Birth of a Flower – A Guided Meditation for Ostara

The purpose of this guided meditation is to get you in tune with the creative beginning energy of Ostara.  It is a wonderful way to get in the proper frame of mind before a Sabbat ritual or as a pick-me-up if you are feeling stressed or burdened while waiting on Spring to begin.

Find a comfortable place to sit or lay where you will not be disturbed.  Turn off all electronic devices except for some soft “mood” music if you wish.  Ground and center your energy in the present moment.

Close your eyes.  Become aware of your breathing.  Exist in the moment, breathing steadily for a few moments before you begin.

The blackness begins to fade around you.  Dots of green, pink, yellow and red begin to appear all around you.  They grow, shift and move about.  Within seconds you find yourself standing in an endless open field.  There is grass and an assortment of colorful flowers all around you.  They sway back and forth in the breeze.  You watch as air meets earth in the beautiful dance before your eyes.

You feel a warm tingling sensation run through your body.  Looking down at your hands you realize that the ground is getting closer.  It takes a moment for you to realize, but you are shrinking.  Down, down, further and further you go.  You are about to panic when you hear a voice in the back of your mind.

“I am with you my child,” says the feminine voice.

Your fear dissipates as you begin to look around.  All around you is green – the blades of grass, the stems of towering plants.  Under your feet is the dark brown earth.  Above are the blooms of the flowers and the vast blue sky.  When you look back down you notice that there is a large seed by your feet.

“Plant this seed in the earth,” instructs a masculine voice.

You pick up the seed, which is not as heavy as it looks, and begin to walk forward.  A short distance ahead is a clearing, the perfect place for you to plant the seed.  When you have arrived at the spot you get down on your hands and knees, sinking your hands into the dirt.  You pull the dirt towards you, making a hole in the ground.  Once the hole is big enough you place the seed in it, covering it with the dirt.  You pack it down firmly.  Standing up, you feel a sense of accomplishment looking down at the planted seed.

You start to feel a familiar tingle in your body.  Your body shoots back up to your normal height.  Pushing away the dizziness from the sudden transformation, you get back down on your hands and knees to look at where you planted the seed.

“You will come back to check on it during the year,” whispered the female voice again.

“But it is so small.  How will it survive?” you ask.

“A great forest starts with the sowing of one seed,” replied the masculine voice.

You get back up on your feet and reflect on what you have heard, seen and done for a couple minutes.  When you are ready to return, turn around and walk back into the darkness.  

Become aware of your breathing once more and slowly open your eyes.  Take a moment to thank the Lord and Lady for their wisdom.  Ground and center your energy once more before getting up.  Eating and drinking may help if you feel dizzy.

Be sure to journal your experience or share it here on this blog in the comments.

Twitterpated

You can see it everywhere you look.  The land is waking up again.  Everything is green and new.  Colorful patches of wildflowers are everywhere and Mother Earth is just humming with the energy of hope and renewal.  March 21st marks the time of Ostara or the Spring equinox. 

The celebration of Ostara gets it's name from the Germanic goddess of the dawn, Oestre.  In past years this was a time for acknowledging planting time and the promise of a new crop season after the long, dark days of winter were drawing to a close. 

It is also a time of great fertility in Nature--it is not only the flower and tree buds that will become pregnant with new life.  All of the animals on this planet (including the two-legged ones) seem to become just a little bit "twitterpated" at this time of year.  The need to create new life is a primal and instinctual one that affects all species.

Ostara marks the time of the balancing of Mother Earth's light and dark energies.  Night and day stand in perfect balance with light overtaking the dark in the days ahead.  It can be a most powerful time to work magick as we, just like our Mother, wake up from our  winter sleep and get ready to emerge into new life.  We truly are like butterflies coming out of our own chrysalis's.  Life can be new again. It can be a time to make changes and begin again if we have found ourselves on a road that doesn't seem to be leading in a direction that we particularly want to go. 

What will Ostara mean to you this year?

The Gift of Ordinary Magic

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"You do not even have to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you
to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."
~Franz Kafka~

The minute we think we know what magic is, that's when the true magic slips through our hands like mercury. Let us drift for just a bit into a soft stillness as we listen to the faint stirrings of wings and watch as other magical beings shyly join us. The magic I would like to talk about is very different from the magic of our childhood fairy tales; where princess' ran away from dark dangers, while princes' bravely battled evil trolls and dragons, and fairy folk who promised us "happily ever afters." Not that I'm negating that innocent dream of life; I just know that we're at an age where magic beats a subtler, stranger and more beautiful rhythm than we could ever have imagined as children.

It's hard to let go of those magical fantasies I had when I was young, only to transform into a more practical and solid model of magic. I believe in faeries, but I'll save that topic for a future post. I realize now  that the faery godmother I always wanted to for my own, now lives within me and I've outgrown the princess who waited to be rescued and whisked away to a beautiful castle in the sky with my true beloved prince. So what do we as adults need to compromise on, in order to keep the faith and let go of disappointments? It takes strength to still believe there's magic in the day to day life. We all have within us a unique and sacred gift that needs to be shared with others. Some of us are healers full of grace and light, some of us are parents, devoted guardian angels of our children, and there are those who are warriors who keep fighting the righteous fight. Most of us though, live quietly and modestly while we struggle with small movements to part  keep magic strong and alive.

My sisters of "eWitch" have shared with all of you, magical teachings that have came from their hearts. Our wish is that you may discover or remember your own wisdom and mystery. I know many of you have wonderful gifts and teachings that you could bless us with in return. I really hope we get that chance to become closer. The type of magic that is most needed now, is one that is practical and can survive day to day, so that we may all live an extraordinary life. Where is the magic in your life?