She had every reason not to, but she went back anyway.

Belle doesn't stay. Most people don't know that. In the original story, she leaves. She goes home, sees her family, stands in the open air with every reason not to go back. And then she chooses to return.

That choice is the whole story.

She's not only a woman who endures. She's a woman who gets distance, feels what distance reveals, and chooses what to do with that truth.

Most of us have made that choice.

This Session sits with the question underneath it: what does it mean to return to something difficult — not because you have to, but because some part of you has decided it is worth it?

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