Baby, it‘s the Baba Yaga

Witches aren't a new thing to this podcast. I've covered the Salem witch trials, and some lesser known witches throughout history, but today we cover the mother of them all; the Baba Yaga. While she's not technically the mother of witches, she has links to various cultures the world over, albeit by different names. The Baba Yaga is of Slavic origins, and she's sort of an anti-hero or villain. She's not necessarily evil, but certainly wants to be left alone. But, she will mess your day up if you do bother her by doing things such as, well, eating you. 

On the other side of things, she always keeps her word. Generally when approached she will give the trespasser some laundry list of near impossible tasks to complete in exchange for something. If you manage to complete said tasks, she'll stick to her word and give you what you seek - but there might just be consequences to claiming your prize, like in the story of Vasilisa. In this Cinderella like tale, young Vasilisa gets stuck with an evil stepmom who punishes her and her own kids. Well, one day the family needed more light in their cabin, and so Vasilisa was tasked with finding some when she bumped into good ol' Baba Yaga. She completed the impossible tasks and was given a lantern, which exploded upon entering the cabin, killing her step family in a gruesome fire. While Vasilisa was technically freed from her terrible life, it came at a great cost.

Like I said, there are stories all over the world of similar creatures to the Baba Yaga, and they generally go by the generic term of Hag. But if you want more more, you'll just have to listen to the episode!

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