Baba Yaga small-batch artisan soap - crafted to support resourcefulness during journeys of self-discovery.

I created a blend of essential oils that would transport you into the forest in search of the Baba Yaga. I imagine the Baba Yaga’s hut to be musty and smoky, smelling of wet wood and mildew – so I created a blend of smoky cade with oak moss, vanilla, rosewood - with birch and black spruce essential oils as the forest setting.

The Baba Yaga soap is the color of the fire Vasilisa sought, with exfoliating cornmeal and poppyseeds blended with red and white clays and activated charcoal in reference to the tasks that the Baba Yaga required of Vasilisa the Beautiful. These tasks included sorting the good corn from the mildewed, removing all the black bits - and sorting out the dirt from the poppy seeds.

The Baba Yaga is a character in Slavic folk tales who lives in a hut deep in the dark birch and black spruce forest. Her hut stands upon chicken legs surrounded by a jagged fence, topped with human skulls that act as torches in the night. While mostly portrayed as a ferocious looking old woman who eats children, she sometimes appears as a nice old woman who can help in unexpected ways.

In the folktale Vasilisa the Beautiful – the main character is sent to search out the Baba Yaga’s hut to retrieve a torch- a suicide mission. The Baba Yaga presents several impossible tasks to do, or else be eaten. Vasilisa was able to complete the tasks with some magical intervention. The lesson of the story being the importance of staying true to oneself and overcoming challenges with courage and wit.