September 14, 2015October 2, 2019 RTM EditorsLeave a comment

(Essay) Tree of Life by Sara Wright

About ten years ago I planted my second favorite tree (apples/crabapples are the other), a small northern white cedar in front of the house. Everyone should plant at least one Read More …

(Meet Mago Contributor) Elaine Drew

Elaine Drew has worked as a writer, designer and illustrator for longer than she cares to admit. She recently published Nun Too Clever, a mystery centred on the unexpected death of a nun. If you’ve read any fairytales you may have asked yourself what life would be like—ten years on—for the lucky maiden who marries the prince. Nun Too Clever attempts to answer that question. A nun is dead, and no one knows why. A precious relic is stolen, and a village girl goes missing. The queen wants to sort it all out before her bossy husband returns from the battlefront and gets all the credit. Elaine Drew became fascinated with early medieval life while living in England for four years. “My children went to the local village school, and when Saxon remains were found on the playground, I wondered what might lie beneath the soil in our garden. I knew that the nearby town of Winchester had been home to 9th century kings. Living in the area gave me the opportunity to research that time and place. I visited sites, attended archeology classes at Southampton University and studied Old English.” Her first book, Courting Trouble, is a romantic comedy that turns the Cinderella tale on its head. Far from being picked on, this Cinderella is a sassy and rebellious teenager who hatches a scheme to infiltrate the palace and learns more about a royal court than she expected. Elaine Drew illustrated Tales in the Night Sky, a mythical introduction to star gazing. Her work is included in the college level textbook The Adobe Illustrator CS6 Wow! Book, and she wrote and illustrated the critically acclaimed blog The Daily Dreamer under the pseudonym Carla Young. Her egg tempera and gold leaf paintings explore mythical and dream material. Drew wrote corporate publications for General Electric and manuals for computer companies, including IBM. She has had short humorous pieces and poetry published in England. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and on the Board of Tri-Valley Writers. Learn more about Elaine Drew at ElaineDrew.com.
(Art) Tindari by Lydia Ruyle

Tindari is a pilgrimage destination on Sicily, the Mediterranean home to thousands of years of the divine feminine. Traders carried images on their routes, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Romans. She is black and she is beautiful, in Latin, is chiseled into stone at La Madonna’s shrine. Mosaics tell the stories of her many miracles, including stopping the lava flow of Mt. Aetna. Sculpture, Pilgrimage shrine, Tindari, Sicily Read Meet Mago Contributor, Lydia Ruyle, and her other posts.
(Art Essay) This Broken Wing: A Story of Love, Birds and Bones by Claire Dorey

Swan Cloud in Negative, Art by Claire Dorey How the Heavenly Goose, Sacred Metaphor for Mother’s Voice, Tumbled into Mass Graves and Brothels Weightless, She floats upon a cloud of feathers, soaring above an abyss between worlds: The past and future.Aphrodite riding Her goose is a transitional image, perhaps marking a pinch point in time that She, as Goddess of Love, transcends. Behind Her: The primordial void and a past steeped in Bird Animism, Swan Shamanism and the hybrid, shape-shifting symbolism of the prehistoric Bird Goddess. Before Her: A future where the goose, an archetype of the Divine, plummets, wings broken, into mass graves and brothels. I’m floating on feathers, drifting to realms where the subconscious permeates everything. I’m buried alive, wrapped in swan wings, waiting, watching, eyes focused on a slither of sky shining through a vent in the rubble, or is it a slit in the feathers? Although my view through this ‘pinhole’ is soft at the edges, I watch a swirl of creatures eddying heavenwards: Aphrodite floating to celestial dimensions upon a goose cloud; Eros hatching from the world-egg; Icarus flying too high; fragments of soul exiting the soil, spinning up to the river in the sky. Venturing into the starless unknown is not an empty gesture. Exposing the ‘bare bones’ of buried trauma is about digging up the hurt, the hidden, the silencing, the obliterated AND archeological treasure. There are stories sitting in the ground, waiting to be found. Lurching from consciousness, to the subconscious, fearing nothingness, I’m dampening dread by singing “Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie” [1]. I’m concentrating on something, anything, to remove myself from this dream, trance, reality, so, in the spirit of storytelling, I’m summoning Mother Goose with birdsong, hoping she’ll read “Tales of Mother Goose” [2] and “Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes” [3]. Sharing stories is an act of love and I’m hoping there is love in the wing I curl up on. “Are you comfortable?” honks a female Baritone. “Then I shall begin.” In the gloom I glimpse a sassy, hybrid, bird-woman creature, eyeing me over her spectacles. This is not Mother Goose. I suspect I’ve summoned an ancient deity. She’s all long neck, bristly fingers, snapping beak and ‘dare me’ eyes, seeing through everything. I know she is female because her hips curve like an egg, oozing fertility. I think she is a Bird Goddess, embodiment of love, ecstasy and rage, a parthenogenetic creature spanning the imagination from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age and beyond. [Click to view Bird Goddess images: Thessaly; the Vinča culture: the Minoan civilisation; the Indus Valley and Tyre, Lebanon.] “The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose” [4], Bird Goddess is reciting a 17th century English folk poem, questioning state power. [From 1604-1914 a series of Enclosure Acts (UK) restricted ‘country folks’ access to common land. Unable to graze animals or forage, the choice was ‘move or starve.’] Second millennium Golden Egg mythology was monetized. In the 1902 English pantomime, Mother Goose faces eviction because she cannot pay her rent. “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs” [5] became a cautionary tale for embryonic capitalists, warning against murdering the goose, their source of wealth. “[In the ancient world] geese were [ ] associated with heroines and she-gods: Penelope, Aphrodite, Athena, Kore/Persephone, Artemis/Hecate, Nemesis and later Isis.” – Hall, Edith. The Lyceum Goose Mystery, The Editorial. [6] The Goose was also associated with Goddess Gula; Geb, the ‘celestial goose’ and layer of the primordial egg (Geb is“goose” in hieroglyphs); and winged Isis, sometimes called “the Egg from the Goose”. The Bird Goddess has landed, taloned feet gripping the rubble, ‘V-shaped’ hip tattoos echoing the triangular formation migrating geese fly in, affirming the woman and bird connection, as time keepers and mysterious creatures of cycles, rhythmically connected to bodily, seasonal and celestial motion. Plumping her feathers She’s explaining how the patriarch savaged female energy by diabolizing the bird. I mention how, just the title of Miriam Robbins Dexter’s essay,The Monstrous Goddess: The Degeneration of Ancient Bird and Snake Goddesses into Historic Age Witches and Monsters, the journal of Archaeomytholgy, volume 7, [7] illustrates this so well. The pivot point was the Bronze Age. “Aphrodite and her goose’s symbolic separation into distinct entities, as opposed to the ‘therianthropic, prehistoric Bird Goddess’, holistically expressing the ‘interdependency of life,’ is part of the story of the systematic colonization, exploitation and ownership of all sentient beings, including women (and the goose); the Goddess; the very Earth Herself and even the concept of ‘Love’. It’s about dividing and conquering (even in symbolism) to gain power.” “By reducing the role of the Goddess of Love, the ecstatic source of existence, to Goddess of ‘sexual love’ and ‘sexual arousal,’ Her role serves patriarchy well. ‘Sexual love’ personified by passivity and femaleness, within a patriarchal framework using rape mythology to subjugate women, means women are vulnerable. One example: Praxiteles’ ‘nude’ sculpture, Aphrodite of Knidos, became a sex object and was repeatedly assaulted by men breaking into the Temple. Abuse and domination were seeping into the definition of ‘Love.’” Although the goose is considered the turbulent aspect of the Holy Spirit, there are numerous references demonizing birds in the bible. “Matthew identifies the birds of the air as “the wicked one” (Matthew 13:4,19). Mark connects them with “Satan” (Mark 4:4,15), and Luke links them to “the devil” (Luke 8:5,12)” – What the Bible says about Bird as Symbol of the Devil, Topical Studies, Bible Tools.[8] Shakespeare coined the phrase ‘wild goose chase’ in his romantic play, ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ performed in 1595, at theGlobe Theatre , London – ironic because it was located amongst the brothels, where the “Winchester Geese” lived and worked. “Listener, the story of the “Winchester Geese” is one of abuse, ownership and religious hypocrisy,” sighs the Bird Goddess, caressing the serpent coils looping through her diadem. It’s a …
After the Crowning by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright After the Crowning Emerald and lime chartreuse lemon burgundy burnt umber leafy green breath transformer palms and needles raining light. magic bean spirals skyward star gazing ferns feather paths pearls at my feet wild lilies woodland valley brook scarlet roots hug weeping fruit trees conversing underground pollinated rose petals nourish moist earth each tear slips away bowed deep gratitude, a grieving moment a thousand bees hum as One. This cycle ends even as another has begun. May is such a tender month that ends on a poignant note – ‘the travelers’ (migrating birds) bring in each day with a symphony, bare branches are budding, bloodroot unfurling, arbutus trailing, violet hearts breaking ground, Solomons seal, three lobed trillium, ajuga spikes, stately Jack in the pulpits, bouquets of buttery button marsh marigolds, trilling gray tree frogs, tadpoles swarming in the pond, one green frog I name Hunter is visiting with the tadpoles and hunting on warm stones. All this precedes the Crowning, which comes at the end of May when every fruit tree cluster opens her blossoms to the bees, and I become one with all there is under a flowering rose crabapple just outside my door. Between intoxicating scent and bee hum… we are bound as one. Today light rain breaks the stillness rustling leaves as I stand at the door watching withering blossoms, mauve, and burgundy, pale pink and pearl white petals drift reluctantly to the ground. Yet under every fruit tree summer snow tears will nourish mycelial threads, worm rich soil and the fungal network below. Although this isn’t the end of spring, the crowning of the fruit trees has been accomplished, and I am never ready to let go. The next round has already begun with the rain that turns each deciduous leaf a deeper shade of emerald or lime. All deciduous tree limbs sway gracefully bending with butterfly leaves that bow to airy southern breezes. Hay Ferns create a graceful edging inviting me down a mossy path to listen to the soothing sound of water on stone. Maidenhair fern is still unfolding and mayapple blossoms come and go, five petaled flowers always hidden under scalloped umbrellas. Although some wildflowers like the trillium have gone by the forget me nots ajuga and columbine are just beginning, bleeding hearts arc and bow to the burgeoning green and my paths are thick with verdant almond leaves – wild lily of the valley is replacing the twinflowers along with pyrola bells and lady slippers and a thousand other ephemeral beauties. Later canada mayflowers and stars of bethlehem will grace the green. Lupine spires violet, blue, purple, pink and lavender become steeples in the field. Wild roses are still prickly canes. At the end of next month just as the solstice passes lemon lilies will mark one of the most endearing fragrances of the season. Milkweed balls not only bring in the butterflies but mark the last sweet fragrance when they appear in early July. After this there is a natural break for late July and August heat before fall wildflowers begin to bloom, pale blue and violet asters float through sprays of goldenrod, milkweed pods sail away in tiny parachutes, one seed makes a landing caught by a tree. Nature’s native plants move in perfect time with the seasonal changes. In another week I will take to the woods splitting my time between here and there. For the week of the Crowning and until the last petal drops, I am fully present to now, celebrating this jewel of field, stream and forest, my home. June is lady slipper month with delicate anemones still in bloom in shaded nooks, wild cucumber rounds, blue bead lilies, partridge berry trumpets. Too many to mention. Many woodland flowers will be pollinated by the same bumblebees that have been gracing fruit trees here. But not until the old – fashioned hydrangea blooms will they gather by the thousands to sing again in one collective hum bringing summer to an end. It fascinates me how nature plans for summer’s fierce light and heat – birds migrate, nest/give birth in the spring – all trees leaf out but native trees and shrubs and wildflowers bloom throughout the spring. Almost all have set seed by the solstice (with some exceptions). My cherry trees are already seeding up as are the buttery celandine. After the solstice the trees will shut down their photosynthesizing on hot summer afternoons… birds trees plants and other wildlife are still, resting – nature loves mornings and evenings – noonday she can do without – it’s the same with me! I am forever grateful that the forests hide rare wildflowers for those who cherish them. Gray frogs have been singing for two months; soon toads will be thrumming. In the lowlands hobblebush is birthing fruits that turn bittersweet or crimson. Some nesting warblers and other birds continue conversing with young; others like one titmouse is still lining a nest. Migration has peaked but this one is not a traveler. In the bogs the first orchids stick out fuzzy white and pale pink tongues. Pitcher plants seduce the unwary sending burgundy flowers into the air to attract their prey. Turtles dig deep in sand to lay their eggs. Viburnum clusters are blushing. There is so much to look forward to, and yet today I mourn one moon cycle that that passed by too soon… https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright
(Poem) MOTHERS WILL MAKE PEACE by Mary Saracino

“Mothers will make peace, so sons will not die.” Huda, a Palestinian journalist living in Jordan, as quoted in “Women’s Gathering Gives Peace a Chance,” Women’s E-News, April 13, 2006 Will it come to this, then? The mothers rising like Furies unleashed, banishing war from the souls of men, their fierce wombs howling with the memory of seedling sons — how they quickened and grew, ripening into beautiful babies, brimming with hope, their futures overflowing with laughter, love, the kisses of grateful mothers — not bombs, not bloodshed, not rage. Will the mothers unite, dressed in saris of apricot & nectarine, African headdresses of fuchsia, green, & yellow, American blue jeans and T-shirts, Italian leather jackets? Will they defy the edicts, the lies, the clarion calls to violence everywhere — the battlefield, the bedroom, the boardroom, the brothel? Mothers with dark faces heed their sons’ cries, their daughters’ anguish; mothers with blue eyes or black, mothers with Arab hearts or Israeli, inner-city moms or moms in mini-vans, farm wives and nuns, scholars and poets, Asian or Mexican, white-skinned or brown, young or old. Can they re-tether the war-weary world to their ruptured umbilical cords? Mend every tattered soul? Can peace prevail if fathers fail to join their holy efforts? Or must mothers shoulder the grief alone, bearing the world’s sorrows, as they bear the pains of labor, giving birth to justice that hungers for compassion, transformation that conjures a different kind of world? “Mothers Will Make Peace” was originally published on newversenews.com, Sunday, April 30, 2006 Read Meet Mago Contributor, Mary Saracino, and her other posts.
(Art) The Portion by Andrea Redmond

Representations of the Goddess in her many manifestations Art by Andrea Redmond https://www.magoism.net/2023/09/meet-mago-contributor-andrea-redmond/
(Essay 2) Baba Part II: The Drowned Girls (A tale of Vasilisa) by Jillian Parker

With a sudden clatter, Marya, Varya, Darya, Varya, and Zarya began to shift back and forth on the table, as if attempting to dance, and they squeaked all at once, “You’d better take us outside to see Vasilisa.” So Vera, with fumbling fingers, assembled the dolls in their proper order, slipped them into her apron pocket, grabbed her own coat, and donned her own summer shoes, which, like Vasilisa’s, were plaited from birch bark.
(Book Excerpt 4) Re-visioning Medusa Eds. by Glenys Livingstone, Trista Hendren, et. al.

Medusa: The Invitation Maureen Owen I CAN STILL REMEMBER the first time I heard the story of Medusa. I knew instinctively, that to come with such warnings, Medusa must be incredibly powerful. Instantly intrigued, I started to dig deeper. Over time, as I have come to understand more of the symbolism that sits within this story, a very different understanding has emerged. My sense now is that this is not a story of a monster, it is instead a story of ancient and divine wisdom calling me to reclaim all of who I am as a woman. The story of Medusa is fundamentally the story of the domination of the patriarchal invaders of mainland Greece over the early goddess culture of North Africa.99 It is the story of the victory of the masculine principle governed by power and control over the feminine principle, one that saw the sacredness in the everyday, and valued peace, fertility, justice with compassion, equality and transformation.100 Some scholars believe the story reflects actual events during the reign of King Perseus around 1290 BCE.101 When I hear this story, I hear Medusa’s invitation urging me to look deeper than the patriarchal version of who she was. At the heart of this invitation, I believe Medusa is calling me into a deeper relationship with myself and the divine. She is urging me to reclaim the intelligence, strength and creativity rooted in the feminine tradition. This essay is an exploration of this invitation and the key symbolism within Medusa’s story that points to this and the elements of the feminine lineage she is urging me to reclaim. I begin with an examination of her most obvious symbol, the serpents, and then proceed to what I know of the roles she held and what they symbolised. As such, I explore the meaning of what it meant to hold the roles of High Priestess, Goddess, Queen, and Crone.102 I have chosen symbolism to guide me on this journey because I know from the earliest times, symbolism has been used to inform human understanding of the cosmos and our place in it. Along with telling us what something represents, symbols also hint at what is missing, what is invisible and what is needed to achieve completion or wholeness.103 As such, coming to understand the symbolic meaning behind these aspects of Medusa has provided me with vital insights into what has been lost, and what can be reclaimed. The Serpents Of all animal symbols, I have learned that the serpent or snake is probably the most significant and complex.104 Snakes represent the vitality of the energy and consciousness of life in the body and the vitality of spiritual consciousness in the life and in the world.105 They signify the need to shed our old skin in order to grow and are seen as a symbol of healing, wisdom and transformation.106 Hence, these themes of needing to shed old identities to grow and heal, to access wisdom and transform, seem core to understanding Medusa and her roles as high priestess, goddess, queen and crone, and her invitation. The snake also symbolises sacred kundalini energy. Kundalini lies asleep at the base of the spine, until she is awakened, and rises through the chakras, activating each one in turn—eventually coming out at the crown of the head as enlightenment.107 I know from my own personal experience, and from my teaching work with the chakras, the incredible transformative power of the chakras. For when we work with the chakras, bringing them into balance, this vital energy can be transmuted into awareness, spirituality and a deeper understanding of life and our place in the universe.108 Hence for me, the snakes symbolise the creative and spiritual potential contained within our bodies that can be used and cultivated for healing, wisdom and transformation. It is the potential that Genevieve Paulson, in her book “Evolution in this Lifetime,” talks about pushing “each of us toward the goal of enlightenment—knowing the light,” the divine within. The symbolism behind Medusa’s serpents is essentially about the evolution of the human soul, and so I hear her enticing me to go beyond my current comprehensions of what it means to be human, to know the light, and to become Goddess-like.109 The fact that Medusa’s snakes cover her head is also significant from the perspective of the chakras. This directly links the snakes to the crown chakra, which is associated with: surrender, trust, universal connectedness, stillness, peace, divinity, wisdom, being part of something bigger, spiritual wisdom, unity, and pure consciousness.110 It is through the crown chakra that we reach the heights of spirituality and we connect with our indelible and permanent divinity.111 Thus, the crown of snakes symbolises Medusa’s capacity to connect me with my higher purpose, divine guidance and my spiritual path. High Priestess Evidence points to Medusa being a high priestess of Africa—a fact reinforced in her story when we are told she “was the only one of the three sisters who was mortal.”112 From this, I know she is more than just a mythological figure; she actually lived and breathed and walked the earth as I do. For me this reinforces that Medusa is not just a character in an ancient myth—that she has a real substance and an essential truth about her. This truth applies equally to the level of demonisation and devastation she experienced, and the healing, wisdom and transformation she represents—and that I feel her inviting me to reclaim. Being a high priestess meant that Medusa was a keeper of knowledge, trained in the sacred arts of religious rites, adornment, massage, the practices of healing and divination, and the secret mysteries of sexual union. The role of priestess included initiating men into the deep and secret mysteries of the heart; “awakening them to their spiritual potential;” and channelling their spiritual fire inward and upward along the sacred path of enlightenment.113 A man who came to her temple would have approached her as the embodiment of the goddess hoping …
(Poems) Old Selves I Have Been by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Poem 1, May 26th 1980 Planets away I’ve travelled light years from my mother’s womb Where are you my mother? I need your love – I want to return to you But oh I don’t. I don’t. … I have travelled into myself into the depths into the universe into the stars to that heart to that black hole my own home your home is somewhere near. … “I am the mirror – blastula reflected in the newest nova.”[1] … My home – I am coming. I am coming unto you. oOo Poem 2, May 26th, 1980 My life – … I hold it to the light I feel it its shape its corners its smooth surfaces its colour … what is it how is it this gem … who can cut it? only me … I hold it in my hands I feel it in the dark as a blind person I sense it. … Discovering, seeking remembering(?) … My skin absorbs it and is it. oOo Poem 3, May 30th, 1980 This is a profound time my friend a stopping point a period of life complete a road we’ve shared seen through a time of passing, of death A process, an era turning its last turns A winter, a death the last leaves falling. … We cry we feel pain we sense deeply the ebb and the flow Each soul bared and touched sensing itself. Lonely yes, but pure and free. … So long have I longed not knowing. … Now I am doing it sailing to be free. … I am doing it See how I spread my wings See how I glide See how I turn … Rising Rising I am flying. … This life how much is it worth? … what can it? how can it? … I sense it small. against the greatness of the sky. oOo References: Morgan, Robin. Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist. NY: Vintage Books, 1978. NOTES: [1] Robin Morgan, Going Too Far, p.314.

(Special post) The Goddess Inanna: Her Allies and Opponents by Hearth Moon Rising

Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld is one of the most fascinating myths ever told. Not just because it is profound and enlightening, although it is certainly that. It’s an exciting journey that ignites the imagination, and female characters are at the hub of the action. This is a tale of power: power that is demanded, power that is won, power that is appropriated, and power that cannot be escaped. The story follows the fertility goddess Inanna, who brought civilization to Mesopotamia, as she seeks to expand her realm by venturing into the world below. Inanna’s experiences in the great below, her escape, and the wild events that unfold as a result of her caper are the focus of the tale.
(Special Post 4) 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 Hye-Sook Hwang: Here is how Goma is known among the ancient Chinese. She is called The Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens (Jiutian xuannu). Nine Heavens refer to the confederacy of nine states, Danguk or Nine Hans. Statue of Jiutian Xuannü, Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiutian_Xuann%C3%BC Another icon of Jiutian Xuannu below. https://www.tinyatdragon.com/blogs/spiritual/jiu-tian-xuan-nu-mysterious-lady-of-the-nine-heavens?fbclid=IwAR0n1Ld6tmxqTec23Pzg3DxRjEQ-DbjdGF1DU_Jjlt4eMbHdTOO9Jd7ePnc Lizzy Bluebell: Oh – now I see what the Buddha riding the deer was carrying; her Gourd. A very interesting link, thanks.”…these statues in Taoism are not for worshipping or praying. They are like a container, a magic tool, which is used to program the energies into profiles and be used for different things in Taoist magic. The outsiders cannot understand too much, and so these “Taoist secrets” are often hidden from the public in the old days or even today.” Lizzy Bluebell: Very informative passage on the power of the NINE:”Nine is the pattern of giving off power, or using up the energies of things to give off powers, just like a flashlight burning it’s battery up for the light. Sky is the pattern that relates to any pool of resources or elements that are considered the proactive party that is “starting” something or the giving side of a situation.Remember that we talk about patterns in Taoism, and it applies to everything including our FU talismans words and these special terms like Jiu Tian / Gau Tin.A practical example for this term can be used as in if you are trying to go to the kitchen and cook something for lunch. Your “sky” here is all the things in the kitchen, and ground is the kitchen itself where you put the food into “process” them. So the 9-sky stage is to have picked out the food you like and let them show themselves to let you know which one is the best to use, maybe some just smell better or some look fresher to you. Nothing has been done yet, but you are now able to “start” something because you can at least feel and sense the food’s potentials and power.” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, Oh it is gourd. Yes, I forgot about the gourd symbol for Mago/Magu. It is a container for the elixir from which one drinks. It is a common pictographic/literary theme and I have images of Magu with the gourd. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, this is one heuristic analogy. Ancient Magoists depicted/perceived the universe as Nine Heavens, an equivalent to Nine States on earth for it is the lens of Nine Numerology through which they saw everything. Because ancient China removed the history of Goma, they spiritualized/philosophized the teaching of Nine Numerology. If we have Goma’s history (and the mytho-history of Old Magoism), we can perceive the meaning of Nine Heavenly directly (not through theories or analogies). Wherever and whenever the consciousness of Nine Numerology surfaces is a manifestation of Goma’s rule/civilization/religion. This will remain forever insofar as humanity continues because Nine Numerology is the principle of nature including humans. I would say that the teaching/principle of Nine Numerology is Goma’s self-redemptive soteriological gift. Insofar as we understand and honor the Nine Mago Creatrix/Nine Numerology (the female divine in general), we are endowed with the power of self-redemption. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, the character “Xuan or Hyeon 玄” refers to the quality of gynocentric spirituality, which has been made esoteric or mystic. It refers to the spirituality of the Great Goddess (Magoist spirituality). Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Nine Hans or Nine Heavens manifests in such place-names as Kyūkoku (九国, Nine States). Kyushu (Nine Provinces) Island, Japan, seemingly a replica of Danguk (confederacy of nine states) representing the Nine Mago Creatrix, reflects the ancient glory of the Goma’s gynocentric rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Doumu (Mother of the Northern Dipper) also comes in the icon of eight arms. Doumu, Song Dynasty, Wikimedia Commons Domu, Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doumu Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: She is often conflated with Marici seated on a boar in her iconography (affine to Gemu of the Mosuo and Durga on a tiger/lion). Here Marici is depicted as four-headed and eight-armed. Marici, Wikimedia Commons Marici (Buddhism) – Wikipedia Judy E Foster: So similar to the Indian Goddess… Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Indeed! I am afraid that we may not be able to feature some of the nine forms of Durga from “Hinduism”. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang There is more, Marici. Marici, Wikimedia Commons File:Marichi, Buddhist Goddess of Dawn, China, Qing dynasty, 18th… Marichi, Source below. Marichi (Buddhist Deity) – Kalpoktam (3 faces, 8 hands)… Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: This is new info. on the nine tripod caldrons of ancient China. “The Nine Tripod Cauldrons (Chinese: 九鼎; pinyin: Jiǔ Dǐng) were ancient Chinese ritual cauldrons. They were ascribed to the foundation of the Xia (c. 2200 bce) by Yu the Great, using tribute metal presented by the governors of the Nine Provinces of ancient China.[1] At the time of the Shang Dynasty during the 2nd millennium bce, the tripod cauldrons came to symbolize the power and authority of the ruling dynasty with strict regulations imposed as to their use. Members of the scholarly gentry class were permitted to use one or three cauldrons; the ministers of state (大夫, dàfū) five; the vassal lords seven; and only the sovereign Son of Heaven was entitled to use nine.[2] The use of the nine tripod cauldrons to offer ritual sacrifices to the ancestors from heaven and earth was a major ceremonial occasion so that by natural progression the ding came to symbolize national political power[3] and later to be regarded as a National Treasure. Sources state that two years after the […]
(Review) Journey into Dreamtime by Munya Andrews, reviewed by Glenys Livingstone

Although the term “Dreamtime” is often not considered an adequate translation of the cosmology, religion or spirituality of Indigenous Australians, Munya Andrews of the Bardi people from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, acknowledges this and chooses to name her recently published book with it, explaining that: “I love the term … For me, it conjures up a magical and mysterious world.”, and she feels that the term aligns perfectly with the common global religious concept that Diety is beyond words and human understanding. For me, as Munya Andrews describes “Dreamtime”, it seems resonant with the sense of “ever-present Origins”[1]; that is, original space and time that is omnipresent. This is a space/place that I understand to be referred to as “between the worlds” and “beyond the bounds of space and time”, by Indigenous Europeans (Pagans), a tradition with which I am familiar. I understand it to be a sentient world in which we are immersed actually, and which may be revealed to the observant person in synchronous moments. With practice one may live with clearer everyday connections with this world, and Munya’s book is an important contribution to making those connections from within the cosmology of her people; and for “all beautiful souls to keep the Dreamtime alive”, as she says in the book’s dedication. This book provides informative story that should be part of every Australian’s education at various levels: it lays a groundwork and also elicits deepening understandings. The teachings offered in Journey into Dreamtime should be considered essential knowledge for living on this land named Australia, whereas heretofore most present occupants have often not had easy access to such learning. This very readable and small book provides some basic facts: for example, that there are “250 or so Indigenous nations, each having their own language, their own names and ‘country’ or tribal lands.”; and that terms such as Koori, Nunga or Murri are “pan-Aboriginal” names taken on since colonisation, for the sake of asserting a distinct Indigenous identity, in the face of forced removal from families and land. In the course of the seven chapters Munya develops understanding of Dreamtime, and also understandings of Indigenous Law, Songlines, sacred sites, bush doctors/bush medicine, Rainbow Snake, and Kindredness. I found all of this really helpful, an invitation into a world of being and relationship; and it is told with frequent analogies from Western science and academic and spiritual texts, with which the reader may be more familiar, enabling the bridge into Indigenous science and worldview. There is a list of suggested readings offered, along with links and details for further connection and learning. At the conclusion of each chapter of Journey into Dreamtime there are “Dreamtime Reflections”, posing questions for personal consideration, inviting personal participation and pathways into some actual sense of an alive self in relationship with the alive world described. This book needs to be in spaces/places where everyday people can read it, like waiting rooms of all kinds (where there are frequently Bibles); as well as in every library, and especially Australian libraries. I highly recommend Journey into Dreamtime as an educational resource, for your self, for educational programs, and/or for any group that you may gather. Aunty Munya, as she names herself, has an impressive track record of speaking engagements, mentioned at the conclusion of the book, and invites you to have her speak to your organisation. She describes her life purpose as “to create better understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal people and to leave behind a legacy of Dreamtime wisdom for generations to come.” May it be so, as readers of Journey into Dreamtime absorb its teaching and resources. To order a copy of Journey into Dreamtime visit Evolve Communities NOTES: [1]“ever-present origin” is the English translation of Jean Gebser’s Ursprung und Gegenwart, Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlag, 1966.

(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.
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 3) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. MAPPING THE MAGOIST CALENDAR According to the Budoji, the Magoist Calendar was fully implemented and advocated during the period of Old Joseon (ca. 2333 BCE-ca. 232 BCE) whose civilization is known as Budo (Emblem City). Indeed, the Magoist Calendar is referred to as the Budo Calendar in the Budoji. Budo was founded to succeed Sinsi and reignited Sinsi’s innovations including the numerological and musicological thealogy of the Nine Mago Creatrix. The Budoji expounds on the Magoist Calendar as follows: The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a cyclic period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). A cycle of Little Calendar is called Sa (year). One Sa has thirteen Gi (months). One Gi has twenty-eight Il (days). Twenty-eight Il are divided by four Yo (weeks). One Yo has seven Il. A cycle of one Yo is called Bok (completion of a week). One Sa (year) has fifty-two Yobok. That makes 364 Il. This is of Seongsu (Natural Number) 1, 4, 7. Each Sa includes a Dan of the big Sa. A Dan is equal to one day. That adds up to 365 days. At the half point after the third Sa, there is a Pan of the big Sak (the year of the great dark moon). A pan comes at a half point of Sa. This is of Beopsu (Lawful Number) 2, 5, 8. A Pan is equal to a day. Therefore, the fourth Sa has 366 days. At the half point after the tenth Sa, there is a Gu of the big Hoe (Eve of the first day of the month). Gu is the root of time. Three hundred Gu makes one Myo. With Myo, we can sense Gu. A lapse of 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si makes one day. This is of Chesu (Physical Number), 3, 6, 9. By and by, the encircling time charts Medium Calendar and Large Calendar to evince the principle of numerology.[12] KEY TERMS Calendric Cycles Jongsi (終是 Ending and Beginning): Cyclic periods Soryeok (小曆 Little Calendar): One year Jungryeok (中曆 Medium Calendar): Two years Daeryeok (大曆 Large Calendar): Four years Names of Year, Month, Day, Week Sa (祀 Rituals, year): One year refers to the time that takes to complete the cycle of rituals. Gi (期 Periods, month): One month refers to the period of the moon and menstruation cycle. Il (日Sun, day): One day refers to the sun’s movement due to Earth’s rotation. Yo (曜 Resplendence of seven celestial bodies, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, week): Each weekday is dedicated to seven celestial bodies. Bok or Yobok (曜服 Duties of the Celestial Bodies, completion of a week): One week refers to the veneration of the seven celestial bodies. Names of Monthly Transition Days Hoe (晦 Eve of the first day of the month, 28th) Sak (朔 First day of the month, 1st, the dark moon) Names of Intercalation Days Dan (旦 Morning): Leap day for New Year Pan (昄 Big): Leap day for every fourth year Names of Time Units Gu (晷 sun’s shadow): Time measure, 1/300 Myo Myo (眇 minuscule): Time measure, a total of 300 Gu Myo-Gak-Bun-Si (眇刻分時 minuscule, possibly 15-minutes, minute, hour): Time measure, 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si is equal to a day Names of Three Types of Numbers in Nine Numerology Seongsu (性數Natural Number): 1, 4, 7 in the digital root Beopsu (法數 Lawful Number): 2, 5, 8 in the digital root Chesu (體數 Physical Number): 3, 6, 9 in the digital root THREE SUB-CALENDARS The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). The universe is infinite without beginning and ending. Everything runs the course of self-equilibration in relation to everything else. The Way of Heaven or the Way of the Creatrix circles and makes possible the infinite time/space to be measured and calculated. As the Way of Heaven circles, we are able to perceive Our Universe in finite measures of time/space. Time becomes measurable, as space is stabilized. Seasons and days-nights are demarcated in cyclic patterns, as the Earth makes the three cyclic movements of rotation, revolution, and precession. Calendar, born out of the inter-cosmic time, synchronizes human culture with the song/dance of the universe. The term Jongsi, which means an ending and a beginning, is equivalent to “a cyclic period” that is marked by the beginning and the end. Time (a day, a month, and a year) circles, as space (the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun) spirals. The Magoist Calendar has three sub-calendars: The period of one yearly cycle is called Little Calendar, whereas the period of two yearly cycles is called Medium Calendar and the period of four yearly cycles, Large Calendar. To be continued. (Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang) Notes [12] Budoji, Chapter 23. See Bak Jesang, the Budoji, Bak Geum scrib., Eunsu Kim, trans. (Seoul: Gana Chulpansa, 1986).
Happy New Year, Year 2/5916 Magoma Era! by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“The Bell of King Seongdeok, known as the Emille Bell, a massive bronze bell at 19 tons is the largest in Korea.” Wikimedia Commons. Cast in 771, the bell reenacts the music of whales to remind people of the Female Beginning, the self-creative power innate all beings. Today is Day 2 of the New Year in the reconstructed Magoist Calendar characterized by 13 months per year and 28 days per month. We are heading toward the Solstice that falls on Dec. 21/22 (Day 5 of the first month in the Magoist Calendar), which happens to be the day of the first full moon of Year 2. Below is the details about the Magoist Calendar. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/03/27/magoist-calendar-13-month-28-day-year-1-5915-me-2018-gregorian-year/ The Gregorian year 2018 marks a watershed in that we began to implement the Magoist Calendar. The Magoma Era is based on the onset of the nine-state confederacy of Danguk (State of Dan, the Birth Tree) traditinally dated 3898 BCE-2333 BCE. We just passed Year 1 or 5915 Magoma Era (the Gregorian 2018). For Year 1, we had the New Year Day on December 18 of 2017, the first new moon day before the December Solstice. That makes December 18 of 2017 our lunation 1, the first lunar year that the reconstructed Magoist Calendar determines its first day of the Year 1! Although relatively short in history, the Mago Work began to celebrate the Nine Day Mago Celebration on the day of December Solstice annually since 2015. With the reconstructed Magoist Calendar, we placed it in its due timeframe, the Ninth Month and the Ninth Day, which fell on August 8, 2018 (US PST) and celebrated it for the first time according to the Magoist Calendar. Apparently, this had to be a mid-Summer event. This left us with another seasonal event, the New Year/Solstice Celebration. For Year 2, we hold the 3 Day New Year/Solstice Celebration on December 20, 21, and 22 (December 22 to be the Solstice Dat in PST) and the Virtual Midnight Vigil as a precussor to the New Year Day. http://www.magoacademy.org/2018/07/17/2018-5915-magoma-era-year-1-nine-day-mago-celebration/ https://www.magoacademy.org/home-2/new-year-solstice-celebrations/ We just greeted the Year 2 by holding the event called Virtual Midnight Vigil during which we sounded the Korean temple bell, in particular the Emile Bell or the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great, to the world. A few from around the globe (Germany, Korea, Italy and the US) participated in it or hosted their own local vigils. The Korean temple bell is the key symbol for the Magoist Calendar as well as the Magoist Cosmogony. It is not a coincidence that it is struck on the midnight of the New Year’s Eve. It is Korean tradition that even modern Koreans gather at the bell tower in Seoul to hear the sound of the bell at midnight. And these bells are gigantic weighing 19 tons in the case of the Emile Bell. That this convention has an ancient Magoist root remains esoteric. For not only they strike the bell 28 times in the evening indicating the 28 lunar stations that the Moon stops by in the sky throughout the year (please read below what the 28 day lunar journey means and how it is represented by women). But also the Korean temple bell is no mere acoustic device to play the beautiful sound only. It is designed to reenact the Magoist Cosmogony. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/14/virtual-midnight-vigil-dec-17-2018-to-new-year-year-2-5916-magoma-era/ That said, that is not what’s all about the Korean Magoist convention of welcoming the New Year by sounding the temple bell, however. That the bell sound is a mimicry of the music of whales has been in the hand of wisdom seekers! Ancient Korean bells testify that whales are with us in the journey of the Moon and her terrestrial dependents headed by women. You may like to hear the sound of the Magoist Korean whale bell included in the Participation Manual for Virtual Midnight Vigil below. Happy New Year to all terrestrial beings in WE/HERE/NOW! https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/16/participation-manual-for-virtual-midnight-vigil-year-2/
(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.
(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.
Summer Solstice Poiesis by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

(Video) Gurang (Nine Goddesses), Gaeyang Halmi (Grandma Gaeyang), and Goddess Gom: Exploring Old Magoism in Korea by Helen Hwang

Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. Read (Photo Essay 5) Gaeyang Halmi, Sea Goddess of Korea.
(Budoji Essay 4) The Magoist Cosmogony by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part 4: Magoist Origin of Immortals “I maintain that Immortals originally refers to Mago’s descendants in Mago Castle, the Primordial Paradise. They are the primordial clan community of the Mago Species, comprised of the divine, demigods, and humans.” [This is a translation and interpretation of the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism. Read the translation of Chapter 1 of the Budoji.] Magoist Origin of Immortals: All in the Mago Species are given the original nature of immortality or transcendence. Readers are advised to set aside the literal meaning in the English language of the words immortals or transcendents. Immortals is a translation of the East Asian term seon (仙, xian in Chinese). I choose the translation immortals over transcendents not because it is a better translation but because it is the most commonly used term by Western Daoist translators.[i] Although it is known as a Daoist term, I hold that it is pre-Daoist, namely Magoist, in origin. Primarily, it refers to the Mago Species (Mago and Her descendants) who dwelt in Mago Castle, the primordial home, to be discussed in detail in later chapters. Likewise, historical figures known as Immortals are Magoist rather than Daoist.
(Mago Almanac 3) Restoring 13 Month 28 Day Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[This and the following sequels are from Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), Years 1 and 2 (5, 6, 9, 10…), 5915-6 MAGO ERA, 2018-9 CE (Mago Books, 2017).] We want to get back the 13th Friday. This almanac shows how that is possible. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang INTRODUCTION (Continued) HOW TO USE THE MAGO ALMANAC The Magoist Calendar employs a 28 day monthly cycle identical throughout the 13 months (see “28 DAY MONTHLY CALENDAR”). The first month of a year, however, begins with one intercalary day that falls on the eve of New Year for all years. Every fourth year has another intercalary day that fall on the eve of the first day of the 7th month (see “4 YEARS CALENDAR/1 LARGE CALENDAR”). Years are counted as a cyclic unit of four years, which is called Large Calendar. I have charted 8 Large Calendars of 32 years (see “8 LARGE CALENDARS/32 YEARS”). That said, the Mago Almanac will appear as the two types of booklets, Book A and Book B due to its Gregorian Calendar translation dates. The current booklet, Book A, includes calendric data of two years Year 1 and Year 2, the first two of the four years cyclic unit. Year 1 and Year 2 are exactly identical, when it comes to their Gregorian translations. In other words, one can use Book A for the years of 2018 and 2019 with the same Gregorian dates. Book B will include data on Year 3 and Year 4 for the two years of 2020 and 2021 in the Gregorian Calendar. As Gregorian dates intermittently run every month throughout the year and every four years with one leap day added in the month of February, both Year 3 and Year 4 will need a separate translational chart for Gregorian translation dates. While Gregorian leap days are more complicated than just one additional day in February, they won’t interfere with Mago Almanac’s Gregorian translation system until the year 2100, when it skips the leap day.[1] Book A Book B Years 1, 2… 3, 4… Common Era 2018, 2019 CE 2020, 2021 CE Mago Era 5915, 5916 ME 5917, 5918 ME Because both the Magoist Calendar (365.25 days) and the Gregorian Calendar (365.242189 days) are of the solar clendar, their dates tend to coincide every four years. For example, Year 5 and 6 will share the same Gregorian dates as Year 1 and 2. This means Book A is useful not only for Year 1 and 2 but also Year 5 and 6. Likewise, Book B is not only for Year 3 and Year 4 but also Year 7 and Year 8. Such patterns will repeat until 2100. By such recurrence, Mago Almanac will remain useful throughout the coming years. Below is the chart of 12 years (3 Large Calendars) for Mago Almanac’s two books. Book A Book B 1st Large Calendar Year 1 (2018 CE, 5915 ME) Year 3 (2020 CE, 5917 ME) Year 2 (2019 CE, 5916 ME) Year 4 (2021 CE, 5918 ME) 2nd Large Calendar Year 5 (2022 CE, 5919 ME) Year 7 (2024 CE, 5921 ME) Year 6 (2023 CE, 5920 ME) Year 8 (2025 CE, 5922 ME) 3rd Large Calendar Year 9 (2026 CE, 5923 ME) Year 11 (2028 CE, 5925 ME) Year 10 (2027 CE, 5924 ME) Year 12 (2029 CE, 5926 ME) Book A (Year 1 and Year 2) stands for the year of 2018 in the Gregorian Calendar (from December 17, 2017 till December 16, 2018) and the year of 2019 in the Gregorian Calendar (from December 17, 2018 till December 16, 2019). Year 1 (5915 ME) begins on December 17, 2017, the one intercalary day that comes on the day before the New Year’s Day. Its New Year’s day on December 18, 2017 marks the new moon day in the first month of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Year 2 (5916 ME) will be the same as Year 1. It begins with the one intercalary day of December 17, 2018. Its New Year’s day is December 18, 2018. However, it won’t be the new moon day since the moon’s phases are not exactly the same as the moon’s motions for the coming years. For this reason and the Gregorian Calendar’s intermittent dates involved in Book B, Mago Almanac plans to publish its yearly booklet. Book A includes Moon Phases in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) for the years of 2018 and 2019. The cycle of moon phases (the synodic period of about 29.5 days) will run on its own path in the Magoist Calendar is based on the moon’s motions (the sidereal period of about 27.3 days). Also this almanac includes 24 Seasonal Marks in the Korean Time for the years of 2018 and 2019. Among these 24 seasons demarcated based on the solar calendar are such eight seasonal marks as Yule, Imbolc, Vernal Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas, Autumnal Equinox, and Winter Solstice, whose hours vary according to the viewer location. Last but not least, this almanac taps into the self-actualizing power of the calendar, which awakens its users to the Reality of the Creatrix. Its task is to be a user’s guide to the Magoist Calendar, the Living Text of the Creatrix. A cause that is equipped with the self-realizing force is divine. Restoring the Magoist Calendar is a divine work to be accomplished by the power of the gynocentric 13 month calendar itself. Its applicability is left to the hand of users. One’s own understanding of the gynocentric calendar will do the magic within herself/himself. One’s intellectuality is the winder to one’s spirituality. Individuals awakened by the Magoist Calendar will discover a sense of belong/direction/timing, not just to a particular society/place/time but to the inter-cosmic whole, WE/HERE/NOW. One may suddenly re-member her/his kinship with all others in an unexpected way. The consciousness of WE is not a destination arrived at a future time. It is HERE wherein we are born and live. In our …