YAGA, DARK GODDESS OR WEIRD OLD WOMAN? #BLOGCHATTERA2Z

 

                                                                                         The Paganista

The letter Y or the equivalent of it did not exist in the Greek alphabet, and so, there are no names starting with it. Hence, I am writing about Yaga, the Slavic Goddess who is supposed to be the counterpart of Persephone, the Greek Goddess of the Underworld as she was married to Hades, and hence, known as the Dark Goddess.

There were thirteen dark goddesses across the mythology of the world. They were

Hecate, Lilith, Baba Yaga, Persephone, Nyx, Kali, The Morrigan, Oya, Sekhmet, Freya, Morgan le Fay, Erishkigal and Circe.

The very names of some of these dark goddesses can send a chill down our spines. However, as in everything in life, the dark and light align to create a balance. Similarly, these goddesses offer a foil to the light that the other goddesses manifest.

                                                                                      Etsy

The shadow can often make the light appear brighter. Likewise, these dark goddesses can guide humans to integrate shadow into light and make life more challenging and fulfilling.

Yaga, or Baba Yaga, is a supernatural figure in Slavic mythology. She is not really a goddess, and yet, she has her own powers, and she is depicted as an old hag, which may be what the word ‘Baba’ stands for. ‘Yaga’ could mean ‘horrid, evil or mean’. She is associated with the shadowy aspects of nature and could be described as moody or enigmatic.

Baba Yaga is depicted as an old woman living in a hut that stands on chicken legs in the woods. She could very well be the fairy tale version of pagan goddesses who initiated children into adulthood. One myth speaks of her catching children and tying to force them into an oven so that she can bake them. The children outwit her and push her into the oven instead, a close parallel to the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ story. There is an undertone of a long-forgotten rite of ‘baking’ a child to make him an adult, especially as both bread and the woods are significant in Slavic literature. This goes to prove that similar parallels exist in mythologies across the world.

                                                                                        Baba Yaga - Reddit

Baba Yaga is often seen as an old woman with a hooked nose who flies on a wooden mortar, often paddling with a magic broom. She lives in a living hut which has legs that can walk, run and even dance. She is often portrayed as more mischievous than evil, at times a minor antihero who cannot be a truly dark villain who wreaks havoc. After all, it is difficult to imagine an old woman as evil, especially when she looks more like a benevolent grandmother. It is believed that she hates intruders and chases after them, but there are instances when people have gone to her for advice and been helped by her.

Therefore, is Baba Yaga a dark goddess or a weird old woman? In ancient times, the word ‘weird’ had the additional meaning of ‘having the power to control fate’ which came from the old English word ‘wyrd’ for ‘chance, fortune, Destiny and The Fates’.

“Beyond the thrice-nine kingdoms, in the thirtieth realm, beyond the fiery river, lives the Baba Yaga’. 

Alexander Afanasyev 

Baba Yaga is sometimes believed to live in the Faraway or the Thrice-Ninth Tsardom. 

In the tale ‘The Maiden Tsar’ by the Russian writer Alexander Afanasyev, a merchant’s son, the handsome Ivan, visits the home of one of the Baba Yagas. The whole story is encapsulated in the following link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maiden_Tsar

Baba Yaga appears in many of the Afanasyev’s stories.  (The Russian Fairy Tales). She is described as “one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in Eastern folklore” by Andreas Johns, who goes on to further dub her as ‘enigmatic’, exhibiting ‘striking ambiguity’. He calls her multi-faceted, as different people see in her images of a totemic ancestress, a goddess of Nature (the Cloud, Moon, Snake, Bird), which is why she remains an enigma to this day.

 Trivia:

Books: Russian Fairy Tales by Alexander Afanasyev:

 The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson:

Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft by Madame Pamita:

 

Movies/ Series:

Baba Yaga: A Goddess in Exile: YouTube

The Vanquishing of Baba Yaga: Jessica Oreck: Once Upon a Blog:

 This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.