Inner Voice Intuitive Readings and Counseling

07/19/2024

02/16/2024

Go get it! Amazing energy today!

02/16/2024

Beautiful bold day. Go get it!

01/12/2024

These are getting popular! Makes me happy! Feel free to reach out! 🩵

01/12/2024

GODDESS of the MONTH: BABA YAGA

I must admit that this Slavic Witch Goddess has sent shivers down my spine since I first encountered her as a third grader, in a book of Russian folktales!

The illustrations of her sweeping through the air with her broom, mortar and pestle, and the description of her hut with the chicken legs (that could *walk!*) and her fence of bones and skulls, were nightmarishly intriguing.

She didn’t seem very beneficent to me in her interactions with Vasilisa the Beautiful, rather, dangerous and treacherous. I was glad Vasilisa had her guardian spirit matryoshka doll to help her and protect her.

I now have cause to re-think those initial responses to this complex, dark hag-goddess.

Fiana Sidhe tells us, “Baba Yaga is a very misunderstood Goddess. She is not just the stereotypical wicked witch. She often appears as a frightening old hag, but can also appear as a beautiful woman who bestows gifts.

She is wild and untamed but also can be kind and generous. Even in Her haggard form, Baba Yaga has many gifts to share.

Baba Yaga is the old crone who guards The Waters of Life and Death. She is the White Lady of Death and Rebirth, and is also known as The Ancient Goddess of Old Bones. The old bones are symbolic of the things we cling to, but must finally let lie. When we experience a death, darkness, depression, or spiritual emptiness in our lives, we journey to Baba Yaga’s hut, where She washes new life into us. She collects our bones and pours the waters on them, while She sings and chants and causes us to be reborn. She destroys and then She resurrects. Baba Yaga symbolizes the death of ignorance. She forces us to see our true, darkest selves, then She grants us a deep wisdom that we can attain by accepting the dark shadows within ourselves. We can only receive help from Baba Yaga by learning humility. Her gifts can destroy or enlighten us.”

Sr. Dea Phoebe has this to say about Baba Yaga: “So, while She is certainly a dark Goddess, a death Goddess, and may even seem ‘wicked’ in ways, Baba Yaga is hardly the villain of Her stories. But also, Baba Yaga is not a nice, clean, civilized Goddess.

In the story of Valalisa the Wise, triple Goddess imagery repeats throughout – in Valalisa and her doll’s white, red, and black clothing, (colors traditionally associated with the Maiden, Mother, and Crone,) in the repetition of threes throughout the story (three colors, three enemies in the stepfamily, three riders, three tasks, three questions, three pairs of hands) and in Valalisa, (the maiden beginning her journey), her mother (who has given Valalisa gifts to guide her), and of course, in Baba Yaga as the crone.

As a denizen of the deep forest, Baba Yaga is the wild aspect of the psyche, what Estés calls [in her book Women Who Run with the Wolves] the Wild Hag or the Wild Woman —not the gentle grandmother that bakes you cookies and tells you stories, but the stern grandmother that might just smack your rear with a spoon and tell you to smarten up! She is not pretty to look at, and she represents the deepest mysteries of death. No wonder she has a reputation of a scary old witch!

When we work with Baba Yaga, when we take that path into the deep forest to face the mysteries of death and emerge with the light of wisdom, we also face the wild aspects of ourselves. They may not be pretty, they may have long stringy hair and iron teeth and a wild cackle, but they also hold mysteries our more civilized day-to-day selves never think upon. Baba Yaga is not tied by social norms and mores. She flies about in yet another symbol of transformation; She wipes away the signs of Her passing so you’re never sure if She’s really been there. She’s rude, She’s crude, and She lives in a hut that doesn’t have the manners to sit down and stay like we expect a house should—and you can bet She enjoys all of this. She is less concerned about what is civilized and polite than what is true.

When you find yourself in need of true wisdom, when you find yourself being too nice, too polite in the face of ongoing boundary violations, when you find yourself stagnated by the expectations of others, it might just be time to retrieve your Wild Woman (or Man.) It might be time to brave the forest and meet Baba Yaga.”

♦️ How might you have courage, as Vasilisa did, to face the frightening depths of the dark forest?

♦️What gifts can you find within yourself that will give you protection and guidance as you meet the dark goddess and learn from her?

~ Rebekah Myers

~ Fiana Sidhe, “Baba Yaga, The Bone Mother“

~ Sr. Dea Phoebe, Order of Our Lady of Salt, “The Goddess and the Wheel: Baba Yaga – Wicked Witches and Wild Women“

Art: Rima Staines, Baba Yaga
Rima Staines - Artist
rimastaines.com

01/04/2024

10/28/2023

Here is a section of my talk from at Autumn Fires. Hope you enjoy!

This is a part of a talk I gave after reading Thom Cavalli's seminal workd on Alchemical Psychology: Recipes for Modern Living. I was lucky enough to get to ...