Women Rising Wild

This April Fool's Day, we are rewriting the patriarchy out of our favorite myths to awaken intuitive clarity. We begin with Little Red Riding Hood. 💃🏻🐺♥️
Read our revised version of this classic childhood fairytale and remember yourself as wild, instinctual, and at home in the deep dark wood.

In this telling of the fairytale, the forest is not a place of danger—it is a place that listens, feels, sees, and knows.
Little Red Riding Hood was an empath. She always had a sense of things not perceived of by others, not through words or clear thoughts—but as a subtle feeling in her chest, like a thread tugging her toward or away from something unseen. Her mother called it imagination. Her grandmother called it knowing.

“Trust it,” her grandmother would say, tapping gently over Red’s heart. “It speaks before the world does.”

One morning, as Red prepared to bring a basket of honey and herbs to her grandmother, that quiet knowing stirred uneasily. The sunlight shining through a thin layer of clouds looked the same. The old dirt road was the same. But something beneath it all felt…wrong. Like a shadow moving under still water at the edge of a deep sea.

“Stay on the path,” her mother reminded her.

Red nodded—but her hand lingered over her heart.

She stepped from the road into the forest.

The trees welcomed her, whispering in the wind, but the uneasy feeling in her heart grew stronger the deeper she went into the wood. Then she heard it—a soft crunch of leaves behind her.

She turned.

A wolf stood at the edge of dense forest.

He was large, silver-gray, his yellow eyes steady and strangely gentle. Red felt fear rise to her throat—but beneath it, something else stirred. Recognition. Not of the wolf himself, but of the feeling: this was not danger.

“You feel it too,” the wolf said.

Red blinked. “Feel what?”

“The wrongness,” he replied, stepping closer but not crossing into her personal space. “Something moves through these woods today that does not belong.”

Red’s grip tightened on her basket. “My grandmother…”

The wolf nodded. “Yes.”

Fear flickered again—but this time, her instinct did not tell her to run. It told her to listen.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“I listen, I pay attention,” the wolf said simply. “The forest speaks, but most don’t hear it. You do.”

Red hesitated. “My mother says I imagine things.”

The wolf’s ears twitched. “And what do you say?”

Red closed her eyes for a moment. Beneath her fear, beneath her doubt, the feeling pulsed clearly now—urgent, insistent.

“I think something is wrong,” she said.

The wolf inclined his head. “Then it is.”

A distant branch snapped.

Red’s eyes flew wider open.

“That,” the wolf said quietly, “is not the forest.”

They moved together then—not along the path, but into the deeper woods where shadows stretched long and roots twisted underfoot. The wolf led, but never pulled ahead too far. Each time Red hesitated, he waited.

“What if I’m wrong?” she whispered once.

The wolf glanced back. “Then you will learn. But if you ignore it…you may lose more than certainty.”

The uneasy feeling sharpened as they approached her grandmother’s cottage. But now it was joined by something else—clarity. Direction.

“Someone is there,” Red said.

The wolf nodded. “What does your knowing tell you to do?”

Red’s breath steadied. She listened—not to the wind, not to the wolf, but to that quiet voice inside.

“He wants to trick her,” she said slowly. “He’s pretending. Waiting.”

The wolf’s eyes gleamed. “Then we do not walk into his story.”

Red nodded. “We make our own.”

They circled the cottage quietly. Through the window, Red saw him—a man wearing her grandmother’s shawl too tight and too small, his posture wrong, his stillness forced. He turned his head sharply at every small sound.

Waiting.

Red’s heart pounded—but her instinct did not tell her to flee. It told her to act.

“Grandmother is not here,” Red whispered suddenly.

The wolf tilted his head.

“I don’t feel her inside,” Red said. “She must be in the garden or the woods.”

The wolf’s tail flicked. “Then we protect her before the man can find her.”

They moved again, faster now, guided not by fear but by purpose. Behind the cottage, among the herbs and wildflowers, they found her grandmother kneeling, hands deep in the soil.

“Grandmother!” Red called softly.

The old woman turned, eyes widening—but only for a moment before they softened.

“You felt it,” she said.

Red nodded.

“There’s a man in your house,” Red said. “He means harm.”

Her grandmother stood slowly, brushing dirt from her hands. She looked to the wolf, then back to Red.

“And you listened,” she said.

The wolf stepped forward. “He waits for you to enter. He believes you will walk into his trap.”

Grandmother smiled faintly. “Then let him wait.”

Together, the three of them moved deeper into the woods, away from the cottage, away from the man who mistook stillness for his own secrecy and safety.

As they walked, Red felt the uneasy feeling begin to fade, replaced by something steady and warm.

“You see?” the wolf said gently. “It does not shout. It does not command. But it knows.”

Red nodded, her hand resting over her heart. “I was afraid of it.”

“Most are,” her grandmother said. “Because it asks you to trust yourself.”

Red looked between them—the wolf who listened to the forest, and the grandmother who had always listened to her.

“And what about him?” Red asked, glancing back toward the unseen cottage.

The wolf’s gaze turned toward the trees. “The forest sees him now.”

Somewhere in the distance, a branch snapped—not sharp and wrong as before, but swallowed quickly by the living woods.

Red did not ask more.

Instead, she walked forward, no longer just following a path—but learning how to hear the one inside her.

And the forest, at last, truly felt like home.

Have fun today, but never be fooled. You are powerful, smart, and terrifyingly badass! Never fear your gifts! The wild feminine is writing the new narrative! If you share this story on social media, please tag Women Rising Wild. And tell us about your experiences with intuition.

Registration is now open to join us at our Women Rising Wild summer retreats among wolves in Colorado. Spaces are filling fast
This week we are offering a special discount. New women may register for only $500 and returning women can enjoy an extra $50 off. Secure your spot before we sell out.
In wild love,
Melissa
💃🏻🐺♥️

Wild Sisters, Daughters, Mothers, Teachers, Healers, Makers, Fire Keepers, Water Maidens, Shooting Stars, Earth Dancers,
✨🕊🌈

I am writing to share life updates and news for future events with Women Rising Wild.

After a difficult spring and summer facing cancer screenings, biopsies, and surgeries I can report that I am cancer free and for this I am very grateful.

During these months, I did not share about this with anyone. Choosing instead to turn inwards and more intimately towards connection with nature I found a path and process to navigate, transform, endure, and be in the unfolding.

April through July I spent hours each day observing the wildflowers near my Boulder home with new curiosity and rejuvenating joy. I studied their ecologies and healing essence. I listened to their medicine, collected many, and found therapeutic abundance in their beauty, energy, and chemical properties evoked in myriad homemade tinctures.

Daily use of honey infused with lilac, wild rose, chicory, golden poppy, and Saint John’s wort kept my spirit sweetly lifted and resolved a three year long struggle with night terror induced sleep disruption.

Finally in mid July my doctor phoned to tell me that everything looks ok.

While connecting with the flowers over so many weeks I simultaneously connected deeply and shamanically with the shadows of cancer and innate healing potentials in my body to holistically elevate my well-being.

The plants, like the wolves I’ve been so blessed to know, have changed me. I am freer, dancing again with hope and optimism for my personal healing journey and for our collective quality of being and development.

Although I did decide to cancel our Labor Day retreat this year so that I could rest and center my health, we did have a lovely Summer Solstice event with Mission: Wolf and I am looking forward to some new Women Rising Wild events this fall and next summer.

Our 2026 Women and Wolves Colorado retreat dates have been posted on the website and the registration portal is open. Please note that the first five women who register will receive a BIG bonus discount. I anticipate these spaces to fill this week.

And, I’ll be hosting sister circles at my home in Boulder again on October 4 and December 6 from 3-6pm. Details are forthcoming but save the dates now.

To those who have joined us before, I miss you terribly. Please send me a text, email, phone call, or if you are in the area come by. I am eager to catch up. To those who have not yet joined us but want to learn more, reach out any time.

I hope to see you and hear from you soon.

In wild love,
Melissa Esha Lynn
xoxo 💋🐺🕊