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On Wings of Ostara ~ Flying Through the Spring Equinox Gateway of Renewal
Although we still walk through patches of melting snow and ski upon fresh powdered sugar-laced grounds that surround us here in the high mountain altitudes of the Sierra Nevadas, the sunshine illuminates in warm vernal rays, the skies have begun to moisten the forests with cleansing rains mixed with whispers of Jack Frost’s lingering goodbyes, and the Earth is singing in green bursts of celebration.
There are still the morning dawns of ice diamonds upon branches, brisk chills in the Zephyr winds, and snow tracks from burrow to burrow of the snowshoe rabbits turned white. Yet muddy trails emerge for hopeful feet to journey upon lotus promised grounds.
“If there comes a little thaw,
Still the air is chill and raw,
Here and there a patch of snow,
Dirtier than the ground below,
Dribbles down a marshy flood;
Ankle-deep you stick in mud
In the meadows while you sing,
“This is Spring.”
~Christopher Pearce Cranch, A Spring Growl
As we step through the potent Spring Equinox Gateway, I am reminded that Nature reflects to us how to navigate the inner realms by way of surveying Her landscape as our own spiritual terrain.
Ostara is the Goddess of Spring who nurtures the innately rich land and keeps a loving eye on all the sprouting new life emerging from Winter’s blanket. This time of awakening from quiet preparation gets stirred by her fertile spell into inspired action.
She illuminates opportunity and the dawning of a new cycle, where possibility stirs in every new bud of life.
The sensual, soft, and magnetic aspects to the sacred feminine she embodies, also carry powerful creative forces like no other that can give and take away life through birth and rebirth.
This is the access point to the field of potential within the vortex of your heart.
There are many symbols that represent the generative powers of Spring – some of my favorite including the rabbit or hare, butterflies, blossoms, and The Cosmic Egg.
For Winter Solstice I was called to share with your heart, a visual spell from the essence of my spirit and once again I drop into the well of my heart’s depth to bring forth another of my spirit’s emanation. The creative energy of my signature frequency heeds the call to express herself as a form of transformative regeneration to join with the collective’s intentions to create a New Earth experience.
Through our creative energy, we each weave a thread of activation that unites the collective tapestry.
We each embody an energy signature and archetype by birth. My own, from onset of Earthly emergence this life, carries the numerology of the number three when my birthday is broken down simplistically. This is the energy signature of The Empress in Tarot ~ creative abundance and manifestation, unlimited fertile possibility, harmony, love, Earth Mother nurturing and growth, creating beauty, sensual comfort, stability, birthing of new beginnings that constantly recreate themselves, and wholeness from bigger picture Cosmos to smallest Earthly detail.
Synchronously, the qualities of Ostara are found in The Empress. And so it is no wonder I walk this Earth with a rabbit familiar and rabbits have been my soul companions for years – my first appearing when I was twelve years old. It’s also no coincidence that when I first, very consciously, began my spiritual journey and asked to receive the symbol of my life’s work, it came to me as the butterfly.
And ever since each of these first appearances in my life, both have been prolific in presence and uncanny experiences, not to mention have shown up in consistent, guiding ways.
So, when I received the message that I would be sharing another visual spell for this seasonal turn of the Wheel, it became clear I was to embody my birth essence in honor of Ostara and Spring.
My Venus in Aquarius has been speaking very loudly these days and partnered with my inner Empress, the creative expressions you see here are my answer to the Spring nudges, carrying a specific encoded message from heart to heart.
While Astrid would have lovingly danced with me, I decided to let her rest and support me from the comfort of her castle tower overlooking things from her dream state, as she’s already bravely taken on so much this Winter with our journeys. She instead helped choose the pieces to accompany me, including a golden rabbit as her stand-in.
I hope you enjoy this creative expression from my thread of the tapestry and here’s a Spring Equinox Prayer and Ostara Poem to accompany the journey as you flutter softly through our transitioning forest and garden here with me:
The dancing hare foretells the spring,
With fertility and new life this time does bring,
Gay Eostre dances on the earth,
As seeds and flowers come to birth.
Tulips and daffodils come into bloom,
And life sprouts from the Mother Earth’s womb,
Birds lay their eggs now and the light is growing,
Catkins and blossoms on the leaves are showing.
The sun reaches forth with his hand,
To the Maiden of flowers returns to the land,
Their dance brings new balance into our life,
Planting the seeds to overcome strife.
We grow with the flowers and the trees,
Winters gloom banished on a spring breeze.
The joy of new birth enters our hearts,
As we look forward to Beltane’s love.
May this portal of renewal activate your own rebirthing of creative expression, abundant potential, and harmonious, inspired action.
Crystal Magick & Faery Wands
I mentioned there would be a few crystal offerings upcoming and today’s the day before I jump into things here. Alongside these three really special crystalline beings I also have a surprise offering of two Magick Faery Wands – Yes! A surprise to me too, but after our Living a More Magickal Life workshop on the Equinox, two lovely pieces of wood jumped out at me and felt to be gifts from the forest beings back to us from the work we did that day, to support the new journey so many are embarking on. More on that shortly.
The crystals that are looking for new co-partners and guardians include a magickal Labradorite Unicorn, a Gold and Blue Tigers Eye Egg, and a sparkly Faery stalactite.
I’ve had a lot of new enter my life so I’m excited to share these with whom the journey continues for.
So let’s begin introductions…
First we have this special little African stalactite. I love the stalactite essence – miracles of Terra. They seem to speak of raising one’s energy, deep inner growth that shifts the outer, and amplifying spiritual expansion, while connecting with the inner womb of creation from within Mother Earth.
A lot of new Faery and sparkly friends had entered my life recently and so I am happy to share this magickal one ready to support a new journey for someone.
This little one is 2 3/4 inches long and 2 inches at its widest and is FULL of sparkly, iridescent rainbow brilliance (so much more lovely and sparkly in person – it will make you giggle with delight. Although very grounding with its root in tact, it is also very Faery.
It is available for $27 + shipping/handling (you’ll receive a separate invoice for shipping once shipped off, as I can’t assess weight and cost until sent to your location).
African Faery Stalactite – SOLD OUT
Then we have this incredible Tigers Eye Egg sometimes known as Falcon Eye, which is really unique and rare, and quite large. It holds incredible power and shimmers with both Blue Tigers Eye and Gold Tigers Eye chatoyancy. Each brings together their own metaphysical properties and energies into an alchemical blend.
This egg originates from South Africa and is a powerful third eye, throat chakra, solar plexus and root chakra stone that supports aligning with all six psychic senses. Wonderful for self confidence and encouraging one to stand in their own power.
Blue Tiger’s Eye is also known as Hawk’s or Falcon’s Eye, which, if you’re like me, you’ll love that connection with Horus, the Hawk/Falcon God of Egypt. I recently got a Falcon and Faery piece, which has taken over this energy for me, hence this egg is now available.
The blue adds calming energy and helps one connect with guides, helpers, and cosmic forces, while also bringing one into alignment with their highest gifts and life purpose. It draws in far-seeing vision to assist one in seeing their life from all angles, to uncover the truth, and read situations with hawk’s eye clarity.
The gold supports a life lived with courage and experiencing enjoyment and celebration of it. This aligns with experiencing abundance, as well as provides encouragement and hope. It’s wonderful for new beginnings and growth too, while remaining focused and grounded as you work towards goals and dreams.
Crystal Eggs represent rebirth, fertility, and new beginnings.
Perhaps you, too, find yourself embarking on a new journey?
The egg is over 3 1/4 inches tall and 2 1/4 inches at its widest
It is available for $108 + shipping/handling (you’ll receive a separate invoice for shipping once shipped off, as I can’t assess weight and cost until sent to your location).
Gold & Blue Tigers Eye Cosmic Egg – SOLD OUT
And last of the crystal friends we have this beautiful Labradorite Unicorn. I actually had two of these – one female and one male. The male wants to stay and continue his work with me, but the female is now ready to support someone new.
I can’t express how gorgeous the Labradorite stone is. When you hold it at different angles in the light it will reveal its inner brilliance and shimmering colors. I love the way it reveals itself and then at other times looks unassuming.
The Unicorn is the Master of the Light and Transformation and gives us the power to believe that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Spiritually Unicorn symbolizes success and opening up to infinite possiblities – a theme topic of our Equinox workshop. Summoning Unicorn power is a blessing of success to the path you choose and as one of the most magickal of all beings, you will find yourself walking between worlds, bringing forth dreams, visions, and intents into the tangible world of manifestation.
Lore of the Inuit peoples claim Labradorite fell from the frozen fire of the Aurora Borealis, an ordinary stone that transforms to the extraordinary, shimmering in a mystical light that separates the waking world from unseen realms.
It is a Stone of Magick, crystal of shamans, diviners, healers, and those who travel and embrace the universe seeking knowledge and guidance. For self-discovery, it is excellent for awakening one’s own awareness of inner spirit, self confidence, imagination, intuition and psychic abilities. Labradorite is an excellent grounding stone. Also good for enhancing psychic abilities, brings out your creative side, strengthening intuition, clarity, and perseverence, and even acts as a companion through change, as a stone of transformation. Its harmonious nature imparts calmness, helps release judgment, fear, and insecurities, strengthens faith and self-trust, and helps reveal truths behind illusions.
Labradorite works with all of the Chakras depending on which energy you need and is said to be associated with energies of Leo, Scorpio and Sagittarius – so you can access more of these aspects of yourself, regardless of these being your native sign or not.
Labradorite is often called “Rainbow Moonstone” – a sister to moonstone – and has been known as the matriarch of the subconscious mind that grants inner knowing of mystery. The labradorescence is a luminescence regarded as derived from extraterrestrial origin and believed to contain cosmic vibes in its flaming spectral coloring, providing enhanced “galactic” evolved energies, insight and connection, in meditation and day-to-day life, from other worlds to the Earth plane. It has qualities as a bridge between inner and outer worlds of self and between earth and cosmos. Labradorite is said to represent the “temple of the stars”, assisting one in sustaining and maintaining, while providing for the understanding of the destiny one has chosen. Labradorite symbolizes both moon and sun, as it assists with transition from one phase of life to another. It unites the personal self with the understanding required to both realize and achieve the destiny of this life, relieving insecurity and apprehension, while enhancing faith and reliance in oneself and the absolute purity of the universal harmony.
This Unicorn is a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and just under 4 inches at its widest.
She is $135 + shipping/handling (you’ll receive a separate invoice for shipping once shipped off, as I can’t assess weight and cost until sent to your location).
Magickal Labradorite Unicorn – SOLD OUT
I’m also making available just 2 Magick Faery Crystal Wands created by me. I recently found two lovely pieces of wood that spoke wand fun and so I’ll be making these in the next couple of weeks, as my side creative project while I’m immersed heavily in writing. It will be a nice channel of ease and flow, while I also resume painting.
These pieces are speaking simplicity as potency, as the wood of both is so lovely on its own and truly is a wand all by itself. These are about that unassuming power, humility, and less is more, while you bring forth the magick from within.
They will be adorned with a quartz point and perhaps some feathers and gold or rose gold wiring.
One is Harry Potter-ish and a little larger than the other.
I’ll make these available at $72 and $81 + shipping/handling (you’ll receive a separate invoice for shipping once shipped off, as I can’t assess weight and cost until sent to your location).
Magick Faery Wand #1 – $72 – SOLD OUT
Magick Faery Wand #2 – $81 – SOLD OUT
I’ve created quite a few wands over the last couple of years (as shown in the photo above), so you can search Magick Crystal Wands on my blog to see some more examples of other elaborate pieces. These two new ones will be less ornate, but like with all things I create, will receive magickal infusions of Cosmic and Reiki energies before journeying to you.
Thank you to anyone who feels to welcome these into your heart and home!
Cosmo & the Cosmic Egg
Several days ago this raw quartz found me and as you can see it is quite unique…a perfect Cosmic Egg hatching. The treasure of its core beginning to reveal itself. Its timing couldn’t have been more synchronously aligned with layers of my personal experience and things showing up. It speaks of new realities birthing, sacred union manifest, creative spark of life, love’s boundless alchemy, embodying the keys to freedom, the merging of terrestrial and celestial, and a stargate to understanding the musical architecture of the Cosmos.
Yesterday, was a special day. We arrived in Reno, NV on Wednesday 10/5 where a reunion with my family took place. And the following day my mom, dad, and brother came to visit the Magick Bus.
It was the first time my brother got to tour the Magick Bus and the first time he met our fur babies. In particular, I have wanted him to meet and converge with Cosmo, as they share some key things and I felt their coming together would be a powerful healing alchemy for them both.
My brother loves animals, but he has also had this “old” and I mean “past life old” deterrence/fear around holding them. Yet yesterday also put that to rest when Cosmo worked his loving magick on him and found himself cradled in the innocence of my brother’s essence.
The alchemy pervading the Magick Bus was palpable.
The healing and activation had us all sharing communion in extended silence.
Above you can see Cosmo (who is both of the light (white) and the dark/shadow (black) went into a meditative trance as he was swaddled in love and Reiki both on the receiving and giving end.
My whole family is Reiki trained – my mom and Cosmo both being Reiki Master Teachers and my dad and brother attuned to Reiki Level 1.
Here he’s being held by my mom, who was sitting between my dad and brother….my mom’s and dad’s hands are the ones you see around him….Sacred Feminine and Masculine energies unifying through the Cosmo(s).
A Cosmic Egg is birthed and hatching with fertile, potent potential.
Symbolically, the Egg is not only Potential, but it also represents the Cosmos, the very ground of Being from which we spring. No wonder then that the Rabbit/Hare was at one time considered both male and female. To produce the Cosmo(s), both must be present….
Today we journey to the crystalline purity of Lake Tahoe – a portal of potency that feels to be aligned with this birthing new Cosmic Egg. A place we’ve always considered our home where much has entwined as an exit and entrance point in our lives.
Cosmo is excited to return to where his cherished Joy (my female rabbit who departed Summer Solstice) came into my life, and where his friends Gaia (my Russian Tortoise who departed through the core of the Earth) and Nestor (my twin soul rabbit who departed through Tahoe’s portal) both entered and exited – all sharing this portal home.
The magick is thick in the air.
Rabbits & Pagan Easter
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.
Be the Master Creator of Your Life ~ Invoking Your Inner Rabbit with the Energy of the New Moon
As I shared in my recent mid-month newsletter, rabbit energy has been abound…showing up in several potent dreams, inspired messages, nudges, and quite literally around every corner in my life.
Synchronously, I’ve learned they have been showing up for others too, as I received messages in response to that newsletter about how rabbits have been getting the attention of others or have become part of their lives as animal spirit guides.
Rabbits embody the energy of rebirth, transmutation, luck, prosperity, creative potency of the Universe, quick-thinking, high fertility of mind, body, and emotion, agility, receptiveness, Lunar cycles and cyclical life, sacred and regenerative fire of the Phoenix, dawn, Spring, enlightenment, balance, eternity, androgyny, inspiration, genius, and herald a kind of waking life resurrection and realization of increased vitality, energy, or a new-found excitement over life. Phew!
Rabbits bring a message of nurturing your intuitive impulses and nudges from your heart and soul. They are the Cosmic Egg birthing all life.
To me, the rabbit energy is collectively heralding a call for inspiration, imagination, and creativity to channel through, bring forth, and embody. It’s so important to really activate this energy now and begin today to create your own reality, which will provide expansiveness, fulfillment, and new possibilities to your life and the world at large.
Don’t wait for some desired epiphany to hit, simply begin creating with all you already have in this moment to fuel you.
And with today’s New Moon in Aquarius, and the first SuperMoon of the year, it’s all about embodying your inner visionary and being the master creator of your life! A great time to invoke your inner rabbit!
It’s a year to empower yourself, truly embrace your challenges as gifts of opportunity to go to new heights and lengths you’ve only imagined, to take “now” action, and create a new reality and life path from the release of all of the old and the closing of doors behind you fully.
Time to take those risks and challenge yourself to go a little further into the unknown with trust. You have the ability to innovatively create anew. Do the unconventional. Think outside the box. Go where you’ve never gone before and dare to make the impossible possible!
Anytime someone tells me they can’t do something, I simply don’t except it. I ask why not? Within your answer is the key to why you can’t AND why you could.
Down, down the rabbit hole we continue to go…
Spiraling round and round, creating, imagining, transmuting, expanding…
Down taking us up, up taking us down, above and below reflecting one another, they way in is the way out….
Perhaps then you come to know how to be in the world, but not of it.
This for me has indeed ignited a continual deepening journey for myself. Challenging me to listen even more through all of the voices, and to let go of who I had thought myself so far to be, while also undoing everything I uncover that is limiting.
I am shown where I hold myself back – things that are easy can seem to be the way, but if the easy isn’t challenging me and it isn’t feeling invigorating as it did at one time, then that doesn’t for me mean I should keep doing it. I could easily just be hiding behind that, and unknowingly self-sabotaging.
I choose conscious and heightened sensitivities, like that of a rabbit, in order to seek myself out.
I constantly feel the potency in inventing/birthing something new, which isn’t necessarily something “new”, but a richer embodiment of what’s innately within me being activated.
In that process I find that it is potentially more challenging for those around me than it truly is for me because I find peace in constant change and others may attach to any given point of who I am in that particular moment or time period of my life.
I find there to be expectations and attachments that simply don’t resonate with the freeing experience of creative love I choose to have.
And so that is something those of us that choose to embark on transformative and visionary journeys will need to come to terms with…finding peace within and not seeking it from outside, as only you create your experience. And then being okay with the fact you may not be understood, that others could be challenged by what you reflect, and then realize that is THEIR journey and you can’t micro-manage everyone’s life choices.
This also helps to create doorways of possibilities for others if we hold the energy of being okay with journeying there as pioneers with only our vision and trust to light a way into the darkness.
The truly loving thing is to act with responsible accountability for the choices you make and the honoring of your authenticity you seek to embody as example. The rest is a journey we each get to have to the rhythm of our own choosing.
While this journey deeper has included shifts in my personal relating to myself, others, and what channels through me, it also very tangibly translates into actual shifts I know are vital to embrace even within the work I express. And it has included both richer connections, as a result of going more within and connecting with myself.
This is why this is a time very much about my personal expressions and journeys that feel most supportive, expansiveness, and fulfilling. And by nature of that naturally channeling, it is of service in a highest good way that I feel is more powerful than trying to do something in particular to be of service or sacrificing parts of ourselves/energy in the name of what we think is service – which is like forcing your round peg to fit into a square hole. It may have worked before, but it won’t work any longer.
Authenticity of your essence is calling. All-encompassing love is the unifying source that we each creatively express through our whole uniqueness. The richness of life will come from the full exploration, curiosity, and vulnerable embrace of both the dark and the light.
For me that’s why I’m throwing out the familiar and welcoming some very ambitious new visions that are incubating. I’m in process of restructuring my life and life’s work on all levels, deepening the relationships that reflect this and letting go of the ones that don’t, inviting more personal passions – all while listening to the harmony of my heart.
And that has indeed included rabbits, symbolically and literally. (I’ve started volunteer work at a local rabbit rescue and through very synchronous events through a friend and another rabbit organization, a special little bunny may be joining our family).
Rabbits are all around me and within me…and in fact I would go as far as to say I am coming to more fully embody my own inner rabbit and magician – becoming the rabbit’s magician of my own life. Getting my Triple Rabbit tattoo certainly has been integral to integrating its potent energy into my life.
Rabbit inspiration, creative magick, and love! Are you also finding a bit of rabbit enchantment in your own?
On today’s New Moon, invite rabbit energy to inspire that sacred, regenerative fire within you to create wildly!
Cosmic Egg of Boundless Potential
Spirit by Tania Marie ~ Element #5 in the series “In Lak’ech”
There is a place the Rabbit knows…of paradox and contradiction…humility and fertility.
Only one that is still enough, yet agile in Spirit can hear the whispers that they murmur.
The Ancients revered and sought this Mystery that only these Sacred Embodiments of the actual, Universal Creative Powers could mediate.
By the illumination of the Mother Star their Sacred Fire both destroys and recreates the Heart of All Life.
The Cosmic Egg birthed of their inspiration is the Jewel you seek.
And yet to See it, one must Be it.
Rabbits, Cosmic Eggs, Pagan Goddesses & Transition – Easter Origins & Awareness
As we continue to move deeper into the Spring of this year and renewing cycle of life, we are also edging toward Easter this weekend, which also calls up visions, thoughts, beliefs, and energy of its own including fertile creation. Easter brings pictures to mind of spring blooms like tulips, colored eggs, baby animals, and also deep symbolism that may have varying meanings to each individual.
Nestor with her bunny friends
Easter is also a time when a lot of people, unfortunately, give baby bunnies as gifts to their children and do not understand the commitment to these precious and extremely sensitive living beings that comes hand-in-hand with that. Rabbits are the third most euthanized animals in shelters, right behind dogs and cats – something I learned from Marcy Schaaf, head of SaveABunny (a non-profit organization rabbit rescue and nationally recognized adoption, education and foster center) when I adopted Joy from there just over 4 years ago.
This is a great post that covers the considerations to be consciously aware of in terms of our rabbit friends and making compassionate choices on their behalf: Five Reasons Not To Buy A Bunny For Easter by Julie Castle
With the connection many of you know I have with rabbits and the depth of their magical presence in my life, this time of year can be especially sensitive for me and also a chance to share some of that magic with you in relation to the symbolism and connections rabbits have with Easter, along with some of the origins and meanings behind this “holyday of transition.”
Joy with our Septarian Cosmic Egg
Here are some snippets from a post I shared last year about this connection:
“….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)….”
You can read the full post here: Hare Symbolism for the New Earth – Birthing the Cosmic Egg here
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.
You can read a few of these insights to reflect on below and click the links for the whole articles.
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.”
Swain Wodening adds in the article Eostre:
“Eostre is a very obscure Goddess, and uniquely Anglo-Saxon Pagan….Her name is connected for words for “east” and “shining.” It is therefore related to the Greek godname Eos, Goddess of the dawn in their pantheon….
….Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology maintained that “Ostara, Eástre, was goddess of the growing light of spring.” The date of the holy tide would make this a reasonable conclusion. Holy water in the form of the dew or water collected from brooks was gathered at this time. Washing with it was said to restore youth. Beautiful maidens in sheer white were said to seen frolicking in the country side. Also according to Grimm, the white maiden of Osterrode, was said to appear with a large batch of keys at her belt, and stride to the brook to collect water on Easter morning. Cross buns were of course baked and eaten. While this could be a Christian addition, that cakes were often use in Heathen rites is apparent in any survey of the lore. And the cross may be symbolic of the rune Gebo or the buns may represent the sun wheel. Easter eggs seem to go fairly far back in both English and continental celebrations, and of course symbolize the beginning of new life. The hare also known for its fertility appears fairly early in Easter celebrations. Bonfires and vigils also seemed to play a role in many Easter rites.
Based on this Eostre would appear to be a Goddess of purity (the holy water), youth and beauty (the young maidens), as well as one of new life beginnings….”
And as Mark Esposito shares in his guest blog, Happy Ishtar Day: The Origins of Easter:
“….But the festival likely has origins before the Hebrew feast of Passover. Two thousand years before the accepted birth of Christ, ancient Babylonians were marking the beginning of Spring with a gala celebration honoring the resurrection of the god, Tammuz, who was killed by a wild boar. Tammuz was returned to life by his mother/wife, Ishtar (after whom the festival was named) with her tears. Ishtar was actually pronounced “Easter.”
Ishtar was quite the racy goddess, as historians Will and Ariel Durant explained in their monumental work, The Story of Civilization:
“Ishtar … interests us not only as analogue of the Egyptian Isis and prototype of the Grecian Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, but as the formal beneficiary of one of the strangest of Babylonian customs…known to us chiefly from a famous page in Herodotus: Every native woman is obliged, once in her life, to sit in the temple of Venus [Easter], and have intercourse with some stranger.”
Need anyone wonder why the ancient Hebrews would want to amend this legend and the Puritans to forget about it all together. They didn’t consider Babylon “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” for nothing.
Another theory, adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, is that Easter celebrations have their linguistic origins in the Anglo-Saxon fertility rites of the goddess, Eastre. “Since Bede the Venerable (De ratione temporum 1:5) the origin of the term for the feast of Christ’s Resurrection has been popularly considered to be from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre, a goddess of spring…the Old High German plural for dawn, eostarun; whence has come the German Ostern, and our English Easter” (The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 5, p. 6).
But what about Easter eggs? How did they enter the mix? Christians have always used the egg to symbolize the rock tomb from which Jesus emerged into new life. But the symbolism predates the Christian era. Pagan theology considered the egg as a symbol of Spring’s rebirth from Winter. (Francis X. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, p. 233). The Egyptians had a slightly different spin considering the egg the symbol of the passage of life from one generation to the next.
“Eggs were hung up in the Egyptian temples. Bunsen calls attention to the mundane egg, the emblem of generative life, proceeding from the mouth of the great god of Egypt. The mystic egg of Babylon, hatching the Venus Ishtar, fell from heaven to the Euphrates. Dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in Egypt, as they are still in China and Europe. Easter, or spring, was the season of birth, terrestrial and celestial.” (Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, James Bonwick, pp. 211-212)
The pagan tales of gods and goddesses was quite an ecumenical affair with many civilizations sharing the same deity but branding each with a different name that suited their populations. Thus Ishtar became Astarte to the Greeks and Ashtoreth to the Jews. Nimrod, the Biblical figure who built the city of Babylon, and was mentioned in Genesis is another example. He was worshipped as Saturn, Vulcan, Kronos, Baal, and Tammuz by succeeding civilizations but the story remained more or less intact for centuries.
Easter thus is an international affair going back centuries and spanning civilizations from the Babylonians to ourselves. Who says things really change?”
Wishing you a regenerative, abundantly creative, and cosmically enlightening Easter.
The fasts are done; the Aves said;
The moon has filled her horn
And in the solemn night I watch
Before the Easter morn.
So pure, so still the starry heaven,
So hushed the brooding air,
I could hear the sweep of an angel’s wings
If one should earthward fare.
~Edna Dean Proctor, “Easter Morning”
Dedicated to my beloved and departed angel, Nestor, who embodies the Cosmic Egg of my heart.
The Crystal Journey Continues with a Septarian Cosmic Egg
As I’ve been mentioning a lot, large quantities of time spent in nature, with my animal companions, and my crystal friends has been a staple for my daily practice of mindful balance and self-nurturing. I’ve noticed that things feel very flowy, yet stable to me right now and like I’m in my home element with all of the powerful Piscean energies abound AND both because and inspite of the Mercury Retrograde. Perhaps my embracing more of my own nature, listening only to myself as guidance, and slowing down has assisted this, but I am grateful that things aren’t feeling heavy to me currently, so I can be of better service to others when needed.
I’ve found myself having very full dream time the last couple of days and a lot of things processing, to the point of being very vocal again during my sleep, and I’ve been hearing a lot of interesting sounds around. I’ve also noticed my little ones have been very active too – Gaia back to her marching even though its winter still, exploring the entire house, and spending tons of time under my desk transmitting energy waves by the computer processing unit – and Joy being very active with the crystals in my studio, as well as very anxiously enthusiastic about assisting with everything including my Reiki class this week, which was fun to see despite her chewing my Reiki manuals.
Last night when I went to feed her, which is always met with crazed excitement, an interesting thing happened. I gave her her tablespoon of timothy hay pellets and she went after it right away as usual. I then left to do some things and came back only a couple minutes later and found her not at her bowl. I figured, she must have eaten it all already, but wow that was even faster than normal.
However, she was over by my giant Lemurian Seed Crystal named Chamuel, for he channels this Archangel, instead. She was sitting up straight and like a statue, with her head cocked oddly and this strange look on her face that I’ve seen before when she goes into trance. She was just inches from the crystal and I immediately went over with the first gut instinct that she was channeling information and talking with Chamuel. She didn’t move in any way when I approached her and even when I kissed her, she stayed with glazed eyes and head cocked. I said to her, “You’re talking with Chamuel aren’t you?” and I knew in my heart the answer, so I put my hand on Chamuel and I kissed Joy.
There was a moment right before this that I had wondered if she was ok because she wasn’t moving and knowing she had eaten her food really fast. Since rabbits can get digestive issues easily, I’m always mindful of this. But having glanced over at her bowl and seeing that it wasn’t even half touched yet, I knew for sure she had gotten called over to Chamuel in the midst of her eating and it must have been important, as NOTHING takes her away from her food until it’s gone. Never does she leave food for any reason.
I thought to myself, perhaps when I had left she had gone to do work thinking she could do it privately, but then I came back unexpectedly and had been witness to her channeling. So I left her with Chamuel, not wanting to interrupt, and went to finish what I was doing for a couple of minutes and when I walked by the room again, she was back at her bowl finishing her food.
I continually find her lately doing a lot of strangely interesting things (just like Nestor), moreso than usual, and a lot of times it is with the crystals that she loves, as she is quite the little crystal worker. I have a shelf in my studio that has crystals in it and she goes onto the bottom one a lot and will pull out crystals sometimes and will put her paws and nose in there and do her thing, moving crystals about and intimately connecting. She’s coming more and more into her magickal self, just like Nestor (oh the magickal stories I could share), and demonstrating what a strong partner she is in the work we are facilitating. The two of us are heavily working together and she has become a strong supportive ally in all of our service.
Like Joy, I keep listening to which of my crystal friends “call” to me and I will then hold them in my lap, sleep with them under my pillow, hold them in hand while I teach or communicate, and channel with them for healing work and writing. This has been profoundly supportive to recognize and embrace this partnership and co-creation energy that is so beautifully mirroring of where we are at. I do the same with my little ones – honoring, listening to, and involving them in my work – as well as welcome it in aligned and resonating ways with other co-creative endeavors.
It’s apparent that Joy’s “upped” work with crystals has mirrored my own with needing “new energy” crystals to assist in my evolution. These have included the powerful Andaras I’ve spoken of, the various Quartz I had gotten with my birthday coupon in Reno, and most recently, a new crystal gift that also came into my life in conjunction with another birthday coupon from my favorite local metaphysical shop. They sent me a coupon and then after I received their newsletter on new crystal collections they had. When I looked at the list of crystal names, one jumped out at me immediately that I’d never heard of, but there was resonation with it big time, not even having a visual to go by – just a name (I learned later how perfect its energy and properties were in mirror for me). The very faery, psychic woman that assisted me in the store was enchanted that I was drawn to these particular stones, saying she has one herself and assured me I will so enjoy working with her and will simply LOVE her. I said, “I already do.”
Once again, I felt the Universe was supporting me with all these divine alignments and gifts and so with gratitude I embraced them.
This new friend is called “Septarian,” and it comes to me in a “Cosmic Egg” shape!
I have never had an egg-shaped stone, nor had ever been draw to one, but when it called out to me amidst a few other Septarian pieces I thought to myself, how amazingly perfect is this? The symbolism of this egg for all the new energy I’m birthing in reflection of the collective and in the new leg of my journey felt very much encapsulated in this “egg” shape. And what could be more fitting to also connect me with my magickal friends, Nestor and Joy, and their own reflections of the “Cosmic Egg” symbolism?
As written in my blog, Hare Symbolism for the New Earth – Birthing the Cosmic Egg:
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.
There was something very magickal about this egg and I felt very close and nurturing of it from the moment I saw it and drove it home with me, in my lap (I found out later in researching properties why I love having this stone close at hand, as you’ll read below). It now sits atop a wooden stand right in front of me – its pedestal – when I am not holding and working with it. I have only been resonating with crystals I can hold easily and bring with me anywhere. I DO understand how Joy feels with wanting to get her “paws” on all of these special friends. It is definitely one way I have been able to keep balanced, grounded, and to work at higher frequencies that are more resonating, at the same time.
I thought I’d share a little about my Septarian friend and her energies (oh how I love that name! sounds so earthy-extraterrestrial) in case, like myself, this is a new friend to you too. What I especially love about her (besides her beautiful energy) is the small opening on the front of her that creates portal access to journey through. It also is like the hatching of creation into being. Amazing!
Septarian is a geode that is a combination of yellow calcite, brown aragonite, grey limestone and white/clear barite, which means it diversely carries properties of each. Deposits of this unusual stone have been found in England, Spain, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.
These stones formed around 50 million years ago, with liquid filled with mineral matter being deposited into fissures, and then solidifying like concrete in these fissures, called concretions. That is why Septarian is called a “concretion” stone, but I also loved that it is sometimes called Dragonstone. So now along with my magickal dragon tattoo, I feel my cosmic dragon egg has birthed forth. 😉 Things are definitely evolving.
Resonant Energies.com shares:
“Septarians were formed during the Cretaceous Period, around 50 to 70 million years ago. Sea levels were much higher then and the Gulf of Mexico reached inland to Southern Utah where many of the Septarian nodules are found. They are also found in Madagascar where conditions were similar. Periodic volcanic eruptions killed the smaller sea life which sank to the sea bed and started decomposing. The minerals in the shells and carcasses attracted sea floor sediments which accumulated around the carcasses and formed nodules or mud balls. When the ocean eventually receded, the mud balls dried out and began to shrink and crack into the beautiful patterns that you see inside the Septarian nodules. Over the eons, calcite leeched down into the cracks and formed calcite crystals which grew to fill the cracks. The interface between the calcite and the bentonite clay transformed into aragonite which is the dark brown crystal layer. The bentonite mud was eventually replaced with limestone which completed the transformation of the entire nodule to stone. This is truly a magificent piece of artwork from mother nature. ”
Septarian brings abundant emotional calming energies that have a nurturing feel to them, as well as are spiritually uplifting and joy-infusing. They are great for overall health and well being, enhance and nurture communication with groups (making it easier to speak clearly and compassionately in these settings), support communication with Mother Earth, and bring unconscious foreknowledge needed to keep you always prepared for what is coming. Concretions are very protective and provide shielding and grounding of the physical, mental and emotional bodies while regulating spiritual, mental and physical courage.
Septarian provide energy for merging with and amplifying your energies, help you determine which direction to go, and is said to be a speaking stone that enhances all levels of communication. They LOVE to be held and emanate an energy pattern of sincere, loving kindness that is magnetic. (I knew there was reason I felt so drawn to nurture my little friend like a roosting bird with her Cosmic Egg) 🙂
Septarian is connected to the three lower chakras (there we go again with a lot of grounding resonance to integrate things with) and is used for healing of the blood and kidneys, as well as strengthen teeth, bones, and muscles. Synchronously, they resonate a very strong Earth energy that will help connect you to the Devic kingdom and their powerful Shamanic influence will strengthen group activities and response. These stones help strengthen the vibration of drumming and chanting circles, enhance the closeness of the group, and provide stronger focus on the task at hand.
Being a communication stone they resonate strongly within the throat chakra and assist any public speaking focuses. Conversely, they are also helpful in maintaining privacy, as they seem to dispel unhealthy personal interest in you from others if that is something you desire and value support with.
With such grounding and Earthy energy, they are are also very strong healing stones that assist in self-healing, flexibility, and flow (especially mentally) as well as connecting with higher truths. They will also help you when you are unsure about how to approach a treatment when assisting someone or yourself.
While you might be able to find it in jewelry form, it is extremely beneficial to keep one in your pocket, moreso, so it resonates with your aura continually. If kept in and around your immediate environment, their energy will benefit this sacred space.
In meditation they help you receive answers, help you with deeper insights into your healing work and to know what procedures to take in terms of your client’s healing, help to enhance your psychic powers in seeing the spiritual truth and root cause, help protect from psychic attack, and in general will support you to be more at peace and centered in your life.
I love my little Septarian Cosmic Egg and I have a feeling she will be a staple partner for me in much to come, as she already has made a huge impact on my vibrational life.
Hare Symbolism for the New Earth – Birthing the Cosmic Egg
In a recent, previous post I touched a bit on my painting, Spirit, the last of five in the series In Lak’ech. Spirit takes us beyond polarities and is full integration with transmutation inwardly and outwardly. As mentioned, this painting has many embedded codes and symbolism for energetic healing integration, which is why this and the other paintings I create can be used as meditational tools. One of the symbols, the Dagaz or Dea Rune is found anchoring the white hare’s feet in this image. Spirit holds some powerful energy and as promised, I wanted to reveal a little about one more aspect to this painting in regard to why the hare/rabbit being (with human and extraterrestrial essence) was chosen intuitively for the representation of this “beyond polarity” energy representation for the fifth element, Spirit.
Joy with Raja Seraphina
Of course those that know me know how deeply connected I am with rabbits. As a vegan and lover of all animals and beings, I have felt connected with animals since birthing into this Earthly experience, but rabbits are just, for whatever and many reasons, extremely dear and close to my heart and I resonate profoundly with them. Not only do I connect and understand them in a very personal way as a reflection, but I absolutely adore their magickal and precious essence in a way I can’t describe.
As I speak, my dear little Joy (lop eared bunny) is exploring my office and came to rest right next to the table that holds my large Quartz Crystal Skull, Raja Seraphina – a profound sign of her supporting what I am writing and connecting with the energy, as Raja Seraphina possesses the integration of both empowered female and male energies. (I’m actually really proud of her because she is on the wood floor, which was a fear she has been learning to overcome all by herself. She has learned to be safe on the floor in my/our sacred space, so I’m sure she will soon be exploring the entire house freely. A great example of how we can overcome fears).
I’ve been honored to have 3 bunny loves in my life, one of which is Nestor, whom I speak of often and has departed this Earthly plane. Part of the reasoning for the white hare in my painting, has to do with very personal healing stories connected with her, as well as simultaneous, collective healing that spoke through her for the essence of the painting.
The other 4 paintings depicted either a male or female being as one of the main focal points of the message, and as mentioned are fully integrated/empowered males and females that have embraced the empowered counterpart within them. However, for Spirit, we move beyond depictions of polarities, even in integrated form, and go straight to the heart of integration – and that is where the white hare comes into play.
Hares, throughout time have been associated with a whole myriad of powerfully profound, transmutational energies, as we will see in these excerpts from druidicdawn.org’s post, Hares and the Spring Equinox:
“Ancient peoples found hares one of the most mysterious and perplexing animals around. Hares were thought to be hermaphrodites, male one month and female the next month.” …”The ancient Greeks asserted this was so too, and associated hares thus with powers of self-impregnation and something we now call superfoetation. Superfoetation is “the fertilization of an already pregnant female which causes the simultaneous development of eggs of two different ovarian cycles within the genital tract.” …
“The ancient Mediterranean peoples also all believed that the male hare could also become pregnant.”
…”Going back to the idea of balance between the masculine and feminine at the Equinox, we mustn’t forget that many religions and myths, especially those derived from mystics and shamans, believe that the true nature of ourselves and the divine is found in the union of opposites. And from this union of the Masculine and Feminine, all Creation breaks forth into life and consciousness. It then makes sense that anything in nature that brings together the masculine and feminine, be it sexual intercourse, self-replicating plants, or in this case, hares who interchanged between male and female, were all held as some of the highest most sacred subjects in our world .. because they embody the actual creative powers of the universe.
For many of the reasons stated above, the hare has long been thought of as a mediator of the sacred…
Not only does the hare have lunar connections, but also many Buddhist and Hindu texts describe the hare as a creature of fire, but not just any fire–the same consuming sacrificial fire of the phoenix, then to rise again out of the ashes. The hare in this sense is not just a symbol of cyclical life like the moon and in many tales blatantly depicted as a bringer of reincarnation to mankind, but also in the same way, it becomes a symbol of simultaneous destruction and recreation that is at the very heart of all Life. Life is not just about being creative, but also requires the balance of first being destructive…
For all these reasons, the Hare then is not only associated with the Moon and the Sacred Fire and Spring, but also with the dawn and more importantly, with enlightenment…
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.
This union of masculine and feminine makes the Hare an excellent symbol for marriage…
Other associations with the hare that I won’t go into now are witchcraft, or in ancient societies, with the seer or shaman–the hare is also the trickster figure in many stories, who outsmarts Winter and Death…
Overall then, 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).”
To read the entire, very insightful post, please visit: http://www.druidicdawn.org/node/1490
We still have another month or so to go before the Spring Equinox, but as “time” is speeding up and I’m always several “bunny leaps” ahead, I continue to post things before we get there, to support the space in the now for that energy integration to begin.
After reflecting upon the information, I think you start to get some of the picture for why the hare was the channeled message I received to depict in my painting, Spirit. The rest, we will have to save for another story. For now, I leave you with “Spirit” to receive its message.
Spirit by Tania Marie
Tania Marie 