How to Celebrate The Old Celtic Ways: Ostara, The Spring Equinox

Ostara / Ēostre / Ēastre, the celtic celebration of the Spring equinox is an important holiday in the old traditional ways of the Celts. Ostara is celebrated as a time of renewal and rebirth. and the celebration correlates to the Christian Easter which celebrates the coming of the light out of the darkness. 

Candle lighting. Ostara is the Spring Equinox. The sun will rise precisely due East and set exactly 12 hours later due West. To symbolize this and help celebrate this event, many people choose to light a candle in the East at sunrise and another in the West at sunset, extinguishing the eastern candle.

Flora Galore! A great way to welcome in the Spring on Ostara, March 21, is to gather local flowers that are blooming and place them around your home. This signifies the return of life after the long, cold winter months and brightens your day and your home as well.

Bunnies? Why are bunnies so exalted on the Spring equinox? In Europe, the March hare was a nocturnal creature, rarely seen by day. However, in March, breeding time, they were everywhere, day and night. So, they became a symbol for life, birth and fertility and are an important part of any Ostara celebration. There is a legend of a March hare who wanted to give the goddess Eostre the most beautiful egg ever to celebrate her day, Ostara. He decorated the egg and presented it to the goddess. Eostre was so pleased with it, that she wanted all the children (themselves representative of life renewing itself) to enjoy the beautiful eggs too. Thus, the birth of the "Easter Bunny" delivering decorative eggs to children.

 Plant a seed. The celebrate the spring and rebirth of life, plant a seed to commemorate the event. Watch it as it grows and celebrates new life. It doesn't matter what you plant. You can plant whatever seed you like. A tree, an herb, a flower.

 Eggcetera. Eggs are associated with Ostara because they symbolically represent life. Use some great pastels, or spring colors, and dye the eggs. A good, old fashioned egg hunt is a great way to celebrate Ostara reminiscent of times of old.

Irish Wishes

♣♣♣

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Walls for the wind,
And a roof for the rain,
And drinks beside the fire -
Laughter to cheer you
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire!

Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.
Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

♣♣♣

10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace by Dr Wayne Dyer

* THANK YOU ARTI for this lovely inspiration! :)

The Irony of Giving...If you wanted to give a dozen oranges to your neighbour as an expression of love, you obviously would need to be in possession of 12 oranges. Likewise, you can't give love away to others if you don't have any for yourself. You can't show respect for others if you lack self-respect. You can't give happiness if you feel unhappy.You can only give what you do have and all that you're giving away each & every day are items from your own personal inventory. If you give away hatred, its because you've stored up hatred inside of you to give away. If you give away misery, its because you have a ready supply available from which to select and distribute.

This concept is simplified by a description of squeezing an orange. When you squeeze an orange, you'll always get orange juice to come out. This is true regardless of who does the squeezing, what time of day you squeeze, what instrument you use to squeeze or what circumstances surround the orange-squeezing. What comes out is what's inside.

The same logic applies to you.When someone squeezes you, in some way puts pressure on you, or says something unflattering or critical; and out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, tension, depression or anxiety, its because *That Is What's Inside*. The irony is that you can't give away what you don't have because you're always giving what you do have.
Ask yourself... "What do I have inside?" and "Why have I chosen to store these kinds of energies in me to give to others?"

Tornado of the Soul

Tornado strikes
Lightning bolts
Igniting the fire
Of changes that come

The winds turn
Round and soft
Faster and strong
As skies turn black

They collide
Becoming One

As the winds bond together
They destroy everything on their path
The old ways perish
The new ones come