Who are the Babas?
Stone Babas at Kamiana Mohyla
Who are the Babas? A question is similar to, “Who are the Goddesses”? To define, in some ways, is to create too narrow of a path for something SO BIG.
That said, because the Babas have been the beings churning me, inspiring me and teaching me, I feel as though I can speak to how I imagine them. They are part of a dreaming, an incubation in our unconscious. My hope is that by giving them a bit more form, we can join in their re:re-birth into our consciousness as forces to align with. We need them in this time.
The Magic of the very young and the very old comes from the closeness they have to the brink of existence, the plane between worlds. The Magic of the End of Life is wise, knowing, and rich with wicked humor. The Babas are manifestations of Energies who find the best form for us to be able to conceive of them in the mask of the Powerful Granny.
This mask is loosely tied, the Babas slip out of it all the time. Sometimes, it is necessary for them to be dazzling, other times, downright terrifying. They seek the reciprocity and dynamic balance which initiates life. The Babas have taught us humans how to refine the skills for survival into art. Spinning, weaving, bread baking, farming and herbal medicine all came from the teachings of the Babas.
When we honor our elders, when we embrace the power of the body, when we compost, when we eat psychedelic mushrooms, when we split our sides with deep laughter, we are honoring the Babas.