Cate Cavanagh

Happy Solstice! Enjoy Ostara and Easter season!

The following information is courtesy of From_The_Spring@yahoogroups.com

Eostre's Eggs and the Legend of the Easter Bunny

The Anglo-Saxons hailed Eostre as the Goddess of Spring, the Greening
Earth, and fertility. Her name means "moving with the Waxing sun".
Around the time of her festival, on the day when light and dark are
equal, the local animals began giving birth or going into their
sexually receptive cycles, named "estrus periods" after the Goddess.
From the fiercest to the most humble, the woodland animals, who also
worshipped and loved Eostre, would play in the warmth of spring light
and feast on the new vegetation Eostre provided.

One of Eostre's devotees was a small hare who wished very much to
give a gift to his goddess, but he didn't know what he could possibly
offer that would be of any value to her. Then one day while foraging,
the hare came across a fresh egg, a very prized commodity indeed. The
little hare wanted very badly to eat the egg, as it had been a long
time since he'd feasted on anything finer than dry grasses. Before he
could take a bite of his prize, he realized this egg might make the
perfect gift for Eostre. But, he pondered, Eostre could have all the
eggs she wanted, anytime she wanted them. She was a goddess, a
creator, the embodiment of Life itself. Giving her just any egg would
never do. How, he wondered, could he make this egg a fit offering for
his goddess?
The little hare took the egg home and pondered how to make it as
beautiful and new as Eostre made the world each spring. He began to
decorate the egg. He painted it in the hues of Eostre's spring woods
and placed upon the shell symbols sacred to Eostre. When he felt he
could not make the egg any more beautiful, he took it to Eostre and
offered it to her.
Eostre was so pleased by the little hare's sacrifice of his egg
toher, and by the manner in which he decorated it for her, that she
wanted everyone, especially children, who are themselves symbols of
new life, to enjoy these representations of her bounty. Since that
Ostara day long ago, the descendants of that hare have taken up the
task of delivering decorated eggs to the world's children at spring.
They are called Eostre's Bunnies or more commonly the Easter Bunny.

Decorating Eggs

The ancient tradition of coloring eggs in Springtime was practiced by
the Celts, but was elevated to an exquisite art form by the tribes of
Eastern Europe. Ukraine, in particular, has been admired for untold
centuries for their remarkable designs.

Witches usually do not dye their eggs, but paint them with symbols,
runes, and banded designs. The Celts painted their eggs a scarlet red
to symbolize the burning Sun. A green egg with a serpent wrapped
around symbolizes fertility and the birth of the universe. An apple
is the sacred symbol of the Witch and a dragon is often used to
represent Merlin the Magician.

A variety of dyes can be made using the roots of certain herbs and
peels from vegetable skins.

Red - Five or six stems of madder root or gorse blossom (use less
than this to achieve a light pink)

Yellow - from turmeric root, found in the spice aisle at the market

Blue - from woad seeds or leaves

Carrot tops - pale yellow/green

Coltsfoot - or bracken produce green

Blue and gray/blue -.Red cabbage leaves and vinegar or crushed
blueberries or blackberries

Use different colored onion skins to dye a shade of the skin of the
onion (purple onion for a plum color and so forth).

The Celts used to paint their faces and bodies with dye made from
woad.

Here are some symbols for your egg designs:

Sun – Young god, Bel, God of Light, Inspiration

Moon – Triple Goddess, Lunar mysteries

Stars – Silver Wheel, Goddess Arianrhod

Ram's Horns – Horned God, Nature's Life Force, Fertility

Deer or Stag – Prosperity, Fertility, Horned God

Encircling Bands – Magick Circle; Wheel of the Year; Eternal Cycle of
Life

Rake or Hoe – Agricultural growth

Waves – element of water

Oak Tree – Oak King; Merlin; Strength; Wisdom

Flowers - Blodeuwedd

I am a Spiritual Life Coach, Spiritual Consultant and Life Reinvention specialist. Implementing spiritual principals, I can help you learn how to help yourself move forward in your life

and am available for workshops and lectures. Contact me and see how your life can change! cate_cavanagh@earthlink.net

Need a resume, critique or review of your work? Yours truly (Cate) is a published poet, columnist and author.

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COMING SOON "Her Godmother", "Grief Dance" and "I'll See You In My Dreams" "The Cat That Lost His Meow" and "The Kerchief Club"!