Ragana
The Flying Witch
Ragana is an ancient, pre-Indo-European, Lithuanian-Latvian Goddess of witches, witchcraft and wise women. Her name is derived from the verb regeti which means to know, see and foresee. The noun ragas means horn or crescent, pointing to the deep link of intuitive insight, the moon and the Goddess, as well as being a common symbol for witches. Her story dates back to the Neolithic era, the New Stone Age.
Ragana flies, which she much prefers to walking, riding a stick, branch or tree stump, symbolising the death of nature, and can appear in many different forms, as a beautiful woman, a nightmarish creature, different animals like a bird, poison toad, hedgehog, fish, venomous snake, sow, female dog or goat. She is also linked to owls. It is believed that Ragana first was a nature Goddess, symbolising the aspect of dying nature and the turn of the seasons from summer into winter.
Besides winter, Ragana also rules birth, fertility, menstruation and menopause that is believed to begin with the touch of her red wand, as well as death and destruction. Ragana is a seer who doesn’t necessarily wish to be seen. She is a prophetess who sees all, including the future that she reveals, she is omniscient and all-powerful. She is a master healer who can cure any illness or ailment, but by the same token, she can also cause painful deaths. She can bless or curse, controlling the milk supply in women and animals. She can conjure up storms and winds or disperse them.
The Power of Destruction
Ragana’s associated birds are crow, magpie and Owl. Fish are carp and pike, and her colours are white and red. She is linked to the crescent moon, her number is 3, and her tree is the birch. Incidentally, a rabbi from New York once told me that the Hebrew name Tirza also means birch. Since childhood, birches have been my favourite trees. I love how it all comes together, decades later, when I Ragana comes into my life at the age of almost 55 and the worst symptoms of menopause are behind me, hot flashes excluded. Ragana also shows her powers in plants that heal, kill or poison. One of my power animals is Cobra and I am a Scorpio sun sign. The ancient Egyptian Scorpion Goddess Serket, whom I love, fits nicely into this category as well.
As the guardian of nature and cycles, creation, growth, decline, and destruction are Ragana’s domain. She can cure or cause infertility and impotence. She is best understood as a spirit of balance whose negative powers can be seen as blessing, too, when you seek out the deeper meaning and silver lining. She is also the power that reverses the ascent of the sun after the summer solstice. Imagine what would happen if the sun continued unchecked, shining ever brighter and longer upon the earth. Moreover, Ragana is known to hack holes in the ice of frozen lakes and the sea for winter bathing in icy water.
She also punishes men who surprise her or her handmaidens, especially when caught during bathing, cavorting, celebrating or engaged in another form ritual. Those men are first devoured sexually by herself and her handmaidens, then they are devoured literally in an act of cannibalism. The Greek Goddess Artemis has hounds devour Actaeon when he surprises her and her nymphs while bathing. Some parallels can be drawn here, perhaps. Thus, Ragana is the nightmare of the patriarchy.
The Demonised Feminine
The Christian church portrayed Ragana as pure evil, as it is not easy to understand her darkness, and she is an obvious threat to patriarchal powers and institutions, they described her as grotesque and warned against her influences. They did everything in their power to dissuade people from venerating her, reducing her to a frightening malevolent witch who flew around with owls in the dead of night, and blamed her for bringing all kinds of misfortune upon humans and livestock.
Even long before the rise of Christianity in the Baltic region, Ragana was already demonised. Male deities and spirits were the norm, and the arrival of a powerful female challenged the status quo. She wasn’t the wife of a male deity, which, in that pantheon at the time was the system for all pre-Indo-European Goddesses. Ragana wasn’t wife material. She was an independent, powerful feminine force that could not be domesticated. The church only condemned her further, but although she is known for her cannibalism, like her Slavic counterpart Baba Yaga, she has maintained a powerful spiritual hold—and appeal. She is invoked both in benevolent and malevolent magic. (Re-)directing her destructive powers are part of these spells that can both attack and defend from others wishing to cause harm through magic.
In modern Latvia and Lithuania, the term ragana means witch with a rather negative connotation thanks to centuries of Christian demonisation. According to the folklore, witches fly to hilltops on Ragana’s sacred night, the Winter Solstice, to meet. In modern times, Ragana experiences a rise in popularity with the Neo-Pagan community, along with other Goddesses that represent the wild and abundant feminine powers and the undiluted rage against oppressors and a patriarchal system that exploits the earth, nature, animals and people. I, myself, have been drawn from childhood to what are generally known the “dark” Goddesses as I love their unbridled, unapologetic powers.
Strong-Willed
If you want to work with Ragana and gift her offerings, traditional ones are the first eggs or hunter’s catches of spring, butter, cheese, hair, sheep’s wool and, of course, menstrual blood.
When I came across her name while doing some other research, I had never heard of Ragana, and although she was only mentioned by name as some Goddess, for some reason, I felt strongly drawn to her. This is why I always say, it is the Goddesses that call me to work with and write about them, not me just randomly picking one.
Following my intuition, I went on a deep-dive into her mythology and mysteries. When we finally connected “in person” (in the widest sense of the phrase, my current hot flush was gone and I felt a distinct cold, icy trail down my spine. It was not unpleasant.
She told me, it was time for a new phase in my life, and with the coming of winter, I would find myself in different circumstances. As it is now the beginning of September 2026, I am warned. It will not be easy, but a necessary death of old patterns dying to make room for new. We had a longer talk and then I asked her about a general message for the collective.
Ragana's Message
Not everyone can handle my energies and power. You need to be ready for dealing with the consequences. There is no shame in waiting until a later date. Connect with me from a position of inner strength. I will also come to those who I deem ready to connect with me. Like you, Tirza.
Speaking to the collective, you must no longer be passive. The world is in the last throes of patriarchy and those in power will do whatever they can to cling to it. Do not expect ethics or empathy from them. You will only be disappointed. Monsters roam the earth, but at the same time, the Feminine is rising. And therein lies your strength and power. Collectively, you can overcome these challenging time and usher in a new future that honours the earth, nature, animals and people.
Be prepared to make sacrifices. No revolution, no heroine overcoming the odds triumphantly, has ever had a smooth path. Yours is within as much as without. You must travel to the dark, cold, forbidden parts of your own psyche, face the demons and monsters there in order to no longer allow them to sap your strength and torture you with fears, anxiety and nightmares, but to harness that strength, utilise the darkness in a powerful, constructive way, go through spiritual death to emerge purified and transformed. Once you embrace and harness that power within you, nothing can stop you anymore.
Serve Yourself & Serve the Whole
This path is not for the faint of heart, but those who are ready will hear and follow the call. I am sorry if my message sounds dark, but that is where I live, in the darkness, in death, in the hidden. And you must travel my path to once again emerge into the light, individually and collectively.
Without facing the monsters chasing you, you cannot turn to the future and build a world that honours all life. You must not give in, but stand up for yourself and others, stand up for the Great Mother, the earth and all of nature. When you place the earth above all your individual and collective desires for comfort and instant gratification, when you are prepared to sacrifice now in order to gain in the long run, that is where you find me, and that is where I am with you.
You are not alone in the darkness. Reach out to me and you’ll find me there, right with you, guiding you every step of the way if you allow it. So fortify yourself, but do not be afraid. When you walk the path of the Goddess, express divine truth and draw on your holy rage to give you strength, you will reap great rewards, most of which you cannot even imagine at this time. So don’t be afraid to collapse patriarchal societal structures as you know them. Yes, there will be birthing pain, but just as a mother is overjoyed to hold her sweet baby in her arms after hours of labour and pain, so will you rejoice in the dawn of a new era that promises life for all.
Ragana nodded to herself, thumped my upper arm and walked off, telling me over her shoulder, “That’s it. At least for now.”
And then she was gone…