VeeJay 
Pentagram - Book Of Shadows Wicca
Speculation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories always come out of the woodwork around the Easter season. As of late, we have been told many a story about Constantine synchronizing Christianity with ancient Ishtar worship and that the melding of the two became our current Easter celebration. Furthermore, we are told that those who worship Ishtar—Queen of Heaven—held grotesque Sunday Sunrise Service rituals involving child sacrifice, among other lascivious festivities.
The problem with this theory is that Ishtar was a Chaldean goddess, and Emperor Constantine was from Rome, so if this be true, their celebrations would have revolved around gods and goddesses of Greek or Roman descent, not Chaldean.
Secondly, the Chaldean festival of Isthar was celebrated on January 27, and bore no close proximity whatsoever to March, April, Spring, or the spring equinox. Thirdly, the festival of Ishtar was celebrated nearly a millennium before Constantine hit the scene; and was well out of vogue by the time his bastardized version of Christianity came into play.
“Easter” is, in fact, an English word, borrowed from the Germanic, Ostern. Ostern is the word for the festival/holiday, with Ostara being the name of the goddess herself. Interestingly, English and German speakers are the only cultures that have adopted the name “Easter” for this spring festival, with all other nations maintaining some form of the word “Passover.”
The Greek feast, for example, is called Pascha; in Italy, Pasqua; in Denmark, it is Paaske, and in France, they call it, Paques; and Israel it is called, Pesach.
Oddly enough, there is a third “people group” that refer to the spring festival as Ostara also—and that is, the Wiccans. Ostara is one of 8 neopagan sabbats, or holidays, that make up the “Wheel of the Year.” Ostara is a contemporary revival of ancient spring festivals. To those who celebrate Ostara, they venerate their goddess as, “The Horned God” often depicted as the god Pan.
Without going down a massive Easter bunny rabbit hole here, current day Caesarea Philippi is the location of an archaeological site in the Golan Heights that houses the remnants of an ancient Roman city located at the base of Mount Hermon (made famous by the 200 Watchers who touched down upon it before mating with earth women and siring the Nephilim race). At the base of Mount Hermon are the remains of an ancient temple, known today as Pan’s Grotto. It was here, in front of the grotto—dubbed “The Gates of Hades”—where Jesus coaxed Peter, not once, but three times, to declare, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”
So, it seems that Easter may point to an even more scurrilous character on the ancient stage than a mere sex goddess who craved and occasional cake and drink offering. If Easter is indeed modeled after Ostara, rather than Ishtar—the festival is actually pointing to a far more sinister character—Pan—Lucifer himself.
I am not suggesting anyone boycott Easter—it is up to each and every reader to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and I am not about to work yours out for you. But I will offer this one suggestion. Cease and desist using the word Easter. Whether it means Ishtar or Ostara, or some other goddess in the endless pantheon of demons—we do know one thing—it doesn’t mean, “Jesus.”
When people wish me a Happy Easter, I reply by saying, “Happy Pesach!” or, even better, I reply with a hearty, “He is risen!”
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