Getting the Coven Ready for Ostara

Ostara is the 2nd holiday in the Pagan Wheel of the Year. Pagans celebrate Ostara on the Spring Equinox, which falls between the 19th and 22nd of March each year. The festival takes its name from the Goddess of Spring and the Dawn. As the Earth springs to life on Ostara, pagans celebrate with a feeling of springing to life in their personal lives and their magical lives. This is a festive time, a time of rebirth and renewal. Seeds planted during the wintertime can be seen emerging from the Earth. Dreams planted during Imbolc begin to come to fruition.

This ancient heritage can be seen in many of the symbols and traditions in our modern celebration of Easter. Rabbits, with their high rate of fertility, are an obvious and beautiful symbol for Spring Equinox - and therefore we have the Easter bunny. An ancient myth of the Goddess Eostre, from which the words Ostara and Easter are derived, tells of how pagan children presented eggs as an offering to the Goddess in thanks to Her for bringing them the Spring and for ending the long, cold, difficult winter season. Legend says she was so touched by this gift that she asked her minions, the rabbits, to return the eggs, now magically dyed in festive, bright colors to the children in bird’s nest “baskets.” This is how we got the tradition of rabbits delivering eggs to children at the time of the Spring Equinox.

For our Pagan forebears, Ostara was indeed a time of celebration. The sun is becoming stronger, and the cold, dark months yield to a sense of joyful abundance. Ancient pagans no longer needed to store and ration foodstuffs, and often the very tastiest cured meats were presented at the Spring celebrations and feasts. The time of hunger has passed - the time of stockpiling and sparing and darkness. We, too, can celebrate the life-giving, live affirming

Spring the Earth brings forth at Ostara! For a coven, this is an optimal opportunity to bond together as a working magical group. There is no greater and more fulfilling exercise in coven dynamics than the planning and enjoying of a feast together.

Historical evidence of feasting as a sacred ritual exists as far back as we have records of civilization, and archeological evidence of feasting in celebration of the seasons and as a display of gratitude to Nature and the Goddesses and Gods goes back even further. Feasting is a way to create prestige for the host, display the abundance of the host’s resources, provide a pleasant backdrop for negotiations, and honor God or the Goddesses and Gods by eating in their name(s). Feasting brings gratitude, and Ostara is the perfect time to celebrate abundance, count your blessings, rededicate to your coven, and revel in gratitude for all that the coven brings to the members’ lives, to their communities, and to the world.

One of the greatest blessings the Spring Equinox can bring is fertility. Fertility can mean many things to a coven. It may mean physical fertility. Perhaps a member of the coven is trying to get pregnant or is the partner of someone who is trying. This is a good time to meditate upon the fertility of the earth, and how you would like to see that reflected in the coven members who are trying to conceive a child.

Fertility can also mean spiritual and magical fertility of the coven as an organization. The desired fertility can take the form of the members of the coven being more accomplished in their individual magical studies, and in the translation of their individual knowledge and skills into group magical power. Fertility can also mean growth in the number of coven members, if needed. Fertility for a coven can mean the fruitfulness and success of the coven’s spell work, or fertility in the sense of members finding more time to gather together more often. It can also mean fertility of the non-spell work life of the coven - does your coven wish to present classes to the pagan community or attend such classes? Does your coven wish to gain more visibility within the local pagan community, and greater participation with other covens in the area? Perhaps your coven needs fertility in imagination - a more fertile and creative vision of the goals of the coven and what “growth” means to the coven?

Finally, your coven could wish for a more fruitful sense of openness amongst the members - a greater comfort, trust and willingness to share each other’s feelings, ask each other for help, and lean more strongly upon each other. As you prepare for Ostara, think about the fertility you and the coven would like to see, and prepare your mind and spirit to experience that success.

While preparing the coven for the celebration of Ostara does indeed require a lot of careful, in-depth thought, such an important feast also requires very detailed planning of the physicalities of the event. Of course, the most obvious important consideration is the food and drink that will comprise the great feast. It is beneficial to appoint one member as Coordinator of Food and Drink. This should be someone who is highly organized and detail-oriented, and who agrees to finalize all plans and communicate them to the coven by, at the maximum, 7 days before the event.

This Coordinator should ask each coven member what they wish to bring to the feast, and each member, regardless of their other duties, should agree to bring one dish of food or one drink. Food is an integral part of the Ostara celebration; a person who thinks they have no cooking talents should be encouraged to bring a drink of quality and significance. The Coordinator should keep good record of everyone’s contributions, confirm them two weeks before the Festival, and make sure that all the elements of the feast are represented - appetizers, main dishes, sides, desserts, and drinks.

Some traditional foods for Ostara are hot cross buns, honey cakes, yogurt dishes, pork loin, lamb, cheeses, creamy desserts, deviled or hard-boiled eggs, and salads with mixed “spring greens.” A quick search online should yield a cornucopia of recipe ideas!

A word about budget. The coven should conduct the preparations in a businesslike way, so that the celebrations do not end up hampered by a member not being able to afford their share of the contribution. Budget should be discussed, agreed upon, and recorded in detail, including how much money is allotted to each Committee, at the very first Ostara organizational meeting.

The other important preparations for Ostara are decorations, led by a Coordinator of Decorations. Decorations should include table settings, flowers, incense, and room decorations. Some traditional Spring flowers, perfect for accompanying your Ostara feast, are jonquils, violets, peonies, and daffodils. Rose, jasmine, strawberry, and any Spring flowers are wonderful scents, and indeed a delicate perfume of incense should be a part of the sensory feast.

Other considerations are set-up and clean-up, room booking if needed, and a final meeting about a week in advance to make sure everyone can fulfill their contributions. If the ritual to precede your Ostara feast includes recitations of poetry and/or the calling of the elements or the welcoming of the gods and goddesses the coven works with, these roles should also be agreed upon early. It is recommended for such a major holiday that all ritual speakers have their "parts" memorized.

One final note on the physicalities of preparing for your coven’s Ostara feast. If your ritual and ritualized feast is to occur in the evening, the coven should go outside together during the daylight in honor of Ostara that day. One of the most sacred ways to get into the mood for an Ostara celebration is to take a walk in a wild place. The coven should go out together, and walk through a wild place. Silently meditation as you walk, and keep your eyes and ears open.

Notice the sunlight, the new growth, the flowers. Listen for birds and bees and all sorts of creatures also glorying in the Spring. The meditation walk should be done in a group, but the members should maintain silence. Ostara will reveal much to the meditative, grateful mind and senses and spirit. After the walk, the coven could gather in a circle in a clearing outside and share their thoughts and what their meditations revealed to each member.

A great way to create a magical Ostara celebration with your coven is the pairing of a grand feast with a ritual of blessing and preparation. A ritual before the big feast puts all members into a magical mindset, reminding all that celebration is in itself a sacred act, and that feasting is a ritual. The intent of the coven to continue throughout the pagan year united, strong, and powerful can be emphasized in the ritual, and the coven members can therefore enter into the feast with bright hearts, aware of the importance of the coven in their lives, and determined to do great magical workings together throughout the year.