The spring equinox, traditionally known as Ostara, marks the arrival of spring when the light is equal to the dark -- a time to welcome back life after the cold, dark winter. You can incorporate spring colors, rabbits and eggs, newly planted bulbs and seedlings into an altar or spring display. If you like to make crystal grids, the crystals associated with Ostara are clear quartz crystal, rose quartz, agate, lapis lazuli, amazonite and garnet. A spring clean and blessing your house with incense, sage or essential oils is also a nice way to celebrate the change in season.
We of course have a few crafts we like to make! And we also make a floral lemonade, which Elodie says tastes like spring. See our recipe below!
Ostara Bunnies
Materials:
Large paper
Egg carton with egg cups separated
Tempura paints
Markers and/or colored pencils
Tiny pom poms
Hot glue (to layer the egg cups to make blossoms)
Elmer's glue (to attach the flowers to the paper)
Easter stickers
Materials:
Peg doll
Acrylic paints
Paint pens
Felt
Pom pom
Hot glue
This is a simple peg doll bunny that came out so adorable -- a decoration for years to come.
Ostara Lemonade
We like to make a flowery lemonade to celebrate. My daughter says it tastes like nature! We got some blankets and sat in the fresh air while we enjoyed our spring-y concoction.
3 cups of water, heated in a sauce pan Add 2T honey and sugar to taste, stir until dissolved Add 1/2 tsp lavender blossoms Let water cool
Strain liquid into large mason jar Add juice of 4 lemons and ice Shake until mixed Add a splash of rose water and serve with cute paper straws and garnish of your choice
**for pink lemonade, we throw in a few raspberries and put it in the blender until totally liquid.
It's also a nice ritual to spend some time outside and celebrate the subtle changes happening in nature. We get so excited when we see our crocuses re-emerge -- and so far they have always been right on time for the spring equinox. I love this blessing for the garden:
The earth is cool and dark, and far below, new life begins. May the soil be blessed with fertility and abundance, with rains of life-giving water, with the heat of the sun, with the energy of the raw earth. May the soil be blessed as the womb of the land becomes full and fruitful to bring forth the garden anew.
Poetry is also one of our favorite ways to pause and appreciate the little joys of life. One of our favorite spring poems:
Cold Spring
by Lawrence Raab
The last few gray sheets of snow are gone, winter’s scraps and leavings lowered to a common level. A sudden jolt of weather pushed us outside, and now this larger world once again belongs to us. I stand at the edge of it, beside the house, listening to the stream we haven’t heard since fall, and I imagine one day thinking back to this hour and blaming myself for my worries, my foolishness, today’s choices having become the accomplished facts of change, accepted or forgotten. The woods are a mangle of lines, yet delicate, yet precise, when I take the time to look closely. If I’m not happy it must be my own fault. At the edge of the lawn my wife bends down to uncover a flower, then another. The first splurge of crocuses. And for a moment the sweep and shudder of the wind seems indistinguishable from the steady furl of water just beyond her.
When the crocuses are blooming and we see our first honey bee of the season, both kids kneel down and watch him collect pollen. Spring is such a great opportunity to celebrate the little things, as new life appears in the yard almost daily.
