At Baba Yaga’s Table
At Baba Yaga’s Table ~ Creative Time with an Attitude
Baba Yaga, a fierce, old woman of the northern realms was once deemed to be an ancient Earth Mother figure. Through the millennia she has been denuded of that status and morphed into a fearsome, folkloric witch who lives deep in the woods in a hut on chicken legs, surrounded by a fence of skulls and bones. Someone to avoid at all cost.
But there are some who see her in a different light. One where she is an ally who helps us strip away the non-essential, worn out and burdensome detritus of our lives. First taking us down to our bones; setting us with tasks that hone our sense of worthiness; blessing us with a sense of who we truly are and then sending us back into the world with renewed purpose.
I like her. I like her no nonsense, direct approach of revealing what we need to let go of and showing us who we are at our core. I want to go to that chicken-legged hut, climb the stairs, walk through the door and sit at her long wooden table. I want to hear what she has to say and accept what she has to offer.
At Baba Yaga’s Table you will find TIME IN A multimedia studio to create from a place that:
Dives into intuitive and soulful play
Collects your thoughts or let them go
Plumbs the depths
Works out the kinks in our lives
Brings forth what is within you
Questions to be explored & questions to be asked
Listen To Freya Explain The Name
Background story of Baba Yaga and her table
I have a recurring desire to find my way along twisting paths through a dark, old growth forest to the Baba Yaga’s house so that I can sit at her long wooden table, drink her herbal concoctions, and hear stories directly from the old woman herself. She is, of course, the infamously fierce witch of the northern realms. I want to find out- who is this terrifying but beautiful woman behind the iron teeth, wild hair and blackened nails? And more importantly, to find out what of the old mysteries she embodies.
So much of the old, old lore of the wise woman has disappeared or been changed and even erased. The Baba Yaga over the centuries has become a stereotype of a child devouring witch, an over simplification and demonization of what is thought to be a very complex and ancient Earth Mother Goddess.
In the story of Vassalisa The Beautiful, the Baba Yaga is in charge of Nature, personified by the White, Red and Black knights, who at her command, are the bringers of dawn, day, and night. She also is connected to the spirit world and has hands that appear out of nowhere to do her bidding. And then there is her hut on chicken legs which is reminiscent of Shaman huts built on thick tree trunks deep in the boggy forests of the Taiga, depositories for their sacred objects and tools. It is these mysteries and more I want to hear about sitting at her table.
Then there is her large, leather Grimoire Book. I see it sitting open in the middle of her table, filled with writings in different color inks, secret formulas, recipes, and all manner of marginalia. Both the book and woman are older than can be remembered or imagined. What amazements and secrets has she seen and recorded? Oh, the knowledge it must contain….
And so, I dream that I have traversed the forest paths, arrived at her chicken leg hut, and Baba Yaga herself has opened the door for me to come in. She motions me to her table and I sit down. A blank book and pen are set in front of me. “Begin”, she says and I do. . .