The Spring Equinox, 21st-22nd
March, is significant on the modern calendar as a reference to equal night and
day, as is the Autumn Equinox on the opposite side of the year. This pagan time
is closely linked with the Goddess Oestra or Ostara, the goddess of fertility
whose symbol is the hare. It is when night and day are in perfect balance and
harmony, masculine and feminine, inner and outer. As we come through the colder
darker half of the year and the earth warms up and the day lengthens, plants
that have lain dormant in seed form begin to sprout and emerge, animals start
to give birth and the time of high fertility is in evidence. The egg is the
symbol of the living potential in all things of this earth. It is both a pause
before a beginning and a breath after completion and is a wonderful example of
a continuing cycle of life. The hare is unusual in that it is able to conceive
while still pregnant, thus continuing this cycle of awakening and rebirth.
Mankind too, experiences a
period of “rebirth” in the form of reflection, changes in behaviour, clearing
out of old outmoded ideas and actions, and a sense of curiosity for the future,
often tinged with nervousness and excitement. The future is a blank page upon
which anything is possible to be written. Spring cleaning is a time to detach
from and pass on anything that no longer serves the “you” who now is. A time to
clear away clutter from mind and heart as well as from the home, as you emerge
into the fertility of your own Springtime.
