About the Wild Woman Initiation Series
The Wild Woman Project came to me in a flash, a vision & it wouldn’t let me go. So, I listened. The Wild Woman archetype has been initiating me ever since. Through various experiences, which have mostly been about untangling what is true & what is not true in my own being, I have come ever closer to the wild woman within. I am a student, servant, guardian to this project who’s mission is to to awaken women to their most authentic, undomesticated nature, so they may feel like themselves, all the time, no apologies. I am sharing the 13 most important lessons I’ve learned about the path of the Wild Woman over the next few months. May it be useful.
9
The wild woman spoke with deep sincerity:
In order to do what you’ve come here to do
You must seek out the root of the root.
You must know the why beneath the why.
In your endeavors seek to merge with that truth
Your truth
Your Big Why.
~~
In my work with women privately, in circle, training & retreat I have the opportunity again and again to be witness to a particular longing-one I know intimately. Depending on who is holding the longing, it looks a bit different. Yet no matter whose longing it is, and how different it may seem from another’s, there is a constant.
What is constant in each heart is a quality of raw, unwavering yearning to know,
Oh, to know!
So that she may do what she knows she must do
And be who she knows she must be.
~~
The process of uncovering my life purpose, sometimes called dharma, was a somewhat gnarly one, infused with messy magic & relentless uncertainty.
My path toward meaningful work in the world required of me, at first, a willingness to let go and let die a career path I knew in my heart was not the one.
Then I had to wander. Allowing my inner guidance to lead me around for a few years in what may have looked a bit like being “all over the place” or “aimless.” Taking this training, trying that job, moving here, then maybe over there…Generally, you know, worrying my parents.
Despite the delight and expansion on all levels during the wandering period, I was constantly anxious. Like the kid in the backseat, “Are we there yet?!” I just NEEDED to know the end point-where was this all going?
I felt called in so many directions! Yet I began to notice that the divine feminine really turned me on, lit me up and drew me in. But still, what was I to do with that?
And then, by the grace of the creator, I started to get really good at not knowing. I got secure with not knowing how all of the pieces would fit together. I began to trust that they just would, somehow. And hey, even if they didn’t, so what! (Thank you yoga, meditation, amazing friends and inner adventures for this chilling out part.)
And one day, when I least expected it, everything changed.
~~
In 2011 I was introduced to the work of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, whose seminal book Women Who Run with the Wolves, introduced me to the Wild Woman Archetype. I will never forget the day I held that book in my hands for the first time. Electricity streamed through my body. I was shaking as I paid for it in the bookstore.
The wild woman-the unusual beauty, the insatiable appetite for life, the daringness to go her own way, the trials & test of the soul she endures, the constant love for her pack, the wisdom of the earth she holds her being, that odd & wonderful outsider who enjoys a perfectly unique perspective on all things “civilized.”
I was in love.
It was in those early months with the wild woman, I realized that I couldn’t start with the what of my work, I had to know the Why. Why this wild woman? Why this emerging project? What was calling me forth?
Again & again, I heard:
In order to do what you’ve come here to do
You must seek out the root of the root.
You must know the why beneath the why.
In your endeavors seek merge with that truth
Your truth
Your Big Why.
Here is what I found~way back when:
my why.
I am here to serve on behalf of the great mother. I am here to usher in the wild feminine in every way that I can. For it is my belief that in the realization and embodiment of the wild feminine on earth, that tremendous, unimaginable collective healing will occur in our great family here on earth.
And within months, on January 1st 2012, The Wild Woman Project was born.
~~
If I could whisper to every anxious wandering heart I’ve met (and I’ve met many), I would say this:
All is perfect, dear one.
This is all your path.
You are doing great.
Keep going.
Keep listening.
Keep bravely following your guidance
Wherever it takes you.
If I could sing to every wild heart that has a vision, an idea, I’d sing this:
Listen deeply for your why
Patiently too
And when you feel it rise in you
Merge with it
Let live in every cell of your being
Let it come through every word your speak
Feel it, know it, live it.
Stay ever faithful to your why
And you cannot fail.
~~
In 2016, may your carry Lesson 9 with you wherever you go:
Begin with your why.
Let this sacred why be the very roots of the magnificent tree of your life & work in the world.
~~
EXPLORE THE OTHER LESSONS OF THE WILD WOMAN INITIATION SERIES
On the Horizon
Join an international, intergeneration group of weird and wonderful wild-hearted Women in our online Cave (which lives on an app)!
We meet weekly in Circles, Workshops, Practices to keep our wild spirits lit!
Upcoming Weekly Gatherings:
Join us for an hour-long New Moon Meditation Adventure on May 7th!
Online, from anywhere.
Using a dynamic meditation journey, we will tune into the New Moon, to your own Inner Guidance, synced up with wild-hearted women from around the world. This offering will include music, storytelling, meditation, journaling prompts & intention-setting.
Can’t make it live? No worries. All participants will receive a copy of the recording with 24 hours of the session.
We have Wild Woman Project-trained Circle facilitators is 26 countries, and 44 out of the 50 United States.
Chris Maddox is the founder of The Wild Woman Project where she teaches women how to utilize the gifts of the Wild Woman Archetype in their everyday lives & how to lead women’s circles in their local communities. She is the organizer & facilitator of the beloved annual WILD WOMAN FEST, a women’s retreat-festival hybrid which fosters a deep connection to nature, a direct experience of the divine feminine & profound spiritual sisterhood among the women in attendance.
An ever student of the great mysteries of existence and nature itself, Chris believes women are holding innate gifts & tools that society at large needs – now more than ever. She is committed to helping women remember their special magic and to bring it forward into every corner of their lives, for the greater good of the planet.
