To The Witch Who Doesn’t Feel “Witchy” Enough:

Still can't believe that Friends did the "in this couple one person isn't ready for kids, one person absolutely wants kids" conflict better than Brooklyn 99 did.

Little Big Things

Blobby says I JUST WANTED TO GET MY LUNCH KAREN 😆👏

Ismail Inceoglu • “The Darkest Hour”

Concept artist & Illustrator

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How the LGBTQ+ Community Conquered 2020 ⚔️🏳️‍🌈

2020 has not been the easiest of years for us. From wild bushfires and hurricanes, to a global pandemic and elections, this year has put a toll on all of us. 

But we want to look at the positives that happened in the LGBTQ+ community in 2020 to remind us all that there has been light in all of this darkness and that we should look forward to the wins which will greet us in 2021.

January

Northern Ireland legalised same-sex marriage

Utah bans LGBTQ conversion therapy for children

New Hampshire allows a third gender option on driving licenses 

February 

Croatia makes fostering children legal for same-sex couples

Switzerland votes to ban homophobic discrimination

March 

Virginia bans conversion therapy for children 

Gay panic defence removed as a defence for committing a crime 

April

Same-sex marriage legalised in Sark, UK

May

Germany bans conversion therapy for children and adults who were pressured into receiving it

Albania bans conversion therapy

Zambian President pardons 3000 people who were jailed for being homosexual

Costa Rica legalises same-sex marriage

June

The US Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ+ people are entitled to protection from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity

July

Montenegro voted to legalise same-sex civil partnerships

Gabon decriminalizes homosexuality 

Sudan abolishes death penalty for homosexuality

Scotland becomes first country to teach LGBTQ+ history as part of their curriculum 

Mexico City bans conversion therapy 

August

South African marriage officials cannot legally reject same-sex couples

In Australia, Queensland has banned conversion therapy

September

Inheritance laws in Hong Kong now fully cover LGBTQ+ people

English schools now teach LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons

October

In Mexico, the state of Mexico has banned conversion therapy

Pope Francis shows support for LGBTQ+ acceptance and civil unions

Canada reintroduces bill banning LGBT conversion therapy

November

Nevada to protect same-sex marriage in state constitution 

Sarah McBride became the first transgender state senator

Italy’s lower house of parliament approves bill protecting LGBT+ community

In Canada, Yukon has banned conversion therapy

December

In Mexico, Tlaxcala legalised Same-Sex Marriage

The UK lifted restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men

Uruguay has also lifted restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men

Bolivia holds its first same-sex civil union

The LGBTQ+ community has made a lot of progress in 2020 and that will only continue into 2021! As a community, let’s push forward and make the next year an amazing one! Stay proud! ⚔️🏳️‍🌈

18- Baba Yaga

18- Baba Yaga (Slavic Folklore).

This classic witch originates from Russian mythology and Slavic fairytales. Baba Yaga appears in various legends, often occupying the role of the witch residing deep in the woods that the main character must interact and barter with. She is the predecessor to witches like those found in the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, as well as those found in the Grimm Brothers’ works. Baba Yaga retains many unique characterizations and attributes not found in any other witch, however, making her singularly iconic.

Baba Yaga is described as a hideous, deformed, and vicious looking woman, resembling the classic hag archetype. In some versions of her story, Baba Yaga is not one, but three sisters all named Baba Yaga, each sister being older than the next. In this way, Baba Yaga is intimately connected to both The Graeae and the Moirai (#64), and illustrates the triple goddess. More specifically, Baba Yaga is a representation of the Crone phase, and is associated with death, darkness, and winter. Her function in the legends she appears in further matches this archetype, as she “may help or hinder” the characters that beseech her. She stands at the crossroads of death and mystery, allowing some to pass unscathed.

Baba Yaga is best known for two specific attributes that have defined witch iconography and contributed to Baba Yaga’s mythological uniqueness. Her residence, as well as her choice of aerial transportation, are some of the most distinctive out of any witch in this series. While most fairy tale and fictional witches fly through the sky on their iconic brooms, Baba Yaga sits her little old body inside a mortar, and steers her “spice-craft” with a pestle as rudder. The iconography and symbolic nature of this, with the mortar representing the divine feminine/womb and the pestle representing the divine masculine/phallus, shows Baba Yaga to be a character in balance with nature, called by some as a “phallic mother”. Other depictions show Baba Yaga riding through the sky in a cauldron, further solidifying the relationships between witches and their love of these cast iron pots (Ceridwen #56).

Baba Yaga’s hut is similarly iconic and unique, and has influenced centuries of witch-lore. Her house sits upon a pair of chicken legs (sometimes just a single claw). It jumps in the air and spins around, constantly moving from place to place and turning direction. I’ve seen dozens of references and depictions of witch-homes on chicken legs, but they are all imitations of Baba Yaga’s. Her yard is surrounded by a fence impaled with skulls, furthering her placement at the gates of death and dying. Her fowl-legged home appears in the earliest references to Baba Yaga, so whatever this strange attribute means, its intimately connected to her being.

The etymological roots and significance of her name are disputed. It’s generally agreed that the Baba is the same root as babushka, meaning grandmother. Other roots in Old Russian bring the shared meaning of Baba to “midwife, sorceress, and fortune teller”. The Yaga part of her name is less conclusive, however, with no root universally agreed upon. Some believe it has its origin in “serpent, snake”, while others see it from anything from “horror”, “witch”, “evil woman”, and “pain and worry”. In this way, Baba Yaga principally means Grandmother Witch, the Slavic etymological counterpart to the Italian version, Strega Nona (#21). Both Strega Nona and Baba Yaga are examples of the tradition of witch names ending in an A, with Baba Yaga perhaps being the earliest (See: Hilda and Zelda #36, Sabrina #62, Samantha/Endora/Clara #s 89/54/39, Glinda 76, et. al.).

In modern times, Baba Yaga has become more of a bogeyman character, used to scared children into good behavior. She’s described as flying through the air in her cauldron, stealing kids away to eat them. She is often shown as a consort to the personification of Death, sealing her Crone status. This association expands beyond the original source material for her, however, and while she is now often seen as evil, she was more thoroughly understood as being morally ambiguous. Baba Yaga’s ultimate good or evil was brought out by the decisions and/or actions of the main character in the fairy tale who interacted with her, serving as a reminder of caution, thoughtfulness, and sure-footedness.

Baba Yaga remains one of the classic hag witches from world folklore and mythology. I am absolutely enamored with her flying around in a Mortar/Pestle, as I find her to be one of the prototypes for modern Kitchen Witch iconography. Her witch residence goes down in history as one of the most unique, rivaled only by the far removed castles of witch/queens. I find her manifestation as three Baba Yagas, each living in a chicken-clawed home, to be her most allegorical and fascinating. In this way, Baba Yaga illustrates the singularity and unity of the Triple Goddess into one character, promoting the final stage of Crone as the most pertinent to the archetypes of witchcraft.

No sleep. 🎉🎆🎊

Need more food! 🍟🐱🥤

Magic Deities.

Is your daily routine leading you to the life you want?