Wikipedia
Ostara is a British folk music group, "described in the musical press as a neo-folk / pop music hybrid", founded by Richard Leviathan (born Richard Levy) and Timothy Jenn, as a change of name and stylistic direction from their previous band, Strength Through Joy. Jenn left the band in 2001. Guitarist Stu Mason, drummer Tim Desmond, and former Bronski Beat/Communards bassist Dave Renwick left the band in 2010, as work was due to start on a new album. Leviathan is now the only member of the band. Finnish musician Kari Hatakka, known as the singer of the band Waltari, played synthesizers on some Ostara tracks.
Ostara or Ostara, Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler ("Ostara, newsletter of the blonde and masculists") was a German nationalist magazine founded in 1905 by the occultist Lanz von Liebenfels in Vienna, Austria, and in which he published anti-semitic and völkisch theories.
Lanz derived the name of the publication from the reconstructed Old High German goddess name * Ôstarâ. Lanz claimed that the Ostrogoths and the nation of Austria ( German: Österreich) were matronymically named after this goddess. In his study of Lanz von Liebenfels, the Austrian psychologist Wilfried Daim states that "most likely this is even greater nonsense."
According to von Liebenfels, the magazine had a peak circulation of 100,000 and appeared in three series; the first series included anywhere from 89 to 100 issues between 1905 and 1917, the second series had only one issue, and the third series included 20 issues published between 1927 and 1930.
After Hitler's rise to prominence in the 1920s, Lanz tried to be recognized as one of his ideological precursors. In the preface of issue one in the 3rd series of Ostara, c. 1927, he wrote:
Hitler, however, refused to acknowledge any debt to Lanz and his paper. After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, Lanz hoped for Hitler's patronage, but Hitler banned him from publishing his writings, and most notably copies of Ostara were removed from circulation. After the war, Lanz accused Hitler of having not only stolen but corrupted his idea, and also of being of "inferior racial stock".
Ostara may refer to:
- the Old High German for " Easter", cognate to Anglo-Saxon Ēostre
- Ostara (Wicca), the Neopagan and Wiccan festival celebrated around spring equinox
- The asteroid 343 Ostara
- The American Artemis class attack cargo ship USS Ostara (1944–1946), named after the asteroid
- Ostara (magazine), a 20th-century occult publication of Lanz von Liebenfels
- Ostara (band), a neo-folk musical group
- Ostara (album), an album by The Wishing Tree
- Ostara Publishing, a British publisher
- Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., a Canadian company specializing in resource recovery from wastewater and sewage sludge treatment
Ostara is the title of the second album by The Wishing Tree, a project by Marillion's guitarist Steve Rothery and singer Hannah Stobart. The album was produced and engineered by Rothery and mixed by Michael Hunter, who also produced the two most recent Marillion albums. Hunter also contributed additional keyboards and percussion. The artwork is by Spanish artist Antonio Seijas, who had created the artwork for Marillion's Happiness is the Road (2008). Rothery's wife Jo and daughter Jennifer are credited for additional backing vocals and cover design, respectively. The drummer is Hannah's husband Paul Craddick (of Enchant).