Madame Pamita - Baba Yagas Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods

v Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

vi Baba Yagas Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods 2022 by Madame Pamita.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2022

E-book ISBN: 9780738768175

Cover art by Sara Koncilja

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Interior illustrations by Sara Koncilja

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Madame Pamita, author.

Title: Baba Yagas book of witchcraft : Slavic magic from the witch of the

woods / Madame Pamita.

Description: First edition. | Woodbuy, Minnesota : Llewellyn Worldwide,

Ltd, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021062624 (print) | LCCN 2021062625 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738767895 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738768175 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Baba Yaga (Legendary character) | WitchcraftUkraine. |

MagicUkraine. | FolkloreUkraine. | Fairy talesUkraine.

Classification: LCC BF1584.U37 M33 2022 (print) | LCC BF1584.U37 (ebook)

| DDC 133.4/309477dc23/eng/20220222

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021062624

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021062625

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

viii

To Mary Kroll Moore, my matusya,

and

Kateryna Szegda Krol, my babusya.

ix

Contents

: Vyshyvanka: The Magical Stitches

: Motanka: The Living Poppet

: Domovyk : The Spirit of the House

: Rozdorizhzhya: The Crossroads

: Lisovyk: The Lord of the Forest

: Rusalky: The Spirits of the Lake

: Zaklynannya: The Magic Words

: Khatynka i Pokut: The Hut and the Altar

: Vidma: The Witch

: Yizha: The Enchanted Food

: Pich: The Oven

: Vereteno: The Spindle

: Krashanky I Pysanky: The Decorated Eggs

: Tkatskyy Verstat: The Loom

: Volossya: The Hair

: Stupa: The Mortar and Pestle

: Maty Zemlya: Mother Earth

x : Laznya: The Bathhouse

: Zhyva i Mertva Voda: The Waters of Life and Death

: Kistky: The Bones

: Kolo: The Circle

: Magical Plants and Their Meanings

: Magical Color Correspondences

xi

Acknowledgments

Writing this book was a monumental task worthy of Baba Yaga. There were many times when I sincerely felt like I was trying to separate a mountain of poppy seeds and wheat grains or spin a roomful of hemp in one day. Like Vasylyna, though, with the magical assistance of many amazing helpers, I was able to accomplish what at times felt like an impossible undertaking.

First, I would like to thank the awesome Ukrainian and Ukrainian diaspora women who gathered around, advised, translated, and guided me as I wrote: Christa Lynn, who generously shared her own Ukrainian spiritual practices with me and took me on countless spirit journeys to the lower world to get Baba Yahas wise advice; my vidma -sister Katie Karpetz, who gave me The Word and the Wax, the book that opened all the doors for me (and who is probably the only one who geeks out as hard as I do about Ukrainian magic); Diana Tumminia, who painstakingly translated countless videos of the whispers of baby sheptukhy; and my beautiful Ukrainian angel, Lyudmyla (Milla) Rybak, who checked my spelling, corrected my accent, and verified and shared with me all the magic that still goes on in Ukraine today. A huge warm Ukrainian dyakuyu ! Without you four magical women, this book would not exist.

Id like to also thank some of the brilliant scholars and souls whom I only know through the internet but whose generous sharing of their research over the ether helped ground and guide me: Patricia Robin Woodruff, Luba Petrusha, Olga Stanton, and Andryi Dorosh. Thank you for sharing the wisdom and folklore of the old ways so generously.

Id also like to thank my Llewellyn family, who continue to so lovingly support and give me wise advice, cheering me on and guiding me out of the woods whenever I leave the familiar path: Elysia Gallo, thank you for your help untangling numerous balls of verbal yarn; Kat Neff and Markus Ironwood, thank you for always singing the praises of the books I bring you; Anna Levine, thank you for giving me opportunities to teach and share; Sami Sherratt, thank you for gently combing and braiding my words; and Bill Krause, thank you for being the captain who sails us all through the sky to the paradise of a real-life book being birthed into this world. I am so deeply thankful for all your kindness and assistance.

xii Without my amazing team at the Parlour of Wonders keeping watch over the chicken-legged hut, I wouldnt have been able to spend the hundreds of hours it took to research and write this book. Thank you dear Chelsea Iovino, Romie Bo, Bridget Tuboly, Buchanan Moncure, and my own dear Manfred Hofer for keeping the magic flowing while I was on my journey through the forest.

To my sweet friends who listened and understood while I said a million times, I cant! Im working on my book, I give you all my best witchy magical blessings, and Im ready to cash in those rain checks: Judy Pokonosky, Joseph James, Gwendolyn Pogrowski, James Divine, and Chris Onareo. I love you more than Baba Yaga loves a bratty kid and/or midnight snack.

I also want to say thank you to Kris Jecen and everyone from focused.space who kept me on track on those mornings when I would rather have been frolicking with the Spirits of the Lake instead of writing a book.

To my friends Queta Allred and Cloven, who helped me learn how to spin, and to Halyna Shepko, who taught me to weave, I am so grateful for you keeping these ancient crafts alive and sharing your gifts with me.

Thank you to my Instagram friend Maisy Bacon, who shared gorgeous images of the old Slavic aesthetic and also many hilarious quips, both of which inspired and kept me going.

So much love goes to Dakota St. Clare at Catland Books in Bushwick for hosting my classes on Ukrainian and Slavic magic and giving this old witch a place to share what she knows.