August 26, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin

(Meet Mago Contributor) Rose Aiello Morales

Rose Aiello Morales has been published in magazines and journal around the world, including publications in Poland, Romania, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Her latest poems appear in Mad Swirl Magazine, Red Fez Magazine, and Border Senses. She also has several books of poetry and short stories available on Amazon.com. She lives in Miami, Florida with her husband Alex and a menagerie of cats.

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(Essay 3) The Blending of Bön, Buddhism and the Goddess Gemu in Mosuo Culture by Krista Rodin

[Editor’s Note: This series is included as a chapter in Goddesses in Culture, History and Myth .] Goddess Gemu’s Influence on Mosou Traditions Lugu Lake with the Goddess Gemu and her lover, Hu Zhau. Photo, K. Rodin Children are thought to become adults at a ceremony when they turn thirteen, at which time they can participate in all adult activity, including choosing their own partners from other villages. They often stay with each other for two to three years, but may change partners at any time. Around age seventeen they are ready for an ahzu relationship. Ahzu courtship begins when a boy sends his chosen girl a special dress and scarf. If she accepts them, then she is interested in pursuing the relationship. Once they are ready to become seriously involved, the girl will tie a shawl waist belt around the boy’s middle. This means they have become an ahzu couple. Not all relationships end up as ahzu relationships. The partnering today involves the Mosuo boy leaving his home around midnight wearing a cowboy hat to spend time with his girlfriend. Before the visit he needs three things: a cowboy hat to hide his identity and to hang on the door as a “do not disturb” sign), pebbles to throw to the window (when she comes she opens the window or door for him, if she doesn’t want his advances he’ll get a bucket of water thrown on him. If allowed in he can climb up the side of the house and enter her room), he also needs a good relationship with the dog, so he brings meat for the dog to keep him quiet. Most Mosuo households have dogs as according to legend they traded their allotted time on earth with people, so keeping the dog happy is important to any budding relationship. By four or five in the morning the boy returns home and works in his own family’s fields. The stories of the Goddess Gemu demonstrate some fairly typical aspects of many Asian goddess narratives. She is associated with the womb of mother earth through her presence in a cave high on a sacred mountain. She was been the object of desire and jealousy which led to a physical transformation. The threatening role of the Sky God and the subjugation of the goddess’s wishes to his power is seen in numerous narratives across Eurasia. Through her personal struggles, though, she became the protector of the people who worship her. In the Gemu stories, she is additionally merged with the ancestor worship traditions in China and in earlier Asian shamanic cultures, including forms of Mongolian shamanism, which also highlights the role of the Sky God as the main force in the cosmos. Ancestor worship is considered crucial to maintaining a harmonious relationship between the spirit and human worlds as the ancestors are the intercessors for the family/clan with the unseen spirits. Gemu, as the blended beautiful girl-mother figure for the Mosuo, is the ancestor of the clan and as such needs to be worshipped and respected. Failing to do so will bring not just the individual, but the entire clan into difficulties. Chinese and Mongolian ancestor spirits are known to cause havoc if they believe they have been neglected. Tibet, which was on the trade corridor with the people of the greater Lijiang and Lugu Lake region prior to the closing of the border in the late 19th century, had its own distinct indigenous forms of shamanism, Bön, which merged with the worship of the Goddess Gemu. (To be continued.)Meet Mago Contributor, Krista Rodin.
(Essay) Τhe Mysterious Pomegranate, the Goddess and the New Year by Harita Meenee

The pomegranate is a fascinating New Year symbol that goes back to antiquity. Connected to goddesses such as Persephone and Aphrodite, it was also adopted by Christianity and folk traditions. Yet this many-seeded fruit can have a deeper, esoteric meaning that’s particularly relevant to our times. © Harita Meenee I grew up in a household richly decorated with pomegranates, whether real or artificial. My mother loves the form of this fruit though she rarely eats it. It resonates with both of us. In Greece, where I live, pomegranates made of various materials have a prominent position among the Christmas’ and New Year’s decorations. Sometimes they are used as ornaments throughout the year, as well. They function as lucky charms since their wealth of seeds signifies abundance. The pomegranate has also been a long-standing fertility symbol. Its blood-red juice and many seeds could easily turn it into a metaphor for the womb. George Thomson, an English classical scholar and Marxist philosopher who researched pre-patriarchal traditions in Greece, believed that the color of this fruit was associated with women’s blood.[1] It’s not surprising then that the pomegranate is commonly connected to goddesses. This fruit was sacred to Hera, the Queen of Olympus and protectress of marriage. Pausanias the traveler, a Greek author who lived in the Roman Era, attests the following: her splendid statue in Argos, in southern Greece, made of gold and ivory, portrayed her majestically seated, holding a scepter in one hand and a pomegranate in the other.[2] I was delighted to discover that this fascinating fruit is also associated with Aphrodite, a goddess that has always held a special place in my life. Athenaeus, a Greek writer who lived in Roman times, wrote that the pomegranate tree was “the one and only tree that Aphrodite planted in Cyprus” (Deipnosophistae 3. 84c). Cyprus was considered the homeland of the Goddess of Love. A sacred garden was dedicated to her there, revealing her connections to vegetation and fertility. (See also my essay “The Secret of the Sacred Garden”) Yet it wasn’t only these two goddesses for whom the pomegranate held a special significance. In a well-known myth narrated in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone, the goddess’s daughter, is abducted by Pluto, King of the Underworld. Eventually, he is persuaded to let her free, but before she leaves, he gives her a few pomegranate seeds to eat. Since this fruit is an emblem of Hera and Aphrodite, of marriage and love, her action means that she will return each year to spend the dark, cold months with her husband.[3] This yearly journey symbolized the cycle of nature. Persephone represents the vegetation which disappears in the winter only to be born anew each spring. In the Great Mysteries of Eleusis her Sacred Marriage was celebrated, along with the birth of Iacchus, her Holy Child.[4] The pomegranate retained its life-giving attributes in the modern Greek tradition. In the late 19th century Belgian geographer Henry Hauttecoeur wrote that the inhabitants of Icaria Island in the Aegean Sea used the following medication: they warmed up a pomegranate in the fire and extracted its seeds; then they rubbed them strongly on the sick person’s body. He also reported that the people of Icaria lived long, up to 100 years, without the help of doctors or medicines![5] Another Greek custom survived up to modern times: in New Year’s Day a pomegranate was sometimes broken in front of the house door in order to ensure abundance, health and good luck for the whole year. The breaking of a pomegranate in front of the house door could also be performed at other times. For example, it was used in some places of Greece at the 1st of September, as a magical means to avert death. It was believed that on this day Kharos, the personification of Death (akin to the ancient Charon), determined who was going to die during the year. The breaking of the pomegranate was also used in the past by newly-weds, probably to ensure the couple’s fertility. It can be traced as far back as the Homeric times.[6] Not surprisingly, the powerful symbolism of the pomegranate was not lost to the Christians. In the Catholic Church it’s considered as an emblem of both the Virgin Mary and the Church. It’s often used in religious decoration in fabric or metalwork. This fruit also appears in Renaissance paintings. Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and other famous painters have placed it in the hands of Mary or baby Jesus.In theory the pomegranate is an allusion to Jesus’ death and resurrection: the seeds bursting forth from the pomegranate are likened to Christ emerging from the tomb. Yet in reality, it’s one of the many Pagan and Goddess motifs that managed to survive through the centuries. Not far from Paphos, the Cypriot city whose main goddess was Aphrodite, now stands the Greek Orthodox Chrysoroyiatissa Monastery, dedicated to Mary; its name is often interpreted as “Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate” (although there are other suggestions about its meaning too). Today the pomegranate is considered by many to be a kind of superfood, rich in antioxidants. Some claim that it even has the power to protect against serious diseases like cancer. Since research regarding its health benefits is limited, the growing popularity of this fascinating fruit may in fact reflect the profound symbolic meaning it has held since ancient times. Carl Jung believed that the pomegranate, when it appears in dreams, is analogous to the phallus as an emblem of fertility and healing.[7] Yet fertility is not always something physical. It can refer to the mind and its creative powers or to the psyche, pregnant with archetypes. It can also pertain to the heart and its abundance of love. I take the pomegranate to be a very special Goddess symbol of our inner riches. Its seeds are our wisdom, joy, and the ability to bring about change. Let’s plant our seeds into the world this New Year so we can eventually transform …
(Poem & Art) Daughter of the Sun by Alex Purbrick

“Daughter of the Sun” by Alex Purbrick Imagine if “the Son of God” was born a girl? What would have been her name? Daughter of the Sun A Divine Queen A girl who would not live in shame. Daughter of the Sun suckles all at her breast Sinners and saints All healed in her arms Laid down to rest. Rooted in Earth Her blood births us all Born from her womb She breathes Holy Spirit into our souls To heal us when we fall. Daughter of the Sun What would have been her name? Girls, you may hear her if you listen to your heart As she sings her sweet song, “A girl does not live in shame.” https://www.magoism.net/2015/07/meet-mago-contributor-alex-purbrick/ https://www.magoism.net/2015/07/meet-mago-contributor-alex-purbrick/
(Book Excerpt 1) On the Wings of Isis: Reclaiming the Sovereignty of Auset, ed. by Trista Hendren et al.

Foreword: She of the Throne Jhenah Telyndru “Know that I am a mother and universal nature, mistress of all the elements, primordial principle of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, oceans, and queen also of the immortals.” –The Golden Ass, Lucius Apuleius I was deeply honored when I was approached to write this foreword by Susan Morgaine – one of the editors of this anthology who is also a friend and Sister – but I was also unsure that I was the best person for this task. Celtic cultures have been the focus of my life’s work and have informed my spiritual practice for over 30 years. Although I studied ancient Egypt while I was an archaeology student and have had several moving experiences with Isis in ritual contexts over the years, I do not have an active relationship with her as a divinity. Surely, I thought, it would make more sense for a devotee of Isis to write this foreword instead? However, when Susan Morgaine explained that this anthology was an exploration of Isis as a Goddess of Sovereignty, I could not help but say yes – and was quite excited to revisit her mythos from this perspective. Sovereignty is a common folk motif found in the literary traditions of many Celtic lands – from the earliest Irish manuscripts, to later Welsh story cycles, and on into the Anglo-Norman development of Brythonic Arthurian legends. I have spent a lot of time researching the concept of Sovereignty, its socioreligious function, and the evolution of its meaning over time and across cultures. I have also worked to gain an understanding of how a relationship between women and Sovereignty can empower the practices of modern-day spiritual seekers and devotees of the Divine Feminine. What I have learned from my years of engagement with Sovereignty from Celtic lore is that an excavation of the symbolic language embedded in the narratives of these tales reveals an alchemical formula which we can use to guide us through the profound psycho-spiritual transformations required to reclaim our personal Sovereignty. I define personal Sovereignty as “fully conscious self-determination.” This is a state of being that requires an enormous degree of self-knowledge, particularly in regard to the recognition and acceptance of the parts of ourselves which are grounded in authenticity, as well as those which are mired in the illusions of Shadow. The seeking and reclamation of Sovereignty is a defining force in my work, and is a foundational tenet of the Avalonian Tradition as practiced by the Sisterhood of Avalon. So what is Sovereignty? In Celtic legend, the quest for Sovereignty is believed to have its origins in the pre-Christian past where a potential king would undertake a hieros gamos, or sacred marriage, with a representative of the land. Sometimes Sovereignty was a tutelary Goddess who appeared to the would-be-king in the form of a woman, while other traditions featured a totemic representation of Sovereignty as seen in the lore describing the ritual mating of Irish kings with a white mare, who was later sacrificed and eaten. The divinity of the Sovereignty figure is clearly acknowledged in early Irish myth; she often appears as a hideous hag who tests the worth of those who would be king. When she couples with the man she has found worthy – thereby granting him the right of rulership – she is transformed into a beautiful maiden; the land is likewise enlivened by the fertile energies arising from her union with the new king. In Welsh tradition, the figure of Sovereignty shifts to become more subtextual; no longer overtly depicted as a Goddess as in Ireland, Sovereignty is nonetheless embodied in the form of Otherworldly Queens and Fairy Brides. Early Arthurian legends see the regenerative powers of Sovereignty conferred through more symbolic means, as with Arthur’s raid of the Otherworld to secure the cauldron of its chief, or the later hero’s quests to find the Holy Grail in order to heal the wounded king and restore the Wasteland. In later Arthurian tales, the very concept of Sovereignty shifts in meaning; rather than functioning to grant a king rulership over the land, it represents the desire of women to obtain sovereignty over themselves. The primary role of the Sovereignty Goddess is to protect and enliven her land. Often displaying a martial aspect, Sovereignty will incite warriors to battle in defense of her territory. She acts to ensure the fertility of the land by joining its fate with that of a worthy king or chieftain, so that the land will prosper as he prospers. The most prevalent type of Sovereignty figure in Celtic lore links a king’s authority to the righteousness of his rule and the wholeness of his body. Because his fate is connected to that of his kingdom, a lawless king or one who is physically imperfect – either through illness or by way of a wound – creates an imbalanced relationship with the land that results in famine, disease, or war. When an imbalance is present, Sovereignty reverts to her hag form, and she seeks a new king to replace the old. Another Sovereignty type sees the right to rule conferred upon a candidate who often proves his worth through a contest of arms, and upon whom rule is granted either seasonally or annually. This periodic or seasonal Sovereignty type is less common in Celtic traditions, but it is overwhelmingly the most prevalent Sovereignty motif found in the mythos of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures. Kingly sacrifice and succession through combat are key themes in the seasonal Sovereignty motif, and is often compared with the Roman legend of the rex Nemorensis. According to lore,the title of rex Nemorensis – the sacred king who served as priest of the Goddess Diana in her grove on the shores of Lake Nemi – was earned by the defeat and death of the previous priest. The challenger first earns the right to engage in this combat by obtaining a …
(Meet Mago Contributor) Rose Aiello Morales

Rose Aiello Morales has been published in magazines and journal around the world, including publications in Poland, Romania, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Her latest poems appear in Mad Swirl Magazine, Red Fez Magazine, and Border Senses. She also has several books of poetry and short stories available on Amazon.com. She lives in Miami, Florida with her husband Alex and a menagerie of cats.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Virginia Masson

Virginia Masson is a self-taught artist and Intentional Creativity Coach specializing in guiding transformational change using the intuitive method of Intentional Creativity. Born in Hawaii, Virginia moved to Michigan as a child and has spent most of her life surrounded by deep woods and the sweet waters of the Great Lakes. She is a Reiki Master and a Grief Recovery counselor and draws her inspiration from the lives of the creatures (both human and animal) that surround her. She has exhibited at various venues including The Cosmic Cowgirls, Visionary Philanthropist show and Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI. and can be visited at many Art Fairs in the Michigan area. Virginia’s greatest desire is to be a beacon of peace inspiring more kindness and compassion in the world. She strives to walk the earth with gentle integrity and to open hearts using art, words and loving engagement.
Meet Mago Contributor, Eileen Haley

Eileen Haley (Australia) Eileen is a creative writer, quilter and translator. Her first political activism was in the anti-Vietnam War and women’s liberation movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. She spent 12 years in Mexico in the 1970s-80s and has an enduring love for that country. She has been a member of the Goddess Association in Australia (GAIA) since 2007 and croned at the 2010 GAIA Conference.
(Prose) New Beginnings: Sedum tells a Story by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright Almost two weeks ago my beloved Vet retired from the Bethel Animal Hospital. He will continue his healing acupuncture practice elsewhere part-time, but he will no longer be at the clinic. For regular acupuncture and all serious issues with my two dogs (one has been seriously ill for the last few years) he will work in conjunction with a new vet who I have yet to meet. He has assured me that I will like Shelby, the woman he has chosen for us. I do trust his judgement. I desperately wanted Gary to retire for health reasons last fall and spoke to him about it. We have been very close friends for many years, and it had become obvious to me that it was time. His wife felt the same way. He made the final decision to retire in November. My personal sense of loss was hidden under the shadow of my deep concern for him. As the specter of retirement drew near Gary reassured me that he had already blocked out regular times to visit us every other week. Yesterday we spent our first afternoon together since his retirement. We discussed growing the passionflowers that I had just potted for him, while he did acupuncture and played with both dogs. Grounding. This new way of relating still carries a poignancy for me that I once underestimated. Photo by Sara Wright Amazingly, one little plant demonstrated how serious this loss was for the child who loves him. At the same time the sedum led me through the changes that were coming and what had to be done. What follows is that story: Last fall when I broke my hip Gary brought me a beautiful healthy sedum. Almost immediately my plant lost precious leaves and by the time I left the nursing home the plant was half dead. I was heartbroken. That little sedum had helped keep me alive. Once home the sedum rapidly recovered and began to thrive in my south window. Every day I told my sedum I loved her. I had learned from plants as a child that these beings not only had feelings but also responded to me in unusual ways. For example, sometimes orchid roots would light up, or pulse in my hands when I repotted them. Passionflowers died when I gave them to people who betrayed me. It probably goes without saying that I have always talked to plants. In January two months before Gary was due to retire, my beloved sedum was floundering for a second time. When the plant lost more and more succulent leaves, I became somewhat frantic. No! Not again. Three weeks later after carefully inspecting the plant for the millionth time I was forced to face the fact that it looked like the roots of the sedum were rotting. My only hope was to cut the tops away and repot them as separate cuttings. When I began this process, I was stunned to discover that the entire root system wasn’t just shriveling – it was quite dead. I had not overwatered the plant. How had the tops survived? Every morning during the month of February I peered under clear plastic into two pots (one held one cutting, the second held the rest) desperately hoping to see signs of new growth. Nothing. My worst fear surfaced. Was this plant telling me that Gary and I were losing our friendship? Gary retired on March 1st ending his last thirteen – hour day by coming to pick up my dogs for x rays, taking them to the clinic, and then returning them home to me. Acting out his Devotion. We had talked so often of what this coming retirement would mean for us even as Gary reassured me repeatedly that all would be well, even though the situation was changing. It wasn’t enough. What precipitated this shocking loss of roots? Plants like dreams always teach me what I don’t know, I mused in misery. I shared my fears with Gary. He repeated that he would never leave us, and he returned my root worry to me. Not his roots but mine were in trouble he said! Until this conversation I couldn’t feel that it was my old roots had to be cut away to make room for the new because Gary had given me the plant and the boundary between the two seemed blurred. On the morning of March 7th, six days after Gary’s retirement I peered at the two pots in disbelief. Tiny fat succulent leaves were appearing at last on the single cutting, and in the other pot the tips of the clusters also revealed new growth. Sturdy roots are the ground of all healthy plants and trustworthy relationships, I thought happily. My relief was visceral. I was cultivating a new way of being with sedums and with Gary. The fact that all the cuttings had rooted suggested unknown possibilities might be ahead. It’s hardly surprising that during this last week and a half, I had also potted up his first passionflower. Gary loves plants but has spent so many years tending to animals that he hasn’t had the chance to grow as many as he would like although he has somehow managed to keep beautiful gardens. Now he has a little greenhouse too. When I began to root the passionflower cuttings for him last November it was only with a diffused awareness. I was rooting plants for his retirement. This root ending has become a series of new beginnings. _____________________________________________ Photo by Sara Wright I sooner finish this article and send it to Gary when a male turkey begins to display for me just in front of my very dirty dog – nosed passionflower window. Animals like plants know when you love them. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright
(Poem) Earth Day by Donna Snyder

If I were the earth,I would lose myselfto intermittent plagues of despair.How could I not?I travel among my People,in the lands of canyons, mesas, buttes.Here I weep and rage (have you heard?)to see the ravages of wars of attritionwaged in the name of energy and its profitability.I travel among my Peoplein the lands of this once grand river valley,my fragile desert, and dying mountains.Here I weep and rage (have you not seen?)for toxins replace nutrients necessary to harbor life.I am exhausted by the ravages of wars,waged in the name of progress.Poisonous disregard and knowing actsfoul the flow of my big river.Babies are born without brainsbecause mamas drank brave waters,corrupted by evil both seen and unseen-pesticides, radioactive isotopes, carcinogensBabies born with kidneys outside the bodyrather than their natural place.Perhaps I could become inuredto tragedy and comedy, andoblivious to horror and terror.If I were the earth,I would sometimes succumbto violent rages against perverse perpetrators,their flippant disregard for these senseless horrors.But then I might regretthat greater harm befalls methan befalls the villain of this story.But as long as I can becataclysmically annoyed, maybeI can regain my strength.If I were the earth,I would long for sleep–the kind of sleep where breezescaress me with clean airand all my dreams show mehow I am blessed. Perhaps I can persist,continue to have random flashesof lucid dreams and surreal clarity,fortuitous gushes of brine,and floods of clear water.If I were the earth,I would fling off gravity’s leash,careen wildly through the universeuntil I found a safe placewhere I could sing and play,rain sweet waterinto my own waiting body,dance againamong my sister stars.First written for Earth Day 1996.

(Special Post) Why I choose to be an RTM contributor by Glenys Livingstone

The contribution of my writing to Return to Mago E-Magazine has evolved since it began four years ago, into a deeply mutually enhancing relationship. The time and effort taken to write carefully and in alignment with my heartfelt passions and insights, and then to be able to publish to a receptive audience, has always been rewarding – for me personally and apparently for many who received it.
(Special Post 5) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Annie Finch For me, Goddess is completely different from God–Goddess means acceptance of the sacred WITHIN the physical instead of transcending the physical; acceptance of death and life as equally sacred; and the holiness of changing cycles…. Annie Finch, Maine anniefinch.com Marie de Kock Why Goddess spirituality? Goddess spirituality is crucial for our survival and the survival of our planet. I’m referring to every woman’s connection and relationship with her own Spirit which resides in her heart, and her own divine ability to create, which springs from her womb. The womb is infinitely more than a reproductive organ; it is a replica of the Cosmic Womb or Mago. From that profound pool of infinite silent knowledge, women can access the solutions so urgently needed to recover the equilibrium the world with its God spirituality has lost, and women can dream the solutions into being. It is the intelligence of the heart and intelligence of the womb that humanity needs in order to balance out the ill effects of our noisy ‘rational’ left brained society. Women carry the keys to the wisdom within them. Female spirituality is the door. Marie is in Chile for now http://ninenormalwomenwithwings.com Leslene Della-Madre Goddess among many things to me is a verb–Goddessing. “Goding” isn’t the same. She is Love in action in all things–she is the cosmic gen-Her-ator bringing life into form from primordial chaos, the twin serpents of coming and going. She is the plasMA of the YoniVerse filling space with her divine essence creating great beaded necklaces of galaxies all connected to each other by electric pathways. She is the All and Eternal. Leslene Della Madre, California USA midwifingdeath.com Diane Horton Sacred Goddess Sisterhood Each of our stories as women who have come to embrace the Goddess are varied and interesting. Certainly interesting to each other, as our spirits long to resonate with another who has had a similar journey. Mine began while I was still a member of the Episcopal Church and a Christian. But relative to many, it was not that long ago, just 18 years. Some women have been knowing and worshiping the Goddess for more than 30 years, some have only just come to the reawakening and re-membering recently. Some of us call ourselves witches, some priestesses, or both. Some do not identify with either of those words and simply say they have immersed themselves in the Divine Feminine, or that they worship the Goddess. Some will say they are Pagan or Wiccan or Dianic Wiccan. Whatever we call ourselves, or do not call ourselves, we are all Sisters in Goddess, those who worship the Great Mother. And though our numbers are growing, seemingly almost daily, we are still in a minority. We need those who are articulate to voice our views and we need wise teachers who can share practices, philosophy and knowledge with those who are eager for such spiritual food. One of the great things about this Goddess Path is that, although there is much written and oral knowledge to be had for those who seek it, the deepest part of this path is experiential. Personal experience with Goddess, deep within ourselves, and having our eyes opened to Her all around us all the time, seeing and feeling Her magic in our lives, knowing Her love and nurturance in our hearts. We have no dogma, no set of rules or commandments, no rigid ideology. We have our own hearts to guide us into all acts of love and pleasure, compassion, humility and reverence which are Her rituals. When we express strength, hold our power and honor life, as well as giggle and laugh, those are Her rituals, too. There are the Women’s Blood Mysteries, which set women apart from men who worship the Goddess, but that should serve to unite women in a strong eternal bond, not alienate men. There is no place for hierarchy. We are all women equal to each other as daughters of the Goddess. We cannot, we must not, allow the patriarchal mindset to contaminate Feminine Spirituality. No hierarchy, no duality, no controlling others. If we want to see a world in which the Divine Feminine is prominent, the world that many of us believe is coming, we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror of our Sisters’ eyes and all of us individually commit ourselves to Unity, Sisterhood and Unconditional Love. That does not mean we will never disagree, and sometimes disagree vehemently, but it does mean we do not allow those disagreements to fracture us as a body of women or to damage or destroy our Sisterhood. There are many teachers who have their own followings of students, their own coursework, their own publications and newsletters, their own festivals they work all year to organize and make manifest. This is a good thing! Especially with the national economy the way it is now many, many women cannot afford to travel very far from their homes, so the fact that there are festivals in diverse parts of the country is no doubt just as the Goddess desires. Those who know of Her and hear Her call are greatly benefited by all of these in mind, heart and spirit. We all need each other. We who can spread this information far and wide need to do so, not just think of and promote the one group or project we are involved in ourselves individually. This is the BIG PICTURE. This is how the movement moves forward. This is how the Goddess gathers Her women (and men). Unification of purpose. Standing together. Supporting each other in concrete ways. We are Women of Goddess. Her spirit […]
(Special Post Mother Teresa 4) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

Part IV: Illumination and Consensus Reached [Editorial Note: The following is an edited version of the discussion that took place spontaneously on Mago Circle from March 1, 2013 for about two weeks. It was an extensive, heated, yet reflective discussion, now broken into four parts to fit the format of the blog. We thank each and all of the participants for your openness, generosity, and courage to stand up for what you believe and think! Some are marked as anonymous. As someone stated, something may have been “written in the heat of the moment” and some might like to change it at a later time. So we inform our readers that nothing is written in stone. As a matter of fact, the discussion is ongoing, now with Magoism Blog readers. Please comment and respond as you wish.] Diane Horton: [C], how is it that you do not see that MT had no right to sacrifice other people for any purpose whatsoever? None of us have the right or the place to “sacrifice those we care about” for anything. She was not “above them”. And she had abundant means to do far more for them, to cure and comfort them. If indeed she imagined she had some lofty motivation as you so fervently believe, to use the power she had to withhold medical care from the poverty stricken sick and dying in some misguided and ultimately cruel attempt to bring the world’s attention to their suffering and produce compassion within those who would not otherwise feel it is the most monstrous miscarriage of any expression of what you might refer to as “love” that I have heard of outside of Jim Jones killing all of his followers in Ghana. That’s not Love. That’s not Compassion. That is Manipulation, and manipulation is ego-based. Anne Wilkerson Allen: Yes. It is an indoctrination so deep and so prolonged that it takes a lifetime to overcome…and we rely on the love and compassion of others to help bring us to this understanding….thanks, Diane. Diane Horton: Love you, Anne. [C]: Is thinking that any human being sacrificing inside their very soul, their morals, & all that entails, is actually of lesser value than outside human pain, suffering, even death itself, right? Diane Horton: I’m not sure I understand the question really, but I’ll try a response: one’s inner and outer life are of equal importance because they are all the whole person.

Lammas/Late Summer within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 10 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd, Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd These dates are traditional, though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, thus actually a little later in early February for S.H., and early August for N.H., respectively. a Lammas/Late Summer table The Old One, the Dark and Shining One, has been much maligned, so to celebrate Her can be more of a challenge in our present cultural context. Lammas may be an opportunity to re-aquaint ourselves with the Crone in her purity, to fall in love with Her again, to celebrate She Who creates the Space to Be. Lammas is a welcoming of the Dark in all its complexity: and as with any funerary moment, there is celebration of the life lived (enjoyment of the harvest) – a “wake,” and there is grieving for the loss. One may fear it, which is good reason to make ceremony, to go deeper, to commit to the Mother, who is the Deep; to “make sacred” this emotion, as much as one may celebrate the hope and wonder of Spring, its opposite. If Imbolc/Early Spring is a nurturing of new young life, Lammas may be a nurturing/midwifing of death or dying to small self, the assent to larger self, an expansion or dissipation – further to the radiance of Summer Solstice. Whereas Imbolc is a Bridal commitment to being and form, where we are the Promise of Life; Lammas may be felt as a commitment marriage to the Dark within, as we accept the Harvest of that Promise, the cutting of it. We remember that the Promise is returned to Source. “The forces which began to rise out of the Earth at the festival of Bride now return at Lammas.”[i] Creativity is called forth when an end (or impasse) is reached: we can no longer rely on our small self to carry it off. We may call Her forth, this Creative Wise Dark One – of the Ages, when our ways no longer work. We are not individuals, though we often think we are. We are Larger Self, subjects within theSubject.[ii] And this is a joyful thing. We do experience ourselves as individuals and we celebrate that creativity at Imbolc. Lammas is the time for celebrating the fact that we are part of, in the context of, a Larger Organism, and expanding into that. Death will teach us that, but we don’t have to wait – it is happening around us all the time, we are constantly immersed in the process, and everyday creativity is sourced in this subjectivity. As it is said, She is “that which is attained at the end of Desire:”[iii] the same Desire we celebrated at Beltaine, has peaked at Summer and is now dissolving form, returning to Source to nourish the Plenum, the manifesting – as all form does. This Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Late Summer celebrates the beginning of dismantling, de-structuring. Gaia-Universe has done a lot of this de-structuring – it is in Her nature to return all to the “Sentient Soup” … nothing is wasted. We recall the Dark Sentience, the “All-Nourishing Abyss”[iv] at the base of being, as we enter this dark part of the cycle of the year. This Dark/Deep at the base of being, to whom we are returned, may be understood as the Sentience within all – within the entire Universe. The dictionary definition of sentience is: “intelligence,” “feeling,” “the readiness to receive sensation, idea or image; unstructured available consciousness,” “a state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness.”[v] The Old Wise One is the aspect of the Cosmic Triplicity/Triple Goddess that returns us to this sentience, the Great Subject out of whom we arise. We are subjects within the Great Subject – the sentient Universe; we are not a collection of objects, as Thomas Berry has said.[vi] This sentience within, this “readiness-to-receive,” is a dark space, as all places of ending and beginning are. Mystics of all religious traditions have understood the quintessential darkness of the Divinity, known often as the Abyss. Goddesses such as Nammu and Tiamat, Aditi and Kali, are the anthropomorphic forms of this Abyss/Sea of Darkness that existed before creation. She is really the Matrix of the Universe. This sentience is ever present and dynamic. It could be understood as the dark matter that is now recognized to form most of the Universe. This may be recognized as Her “Cauldron of Creativity” and celebrated at this Lammas Moment. Her Cauldron of Creativity is the constant flux of all form in the Universe – all matter is constantly transforming. We are constantly transforming on every level. a Lammas/Late Summer altar These times that we find ourselves in have been storied as the Age of Kali, the Age of Caillaech – the Age of the Crone. There is much that is being turned over, much that will be dismantled. We are in the midst of the revealing of compost, and transformation – social, cultural, and geophysical. Kali is not a pretty one – but we trust She is transformer, and creative in the long term. She has a good track record. Our main problem is that we tend to take it personally. The Crone – the Old Phase of the cycle, creates the Space to Be. Lammas is the particular celebration of the beauty of this awesome One. She is symbolized and expressed in the image of the waning moon, which is filling with darkness. She is the nurturant darkness that may fill your being, comfort the sentience in you, that will eventually allow new constellations to gestate in you, renew you. So the focus in ceremony may be to contemplate opening to Her, noticing our fears and our hopes involved in that. She is the Great Receiver – receives all, and as such She is the Great Compassionate One. Her Darkness may be understood as a Depth of Love. And She is Compassionate because of …
(Art & Poem) Candelmas/Imbolc by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

IMBOLC DANCE From the east she has gathered like wishes. She has woven a night into dawn. We are quickening ivy. We grow where her warmth melts out over the ice. Now spiral south bends into flame to push the morning over doors. The light swings wide, green with the pulse of seasons, and we let her in We are quickening ivy. We grow The light swings wide, green with the pulse till the west is rocked by darkness pulled from where the fire rises. Shortened time’s reflecting water rakes her through the thickened cold. Hands cover north smooth with emptiness, stinging the mill of night’s hours. Wait with me. See, she comes circling over the listening snow to us. Shortened time’s reflecting water Wait with me. See, she comes circling From Calendars (Tupelo Press, 2003) Art is included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Poetry & Photo Essay) Pongal by Susan Hawthorne

I am a secularist rather than a ritualist, but I can’t help but be drawn into the celebrations that people make when they honour the passing of the seasons. Even as a child I felt the disconnect between Christmas and the hot dusty days of summer. When Christians invaded and colonised Australia they brought their holidays but did not consider changing the dates to match the seasons. I was in India recently, invited as a speaker at the Hindu Lit For Life Festival in Chennai where I had lived ten years ago. The last day of the festival was the first day of Pongal. A friend, feminist economist Devaki Jain, who had grown up in Chennai eighty years earlier invited me to join her in a car ride to see Pongal celebrations in the streets. This is a Tamil festival dating back at least a thousand years, a sun festival, welcoming the next six months of the sun’s journey, also a harvest festival. During this time many women produce beautiful drawings, known as kolam. In my book Cow I wrote a poem about kolam which I think says more than I can explain here. what she says about kolam where they are drawn and when is all important early morning is auspicious it sets the shape of the day the hard ground is cleaned points of white grain sprinkled she works quickly she knows her design for the day runs the powdered grain from point to point it is a mandala a yantra a sign so the forces of the universe align themselves with her intentions Back to Pongal. The festival goes for four days. On the first day, which is called Bhogi, people are on the streets with the fruits of harvest, piles of tumeric and stacks of sugar cane tied in bunches. My friend, Devaki, bought flowers to take back to her room in the hotel. The second day, called Thai Pongal, I was invited to a harvest lunch at the house of my friend Mangai who is a playwright, theatre director and human rights activist. The word ‘pongal’ means ‘boiling over’ or’ overflow’ and I saw this in the cooking of the sweetened rice dish into which each of the twelve people present poured some water and milk as it almost overflowed the pot. This sweet rice dish was added to the collection of other dishes on the table. I cannot tell you what they were, but the meal was delicious. After lunch everyone relaxed, someone sang, we talked and caught up on news. The third day, is called Maatu Pongal, and cattle are at the centre of celebrations on that day. I don’t know if this line up of cattle had anything to do with the day’s celebration but there they were tied up alongside a very busy main road. These were not cows and I did not see any cows with decorated horns and flowers on their heads. on that day as I have on other occasions. On the fourth day, Kaanum Pongal, things begin to wind down. One of my co-speakers at the festival said she would be visiting family members on that day. The kolams are drawn again, sugar cane is consumed and people go back to their daily lives. What I liked about being in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival is that it felt absolutely right. The time of the year, the connection with harvest, so I did not feel the discomfort I so often feel in the midst of the out-of-season commercialised holidays as they are celebrated in Australia. Susan Hawthorne’s book Cow is available worldwide from distributors in USA, Canada, UK, from all the usual online retailers or from Spinifex Press. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=215/ © Susan Hawthorne, 2019 (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.
(Video) Winter Solstice Breath Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 Winter Solstice is a celebration of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Triple Goddess in particular – as both Solstices may be, as dark or light come to fullness. Winter Solstice Moment celebrates the ripe fullness of the Dark Womb, and the gateway from that fullness back into new growing light. It is a Birthing Place – into differentiated being, and Her birthing happens in every moment in the breath, and is seamlessly connected with all layers of being – of self, Earth and Cosmos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsVZzXtoyM The Text in the Meditation[i] Take a deep breath and let it go. Notice the Void at the bottom of emptying your breath … feeling it, and feeling the Urge to breathe as it arises. And again … feeling it over and over – this breath that arises out of the full emptiness in every moment, birthing you in every moment. – Recall some of the birthings in your life, your actual birth – see it there in your mind’s eye … you coming into being – your Nativity, your Nativity. Recall projects you have brought into being, new beings within yourself, perhaps children, new beings in others, how you have been Creator and Created – even at the same time … who was birthing who? Staying for a while with the many, many birthings in your life. – recalling now Earth-Gaia’s many birthings out of the Dark everyday … the dawn is constant as She turns. See Her in your mind’s eye – the constant dawning around the globe, the constant birthing. Recall Earth’s many births right now of all beings – as day breaks around the globe – the physical, emotional, spiritual births. Her many, many birthings everyday, and throughout the eons. recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. – recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. Come back to your breath – this wonder – none of it separate … the Origin Ever-Present, birthing you in every moment – out of Her Fertile Dark, in real time and space. Feeling this breath, Her breath. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, Winter Solstice ceremonial script, p. 195-196. Reference: Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology. Music: Fish Nite Moon by Tim Wheater, permission generously given Images: – Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, pl. 155. See https://pagaian.org/book/cover-goddess-image/ – Winter Solstice window, MoonCourt Australia 2016 – some sources unknown
(Video) An Autumn Equinox Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Autumn Equinox/Mabon Northern Hemisphere – September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere – March 21-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRJNY1LSvIs&t=1175s …oOo… The purpose of this video is for ceremony, and I suggest pausing the video where it suits you, to add your own processing, embellishments and/or your own drum, percussion and voice wherever you please. I have made short spaces in the video where it could be paused. The script for this Autumn Equinox/Mabon ceremony is offered in Chapter 11 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. In particular I mention here, credit for the story of Demeter and Persephone as told by Charlene Spretnak in her book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. For more full participation in the ceremony, you could have one or more stalks of wheat or native grain tied with a red thread/ribbon, a garden pot with soil, a small garden trowel, a flower bulb (daffodil type), food and drink, that may represent your “harvest” – ready for eating and drinking. The elements of Water, Fire, Earth and Air on the altar in this video are placed in directions that are appropriate to my region in the Southern Hemisphere, and East Coast Australia: you may place yours differently, and transliterate when I mention the direction (which I do minimally). The images used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Autumn Equinox ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Autumn Equinox ceremonies I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space in NSW Australia, Darug and Gundungurra country. My partner Robert (Taffy) Seaborne who has participated in all the Seasonal ceremonies since Samhain 2000, adds his voice to this video. Image credits: Demeter and Persephone (500 B.C.E. Greece). Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.72. Art of Demeter and Persephone on MoonCourt wall: Cernak Herself Music credit: “Gentle Sorrow” by Sky: which he has previously allowed me to use in my work. This piece of music is also used in the Autumn Equinox meditation on my PaGaian Cosmology Meditations published 2015.
Artful Ceremonial Expression by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This article is an edited excerpt from Chapter 7 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. I always wore a special headpiece for the Seasonal ceremonies when I facilitated them over the years, and I feel that any participant may do so, not just the main celebrant. My ceremonial headpiece with its changing and continuous Seasonal decoration took on increasing significance over the years; it became a personal central representation of the year-long ceremonial art process of creating, destroying and re-creating. For the research period of my doctoral studies particularly, when I was documenting the process, I realised that this headpiece came to represent for me the essence of “She” – as Changing One, yet ever as Presence – as I was coming to know Her. In my journal for the Mabon/Autumn Equinox process notes one year I wrote: As I pace the circle with the Mabon headpiece in the centre, I see “Her” as She has been through the Seasons … the black and gold of Samhain, the deep red, white and evergreen of Winter, the white and blue of Imbolc, the flowers of Eostar, the rainbow ribbons of Beltane, the roses of Summer, the seed pods and wheat of Lammas, and now the Autumn leaves. I see in my mind’s eye, and feel, Her changes. I am learning … The Mother knowledge grows within me. The headpiece, the wreath, the altar, the house decorations, all participate in the ceremony: they are part of the learning, the method, the relationship – similar to how one might bring flowers and gifts of significance to a loved one at special moments. Then further, the removal and re-creation of the decorations are part of the learning – an active witness to transformation through time.

(Book Excerpt 6) The Mago Way by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note] The following is from Chapter One, “What Is Mago and Magoism and How Did I Study HER?” from The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, Volume 1. Footnotes below would be different from the monograph version. PDF book of The Mago Way Volume 1 download is available for free here.] Magoism, East Asian Religions, and Magoist Mudangs As mentioned above, Magoism refers to the totality of human civilization that is ultimately gynocentric. Speaking from a narrow perspective, Magoism is the primordial matrix from which such East Asian religions as Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism were derived. In the light of Magoism, a patriarchal religion is redefined as a pseudo-Magoism that which has co-opted the Way of the Great Goddess (Magoism) with the androcentric reversal of the female
(Mago Essay 1) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Introduction: Why Inaugurate the Great Goddess Consciousness? The Great Goddess is known by many names around the world. “Mago” is one known by East Asians from time immemorial. As such, the term “Mago” is a common noun referring to the Great Goddess rather than the name of a particular goddess. According to my assessment of a large volume of primary sources that I have documented, Mago’s divine nature is characterized as the progenitor, creator, and ultimate sovereign. In short, Mago is supreme as the Creatrix. That does not mean that there is nothing before or even after Her. In fact, according to the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism, Mago was born into the cosmic era prior to our cosmic era by the music/vibration/movement of the universe. Being the Creatrix, She is the beginning and the end. She is the Origin of humankind. She will be with us insofar as humanity continues to exist on its cosmic journey. She is the Great Ancestor of all humans as well as goddesses and gods. Furthermore, She is “the Cosmic Great Mother” from whom everything is derived. “Mago” is eponymous of human civilization. With regard to the world, She is immanent and transcendent at once. Standing at the threshold of the world, She embodies the world. She is the Channel that connects humanity with nature and the universe. She is the Lens through which we humans perceive Ultimate Reality. To be precise, She is the Cause for human consciousness. Through Her, we enter the world. She is self-sustained, as symbolized in the ouroboros. The beginning and the end for the world relies on Her. While holding the key to eternity, She shares the rise and fall with humankind. Here is Her intimacy with humanity: We are part of Her and She is in our DNA. My reconstruction of Mago and Magoism did not begin with a teleological scheme. No pre-measured outcome was there to motivate my undertaking of the research project. On the contrary, the topic was a serendipitous yet timely encounter, which I had never consciously expected. Nonetheless, I was not in a vacuum. As a self-identified radical feminist, I sought a new mode of knowing within my own cultural roots that can remedy Eurocentric, nationalist, colonialist, racist, and ethnocentric knowledge. The years of my graduate studies were spent in exploring such possibilities. Only after furthering my research of Mago and Magoism for over a decade, I began to grasp something at which my intellectual/spiritual voyage is destined to arrive. It was this phrase, in fact a very old mandate that ancient Magoists self-identified with, “Return to the Origin of Mago (Mago Bokbon, 麻姑複本),” that surfaced over the horizon with clarity. How do we return to Mago’s Origin? Do we return to Her Realm or invoke Her Reality to our time? Time is one seamless measurement. No need to go there or bring it here. The fact that “Mago” refers to the Great Goddess rather than an individual goddess intimates an implication at the level of consciousness. Talk of Mago invokes the Great Goddess consciousness, primordial unity/oneness. A “new” mode of knowing is re-birthed once and time and time again. Individuals are placed in unity with the whole. Each shares with the subject position, WE. After all, everyone is progeny of the Great Goddess! We are re-stored within the scheme of old knowing that the whole (universality) comprises parts (particularities) and that they are organically interconnected. Complexity and precision of the way microcosmic entities work in harmony with the cosmos are beyond the human grasp. However, we know that an assault on a part affects the whole. And vice versa. This is why I study Mago and Magoism: Reenacting the Great Goddess consciousness is the ultimate antidote to the patriarchal consciousness. WE learn how to see things beyond the isolated position of an “I,” the notion of the self molded to stand against its environments (the other) by the patriarchal mastermind. The separated “I,” implanted in one’s psyche from birth through patriarchal institutions such as the state, religion, family, and heterosexuality, conjoins the new awareness of WE. The Mago consciousness is the original, pristine perspective prior to the split of the patriarchal consciousness. It is an undifferentiated state of mind that underlies patriarchal socialization. Ancient cultures had an understanding of the mysterious working of Mago. With Mago, WE Re-Turn to the Origin! The Female is epistemically invincible, nullifying the assaults of the patriarchal “I.” The power of the Mago consciousness is well depicted in the icon of Durga defeating the patriarchal demon. One should not be mistaken that the Mago consciousness is just another form of patriarchal thinking with reversed gender. It fundamentally differs in nature from the latter. Suffice it to say that “the Almighty God,” unlike the Great Goddess, does not share the same DNA with humans. In fact, He has no DNA! The monotheistic god rules over and against the world in protection of himself. He is needy. He isn’t even transcendent but disconnected from primordial unity. He can’t be “He” but only he of She. He can’t be the representative of the world because he is biased against the female principle. Ultimately, he is incapable of embracing everyone, unlike the Great Goddess. To hide the fact that the monotheistic god leads only to the abyss of self-destruction, patriarchal religions have created dogmas to indoctrinate people. The Great Goddess consciousness exposes the patriarchal deception. As patriarchy developed over the course of history, Mago was made unintelligible. People lost the Original Knowing! The Paradise was gone not only in a physical manner but also epistemically! That may as well be a corollary in that patriarchy precludes the concept of the Great Goddess by definition. It is not patriarchy if a society upholds the female as supreme. Nonetheless, patriarchy could not get rid of the manifestation of Mago in history, culture, and the collective consciousness of people. In fact, the ancient cultures, histories, myths, topographies, religions, and memories …
(Photo Essay 2) ‘Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea’ by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part II: The Lost Iconography of Gaeyang Halmi We visited the Suseong Shrine a second time on July 11, 2012. I looked inside the Shrine wherein a shaman ritual was being performed by a Mudang (Korean Shaman)[i] and her assistants. The Mudang in colorful ritual outfit appeared to console her female client on behalf of the spirit. The ritual continued another hour or so and we waited outside until she finished her performance. We had come here on the day of arrival in Jungmak-dong, Buan. The shrine was locked, apparently not being in use. On our second visit, the shrine was packed with four people and their instruments and equipment. It was so compact that it left no room for another person to sit; however, it was pumping up the sober energy. In fact, I have no recollection of which musical instruments were being played inside the shrine. Nonetheless, it feels like that I was hearing the sharp and high banging of the kkwaenggwari (gong) accompanied by the janggu (hourglass drum) rhythm [symbolizing the sound of thunder and rain respectively]. The “musical” sound that I heard shook off the debris of ordinary thoughts and took me to the Other Side of Reality. I began to see things clearly the way they are. I was stepping into the history of this place that I was going to discover.