May 29, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Art) Palmistry by Liz Darling

(Meet Mago Contributor) Liz Darling.

May 25, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poem) In the Spirals of Dialectics by Maya Daniel

Here, in summer, the mountains Waterfalls, rivers and creeks— The waters are silent and tranquil The peasants are here. We are here. Here in this mountains Struggling in the spirals Read More …

May 23, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work1 Comment

(Poem) FIREBIRD’S SONG by Sara Wright

She came on the wings of the Owl flew out of the crack of our imagining swooped low over the underground forest hooing, hooing, hooing screeching and clacking Haunting the Read More …

May 14, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Poetry and Photography) Dying into Life by Sara Wright

May is a month of dying into the flaming fire, the white heat of spring. You circle overhead as the Hawk does in my dreams… Broad russet wings and Read More …

May 4, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work2 Comments

(Poetry) the great ones by Susan Hawthorne

in order to know the great ones there are some necessary deeds examine the source how water rises watch the light of sun and moon observe them spin and Read More …

May 2, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work2 Comments

(Art) Gaia #9 Incandesence by Deborah Jane Milton, Ph.D.

S/He Who Keeps the Fire Too long relegated to the shadows, woman’s fire now ignites heads, hearts and hands to live the power of love. (Meet Mago Contributor) Deborah Read More …

April 27, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work2 Comments

(Poem) Arise for the people by Maya Daniel

Dusk with a streak of crimson above the mountains Yields to the coolness of the coming nightfall The far side of the meadow, a hedge of low fence Catches the Read More …

April 25, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) Blueberries for Bears by Sara Wright

This morning I went to our local blueberry festival and ate blueberry pancakes with blueberry sauce and started home with three quarts of blueberries, one of which was delivered to Read More …

April 17, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work3 Comments

(Photography & Poetry) Prayer to My Human Sisters by Amina Rodriguez

May we only view the Goddess within us when we look into each others eyes May we view her divinity within the other with understanding and compassion, and may we Read More …

April 12, 2018October 2, 2019 Deanne QuarrieLeave a comment

(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 Read More …

April 9, 2018February 10, 2020 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poem) Spring on the Wing by Sara Wright

Three long-necked sandhill cranes fly over the house. V shaped flocks of geese sound a collective cry. Woodpeckers drum. Magical dragons are stirring…. All who listen hear that the skies Read More …

April 5, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Art) Santa Florés—Spanish Saint of Flowers by Sudie Rakusin

Santa Florés inspires us to remember that from seed to blossom there are many stages before the brillance of full flower. Be patient, as we are always where we need Read More …

April 4, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Art) Muse and Bird by Jhilmil Breckenridge

I painted this as a tribute to a lover, the perfection of his body, and a gorgeous blue bird depicting freedom and movement. (Meet Mago Contributor) Jhilmil Breckenridge.

(Essay 1) Two poems of Louisa Calio: Between Tradition and Innovation by Cinzia Marongiu

Louisa Calio & Rachel Ellner in performance [Author’s Note: This except is part of my dissertation “Race and ethnicity in the works of Kym Ragusa, Mary Bucci Bush and Louisa Calio” forthcoming in winter 2021.] Part one: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman (1970) Louisa Calio is an eclectic artist – a poet, a teacher, a multimedia performer, a writer, a photographer, a painter and more. Her work is the very embodiments of a curious creolization of the Italian American society, it is a cultural mosaic that reflects her life and our times. Even a quick look at her biography demonstrates the spectrum of her heterogeneous background. Born in Brooklyn in 1947, Calio has traveled extensively through the African continent and currently divides her time between U.S., Italy, and Jamaica. She has, therefore, in effect, lived all her life crossing boundaries, physically and culturally, as she herself recently asserted, “my soul seemed to come from many places, and many of them had both a rich history and a history of female”.[1] Calio’s life mirrors this ethnic collage. Certainly, proud of her Italian American roots, Louisa Calio embraces a wider variety of cultural and literary background than is customary in the Italian American tradition. In verses of remarkable sensitivity, the poet looks at human connections and uproots various fixities assigned to the notion of italianità. As shifting and as various the huge cultural heritage of Sicily, United States and Jamaica – respectively, the land of her ancestors, the land where she was born, and the place where she has been living since the eighties – her body of work displays “a sensitivity to multi-culturalism and ethnic diversity that is sometimes lacking in Italian-American culture,” as Stanislao Pugliese put it (http://lideamagazine.com/poetry-is-a-way-of-knowing-exclusive-interview-with-author-louisa-calio/ visited on 5/15/2021). Her Italian American background interweaves with the multiple cultural landscapes she inhabits providing her reader with a “many-sided” reflection for world and society in her poems. Too tight in the shoes of an Italian American, Louisa Calio has been always engaged in the effort to locate her Sicilian roots within a widervision. Ambitious, stylized, and meticulously researched, Calio’s poetic gravitates toward Mediterranean’s ancient cultures enshrined in classical, biblical, and pre-Christian tradition, offer an alternative viewpoint that unsettles the orthodox topography of the world – that over the centuries has come to impose its definitions of ethics, race, and space –and opens up new ways of seeing Italian American identity and suggests the idea of overlapping territories and intertwined histories where people share mutual origins and a similar destiny. It is precisely along this path this article wants to go, discussing two early poems by Louisa Calio, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman and Angie’s Hands Have Seasoning, which highlight her innovative and traditional aspects. In his chronological survey of “Italian American Poets” (D’Acierno 1999, 266-88), Stephen Sartarelli evidences how, despite the stylistic diversity, Italian-American poets make use of certain themes that, whether for inspiration and tradition, are typically Italian American, such as family, religion and immigration. Similarly, Dana Gioia in his essay “What is Italian American Poetry?” (Ciongoli and Parini 1997) explains that the Italian-American poets of the first and second generations “have used the immigrant experience as their imaginative point of departure,” but, Gioia continues, the new generation of Italian Americans find their “cultural links with the old country more tenuous. As the Little Italies disappear and families move to the suburbs, the descendants of Italian immigrants gradually lose their original ethnic identity in mainstream America. Values change subtly but significantly” Gioia adds (167-68). Still Gioia also notices a persistent characteristic that distinguishes poets of Italian descent, namely an eternal struggle between tradition and revolution. A conflicting impulse that pushes on the one hand “to preserve the richness of the past, [on] the other to reject it in search of the new” (170). This impulse to preserve and transform is evident in Louisa Calio’s poetry, which often reinvents tradition in contemporary form. But what kind of innovation does Louisa Calio bring to poetry? What are some of the defining characteristics of her work? What are the ongoing effects of Italian heritage in her poetry? Innovation in poetry means adding something new to it, such as a new subject, a new form, a new message. Shall we consider innovative a poet that uses traditional subject-matter in a non-traditional form? The answer to these questions shall follow. The first part of this essay frames the position of female writers in the Italian American community during Calio’s age era, then it considers Calio’s early work and her first book of poetry In The Eye of Balance. All women writers affected by societal strictures and literary patriarchal dictatorship are, to varying degrees, mavericks and inventive, even when their works are conservative. For an Italian American woman like Louisa Calio, for example, just choosing a literary career was revolutionary. First, because in male-dominant society of her youth and, the Italian American household, women were confined to very precise roles which were hard to change; and second, women weren’t supposed to aspire to higher education or intellectual position, since they were often educated only for specific functions of becoming fine housewives. In this context, it was unlikely for a woman to pursue her writing vocation (Giunta 2002). If on the one hand, in the Italian community, there was a high regard for women, and woman’s role was recognized as life-sustaining by being “the central pivot of family life was crucial because of the importance of the family over the institutions” (D’Acierno 1999, 211), on the other hand, women couldn’t escape their prescribed role. Since early age, they were taught to be good wives and good mothers (Gambino 1974), as Helen Barolini describes in Chiaro Scuro (1999) “the Italian American woman comes out of a family-oriented, patriarchal view of the world in which women stayed home or, at most, worked alongside their immediate male kin, but where always dependent upon a male – their father, brother, husband, and, eventually, if widowed, …
(Prose) Visiting Il Giardino dei Tarocchi (The Tarot Garden) Capalbo, Italy by Susan Hawthorne

In October 2023, I travelled to Italy, after Rome my major destination was the Tarot Garden, a sculpture park created by the artist Niki de Saint Phalle. It was my second visit and so I had some expectations and wondered if I might be a bit disappointed this time round. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was completely overwhelmed. It is hard to imagine a place that is filled with twenty-two ceramic sculptures of the tarot cards, some the size of a house, one even with a functioning bathroom. It is built on a hill and each path leads you to yet another magical place. The Empress is giant with huge breasts that look as though they might feed the world. Photo by Susan Hawthorne Inside The Empress are several mirrored rooms, including the bathroom with this giant serpent. Photo by Susan Hawthorne As well as the giant figures and smaller ones there is also extraordinary detail. In the walls of one of the sculptures I noticed these little prehistory goddess figures. Photo by Susan Hawthorne It is simultaneously whimsical and thoughtful. Of all the sculptures, on both occasions I fell for The Moon with its two dogs howling but set against the trees and a blue sky. Photo by Susan Hawthorne Niki de Saint Phalle began working on this project in 1969 and it was her primary artwork until around 1996. She also has sculptures in other places such as Zurich, Jerusalem and San Diego. Her work is found in many art galleries across Europe and North America. You can find other photos and commentary online including at the Tarot Garden website here: https://ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it/en/ Copyright on all photos and text, Susan Hawthorne, 2024 https://www.magoism.net/2013/12/meet-mago-contributor-susan-hawthone/
(Essay) Once in Okinawa by Luciana Percovich

It’s a common trait of the most ancient religions in human history, that the cult could only occur in the open air – as still the Celts expressed, “in a space not built by human hands.” This trait is proper to pre-patriarchal civilizations all over the world, as in the Japanese archipelago of Okinawa, studied by J. Herbert in La Religion d’Okinawa. In what is considered the most ancient form of Japanese religion, the Ryu-Kyu Shinto, where priestly duties are performed exclusively by women, there is no difference between the worshipped divinity and the place of worship (utakis). Since the sacredness of these places are full of divine essence, the divinities themselves are simply called by the name of that place. In this form of ancient Shinto, where no central authority rules the beliefs, every priestess (noros and tsukasas) enjoys a full independence for what concerns the mythology and the form of cult of which she is the mediator and guarantor. Kinamon, the main divine character, who is also called Nirai-Kanai, is a dual creature, at once male and female, another frequent trait in the most ancient myths of creation all over the world. Nirai-Kamai is not worshipped in a temple but rather in the trees and in the rocks where she originated at the beginning of creation. As in Australian mythology, where creation rose from the Dreamtime, and every rock or rivulet of water manifests on the physical plane a Dream of an Ancestor/tress, these places are so holy that they cannot be acceded by anybody but the priestesses and only in some occasions. The access to the six main holy places of the archipelago is strictly limited or even forbidden: in the whole island of Kudaka, where the first human creature was created by Ama-mi-Kiu, Nirai-Kanai’s daughter, nobody is allowed to live, and in the western beach of Okinawa where, up to the beginning of the second world war, only the kami-tsukasas were admitted. Even though a human intervention has been carried out to underline the attention and care paid, the place of cult — be it a holy mountain, a hole, a clearing of grass or sand, a hidden spring in a forest, a cave, a cavern, a stack or a wall of rock, a grove, a single tree or simple thick stones “from which the sun rises,”– must strictly be in the open air. In Okinawa, the basic form of the “temple” is a small wall of dry stones coming up straight from the floor, not higher than 70 cm, sometimes overcome by a stone slab where oblation is put; it is often surrounded by another small wall or by a set of circular trees as a means of containment or protection. Similar utakis are generally in the open countryside, in a wood or on a beach, though they can sometimes be found near a village, in which case they act as “guardians.” Their function recalls Ala, the great mother of the Ibos, in Nigeria, who used to be sitting inside the porch of a small wooden temple in such a way that all the inhabitants of the village could see her, meaning that her soul was fluttering over the whole community. Another interesting word to understand the force and width of this sacredness of nature as the place of divine expression (source/soul of the creation and of the perennial creative energy, which needs to be kept whole and pure to ensure its continuity) is ibi which, according to some sources, refers to the divinity itself. In this case other than the place of cult — while according to other sources it is the holiest part of the utaki — Ibi could also include a whole forest or the sea itself. A modest building can be found near the main utakis, destined to the purification of the noros before the rituals, which further confirms that the holiest place is in the open air, whereas the closed place is a secular construction, used only by priestesses to get prepared for the sacred ceremonies. In Europe and in the Mediterranean area, the columns of the first temples and of the later sacred architecture were created by imitating the natural environment, the clearing surrounded by the trees: forests of stone where air still flew among the marble trunks. Only later they were enclosed by Christianity with walls – sometimes looking almost temporary or erected hastily: to hide the holy place, to isolate it, to separate it from nature, which starts to get desacralized and finally becomes an inanimate entity to exploit. This separation can be seen in many churches, from the Jesuits’ one downtown in Lisbon to the Doric temple of Athena, which is now part of the cathedral of Ortigia (Syracuse, Sicily), where the columns are still well visible and powerful, not completely included in the perimeter walls. The catastrophic drama of the Death of Nature occurs in this passageway, in these enclosures, dealt with by Carolyn Merchant in her homonymous book[1] in which she retraces the crucial centuries terminating in the “Renaissance,” that is the turning point from the magic-holistic to the scientific vision. But consider that numerous apparitions of Mary took place in a tree. La Madonna di Fatima (Portugal), one of the well known holy places of Christianity, tells us how eternal the holy tree is to people’s imagination. There, the Virgin Mary appeared on a holm oak at the beginning of the twentieth century, in the middle of a grove of olive, oak and fruit trees sloping down to a perennial spring. Sanctuaries have too often become places where male violence has chosen to explode, as is the case in Okinawa. Today, all over the world, the sacredness of natural places and of the vegetal kingdom have been repeatedly desecrated and without any limits, as in the decayed Italian landscape, once populated by “divine feminine beings, wonderfully skilled in magic and medicine art, the only ones who know the virtues of certain herbs, of …
(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
(Poem) Joy by Vajra Ma

see, here, sister, where She pierced me this scar and this one and this one here petals in my body yantra here, trace them with your fingers
(Book Extracts) Crete by Susan Hawthorne

I saw the recent news about the death of Carol Christ. Although I never met Carol, I was struck by the similarities between my experience in the Dicktaean Cave some decades earlier, and her book, The Serpentine Path. I have read many other books by her and have travelled to Crete on three occasions. Once in winter in early 1977; once in October in 1986; and again, in summer of 1992. On each occasion I visited the museums, the archaeological sites; I drank a lot of Greek coffee and ate sweets in the streets. I would go back at the drop of a hat. The first visit prompted me to learn Demotic Greek for about a year, not enough to develop any fluency, but enough to survive and read the signs. By the time I returned in 1986, I had studied Classical Greek for several years. At bus stops, the old women and I would troll my dictionary looking for the crossover between Katharevousa and Demotic Greek. Katharevousa is formal modern Greek, used in the media, government legal and academic documents, though this was changed by law in 1977 and since then Demotic Modern Greek has been the official language. The old women at the bust stops knew it. The first extract below is from The Falling Woman which I wrote in the late 1980s and was first published in 1992. In the extract below, I refer to boustrophedon, a form of writing from Crete in which the words resemble the way a cow ploughs a field with words going back and forth across the surface without any breaks. Crete was another world. They spent a day in the Museum at Herakleion staring in wonder at the riches there. Julia had given Estella a labrys, a double axe, for her birthday, which she wore on a leather thong around her neck. In the squat in London, Roberta had told her about its origins in pre-patriarchal Crete. In Italy she’d been advised to hide it, since Mussolini had appropriated the symbol in the thirties and many Italians still associated the labrys with fascism. In the museum in Herakleion there were whole cases filled with tiny gold ones; huge tarnished-bronze ones on long poles; others painted on the sides of pots and pithoi, along with birds and snakes, flowers and octopi. They visited the palace at Phaestos that overlooked the plain with its wide steps and corridors. Stella, still experimenting with her new camera, was taking photographs of double axes engraved in stone. The stones seemed to lie any which way, as though they had simply fallen there. Stella was reading writing engraved on stone. For all her Greek she couldn’t decipher more than a few words, though she could follow the continuity of words that started on the left side, turned and returned across the stone from the right. A continuous squiggly line that imitated the way in which an ox ploughs a field. Stella was developing her own errant theory of writing, from the Phaestos disk to the boustrophedon of this stone. It’s all snakes, she thought, whether they coil in a spiral or slither in curves down the page. But Julia was sceptical. AMI – Goldene Doppelaxt, from Wikimedia Commons The second extract is from Dark Matters, in which the main character Kate (Ekaterina) is the daughter of a woman from Greece. Many Greek refugees came to Australia after the Second World War. The small country town I lived near included a Greek run café and a Greek run newsagent. It was Ochi Day, and I was travelling in the mountains in Crete. I hadn’t remembered the story of Ochi Day. It was the day the Greeks celebrated saying no, ochi or οχι to Mussolini. That no, meant that Greece would be attacked as they were on 28 October 1940. I was on the Lasithi Plateau in the village of Psychro chasing archaeological sites. It was cold so I went to bed early and woke to the sound of such loud music I had to get up and see what was happening. A building some distance from my room, a hall filled with people. Women were flinging their arms and legs about in wild dancing. I sat for a while, not wanting to intrude but as the music wound up even more; I had to dance. The walls spun, the music swelled, faces and bodies in movement. The people around smiled at me, a woman grabbed my hand and led me across the dance floor and back again several times, and as she let go, she sent me spinning. I sat down again and caught my breath. The next day I headed for the Diktaian Cave. It’s the cave where Zeus brought Europa when he abducted her. Zeus transformed himself into a white bull. Europa, like all ancient girls, was out picking flowers with her friends. She patted him and being an adventurous young woman, climbed up to ride on his back. Bad mistake because Zeus took off, swam towards Crete and brought her to Diktaian Cave. It was her line from which all the Minoans were descended. There wasn’t much to see outside the gate to the cave. The tourist season was finished, and the gate was closed. I climbed the fence and entered through a narrow cleft as you’d expect from an old site sacred to the mother of Crete. It opened out into several ‘rooms’, some with beautiful stalactites. I paused, feeling my heart expanding. Not one for acts of reverence, I was surprised to find my hand touching my forehead then my heart. The darkness enclosed me. So rare, but a feeling of immense safety swept over me. I took tentative steps into the deeper darkness, my hands tracing the lumps of wall as I moved slowly down. I have no idea how long I walked and sat and listened. It might have been years. As I turned to retrace my steps, tears – …
(Book Excerpt 1) Rainbow Goddess: Celebrating Neurodiversity ed. by K. L. Aldred, P. Daly, T Albanna, and Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Being a Neurodivergent Woman” by Kay Louise Aldred Many people, even my closest friends and family, have no idea that I am a neurodivergent woman. Being autistic is still new to me as I was only recently diagnosed, in November this year. I have done a great job at camouflaging, masking, and presenting as ‘normal’. Neurodivergence was not something I had considered in relation to myself until I had children. This is ironic on many levels, most especially because I am a trained and experienced teacher and have held curriculum and pastoral leadership positions, in which I ensured that all students, from every demographic, including those who were neurodivergent, achieved their potential and felt safe, seen, and heard. It was giving birth and rearing my own children which highlighted the ‘differences’ between me and my contemporaries, and significantly amplified the feelings I had been experiencing since childhood. Feelings of being ‘atypical’, ‘odd’ and a ‘misfit’. Mother and baby groups, children’s parties, and the PTA were mirrors which clearly reflected that I was not at all like ‘most women’. They were also the situations where I began to recognise that my two sons bucked the communal childhood trends of behaviour, thinking and preference. I did however socialise my three children well. Despite my personal discomfort around being in social settings and making small talk, I knew the importance of doing this. They thrived academically but when my sons transitioned to secondary school, I saw the hallmarks and signs of neurodivergence – predominantly sensory processing and autism. Their diagnoses were convoluted, unnecessarily complex in their procedure and stressful. I was told by professionals that I had ‘taught them too well to be normal’ and that ‘they were coping’ so didn’t ‘need a label’. They were both eventually diagnosed a few months before university, when it became completely apparent that the transition would only happen if they had support. The ‘label’ has been very helpful for them both in understanding and representing themselves. Their diagnoses prompted me to assess my own lifelong challenges. My husband had been affectionately calling me his ‘Aspie Wife’ for a while before the penny dropped that I may be ‘on the spectrum’. We operated as an autistic-friendly household – which helped everyone, including my apparently ‘neurotypical’ daughter (her ongoing journey of self-discovery is another story), long before I contemplated my own assessment. I looked on at both of my sons openly ‘owning’ their preferences and explaining their needs, and thought, ‘I feel and have those additional needs too but am constantly pretending I don’t’. I realised that the result of this pretence was suffering and an added burden. That was four years ago. It is only now, aged 48 years, that I have got to the point of exhaustion and the resignation that I am not going to ‘cure myself’ or be miraculously transformed – and let me tell you I’ve tried all sorts of ways to do this including, books, therapy, and spiritual practices. Early last year I requested a GP referral for an adult autism assessment. Regardless of the outcome, I had begun to privately identify as neurodivergent, and noticed that acknowledging this went some way to explain the lifelong loneliness, social anxiety, and chronic low mood I had experienced and offered a reason for the bullying and social rejection I had undergone – particularly as an adolescent. On receiving the diagnosis last month, I wept. I felt numb, angry, grief stricken and elated simultaneously. Processing the magnitude of having an undiagnosed lifelong neurological and developmental ‘disability’ and coping with this alone, without reasonable adjustment, is going to take a long time. Autism is disabling in our society. And no, everyone is not a little bit neurodivergent or ‘on the spectrum’. Knowing I am autistic has brought a new level of self-compassion and self-protection. I can’t change myself or improve myself. Autistic people do not habituate – brain wiring does not change, and autism is not ‘cured’. I’m curious as to who I am unmasked and what gifts that will uncover. Some people who know me well, will be reading and learning this about me for the first time. I wonder if this ‘coming out’ publicly in the anthology will be liberating for the many women who continue to ‘hide’ their authentic self. The spirit of this book is the celebration of neurodiversity and so I’d like to channel that now and reclaim the Rainbow Goddess that I am by declaring that: I pretend to be interested in clothes. I’m not in the slightest bit interested. However, I’d happily wear the same thing every day – black cropped top, black pants, black vest top, black loose, jersey dungarees, black jumper, black socks with Ugg boots in winter and black sandals in summer. It’s all about utility and minimal thought. I’ve got other things I’d rather think about. Tight clothes of any sort are a no. Why would I wear scratchy, restrictive clothing which squash up my intestines and womb and restrict breathing and digestion? Makes no sense. I intensely dislike small talk and prefer deep, philosophical, existential, and meaningful conversation. I find chit-chat exhausting – I don’t understand it. It’s a waste of energy. I’m not interested at all in hairstyles, makeup, trends. I’m interested in the inner landscape of your life. I prefer my own company – listening to my inner guidance. I’m fearful of humans – the aggression, hostility, abusive dynamics, sarcasm, meanness, inauthenticity. I trust very few people. Very few people are trustworthy and transparent. I am fiercely loyal – to those I trust and respect. I can’t sequence – tasks, actions, to do lists. My brain is making patterns and connections about the meaning of life, justice, the universe. I may also have undiagnosed ADHD. I have zero executive functioning skills – packing to go on holiday puts me in a flat spin. Consequently, my home is a peaceful haven where I …
(Poem) Summoning Silence by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd When the shell of life cracks Crushing speech and song into rattles and gasps Infusing cold shock into your bones In time, your wounds close and elude Until, one day, drinking a glass of water, or sweeping the floor, or walking through woods The voices of those who were lost while you survived come unto you A breath whisper seeping from a rock fissure A strangled word hidden in a bird’s chirping A staccato heartbeat measured in a train’s thunder Cries you cannot hear with your ears and that do not come from you. Those who can no longer speak Find a voice in the Spirit of Silence She follows us until we can finally listen for her mercy In those noises we wish we had never heard. We cannot choose between our lives before or our lives after the crack For both dwell within us. She settles on your back and When you are ready, you return to the place of the execution of your illusions. Now you seek the wail that would not let you lie, The deepest harmony of the song of the Spirit of Silence. It is how you live in truth It is how you make yourself bud and bloom again, It is, ultimately, how you will finish what You first came to that place of rebirth to do. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
(Meet Mago Contributor) Frances Guerin

Frances Guerin holds a Ma Visual Arts, LaTrobe University Bendigo, Dip Ceramics, Federation University Ba Hons Philosophy/ Women’s Studies LaTrobe Melbourne Campus. Her work is influenced by Irish Contemporary Art, Feminist theory and Depth Psychology. Her studio is located outside the spa town of Daylesford in the Wombat Forest near a Dja Dja Wurrung women’s birthing tree. This powerful ancestral presence evoked a series of revelatory dreams of Celtic mythical figures who move between human and animal form. This is the inspiration for the kangaroo figurine with human face which is popular with collectors and features regularly at exhibitions and awards. This anthropomorphic figurine she believes, is a bridge between Celtic consciousness and the indigenous Australian spirit of place. Her work has been acquired by major galleries in Australia and internationally.

(Special Post 2) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Here is another image of the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra slain by Herakles. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(mythology)… Glenys Livingstone: Yes, the Hercules story is more documentation of the Old Battle, of the rise of the “hero” to slay the Mother, when in the earliest of times he served with his beauty and labours. It is so interesting to see the analogies in other cultures/places as you are doing Helen, especially in Asia – it seems important work. Your perseverance is paying off, and will. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Glenys, I am re-reading a book on Chinese mythology and found a lot more on the nine Magoist symbolism. Someday, I hope to write about the topic in its own right. Glenys Livingstone: This chapter’s work is good re the Old Battle in Greek mythology: Valaoritis, Nanos. “The Cosmic Conflict of Male and Female in Greek Mythology”, in From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas. Joan Marler (ed). Manchester CT: Knowledge, Ideas and Trends Inc., 1997, p.247 – 261. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Now back to the female divine who is depicted with the nine heads. See the nine-headed Guanyin/Kannon/Gwaneum. Also note that her icon comes in eleven-headed (the 8 Daughters and the Triad Creatrix, which makes eleven). http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/kannon.shtml Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: The symbol of nine dragons was adopted by imperial China. See the Nine Dragon Wall China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-Dragon_Wall Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: We connect the dots. When Guanyin is depicted with nine dragons, it conveys that the nine symbolism was/is once deemed sacred. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/17/b3/4a17b33d9a4ae53bad6466a0eaf11722.jpg How popular the Guanyin icon, three headed and eight armed, to this day! Simply Google “eight armed Guanyin.” Below is from the Late Ming Dynasty, China. https://www.google.com/search?q=eight%20armed%20guanyin… She comes in a different name, Ushnishavijaya, in Tibetan Buddhism. https://www.himalayanart.org/items/65445 Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: We can draw that the female deity such as Guanyin and Ushnishavijaya, just to name two, is venerated in association with the nine symbolism. Within the mytho-history of Magoism, I infer that Guanyin or Ma Guanyin is a persona embodying Goma, the Magoist Shaman ruler of Danguk (3898 BCE-2333 BCE), the head of Nine Hans (Magoist Koreans). Note that Magoist shamans or priestesses are called “Mago.” See my essay, “Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology,” in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Lytle Creek, CA: Mago Books), 2018. The insight that the major Goddesses in East Asia and beyond point to the same and old divine persona is NOT farfetched, considering that the nine-headed snake or dragon representing the female sovereignty of pre-patriarchal times is slain by male heroes across cultures. Judy E Foster: I’d have to agree with you here. As usual, interesting information! Patty Kay: My meditation this morning was on a history of mysticism. While I’m in the midst of appropriating all of the wonderful beliefs I find here, I also have found a strand in my own tradition that helps me understand why all the Divine Feminine stuff makes so much sense to me. I’ve been trying to determine when the patriarchal world view took over. According to this history, mysticism began to emerge in about 800 to 500 BCE. Could it be that mysticism kept alive the ancient understanding of the cosmos? This is just speculation, but in it I’m answering my own questions. (To be continued) Join us in The Mago Circle https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism/.
(Special Post Isis 3) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 3 Isis, Arab Women Revolution, and Black Goddesses Naa Ayele Kumari Going back to the original topic of the post…. Some quotes ” Women are in half the society… How come there are only 7 in the Assembly… and they are all Islamist! ” I can’t beat up my wife and almost kill her and call it discipline… this is not discipline… this is abuse and insanity” http://youtu.be/y4umifTLSII 12-Year Old Explains Egyptian Revolution in Under 3 Minutes www.youtube.com Max Dashu It is tremendously heartening to see these insights being expressed, and spread. The Salafis have made such inroads, and now the pushback is happening. Harita Meenee Dear Naa Ayele Kumari, thank you actually reading my post and commenting something relevant to it. It’s refreshing when someone does hear what we have to say instead of projecting their own notions. Building a solidarity movement with those who are oppressed but fighting is very important during these critical times! Harita Meenee See also: https://www.facebook.co/intifadat.almar2a?fref=ts The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي حرية الفكر ، حرية التعبير ، حرية الاعتقاد ، حرية التنقل ، حرية الجسد ، حرية اللب…See More Glenys Livingstone … as you say Max …” way too much of it going on” – amongst people who should know better (I would have thought): “Dark goddess as terrifying, challenging, white goddess as benign; “black magic” as harmful; I see way, way too much of this going on out there.” And related to that in my mind is all the “love and light” business that is so common: the Ground of Being is Dark … it seems to me that mystics have always understood the quintessential darkness of Love/Deity. Max Dashu Sure. I would just like to add that the critique raised here addressed issues much broader than the substance of the article, which made some good points. But once the choice of graphics flagged the issue of representation, people had much more to say about that old yet still very fresh wound which is constantly reopened by the cultural habit of whitening Egypt, or interpreting Africa through a eurocentric lens. It is not on any one person to carry the weight of that; we all have a responsibility to address the issues, but especially those of us of European heritage need to familiarize ourselves with how this plays out over and over. Just as men have a responsibility to speak up in support of women when patriarchal assumptions are on board. We all can learn something from each other, along all the various axes of domination, and overthrow them in coalition. Naa Ayele Kumari I have often considered where the roots of this psychology comes from. It is dualistic thinking that causes us to compare and contrast, then sum up judgement of good or bad and place a value on each. It extends into competition and justification for war. It also doesn’t escape me that often this came with certain civilizations who systematically destroyed others. It didn’t just happen with blacks in Africa… but blacks in Asia and the Indus Valley as well. With the Aryan invasions of India, came the eventual introduction to lighter divinities and more emphasis on male divinities. Southern Indians, Sri Lankans are very dark… even more so than many African Blacks. The caste systems implemented by the Aryan invaders did the same thing to them casting them as “untouchables”. With that came the marginalization of their black female divinities such as Kali. Kali actually has 10-16 forms… from compassionate mother, the fountain of wisdom, to she of great beauty but she is minimized as just destructive and terrifying… especially as Brhaman, Vishnuu, and Shiva grow in popularity. One of Kali’s statues has her black self standing on top of Shiva because she conquered him. Later there is a discussion in on of the Hindu text explaining Kali (as Parvati) after being subdued by Shiva she becomes lighter. Further they have stories about him rejecting her and calling her blackie which made her do austerities to rid herself of her black skin. Naa Ayele Kumari It should not be overlooked that in the Story of Alice in Wonderland… a story intended to keep Goddess elements for future generations, has the Elder sister ( the Queen of Hearts) portrayed as man, ego, and power driven who cuts off heads and has a fierce dragon…a clear reference to Kali. The White goddess as the younger sister is her opponent… and her mission is to usurp the throne of the Queen of Hearts even though she was the rightful heir as the oldest … or primordial. Stories like these also reinforce the stereotypes and negative iconography. Max Dashu Yes, it is pervasive in many cultures of domination. Demons are portrayed as black not only in Europe, which we know well, but also in China and in a lot of Buddhist iconography. In modern India, the sweet goddesses are shown as pink, the wrathful as black; and Krishna (name means “dark”) is turned powder blue. (Another of his titles, s’yam, also meaning dark, is the word translated as “green” in Green Tara.) The countercurrents (Black Mazu, loving Kali – esp in Bengal and south India, Black Madonna) bubbled up from the common people, who knew and longed for something other than the dominant racialized hierarchy. Naa Ayele Kumari I am just discovering Mazu ( Matzu/LuShui) in China today! Never knew about her. This discussion has led me to look deeper for black goddesses in Asia. Max Dashu Taoist spiritual tradition often refers to Xüan Nü, which can be translated in several ways. You’ll usually see it rendered as “the Mysterious Female,” a phrase that occurs in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), and this is a valid translation; but what is less emphasized is that it also means “the Dark Woman.” In […]
(Special Post 4) 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.] Yvonne Lucia: “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” -British suffragist and journalist Rebecca West “When the God is male, the male is God.” -Mary Daly Yvonne Lucia sacredartportal.com Lila Moore: My first piece of performance art was a ritual inspired by Isis. However, as a young artist, my interest in combining art and ritual was devalued by my teachers and critics alike. I felt isolated and persecuted. Only after relocating to London was I able to gradually understand that my personal and creative aspiration was integral part of a collective and global feminine and feminist awakening. I realised that personal experiences of women have political perspectives, and that being a contemporary woman artist positions me in the midst of historical and cultural enterprise. As an artist-film-maker and scholar, I have regarded my work as a spiritual quest, exploring through dance-ritual and art films the interaction of the body and psyche with the natural environment and technology. In the 21st century, my interest in the healing and transforming aspects of images on screen has been combined with a growing sense of activism. It seems inconceivable to take images of nature out of context by ignoring the ecological holocaust which is evident everywhere. I have felt compelled to ask whether the needs of the body and mind can be separated from the needs of the Earth?

(Book Excerpt) Imbolc/Early Spring within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Imbolc/Early Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – February 1st/2nd though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, thus actually a little later in early August for S.H., and early February for N.H., respectively. Some Imbolc Motifs In this cosmology Imbolc/Early Spring is the quintessential celebration of She Who is the Urge to Be. This aspect of the Creative Triplicity is associated with the differentiation quality of Cosmogenesis,[i] and with the Virgin/Young One aspect of the Triple Goddess, who is ever-new, unique, and singular in Her beauty – as each being is. This Seasonal Moment celebrates an identification with the Virgin/Young One – the rest of the light part of the cycle celebrates Her processes. At this Moment She is the Promise of Life, a spiritual warrior, determined to Be. Her purity is Her singularity of purpose. Her inviolability is Her determination to be … nothing to do with unbroken hymens of the dualistic and patriarchal mind. The Virgin quality is the essential “yes” to Being – not the “no” She was turned into. In the poietic process of the Seasonal Moments of Samhain/Deep Autumn, Winter Solstice and Imbolc/Early Spring, one may get a sense of these three in a movement towards manifest form – syntropy: from the autopoietic fertile sentient space of Samhain, through the gateway and communion of Winter Solstice to differentiated being, constant novelty, infinite particularity of Imbolc/Early Spring. The three are a kaleidoscope, seamlessly connected. The ceremonial breath meditations for all three of these Seasonal Moments focus attention on the Space between the breaths – each with slightly different emphasis: it is from this manifesting Space that form/manifestation arises. If one may observe Sun’s position on the horizon as She rises, the connection of the three can be noted there also: that is, Sun at Samhain/Deep Autumn and Imbolc/Early Spring rises at the same position, halfway between Winter Solstice and Equinox, but the movement is just different in direction.[ii] And these three Seasonal Moments are not clearly distinguishable – they are “fuzzy,”[iii] not simply linear and all three are in each other … this is something recognised of Old, thus the Nine Muses, or the numinosity of any multiple of three. Some Imbolc/early Spring Story This is the Season of the new waxing light. Earth’s tilt has begun taking us in this region back towards the Sun. Traditionally this Seasonal Point has been a time of nurturing the new life that is beginning to show itself – around us in flora and fauna, and within. It is a time of committing one’s self to the new life and to inspiration – in the garden, in the soul, and in the Cosmos. We may celebrate the new young Cosmos – that time in our Cosmic story when She was only a billion years old and galaxies were forming, as well as the new that is ever coming forth. This first Seasonal transition of the light part of the cycle has been named “Imbolc” – Imbolc is thought to mean “ewe’s milk” from the word “Oimelc,” as it is the time when lambs were/are born, and milk was in plentiful supply. It is also known as “the Feast of Brigid,” Brigid being the Great Goddess of the Celtic (and likely pre-Celtic) peoples, who in Christian times was made into a saint. The Great Goddess Brigid is classically associated with early Spring since the earliest of times, but her symbology has evolved with the changing eras – sea, grain, cow. In our times we could associate Her also with the Milky Way, our own galaxy that nurtures our life – Brigid’s jurisdiction has been extended. Some sources say that Imbolc means “in the belly of the Mother.” In either case of its meaning, this celebration is in direct relation to, and an extension of, the Winter Solstice – when the Birth of all is celebrated. Imbolc may be a dwelling upon the “originating power,” and that it is in us: a celebration of each being’s particular participation in this power that permeates the Universe, and is present in the condition of every moment.[iv] This Seasonal Moment focuses on the Urge to Be, the One/Energy deeply resolute about Being. She is wilful in that way – and Self-centred. In the ancient Celtic tradition Great Goddess Brigid has been identified with the role of tending the Flame of Being, and with the Flame itself. Brigid has been described as: “… Great Moon Mother, patroness (sic … why not “matron”) of poetry and of all ‘making’ and of the arts of healing.”[v] Brigid’s name means “the Great or Sublime One,” from the root brig, “power, strength, vigor, force, efficiency, substance, essence, and meaning.”[vi] She is poet, physician/healer, smith-artisan: qualities that resonate with the virgin-mother-crone but are not chronologically or biologically bound – thus are clearly ever present Creative Dynamic. Brigid’s priestesses in Kildare tended a flame, which was extinguished by Papal edict in 1100 C.E., and was re-lit in 1998 C.E.. In the Christian era, these Early Spring/Imbolc celebrations of the Virgin quality, the New Young One – became “Candlemas,” a time for purifying the “polluted” mother – forty days after Solstice birthing. Many nuns took their vows of celibacy at this time, invoking the asexual virgin bride.[vii] This is in contrast to its original meaning, and a great example of what happened to this Earth-based tradition in the period of colonization of indigenous peoples. An Imbolc/Early Spring Ceremonial Altar The flame of being within is to be protected and nurtured: the new Being requires dedication and attention. At this early stage of its advent, there is nothing certain about its staying power and growth: there may be uncertainties of various kinds. So there is traditionally a “dedication” in the ceremonies, which may be considered a “Brigid-ine” dedication, or known as a “Bridal” dedication, since “Bride” is a derivative of …
(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 7) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

A bird for this season is the Kingfisher, also known as the Halcyon. The Kingfisher is associated in Greek myth with the Winter Solstice. There were fourteen “halcyon days” in every year, seven of which fell before the winter solstice, seven after; peaceful days when the sea was smooth as a pond and the hen-halcyon built a floating nest and hatched out her young. She also had another habit, that of carrying her dead mate on her back over the sea and mourning him with a plaintive cry. Pliny reported that the halcyon was rarely seen and then only at the winter and summer solstices and at the setting of the Pleiades. She was therefore, a manifestation of the Moon-Goddess who was worshiped at the two solstices as the Goddess of Life in Death and Death in Life and, when the Pleiades set, she sent the sacred king his summons for death. Kingfishers are typically stocky, short-legged birds with large heads and large, heron-like beaks. They feed primarily on fish, hovering over the water or watching intently from perches and they plunge headlong into the water to catch their prey. Their name, Alcedinidae, stems from classical Greek mythology. Alcyone, Daughter of the Wind, was so distraught when her husband perished in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea. Both were then transformed into kingfishers and roamed the waves together. When they nested on the open sea, the winds remained calm and the weather balmy. Still another Alcyone, Queen of Sailing, was the mystical leader of the seven Pleiades. The heliacal rising of the Pleiades in May marked the beginning of the navigational year and their setting marked the end. Alcyone, as Sea Goddess protected sailors from rocks and rough weather. The bird, halcyon continued for centuries to be credited with the magical power of allaying storms. Shakespeare refers to this legend in this passage from Hamlet: Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the time. Hamlet, I, i 157 When I was a young mother, and my children were little, we lived in a house that had a creek in the back yard. There were small trees along the far bank of this creek and every day, a kingfisher would sit in the branches overlooking the creek. Sometimes he sat there very quietly for a very long time. Suddenly he would dive from his perch straight into the creek. Every time he did he came out and up into the air with a fish. It gave me great pleasure to watch him from my kitchen window. I love birds. I love learning about their habits because it teaches me ways of being that are closer to nature. I love drawing birds as well. When I was a young and more able, I was an avid bird watcher, out with my friends hoping for a sight never seen before. I love the story of the kingfisher and her connection to the Halcyon Days of the Winter Solstice. It is for most of us the busiest time of year. Whether it is for the Solstice or Christmas (often both) we are in a frenzy to get things done, making sure everything is just right and perfect. I celebrate the Winter Solstice. As a priestess, my days right now are very busy creating ritual. It is at the Solstice that many passage rites are happening with the women I work with. And of course, I celebrate with my family with our magical Yule Log each year. But I try to honor those seven days before and the seven days after by trying to have the frantic moments before the Halcyon Days begin and then even when busy, hold the peace and calm of that beautiful smooth sea in my mind. Peace and love and joy surrounding the Winter Solstice make it perfect. May the Peace of a Halcyon Sea be yours in this Solstice Season. Do hold the image of that little kingfisher in mind! Meet Mago Contributor, Deanne Quarrie
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.

(Mago Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 3) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This and its sequences are a newly added portion in the Mago Almanac Planner Year 5, equivalent to the Gregorian Year 2022. Because the Budoji did not explain further about time units smaller than 1 day, I did not follow through some possible implications in previous Mago Almanac volumes. Next year’s Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar Year 5 or 5919 MAGOMA ERA is forthcoming in Mago Bookstore (October 25, 2021). PDF version is available for purchase.] We set the new moon day of the Winter Solstice month in 2017 as the New Year of Year 1. With that, we are able to tap Magoist days into Gregorian days that we moderns use. Then, how do we bring down a Magoist time in the scheme of the Gregorian time? How do we determine the onset of New Year in the Magoist Calendar? When would be the midnight of New Year in Year 1? That requires a translation of Mago time into Gregorian time. We can designate midnight as a midpoint in time equidistant from the sunset of New Year’s Eve to the sunrise of New Year. As local times vary around the globe, the midnight of New Year varies in states and cities. In Los Angeles, California USA, the first Magoist midnight falls on 23:29 on December 17, 2017 for Year 1. That would be 07:29 on December 18, 2017 in UTC. Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Midnight12/17/2017 23:2912/17/2018 23:2912/17/2019 23:2912/16/2020 23:30Sunset16:45, 12/1716:45, 12/1716:45, 12/1716:44, 12/16Sunrise6:53, 12/186:53, 12/18 6:53, 12/186:53, 12/17 (Sunset and sunrise times in Los Angeles, USA) The below table shows the first Magoist midnight (around 0.33 AM) falls on December 18, 2017 in Gyeongju, South Korea. That would be 15:33 on December 17, 2017 in UTC. Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Midnight12/18/2017 0:33.512/18/2018 0:32.512/18/2019 0:32.512/17/2020 0:32.5Sunset17:11, 12/1717:11, 12/1717:11, 12/1717:11, 12/16Sunrise7:28, 12/187:27, 12/18 7:27, 12/187:27, 12/17 (Sunset and sunrise times in Gyeongju, South Korea) We can imagine a spiral progression of years from Little Calendar (one year) to Medium Calendar (two years) and to Large Calendar (four years). Every year has one leap day, whereas every fourth year has another leap day in the middle of the year. Cyclic time, as it progresses, creates rhythm and harmony in the human world. Little Calendar (1 year)13×1=13 months364 days+1 leap day=365 daysMedium Calendar (2 years)13×2=26 months2x(364 days+1 leap day) =730 daysLarge Calendar (4 years)13×4=52 months4x(364 days+1 leap day)+1 leap day=1,461 days (End of the series) https://www.magoacademy.org/virtual-midnight-vigil-to-new-year/ https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Bell Essay 7) The Magoist Whale Bell: Decoding the Cetacean Code of Korean Temple Bells by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This and ensuing sequels are excerpts of a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Whale Mallet, Temple Bell in Sudeok-sa, Chungnam Korea Sources and Methods of Studying the Magoist Whale Bell It is not possible to present the topic in any comprehensive manner due to its complex and outlandish nature. As a whole, its elusive manifestations makes some of this essay’s premises provisional, leaving room for definite conclusions. I suggest that this essay be read as a primer to the large topic, Korean Magoist cetaceanism. I have built this essay on my previously published essay sequels on the Korean temple bell as well as my book, The Mago Way: Re-discovering the Great Goddess Mago from East Asia, on the Magoist Cosmogony.[1] It also draws from my forthcoming essay on Korean Magoist cetacean culture. Importantly, I am indebted to the work of Sungkyu Kim, advocate of Korean cetaceanism, for his valuable insights on the Korean temple bell and Korean cetaceanism in general. While his cross-cultural assessments of ancient Korean cetacean customs are often compelling, his cetacean hermeneutic on the pacifying flute story is in particular indispensable in securing the evidence of Sillan cetacean worship by the generations of Sillan rulers. That said, however, what distinguishes this essay from his work lies in the recognition that Korean cetaceanism is not monolithic totem worship. I hold that Korean cetaceanism was born and flowered within the context of Old Magoism. Here Old Magoism refers to the pre-patriarchal (read pre-Chinese) tradition of East Asia that venerates the Great Goddess, Mago.[2] In turn, the cetacean consciousness of ancient East Asian Magoists enabled a revelation of the Magoist Cosmogony. Thus, Korean cetaceanism is inextricably intertwined with the mytho-history of Magoism. It went underground, as the symbolic power of women inscribed in Magoism was removed from the public space in the course of history. In this light, Kim’s cetacean thought remains revisionist rather than reconstructionist, meaning not radical enough, unable to ask such critical questions as how the Sinocentric mytho-history of Korea or the Buddhist historiography has rendered Korean cetaceanism invisible and what that means to Koreans and the world. Most critically, Kim’s discussion of the Sillan whale bell and the pacifying flute underestimates their musical (read cosmogonic) implications. They are not of a mere musical instrument to call the whale to dance. True that the concept of music is much underestimated outside the context of the Magoist Cosmogony as a whole. The whale bell as well as the pacifying flute represents the regalia of Sillan Magoist rulers who undertook the Magoist mandate of bringing the terrestrial sonic resonance to harmonize the cosmic music of Yulryeo. The whale bell marks a new watershed wherein Sillan rulers successfully reinvented the legacy of Magoist shaman rulers of Old Magoism from the ancient inland mountain culture into the maritime culture of Silla. Stories on the pacifying flute and Manbulsan (Mountain of Ten Thousand Buddhas), the two major myths directly concerning the cetacean code of Korean temple bells, are drawn from the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three States), the 13th century text that recounts myths, legends, and historical events of ancient Korean States including Silla (57 BCE-935), Goguryeo (37 BCE-668), Baekje (18 BCE-660), and Gaya (42-562) from an orthodox Buddhist perspective.[3] To be noted is that the Samguk Yusa (1281), together with another official historical text of Korea, the Samguk Sagi (1145), is a Sinocentric text that tailors ancient Korean history and territory to fit the historical framework of China. As a Sinocentric text, the Samguk Yusa takes a pro-Chinese perspective and presents ancient Korea as a humble little brother who owes Imperial China for his civilized culture. In it, Korean history and territory are curtailed to fit those of Imperial China. Put differently, the Samguk Yusa is a product of a Buddhist evangelist author, Ilyeon (1206-1289), whose interest was in establishing Buddhism of China and India at the cost of traditional Korean Magoism. Among modern Korean historians who are critical of Sinocentric Korean historiography is Sin Chaeho (1880-1936). As Sin’s advocacy of Korean ethnic historiography is largely aligned with the mytho-historical reconstruction of Magoism, I borrow his assessments of the Samguk Yusa and the Samguk Sagi here. Sin maintains that the loss of pre-Chinese Korean history primarily owes to the two survived Korean history books, the Samguk Yusa and the Samguk Sagi, that reduce and distort ancient Korean history. Precisely because of the Sinocentric (read patriarchal and imperialist) take, these two books have survived the persecution of pre-Chinese Korean Magoist historical books. Sin’s poignant criticism goes on to say that the Samguk Yusa employs the Sanskrit words for the names of people and places from the pre-Buddhist period of Wanggeom Joseon and that the Samguk Sagi ascribes Confucian phrases to the speech of Korean warriors who dismiss Confucius thought.[4] What Sin does not see is, however, that the authors of both books chose to be pro-Chinese or pro-Indian to subvert the female-centered tradition of Old Korea, Magoism. In short, they resort to Buddhism and Confucianism, the two major patriarchal religions of East Asia, respectively over against indigenous Magoism. The patriarchal time was waging a war against Magoists and life in general. I hold that both texts mark the milestones that escalated the process of patriarchalization in Korea, which took place much slowerly and later than in China. Damage is not done to Korean history only. A lie brings more lies. In the case of the Samguk Yusa, the portrayal of Sillan Buddhism is distorted. On the surface, the Samguk Yusa treats Esoteric Buddhism as a reservoir of miraculous legendary stories that fertilized orthodox Buddhism. On a deeper level, it dismantles a tie between Magoist cetacean worship and Esoteric Buddhism. The Samguk Yusa’s Buddhist perspective aligned with the Sinocentric historical framework is inherently inadequate in defining Sillan Esoteric …
(Essay 2 Part 3) Why Do I Love Korean Historical Dramas? by Anna Tzanova

Part 3 UNIVERSAL APPEAL The worldwide success of Korean historical drama began in 2004, when Dae Jang Geum (대장금), “The Great Jang Geum”, or “Jewel in the Palace”—a Sageuk relating a compelling story about the life of the legendary first woman who became a supreme royal physician in 16th century Joseon—was aired in over 60 countries around the world. Since then, the number is much higher, not taking into consideration DVD sales, pirated DVDs, plus the millions who have seen the drama globally via the Internet. In Iran, Dae Jang Geum was so popular that reports claim Iranians began organizing their mealtimes so as not to interfere with the show’s broadcast. In India, after seeing the series one prisoner wrote an open letter to the broadcast company in Korea saying, “This serial has been of great influence in my personal life, as well adding a lot to my positive approach towards life. I dare say it is not a motivation for only people like me, but for everyone.”[i] In Zimbabwe, the audience protested to a TV station and requested the airing of Dae Jang Geum instead of the Olympic Games when the two timetables clashed.[ii] To me, “Jewel in the Palace” is not just a very beautiful and inspirational piece of art. Seeing it from a personal angle, it is a great reminder of all that is wrong with our medical science, health care, and industrialized food production. How science needs to be as much cerebral as cordis. All the good that can come of turning our eyes and respect back to Mother Earth and all her sentient beings. The importance of not only quality food, but also the way the ingredients are grown, nurtured, collected and stored; the way food is prepared; the thoughts and feelings food is infused with, and how it affects not only the taste, but also the health of those who would consume it. The true holistic approach to health and well-being, as well as how titles and following institutional protocols, doesn’t secure quality of care. The natural curve in the onset and development of every disease, and how its abrupt interruption leads to dire consequences in the long run. The compassion and inner qualities of character a true healer should pursue and cultivate. Korean historical drama offers layers of meaning and understanding. The viewers are not only gently guided to open their hearts and feel, but also to think. Stories are not only well told; internalization by the audience is encouraged. Thus, the experience becomes very personal, and a deep connection between the creators and the spectators is established. Hwang Seongbin quotes a science and technology researcher who shared his opinion on Korean period drama when they met at an international conference reception: “I like Korean historical drama, because the story is told from the perspective of the people, rather than from that of those in power.”[iii] The transnational issues we all face, such as greed, corruption, deceit, conspiracies, abuse, and war, are depicted in their cruelty as shared experiences. Through that and the exploration of universal themes like love, kindness, loss, yearning, overcoming adversities, following one’s passion, achieving one’s dream, and many more, our global communality is fortified. Another trait worth noting is the depiction of traditionally oppressed women. It is a growing tendency in Sageuk to give center stage to heroines. Even when they are not the protagonist, they play significant roles supporting or guiding the protagonist’s efforts: creating nurturing environments, serving as examples of right action, and assisting the protagonist in his growth. There is a fascination, respect, honor, and affection that female leads are surrounded by or treated by the hero. Women in Korean historical drama are strong in a graceful way, using skill and genuine power as opposed to aggression and brutal force. They are persistent in their efforts and courageous in their actions. Despite being sidetracked by hindrances, they never lose focus on their goals. Ultimately, they are never deterred from accomplishing their dreams, transforming or inspiring everyone else in the process. In that regards, women in Sageuk serve as great initiators of change. They embody the most pliable element of all—water—nourishing, never stagnant, unstoppable, constantly adaptable, following its course through and around obstacles, cleansing, reshaping, and renewing. In the words of Clair Webber: “Undoubtedly, there is something inexplicable about K-pop and K-dramas. Whether it is the courage of civil disobedience in North Korea, peace in the Middle East, or female empowerment in Pakistan—South Korean cultural imports have the uncanny ability to foster hope in some of the most seemingly hopeless situations.”[iv] This is what “soft power”, a term coined in 1990 by Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye[v], truly is. “They fight with arms, but we—with our hearts,” states Empress Ki in the Sageuk with the same name. I’d love for humanity to hear this message and finally learn how to avoid or deal with conflicts. I am not going to quote or start analyzing different dramas one-by-one. I will leave you to find your own point of view and preferences. Signing up for Mago Academy’s Korean Historical Drama course would be a good place to start. I hope you will consider joining and experiencing first-hand everything I mentioned above, and much more. Korean culture has a specific flavor that distinguishes it from other Asian cultures. It is humble, but resilient. It is charming, heart-centered, perceptive, thoughtful, and caring. It has a lot to offer. Give it a try. But I have to warn you, it might be addicting. (Read Essay 1, Essay 2 Part 1, Essay 2 Part 2) Notes: [i] Busis, Hillary, Korean Dramas: A Beginner’s Guide, Entertainment Weekly, (April 11, 2014) [ii] Gowman, Philip, The Redemptive Power of Lee Young-ae, London Korean Links, (January 13, 2008) [iii] Voluntary Agency Network of Korea blog, Hallyu Report III – Korean Drama, Friendly Korea, My Friend’s Country, (01/09/2013) http://korea.prkorea.com/wordpress/english/2013/01/09/hallyu-report-ii-korean-drama/ [iv] Weber, Clair, K-Pop, K-Dramas, Hallyu – South Korean Culture Around the Globe, About Education, (2015) [v] …

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Mago Pod Bulletin #73 November 2024

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