Full review HERE
Baba Yaga review
Category: Darker part of the year
Baba Yaga book – author interview
Do not yearn for summer
Do not yearn for eternal summer
For it will burn your heart empty
When seeking to maintain its peak.
Much stronger is the fire internal
witnessed during the darker days.
As the Earth cycles
So are we.
Nothing stops and nothing stays the same
The rise and fall of life is necessary
For the variety is a tool of awareness.
Decay is transformation just as blooming is.
Without rest in death
There’s no seedling or reaching for the open.
There’s no lessons learnt in expectation of what might be.
There’s no mystery if dwelling in one place and same.
We must go places uncomfortable, dark, cold.
Do not yearn for eternal summer,
As winter is full of shine just as much.
A different kind, mute and murky
Dark but rich
Quiet yet wise.
Immerse in the darkness of each year with surrender
For the only way forward is through.
The Crone and I at Samhain
I heard her say ‘Get on a horse’ and without hesitation I got into my car and drove to the woods that called me. She was all around and Samhain felt near. I felt calm and ready to commune with her.
The woods kept changing atmosphere from grey and wet to light and shimmering. Autumnal light streamed through the golden tops of blackened tree bodies. I felt a sense of intention and joy within. She was near and I was reassured. I realised her confidence-building purpose and quality as I developed my own inner hearing. She is and always has been on the side of the feminine and healing of the wounded maiden was just one intention she carried. Today I truly felt that having been through the maiden and mother stages.
Cronehood is a stage I truly look forward to and even more so with her by my side. I am excited and curious about things to come. Today she was full of lessons and the more I engaged with her the more I felt I could truly understand the symbology and meaning behind her one-sentenced phrases. She doesn’t say much and very intentional with what she discloses.
She spoke of the importance of our bodies, physicality and how our disconnection from the animal-selves caused discord and imbalance in many areas as a result. She spoke of nature and landscape as essential parts to any life as they hold the animal-self within offering us to connect back to the earth, the self and spirit of things. Only through deeply feeling into the physical and matter-like within us we can encounter the spirit. It is all interconnected.
She spoke of how we disempower ourselves via covering up by dying our hair, messing about with nails and shaving off what’s intended to be there. And not only that we create a world of shame, unacceptable, conforming and pleasing to the external as a result. We cut off from the natural self by avoiding our own beauty, the natural kind. Our crown becomes dimmed with chemicals and that magic that can be felt in the fingers is dimmed. I can relate to the fingers holding the paper well and am guilty of not looking after myself in that area. I connected instantly to the message of disempowering myself by not being kind and nurturing to myself. It saddened me.
With the crone hood stage we are invited to delve into another stage of coming back to ourselves. I feel excited by it.
Last year she spoke her word to me, which I turned into a book. It comes out in December and I look forward to sharing the message with more women around the world.
Latest review:
“You have given the world a delightful and deep examination of Baba Yaga from your insightful and learned perspective. Thank you.
In a world where uncertainty and fear are the currency of the day, we can become enchanted by a sort of artificial lightness that ultimately only makes us more anxious. We become terrified of the dark. Yet it is in the dimness of our own souls that we find refuge from the harshness of life.
If we are able to peer into this darkness we may see a peculiar little house governed by a curious figure. Baba Yaga, crone of legend, greets us with a glint in her eye, and a question on her lips. “Who are you?” she inquires with a cackle. Natalia Clarke answers this question, while exploring the stories and characteristics of Baba Yaga through traditional lore and personal insights. Merging together her Slavic origins, training in depth psychology, and natural spiritual practices, she is our companion as we venture into the mysteries of this face of the crone. Beautifully written with journal entries, dream explorations, and ways to connect with Baba Yaga, I highly recommend this delightful book for anyone who wants to go deeper into her mysteries.”
By Cyndi Brannen, the author of Keeping Her Keys
The time for insights
Autumnal air is potent with insights. They hang heavy in the morning mist ready to emerge and burn bright in pronounced and sharp autumn sunsets. Can you feel it?
There is a reason I call this season the most magical. During this time palpable transformations happen. Things that had laid dormant for some time come forward. They now ask to be resolved, the soil is ready. It is time for the sharpest clarity to come into our awareness. It is an exciting season, and I am yet to meet another woman, who does not adore autumn.
Nature, writing, giving, family, love, gratitude – insights have been very clear and vital to my moving forward with my own personal evolution and various projects. It feels like I have waited for this time for the whole year and finally I can exhale, throw the weight of uncertainty off my shoulders, and relax into myself fully. I am truly reaping the rewards for what has been patience, vulnerability, allowing the hard times to be a learning experience and embracing all.
It is the Earth element time, which is dominant in me. There is no surprise I feel at home in this season.
Imagine Autumn as a human, a lady; be it an imaginary vision or a real person that comes to mind. Her charm and maturity are attractive. Her wisdom is deeply grounding, comforting, and reassuring to whoever seeks it. I see a mature lady, but not too old. She comes to my awareness as autumn begins to transform the landscape slowly into wetness here and bareness there. As it sprinkles hues of pale yellow and deeper brown amidst the trees, I see a lady that rejoices in the season of understanding what had been, what is and what is yet to come. She is aware of all seasons and interconnectedness of all living matter and spirit. She is not afraid of anything, as fearing darkness is like moving further away from the roots of the mother, from the warmth of the womb – the exact place of nurturing and transformation we need to be in. It is non-sensical, unwise to fear or reject what is the catalyst for all life. Autumn invites to welcome darkness into every aspect of our lives and let it cradle us into a state of sleep and inner reflection. If allowed and befriended the darkness can be incredibly soothing to go deeper into our own season of winter. What a gift and an opportunity this season brings.
This time of year, I relish shrouded silence in the woods. Energy is more potent. Sounds are pronounced one minute and muted the next. Signs and glimpses of all things ‘last’. The last burst of a bird song, the last splash of colour, the last ray of sunshine and warmth on the skin. My intuition rises like an internal fire that’s been resting and preparing. Freshness in the air is scented with remade matter, moist and moving with organisms, rotten with nutrients for the earth, in preparation for winter.
Raw Nature Spirit 
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