She and my Grandfather, Gabino, ran away at 17 were together nearly everyday for 66 years. He left this Earth on July 24th, 2021, after hanging on through illness longer than anyone could have predicted, because he had the will of a thousand Suns and he did not want to leave her. Who would?
When I close my eyes, I can see them now, dancing on the other side. And boy, could they dance! At weddings and quinceañeras, we kids would watch them in awe, as they floated across the dance floor. He lead clearly and without hesitation, while she flowed around him adding beauty, colorful style, and finesse. It was a sight to behold! And now, when I get real quiet, I can almost hear their feet moving in circles across the sky.
My grandmother was the first to ever give me a healing, a limpia. As a girl, I remember laying on a bed in her guest room, as grandma whispered prayers over my whole body with an egg in hand. She did this for anyone who wanted it & there were many of us. To receive this blessing from her was something I treasured even though I didn’t understand what it was. It felt like being bathed in love, her love. I was so grateful to have that special time with her, a rare moment in a large family that was just between the two of us, and infused with her connection to her God, or what I would call Spirit. It’s was extremely powerful, in a very very gentle way.
Those healings are among my favorite and most impactful childhood memories. Her older sister Rebecca was a healer, and sometimes when Grandma would watch my videos, she said I reminded her of Becky. That meant the world to me, as I know the special place Becky held and holds in my mother’s heart and childhood memories. I just know they are sharing stories and laughing together in the cosmos somewhere, like only sisters can. And I bet Aunt Becky is showing her around, as all great big sisters do.
To look into my Grandmother’s eyes, was to look into my mother’s eyes and vice versa. Her six beautiful and spirited daughters each embody pieces of Grandma, her spirit and her looks. It has been said that my mother most closely resembles her. Her deep set dark brown eyes, fair skin, strong cheek bones, a serious regal resting face, and a bright, child-like smile. In the precious years I have left with my mother, I know I will look into her eyes and see my Grandmother standing behind her in the invisible realm, with those healing hands pressed gently on my mother’s back as she steps into eldership, a grandmother now, and matriarch in a family of her own. I will remind my mother, that Grandma lives in her and each time she looks in the mirror she can see her.
A testament to the Mother she was, is the awe-inspiring care her children gave her in her final years. I am ever grateful to my Aunts especially, who selflessly, cared for Grandma day in and day out. Each sibling offering what they could in the way of help. This is what it is to act on your love. This is what it means to be family.
Though time has felt, often illusory, or elastic, I can feel it’s reality on my body and the bodies of those I love. With every new sprouting of gray hair, or new wrinkle, or ache, this temporary home, my body, reminds me to be like Grandma and make good use of the little time I’ve got and to treasure above all treasures, the love in my life.
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!
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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.
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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.
Que tu abuela continue en to bellamente! Un caluroso saludo y mis sentidos pésames. Gracias por hacernos conocer tu abuelita.
Que sigas en ti proyecto wild woman, me encanta!
Love
Ivette
Thank you for sharing this. It brought tears to my eyes. Today I will think deeply in generation of women that your abuela belong too grateful for the doors they open for us, specially here in Texas. I love you.
This made me feel very blessed to have chosen to care for my grandmother before she passed. I gave her the very best of care, and I often don’t recognize how beautiful that time was. It was difficult and painful. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words about your grandmother. May her memory live on. Blessed be!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful memories and your strong, loving grandmother with us. Sending blessings of love and light to you and your family. 🕯💜
That is so beautiful Chris. I recall the vivid feeling of my Grandmother dancing with her spouse who waited to be with her for twenty five years after she passed with me whispering prayers in her ear. She was also a matriarch that brought her whole family to the states from brutal regimes. I never forget her strength or her hard work without complaint..or her absolute commitment to freedom. I hold you during your sacred time of remembering.
Sending love and strength to you my dear one. May grandmother’s love, strength, healing energy and wisdom live on through you today and always. Sharing grandmother’s song. https://youtu.be/agsNj-6GhPk
Que Dios la bendiga. 🙏✨🙏
What a blessing to have such a beautiful and radiant soul as a grandmother. Full of love, joy and resiliency. Such grace💗🙏💗
Chris,
I am sorry for your loss of your Grandma’s physical presence on our Earth. My prayers are with you and your Family.
What an incredible Gift she was to you all – and to all.
Your tribute was special. Thank you for sharing Her with us.
And, thank you for sharing you. You are so incredibly open. You have the courage and faith to share You deeply with us all. I am touched and nurtured by it . I am honored by your Trust in us.
love and blessings,
Rose
Thank you for this beautiful sharing of your Mother’s Mother. I feel blessed. I will think of her healing whenever I hold an egg in my hand.
❤️❤️❤️
What a beautiful testament to the memory of your abuela. Reading about her reminds me of my mom who was also born in 1938 ~ never thought of that as the “silent generation” but it makes total sense.
May the long time sun
Shine upon Gregoria
All love surround her
And the pure light
Within her
Guide her way on
Guide her way on
May you and your family find comfort in your memories of Gregoria. Sending you and your family love.♥️
Thank you for such a beautiful tribute to the true matriarch of la familia! I’m so glad she touched so many lives in her family including yours, and that you shared intimate moments with her when you were a child and in her final days. Now I know where your beautiful spirit and healing gifts originate❤️ Blessings, love and comfort to you and your family and may you always draw on her strength, passion and loving ways to guide you through life.
I am sending you healing blessings to you and your family Chris as they navigate this sacred time, You as your grandmother did walk Earth with so much grace and love filled with the light of Spirit. Thank you for sharing your heart and your familial truth. Your lineage of healing…so powerful! May memories of your mother’s mother live on in your eyes and your mother’s. Such a gift family is, Blessed Be!
Thank you for sharing such warm and beautiful memories of your mother’s mother, your Abuela ❤️
The photos you shared are precious, a meaningful connection and visual invitation into your family. Such a tender moment captured forever of you and your grandmother, a deep level of silent communication very present. Butterflies resonate deeply and a very special way to say hello, a pause to connect with a loved one 🦋
May your Abuela Gregoria’s memory always be a blessing for you and yours 🙏
Chris.
Writing from the heart is your gift. You are so eloquent in your description of your grandmother who left a great legacy and impacted the world who knew her. What a blessing to have had such a love/ spirit directly connected to you.
I am grateful for your ability to share her/your story and it has offered me a better understanding of how I embrace, the added roll of Grandmother for my family.
Blessings to you and your family as you grieve. May time and memories bring you comfort.
Much love,
Kim C
Hands at your back, dear one. May the light of your grandmother’s love continue to shine through you as you pour fierce love into this aching world. While my heart aches for the pain of your family’s transitions, it is a blessing to witness this love. Thank you for sharing it so freely <3
While I am saddened to hear of this enormous earthly loss, your words clearly touch a place of exquisite care and love.
It’s beautiful to see this in action, through your ability to stay present with your family. Sending you and your mother all of my love. xo
My deepest condolences for the loss of your grandmother in this world.
Of course her legacy lives through you, and there is no better legacy!
My mother is nearing the end of her life… She is about the age of your grandmother, born in 1940.
She has not been that selfless and giving woman you describe, and yet I came to this life through her. And so I reach Deep for the Guidance to navigate this time authentically and with love for myself and her.
May you give and receive much beauty in this time of grief and honor.❤️🦋
Dearest Chris,
My heart holds you and your family as you lay your precious Abuelita to rest. May the loving cloak of the Virgencita envelop you all with grace and mercy in your times of grief.
Guerrero means warrior in Spanish. How special to have such a resilient and powerful warrior as one of your most cherished ancestors. And even so, I know how sad it is to say goodbye.
May the wisdom and love she bestowed on you be activated deep inside your bones, your blood, your flesh, so that she walks with you always. Guides you. Protects you. Feels your joys, and comforts your sorrows. That when you miss her, all you need is to turn within, and her loving embrace awaits you.
Fly with the angels, Gregoria. Thank you for all the love you shared with this world.
❤️-N
thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts and memories of your grandmother 💗
Blessings of love to you and your family…reading these heart-full words of honor brings me to seeing that you dear Chris carry the gleam of your grandmother’s heart in your eyes. Thank you for sharing this dance of life!
Oh Chris,
What a pleasure it always is to read your words. May you and your mama, and your whole family, find a graceful peace in the warm and wonderful memories of your grandmother. She certainly seems as though she carried that wild woman spark within her spirit!
I was struck by the photo of you looking upon your grandmother, such lovely profiles on 2 strong, strong women… and you have her chin! How lucky we are as daughters and granddaughters to carry not only the loving, heart legacies of our foremothers, but the physical legacies, too! You are a living, physical embodiment of the very real things Gregoria has left here on Earth while she is dancing in the cosmos.
Much love and squeezy hugs,
~Marybeth
Que Gregoria decanse en la Santa Gloria. Chris, what touching, beautiful words about your querida abuelita. Yes, you will see her in your mother..she beats with your every breath, as she is coded into your every cell.
I loved seeing her picture surrounded by “rosas y veladoras”..so beautiful. Her strength, light and magic will forever be a part of you. She will always be looking after you. May the beautiful memories bring you comfort. I don’t know if you speak Spanish or maybe understand it a bit…here is a song for you. “La Marca” by Luis Elizalde.
Sending love and light to you on the winds…
~Tish~
Chris, sending you so much love and tenderness on the winds. What a beautiful tribute to your Abuelita! Thank you for sharing her sacred story with us, and for honoring her as you have here. Having met you and your mother, giving thanks to this beautiful woman who is part of the sacred lineage of strong, powerful and loving women. Knowing you were once an egg cell inside your mother as she was in Gregoria’s womb, three generations of matrilineal power.
So lovely to hear of the other healer and medicine women in your lineage as well, shining bright as they lived, and now shining bright from the world of the Ancestors. I offer this Women Honoring Song here to you, to Grandmother Gregoria Guerrero, and all the powerful women of your lineage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCN3Gyf_OWA
Women’s Honoring Song
“Anagehya- women of all the Nations – you are the strength, you are the force, you are the healing of the Nations.” – Performed in concert at the Blue Deer Center with remarks on the nature of traditional songs. http://www.earthsinger.net
Dear Chris,
Your writing is so beautiful, so poetic. I feel the deep, resilient love in the flow of your words, especially in the spaces in between and underneath the words. Thank you for sharing your heart with us in honor of your powerful and gentle grandmother, Gregoria Guerrero. What a name! Gregoria the Warrior!
My grandmother, Candita Serrano, crossed over in August of last year, and my 12 year old daughter and I imagine her dancing and drinking cafecitos every night as we pray, connecting with her energy and spirit on a nightly basis. May your grandmother and mine meet on the dance floor of heaven as they help raise the forcefield of love for us here on earth!
Sending you and your family deep peace during this time.
Love,
Michelle
And now, when I get real quiet, I can almost hear their feet moving in circles across the sky.
Perhaps she can hear you listening.
Thank you for sharing🙏🏽.
Thank you for sharing, Chris. Sending love and blessings for your family.
As a child I spent many many days, nights, summers with your Grandparents and your Aunts were like sisters to me. Your Uncle Raul was like a dad to me. So many wonderful memories. I was always treated as another daughter.
Mrs. Guerrero taught me how to make tortillas when I was 5. You never ever went hungry. She was such a beautiful lady.
It breaks my heart having lost touch all these years. I have tried reaching out over the years. The Guerrero’s have and will always hold a special place in my heart. Every year I get older, I think of them we shared my birthday on their anniversary.
Chris this is absolutely beautiful and seeing the family picture, oh the tears. Please send your mom & aunts my love. I would love to get in touch with them. I love you all, forevermore!
Oh my goodness, Melissa.
Really???
How did you know the family?! How special. Please let me know. I will send your message along ♥️
Dear Chris,
I have full body chills from reading your incredible tribute to your grandmother, and further the sentiments of all those who have responded.
What a gift to share so much love and admiration.
The legacy that she left for the entire Guerrero Family and for all of The Wild Woman Project family and friends, will be cherished and honored.
Thank you for sharing in your beautiful, amazing words.
Chris,
Thank you for sharing because those remembered are never truly gone.
My heart aches for you and your family. Losing a loved one is never easy so I am sending to you love and healing thoughts in this time of sorrow…
Hugs and Howls Dear Heart,
Linnette
Dear Chris,
I wept as I read your beautiful, heartfelt tribute to your Abuela. May you and your family be comforted by her eternal love and the beams of light and love flowing throughout the Universe to hold her and all of you. It is an honor to see in you the continuation of strong, creative, powerful and loving women. So much love, Carol/Qudsiya
Thank you so much, to each of you for your sweet comments. I have taken each of them to heart ♥️
Sending love and blessings to you and yours.
This sunk right into the deepest parts of my heart ❤️. As someone who never physically met either grandmother I felt every little piece of adoration and love you hold for this amazing woman’s existence, life and journey and your blessed part of walking/sharing pieces of the path with her. Thank you for trusting us with such precious, loving memories. It made my day more full, magical, sacred and powerfully feminine!!!! I howl for that, her, you and your family!!!! HOOOWWWWLLLLLL! ❤️
Thank you so much, Tracey ♥️
What a beautiful tribute to your grandmother. What love – hers and yours and your family’s – all felt through this writing. Thank you for sharing her beautiful spirit with us.
My grandmothers are very special to me, and I am blessed that they are both still alive at 90. May I see them and their lives through the same lens of immense love and gratitude that you see your grandmother.
<3
Thank you Joanna. Blessing to you and your Grandmothers ♥️
What a blessing it is for daughters to be able to grow in the light of strong, loving, beautiful women like your grandmother. You have written the most lovely tribute to a most lovely ancestor. Your words have captured her in a way that makes me feel I knew her. What a blessing you are to her, too.
Thank you, dear Coco ♥️
Thankyou for your beautiful memories of your beloved grandmother many many blessing to you and family I had tears when reading your tribute I felt deeply touched by your words .you are the essence of your ancestors much love 💖
Oh, thank you so much, Jude ♥️