There is a folktale about the importance of generosity when faced with a scarcity of resources that can be found in both Ukrainian folklore and in Abenaki folklore. In the Ukrainian version, woodland animals try to fit into a mitten to stay warm even though it is too small, and in the Abenaki version they are all coerced into a bag to feed a hunter and his grandmother even though taking all of them exceeds the hunter’s needs for the winter. Myths and stories that reveal shared values and themes despite having originated from two distinct cultures and landscapes reveals a collective consciousness: an undercurrent of synchronicities that connects us all together.
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The Birch Witch Awakens: Reclaiming the Wisdom of Baba Yaga and the Potential Hidden in a Forest's Ashes
What if the wisdom we fear the most—dark, wild, and unpredictable—is exactly what we need to find our way through the ruins? Here we follow the forest path of Baba Yaga, the wild crone of Slavic folklore, whose kinship with the birch tree teaches us that destruction can be a beginning, not just an end. In a world unraveling—ecologically, spiritually, and politically—her fierce, untamed wisdom calls us to root ourselves in cycles of death and rebirth, and to remember that becoming who we truly are often begins in the ashes.
Read MoreUshering in the Autumn: Synchronicities that Fall from the Trees
The ripening of local cranberries to crimson, the late-blooming rich yellow goldenrod flowers, and the variety of brown hues of dying leaves ushers in the beginning of autumn. I see a remarkable synchronicity in the colors of this landscape where I live in Massachusetts and the reds and golds that are considered colors of luck, happiness, and joy during a festival of my own heritage: the Mid-Autumn festival which is celebrated in Vietnam (known as Tết Trung Thu) on this full moon in September. Streets are lined with red and gold lanterns, and the rich brown color of traditional mooncakes eaten on this special day just adds to the magical similarity!
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