{"id":12453,"date":"2021-09-25T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12453"},"modified":"2021-09-26T09:01:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T15:01:59","slug":"wines-for-esotericists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12453","title":{"rendered":"Wines for Esotericists"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Alchemist, a blended red from the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey.<\/p><\/div>\n

What has been happening over at the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey<\/a>, down in Ca\u00f1on City, Colorado? They have gone hermetic!<\/p>\n

M. and I celebrated equinox season today by attending the winery’s Harvest Festival. It was packed. SInce the focus is on wine, many attendees turned it into a picnic in front of the music stage.<\/p>\n

It’s not the first time we have attended this festival as an alternative to the much bigger Chile & Frijoles fest in Pueblo<\/a>. (The latter was much shrunken in 2020, but back this year with beer, bands, and vendors<\/a> \u2014 and some excellent roasted Pueblo chiles in there somewhere.)<\/a><\/p>\n

But this year we were ready for something smaller and leisurely, more focused on the grapes than the grain and hops \u2014 but with roasting green chiles too, of course!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Picnickers at the 2021 Harvest Fest, the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey, Ca\u00f1on City, Colorado.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"I was wandering though the tasting booths and craftspeople’s booths when I saw one tasting booth labeled “As Above, So Below.”\u00a0 Every occultist knows that phrase<\/a>, but what was it doing at a wine-tasting? Had I stumbled into a John Crowley novel<\/a>?<\/p>\n

This was the sort of event where you pay your money, get a glass and some tickets, and trade tickets for tastes. And I was out of tickets.<\/p>\n

No matter, I asked some questions, then went to the “express” tent and bought a bottle of The Alchemist<\/a>: “Perfectly balanced and sustainable, as the universe intended. Syrah and Verona grapes come together for a wine that is sure to enlighten. Have a drink, it\u2019s your destiny.”<\/p>\n

I might have been just as happy with The Theurgist<\/a>: “Fun and approachable \u2013 magically delightful.” Well, no one ever called the Emerald Tablet<\/a> “fun and approachable,” but wouldn’t “Emerald Tablet” be a good name for a vinho verde<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n

The Astrologist,<\/a> meanwhile, is a riesling-sauvignon blanc blend: “Fun and refreshing in a way Nostradamus would never have predicted.” But M. and I drink more reds, so . . .<\/p>\n

I should point out that despite the name and the cross on the label, it’s the Winery AT<\/em> Holy Cross Abbey, not OF<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“The abbey,” as everyone in the area calls it, was indeed started by Benedictine monks<\/a> in the 1920s. They operated a respected high school for boys, both day students and boarders, until the 1980s, when it closed due to the lack of vocations \u2014 not enough new monks, and the existng brothers all elderly. It’s the same problem that hit many Roman Catholic institutions around then. Eventually the order sold the whole complex after renting out the school buildings for a while for a satellite community college campus and other uses.<\/p>\n

So no monk ever touches the wine today \u2014 although the Benedictines planted the first grapes<\/a>. Here is the current management team.<\/a> But apprently some esotericists do enter the picture. I need to follow up on this. Research might begin at the winery shop, where I can buy The Theurgist for research purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What has been happening over at the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey, down in Ca\u00f1on City, Colorado? They have gone hermetic! M. and I celebrated equinox season today by attending the winery’s Harvest Festival. It was packed. SInce the focus is on wine, many attendees turned it into a picnic in front of the music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,89,403,402,281],"class_list":["post-12453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado","tag-esotericism","tag-hermes","tag-hermeticism","tag-wine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-3eR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3261,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3261","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":0},"title":"It’s Mabon, so … canta y no llores","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My approach to the eight-festival Pagan calendar works like this: the cross-quarter days are for ritual\u2014be that outdoor bonfires or black candles at midnight. The quarter days\u2014solstices and equinoxes\u2014are for public and communal celebrations: with the whole public, not just with other Pagans. The fall equinox offers choice of harvest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/MarquezBros-300x293.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8008,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8008","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":1},"title":"Celebrating Spring, Red Rocks, and Wine","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I look outside today and see a white landscape, with light snow falling and a couple of hungry humingbirds huddled on the sugar-water feeder like barflies staring into their whiskey glasses. Yes, it's a typical May Day in the Colorado foothills. Is any surprise that Colorado's biggest public Beltane festival\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bennett Price","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bennett-Price.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bennett-Price.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bennett-Price.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":326,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=326","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":2},"title":"Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to you Barraged\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to you Barraged by comment over holiday-related squabbles in the state capital, I especially enjoyed this animated greeting. (A fast connection helps.) In an ecumenical spirit, M. went Chrismahanukwanzakah shopping today at the Holy Cross Abbey winery. When I was a young Pagan, I never let the \"C-word\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9791,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9791","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":3},"title":"Being a Solitary Pagan Does Not Mean that You Celebrate Alone","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the fall equinox (Mabon) is nearly upon us \u2014 1:54 a.m. Universal (Greenwich) Time on Sunday the 23rd. For North Americans, that is Saturday evening. What will you do if you are a solitary Pagan? At Under the Ancient Oaks, John Beckett suggests,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/chile-festival-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/chile-festival-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/chile-festival-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6979,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6979","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":4},"title":"Looking at Your Polis as a Pagan","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A Wiccan email list that I am on recently went through a discussion of teaching \"theology\" to children. It is one of the perennial questions among contemporary Pagans: teach the kids or let them make up their own minds as adults. Surprisingly, some discussants reported that said adult children-of-Pagans regretted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"childhood\"","block_context":{"text":"childhood","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=childhood"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4198,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4198","url_meta":{"origin":12453,"position":5},"title":"It’s Time for my Winter Coat . . .","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":". . . at the Beltania festival, where the temperature is about 45\u00b0 F with rain now and again. 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