.

Eostre Offerings: bread and cakes, eggs, any fruits of the season.

 

- Eostre is named after the Anglo - Saxon Goddess Eostre/Easter, also known in old German as Ostara.  Little is known about this Goddess, expect that her festival was celebrated at the Spring Equinox, and that She was a Goddess of fertility, and was connected with hares and eggs.  She may also be connected with the Greek Goddess Eos, and the Roman Goddess Aurora, which are both Dawn Goddesses, and with the Babylonian Goddess Ishtar, and the Phoenician Goddess Astarte, which are both love Goddesses.

 

- Eostre is a time for both fertility and new life, and a time of balance and of harmony.

 

- At Eostre light and dark are in balance, but the light is growing ever stronger.

 

- Eostre is a time of birth and manifestation.

 

- Eostre rites are best performed at dawn or dusk (but better at dawn.)

 

- At Eostre, seeds may be blessed and planted.  Seeds of wisdom, understanding, and magickal skills may also be planted.

 

- The egg is a symbol of rebirth, and its yolk represents the sun, its white the Goddess.  Eggs may also be used for the creation of talisman's, or can be ritually eaten.

 

- Eostre is a time both of growth and of balance, and we may work on balancing ourselves and the subtle enregies within us, such as our chakras, the inner masculine and feminine qualities, the light and dark aspects of our personalities.

 

- Eostre is the time of Persephone's return from the Underworld, to re - unite with Her Mother, Demeter, making the Earth green again.

 

- Eostre is the time of spring's return, a joyful time, the seed time, when life bursts forth from the Earth and the chains of winter are broken.

 

- Eostre is a time of balance, when all the elements within must be brought into new harmony.

 

- At Eostre, the Sun Prince reaches out His hand, and the Maiden returns from the dark Underworld.