Baba Yaga; The Hag Goddess of Wisdom

Baba yaga is an incredibly fascinating witch and goddess. Her name alone just draws you in to learn more about her and pulls you into the slavic forest in search of her wandering hut on chicken legs. She will pull many in to learn about her but very few will actually learn her magic and walk her path with her.  Some view her as simply a folklore character, others a witch, some a hag, and to others she is seen as an ancestral figure to honor as a goddess. 

We can learn much from her when we are open to her wisdom. Her light is that of our ancestors, whose flame has been burning for generations. Death and rebirth are the domains of Baba Yaga, the Slavic goddess of regeneration.

Baba Yaga is staple of Slavic lore. She can be found in stories across several countries as a specific character, not just an archetype. What I find most interesting about her is that she is portrayed, almost equally, as a villain and a benefactor.

Who is she?

Baba yaga is seen in many folklore tales throughout the Slavic and Russian culture. Like I touched on before many see her as just that. A folklore character that has many myths and legends surrounding her of her doing dark things like eating children who wander into the woods.  But, many others view her as a divine ancestor, a powerful spirit, an ancient earth goddess. Though her lineage is unknown and we do not know where or who she came from or her parents which is a reason she is seen as primordial energy and not being of this world of the underworld. She is also referred to as the keeper of the waters of life aka the fountain of youth and when I have worked with her she has shown me a door that only she has the key to and explained all knowledge of time is within it.

Her importance during ancient times

In ancient cultures, older women were seen as the keepers of family or tribal wisdom and tradition, and they were revered as such.

These knowing women were thought to be familiar with the mysteries of birth and death; as a result, they were qualified to care for the sick and dying, and they were endowed with the function of bringing life and death.

Her name

The first part Baba translates to old woman or grandmother. Depending on the region and people, this can be a term of endearment or even an insult. It essentially points to the fact that the woman is in her elderly years and may even be ugly or misshapen, to some. Which is where we see the connection and description of her being a hag goddess being so common. To others, it gives the woman a certain power and wisdom

Yaga,  this part of her name is a little harder to translate and understand. There have been literally dozens of translations looking at various languages in Eastern Europe and Russia. Some include terror, horror, serpent, chill, witch and even dryad or wood nymph.

Her many images

Baba Yaga isn’t just one thing. She’s many: a monster, witch, hag, villain, divine grandmother, earth goddess, forest spirit, shapeshifter, light bringer, and to some she’s even considered a hero. According to Judika Illes, while Baba is of Slavic prominence, she may have once been the Scythian goddess of the hearth Tabiti. Though, I believe we can see her as many of the deities of the hearth. Including Hestia of Greek origin and Holda and Berchta of Germanic origin. We also can draw a connection to her and the celtic goddess Cerridwen with what she has to offer and her connection to herbal knowledge.  

To modern witches and Slavic pagans, Baba Yaga is a witch goddess who lives deep in a birch forest. She’s the keeper of herbal and healing wisdom and grants her knowledge to those who are worthy and of whom seek initiation.

Baba Yaga’s myths over the centuries have turned her into the wicked witch of the forest, seen as ugly and old. This is more commonly a societal view of how many see elderly women set in their ways and often shunned by younger generations who value beauty and youth over age and experience.

The tales say Baba is an old woman with iron teeth like boar tusks. She has bear claws and wears a necklace of skulls, smokes a pipe, and sometimes has a golden or iron foot. In other belief, she’s a snake from the waist down. Some say she wears an apron and holds a key to life’s mysteries. She flies about in a mortar, holding a pestle. Sometimes she holds a broom with which to sweep away any signs she’s been about.

When she’s first documented in 1755 (that we know of), the writer says Baba has bony legs, iron teeth, and refers to misshapen or repulsive features. Including the old woman’s nose, breasts, buttocks and vulva. Baba appears in a list along with other Slavic deities, with all of the others compared to Roman deities. But not Baba she’s on her own. Which shows her sovereignty and power.

Baba Yaga is associated with the dark forests, death, rebirth, sickness, dying, but also healing, renewal, sage wisdom and advice that comes from experience and a long life.

Her wise grandmother’s energy is strict and harsh, but for your own well being.

Her energy is most strongly felt in the autumn, leading up to Mabon and Samhain as the leaves change color and the temperatures begin to get cooler.

Baba yaga and the liminal space

Baba Yaga is not quite of this world and the next as she remains otherworldly between the physical world and the spirit world/underworld.

A crone witch and often referred to as a goddess, Baba Yaga can be considered part of the dark goddess archetype.

She is seen as a liminal witch and not quite of this world due to her magical hut which is central to her mythology and who she is. Baba Yaga is found between the worlds, not exactly of the spirit world or the underworld and not quite of this world either.

Her connection to death, mortality, fraility can be connected to the same as ghosts who roam the Earth and the magick of the mythological forest creatures such as the Rusalka (русалка) and Leshy (леший). 

However,  even with Baba Yaga as a dark/crone goddesss she doesn’t reside in the underworld, but she is connected to what it represents.

Baba yaga’s hut

Baba Yaga’s home is strongly connected to her mythology, which is also associated with the familiarity of the home and our ancestral connections. 

 So, where is Baba Yaga’s house and what does it look like? 

The tales say Baba Yaga’s house is deep in a birch forest. And that it sits atop a pair of giant chicken legs. Because it has legs, it can move. In other tales, her cabin sits atop the legs of a goat or spindle wheels.

Around Baba Yaga’s house, there’s a fence with skulls that sit on top. These skulls glow at certain times. And in her cabin, there’s a large oven akin to a cauldron. Baba Yaga is said to stretch out on top of this oven to warm herself, and in some tales, she’s so large that she can reach both corners of her home as she stretches out atop it. The cauldron in her home screams of Baba’s domain over magic, regeneration, ancestral wisdom and initiation into the magical arts and is where we see Cerridwen popping up again. During the day, a white horse and a red horse may be seen outside her hut. And at night, a black horse. It may also be surrounded by other wildlife including birds, squirrels, snakes, etc.

Baba yaga and Vassalissa the wise

Vassalissa the Wise may be the most well-known story featuring Baba Yaga.

One of the more famous of the Baba Yaga stories features the main character not as the old woman herself but a young maiden named Vasalisa. 

In the tale of Baba Yaga and Vasalisa the Wise, Baba takes on her typical personality as the fearsome witch in the wood. The young maiden, Vasalisa, is sent away by her evil stepmother and stepsisters. They selfishly and sadistically hope that Vasalisa will die in the cold, dark forest. But instead, Vasalisa comes to the hut of Baba Yaga, and the old woman offers her life as well as shelter and food in return for Vasalisa’s hard work around the house. And any other duties the old woman might require.

For three whole days, Vasalisa toils over the chores (without complaint) and cooks the old woman her meals. With the help of a poppet she holds in her pocket that is a vessel for her dead mother’s soul. And each day Vasalisa is met with 3 horses on the old woman’s property whom she also saw while traveling in the forest before coming to the hut. There’s a white and red horse that appear during the day, and a black horse that appears at night. Baba also threatens to put Vasalisa in her cauldron if she doesn’t complete her chores each day. On the third day, Vasalisa is brave enough to ask Baba Yaga a question. Vasalisa asks about the three horses, to which the old woman replies:

“The white horse is my bright day;

the red horse is my red, round sun;

And the black horse is my black, dark night.”

At the end of the three days, Vasalisa is granted her desire to return home. Baba Yaga gifts her a skull that lights up to light her way home. When Vasalisa returns home with the skull, she sets it in her stepmother’s hearth. Immediately, the stepmother and stepsisters are so taken with the skull that they can’t break eye contact. In turn, this turns them to ash and Vasalisa is free from their evil ways. She takes the skull and returns to Baba Yaga in the woods. Upon which Baba Yaga invites her to learn her ways.

Take aways from this myth:

Sacred Number 3: birth, death, rebirth; night, dawn, day; maiden, mother, crone

Cauldron of regeneration and initiation

The blood red horse may be akin to a woman’s menstruation and initiation into womanhood

Ancestral magic: Vasalisa holds a poppet in her pocket with the energy or spirit of her dead mother that guides and helps her throughout her trial with the old woman in the woods

Birch forest: also a symbol of regeneration and renewal, as well as of the Goddess in many European traditions

Initiation process: successfully completing an ordeal that tests one’s patience and brings one to death’s door and back again

Correspondences

First, what is a correspondence? A correspondence is an item or symbol that is meant to connect you to a specific energy thru it’s representation. It is seen also as an item to respect, honor, and venerate that energy as well whether it be a deity, an archetype energy , or the zodiac energy the moon is currently in like I will list below for you to use.

When to work with Baba yaga

Baba Yaga gives straight-forward advice, knowledge and wisdom to those who respectfully request and want to improve their witchery skills.

Her witchery expertise is in areas of herbology and wildcrafting (using wild and natural items found in nature and forests), along with hedge witchcraft. Baba Yaga can help to give wisdom and teachings when it comes to witchcraft (folk magick) and healing.

She uses natural items in forests and nature that bring healing in herbal salves, ointments and teas and herbs that can be used in folk magic.

If you work with herbs in your practice, you can work with Baba Yaga to help you perfect your craft and improve your skills and knowledge with herbs and healing with herbs.

In meditation, Baba Yaga can offer healing teas and herbs that can work to help ease discomfort and minor ailments such as upset stomach, minor colds, seasonal allergies, rashes/hives, headaches, etc.

If you’re looking for the right herb for a spell or natural healing, you can call on Baba Yaga to guide you to the right resources or materials.

How to know if you should work with her

“Be prepared. Baba Yaga is not an easy teacher. And she is definitely no pushover. She will challenge you, she will test you, and she will push you farther than you ever believed you could go. But, like a tough coach or a domineering drill sergeant, perhaps it’s because she believes in you more than you may believe in yourself. To work with her takes courage, intelligence, resourcefulness, and even a little bit of moxie, but if you’re ready for the challenge, you’ll reap incredible rewards—climbing higher, going farther, and doing more than you ever thought possible.” ~ Madame Pamita, author of Baba Yaga’s Book of Witchcraft.

You’ll know if Baba Yaga is calling you to her house and to her craft. But if you’re unsure, here’s a few signs she might send you:

The Birch tree keeps showing up in books, TV, etc.

You see Baba Yaga’s name everywhere online, movies, books, etc.

You’ve had a vision, dream or meditation in which Baba Yaga approaches you or you find her house in the birch forest

Three horses come to you as an omen (and an even bigger sign if there’s one white, one red and one black)

You might see a cauldron, broom, or spinning wheel as signs

Dreaming of skulls along a fence-line or in the hearth

If you’re going through an initiation process in life, at work, in a skill or spiritually

How to work with her

Here are just a few ideas of how to work with her and always remember it may look different and feel different for each and every one of us so just follow your intuition and your call. 

1. Read and Research

The first thing I always recommend when getting to know a deity is to read as much as you can about them. If you’re not a reader, watch documentaries. Listen to audiobooks and podcasts. Whatever you can find about Baba Yaga will be helpful in getting to know her from a respectful, cultural perspective. She is featured in many fairy tales, movies, poems, and even in children’s books. Some books written from a modern witchcraft perspective include Madame Pamita’s Book of Witchcraft, Baba Yaga by Natalia Clarke, and a fun read called Ask Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Trouble by Taisia Kitaiskaia.

Some common myths to look into about her will be Maria Morevna, where she makes a deal to help Prince Ivan find his bride, only to sabotage his effort to keep his end of the bargain, which would have resulted in his death. And The Black Geese, where her only goal is to capture and eat children.

2. Set Up An Altar for Baba Yaga

Every deity and spirit appreciates their own space. Baba is no different. If you have a mantle or space near a wood stove, this is the perfect spot for her as she’s highly linked to the hearth in Russian lore.

When working with Baba Yaga, offerings of thanks should be made each time after making a connection with Baba Yaga or asking for her advice, guidance or help.

If you know some poetry or words in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish or any Slavic language, you can give thanks to Baba Yaga in these languages.

At your altar, you can leave tokens of appreciation and thanks to Baba Yaga such as:

Include objects that make her feel at home: a cauldron, broom, or mortar and pestle for example.

Tobacco / cigarettes

Vodka

Food: kovbasa, borshch, patychky, varenyky (pierogis), bread (хліб), potato pancakes (картопяні млинці)

Decoration: wheat, traditional embroidery or rushnyky (traditional embroidered towels/rugs), matroshka (nesting dolls), pysanky (decorated Ukrainian eggs), skull decorations, bones (ethically gathered or sourced), images or statues of Baba Yaga and/or her house.

These offerings can also be left in forests at the foot of a tree or a special area that you dedicated outside for Baba Yaga.

3. Initiation Process

Baba will take you on a road to initiation deep in her forest. This process will be different for every devotee. You may be required to perform acts of service in her name, perhaps by aiding in preservation of the earth, forest, or wildlife. Perhaps through herbal studies. And she may even quiz you with riddles. Be open to learning, being patient, and working hard. Ask Baba Yaga how you can learn from her.

4. Work with herbs

Baba yaga is a master with herbs and plants as she is so at home in the forest. She has so much knowledge on herbal remedies and usages for alignments. Working with herbs and studying them especially the more dangerous one like Nightshade are a great way to connect to her and learn from her.

5. Shadow work 

Since Baba yaga resides in the Liminal space, and is so connected to the primordial wisdom of the earth and our ancestors she makes one of the perfect goddesses to call on for shadow work. She is intense though one of the most intense goddesses I have ever called in during a shadow work session. When you enter her hut for a shadow work session you will go deep in the liminal space and be pushed further than have before to really get the answers the forest and your ancestors from the beginning of time have to offer you. So, be prepared for this journey with her she will push you and she will show you everywhere you made a mistake and caused your own suffering to get worse. 

6. Call to her for discipline

Something I don’t see often from other witches is using her for discipline and structure. Baba Yaga is that overbearing, strict, I will slap your hand away grandmother type energy. Due to this attitude of strictness she has she is perfect to call on for situations where you need a little more discipline like quitting a bad habit or maintaining your schedule. You can do this by calling to her in spells and invocations when setting intentions for discipline and even calling to her while binding or banishing a habit you wish to stop. She suggests that when doing this you spin in a circle to signify and understand the difficulty it takes to break free of a cycle.

7. Work with her as the triple goddess

 It is said that Baba Yaga has two other sisters, who are also Baba Yagas who live in Her hut. Baba Yaga becomes a Triple Goddess in this fashion, embodying the Virgin, Mother, and Crone. The “Keeper of the Water of Life and Death” is another name for Baba Yaga. So, if you work the triple goddess archetype you can use her as the crone representation alone or as all three. I have seen and done both myself. 

8. Guided meditation to meet her

The purpose is to meet Baba Yaga so you my get to know the true Goddess. This meditation is best done during the dark moon. It is a solitary medition best done alone. Cast a circle if you like or just get comfortable in you favorite meditation position. Make sure the room is dark and you will not be disturbed

. Now let us begin.

You have entered a thick forest, but some how you know your way. You reach an opening in the trees. There before you is the home of the Goddess Baba Yaga. The fence is made of bones topped with human skulls. The house dances on chicken legs. It is a fearsome sight, yet you know there is nothing to fear. You reach the gate and ring the bell for her. In a harsh voice she asks what you want. With a pure heart you tell her why you wished to meet her. She flies out of her house in her mortar to greet you. How are you feeling? What are your impressions? Baba Yaga approaches and asks you to come with her for a ride. Do you hesitate? Go with her. Fly through the air in the mortar with Baba Yaga. Take note to where she takes you and what she tells you. Enjoy the feeling of flying! Baba Yaga will know when it is time to come back. When you return to her home, thank her and give her a gift. Does she give you a gift? If so, what is it? You know your way back through the woods.

 Now you know the way and can visit Baba Yaga when needed.

Note: When I rode with Baba Yaga in her mortar the first time she ground me up into little pieces with her pestle. She then sprinkled the waters of life on me and I was back to myself. I felt refreshed, as if the unneeded traits were ground away. Baba Yaga came to me as a healer. She taught me all healers must be intimately familiar with the cycles of life and death. She remains guardian of both the underworld and the fountain of the waters of life

No matter how you choose to work with her if you even do just remember to show her respect, understanding and to express gratitude for all the wisdom she brings to you no matter how harsh of way she does it in. I will leave you with this poem written about her to help you connect and  decide if she is a goddess you would like to work with. 

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

By Amy Sophia Marashinsky

To expand your knowledge about her and meet her in guided meditation or if you’d rather listen than read; you can watch my free class with Divination Academy on YouTube below!

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