The red hooded girl

 
My favourite fairytale is “Red Riding Hood”. There’s so much to read into it, with hidden meanings. You could say it’s a story of a girl growing up and meeting strange men, menstruation and loss of virginity. It could also be a story of werewolves. It certainly is a horror fairytale story. It’s a challenging story of a young woman that enters a dark forest on her own, for the purpose of visiting her sick grandmother. One can find many Goddess related messages, the Maiden healing the Crone, or the girl in red (sun goddess) encountering the bad wolf (the killer). In Norse mythology it seems to mirror the story of the wolf, Skoll, that eats the sun goddess Sol during Ragnarok. The red hooded cloak may also be looked at as a very different form of symbolism. Red is the colour of blood, perhaps it means menstrual blood. Also red is the colour of fire. There were ancient priestesses who wore hooded red robes, such as those of Delphi in the temple of Apollo. Again, solar related divinity. The wolf being the aggressor, rapist and destroyer. Little Red Riding Hood may as well be a sun priestess like Pythia. There were also red priestesses who honoured and worshipped the goddess Isis. Saint Brigid is often depicted in a red hooded robe or a red habit. She’s said to be the canonised goddess Brigid, a fire and sun goddess. So with this, Red Riding Hood could be seen in many ways and interpretations, from the girl going through puberty, the healer, the Maiden, priestess and goddess, who encounters her cosmic enemy, the Wolf.

The artwork is "Priestess of Delphi" by John Collier.