Spring is my favourite time of year, and i love celebrating the new re-birth of life. i love seeing all the little lambs playing in the fields and that the beauty of colour returns to Gaia once again, we say good bye to the lovely snow drops and hello to the beautiful blue bells, both of which are 2 of my Favourite wild flowers of mine here.
But one of my most Favourite stories of the Pagan Path is the origin story of the Easter bunny and I thought it would be the perfect story to share, since its Easter Egg Time of the Year ^_^
The beautiful goddess Ostara (Easter), Goddess of Spring and fertility came late one year, when she came across a beautiful injured bird, its wings were frozen from the cold winter, she took the little bird in and heal him back to health but the poor little bird could no longer fly and with much love and compassion to the little bird she turn him into the big beautiful hare, giving him the gift of incredible speed so he could protect himself from hunters, In remembrance of his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay eggs..in all the colors of the rainbow ,
I hope everyone on here has a wonderful Easter whatever your belief's, Have a blessed weekend xXx
Replies
I don't think that Pagans worship the Devil, or Satan even. I think there are some real fanatics out there though, that will believe just about anything when it comes to there own religion. When I think of Pagans, I normally think of Shamanism, Nature, Positive Witch Beings, and positive intent on helping those who enjoy the Nature part of life.
I'm not going to say there aren't some Pagans out there who are mean towards other either, because I have watched that happen as well. I have watched some Pagans, be real mean towards some who are Christians, and that to me, shows that it can swing on both ends of the fence. I have also watched some Christians be real mean towards those who are Pagans so it is like half and half
I remember there was this lady once, who was upset because her niece was being baptized in a church. She was Pagan, and her family just had asked her to go to this event, just once out of a life time, for the sake of the niece and to watch her being Baptized. I thought that had made sense, because every family would want family members in a Church to watch something like that. This lady though who was Pagan, was making it real hard for her family members with this event, in putting her foot down and saying no I will not go and see my Niece being Baptized, so that is why I say some Pagans can be real hard shells as well
I mean it doesn't kill anyone to step in a Church, because you aren't religious either. For the family they come first in life, and well if you aren't there for something like that, how are you going to be when someone is in the hospital sick.
I understand there are some who won't step foot in a Church for any kind of events and that is there choice as well I guess. I mean it doesn't hurt either way, but sometimes when it is your sister or something like that, you have to bend a bit, in order to make a relationship work out.
Doesn't mean that you have to stop being Pagan, just because one day out of the year you had watched your niece being baptized, it just means family wanted u there for moral support more less
That is why I have come to the conclusion that actions speak louder then words do in life. If you are a good Pagan, and really want the best for everyone, it will show, and if you are a bad Pagan that will show through actions in this life as well
Same goes for Christians as well.
There are some people in life, that will say things like oh they hate me because I don't believe in God, or I'm a Pagan, or I'm a Christian. No for me it is how they behave towards other people. There are some who ruin things like Religion for the rest of the crowd as well
Guess not everything in life is cut and dry, but when you take away religion, it is better to see the whole package.
Some will hate though because of what kind of Religion they are, and where they come from on there history background while growing up
Bless the Nite
April
Vampire's die if the step into churches... :/ sorry for the sense of humour, i bet you get well sick of it! some people don't always get me. i also find that people take me serious when i'm not and when i'm not they take me serous, my close friends who know me well do this face thing when they want to question, if i'm serious i nod bk and if i'm not i just give them a cheeky grin. shame i can't do that on herelol... hope no one ever takes offence!
And yep good and bad in everyone. i actually went to York Mister 2weeks ago. after lustily watching a blonde German man (i have a obsession with blonde Germans "long story") i walked in, in a bit of a daze, there was choir singing and i stood there looking at this like thing with angels stood at each conner and then i looked up and i went all funny, i had some kind of flashback/vision of a awful battle, felt panic come over me, then i rushed out and, waited for everyone else to come out who i was with then we set out walking around the streets. and i've never took a drug in my life (apart from coffee and medication from the doctor) but from what i read it was like being on LSD, really tripping i saw colours and i felt like my body kept floating above me. then i saw like beings not always human around appearing and disappearing. then i came to this little ally which i go to many times in dreams, but never been in person came out at went into next door, which is meant to be the most hunted building in York which is saying something. and it was a satanic shop there had all these Illuminati bottle potions, life Elixir's etc... it was odd. i was meant to be staying for the ghost trail but i felt too poorly.
Hey check next time... people would pay good money to actually see that happen for real but check they laid them first though lol ;-) x
Sorry i missed that, but i'm not the brightest spark at the best of times. Pagans get a lot of trouble because of this miss understanding. i remember a friend getting salt thrown at her. and being told to rot in hell you witch. but there's nice and bad in all religions movements and you can't brush them all with the same broom. haha
i don't believe in the red horn devil of Hell either... but i believe in dark forces. that's for sure. and i think i believe in Lucifer and that he use to be a saint, i have this feeling (maybe true maybe false) that he had a falling out with the prime creator "force" was very badly hurt, and got filled up with hate and angry so much he went off seeking revenge.
i no longer follow any religion.. as religion has too many rules and i like being a free spirit... i'm just on a quest for truth.
You too, and cheers i shall try hehe x
Thanks for sharing, hope you have a nice Easter too. I believe much like this story Easter and other significant (international) hoildays are pagan in orgin. Love hearing about the wildflowers, am very excited about wildflower season, we have california poppies and lupine starting to bloom out where I am, more flowers to come, we had some decent rain this past month : )
California poppies and lupine, they sound beautiful i think i need to Google these. ^_^
I find it rather funny that the Goddess Ostara had turned a Bird into a Hare, that is such a huge difference lol
Interesting though.
Bless the Nite
April
Very well said and I think your right. i think its very easy to tell someone something which is false and truth by your own personal belief's. and in reality the chances of your false or truths being right are quite slim, no matter what they are. there's so many things in this world we can't either prove or disprove. all we can do is have a opinion and give the benefit of doubt... i just think we go way too far when we push our truth's/false's and belief's on others. i think its something we all need to learn gain in accepting others for their's. we need to encourage people to find their own truths from within, and not to get their's from anyone else. ;D XxX
I have heard many stories about why Easter has to do with bunnies and eggs. Not to discount your story here--but it is just another that I haven't heard! And it is interesting. Easter to me seems to be a holiday that has been jumbled up over the centuries...and it doesn't really make any logical sense anymore due to the jumble.
I have learned that the rabbits and eggs and the word "Easter" are linked because 1) "Easter" is the name of a fertility goddesses in ancient times--and there are several other goddesses with similar etymology--like Asarte, Ishtar, Ostara, (I'm forgetting one, but I can't remember right now) and 2) rabbits represent fertility and 3) the eggs have to do with an ancient myth about the arrival of goddess Ishtar.
http://inancientfootsteps.com/articles/origins-of-easter.htm
The egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. They believed an old fable about an egg of wondrous size which was supposed to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this marvelous egg - according to the ancient story - the Goddess Ishtar (Semiramis), was hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter,� The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 309. Three month old infants were sacrificed to Ishtar and their blood was used to dye eggs in honor of the false god. To imbue fertility upon their growing season, Pagans would roll these eggs on their fields. The eggs were then hidden from evil spirits to later be collected in baskets.
--you know Mary Magdalene is often depicted with a blood red egg as well--but that's just a side note.--
~*somesayimnot*~
all your points you made are actually interwoven with this story, 1) Ostara a.k.a Easter is the fertility goddess which i speak of in this story. and yes there's are many version of her around the world. like Greek & Romans gods and goddess who are the same but with different names. Ishtar and Ostara in our history books come across very different personality wise. Ishtar in my knowledge/understanding was more a goddess of love,romance and sex. where Ostara was a goddess of nature,animals and had more mothering instincts towards her work. 2) Rabbits are sacred in many religions (esp) paganism for the fertility again with a link to this story in ancient folk tale. 3) Ostara and Ishtar both are link to their eggs in their history maybe this is why many people compared them or maybe they're they are the same but have been spilt into two goddess showing two sides of their personality. there's so many possibilities i just couldn't list them down off the top of my head. but its very fascinating :) but all of you said have links to this story in some way and maybe even other stories out there in folk takes and belief's
P.s this isn't my story.. its a ancient tale.