The magickal garment, like the Red Hood, is a hallmark of fairy tales, and it speaks to the ways of the witch.

Now that our story has ended, name your one remaining question. Does it feel like any part of the plot is missing? Do you have a small wonder — or a big one? Write this question down. For the last time, ask yourself, How is my question about this fairy tale the very question of my life right now? Name the question an oracle. Why is this your

where do you find this braid? How does this image make you feel? When you are ready, allow the severed braid to speak. What does it tell you? Write down your message from the severed braid. Name it teacher.

much to teach us about personal alchemy and transformation. Versions of “Beauty and the Beast,” these animal bridegroom stories, beg us to wed our inner uncivilized one in a lifelong ceremony of liberation, and “Sleeping Beauty” holds the very key to the inner wise one’s awakening.

What if, in these dire times, something as seemingly pure as a fairy tale holds the very medicine we need to heal ourselves, our kin, and the world? What would happen if we dared speak these old stories aloud and let them live, let them teach us something new about what it means to be a wild woman, a good king, a witch, or a shapeshifter? What

In this story, as before, we want to consider that all the characters are aspects of our own psyche. We are not only the stolen daughter; we are also the ravenous mother, the pitiable father, the wild man, and the hag-witch herself.

The stories of shapeshifting women show us the truth of our living paradoxes: stability versus freedom, roots versus wings.

Lessons about ancestral healing and the shadows of the foremothers abound in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and the many stories of shapeshifting women and their wild skins have

Bird-women were dangerous women, in other words.