Baba Yaga comes to us from Russian/Slavic folklore, where's she's depicted as an ugly old crone; skinny, a mouthful of sharp iron teeth, and a nose so long it touches the ceiling when she sleeps. Baba Yaga flies through the sky in a mortar, steering with her pestle, which she also wields as a wand. Her home is deep in a dark forest, where she lives in a chicken-legged hut, ringed with human skulls from those stupid enough to cross her.

Baba Yaga is one of the more complex characters in folklore. She follows no moral code but always keeps her promises. She eats children, but she's sometimes a savior when she feels like it. She's a wise woman of the forest, providing herbal concoctions to both heal and to poison. She knows the secrets of every plant and tree in the forest and she knows the secrets of the underworld too.

Baba Yaga is both witch and dark goddess. She personifies the hag or crone archetype and she can also shapeshifter into a beautiful young woman. She illustrates how younger generations can see old people as ugly and useless, despite their wisdom and strength.

Baba Yaga offers advice in healing, wildcrafting, hexes and hex breaking. She represents the death of ignorance and she guards the way to the underworld. She is a hedge witch, attuned to the Turning of the Wheel, and she is an earth goddess whose wisdom can destroy or heal us.

Prairie Fire's Baba Yaga candles are an homage to this witch of the deep forest. I chose twenty herbs, resins, and botanicals that for me, evoke the spirit of Baba Yaga and her duality. Conifers and fragrant evergreens figure heavily in this blend, with stone pine, Douglas fir, piñon resin, white pine resin and Eastern Red Cedar, along with birch and juniper berries to call forth the Slavic forests that Baba Yaga lives in. I added mushrooms, calamus root, sage, mugwort and bay leaf for her associations as an earth goddess. I included healing botanicals, such as wild oats, white yarrow, plantain, and skullcap as a nod to her reputation as a healer, and I finally, I added lemon verbena, geranium, yellow dock, Queen Anne's lace, and rye berries because I imagined grains and wildflowers would grow wherever her house stood and Russian Caravan tea because what good witch doesn't love a strong cup of tea.

Baba Yaga magick might include hexing and cursing, learning lessons, developing advanced witch skills, healing, death, shadow work, underworld journeys, and kitchen magick.

This purchase is for one pair of handmade Baba Yaga candles.

When burning candle, please place on a heat proof surface. Wick must be kept trimmed to 1/4 inch to avoid uneven burning and possible fire. Do not leave lit candles unattended. Prairie Fire's candles are hand made of raw beeswax, hemp wicks, plant based dyes, and herbs, resins, and botanicals. We do not add fragrance to our candles, and believe that the natural smell of beeswax and herbs and resins are best suited for ritual and spiritual use.