The process of weeding can be as beneficial to the gardener as to the garden. It gives scope to the aggressive instinct—what a satisfaction to pull an enemy by the roots and throw him into a heap! And yet, paradoxically, weeding is the most peaceful of any outdoor task.
Bertha Damon, A Sense of Humus
Rain is falling and everything outside my window is turning a verdant green.
Including the weeds.
I was away for only a few days but already the view from my window is screaming, “Come weed me!”
If you plant and tend flower or vegetable gardens then you know that in order to plant seeds or seedlings, you must first prepare by loosening the soil, pulling up weeds and adding the appropriate nourishment. You also have to trim old growth of perennials and shrubs and remove last years now wilted and browned leaves and shoots.
Space must be cleared for new growth to emerge–in the garden and in the studio.
In the tarot, this idea is expressed, especially for creatives, as the 9 of Wands. Here, Fire, the element of Wands and the energy of creation reaches a stage of fulfillment and completion that comes as a result of hard work. After nine months, for instance, of incubation and gestation, you are finally ready to give birth.
As a mother whose second son was born almost two weeks after his due date, I can positively state that you do not want to be carrying that creative project longer than necessary.
I get it. You want to make it perfect, or you are waiting for the perfect time to launch it, or you clutch it tightly in your arms to protect it (or yourself) from “the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.” But that’s not healthy—for you or for the work.
You need to pull it out of your creative time and space so that you have room in your life and your mind, in your creative garden for the new work that you want to plant and grow.
You know that new seeds need sunshine and rain. If you don’t weed out the old stuff, then it soaks up the available nutrients needed by the new growth, and can kill it.
So, look at the creative projects you still have hanging around your space. Which ones are ready to be born into the world? Which ones need to be let go of or thrown on the burn pile so that you have room in your mind and heart and creative garden to grow new work?
Make sure the soil of your creative garden is cleared and turned over and ready to receive the new seeds. Then give them plenty of sunlight and water.
What will you grow now that there is room?
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