Revitalise Your Life This Easter

The festival of Easter, celebrated a month after the Spring Equinox this year, provides the perfect point to pause and take stock of how the first months of the year have unfolded for you. It's a joyful time when the possibilities for the year are still opening up, with opportunities just waiting to be seized by you.

Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ at this festival - the most solemn and important in their calendar. However the Pagan celebration at this time of year is purely joyful with little room for solemnity. The Pagan festival celebrates the resurrection of nature as the earth continues to awaken from the cold months of winter and early spring. Nature renews itself and life around us is resurrected to begin again. For this reason, ancient Easter celebrations are concerned with fertility and new beginnings. The welcome rays of sunshine can make you feel lighter and more optimistic. It's the perfect chance to polish up your plans for the rest of the year, clear out your emotional baggage and make space in your life for new successes.

Revitalise Your Life This Easter

Ask yourself a few simple questions to kick-start your improved future

1) Be Honest

Think carefully about how things are going for you this year and ask yourself:

*Are you happy with your current situation?

*If not, why not?

*Is this year progressing as you'd hoped?

*What were your hopes at the start of this year? Make a list.

2) Future Planning

*What long-term plans can you make to improve your situation in the future?

For example:

-Professional training

-Academic qualification

-Counselling to overcome emotional issues

3) Action Time

*What small action would improve the quality of you life right now?

For example:

-Start healthy eating

-Improve your CV

-Try a new hobby

-Cut down on alcohol

Easter Traditions

Explaining some of the customs linked to this season

Easter: The word 'Easter' is probably derived from a pagan goddess of the Spring who is called Eostre, Ostara or Oestre. This bountiful divinity represents the renewal of light in the world. She brings fertility and vitality to the earth with the promise of new life to come.

The Easter Bunny: Hares are a potent symbol in many strands of Paganism. The hare or rabbit is an obvious symbol of fertility as its population increases in leaps and bounds at this time of year! So this is perhaps the reason for its incorporation into this festival. Some sources say that hares were sacred to the goddess Ostara, offering another explanation for the existence of the Easter Bunny.

Hot Cross Buns: Aside from being tasty treats, the cross on these sweet buns might represent the Christian crucifix. Or older tradition says similar pastries were marked with a cross to symbolise the four quarters of the Moon or the wheel of life and that some were left out in the home as offerings to the gods.

Easter Eggs: Eggs are a symbol of new life that we can hold in the palm of our hand. So they are a tangible and potent sign of the promise of renewal. Eggs were used in funeral rites by the ancient Egyptians to symbolise the promise of life after death in the spirit world. The chocolate Easter eggs we enjoy today are a continuation of older traditions and a tasty reminder that the world is reborn at this time of year.