OSTARA
Wasn’t it just dark and cold and Yule? Well, not anymore! The Spring Equinox is arriving and with it the Sabbat of Ostara. Guest leader, Elizabeth, will be leading this ritual and sharing her personal ideas about what makes Ostara important and beautiful.(And remember – ANYONE can be a guest presenter or ritual leader, even you!)
**Please note that we have added an egg hunt for any interested children. Bring your kiddos and a basket or bucket for them to put the eggs in. Gather at 4:00. Eggs will be festive plastic eggs provided by Covenant!
This Sabbat celebration includes a “pre-ritual” you can do at home. (it’s optional, you can still come to the Sabbat ritual if you choose to skip the pre-ritual!) More information about this pre-ritual is discussed below in blue. Additional information about attending the Sunday Sabbat is below the pre-ritual.
From Elizabeth:
“Ostara is traditionally a celebration of new life, rebirth and re-growth, and we’ll throw ourselves into those themes. Story-telling, egg divination, and invoking our own springtime renewal will be part of the ritual, all done with a festive, fun vibe. We will try to be outdoors if the weather cooperates.
If you (like me) feel that you’re due for some renewal, but realize that you may be your own biggest obstacle to experiencing it, then consider trying the following optional pre-ritual activity to help shake yourself loose, so that Ostara’s transforming energy can work more deeply in your life.
Come by the Hall (901 E Swallow) to pick up three or four nuts (still in the shell) (If the Hall isn’t open, the basket will be outside the door, otherwise it’s near the windows inside)
Take them home, and set aside 15 or 20 minutes in the week when you can work a little magic. You’ll need the nuts, a pen or pencil, a candle or other tool to symbolize the presence of your guardian spirits, a small paper napkin or square of paper towel, and quiet space for reflection.
Settle into your workspace, drop into your heart, and call your deities or spirits to be present, to witness for you, and to act for you, according to your highest good. Light the candle, and reflect in its glow, something like this:
Shining ones, guardian spirits,
I know I am a tough nut to crack.
I struggle to set aside my fears,
I get trapped in my past,
And despite myself I turn away from opportunity and growth.
Help me to learn to live without a shell
Without constraints
Without fears
Without pretense
In the one golden moment that is always around me
Effortlessly dancing to the music of spirit.
Then pause to consider how your shell, the persona that you built around you to protect yourself, once saved you, but now holds you back. Think of three or four specific things that you believe are parts of you that resist growth and change. For example, for me perfectionism is an issue, rooted in a fear of not being good enough. It makes me work hard (but joylessly), imposes high standards that have lead to some achievement, but also make me hesitate to start new projects. So it’s a shell for me, a constraint. If you can find a couple things like that, which are true for you, then you’re set.
Take a nut in your hand and write a description of the shell you’re releasing on one of its flat sides. It doesn’t matter if you can read the words or not. You might want to write them multiple times on several sides, or use each side for a different kind of shell.
Then breath in the perfect, crystal pure light of spirit (in your imagination). Feel it cleanse you, and dissolve the shells that you’re shedding, from the inside out. Breath the dark fragments of the shell out into the nut in your hand, where they cling like iron filings to a magnet. Maybe try this three times, or maybe until it feels like the breath you exhale is light and pure. Repeat for each shell you want to release, or each nut you want to use.
Set the nuts on the napkin or piece of paper towel (so you don’t handle them with your bare fingers anymore). Finish with a prayer of thanks:
Shining ones, help me to let go
Of the shells I build around me
That make me unfree
That keep me small
That deflect joy.
May the warming Earth take my shells
And melt them away with the snow
Leaving me so I arise anew
A bright being like a flame
True to my highest self.
Witness my work, good spirits, and hold me accountable to these words.
My thanks for your presence and grace, for your guidance and love.
Then bury the nuts in a quiet spot where the ground is soft, imagining how the earth will take them back, until there is nothing left.“
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Because this is our usual Sunday gathering, the doors of River Hall (901 E Swallow) will open at 5:30. for socializing and to eat if you want to bring your own food. The evening will start at 6:00 without business since it is a Sabbat. Zoom will NOT be available. After a short period of socializing, the Ostara ritual will be followed by a Sumbl ritual. Please bring your own horn, chalice or ritual cup or paper cups will be available.
THIS EVENING IS OPEN TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN JOINING US (See Code of Conduct below)
~~ Ritual garb is encouraged but not required. Ritual garb is whatever makes a ritual more sacred to YOU ~~
Some things to remember… please park on Swallow, not in the cul-de-sac… Please read the Code Of Conduct before your first visit to Covenant of the River… gifts to support this community are always welcome and can come in many forms like firewood, mead, monies, time and lighters… monetary donations can be made in the donation basket in the Hall or through PayPal on our website.
Thank you so much!
