Do come in!

Merry Meet fair revelers, I'm your friendly forest witch Danni and this is my Whimsical Cottage.

Welcome! Please, do come in, put your feet up and stay a spell. Mind you, watch the cobwebs as you come in and keep an eye out for wee goblins under foot, the place seems to be infested with them this time of year.

It's good to see some familiar faces, but for those who are new to my little acre of the vast internet forest let me introduce myself and my space here. My cottage is home to my artwork, photography and various crafts as well as musings of both the mundane and magical variety. It also seems to have the ability to change its look from time to time and is currently all done up for Samhain/Hallowe'en. Sure, it doesn't have chicken legs and isn't made of gingerbread, but every witch's cottage needs to house some magic all it's own. As for myself, I'm an eclectic soul who wanders the path of the green witch, makes messes and artwork and has a fondness for abandoned places and old stories of all sorts. Today I thought I'd share my love for old stories with a bit of Folklore about a croney old witch I associate with this season, the Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore.

Baba yaga is the fearsome, iron toothed, crone goddess of Autumn and master of the elements. She is said to be the keeper of the waters of life and death and is a wild and untamed spirit of nature.

She stands apart from other witches of the flying variety as she doesn't ride a broom, but rather prefers to soar the skies in a giant mortar or iron cauldron using her pestle to steer and a silver birch broom to erase her trail.

Her foot house is a wonder all its own, as it spins in place shrieking or runs through the forests on it's great chicken legs. The house possesses a fence made of bone and topped with illuminated skulls to warn off intruders and trespassers. Baba yaga resides in her monstrously magical house with her three faithful horsemen of white, red and black whom she refers to as her bright dawn, red sun and dark midnight.

Although many tales of the black goddess refer to her as a kidnapper and devourer of children, she is also a wise, if cunning, woman. She has been known to give advice and guidance to the pure of heart, the lost souls and the heroic few who come to her seeking her knowledge.

One of the most famous stories about Baba Yaga is "Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave", but if you keep a watchful eye out in certain fairy tales and folk lore, you'll see her signs and know she is the witch in the story though she isn't named.

I hope you enjoyed the folklore, help yourself to some cider from the cauldron and have a peek around the rest of my cottage if you'd like. There are so many clickable things you may lose yourself for a while! If you're feeling a bit lost, feel free to start out at the top with the tabs or view a list of some of my favorite posts from the past year here.

Before I leave you to wander, I'd like to invite you to attend an easy peasy party I'm throwing. I'm counting down the days to Hallowe'en by doing 31 Hallowe'en/Autumn activities throughout the month and encouraging others to join in. Please take a peek at my detailed post about it, here. As much fun as this season already is, it gets even moreso when your friends join in!

I hope you enjoy your stay here and that you'll visit again!

**The pumpkin roofed house in the photo, sadly, is not mine. It sits on a backroad near my home town in NJ. While it doesn't appear to be abandoned due to the lively potted plants and grill on the property, I have never-ever seen anybody there. I also have no idea why it has a pumpkin on it, but I'd like to live in it.**