Also known as Ostara, Alban Eiler, Lady's Day.
Deities: Cybele, Attis, Mithra, Tammuz, Adonis, Ishtar, Venus, Persephone.
Colours: Bright green, pale yellow, lavender, white.
Incense: Violet, narcuissus, honeysuckle, lemon grass, spearmint.
Traditional Motifs: Rabbits, chickens, lambs, eggs (decorated), ribbons, baskets, spring flowers.

This festival is named after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre, also known in Old German as Ostara. Little is known about this Goddess except that Her festival was celebrated at the Spring Equinox, and became Easter. She was a Goddess of Fertility and was connected with hares and eggs. She may have been a Goddess of the Dawn. She may also be connected with the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora, both Dawn Goddesses, and with the Babylonian Ishtar and Phoenician Astarte, both who are Love Goddesses.

The Spring Equinox is a time both of fertility and new life, and of balance and harmony. Light and dark are here in balance, but the light is growing stronger. It is a time of birth, and of manifestation.

The days grow lighter and the Earth grows warmer. At Eostre, seeds may be blessed and planted. Seeds of wisdom, understanding and magickal skills may also be planted. Eggs are used for the creation of talismans, especially for fertility, or ritually eaten. The egg is a symbol of rebirth and its yolk represents the sun, and the white representing the White Goddess. This is a time both growth and balance, as Pagans work on balancing themselves.

Eostre is a celebration of birth and new life. Pagans begin to see shoots of new growth and swelling buds on the trees. Energy is building as the days become warmer. This is the time of the official return of the young Goddess after Her Winter hibernation. The young God has now grown into manhood. It is believed that at Eostre the Goddess and the God consummated their love for one another. From this the Goddess became pregnant with the God to be reborn at Yule.

The Green Man is very predominate at this time of the year. He is a personification of all life that exist deep within Nature and is usually represented as the foliate mask made up of greenery, leaves growing from mouth and nose, and encircling the face as beard and hair. In some pictures He looks savage, ugly or threatening; in others He is benevolent and watchfully protective.

The above information has come from a number of sources including "Magick without Peers" by Ariadne Rainbird and David Rankine, as well as articles written by Mike Nichols.