April 16, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Prose & Photography) Guinevere: Queen, Sovereign, Grail by Nuit Moore

Queen Guinevere, the Queen of the May, Gwenhwyfar which is Welsh for ‘White Phantom’, and tells of her ancient roots as radiant fae, fair and and ethereal. She is a Read More …

April 15, 2019October 2, 2019 Deanne Quarrie2 Comments

Saille – Living the Willow Moon by Deanne Quarrie, D. Min.

Saille Salix Alba Image by Drew Morton The Tree Saille – Willow Moon Fifth Cycle Place on the hand Tip of the Little Finger Color Sodath – Fine colored Read More …

March 22, 2019October 2, 2019 Glenys D. Livingstone1 Comment

(Book Review) Hallie Iglehart Austen’s The Heart of the Goddess by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This beautiful and ovarian work, The Heart of the Goddess by Hallie Iglehart Austen, has a new edition. I have the original edition which was published in 1990, and my copy Read More …

March 19, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poetry) The Holy Hiss by Nuit Moore

the balance the blessing the blissthe secret the sacred the source the high holy healing hissthe ecstatic entrancethe divine dancethe mystery and the medicine the renewal the rebirththe ever evolving earththe transmutation Read More …

March 15, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 1) Inanna’s Accent: Reclaiming Female Power, Edited by Trista Hendren, Tamara Albanna and Pat Daly

Introduction Tamara Albanna When we think of Inanna, she is usually envisioned as the descending Goddess—and often, it is her time spent in the Underworld that is most alluded to. Read More …

March 14, 2019October 2, 2019 Deanne Quarrie2 Comments

Cybele and Attis by Deanne Quarrie, D. Min.

I first “discovered” Cybele in my research for Bendis (my Priestess name). It appears that the two are very closely related with evidence found of both in Thrace (modern day Read More …

March 8, 2019March 10, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 7) From Heaven to Hell, Virgin Mother to Witch: The Evolution of the Great Goddess of Egypt by Krista Rodin

[Author’s Note: This series based on a chapter in Goddesses in Culture, History and Myth seeks to demonstrate how many of the ideas behind the Ancient Egyptian goddesses and their images, though changing over time Read More …

March 6, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) Hungering for Sovereign Ways by Lucy Pierce

The blood of my womb has been poured as an offering upon the earth of this country for decades of moon cycles. The birthing blood of three children has been Read More …

February 20, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Prose) The Value of Women’s Spirituality Centers by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.

Life stressful, especially in this American economy. Wages are low and trying to find a good paying job takes a lot of time an effort. Writing new cover letters, and Read More …

February 14, 2019November 9, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Hymm) Adorations to Goddess Durga by Swami Pujananda Saraswati

Adorations to Goddess Durga, Mother of all auspiciousness,May She Bless us in the journey to 2019 and onwards,Wherever time takes us. May Goddess lead us to the destructionof all negative forces within Read More …

February 13, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 6) From Heaven to Hell, Virgin Mother to Witch: The Evolution of the Great Goddess of Egypt by Krista Rodin

February 8, 2019October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 5) From Heaven to Hell, Virgin Mother to Witch: The Evolution of the Great Goddess of Egypt by Krista Rodin

(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 unspin follow rivers from their source ride currents to the ocean floor in the sky the speckled horse shines as she gallops between stars consider what exists and how will you know it in your mind and heart? lick the fierce honey from the flower dance with the bee’s peregrinations the six-footed ones wingless fill yourself on plenty unemptied feel the wind on your face breath drawn from within and without ask shall we speak or be silent? moon breath and sun breath like a black swan rising on air her thousandfold wings stretching to the centre of chaos [Author’s Note: Book 5 of The Mahabharata is the inspiration for this poem. This is not a translation, but rather translation as a way of seeing something more in a text than lies on the surface. I am always thinking about how we can people the ancient texts with female characters whether they be horses, stars, bees, swans, waters or women.] (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.
(Essay) Tree of Life by Sara Wright

About ten years ago I planted my second favorite tree (apples/crabapples are the other), a small northern white cedar in front of the house. Everyone should plant at least one tree to act as a Guardian for the “powers of place,” I thought, and this one was mine. I knew that for many Native peoples cedar was sacred. The Ojibwa called her “Grandmother Cedar”; she was one of their four sacred plants and she represented the direction of North. Her medicine purified the air, healed respiratory ailments, and was used as an insect repellent, all qualities that today’s scientific community will endorse as truth.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Glenys Livingstone

Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. (Australia) Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Social Ecology) has been on a Goddess path since 1979: her path has included diverse spiritualities and a scientific perspective, inner work as well as academic scholarship. Her studies have been in theology, ritual, archaeomythology, social ecology, psychology, sociology and education. Glenys is the author of PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion,which fuses the indigenous traditions of Old Europe with scientific theory, feminism and a poetic relationship with place. She was born and lives in country Australia, where she has facilitated Seasonal ceremony for decades, taught classes, and mentored apprentices. Her new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony documents the synthesis of her work over the past decades. She is the author of the children’s book My Name is Medusa, and co-editor of the anthology Re-visioning Medusa: from Monster to Divine Wisdom. In 2014, Glenys co-facilitated the Mago Pilgrimage to Korea with Dr. Helen Hwang. Glenys is a contributor to Foremothers of Women’s Spirituality: Elders and Visionaries, edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Vicki Noble (2015), and also to Goddesses in World Culture, edited by Patricia Monaghan (2010). She produced PaGaian Cosmology Meditations CDs and teaches a year-long on-line course “Celebrating Goddess and Cosmogenesis in the Wheel of the Year” for both hemispheres. Her website is http://pagaian.org. Previously Published Posts by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. Older Posts: (Essay 1) The Power of Metaphor: Spelling Ourselves, Our World by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Solstice meditation) Three Candles Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 2) Feminism and the Future of Religion by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 1) Feminism and the Future of Religion by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Review) Women and Spirituality: the Goddess Trilogy by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Review) Signs Out of Time by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 2) Gaia as Universe-Earth-Self: a Unity of Being by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 1) Gaia as a Cosmic Name by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay) Re-Storying Goddess: A PaGaian Cosmology by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. (Essay 2) Con-Text: Personal/Cultural/Cosmic Stories by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D. (Solstice Poem) O Mother Sun by Glenys Livingstone (Essay 1) Con-Text: Personal/Cultural/Cosmic Stories by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay) Moon Goddess: Primordial Trinity and Cosmic/Personal Heritage by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Seasonal essay) Spring Equinox Southern Hemisphere September 2013 by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 2) The Terms ‘Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’ by Glenys Livingstone (Essay 1) The Terms ”Feminine” and “Masculine” by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 2) The Body – Essential or Not? by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay 1) The Body – Essential or Not? by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Essay) The Equinoxes as Story of Redemption: Sacred Balance of Maternal Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Poem) Mother-Warrior by Glenys Livingstone (Poem) Precious Body Unknown by Glenys Livingstone (Poem) Transformation by Glenys Livingstone ‘En-trancing Gaia’s Womb through Seasonal Ceremony: Re-creating Her Sacred Site’ by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. Winter-Spring EarthGaian Wisdom: Invoking the Power of Brigid, the Mother Creator by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. (Video) PaGaian Winter Solstice by Glenys Livingstone Winter-Spring EarthGaian Wisdom: Invoking the Power of Brigid, the Mother Creator by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 6) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.] Premises for Studying the Sillan Whale Bell The following premises are the summary of my previous works concerning Magoism and the current essay to lay out the background of the Sillan whale bell as a soteriological, cultural, and political embodiment of Unified Sillan Cetacean Magoists.[1] The Magoist Cosmogony designates that humans were born for the task of balancing terrestrial sonic resonance in harmony with the Cosmic Music. The nona-symbolism is epiphanic of the Cosmic Music, a ceaseless interplay of musically charged nine numbers, referring to the matriversal reality of WE/HERE/NOW. The nona-symbolism manifests as myriad forms across cultures. It is not limited to human mothers and women. It also includes such non-human and divine entities as the Nine Mago Creatrix, Nine Hans, the ninefold heaven, the nine-story pagoda, the nine-tailed fox, the nine nipples, and so forth. Mago, the Creatrix, is the sole sovereign of the matriverse (maternal universe). The mytho-history of Magoism comprises six stages: the Mythic, the Golden, the Budo, the Post-Budo, the Dark, the Revival. Until the rise of the patriarchal rule in East Asia, that is ancient China, human polities were led by shaman head mothers, the progeny of the Nine Mago Creatrix, who represented the Sovereignty of the Creatrix. Golden period comprises the first and the second matriversal confederacies of Hanguk (ca. 7199 BCE?-3898 BCE) and Danguk (ca. 3898 BCE-232 BCE). Magoist Cetaceanism as well as the Magoist Cosmogony is attributed to Goma, the Danguk confederacy of Nine Hans in origin.[2] The Budo period marks the third proto-Chinese confederacy of Budo Joseon (2333 BCE-232 BCE), better known as Dangun Joseon or Old Joseon, which witnessed the rise of the patriarchal rule headed by Yao (2324 BCE-2255 BCE) of ancient China.[3] Budo Joseon was the last full-fledged matriversal confederacy of Old Korea, known as Three Hans. The number three is an epitome of the number nine (3×3=3). A full-fledged matriversal confederacy of Old Korea/East Asia, pre-Chinese in origin, is outstandingly distinguished from the patriarchal monarchy headed by a king or an emperor in the sense that the Sovereignty of the Creatrix is represented by shaman head mothers. A patriarchal monarchy is a human-made disaster whose destructive impact reaches far down the path in history. It is based on the misunderstanding of the Cosmic Music, the metamorphic force/principle of the matriverse. Patriarchy spreads through the man-made socio-political-cultural system, which puts sovereignty in the hands of monarchs, conquerors, and their followers. Silla (57 BCE-935) comes in the period of the post-Budo, wherein the patriarchal rule of ancient China was expanding as conquering forces in East Asia. Sillans and other post-Budo Korean polities, collectively addressed as the Descendants of Three Hans, were left as “daughter polities” without “the mother state.” Post-Budo Koreans were pushed away by ancient China from the central region of the subcontinent of East Asia currently known as China, to the East and to the Korean Peninsula. Silla was founded under the mandate of restoring and reviving the legacy of a pre-patriarchally originated matriversal confederacy, to bring back the sovereignty of the Creatrix in the hands of the One Unified People of the Creatrix. Sillan matriarchal leadership, having shaped a republic, achieved the political vision of unifying post-Budo Koreans, the policy of Iltong Samhan (一統三韓 Unification of Three Hans), in 676 and commenced Unified Silla (676-935). (To be continued) [1] On the Magoist Cosmogony, see Hwang, The Mago Way, 85-87. On the mytho-history of Magoism, see “Mago,” 4. [2] According to the Samguk Yusa, Hanung (Goma) descended to the divine tree altar leading the three rain-concerning officials, Pungbaek (風伯 Wind Elder), Usa (雨師 Rain Master), Unsa (雲師 Cloud Master) and three thousand people. And she administered 360 human affairs. Note the numerological implication of the number three and the number nine (360 is 9 in digital root). [3] The Budoji attributes the establishment of Yao, the forefather of ancient China and his followers, to the second tribulation, which brought havoc to all lives on the planet. See the Budoji, Chapters 20, 21, and 22. Also see Hwang, “Unveiling” 40-1. Here ancient China refers to the political lineage of Yao and his followers, Shun and Yu, the latter who founded the first dynasty of China, Xia (c. 2070 BCE – 1600 BCE). Because the historical identity of China varies and is complex, I limit the Magoist reference of patriarchal China to Yao and his imperial and ideological successors. https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Art) Lilith, the Stalker by Lilian Broca

Acrylics on spackled wood panel, 72in x 36in. The painting belongs to a group of demonic Liliths I created for the Lilith Series. As a beautiful nocturnal winged goddess she seduces men and steals babies. https://www.magoism.net/2023/04/meet-mago-contributor-lilian-broca/
Women, Birds, and Feminism by Sara Wright

Photography by Sara Wright When I was about forty years old I discovered a clay deposit on a beach that I visited frequently. Intrigued, I sat down and began working with the river’s gift. I remember my astonishment when a beaked bird – woman emerged out of the clump of damp earth. I could feel a surge of fire pulsing through my body so I took the figure home and placed it on my bedside table, hoping to discern its message. Shortly thereafter I discovered the work of Marija Gimbutas in the book The Language of the Goddess. There were a number of beaked goddesses pictured in this volume, some uncannily similar to mine. Had I tapped into the world of the ancient bird goddesses? I believed so. Although I had no idea what this might mean these images of Marija’s captured my imagination and kept me questioning. It wasn’t long before I also dreamed other bird goddess images and rendered each of them in clay… Some of my earliest memories were tied up with birds because my grandmother loved them, and watching birds was something we did together. To this day I can recognize a bird I haven’t seen since I was a child; all birds are treasured by me. During my mothering years when I was so distracted, I still fed whole flocks of Mourning doves outside my door every morning. Later, after my children were grown and I moved to the mountains, I acquired Lily b, my free flying African Ring Necked dove. Each dawn when writing in my journal, Lily b would reinforce any important insight I had with a certain call. Within six months I was forced to acknowledge that Lily b read my mind. When I learned that scientist Rupert Sheldrake was doing research on animal telepathy I began to correspond with him, and my experiences with Lily b became part of his data bank. This communication between Rupert and I reinforced my belief that Lily b and I had an unusual relationship. My powerful patriarchal conditioning was still insisting that birds don’t read human minds. I loved birds, animals, and plants – fiercely – after all, I was a naturalist. Now that my children were grown I was advocating for all non – human lives through teaching and writing. Yet that internal voice continued to try to dismiss my experiences with Lily, as well as other unusual encounters I had with animals. For the longest time I believed that my relationship with Lily b was an anomaly. In retrospect it is clear that Lily b opened a psychic door that allowed me to cross a threshold into the world of birds, animals and plants on a deeper and more intimate level than I had ever experienced before. When I moved into my log cabin a few years later a glorious crimson Cardinal began coming to my feeder. Oh, I was transfixed, experiencing the same kind of fire that I had when I sculpted my first bird goddess. Soon I had a family of Cardinals who fed their two fluttering nestlings each summer. In the winter I would stand at the door and watch for the pair to come in to feed when it was almost dark, and if they didn’t appear during inclement weather I experienced inexplicable grief and longing. My love for these particular birds rivaled my love for Lily B. One summer tragedy struck. One of the male nestlings was mauled by a cat. Although I attempted to save the bird’s life he died three days later. When the parents disappeared, I was beyond bereft. For two years I heard Cardinal songs up the road but my beloved birds did not return. Every Cardinal song broke my heart. Early in September of the third year a female Cardinal materialized ‘clicking’ outside my open window. I begged her to stay, telling her how lonely I had been for her company. She regarded me solemnly with one beady eye as she listened to my plea. The next morning she appeared again, and afterwards the female began to visit me every day at which time I would race out the door with special food just for her. Six months later she arrived at dawn with a male cardinal who immediately began to sing his ethereal mating song. I was overjoyed. That summer the pair raised a brood that didn’t disperse in the fall. The following winter I had four. I don’t know why it took me so long to begin to converse with Cardinals in an ordinary voice since Lily b and I bid each other good morning every day; he coos and I return his greeting in English. We also coo back and forth because he likes it when I mimic his voice. Once I began communicating out loud with the Cardinals they always responded; they also initiated contact like the day the male warned me NOT to go witness the slaughtered trees at the spring. The females simply click, but the males start singing, pause, wait for me to tell them they are beautiful (!) and then reply, accentuating certain notes each time. The other night one of these exchanges lasted for about 20 minutes. It is normal for me to be awakened by one of the male cardinals every morning at 4:15 AM because it’s summer, and they are early risers ( I have to bring in the feeder every night at dark or raccoons will raid it). If they come during the day when I have temporarily removed the feeder because of squirrel predation, both males and females call out with short irritated chirps and clicks arriving at whatever window is closest to where I am in the house until I return their feeder! It is uncanny how they know which room I am in. I also note that is the male that teaches the youngsters how to get my attention, so the routine is passed on intergenerationally. Although …
Divine Feminine: Expressed in Numbers in the Heart Sutra by Jillian Burnett

3500 years ago, humankind started scribing numbers. In Asia, from ancient India and Persia, Arabia and west, numbers were surrogate symbols holding and assigning meanings to what they represented. A number is a vehicle for sounds-ideas and word-meanings condensed into a sign or sigil. Ancient beliefs encoded numbers in form of the divine feminine manifesting ideas from pure thought abstractions. Other representations of goddess energy are depictions of feminine divine in the form of her known locality like a “river” goddess. Other ways to understand the personification of a feminine divine include her story, songs, poems, as well as her physical form and depiction. While this paper seeks to explore the possibility of the scripture of the goddess Guanyin, the Heart Sutra, expressed as a numerical code; for comparison and holistical context I will also briefly explore Goddesses of other traditions in their numerical correspondence. Greek Goddess Artemis is represented by number 2. This often symbolizes pairs of energies, sometimes polarized in opposition or other times sympathetic or symbiotic. These twin energies are seen working for and with each other in an interconnected manner, or in polarized conflict. As Goddess of spiritual unification with animals, Artemis is known as the woodland huntress and is usually depicted as carrying a sharp shooting and well-trained bow. Hunter and prey can represent the number two, as well as other themes that demonstrate oppositions such as civilized humankind versus untamed natural wilderness. The number two often represents pairs of opposites. Unwed, Artemis is youthful and chaste, yet she also has the prowess of unmatched predator who always captures her target prey. The number two, connotes two energies; it is almost impossible to identify Artemis in one particularity without also realizing that the opposite may be true! This is the essence of number two—it is not singular though it may be united; thusly it establishes its own paradoxical nature within balance. For the number three, the mythology of triple goddesses are seen across various cultures. The frozen north boasts its Norns; the three feminine divines who know the powers of fate’s flow, called Wyrd. These cosmic ladies are consulted to construct plans, charts and visions of what is to come. Their stories in Norse mythology tell of their mastery in discerning fortunes of gods and men, that they know all that was, is and shall be. Each of them is assigned a role, and their total number is three. The Heart Sutra is a teaching of the Goddess Guanyin’s perfect wisdom. This teaching expresses the aspects of its number. While there are many ways to ultimately and relatively interpret this sutra, one that I will focus on here is change and impermanence. By this I mean to express change, as the process of evolution from one state of existence to another. I found the number key to this sutra by ascertaining key syllables transforming the sutra into a sequence of numbers. I focused on punctuation called danda to evaluate what are the important syllables to cypher. I started with the head of each line as a key to transform. I used the numerological convention of reduction through summation. My solutions were from the original Sanskrit text. To start my investigation into numbers codes of the Heart Sutra I refer to the ancient Indian alpha-numeric system Katapayādi. But what exactly is Kaṭapayādi? It is a system of code for the verbal representation of numbers; each syllable gets figured with a number—an alphanumeric cypher. 33 Sanskrit consonants correspond to a number from 0 to 9. These Alphanumeric writings started several thousand years ago in India. The system is below. 1234567890ka कkha खga गgha घnga ङ ca चcha छja जjha झnya ञṭa टṭha ठḍa डḍha ढṇa णta तtha थda द dha धna नpa पpha फ ba बbha भ ma म ya यra रla लva वśa शṣa षsa सha ह Kaṭapayādi was first used in 683 by Haridatta who wrote astrologically on the motions of planets; the Grahacāraṇibandhana. In 1869 Śankara-Nārāyana wrote the verse treatise on planetary astrology the Laghu·bhāskarīya·vivaraṇa. Beyond astrological treatise, the utilization of this numerical cypher seems expressed in all manner of engagement of society, from philosophical treatises, spiritual contemplations, scientific modalities, as well as musical engagements. Coding letters into numbers clearly has a place; as does ensuring that numbers have a written sound reference. Another way that we understand the stories of numbers is through their values within the relationships to other adjacent numbers. Specific codes can have meanings that defy use of words, as in the famed beeper code language, and the numerical patterns therein. In that type of alphanumeric cypher, a narrative of numbers can be built- if one is familiar with the polysemic ‘meanings’ that numbers carry. For example, 143 has the meaning I love you. In this way various numerical codes have meanings, even as the emergency number 911 carries cultural significance along with emotional important and psychological stresses. With this understanding we return to the contemplation of the Heart Sutra. To attain my results first the text’s main syllabic keys are translated numerically—those that head off beginnings of lines and phrases. Then the alphanumeric cypher is applied to attain the string of numbers. To the sequence I applied summation-reduction to achieve the numerical phrase and final number. To do this I first calculated each consonant-syllable that starts a phrase, listing key letters. Underneath are their corresponding values according to the Kaṭapayādi cypher. Notes on sound values: of the three possible sound values for the letter S, श śa ष ṣa स sa, the sutra explicitly states (स sa) and so this syllable is encoded as number 7. The syllable ba ब is encoded at number 3, and the syllable त ta is encoded at number 6. TNNNNNBST600000376 With the method used I have applied numerological reduction to attain a final digit. The cyphering is directed only by danda—the natural punctuation of this piece. The Kaṭapayādi form of the Heart Sutra is the following sequence; 001021006006666730. This sums to 44, and reduces to 8. In many mystic traditions, the number 8 is given a place of reverence. It is known in numerology as the number of freedom and of swift activity. In some traditions this number also …
(Poem) When the Mists Shall Part by Arlene Bailey

Aerial image of Glastonbury Tor emerging from morning mist, Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Autumn (November) 2022. Image by AdamBurtonPhotography.com I come from a time before timeA time that existed in sucha way that the inhabitantsof this planet understoodthings beyond this plane,things beyond this worldIt was a time of learningand questioningA time of intuition and themagic of creative venturesIt was a time I thought wouldlast forever, a time we thought…We – the Sisterhood – thoughtwould last foreverNestled in our own sacred gnosisand as a community devotedto the greatness of the AllThis was the time before the delugeBefore division entered our Worldand our livesBefore it altered our understanding,which, if I speak the truth, was thebeginning of our undoingBit by bit all we’d created imploded,as did our island home and our ways ofbeing and knowing, living and doingNever again to exist in the time of manas the mists of time enshroudedthis Holy IsleIn the time of Woman, however…Now that’s a different dimension andShe has brought home and is bringing homemany of our knowings and ways of beingWays open for those who come searchingfor something they sense was lostSomething they sense once again liveson this plane available to those seekingthe Magick and the Mystery of theAll of the All of the AllOnce more it is the time of the PriestessThe time of AvalonFor as the women are called,the Mists begin to part andThe Holy Isle is once again visibleto those Seekers pure of heart,open in mind and steadfast in theirdevotion to what most call a mythWhat they and we know to be thetruth of the existence of the agesThe truth of the Sacred IsleThe truth of Avalon_________________________________________________©2023 https://www.magoism.net/2020/04/meet-mago-contributor-arlene-bailey/
(Essay 3) Why Reenact the Nine-Mago Movement? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: The sequel of this essay will be released in preparation for the 2015 Nine-Day Solstice Celebration Project.] Part III In Search of Goddess Goma via Linguistics, Place-names, and Myths Goma was widely worshiped and commemorated by East Asians and beyond. There is another vein of assessing the pervasive manifestations of the Goma tradition–the linguistics. “Goma,” originally meaning “the People of Mago” and/or “of the People of Mago” is embedded in state-names and place-names in Korea and Japan. It is associated with ancient Korean states and their cultures, indicating that Old Korea was the successor and the defender of Magoism in pre- and proto-Chinese times. In ancient East Asia, it is noted that “Goma” meant both ancient Korean States and their cities.

(Special Post 3) 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.] Helen Hwang I study and advocate Goddess feminism or Magoism because it is a way of living for me. I find myself in Mago (the Great Goddess) who in turn leads me to the Way wherein I learn how to become the person who I can be. It has to be Mago, the Female Divine, because She is real! She is the Primordial Mother who is the Beginning and the End of everything to us on the planet Earth. She teaches me the real. I can’t negotiate Her to anything less. Helen Hye Sook Hwang, Ph.D. California http://magoism.net Bridget Robertson A Goddessian I was introduced to a form of meditative journeying by a resident in my grandmother’s retirement community. She approached to me. I know she was at least part Native American, and that alone made her the topic of much gossip in the building. Her Rose colored lipstick, deep brown eyes, wrinkles that only helped illuminate her face and a chiffon scarf that matched none of her clothes. I thought she needed help with her groceries. She didn’t. She had me stop the elevator. and directly asked about my looking tired. My response was about being, busy balancing all the areas of my life. In fact I was exhausted doling out time like pieces of pie.
(Special Post 8) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. Special thanks to Trista Hendren, founder and author of The Girl God, who passionately and painstakingly promotes the message of each contributor via Facebook’s memes. Without Trista’s devotion to the advocacy, this collective effort would not have continued. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Marija Krstic-Chin To remember who we really are (nature, cycles, network, creative force, one, infinite…) for the benefit of all of humanity and all living things; and to unite and unify as we broadcast, hand down, protect and defend this truth and each other against the oppressive intentions and actions of patriarchal perpetrators, puppets, and pawns who seek to enslave us by various old and new divide-and-conquer strategies.
(Special post) Laurie Baymarrwangga, Senior Australian of the Year 2012

Posted with permission in Return to Mago on ‘Australia Day’, 26 January 2014 (Australian time), in recognition of the ill-treatment and misunderstanding of Aboriginal people that was set in train when, in 1788, white people first settled in the land now known as Australia.

Artful Ceremonial Expression by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This article is an edited excerpt from Chapter 7 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. I always wore a special headpiece for the Seasonal ceremonies when I facilitated them over the years, and I feel that any participant may do so, not just the main celebrant. My ceremonial headpiece with its changing and continuous Seasonal decoration took on increasing significance over the years; it became a personal central representation of the year-long ceremonial art process of creating, destroying and re-creating. For the research period of my doctoral studies particularly, when I was documenting the process, I realised that this headpiece came to represent for me the essence of “She” – as Changing One, yet ever as Presence – as I was coming to know Her. In my journal for the Mabon/Autumn Equinox process notes one year I wrote: As I pace the circle with the Mabon headpiece in the centre, I see “Her” as She has been through the Seasons … the black and gold of Samhain, the deep red, white and evergreen of Winter, the white and blue of Imbolc, the flowers of Eostar, the rainbow ribbons of Beltane, the roses of Summer, the seed pods and wheat of Lammas, and now the Autumn leaves. I see in my mind’s eye, and feel, Her changes. I am learning … The Mother knowledge grows within me. The headpiece, the wreath, the altar, the house decorations, all participate in the ceremony: they are part of the learning, the method, the relationship – similar to how one might bring flowers and gifts of significance to a loved one at special moments. Then further, the removal and re-creation of the decorations are part of the learning – an active witness to transformation through time.
(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 …
Summer Solstice Poiesis by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Seasonal Wheel of Stones Both Summer and Winter Solstices may be understood as particular celebrations of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Creative Triplicity of the Cosmos (often named as the Triple Goddess). The Solstices are Gateways between the dark and the light parts of the annual cycle of our orbit around Sun; they are both sacred interchanges, celebrating deep relationship, communion, with the peaking of fullness of either dark or light, and the turning into the other. The story is that the Young One/Virgin aspect of Spring has matured and now at Summer Solstice her face changes into the Mother of Summer. Summer Solstice may be understood as a birthing place, as Winter Solstice may also be, but at this time the transiton is from light back into dark, returning to larger self, from whence we come: it is the full opening, the “Great Om”, the Omega. I represent the Summer Solstice on my altar wheel of stones with the Omega-yonic shape of the horseshoe. I take this inspiration from Barbara Walker’s description of the horseshoe in her Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets, as “Goddess’s symbol of ‘Great Gate’[i]”; and her later connection of it with the Sheil-na-gig yoni display[ii]. Sri Yantra. Ref: A.T. Mann & Jane Lyle, p.75 Summer Solstice is traditonally understood as a celebration of Union between Lover and Beloved, and the deep meaning of that is essentially a Re-Union: of sensed manifest form (the Lover) with All-That-Is (the Beloved). This may be understood as a fullness of expression of this manifest form, the small selves that we are, being all that we may be, and giving of this fullness of being in every moment: that would be a blissful thing, like a Summerland as it was understood to be. The boundaries of the self are broken, they merge: all is given away – all is poured forth, the deep rich dark stream of life flows out. It is a Radiance, the shining forth of the self which is at the same time a give-away, a consuming of the self.In traditional PaGaian Summer ceremony each participant is affirmed as “Gift”[iii]; and that is understood to mean that we are both given and received – all at the same time. The breath is given and life is received. We receive the Gift with each breath in, and we are the Gift with each breath out. As we fulfill our purpose, as we give ourselves over, we dissolve, as the Sun is actually doing in every moment. The “moment of grace”[iv]that is Summer Solstice, marks the stillpoint in the height of Summer, when light reaches its peak, and Earth’s tilt causes the Sun to begin its “decline”: that is, its movement back to the South in the Northern Hemisphere (in June), and back to the North in the Southern Hemisphere (in December). Whereas at Winter Solstice when out of the darkness it is light that is “born”, as it may be expressed: at the peak of Summer, in the warmth of expansion, it is the dark that is “born”. Insofar as Winter Solstice is about birth, then Summer Solstice is about death, the passing into the harvest. It is a celebration of profound mystical significance, which may be confronting in a culture where the dark is not valued for its creative telios; and it is noteworthy that Summer Solstice has not gained any popularity of the kind that Winter Solstice has globally (as ‘Christmas’). The re-union with All-That-Is is not generally considered a jolly affair, though when understood it may actually be blissful. Full Flowers to the Flames Summer is a time when many grains ripen, deciduous trees peak in their greenery, lots of bugs and creatures are bursting with business and creativity: yet in that ripening, is the turning, the fulfilment of creativity, and it is given away. Like the Sun and the wheat and the fruit, we find the purpose of our Creativity in the releasing of it; just as our breath must be released for its purpose of life. The symbolism used to express this in ceremony has been the giving of a full rose/flower to the flames. Summer is like the rose, as it says in this tradition[v]– blossom and thorn … beautiful, fragrant, full – yet it comes with thorns that open the skin. All is given over. All is given over: the feast is for enjoying With the daily giving of ourselves in our everyday acts, we each feed the world with our lives: we do participate in creating the cosmos, as many indigenous traditions still recognise. Just as our everyday lives are built on the fabric of the work/creativity of all who went before us, so the future, as well as the present, is built on ours, no matter how humble we may think our contribution is. We may celebrate the blossoming of our creativity then, which is Creativity, and the bliss of that blossoming, at a time when Earth and Sun are pouring forth their abundance, giving it away. In this Earth-based cosmology, what is given is the self fully realized and celebrated, not a self that is abnegated – just as the fruit gives its full self: as Starhawk says, “Oneness is attained not through losing the self, but through realizing it fully”[vi]. Everyday tasks can be joyful, if valued, and graciously received: I think of Eastern European women singing as they work in the fields – it is a common practice still for many. We are the Bread of Life Summer Solstice celebrates Mother Sun coming to fullness in Her creative engagement with Earth, and we are the Sun. Solstice Moment is a celebration of communion, the feast of life – which is for the enjoying, not for the holding onto. We do desire to be received, to be consumed – it is our joy and our grief. Brian Swimme says: “Every moment of our lives disappears into the ongoing story of the Universe. Our creativity is energising the whole[vii]”. As it may be ceremoniously affirmed: we are (each 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 …
(Video) Autumn Equinox/Mabon Poetry by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The Autumnal Equinox occurs each year in the range of March 20-23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and in the range of September 20 -23 in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn Equinox is a point of sacred balance: it is the point of balance in the dark part of Earth’s annual cycle. Sun is equidistant between North and South as it was/is at Spring Equinox, but in this dark phase of the cycle, the trend is toward increasing dark. Henceforth the dark part of the day will exceed the light part: thus it is a Moment of certain descent … and a sacred Moment for feeling and contemplating the grief and power of loss, for ceremoniously joining personal and collective grief and loss with the larger Self in whom we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZflKLkvP8 Below is the text of the video. It is based on the traditional poetry for PaGaian Autumn Equinox/Mabon ceremony[i]. This is the Moment of the Autumnal Equinox in our Hemisphere – the moment of balance of light and dark in the dark part of the cycle. The light and dark parts of the day in the South and in the North of our planet, are of equal length at this time. We feel for the balance in this moment – Earth as She is poised in relationship with the Sun … breathing in the light, swelling with it, letting our breath go to the dark, staying with it. In our part of Earth, the balance is tipping into the dark. We remember the coolness of it. This is the time when we give thanks for our harvests – all that we have gained. And we remember too the sorrows, losses involved. The story of Old tells us that Persephone, Beloved Daughter, is given the wheat from Her Mother – the Mystery, knowledge of life and death. She receives it graciously. But she sets forth into the darkness – both Mother and Daughter grieve that it is so. Demeter, the Mother, says: “You are offered the wheat in every moment … I let you go as Child, most loved of Mine: you descend to Wisdom, to Sovereignty. You will return as Mother, co-Creator with me. You are the Seed in the Fruit, becoming the Fruit in the Seed. Inner Wisdom guides your path.” We give thanks for our harvests – our lives they are blessed. We are Daughters and Sons of the Mother. Yet we take our Wisdom and all that we have gained, and remember the sorrows – the losses involved. We remember the grief of the Mother, of mothers and lovers everywhere, our grief. Persephone descends. The Beloved One is lost. Persephone goes forth into the darkness to become Queen of that world. She tends the sorrows. The Seed represents our Persephones, who tends the sorrows – we are the Persephones, who may tend the sorrows. We go out into the night with Her and plant our seeds. Persephone blesses us with her fertile promise: “You have waxed into the fullness of life, And waned into darkness; May you be renewed in tranquility and wisdom[ii].” These represent our hope. The Seed of life never fades away. She is always present. Blessed be the Mother of all life. Blessed be the life that comes from Her and returns to Her. We tie red threads on each other: we participate in the Vision of the Seed – of the continuity of Life, that continues beneath the visible. The Mother knowledge grows within us. Our hope is in the Sacred Balance of the Cosmos – the Thread of Life, the Seed that never fades away: it is the Balance of Grief and Joy, the Care that we may feel in our Hearts. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, p. 239-247. [ii] Charlene Spretrnak, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, p. 116. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: a Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992/1978.
Lammas/Late Summer within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 10 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd, Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd These dates are traditional, though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, thus actually a little later in early February for S.H., and early August for N.H., respectively. a Lammas/Late Summer table 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, to celebrate She Who creates the Space to Be. Lammas is a welcoming of the Dark in all its complexity: and as with any funerary moment, there is celebration of the life lived (enjoyment of the harvest) – a “wake,” and there is grieving for the loss. One may fear it, which is good reason to make ceremony, to go deeper, to commit to the Mother, who is the Deep; to “make sacred” this emotion, as much as one may celebrate the hope and wonder of Spring, its opposite. If Imbolc/Early Spring is a nurturing of new young life, Lammas may be a nurturing/midwifing of death or dying to small self, the assent to larger self, an expansion or dissipation – further to the radiance of Summer Solstice. Whereas Imbolc is a Bridal commitment to being and form, where we are the Promise of Life; Lammas may be felt as a commitment marriage to the Dark within, as we accept the Harvest of that Promise, the cutting of it. We remember that the Promise is returned to Source. “The forces which began to rise out of the Earth at the festival of Bride now return at Lammas.”[i] Creativity is called forth when an end (or impasse) is reached: we can no longer rely on our small self to carry it off. We may call Her forth, this Creative Wise Dark One – of the Ages, when our ways no longer work. We are not individuals, though we often think we are. We are Larger Self, subjects within theSubject.[ii] And this is a joyful thing. We do experience ourselves as individuals and we celebrate that creativity at Imbolc. Lammas is the time for celebrating the fact that we are part of, in the context of, a Larger Organism, and expanding into that. Death will teach us that, but we don’t have to wait – it is happening around us all the time, we are constantly immersed in the process, and everyday creativity is sourced in this subjectivity. As it is said, She is “that which is attained at the end of Desire:”[iii] the same Desire we celebrated at Beltaine, has peaked at Summer and is now dissolving form, returning to Source to nourish the Plenum, the manifesting – as all form does. This Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Late Summer celebrates the beginning of dismantling, de-structuring. Gaia-Universe has done a lot of this de-structuring – it is in Her nature to return all to the “Sentient Soup” … nothing is wasted. We recall the Dark Sentience, the “All-Nourishing Abyss”[iv] at the base of being, as we enter this dark part of the cycle of the year. This Dark/Deep at the base of being, to whom we are returned, may be understood as the Sentience within all – within the entire Universe. The dictionary definition of sentience is: “intelligence,” “feeling,” “the readiness to receive sensation, idea or image; unstructured available consciousness,” “a state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness.”[v] The Old Wise One is the aspect of the Cosmic Triplicity/Triple Goddess that returns us to this sentience, the Great Subject out of whom we arise. We are subjects within the Great Subject – the sentient Universe; we are not a collection of objects, as Thomas Berry has said.[vi] This sentience within, this “readiness-to-receive,” is a dark space, as all places of ending and beginning are. Mystics of all religious traditions have understood the quintessential darkness of the Divinity, known often as the Abyss. Goddesses such as Nammu and Tiamat, Aditi and Kali, are the anthropomorphic forms of this Abyss/Sea of Darkness that existed before creation. She is really the Matrix of the Universe. This sentience is ever present and dynamic. It could be understood as the dark matter that is now recognized to form most of the Universe. This may be recognized as Her “Cauldron of Creativity” and celebrated at this Lammas Moment. Her Cauldron of Creativity is the constant flux of all form in the Universe – all matter is constantly transforming. We are constantly transforming on every level. a Lammas/Late Summer altar These times that we find ourselves in have been storied as the Age of Kali, the Age of Caillaech – the Age of the Crone. There is much that is being turned over, much that will be dismantled. We are in the midst of the revealing of compost, and transformation – social, cultural, and geophysical. Kali is not a pretty one – but we trust She is transformer, and creative in the long term. She has a good track record. Our main problem is that we tend to take it personally. The Crone – the Old Phase of the cycle, creates the Space to Be. Lammas is the particular celebration of the beauty of this awesome One. She is symbolized and expressed in the image of the waning moon, which is filling with darkness. She is the nurturant darkness that may fill your being, comfort the sentience in you, that will eventually allow new constellations to gestate in you, renew you. So the focus in ceremony may be to contemplate opening to Her, noticing our fears and our hopes involved in that. She is the Great Receiver – receives all, and as such She is the Great Compassionate One. Her Darkness may be understood as a Depth of Love. And She is Compassionate because of …

(Essay) The Mago Hedge School: Why Remember Mary Daly? by Helen Hye Sook Hwang

Prologue By writing this, I do not intend to defend Mary Daly’s position in any dispute. A controversial figure, Mary Daly never let go of her fight with those whom she thought on the other side of her feminist war. Like anyone else in history, Mary Daly belonged to her time and culture, and I leave her unresolved issues up to her. What I write here is my fond memory of her, whose feminist thought left an indelible mark on my being as well as humanity as a whole. Daly’s contribution remains to be reassessed from the fresh eye of new generations. In the meantime, I begin to speak for my part. Without Mary Daly’s thought, I would not have been in this place where I stand right now. It has empowered me to actualize my dreams to the fullest as a wo/man who was born and raised in Korea but had come from the One Home in origin. I first hear of the hedge school “Have you heard of the hedge school, Hye Sook?” asked Mary. “No, I haven’t heard of it,” I answered. This conversation took place during the conference called the Feminist Hullaballoo held in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2007. We met there and spent three days as chums. Mary was with another friend, Yvonne Johnson, so the three of us hung out together. It was a very special time for me – I felt as if I were wrapped up in the eye of the storm. (In fact, my life feels so.) At the conference, someone asked me how I came to be invited as a featured speaker. I was among such renowned feminist speakers as Sonia Johnson, Paula Gunn Allen, and Mary Daly herself. They felt like giants to me. I told her that Mary Daly invited me. Mary had asked me if I would like to go and speak at that conference. I did not have an inflated ego. I would not have been hurt if I were not chosen. But I said “Yes” without hesitation. At the time, it felt like another one of the many “outlandish” adventures that I had undertaken throughout my life. In retrospect, however, this was a very special “Yes” to the beginning of my life’s new phase. It was my debut as a radical feminist, so to speak – the first time I spoke to such a large number of radical feminists. Mary sat in the front row and listened to my talk. She nodded her head saying “It was great,” when I finished and came down to sit next to her. Mary was just getting to know my research on Mago in that year; that was what she was referring to. Nonetheless, what mattered to me was not how well I presented my research, but that I managed to do it! The jitters were over! I was returning Home and had just been baptized in public as a Wo/man, the whole being. [This talk was later published in Trivia: Voices of Feminism.] My two dreams When I accepted Mary’s invitation, I was thinking of my two dreams. I am a dream-listener. Or to be more accurate, my dreams have led me through. These dreams with regard to Mary Daly are in fact old; I dreamt them before my arrival in Claremont, California, in 1997. In the first dream, I was in the crowd when Mary spoke to a large audience. The venue was an open plaza and the stage was far away from where I was standing. Then, out of the blue, Mary called my name and asked me to come up to the podium. It sounded like a call to my soul. So I did. Then, she passed the microphone to me. I blacked out, not knowing what to say, and woke up. This dream told me what I lacked, a message to deliver to the world, which I did not have for some years. The second dream was a brief but sweet one. Mary and I were standing in an old-style classroom as co-teachers. The dynamic between us was intimate and enjoyable. Honored and proud, I felt in the presence of my old friends. The classroom was a dream-like space within a dream, as if we were in a time machine! More than two decades have passed since I had those dreams, and now I see that they were indeed self-fulfilling dreams. The first dream was fulfilled through the event of my speech to the Feminist Hullaballoo conference. By then, it was clear that I was going to speak about the topic of Mago, which I had encountered for my Ph.D. dissertation. It was the topic that I had searched for without knowing and I found it. Now I see that it found me! It is the tradition of my ancestors that has beckoned me to come Home. In Mago, I found an anciently originated gynocnetric reality, which encompasses everyone regardless and named it Magoism. Mary and I meet in person The first time I met her in person was in early April of 1999, in Claremont, California. I had been in contact with Mary Daly for about four years before then. We had spoken over the telephone, faxed, and snail-mailed across the Pacific Ocean while I was living in Korea from 1994 to 1997. Mary was invited to speak by the committee of Claremont Colleges programs including the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Claremont Graduate University, the program I was studying in. In fact, that was the program that Mary had suggested I apply for, and she had written a recommendation letter on my behalf. My first meeting with her is imprinted on my soul, and it feels as fresh as ever. It was an unusually cold spring day in Claremont. It even sprinkled some rain. She was staying at the Claremont Inn, only a couple of blocks away from my dormitory apartment. She had phoned me the day before her arrival. She called me …
(Essay 1) How Did I Fall In Love with Korean Historical Drama? by Anna Tzanova, M.A.

Go to online class, Korean Historical Dramas. “To become a kairomancer¹, you need to learn to trust your feelings as you walk the roads of this world, to develop your personal science of shivers, to recognize in your gut and your skin and in free-floating impressions that you know far more than you hold on the surface of consciousness. You need to take care of your poetic health, reading what rhymes in a day or a season. You want to expect the unexpected, to make friends with surprises, and never miss that special moment.” ~ Robert Moss² After a year and a half of work without a day off; driving 100-150 miles every other day; writing past midnight every night; at the end of July 2011, overwhelmed by fatigue, I finally decided to take a weekend off. Little did I know, that time off would last over seven months, during which I would not only change my job, but also acquire a new passion.
(Pilgrimage Essay 1) Report of First Mago Pilgrimage to Korea by Helen Hwang

[Author’s note: First Mago Pilgrimage to Korea took place in June 6-19, 2013. We visited Ganghwa Island, Seoul, Wonju, Mt. Jiri, Yeong Island (Busan), and Jeju Island.] Part 1 Magoist Alchemy and Consanguinity of All Peoples My study of Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, has hurled me into uncharted territory. (In fact, my life hurled me onto a labyrinthine path.) Mago is not a mere subject of my study. Or, study is not a mere brain activity for me. Mago has been the answer to my intellectual/spiritual quests. And I am to carve out my own destiny. Studying Magoism has become a way of life to me. Magoism is the term that I coined to name the mytho-historical-cultural context in which Mago is venerated. Assessing a large body of source materials that I documented, I learned that Magoism is one of the most comprehensive contexts that can explain East Asian civilizations as a whole. It feels right that reconstructing Magoism, the method that I employed in studying Mago, is the reason why I study Mago. Ever since I began to contemplate the topic of Mago for study in 2000, I have visited Korea, my native land, almost annually and undertook such activities as documentation, presentation, trips, and field research for the purpose of measuring the landscape of Magoism. In enacting those projects, I have worked with a variety of groups and individuals including feminists, scholars, friends, and the general public. For the last three years, I have organized various sizes of pilgrimages to near and far places with Koreans. Those experiences have gradually led me to the unfolding mystery of Magoist spiritual/intellectual reality. That said, it was my honor and privilege to organize and lead the very first intercontinental Mago Pilgrimage to Korea from June 6 to June 19 in 2013. This pilgrimage made a memorable landmark in Magoism. About a decade ago, Mago was hardly known among goddess people in the West. And the situation was not so far different from that in Korea. At that time, I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation on Mago from a multi-disciplinary perspective, not knowing what was forthcoming. The Mago Pilgrimage envisioned the remarkable change!

Category: Goddess

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Mago Pod Bulletin #74 December 2024

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