Ostara Ritual

To prepare the self:

Bathe as usual and anoint with oil of an appropriate scent for the season. Wear fire-safe clothes in colors of green or yellow. Wear magickal jewelry and flowers or a hair wreath made of plants of the season.

To prepare the circle:

Sweep. ¤ Lay out cord. ¤ Position altar with yellow and green or egg-themed/Eostre themed cloth. ¤ Position God and Goddess candles. ¤ Position other God and Goddess representations. ¤ Add Earth bowl and salt at north. ¤ Add incense burner and incense. ¤ Add candleholder and green or yellow candle at south. ¤ Add goblet and water at west. ¤ Put pentacle at north. ¤ Put wand at east. ¤ Put athame at south. ¤ Put chalice at west. ¤ Add bolline to south. ¤ Add matches to south. ¤ Add match holder to north. ¤ Add wet napkins to west. ¤ Add bell to west. ¤ Add libation bowl to north. ¤ Add any decorations for the season. ¤ Have an extra green candle and red candle. ¤ Have a pot or two of damp soil and some seeds to plant. ¤ Have an Eostre basket and some plastic eggs, with any seasonal decorations and some paper and a pen to write wishes on. ¤ Have materials for wish tree and the bare tree from Imbolc at the left of the altar, and dragon’s blood oil or other catalystic oil. ¤ Put an apple on a plate on the right of the altar, and have handy mead and pineapple punch. ¤ Have yarn ready for finger-knitting. ¤ Complete with feasting foods of the season.

Begin ritual:

Cast the circle. Sit inside and focus, and invoke the God and Goddess.

Meditation (to seasonal music if desired):

It is spring! It is a day of balance at the equinox, when day and night are exactly equal. We are waxing toward the God’s prime, and the Goddess is fertile. They are showing interest in each other for the first time as the God becomes a young man, and nature begins to flourish with the first hints of Their new love. Renewal wracks the Earth and new life begins to touch the land.¹

Opening Honor:

Take the green candle that symbolizes the God and place it just in front of the cauldron on the altar. Carve into the top of the God candle the protective rune ALGIZ. Ponder the protection of the young God and our need to keep Him safe from harm until He is old enough to marry the Goddess on Beltane and make love with Her for the first time. Place the candle in the cauldron and light it. Then take a mother Goddess candle—in red—and light it with the flame from the already-lit Goddess candle on the altar. Hold the flame up to the rune on the God candle and melt it, symbolizing the Goddess’s need to keep Him safe as the bounty that is growing in a sometimes-hostile world. Leave the God candle in the cauldron and move it aside or back; put the Goddess candle out and put it aside.²

Ostara Activities:³

Wish Tree can be worked on now. Add leaves to the tree and anoint the branches or leaves with dragon’s blood or other catalystic oil; meditate on each wish as you do so and think about what you are doing and what you have done so far to make these wishes flourish.

Take some seeds and plant them. Put them in front of the God candle and ask for His blessing, and ask for the plants to grow as He does through the waxing year. If desired, the seeds can be stroked with a protective or growth oil and blessed by the elements before being placed in the soil.

Take the plastic eggs and paper, and on each piece of paper, write down something you’d like to work on, improve, or increase for this year. Seal each paper in an egg and place it in a basket. When the basket is full of eggs of your intention, add any other decorations and later place it on your altar.

You may remove the corn dolly’s bridal clothes except for the veil if you’d like, and give her seasonal flowers or an egg for the season.

Ritual Core:

Take the God candle out of the cauldron to symbolize His venturing out of the immediate arms of the Goddess. She still protects Him in His innocence and youth, but She cannot hold Him within Her womb forever; to let Him grow, He must venture forth into the sometimes dangerous world. Now walk around the circle and stop at each quarter, thanking each element and direction for their influence in your life. When you stop at the north quarter, thank the Lady of Earth for growth and material gains that have occurred in your life. When you stop at the east quarter, thank the Lord of Air for mental and intuitive contributions. When you stop at the south quarter, thank the Lord of Fire for all healing and necessary destruction in your life. When you stop at the west quarter, thank the Lady of Water for emotional and subconscious aspects of life. When you do this, really think about the presence of these aspects in your life; don’t just go through the motions.⁴ Now kneel or sit before the God candle newly out of the cauldron, and drink a toast of pineapple punch to Him, wishing Him luck on his journey toward manhood. Pour a libation.

BANISH THE IMBOLC SEASON AND INVOKE THE OSTARA SEASON with banishing and invoking pentagrams. Ring the bell and say “it is done” or “so mote it be.”

Follow-up:

Greet the new season with a toast and pour a libation. Now celebrate the young God’s venture forth with a feast. Begin the feast by cutting the apple, separating the stem from the bottom, to see the five seeds inside arranged in a pentagram. Eat one bite from both sides, acknowledging your acceptance of both sides of life: Light and dark, male and female, life and death. Put the remainder of the apple in the libation bowl.⁵ Now begin the feast. Make sure to share everything you’ve eaten with the libation bowl.

Finger-knit and tie your rope to the previous years’ ever-growing rope. Meditate on the meaning of this weaving to symbolize the journey. Think about previous Ostaras you might have celebrated, and what has transpired in your life since you finger-knitted for Imbolc.

Closing:

Thank the God and Goddess for coming and put out their candles with a pinch or a snuffer, and thank all elementals, then earth and close the circle. Put anything that was given in the cauldron into the libation bowl also, with the exception of the candle and its holder. When the circle is broken, the first thing you should do is go outside and bury the contents of the libation bowl, then commence cleaning up. Document anything important in your Book of Shadows. Change any decorations around your house that you have to reflect the new season.

Alternatives and Additions:

If you wish, you may leave goodies out for the little people, animals, or whatever you choose. You may dedicate this food to them before the ritual’s core.

This Sabbat is conducive to magickal workings having to do with growth spells, spells for improving communication, group interaction, fertility, and abundance. If magick is to be done, do it right before the feast.

If dancing, singing, or any other personal or individual merriment is scheduled, it can be done either after the feast and the core of the ritual, OR it can be done after the circle is broken.

Footnotes:

1--Groups can alternate speaking lines of this as a chant, and use “we” instead of “I.”
2--With a group, it may be possible to play-act the protection of the God by the Goddess by having a coven member who is in the mother phase draw a protection rune in anointing oil on the forehead of a member who is in the young man phase, or any variation or expansion of this.
3--With groups, it may be preferable to do these activities outside circle, or in such a way that the High Priest and Priestess lead and allow everyone else to contribute in a small way, so that it does not take up the entire ritual.
4--A group might personify the four aspects by having four members dress in the elements’ colors or simply don capes or veils at the appropriate time, and have each member of the coven silently thank each person for said contributions; the elemental people can gather the thanks in their hands and offer them to the deities in a cup or bowl.
5--Working partners should each take a bite of the apple and then switch; in coven situations, just pass each piece around to make sure everyone gets a bite.