Bear Witness

Imagine if Little Red Riding Hood had gotten a tarot reading right after she met the Wolf, but before she got to Grandma’s House?

I am working on a video where I gave LRRH that Tarot reading. I did this to show people how tarot works–even in a fictional setting. This might take a bit of the Woo-Woo away from Tarot, but I also found it pretty cool that the cards came out in such a way that you could give LRRH an accurate reading at this moment in her life. Despite her being fictional. I tried hard to ignore what I knew might come up– but the cards were pretty straightforward anyway.

We know this tale has been through several versions, some where she gets away, some where she dies, some where she is rescued by a hunter after she and grandma are eaten by the wolf, others that slap the wolf on the hand. Charles Perrault used the story as a warning to young women not to trust strange men (or maybe men in general). Though the wolf in my picture may have a flower in hand and has talked to LRRH, I know she is a child. While the cards can indicate that she is intrigued by the stranger and may even recognize some flirting as a possible interpretation, I don’t want to encourage a romance between a child and a stranger no matter how much sexy LRRH material is out there.

In my tarot reading, I think the cards are building her up to listen to her intuition, to that voice in her head that says that she should be cautious, and so I tell LRRH to be careful because all is not what it seems, and she needs to be more skeptical of strangers in the woods.

This is consistent to an earlier French version of the tale called “The Story of Grandmother,” where the girl is clever enough to escape!

I would have loved to tell her–don’t go to grandma’s, don’t think the wolf is nice, because I know an ending of the story, but this is about what you can and can’t know through tarot, not about this tale in particular. I won’t know the ending of your story or any future things for sure—Tarot is good for getting us to see the NOW better.

What did I learn about her:

She’s growing up and resisting being treated like a baby by her parents. She thinks her parents rules are outdated and old. She reminded me that she is a teen.

She thinks the stranger in the woods is helpful and nice–and might be intrigued by the “flirting” as the heart of her spread was the Page of Cups clarified by the Knight of Cups reversed–an indication that either SHE is a bright young child that is loved by her family and is setting off to bring joy to her grandmother but she’s not paying attention and daydreaming, or that she met someone she thinks of as handsome and interesting who has distracted her. Though this story is fictional, I was still surprised and pleased that the cards labeled this Wolf deceptive and one that she should be wary of. And also told her that she might not be thinking clearly when it came to him.

The cards did NOT tell her that she would be eaten by the wolf. I don’t know what she might do now that she knows something more than she did. I don’t know what version of the tale this might be either! LOL. The future is fluid and we may change our minds, our actions, our approach after we get a reading. Nothing is set in stone (or in legend). They did tell her that something she thought would be an ending was not an ending and that she shouldn’t lose hope. They told her to bring in allies because she might find this “simple task” (going to Grandma’s House) overwhelming. They told her to set boundaries with people who might be aggressive or pushy. Clear boundaries. They did mention that she would see Grandmother, but that something might be off about her, and that she needed to choose carefully what she would do (Queen of Cups + Seven of Cups). It told her over and over again to be cautious and aware of her surroundings.

Now, in my head, did LRRH, the person who told me she was a) bristling at her parents’ rules, b) that she was old enough to take care of herself, and c) thought the stranger she met was nice, maybe even intriguing, was THAT person open to advice—the kind of advice that questioned her perceptions of events she witnessed, her abilities, and her ideas about herself?

That’s the big question.

Are you open to hearing a stranger tell you (with cards) that you might need to question things that you thought you knew?

Tarot comes to you like that–and you have to approach it as if you are open to what it has to say. A LRRH who did get this kind of tarot reading and could see that she might need to listen to that little warning she was feeling– might have approached Grandmother’s house differently. But she might just have let the reading go in one ear and out the other. It depends on whether or not LRRH was open to hearing a second opinion.

Same thing works for your tarot reading. It won’t tell you the future because the future changes. It may tell you to take a second or third look or consider these other things in play. It is great for telling you the NOW. The FULL NOW. We know the NOW from our POV, but a good tarot reader can get a broader look at this moment.

Tarot also tends to reflect the person back to themselves. In this way, it’s a good tool to use for reflection and understanding. A mirror. We sometimes need something concrete — a card– to question the story in our head. To make us ask the questions.

Anyway, as soon as I can take all the long pauses out of the video and my stumbling, I’ll post it. Meanwhile prints are available below.

“Little Red Riding Hood Gets a Tarot Reading,” Jerome Stueart, (11 x 15) watercolor, mixed media on paper. September 2025.