Ostara: Flowers, Herbs, Crystals
Pagan Fire Festival Day Has its Own Special Dinner and Décor
This minor Sabbat greets spring's arrival. The wheels of the cycle of nature and of life turn. Nature is reborn, offering the promise of abundant future harvests.
Ostara, the day of the vernal equinox when daylight and night are equal, is the Fire Festival welcoming spring, the season of sowing seeds, leaves returning to perennial plants, animals creating new generations and rebirth.
Flowers, herbs and crystals of the season decorate altars. Each one has its special powers and symbolism. Celebrants sing and dance. There is meditation with people concentrating about their desires for the coming year. These are affirmed.
The Flowers of Spring
The flowers of this season, with the exception of tulips, which are vivid red and other deep or brilliant colors and irises and violets, which can be shades of vibrant purple, are white, yellow and pastel hued. Their powers have a place in working with magick to help attain positive goals.
The Easter lily is not listed because it isn’t a plant that normally blooms in the spring. Florists use artificial means to make it come into flower during this holiday.
Bluebell: Gratitude, constancy, humility
Crocus: Youthful gladness
Daffodil: Regard, desire, affection, luck
Dogwood: Eternal life, regeneration
Forsythia: Anticipation
Hyacinth: Love, happiness, protection
Iris: Message, cherished friendship, valor, faith, hope, wisdom
Jonquil: Love me, returned affection, sympathy, desire
Lilac: Purple: First love; White: Youthful, Innocence. Both drive away evil
Narcissus: Self love
Olive: Protection, peace, fruitfulness, purification
Tulip: Fame, declaration of love, perfect love, luck love
Violet, Purple: Faithfulness, love, luck, protection, peace, healing, wishes. Yellow and white: Happiness
Herbs of the Season
Gorse: In Wales, its hedges are used to protect homes from faeries because they cannot go through them. In magick, it is employed in money spells because it attracts gold and in spellwork meant for protection against evil.
Woodruff: This herb attracts money and prosperity. It brings victory to warriors and athletes. This plant also guards people against harm.
Ostara Crystals
Crystals are often employed in magickal practice. They can be worn or carried as amulets to protect and as talismans to attract what is desired. Before they are worked with, they need to be cleansed and charged.
Agates: Banded: Protection, de-stressor, restores energy. Black: Victory, courage, protection. Black and White: Guards against danger. Blue Lace: De-stressor, peace, happiness. Brown or Tawny: Victory in battle, success. Green: Enhances health of the eyes. Moss: Restores energy, healing, attracts happiness, new friends and riches, worn to insure a longs life. Red: Attracts peace and calmness.
Powers of the mind, money, peace, luck, healing, gambling, eyesight
Aventurine:
Peace, protection, healing, eloquence, courage
Carnelian:
Crystal Quartz: Psychicism, healing, power, protection. This crystal can substitute for all others in spell work
Jade: Healing, love, wisdom, longevity, prosperity, protection, gardening, money
Lapis Lazuli: Joy, love, healing, psychicism, protection, courage, fidelity
Rose Quartz: Love, fidelity, happiness, peace
Related articles:
Cleansing and Charging Crystals
Sources:
Dolfyn, (Earthspirit Inc. 1987)
Crystal Wisdom: Volume III,
Dolfyn, (Earthspirit Inc. 1988)
Crystal Wisdom: Volume VI,
Scott Cunningham, (Llewellyn Publications, 1995)
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs,
Scott Cunningham, (Llewellyn Publications, 1989)
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic,
Scott Cunningham, (Llewellyn Publications, 1993)
Magical Herbalism,
Dorothee L. Mella, (Warner Books, 1986)
Stone Power,
