Jo Diaz named me the wine shaman when we first met, I owned up to that name yet had not defined it.
Until now.
What is a wine shaman?
Well, first know that a shaman is One who sees into things, sees energy, images, stories from the other side of knowing.
A shaman travels into what is called non-ordinary reality where the metaphysical and spirit realms are available. Dreams come from there, our visions and intuitions come from this other side of reality. Our art expressions arise from this other way of knowing Life. A shaman will retrieve information from this realm and bring it back to the tribe. The information arrives in the form of feelings, sometimes bizarre images, and energy expressions. The shaman interprets and shares the information with whoever asked for it.
A wine shaman is a SEER,
one who looks into wine through the non-ordinary reality of the microscope. She captures the energetic images and interprets the magnified molecular impressions as to the vitality, personality and spirit of the wine.
She has been known to follow the life of a wine for decades starting with this 1941 Inglenook Cask Cabernet at 44 years old in the image below. The top image is 1968 Inglenook Cask Cab at 17 years old which is named WISE ELDER because of the information it revealed.
We all can become a wine shaman by simply expanding our awareness.
You don’t need a microscope, only your imagination and a few minutes, and of course, some wine.
As receivers of information we each taken in multiple strands from our senses. Our sensory doorways can take us to non-ordinary reality when we tune into them. With focus on one sensory channel, we can explore the shamanic or deeper non-verbal way of knowing.
Try it! You can altar your consciousness and awareness though your hearing sense, your smelling sense, your vision …
There is a shamanic exercise that asks that we simply listen to expand conscious awareness.
Close your eyes and listen, letting the sounds come to you. Stay with listening as long as you’d like or until you feel a shift in your consciousness and awareness.
Then attune to all the aromas and scents coming to you. Without naming or labeling allow yourself to receive these sensory impressions which can open the doorway into your shamanic knowing. Stay here for as long as you can.
Now open your eyes and a bottle of wine, pour a glass or two and repeat the exercise with a glass of wine to ‘take in.
Whether you take the wine in by eye, nose or lips enjoy the amazingly beautiful and sacred expressions from G-d. Remember to toast and bless the wine, the winemaker and the vine.