May 21, 2020May 22, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Photo Essay 4) Grandmothers by Kaalii Cargill

The so called “Venus” figurines are prehistoric figurines that I prefer to call “Grandmothers”. Over the last 5 years, I have been visiting with the Grandmothers from prehistory to classical Read More …

May 5, 2020April 14, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Photo Essay 3) Grandmothers by Kaalii Cargill

The so called “Venus” figurines are prehistoric figurines that I prefer to call “Grandmothers”. The figurines were carved from soft stone, bone or ivory, or formed of clay and fired. Read More …

March 19, 2020May 21, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Photo Essay 2) Grandmothers by Kaalii Cargill

The so called “Venus” figurines are figures from prehistory that I prefer to call “Grandmothers”. The figurines were carved from soft stone, bone or ivory, or formed of clay and Read More …

March 3, 2020March 4, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Photo Essay 1) Grandmothers by Kaalii Cargill

February 13, 2020February 13, 2020 Kaalii Cargill1 Comment

(Goddess Writing 10) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from DAUGHTERS OF TIME, my historical/speculative novel that traces a line of daughters from ancient Sumer to the present day. Urim, Ancient Sumer. c 1993 BCE From the great Read More …

February 4, 2020January 31, 2020 Kaalii Cargill1 Comment

(Goddess Writing 9) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Thirteen Women – a feminist interpretation based on Twenty-One Women from Awakening Osiris: A New Translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead by Normandi Ellis (2009, Red Wheel/Weiser). The Read More …

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 8) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

AUTHOR NOTE: A retelling of the Nordic myth of Iduna, an excerpt from Tapestry of Dark and Light, Book One of The Warrior Queen Chronicles, a novel written with Kellianna Read More …

January 7, 2020January 7, 2020 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 7) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

My speculative/historical novel DAUGHTERS OF TIME traces a line of daughters from ancient Sumer to the present day. The idea was to explore a lineage of women who carry the Read More …

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess writing 6) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

This is an edited excerpt from my book Don’t Take It Lying Down: Life According to the Goddess. This book is based on my PhD thesis in which I explored Read More …

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 5) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Author’s note: We can question the validity of differentiating between masculine and feminine principles or, indeed, the validity of perpetuating any dualisms. However, back in 1999 when I was writing Read More …

October 17, 2019October 15, 2019 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 4) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from Don’t Take It lying Down: Life According to the Goddess The stories from our past have profound implications for us today; they explain how our current beliefs and Read More …

October 1, 2019October 2, 2019 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 3) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from my speculative/historical novel DAUGHTERS OF TIME https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Time-Kaalii-Cargill/dp/1482616971 “Let me tell you a story,” said Old Lil, sitting on the wide rim of the fountain pool. “At the start Read More …

September 19, 2019October 2, 2019 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Goddess Writing 2) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from my speculative/historical novel Daughters of Time https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Time-Kaalii-Cargill/dp/1482616971 . . .Haleli frowned. “There is more to this than you know. The prophecy is a warning. Global warming, degradation of Read More …

(Essay 2) 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, Sardinia in 2004, photo by MarySaracino Inland, beyond the coastline, among the islands numerous hills and woodlands, rise remnants of nearly 8,000 round stone buildings. The Nuraghi crafted these structures from basalt quarried miles from their villages, carried to each site by mule or by human labor. They burdened themselves with one-thousand-pound rocks to construct their sanctuaries near the springs that beckoned, the springs that would ease their thirst, quench their souls, bless their meals, invigorate and sustain their lives. An egalitarian, matrilineal society, the Nuraghi used these massive rocks, as well, to build round stone huts for meeting rooms. Inside these hollowed centers were encircled with basalt benches, resting places for the men and women who gathered to discuss the needs of the villagers, decide on how best to proceed for the good of the many. Crafted by hand and with communal effort, Nuraghi men worked side by side with intention, creating homes, shelters, sacred spaces. Through their matrifocal culture, the women carried the memory of the Mother, the Divine Dea, Giver of Life, Midwife of Death. They instilled Her lineage in the blood of their children, their children’s children, the daughters and sons who would, century after century, carry the light forward. Back further in time, down the meandering byways of memory, before the impulse to haul rocks and shape environment compelled the building of villages, hillside caves opened their stony mouths to cradle the island’s Neolithic people, protecting them from the rains, the fierce winds, the scorching sun. In these times, before written words marked their stories, the wild, untamed soul of humans mirrored nature. All that was necessary was taught by heart, etched upon dank cave walls, recited by tongues familiar with survival, accustomed to the sacred litany of cultural continuation. Many such cave-repositories can be found throughout the island of Sardegna. At the necropolis of Montessu, in the southwestern region of the island, I spiraled into the Neolithic ages and sensed the echoes of prehistoric voices. Montessu is one of the largest of many ancient necropolis, dating from 3,500 BCE, carved out of stone by pre-Nuraghic Sardegnans. This massive site spans two square kilometers and contains more than 40 inter-linked tombs. Peoples of the Ozieri culture settled the area to farm and hunt. To bury their dead, they built hypogeums, “cities of the dead”. The entryways of these monumental sanctuaries stand two meters high and two meters wide, diametrically facing a natural rock amphitheater. Renowned for their typology, size and the intricate ways they replicate houses, these graveyards of prehistory incorporated windows, doors, and rooms uniting interior and exterior ritual spaces. The Ozieri placed foodstuffs inside, in tribute to their dead, seeking to feed their souls as they made their way to the world beyond this one. Domus de janas, the locals now call Montessu and other ancient burial places like it, the tombs of the fairies. Tiny female creatures are said to inhabit these ‘houses’, many of which are adorned with bas-reliefs petroglyphs, potent symbols that archeologists associate with veneration of the Feminine Divine: the spiral, the ochre-red pubic “V”, the sacred horns, meandering lines, concentric circles. Inside the domus de janas, the air is chilly, yet vibrant with energy. Carved out of rock, these tombs of the fairies were places where Neolithic men and women buried their dead, returning those whom they loved most dearly to the womb of the Earth. Ochre red spirals etched with prehistoric tools tattoo the coarse walls of now-silent tombs to mark the spot, the cave-place where human form returned to spirit. Into the exterior arch of the cave’s entryway was carved an embossed female figure, round-bellied, full-breasted, red “V”s pointing, like uterine arrows, toward home. In these rock tomb-womb portals, the lamentation of loved ones hovers, still, wailing loss, heaving sorrow into the echoes of time and space. At Montessu, the dead walk among the living and the Sardegna air is perfumed with rosemary, juniper, and honeysuckle, awakening an urge in me to inhale deeply. I borrowed breath from the sky and filled my lungs, exhaling what was false, releasing it into the abyss of forgetfulness. I want to remember everything. We humans have strayed far from our homeland, have long wandered alone in the desert of our amnesia. Have we learned nothing? Vivo and morto. The circle of life embraces the round mouth of the cave, the red O of the uterus. It births mysteries that can save and sustain us, if we will heed its call to silence. Where there is tyranny, how can there be love? Or peace? Aggression reigns unchecked throughout the world, most recently in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but other places as well. Not too long ago, in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans, supposed people of freedom, enforced liberty with the barrel of a gun. Prisoners beaten and humiliated in the name of truth-telling. We say we bring democracy, but our might and muscle are used to empty the heart of a proud people, long oppressed. Instead of freeing them we denigrate their spirit. How can they recognize an enemy from a friend when our arms come laden with bullets instead of open, welcoming hands? For more than 7,000 years humankind has borne the scars of violence. That legacy began around 4,500 BCE when the early Indo-European, nomadic Kurgans emerged from the Russian steppes and launched incursions throughout northern Europe. Eventually these warrior people broadened their territory, invading the Aegean and Adriatic regions as well. Scholars, including the renowned Marija Gimbutas, tell us the Kurgans rode horse-drawn chariots and worshipped storm gods of vengeance and battle. Peaceful Neolithic peoples, whom the Kurgans encountered along the way, were ill equipped to combat such aggression. Even during the early Bronze Age the heirs of nonviolent Neolithic societies, such as the Nuraghi of Sardegna, fashioned metal and stone into tools and utensils, not weaponry. Jewelry, cooking vessels, …
(Goddess Panel Art) Mother Nature by Kaalii Cargill

This image of “Mother” is one of a series of four Goddess Panels made for the Australian Goddess Conference in 2014. The “Mother” panel is life size (210 x 106 cm), crafted from fabric, bamboo padding, printed canvas, and bead work on a cotton backing. She is Mother Nature, the beginning, the end, the eternal return, the cycles and seasons, the wheel of the year, the changing Moon. Her body is golden-brown for the patterns of Nature that connect all living things. From Her breasts abundance flows, blue and green for water and earth, earth and water . . . Meet Mago Contributor, Kaalii Cargill
(Poetry) Things To Take Along by Phibby Venable

Photo by Phibby Venable Maybe if I do it right, unlimited and loose Keep my arms outstretched in this oddly festive life A piano piece in my fingers slipping a note A gallery where the sun plays a brilliant touch of light. A tapestry unfolding, in and out of trees Morphing to a silent doe in a downpour of rain Long ago I urged my bones to bend with empathy I saw an ocean everywhere in the blue hills of fog I gazed across mountains, a dragon’s tail long. So much in the wetness, grateful toward birth Warm cocoons opening in breathlessness. https://www.magoism.net/2015/01/meet-mago-contributor-phibby-venable/
(Art) “and you will be like God [sic]” from the Genesis of the Bible by Liz Darling

Artist’s Note- These paintings encompass ideas about female sexuality, the divine feminine, and religion. The experience of becoming a mother transformed the way I view the female body and the creation of life. Inspired by performing in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, I use the vulva as a symbol of female power.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Annabelle Solomon

Annabelle Solomon (PhD) is an Australian quilt artist and tutor whose thesis and work is inspired by a feminist spiritual ecology. Her book “Seasons of the Soul: the Wheel of the Year in Quilts” (1999) relates her experience of the creative process in the creation of art quilts for the seasonal cycle in the Southern Hemisphere. Annabelle is motivated to encourage new ways of seeing ourselves as creative women, powerfully interacting with each other and our place on Earth. Living in the World Heritage National Park of the Blue Mountains, she currently enthusiastically practises her craft, and promotes the arts.
(Book Announcement 1) She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality by Helen Hwang

She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Edited by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Kaalii Cargill Paperback:476 pages Publisher:Mago Books (June 21, 2015) Language:English ISBN-10:1514257696 ISBN-13:978-1514257692 Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches Shipping Weight:8 pounds Anthology: 92 Contributors Available in Mago Bookstore (http://magobooks.com) and Amazon (www.amazon.com).
(Prose Pt.1) Transcending Boundaries – Hatshepsut’s Path to Destiny by Alaya Advaita Dannu

Dreams are important because they are moments when humans are stripped of nanderekó or rational thought. Dreamers are in a spiritual state where the awá or “integral being” can emerge, connecting them with a deeper reality. For example, some people can direct their dreams to someone who is several hundred miles distant; others can foretell both positive and negative events that will affect the community (Assunção & Jecupé, 2006). – from “Anyone Who Dreams Partakes in Shamanism”, by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. Everyone dreams; not everyone remembers their dreams. Yes, I am speaking of the dreams we have when we are asleep, not what people call goals and aspirations. There’s a lot of misconception surrounding dreams amongst communities that are less familiar with them – what they are, why they are, and where they come from. Without going into the details of how they are viewed today by most of the western culture, they are more than: figments of our imaginations, by-products of the mind, residue from our day to day hoopla’s, a means to process experiences from our waking state, or subconscious messages whose meanings are limited to schools of thought on dream interpretation that were created from limited perspectives. Once upon a time, dreams were revered as the utterances of the heavens. Once upon a time, dreams were revered for their revelation of the roadmaps to one’s path and purpose – it was where one looked to understand the questions many still ask today: who am I [identity], why am I here [destiny]. While dreams and the concept of dreaming are still honored in many cultures outside of the Western civilization, I will not deny the existence of the decent amount of conversation on the usefulness of dreams within the Western culture. Operative word being ‘decent’, because I do not think the conversation is deep enough to satisfy the needs of those whose dream experiences are sublime in the way that makes them difficult to approach with simplicity or blatant scrutiny. I’ve engaged dreamwork for over 15 years and my experiences have shaped and molded my interests in spiritual and personal development, in an unorthodox way: exploring the revelation of identity and destiny through dream work. Dreams, originating from the immaterial realm, provides the prima Materia for things we wish to bring into the material realm. This idea was never jettisoned from my upbringing; an approach cultivated through my ongoing investigations to the validity of dreams and the effect they have on our lives from beyond a western/clinical perspective. Dreams aid in the shaping and molding of our lives. I am going to share the dream experience that became the key to further understanding the answers to these questions, “Who am I? Why am I”, demonstrating why it is important to honor them as part of the process to gain clarity in one’s exploration of spiritual and personal growth. I’ve chosen to share this particular dream first because of its clear example of identity and destiny. Perhaps in a separate publication, I will explore in depth and greater detail the symbolism that Hatshepsut embodied; all interpreted from beyond the scope and perspective of a Euro/androcentric perspective. __________ Have you ever heard of Hatshepsut? The better known female pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt? I have not heard of her before October 22nd, 2015. I came across her name when I was searching for a connection between the ancient Greek perspective on divine birth and that of the ancient Egyptians. The sacred practices of one culture inspired that of the other, so I thought I’d find the answer somewhere amongst the research databases I have access to, and Google. I love Google. There are times I think it is intuitive and knows what I am searching for, and other times where it just doesn’t hit the mark. With this particular search, I am not certain if Google understood my words or if it was being intuitively snarky and provided me with something that would throw me off one course of action and onto another. I searched “divine birth in ancient Greece” and Google came up with a book by Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso, of which I already owned. I modified the search to “divine conception in ancient Greece” and Google gave me Immaculate Conception. Modifying my search again, I replaced “ancient Greece” with “ancient Egypt” and Hatshepsut’s name came up. I clicked on two links: one that belonged to the Oriental Institute of Chicago, and one that belonged to Milestone Documents, which had an appealing title – “Divine Birth and Coronation Inscriptions of Hatshepsut”. I downloaded the document provided by the Oriental Institute without reading it; it wasn’t titled in a way that caught my interest to spend the time reading it in those moments. The second link required a payment of three dollars and ninety-nine cents, of which I was in no mood to spend. I could not preview the document before purchasing, therefore it was not worth the effort or cost. Three ninety-nine is a lot when you’re not working a steady job. It did not take me long to end my search that day. That night, or rather that following morning, I experienced the dream that flipped everything upside down – or turned everything right side up: October 22, 2015 – “I am Hatshepsut…and I am one of the sheshu-hor, which marks the validity of my kingship”. It was an opening verse that gave an account of her kingship and how she came into being. In being a sheshu-hor, she was further worthy of the title and appointment as pharaoh. In my mind I was in shock – as she gave an account of herself as a legitimate pharaoh I realized I was the one speaking, yet felt and knew that this was about her. We were merged and separated repeatedly throughout the entire dream. The ancestor Falcon to Horus appeared amidst the entire first verse, at key points in the written account of how she …
Embracing Change, We Are the Cosmic Egg by Carolyn Lee Boyd

The Cosmic Egg (Illustration: Orphic egg, James Basire, 1730–1802 (engraver), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) In the time before time, the Greek goddess Eurynome arose out of primeval chaos and danced a whirlwind into being. She then shape-shifted Herself into a dove and laid the Cosmic Egg from which all existence was hatched. “Who am I?” is the question that all of us hatchlings from the Egg ask ourselves at one time or another. Many of us spend our lives thinking of our true selves as an essential, unchanging entity waiting to be discovered, like a lotus unfolding, beneath our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. But in reality, I think we are more like Eurynome. We are born into a universe of infinite possibilities that is constantly swirling with movement and energy and, if we embrace our capacity for transformation and our place in that whirlwind, we can become capable of the magnificent constant co-creation of our own beings and the world around us. All we need to do is look around us or up into the sky to see that our universe is one of continual change. Stars are born, die, collapse, and become black holes or other immensely dense entities. Space in the universe is always expanding. Seasons follow one on another in an endless round of life, death, and rebirth. We ourselves are born as infants, become children, then adults, grow old and die, and finally our bodies return to the Earth. As denizens of such a universe, we, too must have metamorphosis as our nature. Stories of shape-shifting goddesses from around the world also show us that living lives of dynamic change has been expected and exalted for millennia. The Greek Thetis became a serpent, a lioness,and other forms to evade marriage. The Welsh Cerridwen turned herself into a greyhound, otter, hawk, and hen to capture a boy who had stolen a potion. The Yoruba Muso Koroni is sometimes a black panther or leopard. Goddesses can also sometimes turn into or enter trees or plants. The Finno-Ugaric goddess Rauni is in Rowan or Mountain Ash trees. The Ojibwa Leelinau became a tree after falling in love with a man who was also sometimes a pine tree. The Greek Mentha became mint. Goddesses also become parts of the landscape, like the Celtic Epona who is at times a rushing river. When we look up into the heavens we see goddesses who are stars and planets. Sumer’s Inanna is the planet Venus. The Six Wives of California’s Western Mono nation rose into the sky to be the Pleiades cluster. Closer to the Earth, the Eastern European Vila can turn herself into a cloud or fog. What happens to our vision of ourselves and our role in the world when we consider ourselves as ever-transforming and part of a constantly changing universe? The advantages of such a perception are many. While I cannot physically change myself instantly into animals, plants, trees, heavenly bodies, or rivers, perhaps by thinking of myself as able to be like beings who exemplify certain qualities I can be more nimble in my responses to life’s challenges. Often I have experienced trauma and realized it has forced me to have a lion’s courage or a snakes’s regenerative power. As a mother I have discovered the fierce protective lovingness of the bear. When I garden herbs I am touched by their compassionate healing. When I open myself to taking on qualities of other beings I expand my perception of myself and my abilities. When I understand my constantly churning nature, I come to see myself as being not only a separate individual, alone and unconnected, but as a being in relationship. When I see my soul as akin to beings with whom I share qualities, we become allies through all we have in common. Indeed, we humans also shape shift in a way through our bodies into other beings after our passing as we become nourishment for trees and plants that then feed animals, birds, insects, and more. As a result, we must show all beings the same dignity and respect we wish for ourselves, for, in truth, we are all part of one another. Perceiving my part in the grander maelstrom of energy, I become ever more dedicated to taking action to make our world a better place. While I may sometimes feel as if what I am able to do makes little difference, when I align my actions with others, our dynamism can make remake the landscape, save those in danger, and ensure justice, just like the goddesses who became rushing rivers bringing water to the people, turn into pigs to escape captors, and take the form of many animals to pursue a thief. We learn that improving the world can happen through encouraging and prodding the ongoing, zestful tide of change in the right direction instead of feeling like we can rarely make headway against a mammoth, unyielding, immoveable boulder of how things have been for millennia. Who are we? We are much more than we usually perceive ourselves to be, as individuals, humans, and a living planet if we will only remember the message left to us by these ancient myths and stories. By recognizing our place in this exciting whirlwind, we are superb creators, both of ourselves and of the planet we wish to live on and the cosmos that surrounds and embraces it. Some years ago I found a stone that had ridges worn in it by water, causing it to look, to me, like the Cosmic Egg. I replaced it in its water home and I know that if I were to find it again, it would look completely different but just as beautiful, transformed by the waves it encounters every day. The Cosmic Egg is ever-hatching and we are its promise. Sources: Monaghan, Patricia, Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines; Western Washington University Physics/Astronomy Department Photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd (Meet Mago Contributor) Carolyn Lee Boyd https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
(Essay) Goddess Rises as Trauma Resolves by Stephanie Mines, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: This piece is a response to Helen Hwang’s advocacy of the Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality Movement recently discussed in celebration of the 9th anniversary of She Rises trilogy.] I consider the word “Goddess” to refer to a state of evolved consciousness. One attains it by being free of trauma and standing unconditionally in one’s Original Brilliance, or empowered selfhood. Women, as I have observed from the perch of my decades-long role as a trauma therapist, have been devoted to unwinding and discarding the burdens of trauma. Indeed, research shows that women are more likely to seek treatment for trauma than men (National Center for PTSD, 2023). Using fMRI data, the National Institutes of Health published research that shows that women’s regulatory capacities are more adroit when it comes to resolving trauma and moving past it (McRae, 2008). What is clear to me is that women are highly motivated to become unenslaved from the shackles of trauma. We are acutely conscious of the physiology of those shackles, and actively seek strategies for liberation. Our health depends on this and we know it in our bones. Activism arises naturally from this awareness and our creative efforts of unenslavement. Concomitant with the process of unenslavement comes prescience and a unique feminine spirituality is born that perceives a future reliant on women’s leadership. As we resolve trauma and experience the freedom of living without it, the physiological reverberations of the process become so expansive that we cannot contain it. This expansiveness naturally seeks outlets through our voices and all channels of expression such as art, writing, poetry, dance, relationships and however we communicate ourselves to the world. We are fulfilling the earth’s directive in this. Just as Mother Trees are interactive with each other, so are women all over the world co-creating and delivering the insistent need to rise up. A mighty energy has been aroused and there is no stopping it. For at least thirty-five years I have been facilitating trauma resolution sessions and workshops and seeing that the women far outnumber the men. This is because women are meant to lead us into the future. We have consistently and unrelentingly, despite all the odds, been unraveling the trauma that limits us and freeing ourselves. As mothers, we communicate this liberation to our children, arousing a global movement of liberation in the potential biofield. Free of trauma, our brains and our voices are the vehicles of Original Brilliance. Original Brilliance is the innate capacity for resilience and creativity that fuels embryogenesis. It is available to everyone. Because women have devoted themselves so thoroughly to the healing process, they have greater access to that Original Brilliance. It is rising up, in women’s voices, women’s activism, and in women’s spirituality. The nature of Original Brilliance is profoundly spiritual. It is a synonym for Soul Purpose. The culmination of trauma resolution is Goddess activism and spirituality. This is a renewed feminism that is adapted to these times of polycrisis. It is a feminism that is ecological, inclusive and unifying. It does not exclude any gender. Trauma informed Goddess feminism is an evolved form of feminism because it is rooted in trauma resolution. The feminists of the 20th Century were not aware of the impacts of trauma, nor did they necessarily perceive misogyny and patriarchy as injurious to health or the evolution of the human nervous system. Our understanding of trauma has increased exponentially. Women have followed this development closely, and taken advantage of every iteration to free themselves. When we see the continuum of trauma resolution as a new feminism, we expand our understanding of Goddess activism and spirituality. It becomes holistic. Feminism becomes not only a social or political movement; it also becomes both a pathway to health and a spiritual path. Not only that, because of the physiological ramifications of trauma resolution, the New Feminism becomes a route to health and wellbeing. Looby Macnamara, the author of Cultural Emergence, talks about regenerative cultures. This, I believe, is what is happening within the community of women who, in the process of resolving trauma, recognize that they are leaders in a revolution that is happening naturally, from the ground up, of women rising to speak their truth. It is uncontainable. The truth is uncontainable. This is why reproductive freedom is inevitable. The restraints on it will melt away by the truth of the revolution in women’s voices and the rise of women’s leadership. Envision the world that is just around the corner, where women are the leaders and their wisdom guides humanity towards its salvation of itself and our beloved planet earth. Stay true to this vision. Keep it in front of you and let it fill you with its vibrant reality. https://www.magoism.net/2024/08/meet-mago-contributor-stephanie-mines-ph-d/

(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.
(Special Post 1) "The Oldest Civilization" 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.
(Special Post 7) 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.] Kaalii Cargill: Life emerges from the Feminine: Woman, Nature, Goddess. When we value the life-giving power of the Feminine we are less likely to kill other human beings who have been held in a mother’s arms.

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

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

Spring At the highest point on the tree, you stretch, reaching for the sun. Your pink petals elegant in their grace, you stand alone. Bravest of all, for leaves have yet to come to offer shade Branches bare except for furry buds that will soon follow in imitation of your daring first move. Intrepid flower of Spring, I feel like you in my yearning for the Sun!
(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).
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

(Budoji Essay 1) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“The Great Goddess Myth is the first and last revelation to humankind. Where the Primordial Mother is, there is Home!” Part 1 Introduction When I first read the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the principal text of Magoism, my life journey took an unexpected turn. The power of the Magoist cosmogony began to work on me, and suddenly I was returning Home with/to/in Mago, the Great Goddess! Before, “Home” had seemed an unreal destination, a mirage that lured voyagers to its abyss of nowhere. I had been stripped of “Home.” The Magoist cosmogony gifted me with a vision of what I had been seeking as a feminist voyager. I meant to return Home. In Mago, I felt no longer free-floating, but this was not without its price. My radical feminist searches brought me no material benefits; rather, to become Myself was the reward. Layer after layer of patriarchal deception had to be peeled off. And for women who, like me, came from the non-Western, formerly colonized world, reversing the reversals required a deeper analysis of racism, ethnocentrism, and colonialism. I underwent the process of becoming Me, a process which also led me to WE. Personally, Homecoming means an integration of myself within the mytho-historical-cultural context of Magoism. However, Homecoming in the Great Goddess can never be an isolated individual act. Magoism unfolds the Primordial Home wherein all beings are kindred. The Primordial Home is for everyone. Everyone is destined to return Home in the Great Goddess because She is Here for us all. She will be Here for as long as humanity survives. Homecoming is a harbinger; it signals the arrival of WE, a very old concept that was misconstrued if not tabooed in patriarchy. The nature of my life has changed. “I” is no longer in the way of “WE.” “I” and “WE” do not stand against each other. Furthermore, “I” is transformed by “WE,” just as are all things in the universe. Scalar turns to vector. Chaos yields to order. The labyrinth leads to the Source. My feminism is rewarded with gynocentrism, the Goddess Matrix in which the female principle by far surpasses patriarchy. As many admit, Myth, the story of the divine, is etiological, meaning it explains the origin of things. I hold that only the gynocentric cosmogonic myth can be fully etiological, shedding light on the primal beginning. Myth is inherently gynocentric, for it is derived from the perception of the Primordial Mother, the oldest divine in human history. Put differently, Myth tells us that the Divine is She, that Female is the original divine. Myth is ultimately inseparable from the Great Goddess. The Primordial Mother is the macrocosmic translation of a mother. She is the Metaphor for life-giver and life-raiser. Divinity issues from Her. In Her, everything, including the God, is endowed with divinity. The etiological and metaphoric nature of Myth is fully illumined only in the story of the female beginning. The Goddess Myth told to/by us testifies to what patriarchy can’t or doesn’t tell. It is a language distinguished from that of patriarchy, dominating if not violent. The nature of Its language is persuasive and pacific. The truth It tells awakens one to Home. It is intrinsically soteriological, and herein lies the urgency of Myth: It shows the Way that humanity needs to know and follow in order to survive and flourish. The Great Goddess Myth is the first and last revelation to humankind. Where the Primordial Mother is, there is Home! Mago is not necessarily the “creator” of things. In the Magoist cosmogony, there is no one who created or creates anything alone. (I have used the term “cosmogony” in place of “creation” to avoid the conflation of Magoist thought with the origin-stories of patriarchal religions.) Instead, all things are interdependent and the power of auto-genesis is embedded within the universe itself. In explaining that, the Magoist cosmogony does not employ a magical or a logical jump. In the time of beginning, cosmic rays dance in accordance with the law of nature. Mago and primordial matter are self-born through the movement of cosmic music. Mago is, above all, the Cause of human existence. All things on Earth are indebted to Mago for She initiated the process auto-genesis of the Earth itself. In short, She is the Source of Life on Earth. Without Her, nothing is possible for us.
(Mago Essay 3) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hwang

[The following sequels including this one are a modified version of my paper presented to Daoist Studies, the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in 2010.] Part 3 Daoist Rendition of Mago, the Great Goddess Being the creatrix, progenitor, and ultimate sovereign, Mago has been addressed by many names. Her derivative names include Samsin Halmeoni (Triad Grandmother/Goddess), Cheonsin (Heavenly Deity), Daejosin (Great Ancestor Deity), Nogo (Crone/Grandmother), Gomo (Goddess Mother), Magui (Devil), Seogo (Auspicious Goddess), Seonnyeo (Female Immortal), Seonja (Immortal Person), and simply Halmi (Grandmother/Crone/Goddess) especially in Korea. To say the least, these names, respectively embedded in a particular cultural and historical background, reflect a complex and enduring feature of Magoism. One may wonder: How is it possible to assess that these goddesses with different names refer to the same goddess, Mago? While such a query is legitimate, its answer entails a prolix explication of inferences based on the comprehensive analysis of a large volume of data, a technique that requires all human faculties, not just rationality. Foremost, the name “Mago” is the primary defining factor to identify Her transnational manifestations in East Asia. This name crisscrosses otherwise seemingly unrelated data including folklore, arts, literature, poetry, and religious and historical records. Such toponyms as Mt. Mago, Rock of Mago, and Cave of Mago presently extant in Korea, China, and/or Japan further substantiate the coherence of Magoism in East Asia. Having established the patterns and styles of Mago stories, the researcher is able to identify a common motif that is shared by the stories and place-names of the goddesses with derivative names. In short, these stories are organically interconnected, reflecting the universality and particularities of Magoist theism. As with Her many names, the researcher or art historian requires the same technique to assess a broad range of Her visual representations. One can begin with a good number of paintings whose colophons designate Mago. Two of the most conspicuous colophons are “Magu gathering medicinal herbs” and “Mago presents longevity.” However, many icons including sculptures and embroideries do not have such an indication. In that case, one can tell the Mago icon by its pictorial themes recurring in the images that are identified as Mago. That said, there is no doubt that the Mago icon stands as the prototype of its numerous variations, which are beyond my documentation at this point. A large portion of Mago visual representations I have documented is casually referred to as “The Immortal Magu (麻姑仙, Magu Xian or Mago Seon)” by moderns. As such, it is assumed that She is a Daoist goddess. Would the Daoist appropriation of Mago’s visual images be accurate? I hold that the Daoist rendition of Mago is a specious stopgap, leaving many issues unattended. When B is derived from A, B alone can explain neither A nor B. Not only Her pre-Daoist origin but also Her supreme divinity as the Great Goddess remains unexplained. Furthermore, Daoism has offered no framework to explain the transnational dissemination of Magoist material culture in Korea, China, and Japan.
(Book Announcement 5) Introduction (part 3) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This Introduction is from She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2.] Pre-order available now! Engendering the Gynocentric Economy In the sense that the She Rises collective writing project does NOT begin with a ready-made blueprint, it is distinguished from a standard anthology. More to the point, this book is a book of the Goddess. By saying that, I do not mean that it is just about the Goddess. It is created in a gynocentric way and it serves a gynocentric purpose. Motivations matter; the task of the She Rises collective writing was first undertaken as a way of enhancing the Goddess/Mago Movement in 2014.[i] It has taken place spontaneously by the hand of volunteers. It relies on the gynocentric economy, a system of enabling the life of all beings operated through voluntary collaboration and egalitarian coordination. As an extension of the Gift Economy that Genevieve Vaughan advocates, the gynocentric economy is based on the voluntary sharing of one’s available resources for the whole.[ii] Gift-givers not only give what we can give freely but also enable a whole new (read non-patriarchal) mode of doing economic activities. In other words, they summon gynocentric reality to take place. Gynocentric economy secures free gift-giving activities and at the same time is shaped by the latter.

Author: Kaalii Cargill

(Photo Essay 4) Grandmothers by Kaalii Cargill

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S/HE: IJGS V3 N1 2024 (B/W Paperback)

Happy 9th Anniversary to She Rises Trilogy

Reader: Toward Magoist Cetaceanism

Mago Pod Bulletin #72 October 2024

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