Beltane Festival in Pardes Hana (Photo: Good Witch)
Pardes Hana at dusk.
A group of women dressed in colorful clothes in shades of green and red, some with flower bouquets on their heads, walks through the fields accompanied by drumming and singing.
They gather around an ancient broad-topped oak tree, place offerings of organic materials for the fairies that live in the tree, and at night light an enchanted bonfire and jump over the fire.
To onlookers it may look like a shot of a scene from a British film about an ancient world of witches.
But hey, we're in Pardes Hanna, which means it's a real-life scene.
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marks the return of summer and is celebrated on May 1st.
Beltane Festival in Pardes Hana, this week (photo: Surfer Photos, Good Witch)
At the height of the ceremony, women jump over the bonfire to apparently burn what they want to release from their lives (Photo: surfer photos, Good Witch)
"Baltain is a time when we reap the fruits of what we have done"
The reason for the gathering is the celebration of "Baltain" - an ancient Celtic festival, which marks the return of summer and is celebrated on May 1, midway between spring and summer.
According to the ancient tradition, during this period the female energy of the earth and the male energy of the sun reach a peak expressed in the celebration of love and the birth of abundance, the product of which is the fruit we see on the trees.
The holiday is known for the colorful processions that are held in it, and the lighting of bonfires that represent the return of the sun and the coming of summer.
At the height of the ceremony, women jump over the bonfire to apparently burn what they want to release from their lives and to summon luck and abundance.
The initiator of the event in Israel is Michal Sela Mor (41), host of workshops and owner of the store "Good Witch" in Pardes Hana.
After participating several times in the Baltain festival at Glastonbury in England, a famous New Age site, she decided to hold the celebration in the Israeli New Age settlement as well.
"Baltain is one of eight ancient holidays that marked the movement of the sun - the longest day of the year, the shortest day of the year, the equinoxes and four more days in between, with Baltain being one of them," says Michal.
"Those people recognized what we have forgotten, that we are part of nature. Everything that happens outside also happens inside. In winter we tend to gather, in spring when everything blooms outside without noticing we also experience blossoming, our mood improves. Beltane is a time when we harvest the fruits of Which we did. It's also a good time to make love."
Michal Sela Mor participated in the Baltain festival at Glastonbury, and decided to hold it in Israel as well (photo: surfers' photos, Michal Sela Mor)
"Those people recognized what we had forgotten, that we are part of nature."
Participant in the English festival (photo: surfers' photos, Michal Sela Mor)
"I always looked for gnomes and left them candy"
But the holiday does not only revolve around nature as it is known to us.
According to Michal, according to Celtic mythology, "on this holiday, like Savin, which is celebrated at the beginning of winter, the veil separating the physical and spiritual world becomes thin and there is an opportunity to contact the spirit world more easily. This means that you can receive the wisdom and knowledge of our ancient dynasties, and this A good time to create communication also with the world of fairies and other creatures of magic."
So yes, in order to understand this sentence, perhaps you need to enter Michal's world as it is expressed in "Good Witch", the store she opened more than six years ago. It is a world of fairies, elves, forest creatures, dragons, crystals, incense, seraphim, Books of spells and spells and more. To many, this world seems like a fantasy from Disney movies, but there is a sizable community in Israel and in the world of people who live it even without mind-altering substances. Michal, who grew up in Ra'anana as the daughter of an artist mother who creates inspired by the shamanic world, says that she has always looked for magic in her life "When I was a child and they invited a magician on my birthday, I always hoped that he would do real magic and not some kind of trick.
I knew there was magic in this world, that it really exists."
When she grew up, she began to explore the world of fairies that attracted her so much.
"In countries like England, Scotland and Ireland, fairies are an integral part of the folklore and I traveled several times to these places that hold the 'magic'. A few years ago I read that in every family there it was known that there was someone who saw fairies, who spoke with fairies. There is even a kind of Protocols' how to work with these creatures, like leaving them sweets and small gifts. And it's interesting, because even as a child I used to do that. I was always looking for gnomes, and even though I didn't see them, I left them sweets on the inside rails of the windows because I believed they were hiding there."
"Good Witch, a store that is a world of fairies, elves, forest creatures and dragons in Pardes Hana (photo: surfer photos, Michal Sela Mor)
"There is quite a community of people who live the fantasy even without second-consciousness substances" (Photo: Surfers' Photos, Michal Sela Mor)
Michal, like a good witch, pours a magic potion
Besides candy, it turns out, the fairies also like glitter.
During the ceremony, the participants leave offerings such as broken and glittering crystals, and other organic materials so as not to pollute nature - pine cones, bougainvillea flowers, the last lemon someone left on the tree in the yard, miniature wooden swings that someone made.
To connect the participants to the frequency of the fairies, Michal, like a good witch, pours a magic potion - or simply tea made from the fruits of a hawthorn tree and elderflowers.
According to her, "Like the oak tree, these plants are also linked to the world of fairies. In places related to this folklore, there is even a ban on cutting branches of a hawthorn tree because fairies live on it."
The participants decorated this tree and the strawberry tree in her garden, as is the custom of the holiday, with ribbons with wishes, the same fruits they hope to pick next year.
After the colorful procession to the old oak tree, the girls gather around a fire, which warms the cold air, which seems to do rather than cooperate with the cause of the holiday.
The atmosphere also warms up, when the girls - who work in a variety of fields, from graphic design to high-tech - tell about their own experiences with the world of fairies.
It turns out that Russian expats believe in "Dumboy", an elf who guards the house, and have customs related to their relationship with him.
For example, before going on vacation outside the house, the family members make sure to gather together, explain to the dumbboy that they are going on vacation, and even leave him fruits, so that he will not be frightened by their departure and mess up the house.
Michal feeds them all with chocolates like a king, "because in order to create an encounter with fairies you need to connect with a playful, childlike energy, and what is more appropriate for that than chocolate."
She is also honored with particularly juicy melons, and when they get dirty from the juice, she exults, "This is the juice of the holiday. Energy of sexuality, of desire."
When the night falls, and the air is soaked with the energy of magic, comes what sounds like one of the extreme customs of the ceremony - jumping over fire.
But don't panic.
The bonfire is modest and does not require a state of ecstasy, athletic skills or flying of the mouth to succeed in jumping over it.
The girls skip in two rounds.
The first to burn what they want to release from their lives, and the second to summon luck and abundance.
Fortunately, they all remain unharmed.
In the two days that followed, the event's WhatsApp group was buzzing and buzzing.
The girls also continue to celebrate at home in love celebrations with their spouses, with offerings and bonfires.
"My daughter's boyfriend said that he never thought he would party with fairies and elves, and he would have fun, and certainly not in a state of mind free of psychedelic substances," said one of them.
Another said that she dreamed of fairies at night.
The participants place offerings of organic materials for the fairies that live in the tree (photo: surfers' photos, Good Witch)
"Fairies exist everywhere"
Real fairies, by the way, they didn't see this time.
Neither does Michal, but it really doesn't matter to her, and it doesn't stop her from continuing to believe in them.
"I am aware of this limitation, and I have come to terms with it. Fairies exist everywhere. I know this even if I do not see them. But they come to me at night, in the dream world. The more I let go of the desire to prove that I see them, the more messages I receive from them, I I feel their energy around me. Sometimes I get the knowledge that it's clear to me that this is the wisdom of the fairy world, not something I thought of myself. So I play with this energy all the time, I go to the trees, leave gifts there, talk to them. It's like cultivating another connection." .
To the question, what would she like to answer surfers who think this whole thing is ridiculous?
She replies with a story.
"My mother says that when my brothers were little, the older one told the younger one that it wasn't the Tooth Fairy who put a present under his pillow, but that it was my mother. To prove it to him, he went up to her and said, 'Isn't that right, mother? Tell him it's you.' But my mother She answered him with an answer that explains everything, 'He who believes earns.'"
"It's like cultivating another relationship."
The "witches" at the festival, this week (photo: Surfers Photos, Good Witch)
And in any case, for those who believe and for those who don't, Michal has a tip for the coming weeks: "During this period from the holiday until June 21, when the days are getting longer, you can cherish the light, be recharged by it, but also remember that you can't hold on to it. It will end and the darkness will come. More than the sun and let it enter the heart, we can preserve it for the winter days."
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