Merry Spring 19/3/16 - Sifan's Green Grove

<body> <div id="header"> <span class="left"> <span class="back"><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=SIFAN"><span class="image mobile_back" title="Back"></span></a></span> <span class="image mobile_logo" title="Beehive Forum Logo"></span> </span> <ul> <li> <a class="navigation" href="#"> <span class="image mobile_navigation"></span><span class="text">Show messages</span> </a> </li> <li> <a class="main" href="#"><span class="image mobile_menu" title="Menu"></span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu main"> <ul> <li><a href="lforums.php?webtag=SIFAN">My Forums</a></li> <li><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=SIFAN">Messages</a></li> <li><a href="lpm.php?webtag=SIFAN">Inbox</a></li> <li><a href="lsearch.php?webtag=SIFAN">Search</a></li> <li><a href="llogon.php?webtag=SIFAN">Login</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu navigation"><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=SIFAN&msg=7.1">1</a></div> <div id="page_content"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <h3 class="thread_title"><a href="index.php?webtag=SIFAN&amp;msg=7.1">Merry Spring 19/3/16</a> </h3> <div id="messages" data-navigation="7_1_1_10"> <a name="a7_1"></a><div class="message" id="message_7_1"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Si (SIFAN)<span class="message_time"> 2 Mar 2017 14:11</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: ALL<span class="message_count">1 of 1</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=SIFAN&msg=7.1">7.1</a></div> <div class="message_body"> <center><img alt="" src="http://people.delphiforums.com/SIFAN/Spring_Ostera_banner.gif" /><br /> </center> <br /><br /> The great Wheel of the Year turns and once again the Goddess blankets the Earth with green fertility as she bursts forth from her slumber. The God, growing to maturity, walks the verdant fields and delights in nature.<br /><br /><img align="left" alt="" src="http://people.delphiforums.com/SIFAN/Spring_Ostara_CitadelDragons.gif" /> Celebrated as the Wiccan spring sabbat Ostara or as Lady Day, Eostre's Day, Rite of Eostre, the Druidic Alban Eilir ("Light of the Earth") or Festival of the Trees, Welsh Gwyl Canol Gwenwynol, Baha'i Naw Ruz ("New Day"), this is the beginning of Spring, the Vernal Equinox. <p>Equinox means "equal night." The sun is now positioned above the equator. Day and night are very nearly equal in length all over the world. For the Nothern Hemisphere, it is the Spring Equinox because the sun is moving into the North. From now until the Autumnal Equinox, night time will be shorter than day time. Days will continue to become longer and longer until Summer Solstice. (For the Southern Hemisphere, the situation is reversed and Fall begins.) In 2016, March 19th or 20th is the date of spring equinox depending upon location. In the Central Time zone, the exact moment is late night March 19th at 11:30PM CDT.</p> <p>The name "Ostara" comes from a Teutonic lunar Goddess of fertility, Eostre (also Eastre and Oestara). Her chief symbols are the bunny and the egg. The bunny is for fertility and because ancient worshippers often saw the image of a rabbit in the full moon. The egg represents assurance of renewal, the cosmic egg of creation.</p> <p>The Norse celebrated the feast of the goddess Iduna, bearer of the magick apples of life, symbol of the light half of the year. Ancient Greeks held Dionysia, a festival of the wine god Dionysos.</p> <p>The Great Sphinx of Egypt points directly toward the rising Sun on the day of vernal equinox. For those of the Baha'i faith it is the beginning of a new year. Easter, the Christian high holy day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus is near at hand as well.</p> <p>Through March 25th-- an Olde Calendar fixed date known as "Old Lady Day"-- this is a special time of light-dark balance. The same holds for yin and yang, Earth and Heaven, the forces of feminine and masculine energy.</p> <p>As we celebrate the rebirth of Nature and the coming lushness of Summer, it is an excellent point in the year to clear out, open up, and begin anything new. This is when to completely revitalize something, to enliven old communications, and to create new connections.</p> <p><br /><font size="3"><strong><font>Activities</font></strong></font></p> Planting seeds<br /><br /> Clearing a space for a garden or starting flowers, vegetables, ...<br /><br /> Starting a magickal herb garden<br /><br /> Taking a long walk in nature reflecting on the magick of nature and her bounty<br /><br /> Randomly picking wildflowers and then looking up their meanings to reveal your inner thoughts and emotions<br /><br /> Filling up a dish with green and yellow candies and leaving them out for everyone to enjoy<br /><br /> Ringing bells<br /><br /> Lighting fires at dawn to honor the light half of the year for cure, renewed life, and protection of crops<br /><br /> Coloring hard-boiled or blown eggs (before coloring may draw in wax on hard-boiled eggs symbols of things<br /> you want in the coming year)<br /><br /> Cleaning your home to welcome the new season: Moving room to room East-to-West, approach the work<br /> with positive thoughts to banish problems and negativity of past months.<br /><br /> Sweeping, rubbing, etc. should be done "clockwise" to fill the home with good energy for growth. <p> </p> <p><br /><strong><font><font size="3">Foods</font></font></strong><br /> Leafy green vegetables, eggs, egg salad, hard-boiled eggs, lamb, rabbit, honey cakes, first fruits of the season, fresh dairy produce, fish, cakes, biscuits, cheeses, honey and ham, sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, pine nuts, flower dishes and sprouts<br /><br /> Teas of dandelion, hyssop, linden<br /><br /><strong><font><font size="3">Herbs and Other Plants</font></font></strong><br /> Ginger, daffodil, jonquils, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, jasmine, Irish moss, snowdrop, narcissus, crocus ..., all spring flowers<br /><br /><font><strong><font size="3">Symbols</font></strong></font><br /> Egg, rabbit, basket/nest; also the butterfly, cocoon, New Moon, the element Air, the direction East, and the time of dawn<br /><br /><font><strong><font size="3">Colors</font></strong></font><br /> Mainly pastels: lemon yellow, robin's egg blue, pale green, and pale pink; also grass green, violet, and white.<br /><br /><font><strong><font size="3">Gemstones</font></strong></font><br /> Jasper, aquamarine, rose quartz, and moonstone<br /><br /><font><strong><font size="3">Incense</font></strong></font><br /> Jasmine, dragon's blood, cinnamon, nutmeg, aloes wood, benzoin, musk, African violet, sage, strawberry, lotus, violet flowers, orange peel, strawberry, ... practically any floral scent</p> <p><strong><font><font size="3">Oils</font></font></strong><br /> Lotus, magnolia, ginger</p> <br /><font size="1">From<br /><b><a href="http://citadelofthedragons.tripod.com/ostara.html">Citadel of Dragons</a><br /><a href="http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_wheel_of_the_year/ostara_-_spring_equinox.asp">The White Goddess</a><br /><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/on/wicca/Ostara.html">The Wiccan Garden</a><br /><a href="http://www.paganspath.com/magik/celtic/ostara.htm">Spring Wolf's Pagan Path</a><br /><a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/march-equinox.html">The March Equinox</a></b></font> <p> </p> <p> </p> <em><em><i><em><em><i><img alt="" src="http://a222.homestead.com/files/sisigdgmld.gif" width="100" /></i></em></em><br /><em><font color="#ff0000"><em><font color="#ff0000"><strong><font size="2"> S</font><font size="1">iFan </font></strong></font></em></font></em></i></em></em></div> </div></div> </div> </body>