Ostara and other musings

While during Imbolc we know that Spring is returning and that things have begun to happen, we don't see it, yet.  Ostara is the celebration that Spring has begun to be seen by human eyes and that winter has been shaken off, as evidenced by the growing length of time the sun's light is seen.  On this particular day, not only can signs of Spring be seen, but there is balance between the length of the day and the length of the night.  From this day forward, the day light hours will be longer than the night time hours.  And so we celebrate Spring, new things, beginnings, fertility, life, and balance.  These things are symbolized by eggs and seeds: the progenitors of life in animals and plants.  Also by rabbits/hares who are very fertile creatures.  By baby chickens and ducklings, cute little fluffy creatures who come from eggs and will grow to create more eggs, directly or indirectly, and who are seen being born now or soon.  Also by lambs other cute fluffy creatures commonly born and seen in the Spring in large numbers.  Eggs, seeds, new plants, and baby animals would have been highly important to ancient man as an improvement to their meager winter diets as well as assurances that there would continue to be more food to cultivate in one way or another.  Popular colors associated with the holiday are pale greens, yellow-green, yellow, white, purple, blue, and pink, think of the colors of new grass and leaves and the flowers that are blooming right now, such as daffodils, crocus, grape hyacinths, and even a few trees.  I've recently seen a reference to not only decorating eggs, but decorating with ribbons as signs of freedom.  I've generally associated ribbons with Beltane and the Maypole, but I could see it for Ostara, too.

Balance and moderation are things that we, as humans struggle with time and time again through out our lives.  How often have you found yourself starting a project only to get overwhelmed because you've taken on too much at once?  And it is certainly easy to do this to ourselves in the Spring.  There's so much that we haven't been able to do and enjoy during the Winter months that many of us go a little crazy trying to do everything at once as soon as the weather turns warm.  For myself, I'm struggling to find balance with a number of things that I not only want to do, but that I need to do.  I'm launching a campaign to find work as an SEO article writer, which has required a lot of reading, research, and now mass emailing potentially clients for work.  In my quest to overcome fears, I've decided to not only get myself out into the Pagan community by attending festivals, while I'm there I'm going to be vending some fabric and jewelry craftings or at least trying to do so.  People have been telling me they'd like to see more of my work, specifically for sale, so I'm going to see how that actually works out in practice.  Of course, that means I have to make a bulk supply of things to sell, which takes time.  I need time for the gym to work out.  I want time to be outside and time with my family.  And I have to cook and clean and take care of two active little girls, 10 months and 2 years old, respectively, as well as my two older children a 9 year old girl and 10 year old boy, although they require less time since they are not only in school but live primarily with their father.  And I'm in school part-time.  So, my husband and I have been struggling to get ourselves organized and on task to help each other with all the things that need to be done to achieve our goals.  While there have been some frustrating days, I'm pleased to say that I think we are getting better at it, which is very exciting.  It's nice to see successes, even if they are small ones in the general scheme of things.  But any growth, any movement forward, is better than none at all and therefore deserves to be celebrated.

A lot of what I see people suggesting for Ostara celebrations involves planning and what you'd like to see come about in this growing season.  There's certainly a call for that as now is the time when gardening season is upon us and stores are just now putting out more than just standard seeds, but also tools and starter plants.  But for my Trad, the first half of Winter is the time for reflecting on what has passed and the second half is for planning what we'd like to see come about in our lives.  Imbolc is the time of planning for Spring.  I see Ostara as being a celebration of not what's past or what is to come, but a celebration of what is right now.  Being balanced means not yearning too strongly for things either in the past that can't be changed or the future that hasn't come about, yet.  Accept the past, wait for the future, but live in the now.  If you don't live in the now, it will soon become the past and will have passed you by, possibly causing regrets.  Look out your window and you'll see that Life is good today.  So, for today, forget yesterday, it can't be undone, unlived. For today, forget tomorrow, it's time will come.  What is good about life today?  What are you thankful for in your life, your world, be it big or small?  What blessings do you already have in your life?  What have you already accomplished?  Feel free to share these answers.  :)  

I'd also like to share a YouTube video shared with me that is a wonderful expression of Ostara, The Witch's Sabbat: Ostara

PBP -E is for Elitism

Recently a discussion group I'm a part of on Facebook was discussing British Traditional Wicca and British Traditional Witchcraft.  My limited experience with people who claim either of those titles is a negatively elitist attitude.  They claimed to be authorities on every subject that came up.  They were quick to point out what was wrong with other people's practices.  But they were very limited on providing any useful information since all of that is classified.  I always wondered what the point of their being in contact with the public was.  If someone doesn't have the option of doing what you do because you won't give them the option, why do you have so much interest in what they are doing on their own?  And such negative interest?   Since that time, which was early in my Pagan days, I've learned that people practicing BTW of either kind, don't usually announce themselves like that.  And I'm pleased to say that those of this discussion group, while mentioning that there are things that can't go into detail about, aren't acting like they have the only right way to go about things.  Can you imagine if there was only one right way to do anything?  We'd have no variations of culture, food, clothes, etc.  (On a humorous side note, for sci-fi fans, have you ever noticed that 99% of alien races have uniform features?)  Elite is another word that has different connotations depending on the exact usage.  "Jack is an elitist (prick)." Versus, "Jack is so talented; he is one of the elite (someone to be admired)."  I think it's one thing to have high standards and expectations.  It's okay to be proud of yourself or a group.  It's another thing to think that means others are less than you are.  Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, even if they aren't always obvious.  There's always something that you could learn from someone else.  Strive to be of the elite, but never strive to be an elitist!

PBP-E is for Eccentric or Weirdo?

Now this could apply to many different kinds of people, not just Pagans.  But let's look at types of Pagan people.  Many Pagans are just like anyone else you might see walking down the street.  There's nothing about them that screams their religion.  Go to a Pagan Pride Day event, and you will observe many people looking just like they would for any other public outing.  Then there are the moderates, people like me.  I seem pretty normal just walking down the street.  My personal style is only slightly unique, but in culturally acceptable norms.  For example, during the warmer months, I favor flowing skirts and tunic style tank tops.  But my top might be homemade and of a slightly sheer fabric, the kind that you would only notice if really paying attention.  And I usually wear something fun and creative to PPD.  And then there are the eccentrics and the weirdos.  But how do we tell the difference?  Or more importantly, isn't it odd that we differentiate between eccentric and weird?  Both usually wear clothes of a very unique style.  They definitely stand out in a crowd.  How can you miss someone wearing all black with accent chains, numerous pentacles, spiked boots, and purple hair?  But the eccentrics tend to be respected, while the weird tend to be either shunned or patted on the head, depending on their other behaviors.  There was a girl a grade behind me in high school who often wore a cape and twisted her hair in wires to create tall antlers (she had very long hair) and called herself a "non-conformist."  She irritated another friend of mine who considered herself a "non-conformist" as well, because there was a difference between simply not conforming to popular standards and making a point of going the complete and utter opposite.  She felt the other girl made "non-conformists" look bad.  It made me laugh.  Why did she care how society viewed "non-conformists" if she didn't like society?  But I guess that's where I get my difference between these types of people.  It's all in the attitude and that aura people project.  The outside really doesn't have a great deal to do with it.  For there are also people who "look" like everyone else but aren't.  I've learned to rely more on my senses, my intuition, rather than on just appearances.  Maybe they dress oddly because they are so excited about Paganism and want to express it in their every day life.  I did at one time.  When I was around 21-22, I had black hair with blue streaks and habitually wore a long-sleeved cloak.  My son was around 3-4 and needed speech therapy.  His therapist told me that another therapist had been watching us in the waiting room and thought that many of the other parents could learn a thing or two from me because of how well behaved my kids were.  It made me laugh, yeah, take a pic and put me up as a pattern card for Carmel moms and see how that goes over.  On occasion, I wouldn't mind having the black and blue hair back, but I wouldn't do the cloak again.  And then there's the guy from a Coven I was with for about a year.  Fairly nondescript guy, polite, kind, knowledgeable, but there was just some indefinable thing that made my skin crawl.  He ended up being something of a sexual predator.  Thankfully, I wasn't involved in any of what happened.  Normal, eccentric, or weird it's all about the indefinable something that we project that truly effects how people see us and react to us.  Don't be afraid to be you.  If it's truly You, then you won't get negative reactions from it.  On the contrary, you might be surprised at how many people envy how comfortable you are with yourself.  Eccentric is cool, didn't you know?