Baba Yaga and the Archetype of the Wild, Wise Old Woman

"There's a saying in our family: Be careful calling forth the great personages of stories; they have keen hearing and are likely to suddenly appear when you least expect them..."

---Clarissa Pinkola Estes

This certainly applies to Baba Yaga. One must have a healthy respect and be prepared for surprises, challenges and strange gifts. Baba Yaga is a figure from Slavic folklore, a dark goddesss, fierce like Kali or Hecate, a wise, wild crone, a demanding figure who may set you off on a heroic task to test your mettle. That's on a good day. When she sees your potential and likes what she sees, she can extend her magic, which she is doing here with the fortunate lad Ivan.

Baba Yaga is an archetype--- which Carl Jung describes as "ancient archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious."

In The Structure of the Psyche, Jung wrote, "The collective unconscious - so far as we can say anything about it at all - appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations are its real exponents. In fact, the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious..." Jung said.

Archetypes have sweep and magnitude. They bring us out of linear time into the realm of myth and magic.

Which explains something about the fact that Baba Yaga lives deep in a forest in a twirling house that stands on chicken legs.

Naturally I had to write about that when I created lyrics for Baba Yaga's Raga, one of the 12 songs in the musical revue A New Wrinkle.

My house stands up on chicken legs/ it twirls and never sleeps/it makes a fearful frightening sound/that gives the people creeps/ and that's alright, yes that's alright with me."

One of my longtime friends is an archetype known as Coyote Woman. I am attracted to quixotic, mischievous, magical and powerful agents of the imagination, so I suppose it's not that surprising that I invited Baba Yaga to enter my world. Some days though it seems that she appeared before I was aware that I was inviting her. Then it was obvious that I had to write her into A New Wrinkle, my musical revue on aging, as an important character. Not that Baba Yaga could ever be an unimportant character.

So far so good as far as my relationship with Baba Yaga goes. Healthy respect and good motivation help. Clarissa Pinola Estes describes Baba Yaga as, "...a representation of a great woman who sees clearly, is decisive and knows the patterns of the universe." "Confronting and integrating her lessons make the heroines stronger and wiser. In confronting her, the heroines have to listen to their intuition.
Baba Yaga is also unconfined by convention and unafraid to be herself.

In A New Wrinkle she tells us, "You found your inner child years ago, and now it's time to find your inner Baba Yaga!"


I made myself a Baba Yaga headdress months ago-- long gray dreadlocks with silver threads and feathers. I love wearing it.


Last week, a wonderful nose that I ordered arrived in the mail. Baba Yaga has a big nose and I needed one to get into character.



Here are a few of the photos that Helga Motley took in our Baba Yaga session the other day.

the heroinesT

This one is one of my favorites.




What does it say to you?

I'm interested in knowing your reaction to this image and the others here.


















Baba Yaga had a very tiny tea cup that day.

These humans, they can't even remember to bring along a proper tea cup.














Bust those nice little old lady stereotypes with a powerful wise woman archetype!



I invite you to listen to the mp3 of Baba Yaga's Raga at our website www.sagesplay.com, where you can also look at the lyrics for the other song that Baba Yaga sings in A New Wrinkle, a funny song about drugs and medications.

A Celebration of Aging

A Celebration of Aging, the event I produced on April 23rd, attracted a full house, with standing room only! Of course, that is a cause for celebration. Dr. Rick Kirschner, a bestselling author, speaker and coach, shared some of his insights on the value of aging and positive expressions of aging. His presentation was completely enjoyable-- full of humor and inspiration. Rick is posting a sequence of videos that present his excellent talk on his Art of Change blog. Check in with his continuing comments and reflections on aging over the next week. He makes some great points and tells the story in a very engaging way. Don't miss it.

The audience loved Carolyn Myers' marvelous improv comedy and the beautiful aria from Tosca that Pauline Sullivan sang. My composer colleague Laura Rich did a fabulous job singing one of the songs from A New Wrinkle, Passing for Young. She was decked out in a very funny Barbie the doll-type costume. Why didn't I take any pictures of that? I know Laura's husband did, and I will try to get him to send me a couple of them to share with you soon.

I loved singing Baba Yaga's Raga and I wore wonderful dreadlocks for the occasion. Some audience members told me that the two songs sung by the ensemble were not easy to understand or hear. That was something I was saddened to hear. Have to do much better next time. Organizing the event taught me a great deal. I thought I had gotten over trying to be Superwoman, but apparently not. Next time, I need a stage manager and a director. More rehearsals, including in the performance space. But as spontaneous as the event was at times, it was well received.

Now, we are preparing to develop the promo CD. We'll be working in the recording studio of jazz musician Dave Scoggin. Another new adventure. Wonderful!

Yesterday was my 70th birthday. I had a rather reflective day. I wanted to be quiet. I took a drive to the Applegate River and sat for awhile at its banks. I hung out at the beautiful old McKee Bridge which was built in 1917.






I intend to spend more time in nature in my seventh decade. Isn't the river beautiful? The trees are so delicate as they begin to leaf out, and the river waters are flowing vigorously thanks to the winter snow and rain. I'm at the banks of a beautiful river, contemplating the river of my years.




And on the way back home, I listened to one of the six CDs from The Dangerous Old Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who wrote the seminal book Women Who Run with the Wolves. This current work The Dangerous Old Woman is a project she has been working on for 30 years. And it's very rich. Highly recommended.





I'm resting after putting out a lot of energy. I'm thinking about the dangerous old woman and man, elders who live with wildness and wisdom. I'm musing about poetry, myth, wildness, danger, protection and magic. About this time of life and its lessons and adventures. About beauty. Illness. Death. Life. The usual topics.

And it's spring. Every year the astounding miracle of rebirth. Here it is again.