Through the Eyes of a Broom Closet Witch: Ostara
Blessed Ostara, and Welcome Back! Claire de Lune here, a High Priestess in the Temple of Witchcraft tradition, with the 24th article in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series.
To me, seeing “through the eyes of a Witch”, in one way, means seeing something other than what is seen on the “outside”. For me, it means that, though the physical eyes face outward, the “inner eyes” – the “Witch Eyes” – face inward, understanding what is seen outwardly on an inner plane. And what is seen inwardly is not always so easy to describe or explain outwardly.
For example, the center of an apple cut through the middle may look like this to some people…
To a Witch, however, that same apple core might look like a pentagram!
But so might this:
These flowers are important to me for the Ostara season because where I live, the White Cherry blossom is the first sign of Spring, with its buds making their appearance for Imbolc, and their blossoms making a bold statement for Ostara. In fact, it is a spectacular sight to behold when I go outside, as every White Cherry tree on the grounds of the apartment complex where I live is covered with these beautiful, delicate, tiny white pentagrams! These two had fallen from one of the trees, and I picked them up. I immediately knew then that they should grace this article for Ostara!
As this year’s theme for the articles in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series is “Through the Eyes of a Witch”, and how to go “inward” with our practice as “Broom Closet Witches”, one way to do that is to do research! And unless you have someone standing over your shoulder, looking at your computer screen, or following you around in the library, your research is pretty much private – in other words – “inward”!
So, I wanted to find out if there were more flowers with five petals, as well as if there was any lore about Cherry blossoms, in addition to the story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree when he was a boy.
My research revealed that the Cherry blossom in Japanese culture is very important and symbolic of profound concepts, such as the transitory nature of Life itself, like the short-lived beauty of the Cherry blossom. I also found out that there are varieties with pink flowers, as well.
Come to find out, the apple blossom also has five petals! And so do some wild roses, buttercups, jasmine, lilacs, daffodils, forget-me-nots, geraniums and periwinkles. There are others, as well, but flowers like these with five petals are described as “pentamerous”, meaning that they contain five parts. They also belong to the “Pentapetalae” Family. In both words, “pent(a)” means “five”.
There is much more lore about flowers with five petals. For instance, the five petals can represent the five fingers on the human hand. In the Chinese and Hindu traditions, the five petals are seen as symbolizing the five elements – Earth, Fire, Air, Water and Spirit. To the Greeks, the five-petalled rose symbolized the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. To the Romans, both Venus and Persephone were linked to the five-petalled rose.
This is just a small sampling of what might be interesting to include as entries into your Book of Shadows for Ostara. Of course, though, it is highly likely that where you live, Ostara will be welcomed by some other signs from the Plant Kingdom, in which case your entries into your own Book of Shadows would be different.
I hope this article has been helpful, and until next time –
Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!
Ostara Blessings,
Claire de Lune