Hello and welcome to this Spring Equinox,
Ostera,
Visualization.
So I'll just tell you a little bit about Ostera first and you can just listen and let your spirit,
Your mind,
Your heart be imbued with the theme of Ostera.
Ostera,
The Spring Equinox on the 21st of March in the Western Hemisphere,
Is a point of perfect balance on the journey through the year.
So night and day are of equal length,
Perfect equilibrium,
Dark and light,
Masculine and feminine,
Inner and outer,
Everything is in balance.
And it's the turning point of the year where the year is now waxing and light starts to defeat the dark.
Everything is coming alive,
The sun is gaining in strength,
Days are becoming longer,
Warmer.
So it's time for the hopes of February,
Of Imbolc,
Of the beginning of the year to become action.
It's expansive energy and it's the first day of spring.
So Ostera is named after the goddess Eostre,
Who was traditionally honored in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility,
Renewal,
Rebirth.
The symbols of Ostera include the hare,
H-a-r-e,
The egg,
The serpent energy,
The dragon energy,
And of course all the spring flowers as well,
Daffodils,
Capkins,
Tulips,
Crocuses.
And the colors of green,
Bright green,
Yellow and white represent the season.
Now I invite you to sit comfortably or lie down and let your eyes close if that feels comfortable.
And start with deep breaths,
So slightly deeper breath than you would normally take.
And as you breathe in,
Imagine that you're breathing in the energy from the earth below you,
Letting it travel all the way through your body out through the crown.
And as you breathe out,
Take in the energy from the sky and let it travel all the way through your crown to the roots of your feet and out into the earth.
Breathing in the earth energy,
Let it travel through your roots,
Up through your feet,
All the way through your crown.
Taking in the sky energy,
Letting it travel down,
Down through your body,
All the way through your feet,
Through your roots to the earth.
And do this a few times,
Letting yourself sense that you are the point of equilibrium between the earth and the sky.
You are perfectly poised between those two poles.
This is a good time to hold in our minds,
In our being,
That we are light and dark,
We are masculine and feminine,
We are night and day,
Yin and yang.
I invite you now to visualize yourself walking in a meadow.
Beautiful spring morning,
The air is still cool,
Imagine that you're wearing a shawl,
Something to wrap around you.
But you're starting to feel the sun's warmth on your face.
You're walking through a meadow filled with beautiful flowers,
Yellow,
Purple,
Red crocuses.
Daffodils are in full bloom,
You feel they're almost reflecting the light of the sun.
There's a sense of fresh energy,
Vibrancy in the air.
Space has been cleared for something new to emerge.
You may come across a few trees in this meadow.
You see that the buds have just started to appear out of the branches,
Till green buds pushing through,
Waiting to be born.
The air feels so fresh,
Pregnant with possibility,
With hope.
And although you're walking in a leisurely way,
You feel that you're drawn somewhere magical.
And indeed your steps lead you eventually to a gate.
You can picture it any way you like in your mind,
But it's inviting,
It's warm,
It's kind,
You feel that energy through it.
And as you push the gate open,
You arrive in a beautiful,
Magnificent garden.
And this garden is blooming with all the energy of spring,
All the colours,
The sound of the breeze in the trees.
The sky is blue overhead with only a few clouds gently passing by.
There's an orchestra of colours around.
And in this garden you feel perfectly at peace,
You feel welcome,
Invited.
You instantly feel your whole body relax,
Let go,
And your mind and heart open.
You let yourself wander through this beautiful garden,
Smelling the flowers,
Feeling again that sense of expectancy in the air of hope,
Possibility.
And you feel drawn in this garden to a place where you can sit.
This is your sanctuary,
Your favourite spot in this garden.
It could be on a swing,
On a bench,
Or straight on the earth,
Wherever you would like.
And as you sit and take in the view of this garden around you,
Your garden,
Your secret spring garden,
You see a magnificent being walk towards you,
Surrounded with a halo of light.
She is the goddess of spring,
Eostre,
Ostera.
You can picture her in your mind as you wish.
She might be carrying a hare,
That is her symbol,
Maybe a basket full of eggs.
You sense a lot of joy from her,
A youthful joy.
She approaches you,
Takes you in,
And you feel bathed in her light.
And she touches your forehead lightly,
And you hear a question echo in your mind.
What needs to be reborn in your life this year?
It could be a relationship,
An activity,
More time,
Doing a certain thing,
Something that you might have let go of,
And that you would like to bring to your life again.
You don't need to strive or force for the answer,
Just letting yourself be in this garden,
Letting this question swirl around,
Seeing if an answer comes up.
And a second question echoing in your mind is,
What needs to be regenerated this year?
This might not be something that you've completely let go of,
Maybe it's simply something you feel needs a bit more energy,
A bit more focus and attention,
An infusion of spring.
What would you like to have regenerated in your life,
Reactivated,
Refreshed?
Maybe the answer is similar to the first one,
Or maybe it's a different thing.
Letting yourself open up to the answer,
Trusting that if nothing comes now,
Something will come later.
Finally,
The Goddess invites you to get very quiet,
Feeling the sun on your face,
Hearing the sounds of the few birds in the garden,
Smelling the flowers around you,
And sensing into what is the next step from here,
What is something you could do,
Even today,
To start bringing more energy into the things that you want to regenerate,
Or start preparing the ground for rebirth,
Something that needs to reappear in your life.
What step might you take?
Letting your being open up to insight and inspiration.
Ostera has gone,
But she has left a little gift for you,
Just in front of you.
You pick up this gift.
What is it?
You can look at it,
Touch it,
Smell it,
And hold it to your heart.
You can stay in this garden,
This spring garden,
As long as you like.
You can come back to it whenever you like.
Just know that you have been blessed by Ostera,
Eostre.
Feel again the ground underneath your feet.
Feel again the sky above you,
The vast blue sky,
And feel again how you are poised between the two,
Holding Eostre's gift to your heart,
Bringing some movement back into your feet,
Into your body,
Offering yourself a stretch,
And when you're ready,
Opening your eyes.
Thank you so much for joining me today for this Ostera meditation,
And I wish you a wonderful spring to come.
