Sometimes I imagine the feminine fairytale forest. The forest where heroines get lost. The forest of their becoming.

I imagine the flora and fauna. 

What flowers does Little Red Riding Hood pick for her granny? Is it only the pretty ones, or did her mother teach her about the medicinal ones? Does she pick Foxglove, to help strengthen her grandmother’s heart? Does she pick Mountain Arnica to make ointment for her and ease her elderly joint pain? Did her mother tell her about the poison in Lily of the Valley, and how her grandmother is the only wise woman in the area who knows how to process it and turn it into medicine? 

What conversations did Snow White have with the animals she met? Did they guide her on the path to the seven dwarves’ house? Did Deer encourage her to stay true to her kindness and gentle heartedness? Did Squirrel teach her how to forage for food? What did the fox say? 

While Hansel is being fed and fattened, Gretel is starved, and forced to cook and clean for the witch. I imagine her sitting in counsel with the weeds she is forced to clear in the garden. Nettles teaches her ancient wisdom, the medicine that’s woven into that which stings, the nourishment that can be found wherever she goes, and all its healing properties. Dandelion tells her about the nourishment in bitterness, how her brother is fed with sweets, only to be eaten by the witch, but she can receive the nutrients in the bitter herb, and the deep, grounded, wise nourishment in the roots. 

I feel the deep forest wisdom hiding in fairytale heroines, whispering to those of us who listen, about the layers within stories, about instincts and imagination intertwined, about intuition and inspiration. And I want to open up a story apothecary at the edge of the woods.

Watch this video and get inspired by the forest in fairy tales:

If this mythic magic inspires you, subscribe to my Substack for Muse Medicine and archetypal alchemy.

If you love the weaving of nature and stories, this essay about Dandelion will speak your language, and this essay about Rose will melt your heart.

XOXO

Hagar