An excerpt from my April Newsletter – you can sign up to receive these monthly inspirations and updates here: Tania’s Monthly Newsletters

Easter has Pagan origins that bring to light a deeper understanding of its meaning. Easter is connected to the Anglo-Saxon Pagan goddess Eostre (or Ostara), but was originally the celebration of Ishtar (pronounced “Easter”), the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of love, procreation, sexuality, fertility, and war. The dyed  “cosmic” eggs  were both “sacred Easter offerings in Egypt,” as well as are connected to the “mystic egg” that hatched Ishtar.

From my Goddess Oracle Tarot Deck with my Lapis Lazuli “Cosmic Egg”

As N.S. Gill shares in The Eostre Hares and Pagan Easter:

“An Anglo-Saxon goddess named Eostre may have had hares as attendants. If so, the hares may have held her lights, since Eostre was the goddess of Dawn, like Eos (Greek) and Aurora (Latin). The month of April was, among the Anglo-Saxons, called Eostur-monath, and during Eostur-monath, a festival was held to Eostre. This festival has, at least in name, been taken over by the Christian spring festival Easter. If Eostre did indeed have hares as companions, the association of Easter and Easter bunnies is an ancient one.”

www.druidicdawn.org shares:

“….Traditionally, the Easter Bunny, actually a Hare, was said to lay eggs at Easter. This concept is of course very strange to our factual minds, but taken symbolically, the Egg is not only Potential, but it also represents the Cosmos, the very ground of Being from which we spring-no pun intended! One only need think about the Cosmic Egg and the Druid’s Egg to begin to get the full scope of this meaning. No wonder then that the Hare was at one time considered both male and female. To produce the cosmos, both must be present….

….Overall the Hare is a symbol of many things, all involving balance, Life, creative potency, regeneration, fertility, and eternity. This symbolism manifests in associations with Springtime, the Dawn, the Moon and Sacred Fire, the Egg, the Circle and Infinity symbol, Marriage, Androgyny and Hermaphroditism, as well as Madness, Genius and Inspiration (which seem to go hand in hand)….”

This brings to mind the Cosmic Egg I so love…the potent alchemy from which creation potential births from within each of us.

So let’s embrace our innocence and experience life directly and clearly as it is in the delight of this moment. Let go of how things should be and enjoy what is. Imagine and then actualize your creative inspirations.

Easter is also a time when a lot of people, unfortunately, give baby bunnies as gifts to their children and without full understanding of the commitment and special care these precious and extremely sensitive living beings need. Because of this Easter carries varying feelings for me in terms of rabbits, knowing that it’s an especially high time of year for this to take place – a time when rabbits may be seen more as a novelty, later neglected, forgotten, mistreated, and even euthanized.

If you are guided to get a rabbit at this time or any time, please do your research or ask rabbit experts, your local rabbit rescue/shelter, or even message me with your questions.

If you decide to bring home a bunny after thorough research and understanding your commitment to this life-long partnership with him or her, then please adopt from your local shelter or rescue. Rabbits are the third most euthanized animals and there are many in need of homes and love from responsible souls.

The rabbits and I thank you greatly.