It’s blog hop time again! If you’ve come here from Matt’s blog, WELCOME! If you’re a regular reader of my blog, the Tarot Hop Blog is a round-robin style of writing, where each writer links to the blog before and to the blog that follows.

This Tarot Blog Hop is about Ostara, representing the Spring equinox and the renewal of life. So… what? Are we supposed to go out and get knocked up? (“Rabbits are for shagging and eggs are for fertility” says Eddie Izzard.) While nature and Earth may have that in mind, us homo sapiens have a bit more choice in the matter. I choose to view Ostara, or ‘Eostre’ as it was known in the Teutonic faiths, as an opportunity for personal renewal and reawakening.

Winter is a time of respite. Nature turns inward and slows down. There is still challenge to be had, but mostly it’s a time of slow growth and metered out resources. We dream of warm days to come. We reflect and recount our experiences from the year before, judge our performances and expectations and make vows for the days to come.

Spring is the end of hibernation and awakening of appetites. It’s been raining like mad where I live this week, and one of the benefits of it is that everything here has become green. Now I don’t mean that grass is suddenly growing and the trees and blooming. I mean everything glows with a vibrance that has been missing for the last few months. Even through the dampness and the cold air, life is returning and it’s an infectious feeling.

Or maybe it’s the allergies from everything blooming…

So how do we make the most of this opportunity? As much as new years is seen as the time to make resolutions, Ostara’s the point of actually commencing on them if you haven’t already. It’s a time to put way the winter gear and break out the galoshes, literally and metaphorically.  Embrace the enthusiasms that nature is showing. Let it energize you, inspire you and guide you. And that’s really the key, isn’t it? Ostara represents coming out of the cave; awakening from the coma and beginning anew. The long night is ending, the new day is dawning. How will you experience this year?

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please continue on to Arwen‘s excellent blog!