When I knew that I was going to create a Baba Yaga spirit doll from the Slavic fairytale, Vasilisa the Brave as a new addition to the Voice of the Spirit Doll Course, I had a vague feeling I would create her at the start of the year. But life has a way of taking over especially when plans are not solid, when commitments are loose like untied yarn. The spirit of Baba Yaga is huge, her story is known worldwide and yet she can be very hard to pin down and explain. Perhaps because of this, I kept putting the project of making this doll further back in my schedule as other creative projects and work commitments flooded in.

As the course was approaching, I knew that I had to make a dedicated time to create Baba Yaga and marked down the month of April in my diary as the definite time. The course was starting in May and I knew that there was no waiting for the perfect time - she simply must be made. I remember writing down in my diary that she would be complete by mid-April. But mid April arrived and still no Baba Yaga.

*In the week leading up to making Baba Yaga I found a sign in my garden - 3 beads in the shape of seeds that had fallen from a ornament in my apple tree and 3 rose hips at my feet - time to begin!*

I began to feel nervous and anxious - a deadline waiting for me each day. I began to look at other images of Baba Yaga and all I knew was that I didn’t want her to look ‘cartoonish’. I wanted the doll to express the primal power & wild nature of the forest or an initiation with Death. I remembered reading that in the Slavic tradition, Baba Yaga was not merely an elder or grandmother - oh no, she was not human at all. She was more like an entity, the spirit of the wild forest that teaches how to survive - if we’re lucky.

Like many faerie stories from my own ancestral lands of Scotland and Ireland, she wasn’t a loving figure - like the fae she required a bargain and a deal to be made - a test and initiation. All I knew was that I wanted to try and create this feeling in a doll but again, I waited for what I could only describe as ‘the right time’.

*With Jennifer Cooper and Jacqueline Durban - elders and guardians of the Crossbones Graveyard, London*

On Easter Saturday I received a message from one of the guardians of the Crossbones Graveyard in London where I visit on each pilgrimage to leave a doll for the ‘outcast dead’ at the beautiful gates adorned with ribbons and offerings from people and families all over the world. Many of these dedications are extremely personal, honouring family members who have passed away. To stand at the these gates alone on a cold morning watching the wind blow through the ribbons was one of my treasured memories from pilgrimage. The last thing I felt was alone…

On each pilgrimage I would bring a doll that I had created especially for the gates and I would meet with the women : Jacqueline Durban, Jennifer Cooper and Lucy Coleman Talbot who care so fiercely and joyfully for the graveyard and garden and together we would tie the new doll to the Crossbones gates and hold a ritual ceremony.

Here are videos I recorded at Crossbones Graveyard with Jacqueline Durban introducing me to the Crossbones gates on my first pilgrimage there 9 years ago in 2016 and my return to visit the Blue Swan Doll on a pilgrimage in 2019.

The message from Lucy told me that she was so sorry but had terrible news for me : the gates of Crossbones had been attacked on the eve of Good Friday and my doll was set on fire. All of the ribbons and beautiful personal offerings on the gates were now blackened, melted and charred.

Lucy told me that in an act of defiance, they tied my doll back to the gates with a singed ribbon. The doll was defiant! Still there, still caring for the spirits and standing strong. I knew that I would make a new doll for the gates within the next month. Within days of this happening, I could feel all of us that loved Crossbones Graveyard growing stronger in our conviction.

I sent Jennifer a message telling her : WE WILL RISE AGAIN. They held their monthly vigil at the gates and told me they were calling my doll the Phoenix! Birthed from the flames.

The charred gates of Crossbones Graveyard after the attack

*The Blue Swan now a Black & Gold Phoenix tied again to the gates of Crossbones*

Strangely, I didn’t feel broken or depressed or afraid. What I felt was a quiet strength and dedication to create a new spirit doll immediately to travel to London to be a watchful and fierce protector of Crossbones. Jennifer had the very difficult task of having to first find the gates after the attack and then having to remove so many personal dedications from families from the gates that were completely melted. Jennifer and the volunteers spent days clearing the burnt debris and removing the very real evidence of attack and devastation.

I tucked this project into a corner of my heart and thought that I would create this new doll after the Voice of the Spirit Doll had begun. I sat down and began to focus on making my Baba Yaga Doll - time was up! As soon as I began to create Baba Yaga, I felt as if something else was moving my hands. She began to form herself so quickly it was as if I would look and then look down and see another whole part of her complete. I was receiving help and it was very clear.

I thought about Vasilisa seeking FIRE and the fires set at the graveyard. I thought about the witch and her connection to fire and how it had been used so many times to try and destroy her. How fire is a re-generator in the forest, after a fire seeds are spread and plants grow faster.

*Baba Yaga spirit doll with her skull bag filled with hops from the Crossbones Graveyard and a broom made from a dried stalk of Queen Anne’s Lace.*

I began to realise that Baba Yaga was the doll I was creating for the Crossbones Graveyard. When I look at her face now I see that of course this is where she was meant to be. She has a herb pouch adorned with laughing skulls over her belly that Jennifer gifted me from the graveyard on my very second pilgrimage that is filled with hops and lavender that grow inside the Crossbones garden - from the bones and land itself. I’ve kept this herb pouch for 7 years - using the herbs sparingly in special dolls.

Now this cycle is complete and Baba Yaga will travel very soon to watch over all of the souls of Crossbones Graveyard and the strong and caring volunteers that have dedicated years of love and protection to this magical site.