Tree Woman

Tree Woman is many things; so many that it is not possible for me to speak to all of them at this time. So, I will speak of just a few. First of all, she is a tree, as a tree she is a symbol for all of nature. Secondly, she is woman inseparable from the rest of nature. In this aspect she is a symbol for the human animal. She is also divine: a Goddess immanent in nature. These three symbols as one actually function as a portal into the reality she represents.
Tree Woman speaks of the beauty and bounty of mother Earth and the rebirth of our conscious participation in the web of life. She speaks volumes of gratitude to all indigenous people of this planet who hold this sacred ceremonial space, generation after generation, generation after generation; as the majority of humanity has lost their footing: their rootedness in Mother Earth.
She is also a self-portrait: that most personal of genres of the artist. She is me. I found my true mother early on waiting for me every day in the yard of my suburban childhood home. She was an enormous old Apricot tree. She fed me year after year, in many ways, as I grew to adult hood. At that point the greater tree nation called me out: I was beckoned to Alaska where I lived in the woods for thirteen years. It was there that I became Tree Woman.
As we all stand upon the threshold of rebirth we have a glorious opportunity to reclaim our birthright as Tree Women: women, men and children; partners in creation as evolution.

Frozen In My Tracks

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Shivering his tail end at me
I am compelled by some inner, instinctual knowing:
frozen in my tracks.
Only my eyeballs allowed to move:
indicating to Mommy that the incarnation of death
is there, behind the potted palm…
between us.

Shivering his tail end, loud…
He lets me know where we both stand:
He, fierce and free; king of the jungle
and I, dumb struck; frozen in my tracks.
Never before have I seen this devil with my own eyes…
but his presence, his authority over me, is absolute.

I make my silent supplications to Grandfather Coyote and Shar Shk Buk:
Patron Saint of those who find themselves eyeball to fang with this devil.
I silently invoke Shar Shk Buk:
that funny little bird who brazenly dances with this devil
and actually wins.
Finally after what seems like a life time: and could very well have been!
Shar Shk Buk opens the pearly gate to my home and heaven on earth,
and I run
not too proud to tuck my own tail between my legs
in deference to his majesty!

By Moon Doggie Buhlert, Sept. 9th, 2012

P.S. Mommy channeled this poem for me because I don’t have opposable thumbs,
and Grandfather Coyote says,” That’s what people are for.”