Oestra-All Things Being Equal

In a mud hut lives an heiress
Parked outside is her sedan
She has roses
Made from gemstones that
She sewed inside her garden

A Great Horned Owl her caretaker
A gelding horse her fool
With fireflies she beckons me
My whore needs wool
(Patrick Kelley)



These last four days have realy been hell, which explains why I've been so late getting this latest series of Sabbat posts published, but I am nothing if not determined-even with family problems, illness, and computer glitches. The amazing thing is that I got it finished when I did, considering the number of posts I actually ended up doing. And to think, just three or four days ago I was thinking I would be lucky to come up with four or five. Then, the deluge.

I don't know how it just so happened that I drew such a fitting card as The Lovers. Much more fitting for Beltane, to be sure, but still a good fit for Oestra, particularly this one, what with Venus in retrograde and in-at the time of the solstice-squared the Moon and Mars and coming into conjunction with the Sun which is squared with Pluto. Actually, by now, the Sun and Venus sre in conjunction, though not a perfect conjunction.

The Lovers doesn't necessarily pertain to marriage and romance of course. It can, and seeing as Oestra is a fertility based Sabbat, more so than most of the other ones, with its implications of sexuality, and longing, and the urge to plant seeds-or "sew wild oats" as the case may be. But its more than that. Fertility can be also about the acquisition or the drive to acquire abundance and prosperity. Of course back in the day, agricultural pursuits were the major source of prosperity, before the advent of trade through sea travel and mining, to mention just two of many later yet now ancient developments.

And, of course, a large family was seen as a boon. Now, of course, such a situation presents more challenges than ever before. And this is also inherent in the card of The Lovers. It's not all lover, roses, and sunshine. It implies a period of testing, a testing of faith for one, of loyalty for another, and of hope and trust.

I'm afraid we will all for the most part see great periods of such testing in the days and weeks-and months-ahead of us. May we all get through them and emerge stronger than ever.