Blessed Ostara 2015

This year, Ostara is very different for me than for other people and I see it from an absolutely different perspective than was the case in previous years. Today, on the day of the spring equinox, early in the morning (no less than on the night of the New Moon), my grandfather died. The whole family had been expecting this for the past two weeks which he spent moving between the hospital and an old people's home. Considering his physical and mental health, we all agreed that death came as a blessing for him because he is finally at peace now. I don't plan to exhaust you with the sad details of this story but rather to explain my understanding of Ostara which was prompted by these circumstances.

The spring equinox marks an important turn in the Wheel of the Year and represents the agricultural New Year. This is the first day of spring, the day when everything is in bloom, when seeds are sprouting, when day and night are equal in length and the forces of chaos and cosmos are in balance. Yet this year, the reincarnation aspect of this festival stands out for me. That is to say, spring represents a time when the earth wakes up, plants come out of their slumber and a new, important step is taken into the year to come. People tend to forget that when something new begins, something else often comes to an end. In order for a tree to grow, its leaves have to fall and rot to nourish the earth. In order for a new oak tree to grow from the earth, one acorn has to sacrifice itself and fall to the earth which will welcome it into its womb.

Considering everything I have experienced recently, I simply cannot see Ostara as a festival of passion, fertility, sexuality and general merriment. Instead, I currently see it as the representative of unavoidable life changes which are natural nevertheless. The Wheel of the Year is a reflection of the birth-death-rebirth cycle. In this wheel, Ostara (I would say along with Yule and Imbolc) represents one aspect of the aforementioned rebirth. And so I am currently thinking about this cycle which sets nature's biological clock into motion.

It is surely easier to accept death if you understand it as an integral part of life or perhaps as an extension of life after which comes a short period of rest and then rebirth. And this goes on and on and on. Maybe reincarnation is just one of many perspectives on the world and human existence which helps us to stay composed and positive even in the most difficult of situations. Even if it is only this and nothing more, I am still happy to be able to understand the world and nature in such a way. This reminds me that even the hardest times in our lives are there to teach us something or to make us stronger.

The lesson that I got from this experience (which, I have to admit, is something completely new to me) is that everything is cyclical and that the only constant in life is change. We cannot preserve anything forever because change is natural.

This year, I will mark Ostara with my closest family and loved ones albeit in a somewhat sadder mood than I would prefer. This is why I wish that happiness, blessings and passion fill your Ostara celebration!

Until next time. Yours,

Witch's Cat