Hansel and Gretel aren't saved because they're good. They're saved because they're clever.

Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in a forest by the people who were supposed to protect them. They follow stones, lose breadcrumbs, wander hungry, and find a house made of sweetness that turns out to be another kind of danger.

By the end of the story, innocence is not enough.

Hansel and Gretel survive because they learn to read the world. They notice. They stall. They deceive the deceiver.

When the witch tells Gretel to check if the oven is hot enough, Gretel claims she doesn't know how — and asks the witch to show her. The witch climbs in to demonstrate. Gretel shuts the door.

This Session is about the part of us that had to become clever when goodness was not enough. The part that learned to read a room, find an exit, and survive a situation that was never fair, safe, or simple to begin with.

What if your guardedness is not a flaw, but an old survival spell?

No preparation needed. Come as you are.

Who is this Space for?

This Space is held for women, those who identify as women, and queer folks.

Just in case...

Want a Little Red Riding Hood refresher?

📖 Read.
🎧 Listen.

Please note

This is a six-week Series, not a single drop-in Space. When you sign up for the first Session, you are registering for the full six weeks.

We ask that participants attend the first Session and commit to at least three weeks of the Series. This helps create continuity, trust, and care within the group.

Life happens, and perfection is not expected. But showing up together over time allows for deeper reflection and more meaningful connection.

More about this series

Fairy tales are not as innocent as we remember.

A girl is left in the ashes. A child walks alone through the woods. A woman returns to the beast. Two children outsmart the thing that wanted to consume them.

These stories are told because they know things.

They know about longing. Danger. Hunger. Beauty. Survival. Desire. Timing. The strange bargains we make to be loved, safe, chosen, or free.

In this six-week Series, we will use six classic fairy tales as mirrors for our own lives. Each Session begins with one story and opens into the questions underneath it:

Where have we learned to be good?
Where have we learned not to trust?
What have we returned to?
What have we outgrown?
What are we still aching toward?
What is beginning to wake up?

This is not a lecture or a literature class. It is a place to sit with story, memory, and meaning — and to hear what these old tales still have to say to the lives we are living now.

Schedule

Week One: Cinderella and The Burden of Grace
Week Two: Little Red Riding Hood and The Danger of Charm
Week Three: Beauty & the Beast and The Choice to Return
Week Four: Hansel and Gretel and The Tricks That Save Us
Week Five: The Little Mermaid and The Desire for Another World
Week Six: Sleeping Beauty and The Door That Opens in Time