December 23, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Essay) Coming Home to Our Senses: Placing Ourselves with Story By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 8 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. In the Old Western Way, The receipt of story by eyes Read More …

November 18, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM Editor1 Comment

(Essay) Mary as Christian Goddess by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This is an edited version of a radio program by the author in 1994, on 2BLU 89.1 FM, Blue Mountains, Australia, in the context of a series called “Remembering the Read More …

October 30, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Poem) Blessing of the Ancient One by Glenys Livingstone

Taking the pose of Bird-Headed Snake Goddess I invoke Her, Ancient One. She has set Her seal upon me. I feel Her passion and Her anger within me. She Read More …

October 14, 2015March 31, 2022 RTM Editor1 Comment

(Essay) A Cosmic Metaphor for Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This is an edited excerpt from the author’s doctoral research, “The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst Read More …

September 16, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Essay) Spring Equinox Thoughts by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Spring Equinox (or Eostar as it is often named) may be storied as the Seasonal Moment of Heraic Return. I have summarised the Moment as ‘stepping into the joy and Read More …

August 19, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Poem) Beginning Again by Glenys Livingstone

The Mother within reweaves the Fabric – the torn Fabric torn in the weak spots. She sets to work with all Her love and consciousness picking up Read More …

July 15, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Essay) Women and Religion – What’s Happening by Glenys Livingstone (1980)

This is the third in a three part series of old articles and papers by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. that were written in the 1980’s and 1990’s, two of which were Read More …

June 17, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Essay) Winter Solstice – Celebrating Birthing New Being by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice is the time in our annual orbit around Sun when the dark part of the day is longest. Traditionally it has been celebrated by our Gaian ancestors in Read More …

May 13, 2015July 4, 2023 RTM Editor1 Comment

(Essay) Exodus 1980 Revisited by Glenys Livingstone (1994)

This is the second in a three part series of old articles and papers by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. that were written in the 1980’s and 1990’s, two of which were Read More …

April 20, 2015November 15, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 5) Response by Dr. Glenys Livingstone to Magos, Muses, and Matrikas: The Magoist Cosmogony and Gynocentric Unity by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s note: This paper is published in the journal, the Gukhak yeonguronchong 국학연구론총 (Issue 14, December 2014). Here it will appear in five sequels including the response by Dr. Glenys Livingstone. Numbers Read More …

March 9, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM Editor3 Comments

(Essay) Notes on Leaving Christianity by Glenys Livingstone (1989)

This is the first in a three part series of old articles and papers by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. that were written in the 1980’s and 1990’s, two of which were Read More …

February 9, 2015November 15, 2019 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Essay) Lammas/Imbolc Earth Moment February 2015 by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Season of the waxing dark … we are just past the cross-quarter moment named as Lammas, between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox: it Read More …

January 12, 2015November 15, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Interview) Glenys Livingstone: 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

The remarkable 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Melbourne was the first where Paganism was recognised officially as a world religion, thanks largely to efforts over years by Angie Buchanan Read More …

The Gifts of the Winter Solstice Goddesses by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Holde, the good protectress, By Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (1845-1921) – Wägner, Wilhelm. 1882. Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden. Otto Spamer, Leipzig & Berlin. Page 117., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5254373 In the midnight hour of the darkest night, they ride through the magic forest, bells jingling, alone or leading a wild entourage, giving gifts and sometimes punishments. Holle, Frau Gode, Perchta, La Befana, and Lady Hera have made their raucous spirit rides between Winter Solstice and Epiphany for centuries or even millennia. What, good or bad, will they bestow upon us this year? On the Winter Solstice, Patricia Monaghan says, Holle (also known as Holda and other names) “traveled the world in her wagon” and “checked the quality of each woman’s (spinning) work and offered rewards or punishments” (288). Who was She? Max Dashu reminds us that Holle was an Earth goddess and “the ‘Mother of All Life’ and ‘The Great Healer’ (256-257). However, Holle was also originally the Death Goddess and “she controls …the regeneration of nature…For Holle as the Mother of the Dead, bread was baked at Christmas time called Hollenzopf, meaning “Holle’s bread” (243), according to Marija Gimbutas. Meanwhile, Frau Gode, another form of Holle, rode in a wagon drawn by dogs, sending one into any house with an open door to bark for a year. “The next year, the beleaguered residents could relieve themselves of the pet by firmly closing the door as Frau Gode rode by” (288), according to Monaghan. Frau Gode, Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Holle’s sister Perchta also rode and punished spinners who wasted wool, “stuffing the remnants” into the spinner’s torn-open stomach. January 6 was “Perchta’s Day” when “everyone ate pancakes of meal and milk in her honor” and “left bits for Perchta” (290-291), Monaghan wrote. More benevolently, Italy’s La Befana is an old woman who rides her broomstick on the night of January 5th, the eve of Epiphany, giving gifts to good children and “coal, garlic, and turnips” to those who were bad, according to Lydia Ruyle. Finally, Dashu tells us that Rhinelanders “into the early 1400s” believed that Lady Hera (not the Greek goddess of the same name) “flew through the air between Christmas and Epiphany” with bells and gave “an abundance” of gifts (252). These goddesses are sage guides as we traverse this liminal Solstice when the sun stands still; a season when, to our ancestors who revered or placated them, death from cold or starvation as well as the promise of spring was always present. Who are they and what gifts of guidance do they bring us now when dire environmental and other crises as well as radiant opportunities for individual and global healing are on the horizon? These goddesses are old, fierce, insightful, and commanding. Some were associated with witches. They unapologetically flex their might. We grow their kind of sagacity and self-confidence only through decades of navigating traumas and victory but rarely do we see role models like this for our own old age. Their gift is to show us how to not only revere them, but be them when we need to do so. The goddesses are intensely passionate about what they do and stand for, whether it is respect for doing daily work well, the moral education of children, or generosity as a way of life. These aspects of every day life are to be honored. Their gift is to remind us that the effects of our choices of who to be, what to value, and how to live every day will reverberate throughout time as we influence those of the next generation and offer them our own gifts. The goddesses are not judgmental, not delighting in finding fault, but are, instead, truthful. They reward or punish both women and children based on what has been done well or not without excuses or favor. This gift is the understanding that insight into the reality of our actions is necessary for our own growth and effectiveness and to best decide our next course wisely, personally and collectively. The nearness of the goddesses during this season forces us to realize that the human and spirit worlds are just a breath away from one another, something our ancestors understood as a fact of every day life. This gift is a deeper understanding that we can be grounded in our everyday world while being open to the influence of these and other goddesses on ourselves and our world. At the same time, we can heed Frau Goude’s warning about carelessly leaving the door between our realms open when it is time for the gateway between them to close. Finally, remember that these goddesses had their origin in the Death Goddess and are associated through spinning to fate. They offer us the essential truth that letting go and endings are necessary for life to regenerate. In addition, the goddesses remind us that this regeneration happens through the miracle of gifts, whether that is the Earth renewing Herself each spring so that living beings can thrive, or of the compassion and love of humanity these goddesses show by traveling through our world each year bestowing abundance, or our own acts on behalf of others that create hope for the future. These gifts are so much more meaningful than the toys in Santa’s pack, given for conforming to society’s norms of “goodness.” The true gift of these goddesses is our and our world’s wildness and wholeness: our respect for our fierce selves and life experience, our participation in life with untamed and undomesticated passion, our ability to see ourselves and our actions truthfully and accept either congratulations or consequences, and our giving of our own spiritual and creative largesse. This Solstice, or, for those in the South, at the next Winter Solstice, let’s join the wild ride with our sisters across the Earth in our own time, giving our own wisdom and abundance to ourselves, each other, and our planet. Sources: Dashu, Max. Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk …
(Poetry & Prose) Of corroboree frogs and climate change by Susan Hawthorne

The habitat of the southern corroboree has been severely damaged during the bushfires in Australia. They live in a small alpine area in Kosciuszko National Park. The southern corroboree frog. It may look big, but is only 2-3cm long. Image credit: Michael McFadden This frog and so many other animals in Australia have come under threat from fires that are the result of patriarchal abuse of the planet for short-term profit and self-aggrandisement. I have been writing and thinking about ecological destruction for a couple of decades. My book Wild Politics (2002) has a central theme running through it around biodiversity. My chapter in September 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives (2002) which I co-edited with Bronwyn Winter is about Fundamentalism, Violence and Disconnection and dissects the misuses of power on behalf of the powerful. In 2006, I sat through Category-5 cyclone Larry and in response wrote my poetry book Earth’s Breath (2009). It was to recur in 2011 when another Category-5 cyclone Yasi hit. Both were one point on the scale up from Katrina and it was from this experience that the following poem came. Climate change: Yugantameghaha At the end of every cosmic cycle at the end of a generation— yuganta- meghah— clouds congregate gathering souls for the next yuga cloud breath, soul mist rasping winds, rattling bones here come the galloping horses humans astride their flanks here come the thundering clouds, breaking the world apart the Hercules moth climbs every building rising upwards through 110 floors scaling the earth to find the moon that light in the sky through which he might escape earth’s pull and melt into the inferno of light. Yugantameghaha is a Sanskrit word meaning a gathering of clouds at the end of an epoch; a yuga is an epoch and some say we are currently living in the Kali yuga, an epoch of destruction. The most vivid memory is the sense of utter acceptance because this was the earth, there was nothing I could do. I felt it as fascination for the power of the earth and at the time I described it as a kind of cosmic consciousness. I think that were it to happen again I would be more likely angry knowing just what a big part is played in these catastrophes by men. I say men because it is men’s rulership that had led us down this path. It is the intransigence of men like our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison (nicknamed Scomo, Scotty from Marketing and worse) along with his ‘mate’ Trump and numerous others who are thoroughly engaged is destroying the planet. Scott Morrison is the man who, in 2017, brought a lump of coal into Parliament. It shows the level of his consciousness. The bushfires that have ravaged Australia Since September, an estimated 10.7 million hectares an area larger than South Korea, almost double the size of the fire in the Amazon in 2019. It has been distressing to see so much devastation on the TV and to hear stories from friends caught up in the fires. Some evacuated multiple times; some returning home not knowing whether their place had survived; some seeing their home towns destroyed; some involved in fighting the fires; some watching as embers fall from the sky in cities; some unable to go outside because the air is so thick with smoke. We all know someone. We know that we have another couple of months of fire season. It’s not over yet. We also know just how destructive these fires are. With around a billion native animals dead: koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, potoroos. And there are wombats, echidnas, dingos and emus who even with methods of surviving wild fire have succumbed. Birds of many kinds have been washed up on beaches; fish in rivers will die because of the ash load. So many trees and habitats burnt out. The impact on biodiversity will be long lasting. The impact of political stupidity lies behind these ravages of the environment. There have been some inspiring stories of animals being rescued or found alive after the fire and taken for treatment. But more have died than have survived. We have new words to describe some events. Pyrocumulonimbus, a cloud created by fires that produces its own weather. And on the ground pyric-carnivory, the animals who hunt the scorched earth after fire. I could have lived without these new words, just as I could live without the politicians and corporates who are destroying the planet. Here is a poem in progress: rigor mortis a rigor mortis of black grass like burned spines of a dead animal remains of ravaging fire on the map a black rorschach blob read: climate change carrion swoop on exposed animals ferals travel to burnt out spots rivers are not safe fish dying from ash poisoning a rigor mortis of politics burnt out minds from too much coal not thinking: climate change The poem, Climate change: Yugantameghaha is from Earth’s Breath.Melbourne: Spinifex Press and in Best Australian Poems 2009. Robert Adamson. Melbourne: Black Inc. p. 90. Earth’s Breath is a collection written in response to Cyclone Larry in 2006. © Susan Hawthorne, 2009. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=197/ To read more about how central the idea of biodiversity is to bringing the planet back from the brink of destruction, read my book Wild Politics: Feminism, globalisation and biodiversity, 2002, Spinifex Press. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=171/ © Susan Hawthorne, 2020. (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.
(Quilt Art) A cosmic matriversal goddess daughter by Kaarina Kailo

Daughter of Ratri, also referred to as Nisha, a Vedic goddess in Hinduism. She is the personification of the night. She is also described as the personification of dawn. Together with Ushas, she is referred to as a powerful mother and strengthener of vital power. She represents cyclic rhythmic patterns of the cosmos. She is depicted here at the hub of the cosmic matriverse, hoping to bring the light of wisdom and peace back to the Earth. https://www.magoism.net/2016/03/meet-mago-contributor-kaarina-kailo/
‘Ereshkigal Pronounces a Verdict’ by Hearth Moon Rising

The house where I live is at least two hundred years old, so naturally when I first moved in there were ghosts to contend with. Most ghosts are harmless, and I left this crew alone for a spell. One lady spook became excited whenever I had guests; she liked having people in “her” house. Another lady liked to cackle at me; she thought it was hoot that there was a real witch living in the house. Eventually I decided to get rid of all the company, but that’s a story for another time. What I want to relate today is my experience with one particular ghost that came with the house: a mean nasty old man with a lot of rage. His presence moved into my direct consciousness one morning as I awoke, when he stated in a gravelly voice: “You dirty witch. You’re gonna get it.” It was a clear and direct threat, the first menacing appearance from a dead person I’d experienced. Oh, there had been a few indirect warnings over years of spirit work, indications that I was making some dead people uncomfortable. Occasionally I backed off at such restiveness, unwilling to fight battles that I didn’t feel I had a stake in. But this was something different. Without question this was the kind of threat that demanded an immediate response, one that should not be put off even one day. My reaction may surprise some, however, because while I took the situation seriously, I couldn’t be serious about it. I burst out laughing when the guy said that, and I kept chuckling throughout the day as I made preparations for the ritual. I couldn’t believe he had the balls to threaten me of all people. I’m the very last person a ghost with any sense would want to tangle with. You see, I have powerful friends. I decided to call on Ereshkigal, the Sumerian/Akkadian goddess of the dead, for aid in this situation. Decisions to invoke this goddess must be weighed carefully, as she has a reputation for being touchy, becoming furious with those who do not show her respect and deference. In this case, I came armed with a just petition, so I was not worried, but even so, abstraction always differs from direct experience. Ereshkigal’s realm is the cavernous region deep inside the earth called Irkalla. Her orbit seldom touches on the affairs of the living because she deals exclusively with death. She does not take part even in congregations of the upper world gods, but sends a messenger in her stead. While a few (but not all!) gods, demons and odd creatures can enter and leave Irkalla at will, that privilege is not ordinarily extended to humans. (Flies get a free pass.) The seven gates of the underworld are slammed and bolted as the newly deceased make their final journey. Akkadian literature suggests that the deceased possesses a duality of being, their separate parts sometimes separated across distance. The idea is not as well developed in Mesopotamia as it is in ancient Egypt, but the concept is implicit. The dead are counted and locked in Irkalla, yet their ghosts wander through a hidden passage and across an underground river to address living relatives in dreams or attend ceremonies in their honor. Some simply wander around in a state of distress. Jean Bottero asserts, “that same path…seems to have been traveled daily in both directions by processions of ‘specters’ who came to terrify and mistreat the living, then were sent back where they came by exorcisms.” In preparation for this exorcism, I cleaned my house top to bottom. The “dirty witch” accusation was not about my housekeeping, but it stung nonetheless. As it turns out, it was a good thing the house was clean when Ereshkigal arrived. Some deities are tolerant of haphazard housekeeping while others demand order and cleanliness. I was surprised to learn that Ereshkigal has a powerfully clean, almost aseptic energy about her. In her presence I was reminded of a strong cleanser commonly used in institutions that contains ammonia, lemon oil and pine essences. She brought no odor, but her energy left the same impression. Actually it was rather cheeky of me to invoke Ereshkigal directly. Had I thought the matter out more carefully, I would have addressed her gatekeeper with a message. One of the dangers of doing your own exorcisms is that the very energy you’re trying to banish has the effect of muddling or confusing your thoughts. As I began my ritual to the Goddess, I was careful to offer libations and burn quality resins and to enumerate her great powers and virtues. Then I stated my case. I told her that a ghost had explicitly threatened me with harm. I reminded her that the dead belong in their place and are not supposed to go around tormenting the living. Then I told her what he said to me. As expected, her response was swift and impressive. Ereshkigal has a reputation for dispensing law with implacability. She has no tears for the man taken from his wife, no pity for the woman torn from her lover, no mercy for the child wrenched from his mother’s breast. A mean old ghost of a man has no chance with this lady. Ereshkigal obliterated the menacing ghost. Gone was any part of him that we who walk the earth would recognize; gone was any tie from his spirit to this world in thought, value or deed. It was the most sobering thing I’ve ever witnessed, and needless to say the situation suddenly wasn’t funny anymore. I had just watched a man die in a much more profound way than he had when he lost his physical body, however many years ago that was. One person’s judgment is another’s grace, however, and I knew that I would not be troubled by that entity again. All praise to the mighty compassionate Queen Ereshkigal, first lady and ruler of the Great Below. …
(Essay 1) Through a Darkened Door—Light by Mary Ann Ghaffurian PhD

Radiant Sun Figure. Revolutionary context, c.4000BCE[i] Introduction My name is Mary Ann Ghaffurian, aka Dr MAG; my work unheralded on the world stage or any stage, in particular. During postgraduate years, my research focused, over a broken 30 year period, on the psychoetechnologies and archaeology of human consciousness; the structure of mind, soul and psyche over historical periods; and the interior passage or alchemic journey of the individual, then society in an atmosphere of nightmare and awakening. However, an academic journey into the undercurrents of time, space, history and consciousness was something I didn’t foresee, when suddenly catapulted into a luridly, stark awareness before the age of 3. Up until then, I lived in a watery, cocooned world of motheriness and hovering, benevolent faces in a leafy place opposite a beach. But something changed, dramatically. It was not just the appearance of a new baby in the family (a very sick baby), but because the cocoon of care I lived in was summarily snatched from me. Deposited in a hospital to be looked after by unfriendly people (probably because I was screaming continuously) while my mother recovered, I was left to fend emotionally in a sterile environment without parents or visitors. The rush of the outside world hit me with all its detached anonymity and separativeness. It was an experience of the ego of the child, who as the sun of itself, abiding in glowing beneficence, is suddenly and summarily expelled from its orbit, as the thing around which everything else turns, capitulating the solar being into the impossible— cold, empty space. From cushioned padded warmth and the wholeness of oneself unconditionally, to the outside crushing in with its abject Newtonian mental constructs of imprisonment. I became super-aware of different mentalities, barriers separating human to humans, without flow and each as a separate world with vast gulfs between. So outside reality hit, not just as separation, but as existential catastrophe. Once the floodgates to this awareness were opened, they remained open and I began from that time to deal with the conflict of inner and outer, internal and external, self and other, abyss and connection, coexisting uncomfortably together. Of them alone, that was enough, but the floods brought more, the multidimensional cacophony of memes and memories with the plight of child-consciousness being pressed up against a membrane of existence-as-it-was, as well as memory itself that was much longer and larger than the memory of the singular child. This last was the hardest to abide. Day or night I felt perniciously close to the thumping heart of milliard existences clambering for attention in memory, if I, just a little, dipped in to that drum-skin membrane that separated my little world from a vast teeming ocean of life just bustling to get in. At the same time I could not discern who or what memories, voices, memes were in that swill, because it wasn’t sorted, so the child became overwhelmed and exhausted. So there was a notional 3 year old struggling to get on in a household of adults and a new brother struggling with life, plus the new inner and outer world opened up to a child who had no-one to talk to, and indeed was just beginning to talk coherently herself. This beginning set the stage for the unravelling of a dedicated, seeking life. But it wasn’t just that I was alone in my new state of the inner and outer being merged somewhat, or threatening to merge all the time, and my valiant efforts to keep them apart, so I could get on with a normal kid life. No, many other scenarios developed out of that prescient clarity which was completely undesired by the child. I also felt interferences from another world, domain, dimension, technological intrusion, or worlds, with no apparatus of incarnate maturity to deal with it. And that was the thing, I was completely aware that the membrane that separated me from the deluge behind the screen was also the gift of forgetfulness that came with coming into this world, yet again. And there was the rub. Existential anguish at 5. Yes, there was the world of Father Christmas, The Nativity, Easter Bunny, Birthdays, Mickey Mouse Club, kindergarten, Mass on Sunday; books of Binkle and Flip and The Faraway Tree, although the story of Terra, the terrapin, remained the most significant (a book I never found again later, no matter how hard I searched). Then there was that other world, the world of the dead of night, when dark doors of dimensions opened and I (psyche, emotions, and vital energy) was at the mercy or behest of forces, powers, I had no vocabulary of skills to manage the terror of. “They” were without respect of person, violating one’s “personal space” uninvited. No boundary was holy or sacrosanct then. How do you deal with lack of boundaries or “no boundaries”— introduced from the “other side,” —when you are 4 or 5. The beautiful sanctum of non-interference is what babe and children revel in, in total enveloping trust: warm smiles, snuggly toys, nice smells, shining eyes and hugs. To whom do you turn when you call out to an adult, “Mummy!” who switches on the light and no one, no one else at all is there in the room? Night paralysis began and became continual. But there was more, there was always more. In hindsight I can look back and show you how I dealt with each issue case by case, unravelling the core of each situation incrementally by the grit of struggling awareness, and by digging into and clinging to the seed of my being. It coexisted in the experiential melange one was hurled into body and soul before one could barely give utterance to what was happening, and there were no mentors to help. Beside the bereavement of being in that condition, it is important to tell, there was a very narrow band of a sense one could talk to someone or something else, very …
(Book Excerpt 4) “Placental Thinking: The Gift of Maternal Roots” by Nane Jordan

[This and the ensuing sequels are from a Chapter from Placenta Wit: Mother Stories Rituals, and Research, edited by Nané Jordan, Demeter Press, 2017, pp. 142-155.] PLACENTAL THINKING IN THE GIFT My favourite placental metaphor is the tree. While raising my children on the West Coast of Canada, immersed in the coastal rainforests of our home, we have frequently observed gigantic overturned trees, blown over after big storms. These have incredibly splayed root systems, which get exposed when upturned, often reaching a whole story over our heads. Huge tree roots spread through circular clods of earth. From my midwifery studies, I recognized this familiar structure—a placental structure—on a massive scale. Like the veins and arteries of the placenta, tree roots filter into soil, seeking and exchanging nutrients, water, and succor from the Earth as Mother. This is just as we reached for nourishment from the bodies of our mothers, through latticelike roots of the placenta. In this amazing organic symmetry, our bodies incarnate a treelike form. I love to mediate upon and return to this image of the tree (of life) to understand the ecology of our lives and our interconnected origins with other beings. I see this as an embodied poetics that expresses gratitude and relationship to the trees, the earth, and the gift of life itself—an experience of Indigenous philosophy in the expressive notation of “all my relations.” From this vein or root of thought, I have been developing an application of what I would call “placental thinking,” with a nod toward Sara Ruddick’s Maternal Thinking. Maternal thinking recognizes the compelling intellectual work of mothering and its practice. It dispels the notion that motherhood is biologically determined or a purely instinctual occupation. Placental thinking understands placentas as being of great value and note, and extends the metaphor of placentas into mother-centred social philosophies and understandings. An application for placental thinking grows from my reading of the maternal gift economy work of feminist, matricentric (mother-centred) philosopher Genevieve Vaughan. Vaughan’s work on mothering as a gift economy realizes that the gifting work that mothers do provides the “free” infrastructure for our entire our social fabric. The gift is understood to be a one-way process, where materials and services flow from mother to child. Gifts are given, freely, as the giver does not expect rewards. In this way, mothers provide what children require for growth and wellbeing. This is unlike the exchange economy, which requires payment or reward from the receiver for any services or goods rendered. By difference, in the gift economy, the receiver is accorded the value by virtue of being given the gifts. Gifts are not exchanged but given through taking turns in giving gifts. Vaughan expands upon her theory in The Gift in The Heart of Language. She outlines the ways in which early language acquisition is rooted in this maternal gift economy. Babies develop communication through mirroring their mothers in practices of taking turns in giving gifts. Strikingly, mothers’ gift giving is first accomplished by the placenta in utero. The placenta embodies what I would call a “gift morphology”—with its rootlike vascular system that draws nourishment from the mother into the developing fetus in a one-way gifting of life blood. The mother’s body cleans up waste products and toxins from her baby via the placenta. This job is continued postbirth as the mother feeds baby via breast or bottled milk, and monitors the baby’s urination and bowel movements. The breast itself is an almost external placenta. Each breast has a treelike structure where vascular networks are held in soft tissues that produce nutritious milk from the body of the mother. The communication for milk production is physiologically cued by the baby and the mother’s response to baby. The timing and length of feeding activates the amount of milk that is produced by the mother. Through this flow of nourishment to baby, the mother provides yet another gift morphology. This relationship now includes a new flow and flowering of language through verbal, nonverbal, and body-centred communication between mother and baby. Especially poignant are expressions of affection through touching, holding, smiling, hugging, and kissing from mother to baby, and vice versa. Babies express their needs by tone of voice and physical actions, cueing specificities of care from their mothers. Children become more and more themselves through mirroring and response, self-expression, and mothers’ attentions and interactions with them. Communication is central to building the fabric of a new person’s social life, based from these early gifting relations. This early maternal gift economy does not approximate the exchange economy, where something is only given in exchange for something else. A child requires the mother’s immediate and constant giving, or the child will perish. The gift is also present in the earth’s resources as a continual free stream of goods that humans need. Yet much of human life is being commodified through exchange and market economies. Work, services, and the “free” goods of the earth itself have costs in their exchange value. Greed is common in the market economy, especially as corporations attempt to own everything, which renders invisible the original gifts—the trees, the earth, or the mothers. I follow Vaughan’s understanding of how gift and exchange economies are interlinked systems. The market economy needs the free gifts and resources of the gift economy. Mothers produce communicative bodies that eventually become the labour force for the market economy. We grow up inside the gift economies of our maternal and family relations, and whatever levels of gifting or exchange interactions and amassing of goods and services our families and societies provide us. For example, in societies such as Canada, the common people and governments currently value primary education and healthcare as being mostly “free” for all. This does not mean that these services do not cost anything, but they are made available as gifts to all to strengthen the wellbeing of the whole population. In other societies, such services are in the hands of forces of exchange, and may become subject …
(Essay 1) The Terms ”Feminine” and “Masculine” by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited version of an excerpt from Chapter 2 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. It is popular for writers in the area of consciousness to describe different qualities of consciousness as “feminine” and “masculine”, (for example, intuition as feminine and rational thought as masculine), and to describe humanity’s move out of an original participatory mind as “masculine”. The image of St. George (masculine) slaying the dragon (feminine) has been, and is still, commonly understood to speak of a “necessary” move in the evolution of consciousness, both of the collective and of the individual. It is popular to describe the active differentiating force of individuation as masculine. To quote one such writer: “The birth and development of the masculine principle in consciousness revolutionizes humanity’s experience of itself and of the world.”[1] It is implied (and often explicitly stated) that “maternal” consciousness is simply amorphous and chaotic, and incapable of an evolutionary move. This is often seen as some justification for the patriarchal mind – that humanity needed to “get away from Mother”. Yet the move out of what might be named as “original participation” as a state of non-reflective consciousness[2] and the move into patriarchal mind appears to have been different things. There is now plenty of evidence of sophisticated, complex, matristic Neolithic societies – insights into “Goddess” cultures pioneered by the work of Marija Gimbutas and Merlin Stone in recent times, and developed by many scholars since. There is knowledge of many pre-patriarchal cultures with highly developed reflective awareness: indigenous traditions knowing deep Wisdom. Peter Reason expresses: It is difficult to believe that these complex societies were based on a pure form of original participation: that there must have been a high degree of purpose, planning and reflexiveness. Yet the social organization was articulated in terms of equality and partnership.[3] Reason also cites Paula Gunn Allen[4] who describes complex and sophisticated gynocratic Native American tribal cultures. He says that these highly developed, self-reflective participative cultures are “not a description of original participation in the sense of being unconscious and unreflective”.[5] And there is cause to suppose that it may well have been the female mind that instigated the radical changes in the way humans did things, that it was her desire for order, storage, abundance, tools, fire, medicine, art etc. that led to many of humanity’s inventions, settlement in villages, writing, counting and social complexification: as Barbara Walker points out, reflecting on the historical and mythic view of motherhood.[6] Walker asserts that it was precisely the female as mother who was the original “civilizing” force, who actually initiated the shift from spatial consciousness into time. The assumption that it must have been a “masculine” quality is perhaps part of the patriarchal mind set, which would rob maternity of its essential active creativity. Judy Grahn develops this notion also with her insights into “menstrual mind”, asserting the primal creativity of such a mind.[7] To fall prey to describing the shift in consciousness as “masculine” is rocky territory, and overly simplistic.
(Essay 3) The Power of Metaphor – Spelling Ourselves, Our World by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is part 3 of an edited excerpt from the Introduction to the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, and was originally part of her doctoral thesis, The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change. female metaphor: a triple spiral window at Winter Solstice dawn I propose that “She” – the Female Metaphor – in her three aspects, whom I have unfolded in thesis and in ceremonial practice, and documented in the pages of my book, may be understood as a dynamic of Ultimate Creativity – a dynamic innate to being, that may enable both women and men to participate more fully in the life of their own organism, and thus in the life of the Larger Organism/Subject of whom we are part, in whom we participate. I propose that to participate in the year long process of seasonal ceremony and celebration of this cosmic metaphor for Creativity, with contemplation and consciousness, may enhance: (i) love of self, in a willingness to abide with the beauty and integrity of the particular differentiated self, and recognizing that this self is not separate from the Large Self who is Gaia (this is the work of the Young One/Virgin aspect, celebrated particularly in the light part of the annual cycle). (ii) love of other, in a deep sense of relationship and communion with other beings, the planet and the cosmos – knowing both one’s “support for” and how one is “supported by” (this is the work of the Mother aspect, celebrated particularly at the Solstices). (iii) love of All-That-Is, in the understanding of transformation as not only possible, but indeed, as intrinsic to the process of being – enabling one’s more joyful participation in this intrinsic creativity (the work of the Old One/Crone aspect). I propose that to participate in this cyclical Metaphor changes how one relates to loss; there is more willingness to let go, a trust in the process of dissolution and return. As one comes to identify with the Larger Self, and recognize one’s place in the scheme of things, it turns around egoic hubris that would indulge in holding on, usually manifesting in behaviour destructive to self, other and planet. Apart from obvious personal and interpersonal conflict that such hubris may generate, there is also wanton “therapeutic” consumerism generated on a large scale, which is symptomatic of disregard for Earth. I do not mean to imply that when egoic hubris is let go of then there is no conflict, I mean simply that the source of conflict may then more likely be the creative tension of being alive, rather than a desperate unwillingness to accept change. Spring Equinox Return I propose that participation in this Metaphor – She – changes how one relates to this fleshly physical life, especially if one has had uncertainties about the value of it. Spiritualities of the present cultural context frequently stress the impermanence of this life, and thus devalue it; but in Her cosmology as presented in my work of PaGaian Cosmology, this life – manifest physical reality – is celebrated equally, and its perdurance becomes more obvious. When one is able to grasp something of the dynamic of Cosmogenesis from the earliest stages of the Cosmic story as we currently understand it, life’s perdurance seems as insistent as the void. It is true that one does not personally perdure, but one comes to know participation in a process/Process that does. For some people that is not sufficient, to be mere specks upon the road of a greater journey, but that seems to be the situation; and the “specks” do create the journey. The ceremonial celebration of the seasonal transitions may be an embodied reiteration of this truth, and enhance a willingness to participate creatively in this life. © Glenys Livingstone 2019 References: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion.Lincoln NE: iUniverse, 2005. Livingstone, Glenys. The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change.Ph.D. thesis, University of Western Sydney, 2002. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. SF: Harper and Row, 1990. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story.NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
(Poem & Prose) Patriarchal Grammar by Susan Hawthorne

http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=322/ a way of knowing that all you know is all there is to know a way of speaking so that everyone else knows to remain silent a way of being that lets you walk through life oblivious to the pain of others a way of making asymmetric war against the powerless a way of using your body as a weapon and then calling it love Notes Sometimes when you write a poem it comes out in a rush and lands complete. This is one of those rare poems. I wrote it back in 2007 and have no recollection of what prompted it. It has now finally made it into one of my books, The Sacking of the Muses, which will be launched in late October and be available overseas around the same time. It was published previously in Sinister Wisdom, Number 71. The Sacking of the Muses brings together more than a decade of poems, some of which had their origins in a four-month literature residency I had in Chennai in 2009. While there I had the chance to experience some fantastic theatre through a friendship that developed with actor, director, writer, academic Mangai which came about by sitting at a table next to her in a cafe. Sometimes serendipity changes your life. The cover image is of Kapila Venu performing the classical Indian theatre form Nangiar Koothu. I took the photo at her performance of the story of Putana. I would not have seen this had Mangai not suggested I go and see this show. The poems in the collection pick up a number of threads from the Mahabharata, particularly the women’s stories of love, exile and war, some draw on my continuing studies of Sanskrit. The second half takes a different direction with poems that draw on Greek and Latin and these poems are more lesbian-centric (though the Amba poems from the Mahabharata also take up this theme). It’s been a long time in the making and is also intended as both a critique of patriarchy and a celebration of the enduring history of women and of lesbians. (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.

(Special Post) Why I choose to be an RTM contributor by Glenys Livingstone

The contribution of my writing to Return to Mago E-Magazine has evolved since it began four years ago, into a deeply mutually enhancing relationship. The time and effort taken to write carefully and in alignment with my heartfelt passions and insights, and then to be able to publish to a receptive audience, has always been rewarding – for me personally and apparently for many who received it.
(Special Post 2) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

Artwork, “The-great-mother” by Julie Stewart Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Magi/Magus, from Magi – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Magi (/ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; singular magus /ˈmeɪɡəs/; from Latin magus) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Persian texts, predating the Hellenistic period, refer to a magus as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, priest. Pervasive throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia until late antiquity and beyond, mágos was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek goēs (γόης), the older word for a practitioner of magic, to include astronomy/astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge. This association was in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for (Pseudo‑)Zoroaster, who was perceived by the Greeks to be the Chaldean founder of the Magi and inventor of both astrology and magic, a meaning that still survives in the modern-day words “magic” and “magician”. In the Gospel of Matthew, “μάγοι” (magoi) from the east do homage to the newborn Jesus, and the transliterated plural “magi” entered English from Latin in this context around 1200 (this particular use is also commonly rendered in English as “kings” and more often in recent times as “wise men”).[1] The singular “magus” appears considerably later, when it was borrowed from Old French in the late 14th century with the meaning magician. … An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic Avestan language texts. This word, adjectival magavan meaning “possessing maga-“, was once the premise that Avestan maga- and Median (i.e. Old Persian) magu- were co-eval (and also that both these were cognates of Vedic Sanskrit magha-). While “in the Gathas the word seems to mean both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepted that teaching”, and it seems that Avestan maga- is related to Sanskrit magha-, “there is no reason to suppose that the western Iranian form magu (Magus) has exactly the same meaning”[4] as well. But it “may be, however”, that Avestan moghu (which is not the same as Avestan maga-) “and Medean magu were the same word in origin, a common Iranian term for ‘member of the tribe’ having developed among the Medes the special sense of ‘member of the (priestly) tribe’, hence a priest.”[2]cf[3] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gaia, from Gaia (mythology) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In Greek mythology, Gaia (/ˈɡaɪə, ˈɡeɪə/ GHY-ə, GAY-ə;[1] from Ancient Greek Γαῖα, a poetical form of Γῆ Gē, “land” or “earth”),[2] also spelled Gaea (/ˈdʒiːə/ JEE-ə),[1] is the personification of the Earth[3] and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. She is the mother of Uranus (the sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods) and the Giants, and of Pontus (the sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.[4] … The Greek name Γαῖα (Gaĩa)[5] is a mostly epic, collateral form of Attic Γῆ[6] (Gê), Doric Γᾶ (Gã, perhaps identical to Δᾶ Dã)[7] meaning “Earth”, a word of uncertain origin.[8] Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin.[9] In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (transliterated as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-.[9][10] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Greek mythology of Gaia’s family tree is remotely evocative of the Magoist genealogy written in the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the principale text of Magoism. In Korean, “Mama” is also an honorary title referring to the royal family including ruler, ruler’s mother, father, grandmother and so on. This suggests that “ma” means “mother,” “ruler,” and “Goddess” all at once in gynocentric/gynocratic (Magoist/Magocratic) societies, pre-patriarchal in origin. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: I came to search the etymology of “montgomery” in relation to Mt. Mago or Mt. Goya and am led to such related terms as Gomer, Gog, Magog. Montgomery (name) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Montgomery or Montgomerie is a surname from a place name in Normandy.[1] Although there are many stories of its origin,[2][3][4][5] An old theory explains that the name is a corruption of “Gomer’s Mount” or “Gomer’s Hill” (Latin: Mons Gomeris), any of a number of hills in Europe named in attribution to the biblical patriarch Gomer,[2] but it does not explain the final -y or -ie (the phonetical evolution would have been *Montgomers) and it does not correspond to the old mentions of the place name Montgommery in Normandie : Monte Gomeri in 1032 – 1035, de Monte Gomerico in 1040 and de Monte Gumbri in 1046 – 1048.[6] More relevant is the explanation by the Germanic first name Gumarik,[7] a compound of guma “man” (see bridegroom) and rik “powerful”, that regularly gives the final -ry (-ri) in the French first names and surnames (Thierry, Amaury, Henry, etc.). Moreover, the name is still used as a surname in France as Gommery,[8] from the older first name Gomeri.[9] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gomer below from Wikipedia. Gomer (גֹּמֶר, Standard Hebrew Gómer, Tiberian Hebrew Gōmer, pronounced [ɡoˈmeʁ]) was the eldest son of Japheth (and of the Japhetic line), and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, according to the “Table of Nations” in the Hebrew Bible, (Genesis 10). The eponymous Gomer, “standing for the whole family,” as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it,[1] is also mentioned in Book of Ezekiel 38:6 as the ally of Gog, the chief of the land of Magog. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gog and Magog from Wikipedia. Gog and Magog: They are depicted as monsters and barbarians from the East/Eurasia. Gog and Magog (/ɡɒɡ/; /ˈmeɪɡɒɡ/; Hebrew: גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג Gog u-Magog; Arabic: يَأْجُوج وَمَأْجُوج Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj) are names that appear in the Hebrew bible (Old Testament), the Book of Revelation and the Qur’an, sometimes indicating individuals and sometimes lands and peoples. Sometimes, but not always, they are connected with the “end times”, and the passages from the book of Ezekiel and Revelation in particular have attracted attention for this reason. From ancient times to the late Middle Ages Gog and Magog were identified with Eurasian nomads such as the Khazars, Huns and Mongols (this was true also for Islam, where they were identified first with Turkic tribes of Central Asia and later with the Mongols). Throughout this period they were conflated with various other legends, notably those concerning Alexander the Great, the Amazons, Red Jews, and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and became the subject of much fanciful literature. In modern times they remain associated with apocalyptic thinking, especially in the United States and the Muslim world. Helen […]
(Special post) Interweaving Mago Threads by Mago Circle Members

“Mago” tradition Magoism is a new word to the modern Western vocabulary, yet it has its linguistic roots in many parts of the globe and in an ancient knowledge and know-how almost lost. Dr Helen Hwang determinedly and methodically is excavating the little-understood historical Mother-Goddess knowledge of Korea, and its traditions, the Mago, and Magoism, and in doing so is unlocking another previously invisible door, and replacing another ripped-off corner of the global map of significant, almost-lost tradition and forgotten knowledge. This is a most welcomed prospect. The newness of this discovery for those who learn of it fills them with excitement because every step to remember the ancient ways, particularly the lost Goddess ways, and those ways that hint of Source, are crucial to humanity remembering itself. Moderns have become accustomed to modes of mind that strip the soul and psyche of finer attunement to earth, sea, stars and each other. This renders most adrift on a sea of seeming limitless freedoms, to be picked up by any technological hook that would substitute for inner knowing. The map becomes the new computer wiring, insurance policy or bank regulation to follow. But once we scrape from our psyches the encrustation of mind most moderns have settled with (which calcifies the innate senses and finer antennae of knowing, emboldening technologically driven modes of mind and being to take their place), then we are on our way to a vivifying recollection. Here is an earlier presentation of the “mago” root word in “imago” or image. Not coincidentally, perhaps, it is connected to maps. (Mary Ann Ghaffurian, culled from Through a Darkened Door—Light, Part 2 by Mary Ann Ghaffurian PhD [http://magoism.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/through-a-darkened-door-light-part-2-by-mary-ann-ghaffurian-phd/]) A very special online, global group Dearest X, …Which brings to mind the “other” reason why I wanted to write to you … Other than just saying “hello” and letting you know that you are very much missed, I also wanted to share with you about a very special online, global group that I have had the honor of being a part of. This group is called Mago Circle and it was founded by my dear friend, “sister” and colleague, Helen Hwang. Helen’s work and commitment to restoring Mago, Ancestral Mother Goddess, to her rightful place as progenitor and creatrix of the Korean people, has not only been admirable but truly critical during a time when we are in real need for inspiration from thought leaders and scholars with a solid foundation in the arts and research of the sacred feminine. As you know, with the roots of Korean shamanism in the realm of women, it makes perfect sense that Korean spirituality must also have sprung within the womb of Woman … the great cosmic goddess, Mago. While Helen’s work is very much grounded in meticulous research — showcasing Korea to the rest of the world in all of Her depth, herstory, and vibrance — it is more importantly, founded in genuine intentions of love, transparency, and humility. I know that Helen can explain the depth, breadth, and height of her work much better than me so I think it will be better to have her directly share more of herself with you; what I simply hope to do through this letter is perhaps help serve as a familiar hand …. reaching out to you and letting you know that your presence and blessings as a well-regarded and much-admired Korean female shaman and scholar would be much appreciated in Mago Circle. Do you remember, X, … you once told me … about 20 years ago: “Sanity is insanity with a focus.” These words I still remember and hold true … they have helped me through times that were truly dismal and chaotic in my life, and with this reassuring and transformational way of looking at myself, looking at my life, looking at the world, I have made it through. My life continues to have its share of insanity, but I know that with focus, all sanity is restored. I know that my letter to you today may feel unexpected and random (especially after not having seen each other for so, so long), but as you know, somehow, life brings us through twists and turns that may seem awkward and strange at first, but upon retrospect, all makes complete sense. In closing, may I have the honor and pleasure of introducing Helen Hwang and the Mago Circle to you … I realize that you must be very busy, but it is my sincere hope that you will find a little time to acquaint yourself with Helen and this wonderful group of women (and men) who are very much dedicated to restoring the balance and peace of Korea and the world via Mago and her goddess sisters of many names… (Wennifer Lin, culled from her letter to her old friend) I share your call for staying connected with each other at a time of cultural and religious tensions. I too believe that all tensions arise from a patriarchal system of hegemony or domination. In the absence of patriarchal hegemony, there would be little or no tension among human beings. The belief in the Mother Goddess would remove the necessity for aggression and hence domination of other human beings or animals. In the eyes of the Mother, every living being is her creature. Hence love, kindness, nurturing and all that is beautiful would prevail everywhere. Am I sounding too idealistic or am I pining for a utopian society that is just not possible? But in theory, it is possible to return to the spirit of Mother, manifest in everything in nature and in our thoughts and actions. With admiration and preservation of Mother we can change the world for a better place. So with this in mind, I submit to all women (who are the living image of the Great Mother Goddess) and goddess lovers in the world to unite in our efforts to bring back the ideals of the Great Goddess. As an academic, I […]

(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

Walking with Bb: a story exploring the psychic connection between one woman and her bear. Preface: The black bear – hunting season in Maine is brutal – four months of bear hell – five if one includes the month where hunters can track bears for “practice” with hounds – separate mothers and cubs, terrorize them, tree them and do anything but legally kill them. During the legal slaughter, Hunters bait bears with junk food by putting old donuts etc. in cans and shoot the bear while he or she is eating. Most bears (82 percent) are slaughtered in this manner, the rest are killed by hounding and trapping. The season begins in August and lasts through December. Trapping, by the way, is illegal in every state but Maine. Black bears are hated, and that hatred will, of course, eventually result in their extirpation. I had a shy (male) year old black bear visiting my house this past summer with whom I developed a friendship, and what follows is part of our story: Last Saturday I was walking down the road when I remembered that I had not done my daily “circle of protection” imaging for Bb (standing as he was the day he visited me at the window early in August). When I began to do this another picture of Bb moving on all four feet with his face turned towards mine super-imposed itself over his standing image. I could almost see his expression, but not quite. I didn’t know what this imaging meant beyond that we were communicating in some unknown way, and he was in the area (not a good thing on hunting Saturdays). He had not been coming in most nights and I was worried… That night he came. He is still making nightly visits five days later, the most sequentially consistent visits since September 15th, the day I believed that he had been shot. This experience prompted me to write about telepathy and precognition. It is close to All Hallows and the full Hunter’s moon (Nov 3). I keep listening to Charlie Russell’ story which reminds me that loving bears (especially male bears) is hard, almost a sure recipe for disaster, and that I was not alone in this deep concern for and fear of losing Bb. I can barely stand to remember my other bear losses and I can’t stand feeling them. Even after I wrote about the incident with Bb, the experience seemed to carry a charge that didn’t dissipate. Had I missed something? Next I wrote “Root Healer,” exploring the possibility that as I continued to act as Bb’s “little bear mother” now employing psychic techniques to keep him safe (in some desperation as it was the only means left open to me to protect this very vulnerable yearling), that Bb’s presence might also include a gift for me and that it might involve some kind of root healing for my body because Nature thrives on reciprocity. One idea I missed completely, for it was so obvious. Bb’s image was communicating to me that we were having a psychic conversation in that very moment. It was the first time in three months of imaging protective circles that moved with him that I had confirmation from him that we were communicating effectively in this unknown way. This rarely happens. Normally when I do this kind of work, I just do it. I don’t get direct confirmation that it’s working from the animal itself (except with Lily b). Knowing this helped me make another decision I might not have made so intentionally. The hunting season will last into mid December, and I will be traveling during that last month. I keep thinking that putting actual physical distance between Bb and I might pose more of a threat for his life and I have to remind myself that psychic phenomena are not distance dependent. I should be able to image that protective circle every day and feel that it is working. Bb has already shown me that it can but I fear adding distance because I don’t completely trust my own perceptions.* I suspect believing might be an additional dimension of ensuring success when it comes to psychic protection for this bear. But how do I incorporate belief into a picture that is so clouded with personal/cultural doubt? Half the time I don’t believe myself and virtually no one except Rupert Sheldrake, Iren and Harriet have ever taken my experiences seriously. I have to remind myself that I have done this work many times dealing with doubt and it worked anyway. The point of writing this reflection might be to put me on a new edge of increasing Bb’s odds of survival. If it’s possible that an attitude that embraces believing in what I do could help me protect Bb more effectively until hunting is over and its time for him to den in peace I want to claim it. The question I need to answer now is how to go about moving into a more trusting self as a woman who continues to walk with a bear at her side? The night after I wrote the above paragraph I dream of the doubters in the roles of my parents, and in a friend. I take these dreams seriously as doubters inside me and out. These dreams may be telling me that it is unreasonable to expect me to believe that what I do works when no one else does? The problem with this idea is that on some level I do believe. I feel as if I am walking with this bear, every single day. I think about him constantly. The only thing that got me out of the house yesterday was that he was out of chocolate donuts. Something is intensifying my relationship with Bb although I never see him. I am caught in a field of bear energy and information, perhaps through some version of beauty and the beast. That an archetype is …
(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 …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. THE 28-13-7 INTERPLAY How does the number, 28 (days), for the lunar cycle come about? Why is it 28 days and not 29 or 30, the latter implicated in the traditional lunar calendar of East Asia? It appears that 28 days is a value closer to the moon’s sidereal period (about 27.3 days) than the synodic period (about 29.5 days). Or is it that 28 days points to the median between the synodic lunar cycle and the sidereal lunar cycle? To answer these questions, it is important to note that a value in the Mago Time captures an inter-cosmic biological cusp/juncture derived from the matrix of sonic numerology. Distinguished from the patriarchal measure of time fixated into a solipsistic space, it makes visible the interconnectedness of all bodies. It never stands as an isolated single occasion. The 28 day, 13 month calendar has to do with how we perceive the moon. There are two ways of understanding the lunar cycle; the sidereal period and the synodic period (see Figure 2). The synodic period refers to the time, about 29.5 days, that we on earth see the moon complete one round of revolution, e.g. from the full moon to the full moon. In contrast, the sidereal period refers to the actual time, about 27.3 days, that the moon takes to complete one round of revolution. While the synodic time is measured relative to the Earth (the observer’s position is on earth), the sidereal time is measured relative to the distant “fixed” stars (the observer’s position is far out at the distant stars). Since the distant stars are considered at rest, the sidereal period is taken as a universal value, not affected by the location of the viewer, we on earth. There is, apparently, a discrepancy between the lunar cycle that we on earth see the moon return to the same phase and the lunar cycle that the moon actually completes a revolution. The former is based on our observation of the moon’s phases, whereas the latter is based on the moon’s actual orbital motions. The two differs basically because all celestial bodies, the moon, earth, and sun, in the solar system are in motion. It is not just the moon that we watch revolving but Earth also revolves around the sun. We are watching the movement of the moon on a moving vehicle, earth, so to speak. Therefore, the moon has to travel about 2 more days in order for us on earth to see it in the same phase (see the green portion in Figure 2 part). At the position A of the moon in Figure 2, the moon is in line with the sun and the distant stars, which is a new moon. In the position of B (the new moon), the moon is in line with the sun but not with the distant stars. The right hand line of the green portion in line with the distant stars is where the moon started as a new moon. The moon has traveled about 2 more days to be in line with the sun. That is why the synodic period is about 2 days longer than the sidereal period. When it comes to “the lunar calendar”, moderns tend to think of it as the waxing and waning phases of the moon (29.5 days, the synodic period). The problem lies in that, following the synodic period, people see nothing beyond the moon’s phases. They overlook the fact that the moon rotates and revolves on its own axis and around the earth approximately 13 degrees every day. The synodic lunisolar calendar is a navel-gazing vision. Attending to the moon’s phases may seem benign. However, that is a planned pitfall; the synodic lunisolar calendar with 12 months in a year is here to supersede the 28 day, 13 month gynocentric calendar. Its irregularity with the number of days in a month (29 or 30 days with about 11 extra days for intercalation) is an inherently critical flaw. Its inaccuracy when incorporated within the solar annual calendar (approximately 365.25 days) stands out. Seen below in the table, the synodic lunar track results in as many leap days as a total of 44 days for 4 years, whereas the sidereal lunar track has 2 days for 4 years. The synodic lunisolar calendar undercuts the moon’s given capacity – guiding earthly beings into the intergalactic voyage of WE/HERE/NOW. In it, both the moon and women are, glorified and objectified by the viewer, cast under the male voyeuristic eye. On the contrary, the sidereal lunisolar calendar, based on the cyclic synchrony between the moon and women, offers the lens to the interconnectedness of all bodies in the universe. Synodic Lunar Track (Patriarchal) Sidereal Lunar Track (Magoist) Focus Moon’s phases Moon’s motions Days of month 29 or 30 (irregular) 28 (regular) No. of months in a year 12 13 Women’s menstrual cycle Assumed sync Synced Luni-centric Astolonomy Unknown 28 Constellations Intercalations 11 days annually, a total of 44 days for 4 years 1 day annually & 1 day every 4 years, a total of 2 days for 4 years Sources prove that the sidereal lunation is, albeit esoterically, known across cultures to this day. Through the comparative study of ancient cultures of Babylon, Arabia, India and China, W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) observes the substantive difference in dynamic between the two lunation tracks, the synodic and the sidereal. He notes that the moon’s orbital motion, apart from the sun’s, charts out the celestial sphere as the 28 Mansions. I have learned that the 28 Mansions or 28 Constellations of the Moon is a popular form of the 28 day and 13 month Magoist calendar, widely circulated among East Asians especially Koreans from the ancient time. Yeats’ following insights corroborate the Budoji’s explication of the Magoist Calendar in general and the faulty nature of the patriarchal (ancient Chinese) calendar in …
Lammas – the Sacred Consuming by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Lammas, the first seasonal transition after Summer Solstice, may be summarised as the Season that marks and celebrates the Sacred Consuming, the Harvest of Life. Many indigenous cultures recognised the grain itself as Mother … Corn Mother being one of those images – She who feeds the community, the world, with Her own body: the Corn, the grain, the food, the bread, is Her body. She the Corn Mother, or any other grain Mother, was/is the original sacrifice … no need for extraordinary heroics: it is the nature of Her being. She is sacrificed, consumed, to make the people whole with Her body (as the word “sacrifice” means “to make whole”). She gives Herself in Her fullness to feed the people …. the original Communion. In cultures that preceded agriculture or were perhaps pastoral – hunted or bred animals for food – this cross-quarter day may not have been celebrated, or perhaps it may have been marked in some other way. Yet even in our times when many are not in relationship with the harvest of food directly, we may still be in relationship with our place: Sun and Earth and Moon still do their dance wherever you are, and are indeed the Ground of one’s being here … a good reason to pay attention and homage, and maybe as a result, and in the process, get the essence of one’s life in order. One does not need to go anywhere to make this pilgrimage … simply Place one’s self. The seasonal transition of Lammas may offer that in particular, being a “moment of grace” – as Thomas Berry has named the seasonal transitions, when the dark part of the day begins to grow longer, as the cloak of darkness slowly envelopes the days again: it is timely to reflect on the Dark Cosmos in Whom we are, from Whom we arise and to Whom we return – and upon that moment when like Corn Mother we give ourselves over. This reflection is good, will serve a person and all – to live fully, as well as simply to be who we are: this dark realm of manifesting is the core of who we are. And what difference might such reflection make to our world – personal and collective – to live in this relationship with where we are, and thus who we are. We all are the grain that is harvested and all are Her harvest … perhaps one may use a different metaphor: the truth that may be reflected upon at this seasonal moment after the peaking of Sun’s light at Summer Solstice and the wind down into Autumn, is that everything passes, all fades away … even our Sun shall pass. All is consumed. So What are we part of? (I write it with a capital because surely it is a sacred entity) And how might we participate creatively? We are Food – whether we like it or not … Lammas is a good time to get with the Creative plot, though many find it the most difficult, or focus on more exoteric celebration. May we be interesting food[i]. We are holy Communion, like Corn Mother. Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [i] This is an expression of cosmologist Brian Swimme in Canticle to the Cosmos DVD series.
(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
(Video) Winter Solstice Breath Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 Winter Solstice is a celebration of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Triple Goddess in particular – as both Solstices may be, as dark or light come to fullness. Winter Solstice Moment celebrates the ripe fullness of the Dark Womb, and the gateway from that fullness back into new growing light. It is a Birthing Place – into differentiated being, and Her birthing happens in every moment in the breath, and is seamlessly connected with all layers of being – of self, Earth and Cosmos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsVZzXtoyM The Text in the Meditation[i] Take a deep breath and let it go. Notice the Void at the bottom of emptying your breath … feeling it, and feeling the Urge to breathe as it arises. And again … feeling it over and over – this breath that arises out of the full emptiness in every moment, birthing you in every moment. – Recall some of the birthings in your life, your actual birth – see it there in your mind’s eye … you coming into being – your Nativity, your Nativity. Recall projects you have brought into being, new beings within yourself, perhaps children, new beings in others, how you have been Creator and Created – even at the same time … who was birthing who? Staying for a while with the many, many birthings in your life. – recalling now Earth-Gaia’s many birthings out of the Dark everyday … the dawn is constant as She turns. See Her in your mind’s eye – the constant dawning around the globe, the constant birthing. Recall Earth’s many births right now of all beings – as day breaks around the globe – the physical, emotional, spiritual births. Her many, many birthings everyday, and throughout the eons. recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. – recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. Come back to your breath – this wonder – none of it separate … the Origin Ever-Present, birthing you in every moment – out of Her Fertile Dark, in real time and space. Feeling this breath, Her breath. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, Winter Solstice ceremonial script, p. 195-196. Reference: Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology. Music: Fish Nite Moon by Tim Wheater, permission generously given Images: – Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, pl. 155. See https://pagaian.org/book/cover-goddess-image/ – Winter Solstice window, MoonCourt Australia 2016 – some sources unknown

(Book Excerpt 3) The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia

[Author’s Note: The following is from Chapter 8, The Consciousness of WE/HERE/NOW.] The Budoji stories the primordial drama of Mago’s beginning. It furnishes a yet-to-be-heard story of the beginning of the Great Goddess, the taboo story in patriarchy. It is the story of the Creatrix that patriarchy has attempted to erase. It can be temporarily forgotten but can never die because it is the story that is at the root of patriarchy. Ultimately, it is The Story that is happening HERE and NOW. The merit of the Magoist Cosmogony lies in the fact that it, through storying, restores the view of the whole, the macrocosmic view of the All. The holistic view necessarily involves the Great Goddess or the First Mother in that S/HE is the Creatrix. Time is not a linear concept, flowing from one end to the other. Time is the unified Present, happening NOW. It may be said that time is circular or cyclic, as all beings are constantly in motion to enhance the process of self-creation, which causes the whole to change ceaselessly. The Present hosts an infinite number of stories that take place in the undividable One Space HERE. The beginning of the Great Goddess is still happening and we are invited to re-cognize HER STORY in the HERE and NOW. The beginning is a process, not a single isolated event that took place in the remote past.[i] All things exist in the process of becoming HERE and NOW as part of WE. Put differently, the beginning of the Great Goddess is the LIVE SCENE/DRAMA/STORY. We are part of HER STORY. Mago’s beginning is the heart that pumps fresh blood to the body of the terrestrial becoming. The beginning of the Great Goddess is still taking place HERE/NOW. The terrestrial beginning is attributed to the Great Goddess who is self-born through the sonic movement of cosmic light. The beginning story of the Great Goddess is no ordinary one. It is of power and truth, that is, metamorphic. It provides the original text to the meaning of “salvation.” HER Beginning that is happening HERE/NOW holds all from falling into cacophony. For one thing, it delivers us from the patriarchal misconception of ultimate reality that does away with the Creatrix. The holistic view of the Creatrix is capable of saving us from misconceptions and misconduct. Ultimately, it guides us to live our life in harmony with the whole, HERE/NOW. The Magoist Cosmogony engenders the consciousness that WE ARE HERE/NOW. The universe is existent without beginning or end. In one ever-existing reality, things ceaselessly appear and disappear in relation to one another on all levels. All things are in the constant movement of autogenesis striving to arrive at a new position of balance. S/HE IS HERE/NOW telling us the STORY of WE. That is the source of our metamorphosis. Notes: [i] Process thought founded by Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Hartshorne, and John B. Cobb shares a common premise on that regard, although it does not associate ultimate reality with the Creatrix. (See Book Excerpt 1 and Book Excerpt 2. Available in Mago Bookstore.) Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.
(Photo Essay 2) ‘Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea’ by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part II: The Lost Iconography of Gaeyang Halmi We visited the Suseong Shrine a second time on July 11, 2012. I looked inside the Shrine wherein a shaman ritual was being performed by a Mudang (Korean Shaman)[i] and her assistants. The Mudang in colorful ritual outfit appeared to console her female client on behalf of the spirit. The ritual continued another hour or so and we waited outside until she finished her performance. We had come here on the day of arrival in Jungmak-dong, Buan. The shrine was locked, apparently not being in use. On our second visit, the shrine was packed with four people and their instruments and equipment. It was so compact that it left no room for another person to sit; however, it was pumping up the sober energy. In fact, I have no recollection of which musical instruments were being played inside the shrine. Nonetheless, it feels like that I was hearing the sharp and high banging of the kkwaenggwari (gong) accompanied by the janggu (hourglass drum) rhythm [symbolizing the sound of thunder and rain respectively]. The “musical” sound that I heard shook off the debris of ordinary thoughts and took me to the Other Side of Reality. I began to see things clearly the way they are. I was stepping into the history of this place that I was going to discover.
(2018 Mago Pilgrimage) Peak of Nine Wells in Yeongam (Spiritual Rock), South Jeolla by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This essay comprises a summary report and its unfolding awakenings to be unraveled in sequences. I dedicate this essay to my 2018 Mago Pilgrimage companions, Narayani Ankh, Kate Besleme, Hyunsuk Jee, and Julie Jang. Learn more about Mago Pilgrimage.] Hike Report The town, Yeong-am (Spirit Rock), emanates an aura from its Magoist natural, historical, and cultural legacies. Among them, what grabbed my attention include Wolchul-san (月出山 Moon Rising Mountain), Dogap-sa (Dogap Temple), and Gurim Village, known for the birth place of Doseon Guksa (State Master Doseon), a prominent Buddhist monk, the 9th century of Silla (827-898). I was most attracted to the Peak of Nine Wells (九井峰 Gujeong-bong) as well as the Loom Cave shaped in the form of a vulva, part of the Moon Rising Mountain ranges. Our goal was to hike the Peak of Nine Wells (hereafter Gujeong-bong). We took the seemingly shortest trail, through Cheonwang-bong (Peak of Heavenly Ruler), the highest peak of Moon Rising Mountain, 809 km above sea level. It took about 8 hours for the entire hike took about 8 hours and it was one of the two most strenuous and significant ones that I have taken. About 30 years ago, I climbed Mt. Halla in Jeju Island and had received the vision of my life. No longer a youth, I had a much clearer vision about my life and the act of high altitude hiking this time. With my two companions, Narayani Ankh and Kate Besleme, who showed no sign of hesitation or tiredness in the beginning and throughout the course, I embarked my day’s journey. With occasional breaks, we were able gain distance and progress. Beautiful streams adorned the valley. Rocks were emitting the oldest song of the earth. Our talks continued and deepened, when we had breath to spare. It was such a blessing that I had these two co-hikers from elsewhere! My mind zoomed in and worked in detail. All thinking and feeling became registered. Impromptu, I began to count my steps up on stiff wooden stairways. My counting one, two, three… and thirteen carried me to the top of the stairs. The 13 counting chant worked; There was no medium between me and WE/HERE/NOW. We were gifted a 360-degree bird’s eye view on Cheongwang-bong. Several ridges with the depth of Magoist history came within a vision. We took a small lunch break. On a high mountain top wherein all remains visibly related, everyone becomes kin. On Cheongwang-gong, we were instructed by the rangers we met along the journey about the ridge path to Gujeong-bong. Gujeong-bong would be about another one and half hour hike away from us. We passed by a few masses of gigantic boulder formations for which Wolchul-san is known for. Among them was the standing stone called the Phallic Rock, a name that I suspected to be original. For standing stones are called the Rock of Mago Halmi in other regions of Korea. In any case, the very existence of the Phallic Rock (남근바위 Namgeun Bawi) heralded the appearance of the Loom Cave, a misnomer for the Yoni Cave (여근바위 Yeogeun Bawi). Heart beatings escalated as we approached our destination. We finally reached the Loom Cave, which closely resembled the vulva. The cave was made of a huge boulder, three times taller than an average person in size. A small pond sat inside the entrance made the cave a real yoni of nature. I was pulled into the state of trance, as we made a final climb up the stairs around the left side of the Loom Cave. I was able to see that the Peak of Nine Wells is located on the top plain of the Loom Cave. It is part of the yoni cave! I saw a number of wells pocketed in various sizes of ponds. They numbered more than nine, about 13, variable in number in that a couple of them were made in between adjacent boulders. The biggest well was larger than one meter (3.3 feet) in diameter. Moderns do their typical things in a time like this, indeed odd out of other options or necessity to share with others: I took photos of the wells and my companions, which were absolutely beautiful as they were. However, mental imprints were not able to be contained then and in nature. WE/HERE/NOW embraced all on the spot, perhaps like a black hole. Casual conversations wouldn’t continue. The silence and the oneness fast permeated our time/space. Our minds worked on layers. The deepest mind was stored in the reservoir of the unspoken. Descending is good as a time/space of tuning/balancing oneself to the power of WE/HERE/NOW. There wasn’t much time left for us to return, while the sun was still out. We hurriedly descended a different tail. I was no longer the same person I was prior to the experience of hiking Gujeong-bong. No need to dig up and count the number of branches in one’s root. To live means to grow and evolve, as we are meant to be. To be continued. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.

Category: Glenys Livingstone

(Essay) Coming Home to Our Senses: Placing Ourselves with Story By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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(Essay 5) Response by Dr. Glenys Livingstone to Magos, Muses, and Matrikas: The Magoist Cosmogony and Gynocentric Unity by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Essay) Notes on Leaving Christianity by Glenys Livingstone (1989)

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(Interview) Glenys Livingstone: 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

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(Search) Co-editors for the textbook: The Divine Mother, Nature and Matriarchal Societies

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S/HE: IJGS V3 N2 2024 (B/W Paperback)

(She Rises Salon) Meet Dr. Stephanie Mines in Her Vision of the MA/Ph.D. Program on Regenerative Health for A Climate Changing World

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