An Old Lady who Get a Bad Rap and A Queen Who Used Pigeons as a Weapon with Madame Pamita

Madame Pamita

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[00:00:00] Track 1: Hi everybody. Welcome to Dying with a Divine. My name is Ashley, I'm your host, and today we'll be exploring the myths, the magical and everything in between. So on today's episode, we'll be talking about an old lady who gets a bad rap and a queen who, man managed to use pigeons as a weapon. So I just wanna say hi to everybody.

[00:00:26] Welcome. I hope everyone's having a good week, and if you're not, I hope it gets way better. So today we have a fantastic guest. I'm very excited. . Madam Pita is a Ukrainian diaspora witch teacher, best-selling author, candle maker, spellcaster and taro reader.

[00:00:43] She has a popular YouTube channel for teaching witchcraft. She hosts the Magic and Love of Attraction and Bobby Gaga's magic podcast, and she is the author of Bobby Gaga's book of Witchcraft, the Book of Candle Magic and Madam PDA's, magical Taro. [00:01:00] She is also the proprietors of the online spiritual ary, the Parlor of Wonders, and she lives in Santa Monica, California.

[00:01:08] Hi, Madame Mita, how are you?

[00:01:10] Madame Pamita: Oh, Hi.

[00:01:11] Ashley. I'm so happy to be here with you. This is wonderful just to get to talk and discuss. Magic is just like my Favorite.

[00:01:19] so I'm

[00:01:20] happy

[00:01:20] Track 1: happy

[00:01:21] Madame Pamita: right now.

[00:01:23] Track 1: Awesome. I'm so happy to hear that. So, the first thing I just wanna ask you about is like, so how did this all happen for you? How did you get to where you are now? How did it all start? What's your, what's your origin story?

[00:01:37] Madame Pamita: Well, my origin story,

[00:01:38] I love it.

[00:01:38] My origin story, like I'm a

[00:01:40] Marvel?

[00:01:40] superhero or

[00:01:41] Track 1: Yes.

[00:01:44] Madame Pamita: my, I,

[00:01:45] I,

[00:01:45] up in a magical household, although I

[00:01:47] didn't realize it.

[00:01:48] at the time, you know My, my grandmother,

[00:01:52] on my mother's side was a healer. and

[00:01:55] my mom.

[00:01:56] who grew up in that environment, Ruth's really accepting of[00:02:00]

[00:02:00] Magic

[00:02:01] and

[00:02:02] you know, like she bought me my first tarot deck when I was

[00:02:04] 10.

[00:02:05] We had a Ouija board in the house. I mean, we had all that stuff

[00:02:08] as

[00:02:08] long As I was Catholic. She didn't care, you know,

[00:02:11] Track 1: Same. Yeah. Got it.

[00:02:12] Madame Pamita: yeah, yeah. it's very interesting because in Ukrainian magic, There is that blending of the old ancient animist. We could even say animist, I mean go predates, even paganism,

[00:02:27] those rituals and traditions that are blended with an overlay of Christianity. And so it isn't seen as something that's bad. It's like, oh, you do that, but you tack on Mary and Jesus, you're fine.

[00:02:42] So I grew I grew up in that environment, so I was always doing magic, but I always had this idea that I, this was what everyone

[00:02:49] did. Like I

[00:02:50] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:51] Madame Pamita: everyone.

[00:02:51] was,

[00:02:52] you

[00:02:53] know what I'm talking about? Right.

[00:02:54] Track 1: Yes. 100%. Yes. Yes.

[00:02:56] Madame Pamita: So

[00:02:57] I think know, there's, there are people

[00:02:59] that grow up in these [00:03:00] environments where people practice folk magic and they don't look down on it or you know, they don't think of it as. Evil satanic

[00:03:09] witchcraft. It's, it wasn't called witchcraft for sure. It wasn't called witchcraft. It was just called like, this is like the thing we do

[00:03:15] to get this Right.

[00:03:17] This

[00:03:17] is what we do. So I grew up in that environment

[00:03:20] As I

[00:03:21] said, I,

[00:03:21] mentioned before, I got my first tarot deck when I was 10 years old. I used to play with them like paper dolls because obviously I wasn't like the child prodigy who was doing readings at 10 started Yeah. I wasn't Mozart of taro. so.

[00:03:34] and then when I started to be in my teens, that's when I started reading for people practicing magic a little bit.

[00:03:39] But there was very, I'm 58, I'm gonna be 59 this year. There were very limited resources. This is before the days when they were making books for teenagers. So I would find what I could find in The library.

[00:03:52] Libraries were my like, ugh, my like,

[00:03:54] favorite. And I would, you know, I could find anything. And back in those days, this was the [00:04:00] seventies.

[00:04:00] It was like e s p ghosts and

[00:04:03] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:05] Madame Pamita: Aliens and things like that. And I always look at those kinds of books and be fascinated with that. And then when I got to be my teens, I could drive around, I could get to a bookstore. I had some, you know, I was always working. I always had a job from

[00:04:18] 15 on, A little money to spend.

[00:04:20] Then I started getting books and then found others who were practicing and, and learned from other witches. And that's when I got started. So is that a good enough origin story? It's

[00:04:30] not very exciting. I didn't get bit by a spider or, you know, nuclear accident or anything like that.

[00:04:36] Track 1: That's totally fine. That's a perfect, wonderful, beautiful origin story. I love it. I think it's so interesting in so many cultures, like a lot of that happens in my culture too, where it's like there's things that we just do and then everyone's like, well, that's just the thing you do. But when you really think about it, it's like, no, we do this for a reason because our ancestors did it.

[00:04:56] But now it's like, no, but we don't do that because we love Jesus.

[00:04:58] Yeah, and [00:05:00] my culture is the same.

[00:05:00] There's certain things, even simple things. I was talking to somebody about this the other day. I was like, you know how people like in gangs pour out wine or beer or whatever for their. Back in the nineties that they're homies. Right? , like, that's like a magical practice. And people like have literally forgotten that.

[00:05:19] That's this is a thing that people did and it's in a lot of cultures, people give offerings to the dead and things like that. But you just think it's so normal. Cuz we've all just been doing it for so long and because a lot of these cultures have been colonized by Christianity. So we all just assume like, oh, no, no, no.

[00:05:34] It's just what we do. You don't really think past that.

[00:05:37] Madame Pamita: Well, you know what? Can I just say one thing?

[00:05:39] When you're talking about pouring out for your

[00:05:41] homies, all I can think of is that key and Peel comedy little skit

[00:05:45] That they had where he's like, I don't wanna pour, I don't wanna waste it

[00:05:49] don't he, can't he just get

[00:05:50] it without me.

[00:05:51] actually wasting the like

[00:05:53] Track 1: Yes.

[00:05:54] Madame Pamita: Mad Dog or whatever.

[00:05:55] He's born

[00:05:55] at

[00:05:57] Track 1: That is so fun. Oh God, [00:06:00] I love it. So so, okay, you've written a few different books. You've written a book about candle magic, you've written about Bobby Yaga and what, when you wrote, cuz we're gonna talk about Bobby Yaga a lot in a couple minutes, but these different books that you wrote, I mean, at the time you didn't have a lot of books, like you were saying when you were growing up that you could reference would, is that part of what inspired you to write all these different books?

[00:06:23] Madame Pamita: You are so amazing. You're so, you must be my second friend because you, you hit the nail in the head.

[00:06:31] I create something

[00:06:33] and, and any, like,

[00:06:35] I'm, I'm

[00:06:35] what I call like,

[00:06:36] um, I guess I would say practical witch,

[00:06:38] Track 1: mm-hmm.

[00:06:39] Madame Pamita: If something already exists out in the world, I'll go buy that thing that somebody else has created. But usually what inspires me is when I'm, I have, I want a certain thing to be out in the world and it doesn't exist out in the world. That's when I'm like, Oh, then I can make it right.

[00:06:58] I can do it.

[00:06:59] So

[00:06:59] I, [00:07:00] I'm also a candle maker and back when I started making candles, we could not find figural candles in a good

[00:07:09] Variety.

[00:07:10] I mean, there had used to be a dealer, a big manufacturer here, but it got bought out by somebody who didn't really know what they were doing or didn't understand the magical community.

[00:07:18] They're just a business person. So you'd be like going trucking on down to the store and it'd be like blue Male

[00:07:26] figural candle and

[00:07:28] a an orange female, and that's all they

[00:07:30] had in stock.

[00:07:31] And I'm like,

[00:07:31] but I

[00:07:32] need red, or I need,

[00:07:33] you know this and I need,

[00:07:34] this shape and I need that. Plus I also have this great fondness for beeswax as safe nurturing to our bee communities, bee populations, because the more we buy beeswax, the more bees beekeepers are able to care and steward these bees.

[00:07:52] And so, and beeswax is super magical going back in history. Paraffin that most candles are made out of [00:08:00] is, is a relatively new development, new material.

[00:08:03] But,

[00:08:03] um, so I, I said, well, I,

[00:08:05] wanna the candles, I want the

[00:08:07] candles that I want

[00:08:07] and I want

[00:08:08] them in beeswax. And at that time, nobody was doing that.

[00:08:11] So I said, okay, well I'll start doing that. I'll start making them. And I figured it out like how to do it. The same thing with my books.

[00:08:19] Um, I wanted there to be a tarot book that reflected my. Long history with the tarot as a tool for leading you to your solutions and your success

[00:08:29] rather than this like, oh, you get the tower card, you're screwed.

[00:08:35] How do we work with energy of the tower card and how do we navigate that? Like that's what I, I'm interested in.

[00:08:42] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:43] Madame Pamita: And

[00:08:43] the same thing.

[00:08:43] with a candle book. I saw

[00:08:44] a lot.

[00:08:45] of recipe books out there. I did not see a book that told you how the nuts and bolts and how to create your own spell. So I,

[00:08:53] have everything in that book. And

[00:08:55] then the Babi Yaga book, there was nothing about Ukrainian magic and very little [00:09:00] and very little good information about Slavi magic. So because that's my heritage and my background, I'm like, I gotta write about

[00:09:08] this So,

[00:09:09] and that.

[00:09:09] you know, really I think was inspired like as I'm a spiritualist as well.

[00:09:14] And so it's really inspired by spiritualism and the spirit of my grandmother and the spirit of Bubba Yaga coming to me and saying, you need to do this.

[00:09:22] And as a result, you know, a book, writing a book, the process of writing a book takes three years. You have to create a proposal, then you write the book, and then it has to be edited and they have to get the illustrator.

[00:09:33] That whole process takes two, two to three years.

[00:09:37] So I started this book way before

[00:09:39] there was,

[00:09:39] any, you know, inkling that there was gonna be this full scale invasion into Ukraine.

[00:09:44] And then the book comes out at the time when everyone knows about Ukraine and is interested in Ukraine. And I say, that's not my doing, that's not me being psychic.

[00:09:54] That's my spirit saying, start now. Because when it comes out, it's going to be, [00:10:00] um, you know, it's gonna be the right time for this book. So, my ancestors, my spirits. I work with them all the time. So

[00:10:07] that's what I create. So I create what doesn't exist out in the world. That's my inspiration. If someone else has made an amazing book about something else, I don't feel the need to compete or write my version of it.

[00:10:19] I just go to their version and I'm recommend tons of books to people that are amazing, books that are way better than anything I could come up with. So yeah,

[00:10:28] Track 1: Okay. First of all, when you were talking, I got ctra out throughout, hold my whole body and , I was like, oh God, I love this. And then so also I got your book the other day because I was like, I'm gonna talk to this woman. And I haven't read her book yet, so I'm thinking like, oh, I'm just gonna read this book.

[00:10:44] It's gonna, no, that's not true. This book has so much good information in it. I'm like looking at it, I'm highlighting, I'm putting my little cute little things I bought the other day, like to put bookmarks in my book so I don't mess them up. Oh my God. It is extensive. It is so good. [00:11:00] Like, Yes.

[00:11:00] The amount of good information that I'm like, wow, like this is so interesting. The one part even I was reading how you talk about like the different practitioners in like Slavi Society even. That's so interesting how you really explain how they're different. Even that, just like that little section, I was like, oh, this is such good information.

[00:11:17] I loved it. And I just collect books anyway, so like anytime I get a good book that I can reference over and over, I'm so excited. and I just, oh, I just love it. Like I've been looking through it. And for me, like Bobby Yaga in my like Shamonic practice, she's actually my like psycho pump guy. She helps me when I'm moving souls.

[00:11:38] So, when I , first started my practice and I found out it was Bobby Yaga. I don't know who Bobby Yaga is. I'm not Ukrainian or, or Slavi at all. So when I found out about her and everybody's like, oh, this, yeah, she lives in a house and there's chicken legs. I was like, what? I was like,

[00:11:56] Madame Pamita: I know. It's, it's so unique and, and odd, isn't it?

[00:11:59] Track 1: yes. I was like, [00:12:00] oh. And like my spiritual encounters with her, especially at the beginning I was scared cuz she's, like she to me always made me think of in Snow White, like the witch, right? The mean witch. But then honestly, like I've, she is one of my most loving, supportive guides like,

[00:12:18] She's so supportive, so loving. And also she's like, but she's also like, I'm gonna need you to get your shit together. Like, I love you so hard. Yeah. , she's like, I, she's that grandma who's not, but she's not taking any of your crap. Like you can complain to her. But then after she's like, okay, so I'm gonna need you to get up and solve your problem now.

[00:12:36] I'm gonna help you. Yeah. I love you to death, but you have to fix your problem cuz you're not a weak, you're not a weak bitch. Get up.

[00:12:42] Madame Pamita: a hundred percent. Ashley, this is like, to me, the definitive proof that you're really encountering that spirit. And I've gone through core Shamanism training. I did a year of training and I always visit her in the lower world. And

[00:12:55] she is a teacher and an initiator. And I

[00:12:58] often describe her, and [00:13:00] you're, this is

[00:13:00] exactly what you're saying.

[00:13:01] but I often describe her.

[00:13:02] I'm saying like, you know, she's kind of like an Olympics coach.

[00:13:05] She picks you because she sees something in you that's special.

[00:13:10] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:11] Madame Pamita: Just like no, an Olympic coach just doesn't go down the street and grab somebody and say, I'm gonna, you know, take you to the Olympics. They've gotta see something. They've gotta see your

[00:13:19] Potential. But what? What?

[00:13:21] happens is she sees your potential more than you see your potential. So she'll put you through your paces. Because she knows you can do it. So when people are like, oh, I wanna be a dev devote of Bobby Aga, how do I do it? I go be ready to do work, because it's not going to be, um, la la la you know, I'm, I'm dancing around and having a good time.

[00:13:42] This is, she's, she's a coach.

[00:13:45] So when you have to train for the Olympics, the coach says to you, you're gonna be here 15 hours a day, seven days a week, and that will get us the gold medal.

[00:13:54] And when she works with you, she puts you through your paces, but not to punish you.

[00:13:59] This [00:14:00] is

[00:14:00] the mistake that people think.

[00:14:01] It's

[00:14:02] like,

[00:14:02] she's mean, she's

[00:14:03] not mean. She's tough because she

[00:14:06] knows you can do it

[00:14:07] more than you know you can do it. And so

[00:14:10] many times when I was writing that book, I was crying with frustration and just like, why did I even take this on? This is so hard. It was so incredibly hard.

[00:14:21] Because there's no information out there, very little information out there. But, and I had to do so much research and it was really, really hard and came up to dead ends and not sure how to do it. I had to learn how to read Ukrainian, like, I don't know. You know what

[00:14:34] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:34] Madame Pamita: was crazy, right? And

[00:14:37] she, the end result was something so beautiful and something that I'm so proud of having that book is something I'm so, so proud of because, and I give her and my grand grandmother all credit because it was they that said, you are the one in the material world who can do this.

[00:14:55] We are in the spirit world. We cannot create this, but you have to be [00:15:00] the one that shows up for us, and then we'll show up. I mean, they show up for me anyway, but you know what I'm saying?

[00:15:05] So when you're saying you're going to bga, and she's like, I would say she's not, she's intimidating,

[00:15:12] right?

[00:15:13] Track 1: Yes.

[00:15:14] Madame Pamita: and she's

[00:15:15] Powerful.

[00:15:15] So she's Very intimidating. but.

[00:15:17] Track 1: But

[00:15:18] Madame Pamita: She's

[00:15:18] also so loving,

[00:15:19] and

[00:15:20] powerful and healing. Yeah, I mean it's, you know, she's a tough grandma,

[00:15:24] Track 1: She is, she's the kind of like, and I'm gonna go for anybody who's listening, who's like, oh, Bobby Yaga, we're gonna talk about her some descriptors in a couple minutes, just so everybody knows what we're talking about. But like, she's the kind of grandma who, she's gonna feed you.

[00:15:36] She'll sit you down. And she's like, tell me what's going on. And you tell her and she's like, loves you. She's gonna give you a hug. She'll, she maybe slap your face really lightly. , come on. But it's, you're exactly what you're saying. The Olympic coach thing is so right., she pushes you because she knows you can do it.

[00:15:52] She's not gonna make you do anything. And she's also like, I'm gonna be here the whole time. I'm not gonna let you alone. I'm gonna tell you. To get [00:16:00] it together. I'm gonna push you into it, but I will never leave you. So don't worry. And I feel like people get that so wrong about her cuz they think that she's just like a scary looking old lady.

[00:16:10] And I do, I have to say sometimes when she's like, in my spiritual practice, when she's come to me, she's like laughing loudly, kind of cly laugh. And I think people would think, oh, that's so scary. Aren't you scared? I'm like, no, because she's just, she's just laughing at me, probably . She's just like, oh, silly girl.

[00:16:27] Here you go again.

[00:16:28] Madame Pamita: she's been around for thousands of thousands and thousands of years. She's seen it all.

[00:16:32] Track 1: Exactly

[00:16:33] Madame Pamita: probably like, you know, she can do an eye, she's allowed to do an eye roll,

[00:16:36] but I think. But I think what happens is that sometimes people are, if

[00:16:41] they're disrespectful.

[00:16:42] of her, she will come down hard.

[00:16:45] So this is a real trait of all of the slav spirits.

[00:16:49] And probably as we look into other cultures too, the same sort of thing that if you come with disrespect,

[00:16:55] like if you

[00:16:56] go,

[00:16:56] onto their land and you destroy the land, [00:17:00] there's gonna be retribution of some kind. If you go with disrespect and you know, boss her around. Like, I never boss a spirit. I never boss a spirit. I work with a spirit, I don't come off like, this is the other thing that people can sometimes make a mistake of, like, oh,

[00:17:18] I want something. So I'm going to go to this spirit who I've never worked with before and ask them

[00:17:23] to bring me that. That's not

[00:17:25] how it works.

[00:17:26] You don't walk up to somebody on the street and say, Hey, gimme $20. You can go to your friend. Hey, can you gimme $20 and I'll pay you back next week? Because you already have a relationship with them.

[00:17:37] Track 1: Yes.

[00:17:37] Madame Pamita: So you have to

[00:17:38] Start your relationship with

[00:17:40] your spirits before you start asking them for favors or boons. Now the spirits can come to you and ask you to do something,

[00:17:47] Track 1: mm-hmm.

[00:17:47] Madame Pamita: and if that's the case, then I will do it.

[00:17:50] Like, if a spirit asks me to do something, I'll do it.

[00:17:53] Like I.

[00:17:54] don't work with Santa myself.

[00:17:56] I'm, that's not my culture, it's not my, you know, I stay in my lane, [00:18:00] right.

[00:18:00] Track 1: Yeah, yeah.

[00:18:01] Madame Pamita: But

[00:18:01] But

[00:18:01] Santa Mote

[00:18:03] says I want a candle so that my debut devotees can have a candle. So I make a candle for B for Santa Mote,

[00:18:08] but it's not

[00:18:09] me

[00:18:10] saying, Hey, this is my

[00:18:12] gal.

[00:18:13] Cuz she, she's

[00:18:14] Never said,

[00:18:15] I'll work with you. She says,

[00:18:16] do this thing for me. And I'm like, okay, sure I can do that. Black Hawk is another

[00:18:21] Example

[00:18:22] You know, black Hawk is comes from African American spiritualist churches, mother Leafy Anderson. In the beginning of the century, she worked with Black Hawk. And so

[00:18:32] I'm not native,

[00:18:33] American. I'm not African American, but

[00:18:35] Black Hawk said We need a candle.

[00:18:38] I'm like, you're asking me to make a candle?

[00:18:40] Okay.

[00:18:41] And then sure enough, that's when

[00:18:44] all the stuff with

[00:18:45] like intense. In

[00:18:47] social injustice,

[00:18:49] intense. The,

[00:18:50] the

[00:18:50] pipeline stuff, you know, the keystone pipeline and all of those things went on like three months after I made that candle.

[00:18:57] And he is about social justice,

[00:18:59] So [00:19:00] it's not my

[00:19:02] spirit,

[00:19:02] but the spirits will sometimes come and ask me to do things and I'm like,

[00:19:06] okay. You know?

[00:19:07] Track 1: absolutely. No, I have the same thing. I find it interesting. Like, and I mean, everybody's practice is different, so I don't tell, and I'm not any type of expert about anything, but I find it interesting when people be like, oh, and I just , I really wanted to do this, so I'm really calling on this spirit.

[00:19:23] And I'm like, okay, you can call on them. But , that doesn't mean they're gonna come , they're, they're, these are. A lot of, for instance, like Bobby yg, if these are like primordial before time kind of spirits, what do you think that us little humans can be telling them what to do for us? Then we can't.

[00:19:42] They, if they will come and they wanna come, they'll come, but don't, you know, and like you said, don't insult them cuz that's insulting. Don't tell 'em, oh you whatever spirit from whatever culture you have to come and do this for me. They'll be like, get away silly human

[00:19:57] Madame Pamita: yeah. And if it, let's say, you know, let's say [00:20:00] I did want to work with a

[00:20:01] spirit.

[00:20:02] I would go, I, I would work with that spirit and develop a relationship, make

[00:20:06] Track 1: Absolutely.

[00:20:07] Madame Pamita: alter in that. Now the

[00:20:08] exception to that is our

[00:20:10] ancestors, because we already have a

[00:20:12] relationship with our ancestors. So if you've never had

[00:20:15] a relation, if you've Never done any work.

[00:20:17] with your ancestors, I mean it would be.

[00:20:19] nice if you had a relationship with them beforehand and did stuff with an ancestor altar beforehand. But certainly you could go to your ancestors and say, Hey, I'm in a real pickle right now and I really need your help. And they would come forward,

[00:20:31] but wouldn't it be nicer? It's like, it's like going to

[00:20:33] grandma.

[00:20:34] who you haven't called in two years and going up to her and asking her for $20. Yeah, she'd probably give you the $20, but she'd probably say like, why don't you come around? You know? So I

[00:20:43] think

[00:20:43] we have to think of these spirits as having that quality.

[00:20:47] Now, whether they have those emotions about it. I don't know. I just know this from experience of working with them. That's what I see.

[00:20:53] That's what I see. That's my viewpoint. I'll just

[00:20:56] Track 1: I'm the same. There's spirits that I work with that [00:21:00] sometimes when I was learning different things, they'd be like, okay, it will Bobby Y is one. Like again, I'm not, you know, I'm not slavi. So like when I started working with her, I just had to talk to her a lot and I was like, tell me what you like, you know, tell me what you do.

[00:21:13] I put her on my altar. I got her a little cauldron. I left her some candies and then more and more she would like talk to me. She would work with me. But it was developing that relationship. I wasn't telling her what to do. Like I just said, okay, let me know what you like and when you wanna talk, we could talk.

[00:21:28] And she's like, okay. You know? And it was like that's the way you develop. Like you saying, that's the way you develop these really strong bonds with these spirits and like work with them in the most respectful way. Especially when they're not from your culture too. It's like when you, but when you approach 'em with respect, they'll come back to you like, you know, it's, that's the best, that's the best way everybody to work with the spirit and the safest.

[00:21:51] Madame Pamita: Yeah. As safest. Absolutely. I mean, you'll get a better result anyway.

[00:21:54] It's like if you walk up to a stranger on the street and say, gimme $20, you're probably not gonna get a good response

[00:21:59] [00:22:00] from that. You might hit that one in a hundred person, one at a thousand person. That's like, oh, okay. You know? But but really, you know, we wanna get, we wanna develop those relationships before we start having our hand out, you know?

[00:22:12] Track 1: Exactly. So since we've been talking about Bobbi Yaga, I'm just gonna give everybody some identifiers. In case you've never heard of Bobbi Yaga, these are some things you can know about her. So she is, so what I've researched, they said Bobbi Yaga, this story, Bobby Yaga, started in Cynthia, which is like Southern Siberia.

[00:22:32] And then it spread throughout a bunch of different Slavi countries. So there's some, and you don't know what Slavi countries, I'll explain. There's, here are some of them. , Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Siberia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania. All of this is in Ahma P'S book, by the way.

[00:22:56] She, she was, they, I read this somewhere too, [00:23:00] that they thought that maybe because she's such like an old spirit, people thought that maybe she started off as a goddess of birth and death. But then through Christianity, a lot of the time, and this happened, so many cultures, these old older women or any woman was kind of turned into a witch, or these healers, you know, they were turned into witches.

[00:23:22] So then it became like a bad thing. But they really think that she was like a goddess before all of this. So she was birthed deaf, she was probably everything. She lives deep in the forest and she lives in a house that has chicken legs and she also rides around in a mortar and pistol. Pestol. I say pistol pestol,

[00:23:41] Madame Pamita: she would've probably care, you know, she would probably be packing, that's all I'm gonna say.

[00:23:46] Track 1: probably. I could see her. She,

[00:23:48] she's awesome. And her house is mean a bones, and she always has like a cauldron burn bubbling. And something's always, she's always, she's always ready to feed somebody. She's, she's that perfect hostess. she's.[00:24:00]

[00:24:00] Madame Pamita: Or eat you if you're

[00:24:01] Track 1: Or obnoxious

[00:24:03] or eat you if you're obnoxious or a delicious looking child possibly.

[00:24:07] , she, she has iron teeth apparently in some places. They say she has iron teeth that protrude like claws. She has hands that are tipped with bear claws. She likes to smoke a pipe and she really likes animals. You know, she lives in the forest. She gets along with everybody. And she's a big defender of animals.

[00:24:26] So those are some big identifiers of Bobbi Yaga. If you don't know anything about her, she she one, where's the thing? Oh, she's also known as a mistress of witches. The grandmother of the forest, people call her the primal mother who rescues, nurtures and destroys. And I got that from the Encyclopedia of Spirits.

[00:24:44] Madame Pamita: That works

[00:24:45] Track 1: yeah. And she can also be petitioned for fertility in some places too. People do that.

[00:24:49] Madame Pamita: interesting.

[00:24:50] Well, because she's in charge of life and death. And really, if you think this is, there's so many interesting things as I, as you

[00:24:57] Dive into

[00:24:57] her story and learn about [00:25:00] this,

[00:25:00] you know, understanding that

[00:25:03] in Slavi culture

[00:25:04] there wasn't. It

[00:25:06] wasn't written spirituality. In fact, my grandparents

[00:25:11] didn't read or write. That

[00:25:13] doesn't mean,

[00:25:13] they were stupid.

[00:25:14] It doesn't mean they were, they were in

[00:25:17] an agricultural society.

[00:25:18] and reading and writing were not so important.

[00:25:21] What was important was working the land, understanding, you know, how to, how to farm and all of that. So,

[00:25:28] what happened in this culture that this is, you know, folk magic.

[00:25:32] And when we talk about folk magic, we're talking about the people's magic. This is the wor, the, the people's magic. This is not something coming from on high. This

[00:25:43] is not something.

[00:25:43] created and written down. This is something that's passed in the oral tradition, so it's passed down from parent to child. And these practices are kept in continuity.

[00:25:54] Now, when you have something like the, like Christianity come in, then it's

[00:25:59] Exactly what [00:26:00] you said.

[00:26:00] Either

[00:26:01] Your

[00:26:02] little, your deity or your spirit becomes a saint,

[00:26:06] because we do have that happen.

[00:26:08] a lot. but

[00:26:09] or if

[00:26:10] they're not,

[00:26:11] a,

[00:26:12] they won't fit in that mold.

[00:26:14] They're a demonn.

[00:26:15] Track 1: Yes,

[00:26:16] Madame Pamita: So the, So what we have, what we get

[00:26:19] handed

[00:26:19] down to us now

[00:26:21] is

[00:26:21] all of these very ancient spirits. And I would argue

[00:26:25] that she may have been a goddess, but

[00:26:28] I think she precedes the concept of gods and

[00:26:30] goddesses and is,

[00:26:32] goes back to that animism where we have spirits. I think these spirits, like, you know, the

[00:26:38] forest spirit,

[00:26:39] the

[00:26:40] um, forest grandmother, the

[00:26:41] house spirit,

[00:26:43] those, that concept. Predates these deities that are in the upper world,

[00:26:48] right. We have in Slavi magic, upper world, middle world, lower world. And those

[00:26:53] lower world spirits, those kind of earthly

[00:26:56] spirits, they're still in the spirit,

[00:26:57] realm, but they're more,

[00:26:58] Track 1: more,

[00:26:59] Madame Pamita: there's [00:27:00] something more a little bit more relatable. You know? They,

[00:27:03] Track 1: they,

[00:27:03] Madame Pamita: are the older spirits.

[00:27:05] so I

[00:27:05] would argue that she's this older initiator. She's an initiator, right? She's there to teach you, right? That's

[00:27:12] Track 1: mm-hmm.

[00:27:13] Madame Pamita: And

[00:27:13] initiate

[00:27:13] you into the

[00:27:15] into the realm

[00:27:16] of

[00:27:16] magic practitioners, you know, which is a magic practitioner's. So she tests you. She does these things like a good initiation.

[00:27:25] Initiation is not a certificate of participation.

[00:27:28] You have to prove yourself

[00:27:30] Track 1: Yes.

[00:27:31] Madame Pamita: initiated. doesn't mean we're keeping you out because we're jerks. It's that we're ke that the initiation means we're. we're sh you showing

[00:27:40] yourself, that

[00:27:40] you're ready

[00:27:41] Track 1: Yes.

[00:27:42] Madame Pamita: you showing us that you're ready.

[00:27:43] Right? But primarily you showing yourself. So whether you are in a practice where you go for like you know, you go for a three day, uh, three days

[00:27:54] alone

[00:27:54] in the woods, and you have to survive, or you have,

[00:27:56] to pass some tests, or you

[00:27:58] have to do something [00:28:00] in every

[00:28:01] story.

[00:28:01] And

[00:28:02] that's

[00:28:02] how we keep oral

[00:28:03] tradition.

[00:28:04] going is through folk tales.

[00:28:05] Because if Christianity comes in and says, you can't believe these things anymore, how can we, oh, well, it's just a fairy

[00:28:11] Tale. It's

[00:28:12] just a folk tale. There's hidden encoded messages in those fairy tales. And when you

[00:28:17] understand the

[00:28:18] language, you start to see aha.

[00:28:22] So that she's putting the kids like Hansel and Gretel, which she's putting, they're gonna put the kids in the

[00:28:28] Oven,

[00:28:28] the big wood

[00:28:29] stove.

[00:28:29] right? She, it's not, I'm gonna burn the kids into a crisp. The

[00:28:35] stove.

[00:28:36] in Slavi beliefs was the home of the ancestors. And there were practices of, like, even with a little newborn baby that was a little weak in a, in a, like a mildly warm stove, they would put it on like a, a,

[00:28:50] paddle, like a pizza, pizza paddle.

[00:28:53] I guess if you're making pizza and dip that child into the warm

[00:28:57] oven.

[00:28:57] we would say like maybe a premature child [00:29:00] or a weak child, a

[00:29:01] weak baby that was born, dip it into the oven

[00:29:03] to

[00:29:03] get to

[00:29:05] bake the, the kid to

[00:29:07] complete

[00:29:07] Track 1: makes sense. Yeah.

[00:29:08] Madame Pamita: have

[00:29:08] the blessing of the ancestors. So

[00:29:10] all of that

[00:29:12] is to

[00:29:12] say that.

[00:29:13] these, these spirits are so old.

[00:29:17] And I also

[00:29:17] wanna say some, I wanna say one little thing that you brought up that

[00:29:21] Track 1: anything

[00:29:21] Madame Pamita: a guardian of the animals.

[00:29:23] Track 1: Mm-hmm.

[00:29:24] Madame Pamita: One of the things that she showed me

[00:29:26] because in

[00:29:26] her stories, she's

[00:29:27] often surrounded by the ugly

[00:29:30] animals.

[00:29:31] Track 1: animals.

[00:29:32] Madame Pamita: Slimy things, gross things. Rats, toads, snakes, and all these cockroaches, yucky things, right? Is it because she's yucky? Uhuh? It's because she's 100% accepting. Why do we look at a rat and go,

[00:29:49] that rat is

[00:29:50] gross? Or that cockroach is gross? Oh,

[00:29:52] cockroach is gross, but a lady bug is cute.

[00:29:55] Why

[00:29:56] Track 1: yeah.

[00:29:57] Madame Pamita: Why

[00:29:57] Track 1: That's a good point.

[00:29:59] Madame Pamita: You know, [00:30:00] and she doesn't have

[00:30:00] that judgment to her. They're all

[00:30:02] her children,

[00:30:03] whether they're gorgeous and

[00:30:04] Beautiful.

[00:30:05] or they're

[00:30:05] rejected.

[00:30:06] And I, when she told me that, I was just like so unbelievably moved

[00:30:12] to understand that that's why

[00:30:15] she's surrounded by, I mean, there's other reasons. The snake is the lower world and all of that, but our judgments about animals, right? This is

[00:30:24] a good animal and that's a bad one. She doesn't have those judgments.

[00:30:27] She loves all her children the same, right?

[00:30:30] Track 1: Yes.

[00:30:30] Madame Pamita: a beautiful

[00:30:31] Track 1: Ah, we love Babi Yaga. She's the best . Gosh. Okay. That was great. Alright, so we're gonna, next, we're gonna talk about food because we're gonna talk about our dish of the week. We have three dishes this week. And because we're in the Slavi area, we're in Ukraine. Yay. And also, since we're talking about Ukraine so much, I put an article in the show links on ways you can help Ukraine and different links, you know different organizations can help them in the war effort.

[00:30:59] [00:31:00] So, okay. We'll talk about three dishes that we got. So the first Dish, Ukrainians national dish. I didn't know this was Ukrainians National Dish. Bors.

[00:31:08] Madame Pamita: Borsch is,

[00:31:09] and this is the example of like,

[00:31:11] oh, there's a whole thing.

[00:31:12] Track 1: thing. Yes. Tell me.

[00:31:14] Madame Pamita: Russia has culturally appropriated and stolen and tried and colonized Ukraine for hundreds of years, right? We've seen it, especially in Soviet times. But before that even,

[00:31:25] So

[00:31:26] Borsch is a is a Ukrainian dish. then

[00:31:29] Russians are

[00:31:30] like,

[00:31:30] well, we like that. So we're gonna say it's ours. And then

[00:31:34] there's all that. So it is Ukrainian It is Ukrainian. So, yeah,

[00:31:39] Track 1: I had literally no idea because I'm looking it up and I'm like, at first because all I think of is Russia when I think of Borsch. Like, so I'm like, okay, okay. But then like, no, it's their national dish. I was like, oh my God, that's so funny. So I was reading about it and I was like, I didn't, I didn't know this at all.

[00:31:54] So yes, this is cool. So I I always think of [00:32:00] Borsch cuz my mom actually likes beets. Like anything.

[00:32:03] Madame Pamita: me too.

[00:32:04] Track 1: Yeah, my mom would like borsch. She loved beets. So borsch is a bee soup. It's usually served cold. So usually you make it like a day before.

[00:32:12] Yeah, it can be, yeah. Hot and cold. Okay.

[00:32:15] Madame Pamita: on the weather.

[00:32:15] Like what if

[00:32:16] it's cold outside?

[00:32:17] You want a hot dish? If it's hot outside, you want a cold dish?

[00:32:19] So, yeah.

[00:32:20] Track 1: So what I read is that, and maybe they say cold because it is also known as a winter dish and I think is when I was reading it makes sense because a lot of the foods, a lot of the vegetables and stuff is stuff people harvested and then they just saved it.

[00:32:33] So they'll make it during the winter when nothing's growing. So I was like, oh, this is great. You can put meat in it. You don't, I didn't know that either you or it can have no meat in it. It's really full of good nutrients. Honestly. I was like, oh, this is actually pretty healthy . I don't know anything about borsch except that it's red and I've only seen it cold.

[00:32:52] So you can roast veggies, put potatoes, carrots, onions in it. You can use a beef shank. [00:33:00] You can Put , beef in it, you can take it out or you can use just like a meat broth or chicken broth, whatever you like and eat. You're borsch. And then when you're done with your borsch, you can have something on the side.

[00:33:10] It's called Potato Bari

[00:33:13] Madame Pamita: Vernice,

[00:33:14] Track 1: ver rennicke. Thank you so much. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. To anybody who is Ukrainian, I'm messing up your language. I apologize.

[00:33:20] Madame Pamita: it's all right. You're learning. You're learning. That's all. That's good.

[00:33:24] Track 1: Va, va va nic. Vernice. Vernice. Okay. So these are like pierogis, but Ukrainian style, right?

[00:33:32] Madame Pamita: Well,

[00:33:33] you know

[00:33:33] a lot of things that are Polish and

[00:33:35] Ukrainian, they shared a lot of stuff.

[00:33:38] So Pierogis and vernice are basically the same. You might have a little, slightly different fillings, but like in my house, we call them pierogis.

[00:33:46] Even. And so there's some Ukrainian people that call 'em Pierogis or Diaspora Ukrainians that call 'em Pierogis.

[00:33:51] It's easier to say than Vernice. So I guess that's why

[00:33:56] Track 1: I have a coworker who, God bless her, her mom has to wait. But [00:34:00] she's Polish and her mom used to make really good pogies. She'd bring in just like huge dishes of it and would just, oh, it was just so nice.

[00:34:07] Madame Pamita: The best with the little like caramelized, caramelized

[00:34:10] Track 1: Yes.

[00:34:11] Madame Pamita: little sour cream on top. It is.

[00:34:13] That is my,

[00:34:14] super comfort food. Oh my gosh. When I I'm really sad or something. I'm like, I'm gonna have some, I'm gonna have some pirogis. Yeah,

[00:34:23] Track 1: I can totally see it. , I get it. And so that's our, though, we're having our Ukrainian Pierogis and then our dessert, we're gonna have Honey Bob. This is like a cake basically with a beautiful cream cheese. Oh my gosh.

[00:34:39] Madame Pamita: Filling frosting,

[00:34:41] Track 1: Yeah, frosting. That's the word I'm looking for.

[00:34:44] It's a beautiful cream cheese frosting. It actually looks, it's like a sheet cake. It comes out like but it looks really, really good. It's like pretty simple to make, but you can tell that like you really have to take your time with it. But it just looks really delicious when I was reading about it.

[00:34:59] [00:35:00] And you know, if anybody wants to try, I'm gonna put everything in the show notes, make all this stuff. It sounds very good. Sounds like a really good, hearty meal. And then a beautiful dessert to go with it.

[00:35:09] Madame Pamita: I love this meal. I'm

[00:35:11] down.

[00:35:11] I'm

[00:35:11] ready.

[00:35:12] Track 1: right, . I know, I know. Me too. I was like, I'm gonna make this, I'm trying to grow some beats.

[00:35:16] I was like, if I grow beats successfully, I'm gonna make some borsch and try it again, cuz I feel like it's probably tastes pretty good. Okay, so this is a part of the show where I'm gonna plug myself before we go to the next part. If you really like this show, please pause now and then you can follow us.

[00:35:32] You could subscribe and you can give us a five star rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, wherever you listen. And if you have any suggestions for episodes or comments, please feel free to email me at Dine with the Divine pod@gmail.com. And if you wanna follow us on Instagram, we're dying with the Divine and on Facebook, we're dying with the divine.

[00:35:54] So all that stuff you can do if you feel like it. Okay, now [00:36:00] Madam , madam, are you ready for a story?

[00:36:03] Madame Pamita: I love a

[00:36:04] story. I'm gonna get cozy. I've got my little, I've got some watermelon, cucumber juice. I'm gonna

[00:36:10] drink that and listen to your story.

[00:36:12] Track 1: awesome. How refreshing. I love that. Okay, we're gonna tell our story today. So our story today is about Olga, of Kiev. Have you ever heard of Olga? Of Kiev?

[00:36:23] All right. You're in for quite a tale. Quick note, very important to everybody, and if you have noticed that in the news and stuff, it's ki is k y I V And this is important.

[00:36:35] Yes, this is very important because Ukrainians have their own language and their own culture. And since before when Russia owned them, they were like, Having to do read Russian and speak Russian, that was the the norm. But now Ukrainians have been taking back their own culture. So we say Kiev. We don't say Kiev anymore because that's the way the Russians pronounce it and that's not the way they pronounce it to begin with.

[00:36:58] So I also put a little [00:37:00] article in the show notes about that if you were confused about it. Cuz the first time I saw this was on 90 Day Fiance. I love 90 Day Fiance Natalie, who's one of the people on 90 day fiance. She was from Keve. And me and my mom were watching it and we're like, why are they spelling keve like that?

[00:37:15] So we Googled it and we're like, oh, this is the real original way to spell it.

[00:37:19] Madame Pamita: Mm-hmm. And also

[00:37:21] You're.

[00:37:21] doing also saying Ukraine instead of the Ukraine.

[00:37:24] That's also awesome.

[00:37:26] Track 1: Yes, yes, yes. I also , so on my 90 day podcast that I listened to, they also talked about that. Yeah, we, we don't say that anymore because Ukraine is just Ukraine. It's its own country, and they're their own people. And we love Ukraine on this podcast. Okay.

[00:37:42] Yeah. So, alright, we're gonna tell a story about Olga.

[00:37:46] Of Kiev. So Olga now, she was born a really long time ago, so we don't know exactly when she was born, but it was sometime between eight 90 and 9 25 ad. Pretty sure it's gonna be closer to 9 25. And you'll see later why [00:38:00] I think that, so Olga's parents were probably Vikings who ended up in Northern Russia in a place called sco.

[00:38:07] That's probably where she was born. But we don't know too much about that. Now we have to go. a little back stop with Olga and go back in time. Now there was this guy, his name was Rubic, and he started a little, little group called the Kean Russ. These are people who lived in parts of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, but it was like a bigger area.

[00:38:30] he was the king of all of them. Now he was the king and everything was going well. He then had a son named Igor. Igor then became the king, and they had some neighbors, and their neighbors were the Ians. Now, you may have never heard of the Ians, and at the end of this story, you'll find out why. You've never heard of Therians

[00:38:49] , they were neighbors. So the drug lands were the smaller group. But they were like, okay, well we're gonna pay Rurik all this money because he's protecting us and everything's okay. [00:39:00] We like him. So when Igor came around, Igor's like, I don't think the Ians are paying us enough money. So he went down there and he's like, Hey, DRS.

[00:39:07] You guys aren't paying us enough, enough money. And the Drs were like, get outta your Igor. He's like, no. He's like, he's like, I want my money. So he started to fight them. So, oh, also by this time when Igor came in, I guess Therians just didn't like him. So they started actually paying tribute to another tribe nearby, and this extra pissed off Igor.

[00:39:28] So he went down there and he started a war with Dr. Now he was winning the war with Dr. Dr and all of a sudden he just won the whole war. Great. So then he was like, I'm gonna go home. So he started to go home, but then he turned back and he's like, wait, I think I want some more money. I don't like how much we just agreed they're gonna pay me.

[00:39:49] Okay, I'm gonna pause this story real quick. Go back to Olga. Olga is married to Igor and Olga and Igor have a son. His name is [00:40:00] CTO. Love. Thank you. . Yes. That is their son. And by the time at this point, when Igor went to go fight with adrenals, , the son is three years old and Olga's just hanging out, waiting for him to come back.

[00:40:16] So anyway, back to Igor. Igor is like, I don't like what our agreement was when I said I was gonna stop this war, let, I'm gonna go back. So he goes back to Therians with just a small group of his men this time, not all his army. And he's like, Hey, gimme more money. And they're like, absolutely not Igor. We had an agreement.

[00:40:32] He's like, I don't care. So they start to fight. And this time they overpower Igor and they capture him. And they put him, they get two trees, big trees. They bend the trees, they strap Igor to each tree, and they let him loose. So they kill Igor. Okay? It's sad and it sucks. Now, they sent a couple guys to go now back to Olga to tell her, Hey, listen, we [00:41:00] killed your husband.

[00:41:01] So they get there and they tell Olga, we killed your husband. And by the way, since your husband's dead, our Prince Mall, the king of our place, he thinks that you should marry him. And Olga is like, what? ? She's like, yeah. She's like, I am confused. And what? So she's like, you'll see Olga is one of the quickest, smartest people you will ever hear of.

[00:41:25] So at first she was like, oh man, this sucks. Okay. So then Olga didn't take time to grieve. She was like, okay, tell your, tell your your king I'll marry him. Oh, hold on. I'll give you exactly what Olga said. I forgot I wrote that down. So Olga said to them, your proposal is pleasing to me. Indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead, but I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people.

[00:41:47] Return now to your boat and remain there with an aspect of arrogance I shall send for you on tomorrow. And you shall say, we will not ride on horses, nor go on foot, carry us in [00:42:00] our boats and you shall be carried in your boat. So she told the guys, go back to your boats that you came on. Hang out there.

[00:42:08] I'm gonna send my army man to carry the boat in. Now this is like a big honor for somebody to do. So she's like, okay, no problem. I'm gonna carry the boat in. Just go chill for the night. I'll be in the morning. And they're like, great. This is awesome. This lady is taking to her husband being dead. Very well.

[00:42:24] That's what they thought. . Yeah. So they went back to their boat. In the morning here come the Kean Rus army. They're like, Hey guys, we're here to carry your boat. And they're like, great. So here I'm just imagining this like the Kean Rus Army's carrying the boat. The guys are in there like, yeah, look at us.

[00:42:42] Oh my God, we're probably going to eat well tonight. Like she's gonna have a whole party for us. Okay, so now they get to the palace and what they didn't know is that Olga ordered some other guys to dr to dig some really big holes in the ground. So near the palace, here they come and all of a sudden [00:43:00] the Kean ro men stop.

[00:43:01] And the guy, the drive lands are like, what's going on? And the Kean Ros men drop the boat into the ditches. Because she's not playing any games and they didn't know. And then they were basically, they all started throwing dirt on them and buried these men alive.

[00:43:17] Madame Pamita: She

[00:43:17] doesn't play all,

[00:43:18] God does not play

[00:43:20] Track 1: Olga's not playing any games with this men.

[00:43:22] And she said something, I don't have the exact quote here, but she said something like, is this to your liking? Like she screamed that at the mouth. They were like being like, she's like, whatever. So don't you guys, this is just phase one , the focus plan, it continues. So, because back then there was no email, no telephone, no Facebook.

[00:43:45] She sent one of her men to king malls palace that he didn't know what had happened to these guys.

[00:43:50] Madame Pamita: Nobody left

[00:43:51] to tell 'em right.

[00:43:52] Track 1: No Exactly. Nobody left to let him know. So she just sent one of her messengers there and she's like, tell Prince Mall [00:44:00] that I would like him to send 20 of his best men to come escort me to his palace so I can marry him.

[00:44:09] So the, the messenger's like, okay, no problem. He went down there, he told them, and Prince Mall's like, okay, yes, she's gonna marry me, so I'm just gonna try to make her happy. So he sends 20 of his best men. They got to the palace and Olga's like, Hey guys. Oh my God, I'm so happy you're here. Oh my God, you must have had the longest trip.

[00:44:30] And they were like, yeah, we're so tired. She's like, no problem. Why don't you visit our bathhouses? Like, you guys can get cleaned up. Like, you're gonna feel so good. It's gonna be no problem. So they're like, great. So they go to the bathhouses. I'm imagining it. They probably got all, you know, they took off all their clothes, probably.

[00:44:45] They're chilling, they're talking. They're having a great time. Olga goes and she says to her army, oh, lock all the doors and set it on fire her own bathhouses. She said, set it on fire. . So they did. [00:45:00] Olga . She's like, she's like, you thought you could mess with me, but you can't. Okay. So she's, she's, they're all dead.

[00:45:11] So Olga's like, okay, fine, I'm not done . She's like,

[00:45:15] Madame Pamita: we

[00:45:15] got one more guy to

[00:45:16] take care of .

[00:45:17] Track 1: of .She's like, so, she's like, all right, send another messenger to Prince Small and tell him to bring a bunch of beer to the place that my husband died, because I wanna have a funeral feast there. So another messenger, he goes again and he tells him and Prince Mall's like, okay.

[00:45:36] So, he gets a bunch of honey meat. And they get a bu like, and she says she wants honey meat. She wants beer. Okay? That's what she wants. So she has this party, and it's near the area that her husband died. So they're there. They have a big dinner all these Dr. Come, Olga and her men are there.

[00:45:53] Everyone's partying, the liquors flowing. Everyone's drinking or so the Dren thought everybody's drinking. [00:46:00] No, the DRN were drunk. Drunk, like wasted, falling over. All the kean ru men were stone cold sober, and so was Olga. And so then as soon as she realized like every DRN in the room is drunk, drunk, she told the kean Ru to close the doors, stand in front of them and slaughtered all the traum there.

[00:46:21] Now this is all like the Traian Court at this point. Everybody's dead. This is a big problem. So now she killed everybody. So now she's like, okay, I'm gonna go home. and I'm gonna get an army cuz I'm not done. I'm gonna get rid of these people. They thought that they were gonna kill my husband, get away with it.

[00:46:36] And yes, I killed a whole bunch of people already, but I have more like, so her revenge was never ending like, so she's like, she went home, got together her army all this time. Meanwhile she's the queen region and she was like the first queen regent of the Kean Rus like this. Then this wasn't supposed to happen, but because her son was three, she couldn't, he couldn't be king.

[00:46:58] Madame Pamita: Yeah.

[00:46:59] Track 1: So [00:47:00] now she's there, she's like, okay. She got her army together, she built up mor of an army and she went to go fight the Ians. Now the, this went on for like a year and the Ians were getting tired. They were basically ended up being locked in their city walls and they were starving at this point and they were just getting tired of war.

[00:47:20] So Ulka came to them probably standing outside the war, the walls with like a blow horn or something, and she's like, IANS, listen up. You guys want this to stop. I got something for you. This is what you're gonna do. I need every single Druing household to get me three sparrows and three pigeons. And they were like, what?

[00:47:39] She's like, you heard me? I need three sparrows and I need three pigeons, and I'm gonna finish this off. This war will stop. So the adrenalin are tired, but they're like, okay, fine. Whatever, whatever she wants, just give it to her. So as soon as she gets all the birds, she gets the Dr, the Kean Rouge Army to tie sacks, little, little [00:48:00] pieces of cloth filled with sulfur to every bird.

[00:48:04] And she lights them all on fire. And what do birds do? They always go back to their nest. So they go back to the drug territory. And as I know, it's, it's pretty extreme as obviously all the fire is dropping from the birds. . Back then these walled cities were all made of wood. So everything burned to the ground, like thousands of people died and who didn't die were became slaves.

[00:48:31] She enslaved them. So again, like I said, the beginning, if you've never heard of the Ians, this is why she wiped them out. Like there was no more Ians after that. They all kind of got absorbed into the keep and roos. So as extreme as this was, you'll see at the end of the story, Olga does end up becoming a saint and you'll see how like, it's pretty interesting.

[00:48:52] So now Olga has killed Therians. She's done with that. So she goes on to become the ruler of the Kean Rus. Again, she's a first [00:49:00] female ruler and apparently she was a really great queen. People liked her. She was good with military tactics. She actually saved them from, I'm not sure the name of the group, but one of the turkic groups kept kind of trying to attack them, but she was really good at holding them off.

[00:49:14] She was a very good negotiator. Olga was fantastic. People really liked her. So now her, her son got older and he was ready to rule, so she let him rule. But anytime he went on a military campaign, she was the ruler cuz that's how much everybody trusted her. So now it's like the nine 50 s and Olga's like, I wanna go on a little vacation.

[00:49:34] , she's like, I did a lot of, I did a lot of fighting, I did a lot of ruling. I think I'm gonna go on vacation. So she goes on vacation to Constan Noble, which is modern day Istanbul. And at this time, Constan Noble was like the center of Christianity in the east. In the Eastern Europe. So she's like, I'm gonna go there.

[00:49:55] I just wanna see what, check it out. So she gets there, she's a queen, so of course she's [00:50:00] gonna go to the court and she goes to the court of Constantine the seventh. So as soon as Constantine sees her, he's like, oh, damn, Olga's hot

[00:50:12] Madame Pamita: or he's like,

[00:50:13] I don't wanna, die

[00:50:16] Track 1: I heard

[00:50:16] Madame Pamita: I like my life.

[00:50:17] Track 1: Yeah, exactly. Like I heard, she doesn't take any mess from anybody. She's like, so he sees her, he thinks she's so pretty, and then he starts talking to her and he is like, oh my God, she's so smart too. Oh my God. So he's like instantly in love with her and he's like, you've got to marry me, please.

[00:50:35] And Olga's like, listen, I can't marry you now. Hold on, Olga, like, we know she's smart. Olga realized that if she marrying Constantine, The Keean Rouge would then be absorbed into the Byzantine Empire, which is not great for them. They would lose their, their independence. Her son would lose his status as king.

[00:50:54] So this wouldn't be good for them. But she also can't insult the emperor of the Byzantines [00:51:00] because that's, it's, this is the Byzantines are a big deal right now. Like they're a big, big deal at this time. So she's like, okay, what can I do? What can I do? So she tells 'em, she's like, oh, Constantine, this isn't how I have in my head.

[00:51:11] I can't marry you. I'm a Pagan and you're a Christian. And Constantine's like, okay. And she's like, but if you baptize me and teach me about Christianity, then I can marry you. And he's like, okay, cool. So he starts teaching her about Christianity. He baptizes her. And this is what happens. Let me read this little quote here.

[00:51:35] The reign of emperor. Lor Reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Olga came before him, and when he saw that she was very fair of continent and wise as well, the emperor. The emperor wondered at her intellect. He conversed with her and remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city.

[00:51:53] When Olga heard his words, he replied that she was still pagan, and that if he desired to ba to [00:52:00] baptize her, he should perform this function himself. Otherwise, she was unwilling to accept the baptism, the emperor, with the assistance of the patriarch accordingly baptized her. When Olga was enlightened, she rejoiced in soul and body.

[00:52:14] The patriarch who instructed her in the face said to her, blessed art thou among women of the roos, for thou has loved the light and quit the darkness. The sons of Roos shall bless thee to the last generation of th descendants. He taught her the doctrine of the church and instructed her in prayer and fasting in Als giving and in the maintenance of chastity, she bowed her head and like a sponge absorbing water.

[00:52:39] She eagerly drank his teachings. The princess bowed before the patriarch and said, though the prayers, holy father, may I be preserved from the crafts and assaults of the devil. She really, she was, she was like, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. At her baptism, she was Chris and Helena after the ancient emperor mother of Constantine, the great, the patriarch was then blessed, blessed [00:53:00] her in dismiss.

[00:53:02] So she got baptized and then Constantine was like, okay, great, like, let's get married. And then she's like, but Constantine don't, you know, then now you're my godfather, you baptize me. And in Christianity, incest is not allowed. And Constantine's like, . Damn Olga. You got me.

[00:53:21] Madame Pamita: Y Checkmate baby.

[00:53:23] Track 1: Exactly. . And the thing I love is there's a quote and it says, then the emperor said, Olga, you have outwitted me.

[00:53:31] He gave her many gifts of gold, silver silks and various VAs then dismissed her. Still calling her his daughter.

[00:53:39] Madame Pamita: I love that

[00:53:40] Track 1: I know. I was like, Olga's so smart. So after this, Olga went back to the Kean Ruth, and she was still converted and then she tried to get her son to convert. What they think though is like, it was more of a political move.

[00:53:54] Olga, I don't think she cared too much, but she was just like, this is probably good for the empire. So, Maybe, [00:54:00] you know, if we live next to the business teens and at any time they could take us over, it might be a good idea for us to just convert, just to be cool. But her son was like, no, everyone's gonna make fun of me.

[00:54:10] I don't want to convert. So he didn't. But then later on, her grandson actually Vladimir the great converted the whole Kean Rus to to Christianity. But they do say that Olga is the first person to introduce it to the Kean Rus. And she, when she went home, she did talk to her son and said, okay, if you don't wanna convert, that's fine, but maybe just make sure that Christians don't get persecuted.

[00:54:36] So she actually ended up protecting a lot of Christians in her in the empire from being persecuted. She built a bunch of churches for them, let them have their own faith. It wasn't a big deal. And then she died July 11th, 9 69 80. , her body was actually there, but then I think in the 1240s the Mongols came and destroyed it.

[00:54:58] So where her body was [00:55:00] in Kiev, there's now a monument there and I think there's a church built for her there. And she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic church, and she's a patron saint of widows and converts. And she is said to be equal to the apostles. That's how big of a deal Olga is. And all this from a lady who did not stop at revenge.

[00:55:24] She got what she needed. But she. . But look at her. She was so smart. She was so witty. So we forgive her for all that stuff because she's just like,

[00:55:34] Madame Pamita: Count. Stop

[00:55:34] on. stop baby. That's all.

[00:55:36] Track 1: Exactly. She was like, this is what we're doing and, and sorry, this is what we have to do. And I love her. And I, I first heard this story, I was like, this woman is amazing.

[00:55:45] I was like, especially yes. Especially for a woman in the nine hundreds who like, at this point, nowhere in the world, I think that that women had a ton of rights. So like , like she ruled a whole kingdom after her husband was slaughtered and then [00:56:00] ju you know, helped her son, raised him. Then she went to go meet Constantine.

[00:56:04] She outwitted a Byzantine emperor. Like, come on, Olga's. Amazing. So that's , that's the story of Olga

[00:56:12] Madame Pamita: I knew about her, but I didn't know all the details. I knew a little, like, snippets of this and that, but it's very interesting because what ended up

[00:56:21] happening

[00:56:21] in 1988 is

[00:56:23] that

[00:56:24] You just said his name. the grandson's

[00:56:25] Track 1: Vladimir the breed.

[00:56:26] Madame Pamita: Vladimir. Yeah.

[00:56:27] Track 1: Mm-hmm. .

[00:56:28] Madame Pamita: He

[00:56:29] ended up wanting

[00:56:30] to have an alliance with Bulgaria.

[00:56:33] I'm 99% sure it's Bulgaria. And she, that, that princess or queen of Bulgaria was Christian. So that's why he, he wanted to sort of

[00:56:43] have, so it was all strategic, you know, this

[00:56:45] is why they were doing it. If, if your

[00:56:47] neighbors

[00:56:48] are all Christian and your Pagan or you have like pagan neighbors on your left and Christian neighbors on your right and what you want is an alliance, even a loose alliance and support and, you know, she probably [00:57:00] could look at that Byzantine Empire.

[00:57:02] It's an empire. It's

[00:57:03] big. They're powerful and they're strong. Hey, I'm a Christian too.

[00:57:07] Hey,

[00:57:07] Track 1: exactly.

[00:57:08] Madame Pamita: We're good. So I think, you know,

[00:57:11] that's why.

[00:57:11] these, These you know, conversions at that high level happen is because, and that's why marriages happen.

[00:57:17] You know, they're like, okay, I want

[00:57:19] your land. Are we gonna make an alliance?

[00:57:20] And all

[00:57:21] of that,

[00:57:21] This marriage was usually not because,

[00:57:23] especially.

[00:57:24] at those high levels, was not because of love, it was like

[00:57:26] getting together. And so the same thing with these conversions, but it's a such a fascinating story. She, she does not play right.

[00:57:33] This is

[00:57:34] Track 1: she doesn't at all. And it's like amazing and Yes, that's so true. And a lot of the times, I mean, when people were, when people, when your emperor was whatever faith they were, you, everybody had to be that faith at this time. That's how it was. So I do also think it's great that even though Olga was just like, okay, let's, like, let's probably just be Christians for now because we don't wanna piss anybody off.

[00:57:58] But she also was like, [00:58:00] okay, I don't care if other people are Christians. I mean, she, she actually made it better for everybody in the kingdom so that nobody was being persecuted for whatever. So if you were Pagan cool. If you were Christian cool, and Olga was like, let's all just get along, let's fine.

[00:58:12] So. We, Olga, we stand. We love you so much. And so this comes to the end of the show. So Madam Pita, tell us where we can find you and what you have going on and anything you wanna talk about. Yeah,

[00:58:30] Madame Pamita: Well I've got a couple.

[00:58:31] things that can share that I think

[00:58:33] are a lot of fun.

[00:58:33] so

[00:58:34] um, they, everyone can find me@parlorofwonders.com. That's my website. So it's P A R L O u R of wonders.com. That's where you can find me. I do tarot readings all my things that I sell and my classes. And I also have two really fun things.

[00:58:51] I mean, I've got lots going on. I've got workshops, I've got this and that. But there's two things that I wanna invite your listeners to. One

[00:58:57] is I.

[00:58:57] have a live magic q and a that [00:59:00] takes place every Sunday, and that's gonna be it's at 5:00 PM Pacific Pacific, 8:00 PM Eastern Time. It's every Sunday except for the first Sunday.

[00:59:08] First Sunday. I have a paid workshop during that same time. Um, and if they want to join me, all you have to do is go to spell squad.com. It's on Zoom. you don't, you come in your camera's off, your mic's off. You don't have to worry. You can come as you are. But you can, we, we record our podcast episode for the first half and then the second half I answer your questions about magic.

[00:59:28] So if you wanna know about Baba yaga, you wanna know about candle magic spiritualism, animism shamanism, these areas that I'm move in and I'm familiar with, that can be a great way to get those question answers. And it's absolutely free. You just join me and we have a great time. It's a really great community there too. The second thing I wanna tell people about is that there's

[00:59:49]

[00:59:50] sorry I'm gonna pause for just a second. My Siri went on for some reason.

[00:59:54] I want to get it to go away. Go away, go away, go away, go away. Go [01:00:00] away. Go away. How do I make it? I'm not used to working. It's, there you go. I don't use Siri and it just pops on

[01:00:05] Track 1: That's fine.

[01:00:08] Madame Pamita: The second thing I wanna let people know about is the on Wednesday evenings on YouTube, I have a YouTube channel. So if you go to youtube.com/madame Pita, m a d a m e p a m i t A they can join me on Wednesday evenings. It's 7:00 PM Pacific, 10:00 PM Eastern, so it's a little late. But the reason for that is my friend Yvonne Inky is feeds seniors.

[01:00:34] He buys groceries. He has a fundraiser where he's buying groceries and buying two weeks of groceries For these seniors who are, um, really, really suffering under this war, and particularly suffering with food scarcity, they have to make decisions between heat and food or medicines and food, and no one should be that.

[01:00:56] And also being bombed and all these other things on top of it.

[01:00:59] So [01:01:00] Yvonne buys two weeks of groceries, $40 buys two weeks of basic. Good, healthy food, you know, for these seniors. And he delivers it to these seniors and he tries to hit them once a month. He has 200 seniors that he takes care of, which is amazing.

[01:01:14] Track 1: Oh

[01:01:14] Madame Pamita: what

[01:01:15] we do on Wednesday night is we, I do tarot readings. It's called Tarot for Kindness. And I do tarot readings for $10 a card. 100% of that money goes to feed seniors in Ukraine. So I really wanna invite people to do that. So just go to my YouTube channel and subscribe and hit the notification bell, or, and if you Wanna find out more about it.

[01:01:35] you can go to tarot for kindness.com. It'll take you to the page on my website that'll tell you all about it when it happens, give you the link to my YouTube channel, show you where you can donate, and if you wanna donate without getting your taro reading, there's links to do that as well. So we started this a couple of weeks ago, and we're gonna continue it every Wednesday.

[01:01:54] As long as I'm in town and as long as this war's going on and he's feeding these seniors. Um, [01:02:00] so this is what this is. What I love is, I love this grassroots. Like we get to see, he posts videos and translates, he speaks great English. He translates what the seniors are saying. So you actually get to see the people that you're helping.

[01:02:12] And it's such a moving thing. These, some of these seniors are. In, you know, in bedridden, can't get out of the house. I mean, it's like they're, these are really people in need. And you see the joy that he brings them when he, you know, solves that little problem of food, you know, solves that. Where am I going to, where am, how am I going to eat? It's just amazing. It's so, it touches the heart. You'll, you'll cry, you'll feel warmth in your heart as well. And you can get a fun tarot reading. We do these live tarot readings and we raise a couple hundred dollars every Wednesday night, you know, and that, that feeds a, you know, handful of seniors and it's great.

[01:02:49] So I hope you'll join me on these, these two fun things. They're both free. You don't ha you can come and just

[01:02:55] listen to the tarot readings. You don't have to donate. If you don't have any money, come and just hang out with

[01:02:59] us and show [01:03:00] support, you know, in that way.

[01:03:01] Track 1: Yes. Oh, I love that so much. It's so sweet. Oh yeah. We wanna give everybody as much help as we can. So all those links are gonna be in the show notes, so you can find Madame Panama, Tara for kindness. Everything will be there. So you can, you can look her up and go on the live and donate a you if you can.

[01:03:19] So, or just hang out with her if you can.

[01:03:21] Um, yeah.

[01:03:22] Madame Pamita: are things are free to join, free to come in, and the terror readings are $10 a card. So you can get like a three card reading for $30. You know, and I'll answer your question,

[01:03:29] you type your question in, I answer. It's a lot of fun. You have a good time.

[01:03:33] Track 1: yay. I love that. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for being here and talking and chatting. This is, this is so fun. So everybody, like I said, I thank Madam had me so much for coming and just my last little plug. So I'm Ashley Dying with the Divine on Instagram and Dying with the Divine on Facebook.

[01:03:53] Like I said, if you enjoy the show, you can give us a, like, you can follow us, you can give us a five star rating that helps me [01:04:00] get seen and everything like that. And if you wanna follow me, I'm Sankofa Hs. That's s A N K O F A H S on Instagram and I'm Sankofa Healing Sanctuary and Facebook.

[01:04:12] So have a great day everybody. Bye.

[01:04:15] ​