For many gardeners and green witches, the Spring Equinox is the beginning of planting season. All around us, nature is sprouting the first signs of life and early wildflowers are starting to bloom. Even if you live in the city, there may be space for a container garden of your own or a community garden to share. Whether you walk in the park or in the forest, the Spring Equinox is the best time to take a look at the plant life around you. In most places in the world, the earth is just beginning to wake up from a lifeless winter, the trees beginning to bloom and burst forth green leaves from tiny buds.
As the light overtakes the dark from this point forward, we may feel an inclination toward growth, just as we see in nature. The Spring Equinox is a time for planting seeds, both literally and metaphorically, that we plan to nurture and grow. Think about what you want a see come to fruition in your life and work with the plants that correspond with that.
Whether or not you can grow your own plants, there are certain correspondences specific to the Spring Equinox that are best to work with at this time. Many are available in our shop or from a local florist. You can grow or work with the plants that match your intentions at the Spring Equinox in spells, rituals, by crafting tinctures and oils from them, or making them into tea or incense.
Keep reading for tea, incense, and oil blend ideas that you can make at the Spring Equinox!
Plants That Correspond with Ostara
Flowering Trees:
- Orange: fertility, good luck
- Apple: longevity, love, good health
- Dogwood: rebirth, new beginnings
- Hawthorn: love and attraction
Flowers:
- Crocus: love, visions
- Daffodil: love, fertility
- Daisy: love and lust
- Honeysuckle: abundance, psychic intuition
- Jasmine: dreams, spirituality
- Lilac: beauty, purification
- Narcissus: peace, harmony
- Rose: love, luck, sex
- Tulip: love, happiness
- Violet: healing, sleep
Citrus Fruits:
- Lemon: health, purification
- Lime: purification, protection
- Orange: love, happiness, money
Herbs and Oils:
- Cedarwood: protection, purification, healing
- Dill: protection, love, lust
- Lemongrass: protection, purification, psychic intuition
- Mint: protection, abundance, healing
- Patchouli: abundance, lust, fertility
- Thyme: love, purification, healing, psychic intuition
- Ylang-Ylang: love, lust, fertility
How to Work with Your Herbs
If you are not planting seeds and instead, working with harvested plants or essential oils, you can make tea, incense, or oil blends with plants that correspond with Ostara. Incorporate the tea and incense into an Ostara ritual and diffuse the essential oil blend. Or you can make these on the Spring Equinox and incorporate them into your everyday witchcraft for the rest of the spring season.
Ostara Tea Recipe
This recipe includes herbs that I think of as bright and energizing, just as the days grow longer from this point forward. Green tea wakes you up and gets you going without the crash of something with more caffeine such as coffee. Mint and lemongrass are uplifting and awakening, and rose provides that sweet floral note of spring. This recipe makes two cups but you can adjust it to make less or more.
- 3 tsp gunpowder green tea leaves
- 1 tsp dried mint leaves (or 1 tablespoon if using fresh)
- 1 tsp dried lemongrass
- 1 tsp dried rose petals
Add mixture to two strainers and insert into mugs or teacups. Boil 3 cups of water and divide the water between the two cups. Let steep for 3 minutes and enjoy!
Ostara Incense Blend
I like to make my incense blends with the base of a resin, and copal carries properties of love and purification, just like many of the plants that correspond with Ostara. Jasmine makes for a great ritual incense because it is highly spiritual, and jasmine and rose together invoke feelings of spring meadows. Incense is a great way to use up citrus peels instead of throwing them away, and orange is a great match for copal with its uplifting and purifying properties.
- 1 part copal resin
- 1 part dried rose petals
- 1 part jasmine flowers
- 1 part orange peel
Ostara Essential Oil Blend
An essential oil diffuser is an underutilized tool in the witchcraft community in my opinion! Essential oils are a great way to keep the magical properties of herb potent and long-lasting. Diffusers can be left on for long periods of time so no fire hazard or need to keep an eye on it, plus they make the home smell great and don’t produce smoke so they may be more convenient for some witches. A mixture of citrus and mint with woodsy and floral hints, this oil blend will make you feel like you’re walking through a blooming forest.
- 3 drops lemon
- 3 drops cedarwood
- 2 drops orange
- 1 drop peppermint
- 1 drop ylang-ylang
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