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Ostara is a Sun Goddess of the dawn and the Spring, the harbinger
of the Sun. It is She who announces the rebirth of life in
the Spring and holds the promise of new beginnings and summer
growth and is closley linked to Brigid in this aspect. She
is also seen as a fertility Goddess who brings in the end
of winter.
Her feast day is the Spring Equinox marking the point of balance
when the days are brighter and growing longer. Ostara has
always been associated with Spring, in Anglo Saxon, Old High
German, and some modern German dialects, April is called Ostara's
month. Her name derives from words for "dawn", and
"the shining light" arising from the east. Our word
for the "female hormone" estrogen stems from her name.
Ostara is considered by some to be a northern
form of Astarte or Ishtar and has associations with the later
Roman and Greek Goddesses Aurora and Eos. Her totem animal,
who it is said she shape-shifts into, is the Moon Hare sacred
to the Goddess in both eastern and western nations. We can
still see eflections of this in the Christianised Easter Bunny.
A similar observation can be made between the myths of Hathor-Astarte
who laid the Golden Egg of the sun at the beginning of spring,
and our giving of chocolate Easter eggs.
"Ostara had a passion for new life. Her presence was
felt in the flowering of plants and the birth of babies, both
animal and human. The rabbit (well known for its propensity
for rapid reproduction) was her sacred animal. Easter eggs
and the Easter Bunny both featured in the spring festivals
of Ostara, which were initially held during the feasts of
the goddess Ishtar Inanna" (Source:
goddessgift.com).
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