Just Be Portal

Just a month ago my friend organized a spiritual gathering in a castle Petropilosa in Istria, Croatia. I had the privilege to be present on the gathering & to shoot it. There were many great moments to capture and here they are...

Decorating & Preparing

Petrapilosa castle is an old ruin that was just a bit renovated but still it is just a raw stone so it needed some decorations to make it look more comfortable for the event.

I like to see real emancipated girls working hard jobs.

Lovely moments

Volunteers had a lot of time to rest when they wanted. Nobody was pushing them to work more or using them in any way.

People were playing music & singing from the very beginning.

In this warm up we had 4 female vocals & some men occasionally joining from aside.

There was also a small but rich fair with handmade jewelry and accessories.

One of those moments of reuniting again after a long time not seeing each other. So beautiful!

The View

Opening Ceremony

My friend Alida who was the woman in charge & the initiator of the project had the opening word when most of the guests arrived.

Aum Chanting was performed too.

Yoga Breathing

Alida's daughter was leading some yoga practice, mostly breathing techniques to activate the body before the cacao ceremony and ecstatic dance. It was a perfect introduction.

Cacao

Along with the start of the cacao ceremony, we started the fire too. It was nice to have all the elements present during the event. Anyway, it was a bit cold in the evening.

Before drinking the cacao, Kristina had another motivating speech about reconnecting with the Mother Nature and preserving It.

Everybody was placing intentions before drinking the cacao.

Cacao took effect very fast and opened our hearts. There were many tears.

Music & Ecstatic Dance

1st musical performance was made by Mihaela playing the guitar & singing different icarus songs heavenly beautiful.

The culmination of the evening was the performance by Pepe Danza who was playing live for the ecstatic dance.

There were many free, passionate & wild moment during the ecstatic dance and all without any drugs except the cacao. Cacao is a heart medicine.

Integration

After loud music & wild dance we went back to silence.

Alex helped to integrate the silence with the Tibetan bowls.

Fire element is always attractive.

It was a great pleasure and honor to do this shooting job and to be part of this event. I am so grateful. Hopefully there will be more of these kind of gatherings.

All the upper photos I made with Nikon D800 & Nikon AF Nikkor 35-70 mm lens but also Nikon Z6 with Minolta 50 mm. For the self-portrait below I used Nikon D800 & Nikon AF Nikkor 35-70 mm.