INTRODUCTION
This reader includes my articles published in my book, anthologies, and journals from 2015 to present. The majority of chapters were written within the last five years. My research concerning Mago, the Great Mother, began in 2000 for my doctoral dissertation. For the first fourteen years, it was extremely difficult for me to produce articles or a book treating Magoism directly due mainly to the overwhelmingly immense, complex, and slippery nature of the topic. In the course of time, my research focus evolved from Magoism to Magoist Cetaceanism. I learned that Magoist women and mothers were not alone in shaping the destiny of pre- and proto-patriarchal worlds. Contrarily, they were guided by the natural world headed by cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). They discovered cetaceans divine. Whales, surpassing the human standard (in planetary origin, lifespan, biological magnitude, aquatic residence, meteorological influence, sonic communications, and communal social behaviors, to name a few), had been the guardian of the Planet, Earth. Their planetary presence was the model for the divine. In alliance with whales, Shaman Queens of the ancient world cultivated the consciousness of the matriverse (maternally perceived universe). What was feared by patriarchs was not just women but cetaceans whom women revered and bonded with. My encounter with Magoist Cetaceanism enabled me to transform my feminist consciousness into the matriversal consciousness. Feminism is an antidote against patriarchy. Where patriarchy is dispelled, feminism undergoes transformation. Our historical consciousness is not linear. Our view of the past shapes the future. My study of pre-patriarchal confederacies of Old Korea/East Asia shows that patriarchy is a short-living unreality. Patriarchy has proved repeatedly that it is incapable of leading the world in harmony with the universe. That is because it is built on the partial, distorted view that the male is supreme above ALL else. Where the male self is deemed outside the web of interdependence, his rule is there only to be subverted by the rebel force from within. In the matricentric world, women and mothers share agency with ALL else. In the case of Magoist Korea, they revere cetaceans as the terrestrial divine. My research on Magoist Cetaceanism shows the way for humans to restore peace and harmony within the matriverse.
I have not shaped Magoism. I have shaped how to write about Magoism. Thus, Magoism is not my invention, although the term “Magoism” is coined by me. And I have been led by my research topic, Mago and Magoism. Mago refers to the Cosmic Mother/Creatrix, and Magoism the Way of the Cosmic Mother/Creatrix. The maternal vision is neither microscopic nor anthropocentric. It is the door to the sublime and bedazzling reality. Magoism unfolds the reality of WE/HERE/NOW. Creation is ever-happening and omnipresent, taking place HERE and NOW in WE. Magoism concerns matriversal soteriology. It releases matriversal consciousness, which saves ALL.
Reality is seen as tripartite. The principle of triad (3×3) is an epitome of Sonic Numerology or the Cosmic Music, the cosmogenic force of the matriverse. Referring to a ceaseless interplay of musically charged nine numbers, Sonic Numerology organizes the matriverse. Mago in tune with the Cosmic Music supervises the cycle of birthing, growing, and transforming for ALL. Charting the matriversal kinship of ALL, S/HE enables calendar-clock-atlas to be measured. In short, the triad symbol signifies the organizing force of the matriverse, Sonic Numerology. The three or the nine is the code of the matriversal consciousness in which one perceives the Magoma Divine (the merged divine of Mago the Cosmic Mother/Creatrix and Goma the Shaman Queen Teacher who taught us the former), the supreme divine.
From the perspective of ancient Magoists, ALL are the embodiments of Sonic Numerology. The matriversal consciousness cultivated by them is imbued in the sky (heaven), lands, waters, and their surroundings as the ninefold. Thus comes nona nomenclature: Nine heavens, nine dragons, nine deities, nine maidens, nine peoples, nine states, nine waterfalls, nine mountains, nine villages, and nine lands, and so forth. These nona names are epiphanic to the Creatrix, Mago in tune with the Cosmic Music! The Utopian vision has never left the human mind insofar as these nona names are remembered. Human history has run degeneratively. Humankind has sharply drifted away from the path to the Creatrix in the course of the last two millennia. Magoism, the Teaching of the Creatrix, owes to Goma for its foundation. It provides humanity with soteriological kits under patriarchal rules. Magoist nona symbolism or triadism is there to remind people throughout generations of the all-embracing reality of WE/HERE/NOW. This summary is the core teaching of Goma who stands as the greatest deity born of a woman (see “Myogyeon” in this reader). That triadism subverts dualism, which is coopted to enforce the principle of hierarchy in patriarchal unrealities, is only an anachronistic understatement. Triadism averts hierarchical dualism.
Concerning the Title “Toward Magoist Cetaceanism”
I have entitled this reader “Toward Magoist Cetaceanism.” What about whales/cetaceans? The topic of Magoist Cetaceanism, the veneration of cetaceans as one of the Triad Divine together with Mago (the Cosmic Mother/Creatrix) and Goma (Shaman Queen Mother), did not dawn on me for many years of my research in the beginning. It was meant to arrive in its own time. I was not ready to see it until I became fully conscious of Sonic Numerology, a central theme of the Magoist Cosmogony. My construction of the Mago Almanac, a modern version of the Magoist Calendar, the 13 month 28 day calendar, which marked December 18, 2017 as an onset of the new time counting, was my proclamation of Sonic Numerology as the organizing principle of the matriversal reality (see “Introducing the Magoist Calendar” in this reader).
What do Sonic Numerology and the Magoist Cosmogony have to do with Magoist Cetaceanism? (1) In light of the Magoist Cosmogony, the “singing” of whales in bodies of water is seen as cosmogenic. Supervising the task of planetary water, cetaceans raise all earthlings. Cetaceans are the exemplary governor of the planet, Earth, for humans. The true terrestrial ruler governs the world by way of generating the resonance to the Cosmic Music. (2) Culturally, Magoist Cetaceanism is expressed through the nona-aquatic-draconic symbolism. Such toponyms as nine dragon waterfalls, nine dragon mountains, and nine dragon ponds are some examples. These are the themes that I have not formally written yet and thus not included in this reader.
Nine Magos/Deities (Heaven)
Nine Cetaceans/Dragons Nine Gomas/Shaman Queens
(Earth) (Humans)
I still had to learn that the dragon is an animal personification of the sonic management of whales on the planetary level. The association of a dragon with water, weather, and meteorology as well as the ruler indicates the cosmogenic consciousness of Magoist Cetaceanism. Traditionally in East Asia and Korea, rain rituals are offered by people as well as the ruler to the dragon ruler (Yongwang 용왕), cetaceans. As a matter of fact, the cetacean divine comprises one of the tripartite. I maintain that in Magoist Korea, cetaceans have been venerated as the terrestrial divine (Nine Dragons) together with the heavenly divine (Nine Magos) and the human divine (Nine Gomas). As the triadic thought is indigenous to Koreans, male scholars as well as the public generally attribute the three axes to the father (heaven), the mother (earth), and men (humans). The dyad of father and mother betrays a dualistic assumption of male superiority. My interpretation displays a Cetacean Magoist interpretation, non-dualistic but triadic.
Finally, the topic of ancient Korean temple bells led me to call the matriversal whale veneration Magoist Cetaceanism (see “Whale-Dragon Bell” in this reader). Previously, I deemed the gigantic metal bells as symbols for the pregnant female body, designed to resonate with the Cosmic Music. Such an interpretation seemed valid until I came across the cetacean identity of these temple bells. As treated in my essay included in this reader, temple bells were made to replicate the planetary cetacean sonic resonance to the Cosmic Music. In the features and functions of the bell, the whale imagery was too obvious to miss. In addition to cetacean names, the nona-aquatic-draconic symbolism was remarkably visible in the Korean temple bell. How could this be possible? I asked. Cetaceanism espoused by Magoism had to be gone in the world where the male principle ruled. The bond between women and whales had to be erased. Like women, nonetheless, whales could not be obliterated from the cultural and collective memory of peoples. They survived as sea monsters (makaras, hydras, leviathans, sirens, and aspidochelones, to name a few) in many cultures.
In search of the origin of the Korean temple bell, I ran into the myth of “the pacifying flute” (manpasikjeok 萬波息笛, the pacifying flute that defeats all adversaries), an ancient Korean myth. In this story, I realized that whales are present but de-named. The account of the pacifying flute was no other than an ancient Sillan reaffirmation of the Magoist Cosmogony. The “magical” flute given by the dragon was the lynchpin. The pacifying flute told to be made of a bamboo tree in the story was indeed made of the tusk of a narwhal. Furthermore, the dragon is, although personified, referred to as the sea waves that carried the “singing” of whales from the sea. I spent the following four years exploring the mytho-cultural manifestation of Magoist Cetaceanism. Data was abundant. I hosted and facilitated monthly Magoist Studies Salons for two years and a three one-week long daily tours of Mago Whale Pilgrimages for the next two years. All had to be online. While the whole world was swept by the Covid pandemic driving people further into isolation, I quietly conducted self-motivated research on Magoist Cetaceanism. I vividly saw the mytheme of “whale-back-riding homecoming journey to the abode of Mago in the northern center of the matriverse” inscribed in the cultural and religious landscape of Magoist Cetaceanism. By the end of 2022, I became fully confident of what I discovered. My writing on Magoist Cetaceanism has just embarked. Thus comes the word “Toward” before “Magoist Cetaceanism” in the title.
Why Now for this Reader?
This reader marks a milestone in my scholarly journey, which began in 1997 as a graduate student in Claremont Graduate University. I became a returning student to the field of academic study, women’s studies and religious studies, after having spent about seven years as a Catholic overseas missionary. The topic of “Mago” fell on my path when I was given a copy of The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City), which I attributed to the principal text of Magoism upon studying it. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Mago by reconstructing Magoism, the mytho-historical-cultural context wherein Mago manifests. This reader does not include my earliest essays or chapters prior to 2015, when my first book, The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, was published.
A born writer, I hungered for the life of a research scholar from my twenties. Ultimately, I was interested in nothing other than learning about the truth and how to help myself and the world, which is summarized as soteriology. I wondered what the thealogy of Magoism should be like during the years of my graduate studies, that is, what Mago is and how we understand HER. I did not want to hastily borrow the theological framework of Christianity, which I was familiar with, in my theoretical construction of the Mago Divine. I intuitively sensed that it would be starkly different from that of the Christian God. It was clear that I did not have enough tools to write about Magoist thealogy.
In those early years of a decade and a half, I learned that “Mago” is not the name of a particular Goddess but a generic term referring to the cosmogonist, Magoist shaman/priestess/ruler, and/or Magoism. The non-theistic feature of Mago, the Creatrix, is noteworthy, which makes the thealogical discussion of Magoist Cetaceanism complex and idiosyncratic. “Mago” is traditionally perceived as the Cosmic Mother (personal, embodied, and theistic) and the Creatrix (impersonal, transcendental, and non-theistic) at the same time (see “Hotel del Luna” included in this reader).
I take this reader as an opportunity to look back at the trajectory of my research progress and group it into five stages (see the table below). Progression is not linear, nonetheless. It is a spiral journey. I still owe articles and books to be written from the earlier stages. The complexity and immensity of the topic kept me under the period of being a researcher and a self-publisher. While being led by my research discoveries, I took the strategy of inventing the three-tracked circular system. Firstly, I wrote and published my articles and books on Magoism and Magoist Cetaceanism. Secondly, I undertook the task of making the anthologies for the topic of Goddess (the collectively writing projects of She Rises trilogy, Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess, and the like). Lastly, I planned and hosted annual and periodic events based on my research outcomes. Examples are Mago Pilgrimages to Korea, Nine-Day and Three-Day Celebrations marking special days in the 13 month 28 day calendar, and the virtual whale-bell- striking ceremony on the New Year’s Eve.
It is only now that I feel I have prepared proper and reliable tools to chisel Magoist Cetaceanism and Matriversal Soteriology. Chronologically speaking, this reader takes off from the last chapter of my book, The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, published in 2015. Including personal narratives as well as research outcomes written in much earlier years, The Mago Way summarizes the landscape of my consciousness concerning Magoism.
| Stages | Research topics and tools | Books & essays I wrote | Articles included as chapters in Reader | Books & journal issues I co-edited and/or published |
| 1 (2000-2015) | Mago, Magoism, the mytho-historical-cultural trajectory of Magoism, parthenogenesis, Female Principle, Magoist Cosmogony | Doctoral dissertation, The Mago Way | Ch. 5 (from TMW) | She Rises Vol 1 (SR 1), The Mago Way (TMW) |
| 2 (2015- 2017) | Cosmic Music, Sonic Numerology, Magoist Calendar, | “Introducing the Magoist Calendar,” Mago Almanac Year 1 | Ch. 6 (from MA 1) | She Rises Vol 2 (SR 2), Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (CGS), Mago Almanac Year 1 (MA 1) |
| 3 (2017-2019) | Magoma Divine, Magoist Cetaceanism, Dragons, Matriverse, Goma, Whale-back-riding homecoming journey to the abode of Mago in the northern center of the matriverse | “Mago,” “Goma” Mago Almanac Years 2-3 | Ch. 1 (from GMHC), Ch. 2 (from GMHC) | Goddesses Myth, History and Culture (GMHC), She Rises Vol 3 (SR 3), Mago Almanac Years 2-3 |
| 4 (2019-2023) | Whale-Dragon Bell, Ancient Sillan royal matrilineage, Budoji, DDSH, Goma | Budoji Workbook V1, “DDSH,” “Unveiling” “Whale-Dragon Bell,” Mago Almanac Planner Years 4-7 | Ch. 4 f(rom S/HE V1 N2), Ch. 7 (from S/HE V2 N1), Ch. 8 (from S/HE V1 N1) | She Summons Vol 1 (SS 1), S/HE V1 N1, S/HE V1 N2, S/HE V2 N1, S/HE V2 N2, Budoji Workbook V1, Mago Almanac Planner Years 4-7 |
| 5 (2023- present) | Matriversal soteriology, Matriversal kinship, Goma as the North Star deity | “Myogyeon,” “Hotel del Luna,” “Five Essays” | Ch. 3 (from CIKG), Ch. 9 (from CIKG), Ch. 10 (from SR2, SR3, CSG) | Celebrating Intercosmic Kinship of the Goddess (CIKG), Reader: Toward Magoist Cetaceanism |
In this reader, I organized my previously published essays under three parts. The title of Part I, The Magoma Divine, refers to the manifestation of the merged divine, Mago and Goma. It is through the teaching of Goma, we are able to know the Cosmic Mother/Creatrix. Essays in Part II comprise the pillars of Matriversal Soteriology. Part III lists essays exploring cultural expressions of Magoist Cetaceanism. All essays in this reader are organically interrelated. Because the very understanding of Mago owes to Goma’s Magoist Cetaceanism, all essays concern the Teaching of Goma. I hope they bring attention to the cetacean singing. Some channel storms accompanied by thundering and lightning, while others the downfall of rains and mists in lands and seas.
Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.