January 15, 2024January 3, 2024 Mago Work

(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 5) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.]

BACKGROUND DISCUSSIONS

Neither were Sillans the inventor of the Buddhist temple bell. Nor was Silla the cradle of Buddhism. Pre-Sillan Buddhist bells are found around the world. It is unknown what the exact original model of the Sillan bronze bell was or when the first Sillan bell was cast. What is evident is that Sillans were the originator of the whale-dragon bell. The specific feature of the Sillan bell, which I call the whale-dragon bell, originates from the period of Unified Silla. Noteworthy is that the whale-dragon bell is strikingly distinguished from the counterparts of the world including China and Japan (see Figures 4 and 5). I hold that the whale-dragon bell encodes the Korean identity as the whale-revering matriversal people. The whale-dragon bell embodies the matriversal principle, which is reductively adopted by the Buddhist church today. The topic of Sillan syncretism between Buddhism and Magoist Cetaceanism goes beyond the scope of this essay.[1] The cetacean identity of the Sillan bell opens the door to the Mother World, the reality of an ever-happening beginning. Reinvented in the eighth century of Silla, the Sillan bell invokes the matriversal consciousness in which whales are loved and revered as divine. The whale-dragon bell depicts the bio-sono-ecological behavior of cetaceans, which nurtures all planetary beings by way of managing planetary water, weather, and climate.[2] Upon being struck by the mallet, the whale bell symbolizes the song of whales, which equilibrates the terrestrial sonic resonance in harmony with the Cosmic Music, “the reverberating sound of a dragon,” expressed in the Name Text of the Divine Bell. The whale bell is a sublime representation of the cetacean divine (Nona Dragons) who represents the terrestrial divine as part of the triadic divine together with the heavenly divine, Nona Magos (Cosmic Mothers), and the humanly divine, Nona Gomas (Shaman Queens) (see [Figure 9]).

(To be continued)

[1] For example, early Buddhist temples of Silla were built on the sacred forest sites, famed from the pre-Buddhist times. These seven sites are Cheongyeongrim (天鏡林 Heavenly Mirror Forest), Samcheongi (三川岐 Three Streams Fork), Southern Dragon Palace, Northern Dragon Palace, Sacheonmi (Sand Stream End), Sinyurim (神遊林 Divine Staying Forest) and Seochengjeon (婿請田 Son-in-law’s Requested Field). Samguk Yusa Book 3, Heungbeop 3. An ancient Korean endeavor to transform Buddhism from the indigenous perspective of Magoist Cetaceanim was not limited to Sillans. Noteworthy is that, among others, early Korean Buddhist temples are associated with the Seon (Magoist) tradition. Goseonsa (高仙寺 Temple of Old Seon/Magoism) founded by Wonhyo (617-686) of Silla and Seonamsa (仙巖寺 Temple of Seon/Magoist Rock) whose old name was Haecheonsa (海川寺 Temple of the Sea and the River) founded by Ado of Goguryeo in 529 during the reign of Seong-wang, Baekje, are the examples.

I posit that ancient Koreans were aware of the patriarchal core of Buddhism. They propagated the cetacean faith of Mireuk, the female cosmogonist. Mireuk is not the same as Maitreya, although it is commonly transliterated so. The word, mireuk (미륵 彌勒), is an indigenous word, derivative of mir (미르 the dragon) and mul (물 water) in Korean. Mireuk associated with a dragon is an embodiment of the Magoist Cetacean divine.

Korean Shamanic lyrics describe Mireuk as a maternal cosmogonist who could grow flowers from her yoni, whereas Seokga (the Shakamuni Buddha) was a paternal counterpart who could not. Thus, he lied and stole the flowering power from her. Miruek, aware that Seokga was a cheater, retreated herself from the scene. The “flower contest” mythos manifests in East Asia and beyond. See “A map of the ‘flower contest’ motif in East Asian mythology,” accessed March 21, 2023, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Flower_contest_myth.png.

As Buddhism enthroned the Shakimuni Buddha arrived at the land of post-Korean states, ancient Magoist Koreans forged the faith of Mireuk to cope with the colonial and patriarchal force backed by Buddhism. Note the two Shaman lyrics (Muga) documented from South Hamgyeong, presently North Korea, the Changsega (Song of Cosmogony) and the Saenggut (Ritual of the Saint). For the Changsega, see https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0055450. For the Saenggut, see https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0029901. I maintain that the Mireuk faith rose as a way of resisting and redefining Buddhism. Buddhism was perceived as a patriarchal religion, reductionist and colonialist, by post-Budo Koreans. A large corpus of Mireuk related sources (written and oral including placenames) accounts for my hypothesis. Construction of Mireuk Temples (Mireuksa) in Baekje (17 BCE-670) was among the examples.

[2] Whales are known for stabilizing the global climate. Michelle Carrere in her article, “To fight climate change, save the whales, some scientists say,” underscores the importance of whales in not only fighting climate change but also in stabilizing marine ecosystems and writes:

In addition to the carbon dioxide that whales capture in their bodies and store deep in the ocean when they die, they also fertilize the ocean with their feces and urine, leading to large phytoplankton blooms…

“We have to minimize every threat affecting whales (and marine ecosystems as a whole) arising from human activities through decisive and concerted actions,” Hucke-Gaete said. Because of their ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon, as well as the many other ways they help stabilize marine ecosystems, he said, “Every whale counts and we should take care of them as if they were the golden goose.”

Michelle Carrere, “To fight climate change, save the whales, some scientists say,” trans. Sara Engel, March 1, 2021,https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/to-fight-climate-change-save-the-whales-some-scientists-say/.

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

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(Music 3) Into the Bear Cave by Alison Newvine

Public domain image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxrzDvFXx4A A chorus of animal, ancestor and wind voices surround us in the deep sleep of hibernation. From the deep sleep, worlds open up. The bear becomes so much more than bear. She becomes owl, frog, bee, whale, wind, spirits and intergalactic beings. She returns to the oneness obscured in her waking life by the incessant struggle for individual survival. When humans sleep, our brains collect, relate and stabilize thoughts and experiences from waking life in a process known as memory consolidation. This supports our sense of coherence and emotional regulation. Depth psychologists recognize the dreamspace as one in which not only our personal memories become available but information from the collective unconscious as well. Through dreaming, we “arrive” or emerge into an immensity of experience and information. If we are fortunate or skillful, we can bring some of this wisdom back and integrate it into our waking lives. Drumming, chanting, sound meditation and dancing facilitate this bridging of realms. “Deep Sleep” is the third meditation track in a four-part series created by Spiral Muse drummer, singer and songwriter Dionne Kohler. Dionne’s channeled voices and rhythms invite us into different dimensions of consciousness. The full Bear Medicine Series is available on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and other electronic platforms. https://www.magoism.net/2023/10/meet-mago-contributor-alison-newvine/
(Budoji Essay 5) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part 5: Magoist Cosmology “The primary aim of Magoist cosmology lies in lifting up the conceptual veil in people’s mind so that they can see what is given at birth.” [This is a translation and interpretation of the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism. Read the translation of Chapter 1 of the Budoji.] Magoist cosmology: Magoist cosmology, knowing of the female principle of Magoist cosmogony (story of the Female Beginning), reconstitutes, heals, and maintains the original vision of gynocentric soteriology. Its primary function is to guide humanity according to the law of nature whereby all things are born and evolve into their greatest potential. In short, Magoist cosmology is a gynocentric mode of thinking that shows the Way of all beings. By extension, it is an inherent principle of nature- and women-honoring civilizations. I suggest Magoist cosmology, underpinning of the Magoist cosmogony, as an antidote to the detriments of patriarchal consciousness. Its female principle restores the original unity among all entities, which has been thwarted by patriarchal cosmologies. Comprising the most foundational program of human consciousness, so constitutive that no one is born without it, Magoist cosmology is ever active and accessible to people. Nonetheless, it is made dormant in the conscious mind of people under patriarchal cultures. Thus, the primary aim of Magoist cosmology lies in lifting up the conceptual veil in people’s mind so that they can see what is given at birth.
(Poem in Spanish & English) Árbol de vida/Tree of Life Por Xánath Caraza

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

The Goddess is the “All of Creation.” She is the Creatress and the Created. She is the life force of all there is. She is one, whole, and complete. Before Her, nothing was. She arose from the Great Void, the source of all potential, giving birth to Herself before anything else had ever been born. She separated the sky and the water and She danced. In the ecstasy of Her Dance She conceived of all there is. In every culture, in every part of the world, the Goddess has been revered as the Birth Giver of all Life. From the very beginning of time, in our earliest primitive state, we sought to explain the unexplainable by drawing from what we knew. The female of every species brought forth life; therefore, the Creatrix also had to be Birth Giving Mother and the Great Mother was given Her identity. She has been loved, feared, respected, honored, and glorified in every way imaginable throughout thousands of years of human development. She has been given a “face” for every conceivable aspect of Her nature. She has taken the form of animals, humans, and elemental energies. She has been given associations with plants, colors, sounds, stones, music, and more. For every aspect and every view, She has a face.
(Tribute 2) My Loving Father (7/31/1935-10/10/2020) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

My father’s grave with offerings of three fruits and the dried fish with a cup for rice wine. I was able to visit South Korea last month to be with the spirit of my father who passed away about 20 months ago. I missed my father’s presence strongly. There was a hole in my heart, as if a big tree was uprooted. That would be what our loved ones do to the living when they die. My two week-long time spent with my mother and my two younger brothers (and their families) alongside a visit to my father’s grave comforted me. I am accepting that he has transformed. I feel I am surrounded by his warmth. The travel time including a few days before I left and after I returned home was a time of grace, a gift that my father sent to me. To say so is only an understatement. Death of loved ones snatches the bereaved and places them in the matriversal reality, WE/HERE/NOW. I did not expect that the covid era was coming in 2019. At least, a time like that came too soon. No one in our family knew that we would send him off that way, alone in the hospital. We were not able to say a proper goodbye to him. The last phone conversation I had with him became a small remedy that held my grief pain bearable. I was absent during his funeral and at the first year anniversary of his death when my family conducted a ceremony at home. It felt like a train left without me. Or I could not get on the train where everyone else in my family was there. My flight in May was my ticket to get on that train.I was biting my time to be there. And my time came. My youngest brother from overseas was visiting Korea. I knew that I needed to be there. My youngest brother was sweet at heart, having gently encouraged me to come. I took an opportunity to undertake a covid timespace travel. South Korea is strict with covid regulations. Vaccinations were done in time. I knew that I was required to take a covid test but wasn’t aware that there were different types of test. At the check-in counter at the airport, they found me having the wrong test and could or did not board me because of that. I insisted that I had to go as early as possible. They put me on the flight the following day. So I decided to spend overnight again at the airport, while taking the right kind of test during the day. Because my flight was 7AM, an inconvenient time to arrive at the airport, I had already stayed overnight at the departure area. On the second day, I thought I was going to fly. At the check-in counter, however, they found me not having the covid time visa required by the South Korean government and could not board me. I accepted it for the second time and was unusually calm. They put me on the flight schedule in two days. So I decided to come home. It was a day of such relief from the airport ordeal (I could not lie down for two days). That was a test on myself. I coped with it. What a sweet sleep I had on that night at home. While enjoying a day at home, I forgot to put on warm clothes for the chilly weather. I was coming down with a cold. I did not want people at the airport to mistake it for a covid infection. Upon leaving for the airport, I packed an electric heating pad to sit on over the night. And I minimized my activities other than using the internet, while trying to write an essay. Usually, I make my air travel time a writing time. No one knew that I had a cold. At the check-in counter, I passed and boarded the plane on the third time. During those several days, I was informed that the first younger brother contracted covid. So our family gathering was postponed. On the day I arrived, my youngest brother confirmed that he contracted covid too. Then, it went to his wife, my sister-in-law. One had horrible symptoms, and the others had minor effects. So our previously made plans were hanging in the air. In a week or so, all of them recovered from it. Almost all things seemed uncertain for plans. That did not discourage me.There was more to an airport sleeping. I arrived at the Incheon airport in the evening. There was no shuttle to get to my mother’s town. My youngest brother had informed me of that so I was not surprised. They had cut down the bus schedule drastically during the covid time, of course. We are witnessing the shift of the so-called public life under the pandemic phenomenon. I decided to spend the night at the Incheon airport, which was much easier than in the Los Angeles airport, and wanted to take advantage of taking another required covid test in the morning at the airport. I was not only amazingly calm but also began enjoying the challenge. So what? My cold was gone and I safely arrived in Korea! I could have been so upset as to seek ways to fight back authorities. I was different this time. It was a sacred journey that I was embarking, now come to think of it. I was seeing everything that was happening on the parts of the Korean government, the airline company, and covid policies, etc. but was unshaken at the core by those turmoils. I made it in the end. Everything was fine with me. Spending as much time as possible with my mother was my plan. It was for everyone’s needs. My mother needed to see me, I needed to see her to help filling in the void in her heart/mind. And that worked perfectly. I was …
(Essay 2) Crack in the Alienated Colonised Mind by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is part 2 of an edited excerpt from the author’s Introduction to her book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Being “Other” “just a mother”?Image: Vierge Ouvrante, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, Pl 176. The sense of being “other”: that is, out of the main play and text of things, and perhaps irrelevant, was exacerbated by being female. Perhaps this was actually central to the sense of alienation, since the religion, the main cosmology, paid her very little positive attention. It has been common for millennia that women have not been able to name themselves or their experience as sacred, because the metaphor of the Divine did not extend to their experience, their presence in the world. The historical, scientific and religious texts of my cultural context did not include the perspectives of a female-friendly cosmology. Woman as philosopher, shaman, priestess, spiritual authority, wise woman, healer, and also as mother in these roles, was barely identified, let alone her perspective taken seriously. Scholarly texts which purported to be whole and truthful objective accounts, have used terms like “us” and “we” – presuming to speak for her, even as they burnt her, silenced her, kept her out of institutions, politics and texts. If the story had been told from within her perspective, that is, the perspective of a female-friendly cosmos … as wise woman, healer, priestess, mother, would she speak of herself for instance, as “just a mother” – if her mind was imbued with the integrity of life happening in her? Would she allow a church to tell her she could not speak for the Divine, if her bodymind had not been locked up? The female body – and hence her presence – has not been included in most of humanity’s thinking for some time. French philosopher Merleau-Ponty speaks about the body and its importance in human experience. For him, The body is first of all a way of viewing the world; it is at one and the same time the way a subjective attitude both comes to know itself and express itself. The lived phenomenal body must therefore not be thought of as an object in itself, but as a bodily presence in the world, a bodily awareness of the world.[i] Vierge Ouvrante. Image: Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, Pl 177. The denial of the body in general has certainly influenced Western thought[ii]; so then it may be asked, how has the denial of the female body in particular affected thinking – by women themselves as well as by the men who wrote the texts? It is now a largely accepted fact that half the human race has rarely been allowed, or found access to the development of the mainly adhered-to texts of philosophies and sciences. Her body, for the last few millennia, was not supposed to do what it did; if her body was more like his, then it would have been better, and normal. St. Augustine for example, regarded it as an achievement when a nun’s menstrual cycle ceased due to fasting: he regarded that she was getting holier. The body, at its best and peak of integrity, was not supposed to menstruate; what did this kind of thinking signify? What kind of worldview was being denied? Woman’s fertility was thus frequently a source of shame, and certainly in the cultural context, it was at the base of her loss of power[iii]. It is the worldview of the female body, this subjective presence in the world, that has been absent from our collective minds, even her own mind. She must now be written into the histories, the philosophies, the sciences, the cosmologies. This book[iv]participates in that movement along with many others at this time in the human story; wherein the female as an embodied human, is moving out of being “other” into the “norm”, into the foreground of consciousness. (Meet Mago Contributor) Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. REFERENCES: Lakoff, George and Johnson, Mark. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought. NY: Basic Books, 1999. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Madison, Gary Brent. The Phenomenology of Merleau -Ponty. Ohio University Press, 1981. Neumann, Erich. The Great Mother. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born. NY: Bantam, 1977. NOTES: [i]Madison, Gary Brent. The Phenomenology of Merleau –Ponty. p.23. [ii]See George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought. [iii]See Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born. [iv]PaGaian Cosmologyby Glenys Livingstone, of which this essay is an edited excerpt.
(Art & Prose) She Who Runs With the Herds by Jude Lally

My dolls are born on the thresholds, one foot in this world and a foot in the otherworld. As I create a doll and build up the layers of wool and fabric I am also digging down to her bones, hearing her stories of her people and the landscape. The inspiration for this doll was born in a time of ice, a time when great herds of reindeer were able to cross from mainland Europe across to Britain. She was there with her people guiding them as they tracked the reindeer. The female reindeer, like the male, grows antlers. She is the leader of the herd, following the ancestral deer paths over the land that her mother led the herd on and her mother before that – stretching back thousands of years.There is an ancient connection between women who led her people and these female reindeer – one which has been honored and respected. The wise women of these clans were the women who went into trance to contact this Great Mother of the herds to ask for a sign of where to find the herds and in ritual gave thanks for using them for food, shelter, for sacred objects and clothing. Even today many women see the wisdom in this great Mother of the Herds, they search out her knowledge, dream of their foremother’s rituals and ceremonies. Visiting the Cairngorm Reindeer herd, Scotland Our spiritual journeys, too, take us through bogs of unconsciousness. We too must pass through raging rivers of grief, tread carefully over areas of icy despair, cross craggy ravines that reflect our terror of the unknown, and face feared enemies that threaten to devour us, like hungry wolf packs. As the earthly reindeer struggles to dig up grass and lichen for food to fuel her journey, so we must strive to find what nutures our spirit’. Linda Schierse Leonard. Creation’s Heartbeat. Following the Reindeer Spirit. It is not hard today to lose hope, to be overwhelmed by all that is unfolding and sink into despair and apathy. Wherever you are in the world we can be inspired by the Wise Woman who led her people and when they lost the herd it was she, She Who Runs WIth the Herd that moved into the threshold, shapeshifted into deer and ran through the snowfields of the otherworld to find the herd. Once she found them she ran with the reindeer, body running with body, heels clicking in the noise they make which allows them to hear where each reindeer is. She runs with them through valley, through forest recognizing both the reindeer and the terrain so she can return to her people and know which path to take. Transforming hopelessness into faith requires digging into the depths of the soul, just as the reindeer must dig deep in the snow for lichenLinda Schierse Leonard. Creation’s Heartbeat. Following the Reindeer Spirit. Yet running with the herd also allows you to dig deep for what is required to nourish your soul. To find that much-needed magic, the fodder that feeds the soul for this dark journey offers a rebirth of the soul. Click on the file below to take this journey to run with the herd. Perhaps take some time before you make the journey – consider your intention for your journey. Take some time to journey alone and keep a journal and pen by your side to record any insights or inspirations. (Meet Mago Contributor) Jude Lally https://soundcloud.com/sisterhood-of-the-antlers/she-who-runs-with-the-herds
(Essay) A Cardinal Comes Calling by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Cardinal eating. By Sandhillcrane – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75517738 Recently, a cardinal came to me and in only a few seconds and without words conveyed to me a simple message that brought comfort and solace, but also expressed how the boundary between humans and non-humans is fluid and our connection is intuitive, deep, and compassionate. I was gazing out my window while waiting for some stressful medical news and thinking about how red had become a personal symbol of good health outcomes for me. Just then, a cardinal landed in a bush directly in front of me and we stared at each other for several moments before he (only male cardinals have bright red plumage) flew away. I thought “how coincidental!” but mostly dismissed the incident as obviously not meaningful, though I certainly did feel more hopeful (and the medical situation did end positively). But yet, I already often send messages to non-human beings, intentionally or not, when I plant food for birds and insect pollinators or take care not to disturb woodchucks, chipmunks, squirrels, or foxes who make my yard their home. I am relaying to them I love them and want them to thrive in my garden, that they have as much a right to dwell on the land as I do. I often speak to plants to welcome them to my garden or apologize if I damage a leaf or bloom. If I routinely communicate with non-humans, why do I think they do not communicate with me? In fact, there is an American folklore belief that “Cardinals appear when angels are near”1 and that cardinals bring messages from loved ones who have died, especially giving good news2. So, taking heart from the cardinal’s appearance is at least centuries older than my own time’s dismissal of it. In fact, communication between humans and non-humans is essential to many societies all over the world. For example, Gregory Cajete of the Santa Clara Pueblo, notes in his book Native Science that in the emergence story of the Pueblo Nation, people sent sparrows to ask “the powers of this world” if they would welcome them, which they did3. He also explains that “The metaphor of the land where the Huichol originated is recounted in rituals and the oldest tales of human existence when humans, plants, animals, and natural phenomena could communicate”4. He further notes that “Every act, element, plant, animal, and natural process is considered to have a moving spirit with which humans continually communicate”5. Birds, in particular, seem to also be frequent message-carriers in Celtic traditions that may retain remnants of attitudes and practices from millennia ago. In Scottish Highland tradition, the landing of a magpie or crow on a roof meant death would soon come to the home6 and the same could be said of hearing the call of a cuckoo, golden plover, or curlew or the sight of a heron7. But messages can also be more positive. According to Caitlin and John Matthews, “The Irish Goddess Cliodna… also has three birds: one blue with a crimson head, one crimson with a green head, and one speckled with a golden head which give guidance, entertainment, and the sleep of forgiveness”8. In a number of Celtic cultures, birds and humans also once exchanged messages in each other’s languages. One Scottish Highland folk story tells the tale of how “a youth named Alasdair is sent to the Isle of Birds to learn the language of the birds — a synonym for magical, otherworldly speech and knowledge”9. The Carmina Gadelica, a book of Scottish Highland oral tradition collected 150 years ago, documents poems about birds speaking, with mavises, corncrakes, crows, cuckoos, and pigeons all saying things like “ Poor Big Donald! You are thirsty! Drink it off! Every drop!” and “O God of the powers! Put food in the field!”10. Another poem imitates the vocalizations of swans and other birds11 while in daily life people learned bird song so accurately that birds would sometimes see which of their kin were hailing them12. Fairies in a birds nest. By John Anster Fitzgerald – http://fairyroom.com/2012/06/fairy-fitzgerald-and-titanias-changeling/maa84823_v1/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46315765 When we truly begin to witness and understand the level of communication that already happens, or could happen if we just paid closer attention to non-human beings, we begin to see that the boundary between humans and non-humans is actually rather porous. Caitlin and John Matthews note that in traditional Celtic culture “souls of the blest take the form of doves and swans; lost souls become ravens or birds of ill-omen”13. And according to Walter Evans-Wentz, who collected the Celtic fairy faith oral tradition more than a century ago, fairies, who are sometimes associated with dead human souls, often appear as birds14. Patricia Monaghan tells the story of the Irish heroine Dechtere who could transform herself and her 50 maidservants into birds so they cold travel more quickly15 and Cerridwen who turned herself into a greyhound, otter, hawk, and hen in her pursuit of a young man who tasted a special potion she was saving for her son16. How much less lonely our world becomes when we realize that our species is not so isolated from the rest of living beings. As we look at our world and the challenges we face, it seems to me that the cardinal was bringing two messages, beyond my personal one, that we all need to hear. First, we need to believe that the non-human world still cares about us humans as individuals in our daily lives. I’m sure that cardinal had many better things to do that morning that fly over to that bush and stare at a scared human as reassurance. But fly to me he did. Was it because berries of the dogwood tree in my yard that I had fed a flock of cardinals last winter? Or the plant material I leave on the ground to help birds winter over? Suddenly, my relationship with the non-humans in my yard became much deeper as …
(Praise poem) Litany of the Black Madonna by Mary Beth Moser

She is the Our Lady of the Tree, Rock, Sea and Cave Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful! She is the Madonna of Fire and Water Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

(Special Post 1) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Wennifer Lin-Haver Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am asking each of us to consider writing a sentence or paragraph on “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” This idea is prompted by Wennifer Lin-Haver, Founder of Mother Tree Sanctuary, and I agree that we need to and can create a sort of collective writing on the topic. What we write below will be included and published in The Girl God, Mother Tree Sanctuary, and Return to Mago. As a subaltern minority as we seem at the current point of time, Goddessians/Magoists [the term Mago means the Great Goddess] need to make extra efforts to make our voices and presences exposed to the public and inner circles. Length and style are open. Please also include your name, region/state/country, title, and/or website URL. We strongly encourage you if you are located in a place where Goddessians are rarely around. We intend to make a collective testimonial tapestry of WE as Goddessians/Magoists! Please keep this in your mind and join us in this collective effort. Thank you in advance. March 6, 2014 AF (Archaic Future)! Wennifer Lin-Haver Our “call” started as a conversation between Helen and me where I was expressing to her the real need for Mother Tree Sanctuary to be more articulate with exploring the significance and importance of Goddess in our lives. I was prompted to give such a response, when asked “why” we had to differentiate God and Goddess. “Isn’t everything God?” She asked. And “Isn’t Goddess also God?” “Isn’t it all the same as long was we’re all coming from our ‘higher’ self?” she asked. So I saw this warranted a longer and much deeper discussion. I initially thought I should formulate a response and post it as a Page or Tab in our website, but after some reflection with Helen, I saw how much better it would be if we replied to this question as a diverse and creative collective. I surely do not have all the answers as an individual but perhaps together, we can come up with something more whole, colorful and satisfying. I do hope you will contribute a little something! We are always grateful for all that you have to share.
(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 8) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. Special thanks to Trista Hendren, founder and author of The Girl God, who passionately and painstakingly promotes the message of each contributor via Facebook’s memes. Without Trista’s devotion to the advocacy, this collective effort would not have continued. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Marija Krstic-Chin To remember who we really are (nature, cycles, network, creative force, one, infinite…) for the benefit of all of humanity and all living things; and to unite and unify as we broadcast, hand down, protect and defend this truth and each other against the oppressive intentions and actions of patriarchal perpetrators, puppets, and pawns who seek to enslave us by various old and new divide-and-conquer strategies.

(Essay) The Emergence celebrated at Spring Equinox by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The Spring Equinox Moment occurs September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere, March 21-23 Northern Hemisphere. The full story of Spring Equinox is expressed in the full flower connected to the seed fresh from the earth; that is, it is a story of emergence from the dark, from a journey, perhaps long, perhaps short, through challenging places. The joy of the blossoming is rooted in the journey through the dark, and an acknowledgement of the dark’s fertile gift, as well as of great achievement in having made it, of having returned. Both Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, celebrate this sacred balance of grief and joy, light and dark, and they are both celebrations of the mystery of the seed. The seed is essentially the deep Creativity within – that manifests in the Spring as flower, or green emerged One. the full story: the root and the flower As the new young light continues to grow at this time of Spring, it comes into balance with the dark at Spring Equinox, or ‘Eostar’ as it may be named; about to tip further into light when light will dominate the day. The trend at this Equinox is toward increasing hours of light: and thus it is about the power of being – life is stepping into it. Earth in this region is tilting further toward the Sun. Traditionally it may be storied as the joyful celebration of a Lost Beloved One, who may be represented by the Persephone story: She is a shamanic figure who is known for Her journey to the Underworld, and who at this time of Spring Equinox returns. Her Mother Demeter who has waited and longed for Her in deep grief, rejoices and so do all: warmth and growth return to the land. Persephone, the Beloved Daughter, the Seed, has navigated the darkness successfully, has enriched it with Her presence and also gained its riches. Eostar/Spring Equinox is the magic of the unexpected, yet long awaited, green emergence from under the ground, and then the flower: this emergence is especially profound as it is from a seed that has lain dormant for months or longer – much like the magic of desert blooms after long periods of drought. The name of “Eostar” comes from the Saxon Goddess Eostre/Ostara, the northern form of the Sumerian Astarte[i]. The Christian festival in the Spring, was named “Easter” as of the Middle Ages, appropriating Goddess/Earth tradition. The date of Easter, which is set for Northern Hemispheric seasons, is still based on the lunar/menstrual calendar; that is, the 1st Sunday after the first full Moon after Spring Equinox. In Australia where I am, “Easter” is celebrated in Autumn (!) by mainstream culture, so we have the spectacle of fluffy chickens, chocolate eggs and rabbits in the shops at that time. There are other names for “Eostar” in other places …the Welsh name for the Spring Equinox celebration is Eilir, meaning ‘regeneration’ or ‘spring’ – or ‘earth’[ii]. In my own PaGaian tradition, the Spring Equinox celebration is based on the Demeter and Persephone story, the version that is understand as pre-patriarchal, from Old Europe. In the oldest stories, Persephone has agency in Her descent: She descends to the underworld voluntarily as a courageous seeker of wisdom, and a compassionate receiver of the dead. She represents, and IS, the Seed of Life that never fades away. Spring Equinox is a celebration of Her return, Life’s continual return, and thus also our personal and collective emergences/returns.We may contemplate the collective emergence/returns especially in our times. I describe Persephone as a “hera”, which of old was a term for any courageous One. “Hera” was a pre-Hellenic name for the Goddess in general[iii]. “Hera” was the indigenous Queen Goddess of pre-Olympic Greece, before She was married off to Zeus. “Hero” was a term for the brave male Heracles who carried out tasks for his Goddess Hera: “The derivative form ‘heroine’ is therefore completely unnecessary”[iv]. “Hera” may be used as a term for any courageous individual: and participants in PaGaian Spring Equinox ceremony have named themselves this way. The pre-“Olympic” games of Greece were Hera’s games, held at Her Heraion/temple[v]. The winners were “heras” – gaining the status of being like Her[vi]. At the time of Spring Equinox, we may celebrate the Persephone, the Hera, the Courageous One, who steps with new wisdom, into power of being: the organic power that all beings must have, Gaian power, the power of the Cosmos. This Seasonal ceremony may be a rejoicing in how we have made it through great challenges and loss, faced our fears and our demise (in its various forms), had ‘close shaves’ – perhaps physically as well as psychicly and emotionally. It is a time to welcome back that which was lost, and step into the strength of being. Spring Equinox/Eostar is the time for enjoying the fruits of the descent, of the journey taken into the darkness: return is now certain, not tentative as it was in the Early Spring/Imbolc. Demeter, the Mother, receives the Persephones, Lost Beloved Ones, joyously. This may be understood as an individual experience, but also as a collective experience – as we emerge into a new Era as a species. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme speak of the ending of the sixty-five million year geological Era – the Cenozoic Era – in our times, and our possible emergence into an Ecozoic Era. They describe the Ecozoic Era as a time when “the curvature of the universe, the curvature of the earth, and the curvature of the human are once more in their proper relation”[vii]. Joanna Macy speaks of the “Great Turning” of our times[viii]. Collectively we have been away from the Mother for some time and there is a lot of pain. At this time we may contemplate not only our own individual lost wanderings, but also that of the human species. We are part of a much bigger Return that is happening. The Beloved One may be understood as returning on a collective level: …
(Essay) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

Traditionally the Seasonal transition of Imbolc/Early Spring, celebrated in early February in the Northern Hemisphere, and in early August in the Southern Hemisphere, has been a time of nurturing the new life that is beginning to show itself, around us and within. It is a time of committing one’s self to the new life and inspiration – in the garden, in the soul, and in the Cosmos. We may include in our celebrations and contemplations of this Season the beginnings of the new young Cosmos as She was, that time in our cosmic story when She was only a billion years old and galaxies were forming; and also the new which has continually emerged throughout the eons, and is ever coming forth. The flame of being, as it has been imagined by many cultures, within and around, is to be protected and nurtured: the new being requires dedication and attention. In the early stages of its advent, there is nothing certain about its staying power and growth: it may flicker and be vulnerable. There may be uncertainties of various kinds. There is risk and resistance to coming into being. The Universe itself knew resistance to its expansion when it encountered gravitation in our very beginnings, in the primordial Flaring Forth[i]. The unfolding of the Universe was never without creative tension. The Universe knows it daily, in every moment: and we participate in this creative tension of our place of being. Urge to Be budding forth Imbolc/Early Spring can be a time of remembering personal vulnerabilities, feeling them and accepting them, but remaining resolute in birthing and tending of the new, listening for and responding to the Urge to Be[ii]of the Creative Universe within. Brian Swimme has said (quoting cultural anthropologist A.L. Kroeber) that the destiny of the human is not “bovine placidity” but the highest degree of tension that can be creatively born[iii]. many flames of being, strengthening each other These times are filled with creative tension, collectively and for most, personally as well; there is much resistance, yet there is promise of so much good energy arising. We may be witness to both. This Season of Imbolc/Early Spring may encourage attention, intention and dedication to strengthening well-being: in self, and in the relational communal context, and opening to our direct immersion in the Well of Creativity. We may be strengthened with the joining of hands, as well as the listening within to the sacred depths, in ceremonial circle at this time. NOTES: [i]As our origins (popularly named as “the Big Bang”) are named by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme in The Universe Story. [ii]As I name this determined Virgin quality in PaGaian Cosmology. [iii]The Canticle to the Cosmos, DVD #8, “The Nature of the Human”. References: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Swimme, Brian. Canticle to the Cosmos. DVD series, 1990.
(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.
(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 Excerpt 3) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. MAPPING THE MAGOIST CALENDAR According to the Budoji, the Magoist Calendar was fully implemented and advocated during the period of Old Joseon (ca. 2333 BCE-ca. 232 BCE) whose civilization is known as Budo (Emblem City). Indeed, the Magoist Calendar is referred to as the Budo Calendar in the Budoji. Budo was founded to succeed Sinsi and reignited Sinsi’s innovations including the numerological and musicological thealogy of the Nine Mago Creatrix. The Budoji expounds on the Magoist Calendar as follows: The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a cyclic period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). A cycle of Little Calendar is called Sa (year). One Sa has thirteen Gi (months). One Gi has twenty-eight Il (days). Twenty-eight Il are divided by four Yo (weeks). One Yo has seven Il. A cycle of one Yo is called Bok (completion of a week). One Sa (year) has fifty-two Yobok. That makes 364 Il. This is of Seongsu (Natural Number) 1, 4, 7. Each Sa includes a Dan of the big Sa. A Dan is equal to one day. That adds up to 365 days. At the half point after 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. At the half point after the tenth Sa, there is a Gu of the big Hoe (Eve of the first day of the month). Gu is the root of time. Three hundred Gu makes one Myo. With Myo, we can sense Gu. A lapse of 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si makes one day. This is of Chesu (Physical Number), 3, 6, 9. By and by, the encircling time charts Medium Calendar and Large Calendar to evince the principle of numerology.[12] KEY TERMS Calendric Cycles Jongsi (終是 Ending and Beginning): Cyclic periods Soryeok (小曆 Little Calendar): One year Jungryeok (中曆 Medium Calendar): Two years Daeryeok (大曆 Large Calendar): Four years Names of Year, Month, Day, Week Sa (祀 Rituals, year): One year refers to the time that takes to complete the cycle of rituals. Gi (期 Periods, month): One month refers to the period of the moon and menstruation cycle. Il (日Sun, day): One day refers to the sun’s movement due to Earth’s rotation. Yo (曜 Resplendence of seven celestial bodies, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, week): Each weekday is dedicated to seven celestial bodies. Bok or Yobok (曜服 Duties of the Celestial Bodies, completion of a week): One week refers to the veneration of the seven celestial bodies. Names of Monthly Transition Days Hoe (晦 Eve of the first day of the month, 28th) Sak (朔 First day of the month, 1st, the dark moon) Names of Intercalation Days Dan (旦 Morning): Leap day for New Year Pan (昄 Big): Leap day for every fourth year Names of Time Units Gu (晷 sun’s shadow): Time measure, 1/300 Myo Myo (眇 minuscule): Time measure, a total of 300 Gu Myo-Gak-Bun-Si (眇刻分時 minuscule, possibly 15-minutes, minute, hour): Time measure, 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si is equal to a day Names of Three Types of Numbers in Nine Numerology Seongsu (性數Natural Number): 1, 4, 7 in the digital root Beopsu (法數 Lawful Number): 2, 5, 8 in the digital root Chesu (體數 Physical Number): 3, 6, 9 in the digital root THREE SUB-CALENDARS The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). The universe is infinite without beginning and ending. Everything runs the course of self-equilibration in relation to everything else. The Way of Heaven or the Way of the Creatrix circles and makes possible the infinite time/space to be measured and calculated. As the Way of Heaven circles, we are able to perceive Our Universe in finite measures of time/space. Time becomes measurable, as space is stabilized. Seasons and days-nights are demarcated in cyclic patterns, as the Earth makes the three cyclic movements of rotation, revolution, and precession. Calendar, born out of the inter-cosmic time, synchronizes human culture with the song/dance of the universe. The term Jongsi, which means an ending and a beginning, is equivalent to “a cyclic period” that is marked by the beginning and the end. Time (a day, a month, and a year) circles, as space (the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun) spirals. The Magoist Calendar has three sub-calendars: The period of one yearly cycle is called Little Calendar, whereas the period of two yearly cycles is called Medium Calendar and the period of four yearly cycles, Large Calendar. To be continued. (Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang) Notes [12] Budoji, Chapter 23. See Bak Jesang, the Budoji, Bak Geum scrib., Eunsu Kim, trans. (Seoul: Gana Chulpansa, 1986).

(Book Excerpt 4) 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.] This chapter,[i] interweaving the personal (how I came to study Mago) and the political (why I advocate Magoism), informs the general and particular tenets of Magoism. My study of Mago was, although it took the form of a doctoral dissertation, ultimately motivated by my self-searching quest as a Korean-born radical feminist. I came to encounter the Great Goddess known as Mago in East Asia by way of several detours on my life’s journey. Like my non-Western and
(Mago Essay 1) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Introduction: Why Inaugurate the Great Goddess Consciousness? The Great Goddess is known by many names around the world. “Mago” is one known by East Asians from time immemorial. As such, the term “Mago” is a common noun referring to the Great Goddess rather than the name of a particular goddess. According to my assessment of a large volume of primary sources that I have documented, Mago’s divine nature is characterized as the progenitor, creator, and ultimate sovereign. In short, Mago is supreme as the Creatrix. That does not mean that there is nothing before or even after Her. In fact, according to the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism, Mago was born into the cosmic era prior to our cosmic era by the music/vibration/movement of the universe. Being the Creatrix, She is the beginning and the end. She is the Origin of humankind. She will be with us insofar as humanity continues to exist on its cosmic journey. She is the Great Ancestor of all humans as well as goddesses and gods. Furthermore, She is “the Cosmic Great Mother” from whom everything is derived. “Mago” is eponymous of human civilization. With regard to the world, She is immanent and transcendent at once. Standing at the threshold of the world, She embodies the world. She is the Channel that connects humanity with nature and the universe. She is the Lens through which we humans perceive Ultimate Reality. To be precise, She is the Cause for human consciousness. Through Her, we enter the world. She is self-sustained, as symbolized in the ouroboros. The beginning and the end for the world relies on Her. While holding the key to eternity, She shares the rise and fall with humankind. Here is Her intimacy with humanity: We are part of Her and She is in our DNA. My reconstruction of Mago and Magoism did not begin with a teleological scheme. No pre-measured outcome was there to motivate my undertaking of the research project. On the contrary, the topic was a serendipitous yet timely encounter, which I had never consciously expected. Nonetheless, I was not in a vacuum. As a self-identified radical feminist, I sought a new mode of knowing within my own cultural roots that can remedy Eurocentric, nationalist, colonialist, racist, and ethnocentric knowledge. The years of my graduate studies were spent in exploring such possibilities. Only after furthering my research of Mago and Magoism for over a decade, I began to grasp something at which my intellectual/spiritual voyage is destined to arrive. It was this phrase, in fact a very old mandate that ancient Magoists self-identified with, “Return to the Origin of Mago (Mago Bokbon, 麻姑複本),” that surfaced over the horizon with clarity. How do we return to Mago’s Origin? Do we return to Her Realm or invoke Her Reality to our time? Time is one seamless measurement. No need to go there or bring it here. The fact that “Mago” refers to the Great Goddess rather than an individual goddess intimates an implication at the level of consciousness. Talk of Mago invokes the Great Goddess consciousness, primordial unity/oneness. A “new” mode of knowing is re-birthed once and time and time again. Individuals are placed in unity with the whole. Each shares with the subject position, WE. After all, everyone is progeny of the Great Goddess! We are re-stored within the scheme of old knowing that the whole (universality) comprises parts (particularities) and that they are organically interconnected. Complexity and precision of the way microcosmic entities work in harmony with the cosmos are beyond the human grasp. However, we know that an assault on a part affects the whole. And vice versa. This is why I study Mago and Magoism: Reenacting the Great Goddess consciousness is the ultimate antidote to the patriarchal consciousness. WE learn how to see things beyond the isolated position of an “I,” the notion of the self molded to stand against its environments (the other) by the patriarchal mastermind. The separated “I,” implanted in one’s psyche from birth through patriarchal institutions such as the state, religion, family, and heterosexuality, conjoins the new awareness of WE. The Mago consciousness is the original, pristine perspective prior to the split of the patriarchal consciousness. It is an undifferentiated state of mind that underlies patriarchal socialization. Ancient cultures had an understanding of the mysterious working of Mago. With Mago, WE Re-Turn to the Origin! The Female is epistemically invincible, nullifying the assaults of the patriarchal “I.” The power of the Mago consciousness is well depicted in the icon of Durga defeating the patriarchal demon. One should not be mistaken that the Mago consciousness is just another form of patriarchal thinking with reversed gender. It fundamentally differs in nature from the latter. Suffice it to say that “the Almighty God,” unlike the Great Goddess, does not share the same DNA with humans. In fact, He has no DNA! The monotheistic god rules over and against the world in protection of himself. He is needy. He isn’t even transcendent but disconnected from primordial unity. He can’t be “He” but only he of She. He can’t be the representative of the world because he is biased against the female principle. Ultimately, he is incapable of embracing everyone, unlike the Great Goddess. To hide the fact that the monotheistic god leads only to the abyss of self-destruction, patriarchal religions have created dogmas to indoctrinate people. The Great Goddess consciousness exposes the patriarchal deception. As patriarchy developed over the course of history, Mago was made unintelligible. People lost the Original Knowing! The Paradise was gone not only in a physical manner but also epistemically! That may as well be a corollary in that patriarchy precludes the concept of the Great Goddess by definition. It is not patriarchy if a society upholds the female as supreme. Nonetheless, patriarchy could not get rid of the manifestation of Mago in history, culture, and the collective consciousness of people. In fact, the ancient cultures, histories, myths, topographies, religions, and memories …
(Pilgrimage Essay 2) Report of First Mago Pilgrimage to Korea by Helen Hwang

[Author’s note: The first Mago Pilgrimage to Korea took place June 6-19, 2013. We visited Ganghwa Island, Seoul, Wonju, Mt. Jiri, Yeong Island (Busan), and Jeju Island.] Part 2 Traditional Korea and the Primordial Home of Magoism It was the time for the sacred, ancient mystery of Magoism to be reenacted once again for the Race of WE! Mago Pilgrimage was an open invitation to the deep knowing that Korean Magoism unfolds beneath the surface of patriarchal consciousness. It was a call from the Background [to borrow Mary Daly’s term, which, I explicate, refers to the biophilic reality wherein the deep memories of Goddess are alive, unfettering from the foreground, patriarch reality] to be present with Mago, the Great Goddess, Here and Now! Third eyes flashed, while open hearts unlocked the doors to the path. We heard the whisper, the chorus of the natural, cultural, and historical landscapes of Korea, the arcane music of the Female Beginning. The magic worked its own feats. As could be expected, undertaking the Mago pilgrimage entailed daunting tasks for me. Nonetheless, it was proven to me time and again that the purpose creates the means. The Korean saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way,” spoke to it well. We, the intercontinental pilgrims, were made welcome by supporters, organizers, and volunteers from the locale. We attracted fabulous scholars, teachers, artists, administrators, and activists along our paths. It was the first cross-cultural and cross-gender goddess event to be held in Korea in modern times! Excitement and anticipation were high. As a researcher of Mago and Magoism, I knew the Mago pilgrimage was the right thing to do. In fact, I had been faithfully following the direction that my heart beckoned to throughout my life. The consequences were the actions that I took. This time, however, I was rewarded with the fate-ful encounter; the very research of Mago came as a revelation to me. The topic of Mago emerged from nowhere at the juncture of my labyrinthine journey to non-patriarchal [gynocentric] consciousness. I was a student of feminist studies in religions. Without knowing what was in store for me, I knew that I was not content with the feminist theology of patriarchal religions of the West and the East. If any theme of these religions had appealed to me — I wished at times, to confess to my readers — during those years, my path would not have crossed with Magoism. My radical feminist quest was the cause for encountering Mago.