10/25/2026
In the old stories, Baba Yaga reminds us that life is sustained through death and comes with great sacrifice. She reminds us that the very bones of our homes, the warmth of our fires, and the food on our tables are all gifts from the more-than-human world.
These myths speak to old rituals of initiation in which the initiate undergoes a symbolic death and renewal. At the center of these initiations, is learning to deeply see and feel into the beings that give their lives to feed us—to experience life and death from their perspective.
🍂In the initiation the human becomes the food!
Imagine if we could see through the eyes of the deer, the tree, the grain? If we could feel what it’s like to give our lives so that another may live?
Imagine if when the plants and animals saw us coming, they saw us as the hungry witch ready to gobble them all up!
Since our ancestors lived within a web of sacred agreements they understood that receiving came with a responsibility to give back. Offerings were made. Gratitude was given. Reciprocity was a way of being in right relationship with the living world.
Baba Yaga reminds us of the sacred vows that were once held closely amongst humans and the wild; namely this agreement of reciprocity. She is angry that we humans have broken our contract with the holy wild.
Baba Yaga rides around in a mortar that grinds the grain to remind us that if gifts aren’t given for the grains she will grind up your bones!
Baba Yaga lives in a house that walks around on chicken legs to remind us that our houses are made of the body parts of animals and trees that should be honored.
When we remember this in our bones—we become more reverent with what we take, more intentional with what we give, and more compassionate with how treat our earth kin.
This is how we maintain the balance that makes life possible.
These initiations shape the way that we relate to our earth family. When we experience plants and animals as sentient beings like ourselves, we take care of them as we would hope to be cared for ourselves!
Think of what could change if we lived as though every gift from the earth were a relationship rather than a resource 🙌
