Mystic South

Why do the tales of Hansel & Gretal, Snow White, and the Frog Prince still evoke an intriguing air of mystery and magic for us? Scholars have attempted to demystify fairy tales with historical, psychological, and socio-political analysis, and yet their mystique remains. The myth-ritualist theory, proposed by W.R. Smith, and later J.G. Frazier, proposes a myth is not a self-contained story but is tied to ritual. The myth developed to add meaning to the ritual, and the ritual was augmented to encompass and reenact the myth. When the ritual practice ceased, the myth survived as literature. This paper explores the compendium of oral tales collected by the Brothers Grimm (and preserved as literary fairy tale) through the revealing eyes of the myth-ritualist theory, and experiential knowledge of Traditional Witchcraft, and uncovers a secret tradition of ecstatic ritual practices hidden within these well-known tales.