Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods

Whether you know Baba Yaga as a Slavic witch, an earth goddess, or a monster in modern media, she is a force with secrets to divulge. The roots of her stories stretch back over a thousand years, and her chicken-legged hut is only the beginning of her intrigue.

Darkness, fear, and instability sometimes inundate our daily lives, but folktale figures like Baba Yaga speak to the dichotomy of our existence—the hope and the horror, the magic and the mundane. She is at once an old hag and an enchantress, a demon and wish granter, a feminist and nothing more than a fairytale. Yet her multifaceted presence ripples through the present day. Stories that linger have something to teach us, and Baba Yaga’s tales don’t disappoint. Understanding ourselves, our complex world, and our place within history are only a matter of turning to a boney-legged old woman who lives deep in the Eastern European woods.