Befriending the Witch
On learning how to surrender to my inner wisdom
“When we’re old, let’s be like those women who refused to leave Chernobyl,” my friend said.
It became a mantra for us and other women we knew, juggling careers and lives and relationships. When we reached the end of the construction— when we’d arrived — what wisdom would our aged selves tell our younger versions?
The women who refused to leave Chernobyl were grandmothers who banded together to raise crops and live peacefully in familiar surroundings. Past the age where radiation exposure would shorten their lives or damage unborn children, they looked the evacuation soldiers in the eye and said, “Shoot us and dig the grave. . .otherwise, we’re staying.”
Babushka literally means “old woman” or “grandmother.” I first heard the word when I was nineteen years old, bright-skinned, and curious on a trip to Russia. I searched forests where people gathered mushrooms trying to catch a glimpse of Baba Yaga, the witch that cornered the market in Russian fairy tales. I needed to find her. I had some questions.
I didn’t find Baba Yaga that day, but my search for her became a lifelong mission. I gathered up stories of women keeping chickens and medicine, always on the edges of communities. They lived alone. They were strong and wise. People…
