BABA YAGA is the only witch who flies in a MORTAR ...

Pestle has to do with "crushing", "grind" and "pest".

Exploring this riddle points to MECONIUM or sterile greenish pasty fetal feces and to MECONISM or addiction to OPIUM.

The significance of links of MORTAR and MORTAL with BABA YAGA did not emerge until consideration was given that her roots are deepest in Ukraine (Russia emerged rather recently). In Ukrainian, MORTAR points to MAKITRA and MAKOHON. When attention is focused on MAK, MEKON, and MAKENEION the panorama includes the extraction of POPPY juice and the making of a MECONIUM-like paste from which opium is extracted. Some people like to consume opium as denoted by MECONOPHAGIS and if addicted to suffer from MECONISM, which can be fatal. BABA YAGA emblems prominently feature human skulls and bones and the story could end here. However, BABA YAGA also represents life or a life-death duality found in many other deities including in the well known Shiva.

Baba Yaga flying in a Mortar with a Pestle in hand.

MAK also points to Other powers of BABA YAGA, as in MACHOS and MAKHANA which imply "TO MAKE" and MAGIC. In this sense, like every MOTHER, Baba Yaga also is Magic. She also is Wicked and Wise.

Baba Yaga erased her traces with her broom.

BABA YAGA probably belongs among MAGNA MATTER deities who can MATERIALIZE life and also reduce life back into MATTER. This view is consistent with MAK pointing to life-death deities including Cybele, Ceres, the Scythian Artimpaz, Etruscan Artume, the Poppy Goddess Deus Mater or Ephesian Artemis and the Godly Mother Demeter. The clues are evident in a popular tradition widely celebrated to this day by a majority of Ukrainians. Some Ukrainians should be able to deduce these clues and those readers who remain captivated by BABA YAGA are welcome to visit Pandora's Word BOX for a fuller version of this story.