September 23, 2015October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin

(Book Excerpt 1) The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia

[Author’s Note: This is the first of the two sequels of the forthcoming book.]

INTRODUCTION

Salvation for the terrestrial community depends on our ability to keep patriarchy in check. We CAN keep patriarchy in check by telling the gynocentric truth. The gynocentric truth mirrors what patriarchy is; it is none other than a dangerously deranged force of destruction. Because it is deceitful and threatening, we tend to see it bigger than it actually is. It has no power of giving or nurturing Life. Patriarchy is NOT winning but ever-dwindling and ever-dying. This book, The Mago Way, re-presents the ancient way of telling the gynocentric truth: to Re-member collectively the ORIGIN STORY of the CREATRIX. The Way of Mago unleashes the power of the almost forgotten story of HER Beginning from Old Korea. It is the one and only story of WE that takes place Everywhere and All the time. It is cosmic/galactic/solar/terrestrial/individual/personal/atomic in scope. The Mago Way summons the gynocentric reality of WE/HERE/NOW to raise our minds/hearts.

A feminist self-searching journey is the doorway to an encounter with the Female Divine, the divine S/HE. In my case, the divine S/HE is Mago, the Great Goddess [read “Ma” as in “mama” and “Go” as in “to go”]. It has been more than fifteen years since I first learned the word “Mago” in the book entitled the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the Gynocentric Book of the Mago Clan. It was given to me by an acquaintance unexpectedly, but it was timely. I was able to write my doctoral dissertation about Mago. Since then, Mago has become the focus of my life’s endeavor. The Mago Way is an answer to my life’s quest and task. I have researched, presented, written, lectured, and toured about Mago. Far from being exhausted, Mago data continue to grow monthly and yearly. So does my understanding of Magoism.

The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the principal text of Magoism, provides the backbone structure of my work on Mago–the mytho-historical-thealogy of Magoism. It may be called an apocryphal text in the sense that the title is not verified elsewhere. That has caused skepticism among “mainstream academic” Koreanists. However, I treat the Budoji as the central text in my work. I hold that the Budoji presents an original narrative of the beginning of the Great Goddess and gives an overall picture of the ancient world’s cosmogonic stories. As I have shown in this book, it is a self-testifying text, primarily proven by its cosmogonic etiological account. It explains the very foundation of East Asian cultures and histories and worldwide ancient religious/spiritual traditions. Astonishingly, terms and notions employed in the Magoist Cosmogony stand as the archetypes of East Asian cultures and other counterparts elsewhere. Moreover, upon assessing pre- and proto-patriarchal histories in East Asia, which are truncated if not erased in Sinocentric texts—supposedly the oldest and proven texts of East Asia, I have used folklore, place-names, literature, archaeology, and art as well as apocryphal texts in assessing the mytho-history of Magoism.[i]

Previously, I attempted to publish my research on Mago under the tentative title of “The Mago Hypothesis: Reinstating Mago, the Great Goddess, and Magoism, a Trans-patriarchal Gynocentric Tradition of East Asia (Korea, China, and Japan)” with a standard publishing house. However, the idea did not materialize. I can see now why it was not meant to happen. For one thing, my research kept on developing and deepening. Speaking metaphorically, I was in the middle of the cave and did not know when and where I was going to come out of the cave to talk about what I saw inside and what that journey meant. As indicated in the above title, I could only call it a hypothesis at that time. Also I can see now that trying to put my research into one book would not have done justice in that it is too complex in content and immense in volume. It is indeed timely now that I call it The Mago Way and publish it as Volume 1 by Mago Books that I have recently founded. This teaches me to trust the unfolding of my Mago journey in its own timing.

(To be continued in Part 2)

For more info on The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, see here.

Endnote:

[i] For more on this topic, see Chapter 4 and Chapter 8 in this book.

Read Meet Mago Contributor Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Poem) Cueva de Nerja/ Caves of Nerja by Xánath Caraza, art by Adriana Manuela Ruiz Gómez

Cueva de Nerja Por Xánath Caraza Para Isabel Ruiz Lara Columnas de tiempo como piedras de agua. Fluyen notas musicales en los minerales, en cada centímetro que avanza, eco, eco, eco.
(Book excerpt) Celebrating Her/My/Our Everyday Sacred Journey Around Sun by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is from She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 2 edited by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Mary Ann Beavis and Nicole Shaw, Mago Books, 2016. My Goddess devotional practice of celebrating Her in the Seasonal wheel of the year grew over decades, from small humble occasional affairs to elaborate consistent well-planned events; as I came to be aware of the power of conversing with Her in this way, and also with others who desired to participate. Participation in the annual Seasonal wheel process, particularly when practised as a whole year-long experience and over the period of years, re-identifies one’s small self with the larger Gaia-Self. It is a practice of coming to know Her … it may be at times “playing like we know, until we know”.[1]
(Fiction) Reflections on Sulis by Claire Dorey

Art by Claire Dorey [Author’s Note: Extract from a work in progress. Thoughts on Goddess Sulis as seen through the eyes of an ancient Briton during the Roman occupation.] “There’s a Goddess in the waterways!” “Who are they and why are they lost?” You ask. It’s ironic that most information about the British water Goddess comes from the Romans, the extreme patriarchal regime that conquered us. She was so sacred they assimilated Her into their own mythology. Most of our water Goddesses are local, one for every spring, river, lake and estuary! Local doesn’t mean She isn’t important and although She is buried beneath years of mud and history it doesn’t mean She won’t rise again. Covertina, Nemetona, Verbeia, Belisama, Latis, Saitada, Domnu, Senua, Brigantia, Brighida, Agrona, Hafren, Gye, Ystwythis, Ancasta, Annwn, Epona, Rosemerta and Sulis have survived damnatio memoriae’! Why is British mythology so scant? Were oral histories lost, forgotten, overlaid with new mythologies, or deliberately destroyed? There is no doubt that organised religion actively pursued ‘damnatio memoriae’ – ‘condemnation of memory’ – what you call gaslighting! Fast forward to the 6th century. “Let altars be built and relics be placed there so that [the pagans] have to change from the worship of the daemones to that of the true God.” – Pope Gregory I, approx. 590AD. At the springs our pagan deities were usurped by saints or the silenced embodiment of the Goddess, the Virgin Mary. The water Goddess became a vague shadow, her blood roots haunting legend as the Scarlet Lady or the Lady of the Lake. Perhaps She now inhabits poetry, a depression in the Earth, the contour of a hill or a chalybeate spring, flowing carnelian. Since patriarchy exterminated Her history, I think it’s fair we speculate; patch together fragments of information; dig into the what ifs and whataboutery and draw comparisons with the mythos of ancient and indigenous cultures to recreate our stolen inheritance. Meditation, shamanic journeying, psychic messaging and evoking the Goddess to see who rises may be key to unlocking lost knowledge! Let’s tap into our creative wisdom and intuition to generate avatars of the Lost Goddess relatable for ‘now’, after all She was always a continuously evolving phenomena, Her form imagined and reimagined by artists, craftsmen, storytellers and scribes throughout history. Perhaps the best known British water Goddess is the beautiful, symmetrical, decapitated Sulis Minerva. Her ubiquitous, high status, bronze gilt face gazed across the sacred waters at Aquae Sulis, now called Bath in Somerset. Since it was the Roman war machine and their wives who languished in ‘sanitas per aquam’ it’s hardly surprising they created a hybrid of Sulis, our Celtic solar and Mother Goddess, with Minerva, Roman Goddess of war, wisdom, trade and creativity. In Old Irish ‘súil’ means ‘eye sight’ so Sulis may mean ‘to see’. Or perhaps her name comes from an Indo-European word for ‘Sun’. Either way I believe Sulis is a seer, a divinatory Goddess and a luminary, with priestesses channeling her prophetic visions like the Pythia. I refer to Sulis Minerva’s face as ‘ubiquitous’ because it is a clone of the face the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles created for Aphrodite of Knidos, in the 4th Century BC. Praxiteles also created the ‘shame pose’ where, mortified to be naked, the Goddess covers her ‘pudenda’ with her hand. This pose has haunted women for millennia because it projects shame onto our bodies whilst telling us to be modest, cementing these qualities in stone! I doubt that the body of any Goddess could ever be a source of shame but this does show how artists and writers, especially those working within a patriarchal framework, conditioned women, showing us ‘desirable’ versions of ourselves which became enduring and limiting stereotypes and standards for us to live by. Sulis Minerva’s face is one of those stylised faces that have been recreated by artists throughout the ages, in Classical, Renaissance Revival and Romantic art, but what did Sulis, stripped of Minerva’s armour, actually look like? Wind back time. Before the Romans developed Aquae Sulis into a bustling spa, my mother says there were three torrid springs, gushing into a series of stepped, open air, geothermal pools, beside the river Afon (Avon). She says when she was my age (in AD 40) her family trekked to the luxuriously warm springs where the water is chartreuse and the minerals heal the skin. They sat on boulders amongst the pilgrims and lepers and watched as the lily masked priestesses, stood waist high in the steaming pool channeling Sulis. With fingertips trailing in the glassy water these crepe-skinned, dowager Oracles were naked, free of shame, in trance, peaceful, wise – resolved! Amongst the boulders were rock carvings of Sulis as the triple Goddess, so perhaps there was one of Her for each fountainhead. When my mother slipped into the water she said she had a clear vision of Sulis as a divine aquatic creature, shyly lurking in the watery reservoirs of wisdom held in aquifers deep underground. When it is quiet she basks on the rocks in the sunshine, like lizards do! The Romans guarded Sulis Minerva with the head of a serpent haired gorgon who, with the flash of an eye, turned the irreverent to stone. It’s ironic that all that remains of Her is Her beautiful gilt head. Was she decapitated, as was the gorgon Medusa, to reduce her power, her precious bronze body stolen and cast into the furnace when Aquae Sulis crumbled? Art by Claire Dorey Patriarchy tamed the Goddess using rape and murder. They bottled Her wild spirit, summoning Her power when required, like a genie in a lamp. They clipped Her wings because She was capable of acts of fierce destruction and retribution just like Mother Nature. As man conquered nature, colonised land, drew borders and profited from the Earth they set the Goddess to work for them. When did this start? Oracles were guarded by amphibians and I’ve always thought the murder of the female sea monsters, including the Hydra, …
(Essay) Chaos, Violence, and the Fourth of July by Sara Wright

I have just survived another “Independence Day” celebration complete with three nights of experiencing myself as being under ruthless attack by not so anonymous neighbors who began the weekend with deafening explosions that intermittently assaulted my nervous system. Semi-automatic weapons also punctuated the monstrous three-day weekend splitting the air with their “mindless” gun power at all times of the day. Like drones at war. Last night was the finale. For two and a half hours we were forced to listen to fireworks exploding like bombs and then echoing blindly around our mountain valley.
(Poem) The Well of Remembrance by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo: ”Rain Gates” by Ron Rudnicki, De Cordova Museum of Art, photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd Come to the Well of RemembranceHere have women sacrificed the memories that overflowIn both mourning and joyIn all times and places. Now it is your turn to pour into it your libations—A grandmother’s feathery hairA daughter’s pink-painted toenailsFierce years of labor wasted andAngry seconds of agony pain. The Well is constructed of millennia ofHands held around sacred groves, quilting bees,birthing stools, and teal Formica kitchen tables.It can hold all you offer to it. Now it is your turn to take from it what you need—All the water that has flowed from women’s Eyes, mouths, wombsHas saturated to the Earth’s bones,Has seethed next to our planet’s molten core,Has evaporated and risen, then fallen again intoYour cupped hands as cool rain. Taste one tear from each of your ancestresses.It is their wish that you drink deeply andbe as mighty as all their memoriesdistilled into one swallow. [Author’s Note: This poem was first published in The We’Moon Calendar, 2004. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
(Prose) Immaculate First Child by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

She had not really accepted that her body was female. Such a body had no validity, it was not the real thing. Yet here she was apparently pregnant. Her abdomen was beginning to bulge in a very unfamiliar way. She looked at it in amazement. That amazement in itself was one story, but it was one that could not be thought through right now. The story most pressing was, what was she going to do? She was young, single, a college student. Would she tell her mother? Would she marry the father? She was of spiritual inclination … a Christian hippie variety; sufficiently hippie to allow her to fall into bed with her bloke,
(Photo Essay 7) Goddess Pilgrimage 2017 by Kaalii Cargill

[Author’s Note: In July 2017, I set out on a 4 month pilgrimage to the Unites States, Italy, France, Spain, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. I name it a “pilgrimage” because my main focus is what I call “visiting with the Grandmothers”, although I also encountered many other wonderful people and places. This series of Photo Essays is an invitation for you to visit with the Grandmothers I met on my journey . . .] Carnac, Brittany, France Evidence of human habitation has been found in Brittany dating back to the Lower Paleolithic. One of the oldest hearths in the world has been found at Plouhinec in Finistère – 450,000 years old. Neolithic Brittany is characterised by megalithic culture, with the largest collection of prehistoric standing stones in the world: menhirs, dolmens, tumuli. No Grandmother statues or carvings have been found in the area, but there is some beautiful jewellery from c4500 BCE. Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill
(Special Post 3) Multi-Linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

[Below conversations took place in 2011. In fact, it is the earliest discussion on the topic.] Linguistic connections of Mago/Magu and Magi Helen Hwang Below “Magi” from Wikipedia: Magi ( /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; Latin plural of magus; Ancient Greek: μάγος magos; Old Persian: 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 maguš, Persian: مُغ mogh; English singular magian, mage, magus, magusian, magusaean) is a term, used since at least the 4th century BC, to denote followers of Zoroaster, or rather, followers of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which was – in the main – the ability to read the stars, and manipulate the fate that the stars foretold. The meaning prior to the Hellenistic period is uncertain. Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi?fbclid=IwAR2jje2N51Cg29EMEv0D-wQBncGLy8sKyQ6XQncnO3W7_Gq_82oMVh4zvfs Helen Hwang Culled from below: “However, as scholars have recognized, these Magi were not priests of orthodox Zoroastrianism. Rather, judging from their various tenets, which included a divine triad, pantheism, magic, astrology, number mysticism, the belief in reincarnation and the four elements, their cult was closer in similarity to the Kabbalah, believed also to have originated in the same city in that century.” http://www.farvardyn.com/shelagh.php Monica Jay Casalini In Italian the word “mago” means wizard and the feminine “maga” is like witch. This word comes from the ancient arabic “madjus” with the meaning of “big/bigger” as the latin “maya/majus” and “magna/magnus”. But we know that the particle MA- is the common root tha means “mother” as in sanscrit “Maat”. Many Goddesses have names that begin with “MA” (or mo, mu): Maya, Mater Matuta, Mut, Ma’at, Ma (Cybele)… and of course the modern Magdalene and Miriam/Maria (Madonna = ma-donna = mother women). P.S. latest studies say that the Magi were both men and women. Kelly Allee Greer Yes, this is my thought too, Monica Casalini –I have been thinking all along that Helen’s Mago is the same Goddess, or at least akin to the Westernized goddess I have been following in my own studies. Her name is Maia and she is a grandmother goddess who was also the mother of Hermes. Kelly Allee Greer In my efforts to find Her throughout the mythologies of the world, I am following thorn trees. https://www.magoism.net/2012/09/archetype-or-patriarchetype-a-brief-history-of-the-symbolic-meanings-of-thorn-trees-part-1-by-kelly-a-greer/ Kelly Allee Greer She is known to “cast spells with the hawthorn”–and this association is found in many later objects that are related to Justice, such as the mace, or the truncheon of the magistrate (if memory serves me on this last one). Kelly Allee Greer My profile image shown here of the white blossoms is in fact the blooms of the hawthorn tree–which is the state flower for the state of Missouri, where I am from. Kelly Allee Greer Since Helen visited UCM and presented her work on Mago, I have thought Maia (as discussed above) might be the same as Mago because of the association with the same family of words Magic….but it seems that there were other details in Helen Hwang’s presentation. This the reason for my great excitement about the Mago Circle! Kelly Allee Greer Thorn trees were a theme that I had thought of working on when I was in a research flurry for related topics. I decided to focus on Hawthorn trees b/c I had research coincidences that happened about this and also because I wanted to honor Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of _The Scarlet Letter_. I found his tale to be of personal interest to me as a single mother who was at the time of this particular research was living through welfare reform. Kelly Allee Greer I wrote everything I had on thorn trees in a book form, and did not really use a frame work. The final chapter became a paper which I presented at an American Pop Culture conference back in 2006. I have not worked on this for years, since teaching other topics for Women’s Studies has taken all of my time. Another reason for my excitement for Mago Circle and admiration for Helen who has managed to do it all! Kelly Allee Greer I will try to find the one I presented at the conference. The thorn tree that it is about is the acacia. Since this was the last area I had researched, it was not incorporated into the book on thorn trees before I stopped the work at the time. I have to do some other things, but I will be happy to share this with you! Thank you for your interest! Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Thank you so much Kelly for your story! We are getting to understand each other more. I let go of many things that you have! It is great and yet so challenging to carve out our own lives… (To be continued)Join the dicussion of this and other topics in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group.
A Response to Rabbi David Wolpe’s The Atlantic article “The Return of the Pagans” by Francesca Tronetti

Wikimedia Commons image I recently learned about this article via the Pagan Studies email list from the American Academy of Religion. Chas Clifton, Pagan scholar and editor of The Pomegranate posted a link to the article as well as other responses to Rabbi Wolpe. In his response to the criticism, Rabbi Wolpe claimed he was talking about ancient paganism; however, the claim seems to fall flat for several reasons. In the second paragraph of the article, he writes, “Most ancient pagan belief systems were built around ritual and magic, coercive practices intended to achieve a beneficial result.” Coercive practices? Most anthropologists classify shamanic magic and healing rituals as sympathetic magic, rituals or spells performed on an object that will reflect on the patient. Rituals include offering food or drink or objects and petitioning for intervention from the Divine. I do not understand how ancient magical practices could be labeled as coercive when the deity was understood to hold power. Wolpe titles his article “The Return of the Pagans,” implying that he is referring to contemporary Paganism, big P, as it is written in the literature. Throughout the article, Wolpe uses pagan and paganism; the lowercase versions are often utilized to identify ancient pagan practices, placing them under a kind of academic umbrella. Here, I will use the lowercase pagan when referring to Wolpe’s examples and Pagan or Paganism when referring to actual contemporary Pagan philosophy and practices. Wikimedia Commons image It appears that everything negative and wrong with our current culture Wolpe identifies as being pagan. He identifies aspects of people’s personalities as being Pagan, aspects which many Pagans would find offensive. While it is true that Heathenry has become popular among Neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, the Q-Anon Shaman cited as an example in the article, Wolpe mentioning anti-Semitic tropes as being pagan is offensive to many. Judith Bulter, a well-known Jewish theologian, was a frequent co-author of Goddess follower Carol Christ. This blanket identification of anti-Semitism and Paganism is, in my view, patently untrue. “Hug a tree or a dollar bill, and the pagan in you shines through,” Wolpe writes. I will ignore the hug a tree comment because, yes, that is a kind of Pagan. But when Wolpe writes about hugging a dollar bill, he references Donald Trump and Elon Musk, citing their greed and ego. While I agree that commercialism has definitely dug its claws into Paganism, and this should be addressed in academic and popular circles, many Pagan teachings are anti-consumerism. Not because Pagans do not like to purchase items for their craft but because they are aware of the effects of consumerism on the planet and developing nations. Wolpe writes, “This worship of the body—of beauty, which is another form of power—is a pagan inheritance.” This is true; acceptance of all body shapes and forms is part of contemporary Paganism, especially for people whose bodies don’t conform to conventional standards of beauty, such as those who are disabled. However, Wolpe doesn’t write about this veneration of the body in all its forms. Instead, he admonishes and blames paganism for the Instagramization of culture, the plethora of cosmetic surgeries, drugs, and a glut of beauty products to reach a level of physical perfection. All this being a precursor, he claims, to the eventual development of “designer babies.” I must say I hadn’t heard or read that term in years; the last time being in an article on gene therapy and removing predispositions for cancers or genetic diseases. Wolpe also takes issue with some parts of Pagan theology and philosophy, which place humans as part of the animal kingdom and not above it. Most Pagan authors I have read do this to underscore humanity’s role as a steward of the Earth and not as its master. However, Wolpe takes this idea to say that pagans are for treating people the way we do animals when they are injured. That we shoot horses when they are injured so why would we view a sick child with more compassion? He takes a small part of an interview with Peter Singer, writing that, For those who believe that the pagan outlook has no consequences, Singer illustrated the radical difference between believing that human beings are created in the image of God and believing that they are animals like other animals. Wolpe is referring to a part of an interview where Singer discussed allowing life support to be removed from a child. However, there is no context to this, which I believe is by design. Wolpe implies that pagans believe that parents should be allowed to end their child’s life if it “is not one that is going to be a benefit for the child or for their family.” This is clearly a strawman argument, much like that of Republicans when discussing late-term abortions. The parent is presented as someone lazy and heartless rather than someone who is learning their child may never live without pain, nor will they ever wake up after an accident. They must then consider what is the best option for the mental and emotional health of the child and the family. The few times Wolpe does discuss ancient paganism, he again fundamentally misunderstands how it was practiced in the ancient world. He writes, “The virtue that falls furthest in the pagan pantheon of traits is humility,” stating that when people embraced humility and sexual restraint, Rome fell. These paragraphs make me question whether Wolpe has ever read Greek mythology, which contains many cautionary tales of what befalls those who claim to be better than the gods or turn their backs on the people. As the slave said to Caeser, “You’re only human.” Wolpe ends his article by stating that “Monotheism, at its best, acknowledges genuine humility about our inability to know what God is and what God wishes.” I could only wonder where he got that idea; having been raised Catholic, I was told for years that we knew exactly what God thought was …

(Special Post Mother Teresa 2) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

[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.] Part II: We Disagree! Stand up for what you believe but be open-minded! Naa Ayele Kumari: I am going to step away from the common responses and say this… Binary is only no in betweens if you choose sides and can’t see the whole. I have been a part of black consciousness movements and women’s movements and both have the capacity for progress as well as extreme viewpoints. Both have the capacity to become so hypercritical that the movement itself transcends common human compassion and understanding. Mother Teresa was a human being with flaws and goodness. She had a public image and private fears and insecurities.. l like all of us. She lived her life the best way she knew how.. Like all of us. She made mistakes.. misjudgments.. Like all of us. But she also DID help and inspire others to help too. It is this dualistic thinking that forces people to feel like they have to assign the label of good or bad and no in between. None of us are all good or all bad.. so it seems to me that to label her has an evil traitor who let people die is no better than labeling her an Angel of god who did no wrong. She was a woman who lived her life and managed to come to worldwide fame and inspire others to love at a time and in an institution that was highly patriarchal and women were not raised up at all. Mother Goddesses in Africa were known for great nurturing and care symbolized by carrying a baby and also carried a machete on the other side for justice. This was the fine balance of wholeness…she was the gentle rain and the storm.. This was binary, but not one or the other but both.. Opposite ends of the same pole. [H]: I’m having a powerful visceral effect from this conversation. I feel as if I’m going to vomit violently. Mother Teresa comes to me in dreams and meditations. Makes me wonder what kind of person I’m seen as if I attract her energy. I have always felt so much love for her. Naa Ayele Kumari: If she comes in your dreams and it has been healing for you… Allow it/ her to continue to be healing for you. Its all about love and anything that is not love… Leave it be.. Vomiting is rejecting something that doesn’t belong with you. Embrace love my sister. Antonia McGuire: I think we may all agree that all belief systems initially began to promote a sense of goodness or fairness to some degree, but over time they are corrupted and produce both advantages and disadvantages. Donna Snyder: Yes, Gandhi, too. Back in the 90’s when I was in a band/performance art troupe called Central Nervous System, I shocked all the guys in the band coming out with an improv in response to a melody played on a banjo tuned like a sitar, called exactly that-Yes, Gandhi. Now make no mistake, he is one of my heroes, devoid of the falsified sentimentality that clings to MT. Gandhi’s work was for the world, for the masses, not for the appropriately humbled. Yet I spoke out about his sexual practices, his use of female bodies. Telling the truth about a hero requires courage. Retreating into a blind defense of a myth is a form of ethical cowardice. Anne Wilkerson Allen: Strangely I had a discussion with someone about the “hero’s journey” moving from metaphorical to physical being part of the problem…..when the “demons” are human instead of our own flaws, there seems to be a tendency to point the finger (and gun barrel) elsewhere. [B]: Fascinating & thought-provoking conversation, all. I think the biggest stumbling block I have with MT is how her acceptance of the dogma of the Catholic church blinded her to seeing and then being moved by the suffering of others enough to do something to alleviate & not vicariously celebrate it. No wonder she “suffered a lack of connection with the Divine”. This crisis with her spirituality seems to have been divorced from her and others’ body wisdom. Self-abnegation (perhaps not the same as “sacrifice”) ultimately backfires because some small part of us insists, “I am worthy!” To which I say, “We are all worthy!” [H]: I do not see or feel that she vicariously celebrated the suffering of others. I feel that she devoted her life to deeply loving and serving the poorest of the poor. I have not been to Calcutta and I have also seen some unimaginable poverty in India that is not like anything that I’ve been exposed to before. I truly believe that she had a very deep way of working with suffering that is not necessarily visible to those more accustomed to modern medical intervention and the resources available for such. I have participated in a very small amount of poverty medicine and the resources that we take for granted are just not readily available to MANY. I learned very powerfully from my experience how blessed and fortunate and often very careless we really are with our precious resources. This discussion has been a learning experience for me. I am trying to not take the critical comments […]
(Special Post 6) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hwang Without knowing nine numerology, it is NOT possible for us to understand the depth of Magoism, an anciently originated tradition of Old Korea/East Asia that venerated the Creatrix. “Giants” are the hallmark for the Goma, the people of Danguk (nine-state confederacy led by Goma, the Magoist Shaman queen). Those giants are not described as a singular people. They come in “81 brothers,” as mentioned below. We know what “brothers” mean, it is 81 sisters! Changing or translating a female-connoted term to the male proves its agent to be patriarchal. And Chiyou or Chiu (in Korean) is the ruler of Nine Ris (Guri), another name for Nine Hans (Guhan). Check this out: “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China.[1] He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology.[1][2][3] For the Hmong people, Chiyou[4] was a sagacious mythical king.[5] He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi[1]Miao[5] or even Man,[5] depending on the source and view. Today, Chiyou is honored and worshipped as the God of War and one of the three legendary founding fathers of China.” “According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi, Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.[6]According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead.[1] He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand.[7] In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a bull with two horns, although the body was that of a human.[7] He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers.[7] Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’,[6] as well as ‘tyrannical’.[8] Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.[5] Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during the Battle of Zhuolu. TRIBE Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPAWhite Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources.[1] However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Below is from my article, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology,” included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018). Goma is also credited for designating queens of the bear clan to state rulers. Another account of the Goma myth reads, “She looked after numerous spiritual persons and wise persons. Accepting women of the bear clan, Hanung made them rulers (后). Goma chose queens of the bear clan to make them nine state rulers. Note that Danguk is a nine state confedearcy. That Danguk’s nine states were headed by the queens of the bear clan is, among others, corroborated by Chinese mythological accounts. Chinese myth informs that Chiu, Huangdi’s opponent in an epic war, was aided by “a tribe of giants from the far north.”[1] In Chinese mythology, Gonggong and her minister, Xiangliu, symbolized as a dragon with nine heads in the body of a snake, are depicted as an enemy of Emperor Yu of Xia (ruled c. 2200–2100 BCE). Such a story is aligned with Sinocentrism inscribed in Chinese mythology that antagonizes pre-Chinese history of Old Magoist Korea/East Asia. In Chinese mythology, Gonggong (龔工) is described as a sea monster whose minister Xiangliu (相栁 Mutual Willow) is told to have been defeated by Yu, the Great.[2] Assuming the character hu (后 xia in Chinese pronunciation) to mean a male ruler’s wife, androcentric scholars have translated the above account as “Hanung received his queen from the bear clan. And he instituted the rite of matrimony.” This proves to be a modern androcentric bias in that hu originally means a “ruler.” This is the case of the logographic character whose original meaning has changed from “a female ruler” to “a male ruler” and to “the wife of ruler” over time. Ancient Chinese texts betray ample evidence. For example, Xiahou (夏后 Ruler of Xia) and Houyi (后羿 Ruler of Yi) respectively refer to a male ruler. Xiahou refers to Yu of Xia. Other ancient Chinese texts include the Classic of Poetry (詩經商頌玄鳥), the Zuozhuan (左傳) and the Book of Document (書經).[3] [1] C. Scott Littleton, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth & Storytelling (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002), 414. Cited in Hwang, Finding Mago, 239 in note 494. [2] Lihui Yang, Deming An and Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 214-5. [3] Goma, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology” Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018), 272. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am realizing that even ancient Chinese people depicted Chiyou as female. When her image is cropped from the whole frame, it is hard to tell. But see her in the attached image of the whole frame. In comparison with Chinese heroes (supposedly including Yellow Emperor) on the left side, she and her ally are depicted as a figure in a curvy body line. Of course, Chiyou was pejoratively depicted as she was an opponent to the future Chinese emperor, […]
(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.

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 …
Beltaine/High Spring within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 8 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Beltaine/High Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – October 31st or 1st November Northern Hemisphere – April 30th (May Eve) or 1st May though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, thus actually a little later in early November for S.H., and early May for N.H., respectively. The twin fires lit in older times on hilltops in Ireland for Beltaine likely represented the two eyes of night and day.[i] With this vision, Goddess as Sun and Moon sees Her Land, and with the power of Her eyes (Sun and Moon) brings forth life and beauty. With the fire eyes, Goddess“reoccupied and saw her whole land…”[ii] The twin fires later came to be used to run cattle between as they headed out to Summer pasture, for the purpose of burning off the bugs and ticks of Winter; the fires may thus be understood to serve a cleansing effect and likely the origins of the tradition of the ceremonial leaping of flames by participants in Beltaine festivities. In PaGaian Cosmology this is poetically expressed as the Flame of Love that burns away the psyche’s “bugs and ticks,” and sees the Beauty present, and calls it forth. The Beltaine flames may be a celebration of Sun entering into the eye, into the whole bodymind: a powerful creative evocation upon which the Dance of Life depends, and as the cleansing power of love and pleasure. PaGaian focus for Beltaine is on the Holy Desire/Passion for life, and it may be accounted for on as many levels as possible … the complete holarchy/dimensions of the erotic power. On an elemental level, there is our desire for Air, Water, the warmth of Fire, and to be of use/service to Earth. There is an essential longing, sometimes nameless, sometimes constellated, experienced physically, that may be recognized as the Desire of the Universe Herself – desiring in us.[iii] We may remember that we are united in this desire with each other, with all who have gone before us, and with all who come after us – all who dance the Dance of Life. Beltaine is a time for dancing and weaving into our lives, our heart’s desires; traditionally the dance is done with participants holding ribbons attached to a pole or tree (a Maypole in the Northern Hemisphere, which may be renamed as a “Novapole” in the Southern Hemisphere), wrapping the pole with the ribbons. This is not simply the heterosexual metaphor as is thought in modern times (thanks largely to Freudian thinking) – it is deeper than that. As Caitlin and John Matthews point out: it is symbolic of a far greater exchange than that between men and women – in fact between the elements themselves. … the maypole, a comparatively recent manifestation in the history of mystery celebrations, can be seen as the linking of heaven and earth, binding those who dance around it … into a pattern of birth, life and death which lay at the heart of the maze of earth mysteries.[iv] Beltaine is a celebration of Desire on all levels – microcosm and on the macrocosm, the exoteric and the esoteric.[v] It brought you forth physically, and it brings forth all that you produce in your life, and it keeps the Cosmos spinning. It is felt in you as Desire, it urges you on. It is the deep awesome dynamic that pervades the Cosmos and brings forth all things – babies, meals, gardens, careers, books and solar systems. We have often been taught, certainly by religious traditions, to pay it as little attention as possible; whereas it should be the cause of much more meditation/attention, tracing it to its deepest place in us. What are our deepest desires beneath our surface desires. What if we enter more deeply into this feeling, this power? It may be a place where the Universe is a deep reciprocity – a receiving and giving that is One. Brian Swimme says, in a whole chapter on “Allurement”: You can examine your own self and your own life with this question: Do I desire to have this pleasure? Or rather, do I desire to become pleasure? The demand to ‘have,’ to possess, always reveals an element of immaturity. To keep, to hold, to control, to own; all of this is fundamentally a delusion, for our own truest desire is to be and to live. We have ripened and matured when we realize that our own deepest desire in erotic attractions is to become pleasure … to enter ecstatically into pleasure so that giving and receiving pleasure become one simple activity. Our most mature hope is to become pleasure’s source and pleasure’s home simultaneously. So it is with the allurements of life: we become beauty to ignite the beauty of others.[vi] Beltaine is a good time to contemplate this animal bodymind that you are: how it seeks real pleasure. What is your real pleasure? Be gracious with this bodymind and in awe of this form, this wonder. Beltaine is also a good time to contemplate light, and its affects on our bodyminds as it enters into us; how our animal bodyminds respond directly to the Sun’s light, which apparently may awaken physical desires. Light vibrates into us – different wavelengths as different colours – and shifts to pulse. It is felt most fully in Springtime (“spring fever”), as light courses down a direct neural line from retina to pineal gland. When the pineal gland receives the light pulse it releases “a cascade of hormones, drenching the body in hunger, thirst, or great desire.”[vii] We respond directly to Sun as an organism: it is primal. NOTES: [i] Michael Dames, Ireland, 195-199. [ii] Ibid., 196. [iii] I have been inspired and informed by Swimme’s articulations about desire, particularly in Canticle to the Cosmos, video 2 “The Primeval Fireball,” video 5 “Destruction and Loss,” and video 10 “The Timing of Creativity.” [iv] Matthews, The Western Way, 54. And for more, see “Creativity …
(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

Walking with Bb: a story exploring the psychic connection between one woman and her bear. Preface: The black bear – hunting season in Maine is brutal – four months of bear hell – five if one includes the month where hunters can track bears for “practice” with hounds – separate mothers and cubs, terrorize them, tree them and do anything but legally kill them. During the legal slaughter, Hunters bait bears with junk food by putting old donuts etc. in cans and shoot the bear while he or she is eating. Most bears (82 percent) are slaughtered in this manner, the rest are killed by hounding and trapping. The season begins in August and lasts through December. Trapping, by the way, is illegal in every state but Maine. Black bears are hated, and that hatred will, of course, eventually result in their extirpation. I had a shy (male) year old black bear visiting my house this past summer with whom I developed a friendship, and what follows is part of our story: Last Saturday I was walking down the road when I remembered that I had not done my daily “circle of protection” imaging for Bb (standing as he was the day he visited me at the window early in August). When I began to do this another picture of Bb moving on all four feet with his face turned towards mine super-imposed itself over his standing image. I could almost see his expression, but not quite. I didn’t know what this imaging meant beyond that we were communicating in some unknown way, and he was in the area (not a good thing on hunting Saturdays). He had not been coming in most nights and I was worried… That night he came. He is still making nightly visits five days later, the most sequentially consistent visits since September 15th, the day I believed that he had been shot. This experience prompted me to write about telepathy and precognition. It is close to All Hallows and the full Hunter’s moon (Nov 3). I keep listening to Charlie Russell’ story which reminds me that loving bears (especially male bears) is hard, almost a sure recipe for disaster, and that I was not alone in this deep concern for and fear of losing Bb. I can barely stand to remember my other bear losses and I can’t stand feeling them. Even after I wrote about the incident with Bb, the experience seemed to carry a charge that didn’t dissipate. Had I missed something? Next I wrote “Root Healer,” exploring the possibility that as I continued to act as Bb’s “little bear mother” now employing psychic techniques to keep him safe (in some desperation as it was the only means left open to me to protect this very vulnerable yearling), that Bb’s presence might also include a gift for me and that it might involve some kind of root healing for my body because Nature thrives on reciprocity. One idea I missed completely, for it was so obvious. Bb’s image was communicating to me that we were having a psychic conversation in that very moment. It was the first time in three months of imaging protective circles that moved with him that I had confirmation from him that we were communicating effectively in this unknown way. This rarely happens. Normally when I do this kind of work, I just do it. I don’t get direct confirmation that it’s working from the animal itself (except with Lily b). Knowing this helped me make another decision I might not have made so intentionally. The hunting season will last into mid December, and I will be traveling during that last month. I keep thinking that putting actual physical distance between Bb and I might pose more of a threat for his life and I have to remind myself that psychic phenomena are not distance dependent. I should be able to image that protective circle every day and feel that it is working. Bb has already shown me that it can but I fear adding distance because I don’t completely trust my own perceptions.* I suspect believing might be an additional dimension of ensuring success when it comes to psychic protection for this bear. But how do I incorporate belief into a picture that is so clouded with personal/cultural doubt? Half the time I don’t believe myself and virtually no one except Rupert Sheldrake, Iren and Harriet have ever taken my experiences seriously. I have to remind myself that I have done this work many times dealing with doubt and it worked anyway. The point of writing this reflection might be to put me on a new edge of increasing Bb’s odds of survival. If it’s possible that an attitude that embraces believing in what I do could help me protect Bb more effectively until hunting is over and its time for him to den in peace I want to claim it. The question I need to answer now is how to go about moving into a more trusting self as a woman who continues to walk with a bear at her side? The night after I wrote the above paragraph I dream of the doubters in the roles of my parents, and in a friend. I take these dreams seriously as doubters inside me and out. These dreams may be telling me that it is unreasonable to expect me to believe that what I do works when no one else does? The problem with this idea is that on some level I do believe. I feel as if I am walking with this bear, every single day. I think about him constantly. The only thing that got me out of the house yesterday was that he was out of chocolate donuts. Something is intensifying my relationship with Bb although I never see him. I am caught in a field of bear energy and information, perhaps through some version of beauty and the beast. That an archetype is …
(Art & Poem) Spring Equinox by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX . . . till I feel the earth around the place my head has lain under winter’s touch, and it crumbles. Slanted weight of clouds. Reaching with my head and shoulders past the open crust dried by spring wind. Sun. Tucking through the ground that has planted cold inside me, made its waiting be my food. Now I watch the watching dark my light’s long-grown dark makes known. Art and poem are included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(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.
(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.

(Mago Pilgrimage video 2) Ganghwa Island by Robert (Taffy) Seaborne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ANT2cPDN-g The first day of Mago Pilgrimage 2014 to Korea, organised by Dr.Helen Hwang, was to Ganghwa Island, starting actually on Gyodong Peace Island: the group included locals, and together we walked up to the Rock of Constellation Marks located atop the Ruin of Hwagae “Castle”/Stronghold. The scenic view up there is from the Ruin of Gwanmi Stronghold (not a fortress, as present minds may think, but a “strong” place). I state all this here about the name because there was a bit of confusion in my mind when making the video. Along our way we came across an ancient sweat lodge – named Hanjeung-mak – shaped like a womb and similar to ancient constructions in other lands. As we walked we could also at some points, see across to the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea, and some in our group expressed deep distress about the loss and splitting of families, with this division.
(Book Excerpt 5) 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.] How My Education and Experience Helped Me Study Mago The topic of Mago came to me in time for writing my doctoral dissertation for the Women’s Studies in Religion program that I was enrolled in at Claremont Graduate University. My graduate education, which I crafted to be a feminist cross-cultural alchemical process of de-educating myself from the patriarchal mode of knowledge-making, led me to encounter the hitherto unheard-of Goddess of East Asia, Mago. I came to read the Budoji, the principal text of Magoism, in 2000 and did some basic research to find out that Mago was known among people in Korea and that S/HE was also found in Chinese and Japanese sources.
(Poem) Just Remember WE in S/HE by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Just Remember WE in S/HE Remember the Universe is without the beginning or the end. Remember the Creatrix is the Music of the Universe.