September 19, 2017October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Poem) The Arisen Christ: A parable by Janie Rezner

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a handsome prince, known far and wide for his beauty of spirit. One day, while riding in Read More …

July 26, 2017October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) Letter to Cypress: We have Forgotten our Roots by Janie Rezner

[Author’s Note: Cypress was an older divorced woman, about my age, in her late 60’s, living in Bolinas, California, a wonderful village, filled with creative/hippy like folks. The way into Bolinas was to Read More …

April 6, 2017October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Poem) Open Hearts by Janie Rezner

music pours from open hearts, beauty surrounds our open wounds bathing us all in the warmest of waters in a balm of love, bathing us that we might become Read More …

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

(Audio 1) Interview with Genevieve Vaughan by Janie Rezner

Janie Rezner and Genevieve Vaughan talking about restoring “mothering” to its rightful place in the constitution of the human. http://www.radio4all.net/files/jrezner@mcn.org/4206-1-Interview_with_Gen_Vaughan_edited_-tHIS_IS_IT.mp3 Source: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/44033 “Genevieve Vaughan has been working on the theory of a Read More …

August 24, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM Editors1 Comment

(Poem) In the beginning by Janie Rezner

In the beginning was the LIGHT the light shone forth in all directions creatures great and small, basking in the light resting upon the earth like babes nestled against Read More …

August 23, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Video) Awaken to the Mother by Janie Rezner

At the Raw Food Expo Read Meet Mago Contributor Janie Rezner.

August 9, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Video) Commemorating the Bombing of Hiroshima by Janie Rezner

Speaking at Rally to Commemorate the Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug 4, 2001 in Fort Bragg

July 12, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Art) The Voice of the Grandmother by Janie Rezner

May 10, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Art) Tree Goddesses by Janie Rezner

Sculpture by Janie Rezner Read Meet Mago Contributor Janie Rezner.

February 22, 2016October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Essay) The Religious Life of Children by Janie Rezner

I remember as a child going out into the pasture one warm summer evening after dinner, and climbing up on a gate, gazing into the pink and gold streaked western Read More …

October 26, 2015October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Video) A Journey to the Heart of Things by Janie Rezner

Performance at Matriarchal Studies Conference, May 2012 Read Meet Mago Contributor Janie Rezner.

September 4, 2015October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Video) The Maternal Nurturing Model with Genevieve Vaughan interviewed by Janie Rezner

Genevieve Vaughan with programmer Janie Rezner on Women’s Voices, KZYX radio: Read Meet Mago Contributor Genevieve Vaughan and Meet Mago Contributor Janie Rezner.

June 3, 2015October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Art) Renaissance Woman by Janie Rezner

Painting: The Renaissance Woman – The figure, 6 ft tall and wide “With her feet planted firmly on the ground, her breasts and womb for all to see, her Read More …

(Video) A Samhain Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVRoK2XNeqw The purpose of the video is for ceremony and I suggest pausing the video where it suits you, to add your own processing, embellishments and/or your own drum, percussion and voice wherever you please. I have made short spaces in the video where it could be paused. For more full participation in the ceremony, you could have some past photos of yourself, an altar with ancestor photos, a gingerbread snake, some apples sliced up, and some apple juice. The script for this Samhain ceremony is offered in Chapter 4 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. However I want to acknowledge here the inspiration and some text of Robin Morgan’s poem “The Network of the Imaginary Mother” in her book Lady of the Beasts, for which I was given permission in my book. I also acknowledge here the paraphrase of some words by Starhawk in her book The Spiral Dance, used in the rite of Sailing to a New World. I also use a line from the poem Song of Hecate by Bridget McKern. The elements of Water, Fire, Earth and Air on the altar in this video are placed in directions that are appropriate to my region in the Southern Hemisphere, and East Coast Australia: you may place yours differently, and transliterate when I mention the direction (which I do minimally). For the rite of the Transformation Journey (remembering old selves) I use an adaptation of a children’s game “In and Out the Windows”, where each participant travels in and out of upraised and linked arms of the circle, and when ‘in’ may speak and /or show photos of themselves from the past. Some may choose to remember any self from the entire evolutionary story, with whom they would like to identify. The game seems appropriate to what each being does existentially in so many ways, over the eons as well as in our personal lives. The chant can be found on YouTube. The photos used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Samhain ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Samhain ceremonies I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space in NSW Australia, Darug and Gundungurra country. Music credit: All music used in this video is by Tim Wheater, which has previously generously allowed me to use in my work. The pieces used are from Tim’s CD Fish Nite Moon: they are Ancient Footsteps, Fish Nite Moon, Spiritbirth, and Conception. I thank my partner Robert (Taffy) Seaborne for his participation in the creation of the video.
(Essay 3) Magoist Cetaceanism and the Myth of the Pacifying Flute (Manpasikjeok) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Reversing the Reversed of the Buddhist Textual Erasure (Part 2) Single-horned Jicheongsu (Acoustic animal of the Earth)http://www.whim.tw/gate?mod=article&id=20100826134013 Sillan Magoists saw that whales governed the whole world by their sonic capacities, which conditioned the aquatic environment of the Earth. Note that the expression of “the whole world” refers to no romantic abstract. Led by whales, Sillan rulers saw themselves as a governing delegate of the Whole World, which is the Reign of Mago, the Creatrix. They were consciously going against an ethnocentric or imperialist perspective. A supra-nationalist perspective constituted the very vision of Sillan Magoist Cetanceanism. Precisely, Sillan rulers acted upon no other goal than restoring the original meaning of the State of Old Magoist Koreans, known as the Confederacy of Nine Hans (Danguk) or the Confederacy of Three Hans (Budo Joseon), who represented the One People of the Mago Decent. Silla was no patriarchal or ethnocentric state. She was the light of ancient Magoist Cetaceanism for the whole world in the post-Budo period. Note the brief mytho-history of Magoism in six periods:[1] The Mythic Period: The Beiginning of Mago Stronghold, the Primoridal Paradise, and Mu (Shaman) Elders The Golden Period: Pre-Chinese (read pre-patriarchal) Old Magoist confederacies (Hanguk and Danguk) The Budo Period: Budo Joseon, the proto-Chinese confederacy of Three Hans The Post-Budo Period: Ancient Korean States (Buyeo, Silla, Goguryeo, Baekje, Gaya, Balhae) and Goryeo and Early Joseon The Dark Period: After 1592 Japanese Invasion in Joseon and modern Koreas The Revival Period: After 1980s when the Budoji was reappeared in public The story delineates the event that the protagonist, King Sinmun, is initiated to Magoism Cetaceanism, as he succeeds the throne of his deceased father, King Munmu, an ardent devotee of Magoist Cetaceanism, in leading the state, Silla (57 BCE-935 BCE). The fact that the story of the pacifying flute involves the three generations of Sillan rulers, King Munmu, King Sinmun, and King Hyoso (son of King Sinmun), indicates a state-sponsored revival of Magoist Cetaceanism. And that they mark the first three rulers of United Silla (668-935 CE) is no coincidence. Shouldered with the task of opening and laying the foundation for the new era, United Silla, these Sillan rulers aimed at the flowering of Magoist Cetaceanism. Sillans brought to fruition the collective aspiration of ancient Koreans shared with their sisterly states of Gaya, Baekje, Goguryeo, and beyond in the Post-Budo Period. They established a magocratic confederacy of nine states once again under the banner of Magoist Cetaceanism. Here the nine states refer to the nine neighboring peoples of Silla. Broadly, “the nine states” means the peoples of the whole world. In the context of Magoism, the number nine refers to the perfected, all entities of the kind. And the governance of these Sillan rulers was in the continuum of their predecessors and successors. The very purpose of Sillan foundation and early Sillan politics aimed to actualize the legacy of the Magoist Mandate, the self-defining ethos of Koreans. Early Sillans called themselves the People of Little Budo after Budo Joseon (2333 BCE-232 BCE), the third and last three-state confederacy of Old Magoist Korea, better known as Old Joseon. The political achievement of United Silla in seventh century as a whole meant a flowering of Old Korean Magoist Cetaceanism. Magoist Cetaceanism demarcates ancient Koreans from the Chinese in the Post-Budo Period, that is, in the wake of Budo Joseon’s decline in 233 BCE. Amidst the complex political situation of East Asia wherein the newly established dynasties of Imperial China rose to threaten the neighboring peoples, Sillan rulers resorted to Magoist Cetaceanism not only for the self-protection of the Sillan State but also for the self-realization of a magocratic confederacy. Evidence shows that Sillan rulers espoused the domain of patriarchal religions, Buddhism in particular, from the privileged perspective of Magoist Cetaceanism. Sillan Esoteric Buddhism was a brainchild of Sillan Magoist Cetacean rulers. Born with the teaching of Magoist Cetaceanism at the core, Sillan Esoteric Buddhism, much misconstrued and misrepresented today, was no local practice. Nor did it reflect a low-level consciousness that is discriminative in nature. Seen in the cetacean code of the Sillan temple bell, early Sillan Buddhism was autochthonous and prompted the arrival of innovative Buddhist schools of East Asia and beyond. The Chinese admiration of Sillan Buddhism in the seventh century is well addressed in the account of Mangulsan (Mountain of Ten Thousands Buddhas), a situational religious art engineered by King Gyeongdeok the Great of Silla, to be discussed in a later section. In the course of time, Sillan rulers migrated from the office of Mu (Shamans or Officiated Magoists) but held onto the role of Seon (Lay Magoists). This Sillan legacy, although unadmitted publicly, ran deep in the royal houses of Korean states throughout the forthcoming history. (Ruler Bodhisattva Jijang Rides the Auspicious Jicheong) 地藏王菩薩騎瑞獸地聽http://www.foshanshuan.com.tw/design_130.html#.Xh0-y1NKjSY In traditional East Asia, the narwhal is not utterly unknown. In fact, the following anecdote of Gim Gyogak, a mid-seventh century Sillan royalty and a Buddhist monk, insinuates that Sillan Magoist Cetaceanism was spread to China under the patronage of Buddhism. Put differently, Sillan Buddhism took the form of a syncretic religion amalgamated with Magoist Cetacenism. While Silan rulers actively pursued the policies that support Magoist Cetaceanism, some Buddhist monks were known for their esoteric practices. To be mentioned later, Monk Myeongrang was widely noted for his esoteric practices related with the Ruler of Dragons. Gim Gyogak was another one. Venerated as a reincarnated Bodhisattva Jijang (地藏 Ksitigarbha), Gim Gyogak is told to have crossed the West Sea of the Korean Peninsula to Tang China (618-907) by riding the back of a mythical animal, Jicheongsu or (地聽獸 the terrestrial animal who hears or an acoustic animal of the Earth). White in color, Jicheongsu is told to have had one horn. In iconography, Jicheongsu is depicted as a single-horned dragon-like beast (see the image). The one-horned leviathan who carried Gim Gyogak over to mainland China is evocative of a narwhal with a tusk. Its name, Jicheongsu, which literally means “The terrestrial animal who …
Cailleach: A Crone of Winter and Weather by Francesca Tronetti

Cailleach from Wiki Folklore Winter is an interesting time to study, a liminal period of extending darkness and the bitter cold associated with death and the underworld. In the Western mythology that is taught to us, winter is associated with the descent of Persephone into the Underworld and her mother, Demeter, mourning her daughter until she returns in the spring. But there is another lesser-known Goddess associated with winter. One’s who’s attributes are uniquely relevant to our current times. Cailleach comes from the mythology of Ireland and Scotland and has a close connection with the more well-known Goddess, Brigid. Her name means hag or old woman and is used in the term Cailleach fease, a wise woman. Often depicted with blue skin and missing one eye, she is not the ethereal, youthful beauty depicted in many statues you can buy today. She is the epitome of the crone in modern paganism, signifying the power that comes to a woman as she ages. Cailleach is ancient, but one would never call her weak and withered. She possesses a healthy sex drive, and some myths have her outliving seven of her husbands. She is a seasonal goddess of winter, holding power from November 1 until February or May 1; after she is done, she turns to stone to await another winter. Unlike the other seasonal goddess stories, such as Demeter, Cailleach is without mercy. She thrusts the world into the bitter, harsh winter, bringing death in many ways, from cold to starvation. Unlike in Greek mythology, she is not anxious for the return of Spring and holds onto the land when Brigid attempts to return each year. Cailleach is called a “popular and valuable figure in the face of the climate crisis” by folklorist and author Icy Sedgwick. She personifies the wildness and unrelenting power of natural weather phenomena that can cause devastation. Unlike the goddesses seen as embodiments of love or motherhood, she represents the danger of unpredictable weather. But, she is not cruel or vindictive in her actions; instead, she represents the importance of winter in the agricultural cycle, which much of humanity has become isolated from as we moved to cities and lost touch with the land. Winter brings a period of rest for the earth and the farmer, a time to repair tools, hone one’s crafts, and await the birth of new animals. Ice Storm via Wikimedia Commons Climate change is making us more aware of the weather cycle, but for all the wrong reasons. For decades, California had a wildfire season exacerbated by human actions and a misunderstanding of the importance of fire in the natural system. But now, wildfire season is almost a year-round phenomenon, with only a brief period of respite to recover and prepare for the next round of destruction and devastation. It is now flood season in the Pacific Northwest, and the news is filled with images of flooded streets. In the summer, it will be hurricane season in the Eastern part of the US and the return of fire season. This past summer, my part of the US became very observant of our Air Quality Index, AQI, checking it daily. We changed plans for outings with the students based on whether or not it was safe for them to breathe and be active. As I sit here now in Erie, PA, it was almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit today; when I was a child, we might have already had our first snow day by now. At the same time, we are watching reports of torrential rains and devastating floods hitting the Pacific Northwest, with more heavy rains coming. The climate is changing; winters are warmer with more rain, while summers are hotter and drier. Storm systems that develop over the oceans are more intense, bringing more significant loss of life and devastation, often to poor communities that are ill-equipped to prepare for the storms or deal with the aftermath. Cailleach is the perfect goddess to oversee this new type of weather cycle. She brings devastation not because she is punishing us but because she represents the weather. This natural phenomenon cannot be tamed nor appeased but has its own place in the natural system of life, destruction, and rebirth. https://www.magoism.net/2018/11/meet-mago-contributor-rev-francesca-tronetti-ph-d/
(Book Excerpt 8) On the Wings of Isis: Reclaiming the Sovereignty of Auset, ed. by Trista Hendren et al.

Retaining Sovereignty within the Confines of Modern Motherhood Trista Hendren Maintaining sovereignty as a mother seems to be an impossible task for many women in capitalist patriarchal societies. I saw a quote on Facebook recently from Mamá Kaur that said, “It’s not motherhood that’s exhausting. What’s exhausting is to nurture in a world that doesn’t care for and support its mothers.” That rang true for me. When I was a single mother especially, the last thing I felt was sovereign. As I wrote in Single Mothers Speak on Patriarchy, “It’s hard to feel like a Goddess when you’re worried sick about how you are going to feed your kids. You can do all the affirmations and self-help work you want, but it is a rare woman who feels empowered living in poverty.”52 Under patriarchy, there is no value in raising children and we are expected to martyr ourselves going at it alone. Glennon Doyle recently wrote, “I burned the memo presenting responsible motherhood as martyrdom. I decided that the call of motherhood is to become a model, not a martyr. I unbecame a mother slowly dying in her children’s name and became a responsible mother: one who shows her children how to be fully alive. A broken family is a family in which any member must break herself into pieces to fit in. A whole family is one in which each member can bring her full self to the table knowing that she will always be both held and free.”53 Like many women, I must continue to break the mold that has been handed down for generations in my family. No more broken women. No more broken families. Once I had my 2nd child, I found it impossible to work full-time in the US. The system is set up to fail mothers and children.54When my children were young, I had very little help from their father. I soon became a single mother, which left me financially destitute, albeit (mostly) free from his relentless tyranny. Were it not for the help of my mother, I am not sure I would have made it through those years. Five years ago, I moved with my children to Norway to live with my current husband. Living here has given me a glimpse of some ways women can retain sovereignty in Western cultures with structural support. I will also share what I perceive to be some limitations of the Norwegian system. I do not believe motherhood was ever meant to be a solitary affair. Being here with my current partner, who does more than his share of the housework, makes me wish I had a different experience when my children were young. My husband had paternity leave with both of his boys. You can see today the effect this has had on their relationship, even as they have grown into men. This is increasingly common here—and it is mostly paid—split between parents however it works best for their family. In contrast, I did not have any maternity leave after giving birth to my son—and paid into a 6-week (very expensive) insurance plan when I had my daughter. In Norway, men are expected to be full and equal partners. The first birthday party my 9-year-old daughter attended here caught me completely off guard. The father of her friend was a successful CEO. What was he doing when we returned to pick her up? Vacuuming and (cheerfully) cleaning up after 30 girls! I can’t recall ever seeing that in the United States. A few months later, I had arranged for a play date with another girl for my daughter. The father answered the door. I inquired about the whereabouts of the mother, and was told she was out with friends! He was there taking care of the children and house on his own. Quite frankly, this was so odd to me that I almost did not leave my daughter there. My husband assured me this was quite normal, and after talking with him for a while, I felt at ease. Today, I often take for granted how much my husband does around the house and with the children. However, I still vividly remember our first parent-teacher conference. My husband went without being asked and fully participated in the hour-long discussion. As we walked out, I started crying. For years, I had only seen other mothers at these meetings at our American schools. There are also extensive structural support systems in place in Norway. One of which is (almost) free daycare for all from the get-go—as well as generous sick days. I do not believe that the early childcare is ideal for the overall development of children—although it does free up many things for parents here. Norway also does not have a close extended family network. That said, I think Scandinavia is about as good as it gets for parents in the Western world. I would also like to point to my (adopted) family in Lebanon as another way forward. I believe the village community-based parenting would have really benefited all of us when my kids were young. The children belong to everyone. Families get together for extended late lunches where they share cooking tasks. I suppose it depends on the family, but I have never experienced a family anywhere were there is more support, joy and sense of belonging—despite Lebanon’s decades of war and economic hardship.55 That said, there is almost no structural support in Lebanon for mothers, so if you marry into the wrong family, things can be quite disastrous. My friend Nohad Nassif wrote a brilliant book addressing this.56 She believes Universal Basic Income is the answer to this—and I agree with her. Sovereignty in motherhood should include all women. That said, I wonder what going further back can teach us. Leslene della-Madre reminds us that, “Isis veneration spread as far east as Afghanistan, to the Black Sea, as well as to what is now western Europe in Portugal and as far north as England. …
(Art) Tree Goddesses by Janie Rezner

Sculpture by Janie Rezner Read Meet Mago Contributor Janie Rezner.
(Essay 6) The Blending of Bön, Buddhism and the Goddess Gemu in Mosuo Culture by Krista Rodin

The Goddess’ Home and the beginnings of Bön and Buddhism in the Region Black Hat Temple near Walking Bridge under reconstruction. Photo, K. Rodin Gemu’s story is honored with annual pilgrimages around the mountain, and by visiting her cave high on the slope. The pilgrimage takes place in the seventh lunar month, i.e., generally around the end of July. Families make the trek around the mountain as a group, stopping, eating, and performing rites at sites that are related to their specific ancestors. The day is like a walking picnic for the entire community and is intended to have the Goddess bless the people with good harvests, health, and wellbeing for another year. Fascinatingly, these clan pilgrimages are led by either dabas or Buddhist lamas, depending on the particular family. The daba/lama leads holy rites conducted at the most important stops. The festival involves nine fires placed strategically around the mountain. Corn, rice and beans are mixed together and put into the lake and various places around the mountain as well. The only restriction is that the mixture cannot be placed anywhere where people live or work. Visits to the cave used to be solely for worship as it was very difficult to climb the fairly steep mountain to the cave entrance. Now, it has become a major tourist destination with a cable car going from the valley to a point above mid-way up the mountain. From the cable car station there are fairly steep staircases overrun with begging brown monkeys leading to the cave entrance. The cave itself is quite large and is now lit with various neon lights highlighting various stalagmite formations that are labeled as “The Kiss”, “The Goddess,” “The Priest,” etc. There is even a plaque alerting the visitor to the place where the Goddess throws evil people to Hell. This is her home, and her seat of judgment. By the entrance, a new temple has been constructed run by yellow robed Buddhist priests who read oracles telling tourists’ fortunes. On the way down from the cave, after exiting the cable car, there is a choice to walk or to cram into a go-cart and soar down a serpentine looped track to the valley floor. The Goddess’ blessing is evidenced by the fact that so far no one has been thrown from the carts. The Goddess is honored as the supreme matriarch protecting her children in the valley and around the lake. Her ahzu relationship is the model for partnerships, and her placement in the sacred traditions of the region validates the matriarchic nature of Mosuo. Bön must have come fairly early to the area, and while the elite were aligned with Buddhist monasteries, it seems that the common people often affiliated with the Bön temples. Most of the Mosuo follow the Black Hat (Bön) or another non-traditional Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Wan Sho. Yellow Hats (Gelugpas) are also in the region, but not many remain by the lake. All the temples in the region were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but since about 2008, there has been a massive rebuilding campaign. A sizable Black Hat Temple was originally reconstructed in 1980 and is currently undergoing another extensive overhaul. Surrounding the structure are prayer wheels in place for the backwards (in relation to other Tibetan Buddhist traditions) counter clockwise kora, a ritual circumambulation, around the temple. As with other religious sites there is a lively market right next it. The Black Hat Temple is directly in front of the entrance to one side of Gemu’s Lovers Walking Bridge. Bön was officially suppressed by the Gelugpas in the 18th century in Lijiang, but evidently survived better around Lugu Lake. Although the exact date is shrouded in mystery, Buddhism supposedly came to the Lugu Lake region no later than the 13th century and a second sect in the 14th.[1] Until the Social/Democratic Reforms in 1956 when the Mosuo were officially incorporated into Chinese society with the abolition of the chieftain, there were two major Buddhist monasteries corresponding with these two branches in the region. Each family would send at least one son to join either Zhameige, belonging to the Gelugpa tradition, or Zhenbo, which followed either a Kagyu or Sakya tradition depending on era, thereby tying the formal Buddhist structure with the social community. Families would join particular monasteries based on the geographical location in relation to their home as well as on the ideological differences in the sects. The Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) was larger than the Kagyu/Sakya (White/Red Hat), although both had hundreds of monks in their communities. Zhameige was also the home of the “Living Buddha,” an incarnation of a famous lama from Lhasa who came sometime in the late 19th/early 20th century to live among the Mosuo. His latest incarnation died a few years ago and people still speak of him as if he were among the living. The monasteries were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, but both Zhameige Temple and Dajialin Temple have since been reconstructed. Both monasteries, but especially Zhameige, used to send young monks to Lhasa to study at the main monasteries before returning to their home state. There is a longstanding tradition of Mosuo monks at the illustrious Drepung Monastery. When in the Lugu Lake region, the monks would not live at the monastery and would also not be bound by the traditional laws of celibacy, but instead were free to pursue ahzu relationships. Some texts even relate that on the eve of the departure to Lhasa, young student monks from Zhenbo were led to a field with tents so that they could spend their last night with their ahzus. To fulfill their religious obligations, the monks would meet to recite texts on the first and fifteen of the month; otherwise they would continue to help with the normal activities of the household.[2] According to Shih, there is some indication that the returning monks did not participate in agricultural production, which is the mainstay of Mosuo economy, when they returned …
(Essay) Discovering the Divine Feminine Through the Cyclic Life: exploring descent into darkness through the lens of the Demeter and Persephone myth by Yia Alias

The Divine feminine is the creative principle of life where all life is connected within a constantly creating matrix, of which our earth is a tiny part. The ancients revered divinity in the landscape, within the stones, trees, rivers, mountains and animals, they saw the procreative, fertile, regenerative processes within nature and recognised this sacred function in women’s ability to give birth and nurture. The archetype of the divine feminine can be seen in the mythological nurturing mother figure of Demeter, the Greek Goddess of abundance. The story of her grief and separation from her daughter Persephone offers an insight into the dark descent of depression. The story tells of the rape of Persephone by Hades, trapping her in the dark underworld for a portion of the year. This is a multi-faceted story which not only speaks of the creation of the seasonal cycle but of the deep regenerating power and mystery of women’s menstrual life and the consequences of violating the sacred.
(Essay) Contemplating Triple Goddess as Creative Triad, a Depth of Love by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of chapter 3 of the author’s book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. She has three faces, but She is One. These faces kaleidoscope into each other, they blur, they support each other, they are in each other – if they were not life would not go on, for She is a continuous Thread, a multivalent Urge unfolding the Cosmos; in an infinite multiplicity of beings. The three are reflected in each other like a never-ending mirrored reflection, thus the numinosity associated with multiples of three since ancient times, and in many cultures; all such multiples were considered to speak a Divine Harmony of some kind.
(Essay 1) “Click Here” to Download Spirituality by Francesca Tronetti

Image is from A Year of Boxes: Goddess Provision Review 2021 https://ayearofboxes.com/subscription-box-reviews/goddess-provisions-review-january-2021/ Covid 19 introduced us to the term The New Normal. It meant that this is how things are now, not for a week or a few months. No, this is how things will be for the next year or so, and there is no changing that. It was hard to comprehend at first, and people panicked when pundits started talking about potential shortages. So, on mass, the population went out and stocked up on toilet paper and fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables. Having missed that announcement, I found myself in a grocery store grabbing bags of frozen chicken and fish. Add in lemon juice and rice, and you have the beginnings of some great meals that you can spice up as you like. Next, I tossed bags of frozen vegetables into my cart, which made quick sides or additions to stir fry. Without too much panic, I was set for meals for the next few weeks and even had a little room in the freezer for ice cream. With the help of my grandfather, I also treated myself to a quilting machine so I could make masks and work on my quilts when my little Singer was stuck at the repair shop, which had closed without warning. My new normal was creative, at least in the beginning. The idea was to get done during lockdown all the things we’d wanted to get done for years. I would work through my stash of fabrics and yarns. I would pull out those cookbooks and have fantastic meals ready for my family members, who were essential workers. This was the new normal for me and many others. You were looking up recipes for how to make chicken and rice enjoyable. Or sewing for hours until you broke three quilting needles in five minutes and realized you might need to take a break. The new normal was frustrating, but we thought it would end eventually. Documentaries on the 1918 Spanish flu and other pandemics became popular videos on YouTube, and finding a copy of the original Andromeda Strain movie in Amazon became a challenge. The new normal also meant a new way to conduct business, working from home. As people worked from home, they realized that they didn’t have as much space as they had thought. Their houses were cluttered with stuff. Stuff which they had saved for a ‘just in case’ scenario but which now proved useless. So, people decluttered, donated, and posted items for free. Now topics about clearing out your home and making money selling old toys began trending on Facebook and the media. While people were clearing out their junk, they began to think about what they wanted to bring back into their homes. For example, they needed items to create a pleasant background for Zoom meetings. Or they decided to try earning money via YouTube, so they needed to have videos that caught people’s attention. But how do you get cool-looking objects when you can’t go to the antique stores or thrift shops, and you are on a tight budget? The answer was simple, subscription boxes. Subscription boxes had been growing in popularity before, but now, a new market was eager for a surprise in the mail. People couldn’t go to the mall or the spa, so boxes that promoted mindfulness and self-care began to fill the online marketplace. There are over one thousand results for ‘self-care’ on cratejoy.com, a subscription box clearinghouse site. A subscription box is a monthly service you subscribe to. You sign up with a company to receive a curated box with items and samples based on your interests. They offer products to niche and broad markets often to promote an online store. You can try one for a month or purchase a past box to see if you like the items offered. Some people are making money by doing unboxing videos on YouTube, opening up subscription boxes to describe what’s inside. The YouTuber gets likes and subscribers, and the company gets free advertising. I am not going to condemn subscription boxes or mock those who subscribe to them. On the contrary, I have signed up for a few boxes and quite enjoy them. I have even watched unboxing videos to get coupon codes and saved 50% off a box for a service I would not have bought from otherwise. The boxes are fun, and for a Goddess follower, they have a practical purpose when filled with ritual objects. I have gotten oracle decks, incense, crystals, jewelry, and parchment sheets to put into a grimoire. For a practitioner on a budget, some of these boxes are pretty helpful. But, as I tried other boxes or looked through the videos, I noticed that they were marketed to a broad audience. Many were listed as self-care boxes and included facial oils or bath bombs. These were for people who wanted to take some time for themselves or practice mindfulness. Again, I cannot condemn this. Mindfulness practices have proven psychological benefits, and if any period in history called for mental health support, 2020 was it. However, it was odd to me to see self-care boxes that contained ritual objects or herbs. I saw people getting pendulums and pendulum boards, tarot decks, and herbs like mugwort in the same box they got rose quartz points, chocolate, and sugar scrubs. I’m not suggesting that practitioners don’t enjoy nor need a little pampering like everyone else. However, I wasn’t sure how I felt seeing ritual objects being put in the hands of people who might not know how to use them. Spirit boards and divination tools are not usually for beginners, and some boxes which contained these items were being marketed to the general self-care audience. I also saw chakras and chakra stones being marketed quite heavily as pretty jewelry items. Chakras are found in Hindu Hatha …

(Special Post 1) 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.] Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Wennifer Lin-Haver Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am asking each of us to consider writing a sentence or paragraph on “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” This idea is prompted by Wennifer Lin-Haver, Founder of Mother Tree Sanctuary, and I agree that we need to and can create a sort of collective writing on the topic. What we write below will be included and published in The Girl God, Mother Tree Sanctuary, and Return to Mago. As a subaltern minority as we seem at the current point of time, Goddessians/Magoists [the term Mago means the Great Goddess] need to make extra efforts to make our voices and presences exposed to the public and inner circles. Length and style are open. Please also include your name, region/state/country, title, and/or website URL. We strongly encourage you if you are located in a place where Goddessians are rarely around. We intend to make a collective testimonial tapestry of WE as Goddessians/Magoists! Please keep this in your mind and join us in this collective effort. Thank you in advance. March 6, 2014 AF (Archaic Future)! Wennifer Lin-Haver Our “call” started as a conversation between Helen and me where I was expressing to her the real need for Mother Tree Sanctuary to be more articulate with exploring the significance and importance of Goddess in our lives. I was prompted to give such a response, when asked “why” we had to differentiate God and Goddess. “Isn’t everything God?” She asked. And “Isn’t Goddess also God?” “Isn’t it all the same as long was we’re all coming from our ‘higher’ self?” she asked. So I saw this warranted a longer and much deeper discussion. I initially thought I should formulate a response and post it as a Page or Tab in our website, but after some reflection with Helen, I saw how much better it would be if we replied to this question as a diverse and creative collective. I surely do not have all the answers as an individual but perhaps together, we can come up with something more whole, colorful and satisfying. I do hope you will contribute a little something! We are always grateful for all that you have to share.
(Special Post 5) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: I have come across the origin of the Dokkaebi (image, Heavenly Ruler Chiu, 14th Hanung of Danguk. Chiu represented the Magoist rule aided by her 81 giant sister clan allies (nine groups of Nine Hans) fought Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), one of the ancient rulers of pre-historic China. Chiu is known as the empeor of Guri-guk or Guryeo-guk (Nine Ri State or Nine Ryeo State), which is alternatiely referred to as Goryeo-guk and Goguryeo-guk by East Asians. She was worshipped as the deity of war and remembered/depicted for her helmet made of copper and iron. Records about her war against Hungdi inundates ancient Korean and Chinese texts and myths. About Chiu or Chiyou, it is too complex to discuss here. It is a topic to be treated in its own right. Suffice to say that even some of basic information from Wikipedia is illuminating. “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China. 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. For the Hmong people, Chiyou was a sagacious mythical king. He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi, Miao or even Man, 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. According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead. He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand. 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. He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers. Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’, as well as ‘tyrannical’. Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom. 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.” “Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPA White Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources. 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. Some sources from later dynasties, such as the Guoyu book, considered Chiyou’s Li tribe to be related to the ancient San miao tribe (三苗). In the ancient Zhuolu Town is a statue of Chiyou commemorating him as the original ancestor of the Hmong people. The place is regarded as the birthplace of the San miao / Miao people, the Hmong being a subgroup of the Miao. In sources following the Hmong view, the “nine Li” tribe is called the “Jiuli” kingdom, Jiuli meaning “nine Li”. Modern Han Chinese scholar Weng Dujian considers Jiuli and San Miao to be Man southerners. Chiyou has also been counted as part of the Dongyi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Above all, her depiction by ancient China is of a pejorative one. As we will see in the next part, she is contrasted with her opponent Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), a triumphantly depicted ancient hero of ancient China. Above Wikipedia. See her images created by ancient Koreans, the middle one in the three figures, depicted as a woman with female breasts, one of Dokkaebi images. There are other records that describe one of her allies. as one adorned with snakes in the head, which reminds me of Medusa. Silla (left), Baekje (Center), Goguryeo (right) http://lasvegaskim.com/Etc_Poem_55.htm Max Dashu: Oe-ri, Buyeo, in the Baekje period. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: That is where the rooftile at the center is excavated. That is the original image of Dokkaebi that Lydia Ruyle chose and depicted in her banner work. I could not connect this image with Chiu until now. We have the female ruler who subdued the patrilocal force of Yellow Emperor, the forebear of ancientChinese emperors. There are lots of myths and data that I have found on them. Chiu is also numerously depicted as Dokkaebi faces, which makes me think of its connection to the iconography of Medusa and Gorgon (who comes as Three Sisters). Eight-snake-headed Medusahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa Gorgon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon https://www.magoism.net/2013/06/art-dokkaebi-by-lydia-ruyle/ Lizzy Bluebell: ‘Gonggong’ is not a far stretch phonetically from ‘Gorgon’ – I note. Briefly here – because it is a complex explanation – much more can be said about the etymology. For example, “gorge” relates to deep mountain passes with water flowing through them as well as the human throat or gullet, (relating the word to both speech and eating) and mountains are/were Goddess terrain, later usurped by MON-A-Ster-ies. The masculine name Ge-Orge is code which relates to GE/Gaia/Gay as well as to ‘orgy’. Sanskrit “garg” begets English ‘gargle’, and a guttural (gut-her-all) sound. I’ve always seen the archetypal Medusa/Gorgon’s ‘snaking curls’ as the energy emmitted from her head by her Wild I-Deas, which returns us to the theme of the Pythia/Oracle/Snake connections too. “In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (/ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ Gorgon/Gorgo) is a female creature. The name derives from the ancient Greek word gorgós, which means “dreadful”, and appears to come from the same root as the Sanskrit word “garğ” (Sanskrit: गर्जन, garjana) which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast,[1] thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia. While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters […]
(Special Post) Discussion on Mother-Daughter Wound by Mago Circle Members

[Mago Circle members discussed and answered the question, “What do you think of this (the topic article below)? If you are a feminist, it is something that you would promote? If so, why? If not, why not?” The discussion took place on May 15, 2017 and shortly thereafter in The Mago Circle.] Topic Article: “For The Daughters Who Don’t Love Their Mothers – Screw Mother’s Day” by Sade Andria Zabala Everyone talks about a mother’s unconditional love. But what if it doesn’t exist? Daughters are socially expected to be close with their mothers. But are you one of the women who aren’t? Mother’s Day isn’t just for celebrating moms. It’s a day some of us dread because we are reminded we grew up (or are still) unloved, not good enough. (Read the whole article here.)

(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

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

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

Day of the Dead altar, via Wikimedia Commons According to Celtic tradition, on Samhain (October 31 for those in the north and April 30 for those in the south) the doors between the human and spirit worlds open. Faeries, demons, and spirits of the dead pour out of the Otherworld to walk the Earth. In the past, some would try to hurry ghosts past their houses or ward off evil spirits by setting jack o’lanterns in their windows. They avoided going outside, especially past cemeteries, lest they be snatched away to the Otherworld. In ancient times, some offered sacrifices to propitiate deities. However, others have invited in the souls of friends and family who have passed away. In Brittany, according to W.Y. Evans-Wentz’s Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, people would provide “a feast and entertainment for them of curded-milk, hot pancakes, and cider, served on the family table covered with a fresh white tablecloth, and to supply music” which “the dead come to enjoy with their friends” (p. 218). Other cultures also have such welcoming traditions. In Korea, as so beautifully described by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang in her posts about her family’s mourning for her father (Part I and Part II), in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, and elsewhere, food and flowers are brought to cemeteries to honor those no longer in the realm of the living. Many of us live in a society where death is pushed out of sight and Samhain’s sacred traditions have devolved into Halloween, a commercialized children’s holiday. Still, it seems to me that the pandemic, climate catastrophes, and war have made death much more present in our everyday thoughts over the past couple of years than before, so perhaps this year’s Samhain offers us the opportunity to re-examine Celtic and other practices of the past and present to see what insights and meaning they may have for us. Jack o lanterns: By Mihaela Bodlovic, via Wikimedia Commons All these ancient practices respect the spirit world and its power. Whether you believe that the Otherworld can wreak havoc on us at Samhain or not, the realm where spirits dwell clearly has power. Its allure can take us away from focusing on mundane, daily challenges or, more positively, open our eyes to the value of relating to forces that can give richness and meaning to our lives. At the same time, we must remember that each domain has its own power. We can use our physical bodies in beneficial ways that those in the Otherworld cannot. We must respect the power of the Otherworld as well as our own. Some kinds of healing are only possible when we welcome those from the Otherworld into our lives in a healthy way, whether through holiday visits or every day through remembrance, meditation, prayer, or other means. I’m of an age when many of my beloveds are in the Otherworld and so I am beginning to find that the idea of being able to sit with someone I have lost is cause not for fear, but rather joy and comfort. Perhaps those who have longstanding wounds from the past can heal by remembering those we have lost at Samhain and forgiving them or ourselves or realizing that we are no longer bound to those who have hurt us and are now gone. Samhain can also reassure us of the truth of our intuitive sense that our beloveds who we grieve are with us still, in some way, on this night and throughout the year. When we participate in the celebration of Samhain’s opening of doors to the Otherworld, if only for a day, we are honoring our own participation into the great cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We are expanding our vision of ourselves to be more than our bodies on the Earth and experiencing ourselves as connected to many realms, seen and unseen, spirit and human. We are accepting that at some time we will also become ancestors, with all the responsibility that entails and the fulfillment of taking our place in the complex matrix of being that is our universe. When we interact with the souls of those we have lost in ways that are healthy for us, however we may choose and believe that happens, we can also better celebrate the realm of the living. Just as we may listen in various ways for positive messages from those whom we have lost, we can ensure that we are expressing important guidance to those who will come after us by who we are and how we live our lives. We can express that life is worth living, even with all its traumas, and that we respect both the boundaries and the doors between the worlds so that we may continue living fully in our physical bodies on our beautiful, awe-inspiring Earth. I hope my message to my descendants will be: Love your lives. Build on what we have done and do better. Leave behind what we left you that no longer serves. If you feel alone, remember that you have thousands of generations of mothers sending you unconditional love and also generations of women coming after you eager to pick up where you left off. According to Mary Condren in The Serpent and the Goddess, in the most ancient times, “Samhain had been primarily a harvest feast celebrating the successful growth and gathering of the fruits of the past year” (p. 36). While we in the north are coming into the season of death, those in the south are experiencing Beltane, the first moments of spring when the doors between the worlds are also open. The eternal cycle of life, death, and regeneration turns again. Whether you are celebrating Samhain or Beltane, know that this holy time offers us all a chance to enter into the task of maintaining harmony with those we have loved before and for bringing balance between life and death, winter and summer, and the realm of the living 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.
(Poetry & Photo Essay) Pongal by Susan Hawthorne

I am a secularist rather than a ritualist, but I can’t help but be drawn into the celebrations that people make when they honour the passing of the seasons. Even as a child I felt the disconnect between Christmas and the hot dusty days of summer. When Christians invaded and colonised Australia they brought their holidays but did not consider changing the dates to match the seasons. I was in India recently, invited as a speaker at the Hindu Lit For Life Festival in Chennai where I had lived ten years ago. The last day of the festival was the first day of Pongal. A friend, feminist economist Devaki Jain, who had grown up in Chennai eighty years earlier invited me to join her in a car ride to see Pongal celebrations in the streets. This is a Tamil festival dating back at least a thousand years, a sun festival, welcoming the next six months of the sun’s journey, also a harvest festival. During this time many women produce beautiful drawings, known as kolam. In my book Cow I wrote a poem about kolam which I think says more than I can explain here. what she says about kolam where they are drawn and when is all important early morning is auspicious it sets the shape of the day the hard ground is cleaned points of white grain sprinkled she works quickly she knows her design for the day runs the powdered grain from point to point it is a mandala a yantra a sign so the forces of the universe align themselves with her intentions Back to Pongal. The festival goes for four days. On the first day, which is called Bhogi, people are on the streets with the fruits of harvest, piles of tumeric and stacks of sugar cane tied in bunches. My friend, Devaki, bought flowers to take back to her room in the hotel. The second day, called Thai Pongal, I was invited to a harvest lunch at the house of my friend Mangai who is a playwright, theatre director and human rights activist. The word ‘pongal’ means ‘boiling over’ or’ overflow’ and I saw this in the cooking of the sweetened rice dish into which each of the twelve people present poured some water and milk as it almost overflowed the pot. This sweet rice dish was added to the collection of other dishes on the table. I cannot tell you what they were, but the meal was delicious. After lunch everyone relaxed, someone sang, we talked and caught up on news. The third day, is called Maatu Pongal, and cattle are at the centre of celebrations on that day. I don’t know if this line up of cattle had anything to do with the day’s celebration but there they were tied up alongside a very busy main road. These were not cows and I did not see any cows with decorated horns and flowers on their heads. on that day as I have on other occasions. On the fourth day, Kaanum Pongal, things begin to wind down. One of my co-speakers at the festival said she would be visiting family members on that day. The kolams are drawn again, sugar cane is consumed and people go back to their daily lives. What I liked about being in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival is that it felt absolutely right. The time of the year, the connection with harvest, so I did not feel the discomfort I so often feel in the midst of the out-of-season commercialised holidays as they are celebrated in Australia. Susan Hawthorne’s book Cow is available worldwide from distributors in USA, Canada, UK, from all the usual online retailers or from Spinifex Press. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=215/ © Susan Hawthorne, 2019 (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.

How do you say what The Mago Work is? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang & Mago Circle Members

It took many years for me to pronounce the communal nature of the Mago Work. Defining the Mago Work necessarily endows us with the bird’s eye view of the Great Goddess, the primordial consciousness of WE in S/HE. Early this year, I asked people to define the Mago Work and their definitions are illuminating about what this book ultimately seeks to achieve.[1]
(Goma Article Excerpt 4) Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay was first included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture, published in 2018 by Mago Books.] Sample Narratives of the Goma Myth Narratives Narrative A (Source Group 1) The Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), written by Iryon (1206–1289): The Gogi (Old Records) reads: Long ago, Hanin[1] had an heir, Hanung, who was from Seoja. Hanung was interested in the human world and willed to save it. Hanin, learning about her will,[2] peered into Mount Samwi (Trinity) and Mount Taebaek (Great Resplendence) to benefit the human world widely. She gave Hanung the Heavenly Emblem of Three Seals and sent her down to govern people. Leading the three thousand people, Hanung descended to Divine Goma Tree (神壇樹 Sindansu) atop Mount Taebaek. The place was called Sinsi (神市 Divine City). And she was called Heavenly Ruler Hanung. She appointed Wind Minister, Rain Master, and Cloud Master and administrated over grains, life, disease, judiciary, and the-good-and-the-evil. Directing about 360 human affairs, she governed the created world to run its own course according to the principle. At the time, the tiger clan and the bear clan lived in the same cave. They ceaselessly prayed to Sinung (神雄) to attain human nature. The Divine gave them a bundle of mugwort and twenty pieces of wild garlic and said, “Eat these and stay without seeing the sunlight for one hundred days. And you will acquire the human nature.” The bear and the tiger received and ate them. In three seven days, the bear gained the female body. The tiger was unable to endure and therefore did not attain the human body. The queen of the bear clan had no one to marry. Thus, she came to the Divine Tree daily and prayed for conception. Ung was tentatively transformed and married. She conceived and begot a child who was known as Dangun Wanggeom.[3] Narratives B and C (Source Group 2) The Handan Gogi, “Sinsi Bongi (Prime Chronicle of Sinsi)” in Taebaek Ilsa, written by Maek Yi (1455-1528): According to the Samseong Milgi (Esoteric Records of the Three Sages), at the end of the Hanguk period, there rose a recalcitrant tribe. Concerning this, Hanung established the teaching of the Triad Divine. And she gathered people and had them vow to observe the covenant. This was her secret plan to remove this unruly clan in the end. At that time, clan names grew indifferent and their customs drifted apart from each other. The indigenous was the tiger clan (the Ho) and the immigrant was the bear clan (the Ung). The Ho was greedy and cruel. They made a living by raiding and plundering others. The Ung were single-minded and did not mingle with others. They were too proud to reconcile. The two clans lived in the same cave. However, they grew ever apart. Neither they lent things to each other. Nor they married. They opposed every single matter and never walked on the same road. Facing such conflict, the queen of the bear clan learned about Hanung’s divine virtue. She, leading her people, came to visit Hanung and said, “May you grant us a cave hall (穴廛 Hyeoljeon) and allow us to become the people of the divine covenant.” Ung granted it [a cave hall] and had herself decide the administrative territory. She conceived and gave birth to a child. The Ho did not change until the end and was expelled to the land outside Four Seas (the territory of Old Magoist East Asia). Thereupon, the Han clan began to prosper from this time on. The Jodaegi (Book of the Early Period) reads: There were many people but not enough resources, which made livelihood difficult. Hanung, the great person of Seojabu (Branch of Seoja), was concerned about this. She listened to the affairs of the world widely and determined herself to descend the Heavenly Realm and open the one world of resplendent luminescence. Thereupon, Anpagyeon [Hanin] peered down Mount Geumak (Metal Mountain), Mount Samwi (Trinity), and Mount Taebaek (Great Resplendence) and deemed Mount Taebaek a suitable place to benefit the human world widely. She commanded Hanung and said to her, “Now humans and all things are brought to stability. Take lead of people and descend to the world. Open the will of Heaven and teach people. Administer rituals to the Heavenly Deity. Establish the right of fathers, support the elderly, and guide children. Bring peace among them. Instate the way of teaching to govern the created world to run its own course by the principle. Set it as an exemplar for the generations to come.” And she gave her the Heavenly Emblem of Three Seals and sent her to the world to govern. Leading the three thousand people, Hanung descended to the Divine Tree. This is called Sinsi (Divine City). Assisted by Wind Minister, Rain Master, and Cloud Master, she had grains, life, judiciary, disease, and the-good-and-the-evil administered. She administered about 360 affairs and benefited the human world widely by governing the created world to run its own course according to the principle. She was named Heavenly Ruler Hanung. At that time, the tiger clan and the bear clan lived in close proximity. They went to pray at the Divine Tree and requested of Hanung, “Grant us to become the people of the divine covenant.” Hanung transformed them by reciting holy mantras to have them attain the divine power. Giving them a bundle of mugwort and twenty pieces of chive,[4] she said warningly, “Eat these and pray for one hundred days in a place where there is no sunlight. And you will become a great human being who realizes the self and save all beings.” Both the tiger clan and the bear clan ate them and trained themselves refraining from the sunlight for three seven days. The Ung endured the pain of hunger and coldness and observed the heavenly covenant. They kept the vow of Hanung and attained the female feature. The Ho, deceptive and neglectful, broke the heavenly covenant. They were not …
(Budoji Essay 2) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“Mago, the eponymous Goddess, is the head, ruler, and guardian of Mago-seong. She represents the eco-community of the Earth in the intergalactic universe.” [Author’s Note: This and subsequent essays are part of the forthcoming book tentatively entitled, The Magoist Cosmogony from the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), Translation and Interpretation, Volume 1, that I am currently writing. I am indebted to Harriet Ann Ellenberger, who has given me her prompt feedback and editorial advice in a most supportive manner. I am thankful to Dr. Glenys Livingstone, who has inspired me to write this book sooner than later. I am also grateful for Rosemary Mattingley, who has provided copy-editing of my essays in Return to Mago Webzine.] Chapter One (Translation) Mago-seong was the grand castle located in the highest place on earth. Revering the Heavenly Emblem (Cheon-bu), it succeeded the Former Heaven (Seon-cheon). There were four Heavenly Persons[i] at the four corners of the castle. They built pillars and sounded music.[ii] The eldest was named Hwang-gung (Yellow Gung),[iii] the second Cheong-gung (Blue Gung), the third Baek-so (White So), and the last Heuk-so (Black So). Mother of two Gungs was Gung-hui (Goddess Gung)[iv] and mother of two Sos was So-hui (Goddess So). Gung-hui and So-hui were the daughters of Mago. Mago was born in Jim-se (My/Our/This World).[v] Mago had no [human] emotion of pleasure and resentment. Taking the Former Heaven male and the Latter Heaven female, Mago bore two Hui Goddesses without mate. Like Mago, two Goddesses, without mate but by the emotion [of the cosmic periods], each bore two Heavenly Persons and two Heavenly Women. They were four Heavenly Persons and four Heavenly Goddesses in all. [i] Here “in” in Cheon-in 天人 is transliterated as a gender-neutral term, “beings.” It means “a person” but often transliterated as “a man.” [ii] The whole sentence can also be translated as “They made tubes and composed music.” [iii] “Ssi” in Hwang-gung-ssi 黃穹氏 intimates both a leader by name of Hwang-gung and the clan led by Hwang-gung. Other terms of “Cheong-gung-ssi,” “Baek-so-ssi,” and “Heuk-so-ssi” are used in the same way. [iv] Literally “hui” in Gung-hui 穹姬 and So-hui 巢姬 means a woman. Since it refers to Mago’s two daughters, I translated it “Goddess.” [v] “Jim” in Jim-se 朕世 can be transliterated as “my,” “our,” or “this.” ◊ Mago-seong (Mago Castle) was the grand castle located on the highest place on the Earth. Mago-seong, located on the highest mountain, is the primordial home of Mago, the Primordial Goddess, and Her descendants, human ancestors. Mago-seong also refers to the Earth itself (see Chapter 2). Mago, the eponymous Goddess, is the head, ruler, and guardian of Mago-seong. She represents the eco-community of the Earth in the intergalactic universe. Mago-seong’s location on the highest mountain symbolizes Mago-seong’s supremacy as the prototype of a Magoist state that will follow the cosmogonic event. Mago-seong’s location also indicates its proximity to the extraterrestrial cosmos, in particular to the Sun, the direct cause of the auto-genesis of all things on Earth. Mago-seong: Paradisiacal home of Mago and Her descendants, human ancestors. The axis mundi (world axis, center of the world) of the Magoist cosmogony.

Tag: Janie Rezner

(Poem) The Arisen Christ: A parable by Janie Rezner

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(Prose) Letter to Cypress: We have Forgotten our Roots by Janie Rezner

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(Poem) Open Hearts by Janie Rezner

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(Audio 1) Interview with Genevieve Vaughan by Janie Rezner

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(Poem) In the beginning by Janie Rezner

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(Video) Awaken to the Mother by Janie Rezner

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(Video) Commemorating the Bombing of Hiroshima by Janie Rezner

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(Art) The Voice of the Grandmother by Janie Rezner

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(Art) Tree Goddesses by Janie Rezner

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(Essay) The Religious Life of Children by Janie Rezner

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(Video) A Journey to the Heart of Things by Janie Rezner

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(Video) The Maternal Nurturing Model with Genevieve Vaughan interviewed by Janie Rezner

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(Art) Renaissance Woman by Janie Rezner

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Mago Almanac Year 8 (for 2025)

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

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

Mago Pod Bulletin #73 November 2024

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