Ostara Newsletter 20 March 2020
Welcome to this special Ostara…what a challenging stormy new decade so far the 20’s has been! Far from filling us with new hope, it seems to have knocked us all for six! It is like some cleanse of biblical proportions going on – just missing the odd plague of locusts!! But, I digress…
Although it is still winter, the shop has been amazingly busy, even more so now I have gone down to 4 days. Looks like people are still needing my little shop, and we’ve been extra busy with oils, smudging, incense and crystals, so for now, I have my work cut out and Janey, my new trainee assistant, has been thrown in at the deep end, poor girl!
The Equinox reminds us that life is all about balance. On this day, night and day are equal, and from here, bit by bit, the light will grow and the days will be longer than the nights. Oh, how I need the light and the Sun to return. I have had enough of wind and rain and mud and slush and those long, long, grey gloomy days, and am sick of never venturing out without a windproof, waterproof coat, big boots, hat, gloves and 3 layers of clothes!! Enough now!
I always feel that Ostara fills us with hope, like the sunny yellow daffodils, cowslips and primroses that are now springing up through the mud! Eostre was the Saxon maiden goddess for Spring and for the dawn, and was given offerings of cakes and coloured eggs, and the hare and white rabbit were sacred to her. The Saxons exchanged coloured eggs as a lucky talisman for the forthcoming year to represent new life and new hope, and then consumed the eggs. The hare became the Easter bunny delivering chocolate eggs to the children for a treat after winter!
This time of the year is about renewal, rebalance and rebirth. The land begins to sprout fresh growth and the trees start to turn green and soon will fill the air with scented blossom. We have usually, seen the last of the frost and snow and the mud should soon start to dry up (my garden is a soggy disaster!) Hopefully, as the trees begin to regrow, they will help absorb all that moisture, as will the new plants and the growing strength of heat from the Sun. Ostara is the time to begin new projects, explore new business ideas and get projects under way.
With the sunshine comes the Spring cleaning…the sun begins to shine through my windows and just highlights the winter’s dust. I always begin with such enthusiasm over spring cleaning, then get busy with year-end etc and it usually all goes to pot. However, cleaning and cleansing are different! My nan always said that a bit of dirt never killed anyone and dust only gets so thick, then doesn’t get any thicker, but it is definitely important to keep your home cleared of the psychic dust and debris. Even if my spring cleaning goes to pot, my psychic cleaning always gets done, especially if it has been a long, tough winter and need my home to be filled with fresh energy!
Freeing your home of the winter debris…
Suddenly the wind stops, you dare to go out without your thermals and hat, you hear the birds singing, or the geese migrating, and you know Spring has sprung. The weather may take another dip but you wake up and it’s light, and leave work in daylight too and the never-ending darkness has gone!! Suddenly you feel like you need to tidy, put away and take to the recycling… yep, spring has sprung! My 1st step is to open all the doors and windows and let the spring in…just let some fresh air right through the home…and you will instantly feel an energy shift!
Wipe surfaces with warm soapy water to which you have added uplifting sunny oils. Selling well at the moment are Bergamot (uplifting and sunny), Sweet orange (fresh and warm), Lemongrass (energizing sherbet) and Lemon (nature’s antiseptic), but my favourite at the moment is Litsea Cubeba, which I discovered by accident. I had a new bottle stored and forgot it was there, and by the time I discovered it, it had gone out of date! I cannot sell it, so it gets used by the family…no wastage in my house! Cleaning is a great way to use up older oils as long as they smell ok and OMG, this oil smells amazing. Every morning, I sprinkle the oil on my dishcloth and wipe that kitchen down… what an aroma for filling you with uplift and enthusiasm for the day…whilst killing bugs at the same time. Known as May Chang, it means ‘mountain spicy tree’ and is used in China for dissolving negative emotional patterns and starting anew! Mix it with peppermint to aid concentration and with Sweet Orange to lighten moods. It is also well renowned for being used during such epidemics as flu season as a sanitiser (so looks like Maggie’s been playing as I discover this as Cov-19 appears) – add to a spray bottle with water for clearing the air, on handles, surfaces etc!!
Next, it is time to cleanse using a smudge stick or charcoal block with ground incense. Sticks are maintenance and should be used after clearing to put the vibration required back in…but they are not enough to clear rooms of psychic debris! It needs more oomph than incense sticks can produce. Try a smudge stick or Clearing incense, or if you like to play, mix ground juniper berries for purification with frankincense or Copal for upbeat clearing. You can direct the smoke with feathers. When out for a walk on a field or beach, collect dropped feathers you may come across. Clean them with salt water to purify them, tie them together at the quill end, then bind together with pretty ribbon! Knot the feathers 3 times saying something like:
“With feathers found, now cleansed and bound, A clean sweep I’ll make and a fresh start I’ll take”
Now you can direct your smudging smoke into those corners for a thorough cleansing and keep your magickal fan on your altar for future use! Once cleansed, light an incense stick in all the rooms to bring the vibration you seek for the new fresh start! Now you have cleared the psychic debris, time for the rest of the winter dust…maybe!
Life in balance…
The Spring is time to get life in balance. Time spent in the fresh air to clear the mind and get that work, rest and play back into proportion after the winter hibernation. This year has been especially tough, with the Universe forcing everyone to make changes, our Country heading off into the unknown and yet another Pandemic to ‘kill’ us all off! Let’s not feel the fear being fed and try to keep our life calm and balanced. Use crystals such as Citrine and Labradorite, or whatever stones you feel attracted to, to balance your life. When I am stressed, I love a nice, hot Juniper bath to get rid of the angst of the day. Juniper oil is for magickally purifying your energy field, so if I’ve had a day full of negative customers, they go away feeling better but have left their negativity behind. It’s a quick smudge of the shop, then home to clear my aura with a Juniper bath. Run a warm bath, add a lump Himalayan salt, then when it is ready, add 8 drops Juniper berry oil, swish it in the water, get in and relax. I also like to take a glass of gin and grapefruit in with me (grapefruit juice becomes alkali in your stomach & gin is my medicinal Juniper…!!) After 15-20 minutes, get out the bath into a clean warm towel, then let the water out and see all that negativity swirl down the plughole and be gone!! Now you can begin again, cleansed and renewed…
Himalayan Salt…
Lots of people enjoy the relaxing light of a pink Salt lamp these days, but above, I mentioned adding a lump to my bath too. The salt, when warmed, produces negative ions which combats the positive ions put out by technology, and can help fight stress and fatigue to leave you feeling more relaxed. It contains some 84 trace minerals and I’ve always put salts in my bath since childhood! The effects from mined salt has been known for centuries and I was reminded of this after my visit last year to the Wieliczka Mine near Krakow. It was noted by a Polish doctor that those who worked in the mines had excellent health with no respiratory issues. Another doctor noticed the respiratory health of his patients improved after hiding in the caves during German bombings, so they began sending people for various treatment within the mines. These days, you can find Salt rooms for therapy instead of cold caves. However, I have used the salt at home for years and find that Himalayan salt, when added to my bath, leaves me and my skin refreshed! You can also use salt soap and deodorant stones too and in the kitchen, we grind it to add to our food. There is also a thing you can make called ‘salt sole’ which is ‘used’ to boost immunity, improve thyroid function and balances hormones. Personally, I don’t fancy drinking a glass salt water daily, but if I had an issue I thought it could help, who knows what I will do: some tinctures taste awful but I still drink them! Another thing I never fancied is inhaling salt particles (which is what the miners were actually doing) but you can purchase a proper salt inhaler to help respiratory issues if you have them and the therapy salt caves to sit in too.
Oils & Website
The bottle manufacturer has stopped making my 50ml carrier oil bottles, so be warned, as people seldom want to buy large amounts of the more expensive carrier oils. I do have recycled bottles, the last of my 50ml stock and a limited ability to cap tincture bottles, so, I ‘m going to reduce the price of basic 100ml carrier oils from Ostara, to save my limited supply of smaller bottles for the more expensive oils & encourage your help to buy others bigger!
Watch out also for the new phone-friendly website going live on Ostara! I am hoping to add the crystals and jewellery in a new and different way and you can learn about each one as we go. I will feature each new page on our FB page too… adding them stone by stone, and featuring the crystals in tumbled, raw and jewellery forms along with their many magickal uses…well, that’s my plan!!
Moon Times:
Full Moon: Wed 11 Mar @ 17.48 hrs New Moon: Tue 24 Mar @ 09.29 hrs
Full Moon: Wed 8 April @ 03.35 hrs New Moon: Thur 23 April @ 03.26 hrs
My new form of balance
As mentioned above, the shop has been so busy that I have been going home each night exhausted, having got no actual work done, just madly making stock, putting orders away, sending orders out, and filling shelves in between customers, no better than Tesco really, and I’m now in need of some down time and rest. I decided that this year, when I am tired and need to stop, the shop will be closed to enable me to catch my breath…so I’m away in the motorhome for a few days to recharge with Mr Mac and the mad mutt, to explore the North-East coastal areas of Scotland & get myself rested ready for the Easter school holidays and my tax year end. I’ve closed up from Tues 10th and will return rested to re-open on Tues 17th March ready for Ostara on the 20th. I have a few ideas that I am playing about with, so keep an eye on the Green Witch Facebook page for further updates, on some possible Equinox magick!! I think we all could do with a little light lift from the Corona frenzy! If you need help ‘Fighting the invaders’, my sheet is available for pickup in the shop along with plenty stock of Litsea & Witches Gold, Thyme & Echinacea, and lots of real soap…so stay well with your common sense on alert and keep smiling!
Sunny Ostara blessings from Chris (alias the Green Witch)
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