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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 closely 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 reflections
of this in the Christianized 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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