The Rowdy Goddess

An Ecstatic Vision of the Goddess, dancing in harmony with the Universe.

Archive for the tag “Witch”

25 Feb 2014
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Celebrating the Hag! Baba Yaga, the Hag of Winter

Baba Yaga 2

Baba Yaga by Kinuko Y. Craft

This eternal winter, dubbed the Polar Express by the press, has turned into a polar depression for many people.  The persistent cold and sudden snow squall is peppered by blizzards, traffic accidents, and cruel, teasing almost-thaws.  It can lay siege to our hearts and our nerves.  How do we melt our frozen wills?  By celebrating.

Our circle celebrates the hag.  We laugh, we kvetch, we keen, and we laugh some more.  Two of our witches have decided to bypass the wisdom of the crone and, as they say, “go straight to hag,” because the hag doesn’t care.  She wears what she likes, she says what’s on her mind, and she does as she pleases.  If children cross the street to avoid the hag’s house?  So what, the hag views that with glee!  And that is what the hag has become for us:  a woman of a certain age who stands in her power and acts as she wills.

Each quarter this year, we are identifying a Witch of legend and lore to celebrate and explore.  In the grip of a cold, harsh winter, we celebrate the Hag, Baba Yaga.

There is no character in folk-tales or mythology who is so irredeemable and wicked as Baba Yaga. She is a fearsome, ugly old hag who lives on the edge of the forest. Her house is surrounded by a fence of bones and topped with skulls whose eyes glow red in the dark. The house itself is set on chicken legs and can move around with great noise and frightening disruption.

The hag herself is not a pretty sight. Her nose is so large, it is said that it touches the ceiling when she sleeps. She has iron teeth and is frequently called, Baba Yaga Boney Legs. While she is said to have no control over the pure in heart, she does have a reputation for baking young children in her huge oven and crunching on their bones.

She rides around in a mortar using a pestle to propel her and when she arrives a great winds begins and stirs up the world around her. When she leaves, she removes all traces of herself with a broom made of silver birch. Sometimes her conveyance is a huge kettle. Other times, she appears as a kindly old crone, assisting people in distress.

Like so many legends and stories of the mythic creatures and the gods, there is great power underneath. Who was she before these stories; and who will she become as we work with her. The author Deborah Blake describes her journey of creating a modern-day story with Baba Yaga in it. You can read it at her blog. I am very much looking forward to reading her first novel published by a major house–it now has a cover.

As Blake points out, John and Caitlin Matthews in The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures have researched the story behind the story of Baba Yaga, pointing that although she is portrayed as an “archetypal bogey-woman, she is actually a primal goddess. The mortar and pestle are symbols of creation and destruction, and her broom cleanses and cleans.

She inhabits the borderlands, those places between life and death, the places between this world and other worlds. She gave Koshei the Deathless, a dragon with human shape, his mortality. She also controls another fire-breathing dragon, Chudo-Yudo who guards the Water of Life and death.  She has fierce companions and friends.  She befriends the friendless and empowers the powerless.  She is one of those teachers you strive to meet her standards, because she hold the bar high and demands your achievement.

It’s obvious she’s a great witch of power.  I met her during a healing journey.  She was fierce, strong, and in good fighting shape.  She gave me strong words of wisdom for my protection and healing.  I’m working through a lot of uncertainty and sorrow at this point in my life, and she made it clear that she was at my back.  She joked about the chicken legged house, saying a lot of disruption and noise is not a bad thing.  She changed her visage from kindly old crone, to girl, to hot chick and back to fearsome hag before me; and then told me people see what they need to see where she is concerned.  She gave me some advice about some of my struggles and then said “I leave that with you to do or not do.”  Then she gave me a very fierce hug and was off again.

Baba Yaga

I am the wild, untamed nature of the world
I am the whirling music of nature
And the strange heartbeat
Of life and death.

I fly the world in my vessel of change
Propelled by creation and destruction.
I sweep from this world to the others
Clearing and cleansing the way.

I am in love with the unusual
Finding beauty and interest in the odd.
Wonder and curiosity move me
From marvel to marvel.
Shift your vision and you will see it too!

My the paralysis you feel about certain things be melted in glee, delight, and fierce determination.

Posted in Goddess, shamanism and tagged , , , , ,
28 Jan 2013
3 Comments

Caillech, The Hag of Winter

When I got in the car this morning, the car’s onboard temperature gauge said 25 degrees Farenheit.  I often complain that these enhancements to automobiles are really TMI (too much information) for the early morning commute.  But that temperature is a whole lot better than the negative 9 last week and the single digits that went on until this Sunday. The whole landscape is frigid and cold. We are all bundled up and trundle through our worlds trailing hats and gloves and all sorts of things as we don and shed our layers depending on the temperature and the weather.

When I called my mother this past weekend I asked her if she’d gotten any snow. She said they’d had a little but it had all melted. I told her we had a lot of snow on the ground and it would snow a little every day until — pause — forever. She laughed and said it must feel that way. Yesterday, the young men of the family across the road cleared off their frozen pond and played ice hockey most of the day, taking advantage of the bright sunshine and making a lot of fun out of the freezing cold. It was fun to watch from my warm comfortable kitchen window.

My circle is practicing living in harmony with the seasons this year. Each quarter we have a “sponsor” or two. Deities that help us understand what qualities and essences we are studying. The gods we work with give us a charge. I find that They usually evokes in me some creative work. Caillech is our sponsor for the winter.

I first met her many years ago when I was taking an advanced course on Wicca, emphasizing telling our stories. It was a time when I was still adapting to the hard winters in Central New York. She appealed to me with her ability to shift and change, the shawl about her shoulders, and her ability to survive and thrive in the hard landscapes, along with her gracious relinquishment of power in the springtime. As I told her story, I became her and channeled her wisdom. It was a very special moment of embodiment of the Goddess.

In all the Celtic myths and legends, there are variations of the Cailleach, the ruler of Winter. She appears at Samhain and rules and protects the world, the weather, the land and the animals. At Beltane, the Brighide appears and Cailleach hides beneath a holly bush. When she enters the world, she brings death, sharp storms, ice, and snow. She created the lakes, streams and rivers; and the rocky cairns fell from her apron.

The world is hers beginning at Samhain. Her staff, when it strikes the land, turns everything into ice and snow. She is especially protective of wolves and deer as she moves through the land though all animals are in her heart. She herds the deer and protects them. Swine, wild goats, and wild cattle are also her creatures. She is the great ancient earth mother, the embodiment of the Dark Mother archetype, who destroys, creates, and destroys. When she first appears, she is wearing a great plaid over her shoulder. She starts to wash her plaid and when she is finished, it is pure white and the land is covered in snow and frost.

Her name means “hag,” “old woman,” or “old wife” in Gaelic. There are many variations and legends found throughout the Celtic speaking lands. She has the ability to transform from old woman to a beautiful one according to her mood; and her moods change the weather and the land.

The Charge of the Goddess Cailleach

Hear now the charge of the Goddess Cailleach,
I who am known as the Ancient Earth, the Hag,
And the Old Woman do tell you and instruct you.
Do not be afraid of my wild moods and changes
Just as you should not be afraid of your own.
Find creation in all death and destruction
And find beauty in the bleak, cold, deadness of winter.
Guard and protect what is dear to you
As I do with the animals of the earth;
And find comfort and strength
In the changes of your loved ones
Even as their transformations may wound you
And change you.

Always know that
In the stark coldness of bitter storms and frigid land,
There is beauty and hidden treasures.
Look beneath cairns of your life
To find the hidden riches.
Celebrate the joys and the sorrows
For as death and destruction is brought forth,
So is new creation and joy.
Be blessed in all aspects of your life
And be beloved by yourself and those you love.
Blessed Be.

May you find joy and blessings in the harshest and sweetest moments. 

Posted in Rowdy Goddess and tagged , , , ,
15 Jun 2007
2 Comments

Secret (Unfeminist) Vices

pinup witchOne of my secret vices is girly pin-ups from the 1950s and 1960s. The ones that appeared in calendars and other advertising. Not the threatened and tied up women. I especially like the ones by Gil Elvgren

It makes me wonder what kind of feminist I can be? I think they are sweet, innocent, and adorable. The girls seem so unaware that their undewear is either missing or showing. It’s as if they suddenly realize,”Oh a wind came up and blew my skirt up and oh!! I’m not wearing any underwear.”
These pin-up pictures reflect a sweet sexuality based in pleasure, surprise, and discovery. I know all about the objectification of women posited to these pictures and similar materials. Yet, they don’t seem like objects…made only for the sexual pleasure of men. It seems that they are completely focused on themselves and their own pleasure. And it’s not selfish or self-centered. It’s just sort of fun. Maybe it’s best not to over-think it and just enjoy it. Kind of like the pin-up girls themselves.
Does it reveal some secret lesbian and bisexual leanings in me. I don’t know and so what if it did? These girls have a lot of fun and their clothes are great!
May all your surprises delight you!
Posted in Goddess, pin-up and tagged , ,
10 Mar 2006

Maiden, Mother, and Crone, Isn’t She More?

Maiden, Mother and Crone: Isn’t She More?
Part One


Yes….Seeing the Goddess and Maid, Mother, and Crone is practically a doctrine in the Goddess and pagan communities; most people not realizing that this particular envisioning of a triple goddess is not universal and this M-M-C concept came primarily from the Greeks and popularized by Robert Graves in The White Goddess. Some cultures did not envision the Goddess as triple, and others did not see the triple Goddess as M-M-C.

For me, in particular, I didn’t always relate to one aspect or another. I never birthed a child out of my body so some of the more biological versions of Goddess/Woman as Mother held no meaning for me. As I became older [*ahem!*], my pagan friends started assuming I would want a croning ceremony. It has intensified as I’ve journeyed deeper into my fifties. I’m reluctant; not because of growing older or the death thing but because I keep asking “is this all there is?” I’m a crone and then I’m dead. EEEk!!
You already know the answer. No. Just as people, women and men, are incredibly diverse in their roles and self-understanding so is the Goddess infinitely diverse, adapatable and creative. So when I wrote my first book, Rituals of the Dark Moon, I talked about my concept of linking concepts to the nine phases of the moon. This provides a number of ways of relating to the Goddess at different times in our lives–or even multiple ways at one time in our lives.
  • Maiden corresponds to the New Moon. The light is reborn and shines as a tiny sliver, just as the Maiden is new and eagerly embarking on new ideas or a new life. This is a youthful, hopeful and joyous time.
  • Amazon corresponds with the Crescent Moon. The light sharpens and becomes more distinct. This is a time for pursuing passions and fighting the good fight. Confidence and strength are all part of this time.
  • Lover corresponds wit the First Quarter Moon. Half light and half dark. Fully sexual and living without the burdens of responsibility or worry. She looks to others not for completion but for partnership. She is in tune with herself and wants to harmonize with others. She is full of romance, love, lust, and sex.
  • Priestess corresponds with the Gibbous Moon. Waxing and nearly full. She is journeying with Spirit and integrating mind and body with emotions and spirtual life. She knows that there are many things hidden and sacred. She is an initiate in the mysteries of the mon and of sacred womanhood.
  • Mother corresponds with the Full Moon. The moon is all light and fully luminous. Fertile, nurtuing and shining without shadow. Optimism and a vision of hope throughout the world. Fullness. Happiness. Productivity. Fertility.
  • Teacher corresponds with the Disseminating Moon. This is the first phase of waning where the dark begins to overtake the light. Knowing and communicating. Lessons have been learned, and it’s time to pass wisdom on to others. This is a time of acknowledging the dualities of life as part of the song of life. Grief, sorrow, joy, love, life, light, death and dark begin to move together in life.
  • Elder corresponds with the last quarter moon. The moon wanes to half dark and half light, and we all know that the darkness is coming, inexorably. She knows of disappointments and lies, but she also knows of hopes, birth and truth. She reaches out to others, to share her experiences.
  • Crone corresponds with the balsamic phase. The moon is three quarters dark. The Crone knows power. She knows how to use it, badly and for good. Her choices define her, sadden her, uplift her, and enlighten her. She is fully in her power.
  • Witch corresponds with the dark moon. These are three days when the moon is no longer visible to the earthbound. It is a time of radiance and reflection. In my book, I called this phase the Weaver, because of the ability to bring things together in beautiful patterns. The Witch is equally if not more fitting because of the magic and mystery involved in bringing all the extraneous and diverse pieces into the pattern. The Witch brings together everything that the Maiden, Amazon, Lover, and Priestess knows and combines it with the experiences of the Mother, Teacher and Elder. She takes the power of the Crone and transforms this into a magical understanding of the mysteries of All-That-Is. The moon in all her phases is found here. The seasons pool their energy here. It is alchemical, radiant and fabulous!

The waxing phases of the moon teach us of exploration and activity. Through growth and change we learn and gain understanding. Waxing phases teach us that life is good and we can handle it with hope and happiness. After the full moon, it all begins to change and as we experience these changes, we learn that what we fear isn’t all that bad. Even the hardest lessons teach us of our toughness and ability to survive and thrive. In our sense of knowing we become aware of the songs of the Universe and how to sing all the harmonies.

Pretty cool, huh! I tied it all up in a nice neat little package. It works. I related this to a friend of mine and it didn’t work for her at all. So there’s more. And what about the eclipses? What about Void of Course? That’s why this is Part One!

Have a good one and stay tuned for more………….

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