Celebrating the Hag! Baba Yaga, the Hag of Winter

This eternalwinter, dubbed the Polar Express by the press, has turned into a polardepression for many people.  The persistent cold and sudden snow squall ispeppered by blizzards, traffic accidents, and cruel, teasingalmost-thaws.  It can lay siege to our hearts and our nerves.  How dowe melt our frozen wills?  By celebrating.

Our circlecelebrates the hag.  We laugh, we kvetch, we keen, and we laugh somemore.  Two of our witches have decided to bypass the wisdom of the croneand, as they say, “go straight to hag,” because the hag doesn’t care.  Shewears what she likes, she says what’s on her mind, and she does as shepleases.  If children cross the street to avoid the hag’s house?  Sowhat, the hag views that with glee!  And that is what the hag has becomefor us:  a woman of a certain age who stands in her power and acts as shewills.

Each quarter thisyear, we are identifying a Witch of legend and lore to celebrate andexplore.  In the grip of a cold, harsh winter, we celebrate the Hag, BabaYaga.

There is nocharacter in folk-tales or mythology who is so irredeemable and wicked as BabaYaga. She is a fearsome, ugly old hag who lives on the edge of the forest. Herhouse is surrounded by a fence of bones and topped with skulls whose eyes glowred in the dark. The house itself is set on chicken legs and can move aroundwith great noise and frightening disruption.

The hag herself isnot a pretty sight. Her nose is so large, it is said that it touches theceiling when she sleeps. She has iron teeth and is frequently called, Baba YagaBoney Legs. While she is said to have no control over the pure in heart, shedoes have a reputation for baking young children in her huge oven and crunchingon their bones.

She rides around ina mortar using a pestle to propel her and when she arrives a great winds beginsand stirs up the world around her. When she leaves, she removes all traces ofherself with a broom made of silver birch. Sometimes her conveyance is a hugekettle. Other times, she appears as a kindly old crone, assisting people indistress.

Like so manylegends and stories of the mythic creatures and the gods, there is great powerunderneath. Who was she before these stories; and who will she become as wework with her. The author Deborah Blake describes her journey of creating amodern-day story with Baba Yaga in it. You can read it at her blog. I am verymuch looking forward to reading her first novel published by a major house–itnow has a cover.

As Blake pointsout, John and Caitlin Matthews in The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatureshave researched the story behind the story of Baba Yaga, pointing that althoughshe is portrayed as an “archetypal bogey-woman, she is actually a primalgoddess. The mortar and pestle are symbols of creation and destruction, and herbroom cleanses and cleans.

She inhabits theborderlands, those places between life and death, the places between this worldand other worlds. She gave Koshei the Deathless, a dragon with human shape, hismortality. She also controls another fire-breathing dragon, Chudo-Yudo whoguards the Water of Life and Death.  She has fierce companions andfriends.  She befriends the friendless and empowers the powerless. She is one of those teachers you strive to meet her standards, because she holdthe bar high and demands your achievement.

It’s obvious she’sa great witch of power.  I met her during a healing journey.  She wasfierce, strong, and in good fighting shape.  She gave me strong words ofwisdom for my protection and healing.  I’m working through a lot ofuncertainty and sorrow at this point in my life, and she made it clear that shewas at my back.  She joked about the chicken legged house, saying a lot ofdisruption and noise is not a bad thing.  She changed her visage fromkindly old crone, to girl, to hot chick and back to fearsome hag before me; andthen told me people see what they need to see where she is concerned.  Shegave me some advice about some of my struggles and then said “I leave that withyou to do or not do.”  Then she gave me a very fierce hug and was offagain.

Baba Yaga

I am the wild, untamednature of the world

I am the whirlingmusic of nature

And the strangeheartbeat

Of life and death.

I fly the world inmy vessel of change

Propelled bycreation and destruction.

I sweep from thisworld to the others

Clearing andcleansing the way.

I am in love withthe unusual

Finding beauty andinterest in the odd.

Wonder andcuriosity move me

From marvel tomarvel.

Shift your visionand you will see it too!