Goddess On Earth - Baba Yaga

BABA YAGA: Crone Goddess of Death and Regeneration, Eastern Europe

Feared Baba Yaga lives in a hut held together with body parts, fenced around with bones and skulls. When not in her hut, Baba Yaga, with boney legs and iron teeth, paddles about in a mortar skiff with a pestle oar, follows a wild wind and a host of spirits shrieking and wailing. Evil life-destroyer, she craves a feast of fat little children.

A witch in the ancient Indo-European matrilineal pantheon, she next appeared in Old Russia and the Slavic east. Wise Crone, she rules life and death. She gives life. Then, like nature, she coldly takes away.

"Baba Yaga, you scared me as a child, and claiming you as a grown-up aspect of myself is terrifying but exciting.

Baba Yaga, you witch, you untamed woman, you herbalist who wields the powers of life and death, speak to me, sing to me, reveal yourself to me. Tell me how I may be like you.”

Susun Weed is an herbalist and author