January 15, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin

(Poem in Spanish & English) Árbol de vida/Tree of Life Por Xánath Caraza

Árbol de vida

Para Ana Mendieta

Por Xánath Caraza

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Vida

Mujer corteza

Vida

Vida mezclada

Mezclada en la madera

Vida madera

Madera

Mujer en la corteza

Mezcla de vida

Vida

Mujer de vida

De vida

Da vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Siento

Siento en la mezcla

En la mezcla del viento

En la mezcla siento

Siento en el viento

En el viento siento

Siento la vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Mujer corteza

De vida

Da vida

Vida

Vida siento

Siento

Siento en el viento

En el viento siento

Siento en la luz

En la luz yo siento

Siento en la luz y en el viento

Siento en el centro

Centro de vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Corteza de vida

Mujer corteza

Las venas vibran

En las venas llevas

El corazón puesto

Puesto

Puesto en la arena, puesto

Como arena puesto

Como arena que se barre

Que se barre con el viento

Siento

Yo siento

Te siento

Siento

Te siento

Siento

Te siento

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Te invoco

Mujer corteza

Renace

Nace

Renace

Nace

Ten fuerza

No mueras

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Da vida

De vida

Anagada da vida

No temas

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

De vida

Da vida

Vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Anagada de vida

Anagada da vida

Anagada de vida

In between Short Stories by Xánath Caraza — In between Short Stories
by Xánath Caraza

Tree of Life

For Ana Mendieta

By Xánath Caraza

Translated by Sandra Kingerly

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Tree de vida

Anagada da vida

Tree of vida

Anagada da vida

Tree of life

Anagada da vida

Life

Woman of bark

Life

Blending with life

Blending in the wood

Wooden life

Wood

Woman in the bark

Blend of life

Life

Woman of life

Of life, de vida

Offers life, da vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida, tree of life

I sense

I sense in the motion

In the motion of the breeze

In the motion I sense

I sense in the breeze

In the breeze I sense

I sense life, la vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida, tree of life

Woman of bark

Of life, de vida

Offers life, da vida

Vida, life

Life I sense

I sense

I sense in the breeze

In the breeze I sense

I sense in the light

In the light I sense

I sense in the light and the breeze

I sense in the center

Center of life, centro de vida

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

Corteza de vida, bark of life

Woman of bark

Vibrating veins

Within your veins

Your heart is present

Present

Present in the sand, present

Present like sand

Like sand that is swept

Swept up with the breeze

I sense

I sense you

I sense

I sense you

I sense

I sense you

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

I invoke you

Woman of bark

She is reborn

She is born

She is reborn

She is born

Be strong

Don’t die

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Da vida, offers life

De vida, of life

Anagada da vida

Don’t be afraid

Anagada da vida

Árbol de vida

Anagada da vida

De vida, of life

Da vida, offers life

Life, vida

Tree of life, de vida

Anagada da vida

Anagada de vida

Anagada da vida

Anagada de vida

0 thoughts on “(Poem in Spanish & English) Árbol de vida/Tree of Life Por Xánath Caraza”

jdemente says:

January 15, 2014 at 4:37 PM

Xanath, Myself co-host on CML online radio are looking 4 a spokesperson 4 Majuerista’s or Womens Spirituality to be our guest. Is this something you might be interested in by presenting your poetry? Jaynemariepeace@aol.com or Jayne 4 http://www.womensheritageproject.ning.com

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(Essay 12) The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia by Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen

[This part and the forthcoming sequels are an elaborated version of the original article entitled “The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia—a late Shamanistic Branch of the Old European Civilization?” by Märta-Lena Bergstedt & Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen, included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018) Edited by Mary Ann Beavis and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] IDUN — The White Disa and Keeper of Apples Fig. 32. Apple blooming In the light summer’s nights when mists are floating like white veils over the meadows, a common expression is that;“Now the disirs are dancing” (Diserne danser), or that the “Cailleach is brewing” (Kællingen brygger). Maidens, Mothers, and Crones still recur today as fundamental components of the living nature. For long, there has been an extended discussion about the nature of the Norse Disir. These discussions take their starting point in the rather twisted disir-figures depicted in the 13th century Iceland texts, for instance those in the Saga of Thorhall and Tirande, Flateyjarbók.[1] In these late texts, disirs are dualistically separated into two groups of black and white disir, good and bad ghosts, deities, or spirits of fate and the like. All the same, the word, disa in Scandinavian languages is simply and nothing but an old synonym word for maiden (mö), which over time, developed into the modern word, tös.[2] Consistently, early Danish translators would translate the Icelandic word, disir into young women (unge kvinder), and nothing else. Disa-Day, still celebrated in Sweden on the 2nd of February, is the day of the Bride of Spring returning, where also the Disa-Thing is still held in Uppsala, north of Stockholm. The Sagas count a number of Vanir disir of which the Vanadis Fröja is the most renowned. In this presentation, we will let yet another disa step forward, namely Idun. Travelling in her slough (skin) of a white swan, this Vanadis is also a guardian of growth and propagation wisdom. She is the famed Keeper of Apples, the round womb-fruits enclosing all the seeds of the future in their cores.[3] Idun´s mother is a ljus-disa (Maiden of Light), and has several names, Svan-hild (Swanlight), Guld-fjäder (Goldfeather), and Hilde-gun (Shining-Woman/Mother).[4] Idun is brought up by Svanhild and Svanhild´s brother, Idvalde (Ivalde), also known as Finn-Alf (Shining-White-Elven, postulated to be the first “King of the Elven and Finns in North-East Svitjod” (Uppland, Sweden), which may rather indicate that he was an elder in elven understanding). Idun, when grown, is engaged in a sibling parental pair with her brother Völund(Weyland), Smith of Beauty, renowned for his tender forging of every flower on earth born in his imagination. With great delicacy, Völund puts each petal in place, shapes each little green straw of grass, and rounds the cheek of every rosy apple. He entrusted the precious apples of eternity in his sister and partner, Idun´s keeping.[5] In Asgård, Idun was soon married away to Brage, and given the task of providing daily apples to the Asir gods, which they believed would keep them forever fit-for-fighting and avoiding old age. But one day, the Giant-son, Loke (Lug) had enough and sputters at her: “You are Id-valde´s family! How can you go on serving his murderers? Put on your slough (skin) and fly away home to your family and your brother! It is your duty, if you are not staying here to claim blood vengeance!” Next to murdering Id-valde, the up-bringer and uncle of Idun and her brothers, the Asir gods had also violated her brother Völund (Weyland) by putting his art of forging natural blooming into a contest, after which they nominated Völund’s work second best to Sindre’s. The dvarf Sindre had forged the hammer, Mjölner that became Thor’s pride and token, and his iron-gloves and power-belt. Völund never recovered from this degradation.[6] With his words, Loke succeeded to provoke Idun to put on her slough and fly off home together with her sisters, Siv and Aude to re-unite with their dear brothers. Realizing Idun was gone, and also the precious apples, the Asir gods of course got furious, demanding Idun back immediately, before rusting away! The Apple prototype all fruit, and is a universal symbol of offspring and launched projects – fruit of life, and fruit of one´s work. The apple-seeds in belly-round and womblike centers condense the idea of the over-all feminine, seeds awaiting in the peaceful dark core of the female womb. Apples belong to the Rose family. Idun’s magic apples symbolize the magic world of feminine of propagation; still today red roses are signs of love and love-making, and the fruits of apple are symbols of pregnancy and birth- giving. As Guardian of the Fruits of Eternal Regeneration (which the Asirs mistook for staying forever young), Idun symbolically belongs to the ancient apple orchards, the Apple Lands, in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew mythology. The Greek Hesperides, Nymphs of the Sunset, kept a strong guard over their golden apples. The Old Norse word apel (appel) means any round fruit,[7] and the apple-theme, found in many stories of our cultural heritage concerned with young maidens eating round apples, echo ancient female initiation rites performed on the threshold of becoming a woman. Initiation once gave the young maidens all necessary knowledge of their intrinsic procreating power and life-giving potential dwelling within, soon to flourish. Although now-a-days dressed in patriarchal costumes, fairy-tales like Snow White still contain fresh and recognizable fragments and memories of girls´ former initiation rites to become women. In Snow White, the innocent (snow-white) little girl makes thetransgression by a ritual dying, initiated when swallowing (integrating) a bite ofan apple (the apple-womb-knowledge); the transition takes place within a glass coffin (glas-borgs are discussed below),[8] her re-birth as woman is completed when meeting a man (the prince, the lover of her choice) and their first love-making (symbolized by the kiss); to be followed by her motherhood (pictured in the patriarchal wedding). Fairytales are full of these stories, but also medieval Sagas have remembered the old knowledge, too. In the Saga of …
(Essay) Spring Equinox Thoughts by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Spring Equinox (or Eostar as it is often named) may be storied as the Seasonal Moment of Heraic Return. I have summarised the Moment as ‘stepping into the joy and power of being'[i] … as the light has grown strong at this time, and warmth and growth can be sensed in the land: the return of the Beloved One, strength of being, the promise of life, is certain. She appears, emerges, from below. The story I base both Equinox ceremonies on is that of Demeter and Persephone, and importantly, it is the older matristic version as told by Charlene Spretnak: wherein Persephone descends of Her own volition[ii] (at the time of the Autumn Equinox) and returns at the Spring Equinox with new wisdom from the depths.[iii]
(Budoji Essay 3) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“Reintroducing the concept of the Mago Species has a profound implication, compelling one’s vocabularies to be changed to the Mother’s Tongue.” [This is a translation and interpretation of the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism. Read the translation of Chapter 1 of the Budoji.] There were Four Heavenly Persons at the four corners of the castle. They built pillars and sounded music. Four Heavenly Persons are the four clan leaders who reside in the four corners of Mago Castle, Primordial Paradise. They are entrusted by Mago to cultivate the acoustical effect of the universe (the original music). While the translation of “pillars” is provisional, it may mean a musical instrument of some primordial sort. Given the importance of stone, a theme reiterated in later chapters of the Budoji, the pillars may refer to the stone structure that supports a musical instrument. Or they may indicate stone chimes or an acoustical rock structure.
(Prose) Herb Talk by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright Women’s relationship with plants stretches back to the beginning of humankind. Most of us know that women invented agriculture and became the first healers. I come from a family of women who all had gardens, but no one grew herbs. It interests me in retrospect how I turned to these healing plants. I first used them for culinary purposes as a young mother; but as I approached midlife (mid –thirties) I began to gather herbs for medicinal purposes. I realize now that I made this shift just as I began to embrace the goddess and the Earth body as my mother and turned inward to healing myself. The two were definitely connected. It is the Body of the Earth that is capable of healing our broken souls and bodies; and some wise unconscious part of me knew that. Paul Stamets, mycologist (mushroom expert) and author states that plants that live in a particular habitat develop their own immune systems. I never really thought about herbs, plants, and trees working together to create immunity to certain diseases in one area until I learned something about mycelium, the fungus that creates a massive web beneath our feet attaching plants to one another; trees, plants, and herbs that exchange nutrients through their root systems/mycelium also have antiviral and anti bacterial properties. Our first antibiotic, penicillin, came from mold. When I first started using herbs medicinally it seemed important that I gather them from around my house, or in nearby fields and forest. After reading Paul’s declaration I realized that using an herb from my woods or garden was probably going to be more effective in treating a problem I have because I am already living in a habitat that is sensitized to any potential health problems that might arise with respect to its inhabitants including me, and because I am in direct relationship with my land and the body of the goddess in a very intimate way. An “Ah –Ha” moment. I have been reading a lot about the invisible mycelial net that stretches across every continent underground and under the sea. Without fungus, no life could have arisen on land because plants had no roots; the fungus provided them. The two had a symbiotic relationship. Today, the soil, composed of trillions of miles of mycelium in which all plants grow have antiviral, antibacterial, properties etc., as already mentioned, that make the plants powerful healers. Today this fungal web supports all life and is constantly learning, adapting, and changing. I think of this living breathing net as the skin and mind of the goddess. Personally, choosing which herbs to use seems to depend upon my personal relationships with them. Some plants seemed to resonate with me more than others and it was those plants I continue to be drawn to. I used my intuition and other senses to make these decisions even while the doubter drones on. Eventually, the positive results of my use of a particular herb shuts the annoying voice up. When I studied medicinal plants in the Amazon I learned that these Indigenous people, like me, used the plants that grew naturally in the areas they inhabited and they too made their decisions based on having personal relationships with certain plants, some of which spoke to them. Each healer had an individual garden located in the area in which s/he lived, on the edge of the community. Healers in other villages that were located further up the Amazonian tributaries (some were days away by dugout) treated the same ailments using the plants that grew there; some were the same, others were different. All treatments seemed to work, which baffled me until I learned that herbs grown in a specific area would probably benefit the people who lived in direct relationship with that particular piece of land even if they were different. What united me to people of the Amazon, Indigenous peoples, and other country folk like me was that all of us were in reciprocal relationships with plants and a particular place, something many folks in this transient western culture don’t ever experience. I wonder if this isn’t part of the reason we can continue to decimate the earth – a lack of belonging to place? I know lots of people who ‘own’ houses and property but never develop a reciprocal relationship with their land; instead they use it for their own purposes. And without reciprocity in relationship does a person remains rootless. Soul-less? Goddess – less? I love my little house, but it was built on land that claimed me the first time I set foot on it in the fog and rain. The visceral sense of belonging slammed through me, leaving me stunned almost senseless. When I came to I can still remember the sounds of water drawing me towards the brook and the red buck with his velvet antlers…. I have a deeply personal relationship with the earth as a whole but ‘my land’ contains me; I am wed to the goddess – to the forests, fields, ponds, and mountains here in Maine. Just now I am awash in the scarlet, wine, and magenta flowers of bee balm, an herb that seemed to ‘choose’ me as soon as I planted a few shoots of it the first year I lived here. I watched it spread through my entire flower garden eventually spilling over the edges to grow wild around the house. Hummingbirds love the flowers and presently I must have at least 50 hummingbirds that are happily extracting flower nectar from dawn to dusk. Of all my pollinators, Bee balm seems to draw in the most bees and butterflies at this time of year (July and August)… I always keep a flower or two in the house and I love to walk around crushing a leaf or two to release Bee balm’s scent (it belongs to the mint family). I collect Bee balm leaves to include in the ‘sun tea’ I …
(Special post) The Goddess Inanna: Her Allies and Opponents by Hearth Moon Rising

Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld is one of the most fascinating myths ever told. Not just because it is profound and enlightening, although it is certainly that. It’s an exciting journey that ignites the imagination, and female characters are at the hub of the action. This is a tale of power: power that is demanded, power that is won, power that is appropriated, and power that cannot be escaped. The story follows the fertility goddess Inanna, who brought civilization to Mesopotamia, as she seeks to expand her realm by venturing into the world below. Inanna’s experiences in the great below, her escape, and the wild events that unfold as a result of her caper are the focus of the tale.
(Book Excerpt 4) Rainbow Goddess: Celebrating Neurodiversity ed. by K. L. Aldred, P. Daly, T Albanna, and Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Nourishing Giftedness: Neurodiversity and Niche Construction” by Stephanie Mines, Ph.D. WHAT IS Niche Construction? Niche construction is a concept derived from biology in which an organism makes adjustments to its own environment. It is a feedback response system because not only does the organism change but the environment also changes as a product of relational interaction. A clear example is when beavers change their environments by constructing dams or when earthworms change the soil they inhabit. In both cases the result is co-evolutionary. Proximal environmental modifications often spread out further, creating whole system shifts. If we apply this paradigm to sensory integration and human development, we see that when we create a contained environment of advocacy and individuated attunement the ramifications permeate into the home and family environment alongside the school and therapy environments. The examples in this compilation revolve around constructing a niche or arena in which a child has at close hand and ready access the supportive resources needed to become whole and integrated as he or she is. These resources are tailored to what the individual child needs to express herself optimally without the frustrations of burdensome sensory overload. How to Nourish Giftedness in Sensory Challenged Youth “My ideas come in streams and my only difficulty is to hold them fast.” ~Nikola Tesla Storms of imagination and inspiration, acute sensitivity to all sensory input, driving over-focus and inwardness are all common traits for people with sensory integration imbalances. Some of the most brilliant contributors to human culture and evolution have exhibited aspects of these characteristics. By investigating their lives, we can learn about parenting sensory needs children. In this chapter I convene a conference of models and mentors from biographies that become a cornucopia of limbic nourishment. This gathering identifies the key ingredients for nourishing giftedness in sensory challenged, autistic, and neurodiverse young people. The dominant characteristics we can identify for sensory abundant children include: -Heightened powers of observation; -Acute sensitivity to stimuli; -Receptivity to images and visual thinking; -A compelling, complex, unique and rich inner world; -Unique insight; -Creative and out-of-the box problem solving ideas; -Profound determination, sometimes seen as stubbornness; -Development that is out-of-sync; -Inwardness; and -Over-focus on certain chosen subjects, interests and/or activities. The three key gifts that adults can cultivate, alongside their love for the specialness of their unique child, to nourish giftedness in the children who have these traits are: Differentiating themselves from the children they care for by retracting projection; Advocating for the learning styles that are developmentally appropriate and encouraging for each child; and Finding the therapies and therapists that meet the child where he is for optimum enhancement, growth, and development. See the Resource Annex chapter for samples of how to find these options. I explore these ten characteristics and the three key gifts of the adults who serve them through the lives of people who have struggled with sensory integration and made their contributions, nevertheless. Their self-reported life experiences allow us to see what works and what doesn’t work to enhance and stabilize the rare brilliance of our sensory needs children and youth. The Recipe for Supporting Differentiation: Theory of Mind + Empathy Adults have a lot to learn from the lives of sensory-challenged children and youth. One of the characteristics of sensory abundance is heightened self-awareness. I have frequently been astounded by how my sensory-challenged and autistic patients reveal incredible insight into themselves and others. What they lack is perspective. Because adults have the cognitive capacity to find perspective and to reflect on their own development, they can create a theory of mind if they cultivate profound self-awareness. Once adults create a theory of mind for themselves then it is possible for them to cultivate a theory of mind for the children in their care. Theory of mind, differentiation and empathy are like the Three Muses for those who serve children with sensory overload. Theory of mind means that you have a developmental perspective and can temper your language, presence, educational and therapeutic interventions to meet that perspective for each child. You can, for instance, understand an autistic child in the context not only of their neurology but also their home life and the parenting they receive. When I was conducting my recent clinical trials, I encountered many autistic children whose parents were veterans of combat. The relationship between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), autism and the neurochemistry of fear has yet to be fully explored but it was evident in the lives of these children. The Autism National Committee notes that despite fairly abundant anecdotal evidence, knowledge of the nature, prevalence, and treatment of psychological trauma in the lives of neurodiverse people is lacking. (Autism National Committee 2007) For these autistic sons and daughters of veterans the presence of PTSD in their home environment was a significant component in the theory of mind I cultivated for them. Differentiation requires self-awareness and self-understanding. Adults need to bear witness to how they respond to children. If, for instance, you are threatened by the way in which your child stands out or does not fit in then it is up to you to explore what that means about you. Trace this reaction to its source and take responsibility for it so that you do not project your fears, shame, need to deny, suppress, blame, or compensate onto a child. Anything that prevents you from seeing a child’s experience from their perspective requires investigation. Copyright 2013, Originally published by the Dom Project. Shared with the permission of the author. https://www.magoism.net/2013/08/meet-mago-contributor-trista-hendren
Proserpina by Susan Hawthorne

Proserpina, Proserpina go home to your mother —Kate McGarrigle every mother’s haunting cry every daughter’s loss a carefree afternoon turned bleak because of him they refuse to speak about the crime she’s just a child wails her poor mother come home come home he has her in thrall her money in his hands she tries to please but she cannot leave the child seems safe she likes it here it’s no longer her call no food on the bench come home come home he’s in his locked shed there’s a stench of porn Prosperpina daughter won’t come home mother leave his scorn his hated shed mother come home to me come home come home Wikimedia Commons image Notes on Propserpina Last month I heard an interview with Martha Wainwright on Australian radio. The interview included a recording of Martha Wainwright singing the song on Q&A, an Australian TV show in 2013. The song Prosperpina was written by Martha Wainwright’s mother, Kate McGarrigle whose songs I have listened to for decades. It was Kate McGarrigle’s final song. I was moved not only by the interview, but especially by the song. I have written many poems about Persephone but this song gave me a new perspective in which an unknown figure is calling the child to go home to her mother. I hope you find the song as haunting as I do. Proserpina is the Latin name for Persephone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nywk08msOY https://www.magoism.net/2013/12/meet-mago-contributor-susan-hawthone/
(S/HE Article Excerpt) A Scottish Goddess: An Introduction to The Evidence by Stuart McHardy

Available in S/HE V1 N1 [Editor’s Note: This article was previously published and is now available for a free download in S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies in Volume 1 Number 1. Do not cite this article in its present form. Citation must come from the published version in S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (https://sheijgs.space/).”] In oral tradition from Scotland’s two oldest indigenous languages, Gaelic and Scots, there are references to powerful supernatural female figures who in pre-Christian times may well have been perceived of as goddesses. While we can never reconstruct the specificities of belief patterns of the pre-literate past, the attributes of this being, the Cailleach in Gaelic, and the Carlin in Scots, can be understood as deriving from an indigenous mythology centered on a supernatural female figure. This evidence exists within literary records, often deriving from oral traditions, recorded oral tradition, contemporary oral tradition, place-names and perhaps most interestingly, in the landscape itself. Such material comes from all over Scotland and exists in both of Scotland’s surviving indigenous languages Gaelic and Scots. In this brief overview of the evidence, we will look at material from both linguistic traditions, in which the supernatural figure of the Cailleach in Gaelic and the Carlin in Scots, feature as both landscape creator and weather-worker. In a forthcoming work, Scotland’s Sacred Landscape, due to be published by Luath Press in 2022, I shall present more evidence and, given the extent of the material hope, beyond that, to create a more definitive collection of the material in either book or on-line database form. It should be noted that in Scottish culture, unlike among our cultural cousins in both Ireland and Scandinavia there are no extant records of any kind of pantheon of gods and goddesses from early literary sources. This is part of a general scarcity of early literary sources in Scotland which has been attributed to ongoing destructive invasions from respectively Northumbria, Scandinavia and, on many occasions, England, combined with an unfortunate outbreak of church-directed vandalism during the initial period of the Scottish Reformation in the latter years of the sixteenth century. In the forthcoming work I will consider parallel evidence from particular sites in both Ireland and Scandinavia which could be used to posit a similar underlying feminine-centered belief system in both areas to the one I suggest was extant in Scotland’s far past. In Scotland we have a single reference from Bishop Carsewell in the sixteenth century to the popularity of tales of the Irish Tuatha de Danaan, but within our oral tradition I have found no evidence that this material was ever widespread here.[1] This is particularly striking when we realise that Scotland, like Ireland, has a great many localised tales of Fionn MacCumhaill and the Fianna. That this is down to the close relationship between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is unarguable, but it is all too often forgotten, or ignored, that both countries were heavily settled by Scandinavian incomers from the eighth century onwards. A perhaps forgivable but unfortunately Romanticised attitude towards material deriving from the Celtic languages has tended to overshadow this historical reality. The extent to which the pantheons of Gods in both Ireland and Scandinavia may in fact have been essentially literary creations by classically and biblically focused monks is one that remains unresolved. As McCone put it, …monastic propagandists and genealogists were ruthless reshapers of the past in the interests of the present, studies of early Irish sagas show…them to be deliberate literary compositions primarily geared to contemporary concerns rather than mere antiquarian assemblages, however archaic or traditional the elements so manipulated.[2] Given that any underlying feminine-focused beliefs and traditions similar to the Scottish evidence would have been anathema to the essentially gynaephobic worldview of the monkish scribes and those directing them, it is little wonder that references to any such beliefs are almost entirely absent from surviving records. The possibility of the over-masculinising of supposedly indigenous belief in both Ireland and Scandinavia, in both of which literacy was the exclusive domain of Christian monks in the period when the source materials for the respective pantheons were first written down, is not one that should be avoided. Such material may well have been created in Scotland, but if so, none has survived. However we do have some later literary references, which suggest that the idea of the supernatural, landscape-creating, weather-working female had deep roots in indigenous culture. The Gyre Carlin appears in poetical works in the Scots language from the sixteenth century, where her role as a landscape maker and shaper is presented in burlesque form – in the poem “The Gyre Carlin”[3] she “luts fart” North Berwick Law (one of the Paps of the Lothians) and in the “Maner of the Crying of Ane Play” (the Manner of the Crying of a Play) she “pishes the watters of the Forth.” [4] The survival of these works is due in great part to them having been known at the Royal court showing that such material had a strong hold on even the supposedly upper levels of Scottish society.[5] It was noted by several early visitors to Scotland that not only did the King of Scots share a language, Scots, and thus a culture, with the population of central Scotland, but that he was approachable in a way that was not the norm in the rest of Europe. One of the poets at the court of James IV was William Dunbar (c.1460-c.1530). In a remarkable analysis of William Dunbar’s poem, “The Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo” (the Two Married Women and the Widow) the Australian poet A. D. Hope suggested that the poem was derived from what he saw as a “fairy cult” extant in Scotland at the time of the poem’s composition.[6] The poem is essentially a discussion between two young married women and a widow about the relationship between the sexes and in their attitudes they clearly show that they are of independent mind. Hope sees this as deriving …
(Poem in Spanish & English) Árbol de vida/Tree of Life Por Xánath Caraza

Árbol de vida Para Ana MendietaPor Xánath Caraza Anagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaVidaMujer cortezaVidaVida mezcladaMezclada en la maderaVida maderaMaderaMujer en la cortezaMezcla de vidaVidaMujer de vidaDe vidaDa vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaSientoSientoSientoSiento en la mezclaEn la mezcla del vientoEn la mezcla sientoSiento en el vientoEn el viento sientoSiento la vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaMujer cortezaDe vidaDa vidaVidaVida sientoSientoSientoSiento en el vientoEn el viento sientoSiento en la luzEn la luz yo sientoSiento en la luz y en el vientoSiento en el centroCentro de vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaCorteza de vidaMujer cortezaLas venas vibranEn las venas llevasEl corazón puestoPuestoPuestoPuesto en la arena, puestoComo arena puestoComo arena que se barreQue se barre con el vientoSientoYo sientoTe sientoSientoTe sientoSientoTe sientoAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaTe invocoMujer cortezaRenaceNaceRenaceNaceTen fuerzaNo muerasNo muerasAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaDa vidaDe vidaAnagada da vidaNo temasNo temasAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaDe vidaDa vidaVidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada de vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada de vida Tree of Life For Ana MendietaBy Xánath CarazaTranslated by Sandra Kingerly Anagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaTree de vidaAnagada da vidaTree of vidaAnagada da vidaTree of lifeAnagada da vidaLifeWoman of barkLifeBlending with lifeBlending in the woodWooden lifeWoodWoman in the barkBlend of lifeLifeWoman of lifeOf life, de vidaOffers life, da vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vida, tree of lifeI senseI senseI senseI sense in the motionIn the motion of the breezeIn the motion I senseI sense in the breezeIn the breeze I senseI sense life, la vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vida, tree of lifeWoman of barkOf life, de vidaOffers life, da vidaVida, lifeLife I senseI senseI senseI sense in the breezeIn the breeze I senseI sense in the lightIn the light I senseI sense in the light and the breezeI sense in the centerCenter of life, centro de vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaCorteza de vida, bark of lifeWoman of barkVibrating veinsWithin your veinsYour heart is presentPresentPresentPresent in the sand, presentPresent like sandLike sand that is sweptSwept up with the breezeI senseI senseI sense youI senseI sense youI senseI sense youAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaI invoke youWoman of barkShe is rebornShe is bornShe is rebornShe is bornBe strongDon’t dieDon’t dieAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaDa vida, offers lifeDe vida, of lifeAnagada da vidaDon’t be afraidDon’t be afraidAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada da vidaÁrbol de vidaAnagada da vidaDe vida, of lifeDa vida, offers lifeLife, vidaTree of life, de vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada de vidaAnagada da vidaAnagada de vida

(Special Post) Discussion on Mother-Daughter Wound by Mago Circle Members

[Mago Circle members discussed and answered the question, “What do you think of this (the topic article below)? If you are a feminist, it is something that you would promote? If so, why? If not, why not?” The discussion took place on May 15, 2017 and shortly thereafter in The Mago Circle.] Topic Article: “For The Daughters Who Don’t Love Their Mothers – Screw Mother’s Day” by Sade Andria Zabala Everyone talks about a mother’s unconditional love. But what if it doesn’t exist? Daughters are socially expected to be close with their mothers. But are you one of the women who aren’t? Mother’s Day isn’t just for celebrating moms. It’s a day some of us dread because we are reminded we grew up (or are still) unloved, not good enough. (Read the whole article here.)
(Special Post 1) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

“Ma” in “Mago” and “Ma-Gaia” Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey [Conversation between Carol P. Christ, Ph.D. and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.] Carol P. Christ (CPC): Below is culled from “Gaia” in Wikipedia: The Greek word γαῖα (transliterated as gaia) is a collateral form of γῆ (gē, Doric γᾶ ga and probably δᾶ da) meaning Earth, a word of uncertain origin. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (trans. as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang (HHH): “Mago” and “Goma” are closely linked. Gom or Goma means the bear and Magoist shaman queen of the late fourth millennium BCE. She is also related with the Big Bear constellation. “Go” is used as a modifier referring to Mago or the Goddess in various texts of East Asia. “Mago” is related with “magi,” whose singular form is “magus” or “magos.” Will have to check for more details and the source. CPC: My intuition is that “ma” and “na” are baby talk for mother. In other words, preceding any language. Mycenean is IE language, “Pre-Greek” is not IE. CPC: Below is “Mother” from Wikipedia: Synonyms and translations The proverbial “first word” of an infant often sounds like “ma” or “mama”. This strong association of that sound with “mother” has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language. Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are: Aama, Mata used in Nepal Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, India and parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Mum and mummy are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Ireland. Charles, Prince of Wales publicly addressed his mother Queen Elizabeth II as “Mummy” on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of the United Kingdom, and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States. In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply: Maa, aai, amma, and mata are used in languages of India like Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu etc. Mamá, mama, ma, and mami in Spanish Mama in Polish, German, Russian and Slovak Māma (妈妈/媽媽) in Chinese Máma in Czech and in Ukrainian Maman in French and Persian Ma, mama in Indonesian Mamaí, mam in Irish Mamma in Italian, Icelandic, Latvian and Swedish Māman or mādar in Persian Mamãe or mãe in Portuguese Mā̃ (ਮਾਂ) in Punjabi Mama in Swahili Em (אם) in Hebrew A’ma (ܐܡܐ) in Aramaic Má or mẹ in Vietnamese Mam in Welsh Eomma (엄마, pronounced [ʌmma]) in Korean In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East, the mother is known as amma, oma, ammi or “ummi”, or variations thereof. Many times, these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child’s life. HHH: The name for Goddess seems as ancient as the language itself. [“Ma” being the first intentional word to be spoken by a baby.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Scholars and mythologists agree that “ma” means both one’s mother and the Goddess, I quoted it in my dissertation written in 2004. Judy E Foster: Brilliant discussion, Helen and Carol! So many revelations… hard to keep up! But do continue, its fascinating – makes so much sense. (To be continued)Join the discussion of this and other topics in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group.
(Special Post Mother Teresa 1) 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 I: Why are we talking about Mother Teresa? [The conversation began among Anne Wilkerson Allen, Helen Hwang, and Wennifer Lin in a personal message and editor’s group. We agreed that Mother Teresa’s Western (Albanian) identity is hardly taken into consideration in the public perception of her as a secular and religious leader. Then, we decided to bring the topic to the Mago Circle.] Anne Wilkerson Allen: [A] posted this today and I think it is discussion worthy. Mother Teresa: Anything but a saint… scienceblog.com The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa is dispelled in a paper by Serge Larivée and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal’s Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Sénéchal of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education… http://scienceblog.com/60730/mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint/#IdkpoWrDtMAAVCAg.99 Anne Wilkerson Allen: It is not my desire to bash the Church – I think everyone here is fully aware of the evils of patriarchy and the way the Church has used women, abused and killed women…but Teresa is an icon in the West, in particular, of saintliness. Even non-Catholics love her. Why? And is what she did really worthy of role modeling? Anne Wilkerson Allen: This was also on the thread. Not a huge fan of Hitchens, and I think calling her work a “death cult” is extreme, but I am interested in your opinions please. Christopher Hitchens – Mother Teresa: Hell’s Angel [1994] In 1994, three years before her death, journalist Christopher Hitchens made this documentary asking if Mother Teresa’s reputation was deserved… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76_qL6fiyDw Anne Wilkerson Allen: I would also like to talk about altruism and some of the areas we have touched on before…at what point is my “help” an imposition in a third world country? Is my desire to “help” spurred by years of programming or heart? I honestly don’t know anymore. Anne Wilkerson Allen: There is also a part of me that wonders if this deflection of blame and highlighting of Teresa’s faults now is yet another “Let the women take the fall” action. Anne Wilkerson Allen: NOT that I find her blameless – her advocacy against contraception and abortion is decidedly anti-female, but there is so much focus on the Pope and the priests now….I keep wondering when the abuses of the nuns is going to come to light. Anne Wilkerson Allen: I think Ireland recently had something in the news about this… Ireland apologizes for Catholic laundry scandal Ireland’s premier has issued a state apology to the thousands of Irish women who spent years working without pay in prison-style laundries run by Catholic nuns. Former residents of the now-defunct Magdalene Laundries have campaigned for the past decade to get the government to apologize and pay compensation to an estimated 1,000 survivors of the workhouses. Two weeks ago the Irish government published an investigation into the state’s role in overseeing the laundries. It found that more than 10,000 women worked in 10 laundries from 1922 to 1996, when the last Dublin facility closed down… http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57570107/ireland-apologizes-for-catholic-laundry-scandal/ Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of my friends was one of these girls. [Z]: I have wanted to bring attention to this issue for a long time but did not have a chance or was biting my time. Now Anne is pointing out some of the crucial issues about her, Mother Teresa, I am so thankful for this opportunity for us to sort out and think collectively. Thank you Anne! [Z]: Yes, the Catholic Laundry Scandal was shared here too!!! Anne Wilkerson Allen: It’s hard. She is iconic for many women. I did not know the sordid details or the horrors – not that it excuses anything….but when I was young, I saw her as someone to emulate….and thus became immolated…. [Z]: I have been thinking all along the way that she should not be a role model for women. Can you believe that I did even as a once Catholic Sister?!!! I know that many religious women out there will agree with me too. [Z]: My critique is not much on her as a person. But the fact that she represents morality for especially women makes me mad. Oh, there seems a lot more about reasons why we should debunk the mystique of Mother Teresa. Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of the things Hirchens pointed out was that it made Westerners feel good that this wonderful white woman was helping the poor in Calcutta….though she rarely seemed to be in Calcutta. Another friend told me that he knew one of the sisters of charity and that she told him they were encouraged to flog themselves on a regular basis….sick sick sick Anne Wilkerson Allen: This is why I have a problem with the mentality that says evil exists to teach us something…..that suffering exists to highlight our joy….there is just something WRONG with that. Anne Wilkerson Allen: We are all dark and light and in-between. [Z]: I am not surprised. Yes, definitely. What a waste of time and intelligence if not already damaging many turning the navigation backward!!! [Helen Hwang calls out the individual names to join the discussion, and is responded by what follows.] [B]: In Minneapolis there is a charity founder, Mary Jo Copeland, who helps the homeless & hungry. She just received an award from the President. She seems selfless, like Mother Teresa did (at least in […]

The Passing of Last Summer’s Growth by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ as is experienced and contemplated in the Season of Deep Autumn/Samhain, may be a metaphor for the passing of all/any that has come to fullness of being, or that has had a fullness, a blossoming of some kind, and borne fruit; and in the passing it has been received, and thus transforms. The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ may be in hearts and minds, an event or events, a period of time, or an era, that was a deep communion, now passed and dissolved into receptive hearts and minds, where it/they reside for reconstitution, within each unique being. Samhain is traditionally understood as ‘Summer’s end’: indeed that is what the word ‘Samhain’ means. In terms of the seasonal transitions in indigenous Old European traditions, Summer is understood as over when the Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Lughnasad comes around; it is the first marked transition after the fullness of Summer Solstice. The passing and losses may have been grieved, the bounty received, thanksgiving felt and expressed, perhaps ceremonially at Autumn Equinox/Mabon; yet now in this Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn it composts, clearly falls, as darkness and cooler/cold weather sets in, change is clearer. In the places where this Earth-based tradition arose, Winter could be sensed setting in at this time, and changes to everyday activity had to be made. In our times and in our personal lives, we may sense this kind of ending, when change becomes necessary, no longer arbitrary: and the Seasonal Moment of Samhain may be an excellent moment for expressing these deep truths, telling the deep story, and making meaning of the ending, as we witness such passing. What new shapes will emerge from the infinite well of creativity? And we may wonder what will return from the dissolution? What re-solution will be found? We may wonder what new shapes will emerge. In the compost of what has been, what new syntheses, new synergies, may come forth? Now is the time for dreaming, for drawing on the richness within, trusting the sentience, within which we are immersed, and which we are: and then awaiting the arrival, being patient with the fermentation and gestation. Seize the moment, this Moment – and converse with the depths within your own bodymind, wherein She is. Make space for the sacred conversation, the Conversing with your root and source of being, and take comfort in this presence. We may ponder what yet unkown beauty and wellness may emerge from this infinite well of creativity. The Samhain Moment in the Northern Hemisphere is 17:14 UT 7thNovember this year. Wishing you a sense of the deep communion present in the sacred space you make for this holy transition.
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. THE 28-13-7 INTERPLAY How does the number, 28 (days), for the lunar cycle come about? Why is it 28 days and not 29 or 30, the latter implicated in the traditional lunar calendar of East Asia? It appears that 28 days is a value closer to the moon’s sidereal period (about 27.3 days) than the synodic period (about 29.5 days). Or is it that 28 days points to the median between the synodic lunar cycle and the sidereal lunar cycle? To answer these questions, it is important to note that a value in the Mago Time captures an inter-cosmic biological cusp/juncture derived from the matrix of sonic numerology. Distinguished from the patriarchal measure of time fixated into a solipsistic space, it makes visible the interconnectedness of all bodies. It never stands as an isolated single occasion. The 28 day, 13 month calendar has to do with how we perceive the moon. There are two ways of understanding the lunar cycle; the sidereal period and the synodic period (see Figure 2). The synodic period refers to the time, about 29.5 days, that we on earth see the moon complete one round of revolution, e.g. from the full moon to the full moon. In contrast, the sidereal period refers to the actual time, about 27.3 days, that the moon takes to complete one round of revolution. While the synodic time is measured relative to the Earth (the observer’s position is on earth), the sidereal time is measured relative to the distant “fixed” stars (the observer’s position is far out at the distant stars). Since the distant stars are considered at rest, the sidereal period is taken as a universal value, not affected by the location of the viewer, we on earth. There is, apparently, a discrepancy between the lunar cycle that we on earth see the moon return to the same phase and the lunar cycle that the moon actually completes a revolution. The former is based on our observation of the moon’s phases, whereas the latter is based on the moon’s actual orbital motions. The two differs basically because all celestial bodies, the moon, earth, and sun, in the solar system are in motion. It is not just the moon that we watch revolving but Earth also revolves around the sun. We are watching the movement of the moon on a moving vehicle, earth, so to speak. Therefore, the moon has to travel about 2 more days in order for us on earth to see it in the same phase (see the green portion in Figure 2 part). At the position A of the moon in Figure 2, the moon is in line with the sun and the distant stars, which is a new moon. In the position of B (the new moon), the moon is in line with the sun but not with the distant stars. The right hand line of the green portion in line with the distant stars is where the moon started as a new moon. The moon has traveled about 2 more days to be in line with the sun. That is why the synodic period is about 2 days longer than the sidereal period. When it comes to “the lunar calendar”, moderns tend to think of it as the waxing and waning phases of the moon (29.5 days, the synodic period). The problem lies in that, following the synodic period, people see nothing beyond the moon’s phases. They overlook the fact that the moon rotates and revolves on its own axis and around the earth approximately 13 degrees every day. The synodic lunisolar calendar is a navel-gazing vision. Attending to the moon’s phases may seem benign. However, that is a planned pitfall; the synodic lunisolar calendar with 12 months in a year is here to supersede the 28 day, 13 month gynocentric calendar. Its irregularity with the number of days in a month (29 or 30 days with about 11 extra days for intercalation) is an inherently critical flaw. Its inaccuracy when incorporated within the solar annual calendar (approximately 365.25 days) stands out. Seen below in the table, the synodic lunar track results in as many leap days as a total of 44 days for 4 years, whereas the sidereal lunar track has 2 days for 4 years. The synodic lunisolar calendar undercuts the moon’s given capacity – guiding earthly beings into the intergalactic voyage of WE/HERE/NOW. In it, both the moon and women are, glorified and objectified by the viewer, cast under the male voyeuristic eye. On the contrary, the sidereal lunisolar calendar, based on the cyclic synchrony between the moon and women, offers the lens to the interconnectedness of all bodies in the universe. Synodic Lunar Track (Patriarchal) Sidereal Lunar Track (Magoist) Focus Moon’s phases Moon’s motions Days of month 29 or 30 (irregular) 28 (regular) No. of months in a year 12 13 Women’s menstrual cycle Assumed sync Synced Luni-centric Astolonomy Unknown 28 Constellations Intercalations 11 days annually, a total of 44 days for 4 years 1 day annually & 1 day every 4 years, a total of 2 days for 4 years Sources prove that the sidereal lunation is, albeit esoterically, known across cultures to this day. Through the comparative study of ancient cultures of Babylon, Arabia, India and China, W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) observes the substantive difference in dynamic between the two lunation tracks, the synodic and the sidereal. He notes that the moon’s orbital motion, apart from the sun’s, charts out the celestial sphere as the 28 Mansions. I have learned that the 28 Mansions or 28 Constellations of the Moon is a popular form of the 28 day and 13 month Magoist calendar, widely circulated among East Asians especially Koreans from the ancient time. Yeats’ following insights corroborate the Budoji’s explication of the Magoist Calendar in general and the faulty nature of the patriarchal (ancient Chinese) calendar in …
(Essay) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. MoonCourt Ceremonial Space set for Autumn Equinox ceremony, 2013 Ritual/ceremony is often described as “sacred space.” I understand that to mean “awareness of the space as sacred”: all space is sacred, what shifts is our awareness – awareness of the depth of spacetime, and of the depth of all things and all beings. I understand “sacred awareness” as an awareness of deep relationship and identity with the very cosmic dynamics that create and sustain the Universe; or an awareness of what is involved in the depth of each moment, each thing, each being. Ceremony is a space and time given to expression, contemplation and nurturance of that depth … at least to something of it. Ceremony may be both an expression of deep inner truths – perceived relationship to self, Earth and Cosmos, as well as being a mode of teaching and drawing forth deeper participation. Essentially, ceremony is a way of entering into the depth of the present moment … what is deeply present right here and now, a way of entering deep space and deep time, which is not somewhere else but is right here. Every-thing, and every moment, has Depth – more depth than we usually allow ourselves to contemplate, let alone comprehend. This book, this paper, this ink, the chair, the floor – each has a history and connections that go back, all the way back to Origins. This moment you experience now, in its particular configuration, place, people present, subtle feelings, thoughts, and propensity towards certain directions or outcomes, has a depth – many histories and choices that go back … ultimately all the way back to the beginning. Great Origin is present at every point of space and time – right here. In ceremony we are plugging our awareness into something of that. In this holy context then – in this mindframe of knowing connection, everything one does is a participation in the creation of the Cosmos: for the tribal indigenous woman, perhaps the weaving of a basket; for another, perhaps preparing a meal; for you, perhaps getting on the train to go to a workplace. It is possible to regain this sense, to come to feel that the way one breathes makes a difference – that with it, you co-create the present and the future, and you may even be a blessing on the past. In every moment we receive the co-creation, the work, of innumerable beings, of innumerable moments, and innumerable interactions of the elements, in everything we touch … and so are we touched by them. The local is our touchstone to the Cosmos – it is not separate. Ceremony may be a way into this awareness, into strengthening it. Ceremony is actually ‘doing,’ not just theorizing. We can talk about our personal and cultural disconnection endlessly, but we need to actually change our minds. Ceremony can be an enabling practice – a catalyst/practice for personal and cultural change. It is not just talking about eating the pear, it is eating the pear; it is not just talking about sitting on the cushion (meditating), it is sittingon the cushion. It is a cultural practice wherein we tell a story/stories about what we believe to be so most deeply, about who and what we are. Ceremony can be a place for practicing a new language, a new way of speaking, or spelling – a place for practicing “matristic storytelling”[i] if you like: that is, for telling stories of the Mother, of Earth and Cosmos as if She were alive and sentient. We can “play like we know it,” so that we may come to know it.[ii] Ceremony then is a form of social action. I have found it useful to describe ceremony using and extending words used by Ken Wilber to describe a “transpersonal practice,” which is needed for real change: he said it was a practice that discloses “a deeper self (I or Buddha) in a deeper community (We or Sangha) expressing a deeper truth (It or Dharma).”[iii] My extension of that is: ceremony may disclose a deeper beautiful self (the I/Virgin/Urge to Be/Buddha), in a deeper relational community (the We/Mother/Place of Being/Sangha), expressing a deeper transformative truth (the It/Old One/Space to Be/Dharma). This is the “unitive body,” the “microcosmos” that Charlene Spretnak refers to in States of Grace.[iv] Since ceremony is an opportunity to give voice to deeper places in ourselves, forms of communication are used that the dreamer, the emotional, the body, can comprehend, such as music, drama, simulation, dance, chanting, singing.[v] These forms enable the entering of a level of consciousness that is there all the time, but that is not usually expressed or acknowledged. We enter a realm that is ‘out of time,’ which is commonly said to be not the “real” world, but it is more organic/indigenous to all being and at least as real as the tick-tock world. It is a place “between the worlds,” wherein we may put our hands on the very core of our lives, touch whatever it is that we feel our existence is about, and thus touch the possibility of re-creating and renewing ourselves. NOTES: [i] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), 147. [ii] As my doctoral thesis supervisor Dr. Susan Murphy once described it to me in conversation. [iii] Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything (Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996), 306-307. [iv] 145. [v] As Starhawk notes, The Spiral Dance, 45. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Orenstein, Gloria Feman. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1999. Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996.
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 …
(Prose) Halcyon for the Season by Deanne Quarrie

A bird for this season is the Kingfisher, also known as the Halcyon. The Kingfisher is associated in Greek myth with the Winter Solstice. There were fourteen “halcyon days” in every year, seven of which fell before the winter solstice, seven after; peaceful days when the sea was smooth as a pond and the hen-halcyon built a floating nest and hatched out her young. She also had another habit, that of carrying her dead mate on her back over the sea and mourning him with a plaintive cry. Pliny reported that the halcyon was rarely seen and then only at the winter and summer solstices and at the setting of the Pleiades. She was therefore, a manifestation of the Moon-Goddess who was worshiped at the two solstices as the Goddess of Life in Death and Death in Life and, when the Pleiades set, she sent the sacred king his summons for death. Kingfishers are typically stocky, short-legged birds with large heads and large, heron-like beaks. They feed primarily on fish, hovering over the water or watching intently from perches and they plunge headlong into the water to catch their prey. Their name, Alcedinidae, stems from classical Greek mythology. Alcyone, Daughter of the Wind, was so distraught when her husband perished in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea. Both were then transformed into kingfishers and roamed the waves together. When they nested on the open sea, the winds remained calm and the weather balmy. Still another Alcyone, Queen of Sailing, was the mystical leader of the seven Pleiades. The heliacal rising of the Pleiades in May marked the beginning of the navigational year and their setting marked the end. Alcyone, as Sea Goddess protected sailors from rocks and rough weather. The bird, halcyon continued for centuries to be credited with the magical power of allaying storms. Shakespeare refers to this legend in this passage from Hamlet: Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the time. Hamlet, I, i 157 When I was a young mother, and my children were little, we lived in a house that had a creek in the back yard. There were small trees along the far bank of this creek and every day, a kingfisher would sit in the branches overlooking the creek. Sometimes he sat there very quietly for a very long time. Suddenly he would dive from his perch straight into the creek. Every time he did he came out and up into the air with a fish. It gave me great pleasure to watch him from my kitchen window. I love birds. I love learning about their habits because it teaches me ways of being that are closer to nature. I love drawing birds as well. When I was a young and more able, I was an avid bird watcher, out with my friends hoping for a sight never seen before. I love the story of the kingfisher and her connection to the Halcyon Days of the Winter Solstice. It is for most of us the busiest time of year. Whether it is for the Solstice or Christmas (often both) we are in a frenzy to get things done, making sure everything is just right and perfect. I celebrate the Winter Solstice. As a priestess, my days right now are very busy creating ritual. It is at the Solstice that many passage rites are happening with the women I work with. And of course, I celebrate with my family with our magical Yule Log each year. But I try to honor those seven days before and the seven days after by trying to have the frantic moments before the Halcyon Days begin and then even when busy, hold the peace and calm of that beautiful smooth sea in my mind. Peace and love and joy surrounding the Winter Solstice make it perfect. May the Peace of a Halcyon Sea be yours in this Solstice Season. Do hold the image of that little kingfisher in mind! Meet Mago Contributor, Deanne Quarrie
A PaGaian Wheel of the Year and Her Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. for larger image see: https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ Essentially a PaGaian Wheel of the Year celebrates Cosmogenesis – the unfolding of the Cosmos, none of which is separate from the unfolding of each unique place/region, and each unique being. This creativity of Cosmogenesis is celebrated through Earth-Sun relationship as it may be expressed and experienced within any region of our Planet. PaGaian ceremony expresses this with Triple Goddess Poetry understood to be metaphor for the creative dynamics unfolding the Cosmos. At the heart of the Earth-Sun relationship is the dance of light and dark, the waxing and waning of both these qualities, as Earth orbits around our Mother Sun. This dance, which results in the manifestation of form and its dissolution (as expressed in the seasons), happens because of Earth’s tilt in relationship with Sun: because this effects the intensity of regional receptivity to Sun’s energy over the period of the yearly orbit. This tilt was something that happened in the evolution of our planet in its earliest of days – some four and a half billion years ago,[i] and then stabilised over time: and the climatic zones were further formed when Antarctica separated from Australia and South America, giving birth to the Antarctica Circumpolar Current, changing the circulation of water around all the continents … just some thirty million years ago.[ii] Within the period since then, which also saw the advent of the earliest humans, Earth has gone through many climatic changes. It is likely that throughout those changes, the dance of light and dark in both hemispheres of the planet … one always the opposite of the other – has been fairly stable and predictable. The resultant effect on flora and fauna regionally however has varied enormously depending on many other factors of Earth’s ever-changing ecology: She is an alive Planet who continues to move and re-shape Herself. She is Herself subject to the cosmic dynamics of creativity – the forming and the dissolving and the re-emerging. The earliest of humans must have received all this, ‘observed’ it in a very participatory way: that is, not as a Western industrialized or dualistic mind would think of ‘observation’ today, but as kin with the events – identifying with their own experience of coming into being and passing away. There is evidence (as of this writing) to suggest that humans have expressed awareness of, and response to, the phenomenon of coming into being and passing away, as early as one hundred thousand years ago: ritual burial sites of that age have been found,[iii] and more recently a site of ongoing ritual activity as old as seventy thousand years has been found.[iv] The ceremonial celebration of the phenomenon of seasons probably came much later, particularly perhaps when humans began to settle down. These ceremonial celebrations of seasons apparently continued to reflect the awesomeness of existence as well as the marking of transitions of Sun back and forth across the horizon, which became an important method of telling the time for planting and harvesting and the movement of pastoral animals. It seems that the resultant effect of the dance of light and dark on regional flora and fauna, has been fairly stable in recent millennia, the period during which many current Earth-based religious practices and expression arose. In our times, that is changing again. Humans have been, and are, a major part of bringing that change about. Ever since we migrated around the planet, humans have brought change, as any creature would: but humans have gained advantage and distinguished themselves by toolmaking, and increasingly domesticating/harnessing more of Earth’s powers – fire being perhaps the first, and this also aided our migration. In recent times this harnessing/appropriating of Earth’s powers became more intense and at the same time our numbers dramatically increased: and many of us filled with hubris, acting without consciousness or care of our relational context. We are currently living in times when our planet is tangibly and visibly transforming: the seasons themselves as we have known them for millennia – as anyone’s ancestors knew them – appear to be changing in most if not all regions of our Planet. Much predictable Poetry – sacred language – for expressing the quality of the Seasonal Moments will change, as regional flora changes, as the movement of animals and birds and sea creatures changes, as economies change.[v]In Earth’s long story regional seasonal manifestation has changed before, but not so dramatically since the advent of much current Poetic expression for these transitions, as mixed as they are with layers of metaphor: that is, with layers of mythic eras, cultures and economies. We may learn and understand the traditional significance of much of the Poetry, the ceremony and symbol – the art – through which we could relate and converse with our place, as our ancestors may have done, but it will continue to evolve as all language must. In PaGaian Cosmology I have adapted the Wheel as a way of celebrating the Female Metaphor and also as a way of celebrating Cosmogenesis, the Creativity that is present really/actually in every moment, but for which the Seasonal Moments provide a pattern/Poetry over the period of a year – in time and place. The pattern that I unfold is a way in which the three different phases/characteristics interplay. In fact, the way in which they interplay seems infinite, the way they inter-relate is deeply complex. I think it is possible to find many ways to celebrate them. There is nothing concrete about the chosen story/Poetry, nor about each of the scripts presented here, just as there is nothing concrete about the Place of Being – it (She) is always relational, a Dynamic Interchange. Whilst being grounded in the “Real,” the Poetry chosen for expression is therefore at the same time, a potentially infinite expression, according to the heart and mind of the storyteller. NOTES: [i] See Appendix C, *(6), Glenys Livingstone, A Poiesis of the Creative …

(Goma Article Excerpt 1) Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay was first included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture, published in 2018 by Mago Books.] This essay may be called a Magoist study of the Korean foundation myth, also known as the Dangun myth. It reinstates Goma, better known as “Ungnyeo (Bear/Sovereign Woman),” the shaman ruler of pre-patriarchal Korea, who is the main character of the Korean foundation myth. Here “Mago” stands for the Creatrix and “Magoism” for pre-patriarchally originated indigenous tradition of East Asia that venerates the Creatrix.[1] Identifying Goma as the ruler Goddess of Old Korea/East Asia is by no means a new effort. She is, although few in number, alluded to the eponymous Goddess of ancient Korean States (Goma State, for example) in both historical sources and modern research. In fact, “Ungnyeo” is one of the most studied topics by Korean linguists, mythologists, and historians for it concerns the identity of the Korean people. Nonetheless, those studies tend to be monodisciplinary or androcentric in their approaches and consequently fail to assess her full-fledged supreme identity as the ancestor ruler of East Asian nations. This chapter engages in transdisciplinary, comparative, and feminist approaches to elucidating the Goma myth. At the outset, we will rename “the Korean foundation myth” “the Goma myth.” That is corollary in that she is the central figure of the story. Also it introduces Old Korea as the One People of the Creatrix, anciently known as Nine Hans (九桓 Guhan). The Goma myth restores the gynocentric multi-meaning of “Nine Hans” and “Magoist Koreans/East Asians,” which is non-ethnocentric and supra-nationalist in origin. The character, “Han (桓),” in “Nine Hans” and “Hanguk,” is complex in meaning as it connotes “one,” “whole, “great,” “good,” “same,” “bright,” “many,” “correct,” “middle,” “full” and the like. Thus, “Nine Hans” refer to the People of the Creatrix who have those qualities of the character “Han.” Koreanists have designated as Hanism (the Han thought) this inclusive and polysemic nature of the word “Han” characteristic of traditional Korean worldview.[2] Although naming it Hanism is insightful, it may be misleading without a full-fledged hermeneutics of Goma mythology. Goma, known as Ungnyeo or Gom, remains underestimated and misrepresented among modern Koreans. A common understanding of the Korean foundation myth goes that she was the bear who became a woman and married Hanung, the divine sage ruler of Old Korea, and gave birth to a son, Dangun, the founder of the proto-Chinese Joseon dynasty (2333 BCE-232 BCE). Goma is diminished to the role of a mother of an assumed male hero at best. Consequently, she is redacted from the mytho-historical context of Old Magoist Korea/East Asia (the pre-patriarchal gynocentric people of the Creartrix), and divested of her supreme identity as the dynastic founder of Danguk (3898 BCE-2333 BCE). Given the immensity and complexity of the topic and its data, it is admittedly impossible to treat them comprehensively within a chapter. While many salient themes are discussed, many others are not treated. Among the untreated are Nine Numerology and its cross-cultural manifestations beyond East Asia. This essay aims the following: (1) It provides some pivotal background discussions as well as overall characteristics of the Goma myth. (2) It introduces and delineates the four narratives of the Goma myth selectively chosen from various written texts. The fact that the topic of Goma has rarely been brought to light in its own right in the West adds to the difficulty. This has to do with the fact that pre-Chinese Korean/East Asian history is deemed heterodox, if recognized, in mainstream (read Sinocentric and patriarchal) East Asian Studies. Not only her supreme identity but also her Magoist mytho-historical context remains as non-data in the institutionalized practice of Korean Studies. Our task necessarily involves a controversial feminist methodology, debunking conventional interpretations as a product of Sinocentrism. Mainstream Koreanists have endorsed or internalized the Chinese ethnocentric worldview that is patriarchal and imperialist. Reversing the multiple reversals, the current work, as a result, exposes what is written out of the official East Asian mytho-historiography. Summary of the Goma Myth Goma had a great spirit from birth. Because of her vision of “benefiting the human world widely,” she was entrusted by the last shaman queen, Hanin of Hanguk (桓國 State of One People, c. 7199 BCE – 3898 BCE), with the task of restoring the Reign of the Creatrix. Toward the end of the Hanguk confederacy, clan names and their customs grew apart. And a belligerent tiger clan rose. They raided and plundered neighboring tribes. Goma conceived a will to pacify a social problem caused by this unruly patrilocal clan. Determined to constrain the tiger clan, she requested Hanin to send her to the troubled region. Hanin granted her wish and sent her to the region, Mount Taebaek (Great Resplendence). Leading the royal bear clan of 3,000 people, Goma arrived at Mount Taebaek and settled adjacent to the tiger clan. Rather than a military solution, she proposed a covenant for both the bear clan and the tiger clan to observe. Both clans underwent a trial, which was to dwell in a cave hall and endure 100 days without seeing the sunlight, living on mugwort and chive. I call her proposal the cave initiation, a socio-spiritual pledge to undergo the ordeal of the cave environment in order to tap into one’s innate power of restoring true human nature. The cave is a physical and metaphorical place for the womb of the Primordial Mother, the sacred space/time of unity, wholeness, and rebirth, wherein everyone once dwelt. The cave initiation represents a returning to the knowing of the common origin of all beings, the Crearix. Goma proffered the tiger clan an option of changing their predatory behaviors but they could not endure the cave initiation. The bear clan endured for three seven days (21 days) and attained the female character, the true human nature. The tiger clan was expelled to a remote designated land outside Four Seas, the territory of Old Magoist East Asia, by verdict of the law that Goma legislated. …
(Mago Essay 2) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hwang

Part 2 Gynocentric Study of Mago’s Visual Representations [The following sequels including this one are a modified version of my paper presented to Daoist Studies, the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in 2010.] Mago [麻姑, also known as Magu or Mako] remains underrepresented if treated in modern scholarship. Little attention has been given to the topic of Magu in its own right. In the West a handful of scholars have mentioned Mago within the context of Daoism. Her transnational and trans-temporal manifestations in Korea, China, and Japan are largely unrecognized. That Magu is known as multiple identities throughout history in East Asia has gone unnoticed. In my study of Mago, that Mago’s supreme divinity as the Great Goddess has been rendered unintelligible over time under the rule of patriarchy offers a crucial insight leading to a befitting method. First of all, the perception of Her as the Great Goddess enables one to recognize a large volume of primary sources, otherwise left unattended, from across national, regional, temporal, and typological boundaries. Secondly, the primary materials in turn allow one to assess the supreme nature of the Great Goddess, Mago, apart from the theological framework of the monotheistic male god. By being a non-Western and non-patriarchal tradition, Magoism warrants a distinctive thealogy characterized by self-equilibrium and interdependence of components, part of which was discussed in Part I. Thirdly, a trans-disciplinary method is corollary in processing a variety of multi-genre materials that would not be neatly categorized in a mono-disciplinary data-pool. To say the least, it liberates itself from the tyranny of monolithic methodology, which dissects to take only a portion of data from the whole and treat it as if it is a single independent entity. In short, methodology and thealogy, being mutually supportive, lead the researcher to a rather unexplored conceptual territory, which I call gynocentrism. Gynocentrism takes the female principle as an operating system. Its system has been thwarted within the discourse of androcentric perspectives. Gynocentrism is a submerged mode of thinking in the patriarchically indoctrinated psyche. Made to be subliminal, the gynocentric mode of thinking elicits the Mago (Great Goddess) consciousness. Consequently, Mago consciousness upholds the infrastructures of gynocentric thinking. What distinguishes gynocentrism from feminism is that it redefines the male as a derivative of the Female. Gynocentrism reflects the principle of all mothers of living beings. In that sense, my study of Mago is a gynocentric endeavor to chart an alternative paradigm of doing thealogy within the context of East Asian history, mythology, and culture. It is a misunderstanding that Magoist thealogy or Magology (the study of the Great Goddess) concerns the divine only. Gynocentric thealogy is not locked into a separate domain apart from humanity, nature, and the universe. Put differently, Magology is not a mere conceptual tool that explains the divine. It summons gynocentric histories, myths, and cultures that are to be restored and rewritten. It calls for rethinking everything in a fresh light. In the sequels to follow, I bring to light a series of Mago’s visual representations expressed in paintings, ceramics, embroideries, woodprints, sculptures, and topographies, and examine Her multivalent identities in light of the large corpus of Magoist written and oral texts. Mago’s visual icons are beyond one’s documentation. They, especially those from China, are still a favored item in modern day’s auction markets. Several hundred images that I have documented are simply incomplete. Some sample images are chosen to show an array of historical/cultural/social productions, once honored and valued highly by many. Through the economy of commodification, these images have carried the cultural memory of the Great Goddess. While a number of her visual icons are undated, many are from the Yuan (1271 to 1368), Ming (1368 to 1644), and Qing (1644 to 1912) dynasties of China, the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) of Korea, and certain historical periods of Japan. Also, many are from modern times. In them, Mago/Magu/Mako is depicted as: (1) An immortal/transcendant (仙 xian or seon, immortal or transcendant). (2) A mendicant. (3) A sea goddess. (4) A mountain goddess. (5) A crone. (6) The ancestor of shamans. And (7) A non-anthropomorphic identity or giantess as the nature-shaper or cosmogonist of local topographies such as mountains, rocks, caves, and seas. The notion of a giantess is employed to describe Her transcendental nature. In this case, Mago-named topographies alongside folk stories describe Her feature/identity of immeasurability. Needless to say, these identities overlap and merge, making up an overall picture of Mago as the Great Goddess. That is, She is each and all. These visual icons, stylized with symbolic objects, respectively demonstrate specific Magoist cultural memes once prevailing and favored among East Asians. A throng of objects such as medicinal herbs, especially lingzhi mushrooms, flowers, hoes, baskets, vessels, and animals, forms the coded syntaxes of the arcane language. In particular, a troupe of animals including deer, crane, dog, and monkey highlights the drama. Also, colophons carry not only the cultural meme but also prestige and authority for its producers and possessors. (To be continued.) [i] I have discussed this in detail in Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess: A Mytho-Historic-Thealogical Reconstruction of Magoism, an Archaically Originated Gynocentric Tradition of East Asia, Ph.D. dissertation (Claremont: Claremont Graduate University, 2005), 335-342; 353-361.
(Budoji Essay 1) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“The Great Goddess Myth is the first and last revelation to humankind. Where the Primordial Mother is, there is Home!” Part 1 Introduction When I first read the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the principal text of Magoism, my life journey took an unexpected turn. The power of the Magoist cosmogony began to work on me, and suddenly I was returning Home with/to/in Mago, the Great Goddess! Before, “Home” had seemed an unreal destination, a mirage that lured voyagers to its abyss of nowhere. I had been stripped of “Home.” The Magoist cosmogony gifted me with a vision of what I had been seeking as a feminist voyager. I meant to return Home. In Mago, I felt no longer free-floating, but this was not without its price. My radical feminist searches brought me no material benefits; rather, to become Myself was the reward. Layer after layer of patriarchal deception had to be peeled off. And for women who, like me, came from the non-Western, formerly colonized world, reversing the reversals required a deeper analysis of racism, ethnocentrism, and colonialism. I underwent the process of becoming Me, a process which also led me to WE. Personally, Homecoming means an integration of myself within the mytho-historical-cultural context of Magoism. However, Homecoming in the Great Goddess can never be an isolated individual act. Magoism unfolds the Primordial Home wherein all beings are kindred. The Primordial Home is for everyone. Everyone is destined to return Home in the Great Goddess because She is Here for us all. She will be Here for as long as humanity survives. Homecoming is a harbinger; it signals the arrival of WE, a very old concept that was misconstrued if not tabooed in patriarchy. The nature of my life has changed. “I” is no longer in the way of “WE.” “I” and “WE” do not stand against each other. Furthermore, “I” is transformed by “WE,” just as are all things in the universe. Scalar turns to vector. Chaos yields to order. The labyrinth leads to the Source. My feminism is rewarded with gynocentrism, the Goddess Matrix in which the female principle by far surpasses patriarchy. As many admit, Myth, the story of the divine, is etiological, meaning it explains the origin of things. I hold that only the gynocentric cosmogonic myth can be fully etiological, shedding light on the primal beginning. Myth is inherently gynocentric, for it is derived from the perception of the Primordial Mother, the oldest divine in human history. Put differently, Myth tells us that the Divine is She, that Female is the original divine. Myth is ultimately inseparable from the Great Goddess. The Primordial Mother is the macrocosmic translation of a mother. She is the Metaphor for life-giver and life-raiser. Divinity issues from Her. In Her, everything, including the God, is endowed with divinity. The etiological and metaphoric nature of Myth is fully illumined only in the story of the female beginning. The Goddess Myth told to/by us testifies to what patriarchy can’t or doesn’t tell. It is a language distinguished from that of patriarchy, dominating if not violent. The nature of Its language is persuasive and pacific. The truth It tells awakens one to Home. It is intrinsically soteriological, and herein lies the urgency of Myth: It shows the Way that humanity needs to know and follow in order to survive and flourish. The Great Goddess Myth is the first and last revelation to humankind. Where the Primordial Mother is, there is Home! Mago is not necessarily the “creator” of things. In the Magoist cosmogony, there is no one who created or creates anything alone. (I have used the term “cosmogony” in place of “creation” to avoid the conflation of Magoist thought with the origin-stories of patriarchal religions.) Instead, all things are interdependent and the power of auto-genesis is embedded within the universe itself. In explaining that, the Magoist cosmogony does not employ a magical or a logical jump. In the time of beginning, cosmic rays dance in accordance with the law of nature. Mago and primordial matter are self-born through the movement of cosmic music. Mago is, above all, the Cause of human existence. All things on Earth are indebted to Mago for She initiated the process auto-genesis of the Earth itself. In short, She is the Source of Life on Earth. Without Her, nothing is possible for us.