March 15, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin

Magoism, the Way of S/HE is calling you!

Dear friends,

Magoism, the Way of S/HE is calling you, asking for your carefully crafted essays, poems, art, film, music or any other genre.

April will see the celebration of Easter, so submissions related to Easter and rebirth will be particularly welcome, but we’re happy to receive anything you’d like to offer. It can be something new, or it can be something you’ve already published, stand-alone, part of a series, an extract.

We’re also very happy to receive submissions from anyone who hasn’t previously published, and we’ve posted most submissions we’ve received. So give it a go, we’d love to hear from you!

Here’s a guide to what we’re broadly looking for: http://magoism.net/people/call-for-contribution/

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(Poem) River in flood (day 4, from Limen) by Susan Hawthorne

Notes This is a series of short poems from my book Limen which documents an experience of being flood bound during a camping trip to a remote area. The word ’limen’ comes from Greek and it refers to the dividing line between the air and the sea. It is a boundary word and during a flood, boundaries dissolve and you feel caught between the water and the air, never quite knowing which will prevail. In a year when the effects of climate change have been pronounced – in Australia the last couple of years has seen devastating floods with thousands of houses destroyed and people evacuated, before that raging fires; in the northern hemisphere forest fires have resulted in the evacuation of huge numbers of people, in Canada mostly Native Americans. The fires across Europe have been equally devastating, especially around the Mediterranean. This part of the sequence describes the lead up to the river creeping up silently during the night and resulting in the campers being trapped by the floodwaters whichever way they try to escape. A metaphor perhaps for the situation the planet now finds itself in. The artwork in the book and accompanying this poem is by Australian artist, Jeanné Browne, © 2013. From Limen © Susan Hawthorne 2013 https://www.magoism.net/2013/12/meet-mago-contributor-susan-hawthone/
(Goddess Writing 4) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from Don’t Take It lying Down: Life According to the Goddess https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1482721953/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2 The stories from our past have profound implications for us today; they explain how our current beliefs and attitudes have formed over time. There are many clues that have been overlooked in our education. The story of the loss of women’s mysteries is the first step in reclaiming our true heritage as daughters of the Goddess. This is not just another passing fad. This is the story of your past, of the events and attitudes that have led us to the brink of losing our connection to the life-giving power of the Goddess. It is also the basic information that can support you in reconsidering the whole experience of being a woman in today’s world. Before we look to the past, it is important to understand that mythology is not just about stories from ancient Greece or tales of Celtic heroes. Our current time is also made up of particular myths. However, we call the current myths “reality” or ‘truth”. Mythology is a collection of stories that includes both fantasy and fact and that provides meaning collectively and personally.[i] When we can recognise that any view of reality is actually the product of a mythology, or a collection of mythologies, we can begin to move beyond some of the unconscious assumptions that determine our lives. Our strongest myths today come from science and technology. Medical science, for example, teaches us about biological reproduction and the use of the contraceptive Pill. As you will see, this is only one story about fertility and reproduction, and it is a story that denies women true reproductive autonomy. Do you know why that is the case? Modern methods of birth control do not offer reproductive autonomy but rather a kind of reproductive dependence that a study of mythology and history places in a disturbing and provocative perspective. Science is one story we use to make sense of our experience and give it meaning. Science is, however, the dominant myth of our times and, as people in all times have done, we tend to believe in the absolute truth of our own myths. The myths of other times and places explain fertility quite differently from biological science and, as you will see, also offer women different ways to manage their reproductive choices. A study of mythology, ancient and contemporary, invites us to look at human experience in a broader historical and cultural context than usual. While this sounds like a good idea, it is actually quite difficult to look beyond our own understandings to other ways of experiencing the world. We tend to believe our own stories and be suspicious of others. This is, after all, how cultures have survived for millennia. We are, however, at a time of the world when it could be catastrophic not to listen to other stories. Unless we can learn to interact and exchange as a world-wide community, the destructive potential in human beings will remain a constant threat. This has, of course, been the case through most of recorded history, but now we have the means to perpetrate disaster on a world-wide scale. History and myth seem to be inextricably intertwined in our thinking. I can remember one of my daughters coming home from primary school with a story of how she had questioned her history teacher about locating an historical event “at the time of Christ”. She wanted to know if he was saying that Christ was an historical figure. The question was shocking to some of her fellow students, simply incomprehensible to others, and even the teacher had trouble answering. This question is, however, one of many that can begin to unravel history as we know it, opening up possibilities by sorting fact from fantasy, without losing the value of either. The Christ energy, for example, is profoundly meaningful to those it touches whether or not there was a proven historical figure called Jesus (the significance lies in the symbolic power to stir meaning and reverence, not necessarily in historical reality). It is, however, vitally important to sort through the underlying assumptions of our belief systems. Questions like the one my daughter asked may seem irrelevant today when formal religion is not as important to the community as a whole as it once was. Yet just because we have stopped going to church or even consciously believing in a father God, it does not take away the deep influence of a major religion on a culture over time. In a predominantly Christian culture, many of the teaching stories of the Bible still affect us in some way, even if we have not learned them directly. All people throughout time have had myths of the creation of the world, stories that explained the mystery of life and existence, and each community believed that their story was the true story. Every religious story is a myth that explains the mysteries of life and death according to the people who dreamed it into existence. Even if it we believe that these people received the teachings from a higher power of some sort, they are still formed into stories that reflect the cultural conditions and historical era in which they come present. One of the first steps in claiming autonomy is exploring how the stories of our culture affect us now. Adam and Eve and Kiss Me went down to the river to bathe; Adam and Eve were drowned, and who do you think was saved? Children’s rhyme Even those of us who are not actively practising the religion have been influenced by the basic assumptions of the Judeo-Christian myth. Almost everyone knows that the first man was Adam. Most people also think that the first woman was Eve, the one foolish enough (or evil enough) to take the apple from the serpent. What does this story teach as it is absorbed directly or indirectly? Take a moment to consider the story of Adam and Eve. …
(Fiction) The Renegrade Goddess Breaks the Rules by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo by Carolyn Boyd Free will, that deep and fiery conundrum, had never been more perplexing than when the Great Creatrix coiled a lump of ultimate reality in Her hands to make human beings. She constructed humans to have fragile but powerful bodies, minds, and souls. This combination of vulnerability and might made them potentially genius and awe-inspired co-creators as well as reckless and enormously dangerous. She could abandon these beings all together and ensure the well being of all other life on the planet, giving up all the beauty and love they might bring into being, but She had become both fascinated by and motherly towards them and was determined to find a way to bring them into the growing web of Earthly life. She had three paths before Her. She could make us unconsciously follow instinct alone, unaware of ourselves or Her, playthings wallowing in a shallow, dreary, and carefree but absolutely safe existence. We could be aware of Her and ourselves, but only do and be what She decreed, more companionable and sheltered from peril but still unfree without the possibility of growth. Or, She could grant us our will, opening the door to a magnified world of brilliance, inspiration, and magic, or, if we did not follow the basic directions of the universe, doom all life on Earth to annihilation. Finally She decided that if She were to offer free will, She and the other Earth goddesses could not make this first decision between living in a harmless world and liberty for us. She gathered the goddesses and told them that humans must determine our own fate by choosing to go down one of the three paths alone. The goddesses must not interfere even though it would be easier for all if we took the first or second. But one renegade goddess, who liked the glisten in our eyes and eagerness in our voices, already singing with glee at the prospect of life on Earth, did. She quickly covered the first two paths with tree branches. If our eyes were still too young and blurry to really perceive three paths forward instead of one, well, was that really her fault? If we were to take the path of free will, no goddess must influence us by warning us of possible consequences if we stumbled, the Great Creatrix said. Maybe a few small failures might turn us back from both freedom and possible disaster onto one of the safer paths, She mumbled. But the renegade goddess, who already loved our free-wheeling species and wanted us to succeed, did. She whispered myths into our ears warning of a world made barren by violence and disrespect for the Earth. She gave holy women the gift of prophecy. These were just suggestions, so they could not be called guidance, wouldn’t you say? Finally, the Great Creatrix said, If humans set off on that third path we must make our own vision of the future and plan to achieve it. Perhaps, without help, it will be small and manageable, the cynical aspect of Her sighed. Yet, the renegade goddess, when she came to live in our houses and feel a deep kinship with us, did. She planted in our minds yearning for a sweeping paradise of Nature, beauty, peace, and justice, and then challenged us to make these hopes reality. She offered instructions through feelings of compassion, awe, and gratitude in how to care for all beings and the Earth. After all, humanity deserved a little head start, did we not? Many millennia went by after the first humans began our walk down that third path of free will, and catastrophe loomed. True, we could claim exquisitely insightful and moving music, dance, art, and literature and stunning acts of courage and compassion. We had ventured deep into our own beings and out into the very cosmos. Yet, brutal violence was accepted as part of every day life. The planet was failing and would soon be as infertile and lifeless as the worlds in the renegade goddess’s warning stories. People distrusted themselves and each other, scoffing at the vision of an abundant, kind, creative world as naive and dull. The renegade goddess sat down at the nexus of the three crossroads and crumpled to the ground in despair. What had she done? Was she wrong to have believed the humans would do all the good she had believed they were capable of? A flock of starlings gathered on the soil around her, pushed out of their usual habitat by human greed. The renegade goddess had one last idea. She bade each of them fly back to the world of humans and when they saw someone who they thought would listen, they were to give the message that “The renegade goddess believes in you. Have faith that you can make the most outrageously amazing paradise you can imagine. Break the rules that keep you from being who she knows you can be.” A million times a day they delivered their messages right into the souls of humans who were inspired into transcendent reverence by their formations. (Maybe you’ve heard them yourself?) The renegade goddess kept her eyes on the horizon, waiting for signs of what the humans would do with their destiny. Finally, she saw the birds’ murmuration, but wasn’t it much bigger? Were there a million more birds than before from an Earth that now welcomed them because the humans had changed their ways? Or was it an illusion born of too much hope? The renegade goddess waited to see what news they would bring her. And the Great Creatrix smiled. Perhaps She had chosen free will for the humans all along, but knew they would need a goddess who would stand with them every moment of every day. But, She couldn’t possibly in good faith create a situation where a renegade goddess would come to love humans absolutely by being forced to break the rules for them. But She did. …
(Meet Mago Contributor) Nicole Schwab

Nicole Schwab is author of The Heart of the Labyrinth, a young woman’s poetic journey across the Andes, in search of our lost connection with the sacred feminine. It has been acclaimed as a beautiful exploration of deep mind, offering a message of Earth-centered wisdom. She wrote it in the foothills of Delphi, inspired by the shrine to Gaia. Nicole is also co-founder of EDGE Certified – a global scheme certifying organizations for closing the gender gap in the workplace – and a trustee of TreeSisters. For more information about Nicole visit: http://nicoleschwab.com
(Bilingual Poetry & Art 1) Coronavirus: An Initiation by Noris Binet

Title: Letting GoMedia: Acrylic on Canvas and Metal.Copyrighted by Noris Binet 1 For Those Who Are Falling I could not sleep After seeing a photo of the mass grave for Corona virus corpses in New York, The pit for those who could not be recognized No one appeared to claim them they were left without identity or place of belonging I got up and went outside To meet the mystery of the night Looking for encouragement in this descent Which suddenly hurts, brings confusion And even asks for mercy I Walked through the translucent darkness left by the full moon and when I looked up at the sky, I found the stars looking back at me from afar I was surprised in front of so much beauty And I found the answer … Here I should stay, sitting in silence Letting the stars bathe me with their twinkling Without knowing anything … or where this grief is heading Sitting there, I discovered Venus with its diamond-shaped light illuminating my soul I raised my hand to touch the light And it melted into my fingertips Slipping into my palm and penetrating my veins And there I saw all the dead that have been falling I allowed myself to pray for them So that every one of them could find peace Surrendering their bodies to the earth and lifting their spirits to eternity That all these nameless ones could make their way to the original place where life is born and to where it returns Sitting there under the stars I met death And all the ones who are dying, I allowed myself to pray for them So that they may find total liberation…in surrendering! 2 Not Knowing Life from Death I feel the disintegration of everything that is happening with no clear answers, not knowing where life is heading or death is stopping I am standing in front of the unknown in this present mysterious moment not knowing whether tomorrow my eyes will open or if there will be another breath. In front of this nothingness that inhabits me I can only feel what is happening in various corners of the planet not able to know where to take the next step, or who or what will soon fall I have no paradigm for responding to this moment no philosophy or belief to provide an answer to this flow of life that no one directs Everything I have learned falls apart dreams are broken— some like clay pots others as porcelain plates The world as I knew it has stopped not as I imagined it would— if the imagination could even reach that far However, the mind still tries to pierce the uncertainty all around even if it is impossible to detect where the tip of the thread begins that we try to grab and untangle life from death and begin to weave a new paradigm But we are still falling, and we do not know how deep this fall will be or how muddled things are because so far just a few nations have begun to descend. (To be continued) (Meet Mago Contributor) Noris Binet Coronavirus: Una Iniciación 1 Para los que Van Cayendo No me pude dormir anoche Después que vi la foto de la fosa común para los cadáveres de Nueva York La fosa para aquellos que no pudieron reconocer Que no apareció nadie a reclamarlos Que quedaron sin identidad, in nombre, o lugar de pertenencia No pude dormirme Me levanté y salí afuera A encontrarme con el misterio de la noche Buscando un aliento para este descenso Que de repente duele, se confunde Y hasta pide clemencia Camine entre la obscuridad translucida Que dejó la luna llena y cuando subí la mirada al cielo me encontré las estrellas mirándome desde lejos Me quede sorprendida frente a tanta belleza Y encontré la respuesta… Ahí debía quedarme, sentada en silencio Dejando que las estrellas me bañaran con sus titileos Sin saber nada… Ni hacia donde se dirige este duelo Ahí sentada, descubrí a Venus y su luz de diamante me Iluminaba el alma Alcé mi mano para tocarla Y se deshizo en las yemas de mis dedos Deslizándose en mi palma y penetrando mi sangre Y ahí vi a todos los muertos que han ido cayendo Me permití orar por ellos Para que cada uno haya encontrado la paz del rendimiento Entregándole el cuerpo a la tierra y alzando el espíritu al infinito… Que cada uno haya encontrado el camino al origen donde nace la vida y hacia donde retorna Ahí sentada… bajo las estrellas me encontré con la muerte Y con lo que están muriendo Me permití pedir por ellos Para que encuentren la liberación total… Rindiéndose! 2 Sin Diferenciar la Vida de la Muerte Sentí la desintegración de todo lo que esta sucediendo Cuando me permití quedarme Sin respuestas, sin saber hacia donde se dirige la vida O hacia donde se dirige la vida O hacia donde se dirige la muerte Hoy estoy parada frente a lo desconocido Al misterioso momento presente No sabiendo Si mañana se abrirán mis ojos O que la respiración suceda… Frente a la nada que me habita Solo puedo sentir lo que sucede En todos los rincones del planeta No pudiendo saber hacia donde será el próximo paso o quien caerá primero Por vez primera No hay ningún paradigma Que responda a este momento No hay filosofías o creencia teóricas Que responda al flujo de la vida que nadie dirige Todo lo que aprendí se deshace Y los sueños se rompen Como ollas de barro para unos o vajillas porcelana para otros el mundo como lo conocí se ha detenido no como lo imagino la mente… si es que su imaginación llego tan lejos pues aquí la mente se detiene se quedó sin herramientas aunque sigue tratando de encapsular el des-balance es imposible de predecir donde quedaría la punta de la hilacha que podríamos tomar para empezar a desenredar la vida …
(Essay 6) The Myriad Faces, Marvelous Powers, and Thealogy of Greek Goddesses by Mara Lynn Keller, Ph.D.

Available at Mago Bookstore [Editor’s Note: This and the forthcoming sequels are originally published in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (2018 Mago Books). Part 6 discusses nine beliefs and the importance of the ancient Greek Goddesses.] Greek Goddess Thealogy and the Contemporary Women’s Spirituality Movement for Eco-Social Justice When we study goddess/goddesses, we endeavor thea-logy, from the Greek words for thea/goddess and for logos/meaning (to be distinguished from theology, the study of the meaning of god). Given the panoply of Greek Goddesses, what can we say about the thealogy of the multi-faceted Greek Goddesses? In particular, what do they offer to women and men personally, and what do they offer to the ecological crises and social injustices of our day? I have identified nine significant beliefs about the ancient Greek Goddesses that are valuable for us today. Nature embedded and embodied Greek Goddess traditions express the inter-relatedness of the female-spirit-body with awesome natural powers. The Greek Goddesses were seen as nature-embedded, embodied Spirits. There was a closeness between deities and humans, between humans and the rest of nature, rather than an “otherness.” The close relationships of goddesses-nature-humans were the font of living and of beneficial relationships with other species, each with its own powers and practical knowledge. As a sign of their interconnectedness with nature, each of the Greek Goddesses had plants and animals especially sacred to them: for Aphrodite it was the dove; for Athena, the owl and snake; for Artemis, the deer and bear; for Demeter, the poppy, grains, and snake. The ecological disasters that afflict peoples and other beings around the world today, can be alleviated by humans seeing the beneficial interconnectedness of many species, including humans, within the complex eco-systems of land, sea, and air that evolved to be in balance. Love is the heart of the cosmos and human relations. The Greek peoples worshiped many goddesses and enacted their rites in order to preserve and nurture their own survival and flourishing, from one generation to the next. These rites honored life’s major experiences of most intense joy and sorrow. While the male god traditions adapted to increasing threats of warfare from outside of Greece, and to the strife from inside Greece between city-states; the goddess traditions were in some ways more long-lasting, in the sense that they transmitted, as at Eleusis, the belief in the loving heart of the cosmos, the mother-daughter bond, and the bonds of human family and community. Our modern secularized culture has largely lost these beliefs. Their restoration will go far toward mitigating the sense of alienation and lack of belonging so many people feel today. They can restore the possibilities of love that so many long for. The principle of justice is woven into the fabric of the universe and human hearts. The desire for justice, like the desire for freedom, is inherent in our human nature. Women’s strength comes, in part, from a sense of cosmic justice, the conviction that there are powers within the universe that implicitly and explicitly strive to manifest the fullness of life for all beings, from the smallest to the largest.[1] The French philosopher Simone Weil compares the Greek idea of Nemesis to the Buddhist concept of karma; and she laments the loss of the belief in cosmic justice in the West, a justice that “operates automatically to penalize the abuse of force. Under the name of Nemesis, it functions as …conceptions of limit, measure, equilibrium, which ought to determine the conduct of life.”[2] The sister Titan Goddesses Diké, Themis, and Nemesis instantiated a sense of justice, of due proportions, of balance and fairness, of natural and social order, maintained by the very fabric of the universe. Such embodiments can stand us in good stead in our own day, when we are called upon to work more strenuously for what is morally right and good for individuals, families, and communities, all species, and the planet. As Martin Luther King emphasized, “While the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice.”[3] Peace is linked to love and social justice. The early Great Goddesses were pre-eminent during a time of relative peace, and they inspired peace-keeping among their peoples. When need be, they inspired solidarity against assault or invasion. For example, in Cyprus, people worshipped the Goddess of Love and did not worship the gods of war. To put it another way, where the Goddess of Love reigned, people did not desire war. The Greeks revered Irene, Goddess of Peace, as the one who nurtures abundance. Since Irene was the offspring of Themis and Zeus, we see that Peace was born when Zeus was mated to Social Justice. Upheld by the Greek Goddesses more often than not, the love of peace coupled with social justice is a divine purpose that calls for our respect and striving once again. Resistance to social injustice, including rebellion against male dominance, is a sacred responsibility to oneself, to others, the cosmos, and the Divine. When the Indo-European Hellenic clans dominated the Greek mainland, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and beyond, the Great Goddesses of the Neolithic were fragmented into many different goddesses, reduced in powers, confined by patriarchal molds, and their identities increasingly distorted or even reversed, as with Pandora. However, many of the Greek Goddesses rebelled against the patriarchal gods, whether it was Demeter, Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, Medusa, the Furies, or Nemesis. Nemesis empowers us to say no to wrong. The Furies still speak through the pangs of a guilty conscience. We are reminded by the mythos of Demeter and Persephone not to give up on finding one another; to resist violations of all kinds; and to find a way to return from the Underworlds of life to the source of love. The thealogy of the Greek Goddesses includes the strength of opposition to male dominance and other injustices. Today it is Gaia herself who is rebelling against eco-social injustice. Divine female powers are healing and transformative, providing more empowered and equitable relationships. Greek Goddess …
(Poem) The Well of Remembrance by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo: ”Rain Gates” by Ron Rudnicki, De Cordova Museum of Art, photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd Come to the Well of RemembranceHere have women sacrificed the memories that overflowIn both mourning and joyIn all times and places. Now it is your turn to pour into it your libations—A grandmother’s feathery hairA daughter’s pink-painted toenailsFierce years of labor wasted andAngry seconds of agony pain. The Well is constructed of millennia ofHands held around sacred groves, quilting bees,birthing stools, and teal Formica kitchen tables.It can hold all you offer to it. Now it is your turn to take from it what you need—All the water that has flowed from women’s Eyes, mouths, wombsHas saturated to the Earth’s bones,Has seethed next to our planet’s molten core,Has evaporated and risen, then fallen again intoYour cupped hands as cool rain. Taste one tear from each of your ancestresses.It is their wish that you drink deeply andbe as mighty as all their memoriesdistilled into one swallow. [Author’s Note: This poem was first published in The We’Moon Calendar, 2004. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
(Pilgrimage 5) Eight Devi Temples in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India by Krista Rodin

[Editor’s Note: This and forthcoming parts are the report of pilgrimage visits made during October 2022.] Photo by Krista Rodin Jhula Devi Temple Jhula Devi temple, also dedicated to the Goddess Durga. The temple was first built in the 8th c. According to legend: ages ago Chaubatia was a dense forest inhabited by a number of wild animals including leopards and tigers. They used to harass the villagers by snatching their livestock. The poor villagers prayed to Maa Durga requesting her to get rid of the danger. The goddess asked a shepherd in his dream to dig up at an instructed place to find an idol and to construct a temple for the idol at that site. The villagers followed her instructions and that got rid of the wild animals, so fearless children now merrily played on swings. Seeing those merry making kids, Maa Durga wished to have her own swing (Jhula). So, she again appeared in one villager’s dream and asked him to give her a Jhula. The devotees placed her on a wooden Jhula in the sanctum sanctorum and since then she was called Mata Jhula Devi.[1] The current complex was built in 1935. Photography is not allowed in the temple, but the idol is in the main hall which can be seen from the street. The entire complex is filled with bells so tightly placed together that it is amazing there is room for even a small one to be added. The bells are offered to the Goddess (or god in the case of Golu) so that the petitioner’s request will be heard. Once it has been granted, the petitioner returns to the temple to offer another bell as thanks. It seems that the Goddess has been hard at work answering the people’s prayers. Photo by Krista Rodin Giriji Devi I’m very glad I was able to visit this temple in the middle of the Kosi River in Jim Corbett National Park. To get to the temple, one maneuvers through the ubiquitous stalls selling all kinds of offerings and religious memorabilia to get to a large square where there are three large trees that have offerings on them. Leading off from the square is a fairly wide bridge to an island in the middle of the river. As in Dunagiri, the bridge is divided to facilitate to and from movement. At the end of the bridge, there is a set of stairs going down to the sandy beach and more vendor stalls. This is now where one leaves one’s shoes (& socks!) before climbing another couple of sets of rather steep stairs to get to a small square temple. There was a priest offering blessings and another helper taking offerings and giving them to the priest as well as dishing out prasad to the worshipers. Prasad is the term used for the gifting of items, generally food, flowers, or money, to the deity. The priest then blesses the person and prasad is given, most often in the form of sugar candy shaped like rice, or a flour like substance, also shaped like rice, back to the worshiper. Prasad is supposed to be eaten immediately, otherwise bad things can happen. As I don’t eat much sugar, this poses a bit of a problem, so I usually give mine away. The Giriji idol is a doll-like image approximately four and a half feet high wrapped abundantly in regal clothing, similar to Kesar Devi. She is also a form of Durga/Parvati. Giriji’s temple with staircase is shaped like the hill immediately behind the temple, and this hill carries the same name. While there were no crowds at the site on this rainy day, there were still lots of people wishing to be blessed. A whole colony of tents lined the island, most of which were empty, but I can imagine how full they would be on a festival day. This is the main site for the yearly celebration of Kartik Poornima, which will be on Nov. 8th in 2022. During this festival, worshipers are encouraged to take a bath in sacred waters, and the Kosi River fulfills this function blessed by the Goddess, who is a consort of Shiva. There were a few people wading in the river in the rain, and when I washed my feet off, was pleasantly surprised at how warm the water was. It was a good spot to just stand and watch. Just as I was leaving, a cow decided to swim across the river to get to the temple. Perhaps in search of prasad…, cows are sacred animals here. These eight pilgrimage Devi sites in Kumaon are only a few of the many, but they are the main ones. The region is filled with Durga, Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Vishnu imagery. The hills tell stories from mythological history that is accepted as truth by many of the local population. It is a beautiful area, filled with mystery, magic and wonder. The Devi in her myriad forms continues to protect the natural world of the hills, mountains, rivers, flora and fauna of the region. Kesar Devi on Crank’s Ridge, Photo by Krista Rodin (End of the Essay) All photos by the author; much of the text comes from her blogs: https://journals.worldnomads.com/krodin [1] https://www.gosahin.com/places-to-visit/jhula-devi-temple/ Accessed October 5, 2022. https://www.magoism.net/2018/09/meet-mago-contributor-krista-rodin-ph-d/
(Call for Contributions) Call for Artwork for Goddess Music Video

“Hare Protector” by ANDREA REDMOND, featured artist for this project INVITATION to the artists in our Mago circle to join me in co-creating a video slideshow highlighting Goddess artwork. I am looking for high resolution photos of your original paintings, drawings, sculpture (no photography please) depicting the divine as you see and experience Her. The artwork will be set against the backdrop of my song, “Muse,” a piece very near and dear to my heart. I began writing this song in November 2020 as I was losing my ability to play guitar due to chronic pain. My band (Spiral Muse, a feminist Goddess folk rock group) and I had not been able to make music together for many months due to the pandemic and I was beginning to feel like I’d never write another song again. The beginnings of this piece were eeked out before I put down the guitar for six long months, physically unable to play and fearing I would never pick it up again. When I resumed work on this song in June of 2021, one band member was in the process of moving across the country and those of us remaining were figuring out how to move forward without her. The song evolved to reflect the journey of learning to accept change and loss in order to allow the Muse to be reborn within us. Two years after completing this song, we were able to record this piece, along with others, with the band member who had moved away, adding another dimension to the theme of Muse Rebirthing. My experience of connecting with the Mago Community has also been one of creative rebirthing. It feels organic and aligned to weave together a celebration of the abundance of creativity within this community with this particular piece of music. If you’d like to feel into this further, here is a link to the song on Spotify, or youtube if you don’t have Spotify, and the lyrics can be found here, just scroll down until you see “Muse.” For a sense of how I craft these types of videos, an example can be found here. This example video uses stock photos, thus there are no artist credits at the end. You all would, of course, be fully credited in the video credits and in the video description, where I’d also be happy to include one web or social media link for each artist. I look forward to hearing from those of you who feel called to this co-creation. Contact me at alisonnewvine@gmail.com.

(Special Post Isis 3) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 3 Isis, Arab Women Revolution, and Black Goddesses Naa Ayele Kumari Going back to the original topic of the post…. Some quotes ” Women are in half the society… How come there are only 7 in the Assembly… and they are all Islamist! ” I can’t beat up my wife and almost kill her and call it discipline… this is not discipline… this is abuse and insanity” http://youtu.be/y4umifTLSII 12-Year Old Explains Egyptian Revolution in Under 3 Minutes www.youtube.com Max Dashu It is tremendously heartening to see these insights being expressed, and spread. The Salafis have made such inroads, and now the pushback is happening. Harita Meenee Dear Naa Ayele Kumari, thank you actually reading my post and commenting something relevant to it. It’s refreshing when someone does hear what we have to say instead of projecting their own notions. Building a solidarity movement with those who are oppressed but fighting is very important during these critical times! Harita Meenee See also: https://www.facebook.co/intifadat.almar2a?fref=ts The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي حرية الفكر ، حرية التعبير ، حرية الاعتقاد ، حرية التنقل ، حرية الجسد ، حرية اللب…See More Glenys Livingstone … as you say Max …” way too much of it going on” – amongst people who should know better (I would have thought): “Dark goddess as terrifying, challenging, white goddess as benign; “black magic” as harmful; I see way, way too much of this going on out there.” And related to that in my mind is all the “love and light” business that is so common: the Ground of Being is Dark … it seems to me that mystics have always understood the quintessential darkness of Love/Deity. Max Dashu Sure. I would just like to add that the critique raised here addressed issues much broader than the substance of the article, which made some good points. But once the choice of graphics flagged the issue of representation, people had much more to say about that old yet still very fresh wound which is constantly reopened by the cultural habit of whitening Egypt, or interpreting Africa through a eurocentric lens. It is not on any one person to carry the weight of that; we all have a responsibility to address the issues, but especially those of us of European heritage need to familiarize ourselves with how this plays out over and over. Just as men have a responsibility to speak up in support of women when patriarchal assumptions are on board. We all can learn something from each other, along all the various axes of domination, and overthrow them in coalition. Naa Ayele Kumari I have often considered where the roots of this psychology comes from. It is dualistic thinking that causes us to compare and contrast, then sum up judgement of good or bad and place a value on each. It extends into competition and justification for war. It also doesn’t escape me that often this came with certain civilizations who systematically destroyed others. It didn’t just happen with blacks in Africa… but blacks in Asia and the Indus Valley as well. With the Aryan invasions of India, came the eventual introduction to lighter divinities and more emphasis on male divinities. Southern Indians, Sri Lankans are very dark… even more so than many African Blacks. The caste systems implemented by the Aryan invaders did the same thing to them casting them as “untouchables”. With that came the marginalization of their black female divinities such as Kali. Kali actually has 10-16 forms… from compassionate mother, the fountain of wisdom, to she of great beauty but she is minimized as just destructive and terrifying… especially as Brhaman, Vishnuu, and Shiva grow in popularity. One of Kali’s statues has her black self standing on top of Shiva because she conquered him. Later there is a discussion in on of the Hindu text explaining Kali (as Parvati) after being subdued by Shiva she becomes lighter. Further they have stories about him rejecting her and calling her blackie which made her do austerities to rid herself of her black skin. Naa Ayele Kumari It should not be overlooked that in the Story of Alice in Wonderland… a story intended to keep Goddess elements for future generations, has the Elder sister ( the Queen of Hearts) portrayed as man, ego, and power driven who cuts off heads and has a fierce dragon…a clear reference to Kali. The White goddess as the younger sister is her opponent… and her mission is to usurp the throne of the Queen of Hearts even though she was the rightful heir as the oldest … or primordial. Stories like these also reinforce the stereotypes and negative iconography. Max Dashu Yes, it is pervasive in many cultures of domination. Demons are portrayed as black not only in Europe, which we know well, but also in China and in a lot of Buddhist iconography. In modern India, the sweet goddesses are shown as pink, the wrathful as black; and Krishna (name means “dark”) is turned powder blue. (Another of his titles, s’yam, also meaning dark, is the word translated as “green” in Green Tara.) The countercurrents (Black Mazu, loving Kali – esp in Bengal and south India, Black Madonna) bubbled up from the common people, who knew and longed for something other than the dominant racialized hierarchy. Naa Ayele Kumari I am just discovering Mazu ( Matzu/LuShui) in China today! Never knew about her. This discussion has led me to look deeper for black goddesses in Asia. Max Dashu Taoist spiritual tradition often refers to Xüan Nü, which can be translated in several ways. You’ll usually see it rendered as “the Mysterious Female,” a phrase that occurs in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), and this is a valid translation; but what is less emphasized is that it also means “the Dark Woman.” In […]
(Special Post) BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE FOR EL PASO ARTIST MARIO COLÍN by Donna Snyder

Born in Juárez in 1959, Mario Colín lived his entire life in the Five Points area of Central El Paso, where he attended Houston Elementary and Austin High School. From the age of fifteen, he worked as a construction worker, building silos and other large construction projects across the U.S.A., at some point hitch hiking from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic shores. In his late twenties, he began to focus all his attention and energy on art, which had been an interest since early childhood, working as a muralist and portrait painter. Much of his art is of a religious nature, although he also painted secular art, portraits, and historical scenes. Colín painted his first mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe in collaboration with deceased artist Chuck Zavala in 1987 at Esparza’s Grocery, a small store in Central El Paso. It has now become a shrine, with community members building a stone arch and bringing flowers and candles, and has been pronounced a religious site by the parish church. Since that first mural, Colín has painted over 40 pieces of public art, many of which have become landmarks. Many of those murals are in that same Central El Paso neighborhood, on or near Piedras, including the House of Pizza, Los Alamos Grocery, The Elbo Room bar, the former Sanitary Plumbing at Piedras and Fort Boulevard. Colín twice painted a 25 foot mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe, at Alameda and Zaragoza, across from the Ysleta mission. The first version, painted in 1997, became decayed, but was a popular landmark. That mural has appeared in periodicals, art books, calendars, many newspaper articles, and in photographs exhibited in the El Paso Art Museum and galleries. In 2004, Señor José Villalobos donated and members of the community contributed money to pay laborers to replaster the wall of the century-old adobe building where it is located, and Colín repainted the entire mural for donations from passers-by and community members. Colín’s work has also been featured on the International History Channel and Canal 44, XHUI TV, in a Ford television commercial, and numerous times in the El Paso Times and the defunct El Paso Herald-Post, as well as in periodicals such as Texas Monthly, Dallas Morning News, Texas Observer, Austin American Statesman, Stanton Street magazine; literary journals such as Mezcla and GypsyMag.com; in documentaries including Walls that Speak: El Paso’s Murals, directed by Jim Klaes; in art books such as Colors on Desert Walls: The Murals of El Paso and Texas 24:7, and in various editions of Chicano Studies: Survey and Analysis, a text book used throughout the country.
(Special Post 2) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Here is another image of the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra slain by Herakles. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(mythology)… Glenys Livingstone: Yes, the Hercules story is more documentation of the Old Battle, of the rise of the “hero” to slay the Mother, when in the earliest of times he served with his beauty and labours. It is so interesting to see the analogies in other cultures/places as you are doing Helen, especially in Asia – it seems important work. Your perseverance is paying off, and will. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Glenys, I am re-reading a book on Chinese mythology and found a lot more on the nine Magoist symbolism. Someday, I hope to write about the topic in its own right. Glenys Livingstone: This chapter’s work is good re the Old Battle in Greek mythology: Valaoritis, Nanos. “The Cosmic Conflict of Male and Female in Greek Mythology”, in From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas. Joan Marler (ed). Manchester CT: Knowledge, Ideas and Trends Inc., 1997, p.247 – 261. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Now back to the female divine who is depicted with the nine heads. See the nine-headed Guanyin/Kannon/Gwaneum. Also note that her icon comes in eleven-headed (the 8 Daughters and the Triad Creatrix, which makes eleven). http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/kannon.shtml Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: The symbol of nine dragons was adopted by imperial China. See the Nine Dragon Wall China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-Dragon_Wall Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: We connect the dots. When Guanyin is depicted with nine dragons, it conveys that the nine symbolism was/is once deemed sacred. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/17/b3/4a17b33d9a4ae53bad6466a0eaf11722.jpg How popular the Guanyin icon, three headed and eight armed, to this day! Simply Google “eight armed Guanyin.” Below is from the Late Ming Dynasty, China. https://www.google.com/search?q=eight%20armed%20guanyin… She comes in a different name, Ushnishavijaya, in Tibetan Buddhism. https://www.himalayanart.org/items/65445 Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: We can draw that the female deity such as Guanyin and Ushnishavijaya, just to name two, is venerated in association with the nine symbolism. Within the mytho-history of Magoism, I infer that Guanyin or Ma Guanyin is a persona embodying Goma, the Magoist Shaman ruler of Danguk (3898 BCE-2333 BCE), the head of Nine Hans (Magoist Koreans). Note that Magoist shamans or priestesses are called “Mago.” See my essay, “Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology,” in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Lytle Creek, CA: Mago Books), 2018. The insight that the major Goddesses in East Asia and beyond point to the same and old divine persona is NOT farfetched, considering that the nine-headed snake or dragon representing the female sovereignty of pre-patriarchal times is slain by male heroes across cultures. Judy E Foster: I’d have to agree with you here. As usual, interesting information! Patty Kay: My meditation this morning was on a history of mysticism. While I’m in the midst of appropriating all of the wonderful beliefs I find here, I also have found a strand in my own tradition that helps me understand why all the Divine Feminine stuff makes so much sense to me. I’ve been trying to determine when the patriarchal world view took over. According to this history, mysticism began to emerge in about 800 to 500 BCE. Could it be that mysticism kept alive the ancient understanding of the cosmos? This is just speculation, but in it I’m answering my own questions. (To be continued) Join us in The Mago Circle https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism/.

(Essay) Contemplating How Her Creativity Proceeds by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of chapter 5 of the author’s book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. It is a chapter on the process of the Wheel of the Year. for the Northern Hemisphere version: https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems to me that the main agenda of the Cosmos is ongoing Creativity, “never-ending renewal” it may be termed, and that this is expressed in Earth’s Seasonal Wheel through the transitions of Autumn,Winter, Spring, Summer; and in the ubiquitous process of a Cosmic Triplicity of Space to Be, Urge to Be and this Place of Being, a dynamic that has often been imagined as the Triple Goddess. In the flow of the PaGaian Wheel of the Year, the Seasonal transitions of the Wheel and the Triplicity of the Cosmos come together. There are two celebrations of the Old One/Crone or the Cosmogenetic quality of autopoiesis creating the Space to Be; and they are Lammas/Late Summer and Samhain/Deep Autumn, which are the meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing dark phase. At Lammas, the first in the dark phase, we may identify with the dark and ancient Wise One – dissolve into Her; at Samhain, we may consciously participate in Her process of the transformation of death/the passing of all. The whole dark part of the cycle is about dissolving/dying/letting go of being – becoming – nurturing it (the midwifing of Lammas/Late Summer), stepping into the power of it (the certain departure of Autumn Equinox/Mabon), the fertility (of Samhain/Deep Autumn), the peaking of it (at Winter Solstice). The meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing light phase then are celebrations of the Young One/Virgin or the Cosmogenetic quality of differentiation, the new continually emerging, the Urge to Be; and they are Imbolc/Early Spring and Beltaine/High Spring. At Imbolc, the first in the light phase, we may identify with She who is shining and new – as we take her form; at Beltaine, we may consciously participate in Her process of the dance of life. The whole light part of the cycle is about coming into being: nurturing it (the midwifing of Imbolc/Early Spring), stepping into the power of it (the certain return of Spring Equinox/Eostar), the fertility (of Beltaine/High Spring), the peaking of it (at Summer Solstice). In the PaGaian wheel of ceremony there are two particular celebrations of the Mother, the Cosmogenetic quality of communion; and they are the Solstices. If one imagines the light part of the cycle as a celebration of the ‘Productions of Time’, and the dark part of the cycle as a celebration of ‘Eternity’, the Solstices then are meeting points, points of interchange, and are celebrations of the communion/relational field of Eternity with the Productions of Time. This is a relationship which does happen in this Place, in this Web. This Place of Being, this Web, is a Communion – it is the Mother; the Solstices mark Her birthings, Her gateways. The Equinoxes then – both Spring and Autumn – are two celebrations wherein the balance of all three Faces/Creative qualities is particularly present: in the PaGaian wheel, the Equinoxes have been special celebrations of Demeter and Persephone – echoing the ancient tradition of Mother-Daughter Mysteries that celebrate the awesomeness of the continuity of life, its creative tension/balance. Both Equinoxes then are celebrations and contemplations of empowerment through deep Wisdom – one contemplation during the dark phase and one during the light phase. The Autumn Equinox is a descent to Wisdom, the Spring Equinox is an emergence with Wisdom gained. I like to think of the Equinoxes, and of the ancient icons of Demeter and Persephone, as celebrations of the delicate ‘curvature of space-time’, the fertile balance of tensions which enables it all. Her Creative Place The Mother aspect then may be understood to be particularly present at four of the Seasonal Moments, which are also regarded traditionally as the Solar festivals; and in this cosmology Sun is felt as Mother. I recognize these four as points of interchange: at Autumn Equinox, Mother is present primarily as Giver – She is letting Persephone go, at Spring Equinox, She is present primarily as Receiver – welcoming the Daughter back, at Winter Solstice the Mother gives birth, creates form, at Summer Solstice, She opens again full of radiance, and disperses form. The Mother is Agent/Actor at the Solstices. She is Participant/Witness at the Equinoxes, where it is then really Persephone who is Agent/Actor, embodying an inseparable Young One and Old One. The Old One is often named as Hecate, who completes the Trio – all seamlessly within each other. Another possible way to visual it, or to tell the story, is this: The Mother – Demeter – is always there, at the Centre if you like. Persephone cycles around. She is the Daughter who returns in the Spring as flower, who will become fruit/grain of the Summer, who at Lammas assents to the dissolution – the consumption. At Autumn Equinox She returns to the underworld as seed – Her harvest is rejoiced in, Her loss is grieved, as She becomes Sovereign of the Underworld – Her face changes to the Dark One, Crone (Hecate). As the wheel turns into the light part of the cycle She becomes Young One/Virgin again. Persephone (as Seed) is that part of Demeter that can be all three aspects – can move through the complete cycle. The Mother and Daughter are really One, and embody the immortal process of creation and destruction. Demeter hands Persephone the wheat, the Mystery, and the thread of life is unbroken – it goes on forever. It is immortal, it is eternal. Even though it is true that all will be lost, and all is lost – Being always arises again: within this field of time there is never-ending renewal, eternity. This is what is revealed in the ubiquitous three faces of the Creative Dynamic/ She of Old, the Triplicity that runs through the Cosmos. The Seed of Life never …
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 …
(Poetry & Photo Essay) Pongal by Susan Hawthorne

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

The Autumnal Equinox occurs each year in the range of March 20-23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and in the range of September 20 -23 in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn Equinox is a point of sacred balance: it is the point of balance in the dark part of Earth’s annual cycle. Sun is equidistant between North and South as it was/is at Spring Equinox, but in this dark phase of the cycle, the trend is toward increasing dark. Henceforth the dark part of the day will exceed the light part: thus it is a Moment of certain descent … and a sacred Moment for feeling and contemplating the grief and power of loss, for ceremoniously joining personal and collective grief and loss with the larger Self in whom we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZflKLkvP8 Below is the text of the video. It is based on the traditional poetry for PaGaian Autumn Equinox/Mabon ceremony[i]. This is the Moment of the Autumnal Equinox in our Hemisphere – the moment of balance of light and dark in the dark part of the cycle. The light and dark parts of the day in the South and in the North of our planet, are of equal length at this time. We feel for the balance in this moment – Earth as She is poised in relationship with the Sun … breathing in the light, swelling with it, letting our breath go to the dark, staying with it. In our part of Earth, the balance is tipping into the dark. We remember the coolness of it. This is the time when we give thanks for our harvests – all that we have gained. And we remember too the sorrows, losses involved. The story of Old tells us that Persephone, Beloved Daughter, is given the wheat from Her Mother – the Mystery, knowledge of life and death. She receives it graciously. But she sets forth into the darkness – both Mother and Daughter grieve that it is so. Demeter, the Mother, says: “You are offered the wheat in every moment … I let you go as Child, most loved of Mine: you descend to Wisdom, to Sovereignty. You will return as Mother, co-Creator with me. You are the Seed in the Fruit, becoming the Fruit in the Seed. Inner Wisdom guides your path.” We give thanks for our harvests – our lives they are blessed. We are Daughters and Sons of the Mother. Yet we take our Wisdom and all that we have gained, and remember the sorrows – the losses involved. We remember the grief of the Mother, of mothers and lovers everywhere, our grief. Persephone descends. The Beloved One is lost. Persephone goes forth into the darkness to become Queen of that world. She tends the sorrows. The Seed represents our Persephones, who tends the sorrows – we are the Persephones, who may tend the sorrows. We go out into the night with Her and plant our seeds. Persephone blesses us with her fertile promise: “You have waxed into the fullness of life, And waned into darkness; May you be renewed in tranquility and wisdom[ii].” These represent our hope. The Seed of life never fades away. She is always present. Blessed be the Mother of all life. Blessed be the life that comes from Her and returns to Her. We tie red threads on each other: we participate in the Vision of the Seed – of the continuity of Life, that continues beneath the visible. The Mother knowledge grows within us. Our hope is in the Sacred Balance of the Cosmos – the Thread of Life, the Seed that never fades away: it is the Balance of Grief and Joy, the Care that we may feel in our Hearts. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, p. 239-247. [ii] Charlene Spretrnak, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, p. 116. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: a Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992/1978.
(Essay) Winter Solstice/Yule within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 5 of the author’s book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Dates for Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 This Seasonal Moment is the ripe fullness of the Dark Womb and it is a gateway between dark and light. It is a Birthing Place – into differentiated being. Whereas Samhain/Deep Autumn is a dark conceiving Space, it flows into the Winter Solstice dark birthing Place – a dynamic Place of Being, a Sacred Interchange. This Seasonal Moment of Winter Solstice is the peaking of the dark space – the fullness of the dark, within which being and action arise. It is the peaking of emptiness, which is a fullness. As cosmologist Brian Swimme describes: the empty “ground of being … retains no thing.” It is “Ultimate Generosity.”[i] In Vajrayana Buddhism, Space is associated with Prajna/wisdom – out of which Upaya/compassionate action arises. Space is highly positive – something to be developed, so appropriate action may develop spontaneously and blissfully.[ii] In Old European Indigenous understandings, the dark and the night were valued at least as much as light, if not more so: time was counted by the number of nights, as in ‘fortnights,’ and a ‘day’ included both dark and light parts … it was ‘di-urnal’. I have been careful with my language about that inclusion in the ceremonial ‘Statement of Purpose’ for each Seasonal Moment. This awareness is resonant with modern Western scientific perceptions about the nature of the Universe: that it is seventy-three percent “dark energy,” twenty-three precent “dark matter,” four percent “ordinary matter.”[iii] The truth is that we live within this darkness: it is the Ground of all Being. In Pagan traditions since Celtic times, and in many other cultural traditions, Winter Solstice has been celebrated as the birth of the God; and in Christian tradition since about the fourth century C.E., as the birth of the saviour. But there are deeper ways of understanding what is being born: that is, who or what the “saviour” is. In the Gospel of Thomas, which was not selected for biblical canon, it says: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.”[iv] This then may be the Divine Child, the “Saviour”: it may be expressed as the new Being forming in the Cosmogonic Womb,[v] who will be born. We may celebrate the birth of the new Being, which /who is always beyond us, beyond our knowing … yet is within us, burgeoning within us – and within Gaia. What will save us is already present within – forming within us. The Winter Solstice story may emphasize that what is born, is within each one – the “Divine” is not “out there”: it may be said, and expressed ceremoniously, that we are each Creator and Created. We may imagine ourselves as the in-utero foetus – an image we might have access to these days from a sonar-scan during pregnancy. This image presents a truth about Being: we are this, and it is within us, within this moment. Every moment is pregnant with the new. It will be birthed when holy darkness is full. Part of what is required is having the eyes to see the “new bone forming in flesh,” scraping our eyes “clear of learned cataracts,”[vi] seeing with fresh eyes. That is what the fullness of the Dark offers – a freshening of our eyes to see the new. And the process of Creation is always reciprocal: we are Creator and Created simultaneously, in a “ngapartji-ngapartji”[vii] way. We are in-formed by that which we form. In Earth-based religious practice, the ubiquitous icon of Mother and Child – Creator and Created – expresses something essential about the Universe itself … the “motherhood” we are all born within. It expresses the essential communion experience that this Cosmos is, the innate and holy Care that it takes, and the reciprocal nature of it. We cannot touch without being touched at the same time.[viii] We may realize that Cosmogenesis – the entire Unfolding of the Cosmos – is essentially relational: our experience tells us this is so. The image of The Birth of the Goddess on the front cover of my book PaGaian Cosmology expresses that reciprocity for me, how we may birth each other and the healing/wholing in that exchange. It is a Sacred Interchange. And it is what this Event of existence seems to be about – deep communion, which both Solstices express. Babylonian Goddess, Ur 4000-3500 BCE. Adele Getty, Goddess, 33. Birthing is not often an easy process – for the birthgiver nor for the birthed one: it is a shamanic act requiring strength of bodymind, attention, courage, and focus of the mother, and resilience and courage to be of the new young one. Birthgiving is the original place of ‘heroics,’ which many cultures of the world have never forgotten, perhaps therefore better termed as “heraics.” Patriarchal adaptations of the story of this Seasonal Moment usually miss the Creative Act of birthgiving completely, usually being pre-occupied with the “virgin” nature of the Mother which is interpreted as having an “intact hymen.” The focus of the patriarchal adaptation of the Winter Solstice story is the Child as “saviour”: even the Mother gazes at the Child in most Christian icons, while in more ancient images Her eyes are direct and expressive of Her integrity as Creator. NOTES: [i] Swimme, The Universe is a Green Dragon, 146. [ii] See Rita Gross, “The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 179-192. [iii] These figures as told by cosmologist Paul Davies with Macquarie University’s Centre for Astrobiology, Australia. [iv] Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas, saying number 70. See https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/thomas.html . [v] Melissa Raphael’s term, Thealogy and Embodiment, 262. [vi] The quotes come from a poem by Cynthia Cook, “Refractions,” Womanspirit (Oregan USA, issue 23, March 1980), 59. [vii] This is an Indigenous Australian term for reciprocity – giving and receiving at the same time. I explain it a bit further in PaGaian Cosmology, 256-257. [viii] An expression from Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, 68. REFERENCES: Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Getty, Adele. Goddess: Mother of Living …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 7) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) at Mago Bookstore. YEARLY LEAP DAY AND EVERY FOURTH YEAR LEAP DAY Each Sa includes a Dan of the big Sa. A Dan is equal to one day. That adds to 365 days. At the half point of the third Sa, there is a Pan of the big Sak (the year of the great dark moon). A Pan comes at a half point of Sa. This is of Beopsu (Lawful Number) 2, 5, 8. A Pan is equal to a day. Therefore, the fourth Sa has 366 days. Each year has a leap day (Dan), which makes a total of 365 days. Every fourth year is a leap year that has a leap day (Pan), which makes a total of 366 days. The Dan day comes before the New Year in the winter solstice month. And the Pan day comes before the first day of the summer solstice month in the fourth year. The above, however, does not indicate when the New Year comes. Logographic characters of Dan and Pan each suggest their meanings. While each year includes the Dan day (the morning), every fourth year has the Pan day. A unit of four years makes the Big Calendar. Dan (旦 Morning) Leap day for every first three years Pan (昄 Big) Leap day for every fourth year I have postulated that the year begins on the Dan day (one leap day), a day before New Year that comes in the month of Winter Solstice in the Norther Hemisphere. And the Pan day comes on the day before the first day of the 7th month that has Summer Solstice in the fourth year in the Norther Hemisphere. Years Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Months Dan Dan Dan Dan 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 Pan 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 Days 365 365 365 366 The Magoist Calendar’s intercalation involves one leap day every year and one leap day every four years. That is, each year has one extra day to make it 365 days. Every fourth year has an extra day to make it 366 days. Four years has a total of 1461 days (365×3+366), which makes the mean of 365.25 days. Considering that the month is following the sidereal period rather than the synodic period, it is inferred that the year also follows the sidereal year rather than the solar year. In fact, Magoist Calendar’s one year is very close to today’s 365.25636 days of the sidereal year compared to 365.24217 days of the solar year or the tropical year. Given that, as seen below, the Budoji mentions the tiniest discrepancy of one leap day for 31,788,900 years, the discrepancy between 365.25 and 365.25636 (0.00636 day) can be explained that the year was actually 365.25 days at the time of Budo circa 2333 BCE, 4440 years ago. In other words, there is a discrepancy of 0.12375936 seconds between 2017 CE and 2333 BCE. Regarding Lawful Numbers 2, 5, 8, it is involved as follows: 365 days (3+6+5=14, 1+4=5) Lawful Numbers 2, 5, 8 refers the unit of 365 days (364 days with one intercalary day). Further dynamics are unknown. The sidereal year refers to the time taken by the Earth to orbit the sun once with respect to the distant stars. In contrast, the solar or tropical year means the time taken by the Earth to orbit the sun once with respect to the sun. The sidereal year, 365.25636 days, is about 20 minutes and 24 seconds longer than the mean tropical year (365.24217 days) and about 19 minutes and 57 seconds longer than the average Gregorian year of 365.2425 days. The difference occurs primarily because the solar system spins on its own axis and around the Milky Way galactic center making the solar year’s observed position relative. Time is no independent concept apart from space and the agent. The very concept of time is preceded by the agent bound in a space. It is always contextualized. In Magoism, both calendar and time are born out of the cosmogonic universe, the universe that is in self-creation. Like calendar, time is to be discovered or measured. It is a numinous concept. The very concept of time testifies to the reality of the Creatrix. Time proves the orderly movement of the universe into which we are born. Calendar patterns time, whereas time undergirds calendar. How can we measure time? We are given the time of the Earth that comes from its rotation, revolution, and precession in sync with the moon and the sun (and its planets). One type of time is the solar time. The solar time is a calculation of time based on the position of the sun. Traditionally, the solar time is measured by the sundial. The solar time is, however, specific to the Earth only. It is valid only for the-same-observed-location. It is not made to be used for the time of another celestial body. For example, Mars’ solar time has to be measured independently based on its own rotation and revolution rates. The solar time is an isolated time. It is static and exclusive, not made for the time of other celestial bodies. By nature, it is unfit for connection and communication across celestial bodies. The second type is the sidereal time. The sidereal time is a time scale based on the rate of Earth’s rotations measured relative to the distant stars.[29] Because the observed position is in the far distant stars beyond the solar system, the sidereal time may as well be called an extrasolar stellar time. We can think of the observer’s position of an imaginary cosmic bird far out there, infinitely far beyond not only the solar system and …

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

[Author’s Note] The following is from Chapter One, “What Is Mago and Magoism and How Did I Study HER?” from The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, Volume 1. Footnotes below would be different from the monograph version. PDF book of The Mago Way Volume 1 download is available for free here.] Magoism, East Asian Religions, and Magoist Mudangs As mentioned above, Magoism refers to the totality of human civilization that is ultimately gynocentric. Speaking from a narrow perspective, Magoism is the primordial matrix from which such East Asian religions as Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism were derived. In the light of Magoism, a patriarchal religion is redefined as a pseudo-Magoism that which has co-opted the Way of the Great Goddess (Magoism) with the androcentric reversal of the female
(Bell Essay 8) The Magoist Whale Bell: Decoding the Cetacean Code of Korean Temple Bells by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This and ensuing sequels are excerpts of a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Singing Humpback Whales, wikimedia commons Whales as the Cosmic Music Maker That whales (Gorae in Korean) are foundational to the Korean temple bell remains subliminal to this day. How do we assess the cetacean code of the Korean temple bell? What is the relationship between these two seemingly unrelated objects? We are given the whale-shaped mallet of the bell to begin with. Intriguingly, two Buddhist temples are noted today for the wooden whale-carved mallet of their bells: Sudeok-sa in Yesan, South Chungcheong, and Seonam-sa in Suncheon, South Jeolla.[1] Other temple bells reportedly have the whale mallet as well, although not as much distinctly carved as the two. The Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great is known as such. What is the significance of the Korean temple bell that has a whale as its striker? However, the whale-shaped wooden mallet is only a visible symbol of Sillan cetacean veneration. The whale motif is not just physically present in the mallet but also signified in its name or title. Among many alternative names of the Korean temple bell are cetacean names; Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), and Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale). Here the character “gyeong 鯨” means a whale.[2] These whale names suggest that the bell itself is conceived as a whale. Korean temple bells are the code of Magoist cetaceanism. By the very nature of a temple bell that is to awaken all beings to put it bluntly, we can establish that the sound of a whale is elevated to the purpose of a temple bell. Or vice versa. The sound of a temple bell is identified as that of a whale. At the outset, suffice it to say that whales are admired and revered for their vocal behaviors so much so that they are represented in Sillan temple bells. The cetacean representation of the Korean temple bell comes unexpected to us. Why is the song of a whale not the song of a bird or another animal? And what does it mean that the Korean temple bell employs cetacean names? These are no small questions. Answering them requires digging into the deepest layer of what has gone under the surface about Magoist Korean whale culture. I have discussed elsewhere in detail about how Korean cetaceanism is steeped in linguistics, myths, place-names, and custom.[3] For the immensity and complexity of the topic, this essay leaves out the discussion of such salient features of whales as their pre-human origin, evolution from land to sea, sizes and trans-oceanic migratory journeys. Summarily, whales connect and bridge the human mind beyond anthropocentrism. Here we will focus on how cetacean veneration is encoded in the Korean temple bell, in particular the sound tube. Ancient Korean Magoists deemed whales as the cosmic music makers. The cetacean names of Korean temple bells redefine the bell as the acoustic instrument that conveys the music of whales. Note the plural in bells and whales. Korean temple bells are meant to be recognized as a chorus, like whales in the sea, to respond to the sonic property of all beings. In fact, the Korean temple bell is never an isolated single sound wave, to be discussed below. What is emitted from both is harmonized music. It is noted that the music of whales can travel hundreds of kilometers underwater.[4] That the song of whales travel as far as hundreds of kilometers underwater is juxtaposed with the sound of the Korean temple bells that travel far. The former is transmitted through water waves, while the latter is transmitted through air waves. Humpback Whales Whales compose music. Among cetacean species, known for their vocalizations are the blue whale, the fin whale, the humpback whale, the minke whale, and the killer whale.[5] In particular, such baleen whales as humpback whales and blue whales have been relatively well studied for their vocalizing behaviors. The range of humpback whales’ sound frequencies is known as follows: The range of frequencies that whales use are [sic] from 30 Hertz (Hz) to about 8,000 Hz, (8 kHZ). Humans can only hear part of the whales’s songs. We aren’t able to hear the lowest of the whale frequencies. Humans hear low frequency sounds starting at about 100 Hz.[6] In comparisons, the vocalizations of blue whales are known to range from 10 to 40 Hz at a fundamental frequency (the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform). It is also noted that blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka make music of “four notes duration lasting about two minutes each, reminiscent of the well-known humpback whale songs.”[7] To be discussed below, the frequencies of the two most noted Korean temple bells range from 65 Hz to 103.02 Hz, which fall within the range of these whales’ vocalizations. A significant volume of scientific research has been harvested on the music of humpback whales. Katy and Roger Payne are, according to an article by Bill McQuay and Alison Richards, the first scientists who identified the calls of male humpback whales as songs.[8] They report that humpback whales do not merely sing but compose music. McQuay and Richards describe the song of humpback whales as follows: Surprisingly researchers have noted that at any given moment all males in a group will sing the same version of a song, even when separated over large distances, while whales in another region or hemisphere will sing a completely different song, but in unison with other whales in their area. These sounds are loud, deep and low-frequency (20Hz – 10 kHz). They can be heard many miles away and may go on for hours or even days. Individual songs can last anywhere from a few minutes up to a half hour at which point they may then be repeated again. …
(Bell Essay 5) The Ancient Korean Bell and Magoism by Helen Hwang

Part V: The Nine Nipples and Korean Magoist Identity Part V demonstrates the difference in bells of Korea, China, and Japan with regard to the relief of nine nipples. Chinese bells after the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) got away with the nipples wholesale, whereas Japanese bells inaccurately mimicked nine nipples. On the other hand, the nine nipples continued to be sculpted on Sillan Korean bells and throughout history. In fact, the nine nipples became the hallmark of Korean bells. Why did post-Han China discontinue the nine nipples, a legacy from Shang and Zhou times? What made Japan mimic the nipples on the bell? What does it mean that Korean bells kept the nine nipples intact throughout history? These questions remain unanswered without the framework of the mytho-history of Old Magoism that defines ancient Korea as the creator and defender of Magoism in pre- and proto-Chinese times. The fact that bells with the nine nipples re-emerged during 7th-8th century Silla (57 BCE-935 CE) is no accident. In fact, it supports the premise that Old Magoism during which Magoist female shamans ruled was revived by Sillan leaders. Silla Koreans took the role of witness to the legacy of Old Magoism before it vanished into the subliminal memory of history once and for all. Like other symbols of the number nine such as the nine dragons, nine-tailed fox, and nine maidens that I have shown in a series of preceding essays, the nine nipples are the cultural/conceptual relic from the bygone Magoist history underlying Sinocentric historiography of East Asia. On one level, the relief of nipples forged on the bells from Korea, China, and Japan in one way or another at some point of history substantiates the cultural influence of Old Magoism across the national boundaries of East Asia. On another level, the fact that the nine nipples characterize Korean bells throughout history suggests the primary association of ancient Koreans with Magoism. Korean bells have served the mission of carrying the cultural memory of Old Magoism. Let us backtrack a bit and ask: Is it possible to conclude that the Zhou bell was the original model of the Sillan bell? It is dubious to deem that the Sillan bell took the model of the Zhou bell solely. That is primarily because the Sillan bell is far more explicit than the Zhou bell in female symbology. The Zhou bell’s nipples are not even called nipples. Foremost, official history of ancient China has no explanation for the female principle embodied in the nine nipples of Zhou and Shang bells. It appears that the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) was the landmark that defined China without regard to its attitude toward Old Magoism. The umbilical cord was not only cut off but also used to matricide, marking the birth of full-fledged patriarchy. The bloody hand was washed in falsified historiography. The Han dynasty marks the period of transition from the pseudo-Magoist to the anti-Magoist for China. In other words, China as a political force began, or rather continued, to abandon the legacy of Old Magoism and forged a new identity of patriarchal rulership in writing. In about four centuries thereafter, we find the bells of the Dang dynasty (618-906) utterly non-traditional in style, showing no sign of female symbology. Bell, Chen Dynasty (575), China Jingyun Bell, Tang Dynasty (711), China Protruded knobs are expressed in Jingyun bell cast in 711 CE but hard to associate them with nipples. The number nine symbology is no longer included. Instead, the magnitude in size and weight (247 cm and 6,500 kg) was there to adumbrate what has gone into oblivion, the magical work of epiphany. Discontinuity between Zhou bells and Dang bells cannot be more overt. As seen in above images, Chinese bells of the post-Dang period are adorned in entirely new styles among which the convoluted end-lines are one of the most distinctive features. Creativity without harmony is no ingenuity but an expression of confusion. Power without harmony is only a disguise of fear and guilt. And harmony comes from the Great Goddess, Mago. The contrast of the Dang bell is heightened when it is juxtaposed with the contemporaneous Sillan counterpart. It is unequivocal that the Sillan Korean bell is closer to the Zhou bell in appearance than the Dang bell to the Zhou bell. Experts may deem this as a corollary that ancient Silla was under the influence of Zhou culture. However, I suggest that both Silla and Zhou took the footstep of the pre-Chinese tradition of Old Magoism. Put differently, there were older models that are not fully exposed at this time. Precisely, Sinocentric thinking is under investigation. On the part of proto-Chinese Korean history, according to mainstream historians, Joseon (2333 BCE-232 BCE) is rendered a myth lacking historicity. Silla not only duly inherited the heritage of Old Magoism but also sought to revive the rule of Old Magoism whose political stance strikingly differed from her contemporaneous neighboring state, Dang China. In fact, the Dang dynasty (618 CE-906 CE) coexisted with the united Silla period (668 CE-936 CE), shorter than the last third of the Silla period (57 BCE-935 CE). What prevents one from thinking that Silla inherited the symbolism of nine nipples directly from pre-Chinese East Asian/Korean Magoist Culture? Interestingly, Japanese bells have nipples whose numbers are, nonetheless, inconsistent, more than nine. While showing no overt symbology of female sexuality, the Japanese bell displays the nipples in the four corners aligning with its predecessors. In comparison with Korean bells, nonetheless, they are evidently monotonous in artistry. Absent are the breast circumferences as well as the seats for nipples. Neither goddess images nor intricately designed rinceau designs are employed. However, a hue of mimicry is echoing. The lack of originality in Japanese bells seemed plainly noticed by the Japanese themselves upon encountering Korean bells. More than fifty Korean bells were taken to Japan during the colonial period (1910-1945) and even before then and still remain there. Among them, six bells are known from Silla, cast before the 10th century CE. In fact, the bell in Unjuji, Japan, is alleged …