Ostara Newsletter 20 March 2021
Welcome to this auspicious Ostara…well, for me anyway! I cannot believe it is 25 years since I signed the lease and Mystique Moments was born. Oh, my Goddess!! How much has changed since I stood there looking at a shop door with a key and wondering what I’d done? In the 25 years I have stood at the counter, I have seen two financial crashes, 2 threatened pandemics, an EU enforced shutdown, Brexit and now a global pandemic. Then, to top all, a freak 9-hour tropical storm last August, engulfed my shop in a devastating flood. It has been hard work but, with new floors, new kitchen, new walls and a new look, 6 months later, I am back by appointment only! If you are going to be closed due to a flood and have a complete revamp, do it with flood insurance in a global pandemic!
But, back to Ostara and the Spring Equinox…
It has been a long and hard winter, on more levels than just the weather, but finally, we have reached the Equinox, when day and night are equal, and which brings up back to the beginning of this whole pandemic and the very 1st lockdown! A whole year of fighting a war, with an unseen enemy, killing thousands of people in the UK and millions around the world…but hopefully we are on the way out with the vaccine, and we will learn to live with Covid the same as we live with colds, influenza, asthma and bronchitis. Oh, to get back to some kind of normality…I just want to go out for a meal and sit and be served on and enjoy a glass (or 3) of wine!! This year has certainly made the simple things of life more important, like just having a family round for a bbq on a sunny day in the garden!
Later this month, we spring forward into spring: clocks go forward an hour and the days begin to get longer. How I long for sunshine and heat…and things will seem better now we wake up and the sun is already up. We are hopefully though the worst, and things will seem better as we head to warmer days.
Spring clean the house, spring clean the body…
As the sun shines through our windows, time to start to spring clean. We have all been stuck in our houses over the lockdowns, adults working, kids schooling, and everyone living and breathing 24/7 within the same 4 walls… that staleness and heaviness needs to be removed and let the freshness and lightness of Springtime in! So, time to…
Clean the windows to let the fullness of light and sunshine in and clean all surfaces to get the winter dust out. Open all the doors and windows and let the air blow through…then fill the home with bright sunny flowers and uplifting aromas to bring that optimism back into the home so we feel like we are heading in the right direction!
Look forward to that 1st family bbq when we can all gather together in the garden like we took for granted we could do on any sunny Sunday! A fire outside is a great feeling… I love my fire pit built by my boys…nothing special but so many great evenings huddled around as families have always done…like a step back in time. I love a fire of fallen branches and dead leaves after the winter to make for a great garden clear-up. Also, burning a few wishes in the fire makes things feel so much better: life is renewing once more, like the Phoenix rising out of the flames…
At the end of winter, the body needs a little attention too, to shed the ‘winter coat’ which most of us ‘put on’ to protect us against the cold. However, this year, just to survive, I think we have all chucked away our health regime in some way and I for one have definitely needed that glass wine (or 2) at the end of each day just to recognise surviving another day in lockdown! Ostara is the perfect time to get back into your health routine, to get the body ready for the summer and its exposure to the British Sun, as doubt there will be much foreign travel by summer!
Here are some simple measures to get you started:
Start walking more and introduce a small exercise routine or plan one into your day.
Begin the daily after-shower moisturize to get the winter out and the moisture back into that body.
Lessen the alcohol and coffee intake and up your herbal tea and filtered water intake – the body needs extra water to shift toxins from the body. The added water can also help lose the wrinkles, brighten the eyes and help remove those aches and pains so you may even look and feel younger…win, win!!
Make your own shower/bath moisturiser… a lazy way of cleansing, exfoliating and moisturising is to take cup Sea salt, add extra virgin Olive or Sunflower oil until an oily paste, add a few drops pleasing aroma oils and use in the shower to exfoliate and moisturise! Oils like grapefruit & Juniper berry are great for the battle against cellulite, so maybe add those as your aromatic oils to massage the winter lockdown out of those thighs!
We have all added those extra biscuits or chocolates to our daily coffee routine, so less chocolate and more fruit. I am not saying to go mad, but it is amazing what a few changes to the daily diet and routine can do to make you feel better and add more zest and energy to your life…Life is for living, so time to get a boost and live it.
We have been cooped up all winter and, just as our lives are starting to open up, so does Mother Nature. Get out and about. Watch the trees start to bud, trees gradually turn green and then blossom. See the buds begin pushing through the soil and then flower. It is amazing watching nature reappear after its winter in darkness, and for our mental health, we must do the same after our long winter hibernation in lockdown: remember, we have been locked down for so long now, it may be hard for some to get back into normality, so try these baby steps, get a regular walk in nature and watch your strength, courage & resolve will return, not to mention your sanity and love for life!
Crystals for support out of lockdown…
People are feeling trapped, hardly leaving the house at all for so long. I have used crystals throughout this whole process to keep me safe, keep me well and keep me motivated. My favourite has been Labradorite – the Northern lights in a stone! It is a positive stone of balance, energising when I was tired, motivating when I couldn’t be bothered, and transformative when I needed to put my big girl pants on and get stuff done! If you are struggling to get out and about and back started i.e. time to go back to school or work, try a combo of Hematite & Carnelian.
The Iron of Hematite is a confidence boost to get you motivated and get on with it, deflecting negativity and giving you your power back to make life happen, whilst the orange of Carnelian fills you with vitality and connects you back to your basic instincts…if your get up and go has got up and gone, this stone will get you up and going again. Wear or carry this duo to help you get your life back on track, because we have to find normality again!
If all else fails, and I need a lift of optimism, then my stones are Citrine and Peridot. The natural yellow Citrine is ‘Sunshine in a stone:’ a ray of hope, happiness and harmony and great for fresh beginnings…and that’s what life is now, a fresh start, after the year from Hell!! Citrine brings people together and advances growth in your life…you’ll often see me wear Citrine. but I usually always stick a piece in my pocket if energy & positivity is needing a boost!
The other half of this duo is Peridot: the pretty yellow-green crystal thrown out of exploding volcanos. It brings me comfort and fire, energy and a feeling of renewal. You can’t be angry with Peridot on you and it provides oomph when it is lacking. Wear these two stones together and life is full of hope, optimism and happiness! Use your favourite crystals to help support you through this time of major change, whichever you are attracted to … after all, gemstones have been doing this for millenia…supporting people through the hard times in life!
Ostara Prosperity box…
We have all had a hard year, whether on furlough, self-employed businesses closed or simply working at home with the stress schooling and working brings to the home, usually the place of family harmony and rest! Time to make a prosperity box and place in your money corner or on your altar, to get abundance flowing again…just as the country needs to get abundance flowing again. It only needs to be a little box, made from wood, stone or similar; natural not plastic and give it a cleanse in patchouli or Earthy incense. Leave outside to absorb the Sun’s positive energies.
When ready, sprinkle patchouli leaf in the bottom of the box (or other abundance herbs), add green crystals like aventurine and jade, acorns, pine leaves or a pine cone, and a few silver coins like 5p’s or leftover foreign coins.
With incense burning, light a green candle dressed with patchouli oil, and write a list in green pen, of what you need - and be specific: if you need money for debt, don’t say “some money” but how much. If you need your child to get into college for qualifications for their sought-after job, write it down. Whatever you need to bring prosperity and abundance back to your home or business, write it down. Next, using a brown pen, write what practical things you are going to do to help this prosperity happen and achieve your dreams – staying in bed gets you nowhere, you must be doing, not dreaming! When done, fold & seal with a drip of the green candle. Add both lists to your box. Put on the lid and cover with a lodestone or magnet to attract your needs, and daily, burn patchouli or prosperity incense next to your box and get the flow of abundance back through your door.
Moon times:
Full Moon: Sun 28 Mar @ 19.49 hrs New Moon: Mon 12 Apr @ 03.31 hrs
Full Moon: Tue 27 Apr @ 04.32 hrs
The Phoenix
As mentioned earlier, The Phoenix is a legendary magickal bird. It is a grand bird like an eagle, peacock or heron, brilliantly coloured in reds and golden shades with eyes of sapphire blue standing overseeing all. It eats spices and Frankincense instead of nuts and builds its nest of Myrrh and Cinnamon. When old and tired, it ignites the nest with one flap of its wings, & the fire consumes both nest and bird. 3 days later, it rises from the ashes and flies away renewed! This magnificent bird is an Egyptian Solar amulet of rebirth and immortality, and is associated with the floods of the Nile, which then brings new wealth and fertility to the area.
Think the Phoenix is going to be my new shop amulet – no matter what happens, freak storms, EU shut downs or pandemic lock-downs, I just won’t go away! “I’ll give her 6 months” were those immortal words in the pub when I opened, yet 25 years later, here I am, bold as brass, out of the ashes, still the Witch in the High Street and proud to be so. There can be no celebrations this time, except with family, as you can still only meet with one other household: certainly, no mobbed shop with ‘Witchcraft, cocktails and cake’ like we did at 20! I will celebrate lockdown style this Ostara, because I am proud that I made it to 25, but have I made it because I’m also ‘just that little bit too stubborn to give up and let ‘em win’! Maybe there are times when being stubborn just pays off!!
Good luck, stay safe, stay well and get back to living…cos as Frankie says in those immortal words: “That’s life!”
Ostara blessings to you all, The Green Witch
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