Baba Yaga’s Ritual Wood Spoon

Description

These vintage repurposed wooden spoons were Ritually woodburned by The Witch and are an ode to Baba Yaga and her hut. It is said that if you encounter her, she will either eat you, put you to work or give you advice. If she gives you advice, the outcome will be better than you could imagine. If she puts you to work, the work will be hard but you will do better than you ever dreamed possible. If she eats you, well, better luck in the next life! In story and song, she is a Russian witch, best known for her dealings with Vasalisa. Around the mortar are images from one of these tales. She rides her mortar, using her pestle as a rudder and sweeps away her tracks with a broom as she travels the night sky.

Baba Yaga lives in a hut which stand on chicken legs, this “хата” even appears secretly in Slavonic folk embroidery as a talismanic solar motif such as the one forever burned into the spoon. The Slavonic embroidery collected in the Kuban region, Russia is Baba-Yaga’s hut with four rounds (it is a designation of the motion of the sun throughout the year) and with eight chicken legs is attached to the top of the World Tree. Its trunk is painted red, six branches are red, and four ones are green. The red colour possible denoting life, blood, fire, dawn, light, death and birth, and the green colour denotes life and growth.

In most folk tales she is portrayed as an antagonist; however, some characters in other mythological folk stories have been known to seek her out for her wisdom, and she has been known on occasion to offer guidance to lost souls.

Use when baking, mixing incense, or in whatever task you choose to invoke Baba’s wisdom, to remember the past & to power through obstacles yet to come.

“As self-contained compositions of matter and in their positioning within our culture, objects are innately ritualistic. Through function they are active, and support our pursuit of equilibrium. We hold them, come into contact with them, and become invested in them corporeally. Through our choosing to own or use them, objects gain deliberateness. And they remind us of our convictions when we are attentive to the myths they represent.” – Louise Schenk 

“To eat by spoonful” in Slavic folklore refers to one having plenty of something. Indeed, way before other silverware even appeared in Slavic countries, a spoon already had its firm place as a household and table utensil, as well as an amulet against hunger.

Perfect for kitchen witchery, mixing incense, or using ritually.

You will receive 1 spoon each piece is handmade, vintage, and will be unique. Which one will pick you?