The Champagne Queens
The Chartres symbol above reflects the soul print of the heroine's journey home to the Self.
The Writer
"Champagne is the story of remembering who we are. It is our well being that connects us to the heart of what matters to us most. It should be served at all our moments of our deepest connection, when Champagne will remind us of who we really are"
Catharina Honig
Champagne Storyteller & Wine Professional
Born in the Netherlands, I grew up in South Africa where I obtained a BA (Economics), MBA from the University of Cape Town. In the wine estates around Cape Town I developed my passion for wine, first as a consumer, then as a professional. After a career in financial services, I became group product manager wine for a negociant and later managed South Africa's largest mail order wine club.
Armed with wine diplomas from South Africa, the Netherlands and London, I studied for the international London based Master of Wine Qualification from 2007-2012. In 2008 I became an accredited programme provider of the Wine Spirit & Education Trust wine academy and taught consumers and professionals their courses.
Champagne found me. Veuve Clicquot and Krug were part of my brand portfolio and I became entranced my the symbol of Champagne and how it reflects the highest expression of the self. Around the millennium I arranged several Champagne promotions and spent four months in Champagne, where the ideas for this book were born.
When I wandered for some months around Champagne, no one could tell me why there were so many widows heading Champagne houses, so many dynamic women who were centuries ahead of their time and the women's liberation movement of the 20th Century. Reflecting some time on this, I believe that this is their story.....
"Champagne is the land of hallowed ground, a sacred site of many wars, where the poor dusty chalk plains werc trampled underfoot and the wines received too little sun and thus made for poor wines. On the other hand it was also the place where no less than 34 kings were crowned over 800 years in the Notre Dame in Reims, which was the seat of the bishopric in France. So the kings were the divine appointees to head the secular world, but it were the widows who ran the Champagne world and were the sacred appointees to manifest the divine mysteries. Widows were seen as society’s pity symbols but I named them the Champagne Queens......"
Synopsis
Champagne is the story of remembering who you are
The Champagne Queens™
The Heroines' Journey to Self-esteem.
This is an allegorical novel about Champagne as a metaphor of wellbeing that lives inside us. The narrators are the widows of Champagne who lead the reader in a heroine's journey how to become Champagne. The route to self-esteem through self-development is a journey in the imagination. Whilst it is certainly not a historical novel, the writer has extensively drawn on her knowledge of Champagne and the widows to tell the story.
The Champagne Queens are the widows of Champagne. They are also the sovereigns or memory keepers in helping mankind remember wholeness which is reflected in a finished bottle of Champagne. Whereas the hero's journey is relected by The Holy Grail stories to find one's treasure, it is the heroine's journey that has come of age today, to reclaim our self-worth and wholeness with life as it is. Self-acceptance and self-posession are key to being truly free. The Champagne Queens story is the story of redeemed wo(man). It is the story of becoming whole, undivided, integrating masculine and femnine qualities ie the process of individuation.
The story has also a touch of magic and mystery. In becoming Champagne we release our genie, genius and grief out of our body-bottles, to resurrect as the highest version of ourselves. Champagne lives in us. It is the story of the Alchemistas - the champagne widows transform through innovation how we see ourselves. Champagne is also the quantum field of the infinite field of possibilities, and together with the Black Madonnas, the reader follows the mysteies in transforming themselves into Champagne.
The solutions offered and the value that the book provides are ;
- to recognise and name the authentic identitiy of Champagne.
- the massive value is that Champagne lives inside us. The story leads the reader in a journey of transformation that shows him/her how to access the Champagne in them.
- the emotional connection the reader feels with Champagne at the deepest moment of connection within themselves in their own lives make for a deep sense of recognition of Champagne's identity which is inspirational and lives inside of them.The benefits that the reader achieves from reading the book are ;
- it teaches how Champagne is made in a relevant way.
- teaches why Champagne is a sparkling wine with a unique identity
- inspires through the tales of the Champagne widows on how they moved beyond their loss
- motivates us to access the Champagne that lives inside of us
- participatory in drawing the reader into self-discovery
- provides magic by bringing in the story if the Black madonnas
- humorous, some parts will make the reader laugh
- teaches about the Quantum Field, the Law of Attraction, and the Field of intentions
- teaches the reader about the different styles of Champagne
- will inspire a lasting emotional connection between Champagne and the reader- it may inspire them to drink Champagne at moments that matter to them most.
