The Parsley Patch

Winter has been long and hard. As the sunlight increases and the morning bird-song becomes louder, we know that spring is immanent. As the season begins to change, it’s also a time of new beginnings, new jobs, promotions and the start of a new gardening season.

As winter wanes, the life force returns to the trees and sap begins to flow. Traditionally, this is when the tapping of maple and birches takes place. Like the phoenix that ever renews itself and rises from its own ashes, now we look within to shake off the old and reinvent ourselves. What lies dormant within you waiting to be woken? Just as the sap rises and ushers a new season of life to the trees, let that which lies within rise to new life.

ACTIVITIES
· Visit a maple farm and experience the tapping of the maples
· Have French toast or pancakes for breakfast with real maple syrup
· Prune apple trees
· Start seeds

FULL MOON INCENSE (burn on incense charcoal or cast into the fire)
1 scoop sandalwood powder – protection, healing, spirituality
1 large granule amber – renewal, alertness, cleansing, protection, purification
2 drops vanilla – love, lust, mental powers
1 drop oakmoss – to promote prosperity
1 drop apple blossom – to promote happiness
3 pinches rosemary – gain knowledge or answers to questions

The festival of Ostara falls on the first day of spring, the Vernal Equinox. It’s a time when light and dark are perfectly balanced. On this day it is said an egg can be balanced upright on a flat surface! Drawing its name from the Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) goddess Eostre, it’s when the rebirth and prosperity of the land are celebrated. Eostre’s name, and many customs associated with her, can be seen in much of modern Christian and secular tradition surrounding Easter.

The Easter Bunny’s roots are planted 3000 years in the past as the white hare was the sacred totem of Eostre. Some say that Eostre herself bore the ears of a hare. A common offering to her, as goddess of dawn and spring, were brightly decorated eggs. Eggs are symbols of new life, beginnings and fertility and were seen as a fitting offering to a goddess that brought forth the rebirth of the land. The early Christian church adopted this theme and applied it to Christ’s resurrection, giving birth to Easter — a time that is also a joyous celebration of light and rebirth. For in the Easter Vigil a bonfire is lit in the dark of the church and from that a single flame, the Easter candle, is lit to spread light throughout the world.

As a goddess of the dawn and spring, Ostara, and the festival that bears her name, beams with the light of the returning sun that grows brighter and stronger every day, bringing new life and bounty. It is only fitting that her symbols are the hare and egg as they are harbingers of springtime, fertility and new life.

ASSOCIATIONS
· Animals: rabbits, birds
· Colors: white, pale yellow, green, peach, violet
· Element: air
· Food: seeds, sprouts, early-season vegetables, lamb, ham, chicken
· Plants: apple, birch, pussy willow, snowdrops, crocus, jonquil
· Power: renewal, rebirth, fertility
· Symbols: eggs, seeds

DECORATIONS
· Brightly colored springtime flowers
· Decorated eggs
· Rabbit figurines
· Nests filled with eggs

ACTIVITIES
· Decorate eggs by dying, painting or decoupage
· Rise at dawn to see the sunrise over the land and welcome springtime
· Gather your seed packets in a basket and bless them so they will grow and prosper
· Plant a special flower seed in a decorative pot and imbue it with a wish and as the plant grows through the season your wish will draw closer to you
· Decorate an egg and write a wish upon it and then bury it in the earth as an offering to Eostre that she may help you realize your dream or goal

OSTARA INCENSE
(burn on incense charcoal or cast into the fire)
1 granule frankincense – protection, exorcism, spirituality, vision, mediation
1 scoop sandalwood – protection, healing, spirituality
1 scoop benzoin – purification, prosperity,
1 scoop dragon’s blood – love, protection, exorcism, potency
1 scoop nutmeg- good luck, money, health
1 scoop cinnamon – success, healing, psychic powers.
1 stem lavender – peace, harmony, healing
1 pinch rose petals – love, healing, luck, protection,
3 drops patchouli oil – money, prosperity, fertility, lust
3 drop violet oil – beauty, love

LEARN MORE
· Ostara: Customs, Spells & Rituals for the Rites of Spring
· The Spring Equinox: Celebrating the Greening of the Earth
· Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara : Lore, Rituals, Activities, and Symbols