I am in wine country and it is winter. Brown vines twist up out of the ground, bare of fruit or leaves. They say there is something about the soil here that produces exceptional grapes for wine making. Art upon art: the tending to the plants, the harvest and crush of the fruit. And then the waiting. It takes time for wine to become itself.
I’m thinking about transformation and how these vineyards will be lush again, and how the grapes will become wine. In a sense, the wine makes itself. The winemaker prepares and cares for each step of the process. When conditions are right, when the ingredients and components and timing are just so, the transformation takes place.
This is true for you, too, my love. You don’t do the transforming. Life will move through you, just as it always does. You will transform in response, in relationship to your inner and outer weather, your internal and external conditions. It’s not even a question. You are and always have been in this gorgeous flow of change and transformation. You are as intimate with Life as the vineyard, as the the grape. The alchemy that creates the wine also creates you.
You become yourself as wine becomes itself. You are the farmer, you are the winemaker. You tend to the conditions. You work with the tools, skills, soil, weather that comes. You influence the growth, the harvest, the crush, the timing. You prepare and experiment and discover. Taste your life. Is it a divine elixir? Or a divine vinegar? Adjust the formula. Try again and again — with pleasure, with love. Continue to learn, with each year, with each vintage. Share it with others. Share the good stuff. Share the vinegar, too.
Be curious. Savor all of it.
Kim Nicol 