September 6, 2024August 31, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Poem) Things a Lesbian Should Know by Susan Hawthorne

The history of lesbians is difficult to decode and document. So many lives erased and unknown Lives we will never know about. Not because they were lacking in interest or Read More …

September 5, 2024July 6, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Art Essay) Shadowing the Underworld Sun Goddess by Claire Dorey

“I went underground to escape(my brother, the storm)breaking everything(the way he does)his fists everywhere.I hid there, taking the warmthof my breath, my gold fingers.” – Amaterasu, The Sun Goddess, Returns, Read More …

September 4, 2024August 25, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Song) Woman Shine by Dale Allen

For too long you’ve been put down Make the world turn upside down To lift you up to holy ground. Don’t forget to grab your crown You are Goddess, a Read More …

September 3, 2024August 31, 2024 Mago Work1 Comment

(Poem) The Blessings of Ravioli by Mary Saracino

The ravioli lay on floured pillow cases on your dining room table looking like stuffed pillows themselves — the dough kneaded smooth, then rolled to the right thickness, the spinach Read More …

September 2, 2024July 7, 2024 RTMeditorsKGLeave a comment

(Video) An Autumn Equinox Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Autumn Equinox/Mabon Northern Hemisphere – September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere – March 21-23 …oOo… The purpose of this video is for ceremony, and I suggest pausing the video where it suits Read More …

August 30, 2024July 6, 2024 Mago Work1 Comment

(Art Essay) Leo in August: Roaring for The Solar Flame by Claire Dorey

Season of lions and lazing; books and hammocks; long, golden days of cicadas and apples, I speak of August with words between joy and mourning. Motionless and hot, strangely silent, Read More …

August 29, 2024September 1, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(E-Interview) Mary Ann Beavis by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mary Ann Beavis stands at the edges of Christianity and has held the academic identity of a feminist scholar, which I respect and rely on for The Mago Work. I Read More …

August 28, 2024October 10, 2024 ANewvineLeave a comment

(Intercosmic Kinship Conversations) Symbols and Subconscious with Claire Dorey by Alison Newvine

After a summer break, I’m happy to bring to you the fourth installment in the Intercosmic Kinship Conversation series, a spinoff of the anthology Celebrating Intercosmic Kinship of Goddess (CIKG). Read More …

August 27, 2024August 27, 2024 Mago Work1 Comment

(Essay) Creating New Seasons and Rituals by Francesca Tronetti

Transitional spaces, time, or events can be physical points, like a border or the entrance to a temple, or they can define the boundaries of our perceptions or responses. Sometimes, Read More …

August 26, 2024September 1, 2024 ANewvine4 Comments

(E-interview) Trista Hendren by Alison Newvine

Trista Hendren founded Girl God Books (GGB) in 2011 to support a necessary unraveling of the patriarchal worldview of divinity. Her first book—The Girl God, a children’s picture book—was a Read More …

August 24, 2024August 21, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

(Meet Mago Contributor) Stephanie Mines, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephanie Mines is the author of five books that reflect over three decades of research as a neuroscientist. She has investigated shock and trauma as a survivor, a professional, Read More …

July 12, 2024June 30, 2024 Carolyn BoydLeave a comment

(Essay) A Cardinal Comes Calling by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Recently, a cardinal came to me and in only a few seconds and without words conveyed to me a simple message that brought comfort and solace, but also expressed how Read More …

July 11, 2024June 24, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 5) Rainbow Goddess: Celebrating Neurodiversity ed. by K. L. Aldred, P. Daly, T Albanna, and Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Neurodiversity Holds Keys to Unlock Patriarchal Prisons” by Trinity Shea Thomas Great news! Neurodiversity (ND) holds keys to unlock Read More …

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

The remarkable 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Melbourne was the first where Paganism was recognised officially as a world religion, thanks largely to efforts over years by Angie Buchanan and others of Earth Traditions: there was a strong and diverse Pagan and Indigenous presence. I was honoured to be part of presenting two programs at this Parliament. When I submitted my proposal, I had been ambivalent about whether to identify my religion as as “Goddess” or “Pagan” and opted for Pagan: I think it was good that I did so at the time, and was so pleased with the beautiful people, including Indigenous traditions, from around the globe that I gathered with. The programs that I was part of were: Australian Pagans Speak: A Community Forum The New Archaic: Neuroscience, Spiritual Practice and Healing Below is an interview by Noel Debien from the Australian Broadcasting Commission, on December 9th 2009: Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. on the subject of Modern Paganism On the last morning of the Parliament- on my way into the Melbourne conference centre, I saw two circles of mainly young people moving in a ritualistic way as the sun rose over them. As I drew closer, I could hear words about the earth and about blessing. I guessed it was a pagan circle- and waited behind to speak to some of the people who were taking part. Dr Glenys Livingstone kindly agreed to speak about her understanding of modern paganism.
Meet Mago Contributor, Hearth Moon Rising

Hearth Moon Rising (U.S.A.) Hearth Moon Rising is a Dianic Priestess living in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. She blends goddess magic and folklore in her blog, http://hearthmoonrising.com/. She is the author of Invoking Animal Magic: A guide for the Pagan priestess. http://invokinganimalmagic.com. * * Previously Published Posts by Hearth Moon Rising Older Posts (Essay 4) The Old Sow by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 3) The Old Sow by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 2) The Old Sow by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 1) The Old Sow by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) When the Drummers Were Birds by Hearth Moon Rising (Interview) Women and Shamanism: An interview with Max Dashu by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 5) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 4) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 3) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 2) The Animal Mother Goddess, by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay 1) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) The Messages of Birds by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) The Linden Prophesy by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) The Magic Comb by Hearth Moon Rising (Radio Interview) Nature-based spirituality with Hearth Moon Rising by Susun Weed (Essay) Ninhursaga and the Fox by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) How to Create a Patriarchal Pagan Group in 12 Steps by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) Ratatosk, The Red Scoundrel by Hearth Moon Rising (Essay) ‘The Hard Side of Aphrodite’ by Hearth Moon Rising ‘Ereshkigal Pronounces a Verdict’ by Hearth Moon Rising The Forest Queen: Mielikki and the Bear by Hearth Moon Rising
(Pilgrimage Essay 2) Report of First Mago Pilgrimage to Korea by Helen Hwang

[Author’s note: The first Mago Pilgrimage to Korea took place June 6-19, 2013. We visited Ganghwa Island, Seoul, Wonju, Mt. Jiri, Yeong Island (Busan), and Jeju Island.] Part 2 Traditional Korea and the Primordial Home of Magoism It was the time for the sacred, ancient mystery of Magoism to be reenacted once again for the Race of WE! Mago Pilgrimage was an open invitation to the deep knowing that Korean Magoism unfolds beneath the surface of patriarchal consciousness. It was a call from the Background [to borrow Mary Daly’s term, which, I explicate, refers to the biophilic reality wherein the deep memories of Goddess are alive, unfettering from the foreground, patriarch reality] to be present with Mago, the Great Goddess, Here and Now! Third eyes flashed, while open hearts unlocked the doors to the path. We heard the whisper, the chorus of the natural, cultural, and historical landscapes of Korea, the arcane music of the Female Beginning. The magic worked its own feats. As could be expected, undertaking the Mago pilgrimage entailed daunting tasks for me. Nonetheless, it was proven to me time and again that the purpose creates the means. The Korean saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way,” spoke to it well. We, the intercontinental pilgrims, were made welcome by supporters, organizers, and volunteers from the locale. We attracted fabulous scholars, teachers, artists, administrators, and activists along our paths. It was the first cross-cultural and cross-gender goddess event to be held in Korea in modern times! Excitement and anticipation were high. As a researcher of Mago and Magoism, I knew the Mago pilgrimage was the right thing to do. In fact, I had been faithfully following the direction that my heart beckoned to throughout my life. The consequences were the actions that I took. This time, however, I was rewarded with the fate-ful encounter; the very research of Mago came as a revelation to me. The topic of Mago emerged from nowhere at the juncture of my labyrinthine journey to non-patriarchal [gynocentric] consciousness. I was a student of feminist studies in religions. Without knowing what was in store for me, I knew that I was not content with the feminist theology of patriarchal religions of the West and the East. If any theme of these religions had appealed to me — I wished at times, to confess to my readers — during those years, my path would not have crossed with Magoism. My radical feminist quest was the cause for encountering Mago.
(Essay) Sophia, the Sacred Feminine Wisdom by Harita Meenee

It is certainly hard to believe that a feminine divine figure might be praised in the Bible. God is consistently presented as a “He,” a masculine deity, and a celibate one, save for metaphors which portray him as the Bridegroom of Israel. Yet a close reading of the Book of Proverbs reveals another sacred being intimately connected to him: When God set the heavens in place, I was present, When God drew a ring on the surface of the deep, When God fixed the clouds above, When God fixed fast the wells of the deep, when God assigned the sea its limits and the waters will not invade the land, when God established the foundations of the earth, I was by God’s side, a master craftswoman, delighting God day after day, ever at play by God’s side, at play everywhere in God’s domain, delighting to be with the children of humanity.[1] Who could possibly be this person who was there in the beginning of all Creation? Who is this playful being who delights God and rejoices in the presence of human beings? In the book of Proverbs she is presented as a female figure standing on high places, at the gates of the city, shouting: I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of devices. (…) Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me, and those that seek me earnestly shall find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than fine gold; and my produce than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice.[2] This powerful person, who combines so many different attributes, seems truly impressive. Her name in Hebrew is Hochmah, a feminine word meaning “wisdom.” In Greek it is rendered as Sophia (a common name for women in Greece nowadays). Still, it is hard to grasp who this mysterious, primordial being really is. One might be tempted to say that she is not a feminine figure at all, but a simple metaphor, a personification for God’s wisdom. Yet she appears again and again in the Bible and beyond. She is praised in the Wisdom of Sirach and, above all, in the Wisdom of Solomon. These two books, written by Hebrews, are considered apocryphal in the rabbinic tradition, but are canonical in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Wisdom of Solomon is attributed to Solomon, the king of Israel who was renowned for his good judgment. In reality, this book was written in Alexandria of Egypt, the city founded by the Macedonian King Alexander, which became the center of Greek civilization in Hellenistic times. The Jewish community there had obviously received the influence of the Hellenic culture, hence the author wrote this book in Greek. Even though he strongly criticizes “idolatry,” scholars have detected traces of Plato’s philosophy in some of his ideas.
(Prose) Commerce takes us away from happiness by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.

Woman suffers from Burnout, Wikimedia Commons Commerce, capitalism, and the economy, this is the driving force behind the stress in our lives. We must work to live, but we are told we should live to work. We should show devotion to a company, a corporation, and feel honored to work there. We shouldn’t ask for a raise. That means we are only in it for the money, not the joy of work. But we need the money to buy the products our jobs produce. Even our free time has been coopted by commerce. It does not matter if you enjoy a hobby or craft. You must be good at it. You must be great. You must be so good that you can market your skill and sell it. You must also learn to blog and use social media to become an influencer selling your brand. You must sell advertising space on your blog to bring in revenue. If you like making videos for YouTube, you need a Patreon and sponsors to pay your bills so you can devote yourself to what you enjoy. Post(ish)-Covid, the goal seems to be to turn our side hustles, hobbies, and passions into our full-time job. If we write poems or essays for a blog or magazine, we should write more. A lot more. And we shouldn’t make these available for everyone to find and read. Instead, they should go into a book that can be published and sold. It is the same with our art, patterns for knitting. A hobby quilter should have an Esty shop and sell their quilts for hundreds of dollars. Our hobbies are supposed to be our me time. A time to sit quietly and reflect on the day. To focus on one task and let everything else fall away. Or they should be where we let loose, where paint flies from our brushes, and words pour out of our fingers onto the page. We have put a price on everything; even our free time should not be free. Our time of peace should be filled with thoughts on how to market ourselves and our product. The market price we place on our creation makes it impossible to trade and barter with each other. Two bottles of honey are not worth as much as a handmade quilt. Even our spirituality has a price put on it. We must charge others to hear us talk, to let us teach them, to share a ritual or meditation. Everything has a price, even our health. As long as we are in that mindset that says I must be paid for everything I do and thus must pay others for everything I enjoy, we cannot be happy. We must always be thinking of how to improve our skills quickly and profit from them. We can never learn at a slow pace through trial and error. Our happiness in discovery and creativity is sacrificed for the expediency of churning out one marketable item after another. https://www.magoism.net/2018/11/meet-mago-contributor-rev-francesca-tronetti-ph-d/
(Essay 2B) Empress Influence on the Establishment and Rise in Popularity of the Virgin Mary and Kuan Yin by Krista K. Rodin, Ph.D.

Part 2B: Empress Wu Zeitan In addition to the female attributes that began to occur in the paintings and sculptures of the Buddhist deities during her reign, she is attributed with bridging the concept of Xi Wangmu, the Great Mother of the West, with Kuan Yin, as well as with popularizing the multi-armed and eleven-headed Kuan Yin/Avalokiteshvara that had been common in India and Nepal, but not in China. “An inscription preserved in the Shoso-in records that Empress Wu commissioned a thousand embroidered images of the Eleven-headed Guanyin in commemoration of Emperor Gaozong’s death” (Wong, 2007, p. 280). Kuan Yin’s (Guan Yin’s) name came from Kumarajiva’s translation of the Lotus Sutra in the early 3rd century of the Common Era. Chapter 25 of that work is devoted to the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and his name was translated as Kuan Shi Yin, the one who hears (or perceives) the cries (or lamentations) of the world. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition bodhisattvas are those beings who have freed themselves from karmic pollutants and can be released from Samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. They can be free from limiting and determining form. As Yu states, “Avalokitesvara is a cosmic figure, creator and savior of all beings and all worlds” (Yu, 2001, p. 4). Bodhisattvas deliberately choose to stay within the world of form to help all sentient beings free themselves from mental and emotional obfuscations that prevent them from realizing the Oneness of All. This is the perfect figure for merging the female attribute of “karuna” with a Buddhist deity and one that Empress Wu could model herself on for her public appearance with the populace. That she showed a wrathful side to the Court is an entirely different affair. Karuna implies showing mercy and, according to Alice Getty in The Gods of Northern Buddhism, this quality “seems to have appealed to the Chinese as feminine rather than masculine for a goddess of Mercy, believed to be the feminine manifestation of Avalokitesvara, made her appearance and drew worshippers” (Yu, 2001, p. 6). Her role as “Giver of Children” also seems to have contributed to the feminization of the bodhisattva. Prior to Kuan Yin there were no Chinese models for a deity who was concerned with universal salvation for all regardless of status and merit, and while there were goddesses, they never combined salvation in the world beyond with assistance in this plane (Yu, 2001, p. 5). The most common female deities were the indigenous Nuwa, who holds up the Wall of Heaven and created the human race, and the Taoist Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. These figures did not have the same impact as a central female deity, however, as they were less important that the male figures in their respective pantheons, but there were models from other cultures on which the combined nature of the feminine Kuan Yin was based, most specifically the Tibetan Tara, of whom Wu’s childhood “classmate”, Wen Cheng, was said to be an incarnation. According to legend, Avalokitesvara had reached enlightenment and was free from all delusions when he turned to see and hear the cries of the world; he then vowed not to leave until all sentient beings were released from their suffering. With this act he became the Bodhisattva of Compassion. He was unable to reach out to the world with his normal form, so he grew (or Amitabha Buddha gave him, the accounts differ according to tradition), eleven heads with which to see in all directions and a thousand arms to stretch out to all sentient beings in the six realms of Buddhist existence. In some paintings, he also has eyes on each of the hands, like the all-seeing Argos from the earlier Greek tradition. Like Argos, he is a protector, but not of property like the Greek, but of the Dharma, the belief system, and a model of caring and compassion for people to emulate as well as worship. His compassion is greater than the term in English normally implies, as karuna, the original Sanskrit term, goes beyond caring for another and is closer to “being one with”. Karuna is a state of being where there is no separation; what one feels the other feels, the one and the other are the same. It is this form of compassion that Avalokitesvara represents, and this is the original concept for Kuan Yin. Images of Avalokitesvara first appeared in the Gandhara (modern day Pakistan/Afghanistan) and Mathura (North India) regions by the second century CE. Depictions of the eleven-headed form of the bodhisattva occurred later, in about the late fifth to early sixth centuries in the Kanheri Caves. Both would have been readily visible to the early Chinese monks who travelled to India to obtain the official versions of Sanskrit Buddhist texts and bring them back for translation. FaHsien (ca.337-424) would have seen the earliest paintings of Avalokitesvara on his journey to India and Xuanzang (ca. 600-664) would have had access to images of the multi-armed form of the bodhisattva. Additionally, the Silk Route trade, which flourished during Empress Wu’s tenure, would have brought these images to the capital city. Early Chinese images of Avalokitesvara/Kuan Yin show a refined composed male personage, sometimes sporting a mustache, in flowing robes. This Kuan Yin is, in his imagery, related to the balanced and harmonious styles of Taoist art. The vibrant un-human Indian and Himalayan depictions of Avalokitesvara with eleven heads and a thousand arms are singularly missing from the early male Chinese portrayals of Kuan Yin, though at this early period, they are supposed to be one in the same figure. It is only with the reign of Empress Wu Zetian that the eleven-headed bodhisattva’s image is popularized, as well as the emergence of the deity’s female attributes. By the Sung Dynasty in the 10th century the transformation from male to female is complete, with the only remaining male images of the deity reserved solely for inner sanctuaries in temples. Throughout her reign as …
(Prose) Feeding the Birds…. Refuge by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright It’s another gray snowy day with large white flakes falling from the sky… January lasts “forever” every single year. I feed chickadees on my window ledge until the squirrels show up; then I scatter seed on the ground. Chickadees begin their day just before 7 AM when it is still dark, coming to the ledge. Today the turkeys are absent, fluffed up monks still hidden under hemlock boughs. The blood male cardinal appears with his usual message. I peer into the forest as the turkeys make their way across the brook and start up the hill while gazing at sage green shield lichens and two pure white birches that stand out like sentries, peeling white skin. Some maples and many hemlocks border the brook that is running clear of ice. A multitude of twigs and evergreen spires sway, branches twist and bend filling every inch of space, a comforting sight, even though all the deciduous trees are bare. Global warming turns snow to rain and back again in every storm creating ice bound paths, easily traversed by my little dogs. Dangerous for me. Often now I am housebound. This gray world of mine needs animation from within… The birds and my little night- flying squirrel remind me that flight can be a good exercise, even if it is only in my mind – but any flight I may make must be attached to my body. My body needs solid grounding and the separation I feel from rich brown earth, now covered by snow threatens to sever one from the other, I know. That I need extra protection at this time of year is sharply etched in my psyche. I light sage daily as I invoke the Four Directions. Following my dreams closely I receive nudges like those I feel and sense when I am free to roam through my favorite forest. I meditate on a dream of a blue green serpent with red crosses on his back. Blue green earth and betrayal behind my back. I am forewarned… Paying close attention to my beloved dogs and indoor plants, I take deep pleasure from the fact that all are thriving. Twice now two plants have spoken; one imaged an offering I needed to make for personal protection. Another produced an illumination: The root connection to my children remains, part of the great underground mycelial network, regardless of their behavior. I feel ambivalence around this news having suffered for so long, and finally being purged of want or need, the latter a Life Blessing. A second dream tells me to add a frog to my enclosure, a place where a child that is also me lives … The next dream reveals that this child is no bigger than a little red berry (berries contain seeds) and that living inside a protected space allows her to thrive because she is safe. Yet another dream reveals an emerald evergreen princess pine, a diminutive forest ground cover shimmering through the snow. The meaning behind this plant dream remains obscure until I spy the spore bearing tuft in my winter bouquet. Severing the ‘candle’ from the plant I carefully spread the seed dust on the moss of my terrarium. Seeds! Offering or Intention – I am not sure – probably both. My terrarium is bursting with life. Last fall I collected wild plants from the beloved forest, where my little brother roams free, to fill a container…. By creating a miniature woodland without conscious intention, I created a safe space, not just for a child but for me. Every morning I open the doors to mist the air and let the sweet earth scent of a forest in miniature remind the adult that winter is but one of four seasons and spring will come. Inside this oasis a partridgeberry catches my eye immediately. Little stone frog sits at the edge of the pool, the She Bear is in the foreground, head bowed, her red heartline hidden. Both Zuni fetishes. Lichen and mosses abound, dripping from lichened wood. Hemlock heartwood, driftwood from the deep lies against the glass; two hemlock seedlings are planted just to the right. Death to Life. Rotting leaves curl, brown edged, like Pulmonaria, once common now a rare lichen. Gradually a few stones move in, chert from Changing Woman’s Mountain, granite from my friend an Oglala Sioux Medicine Man. The first two offerings I was instructed to leave here for Winter Protection… A few wispy turkey feathers lay against the back glass wall. The child directs who and what enters this space; plants and my dreams fill in the blanks. Imagination turns the key. Until this morning I thought we were finished with offerings, but I was wrong. As I read an article that Carolyn Lee Boyd had written about witch stones, I suddenly recalled my brother’s Algonquin amulet, one he used to wear around his neck. Rummaging through my old jewelry bag I discovered the leather thong, but inexplicably it had been cut. The round stone with its hand drilled hole was gone. How could this be? Bereft, I tore through everything I had before finding lost treasure. Clasping the stone in hungry hands it suddenly hit me. The anniversary of my brother’s death was five days away. Every year for the last 51 years there has been something that re -attaches me to him in a visceral way… Here was the final offering. This one for the dead. When I examined the petroglyphs etched on the stone I remembered the fish, the sun, and the arrow on one side. The opposite side held the end of the story picturing a teepee – like structure, a place to hang fish, and stars falling to earth. A prayer for good fishing? A Witch Stone. When I looked at the rounded edge I was stunned. I didn’t remember that a serpent circled the periphery, meeting up with a lizard, face to face. Serpents and Lizards – north and south. …
(Art) India Oaxaqueña by Ramón Cano Manilla

Painting by Ramón Cano Manilla (1888-1974). This work is dated 1928, and is held in the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Evergreen: Of Trees and Visions by Sara Wright

I I forgot the ‘Original Instructions’ until She nudged me Black Bear Chloe Green Shoot alive or dead She lives on like the Evergreens she evolved with, climbed to safety from those who would harm. I picked some boughs for him as a gift illness intervened Absence drills holes in my heart but I reclaimed your fragrant branches reminding myself that he doesn’t know your story The People* hold you Sacred Evergreens and I do too. because you taught me it was true. Oh, Trees of Life I remember the Tewa Dancing prayers fringed needled branches held tightly chasing dark spirits back to Mountains Shadows all Even in the Desert Cedar poles stand at the center of your Ancient Kivas. You speak in Heart tongues Choose Compassion Community Compromise Self- Govern Equality Maintain healthy distance from poisoned peoples – You save Seeds, and those you Love. Pass on Stories already Present in Earth’s Memory You offer genuine hope for survival for All but no one is listening to your ways your prayers for Life. You never take more than you need, listen to weasel and otter deer and turkey all manner of bears Familiars all Roots and Trees Plants Mushrooms those you continue to protect against all odds You sing to the Underground Web, Spiral Galaxies spin Light overhead. Resilience, Patience, Believing. When dawn burns a hole through delusion Evergreen boats carved from hollowed trees from hallowed trees guided by Ancestral Tree Beings will beach you on lush green shores. ‘In Beauty may you walk In Beauty may you Walk.’ ** *All Indigenous peoples of this country call themselves the (first) People **(The last sentence is part of the Navajo Night Chant enacted at this time of year) I wrote this poem in Honor of Evergreens (and by extension all trees) and for the Native Peoples of this land. When I began, I didn’t know I would be also writing a story of hope. Most tribal nations describe themselves as the ‘First People” of this continent, which of course they were and are. When colonists first came to conquer, they cut down the Old Ones, evergreens, and shot the animals. They raped the women and murdered whole villages using disease and guns to manifest their goals. When the violent oppressors stole Indigenous land, the People were driven from their homes and stuffed onto reservations where they were left to starve. For five hundred years Indigenous persecution has dominated the lives of these people who continue to persevere despite being made invisible by their American oppressors. Genocide lives on. Accustomed to suffering the People continue to create Community, live the Great Round, hold close their songs dances and Ceremonies, pass on the Stories that their Elders tell about a time when the People will be finally free from tyranny…Each tribe has different variations but at the core of each story is that Change is Coming, and that the People will live on. The Time of Change that they speak of is upon us now. As Nature demonstrates, western culture with its lust for economic wealth and power has brought us all to edge of catastrophe, one that includes the death of non – human species, intolerable human suffering across the globe and the destruction of the earth as we know it. Living through the sixth extinction is not easy. Sorrow runs deep. I center my winter ceremony around the Tree of Life, of which there are many…. I honor all trees but especially during the winter I lean into the evergreens as some Indigenous peoples do, tipping boughs, and making a wreath to celebrate the Tree of Life and to participate in the Great Round. This year during the week of the solstice I created the shape of a ‘tree of life’ around my medicine wheel one evening that I didn’t even realize I’d done until the next morning. I never know where I am headed when I start to craft each year’s story which occurs in the same room but has a different focus each year. Nature’s artist takes over. II This year while submerged in this process of creating my winter story I remembered… When the vision occurred that frigid winter solstice dawning in 2019, I was traversing the Bosque (a wetland) in Abiquiu NM. I had slipped into a light trance as I walked with my hands tucked into my pockets around the junipers, cottonwoods, thorny olives in a repetitive circle. The geese and cranes were wheeling overhead, welcoming in the dawn. The sound of the river in the background was a soothing murmur. Suddenly I stopped. I was looking down at my cupped hands, entranced. A perfect miniature marbled earth had appeared there. Inside the clear plastic film, the whole earth was visible and pulsing with light. Lush green trees, fields, plains, mountains, deserts, oceans, and clear waters flowed through the pristine planet. I saw a tiny wooden boat with all manner of creatures streaming out of the vessel all at once. What? An Ark? Bewildered, I watched butterflies and bees, deer and bear, birds of every conceivable species flooding the sky and the earth, the tree studded hills, fields and forests. Experiencing a fierce love and feeling unbearable joy, no – ecstasy, I kept staring at this vision, awe overcoming all other senses – oh, the earth had become whole. Was that when I noticed that not one human being could be seen anywhere on this beautiful blue green planet, my home? Where were the people? I kept searching. Their absence jarred me… and then the images began fading. No! I wasn’t ready. Waves of grief gripped my heart. But the vision of my earth was gone. Now empty, my cupped palms were red, half – frozen. Hurriedly, I buried my hands in their pockets and walked on in a daze, dazzled, by what I had seen. A few days previously (can’t remember exact sequence but the story is recorded elsewhere on my blog) …

(Special Post 8) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. Special thanks to Trista Hendren, founder and author of The Girl God, who passionately and painstakingly promotes the message of each contributor via Facebook’s memes. Without Trista’s devotion to the advocacy, this collective effort would not have continued. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Marija Krstic-Chin To remember who we really are (nature, cycles, network, creative force, one, infinite…) for the benefit of all of humanity and all living things; and to unite and unify as we broadcast, hand down, protect and defend this truth and each other against the oppressive intentions and actions of patriarchal perpetrators, puppets, and pawns who seek to enslave us by various old and new divide-and-conquer strategies.
(Special Post Isis 2) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 2 The Color Talk in Goddesses Kahena Dorothea Athena was also whitened which is sad. However the statues were worshiped by many women to whom they brought comfort. And their origins were later remembered by the abundance of Black Virgins that became important in Italy and other parts of Europe. I don’t see Dark Goddesses as shadows but as having depths of Creativity and Knowledge. My main Goddess is Kirke and the bast relief I have of her is a chocolate brown. Diane Horton The worship of Isis broadened from Egypt to all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, as well as the Middle East and the isles called now the British Isles. She and Her worship were virtually everywhere in the westernly known world of the time! She IS the Goddess of 10,000 Names! And as such she was adapted to each culture’s vision of Her. She was the basis of all the” Black Madonnas”. I do not think of this as Isis/Auset representing the “dark” Goddess as something somehow bad or to be dealt with, but rather that ancient darkness represents infinite potential, eternal creativity/fertility, the beginning and ending of all things, and the always deepening knowledge of magick. Max Dashu However, there is a politics of representation that we all need to be aware of, that pushes original African iconography down and away, and fronts Europeanized images. There is no possibility of “colorblindness” in such a system; a restoration of the original must be actively striven toward. This is incumbent on all of us not of (recent) African descent. Otherwise we perpetuate the injurious status quo, instead of overturning it. Harita Meenee I agree with those who say that race is largely a social construct. Its roots seem to lie in colonialism and the slave trade. I would also like to add that racism is used to oppress people of different nationalities and colors. Ηere in Greece the IMF neo-liberal policies are destroying our economy (and lives); they go hand in hand with a vicious racist campaign against immigrants, along with the rise of a neo-Nazi party. This is part of an effort to redirect people’s anger away from the government and bankers, towards those who are poor and foreign and often have a different color or religion. Fortunately, many grassroots activists are responding to this by building a strong anti-racist, antifascist movement. You can see our Facebook page below. It’s in Greek but the photos are quite revealing. If anyone is interested in learning more about the situation here, please message me and I’ll try to find some articles in English for you. https://www.facebook.co/19JanuaryATHENSvsFASCISM?fref=ts 19 Γεναρη – ΑΘΗΝΑ ΠΟΛΗ Αντιφασιστικη Μπροστά στη κλιμάκωση της φασιστικής απειλής και της ρατσιστικής βίας, στη εμφάν…See More Naa Ayele Kumari Let me put this in the context of something you might understand. This is a goddess group that honors the feminine and the power it represents. People in this group understand the oppression and misrepresentation of women. We understand the implications of misogynistic patriarchal thinking. We understand the implications of stealing the information, rites, and traditions from goddess centered cultures and rephrasing them into male dominated themes… especially those that then went on to oppress women today. This is the same thing that has happened as it related to race and our cultures. It infuriates us when a man may say… why do we have to focus on the goddess? Let us just accept that we are all human and no special consideration should be given to anyone because of their gender. Or, this is just a distraction or social construct and it really doesn’t matter. We understand the blatant disregard and ignorance of those statements. Yet, the same is true for race and people of other races. Your attitude and casual disregard perpetuates a lie that you are comfortable with and don’t wish to move from that comfort zone. It means you don’t have to be accountable for the injustices or oppression it continues to perpetuate in the larger culture toward people who do not look like you. As far as I am concerned, I truly believe that the dark goddess for many with white skin IS their shadow… It is the part of themselves that they deny and fear. That you may have come from black people may scare you… even when the science proves it. That deep down… you fear what you don’t understand. To even confront it is frightening… something that you would rather ignore and deny… Yet… here we are. Black, Yellow, Red… people.. women… who have been oppressed for thousands of year because of this… and are asking… to be seen in their true likeness… not as you wish them to be… or fear them to be. Naa Ayele Kumari Thank you Max Dashu, I so appreciate your scholarship and dedication to the truth where ever you find it… and Helen Hwang for staying open to it as well. [Someone withdrew the threads.] Rick Williams No, you can’t passively aggressively slither your way out of this, reread your own statements and that last post contradicts most of your ascertains. I can’t believe that you honestly say fire away at you like you’re some sort of martyr and VICTIM of being misunderstood, not at all, I understand you very well. I don’t think you understand yourSELF. That’s the real tragedy. Rick Williams “The Lips of Wisdom are Closed except to the Ears of Understanding.” It is in quotes, and it’s part of Ancient Wisdom, of Tehuti, DJehuti, or Hermes Trimegitus… The Great Scribe of KMT.. they have alot of pretty pictures of him all over KMT(Egypt).. still have no idea what you are saying have the time. Max Dashu Thank you Naa Ayele for taking the time to make the extremely apt analogy of women’s oppression to clarify the politics of race oppression […]
(Special Post 2) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

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

(Prose) Desire: the Wheel of Her Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the concluding chapter (Chapter 8) of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Place of Being is a passionate place, where desire draws forth what is sought, co-creates what is needed[1]; within a con-text – a story – where love of self, other and all-that-is are indistinguishable … they are nested within each other and so is the passion for being. I begin to understand desire afresh: this renewed understanding has been an emergent property of the religious practice of seasonal celebration: that is, the religious practice of the ceremonial celebration of Her Creativity. It has been said She is “that which is attained at the end of desire[2].” Within the context of ceremonial engagement and inner search for Her, I begin to realize how desire turns the Wheel. As the light part of the cycle waxes from Early Spring, form/life builds in desire. At Beltaine/High Spring, desire runs wild, at Summer Solstice, it peaks into creative fullness, union … and breaks open at that interchange into the dark part of the cycle – the dissolution of Lammas/ Late Summer. She becomes the Dark One, who receives us back – the end of desire. It has been a popular notion in the Christian West, that the beautiful virgin lures men (sic) to their destruction, and as I perceive the Wheel, it is indeed Virgin who moves in Her wild delight towards entropy/dissolution; however in a cosmology that is in relationship with the dark, this is not perceived as a negative thing. Also, in this cosmology, there is the balancing factor of the Crone’s movement towards new life, in the conceiving dark space of Samhain/Deep Autumn – a dynamic and story that has not been a popular notion in recent millennia. Desire seems not so much a grasping, as a receiving, an ability or capacity to open and dissolve. I think of an image of an open bowl as a signifier of the Virgin’s gift. The increasing light is received, and causes the opening, which will become a dispersal of form – entropy, if you like: this is Beltaine/High Spring – the Desire[3]that is celebrated is a movement towards dis-solution … that is its direction. In contrast, and in balance, Samhain/Deep Autumn celebrates re-solution, which is a movement towards form – it is a materializing gathering into form, as the increasing darkness is received. It seems it is darkness that creates form, as it gathers into itself – as many ancient stories say, and it is light that creates dispersal. And yet I see that the opposite is true also. I think of how there is desire for this work that I have done, for whatever one does – it is then already being received. Desire is receiving. What if I wrote this, and it was not received or welcomed in some way. But the desire for it is already there, and perhaps the desire made it manifest. Perhaps the desire draws forth manifestation, even at Winter Solstice, even at Imbolc/Early Spring, as we head towards Beltaine – it is desire that is drawing that forth, drawing that process around. Desire is already receiving; it is open. Its receptivity draws forth the manifestation. And then the manifestation climaxes at Summer and dissolves into the manifesting, which is perhaps where the desire is coming from – the desire is in the darkness, in the dark’s receptivity[4]. It becomes very active at the time of Beltaine, it lures the differentiated beings back into Her. So the lure at Beltaine is the luring of differentiated beings into a Holy Lust, into a froth and dance of life, whereupon they dissolve ecstatically back into Her – She is “that which is attained at the end of Desire.” And in the dissolution, we sink deeper into that, and begin again. All the time, it is Desire that is luring the manifest into the manifesting, and the manifesting into the manifest. Passion is the glue, the underlying dynamic that streams through it all – through the light and the dark, through the creative triplicities of Virgin-Mother-Crone, of Differentiation-Communion-Autopoeisis[5]. Passion/Desire then is worthy of much more contemplation. If desire/allurement is the same cosmic dynamic as gravity, as cosmologist Brian Swimme suggests[6], then desire like gravity is the dynamic that links/holds us to our Place, to “that which is”, as philosopher Linda Holler describes the effect of gravity[7]. Held in relationship by desire/allurement we lose abstraction and artificial boundaries, and “become embodied and grow heavy with the weight of the earth[8].” We then know that “being is being-in relation-to”[9]. Holler says that when we think with the weight of Earth, space becomes “thick” as this “relational presence … turns notes into melodies, words into phrases with meaning, and space into vital forms with color and content, (and) also holds the knower in the world[10].”Thus, I at last become a particular, a subject, a felt being in the world – a Place laden with content, sentient: continuous with other and all-that-is. Notes: [1]“…as surely as the chlorophyll molecule was co-created by Earth and Sun, as Earth reached for nourishment; as surely as the ear was co-created by subject and sound, as the subject reached for an unknown signal.” As I have written in PaGaian Cosmology, p. 248. [2]Doreen Valiente, The Charge of the Goddessas referred to in Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, p.102-103. [3]I capitalize here, for it is a holy quality. [4]Perhaps the popular cultural association of the darkness/black lingerie etc. with erotica is an expression/”memory” of this deep truth. [5]These are the three qualities of Cosmogenesis, as referred to in PaGaian Cosmology, Chapter 4, “Cosmogenesis and the Female Metaphor”: https://pagaian.org/book/chapter-4/ [6]Brian Swimme, The Universe is a Green Dragon, p.43. [7]Linda Holler, “Thinking with the Weight of the Earth: Feminist Contributions to an Epistemology of Concreteness”, Hypatia, Vol. 5 No. 1, p.2. [8]Linda Holler, “Thinking with the Weight of the Earth: Feminist Contributions to an Epistemology of Concreteness”,Hypatia, Vol. …
(Art & Poem) Spring Equinox by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX . . . till I feel the earth around the place my head has lain under winter’s touch, and it crumbles. Slanted weight of clouds. Reaching with my head and shoulders past the open crust dried by spring wind. Sun. Tucking through the ground that has planted cold inside me, made its waiting be my food. Now I watch the watching dark my light’s long-grown dark makes known. Art and poem are included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Art & Poem) Candelmas/Imbolc by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

IMBOLC DANCE From the east she has gathered like wishes. She has woven a night into dawn. We are quickening ivy. We grow where her warmth melts out over the ice. Now spiral south bends into flame to push the morning over doors. The light swings wide, green with the pulse of seasons, and we let her in We are quickening ivy. We grow The light swings wide, green with the pulse till the west is rocked by darkness pulled from where the fire rises. Shortened time’s reflecting water rakes her through the thickened cold. Hands cover north smooth with emptiness, stinging the mill of night’s hours. Wait with me. See, she comes circling over the listening snow to us. Shortened time’s reflecting water Wait with me. See, she comes circling From Calendars (Tupelo Press, 2003) Art is included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

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

The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ as is experienced and contemplated in the Season of Deep Autumn/Samhain, may be a metaphor for the passing of all/any that has come to fullness of being, or that has had a fullness, a blossoming of some kind, and borne fruit; and in the passing it has been received, and thus transforms. The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ may be in hearts and minds, an event or events, a period of time, or an era, that was a deep communion, now passed and dissolved into receptive hearts and minds, where it/they reside for reconstitution, within each unique being. Samhain is traditionally understood as ‘Summer’s end’: indeed that is what the word ‘Samhain’ means. In terms of the seasonal transitions in indigenous Old European traditions, Summer is understood as over when the Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Lughnasad comes around; it is the first marked transition after the fullness of Summer Solstice. The passing and losses may have been grieved, the bounty received, thanksgiving felt and expressed, perhaps ceremonially at Autumn Equinox/Mabon; yet now in this Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn it composts, clearly falls, as darkness and cooler/cold weather sets in, change is clearer. In the places where this Earth-based tradition arose, Winter could be sensed setting in at this time, and changes to everyday activity had to be made. In our times and in our personal lives, we may sense this kind of ending, when change becomes necessary, no longer arbitrary: and the Seasonal Moment of Samhain may be an excellent moment for expressing these deep truths, telling the deep story, and making meaning of the ending, as we witness such passing. What new shapes will emerge from the infinite well of creativity? And we may wonder what will return from the dissolution? What re-solution will be found? We may wonder what new shapes will emerge. In the compost of what has been, what new syntheses, new synergies, may come forth? Now is the time for dreaming, for drawing on the richness within, trusting the sentience, within which we are immersed, and which we are: and then awaiting the arrival, being patient with the fermentation and gestation. Seize the moment, this Moment – and converse with the depths within your own bodymind, wherein She is. Make space for the sacred conversation, the Conversing with your root and source of being, and take comfort in this presence. We may ponder what yet unkown beauty and wellness may emerge from this infinite well of creativity. The Samhain Moment in the Northern Hemisphere is 17:14 UT 7thNovember this year. Wishing you a sense of the deep communion present in the sacred space you make for this holy transition.
Lammas/Late Summer in PaGaian tradition By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

(Book Excerpt 6) The Mago Way by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note] The following is from Chapter One, “What Is Mago and Magoism and How Did I Study HER?” from The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, Volume 1. Footnotes below would be different from the monograph version. PDF book of The Mago Way Volume 1 download is available for free here.] Magoism, East Asian Religions, and Magoist Mudangs As mentioned above, Magoism refers to the totality of human civilization that is ultimately gynocentric. Speaking from a narrow perspective, Magoism is the primordial matrix from which such East Asian religions as Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism were derived. In the light of Magoism, a patriarchal religion is redefined as a pseudo-Magoism that which has co-opted the Way of the Great Goddess (Magoism) with the androcentric reversal of the female
(Mago Pilgrimage video 2) Ganghwa Island by Robert (Taffy) Seaborne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ANT2cPDN-g The first day of Mago Pilgrimage 2014 to Korea, organised by Dr.Helen Hwang, was to Ganghwa Island, starting actually on Gyodong Peace Island: the group included locals, and together we walked up to the Rock of Constellation Marks located atop the Ruin of Hwagae “Castle”/Stronghold. The scenic view up there is from the Ruin of Gwanmi Stronghold (not a fortress, as present minds may think, but a “strong” place). I state all this here about the name because there was a bit of confusion in my mind when making the video. Along our way we came across an ancient sweat lodge – named Hanjeung-mak – shaped like a womb and similar to ancient constructions in other lands. As we walked we could also at some points, see across to the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea, and some in our group expressed deep distress about the loss and splitting of families, with this division.
(Bell Essay 8) The Magoist Whale Bell: Decoding the Cetacean Code of Korean Temple Bells by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This and ensuing sequels are excerpts of a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Singing Humpback Whales, wikimedia commons Whales as the Cosmic Music Maker That whales (Gorae in Korean) are foundational to the Korean temple bell remains subliminal to this day. How do we assess the cetacean code of the Korean temple bell? What is the relationship between these two seemingly unrelated objects? We are given the whale-shaped mallet of the bell to begin with. Intriguingly, two Buddhist temples are noted today for the wooden whale-carved mallet of their bells: Sudeok-sa in Yesan, South Chungcheong, and Seonam-sa in Suncheon, South Jeolla.[1] Other temple bells reportedly have the whale mallet as well, although not as much distinctly carved as the two. The Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great is known as such. What is the significance of the Korean temple bell that has a whale as its striker? However, the whale-shaped wooden mallet is only a visible symbol of Sillan cetacean veneration. The whale motif is not just physically present in the mallet but also signified in its name or title. Among many alternative names of the Korean temple bell are cetacean names; Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), and Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale). Here the character “gyeong 鯨” means a whale.[2] These whale names suggest that the bell itself is conceived as a whale. Korean temple bells are the code of Magoist cetaceanism. By the very nature of a temple bell that is to awaken all beings to put it bluntly, we can establish that the sound of a whale is elevated to the purpose of a temple bell. Or vice versa. The sound of a temple bell is identified as that of a whale. At the outset, suffice it to say that whales are admired and revered for their vocal behaviors so much so that they are represented in Sillan temple bells. The cetacean representation of the Korean temple bell comes unexpected to us. Why is the song of a whale not the song of a bird or another animal? And what does it mean that the Korean temple bell employs cetacean names? These are no small questions. Answering them requires digging into the deepest layer of what has gone under the surface about Magoist Korean whale culture. I have discussed elsewhere in detail about how Korean cetaceanism is steeped in linguistics, myths, place-names, and custom.[3] For the immensity and complexity of the topic, this essay leaves out the discussion of such salient features of whales as their pre-human origin, evolution from land to sea, sizes and trans-oceanic migratory journeys. Summarily, whales connect and bridge the human mind beyond anthropocentrism. Here we will focus on how cetacean veneration is encoded in the Korean temple bell, in particular the sound tube. Ancient Korean Magoists deemed whales as the cosmic music makers. The cetacean names of Korean temple bells redefine the bell as the acoustic instrument that conveys the music of whales. Note the plural in bells and whales. Korean temple bells are meant to be recognized as a chorus, like whales in the sea, to respond to the sonic property of all beings. In fact, the Korean temple bell is never an isolated single sound wave, to be discussed below. What is emitted from both is harmonized music. It is noted that the music of whales can travel hundreds of kilometers underwater.[4] That the song of whales travel as far as hundreds of kilometers underwater is juxtaposed with the sound of the Korean temple bells that travel far. The former is transmitted through water waves, while the latter is transmitted through air waves. Humpback Whales Whales compose music. Among cetacean species, known for their vocalizations are the blue whale, the fin whale, the humpback whale, the minke whale, and the killer whale.[5] In particular, such baleen whales as humpback whales and blue whales have been relatively well studied for their vocalizing behaviors. The range of humpback whales’ sound frequencies is known as follows: The range of frequencies that whales use are [sic] from 30 Hertz (Hz) to about 8,000 Hz, (8 kHZ). Humans can only hear part of the whales’s songs. We aren’t able to hear the lowest of the whale frequencies. Humans hear low frequency sounds starting at about 100 Hz.[6] In comparisons, the vocalizations of blue whales are known to range from 10 to 40 Hz at a fundamental frequency (the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform). It is also noted that blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka make music of “four notes duration lasting about two minutes each, reminiscent of the well-known humpback whale songs.”[7] To be discussed below, the frequencies of the two most noted Korean temple bells range from 65 Hz to 103.02 Hz, which fall within the range of these whales’ vocalizations. A significant volume of scientific research has been harvested on the music of humpback whales. Katy and Roger Payne are, according to an article by Bill McQuay and Alison Richards, the first scientists who identified the calls of male humpback whales as songs.[8] They report that humpback whales do not merely sing but compose music. McQuay and Richards describe the song of humpback whales as follows: Surprisingly researchers have noted that at any given moment all males in a group will sing the same version of a song, even when separated over large distances, while whales in another region or hemisphere will sing a completely different song, but in unison with other whales in their area. These sounds are loud, deep and low-frequency (20Hz – 10 kHz). They can be heard many miles away and may go on for hours or even days. Individual songs can last anywhere from a few minutes up to a half hour at which point they may then be repeated again. …

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