Ostara

Blessed be and merry meet, gentle listeners! My name is Liz Röhret, KHOI’s consulting Wiccan priestess. Our opening song was "Tipping Point" by Sharon Knight and T Thorn Coyle.

Spring is here at last!  Thursday, March 20, is the first official day of spring, when the Vernal Equinox occurs. Equinox comes from  the Greek language and means “equal night”, it is the day when there are 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night, the whole world over.  There are 2 equinoxes each year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. The Vernal Equinox is the one where the balance between day and night is tilting toward the day, and the days are getting longer.

Earth centered traditions celebrate the Vernal Equinox as the holiday Ostara.  Reverend Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin describes the holiday thusly, “Vernal Equinox, also known as Ostara, occurs in the middle of March. It marks the beginning of Spring and the time when days and nights are of equal length. The colors associated with the Ostara festival are yellow, for the strengthening sun and the celebration of this holiday at dawn, and green because it represents the sprouting of new plant life. This is a festival of rebirth and reawakening from Winter’s slumber: the first official day of spring!

O great Goddess, you have freed yourself from the icy prison of Winter. Now is the greening, when the fragrance of flowers drifts on the breeze. This is the beginning. Life renews itself by your magic, Earth Goddess. The God stretches and rises, eager in his youth and bursting with the promise of summer. 

So mote it be until we merry meet again! 

Listen Here NowHeart of Iowa program originally broadcast 03/18/2014
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