February 17, 2022February 16, 2022 Kaalii Cargill

[Photo Essay] Everything She Touches by Kaalii Cargill

Three years ago in late Spring, I moved into my new home. The two storey house is surrounded by trees, shrubs, and rock-walled paths. Over a century ago, the land was cleared of magnificent mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) trees, and the first European trees were planted. Today there are ash, beech, birch, cedar, dogwood, elm, flowering cherry, ginkgo, laurel, maple, oak, poplar, and tulip trees, with only a few eucalypts remaining. Beneath the canopy are camellias, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and other flowering plants. One of the ways I am engaging the land is to note the flowering plants through the seasons. I am slowly learning their names, their colours and scents, their seasonal timing. Something is always blooming. Something is always changing. She changes everything she touches. And everything She touches changes . .

April – season of Mabon (Autumn Equinox)

Honeysuckle

Wind flowers

Seaside daisy

Pelargonium

Cyclamen

Fuchsia

Heal-all

Roses

Hydrangeas

Rhododendron

May – season of Samhain

Campanula

Camellias

June – season of Winter Solstice

Chinese lantern

Camellias

July

Camellias

Violets

Winter roses

Azaleas

Rhododendron

Jonquils

Daffodils

Snowdrops

August – season of Imbolc

Daphne

Camellias

Winter Roses

Azaleas

Daffodils

Jonquils

Zygocactus

Epimedium

Japanese Laurel

September – season of Spring Equinox

Winter Roses

Azaleas

Midnight Lady (Gularia)

Camellias

Forsythia

Hyacinths

Acanthus

Iris

Forget Me Not

Magnolia

Bluebells

Common Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Viola

Flowering Cherry blossoms

Mexican Orange blossom

Waxflower

Lawn daisies

Polygala

Vinca

Lamium

Veronica

Callianthe

Evergreen candytuft

Salvia

Borage

Fuchsia

Campanula

October

Japanese snowball

Camellias

Bluebells

Symphytum grandiflorum

Clivia

Veronica

Clematis

Snowball

Honeysuckle

Aquilegia

Violets

November – season of Beltane

Camellias

Jerusalem Sage

Crassus multicava

Rhododendron

Azaleas

Guelder Rose

Geranium robertianum

Clivia

Aphelandra

Roses

Iris

Lilac

Laurel

Hydrangeas

Begonia

Polygala

Campanula

December – season of Summer Solstice

Climbing roses

Jasmine

Iris

Grevillia

Rhododendron

Azaleas

Hydrangeas

Fuchsias

Pelargonium

Callianthe

Walnut blossom

Peachleaf Bellflower

Dogwood

Flowering Cactus

Alstroemeria

Clematis virginiana

Chinese lantern

Salvia

Delphinium

Evening Primrose

Clematis integrifolia

January

African Iris

Hydrangeas

Evening Primrose

Roses

Fuchsias

Crocosmia paniculata

Pelargonium

February – season of Lughnasad

Tasman Flax Lily

Common Lilac

Himalayan Honeysuckle

Rose glory bower

March

Honeysuckle

Windflowers

Cyclamen

Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill

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Welcoming the Bees by Francesca Tronetti

Wikipedia Commons image Spring is one of my favorite times of year. In spring, I plan for my garden, one year a container on the deck, another year a pallet garden on the lawn. This year I am going to try for an actual garden in the old horse arena. In my region, you start some seeds indoors in the first week of March, so now is the time to gather your supplies. I’ve already purchased all the seeds for my garden, and for plants that I will start at my house for the community garden. This year I want lots of flowers. I have three packs of lavender seeds, three packs of perennial flowers, and six packs of butterfly and pollinator mixes. In the Cybeline tradition, bees are a symbol of the Goddess, owing back to the kissing bees of the Minoan civilization on Crete. Bringing bees into the garden and providing them with food and water is a way to help the earth, support several species teetering on the brink of survival, and bring beauty to your home. Inviting bees and butterflies can help your entire garden, and the smell of certain flowers deters some animals and pests. Nasturtiums keep pests away from tomatoes, and rabbits don’t like the smell of lavender. I cannot start planting out in the garden until around May 15, so now is the time to wait and prepare for the time when I can work in the garden at length. Since we all have this time, I wanted to share a few easy things you can do to prepare your land if, like me, you want to welcome butterflies and bees into your yard this year. First, you need to pick a sunny spot that is easy to water, a place close to your house, or where you can attach a hose and go to town. Don’t work in an area where you have sprayed pesticides or chemicals; even trace amounts can harm insects. Right now, it’s too wet and cold to work the soil properly. Wait until the soil is damp but not soaked. 2-3 days after heavy rain is good, especially in cold weather. If the area had high weeds or grasses last year, take a garden rake, pull them up, and put them aside for your compost pile. You can put some leftover fall leaves or compost on the area you want to plant in. Gather some thick, plain brown, cardboard, a little black or green ink is ok, but you do not want printed pictures. Pull off all tape and labels and break the boxes down. You can get boxes like this from your local grocery store when the fruits and vegetables are delivered. You can ask a manager or produce supervisor if you can have the boxes. Offer to pull around back and be polite, offer to come back when it’s convenient for them, and leave a number to reach you at. Layer on 2-3 pieces of cardboard and weigh it down so it doesn’t blow away. If rain is predicted soon, leave it alone; if not, spray it with a hose or use a watering can to soak the cardboard. Then leave it alone until after your last frost date. You can find your frost date online at the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Now comes the fun part, picking out your plants. In the United States, I recommend visiting NativeBackyards.com and searching “How to find native plants near me.” They have a list of sites you can visit to find out the best plants for your area. Bee balm is always a crowd-pleaser, but several varieties of milkweed are found across the country. Perennial plants are those which bloom year after year, such as hyssop, milkweed, lavender, lupine, and others. These are great to plant in areas where you want a permanent flower bed or along a path you know won’t be disturbed after a year. But don’t be afraid to toss in some annuals; sunflowers are beautiful and come in different colors, and even some herbs will attract pollinators and be useful in your kitchen. You can start your seeds indoors or purchase transplants at a garden center. However, most of your flowers you will direct sow into the soil after the last danger of frost has passed. Return to your yard with the garden rake on that day or a few days after. If the cardboard has decayed almost completely, you can break it up and work it into the soil. If not, shred it and toss it in your compost pile to continue breaking down. The cardboard will have prevented grass and weeds from growing in the area, leaving you with dead plants and no new growth. Wikipedia Commons image Wet the soil a little bit and run the garden rake over it to open it up and loosen the soil. Sprinkle in those direct sow seeds; sunflower seeds need to be planted at a depth of about 1 inch and grow very tall, so place them along the north edge of your planting area. Follow directions to plant transplants and throw some compost into the hole if your soil is poor. Make the hole at least twice as large as the pot; breaking up the soil makes it easier for the roots to spread out. After that, you can add fun extras to your garden. Get a nice lounge chair and a small table to lay in the sun and read a book as you admire your work. Get some pavers from a supply store and make a meditation area with a few potted plants. Put in a bird bath with some rocks to create ledges for bees and butterflies to stop by for a drink. Put up a few birdhouses or a bee hotel for solitary bees to rest in. A hummingbird feeder is a nice addition, as are hanging baskets of strawberries. It’s not quite spring, but now is the time …
(Art) Temperance (Cetaceans and the Cosmic Uterus) by Susan Abbott

Watercolor by Susan Abbott This was a study I did for the Temperance card of the Tarot deck. Lots going on in the cosmic uterus with the whale, the dolphin, the fetus, the night sky cosmos, the pouring of water on fire the steam that creates.(Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Abbott.
(Poem) A Post Card For Peace by Louisa Calio

“Skies Upon Skies” @ Louisa Calio 2023 For all peoples in war and suffering Love has become my political act. I send it to you from this beautiful spot beside the warm, blue-green waters of the Caribbean Over and through the airwaves Beyond time and space Directly into your heart Newly shot with hope for peace I pray you will receive Teleported with the deepest love A kiss that heals comforts all pain and suffering with such a tenderness offering profound relief. Beauty endures. Beauty cures. Though I know my request that you become my guest I accede may never be physically met May you nevertheless Feel this passionate invisible kiss, my hot breath blown from open lips to yours Reaching and filling your life Resuscitating all existence A tender love A postcard for peace. https://www.magoism.net/2015/06/meet-mago-contributor-louisa-calio/
(Essay 4) blackbird and a pear tree by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum

A family story told in art, names, places, denied cultures, black and sensual madonnas, diversity of beliefs, visionary and healing Santa Lucia of Sicily An earthquake and an ancestral and contemporary story of grandmothers, mothers and fathers, kids, sisters and brothers, cousins, and 100 kinds of pizza The earthquake in late August 2014 in Napa shook Californians and others. After eldest son Naury mopped water from a broken tank, he continued researching and planning the September family trip to Sicily gifted by their eldest son Josh. His wife Barbara researched hotels, restaurants, and wine festivals.
(Essay 1) Red Poppies Among the Ruins by Mary Saracino

[Author’s Note: Originally published in TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, September 2007, www.triviavoices.net.] Red Poppies Tharros, photo by MarySaracino Under the alchemy of the sea and sky, my bones began to listen. The warm wind tickled my ear lobes, kissed my cheek, bidding me to cede to the desire of memory. You have been here before, it whispered and my bones sighed, recalling the taste of the salty air, the scent of pink roses in full bloom. Sardegna. My cells knew this island of granite and basalt mountains, primeval oak forests, cork trees, olive groves, hillsides teeming with wooly sheep. My spirit recognized its shimmering turquoise waters, its cerulean canopy of morning sky, though my earthly eyes had never before gazed upon Sardegna. I came to the island on a pilgrimage, seeking the buried treasure of my soul’s most ancient longing. I came to explore ruins of the Dea Madre, the God Mother, artifacts of the Divine One, the Dark Mother, who sailed with ancient voyagers from oldest Africa 50,000 years before. These journeyers from the Motherland were seekers, too, searching for what I do not know. Perhaps like any traveler, they had grown weary of life in their native lands and sought new sights, new sounds, new smells, new ways of encountering the world. With them they brought their most cherished traditions and customs: reverence for the Divine Mother, theEarth and all its creatures, a capacity for living in peace and a sacred understanding of social equality. I wandered among the Punic ruins at Tharros, near the Cape of San Marco, on Sardegna’s western shore, seeking messages from these ancient ones. In the 8 th Century BCE, Carthaginians arrived from North Africa to settle on this stretch of rocky land and build a prosperous, vibrant city. They established an outpost around 850 BCE on the lip of this promontory. At the height of its glory, Tharros was one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean serving both as a maritime stronghold and a bustling trade center. To one side of the promontory, the wild sea is untamed. The ancients named it mare vivo, living sea. The other, calmer side, they christened, mare morto, the dead sea. They chose to moor their ships in the quieter waters of its harbor. From this juxtaposition of vivo and morto, Tharros rose, perched between life and death, teeming with women and men, children and animals, living, breathing, loving, dying. Rich in culture and commerce, the city of Tharros was civilized and highly developed, complete with streets, residential neighborhoods, artisan shops, iron-work foundries, temples, a sewage system, meeting areas, a shopping district, and two necropoli (grave sites). Among the ruins, one can still envision the city’s open sanctuary and its monumental temple (most likely built in honor of Tanit, a Dark Mother female divinity with ancient ties to African Isis). In the 3 rd century BCE, the Romans conquered Tharros and subjugated its people, although the city continued to prosper under Roman occupation. Working with the urban design already in place, the Romans added, adapted and integrated their buildings with pre-existing structures, applying quintessentially Roman touches such as thermal baths—with dressing rooms, saunas and hot and cold water pools—aqueduct pipes to carry water to buildings, and stone roads. The memory of the Feminine Divine lingered as well in Roman temples built to honor the goddesses Demeter and her daughter, Core (Persephone). In the 8 th and 9 th centuries CE, Saracens raids added to Tharros’ demise. Malarial epidemics in the marshy sections of the peninsula proved, ultimately, to be disastrous. In the 11 th century CE, attempts to resettle the city were futile. This once shining gem on the Cape of San Marco was to remain a shadowy memory, its past glory forever humbled and overrun by scarlet poppies, yellow broom, and violet wildflowers. Still, some timeless essence whispered to me as I strolled along Tharros’ ancient main street—the Cardo Maximus. I wandered the stone alleyways, lingering among the crumbling foundations of this once impressive city, envisioning what used to be its houses, temples, public baths, and shops. The life-pulse of the inhabitants who once populated these now-vacant streets was unmistakable. My ears rang with the din and chatter of ancient artisans crafting coral jewelry or fashioning iron tools. My eyes sensed the industrious traders plying their wares, seafarers bringing goods from places far away. Perhaps, centuries before, my soles touched this earth, the dusty soil lodged between my toes. I may have stopped to loosen my sandal, ease the chafing against my skin, or to greet a neighbor, Salve. In my ears lingered the sound of children laughing, men’s voices rising from the village center, women singing at the sacred well. Whichhome was mine? I wondered as I walked along among the ruins dotted with red poppies. The North African Carthaginians were not the first immigrants to the island. As early as 1100 BCE, Canaanites had sailed directly from their Near East homeland (from what is modern-day Palestine and Syria) to trade and co-mingle with the Nuraghi, Sardegna’s original inhabitants whose culture thrived on the island from 1800- 500 BCE. The peaceful Canaanite seafarers anchored their lives to this new land and, sometimes, put to rest their wandering ways. Along with their ships’ cargo they carried the rites of their Mother God: Tanit, and her values of justice with compassion. Some archeological evidence suggests that the Canaanites in these entrepost settlements co-existed in harmony with the Nuraghi, blending their ways and customs with that of the early Sardegnans who had developed their own prosperous culture and society. Indeed, the two peoples shared many common values, not the least of which were social equality, a community-oriented ethos, and a belief in a female deity. (To be continued) https://www.magoism.net/2013/05/meet-mago-contributor-mary-saracino/
(Art) Ingaladdi Sun Woman by Lydia Ruyle

Ingaladdi Sun Woman Ingaladdi Sun Woman is painted around a vulva like natural rock cavity in the Victoria River District of Australia’s Northern Territory. The energy lines around her head and her large vulva suggest Walu, the Aborigine Mother Sun who gives birth to the world. Surrounding Ingaladdi is another rock painting which also portrays the radiant energy of the sun.
(Art) Caoránach, Irish Mother Goddess by Andrea Redmond

Irish Goddess Caoránach by Andrea Redmond. Acrylic on paper. Caoránach is a dragon serpent, an Oillipheist, from Lough Derg, Donegal, Ireland. The Druids called her Caorthannach, Caoránach, or Corra. She is said to have been brought here by the Tuatha Dé Dannan, others that she may have been the Great Serpent Goddess of Ireland and Scotland. There are stories of these creatures in Ireland, referred to as dragons, included sea serpents and a dragon-like giant worm. These creatures were believed to inhabit many marshes, lakes and rivers. Both the serpent and the dragon were ancient symbols of life, fertility, rebirth, healing, immortality and the Goddess. The Druids believed that these primordial beings had ancient knowledge and wisdom of the earth. Dragons and great serpents are common across the world, and their connection often, to the Great Goddess is quite clear. They represent personifications of the Older Pagan belief systems and specific connections with bodies of water and the Other/Under world. In European mythology the Mother Goddess Danu appeared as the dragon Vrta blocking rivers. While the presence of serpentine motifs can be found in much pre-Christian art in Ireland, they truly became part of popular Irish culture with the coming of Christianity, and the heroic efforts of male saints or heroes in their defeat. Caoránach was the mother of all of the great dragon worms of Ireland; Patrick refers to her as the Mother of demons, therefore, a matrilineal Goddess. She is even referred to in some tales as the Cailleach. A number of stories relate to her demise at the hands of Patrick and earlier heroes. Mary Condren in her excellent book The Serpent and the Goddess, documents the suppression of these early Irish matricentrific goddesses, including those of the serpent/dragon ilk,by the Christian male patriarchial religion. But patriarchial endeavours to undermine the Goddess is evident even in pre-Christian times. According to early legends, Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of Fianna are asked to slay a hag or witch- and from her body come a worm that metamorphoses into Caoránach who begins to eat the cattle in the land. Lough Derg, and the several islands in this lake, gets its name from the blood of Caoránach, which dyed the lake and rocks red after her defeat(s). Patrick is also said, in one account, to have banished her to a cave in Lough Derg, where she lives today. The irony, not lost on many followers of the Goddess, is that the site of her demise (?) is located at a place of pilgrimage, St. Patrick’s Purgatory. It has been a pilgrimage site for Christians since the 5th Century. However, a prehistoric mound visible today, where a basilica and retreat sanctuary are located, indicate that it was, also, an important pre-Christian site for devotion to the Goddess Caoránach .   https://www.magoism.net/2023/09/meet-mago-contributor-andrea-redmond/
(Prose) The Mago Work and Magoist Cetaceanism in the time of the Covid19 by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Oceanic Pumping by Whales. Wikimedia Commons. If we can make the pandemic a time of opportunity to nail patriarchy in the head once and for all, we may be able to say that the Covid19 is worthy of it in the end. The Covid19 can’t stop what we are meant to do! And we are ever freshly charged to undertake the task of helping Life right HERE/NOW! That is the driving force under the Mago Work’s ongoing and new ventures. Lately, we have launched a new project, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, an academic peer reviewed journal on Goddess-related topics. All beings including non-human species, if we can survive, endure this time of the pandemic ordeal. And we are unsure what is coming at the end of this tunnel. Nonetheless, I am thankful for what we still have and can do. We are flexible, open-minded, and creative. We grin in tears longing for love and connection. And we have the spirit of making an ever new start. That is our power, we live fully. In fact, the Mago Work founded in 2012 was designed in order to survive and thrive during the time of crises on all levels. On one level, schools and educational institutes now go by online, which puts Mago Academy one of them, a pioneering survivor! That said, is it possible to confront patriarchy at the dead-end? How do we do that? I suggest that we restore Magoist Cetaceanism today among us. Magoist Cetaceanism is about the bond between Magoists (followers of the Great Mother) and the natural world administered by whales. Why whales? Why not just women or mothers? To expose the bare face of patriarchy, we need to unveil the hidden/suppressed dimension of the cetacean divine, Whale Ruler the Great (Daewang Gorae), emulated by Magoist “Rulers” (Mother Queens and their descendant kings). How relevant are whales in our assessment of the Mother World? While whales manifest most unexpectedly in cultural and thematic expressions across time and space, it is rarely known that dragons are the cetacean symbolism. Traditional Korea is imbued with the cetacean totemism, a topic that requires a book to write about. I have noticed that dragons (the personification of the cetacean divine) are associated with ancient Goddesses including the Inanna group of Goddesses, far more vividly than we would expect.As I am preparing for the upcoming Magoist Studies Salon on whales (for the rest four months of 2020), these thoughts are on my mind. Patriarchy must have hated the natural world represented by whales more than women/mothers. One may question if hate has a degree. It does! The natural world has been deprived of its existential status wholesale in patriarchy. Animals, birds, trees and plants are allowed no right of existence on their own. The following is the topic statement on Magoist Cetaceanism for the Salon: The bond between Magoists and whales is made invisible in patriarchy. Both the female principle and the cetacean totemism remain esoteric at best. In Magoism, whales are venerated as the paragon of Magoist Queen Mothers who administer the human world on behalf of Mago, the Great Mother. Magoist Cetaceanism, restored, tells us that Magoism, the Way of the Great Mother, has been subjected to the process of matricide, mystification, and oblivion in the course of history due not only to its uncompromising female principle but also to its espousal with the cetacean totemism. Truth is that the cetacean totemism held by ancient Magoists is antithetical to patriarchal premises. Put differently, Magoist Cetaceanism cannot be admitted in patriarchy. For the seamless unity of humans and the natural world represented by whales undermines the very proposition of patriarchy. Pre-patriarchal sons may have come to set themselves against whales (dragons) out of jealousy, as the latter were worshipped as the terrestrial divine by their Shaman Queen mothers. Our message is that we humans are here to know the nurturing power of whales and collaborate with them. In fact, I hold that whales comprise one of the three divine realms, the terrestrial divine (Nine Dragons) together with the heavenly divine (Nine Magos) and the human divine (Nine Gomas). In the three-fold reality of WE/HERE/NOW, better known as the thought of Heaven-Earth-Human, cetaceans come as the second agent who represents the earthly realm. We will discuss whales as the terrestrial divine in light of the Magoist Cosmogony and Magoist Shaman Queens. The very establishment of Magoism, the teaching of the Great Mother, Mago, may have been possible due to a consummate degree of progress or revelation on maternal cetology (study of whales by Magoist Mothers) circa 3898 BCE by Goma, the Magoist Shaman Queen founder of the nine-state Danguk confederacy. Put differently, the discourse of the mother divine (Nine Magos) has to do with the cetacean worship. At this point of a pre-patriarchal time, human mothers came to perceive the universe in the language of Sonic Numerology. The conscious promotion of Goddesses (the Great Mother and HER human daughters known as Heavenly Queen or Heavenly Mother) rose (that was still in pre-patriarchal times) and because of that, we today get to know them. This is all thanks to whales! In a pre-patriarchal world, the concern of Magoists was to overcome the problem of eating living beings for food. This is not a small issue. In fact, the Budoji calls it the first catastrophe (Christians call it the first disobedience, according to John Milton in Paradise Lost). Pre-patriarchal mothers faced to overcome the problem of food, which resulted in the change of human biology/psychology/consciousness once and for all. Magoists in the cradle of Mago Stronghold drank “the terrestrial milk” springing from the ground, the mineral water. And later, they ventured out to take arrow roots, pine needles, pine nuts, and the like for food. Later, they were likely to eat a dead whale, washed ashore. I am reaching the thought that humans can take organic materials that are freely given by the natural world/lifeforms not by killing them. Nobody wants to share? …
(Short Story) In the Beginning by Kaalii Cargill

“Once, long, long ago, at the beginning of time, Sky and Earth were one.” The wizened storyteller paused to look at the young ones gathered in the circle to hear the Old Tales. The crone smiled her toothless smile and nodded to herself, remembering the first time she had heard the stories told. A lifetime had passed, but the words never changed… “Sky and Earth moved together in the Void. There they would have remained for all time, but for the Chance that lives in Chaos. From Chaos comes the night, from the boundless empty space comes the power of Nature.” Wide-eyed, the children listened. “From Chance came a spark that gave rise to a wind that blew between Sky and Earth, driving them apart.” The old woman’s arms rose in a graceful arc, as they had when she had danced in the Temple as a novice. Then her hands came together, leading her body into a crouch, impossibly supple for old bones. “Curling into a sphere, Earth formed the solid matter on which we stand.” Again the graceful arcing movement. “Spreading wide, Sky arched into the vault of the Heavens above.” The children followed the storyteller’s dance, entranced by her magic. “The space between they filled with their children.” “That’s us!” whispered the children. The storyteller held up her finger for quiet, but she smiled at the young ones. They moved closer. This was the part for which they had been waiting – the story of their own becoming. “As their children came forth, Sky and Earth bestowed gifts on them. To Men they gave strong bodies, for digging the soil and holding their loved ones. To women they gave strong hearts, for they are the life-givers.” “Why?” asked the young ones. “Why are Women the life-givers?” “Why does new life come forth from the Earth?” asked the storyteller. “Why do we honour the Earth as out Mother?’ “Because Her hills are like breasts!” called a bright-eyed child. “Because She feeds us!” called another. “Because She was there at the beginning and will be there at the end,” said a third. The crone nodded. “All of that is true.” The children smiled at their own cleverness. “Listen now, and I will tell you the true reason that women are the life-givers.” The children were still, waiting. “Earth and Sky might have continued to bring forth Men and Women, as many as were needed. Why did they give the life-giving power to Women?” The children considered her question with blank faces, frowns, bitten lips. Finally the old woman spoke again. “It happened like this. The first Man and Woman came forth into a garden between two rivers. In this place was food and water enough for them to live forever. They swam in clear pools, slept in the Sun, and supped on ripe fruits. All was well.” “What happened?” asked a girl sitting at the edge of the circle. “Time passed,” said the storyteller. “Earth and Sky began to grow sleepy. No more did they dance as they had when they were young. No more did they bring forth children.” Her voice conveyed the sadness of the change. “What happened?” asked the girl again. “A great and wise power came to the Woman in the form of a serpent.” The storyteller’s hands moved in gentle undulations, leaving tracks in the air like the curving pathways of the snakes by the river. “Did the serpent bite her?” asked the girl. “No! The serpent spoke to the Woman and told her the secrets of bringing forth life from within her body.” “But why didn’t the serpent speak to the Man?’ asked a boy sitting near the storyteller. “Because Men cannot hear serpents speak,” said the old woman, as if that explained everything. Meet MAGO Conributor Kaalii Cargill

(Special Post Isis 1) 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 1 Is Isis White (European) or Black (African)? Harita Meenee What could Isis have to do with the political situation in Egypt? Read on to find out! Isis, Egypt and the Revolution For the past few years Egypt has felt like a second home to me. Some cherished friends and co-workers live there, to whom my thoughts often travel. Also, Isis, the Egyptian great goddess once worshiped all over the Mediterranean, has been an ever-present source of inspiration… By: Harita Meenee, Author https://www.facebook.com/notes/harita-meenee-author/isis-egypt-and-the-revolution/457348724361326 Rick Williams Isis and that picture for me is kind of offensive in 2013. KMT [Kemet, Egypt] and AUSET [Isis] “worship” is an oxymoron. Kahena Dorothea Can you explain, Rick Williams, how it is an oxymoron? I am curious. Rick Williams First, Auset as a deity was not a singularly honored symbolic personage. KMT taught principles of BALANCE and UNIVERSAL COSMOLOGICAL TRUTH. There are NO images from the dawn of that age depicting her as EUROPEAN. [Threads curtailed] Helen Hwang I would strongly suggest that Rick and others who see Rick’s point educate us in Mago Circle. I know this is very difficult but we are here to learn and express differences from each other. We are all centers and please share your perspective and knowledge so that others can learn. I am doing that with patience and tolerance as well. Thank you all! Rick Williams I try to be as honest and respectful when I can, Helen. I only personalize things when ONE person says something. Yet there are those who know that the people of that land now weren’t the same people who honored the deities of mythology and that image isn’t of Auset. When will folks stop promoting fictitious images and uneducated observations? I could have beat around the bush and politely asked about the statue, why that one isn’t truly the same of Auset’s time? Helen Hwang Okay, conflicts and contradictions are everywhere. Nonetheless, we can’t be beat by those. We are exploring ways to be empowered by addressing our differences in Mago Circle. We trust that we have good intentions and yet we are not perfect. I do Mago Circle and Return to Mago because I believe there is a way for us to meet and talk with our differences, I can’t let that hope go! Thank us for talking to each other. Naa Ayele Kumari I can see both points. Egypt has a long and ancient history… One filled with invaders.. wars.. people who stole the magic and manipulated it for their own purposes… Those invaders changed images to make them in their own reflections all the while slowly destroying the indigenous images of power and strength as well as the sacred tradition they were built on.. As a woman of African descent, it is sometimes difficult to see the Hellenistic images of our mother.. because her original images were a woman of color. Racism… whether we chose to admit it or not has played an immense part in our oppression as a people and that includes the struggle for Egypt today. It is especially a sensitive issue because those images play a role in how people see and view black women… even today. The dark goddess is stereotyped as being a part of our shadow while the white goddess is caste as being all that is good in the world. What black women struggle to tell the world is that those projections are simply racist projections… and so we reject them. Still, I recognize that people like to experience the divine in their own image and that our Mother has been taken around the world… and by extension absorbed many names and faces because after all, she is mother not to just Africans… but to the World. Right now, we have dominant tradition of Islam… that at its roots has a feminine basis… (Islam came from the word Isis) all the while oppressing women by its dogma. The indigenous people of Egypt, the Badarians and Nubians… are oppressed by Arab invaders who have taken control, projected their own religions all the while wanting to destroy the remainder of the images of the ancients. Injustice recognizes injustice… and all the ways that it shows up. At the root of Egypt…is Isis… called also Esi and Auset by the indigenous people. She has been oppressed by many layers of invaders… Her daughter’s voices have been muted… Timeless icon that she is, as the tides are turning, so are the heavy oppressions being lifted. Women are finding and re-remembering their power… and as they do… Mama Esi.. is taking back her throne. Naa Ayele Kumari This is the Isis on the walls and temples of Egypt. Harita Meenee Seeing the people of Egypt as all white or all Black means stereotyping them. In fact the inhabitants of Egypt are of different colors: some are white, others are Black and many others are something in-between. The same was true in antiquity and it’s reflected in Egyptian art. Rick Williams Harita, really? What does that have to do with your choice of misrepresentation of that image? Please enlighten me, thank you. Harita Meenee Τhere is no misrepresentation, dear Rick Williams. If you read my note carefully, you’ll see that it talks about Isis as a goddess who was worshiped all over the Mediterranean–I’m not referring to just her Egyptian manifestation. The statue depicted is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. I took this picture and processed it slightly so that it looks more like a painting than a sculpture. No change was made to the actual form or color of the statue. I’m attaching a photo of the museum label of this work of art. It may not be clearly visible, but it reads: Marble statue of the goddess Isis-Tyche-Pelagia. 1st-2nd century AD. The composite name means that, as was often the case in […]
(Special Post 1) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

“Ma” in “Mago” and “Ma-Gaia” Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey [Conversation between Carol P. Christ, Ph.D. and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.] Carol P. Christ (CPC): Below is culled from “Gaia” in Wikipedia: The Greek word γαῖα (transliterated as gaia) is a collateral form of γῆ (gē, Doric γᾶ ga and probably δᾶ da) meaning Earth, a word of uncertain origin. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (trans. as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang (HHH): “Mago” and “Goma” are closely linked. Gom or Goma means the bear and Magoist shaman queen of the late fourth millennium BCE. She is also related with the Big Bear constellation. “Go” is used as a modifier referring to Mago or the Goddess in various texts of East Asia. “Mago” is related with “magi,” whose singular form is “magus” or “magos.” Will have to check for more details and the source. CPC: My intuition is that “ma” and “na” are baby talk for mother. In other words, preceding any language. Mycenean is IE language, “Pre-Greek” is not IE. CPC: Below is “Mother” from Wikipedia: Synonyms and translations The proverbial “first word” of an infant often sounds like “ma” or “mama”. This strong association of that sound with “mother” has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language. Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are: Aama, Mata used in Nepal Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, India and parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Mum and mummy are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Ireland. Charles, Prince of Wales publicly addressed his mother Queen Elizabeth II as “Mummy” on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of the United Kingdom, and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States. In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply: Maa, aai, amma, and mata are used in languages of India like Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu etc. Mamá, mama, ma, and mami in Spanish Mama in Polish, German, Russian and Slovak Māma (妈妈/媽媽) in Chinese Máma in Czech and in Ukrainian Maman in French and Persian Ma, mama in Indonesian Mamaí, mam in Irish Mamma in Italian, Icelandic, Latvian and Swedish Māman or mādar in Persian Mamãe or mãe in Portuguese Mā̃ (ਮਾਂ) in Punjabi Mama in Swahili Em (אם) in Hebrew A’ma (ܐܡܐ) in Aramaic Má or mẹ in Vietnamese Mam in Welsh Eomma (엄마, pronounced [ʌmma]) in Korean In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East, the mother is known as amma, oma, ammi or “ummi”, or variations thereof. Many times, these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child’s life. HHH: The name for Goddess seems as ancient as the language itself. [“Ma” being the first intentional word to be spoken by a baby.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Scholars and mythologists agree that “ma” means both one’s mother and the Goddess, I quoted it in my dissertation written in 2004. Judy E Foster: Brilliant discussion, Helen and Carol! So many revelations… hard to keep up! But do continue, its fascinating – makes so much sense. (To be continued)Join the discussion of this and other topics in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group.
(Special Post 2) "The Oldest Cilivization" and its Agendas by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: The following discussion took place in response to an article listed blow by the members of The Mago Cirlce, Facebook group of Goddessians/Magoists from May 6 to May 10, 2016. Readers are recommended to read the original article linked below that has invoked the converation.] “The Danube Civilization: Oldest in the World” in The Ancient Ones upon the ruins of our ancestors, published April 3, 2016.

(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

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

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 5 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Traditionally the dates for this Seasonal Moment are: Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd however the actual astronomical date varies. See archaeoastronomy.com for the actual moment. Lammas table/altar Lammas, as it is often called[1], is the meridian point of the first dark quarter of the year, between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox; it is after the light phase has peaked and is complete, and as such, I choose it as a special celebration of the Crone/Old One. Within the Celtic tradition, it is the wake of Lugh, the Sun King, and it is the Crone that reaps him. But within earlier Goddess traditions, all the transformations were Hers[2]; and the community reflected on the reality that the Mother aspect of the Goddess, having come to fruition, from Lammas on would enter the Earth and slowly become transformed into the Old Woman-Hecate-Cailleach aspect …[3] I dedicate Lammas to the face of the Old One, just as Imbolc, its polar opposite on the Wheel in Old European tradition, is dedicated to the Virgin/Maiden face. The Old One, the Dark and Shining One, has been much maligned, so to celebrate Her can be more of a challenge in our present cultural context. Lammas may be an opportunity to re-aquaint ourselves with the Crone in her purity, to fall in love with Her again. I state the purpose of the seasonal gathering thus: This is the season of the waxing dark. The seed of darkness born at the Summer Solstice now grows … the dark part of the days grows visibly longer. Earth’s tilt is taking us back away from the Sun. This is the time when we celebrate dissolution; each unique self lets go, to the Darkness. It is the time of ending, when the grain, the fruit, is harvested. We meet to remember the Dark Sentience, the All-Nourishing Abyss, She from whom we arise, in whom we are immersed, and to whom we return. This is the time of the Crone, the Wise Dark One, who accepts and receives our harvest, who grinds the grain, who dismantles what has gone before. She is Hecate, Lillith, Medusa, Kali, Erishkagel,Chamunda, Coatlique – Divine Compassionate One, She Who Creates the Space to Be. We meet to accept Her transformative embrace, trusting Her knowing, which is beyond all knowledge. Lammas is the seasonal moment for recognizing that we dissolve into the “night” of the Larger Organism of whom we are part – Gaia. It is She who is immortal, from whom we arise, and into whom we dissolve. This celebration is a development of what was born in the transition of Summer Solstice; the dark sentient Source of Creativity is honoured. The autopoietic space in us recognizes Her, is comforted by Her, desires Her self-transcendence and self-dissolution; Lammas is an opportunity to be with our organism’s love of Larger Self – this Native Place. We have been taught to fear Her, but at this Seasonal Moment we may remember that She is the compassionate One, deeply committed to transformation, which is actually innate to us. Whereas at Imbolc/Early Spring, we shone forth as individual, multiforms of Her; at Lammas, we small individual selves remember that we are She and dissolve back into Her. We are the Promise of Lifeas was affirmed at Imbolc, but we are the Promise of Her- it is not ours to hold. We identify as the sacred Harvest at Lammas; our individual harvest isHer Harvest. We are the process itself – we are Gaia’s Process. Wedo not breathe (though of course we do), we borrow the breath, for a while. It is like a relay: we pick the breath up, create what we do during our time with it, and pass it on. The harvest we reap in our individual lives is important, andit is for us only short term; it belongs to the Cosmos in the long term. Lammas is a time for “making sacred” – as “sacrifice” may be understood; we may “make sacred” ourselves. As Imbolc was a time for dedication, so is Lammas. This is the wisdom of the phase of the Old One. She is the aspect that finds the “yes” to letting go, to loving the Larger Self, beyond all knowledge, and steps into the power of the Abyss; encouraged and nourished by the harvest, She will gradually move into the balance of Autumn Equinox/Mabon, the next Sesaonal Moment on the year’s cycle. References: Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess.Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990. Gray, Susan. The Woman’s Book of Runes.New York: Barnes and Noble, 1999. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. McLean, Adam. The Four Fire Festivals. Edinburgh: Megalithic Research Publications, 1979. Notes: [1]See note 3. [2]Susan Gray, The Woman’s Book of Runes,p. 18. This is also to say that the transformations are within each being, not elsewhere, that is the “sacrifice” is not carried out by another external to the self, as could be and have been interpreted from stories of Lugh or Jesus. [3]Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, The Year of the Goddess, p.143, quoting Adam McLean, Fire Festivals,p.20-22. Another indication of the earlier tradition beneath “Lughnasad” is the other name for it in Ireland of “Tailltean Games”. Taillte was said to be Lugh’s foster-mother, and it was her death that was being commemmorated (Mike Nichols, “The First Harvest”, Pagan Alliance Newsletter NSW Australia). The name “Tailtunasad” has been suggested for this Seasonal Moment, by Cheryl Straffon editor of Goddess Alive! I prefer the name of Lammas, although some think it is a Christian term: however some sources say that Lammas means “feast of the bread” which is how I have understood it, and surely such a feast pre-dates Christianity. It is my opinion that the incoming Christians preferred “Lammas” to “Lughnasad”: the term itself is not Christian in origin. The evolution of all these things is complex, and we may evolve them further with our careful thoughts and experience.
(Poem) Samhain by Annie Finch

In the season leaves should love, since it gives them leave to move through the wind, towards the ground they were watching while they hung, legend says there is a seam stitching darkness like a name. Now when dying grasses veil earth from the sky in one last pale wave, as autumn dies to bring winter back, and then the spring, we who die ourselves can peel back another kind of veil that hangs among us like thick smoke. Tonight at last I feel it shake. I feel the nights stretching away thousands long behind the days, till they reach the darkness where all of me is ancestor. I turn my hand and feel a touch move with me, and when I brush my young mind across another, I have met my mother’s mother. Sure as footsteps in my waiting self, I find her, and she brings arms that hold answers for me, intimate, waiting, bounty: “Carry me.” She leaves this trail through a shudder of the veil, and leaves, like amber where she stays, a gift for her perpetual gaze. From Eve (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010) (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Poetry & Photo Essay) Pongal by Susan Hawthorne

I am a secularist rather than a ritualist, but I can’t help but be drawn into the celebrations that people make when they honour the passing of the seasons. Even as a child I felt the disconnect between Christmas and the hot dusty days of summer. When Christians invaded and colonised Australia they brought their holidays but did not consider changing the dates to match the seasons. I was in India recently, invited as a speaker at the Hindu Lit For Life Festival in Chennai where I had lived ten years ago. The last day of the festival was the first day of Pongal. A friend, feminist economist Devaki Jain, who had grown up in Chennai eighty years earlier invited me to join her in a car ride to see Pongal celebrations in the streets. This is a Tamil festival dating back at least a thousand years, a sun festival, welcoming the next six months of the sun’s journey, also a harvest festival. During this time many women produce beautiful drawings, known as kolam. In my book Cow I wrote a poem about kolam which I think says more than I can explain here. what she says about kolam where they are drawn and when is all important early morning is auspicious it sets the shape of the day the hard ground is cleaned points of white grain sprinkled she works quickly she knows her design for the day runs the powdered grain from point to point it is a mandala a yantra a sign so the forces of the universe align themselves with her intentions Back to Pongal. The festival goes for four days. On the first day, which is called Bhogi, people are on the streets with the fruits of harvest, piles of tumeric and stacks of sugar cane tied in bunches. My friend, Devaki, bought flowers to take back to her room in the hotel. The second day, called Thai Pongal, I was invited to a harvest lunch at the house of my friend Mangai who is a playwright, theatre director and human rights activist. The word ‘pongal’ means ‘boiling over’ or’ overflow’ and I saw this in the cooking of the sweetened rice dish into which each of the twelve people present poured some water and milk as it almost overflowed the pot. This sweet rice dish was added to the collection of other dishes on the table. I cannot tell you what they were, but the meal was delicious. After lunch everyone relaxed, someone sang, we talked and caught up on news. The third day, is called Maatu Pongal, and cattle are at the centre of celebrations on that day. I don’t know if this line up of cattle had anything to do with the day’s celebration but there they were tied up alongside a very busy main road. These were not cows and I did not see any cows with decorated horns and flowers on their heads. on that day as I have on other occasions. On the fourth day, Kaanum Pongal, things begin to wind down. One of my co-speakers at the festival said she would be visiting family members on that day. The kolams are drawn again, sugar cane is consumed and people go back to their daily lives. What I liked about being in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival is that it felt absolutely right. The time of the year, the connection with harvest, so I did not feel the discomfort I so often feel in the midst of the out-of-season commercialised holidays as they are celebrated in Australia. Susan Hawthorne’s book Cow is available worldwide from distributors in USA, Canada, UK, from all the usual online retailers or from Spinifex Press. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=215/ © Susan Hawthorne, 2019 (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.
Happy New Year, Year 2/5916 Magoma Era! by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“The Bell of King Seongdeok, known as the Emille Bell, a massive bronze bell at 19 tons is the largest in Korea.” Wikimedia Commons. Cast in 771, the bell reenacts the music of whales to remind people of the Female Beginning, the self-creative power innate all beings. Today is Day 2 of the New Year in the reconstructed Magoist Calendar characterized by 13 months per year and 28 days per month. We are heading toward the Solstice that falls on Dec. 21/22 (Day 5 of the first month in the Magoist Calendar), which happens to be the day of the first full moon of Year 2. Below is the details about the Magoist Calendar. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/03/27/magoist-calendar-13-month-28-day-year-1-5915-me-2018-gregorian-year/ The Gregorian year 2018 marks a watershed in that we began to implement the Magoist Calendar. The Magoma Era is based on the onset of the nine-state confederacy of Danguk (State of Dan, the Birth Tree) traditinally dated 3898 BCE-2333 BCE. We just passed Year 1 or 5915 Magoma Era (the Gregorian 2018). For Year 1, we had the New Year Day on December 18 of 2017, the first new moon day before the December Solstice. That makes December 18 of 2017 our lunation 1, the first lunar year that the reconstructed Magoist Calendar determines its first day of the Year 1! Although relatively short in history, the Mago Work began to celebrate the Nine Day Mago Celebration on the day of December Solstice annually since 2015. With the reconstructed Magoist Calendar, we placed it in its due timeframe, the Ninth Month and the Ninth Day, which fell on August 8, 2018 (US PST) and celebrated it for the first time according to the Magoist Calendar. Apparently, this had to be a mid-Summer event. This left us with another seasonal event, the New Year/Solstice Celebration. For Year 2, we hold the 3 Day New Year/Solstice Celebration on December 20, 21, and 22 (December 22 to be the Solstice Dat in PST) and the Virtual Midnight Vigil as a precussor to the New Year Day. http://www.magoacademy.org/2018/07/17/2018-5915-magoma-era-year-1-nine-day-mago-celebration/ https://www.magoacademy.org/home-2/new-year-solstice-celebrations/ We just greeted the Year 2 by holding the event called Virtual Midnight Vigil during which we sounded the Korean temple bell, in particular the Emile Bell or the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great, to the world. A few from around the globe (Germany, Korea, Italy and the US) participated in it or hosted their own local vigils. The Korean temple bell is the key symbol for the Magoist Calendar as well as the Magoist Cosmogony. It is not a coincidence that it is struck on the midnight of the New Year’s Eve. It is Korean tradition that even modern Koreans gather at the bell tower in Seoul to hear the sound of the bell at midnight. And these bells are gigantic weighing 19 tons in the case of the Emile Bell. That this convention has an ancient Magoist root remains esoteric. For not only they strike the bell 28 times in the evening indicating the 28 lunar stations that the Moon stops by in the sky throughout the year (please read below what the 28 day lunar journey means and how it is represented by women). But also the Korean temple bell is no mere acoustic device to play the beautiful sound only. It is designed to reenact the Magoist Cosmogony. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/14/virtual-midnight-vigil-dec-17-2018-to-new-year-year-2-5916-magoma-era/ That said, that is not what’s all about the Korean Magoist convention of welcoming the New Year by sounding the temple bell, however. That the bell sound is a mimicry of the music of whales has been in the hand of wisdom seekers! Ancient Korean bells testify that whales are with us in the journey of the Moon and her terrestrial dependents headed by women. You may like to hear the sound of the Magoist Korean whale bell included in the Participation Manual for Virtual Midnight Vigil below. Happy New Year to all terrestrial beings in WE/HERE/NOW! https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/16/participation-manual-for-virtual-midnight-vigil-year-2/
(Art & Poem) Spring Equinox by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

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

(Mago Almanac 4) Restoring 13 Month 28 Day Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[This and the following sequels are from Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), Years 1 and 2 (5, 6, 9, 10…), 5915-6 MAGO ERA, 2018-9 CE (Mago Books, 2017).] We want to get back the 13th Friday. This almanac shows how that is possible. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang INTRODUCTION (Continued) 13 MARY DALY QUOTES Each monthly calendar, headed by quotes from Mary Daly’s Wickedary, has space for users to continue OUR Story. 1 Elemental Rhythms 1: rhythms displaying the infinite interplay of unity and diversity characteristic of Elemental phenomena such as tides, seasons, phases of the moon: TIDAL RHYTHMS 2: cadences and vibrations of the wordings of Websters, which are Be-Spoken in cosmic concordance Background the Realm of Wild Reality; the Homeland of women’s Selves and of all other Others; the Time/Space where auras of plants, planets, stars, animals and all Other animate beings connect. 2 New Space Space on the Boundary of patriarchal institutions; Space created by women which provides real alternatives to the archetypal roles of fatherland; Space in which women Realize Power of Presence New Time Time on the Boundary of patriarchal time; women’s Life-Time; Time in which the past is changed and Archaic Futures are Realized 3 Archaic Time Original Creative Time, beyond the stifling grasp of archetypal molds and measures; the measure of Original Motion/E-Motion/Movement Archespheres the Realm of true beginnings, where Shrews shrink alienating archetypes and Unforget Archaic Origins, uncovering the Archimage, the Original Witch within 4 Re-calling 1: persistent/insistent Calling of the Wild; recurring invitation to Realms of Deep Memory 2: Active Unforgetting of participation in Be-ing; Re-membering and giving voice to Original powers, intuitions, memories 5 Courage to live The Courage to refuse inclusion in the State of the Living Dead, to break out from the deadforms of archetypal deadtime, to take leap after leap of Living Faith; Fiercely Biophilic Courage 6 Elemental Spirits Spirits/Angels/Demons manifesting the essential intelligence of spirit/matter; Intelligences ensouling the stars, animating the processes of earth, air, fire, water, enspiriting the sounds that are the Elements of words, connecting words with the earth, air, fire, water and with the sun, moon, planets, stars 7 Tidal Characterized by cosmic interconnections and rhythms; Elemental; Wild Tidal Memory Memory of the Deep Background, characterized by Tidal Rhythms of Re-membering: ELEMENTAL MEMORY Tidal Time Elemental Time, beyond the clocking/clacking of clonedom; Wild Time; Time that cannot be grasped by the tidily man-dated world; Time of Wicked Inspiration/Genius 8 Wild The vast Realm of Reality outside the pinoramic world view constructed by the bores and necrophiliacs of patriarchy; true Homeland of all Elemental be-ing, characterized by diversity, wonder, joy, beauty, Metamorphic Movement and Spirit 9 Biophilic Bonding 1: the Lusty combining of Elemental forces among Others 2: the uniting of Life-Loving women in Hopping/hoping harmony 10 Metabeing Realms of active participation in Powers of Be-ing; State of Ecstasy 11 Re-membering 1: Re-calling the Original intuition of integrity healing the dismembered Self – the Goddess within women; Re-calling the Primordial connections/conversations among women, animals, and other Elemental beings 2: Realzing the power to See and to Spell out connections among apparently disparate phenomena: Spinning, Creating 12 Powers of Be-ing Be-ing the Verb, understood in multiple and diverse manifestations, e.g., Knowing, Creating, Loving, Unfolding – and through diverse Metaphors – e.g. the Fates, Chaning Women (Eastan Atlehi, Creatrix of the Navaho People), Shekhina (female divine presence in Hebrew lore) 13 Thirteen represents the Other Hour, beyond the direction of disaster. It signals the Presence of the Otherworld – Metamorphospheres – True Homeland of all Hags, Crones, Furies, Furries and Other Friends. It represents the Realm of Wild Reality, the Background, the Time/Space when/where auras of plants, planets, stars, animals, and all truly animate be-ing connect. It points to Living Worlds utterly foreign to foolocracy – Worlds that are Eccentric, Erratic, Odd, Queer, Quaint, Outlandish, Weird. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.
(Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part I The bell as both a percussion instrument and an idiophone is one of the most pacific, sublime, and ingenious human inventions. It appears cross-culturally from the remote past. Its artistic and ritualistic aspects are fairly well recognized by many. However, many overlook that the bell is a female icon with functionality. Put differently, the bell symbolizes the Goddess, the female who has the purpose. This essay, to be written in parts hereafter, will examine the symbology of ancient Korean bells and explore its implications with regard to Magoist history, cosmogony, and soteriology. At the outset, I posit that ancient Korean bells cast in the form of a woman’s body are there to awaken humanity to the arcane reality of the Female, that is Mago. In East Asia, bell connotes two distinct types, the open ended and the enclosed. In Korean, the open ended bell is called jong (鐘, Chinese zhong), whereas the enclosed one is called bang-ul or ryeong (鈴, Chinese ling). Jong and bang-ul are also distinguished by size. While the former tends to be larger, the latter are commonly used by a shaman or diviner to hold and shake (a group of bang-uls) to invoke the spirit. However, these differences are not unbridgeable. Some bang-uls are open-ended, like jong. By definition, jong is a bell made of metal not stone. (The character jong 鐘 has the radical (basic element) of geum 金, metal or gold. The stone bell is called gyeong.) When jong is used in music, in particular as a musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, it is called pyeon-jong (編鍾, Chinese bianzhong). Perhaps the invention of pyeon-jong follows pyeon-gyeong (編磬, Chinese bianqing), a stone musical instrument consisting of a set of L-shaped stone chimes. Discussing the differences between the two instruments goes beyond the purpose of this essay. Suffice it to say that jong was likely a metallic replica of gyeong presumably first introduced in the Bronze Age. (See the images below for comparison.) My primary focus in this essay is on jong, in particular the Korean bells cast in the 8th century CE and thereafter. The beauty and significance of ancient Korean bells shed a new light on ancient Korea to be re-dis-covered in relation to Magoism. Both scholars and the public appear to be unaware that the ancient bells of Korea symbolize the female principle as well as woman’s body. It is my hope that this essay allows the ancient bells of Korea to reverberate through time and call people to return to the female origin. Ancient Greek Bells as Woman’s Body A variety of jong from the ancient world appears across cultures. The most explicitly rendered bells which mirror the female form are the terracotta bell figurines of Greece (Thebes) dated circa the 8th century BCE. Both are housed in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Protruded breasts are placed on the upper part of the bell. The body of the bell is sculpted to resemble the skirt that she is wearing. Two arms annexed from her shoulders appear to be aesthetic rather than functional. The elongated neck is made as a handle to be held. Her neck is adorned with elaborate necklaces. Geometrical designs and swastikas are compelling in both figurines — rife with arcane meanings. The legs are made as mallets. Imagine, then, where the sound comes from upon being shaken! It is her belly, more precisely the vulva from which the sound originates. In the first, above, icon of the Greek bell, women are drawn on the bell’s body in a simplified and exaggerated manner. They are connected with each other hand in hand forming a circle, perhaps dancing a circle dance. As a whole, the bell depicts a dancing woman with her arms raised, standing on her toes. The women painting befits the spirited nature of the bell. In the second, above, icon of the Greek bell, 39.5 cm in height, her breasts are highlighted, encircled by the drawing of two circles. Thus, they appear to be more nipples than breasts. Her arms are laid downward as if pointing to the birds standing below on each side. Each bird is holding an elongated earthworm-like swirling thing at the tip of its beak. Geometric designs in the center of her body are catchily inviting to interpretations. The symmetrical balance is heightened. She appears to stand firmly or be ready to walk. As shown below, one leg when placed out to the side conveys to its viewer that the legs are mallets and at once creates a look that she is real, in motion. In my documentation, the Greek bell idols and ancient Korean bells are the only two groups that are explicitly made in the shape of a woman’s body. Yet, as to be shown shortly, these Greek bell idols, far smaller in size, date about a thousand years earlier than the ancient Korean bells. Furthermore, there is a vast geographical distance between the two bell icons. In comparing them, however, I have no intention to assume that the ancient Greek bell figurines are the earliest of their kind. (It is difficult to discuss the origin of bell as a woman’s body due to the nature of the task, too complex and daunting. It suffices to say that the Chinese bells, dated older than the Thebes bell figurines, have relevance to ancient Korean bells, a point to be discussed at a later part.) Ancient worlds appear not too heterogeneous to say the least, as moderns tend to think. Sillan Bells Let me begin with introducing some ancient Korean bells from the Silla period (57 BCE-935 CE) and their major features that are also uniquely ancient Korean (read Magoist). They sound beautifully and deeply when struck. Sounding waves are calculated in the structure of the bell upon being cast. It is known that there are eleven jongs extant from the United Silla period. Only five of them are currently located in Korea, whereas the rest are in Japan. These bells are known as beomjong, a term referring to a bell in Buddhist temples used for Buddhist …
(Video) The Mago Work by Mago Sisters by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL-hbgxa5v1IfUM6h6PvOTpLe8fLv5ExRG&v=HUM6EQ7sEaQ