Recently I learned that 1st May is the ancient Gaelic festival of Beltane: the start of the summer and a time when the veil between our world and the realm of the fairies thins. This coincided with another revelation that now seems rather fitting: the people in my village believe in spirits and magic.
Almost every day I pass, at the bottom of the hill I live on, a house with an extension. Often, bricks and tiles go missing from the extension. New holes emerge, small and large. This may sound unremarkable, a building that needs some repair. But the reason for the existence of the holes in the roof and walls is rather extraordinary. They have been purposely created by the man who lives there, so that his deceased mother can come and go freely. The bricks and tiles were obstructions to the portal to another world…
When I spoke to my friends in London about this, they scoffed: “as if ghosts exist”, one said. Interestingly, when I spoke to those who live in my village about it, their response was also unanimous, but different: “Ghosts move freely, they don’t need openings!” All rolled their eyes at the idiocy of the man who didn’t know this basic fact.
I have since noticed that the insides of the holes have been painted in eye-catching colours like reds, blues and yellows. By making the holes colourful these “entrance points” become more visible, perhaps helping to guide the spirit, just as the emergency exits guide passengers on an aeroplane.
Six months ago, someone in the village told me that there’s a confluence of ley lines running through our valley. Having been unaware of the existence of ley lines, I learned they’re invisible energetic lines that hold spiritual significance, connecting us through time and space with our ancestors.
This has made me understand the area a little bit better. Although the community is made up of people who are very different from each other, one commonality runs through them like their own ley line, and that’s an openness to the existence of other worlds. To them, worlds that seem beyond our own are actually within reach. Like Arthur O’Shaughnessy, they believe “we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams”—we are responsible for our part in making the world magic.
All this has made me examine my own openness to life’s curiosities. Am I an adult that gets pulled into beguiling spheres that feel other?
I still read the books from my childhood. I read Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl every autumn as a ritual and, when I feel low, I read Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton. These books bring me joy and reveal the magic in life when I have forgotten it.
I remember there was a time in my late teenage years when I read these books because teetering on the cusp of adulthood, and being the far too serious young person that I was, made me feel I was staring into the abyss. I used to lament that getting older meant realising the world held no magic, so I read my favourite childhood books to refill my empty cup. However, as I age I realise the opposite is true.
There’s alchemy in how restorative nature can be and in how the bees can make liquid gold. My mother has been dead for almost 12 years and yet her absent figure feels as solid as someone sitting right next to me. I never knew voids could carry so much weight.
What I find curious is that you can have a conversation with a stranger that can unravel a whole lifetime of misunderstanding you’ve had about something. And even though you never see the stranger again, they’ve informed the rest of your life and, in this way, stay with you. You may not have exchanged a cow for magic beans like Jack; nevertheless, seeds were planted and they were magic. Once, in a random club in Soho, on a night when I had I nearly stayed in, I shared a table with a man I’d never met, and a conversation with him made me feel like I’d just arrived home. Life’s funny like that.
I have realised I am not so different from many people in the village. Life is indeed full of mystery and events that I cannot explain. Roald Dahl once said, “those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”. I think I agree.
