Ostara - The Awakening of the Earth

Ostara marks the triumph of the Light over the Darkness; the time when Nature in all its glory is manifested in our eyes: the meadows are dotted with colorful flowers, whose scent intoxicates the fresh air; the puppies are cuddled up in their dens; the melodious singing of birds is carried by the gentle spring breeze.


Ostara brings renewal: in our dreams, in our projects and in our relationships. It's time to clean our homes from negative energies and winter debris; it is the time to do gardening, planting the seeds (physical and spiritual) for our future harvest ...   Everything about the Equinox is linked to positivity, the new, the young, the hope.



This since the dawn of time, when ancient people celebrated the tangible triumph of spring over winter. But what lies in front of our pagan eyes today, during this phase of the year?


The meadows are covered in concrete for new parking lots and shopping centres; the smog impregnates the carcinogenic air; the puppies are born in factories to be violently separated from their mothers and slaughtered without mercy; the green leaves of the trees are cut down by chain saws while the melodious singing of birds turns into a heartbreaking plea for help.

There is no joy, there is no grace and there is no hope in the havoc that the Human Being is causing to our Mother Earth. 

It is no longer the celebration of the rebirth of nature after a cold winter; Ostara is the struggle for survival against the industry.
This is the single blade of grass that tries to break the layer of asphalt, it is the fish struggling to breathe in the leachate, it is the seagull which slowly suffocates after having ingested plastic in the sea, it is the calf crying in a dark cell while the mother is slaughtered, it is the wolf who is shot down, guilty of defending its territory against human encroachment...




What can we do, as pagans and humans, to fight against this massacre nowadays?


Esoterically speaking, there are several options.


You may have heard about the initiative of some American witches to cast a spell on Donald Trump, in order to prevent him from doing further damage during his presidential term. Obviously this lead to different reactions - both in the pagan world and not.


Aside from the usual accusations by Christians of "black magic" and "satanism"; different schools of thought have clashed on making this kind of spells: who mentions the Three-fold Law, who says that karma must take its natural course, others who who want to start a real magical resistance, using spells and curses.
(I want to clarify that the spell in question was a banishing spell and not a curse as the media wanted us to think; one prevents the subject of this spell to hurt, while the other is focused in doing harm to subject itself.)


I recently read an article by Sarah Anne Lawless, the famous North American witch, about the Apocalyptic Witchcraft. Despite its name with a hint of steampunk and conspiracy evocation, it presents a very interesting concept about climate change and everything that goes with it - I would recommend reading it, even without being pagan. Sarah invites us pagans to use our magical potential to rise up against those who injure the Nature.  


Here again you can argue if it is right or wrong to use our potential to injure; can be such an action considered counterproductive to our Karma? Must we let the Karma of these people going through their natural course or we can consider ourselves their karmic punishment?


A spell alone, perpetrated by one person and for one purpose only - if done with the right energy, brings results. The same spell, for the same purpose and perpetrated by a multitude of people... it certainly involves another kind of result. The same concept works even if its energy is used to heal, in conjunction with the energy of others. So, if casting banishing spells is not your calling, there are different meditations organized globally to heal the planet Earth.


Anyhow we well know that casting a spell is not enough to change the course of events, the first step toward change is ourselves. So what else can we do, as humans, to reduce pollution?


Obviously you have to use common sense and your sense of civic duty, here below some good daily rules:

• Turn off the light when you leave the room, and not let TV and computer in Stand By, with the red light on: it consumes unnecessarily. Replace the old light bulbs with LED, keep the heating not over 21 ° C, make sure your home is well insulated. The resources we consume are still coming largely from oil or gases. They pollute and are not renewable. Unplugging household appliance this is the first step to consume less, to have cleaner air and a less hot climate.

• Let's move on foot. To reduce the pollution  use less the car and prefer public transport or the bicycle, which keep us fit and does not pollute. The internal combustion engines are still one of the major causes of air pollution, greenhouse effect and global warming. Airplanes and cars are indispensable, but let's learn to use them only when necessary, waiting for electric and hybrid engines to be more accessible.

• If you have items, furniture or clothes that no longer serve you, think if there is someone who needs them. Who needs it will appreciate it, and you will help to reduce pollution, lowering disposal processes as well as saving costs. 

• The chemical waste, plastic and metal are still among the worst causes of pollution of the oceans and of the land. Some, such as cigarette butts, take years to decompose. Use the trash bins and separate the waste: organic ones can be used to produce energy, fertilizers or plant polymers. Metals and synthetic plastics can be reprocessed and come in handy in many ways, instead of polluting.

• Plant seeds, flowers and trees in gardens and balconies. From plants we extract nourishment, medicines, textiles, even paper for packaging or writing. Biodiversity is one of the most precious gifts on Earth: the more abundant in the vegetable kingdom is, the more we will be as humans. Not to mention that greenery, from the gardens to the forests, cleans the air and helps us to breathe better. Helping plants, it means also helping the swallows, bees and their precious honey, the bats that keep mosquitoes away and many other examples... They are also often at risk of extinction because of pollution and deforestation.

• Make sure to properly close the taps. Water is by far the most valuable resource in nature, it can not be reproduced in quantity, but on the contrary may be polluted or contaminated. Do not waste it and protect the purest sources, it is about our health and our territory.

• Eat local food when possible: it is fresher, healthier because it has less preservatives, and it has not been imported from far away via road transportation using fuel. Similarly, when you go shopping, reward those who propose intelligent and recyclable packaging. In this regard, it is useful thing to bring your own shopping bags to also reduce the use of disposable shoppers of the supermarket.

• As for the choice of food, it is no mystery that intensive farming is one of the main pollutants. It is not a post to promote a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle; because me and my sisters follow a different diet. If you have to consume meat, buy organic and local products.

As Mahatma Gandhi said "Be the change you wish to see in the world".

♃Ludna

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