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MOTANKA
Motanka is a particularly enchanting doll in the Slavic tradition. This ancestral doll comes in in many shapes and sizes and is created for all sorts of benefits, from protection during childbirth to ensuring a happy marriage or safe travels. Motanka is always created with a positive intention. She's not an effigy and doesn't hold the spirit of something or someone, rather she reflects the nature of your energy in a gentle and loving way.
"This Motanka is here to celebrate with you. No special occasion is required. You don’t have to wait till your birthday to acknowledge yourself with love, respect, and gratitude".
Soft Motanka dolls were often offered to infants. Mom would have used a gown or a dress that carried her scent, so the baby would sense mom’s presence, and since the doll was made with soft fabrics, it was the baby’s first comfort toy.
Making a doll was also an excuse to gather and spend time in a meaningful way. Women would sit together in the evening and create dolls while telling tells, old stories and myths, often to teach youngsters about the way of life or to scare them a little to protect them from foolish behavior. Baba Yaga stories served just such a purpose.
In many cultures, the art of doll-making is seen as a magical and powerful way to call for protection and good fortune. A ritually made doll (created with a positive intention) acts as a guardian, guide and lucky charm, bestowing the owner with prosperity, love, and wisdom. The cultural approach to doll-making has a long and fascinating history entwined in magical thinking and superstition. Guatemalan dream dolls and Native American Katchina dolls are some examples of traditional and ritual-made dolls. African Bocio dolls (original voodoo dolls) are the most recognizable dolls today, and Slavic Motanka dolls are making their way back into the psychology of modern art making.
Talisman Doll's purpose
So what is a talisman doll?
A talisman doll is a good luck charm that can carry powerful protection spells, as well as intentions of healing, love, prosperity, fortitude and so much more. Such a doll, created in a ceremonial setting with a specific purpose is a powerful and lovely reminder of our connection with spirit, guides, ancestors, and angelic helpers. Intention plays the most important role here. Whether someone wishes to create a Voodoo doll, to harm, control or possess others, or a Motanka doll, to bring peace and tranquility, is just an expression of free will. Of course in my classes and whenever I make my dolls, only good wishes prevail. Dark magic is possible but definitely not practiced here and never recommended. Dark magic spell comes back like a boomerang, the victory from dark magic is short-lived and not worth the price and headache.
Doll in psychology
Dolls hold a very special place in the psyche of ancestral cultures, according to Clarrisa Pinkola Estes, an author, and scholar on cultural and ethnic origins of feminine power.
“A doll represents a little piece of soul that carries all the knowledge of the larger soul-Self. It reflects the inner spirit of us as women; the voice of our inner reason, inner knowing, and inner consciousness. Most of all, a doll serves as a powerful talisman”.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés offers as a very unique and beautiful perspective on the lost symbolic meaning of dolls. She approaches it through the tale of Baba Yaga and her young protege, Vasilisa, who received a wooden doll as a gift from a dying mother. The doll proved to be of supernatural help to her as a voice of inner wisdom and intuition. In the absence of her mother, Vasilisa received guidance, comfort and nurturance from the doll, while dealing with crazy demands of Baba Yaga, and hoping to survive the trials and tests of the Old Witch. Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes:
“For centuries humans have felt that dolls emanate both a holiness and mana—an awesome and compelling presence which acts upon persons, changing them spiritually.…The doll is the symbolic homunculi, little life. It is the symbol of what lies buried in humans that is numinous. It is a small and glowing facsimile of the original Self. Superficially, it is just a doll. But inversely, it represents a little piece of soul that carries all the knowledge of the larger soul-Self. In the doll is the voice, in diminutive, of old La Que Sabe, The One Who Knows.”
Here is Biliban’s depiction of Baba Yaga riding her pestle-guided mortar. Apparently, this curious vehicle travels close enough to the ground that the witch needs a broom to erase her tracks.
SO! what about Motanka and Voodoo Dolls?
I was shocked when someone compared these blessed dolls to Voodoo Dolls. I was shocked even more when I found out how many similarities between the African and Slavic tradition of doll making we've got going. With the difference of intention of course, as the Slavic dolls are about healing, and modern Voodoo dolls not so much, the cultural interpretation of the doll and her role in society is incredibly similar. I say modern Voodoo dolls because they haven't always been the 'bad girls'. Original voodoo dolls were uprooted from Africa and planted in the dark corners of Orleans, and they transmuted from life-giving to life taking... I write about it here.
I hope you enjoyed this article!
If you wish to learn more please check out the other articles and don't forget to take a pick at the shop, where new dolls are being born every day!
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