Pruning a Peach Tree

I watched Trevor Newman

prune a tree yesterday

sharing permaculture skills

with thirty seekers

He started 

with a peach tree

about 8 years young

clipping branches that were turning

in on itself

like cancerous thoughts

He pruned them away

their sharp pokers no longer 

threatening entanglement

stranglement

endangerment

of sticking inside one's own web

Instead, he trains the tree

to spiral out, spread out

and bear fruit, across many directions

for all to witness

If I didn't know better

my heart might only yell

Destruction!

this pruning and clipping

this cutting away

of life-draining branches

branches destroyed

Instead, I, my life force 

also shouts Creation!

We Choose Our Lives

We prune and clip

with great care 

what we consciously

want to nourish, fuel, create

Or, we wind up with tangled masses

of thoughts grown wild

like children raised without rules

beautiful branches so thickly overgrown

that the life hardly knows where to bloom

or whether to bloom at all

So, Trevor prunes, choosing

to direct a tree of life

with wisdom and care

He steps back from the tree

bites his lip, sees the vision

of what could be

Steps forward

clipper in hand

And begins, again. . .

to create a succulent 

stable life

formed

By: Sheryl Netzky

Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved Sheryl Netzky

Embryonic 2012: Awakened

A conversation with a dear friend inspired the poem below, as we shared our experiences of stepping into the energy of 2012.  As I listened, an image emerged.  I saw a woman standing on top of a tall rocky precipice, in fetal position, her long hair flowing around her, and her body still wet like a newborn. . .embryonic.

Embryonic

Standing on the precipice

dawning this new day

a goddess stands birthed,

her long hair saturated,

wet with liquid global gold,

filled with lava nectar washing

through her global heart

in intimate bursts of connectivity

of knowing, of truth

of seeing, of awakening 

the whole world inside herself.

Like a son seeks into his Mama’s eyes

I stare into the sun 

witnessing the moments

as a community of gods and goddesses

awaken

each on our own vibrant precipice

cradled between Father Sky and Mother Earth

wet and renewed

sacred and pulsating

inside stillness and silence and love.

We are the Daykeepers

standing centered in our mesas

tooled with rattles, cloths, crystals and water

as we midwife the global heart’s rebirth

inside our sisters and brothers and friends

inside our corporations, homes and schools

inside ourselves and the whole world.

2012: Awakened

© Sheryl H. Netzky, All Rights Reserved 2011

Warrior Poem: Treat Yourself Gently

It’s time to put the spear, the sword

the knife down.  The world

is righting itself.

Warrior, you with your long light hair

and lean sinewy arms,

You, with your eight inch spear.

You, who’s kneeling on one knee

at the foot of my bed

holding your spear

at rest.

You.  You.  Warrior in me.

Take rest.

The war is ending.

Become the Heirophant

seated in your red robes

holding septar and anch

lion and bull

eagle and hawk.

You.  Sit in your throne

in you, as you, and choose.

Choose how you will create each day.

Sacred Writing Activity:

How gently can you treat yourself right now?  What is the self-talk that permeates your inner landscape?  In what ways does your inner warrior declare war on yourself and others. 

Begin writing to yourself, as if you were a newborn child.  Speak sweetly and softly.  Use terms of endearment like, “Sweetheart”, and “Oh, Baby”.  Allow the sweetness of who you inherently are to unfold on the page.  Write for ten minutes.  See what happens.