NMR ISSUE 36

An Urban Wicca
Artemis
Astrological Forecast 36
Daddy Long Legs, Stork & Swallow
Editorial 36
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Eve of Persephone
Gematria
Guidance vs. Thou Shalt
Letters 36
Never Again the Burnings?
Pysanky Spring
The Magical Flute VIII:
Year of Vision

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An Urban Wicca: OSTARA

By Alex Miller-Mignone

Ostara is the ancient name for the Spring Equinox, the moment when the hours of daylight and darkness are in perfect balance, with the Sun poised to wax to its fullness at Midsummer. The festival usually falls on or about March 22. Winter's hold upon the land is at last loosened, and warm, wet winds stir thoughts of sunshine and summer.

Ostara is the root of the word Easter. It referred originally to a Saxon fertility goddess who had, among other attributes, the ability to change Herself into a rabbit in the spring. Sound familiar? As with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny (chief springtime emissary of the secular arm of Christianity) has its origins in pagan lore. And that penultimate symbol of the season, the Easter Egg, was decorated in pagan springtime ritual long before anyone in Northern Europe had heard of Christians.

The rabbit and the egg, both powerful tokens of fertility, were natural emblems of this season that evokes a burst of new growth in the plant kingdom and new life in the animal kingdom, as many species give birth in the spring. Streams rush and overflow their banks with the runoff from melted snows, their babbling, and burbling sounds striking a pleasant background tone to the mating cries of birds. All life seems new and reborn in the first flush of its youth.

In the urban garden, winter aconite has burst through Imbolc's mantle of snow, splattering the beds with brilliant bursts of gold, followed by alabaster snowdrops with their gently drooping blossoms. Now crocus emerge, followed by chionodoxa, bluebells and scilla; while tulip, daffodil and narcissus poke nosy green fingers through the freshly thawed earth. These are Beltane's glories, while mint has sent fresh runners, lemon balm is champing at the bit to burst forth in its first vigorous rush of growth; and oregano, chives and thyme are beginning to green. Bee balm sports tender sprouts of forest green, and woodruff sends its delicate new green whorls skyward.

Birch buds swell and show brilliant lime tips, while yellow green catkins snake like so many earthworms from its branches. Time now to pull up the mulches from the beds and scrub clean the altar space. Spring has returned, and our focus turns as well from inner matters to action in the outer worlds.

For the celebration of this sabbat of renewal, we ring the outside table altar with tall glass-robed candles of yellow and green, to commemorate the return of light and vegetation. Yule's fir branches and Imbolc's birdseed husks have been removed, and the table is lightly dressed with potted early spring flowers such as crocus and iris, primrose and pansies. We call upon the state of balance within ourselves to mirror the perfection of equality we see embodied in the dance of light and dark, and we urge male and female elements to balance themselves harmoniously within us.

More than anything else, Ostara is a time of laying groundwork for the coming seasons of growth and fertility. Whether that means plowing the fields for planting, or outlining a manuscript, cleaning the attic, or planning a new herb garden, we can all initiate action now to enable us to reach the goals we set for ourselves this year at Yule and Imbolc.

Alex Miller-Mignone, Urban Wicca at large, is a professional writer and astrologer, and past president of Philadelphia Astrological Society. His specialty is Galactic Astrology, which uses Deep Space points in addition to the planets and asteroids of our own solar system. His work appears frequently in The Mountain Astrologer and Welcome To Planet Earth, and he publishes a newsletter, The Galactic Calendar, eight times yearly. He can be reached for information or consultation at 627 S. 26th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19146 or (215) 735-1872