Hey beautiful soul,
I’m still getting goosebumps thinking about this conversation. You know that feeling when you’re standing at the edge of becoming, knowing there’s something more calling you but you can’t quite grasp it? Chris Maddox gets it. She’s been there. And more importantly, she’s created a space where women just like us can step into that wild, authentic power we’ve been keeping quiet for too long.
Chris is the founder of the Wild Woman Project. It’s a movement that’s trained hundreds of women across 26 countries to lead their own circles. But here’s what I love about her story: she never planned this. It started with a single vision of golden circles of light scattered across the world, and one powerful knowing that if women sat in circles together, it would change everything.
The Magic of Speaking Your Truth
There’s something truly transformative that happens when women sit in circles together. It’s scary at first, speaking to women you don’t know, about some of your deepest fears. But then something magical unfolds: you hear these women reflect that back to you in their own way, in their own journey and their own experience.
As Chris Maddox, founder of the Wild Woman Project, explains: “There’s such an incredible power to that witnessing and being witnessed. When you’re in that space and you speak from your heart or your intuition or your inner guidance, whatever is coming up, whatever you speak in the process of drawing it up, saying it out loud, having it seen across the circle, it fortifies it in a way that’s different than your own personal practice.”
The Power of Being Witnessed
When you sit at home journaling or meditating, you might have a passing piece of guidance that comes through, and sometimes it can just pass you by. But something about saying it in circle fortifies it. It makes it real, tangible – it’s been seen, heard and felt not only by yourself but others, and you’ve spoken it out loud.
“It’s powerful. And I think it has the ability then to when you walk back into your life with this kind of treasure that you retrieved to really create powerful change,” Chris shares.
The experience is deeply connecting. As participants discover, we’re all so much more alike than different. Every time someone shares in circle, you’re faced with the reality that we are all so connected. You start to really see the places where we overlap, where there’s something very core, and the beauty in the differences.
Credit: Augusta Rose
From Vision to Movement: The Birth of Wild Woman Project
The Wild Woman Project didn’t start with a business plan. It started with a vision – literally.
Chris recalls lying in bed one day when she was 27, right before she had the idea for the Wild Woman Project: “I had this vision. And I sort of saw the world from way back and I saw all of these circles of light, a golden light and it was a very powerful image and I thought to myself those are circles and I’ll just devote myself to doing whatever I can to help more circles come into the world.”
She couldn’t be a part of all those circles, but she could help with the seeds. She could help women have sets of skills so they could feel confident to go on and create their own circles. Each circle evolves on its own and takes on its own life, but there’s something powerful about feeling connected and knowing that people on the other side of the world are also taking part in a similar kind of practice.
The Numbers Speak
Since officially launching on January 1st, 2012, the Wild Woman Project has:
Trained hundreds of women (now in the 800s) across the globe to lead their own circles
Established public circles in 26 countries around the world
Created an annual festival, Wild Woman Fest
Built an online community called Wild Woman Underground
Credit: Elaina Mortali
The Journey from Actress to Circle Leader
Chris’s path to this work was organic, nothing like she could have ever dreamed of doing as a little girl. Her journey began in New York City in her early 20s, involved in the Vagina Monologues V-Day movement as a theater person.
“I was trained as an actress, director, and doing the vagina monologues when I was 20-ish was my first time, other than Girl Scout Camp, being in a totally female space, where here we are speaking about our bodies,” she recalls.
The Spiritual Seeking
This was an awakening experience because even the rehearsals were kind of like a circle. Chris had always had a seeker’s heart, but had so few examples of a face of the sacred or the divine that was female, feminine. Growing up in Houston, Texas, in a Christian culture, the major spiritual options had women in supporting roles.
“I experienced something in those women’s spaces that kind of began to fill that hole. How does the sacred express like when it’s in the feminine form? And I think I was kind of finding that.”
She went on to become a yoga teacher, studied yoga for fertility, and kept being drawn back into women’s spaces. Eventually, she was invited to take over what a studio owner was calling a “full moon goddess group.”
“I would like to call it a new moon women’s circle. Because I heard that making intentions on the new moon could be powerful. I didn’t know why – I was very, I was baby. I mean, I was in my 20s.”
The Experimentation Phase
That first circle became a two-and-a-half-year experiment in her neighborhood yoga studio, meeting every new moon. They kept having experiences of setting intentions in circle and watching those intentions bloom right before their eyes.
“We just saw it happen over and over again. And eventually, I was just like, ‘I think a lot of women could do this. I think it comes naturally to us.'”
Mystical Slumber Parties and the Power of Joy
Chris describes her style of leadership and facilitation as “a really strong mixture of play and depth.” To her, it feels almost like “we’re having a mystical slumber party. It has that fun vibe to it.”
This playful approach isn’t just about having fun – it’s about accessing life force energy.
“What is going on when we’re feeling that sense of joy and playfulness and enthusiasm? That’s like, it feels like life force to me. It feels shimmery. It feels bright. It’s like inner energy – it’s better than coffee, you know, it’s like true energy.”
The Secret to Navigating Challenges
This energy becomes crucial when facing obstacles. No matter what your path, you’re going to meet places where you have to figure something out. You can either approach it with worry and anxiety, or you can open up to it with playful curiosity.
“You can be like, ‘Okay, how are we going to do this? How are we going to figure this out?’ And with a sense of playful experimentation, because you have to do it either way. And which one’s going to go better?”
Chris believes that life just wants our gratitude. While acknowledging that sometimes you’re in a dark night, sometimes moving through grief or anxiety – all natural human states – she emphasizes that we don’t have to approach spiritual practice so solemnly.
“I think life doesn’t mind if we smile.”
Original Artwork by Brianna Meli
Who Is the Wild Woman?
Not every woman resonates with the term “wild woman,” and that’s perfectly okay. But for those who do, Chris explains what draws them to this archetype.
The language comes from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who wrote “Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.” She named this force, this wild feminine, this old knowing that needs to be remembered.
Characteristics of the Wild Woman
Women who are drawn to the Wild Woman Project typically share these qualities:
Seekers by nature – drawn toward what is unconventional
Nature-connected – see the natural world as teacher, friend, guide
Mystical – even if not fully developed yet
Big feelers – sensitive, empathetic, artistic, creative
In transition – often in a “what does it all mean” phase
“All of us, regardless of your gender, can tune into the wild feminine. And some of us have it more naturally than others as a bigger presence,” Chris explains.
The wild woman archetype comes with mysticism, creativity, and the seeker’s heart. It’s for women who hadn’t found a particular lineage that felt right, but who can look toward the natural world as their teacher.
Original Artwork by Brianna Meli
Working With Your Inner Guidance
For women standing at the edge of becoming – those who know something is calling them but can’t quite grasp what – Chris offers practical guidance.
“There comes a time at some point in every woman’s life where they really start to look around at their life and ask, like, is this the life that I want? Or is this the life that I made out of my perceived expectations from outside, from the culture, from family, from religion, whatever are the outside influences.”
The Inner Guidance System
This questioning often comes through illness, sadness, or just something starting to wake up – what Chris calls the inner guidance knocking and saying, “Hey, hey, I have some ideas, like, listen, listen to me.”
“Then it becomes the time to cultivate the conscious relationship between your mind, your conscious mind, and what’s going on down in the depths. You could think of that like your inner guidance system, your intuition, your instinct, your heart, whatever feels true.”
Practical Tools for Connection
Circle Work: Within circle, you engage with multiple powerful tools:
Breath work
Meditation
Thematic focus
Journaling
Sharing
Intention setting
Journaling: Chris’s favorite and eldest interior practice
- Keep a place to put down what’s going on
- Record dreams, things that move you
- Make gratitude lists
- Ask questions
- Keep your finger on the pulse of inner life
“I really do believe that we have within us everything we need. We really do. We are so resourced inside of ourselves. It’s bonkers. And we, a lot of us just go around ignoring that wealth.”
The Process of Becoming
The key is patience combined with boldness. Chris emphasizes Mary Oliver’s line: “things take the time they take.”
“Be patient with the process because I think… there were years of what am I to do with myself, and listening and getting hints and gathering those hints… gathering, that those are like clues or something.”
But when it’s time to be bold – and you’ll know when that moment comes – focus on service rather than your own fears.
“It is frankly excruciating sometimes to do the thing… It’s sometimes excruciating and you just do it anyway. And in that moment, you focus on the service. Why? You’re not doing it just for you. Focus on who you’re talking to, who you’re serving, what this is really about, and it’ll get you through.”
The Divine Feminine as Mother Energy
When asked about what the awakening of the divine feminine brings to the world, Chris points to a fundamental balance that’s been missing.
“It brings the mother. It brings the mother. If we look at, if we look at the world from way back or even just look at our town or look at our family… imagine a family without a mother and those families exist. But imagine, there’s a hole in the heart, that you’re missing a piece.”
Healing Through Balance
Chris sees the rising of the divine feminine as about picking up and washing the wounded mother energy. Due to the oppression of womankind, the erasure of women from history, and the exclusion of women from classical spiritual thrones, there’s something powerful about standing for equal balance.
“An equal balance between mother and father energy between sun and moon… what it brings, I think is balance. And I think it is extremely healing for women and therefore healing for everyone else because I tend to believe that women are the heart of the home.”
The Ripple Effect
The healing extends beyond individual women. As Chris notes, husbands in her community often encourage their wives to go to circle because when they come home, they’re rejuvenated. Everyone benefits from this strengthening of feminine energy.
“I think it will heal something very foundational that has been wounded in all of us.”
How to Connect with the Wild Woman Project
The best place to connect is thewildwomanproject.com
Current Offerings:
Circle Leader Training Program:
Seven-week, 100% online program
Runs every spring and fall
For women who want to start their own circles
Wild Woman Underground:
Online community with their own app called “the cave”
Weekly circles and other practices like forest bathing or breathwork
100% online
Registration opens periodically (mentioned July 1st in the interview)
Wild Woman Fest:
Annual retreat every August
Welcomes women of all ages
Can come with daughters, aunts, grandmothers
Find a Local Circle:
Website “find a circle” Lists Wild Woman Project circles worldwide
Social Media:
Instagram: @thewildwomanproject (Chris prefers this platform)
Facebook: Also available but Instagram is preferred for direct contact
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 director 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.
Key Takeaways
From this conversation with Chris Maddox, here are five essential insights for women seeking their path:
- Speaking your truth out loud with women present fortifies it – When you walk back into your life, you carry that treasure with you and it creates real lasting change instead of just passing insights that fade away.
- Focus on who you’re serving, not on your own fears – When obstacles come up, you can move through them with purpose rather than getting stuck in “am I good enough” thoughts.
- Your inner guidance system is constantly communicating with you – By keeping a journal and staying connected to your dreams, longings, and what moves you, you build a conscious relationship between your mind and your deepest knowing.
- Be patient with yourself and your process, then be bold when it’s time – Gather your clues and hints without rushing, but when that moment comes to leap, focus on service and do it anyway.
- The rising of the divine feminine brings balance and healing – As you step into your wild woman energy, you’re not just transforming your own life, but contributing to healing something foundational for everyone around you.
The Wild Woman Project represents more than just women’s circles – it’s a movement toward reclaiming the sacred feminine, honoring our inner wisdom, and creating the balance our world desperately needs. For women standing at the edge of becoming, Chris’s work offers both practical tools and profound permission to trust the wild knowing within.
