The Goddess Directory

Wood witch, ogres and guardian of the forest. Baba Yaga hails from Slavic folklore. She lives in a magical hut which moves about on chicken legs.
She is often portrayed as a hideous old witch who devours children and she even rides with Death in her flying mortar. However she is both good and bad, light and shadow. Baba yaga is untamed and unapologetic, a wild woman who will help you on your quest if she believes you are true and strong of heart.
Call to Baba Yaga only if you are ready to change as she does not suffer fools lightly. Her help may be painful and bitter but will always be what you need, even if you struggle to face it. If you can accept your darkness, wisdom and healing will follow.

The Coventina Press – Baba Yaga Oracle Card

The Mythology of Baba Yaga

Deep in the forest of Russia, Poland and the Balkans, you can hear tell of Baba Yaga and the legends surrounding her. Her tales have endured thousands of years. Her name as ancient origins, Baba meaning old woman or grandmother and Yaga derived from an ancient word for snake or serpent. She is a wild primordial feminine force whose appearance is frightful. She has iron teeth that can gnaw through bones, a long nose and wild grey hair. Her chicken-legged home spins through the forest and when it settles a fence of human bones surrounds it.

Baba Yaga dwells at the boundary between worlds – between life and death, between civilized and wild. She enjoys testing those who would come to her for help with impossible tasks and riddling questions.

She has a mortar and pestle that serve both as a cauldron and chariot, grinding herbs for potions by day and soaring through the skies at night. The pestle steers while she sweeps away her tracks with a silver birch broom, leaving no trace for those who might follow. She knows the language of animals, the secrets of plants that heal and harm, and the true names of spirits that others dare not speak.

There are many tales of Baba Yaga and in all of them, those that seek her aid, must prove their worth. She may make you sort poppy seeds from the earth or weave moonbeams into cloth. The tasks are never what they appear on the surface, as they are tests of character, determination and grit. She rewards those of pure heart with gifts, but she destroys the greedy, the lazy and the false.

The Baba Yaga oracle card is available to buy in the shop!