Baba Yaga "For me, witch represents all of that repressed agency... . which constantly bubbles up to the surface in an unse...
Baba Yaga is a popular hag-like figure from Russian folklore. Despite this, she is also revered as a wise woman. "Baba" means "grandmother", a term of respect.
Awhile ago I made a video that was an introduction to Slavic Paganism, and you guys seemed to really like it so today we’re going to dive a bit deeper and explore one of the most popular figures in Slavic folklore known as the Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is an elusive character that is difficult to ful
Mortar & Pestles are a very precious tools for crushing and grounding either food, herbs, or seeds and other varieties of herbal and mystical spellwork & medicine. “Baba Yaga’s house is sur…
Today we asked Baba Yaga—celebrated and infamous Russian witch—to share some of her wisdom and enduring tips on feminism.
Baba Yaga's House This item is available in two sizes: 🍇 11.7”x8.3” (A4) 🍋 8.3”x5.8” (A5) (Colors may slightly differ due to monitor color settings) 🌿 Printed on high quality ivory textured paper, 280 g/m ,very similar to real watercolor paper; shipped in a protective plastic sleeve inside a sturdy cardboard envelope. Each print is signed by the author. (Frame not included) ✨Shipping Information✨ 🌿 This item will ship worldwide from Italy; please, consider waiting between 4 and 6 weeks for some destinations like USA 🌿 Also please remember: if you need full detailed information about the shipment of your order I suggest you to choose the full tracked shipment with registered mail. With the basic shipping you can: -Know the outcome of the shipment (For Italian orders) - Know when the package has left the Italian territory to leave for the destination country (For foreign orders) Feel free to contact me for any questions! :D Thank you! ✨
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"Do you arrive from a doughty deed or do you strive for a doughty deed?" This is the question a strange and formidable old woman asks in an old Russian fairy tale. "Doughty" means intrepid, dauntless--that is, brave and persistent. The question is so phrased as to leave no room for the person being asked to be doing anything but performing heroic acts. And who is this hero that is being asked? Hercules? Achilles? Siegfried? Kullervo? Nah, not at all. It's a girl who has struck out into the forest to find her beloved after her sisters played a trick that wounded him and made him flee--well, fly, actually, since he's sometimes a falcon. This is the story called "The Feather of Finist" or "Bright-hawk's Feather," and the old woman figures prominently again and again in traditional Russian and Slavic lore. She goes by the name of Baba Yaga, and like Morgan le Fay, she's imbued with strange, numinous powers. She's cryptic, tricky, sometimes working for the good of the hero, sometimes not, and always somehow "in the know." After reading a few of these tales, you get the sense that you'd be an idiot not to do exactly what she tells you to do, regardless of whether you understand it. She's obviously not Russian because she objects to how Russians smell, and she complains about how the Russians are encroaching on what she calls "the free world." Time and again, Baba Yaga is found on a trek into dense, dark forest before the trees thin out and we come to a deep blue ocean. There are many theories using Russian and Slavic terminology to explain the quixotic name of Baba Yaga. But what if the actual person who inspired such a character originally named herself, and when she did she wasn't using Russian or Slavic but rather her own tongue? Female Sami deities These three have to do with pregnancy and childbirth: Uksahkka ("Door Wife"): midwife helper of newborns and protector of menstruating women and of children from illnesses and other dangers. In homes she stood near the door. Sarahkka: a well-respected goddess who molds an unborn baby's body around a soul. She also helps the mother give birth and sat near the hearth. Drinks were offered to her by women, who also ate a special gruel in her honor. Similar to Artemis/Diana. Juksahkka ("Bow Woman"): goddess who can make an unborn child male; also an instructor of boys. She lived near the entrance of the home. In some ways reminiscent of Athena/Minerva. Then there is Yambe-Akka or Jabme-akka the Sami Goddess of the Underworld. Her name means 'The Old Woman of the Dead'. Finally, there are Beaivi, the sun, and her daughter, both of whom are discussed in the decorative arts post. You may have noticed that the top four of these end in the same word: Ahkka or Akka, meaning wife, woman, female deity/spirit. Together, they were worshipped as the Akka--the combined feminine force in nature as it is interpreted by the Sami. These female spirits appear in both Sami shamanism and Finnish mythology. Worship of the akka was common and took the form of sacrifices, pleas for help and various rituals. Some Sámi believed the akka lived under their tents. "Minister" in Sami language is baahpa. Click the word to hear it pronounced. It's very, very close to Baba. When the original Baba Yaga was explaining what she was, could she have used Samigiella: Baahpa-Akka to designate herself as a minister of the Akka, that is, a female Sami shaman (Northern Sami: noaidi, Lule Sami: noajdde, Southern Sami: nåejttie, Skolt Sami: nōjjd, Ter Sami: niojte, Kildin Sami: noojd/nuojd)? Or might that be how other Sami described her to foreigners: the sage woman? Bába means "midwife" in modern Hungarian, and originally they were wise old women, later equated with witches as Christianity became widespread.) Heeeeeeeeeere's Baba! Party animal, frightful hag, capital Bad-a**, and man's best foe--this is Baba Yaga taking a chest-high left peeler with the insane bottom turn and a righteous tube before kick-out. Let's get to know this woman better. Over the river and through the dark, dismal forest, to Baba's House we go... Left below is a rendering of Baba Yaga's dwelling, the infamous revolving hen's leg house. Below right is a Sami storehouse, the comparison of which is variously made elsewhere, so no sense in rehashing. More here. Baba's Decor Below is another intrepid hero, this one named Vasilisa, coming to grips with Baba's choice of lighting. Below is a depiction of a Sami dwelling in the film The Cuckoo. The yellow circle highlights three reindeer skulls. The red circle highlights the hen-legged storehouse. The blue circle indicates the little door slanting back into which a person on entering descends. All of these are characteristics of Baba Yaga's legendary abode. How easily these dwellings might suggest the fabulous and terrible to a visitor unfamiliar with Sami ways. Here is the skull of a reindeer without the antlers. Beside it, another Sami dwelling. The skulls on the poles in the story of Finist's feather are said to be human. Skulls did historically (still do) adorn many a nordic forest dwelling, whether of Sami or other people. Typically, they are from reindeer and/or bear. If you read this article about the ritual surrounding the Sami bear hunt, you will get a sense of how elaborate and exceedingly careful and reverent is the Sami's relation to the bear. Though I'll link this video, I don't actually recommend it (Brownbear hunting and the Sami traditions and mythology) except as a quick, albeit clumsy, overview of that relationship. In the video the bear skull beside the woman (above left) does a weird, unnatural floating movement when the camera moves. I suspect it was not originally there but rather got doctored into the film at a later date. Superimposing the bear skull may have been the only way to get this woman to sit and joik beside a thing so powerful in her belief system. The scene is obviously terribly contrived. True to their reverence for the bear, the Sami appear to adhere to the tradition of burying its entire skeleton in a lifelike position. Whether that is true for all Sami tribes, I don't know. The Finns on the other hand apparently hung the skulls on pine posts. Below is an explanation of Finnish belief and tradition regarding the bear skull: Kallohonka (Finnish) is pine, which bears skulls placed the feast after. Bear's bones are buried under the oak tree. The skulls are usually placed in the middle of the tree to look to the east. Together, the tree may have several bear skulls. The kallohoka may have stood for the world's wood (Maailmanpuu) symbol--that is, the tree of life--and raising the skull onto the tree is thought to return the bear to the sky, from which it was born. Below is an excerpt from Notes on the Finnish Tradition by Anssi Alhonen: The belief that spiritual power is received from the dead is very apparent in the Finnish tradition. A Tietäjä, for example, might drink from a human skull in order to gain excellent memory, or use other rituals related to the dead to gain the increased mental powers which would help him in his work. Most importantly, the tietäjä always drew his power from the underworld before doing healing. All of this skull imagery to be found in the landscape of Fennoscandia may have melded inside the imagination with another item that certainly would have held the fire that Vasilisa is after in the fairy tale. These to an already-spooked mind might appear a charnel aglow. Sauna rocks I still greatly doubt it, but having put forth these speculations, I'll admit a real Baba or two may have gone for the gold on this one. After all, nothing says "Go away" like a human skull used as a lamp. In a future post called The Beauties of Bad Press, I'll explain the reason it might have been to Baba's advantage to cultivate terror and distaste. Go, Baba, go!--Baba's wheels Here we have Baba Yaga again depicted flying in her mortar, this time with a broom instead of a pestle. Beside her is a Voynich woman sitting in a similar bucket-like contraption. Beside them is a woman paddling a coracle, which is a small one-person boat shaped like a mortar with a paddle for its pestle. Coracles are very well known throughout the British Isles. Albert Edelfelt's painting of Finnish girls in their boat The question is, did the Sami or other nordic peoples have coracles or anything like them? The Kvens were said to have small, fast boats. Kvenland, Pohjala, Karelia--these are lands with great stretches of forests heavily brocaded with lakes and waterways. It would make sense for boats to be the main form of transport, but how big they were and whether they resembled the coracle waits for more research. Pohjola-River by Antti Sorva Now you see her... The Flying Dutchman effect is when a ship at sea appears to fly. When such a mirage changes shape to where it is not even recognizable, it is called a Fata Morgana. A Fata Morgana is most commonly seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice which have a uniform low temperature. It can however be observed in almost any area. In polar regions the Fata Morgana phenomenon is observed on relatively cold days, however in deserts, over oceans, and over lakes, a Fata Morgana can be observed on hot days. Here is an example: Fata Morgana is an Italian phrase derived from the vulgar Latin for "fairy" and the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, from a belief that these mirages, often seen in the Strait of Messina, were fairy castles in the air or false land created by her witchcraft to lure sailors to their death. So here we have a natural phenomenon named after a legendary witch who knew and took advantage of it to trick her enemies. She may not have been the only witch to do so. Baba Yaga manages to speed off in her little container looking as if she were flying. Just before Baba Yaga arrives at her dwelling, goes the story, the trees rustle. Perhaps it's not Baba Yaga's arrival upsetting the trees but rather some headwind or evening breeze she's taking advantage of to ride home on. Baba's Way A large part of this sort of magic, it would seem, is about propitiousness. It's about knowing intimately one's environment and taking such brilliant advantage of its rhythms and secrets that one appears to command nature when in fact one simply knows the whens, wheres, and hows. In this way, concentrating on exactly what is, these early practitioners of native wisdom could be viewed as having more in common with the rudiments of science than with religion. I'll discuss the reason for all the smoke and mirrors in the future Beauties of Bad Press post. Baba's Not Alone This (the red-head to the right) is a famous rendering of Louhi, the Witch of the North, mistress of Pohjola, who features prominently in Finland's national epic, The Kalevala. It is a story about a culture's pride but also, like the Russian fairy tales, about the meeting and merger of various cultures in northern Europe. Like Baba Yaga, Louhi is old, ugly, exacting, and expert at flying. Neither Finnish nor Russian, she rules Pohjola, a dark and misty north land of forest and lake. She has three beautiful daughters and one son, and the old man Väinämöinen, is a Finn (deity) trying to marry one of her daughters. She's not making it easy for him. The central task she gives him is to make the Sampo, a magical contraption that can grind out abundance. Brushing aside for the moment the myth's fantastic overtones, Louhi's demand makes perfect sense. The crux of the question any mother would want answered is this: Do you have the technology, old man, to keep my daughter alive during the winter? Väinämöinen's stance is antagonistic, then, because his future mother-in-law is challenging his know-how. During particularly harsh times, the Sami make what they call bark bread or starvation bread. Harvested from the inner bark of Scots pine, this flour prevented tapeworms and afforded vitamin C to ward scurvy. This was a landscape that demanded heartiness for survival. Health freed people up to make more of their surroundings than merely putting their minds to day-to-day subsistence. Thus, health itself created its own magical abundance, Women may have done the bark gathering, but men were probably in charge of fashioning a mill that could grind the inner bark of Scots pine. Throughout the Kalevala, the type of heroic deeds most highly praised is far less brute strength or divine breeding than wits and use of technology. In this way the Kalevala differs markedly from its Greek, Roman, or Norse literary cousins. Sami duodji (handicrafts) are ornamental and highly functional Let's look at some other women-in-the-know in this area. A vǫlva or völva (Old Norse and Icelandic respectively (the same word, except that the second letter evolved from ǫ to ö); plural vǫlvur (O.N.), völvur (Icel.), sometimes anglicized vala; also spákona or spækona) is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology. Here's a scary priestess from the History Channel's Vikings series speaking the all-important words, "Put the body on the bench." More here. Episode 6 of Season 1 Here's a modern interpretation of a viking volva spelling a guy's future with runes. And here is a video on the whispering witches of Poland. Finally, here is a site on north Scotland's Orkney Islands, known as the Witches' Haven, and below three spaewives, the "Weird Sisters" from Shakespeare's MacBeth. The AS wyrd is represented in English and Scots by “weird,” e.g., “he maun dree his weird” (suffer his destiny). Some link with Teutonic Fate-goddesses is therefore to be found in the “three weird sisters” of our earlier literature. Holinshed relates that three women “in straunge and ferly apparell, resembling creatures of an elder world,” met Macbeth and Banquo and foretold their destinies. “These women were either the weird sisters, that is the goddesses of destinie, or else some nimphs or feiries, endued with knowledge or prophecie by their Nicromanticall science.” They are Shakespeare’s witches or weird sisters, the Fatae or Parcae of Boece’s History. A story of “The weird Sisters” is mentioned in The Complaynt of Scotland, but it is now unknown, and the additions to Warner’s Albion’s England (106 A.D.) speak of “the weird elves,” as Spenser has “three fatal Impes” in his Ruines of Time, and Chaucer “the fatal sustrin” (sisters), akin to “the weird lady of the woods” in Percy’s ballad, who prophesied from a cave about Lord Albert’s child, then stole him away and nurtured him. Whatever the ultimate origin of the Norns and similar dispensers of destiny may have been, they had human counterparts in actual prophetesses or magic-wielders, like the old Scots “spae-wife,” who foretold an infant’s future, or the Norse Spakona or Volva. In some references to these it is not easy to say where the human aspect ends and the supernatural begins. As Grimm says: “prophesying, inspiring and boon-bestowing women were always supposed to pass through the country, knocking at the houses of those whom they would bless,” and “tales of travelling gifting sorceresses were much in vogue all through the Middle Ages.” In the story of Nornagest the Norns are called Volor and Spakonur, and are said to travel through the land. In Viga-Glums-saga a Volva or spae-wife called Oddibjorg goes about the land, prophesying and telling stories, her prophecies depending on the kind of entertainment which she receives. Quite possibly the supernatural Norns were a reflection of such actual women who claimed and were believed to possess powers of prophecy and even of influence on human destiny. Excerpted from EDDIC MYTHOLOGY by John Arnott MacCulloch Conclusion Legend tells us over and over that at one point, Europe was brimming with women trying to read, interpret, and share knowledge of the world around them. I am not saying that all the women depicted in the Voynich manuscript were Sami. Maybe not a single one was. But look at how close part of Sapmi is to a region called Pohjanmaa (Swedish: Österbotten, English: Ostrobothnia), which some have connected to Pohjola, this fabled northern land of lakes, forest, and women. Lappi (Sapmi) showing Pohjanmaa just to the south I'd go so far as to say the ancient wisdom of sauna, the use of herbs during childbirth, and the chanting during the gathering of plants and the labor and delivery, all of which can be found in the Voynich may well have origins either in the Sami or a sister culture not so far from them that has since vanished from history, leaving only whispers.
Baba Yaga is a Darebee home-fitness difficulty Level IV workout that helps you become functionally stronger, faster and more flexible.
Baba yaga is made for creating creepy, eerie and horrific music scores.
Maybe us millennials cannot buy our own homes IRL, but in Reka you inherit the wandering, chicken-legged house of Baba Yaga so you can travel the world and improve your sorcery skills. While the game…
Add a touch of mystique to your home with this Baba Yaga Houses 8.5x11 Art Print in a light version. The beautiful light grey background of this print is adorned with intricate plants and features the iconic hut on chicken legs that is so closely associated with Baba Yaga. Beautiful Artwork: The detailed and intricate artwork by artist A. Szabla perfectly captures the mysterious essence of Baba Yaga's huts and surrounding plants. Perfect Size: Measuring 8.5x11 inches, this art print is the perfect size to display in any room of your home or office. This art print comes printed on high-quality matte paper, ensuring that it looks great for years to come. Whether you're adding it to an existing collection or starting a new one, you won't be disappointed by the quality.
Stories of good and evil, creation and destruction, and human struggles, passed down from generation to generation...
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A story study for Babushka Baba Yaga by Patricia Polacco. 16 pages of student work, plus an answer key! This Babushka Baba Yaga story study includes the following: • Title page for students • Dictionary Look-up • Vocabulary Study • Understanding the Story • Time for a Test! assessment (includes multiple choice, short answer and long answer questions) • Answer key - 3 pages (for the "Vocabulary Study" "Understanding the Story" and "Time for a Test!" pages) Extension activities: • Before Reading • Author Research • Questions for the Author • Story Timeline • Story Setting • Character Chart • Character Trait Analysis • Interview a Character • What is Genre? • Story Comparison • Story Summary • Outline of Common Core standards met for grades 2 - 4 ► After purchase please take care not to share/redistribute the novel study files. Do not upload the novel files to any webspace even if you believe the files to be password protected. ************************************************************************ Aligned to common core - RL2.1, RL 2.3, RL2.5, RL2.6, RL2.7, L2.1, L2.2, L2.4, L2.5, L2.6, RL3.1, RL3.3, RL3.4, RL3.5, RL3.6, L3.1, L3.4, L3.5, RL4.1, RL4.2, RL4.3, RL4.4, L4.4, L4.5 ************************************************************************ © The Book Umbrella
Baba Yaga is a fearsome character from Russian folklore who lives in a hut that walks on chicken legs, and either cannibalizes her visitors or offers them help. In recent years, she's become a sort of aspirational figure on the Internet.
➤ Russland - flächenmäßig das größte Land der Welt erwartet seine Besucher mit viel Kultur und schöner Landschaft. ✔
Blah blah Blog Work with me
I keep being called out by my FYP.... At least that means I'm not alone 😂
B ABA YAGA - famous iron-toothed witch of Russian folk tale. She lives in a house which walks about on chicken's legs and she flies in ...
Candle work is not only very effective, but it creates a sacred ambience. When friends and clients come to my home and see all of the candles burning, they always comment on the serenity and the beauty. I work almost exclusively with glass encased seven day candles and the Catholic Saint candles. What I like most about them is that I can watch the progress for days and see the how the spirits are working out the spell. There are many signs that are easily read in the glass encased candle. After I cleanse and dress the candle appropriately, I mark the wax with the firma of the Palo spirit I am working with, or the sign of the cross, if I am working with the saints or ancestors. (I used Kolonia 1800 or Florida Water and cigar smoke to cleanse them.) Sometimes, I dot the top of the candle in a 5 spot pattern with condition oils. I then hold the candle to my heart and pray over the candle breathing my intention into the candle through my heart chakra. I knock three times on the glass, set it on my altar and light it. Here is a list of signs that I look for and what they mean to me: The Flame: - If there is snapping and popping followed by a poof of white smoke the spell will be a sure success and there will be blessings. - When the candle takes on a low flame, the spell has a weak start but may pick up momentum as the candle burns through the obstacle energetically. Watch closely. - If the flame is unusually high and burns quickly, I look for speedy results. - A flame that flickers and dances indicates that the spirits are battling in your defense. - A flame that is low and puts itself out, tells me that there is other work that needs to be done with regard to the situation or that it is not the appropriate action to take. Look for other options. - When the wick builds up a large ball of soot, there is emotional baggage involved. The Glass: - White smoke on the glass is a good sign and an indication of success and blessings. - Black smoke on the glass is a sign of struggles. It is my experience that the situation will take a series of candles to clear as the spirits are fighting a battle. They need the continued energy of the flame and perhaps an offering. Spiritual cleansings are also indicated. - Clear glass is a good sign. It is usually an strong "all systems go" from the spirit world, but can also indicate that the spell is somewhat of a mute point. It is already a done deal. - There are also symbols in the smoke residue that can be read. Do not overlook the subtle messages. These symbols are often interpreted differently by every practitioner. It is direct communication between you and your spirits. They know what the symbols will mean to you and that is what they are conveying. - Broken glass is a sign of enemy work. If the glass fractures, shatters or explodes, there is enemy work involved in the situation and appropriate action should be taken. - Burn marks where the flame got close to the glass and left a smudge of black smoke or charred the label with the saints image, can indicate that there are back stabbing people in your life. They are border-line enemies or "frienemies" and may even be causing you strife with their "evil eye" (envy and jealousy). The Wax: When a candle leaves wax residue it indicates that there are still some things that need to be cleaned up in order to fully manifest your desires. This can be cleared with repeated candle work and some interpretation of the symbols in the residual wax will be helpful. - If there is a substantial amount of wax remaining in the bottom of the glass, there is some unfinished business. You may need to burn a second candle or follow it up with another spell. - Wax on the sides of the glass indicates where there are personal hindrances to the progress of the spell. Whereas, with the broken glass there is a strong indication of enemy work, here the wax residue is an indication of personal or emotional blocks. In this case you are your own enemy. This takes some soul searching and honest self appraisal. I mentally divide the candle into 7 layers, assigning a chakra to each layer. This helps me to pinpoint problem areas and address them appropriately. I also note the right and left sides of the candle as projective and receptive; the front of the candle and the back as past and future or in some cases, conscious and subconscious. I carefully look for symbols in the residue. Then I work to clear those areas with spiritual cleansings and candle work. Always use divination when doing spell work. This is the best way to stay on the right track and make sure that you are not overlooking something important. Spiritual cleansings and other spell work are often indicated in addition to candle work.