Spring Equinox
Traditionally, we celebrate the first day of spring on March 21, but astronomers and calendar manufacturers alike now say that the spring season starts on March 20th. In 2020, spring fell on March 19th, the earliest first day of spring in 124 years!
Spring Equinox is point of perfect balance on the journey through the Wheel of the Year. Night and day are of equal length and in perfect equilibrium – dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer, all in balance.
It’s a time of growth and renewal, to celebrate new life and new beginnings. Things are beginning to shift in us – our energy, habits, returning to balance. The seasonal energy is stirring us from slumber. We are called to awake anew, fresh from our winter hibernation, and to begin to walk forward into the year.
At this point, the year is now waxing and at this moment light defeats the dark. The natural world is coming alive, the Sun is gaining in strength and the days are becoming longer and warmer. The gentle whispered promise of Imbolc is fulfilled in the evident and abundant fertility of the Earth at Ostara. It is time for the hopes of Imbolc to become action. The energy is expansive and exuberant. It is the first day of Spring!
Ostara
Ostara takes its name after the Germanic goddess, Eostre/Ostara, who was traditionally honoured in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility, renewal and re-birth. It was from Eostre that the Christian celebration of Easter evolved, and indeed the naming of the hormone Oestrogen, essential to women’s fertility.
The Goddess Ostara has the shoulders and head of a hare. The Symbols of Ostara are:
In Celtic tradition, the hare is sacred to the Goddess and is the totem animal of lunar goddesses such as Hecate, Freyja and Holda – the hare is a symbol for the moon. The Goddess most closely associated with the Hare is Ostara. The nocturnal hare, so closely associated with the moon which dies every morning and is resurrected every evening, also represents the rebirth of nature in Spring. Both the moon and the hare were believed to die daily in order to be reborn – thus the Hare is a symbol of immortality. It is also a major symbol for fertility and abundance as the hare can conceive while pregnant. Over the centuries the symbol of the Hare at Ostara has become the Easter Bunny who brings eggs to children on Easter morning, the Christian day of rebirth and resurrection.
And The Egg
The egg (and all seeds) contains ‘all potential’, full of promise and new life. It symbolises the rebirth of nature, the fertility of the Earth and all creation. In many traditions the egg is a symbol for the whole universe. The ‘cosmic’ egg contains a balance of male and female, light and dark, in the egg yolk and egg white. The golden orb of the yolk represents the Sun God enfolded by the White Goddess, perfect balance, so it is particularly appropriate to Ostara and the Spring Equinox when all is in balance for just a moment, although the underlying energy is one of growth and expansion.
The Serpent/Dragon
In some mythologies the goddess Ostara is associated with serpent or dragon energy. At this point in the year the serpent or Kundalini energy is positively exploding!
Image: Sarah Sutton
Spring Equinox is a time to lay the ground work, dream in the new and plant seeds. Collecting ideas and reflecting on possible paths, planning and deciding…but not taking action.
Each and every day the light is returning. Some feel that Spring is more of a ‘start of the year’ than January, as we now have the energy of the earth with us.
It’s also a great time to pause and feel into where you are, like placing a marker on a map. You can look back to what was moving through you at the time of Winter Solstice and see where you are now.
We have put together some lovely suggestions of how to celebrate ...
Spring Equinox Rituals
Meet the sunrise, get out early to greet the start of day, say thank you to the rising sun. Set an intention for growth and what you are beginning to beckon forth for yourself.
Light a spring fire with your family and celebrate the growing light.
Write down your intentions, and plant them in the earth with some seeds/a plant. Spend the coming days, weeks and months watering and watching it grow – each time you water your shoots you are watering your new growth and life. For some ideas, see our journaling prompts
Ostara Gratitude Ritual
3 things you are grateful for
3 blessings that have come your way this Winter
3 opportunities that you are looking forward to this coming Spring
Liz and Susanna's Spring read
I am inhaling Second Spring. I've read it cover to cover over a long weekend, battened down from storm, and it's blooming brilliant! It feels like a warm hug from a trusty friend, or big sister, who has walked this path ahead of me and is sharing the wisdom. I just love the tone it sets, and such good humour - I've found myself laughing out loud often and reading bits to my partner. It's helping me make sense of the phases of the perimenopause transition in a way I haven't grasped before, it really puts flesh on the bones and offers a very real, practical, nourishing way forward in a no messing kind of way. - Susanna