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I was watching the finale of American Gods ("Come to Jesus"), which centered on the goddess Ostara, and I was also just reading this interesting little article on Astraea, and I thought, the two names sound sort of similar...

Ostara is associated with the Spring, and this presents some obvious problems if we relate Astrea to Virgo, and the etymology of Ostara seems to be "dawn" as opposed to "starry", but Ostara is related to the PIE root for "shine" (h₂ews-), which is close to the PIE root for "star" (h₂stḗr), itself derived from the root for "glow" (h₂eHs-).

The concept of return is a major part of Astraea's story, marking the beginning of a new golden age [Astronomica 2.25], which is a rebirth and consistent in that sense with the vernal domain of Ostara...

DukeZhou
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Ostara is a goddess of Easter (or, if you accept Philip Shaw's ideas, the eastern territory or the eastern people). Astraea is a goddess of justice and embodies a sort of hope that someday goodness will return to the world.

So I don't think they're directly related, but I find your idea that they both relate to a Indo-European idea of light intriguing, and I will add a something of my own: maybe both goddesses are related to the idea of hope and light in darkness, or light returning after darkness.

Obviously, both of us are speculating, but I think your final idea that both represent a return of light, or goodness, to the world is probably the connecting factor.

solsdottir
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