February 11, 2022

True. I live in a small cottage in the forest. But I’ve never entertained the idea of kidnapping and eating children. So why is Baba Yaga persistently wandering through my consciousness lately? When these things land it’s best to just go with them.

Launching this blog, I anticipated writing about mythic crones. I just didn’t imagine it would begin with this rather formidable crone. As the stories go about her, if you run into her, you can’t be sure whether she will eat you or speak tenderly to you and grant you your wishes. And there are loads of stories.

The new and still current stories are grim. Although no one knows when or where her story originated, she has been part of the oral tradition in Northeastern Europe for millennia. The first written reference to Baba Yaga is from 1755 which is right in the middle of the Burning Times in Europe which spanned from 1300 to 1800. This is when Christians first designated witchcraft a form of heresy. And the stories of this ancient crone goddess reflect this authoritarian and patriarchal influence. Bottom line, wise women and mystical women are dangerous. Old women with these powers even more so.

Baba is generally translated as old woman or grandmother. Yaga is translated as horror, shudder, anger, fury, witch, and wicked wood nymph. She’s depicted as grotesque and deformed, riding the night skies in a mortar with a pestle in her right hand and broom in her left. The mortar and pestle are for grinding the bones of her victims, the broom wipes away all traces of her so she cannot be found.

She lives deep in the dark forest in a hut that is more animal than house. It has chicken legs that can run through the forest to avoid anyone looking for her, bright windows to watch for intruders, and is surrounded by fence posts with human skulls to scare people away. Like many similar folk tales, there is an oven for roasting children and hapless heroes that stumble across her forest dwelling. 

Like I said, it’s a grim story. But it’s the new story, new here being within the last 400 to 700 years. The old story is completely different. It is our work as Crone to reclaim these old stories for the truth and power they hold. I’m thinking this is why she’s been flying through my consciousness of late. 

Baba Yaga’s story is similar to many other ancient Crones and dark goddesses who are associated with death, intuition, magic, and the shadow aspects of the self. They are the guardian spirits of life and death, especially death of the ego through spiritual death and rebirth. They are aligned with the wild and untamable, the spirit of nature that brings wisdom. They hold the energy of Primal Earth Mother. 

Vastly different than the kidnapping and eating children stories, the old stories tell of a wise mentor, one with deep ancient wisdom and intuition. One of her popular myths is the story of Vasilisa and her doll. Vasilisa is given a small doll by her mother upon her mothers death. She tells Vasilisa to consult the doll whenever she is in need or has to make a choice. The girl is then eventually sent into the forest to meet the fearful Baba Yaga in order to complete a series of tasks. Each time Baba Yaga gives the girl a new task to complete, she consults the wisdom of her doll before making a choice. The moral of the story is that the girl is learning to use and trust her intuition and Baba Yaga is essentially helping her do that. Intuition is the language of the soul and the work of Crone is soul wisdom.

In her Goddess Oracle deck, Amy Sophia Marashinsky writes this for Baba Yaga.

Wild Woman
I walk in the forest
and speak intimately with the animals
I dance barefoot in the rain
without any clothes
I travel on pathways
that I make myself
and in ways that suit me
my instincts are alive and razor sharp
my intuition and sense of smell are keen
I freely express my vitality
my sheer exuberant joyfulness
to please myself
because it is natural
it is what needs to be
I am the wild joyous life force
Come and meet me

Wild woman, wise woman, Crone, wild joyous life force. For the patriarchy, that’s some scary shit. It is for us to reclaim the old stories and claim the wisdom. I get it, I needed a Baba Yaga boost in my life. I may not dance naked in the winter rain, but I will continue to dance in grocery stores and…hmmm, now where did I put those chicken legs?

Blessings of Crone Wisdom,
Judith