De-Anna Alba's Solitary Sabbat Spring Equinox Ritual
Written by De-Anna Alba from Pagans Online – but the link is dead – well not dead it takes you to a search engine now…
A Pace-Egging Ritual
The use of eggs in Spring Equinox rituals is a centuries-old custom. Our Pagan ancestors first used eggs in Spring fertility rituals in a variety of ways. With the coming of Christianity, the use of eggs was transferred to the celebration of Easter. The Greek Orthodox church uses red colored eggs to this day. They say the red color represents the blood of Christ shed for us in anticipation of the resurrection. (I feel there is a much older, more accurate, and certainly more Pagan explanation. It symbolizes the blood of birth that happens all over the animal kingdom at this time of year in the northern hemisphere. And by extension, represents the whole cyclical theme of death and rebirth, with an obvious emphasis on the rebirth part of the cycle.)
The use of eggs was also transferred to the "childish" celebration of Easter, including the Easter egg hunt, the Easter bunny (another fertility symbol), and various other sensuous treats like chocolate kisses, cream-filled eggs and jelly beans. (In other words, the fun and fertility were taken out of the original celebration and given to the children, while the adults concentrated on sin, suffering and getting their mortal souls saved via the crucifixion and resurrection of one divine sacrifice.
Modern Wiccans and Pagans have been reclaiming the fertility symbolism of the egg in their Spring Equinox rites for some time now. It usually takes the form of garden/seed planting rituals for those born with, or encouraging, a green thumb. Or, the use of colored or decorated eggs to encourage fertility to happen in their lives in one form or another--fertility of mind, body, spirit, whatever. This ritual is a variation on this last theme.
The ritual is to take place on, or near the Spring Equinox. If you are not able to do this on the actual day of the Equinox, or would prefer to do it on a weekend, I'd suggest you do it the weekend before the Equinox instead of after it. Part of the intention behind celebrating the Sabbats of the Wiccan year is to participate in and encourage the actual turning of the Wheel of the Year - to make sacred the cycle itself. If you wait until after the holiday, you've lost the opportunity to participate in the sacred turning (although you can still honor this after the fact).
Depending on your time, inclination, and perhaps your physical capabilities, you can do this ritual in one of two ways. It's intended to be a ritual that includes some walking and/or driving around. If this seems too much for you for whatever reason, you can simply eat the eggs over a period of days. Read on to see what I mean. The purpose of this ritual is to seed things you would like to have come into your life during the upcoming season of birth, growth, maturity and harvest. You will decorate one egg for each of the things you wish to have bloom or bring to fruition in your life. Take some time during the week before the ritual to decide what those things will be. If you're like me you'll need to write them down so you don't forget. Think about any colors, symbols or designs you might associate with each thing you want to manifest in your life. Write them down as well if you need to.
Conveniently enough, Easter is coming soon, so you'll be able to go out and buy egg dying kits. Just be sure the kit you choose includes one of those wax crayons for drawing on the eggs. You know, the kind that writes in invisible wax on the egg and then the writing (or drawing) magically appears on the egg when it is placed in the coloring medium. If you're planning on doing the pace-egging part of the ritual, you'll need to locate a small digging trowel or trench-shovel as well. The object here is to symbolically decorate each egg and then take it to a place associated with the things you'd like to bring into your life and plant it there. For example, if you want to bring more psychic ability into yourself, you might want to take an appropriately decorated egg to a body of water and drop it into it. Water is associated with things psychic. If you need to slow down the pace of your life, you might want to bury an egg dedicated to that purpose at the base of a slow growing tree, like an Oak If you want to bring love into your life, trying burying the appropriate egg in a spot beneath the intertwining branches of two trees. You get the idea
On the day of the ritual, hard boil your eggs. That night, gather together all the things you will need to create the number of eggs you'll need. Set it all up in your ritual space. (On a practical note, you may wish to turn your kitchen table into your altar for the night so that you'll have plenty of space in which to work and access to other things you might need from the kitchen that you may not have anticipated, like water, spoons, towels, etc.) Have your usual altar accoutrements there as well. Once your altar/work area is set up, take a few minutes to mentally / physically prepare yourself for ritual. (Ritual bath, meditation, smudging, whatever you usually do.)
Cast your circle, call the quarters and invoke Goddess (or do whatever it is you do to create sacred space and call on/up the divine). Now begin creating your eggs. Be sure to concentrate on/visualize what you want to have happen as you create them. Repeat affirmations to yourself about each one if you find that Magically useful. When you are done with all of them, place them in a basket or cauldron and say a spell over them that summarizes all the actions/things you'd like to have manifest. Dismiss your circle, etc.
Now take your basket of eggs, your trowel, and anything else you think you'll need, and "plant" each seed/egg where you think it Magically belongs, thinking about the egg's intent as you "plant" each one. This could take place within the space of a couple of hours or over the space of a couple of days, depending on your own preferences. If, for whatever reason, you are unwilling or unable to take your eggs out and "plant" them, simply put them in a basket and place them in the refrigerator. Then eat one each day for breakfast until they are gone, visualizing the Magic of each egg being planted within you and beginning to take root and grow at once.
That's it! If you have children you can have them make eggs with their own wishes for themselves on them. Then you can hide them as in the traditional Easter egg hunt, and have them find them. Be sure to tell them that the finding and eating of each egg will be the trigger that releases the spell on each egg to begin coming true in their lives.
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