March 28, 2017October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) "Mary" As a Title by Alaya Dannu

Holder of Mary – Entry dated October 14, 2015 – meditation: Yesterday, I was told to rest. As the evening came along, I was informed that they’d have to give Read More …

September 12, 2016October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) The Traveling Cosmogony by Alaya Advaita Dannu

There are three devotional practices that I engage in every day. I will share the details of one of them, since it is the most striking and public display of Read More …

August 11, 2016October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Special Post 1) "The Oldest Civilization" and its Agendas by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: The following discussion took place in response to an article listed blow by the members of The Mago Cirlce, Facebook group of Goddessians/Magoists from May 6 to May Read More …

March 20, 2016October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Alaya A. Dannu

Alaya A. Dannu, MTP, is a dancer, self-taught artist, a life-long student of transpersonal psychology, and is currently completing her MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She is passionate about assisting others Read More …

(Prose) Asherah, Kali, Jesus? by Joanna Kujawa, Ph.D.

Let’s throw ourselves into the fascinating possibility of Christian Tantra, as described in James Hughes Reho’s (PhD) book Tantric Jesus: The Erotic Heart of Early Christianity. In his book, Reho makes a very brave attempt at proving (or suggesting?) the possibility of Christian Tantra. As someone who has studied Esoteric Hinduism and Tantra for years, I can vouch for Reho’s deep knowledge and understanding of Tantric principles and practices and for his attempt to apply them to Christian practices and teachings. To start with, the dance between Eastern and Western teachings is as ancient as the teachings themselves. I am a believer that spiritual traditions never develop in one particular cultural vacuum but have always informed each other for their mutual benefit. Also, I follow Joseph Campbell, in that the development of the human mythos is universal and only presents itself in different cultural disguises – but carries the same or a very similar message. By ‘mythos’ I mean here the primal individual and collective ‘knowledge’ of our place in the Universe which is somehow embedded in our Consciousness. From this standpoint, Reho’s research and attempt at unifying Tantric and Christian ideas makes perfect sense. First of all, in Tantric Jesus: The Erotic Heart of Early Christianity Reho looks for similarities between the Tantric teachings of Esoteric Hinduism and early Christianity. In this alone, he makes a big conceptual leap which one can only admire: he re-examines and re-defines the Christian understanding of Creation, and especially the Christian understanding of the human body. Reho believes that our current understanding of the body in Christianity is radically different from that of the understanding of early Christians. The Christianity that we know now, he says, was negatively influenced by ‘ascetic Neoplatonists’ which was not intended by the early Gospels or Jesus Himself. He says that he prefers to adhere to the mystical Christianity that ‘thrived largely outside the official institution’ of the Church. Between the second and fourth centuries, the Romanisation of Jesus’ teachings had occurred and he had merged with the Roman Sol Invictus – an all-powerful but remote figure of the Roman God. Jesus became ‘Christ the Conqueror’, and now we are faced with the ‘dogmatic baggage’ of that transformation not only of Jesus Himself but of His teachings as well. I have no argument with this part of the book, as it is historically true that the Roman Empire (Emperor Constantine especially) picked and chose from the early Christian tradition. Also, Reho accurately points to the complete loss of the Feminine Principle in Christianity as a significant part of the process of dogmatisation. In brief, for those of us who are familiar with the Hindu principle of Shakti as the feminine aspect of the Divine, Christianity became de-Shaktified. But, Reho argues, it was not always like this. In fact, he believes that the canonical Gospels, especially the Gospels of Mark and John, tried to bring the feminine back. Theprocess of de-Shaktification (or the removal of the Feminine) from Western tradition, Reho says after Biblical scholar Margaret Barker, started as the ‘Deuteronomic Reform’, of King Josiah of Judah and the high priest Hilkiah around 623 BCE, when they supposedly unearthed a mysterious scroll of the Law of Yahweh written by Moses himself. Josiah destroyed all the ancient temples and removed any traces of the Feminine from the Judaic scriptures. The face of the Feminine aspects banned from Judaic scriptures was that of the ancient Asherah, known also as the consort of Yahweh, in the same way as Shakti was the consort of Shiva in Esoteric Hinduism. Interestingly, Asherah was worshipped as the Queen of the Heavens – very much like the Sumerian Goddess Inanna or the Egyptian Goddess Isis. Indeed, in Egypt, the Jewish population worshipped Asherah (sometimes under the name of Anath) along with Yahweh. Asherah, like Shakti in Hinduism, was the active Power of God. Many representations of Asherah are very similar to representations of Inanna, and even those of the more ancient Ninmah, with poles, trees and serpents being used in relation to earlier interpretations of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Like the Gnostic Sophia, she is often represented as a dove. Reho notes here the biblical significance of the presence of the dove during Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. In this interpretation, the dove represents Asherah/Sophia, which makes Jesus a child and beloved’ of the Goddess. Reho quotes from the Gospel of Mark where, during Jesus’ baptism, ‘a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am pleased”’. The interpretation here is that the dove is the Goddess (Asherah/Sophia) and that Jesus is initiated by Her, rather than by the all masculine and not a particularly friendly God. Since then, attempts to restore the traces of the Divine Feminine were made in Rabbinic Judaism, by ‘the re-emergence’ of the presence of Shekinah – the divine feminine dwelling in ‘the divine presence … as the feminine aspect of God’. In his search for the Feminine Divine in the canonical Gospels, Reho also re-interprets the Prologue of the Gospel of John, translated as ‘In the beginning was the Word’. However, in Greek (the language of the Gospel of John), ‘Word’ is ‘Logos’ – meaning not simply a word but the ‘incarnate Word’ or ‘Wisdom Word’ reminiscent of the Gnostic Sophia (the Wisdom of God) or the creative presence of Shakti. It is worth noting that the same notion was brought up by a Jewish philosopher from the first century in Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria, who also defined ‘Logos’ as the ‘dynamic and creative power of God’ – the exact definition of Shakti in Hinduism. Also in the Gospel of John, the turning of water into wine, according to Reho, symbolises ‘a movement away’ from the ascetism of John the Baptist towards a more inclusive and Goddess-friendly tradition which has its roots in the ancient sacrifice of bread and wine to the Goddess Asherah. In Reho’s book all …
(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 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 and culture, remain relevant today.] The Goddesses’ Troubled Integration into a Christian World Throughout religious history there has been a tension between solitary asceticism as the means to spirituality and a more ecstatic sensual approach. Both facets are within Isis. She is the virgin mother as well as the singer/healer. This duality and her myriad forms was one of the reasons she was so popular over such a great span of time and space, but it also helped to bring about her downfall. The early Christian missionaries had a number of local, regional and state supported religions to contend with, not the least of which was Mithraism, a favorite of the Roman Army, and the Graeco-Roman pantheons, in which Isis played a crucial role. Since Caesar Augustus’ death in 31 CE, Roman emperors were officially worshipped as deities, as the earlier pharaohs of Egypt had been. This caused tension with the Jewish community as well as the emerging Christian one. When Caligula tried to have his statue placed inside the Temple in 39 CE, he and his general, Petronius, who was commissioned to fulfill the emperor’s wishes, were met with considerable opposition.24 The Jews were finally punished in 70 CE for not abiding by Roman rule with the destruction of the Second Temple and their subsequent banishment from Jerusalem. The Christians were punished by a series of persecution edicts, the harshest of which was Diocletian’s 4th Edict in 303 CE. Galerius, a leading general and a follower of Isis, was probably the actual initiator of the edict rather than Diocletian. Galerius went on to become Emperor and on his deathbed, he reversed the order thereby stopping the persecutions, which had had the opposite effect of that which had been originally intended.25 Rather than curbing the Christian religion, the tortures had shown the faith of the people and converted many more. Isis was set up, however, as an oppositional force to the emerging Christian faith. Shortly after Constantine took on the imperial robes and recognized Christianity as an officially recognized religion in the 313 CE Edict of Milan, he ordered a council to establish the tenets of the new faith as there were, like previously in the Egyptian religion, many versions and interpretations without clear structure and organizing principles. Over the next two centuries the Church would find itself internally at odds, with local bishops and the emperor vying for ecclesiastical control. In 386 CE, Christianity became the official religion of the Empire and the destruction of pagan temples, including those of Isis, began in earnest. The political factions within the Empire and Church, however, did not cease and by 431 CE Theodosius II and his sister Pulcheria, an ardent follower of the Virgin Mary, called for a new council in Ephesus to establish the nature of Christ, and therefore, the nature of his mother.26 Cyril of Alexandria was one of the leading Bishops in the early Church and he was called to Ephesus to participate in the discussions. Isis and her tremendous influence on the people in his homeland were clearly on his mind as he traveled to the Council; he was also tightly connected with Empress Pulcheria. Witt states: The rivalry between the two religions can be detected when we turn to the account of an act of exorcism performed by Cyril, who was Archbishop of Alexandria early in the fifth century. As one of the leading Christians in Egypt Cyril must have been familiar with the Gnostic view, there strongly held, that Isis and the Virgin Mary shared the same characteristic, a view he could not have ignored when he was energetically championing the official adoption of the dogma of Panagia Theotokos – the All-Holy Virgin Mother of God – at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Cyril was certainly not blind to the hold that Isis still maintained over Egypt.27 Isis, with all her innumerable shapes, forms and names, needed now to merge with Mary, Mother of God. Mary shares many of the same epithets and traits as Isis, Lady of Heaven, of the Stars, Protectress of Sailors and the waters, etc.; she saves those who pray to her, is part of the resurrection process, is the Virgin Mother, and loving wife. What she doesn’t share, her ecstatic Hathorian joy of music, dance, and pleasure, is denounced28 as is her magic. Isis’ magic was used for healing; she was the goddess of healing and her priests were often physicians. Her medicine came from the bounty of the earth and seas. Her followers used toxins to counteract other poisons; they knew which plants and animals to use for what purposes and how to prepare them for a specific person’s unique illness. Her magic, based on the sounds and vibrations of the earth’s creatures, was a frightful mystery to the uninitiated. Her magic, like that of the Greek goddess Hecate, was dangerous if applied incorrectly. Both goddesses were at home in the heavens, Hecate is occasionally still considered the Mother of Angels and the Cosmic World Soul,29 but more importantly, after the rise of Christianity, they functioned in the Underworld.30 Hecate’s name is reminiscent of Hekat, the Egyptian Frog Goddess of Childbirth who helped Nephthys and Isis in the earlier mentioned story of the royal births. Resurrection, childbirth, and the Underworld are part of a perennial cycle, and Hecate is often portrayed as a trinity, representing the phases of the moon or with various animal heads. Hecate, Archeological Museum, Naples. Photo, K. Rodin A black hound is usually associated with her. Isis’ black canine compatriot, Anubis, led souls down to the Underworld after death to be judged. Those who didn’t have proper burial rites performed for Hecate’s underworld were doomed to wander the earth as ghostly spirits. Those who didn’t pass Ma’at’s 42 Negative Confessions had their hearts eaten and their lives obliterated by Amit, the serpent/dog monster in Osiris’ realm. The goddess was only willing to help those who helped themselves, but she was always originally a kind, compassionate deity. The Ebers papyrus from about the 16th century BCE, which …
Meet Mago Contributor, Harriet Ann Ellenberger

Harriet Ann Ellenberger was an activist in the U.S. civil-rights, anti-war and women’s liberation movements before immigrating to Canada at the age of forty. She was a founding member of the Charlotte (North Carolina) Women’s Center (1971), co-founding editor of the journal Sinister Wisdom(1976-81), a founding partner in the bilingual feminist bookstore L’Essentielle (Montreal, 1987), editor of a small web publication She Is Still Burning (2000-2003), and co-editor (2004-8) of Trivia: Voices of Feminism. She lives in rural New Brunswick, where she writes, practices piano and helps her partner rebuild their old farmhouse. She blogs at http://www.harrietannellenberger.wordpress.com/ Recently published posts:
Calling the Circle by Glen Rogers

I’ve been inspired, motivated, moved to organize a Sacred Feminine Women’s event – a gathering of women. As an artist, educator, spiritual seeker, and pilgrim to sacred sites around the world, I’ve dedicated my art to celebrate the sacred feminine and highlight women’s issues. Once I learned of our ancient matriarchal past as a young woman, I began visiting sites like the Temple of Knossos in Crete where priestesses presided and women ruled. My eyes and my spirit were opened to the possibilities of a different kind of world. Reading books in my late twenties like The Chalice and the Blade by Ryan Eisler, When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone, and Language of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas, I was astounded to find out that patriarchy has only been our social system for 6000 years vs 30,000 years of matriarchy. That’s when I began traveling to places like the Paleolithic caves in South of France and Newgrange in Ireland to walk in the footsteps of our grandmothers – to feel the connection to ritual and cultures where women and Mother Earth were revered. I was inspired to write about these experiences which culminated in 2 books, Art & Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place and Symbols of the Spirit: A Meditative Journey Through Art. So I’ve embarked on this new journey – not on a pilgrimage to a sacred site like I’ve done so many times before. This journey is taking me to new places, but in a different way. It’s a creative endeavor, one of sharing and building something new in the form of a women’s conference/celebration. For over a year now, I’ve been busy organizing Calling the Circle: A Sacred Feminine Women’s Gathering in San Miguel del Allende, Mexico which I hope to be an annual event. As women, now more than ever, there’s a hunger for the Circle – as a way to connect to each other and to ancient knowledge. Women all over the world are looking towards reclaiming and remembering their spiritual roots. This gathering is one of many circles and Goddess conferences across the globe as a way to re-gain primal wisdom. We are united in our search and connection to the Sacred Feminine, reminding us of a time when Matriarchy was the cultural norm, when women held equal positions of power in the community – when God was a woman. Women have been gathering in circle from the beginning of time – whether for ceremony or more practical matters. Around the hearth or the kitchen table, they shared as they prepared a meal. They told their stories and offered healing and guidance to each other. They formed sewing circles and quilting bees to collaborate and create something bigger than each could do on their own. And throughout our lives many of us have gathered in circle with the guidance of authors like Jean Shinoda Bolen and Christina Baldwin. We continue to seek a spiritual connection and a way of sharing with like-minded women through ritual in our modern lives. This vision began percolating as I was giving book talks and sharing my journey to mainly female audiences. I began looking for more opportunities to inspire others through my stories and artwork when a friend and mentor suggested, “create your own event!” What a great idea to combine my interests and invite inspirational speakers exploring topics in sacred feminine spirituality, ancient matriarchal cultures, ritual, and creativity. While my focus has always been on the visual arts, I learned early that I was a good organizer, with the ability to use both sides of my brain. These skills have come in handy with my public art projects, art workshops and art vacations in Mexico and Peru, as well as community art events. So the thought of creating Calling the Circle seemed perfect. And San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I live, is a magical place with a definite spiritual and feminine energy. It’s also a truly beautiful small city and as a Unesco World Heritage Site – a sought out travel destination. Our Circle will unfold in a beautiful private home with ample indoor and outdoor space, a nurturing environment with towering mesquite trees and lovely plazas. It’s also a great location within walking distance or taxi to the central part of town, with accommodations and restaurants. One of the first things I did was to invite women in my community to join me in this endeavor. My advisory collective includes artists, activists, writers, doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs who have shared their expertise all along the way. It’s been a joy to get to know each one of them and have their support. We all share the vision that this will be an inspirational gathering of spirituality and female empowerment that will nourish and transform. It’s also important to us that a percentage of the profit will be donated to San Miguel organizations that support women’s education and development. We are drawing from a huge pool of local talent this inaugural year for speakers, circle facilitators, and creative sessions in writing, vision boarding and other collaborative activities. I’m excited to see this Gathering unfold and gain momentum as we reach out and bring more amazing women along on our visionary path. If you would like to learn more about Calling the Circle: A Sacred Feminine Women’s Gathering, November 7-9, 2022, visit www.sacredfemininecircle.com. (Meet Mago Contributor) Glen Rogers https://www.magoism.net/2021/01/meet-mago-contributor-glen-rogers/
(Meet Mago Contributor) Jyoti Wind

Jyoti Wind is a dreamer of larger possibilities, a watcher of human behavior, and a listener to the Divine and the Nature Spirits who guide us all. She records what comes to her, a scholar of life and living in these times. By day, she’s worked with Astrology for over 50 years. By night, she uses Shamanic ways of seeing to help restore the balance. She is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, a lover of life and of people’s hearts. She is a gate keeper and a releaser of words. Her writings are found here: https://www.jyotiwindastrology.com/blog-2
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 1) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. INTRODUCING MAGOIST CALENDAR: ORIGINAL BLESSING OF THE WOMB TIME[1] “Thirteen Spells Doom to the would-be doomers. It signals the release of the Doomsday Wolf that Fates/Norns had hitherto restrained. It spells awakening of Memory, of Metamemory, the Self-unveiling of Metamysterious Crones, whose Eye-Bites snap the chains of fettered Time.” Mary Daly, from Websters’ First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language Unlike the patriarchal calendar that marks a linearly-structured dismembered time, the Magoist Calendar or Mgoist Dalryeok[2] captures the conjunction of spiraling times that visualizes the interconnection of all beings. The Magoist Calendar restores the original meaning of the calendar: The calendar is the TEXT given by the Creatrix, Mago, which encrypts the cosmogonic rhythms of nature and maps out the way of human/woman beings together with all in their surroundings. In a narrow sense, it refers a chart that schematizes the TEXT of the Creatrix into interconnected cyclic and rhythmic time units. The calendar is ultimately not only salvific but also the very emblem of salvation. It is revelatory and sacred by definition. The very formation of the Magoist Calendar presupposes the following: (1) All (including humans) in the universe is in order and harmony, an embodiment of sonic numerology. (2) Time is cyclic and rhythmic caused by the songs/dances of celestial bodies including the earth, the moon, and the sun. And (3) All beings are found kindred in the Mago Time of NOW. The Magoist Calendar is time-proven, marking the very onset of human/woman intelligence for its origin. Charting the times and seasons of NOW (the Mago Time) relative to the far distant stars (the sidereal time), the Magoist Calendar encodes the ecstatic nature of WE/HERE/NOW, the Reality of the Creatrix. As a luni-gyno-solar calendar, it unfolds the intergalactic standard time of NOW for WE in HERE, in which all beings are born and partake. By “luni-gyno-solar” I mean “of the 28 days, the synchronous cycle of the moon and women that determines 13 months of a year and 7 days of a week.” It refers to the gynocentric calendar in which the lunar cycle synchronizes with the menstrual cycle. Unlike the patriarchal lunisolar calendar, the lunar 29.5 day synodic cycle, which determines the annual 12 months, the Magoist Calendar takes on the 28 day lunar sidereal cycle synchronized with women’s menstruation (luni-gyno), which determines the annual 13 months (solar). The 28 day, 13 month, 7 day interplay orchestrated by Nine Numerology stands as a building block of the inter-cosmic time. The most prominent feature of the Magoist Calendar lies in its regularity and cyclicity embedded in the 28-day, 13-month scheme. One year comprises 13 months (364 days) with one intercalary day annually (365 days) and another one day in every fourth year (366 days). One month comprises 28 days, which is dovetailed with four weeks of seven days. Issued from the spiraling motion of the celestial bodies (HERE), the Mago Time (NOW) is structured as the spiral of multi-layered sub-spirals, centrifugally and centripetally. In short, it is an embodiment of nine numerology, systemic and balanced. For example, one year is made of 13 monthly spirals or 52 weekly spirals. Each of its 13 monthly spirals is made of 4 spirals of 7 days (28 days). Each of its 4 weekly spirals is made of 7 spirals of one day (7 days). Centrifugally, the Little calendar comprises a one year cycle, whereas the Medium Calendar is a two year cycle and the Large Calendar is a four year cycle. Four hundred Large Calendars make 1,600 years (4 x 400). Regularity is the key to the gynocentric inter-cosmic calendar. Calendric regularity or rhythm is derived from the regular motion of celestial bodies. The very formation of the standard intergalactic time (sidereal time) presupposes the regularity of the celestial bodies in their cyclic motions. Patriarchal calendars, which were invented to abolish the 28-13 interplay, fail the regularity test. They are characterized by an irregular number of monthly days in annual 12 months, which results in an inefficient way of adding extra days for intercalation. For example, the Sinocentric lunisolar calendar has 29 or 30 days in a month and needs 11 extra days in a year. The Gregorian Calendar, although it minimizes intercalation into one extra day in every four years, is based on the intermittent length of the month (28, 29, 30, or 31 days). The irregularity of a month implies the irregular motion of the celestial bodies, which proves the 12 months calendar to be numerologically unfit. The 12 months calendar self-contracts to the very definition of calendar; the calendar presupposes that the universe is in order and harmony. On the contrary, the Magoist Calendar is built on the regularity of a monthly 28 days and an annual 13 months. Consequently, the 7 day week scheme runs 4 regular cycles in a month. Thus, each day of a week is matched with a certain weekday within a week and throughout the four weeks of a month. For example, the first is always Sunday and the second is always Monday. That is how we arrive at the 13th Friday. And the Magoist Calendar requires, for intercalation, one intercalary day annually (365 days) and another one intercalary day every four years (366 days), which are considered outside the 28-13 cogwheel of a yearly time. It is a mistake to think that the patriarchal calendar is as symmetrical as the gynocentric calendar. Patriarchal calendars deviates from the 28 day and 13 month system to an irregular number of days (28, 29, 30, or 31) and 12 months. However, they can’t completely evade the gynocentric calendar. In order to self-impose as calendar, a patriarchal calendar employs an illusion of regularity. With the irregular number of monthly days throughout the year, a patriarchal calendar fakes its regularity by borrowing the weekly cycle of 7 days from the 28-13-7 scheme of the gynocentric calendar. Its regularity …
(Photo Essay 7) Goddess Pilgrimage 2018.

[Author’s Note: In May 2018, I set out on a 3 month pilgrimage to Greece, Turkey and the prehistory sites of “Old Europe”. Once again my main focus was “visiting with the Grandmothers”.] Blaubeuren, Germany. The “Venus” of Hohle Fels (also known as the “Venus” of Schelklingen) is an Upper Paleolithic Mother Goddess figurine made of mammoth ivory. She was found in 2008 in Hohle Fels, a cave near Schelklingen, Germany, and is dated to between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago, belonging to the early Aurignacian, at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. This Mother Goddess figure is kept in the wonderful Prehistory Museum of Blaubeuren (Urgeschichtliches Museum Blaubeuren). She is in a quiet room much like a shrine. Also in the museum are other finds from Hohle Fels and the surrounding area: Bone flute, Hohle Fels, 35,000-40,000 BCE Red ochre painting (red like blood), Hohle Fels, c15,000 BCE One evening we gathered in Hohle Fels Cave, sitting on the rocks in the timeless darkness, while Carolyn Hillyer and Nigel Shaw (Seventh Wave Music) evoked ancient gatherings with music and song: Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill
(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/

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

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing eight sequels (all nine parts) are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hwang: I am thinking of the Nine Goddess/Mago Symbolism or Nine Numerology. Insights connect the data that I have collected, otherwise seemingly unrelated across cultures and periods. We have reasons to celebrate the nine symbolism among us. As seen in this discussion below, Hercules is most aptly equated with Huangdi (Yellow Emperor, 2698–2598 BCE), one of the forebear emperors of ancient China, who is alleged to have defeated Chiu (successor of Goma), the representative of Danguk’s Nine Giants (nine sub-states). The Magoist history writes the other way around. Chiu won the war, the archetypal international/global war waged over the defense/overthrow of the Magoist throne. Old Magoists (Danguk founded by Goma) of Nine Queen-led States defended the rebellion of the patrilocal force, represented by the Huangdi. With this victory, Old Magoist Confederacy of nine sub-states was able to maintain gynocentric peace of the ancient world for about five centuries longer until a man, Yao, rose to give a way for the establishment of the first patriarchal rule, ancient China of the Xia Dynasty (c. 2070 BCE – c. 1600 BCE). Nonetheless, patriarchal ethnocentric Sinocentric historiography has proliferated to this day. Yu, the founder of the Xia dynasty, is depicted as the hero who slains the nine-headed snake. What I am saying is here that the Nine Goddess/Symbolism is pre-patriarchal in origin and possibly speaks of the same event across cultures! The slain of nine-headed snakes or dragons indicates the usurpation of gynocentric rule by a patriarchal hero across cultures. Let me show you some available information and images to open the discussion. Lernaean Hydra 1 oz Copper | The 12 Labors of Hercules “Hercules was sent to slay the Lernaean Hyrda for his second Labor. The multi-headed, snake-like monster was defeated by Hercules after he sliced its one mortal head. The last day to purchase the 1 oz Copper Lernaean Hyrda was the November 12, 2014. There is, however, time to order the 5 oz Copper Hercules Round, and 5 oz Silver Hercules Round. To read about Hercules and his 12 Labors, check out our blog for more information. If you enjoy the 12 Labors of Hercules coin series, take a look at more Silver and Copper coin collections offered by Provident Metals. After defeating the Nemean Lion, Hercules was sent to slay the Lernaean Hydra for his second labor. The Hydra, a snake-like beast with multiple heads, was raised by Hera to destroy Hercules — making this an inevitable match up. In the face-off between Hercules and Hydra, the son of Zeus used a sword to slice off each of the creature’s necks, according to one popular tale. When the heads grew back, Hercules enlisted his nephew to burn each of the necks to halt regrowth. The Hydra had one mortal head, however; so Hercules used his golden sword to slay the mutant and complete his second labor. The beast is displayed on the Second Labor coin, to be released in the 12 Labors of Hercules Series. The reverse features the multi-headed Hydra in a striking position, displaying the daunting task Hercules faced. LERNAEAN HYDRA and II are inscribed. The familiar obverse portraying Hercules with the Nemean Lion draped over his head as armor is shown on this round, as it will be on each round in the powerful series. “1 oz CMXCIX (999 in Roman numerals) FINE COPPER” is also displayed. The 1 oz. Copper Lernaean Hydra rounds will only be available for one month from Oct. 12 through Nov. 12. Make sure to keep your 12 Labors of Hercules Series collection current before time runs out! 12 Labors of Hercules Driven crazy by Hera, Hercules slew his family — only regretful after recovering his sanity. King Thespius purified the son of Zeus, but to atone for his crimes, he was sent to serve King Eurystheus. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to execute 10 Labors, which were a series of tasks carried out as penance for his actions. Hercules successfully completed all 10, but because his nephew helped with one and he planned to accept payment for another, Eurystheus forced Hercules to finish two more Labors alone. Hercules’ Labors adhere to the traditional order of the Bibliotheca: Nemean Lion – Sept. 12, 2014 Lernaean Hydra – Oct. 12, 2014 Ceryneian Hind – Nov. 12, 2014 Erymanthian Boar – Dec. 12, 2014 Augean Stables – Jan. 12, 2015 Stymphalian Birds – Feb. 12, 2015 Cretan Bull – March 12, 2015 Mares of Diomedes – April 12, 2015 Girdle of Hippolyta – May 12, 2015 Cattle of Geryon – June 12, 2015 Apples of Hesperides – July 12, 2015 Cerberus – Aug. 12, 2015 Commemorate the historic battle between Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra with this 1 oz copper round from Provident Metals.” https://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-copper-lernaean-hydra-the-12-labors-of-hercules.html Helen Hwang: I looked for the answer to this question: How many heads did the Hydra originally have? It is nine, which accords with its icons to be shared shortly. Helen Hwang: Check out Nine-fold or Nine-Headed Phoenix. Not all iconographies of pre-modern China vilify the nine symbolism, which indicates the influence/presence/revival of Magoism. This image is much reminiscent of the blue crane with nine feathers, a Magoist symbol that we have seen in Mago Stronghold, Mt. Jiri during Mago Pilgrimage (to be discussed in another space). “This Qing-dynasty (1644-1911) print shows the nine-headed phoenix, a being from Chinese mythology with a bird’s body and nine heads with human faces. It is one of several hybrid creatures mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), where it is […]
(Special Post 6) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hwang Without knowing nine numerology, it is NOT possible for us to understand the depth of Magoism, an anciently originated tradition of Old Korea/East Asia that venerated the Creatrix. “Giants” are the hallmark for the Goma, the people of Danguk (nine-state confederacy led by Goma, the Magoist Shaman queen). Those giants are not described as a singular people. They come in “81 brothers,” as mentioned below. We know what “brothers” mean, it is 81 sisters! Changing or translating a female-connoted term to the male proves its agent to be patriarchal. And Chiyou or Chiu (in Korean) is the ruler of Nine Ris (Guri), another name for Nine Hans (Guhan). Check this out: “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China.[1] He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology.[1][2][3] For the Hmong people, Chiyou[4] was a sagacious mythical king.[5] He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi[1]Miao[5] or even Man,[5] depending on the source and view. Today, Chiyou is honored and worshipped as the God of War and one of the three legendary founding fathers of China.” “According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi, Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.[6]According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead.[1] He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand.[7] In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a bull with two horns, although the body was that of a human.[7] He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers.[7] Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’,[6] as well as ‘tyrannical’.[8] Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.[5] Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during the Battle of Zhuolu. TRIBE Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPAWhite Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources.[1] However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Below is from my article, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology,” included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018). Goma is also credited for designating queens of the bear clan to state rulers. Another account of the Goma myth reads, “She looked after numerous spiritual persons and wise persons. Accepting women of the bear clan, Hanung made them rulers (后). Goma chose queens of the bear clan to make them nine state rulers. Note that Danguk is a nine state confedearcy. That Danguk’s nine states were headed by the queens of the bear clan is, among others, corroborated by Chinese mythological accounts. Chinese myth informs that Chiu, Huangdi’s opponent in an epic war, was aided by “a tribe of giants from the far north.”[1] In Chinese mythology, Gonggong and her minister, Xiangliu, symbolized as a dragon with nine heads in the body of a snake, are depicted as an enemy of Emperor Yu of Xia (ruled c. 2200–2100 BCE). Such a story is aligned with Sinocentrism inscribed in Chinese mythology that antagonizes pre-Chinese history of Old Magoist Korea/East Asia. In Chinese mythology, Gonggong (龔工) is described as a sea monster whose minister Xiangliu (相栁 Mutual Willow) is told to have been defeated by Yu, the Great.[2] Assuming the character hu (后 xia in Chinese pronunciation) to mean a male ruler’s wife, androcentric scholars have translated the above account as “Hanung received his queen from the bear clan. And he instituted the rite of matrimony.” This proves to be a modern androcentric bias in that hu originally means a “ruler.” This is the case of the logographic character whose original meaning has changed from “a female ruler” to “a male ruler” and to “the wife of ruler” over time. Ancient Chinese texts betray ample evidence. For example, Xiahou (夏后 Ruler of Xia) and Houyi (后羿 Ruler of Yi) respectively refer to a male ruler. Xiahou refers to Yu of Xia. Other ancient Chinese texts include the Classic of Poetry (詩經商頌玄鳥), the Zuozhuan (左傳) and the Book of Document (書經).[3] [1] C. Scott Littleton, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth & Storytelling (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002), 414. Cited in Hwang, Finding Mago, 239 in note 494. [2] Lihui Yang, Deming An and Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 214-5. [3] Goma, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology” Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018), 272. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am realizing that even ancient Chinese people depicted Chiyou as female. When her image is cropped from the whole frame, it is hard to tell. But see her in the attached image of the whole frame. In comparison with Chinese heroes (supposedly including Yellow Emperor) on the left side, she and her ally are depicted as a figure in a curvy body line. Of course, Chiyou was pejoratively depicted as she was an opponent to the future Chinese emperor, […]

Beltaine/High Spring within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 8 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Beltaine/High Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – October 31st or 1st November Northern Hemisphere – April 30th (May Eve) or 1st May though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, thus actually a little later in early November for S.H., and early May for N.H., respectively. The twin fires lit in older times on hilltops in Ireland for Beltaine likely represented the two eyes of night and day.[i] With this vision, Goddess as Sun and Moon sees Her Land, and with the power of Her eyes (Sun and Moon) brings forth life and beauty. With the fire eyes, Goddess“reoccupied and saw her whole land…”[ii] The twin fires later came to be used to run cattle between as they headed out to Summer pasture, for the purpose of burning off the bugs and ticks of Winter; the fires may thus be understood to serve a cleansing effect and likely the origins of the tradition of the ceremonial leaping of flames by participants in Beltaine festivities. In PaGaian Cosmology this is poetically expressed as the Flame of Love that burns away the psyche’s “bugs and ticks,” and sees the Beauty present, and calls it forth. The Beltaine flames may be a celebration of Sun entering into the eye, into the whole bodymind: a powerful creative evocation upon which the Dance of Life depends, and as the cleansing power of love and pleasure. PaGaian focus for Beltaine is on the Holy Desire/Passion for life, and it may be accounted for on as many levels as possible … the complete holarchy/dimensions of the erotic power. On an elemental level, there is our desire for Air, Water, the warmth of Fire, and to be of use/service to Earth. There is an essential longing, sometimes nameless, sometimes constellated, experienced physically, that may be recognized as the Desire of the Universe Herself – desiring in us.[iii] We may remember that we are united in this desire with each other, with all who have gone before us, and with all who come after us – all who dance the Dance of Life. Beltaine is a time for dancing and weaving into our lives, our heart’s desires; traditionally the dance is done with participants holding ribbons attached to a pole or tree (a Maypole in the Northern Hemisphere, which may be renamed as a “Novapole” in the Southern Hemisphere), wrapping the pole with the ribbons. This is not simply the heterosexual metaphor as is thought in modern times (thanks largely to Freudian thinking) – it is deeper than that. As Caitlin and John Matthews point out: it is symbolic of a far greater exchange than that between men and women – in fact between the elements themselves. … the maypole, a comparatively recent manifestation in the history of mystery celebrations, can be seen as the linking of heaven and earth, binding those who dance around it … into a pattern of birth, life and death which lay at the heart of the maze of earth mysteries.[iv] Beltaine is a celebration of Desire on all levels – microcosm and on the macrocosm, the exoteric and the esoteric.[v] It brought you forth physically, and it brings forth all that you produce in your life, and it keeps the Cosmos spinning. It is felt in you as Desire, it urges you on. It is the deep awesome dynamic that pervades the Cosmos and brings forth all things – babies, meals, gardens, careers, books and solar systems. We have often been taught, certainly by religious traditions, to pay it as little attention as possible; whereas it should be the cause of much more meditation/attention, tracing it to its deepest place in us. What are our deepest desires beneath our surface desires. What if we enter more deeply into this feeling, this power? It may be a place where the Universe is a deep reciprocity – a receiving and giving that is One. Brian Swimme says, in a whole chapter on “Allurement”: You can examine your own self and your own life with this question: Do I desire to have this pleasure? Or rather, do I desire to become pleasure? The demand to ‘have,’ to possess, always reveals an element of immaturity. To keep, to hold, to control, to own; all of this is fundamentally a delusion, for our own truest desire is to be and to live. We have ripened and matured when we realize that our own deepest desire in erotic attractions is to become pleasure … to enter ecstatically into pleasure so that giving and receiving pleasure become one simple activity. Our most mature hope is to become pleasure’s source and pleasure’s home simultaneously. So it is with the allurements of life: we become beauty to ignite the beauty of others.[vi] Beltaine is a good time to contemplate this animal bodymind that you are: how it seeks real pleasure. What is your real pleasure? Be gracious with this bodymind and in awe of this form, this wonder. Beltaine is also a good time to contemplate light, and its affects on our bodyminds as it enters into us; how our animal bodyminds respond directly to the Sun’s light, which apparently may awaken physical desires. Light vibrates into us – different wavelengths as different colours – and shifts to pulse. It is felt most fully in Springtime (“spring fever”), as light courses down a direct neural line from retina to pineal gland. When the pineal gland receives the light pulse it releases “a cascade of hormones, drenching the body in hunger, thirst, or great desire.”[vii] We respond directly to Sun as an organism: it is primal. NOTES: [i] Michael Dames, Ireland, 195-199. [ii] Ibid., 196. [iii] I have been inspired and informed by Swimme’s articulations about desire, particularly in Canticle to the Cosmos, video 2 “The Primeval Fireball,” video 5 “Destruction and Loss,” and video 10 “The Timing of Creativity.” [iv] Matthews, The Western Way, 54. And for more, see “Creativity …
(Slideshow) Summer Solstice Goddess by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Sekhmet by Katlyn Each year between December 20-23 Sun reaches Her peak in the Southern Hemisphere: it is the Summer Solstice Moment. Poetry of the Season may be expressed in this way: This is the time when the light part of day is longest. You are invited to celebrate SUMMER SOLSTICE Light reaches Her fullness, and yet… She turns, and the seed of Darkness is born. This is the Season of blossom and thorn – for pouring forth the Gift of Being. The story of Old tells that on this day Beloved and Lover dissolve into the single Song of ecstasy – that moves the worlds. Self expands in the bliss of creativity. Sun ripens in us: we are the Bread of Life. We celebrate Her deep Communion and Reciprocity. Glenys Livingstone, 2005 The choice of images for the Season is arbitrary; there are so many more that may express Her fullness of being, Her relational essence and Her Gateway quality at this time. And also for consideration, is the fact that most ancient images of Goddess are multivalent – She was/is One: that is, all Her aspects are not separate from each other. These selected images tell a story of certain qualities that may be contemplated at the Seasonal Moment of Summer Solstice. As you receive the images, remember that image communicates the unspeakable, that which can only be known in body, below rational mind. So you may open yourself to a transmission of Her, that will be particular to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syTBjWpw3XU Shalako Mana Hopi 1900C.E. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess), Corn Mother. Food is a miracle, food is sacred. She IS the corn, the corn IS Her. She gives Herself to feed all. The food/She is essential to survival, hospitality and ceremony … and all of this is transmuted in our beings. Sekhmet Contemporary image by Katlyn. Egyptian Sun Goddess. Katlyn says: Her story includes the compassionate nature of destruction. The fierce protection of the Mother is sometimes called to destroy in order to preserve well being. And Anne Key expresses: She represents “the awesome and awe-full power of the Sun. This power spans the destructive acts of creation and the creative acts of destruction.”- (p.135 Desert Priestess: a memoir).A chant in Her praise by Abigail Spinner McBride: Sheila-na-gig 900C.E. British Isles. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). From Elinor Gadon The Once and Future Goddess (p.338): “She is remembered in Ireland as the Old Woman who gave birth to all races of human…. In churches her function was to ward off evil”, or to attract the Pagan peoples to the church. From Adele Getty Goddess (p.66): “The first rite of passage of all human beings begins in the womb and ends between the thighs of the Great Mother. In India, the vulva “known as the yoni, is also called cunti or kunda, the root word of cunning, cunt and kin … (the yoni) was worshipped as an object of great mystery … the place of birth and the place where the dead are laid to rest were often one and the same.” Getty says her message here in this image “is double-edged: the opening of her vulva and the smile on her face elicit both awe and terror; one might venture too far inside her and never return to the light of day …” as with all caves and gates of initiation. In the Christian mind the yoni clearly became the “gates of hell”. And as Helene Cixous said in her famous feminist article “The Laugh of the Medusa”: “Let the priests tremble, we’re going to show them our sexts!” (SIGNS Summer 1976) Kunapipi (Australia) “the Aboriginal mother of all living things, came from a land across the sea to establish her clan in Northern Australia, where She is found in both fresh and salt water. In the Northern Territory She is known as Warramurrungundgi. She may also manifest Herself as Julunggul, the rainbow snake goddess of initiations who threatens to swallow children and then regurgitate them, thereby reinforcing the cycle of death and rebirth. In Arnhem Land She is Ngaljod …” (Visions of the Goddess by Courtney Milne and Sherrill Miller – thanks to Lydia Ruyle). More information: re Kunapipi. NOTE the similarity to Gobekli Tepe Sheela Turkey 9600B.C.E., thanks Lydia Ruyle.Lydia Ruyle’s Gobekli Tepe banner. Inanna/Ishtar Mesopotamia 400 B.C.E. (Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature) She holds Her breasts displaying her potency. She is a superpower who feeds the world, nourishes it with Her being. We all desire to feel this potency of being: Swimme and Berry express: “the infinite striving of the sentient being”. Adele Getty calls this offering of breasts to the world “a timeless sacred gesture”. Mary Mother of God 1400 C.E. Europe (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). A recognition, even in the patriarchal context that She contains it all. Wisdom and Compassion Tibetan Goddess and God in Union. This is Visvatara and Vajrasattva 1800C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle). Sri Yantra Hindu meditation diagram of union of Goddess and God. 1500 C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle, p.75). “Goddess and God” is the common metaphor, but it could be “Beloved and Lover”, and so it is in the mind of many mystics and poets: that is, the sacred union is of small self with larger Self. Prajnaparamita the Mother of all Buddhas. (The Great Mother Erich Neumann, pl 183). She is the Wisdom to whom Buddha aspired, Whom he attained. Medusa Contemporary, artist unknown. She is a Sun Goddess: this is one reason why it was difficult to look Her in the eye. See Patricia Monaghan, O Mother Sun! REFERENCES: Gadon, Elinor W. The Once and Future Goddess. Northamptonshire: Aquarian, 1990. Getty, Adele. Goddess: Mother of Living Nature. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Iglehart Austen, Hallie. The Heart of the Goddess.Berkeley: Wingbow, 1990. Katlyn, artist https://www.mermadearts.com/b/altar-images-art-by-katlyn Key, Anne. Desert Priestess: a memoir. NV: Goddess Ink, 2011. Mann A.T. and …
Lammas/Late Summer in PaGaian tradition By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 5 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Traditionally the dates for this Seasonal Moment are: Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd however the actual astronomical date varies. See archaeoastronomy.com for the actual moment. Lammas table/altar Lammas, as it is often called[1], is the meridian point of the first dark quarter of the year, between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox; it is after the light phase has peaked and is complete, and as such, I choose it as a special celebration of the Crone/Old One. Within the Celtic tradition, it is the wake of Lugh, the Sun King, and it is the Crone that reaps him. But within earlier Goddess traditions, all the transformations were Hers[2]; and the community reflected on the reality that the Mother aspect of the Goddess, having come to fruition, from Lammas on would enter the Earth and slowly become transformed into the Old Woman-Hecate-Cailleach aspect …[3] I dedicate Lammas to the face of the Old One, just as Imbolc, its polar opposite on the Wheel in Old European tradition, is dedicated to the Virgin/Maiden face. The Old One, the Dark and Shining One, has been much maligned, so to celebrate Her can be more of a challenge in our present cultural context. Lammas may be an opportunity to re-aquaint ourselves with the Crone in her purity, to fall in love with Her again. I state the purpose of the seasonal gathering thus: This is the season of the waxing dark. The seed of darkness born at the Summer Solstice now grows … the dark part of the days grows visibly longer. Earth’s tilt is taking us back away from the Sun. This is the time when we celebrate dissolution; each unique self lets go, to the Darkness. It is the time of ending, when the grain, the fruit, is harvested. We meet to remember the Dark Sentience, the All-Nourishing Abyss, She from whom we arise, in whom we are immersed, and to whom we return. This is the time of the Crone, the Wise Dark One, who accepts and receives our harvest, who grinds the grain, who dismantles what has gone before. She is Hecate, Lillith, Medusa, Kali, Erishkagel,Chamunda, Coatlique – Divine Compassionate One, She Who Creates the Space to Be. We meet to accept Her transformative embrace, trusting Her knowing, which is beyond all knowledge. Lammas is the seasonal moment for recognizing that we dissolve into the “night” of the Larger Organism of whom we are part – Gaia. It is She who is immortal, from whom we arise, and into whom we dissolve. This celebration is a development of what was born in the transition of Summer Solstice; the dark sentient Source of Creativity is honoured. The autopoietic space in us recognizes Her, is comforted by Her, desires Her self-transcendence and self-dissolution; Lammas is an opportunity to be with our organism’s love of Larger Self – this Native Place. We have been taught to fear Her, but at this Seasonal Moment we may remember that She is the compassionate One, deeply committed to transformation, which is actually innate to us. Whereas at Imbolc/Early Spring, we shone forth as individual, multiforms of Her; at Lammas, we small individual selves remember that we are She and dissolve back into Her. We are the Promise of Lifeas was affirmed at Imbolc, but we are the Promise of Her- it is not ours to hold. We identify as the sacred Harvest at Lammas; our individual harvest isHer Harvest. We are the process itself – we are Gaia’s Process. Wedo not breathe (though of course we do), we borrow the breath, for a while. It is like a relay: we pick the breath up, create what we do during our time with it, and pass it on. The harvest we reap in our individual lives is important, andit is for us only short term; it belongs to the Cosmos in the long term. Lammas is a time for “making sacred” – as “sacrifice” may be understood; we may “make sacred” ourselves. As Imbolc was a time for dedication, so is Lammas. This is the wisdom of the phase of the Old One. She is the aspect that finds the “yes” to letting go, to loving the Larger Self, beyond all knowledge, and steps into the power of the Abyss; encouraged and nourished by the harvest, She will gradually move into the balance of Autumn Equinox/Mabon, the next Sesaonal Moment on the year’s cycle. References: Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess.Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990. Gray, Susan. The Woman’s Book of Runes.New York: Barnes and Noble, 1999. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. McLean, Adam. The Four Fire Festivals. Edinburgh: Megalithic Research Publications, 1979. Notes: [1]See note 3. [2]Susan Gray, The Woman’s Book of Runes,p. 18. This is also to say that the transformations are within each being, not elsewhere, that is the “sacrifice” is not carried out by another external to the self, as could be and have been interpreted from stories of Lugh or Jesus. [3]Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, The Year of the Goddess, p.143, quoting Adam McLean, Fire Festivals,p.20-22. Another indication of the earlier tradition beneath “Lughnasad” is the other name for it in Ireland of “Tailltean Games”. Taillte was said to be Lugh’s foster-mother, and it was her death that was being commemmorated (Mike Nichols, “The First Harvest”, Pagan Alliance Newsletter NSW Australia). The name “Tailtunasad” has been suggested for this Seasonal Moment, by Cheryl Straffon editor of Goddess Alive! I prefer the name of Lammas, although some think it is a Christian term: however some sources say that Lammas means “feast of the bread” which is how I have understood it, and surely such a feast pre-dates Christianity. It is my opinion that the incoming Christians preferred “Lammas” to “Lughnasad”: the term itself is not Christian in origin. The evolution of all these things is complex, and we may evolve them further with our careful thoughts and experience.
Samhain/Deep Autumn within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 4 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Samhain/Deep Autumn are: Northern Hemisphere – October 31st/November 1st Southern Hemisphere – April 30th/May 1st though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, thus actually a little later in early May for S.H., and early November for N.H., respectively. A Samhain/Deep Autumn Ceremonial Altar In this cosmology, Deep Autumn/Samhain is a celebration of She Who creates the Space to Be par excellence. This aspect of the Creative Triplicity is associated with the autopoietic quality of Cosmogenesis[i] and with the Crone/Old One of the Triple Goddess, who is essentially creative in Her process. This Seasonal Moment celebrates the process of the Crone, the Ancient One … how we are formed by Her process, and in that sense conceived by Her: it is an ‘imaginal fertility,’ a fertility of the dark space, the sentient Cosmos. It mirrors the fertility and conception of Beltaine (which is happening in the opposite Hemisphere at the same time). Some Samhain/Deep Autumn Story This celebration of Deep Autumn has been known in Christian times as “Halloween,” since the church in the Northern Hemisphere adopted it as “All Hallow’s eve” (31st October) or “All Saint’s Day” (1st November). This “Deep Autumn” festival as it may be named in our times, was known in old Celtic times as Samhain (pronounced “sow-een), which is an Irish Gaelic word, with a likely meaning of “Summer’s end,” since it is the time of the ending of the Spring-Summer growth. Many leaves of last Summer are turning and falling at this time: it was thus felt as the end of the year, and hence the New Year. It was and is noted as the beginning of Winter. It was the traditional Season for bringing in the animals from the outdoor pastures in pastoral economies, and when many of them were slaughtered. Earth’s tilt is continuing to move the region away from the Sun at this time of year. This Seasonal Moment is the meridian point of the darkest quarter of the year, between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice; the dark part of the day is longer than the light part of the day and is still on the increase. It is thus the dark space of the annual cycle wherein conception and dreaming up the new may occur. As with any New Year, between the old and the new, in that moment, all is possible. We may choose in that moment what to pass to the future, and what to relegate to compost. Samhain may be understood as the Space between the breaths. It is a generative Space – the Source of all. There is particular magic in being with this Dark Space. This Dark Space which is ever present, may be named as the “All-Nourishing Abyss,”[ii] the “Ever-Present Origin.”[iii] It is a generative Place, and we may feel it particularly at this time of year, and call it to consciousness in ceremony. Some Samhain/Deep Autumn Motifs The fermentation of all that has passed begins. This moment may mark the Transformation of Death – the breakdown of old forms, the ferment and rot of the compost, and thus the possibility of renewal.[iv] It is actually a movement towards form and ‘re-solution’ (as Beltaine – its opposite – begins a movement towards entropy and dissolution). With practice we begin to develop this vision: of the rot, the ferment, being a movement towards the renewal, to see the gold. And just so, does one begin to know the movement at Beltaine, towards expansion and thus falling apart, dissolution. In Triple Goddess poetics it may be expressed that the Crone’s face here at Samhain begins to change to the Mother – as at Beltaine the Virgin’s face begins to change to the Mother: the aspects are never alone and kaleidoscope into the other … it is an alive dynamic process, never static. The whole Wheel is a Creation story, and Samhain is the place of the conceiving of this Creativity, and it may be in the Spelling of it – saying what we will; and thus, beginning the Journey through the Wheel. Conception could be described as a “female-referring transformatory power” – a term used by Melissa Raphael in Thealogy and Embodiment:[v] conception happens in a female body, yet it is a multivalent cosmic dynamic, that is, it happens in all being in a variety of forms. It is not bound to the female body, yet it occurs there in a particular and obvious way. Androcentric ideologies, philosophies and theologies have devalued the event and occurrence of conception in the female body: whereas PaGaian Cosmology is a conscious affirmation, invocation and celebration of “female sacrality”[vi] as part of all sacrality. It does thus affirm the female as a place; as well as a place.[vii] ‘Conception’ is identified as a Cosmic Dynamic essential to all being – not exclusive to the female, yet it is a female-based metaphor, one that patriarchal-based religions have either co-opted and attributed to a father-god (Zeus, Yahweh, Chenrezig – have all taken on being the ‘mother’), or it has been left out of the equation altogether. Womb is the place of Creation – not some God’s index finger as is imagined in Michelangelo’s famous painting. Melissa Raphael speaks of a “menstrual cosmology”. It is an “ancient cosmology in which chaos and harmony belong together in a creation where perfection is both impossible and meaningless;”[viii] yet it is recently affirmed in Western scientific understanding of chaos, as essential to order and spontaneous emergence. Samhain is an opportunity for immersion in a deeper reality which the usual cultural trance denies. It may celebrate immersion in what is usually ‘background’ – the real world beyond and within time and space: which is actually the major portion of the Cosmos we live in.[ix] Samhain is about understanding that the Dark is a fertile place: in its decay and rot it seethes with infinite unseen complex golden threads connected to the wealth of Creativity of all that has gone before – like any …
(Essay) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

Photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd In times past, Creation’s Winter cupped me in her icy hand of sanctuary Gathered in, I sucked dormant life, and slumbered Till Earth’s rebirthing groans awakened my new body Now, older and full of life’s weeping and wondering awe At all that has happened in my decades on Earth I must shake myself into consciousness My seed’s opaque, blinding hull disintegrates and Bodyless, at last I can see through Goddess eyes I ache as my blood paints each flower petal I spin the whirlwind that cannot stop creating abundance I push the seasons through the year that mortals believe revolve of their own accord. Through Goddess eyes I can see me, I inhabit Winter’s hand as my own. I make the cold to slow creation of outside of me To gather the seed into fertile stillness within. That burgeons in my own time. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/

(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.
(Photo Essay 4) ‘Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea’ by Helen Hwang

Part IV: Revival of the Gurang (Nine Maidens) Gaeyang Halmi There is more to reveal. As I write this part of the photo essay, I have encountered new information, previously made available online by individuals and organizations. It is reported that the “Suseong-dang” (水聖堂, Sea Saint Shrine) was once called the “Gurang-sa” (九娘祠, Nine Maidens Shine), of which I never heard before.[i] That Suseong-dang is a fake name blew my mind! Note the difference of gender between “the Nine Maidens Shrine” and “the Sea Saint Shrine”! The female-connoted term was stolen just like that! “Gurang-sa,” a female-referenced term as the character “rang” means a maiden, had to go due to its overt female representation. It is not without grounds that I was taken aback to see its present logography, “the Sea Saint Shrine,” on the information board.[ii] I almost heard a voice warning me, “This is not the place that you think it is!” That voice attempted to force me to leave the place without further investigation. However, I intuitively took a mental note, “Something is not correct here.” And I was right! Its name change sheds a consistent light on the meddling of patriarchal distortion/deception done to the tradition of Gaeyang Halmi. Readers are reminded of the lost painting of Gaeyang Halmi, which was replaced by that of the Sea God explicated in Part 2 of this photo essay (also Part 3). Like “the Sea God,” “the Suseong-dang” constitutes no reality. It is not only a conceptual deception but also a theft of the intangible cultural heritage, righteously committed by faceless patriarchal men disappeared into the lapse of time. It is clear that systematic erasure of the Female/Goddess has been in operation. Female power embodied whether in the name of the shrine or in the iconography was stripped away. However, it is proven once again that the Female is immortal because it constitutes the root of patriarchy. People smuggled the forbidden knowledge of the Female to later generations through oral stories. Thus, we find the folklore of the Female subversive.
(Mago Essay 1) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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