The Center for the New Age
If you are thinking about going on vacation and you want to go to the number one destination in the United States, come to Sedona where the vortexes beckon and the red rocks bestow their blessings on the glorious energy of this bastion of the New Age.
The Center for the New Age is considered by many to be one of the premier destinations in Sedona. With fifteen or more psychic readers on the premises, and a number of vortex tour leaders, The New Age Center is a metaphysical super store.
We have New Age music and books. New Age jewelry and crystals abound. Chakra bowls, Feng Shui cures, and any number of deities can be found at the Center for the New Age.
Our psychic readers include clairvoyants and clairsentients, Tarot readers, intuitives, life guides, and many other professional readers.
Come see us. We are located on Highway 179, across from Tlaquepaque, in the heart of Sedona.
Volume 5 Issue 3
The Ostara Sabbat
by Concetta Schmidt
Twice a year, day and night become equal in length. When the air is warmer and life begins to return to the land, we celebrate the Vernal or Spring Equinox, on or about March 21 st.
In the pagan tradition, the Equinox is known as the Ostara (o-stá-rah) Sabbat, Sabbat denoting a holiday, and Ostara , a derivitive of “Oestre” the Virgin Goddess of Spring in the Germanic tradition, also known as Estre or Eostre by the Anglo-Saxons.
The goddess not only marked the passage of time, but symbolized new life and fertility. Legend has it that the goddess was saved by a bird whose wings had become frozen by the cold of winter. This process turned the bird into a hare, a long eared rabbit that could also lay eggs. The rabbit wanted so much to please this goddess that she brightly decorated the eggs she had laid and presented them to Goddess Eostre as a humble gift. The holiday thus incorporates these two symbols – eggs for rebirth or renewal, and the rabbit for fertility.
The early Church created feast days on or near any pagan Sabbat they could not eliminate. As Christianity spread across Europe and Britain, the older symbols became incorporated into the new faith’s holiday of Easter, even the name having been lifted from the goddess whose festival was originally celebrated with the arrival of spring.
Pagan traditions became part of the new observance with the Easter Bunny, colored eggs, and even new finery for the holiday. It was considered the worst of luck to wear one’s spring clothing before Ostara. The Teutons worked through the winter in secret to prepare elegant finery for the Sabbat. The entire community gathered at Ostara for the games, feasting and religious rituals, all of which provided the ideal venue for showing off their new clothes. It was akin to the “Easter Parade,” sans Easter inasmuch as Ostara predates the Christian holiday by at least two thousand or more years.
There is a custom of “Wiping Your Slate Clean” associated with this Sabbat. One week prior to Ostara, each person takes into account all the injustices they have done to their families and friends. The individual writes down his or her negative acts and throughout the week, must seek to create balance with those whom they have injured through apology, paying back past due loans, correcting wrongs, etc. On Ostara, the person brings to the ritual circle the list with what has been done to right each issue. In ritual, the paper is burned, wiping clean his or her slate. Even if one is not Wiccan, this exercise may be adapted to release negativity and to enhance one’s connection to the Universe.
Instead of buying a commercial egg coloring kit, natural dyes akin to those that were used in the olden days, are easily available. To create the dyes, boil a large handful of an herb or flower until the water is well colored. Place the water in a non metal cup or container. Stir in a teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of salt, then place a hard boiled egg gently into the mixture and let it sit. The following flora will result in these colors:
| Carrots, turmeric | yellow |
| Onion skins, paprika | orange |
| Red onion skins, madder root or cayenne | red |
| Purple grape juice, raspberries | red-violet |
| Carrot tops, bracken | green |
| Blueberries, red cabbage | blue |
| Blackberries, beet juice, mulberries | blue-violet |
| Heather | pink |
The sap begins to flow, the trees are budding, the ground softens, ice melts and everywhere the fragrance and color of spring slowly awakens and rejuvenates our own life force. This is the Ostara Sabbat, the celebration of the fertility of the land and its people and the hope of the new life arising in the world – the magical mystical event gentle people have been celebrating almost since the beginning of time.
Concetta Schmidt is one of the 15 psychic readers and healers at the Center for the New Age. She is available for readings on a daily basis. Please call our Concierge – 928-282-2085 – for further information or to make an appointment.