If you've been following witchcraft content from the Northern Hemisphere, you've just watched everyone celebrate Mabon and start talking about Samhain. Down here, the opposite is happening: the days are getting longer, the wattle's out, and the equinox that arrives this week is the spring one. That's Ostara, and in 2026 it falls on Wednesday 23 September at 10:05am AEST.
What Ostara actually is
Ostara is the spring equinox sabbat: the moment day and night are equal before the light takes over. Its themes are the obvious spring ones: seeds, eggs, balance, beginnings, growth that's about to happen but hasn't yet. It's a gentle, forward-looking sabbat rather than a dramatic one.
A quick honest note on the name, because it gets presented as far older than it is. "Ostara" comes from a single mention by the 8th-century monk Bede of an Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre, and was popularised by Jacob Grimm in the 1800s. The name was attached to the equinox as a witchcraft sabbat in the 1970s. None of that makes the equinox less real (the sun does what it does). It just means you're free to mark the turning point without needing to believe in a specific ancient festival behind it.
Why the date is different here
The equinox itself happens for the whole planet at the same instant. What flips is which season it opens. In the Northern Hemisphere, the September equinox is the start of autumn (Mabon); here it's the start of spring. We keep the sabbats matched to the seasons outside the window rather than the imported dates: the full flipped calendar is on our Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year page.
A simple Ostara ritual (costs nothing)
This is the recipe and the reasoning. Do it any evening this week; the exact day matters less than the week.
You'll need: one candle (white if you have it, any if you don't), a seed or a cutting of something you can actually keep alive, a small pot of soil, a pen and paper.
- Write two lists. On the left, what you're leaving behind from winter: habits, a mood, a thing that's finished. On the right, what you want to grow over spring. Keep the right-hand list to three things. Why: the equinox is a balance point; writing both sides makes the balance literal instead of vague.
- Light the candle. Say the right-hand list out loud, plainly. No script needed. Why: saying it aloud is the commitment; the flame is just a way to mark that you did.
- Plant the seed. Rosemary or basil by the door, lavender in a pot, anything you'll see daily. Press the soil down with the three things in mind. Why: a living plant you have to tend is a longer, more honest ritual than any spell. Every time you water it over the next month you're revisiting the list.
- Do the first mundane thing. Before the candle burns down, do one small real-world action towards item one on the right-hand list: send the message, book the thing, clear the desk. Why: mundane before magical. The ritual sets the intention; the action is what moves it.
- Snuff the candle and keep the paper somewhere you'll find it at Litha in December.
If you'd like herbs in it: lavender or rose petals on the altar for the softer side of spring, thyme for the courage to start. A bath with lavender the night before is a good way to close winter out.
Is Ostara the same as Easter?
They share a season and, in the Northern Hemisphere, a rough date, and the egg-and-hare imagery overlaps. The etymology is genuinely argued over. Practically, they're separate observances (Ostara is the equinox, Easter is a movable Christian feast), and here in the south they don't even share a month.
Should I use Southern or Northern Hemisphere dates?
Whichever makes the sabbat feel true. We flip them because a spring festival in the middle of autumn doesn't land. Plenty of Australian witches keep the Northern dates for cultural reasons (Halloween especially) and that's fine too. You're allowed to mix.
What if I miss the exact day?
You haven't missed anything. The equinox is a moment, but the season it opens lasts three months. Anything in the week either side is squarely on time, and honestly anything in September is close enough.
