#Easter isn't Ishtar

[jeannereames]

Easter PSA

If you run across a post about Easter and Ishtar, Babylon, rabbits, and red eggs...DON'T REPOST THAT SUCKER. It's wrong. And it goes around Every Damn Year with people getting suckered in by apparent homonyms that linguistically have nothing to do with each other.

(Yes, the Babylonian New Year Festival--called Akitu--was around the same time as Easter, but the word Easter doesn't owe anything to Ishtar or Akitu. A number of world cultures began the new year on the Spring Equinox. It makes sense when you think about it. Romans gave us the Winter Solstice. The Greeks had new year on the Summer Solstice. Cultures vary.)

[balkanradfem]

Do you celebrate Palm Sunday?

I had to look this up and I figured out what it is xD Ishtar Sun day!

The original pagan holiday celebrated the descent and resurrection of the goddess Ishtar, or Inanna.

"The Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 2100 BC. When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility, crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will end.

After Inanna has been missing for three days her assistant goes to other gods for help. Finally one of them Enki, creates two creatures who carry the plant of life and water of life down to the Underworld, sprinkling them on Inanna and Damuzi, resurrecting them, and giving them the power to return to the earth as the light of the sun for six months. After the six months are up, Tammuz returns to the underworld of the dead, remaining there for another six months, and Ishtar pursues him, prompting the water god to rescue them both. Thus were the cycles of winter death and spring life." - Source

That makes more sense, all original holidays celebrated the circle of light and darkness that we go trough each year with the movements of the Earth in relation to the Sun. I love how the holidays created stories around something that is very tangible and observable every year! Christianity is pretending that all of that stuff outside isn't even that important and instead we should focus on this one dude. And it was a woman who was originally resurrected - later they found out that in order to create jesus' tomb, they tore down Ishtar's temple. Vile and disrespectful. And there's more:

"Easter as a Celebration of the Goddess of Spring

A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit of renewal.

Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness, and will continue to grow. As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the season.

According to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, the idea of resurrection was ingrained within the celebration of Ostara: “Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian’s God.”

Most analyses of the origin of the word ‘Easter’ agree that it was named after Eostre, an ancient word meaning ‘spring’, though many European languages use one form or another of the Latin name for Easter, Pascha, which is derived from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover."

That's two female goddesses they conveniently attempted to replace with one male :( Women own the spring and the power of resurrection, as we own the power of birth as well!

Wish I knew in detail what the pagan holidays looked like and how they were celebrated, I'd love to get into that.

[maddiviner]

i think it's okay to leave out the UPG disclaimer when someone is acting like their UPG is universally correct. especially when it's as wildly blatantly ahistorical and made-up as the hecate person's (don't remember her username because i IMMEDIATELY blocked her). also when you use your UPG to demand other people practice a certain way

I thought about it a bit after I posted that.

IMHO? None of what she posted counts as unverified personal gnosis. Reason being that UPG is by definition the kinda thing that you can't disprove, exactly. If you're making false claims about objective, known history, that doesn't count. That's just called lying, either to yourself, or other people, sorry.

UPG is also personal. It's one thing if other people find your UPG compelling and join in on their own. It's also, IMHO, appropriate to share it if you're comfortable. If you're trying to force it on other people as the absolute truth, it really stops just being your UPG, and it's a jerk move. This is, obviously, especially true if the claims are ahistorical nonsense (which, again, doesn't count as UPG).

How I view this might piss people off, but I'm going to break down my views. I'm open to discussion of course, but this is just how I use the phrase ("unverified personal gnosis," I mean).

Some different UPG-ish things I've heard over time...

A certain Goddess considers me Her daughter in a spiritual/metaphysical sense. She expects certain things of me.

Humans all contain a lil piece of the Divine. I will work on connecting with that by prayer/meditating/whatever.

Reincarnation is real (or not real).

After death, I will join my loved ones in the Summerlands/etc to rest or something similar.

Everything above is, IMHO, UPG. I say that because it's unfalsifiable and personal. It's not ahistorical, nor does it conflict with physical reality. And, in the situations where I saw the above comments, it wasn't presented as absolute fact.

Some things that definitely don't qualify as UPG for the reasons I've mentioned...

Rather than originally being a Greek Goddess, Hekate was actually Scottish-Irish human woman who was murdered by men. (This was the original claim by the OP, actually.)

Jesus revealed to me in a dream that the earth is actually flat. The truth is being concealed by elite reptilians.

The Christian holiday of Easter connects to the Sumerian Goddess, Ishtar. Ancient pagans worshiped Her in springtime with eggs and bunnies.

I was burned at the stake in Europe as a witch in the 1700s along with the rest of my Wiccan coven. I reincarnated as a witch again.

None of the above is UPG. It's misinformation instead. You can look at historical/scientific sources and prove it's inaccurate.

I found the concept of UPG hard to grasp initially. I think some others do, too. Many of us are coming from or steeped in more organized religions.

I don't think a lot of them, at least in the pervasive American sorta Christianity, have anything like UPG? I mean, I didn't see much of it. So, it's kinda been a new concept for some, and a lot of us have to feel our way around it a bit.

Another thing I wanna add? UPG isn't always healthy or good even if it does quality as UPG. Some ways of thinking about the world just work better, I guess, and that applies across the board. A lot of UPG tends to be very fluid and adaptable, I've noticed, which I think is good.

The Hecate person is kinda funny because she just posted this huge spiel about how she knows she's doing it right now that she has "haters" and called us all ignorant "heathens" (her words) for not accepting her divine truth straight from God's Hekate's mouth.

The idea of someone who claims to be pagan using "heathen" as an insult is just... weird. I know there's probably some kinda discourse around the word but... still.

Someone I talk with on Facebook commented that it's weirdly Protestant?! Similar to how Jesus gets portrayed. You've got a divine being that was, uhhh, actually from a completely different culture being portrayed as Scottish/Irish, Greek roots being erased. Said divine being was somehow also incarnated as a human, and martyred? And then we have a prophet, too! Sounds super similar to me, too, now that I start to think about it in those terms, but I didn't notice before.

[hedgewitchgarden]

Ostara vs Easter; or Let's All Just Colour an Egg

March 11

This piece was originally written in 2016 and has been updated - *(An updated version (free) of my 2016 article debunking common misconceptions about the alleged pagan history of Easter) Every year there's a lot of commentary that floats around the pagan community claiming several things about the holiday of Ostara, most of them untrue. So lets take a look at the urban legends and the realities, shall we?  Firstly the idea that Easter is related to the Goddess Ishtar, that the word and name sound the same, and that Ishtar's symbols are identical to popular Easter symbols: Ishtar is not pronounced 'easter'; it's a pretty straightforward name actually and is pronounced 'ishtar' just like it looks.  Ishtar is an ancient Assyrian goddess whose name is connected to the related goddess Astarte; the word easter comes from old English, likely rooted in the proto-Germanic word for dawn (Harper, 2024). Ishtar was a goddess connected to love, fertility, and war. Her symbols were not rabbits or eggs but rather storehouse gates, lions, and stars with different numbers of points (Ishtar, 2016).  

original meme author unknown: "bullshit" label courtesy of Ian Corrigan So that's that one.

Was the date of Easter stolen from Pagans? No. The Christian holiday itself was not stolen from or dated based on the pagan holiday; it developed on its own based off of the Jewish holiday timing for Passover and was originally known as Pascha in Latin, only later becoming known as Easter; as late as the 8th century the holiday was still known as Pascha in England. 

Did the 4th century emperor Constantine invent it all? This is another idea that I see floating around this time of year. I can say conclusively that the idea that Constantine in the 4th century C.E. speaking Latin was calling the holiday Easter (for the record it still isn't called Easter in most languages that aren't English) is false and he didn't invent the holiday itself. As a Christian holiday Pascha (Easter) seems to have been well established by the mid second century (Melito, 1989).This is at least 200 years before Constantine's lifetime.

Now the other main idea that get's tossed around is that Easter is stolen from or based on a Germanic or Anglo-Saxon holiday or Goddess named Ostara/Eostre. I can't even give an example of this meme because honestly most of them are blatantly offensive in the way they are worded but the gist of it is claiming that Ostara/Eostre was an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess celebrated in spring whose symbols were rabbits and eggs and Christians stole it all, etc., etc.,

The name of the holiday is likely derived from a word that means "east" and may be related to the name of an obscure Germanic or Anglo-Saxon goddess about whom we know virtually nothing. The name of the goddess - Eostre to the Anglo-Saxons and Ostara to the Germans - is probably related to the same root as the word east: both etymologically come from the proto-Indo-European root aus- meaning 'to shine' and likely relating to the dawn. Our only source of information on Eostre is the Venerable Bede who wrote in the 8th century: Eostur-monath, qui nunc Paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a Dea illorum quæ Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant nomen habuit: a cujus nomine nunc Paschale tempus cognominant, consueto antiquæ observationis vocabulo gaudia novæ solemnitatis vocantes (Giles, 1843) [Eostre-month, which is now interpreted as the Paschal month, which was formerly called Eostre and celebrated in that month: now the Paschal season is called by this name calling the joys of the new festival by the ancient name of the old]     From this we know that there was an Anglo-Saxon goddess named Eostre who had a holiday celebrated for her around the same time as Easter/Pascha but basically nothing else. And we already know that Pascha as a Christian holiday was well established long before this. So we appear to have a case of the new religion's holiday being called by the name of the old one in part due to a coincidence in timing.   About a thousand years later Jacob Grimm would go on to write about a hypothetical German goddess he called Ostara who he reconstructed based in part off of the German name for the Christian holiday of Easter, Ostern, and a name for April of Ostermonat (Grimm, 1835). He elaborates on his ideas based on this idea of a connection between the name and the direction of the east and the idea of dawn and spring, as well as widespread connections between Ostara [the goddess] and contemporary Christian Easter celebrations including bonfires and drawing water at dawn which had special properties (Grimm, 1835). Although it is possible that Grimm was noting genuine pagan folk practices that had survived his connection of these practices to a goddess named Ostara are impossible to prove* On to the rabbits and eggs because that keeps showing up in all of these memes. The concept of "Easter" bunnies (originally hares, "Osterhase") cannot be dated before the mid-1500's and the eggs appear to have started in the 1600's, both in Germany (Bauer, 2016). The eggs were originally called 'pace' or Pascha eggs explicitly connecting them to the Jewish Passover and the Christian holiday. In 1682 Georg Franck von Franckenau is the first to explicitly mention the rabbit bringing eggs in De Ovis Paschalibus where he describes the folk practice and the way people get sick overeating the eggs. This appears to have been because eggs - like meat and milk - were on the Lenten 'don't eat' list and so eating them on Easter was a treat (Newell, 1989). Unlike milk and meat however eggs could be preserved more easily and a hard boiled egg played a role in the Jewish Passover meal making eggs both abundant, desirable, and symbolic at Easter (Newell, 1989). Coloring eggs was also a widespread folk custom in many cultures, and while it was surely used by pagans it was easily adapted to Christian symbolism as well. There doesn't seem to be any certainty of exactly where the idea of hiding eggs for kids to find came from, but there is evidence that it began in Germany and spread from there to England and America.

To summarize: Easter is a Christian holiday, based on Christian mythology, and timed based on the Jewish Passover. The traditions involving rabbits and eggs come from 17th century German folk practices, partially based on Lenten food restrictions. Colouring eggs is found across a wide array of cultures. We know basically nothing about the goddesses Eostre or Ostara, historically, and what we do have about them is largely modern speculation or innovated pagan belief.

So in the end we have the name of a goddess which is etymologically connected to the word east as well as the dawn, and likely related to other Indo-European dawn or spring goddesses. But basically there is no real information about her, no known symbols, no myths**.  We can say that this holiday was not taken and turned into the Christian Easter, which as we've mentioned already existed many centuries prior and with a different name. It is true that English and German speakers use a name for the Christian holiday based on the pagan one and it is possible that some pagan folk practices were maintained but that was not a matter of intentional theft by the Church - rather it was the people converting to the new religion themselves refusing to give up certain things.

While these practices may or may not be originally pagan,  why does it matter? These are fun folk custom that we can practice today, pagan or Christian, whose origins are more or less lost to history. So lets stop arguing over whose holiday is whose and what traditions belong to who - color an egg, make a little nest for the Osterhase and put the eggs in, jump a bonfire, and have a great holiday whichever one you celebrate.

*that story about Ostara and the bird getting turned into a rabbit which then laid eggs is entirely modern

**I am not however arguing that Eostre/Ostara never existed, just that Grimm's evidence of her folk customs in 19th century German is pretty shaky.

References

Ishtar (2016) Encyclopedia Britanica

Melito of Sardis (1989) "On the Passover"  http://www.kerux.com/doc/0401A1.asp

Bauer, I., (2016) Der Osterhase

Giles, J (1843) The Complete Works of the Venerable Bede

Newell, V., (1989) Eggs at Easter; a folklore study

Grimm, J., (1835) Deutsche Mythologie

Harper, D., (2024) 'Easter'; Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=easter 

[theesotericecho]

Easter's Secret Eastern Roots: From Ishtar to Eggs and Bunnies by David S.

Alright, settle in because I have a tale for you, one that's older than chocolate bunnies and sunrise services. It whispers of a goddess, the changing seasons, and the hidden magic in those springtime symbols we all know so well. This isn't just about Easter. You see; this is the story of how spring itself got a name.

Picture this: not the world we know, but one much older. A land of sun-baked bricks and whispering rivers – Mesopotamia, the cradle of stories. Here, among the farmers and the priests, the bakers and the poets, walked a goddess. Her name was Ishtar.

Now, Ishtar was…complicated. Imagine a woman dressed as a warrior, but with eyes that could melt the hardest heart. She was the protectress of cities, the roar in the battle cry, yet also the goddess of love and – this is important – the change from winter's bleakness to spring's vibrant green.

Every year, the tale goes, Ishtar would do something brave and frankly a bit terrifying. She would descend into the Underworld, the land of shadows and stillness. Think of it like winter itself, that time when the world seems to go to sleep.

Why would she go down there? Well, there are different versions of the story. Some say it was to rescue her love, the shepherd-god Tammuz. Others say she faced her dark sister, Ereshkigal, ruler of the Underworld, in a contest of power. Whatever the reason, Ishtar always, eventually, fought her way back up.

Imagine the land while she was gone. No goddess of springtime meant the fields lay barren, the lambs shivering, the world holding its breath. That's the chill, silent heart of winter, isn't it?

But Ishtar was nothing if not tenacious. After her hard trek through the land of the dead, she would burst back into the world of the living – and that's when the party started! Her return meant warmth, flowers blooming, the birds finding their songs again. It was the rebirth of the world.

Naturally, the people of Mesopotamia threw one heck of a festival for her. Music, dancing, a feast that likely put our Thanksgiving dinners to shame – all in celebration of that shift from winter to spring. And since ancient people were clever at using symbols, they chose a few special ones for Ishtar.

Eggs, those perfectly shaped promises of new life, became her symbol. Rabbits, those frisky little creatures always popping up in springtime, they represented her energy too. See how that starts looking familiar, even with our current Easter celebrations?

Now, here's where history gets tangled like yarn. As cultures changed, as new stories and religions sprang up like wildflowers, the meaning of Ishtar's story changed too.

Some linked her to the idea of fertility, to new beginnings in nature. Others wove her into their own celebrations of springtime, which happened around the same time anyway. Heck, even the name "Easter" may have roots in an old Germanic goddess of spring, Eostre.

Then you have Christianity coming along, with its own powerful springtime story of death and resurrection. That, perhaps more than anything, began layering new meaning onto the ancient festivals.

Here's the thing, though: stories are slippery, powerful things. They don't disappear, they change shape. You can still catch glimpses of the strong, brave Ishtar in our modern Easter.

The eggs aren't just cute decorations, they're echoes of that ancient symbol of life triumphing. The bunnies with their boundless energy? They remind us of the world waking up from its winter sleep, just as Ishtar once brought the land back to life. Even the focus on rebirth, seen in the Christian story of Easter, has that same heart to it – the promise that darkness is never the end.

The thing about old tales is that it's not about which one is 'true'. The story of Ishtar may not be literally true, but that doesn't lessen its power. It's a way people long ago understood the world – how winter always, stubbornly, gives way to life again. It's a celebration, and a reassurance.

So the next time you bite into a chocolate egg, or spot a rabbit hopping across the lawn, remember Ishtar. Remember that beneath the modern traditions lies a story thousands of years old, a tale about the fierce, unending magic of spring.

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[sotisha]

Ostara Blessings to all. Today is the Spring Equinox when night and day are both at equal length. If you go out late afternoon you might just catch the rising Moon in the sky at exactly the same time the Sun is about to set. Early in the next morning you can also see the Moon in daylight just as the Sun is rising. In between these two events is a period of complete balance between day and night, Sun and Moon, male and female, light and dark, God and Goddess.

This is a special point of balance, on this day light and dark are equal, but the light is now surpassing the dark as days will grow longer and nights shorter, warmth is taking over cold, life is taking over death, today we truly say goodbye to winter.

This is a time of major transformation for the earth. The great wheel has turned as we pass into a new season. We notice new buds forming on branches, the birds will start returning and animals will come out of hibernation, flowers will start to shoot up and fields and grass will become lush and green.

The young horned God is growing stronger and the Goddess is in her maiden form. The young Sun God takes notice of the Maiden Goddess and the stirrings within them seem to be felt in all living creatures. All the world seems renewed, refreshed and bursting with possibilities

.

Ostara is an Anglo Saxon and Celtic fertility festival worshipping the Goddess Ostara or Eostre as she is also known. Eggs and rabbits are her fertility symbols. The egg resembles new life and birth and the rabbit signifies fertility.

The Horned Sun God also known as The Oak King or the Lord of Light, the Gods Pan, Cernunnos and the Sun Gods such as Sol, Apollo, Attis, Ra and Horus are also worshipped on this day.

Eostre is the Saxon version of the Goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the first Full Moon following the Spring equinox. this is the identical time as the Christian Easter when Jesus was said to be resurrected from death, they adopted this day for Jesus resurrection when they were converting Pagans into Christians. The Sun God Attis who was born via a virgin birth is resurrected each year during the time on the Spring Equinox. The Goddesses Ishtar and Persephone were also both resurrected from death on Ostara.

Ostara is a time of newness and rebirth, it is a time to clean up and clear out all our old junk, this is where we get the term spring clean from. But it isn't just clearing out our homes it is also clearing out the junk and negative energy that we carry around with us. Let the new energies of the Sun and the Spring rejuvenate us. Welcome in the new, breath new life into you and look to the future with hope and optimism.

On your alter add anything to represent and to honor the season such as budding flowers like crocuses, daffodils, lilies, daisies, acorns and seeds. Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark, so symbols of this polarity can be used. Use a God and Goddess statue, a white candle and a black one, a sun and moon etc.. This is the time of year when animals are bringing forth new life too so put a basket of eggs on your altar, it is customary and fun to paint them bright colours before adding them, add figures or pictures of new lambs, chicks, rabbits, calves etc. Add a chalice of milk or honey, milk represents the lactating animals who have just given birth and honey is long known as a symbol of abundance and ever lasting life as honey never spoils or goes off, also bees will start to come out now, offer these as a libation to the God and Goddess..

The Spring Equinox is a time of balance of both light and dark, it is a time to look within ourselves and balance our thoughts and emotions and to find balance in our lives. To embrace our dark and our light equally as one cannot exist without the other. This is a time to stop, relax and enjoy our personal achievements, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. What we put into life we will get out, what we plant now can grow into something amazing.

May your Ostara be memorable and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing.

[telltruths]

Understanding Easter

 Easter Sunday, bunnies, dying eggs, buying chocolate and the celebration of j*sus' 'resurrection', I will explain this holiday, you might wonder why I'm censoring the so-called name that the majority of the world declares 'the son', simple. It's not the correct name.

Easter, the holiday has estimated dates, but truly it drives from Babylonian pagan traditions, the worship of Ishtar (Ashtarte, Semiramis, etc), who was considered the goddess of spring and fertility. (Hence the eggs and bunny rabbit, since rabbits have many litters, and female rabbits have two wombs.) A title she claimed after Nimrod's death, who was also worshiped under many names as god of the sun.

After the birth of her son, Tammuz, she had claimed to be impregnated by the sun's rays, (aka, their belief of Nimrod being a sun god.) Tammuz, likewise, was worshiped until his death, which he was gored by a boar- To which Lent descends from, Babylonians would give up one thing for a whole forty days to show their dedication to Tammuz, seeing as he died at the age of forty, and would eat ham (the symbolizing of the boar goring him.)

Now, I know frequently that many adults partake in many of these holidays, (Easter, Halloween, Christmas…) For their children and claim It under the guise of religion, yet bear hatred towards pagan practices - when these holidays ARE in fact pagan.

Do you truly want to celebrate Easter? A holiday that descends from Ishtar claiming that she was born from an egg on Euphrates River? Do you want to celebrate a holiday where she proceeded to say that her first act as goddess was to turn a bird into an egg laying rabbit? Do you want to celebrate a holiday where young girls would get impregnated by men upon altars? Then the following year, the three month old babies they bore would get killed, they would take the eggs and dye them in the babies blood.

Your purposeful ignorance, little do you know, is submission. You're submitting to pagan practices whether you admit it or not.

I can't tell you what to do, only YAH ELOHIM can guide you, I've given the message, It's your choice whether to continue such heathen practices or not.

Furthermore, J*sus isn't even the correct name, nor that portrait of a white European man. NONE of this is correct.

The letter 'J' is young still, yet you worship such a name? That doesn't even belong in ancient Hebrew?

I suggest you do research. Don't blindly follow, LEARN.

Check out this video, and do some research of your own because what I just posted probably hardly touches the tip of the iceberg, there's many of other holidays that are pagan, yet you celebrate them anyway.

Amos (5:21) (CEPHER) I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

[skippyv20]

Skippy, I mean this with the best intent, but people should research Ishtar/Easter and the symbolism with eggs & rabbits before deciding to participate in egg colouring or decoration. Many things have been insidiously inserted into our culture that unknowingly feed the Beast. I only want to warn people that what masquerades as good isn't always great. Sending much love to All!

We are talking about the Easter Bunny, eggs decorating.....traditions loved worldwide......I think if you have issues with this.....you should find a blog more inkeeping with your beliefs......this blog isn’t that blog.  I’m not here to take the Easter Bunny down.  Thank you for understanding....take care....🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[saint-ambrosef]

Could you link me to your "Christmas is not pagan" post? My mom outlawed Christmas in our house after finding out it was "pagan" and doesn't even like us using that word because she's terrified of conforming to paganism in any way, shape, or form. Same with Easter. We just do Old-Testament festivals now bc God directly ordained those. I empathize with her desire to be set apart from the world and keep her household in a way that honors God,but if Christmas isn't evil, I'd like to have it back...

I just re-posted it, but here’s a direct link: http://saint-ambrosef.tumblr.com/post/180282348939/christmas-isnt-pagan-at-all

that’s extremely sad to hear, considering it’s all a bunch of malarkey.

Easter isn’t pagan either; the only reason people believe that myth is because it sounds like Ishtar, which is the Assyrian god of fertility. however only English speakers refer to it as “Easter”– in basically every other language, it’s a variation of Pascha, referring to the paschal sacrifice of Christ.

iirc the Ishtar = Easter myth was spread by some richard dawkins facebook page, which is not a surprise.

[christowitch]

Easter isn't pagan. Ostara was last month. Ishtar had nothing to do with Easter. That's not even a relief of Ishtar. Easter is a Christian Holy Day with Roots in Judaism not Paganism.

I'm tired now. This is ridiculous.

[sotisha]

Ostara Blessings to all. Today is the Spring Equinox when night and day are both at equal length. If you go out late afternoon you might just catch the rising Moon in the sky at exactly the same time the Sun is about to set. Early in the next morning you can also see the Moon in daylight just as the Sun is rising. In between these two events is a period of complete balance between day and night, Sun and Moon, male and female, light and dark, God and Goddess.

This is a special point of balance, on this day light and dark are equal, but the light is now surpassing the dark as days will grow longer and nights shorter, warmth is taking over cold, life is taking over death, today we truly say goodbye to winter.

This is a time of major transformation for the earth. The great wheel has turned as we pass into a new season. We notice new buds forming on branches, the birds will start returning and animals will come out of hibernation, flowers will start to shoot up and fields and grass will become lush and green.

The young horned God is growing stronger and the Goddess is in her maiden form. The young Sun God takes notice of the Maiden Goddess and the stirrings within them seem to be felt in all living creatures. All the world seems renewed, refreshed and bursting with possibilities.

Ostara is an Anglo Saxon and Celtic fertility festival worshipping the Goddess Ostara or Eostre as she is also known. Eggs and rabbits are her fertility symbols. The egg resembles new life and birth and the rabbit signifies fertility.

The Horned Sun God also known as The Oak King or the Lord of Light, the Gods Pan, Cernunnos and the Sun Gods such as Sol, Apollo, Attis, Ra and Horus are also worshipped on this day.

Eostre is the Saxon version of the Goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the first Full Moon following the Spring equinox. this is the identical time as the Christian Easter when Jesus was said to be resurrected from death, they adopted this day for Jesus resurrection when they were converting Pagans into Christians. The Sun God Attis who was born via a virgin birth is resurrected each year during the time on the Spring Equinox. The Goddesses Ishtar and Persephone were also both resurrected from death on Ostara.

Ostara is a time of newness and rebirth, it is a time to clean up and clear out all our old junk, this is where we get the term spring clean from. But it isn't just clearing out our homes it is also clearing out the junk and negative energy that we carry around with us. Let the new energies of the Sun and the Spring rejuvenate us. Welcome in the new, breath new life into you and look to the future with hope and optimism.

On your alter add anything to represent and to honor the season such as budding flowers like crocuses, daffodils, lilies, daisies, acorns and seeds. Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark, so symbols of this polarity can be used. Use a God and Goddess statue, a white candle and a black one, a sun and moon etc.. This is the time of year when animals are bringing forth new life too so put a basket of eggs on your altar, it is customary and fun to paint them bright colours before adding them, add figures or pictures of new lambs, chicks, rabbits, calves etc. Add a chalice of milk or honey, milk represents the lactating animals who have just given birth and honey is long known as a symbol of abundance and ever lasting life as honey never spoils or goes off, also bees will start to come out now, offer these as a libation to the God and Goddess..

The Spring Equinox is a time of balance of both light and dark, it is a time to look within ourselves and balance our thoughts and emotions and to find balance in our lives. To embrace our dark and our light equally as one cannot exist without the other. This is a time to stop, relax and enjoy our personal achievements, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. What we put into life we will get out, what we plant now can grow into something amazing.

May your Ostara be memorable and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing.

[sotisha]

Ostara Blessings to all. Today is the Spring Equinox when night and day are both at equal length. If you go out late afternoon you might just catch the rising Moon in the sky at exactly the same time the Sun is about to set. Early in the next morning you can also see the Moon in daylight just as the Sun is rising. In between these two events is a period of complete balance between day and night, Sun and Moon, male and female, light and dark, God and Goddess.

This is a special point of balance, on this day light and dark are equal, but the light is now surpassing the dark as days will grow longer and nights shorter, warmth is taking over cold, life is taking over death, today we truly say goodbye to winter.

This is a time of major transformation for the earth. The great wheel has turned as we pass into a new season. We notice new buds forming on branches, the birds will start returning and animals will come out of hibernation, flowers will start to shoot up and fields and grass will become lush and green.

The young horned God is growing stronger and the Goddess is in her maiden form. The young Sun God takes notice of the Maiden Goddess and the stirrings within them seem to be felt in all living creatures. All the world seems renewed, refreshed and bursting with possibilities.

Ostara is an Anglo Saxon and Celtic fertility festival worshipping the Goddess Ostara or Eostre as she is also known. Eggs and rabbits are her fertility symbols. The egg resembles new life and birth and the rabbit signifies fertility.

The Horned Sun God also known as The Oak King or the Lord of Light, the Gods Pan, Cernunnos and the Sun Gods such as Sol, Apollo, Attis, Ra and Horus are also worshipped on this day.

Eostre, the Saxon version of the Goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the first Full Moon following the Spring equinox, the identical time as the Christian Easter when Jesus was said to be resurrected from death. The Sun God Attis who was born via a virgin birth is resurrected each year during the time on the Spring Equinox. The Goddesses Ishtar and Persephone were also both resurrected from death on Ostara.

Ostara is a time of newness and rebirth, it is a time to clean up and clear out all our old junk, this is where we get the term spring clean from. But it isn't just clearing out our homes it is also clearing out the junk and negative energy that we carry around with us. Let the new energies of the Sun and the Spring rejuvenate us. Welcome in the new, breath new life into you and look to the future with hope and optimism.

On your alter add anything to represent and to honor the season such as budding flowers like crocuses, daffodils, lilies, daisies, acorns and seeds. Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark, so symbols of this polarity can be used. Use a God and Goddess statue, a white candle and a black one, a sun and moon etc.. This is the time of year when animals are bringing forth new life too so put a basket of eggs on your altar, it is customary and fun to paint them bright colours before adding them, add figures or pictures of new lambs, chicks, rabbits, calves etc. Add a chalice of milk or honey, milk represents the lactating animals who have just given birth and honey is long known as a symbol of abundance and ever lasting life as honey never spoils or goes off, also bees will start to come out now, offer these as a libation to the God and Goddess..

The Spring Equinox is a time of balance of both light and dark, it is a time to look within ourselves and balance our thoughts and emotions and to find balance in our lives. To embrace our dark and our light equally as one cannot exist without the other. This is a time to stop, relax and enjoy our personal achievements, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. What we put into life we will get out, what we plant now can grow into something amazing.

May your Ostara be memorable and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing.

[sotisha]

Ostara Blessings to all. Today is the Spring Equinox when night and day are both at equal length. If you go out late afternoon you might just catch the rising Moon in the sky at exactly the same time the Sun is about to set. Early in the next morning you can also see the Moon in daylight just as the Sun is rising. In between these two events is a period of complete balance between day and night, Sun and Moon, male and female, light and dark, God and Goddess.

This is a special point of balance, on this day light and dark are equal, but the light is now surpassing the dark as days will grow longer and nights shorter, warmth is taking over cold, life is taking over death, today we truly say goodbye to winter.

This is a time of major transformation for the earth. The great wheel has turned as we pass into a new season. We notice new buds forming on branches, the birds will start returning and animals will come out of hibernation, flowers will start to shoot up and fields and grass will become lush and green.

The young horned God is growing stronger and the Goddess is in her maiden form. The young Sun God takes notice of the Maiden Goddess and the stirrings within them seem to be felt in all living creatures. All the world seems renewed, refreshed and bursting with possibilities.

Ostara is an Anglo Saxon and Celtic fertility festival worshipping the Goddess Ostara or Eostre as she is also known. Eggs and rabbits are her fertility symbols. The egg resembles new life and birth and the rabbit signifies fertility.

The Horned Sun God also known as The Oak King or the Lord of Light, the Gods Pan, Cernunnos and the Sun Gods such as Sol, Apollo, Attis, Ra and Horus are also worshipped on this day.

Eostre, the Saxon version of the Goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the first Full Moon following the Spring equinox, the identical time as the Christian Easter when Jesus was said to be resurrected from death. The Sun God Attis who was born via a virgin birth is resurrected each year during the time on the Spring Equinox. The Goddesses Ishtar and Persephone were also both resurrected from death on Ostara.

Ostara is a time of newness and rebirth, it is a time to clean up and clear out all our old junk, this is where we get the term spring clean from. But it isn't just clearing out our homes it is also clearing out the junk and negative energy that we carry around with us. Let the new energies of the Sun and the Spring rejuvenate us. Welcome in the new, breath new life into you and look to the future with hope and optimism.

On your alter add anything to represent and to honor the season such as budding flowers like crocuses, daffodils, lilies, daisies, acorns and seeds. Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark, so symbols of this polarity can be used. Use a God and Goddess statue, a white candle and a black one, a sun and moon etc.. This is the time of year when animals are bringing forth new life too so put a basket of eggs on your altar, it is customary and fun to paint them bright colours before adding them, add figures or pictures of new lambs, chicks, rabbits, calves etc. Add a chalice of milk or honey, milk represents the lactating animals who have just given birth and honey is long known as a symbol of abundance and ever lasting life as honey never spoils or goes off, also bees will start to come out now, offer these as a libation to the God and Goddess..

The Spring Equinox is a time of balance of both light and dark, it is a time to look within ourselves and balance our thoughts and emotions and to find balance in our lives. To embrace our dark and our light equally as one cannot exist without the other. This is a time to stop, relax and enjoy our personal achievements, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. What we put into life we will get out, what we plant now can grow into something amazing.

May your Ostara be memorable and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing.