October 15, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(2014 Mago Pilgrimage) Thursday 16 October

Visit Unju Temple and Temple Stay in Seonam Temple, South Jeolla 4 AM-Noon (Prepare socks and toiletries) Mago Castle in Blue Crane Village, Mt. Jiri. Visits and hikes to Read More …

October 15, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin3 Comments

(Poem) Defiance by Mary Saracino

I was bred to appease, close the gaping mouth of desire, a child speaking in the foreign tongue of docility relying on conforming consonants, denying voracious vowels their due, jailing Read More …

(Essay 7) The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia by Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen

[This part and the forthcoming sequels are an elaborated version of the original article entitled “The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia—a late Shamanistic Branch of the Old European Civilization?” by Märta-Lena Bergstedt & Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen, included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018) Edited by Mary Ann Beavis and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] The Holy Crones, Mothers and Maidens – Guardians of Life in Vanaheim Fig. 18. Proud Mothers of Old The process we have undertaken to un-wrap the original Vanir mothers from their Asir goddess clothing and functions for the sake of being able to observe them in their own rights, has gradually unfolded a group of powerful female images, shimmering in their own natural potential. As shamanic entities or at least as strong mythic archetypes, they once seem to have served as eternal models of inspiration. Beside them, we most often find their allied brother-partners, together with whom the mothers formed a social base for the upbringing of her children. This alliance granted both parts free access lovers at their own choice. Storytelling about the old mother figures must have granted pleasure to the humans at all life-stages, giving existence bearing, hope and trust. We are happy to now share our findings of their stories, and to let them step forward, at times also accompanied with both their brothers, and their lovers. HEL — Great-Grandmother of the Universe In Edda mythology not all of the significant Vanir mothers were given roles to play within the Asir Court of Asgård. The Asir gods may have wanted these left-outs to fulfill other roles outside the divine Asir domain, not least for the sake of contrasting Asgård. At least, this was true for the Universal Grandmother, the exalted Crone, the Great-Grandmother Hel. In the Eddas, Odin put her away deep down in the Underworld, in Nifelheim (Home of the Mists) and gave to her the unpleasant task of superintending the miserable Hell, designed for non-heroes, yielding corpses dead from illness and age, and to reign over its nine worlds.[1] Never the less, her name, Hel signals that she is the Grandmother of the Hele, meaning wHole and (H)all, even Holy. Hel (whole) personifies or maybe rather, is the complete unity of the Three-in-One-idea (Three and the triangle was the holy numbers before dualism[2]). Hel is One and She is All, She is the trunk of the Tree-of-Life braided together from its three roots; She is the three threads of the Norns, separately spun and intertwined into one string of yarn. She is the image of Life consisting of three parts: spirit, body-movement, and senses.[3] And metaphorically she is the human fate, the whole person twisted together from the three birth-gifts spun together into one personality;[4] she is the timeless individual beyond its three ages. Therefore she is the ancient triad of maiden-mother-crone, and the whole world consisting of the inseparable trinity, the moon, the earth, and the sun (Fig. 19). She is identified as the Old Källing/Kärring (Da/Sw), and parallels the Celtic Cailleach.[5] Her archaic name is familiar in all Indo-European languages, but surprisingly and also speaking in favor of her universality the Grandmother-Hel-concept, it is found also in non-Indoeuropean languages like Basque, Finnish, and seemingly also in Arabic/Hebrew, stretching perhaps as far as Korea to the ancient, pre-patriarchal Crone Mother of All, known as Halmi, Halmae, Halmoni, Halmui, Halmang (-mi/me/ma is mother). The Korean icon, Halmi, has legends telling about her function that are similar to those of the European Hel and Crone Mother, e.g. shaping land by dropping boulders.[6] Fig. 19. Hel and her three manifestations. Rock Art 4000 BCE. Alta, Norway. – drawing from original. According to the researchers the authors Gun and Göran Liljenroth, the form Hel appears with – interchangeable vowels, a-e-i-o-u-y (-ä-ö-å) (Hal, Hel, Hil, Hol, Hul, Hyl), giving; Holy, Hallo, Hell, He(a)ling, Help, Holly, and wHole; and with – mute or lost H; Alter, All, Old, Elder-tree, Elderly, etc.[7] In Nordic languages huld means beautiful; hyld means eldertree; häll is rock; eld/ild is fire, hailstorm, etc — words all associated with Hel, her manifestations and her five elements. The German hell (light) corresponds with the Greek helios (sun); the Basque (H)ilargi (moon) and hil (month), and here the Arab words, hilal (Moon), counts in. Once in early times, over-ranking the two lower gods Jahve (YHWH) and Baal, the ancient Ugaritic and Hebrew High-God was named El (El Eljon). [8] He received all his ruling power from his wife/sister Asherah,[9] a fact that points towards a still earlier concept that prior to patriarchy in Israel, El may once have been the all-female grandmother Hel. Also the ancient male god Tub-Hal, “the one who gives birth or brings forth” may in a distant past have been the original mythical grandmother.[10] Countless geographical names all over Europe are dedicated to Grandmother Hel – Halle, Hull, Holland, Hellas, Hillerød, Halland, Helsingborg, and Helsingland (Land blessed by Hel) etc. In the Asir take-over, Grandmother Hel was neither forced to march to Asgård, nor was she wanted there. And for good reasons. War-based PIE religions valuing both murder and dying young, had invented the double exit for the dead. They insisted on a heavenly place for reward, fabricated to motivate young warriors for battle. In Scandinavia Odin set up Valhall (Battlefield Hall). The whole Valhall-idea intended to reflect heavenly and divine values on earth, sanctioning the idealizing of battles and fights, and the duty of loyalty towards authorities. This whole set-up was crucial if to encourage young men to go to battle field and die.[11] For warriors wounded and slain by pointed iron, the realm of Valhall beckoned with its daily combats, nocturnal feasting on beer and pork, and free access to blooming virgins, forever. And to make the idea fully clear, Valhall needed an opposite – and here Hel’s domain came into use. The famous Icelandic writer, Snorri Sturlasons depicts Hel-Vid or Hel-vi as a scary shadow-land, ruled by restlessness, …
(Essay 1) How Mother Nature Died: The bio-cosmic rupture of European Renaissance by Luciana Percovich

[This essay was presented at Roma Goddess Conference, May 22-23, 2021, under the theme of “Goddess & Environment – Save Mother Earth.”] It was not a sudden accident, but a long process deeply rooted in the past and intertwined with the relationship between the sexes. Two books published in the 1980s inspired this path of research and these abridged notes: The Death of Nature. Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution by Carolyn Merchant (1980) and Reflections on Gender and Science by Evelyn Fox Keller (1985). Roots To understand the complex relationship between humans and Gea/Earth, the planet that gave us form and still sustains the continuation of life, it can be useful to start from far away in time, from the long era when our Ancestors learnt how to survive amidst an overwhelming wild Nature. On the basis of the reconstructions made possible by the development of new research methodologies that are now available, it is likely to assume which must have been the condition of our quite vulnerable species – lacking fur, fangs, claws, etc., – in a natural environment populated by extraordinarily vital, wild and untamed creatures. The first human cultures of the Paleolithic, between 50,000 and 12/10.000, seem to have been perfectly aware of which was the essential knowledge for their survival. It was based on few key concepts: consciousness of the contiguity and of the total dependence of the human world from nature fluidity of the boundaries between plants, animals, humans, and the heavenly vault, between the world of the living and of the dead, possibility to communicate and influence interactions among these worlds (shamanism) cyclical nature of life, a knowledge born from a long and accurate observation of the movements in the sky and of the related movements/changes of plants and animals on the territory. As these elements proved on a long period to be the roots of the continuation of human life, they found how to fix and share them through the invention of a set of transmittable signs. In the representations of this first essential wisdom, they attributed to fierce animals and to the female bodies the primary numinous powers – both real and symbolic: they were the sacred guides to the necessary quest for balance from which new life, food and shelter, the gift of abundance flew. The first forms of art of the Paleolithic, probably performed in ritual settings, carved or painted in the sanctuary caves, focus on these two sets of images: abundant and generous bodies of women and a rich and vivid gallery of wild animals. (To be continued) https://www.magoism.net/2013/10/meet-mago-contributor-luciana-percovich/
(Prose) Canada Goose by Sara wright

Canadian Geese have been on my mind a lot lately. This past winter I have missed the skeins of geese that fly back and forth up and down the river appearing every single morning like clockwork. In Abiquiu when winter turned to spring I noted that the geese were behaving in much the same way the Sandhill cranes did before they migrated, splitting into pairs or groups of three and flying erratically. I was puzzled. I didn’t recall witnessing such behavior before this year. I wondered about migration patterns. Were the geese shifting their flight patterns too? Or perhaps the small groups I saw were staying year round? Some days it almost seemed as if these water birds were confused by something. I saw three Canadian geese on the last predawn walk I took to the river/Bosque – just an hour or two before leaving for Maine. I knew that a perilous journey was ahead because we were driving. The C/virus was a frightening threat though I brought all food, and planned to camp/use woods as bathroom. The first morning after my arrival at home I saw and heard three geese honking over my head. I was struck by the odd synchronicity remembering the mother goose tales of my childhood – and later as a graduate student when I learned about their mythology. Mother Goose is a benign and loving image of the ancient mother goddess* that is present throughout world mythologies. I like to think that the presence of geese at both ends of a challenging cross – country trip were harbingers of the safe passage… The Canadian Goose is native to North America and it breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a wide range of habitats. By the early 20th century overhunting and loss of habitat decimated populations almost to the point of extinction, but with the help of preservation programs most populations have recovered. In some areas these birds are regarded as pests. Many are routinely shot. I find this behavior sad and ironic because the root of this problem belongs to humans who have killed off the birds natural predators, as well as the fact that people have created an abundance of man made bodies of water near food sources like those found on golf courses, manicured green lawns, public parks, lakefront cottages, and beaches in planned communities. Geese love succulent grasses, sedges, aquatic vegetation, cultivated grains, seeds and berries. They also eat insects and some crustaceans. Photo by Sara Wright Geese mate for life; life-long pair bonds are formed during the second year. Offspring remain with their parents for about twelve months traveling together in large flocks of family groups. The female chooses the nest site, which can be found in unlikely spots like cliff ledges as well as on elevated hummocks. Geese need good visibility to protect their eggs and young goslings. The male defends their territory with elaborate displays well worth watching! Some geese don’t migrate at all and live year-round in the southern part of their breeding range, which includes both coasts and parts of northern Mexico. When the geese fly over in their characteristic “V” shaped patterns I am compelled to stop to watch this astonishing sight. If they do migrate, geese tend to breed in northern areas in the US and Canada. Sometimes geese fly to Alaska or the sub – arctic to raise their families. When migrating, if one Canadian goose falls injured, immediately two companions accompany the goose to the ground and do not leave until the bird either recovers or dies. I have observed evidence of this kind of animal compassion throughout nature in every species I have ever studied. The geese that migrate return to the exact nesting and overwintering locations every year. In fact, migrating geese use various stop-off resting points when they travel, and these remain largely the same, too. When geese fly south to overwinter, they usually settle somewhere in the middle or southern continental US. The geese that you see every spring or fall are probably the same geese that were around your home the year before. Since my return a week ago I have seen a few more geese – not the V shaped skeins but small groups that are flying or swimming in nearby ponds. During the late spring I look forward to seeing the parents with their fluffy waddling toddlers feeding at the water’s edge. I am perpetually amazed at how fast the youngsters grow. Geese have beautiful feathers and every summer I collect a few. This year when I find my first flight feather I will be thanking Old Mother Goose for her help. Postscript: What is goddess spirituality? “Goddess spirituality understands nature (or the world) to be the body of the goddess and affirms this world as our true home. This world is understood to be an interconnected web of life shared by humans and other than human beings.” (International scholar/writer Carol Christ) This earth -based way of being in the world allows us to be present for human and non – human species in a compassionate way – a way that is not based on ‘power over’ and privilege but on respect and equality. The Indigenous Way. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Meet Mago Contributor) Janine Canan

Poet and psychiatrist JANINE CANAN lives in Sonoma, California, with a Samoyed and a trillion other beings. She is the author of over 20 books, most recently Mystic Bliss on Kindle. Two new books are expected in 2015: Consciousness and My Millennium: Culture, Spirituality & the Sacred Feminine. Janine translated the poets Francis Jammes and Else Lasker-Schueler, anthologized the teachings of Indian spiritual luminary, Amma, edited the award-winning She Rises like the Sun: Invocations of the Goddess by Contemporary American Women Poets, and wrote Walk Now in Beauty, read in the Navajo Literacy Project. She graduated from Stanford with distinction and NYU School of Medicine. Visit her at JanineCanan.com and Facebook.
(Poem) The Remembering by Arlene Bailey

I remember you sister Whale Remember when I had a tail and fins Sister Dolphin Remember when we would swim for hours plunging the depths and traversing the breath of the primordial waters Then I changed Shedding fins and tail for Feet and legs, lungs instead of gills and I could no longer join you in the Waters of the Mother They said I had evolved That I could now climb trees and mountains, walk upright and become the dominant species over everything else Oh Sister, how I miss our times in those emerald green and azure blue waters, those places of birthing and She who held those in the leaving Oh how I wish I could once again swim the depths splashing and cavorting with you and the others, protecting each other Alas, I cannot. But I tell you, I am NOT part of their dominant species I DO NOT think I am the pinnacle of creation Rather, I think this human body massively inferior to you my beloved cetaceans Jump and cavort sweet dolphin family Spy-hop and BreachSister Whale, then dive deep and allow me one more view of your incredible fluke Perhaps one day humans will return to the Mother Waters and we shall all dance in the mist in blissful, sweet harmony Until then… I walk on the dry seas with legs with feet and arms with hands, but now with the eyes of Savage Woman as I reclaim my wildness and free spirit known so well to the children of the waters Now I tell stories and speak with the voice of Savage Woman raised in protection of your life and the primordial waters that birthed us all Raising my voice, I sing with you those soul-full melodies of the deep as I feel the water on my skin and… Remember… Remember… Remember. _________________________________ The Remembering, Arlene Bailey ©2021 Orca and Dolphin Photos by Bob Talbot Humpback Photos by Mike Rae Authors Note: I wrote this poem for a prompt in a class I participated in a few months ago. It’s based on my lifetime of love for Cetaceans that began as a child growing up on the Louisiana Gulf of Mexico coast watching Porpoises and Dolphins… a love that grew even deeper when I lived in the Pacific Northwest and spent hours kayaking with orcas in Robson Bight, BC and off of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington state along with watching Humpbacks in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. All images except Dolphins taken in Robson Bight Ecological Preserve in Johnstone Straight, BC. (Meet Mago Contributor) Arlene Bailey https://www.magoism.net/2020/04/meet-mago-contributor-arlene-bailey/
(Book Exerpt 1) She Rises Volume 3 by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3 (Mago Books, 2019)INTRODUCTION DEANNE QUARRIE, D. MIN. I look back and can’t imagine why I said yes, to Helen Hye-Sook Hwang when she asked me to be the lead editor for, She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3. Having edited and published an eight-time yearly, online magazine, The Global Goddess Oracle, I knew it was a big job and I was up for it. It was a lot. I never dreamed there would be so many amazing people, so many submissions, all bringing such talent, such heart and such love to this work. It was like being allowed into the hearts and yes, private lives of those women and men who love Goddess. It became primarily a job of organization, to keep track of so much. I asked Christine Hirsch to join me in co-editing this wonderful material, splitting the submissions, and we went to work. It took a long time, longer because of my health, interrupted with hospital stays followed by cataract surgery and so we had delays. Thank you, Helen, for being so kind and patient, waiting for me. Reading each piece, seeing the beautiful art and incredible poetry, often brought tears from the emotions I felt while reading into the lives of the contributors, the stories, so amazing and yet, so familiar as well. I feel such gratitude, knowing we all share such love in our similar journeys. We all have so many ways of expressing the deep commitments of living lives of joy, dedication and commitment, walking with Her. As you hold this book in your hands, may you be touched deeply as you read into all the lives of those who shared here for you. CHRISTINE COURTADE HIRSCH, PH. D. I have lived a brightly blessed life, but one of my greatest blessings was being asked to serve as a guest editor for She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3. Words cannot express the sheer pleasure and soul-deep joy of reading the submissions: the variety, the depth, the inspiration, the learning, the art, the majesty, the magic. I think perhaps equally important was being invited into the company of sisters – sisters in strength, in beliefs and values, in hope, in power, and in the so deeply undervalued recognition and sharing of what we have in common as women in the goddess sisterhood! Bright blessings to all as you read, learn, share, reach inward and outward, and grow in the magic, love and joy found within this volume! And thank you forever and beyond for allowing me to participate! HELEN HYE-SOOK HWANG, PH.D. She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? is the third volume in the She Rises trilogy after She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 1 (2015) and She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 2 (2016). The present volume continues on the path prepared by the two earlier volumes and takes the Goddess feminist activist movement to a new horizon. Creativity and connectivity are the hallmarks of this volume. Our 59 contributors have tailored the question, What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? to convey their insights and to address the importance and urgency of Goddess feminist activism amidst the current crises on the global context that affects all beings within the very eco-system. We in this volume collectively embrace a capacity of connectivity with other sisters and brothers across borders. Our message is that Goddess feminist activists are healing, nurturing and transforming ourselves and the world. We are born stronger. We are ever more grounded, committed, daring, creative, and fiercely focused. We are the trees that are crisscrossed at the root! This book presents a loom that interweaves colorful tapestries of insights, experiences, visions, research articles, poems, artworks, rituals, plays and creative activities across disciplinary boundaries. Our readers may sense a phenomenon through this book. Like other She Rises books, She Rises Volume 3 follows the convention of using Mothers as Parts and Sisters as Chapters. We have three Mothers (Mother One, Mother Two, and Mother Three) and nine Sisters (1 Sister East, 2 Sister North, 3 Sister West, 4 Sister South, 5 Sister Center, 6 Sister Wind, 7 Sister Fire, 8 Sister Water, and 9 Sister Earth) organized under each triad Mother. This is to visualize the cosmogonic principle of Sonic Nine Numerology embodied in the pantheon of our divine mothers and human ancestors (Goddesses) across cultures. As co-editor and publisher of the She Rises trilogy, I am ever honored and humbled for the history of the collective writing project itself. Indeed, it is a tremendous amount of time, effort, reading, thinking and editing as well as laying out the manuscript for publication that I have put into these projects. It is nothing other than a sharing of myself. Am I depleted? Do I feel exhausted inside? The opposite is the case. I am ever freshly renewed and charged to dream the dreams and work hard to make our dreams happen. At the core, the vision and necessity that I see among ourselves lead me to keep moving forward. In particular, I rejoice to see the very fruition of the She Rises trilogy in this volume. Our readers will discover bedazzling jewels in the forest, as I have found. As we complete the She Rises trilogy with this volume 3, I have a little flashback. About five years ago in the fall of 2014, I hurriedly announced in social media that we wanted to begin a book project of our collective writing on the topic of Goddess feminism, activism and spirituality. Out of the blue, I did that. Neither had I planned or thought about it. In fact, I never heard of the phrase, “Goddess feminism, activism and spirituality” before. Wennfier Lin-Havor had addressed a need to bring the Goddess to our attention during our phone conversation. Bringing the Goddess into our discourse wasn’t enough for me. Even the thought …
(Essay) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. MoonCourt Ceremonial Space set for Autumn Equinox ceremony, 2013 Ritual/ceremony is often described as “sacred space.” I understand that to mean “awareness of the space as sacred”: all space is sacred, what shifts is our awareness – awareness of the depth of spacetime, and of the depth of all things and all beings. I understand “sacred awareness” as an awareness of deep relationship and identity with the very cosmic dynamics that create and sustain the Universe; or an awareness of what is involved in the depth of each moment, each thing, each being. Ceremony is a space and time given to expression, contemplation and nurturance of that depth … at least to something of it. Ceremony may be both an expression of deep inner truths – perceived relationship to self, Earth and Cosmos, as well as being a mode of teaching and drawing forth deeper participation. Essentially, ceremony is a way of entering into the depth of the present moment … what is deeply present right here and now, a way of entering deep space and deep time, which is not somewhere else but is right here. Every-thing, and every moment, has Depth – more depth than we usually allow ourselves to contemplate, let alone comprehend. This book, this paper, this ink, the chair, the floor – each has a history and connections that go back, all the way back to Origins. This moment you experience now, in its particular configuration, place, people present, subtle feelings, thoughts, and propensity towards certain directions or outcomes, has a depth – many histories and choices that go back … ultimately all the way back to the beginning. Great Origin is present at every point of space and time – right here. In ceremony we are plugging our awareness into something of that. In this holy context then – in this mindframe of knowing connection, everything one does is a participation in the creation of the Cosmos: for the tribal indigenous woman, perhaps the weaving of a basket; for another, perhaps preparing a meal; for you, perhaps getting on the train to go to a workplace. It is possible to regain this sense, to come to feel that the way one breathes makes a difference – that with it, you co-create the present and the future, and you may even be a blessing on the past. In every moment we receive the co-creation, the work, of innumerable beings, of innumerable moments, and innumerable interactions of the elements, in everything we touch … and so are we touched by them. The local is our touchstone to the Cosmos – it is not separate. Ceremony may be a way into this awareness, into strengthening it. Ceremony is actually ‘doing,’ not just theorizing. We can talk about our personal and cultural disconnection endlessly, but we need to actually change our minds. Ceremony can be an enabling practice – a catalyst/practice for personal and cultural change. It is not just talking about eating the pear, it is eating the pear; it is not just talking about sitting on the cushion (meditating), it is sittingon the cushion. It is a cultural practice wherein we tell a story/stories about what we believe to be so most deeply, about who and what we are. Ceremony can be a place for practicing a new language, a new way of speaking, or spelling – a place for practicing “matristic storytelling”[i] if you like: that is, for telling stories of the Mother, of Earth and Cosmos as if She were alive and sentient. We can “play like we know it,” so that we may come to know it.[ii] Ceremony then is a form of social action. I have found it useful to describe ceremony using and extending words used by Ken Wilber to describe a “transpersonal practice,” which is needed for real change: he said it was a practice that discloses “a deeper self (I or Buddha) in a deeper community (We or Sangha) expressing a deeper truth (It or Dharma).”[iii] My extension of that is: ceremony may disclose a deeper beautiful self (the I/Virgin/Urge to Be/Buddha), in a deeper relational community (the We/Mother/Place of Being/Sangha), expressing a deeper transformative truth (the It/Old One/Space to Be/Dharma). This is the “unitive body,” the “microcosmos” that Charlene Spretnak refers to in States of Grace.[iv] Since ceremony is an opportunity to give voice to deeper places in ourselves, forms of communication are used that the dreamer, the emotional, the body, can comprehend, such as music, drama, simulation, dance, chanting, singing.[v] These forms enable the entering of a level of consciousness that is there all the time, but that is not usually expressed or acknowledged. We enter a realm that is ‘out of time,’ which is commonly said to be not the “real” world, but it is more organic/indigenous to all being and at least as real as the tick-tock world. It is a place “between the worlds,” wherein we may put our hands on the very core of our lives, touch whatever it is that we feel our existence is about, and thus touch the possibility of re-creating and renewing ourselves. NOTES: [i] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), 147. [ii] As my doctoral thesis supervisor Dr. Susan Murphy once described it to me in conversation. [iii] Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything (Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996), 306-307. [iv] 145. [v] As Starhawk notes, The Spiral Dance, 45. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Orenstein, Gloria Feman. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1999. Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996.
(Essay 4) How Mother Nature Died: The bio-cosmic rupture of European Renaissance by Luciana Percovich

[This essay was presented at Roma Goddess Conference, May 22-23, 2021, under the theme of “Goddess & Environment – Save Mother Earth.”] Francis Bacon “Nature, you are wrong!”, wrote Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and added: “You must dominate her, rape her in order to tear up her secrets”. He was the first to fix the aim of the New Science as Control and Rule over Nature, to legitimize every possible or imaginable manipulation, because: “The salvation of humankind depends on Science and Science is the ensemble of Mechanic arts”. In his Temporis Partus Masculus, Bacon wrote sentences which made history: “Here I am, to bring Nature with all her creatures to your service as a slave … Just follow her, like a hound pursue her, guiding and pushing her wher you want … You must enter her holes and nooks in the search of truth, without any concern”. Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) with his Leviathan applied to political philosophy the same vision of disgregation and dismemberment, reasoning and rationalizing about the way of freeing exploitation also of human individuals: “A Nation is an Artificial order of individual parts united by Fear” Grounding again Starting during the 1960s, a worldwide movement of “consciousness raising groups” of women began to re-unite. Reclaiming the difference of the experience of living in a woman’s body, a widespread and pervasive work of demystifying the neutrality of historical, psychological, scientific, religious etc. narrations, set in motion a radical critique of the entire patriarchal apparatus at all its levels of organization and symbolic representation. Starhawk, The Earth Path, 2004 “For centuries, since the start of the ‘scientific revolution’, Western culture has pursued knowledge by breaking a subject or an object into its component parts and studying those parts … We developed a mechanistic, cause-and-effect model of the universe. Compartmentalization … doesn’t allow us to look at the whole, or at the complex web of relationships and patterns that make up a whole. (But) science itself has moved beyond … and today is likely to describe the world in terms of networks of probabilities and complexities, as interlocking processes and relationships …” “A witch must not only be familiar with the mystic planes of existence beyond the physical realm; she should also be familiar with the trees and plants and birds and animals of her own backyard, be able to name them, know their uses and habits and what part each plays in the whole … In fact, everybody should. Our culture is afflicted with a vast disconnection, an abyss of ignorance that becomes apparent whenever an issue involving the natural world arises. As a society we are daily making decisions and setting policies that have enormous repercussions on the natural world. And those policies are being set by officials and approved by a public who are functionally eco-illiterate”. Every small or great action, Here and Now, gives Form to one of the possible Futures. (End of the Essay) https://www.magoism.net/2013/10/meet-mago-contributor-luciana-percovich/ An Essential Bibliography AA.VV., Diotima. Il pensiero della differenza sessuale, La Tartaruga, Milano 1987. AA.VV., Donne Tecnologia Scienza: un percorso attraverso mito, storia, antropologia, a cura di Joan Rothschild, Rosenberg&Sellier, Torino, 1986 (Machina ex Dea, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1983). AA.VV., Storia dell’Arte, Le Prime Civiltà, Mondadori Electa, Milano 2006. Armonie (a cura di), Il mito e il culto della Grande Dea. Transiti, metamorfosi, permanenze, Atti del Convegno 24-25 novembre 2000, Bologna, 2003. Armonie (a cura di), Dopo la Dea. Religioni come segni e strumenti del patriarcato, ribellioni delle donne come permanenze e rinascite dell’antico culto, Atti del Convegno 21 febbraio 2004, Bologna, 2004. Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Noi e il nostro corpo, Feltrinelli, Milano 1974 (Our bodies, Ourselves, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1971). Brighton Women and Science Group, Alice attraverso il Microscopio: il potere della scienza sulla vita delle donne, La Salamandra, Milano 1985 (Alice through the Microscope. The power of science over women’s lives, Virago Press, London, 1980). Centro Documentazione Donna, Vivere e pensare la differenza. Incontro sulle pratiche e saperi delle donne, Firenze, 23/24 gennaio 1988. Chodorow Nancy, La funzione materna, psicoanalisi e sociologia del ruolo materno, La Tartaruga, Milano 199 (The reproduction of Mothering. Psychoanalysis and Sociology of Gender, University of California Press, 1978). Mary Daly, Al di là di Dio padre. Verso una filosofia della liberazione delle donne, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1990 (Beyond God the Father: Towards a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation, Beacon Press 1073). Mary Daly, Quintessenza. Realizzare il Futuro Arcaico, Venexia- Le Civette Saggi, Roma, 2005 (Quintessence. Realizing the Archaic Future, Beacon Press 1998). Dinnerstein Dorothy, The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual Arrangements and Human Malaise, Harper and Row, New York 1976. Dashu Max, Streghe e Pagane. Le donne nella religione popolare europea, 700-1100, Venexia, Roma 2018 (Witches and Pagans. Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100, Veleda Press, 2016). Donini Elisabetta, La nube e il limite. Donne, scienza, percorsi nel tempo, Rosenberg&Sellier, Torino 1990. Donini Elisabetta, Conversazioni con Evelyn Fox Keller, una scienziata anomala, Eleuthera, Milano 1991. Eherenreich Barbara – English Deirdre, Le streghe siamo noi, Celuc Libri/La Salamandra, Milano 1975 (Witches, Midwives and Nurses and Complaints and Disorders, Feminist Press, New York, 1973). Eisler Riane, Il calice e la spada. La nascita del predominio maschile, Pratiche, Parma, 1987 (The Chalice and the Blade: our History, our Future, Harper and Row, New York 1987). Eisler Riane, Il Piacere è Sacro, Frassinelli, Milano 1995 (Sacred Pleasure, Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body, Harper San Francisco, 1995). Federici Silvia, Il grande Calibano. Storia del corpo sociale ribelle nella prima fase del capitale, Derive Approdi, Milano, 2009 (Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation, Autonomedia, Brooklyn, NY, 2004). Federici Silvia, Il punto zero della rivoluzione. Lavoro domestico, riproduzione e lotta femminista, Ombre Corte, 2014 (Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle, Common Notions Press, 20012). Federici Silvia, Reincarnare il mondo. Femminismo e politica dei “commons”, Ombre Corte, 2018. Gilligan Carol, Con voce di donna, Feltrinelli, Milano 1987 (In a different voice: Psychological Theory …
(Essay) The August Moon and the Virgin Mary by Harita Meenee

To a Greek person, the word “August” brings two things to mind. One is the August moon. Captivating and erotic, we observe it with awe as it spreads its glow on the dark sea waters. It keeps on striking a chord. Strange? Not at all since the moon is a powerful archetypal symbol. Myths, which speak the language of the soul, adore it. Almost all peoples and cultures have created traditions and beliefs related to it. Though it might be easy to reject lunar lore as mere superstition, we cannot deny that the moon captures our imagination. My own relationship with it is deeply personal. My pseudonym, Meenee, is a variant of mene, an ancient Greek word for the moon. It is also another name for Selene, the Moon Goddess. “Taurokeros (Bull-horned) Mene” she is called in the Orphic Hymn 9, which sings her praises: “Mother of time, bringer of fruit … all-seeing … jewel of the night, leader of stars,with your long mantle you travel in spirals, all-wise maiden…” I’ve spent endless hours studying the symbolism of the moon, and yet it still seems to hide many secrets. Perhaps it’s because of its associations with the three greatest mysteries of life: birth, love and death. The moon “is born” and “dies” again each month, following a never-ending cycle: waxing, full moon, and waning. For a night it completely disappears from the sky and then it pops up again in the form of a thin crescent. One could hardly find a more apt symbol of rebirth. The earth’s satellite teaches something that we all too often forget: everything in life comes full circle and ends, but after that happens, something new arrives to takes the place of the old. Death is often followed by new birth. Maybe that’s why the moon became associated with goddesses who protect childbirth, like Artemis, as well as with figures connected to the Underworld, such as Hekate. Furthermore, lunar symbolism often accompanies Mother Goddesses, such as Isis and Artemis Ephesia. It’s not surprising if you think that the monthly journey of the moon lasts 29.5 days, approximately as much as a menstrual cycle. That’s why it was connected with the concepts of fertility and motherhood. Interestingly, anthropologists who travelled to remote places discovered that such beliefs had survived until recent years. For example, Greenlanders as well as some of the people in Nigeria attributed to the moon the power to cause pregnancy. The same was believed by the Buryats of Western Mongolia. Similarly, the Maori, natives of New Zealand, thought that the real husband of a woman is the moon. The Moon in Christianity and Islam Up to this day, the role of the moon remains alive in many traditions. For example, the crescent adorns Muslim mosques. Let’s not forget that this shape, often accompanied by a star, was a symbol of Hekate and of the ancient city of Byzantium, whose protectress she was. The Roman Emperor Constantine made Byzantium into his new capital, renaming it Constantinople, after himself. Thus, the symbol of the crescent moon was passed on to the Christianized empire that historians call Byzantine. We can see this symbol on coins, as well as in churches and on icons. Sometimes the accompanying star has been changed into a cross. Yet the crescent moon is a very ancient symbol, used not just by Greeks but also by many other peoples, such as the Babylonians, Persians and Phoenicians. The combination of crescent and star also appears on pre-Islamic coins of South Arabia. Moreover, it was used by Pre-Islamic Turkic nations such as the Göktürks, who lived in medieval Inner Asia. When the Ottoman Empire succeeded the Byzantine, the Turks made the crescent its central emblem. It didn’t take a big leap for it to become the symbol of Islam, which has been called “Religion of the Crescent Moon.” Christianity did not altogether abandon this age-old shape. In the biblical Book of Revelation we encounter a mysterious figure: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (XII, I) The Catholic Church identifies this cosmic being with the Virgin Mary, the “Queen of Heaven,” who is sometimes depicted standing on a crescent. Interestingly, in 2011, Catholic residents of Goa in India claimed that they could see an apparition of hers with baby Jesus on the moon. That caused them to panic, thinking that the vision was a bad omen signaling the end of the world! The Church had to adopt Pagan symbols in order to become more palatable to the people it conquered. I was raised as a Christian Orthodox, yet I never felt much of an affinity for this religion. As a child and teenager, I kept turning my eyes towards the Hellenic goddesses and gods I saw in books and museums. As an adult, I was fascinated to discover the many ancient elements incorporated into what was supposed to be the “one and only true religion.” I saw how in Eastern Orthodoxy Mary had clearly become a Christianized version of the Divine Mother. Naturally, she had also taken on the mysterious glow of the moon. During the Great Saturday (Easter Eve) service, she is called tekousa selene, the moon that gave birth to the “Savior, the sun of justice.” Orthodox images associating her with the crescent are rare, but they do exist. One example is the Galaktotrophousa, the Nursing Madonna, painted by the Cretan artist Emmanuel Tzanfournaris in the 16th century. Painted in Byzantine style, it depicts Mary sitting on a large crescent. Another interesting icon, which has become very popular because it is considered miraculous, is Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. The original image, also known as the Virgin Mary of Ostrobramska, is located in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. She appears to emerge from a large silver crescent; it was not a part of the original painting but …

(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.
(Special Post 6) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Esther Essinger “Why Goddess, when “GD” is perpetrating so much grief? 1) First, it’s vital to know that Goddess is NOT “GD” in a skirt. It is demanded of NO one that they “believe” or “have faith”, so there can be no guilt (and no punishment! (No Hell below us, thank you John) in NOT choosing to interest oneself in these particular Stories, myths, legends and tales which center the Cosmic Female, the Universal Mother, Mother Earth /Mother Nature at their core. No evangelism happening here!
(Special Post Isis 3) 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 3 Isis, Arab Women Revolution, and Black Goddesses Naa Ayele Kumari Going back to the original topic of the post…. Some quotes ” Women are in half the society… How come there are only 7 in the Assembly… and they are all Islamist! ” I can’t beat up my wife and almost kill her and call it discipline… this is not discipline… this is abuse and insanity” http://youtu.be/y4umifTLSII 12-Year Old Explains Egyptian Revolution in Under 3 Minutes www.youtube.com Max Dashu It is tremendously heartening to see these insights being expressed, and spread. The Salafis have made such inroads, and now the pushback is happening. Harita Meenee Dear Naa Ayele Kumari, thank you actually reading my post and commenting something relevant to it. It’s refreshing when someone does hear what we have to say instead of projecting their own notions. Building a solidarity movement with those who are oppressed but fighting is very important during these critical times! Harita Meenee See also: https://www.facebook.co/intifadat.almar2a?fref=ts The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي حرية الفكر ، حرية التعبير ، حرية الاعتقاد ، حرية التنقل ، حرية الجسد ، حرية اللب…See More Glenys Livingstone … as you say Max …” way too much of it going on” – amongst people who should know better (I would have thought): “Dark goddess as terrifying, challenging, white goddess as benign; “black magic” as harmful; I see way, way too much of this going on out there.” And related to that in my mind is all the “love and light” business that is so common: the Ground of Being is Dark … it seems to me that mystics have always understood the quintessential darkness of Love/Deity. Max Dashu Sure. I would just like to add that the critique raised here addressed issues much broader than the substance of the article, which made some good points. But once the choice of graphics flagged the issue of representation, people had much more to say about that old yet still very fresh wound which is constantly reopened by the cultural habit of whitening Egypt, or interpreting Africa through a eurocentric lens. It is not on any one person to carry the weight of that; we all have a responsibility to address the issues, but especially those of us of European heritage need to familiarize ourselves with how this plays out over and over. Just as men have a responsibility to speak up in support of women when patriarchal assumptions are on board. We all can learn something from each other, along all the various axes of domination, and overthrow them in coalition. Naa Ayele Kumari I have often considered where the roots of this psychology comes from. It is dualistic thinking that causes us to compare and contrast, then sum up judgement of good or bad and place a value on each. It extends into competition and justification for war. It also doesn’t escape me that often this came with certain civilizations who systematically destroyed others. It didn’t just happen with blacks in Africa… but blacks in Asia and the Indus Valley as well. With the Aryan invasions of India, came the eventual introduction to lighter divinities and more emphasis on male divinities. Southern Indians, Sri Lankans are very dark… even more so than many African Blacks. The caste systems implemented by the Aryan invaders did the same thing to them casting them as “untouchables”. With that came the marginalization of their black female divinities such as Kali. Kali actually has 10-16 forms… from compassionate mother, the fountain of wisdom, to she of great beauty but she is minimized as just destructive and terrifying… especially as Brhaman, Vishnuu, and Shiva grow in popularity. One of Kali’s statues has her black self standing on top of Shiva because she conquered him. Later there is a discussion in on of the Hindu text explaining Kali (as Parvati) after being subdued by Shiva she becomes lighter. Further they have stories about him rejecting her and calling her blackie which made her do austerities to rid herself of her black skin. Naa Ayele Kumari It should not be overlooked that in the Story of Alice in Wonderland… a story intended to keep Goddess elements for future generations, has the Elder sister ( the Queen of Hearts) portrayed as man, ego, and power driven who cuts off heads and has a fierce dragon…a clear reference to Kali. The White goddess as the younger sister is her opponent… and her mission is to usurp the throne of the Queen of Hearts even though she was the rightful heir as the oldest … or primordial. Stories like these also reinforce the stereotypes and negative iconography. Max Dashu Yes, it is pervasive in many cultures of domination. Demons are portrayed as black not only in Europe, which we know well, but also in China and in a lot of Buddhist iconography. In modern India, the sweet goddesses are shown as pink, the wrathful as black; and Krishna (name means “dark”) is turned powder blue. (Another of his titles, s’yam, also meaning dark, is the word translated as “green” in Green Tara.) The countercurrents (Black Mazu, loving Kali – esp in Bengal and south India, Black Madonna) bubbled up from the common people, who knew and longed for something other than the dominant racialized hierarchy. Naa Ayele Kumari I am just discovering Mazu ( Matzu/LuShui) in China today! Never knew about her. This discussion has led me to look deeper for black goddesses in Asia. Max Dashu Taoist spiritual tradition often refers to Xüan Nü, which can be translated in several ways. You’ll usually see it rendered as “the Mysterious Female,” a phrase that occurs in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), and this is a valid translation; but what is less emphasized is that it also means “the Dark Woman.” In […]

Imbolc/Early Spring – a Season of Uncertainty by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Traditionally the Seasonal transition of Imbolc/Early Spring, celebrated in early February in the Northern Hemisphere, and in early August in the Southern Hemisphere, has been a time of nurturing the new life that is beginning to show itself, around us and within. It is a time of committing one’s self to the new life and inspiration – in the garden, in the soul, and in the Cosmos. We may include in our celebrations and contemplations of this Season the beginnings of the new young Cosmos as She was, that time in our cosmic story when She was only a billion years old and galaxies were forming; and also the new which has continually emerged throughout the eons, and is ever coming forth. The flame of being, as it has been imagined by many cultures, within and around, is to be protected and nurtured: the new being requires dedication and attention. In the early stages of its advent, there is nothing certain about its staying power and growth: it may flicker and be vulnerable. There may be uncertainties of various kinds. There is risk and resistance to coming into being. The Universe itself knew resistance to its expansion when it encountered gravitation in our very beginnings, in the primordial Flaring Forth[i]. The unfolding of the Universe was never without creative tension. The Universe knows it daily, in every moment: and we participate in this creative tension of our place of being. Urge to Be budding forth Imbolc/Early Spring can be a time of remembering personal vulnerabilities, feeling them and accepting them, but remaining resolute in birthing and tending of the new, listening for and responding to the Urge to Be[ii]of the Creative Universe within. Brian Swimme has said (quoting cultural anthropologist A.L. Kroeber) that the destiny of the human is not “bovine placidity” but the highest degree of tension that can be creatively born[iii]. many flames of being, strengthening each other These times are filled with creative tension, collectively and for most, personally as well; there is much resistance, yet there is promise of so much good energy arising. We may be witness to both. This Season of Imbolc/Early Spring may encourage attention, intention and dedication to strengthening well-being: in self, and in the relational communal context, and opening to our direct immersion in the Well of Creativity. We may be strengthened with the joining of hands, as well as the listening within to the sacred depths, in ceremonial circle at this time. NOTES: [i]As our origins (popularly named as “the Big Bang”) are named by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme in The Universe Story. [ii]As I name this determined Virgin quality in PaGaian Cosmology. [iii]The Canticle to the Cosmos, DVD #8, “The Nature of the Human”. References: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Swimme, Brian. Canticle to the Cosmos. DVD series, 1990.
(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.
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.
(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.
(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
A Southern Hemisphere Perspective on Place by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the Introduction to the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, which was an outcome of her doctoral research/thesis entitled The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change. This doctoral work was in turn a documentation and deeper research of the Seasonal ceremonial celebrations that the author was already engaged in for over a decade. The whole of the process is here named as her “Search”. photo credit: David Widdowson, Astrovisuals. The site of seasonal ceremonial celebrations will always be significant. In my case, the place in which I have created them has been notably in the Southern Hemisphere of out Planet Earth. The fact of my context being thus – the Southern Hemisphere – had contributed in the past to my deep internalized sense of being “other”, and dissociated from my senses, since almost all stories told were based in Northern Hemisphere perspective. Yet at the same time this context of inhabiting the Southern Hemisphere contributed to my deep awareness of Gaia’s Northern Hemisphere and Her reciprocal Seasonal Moment: thus, awareness of the whole Planet. My initial confusion about the sensed Cosmos – as a Place, became a clarity about the actual Cosmos – which remained inclusive of my sensed Cosmos. PaGaian reality – the reality of our Gaian “country” – is that the whole Creative Dynamic happens all the time, all at once. The “other”, the opposite, is always present – underneath and within the Moment. This has affected my comprehension of each Sabbat/Seasonal Moment, its particular beauty but also a fullness of its transitory nature. Many in the Northern Hemisphere – even today – have no idea that the Southern Hemisphere has a ‘different’ lunar, diurnal, seasonal perspective; and because of this there often is a rigidity of frame of reference for place, language, metaphor and hence cosmology[i]. Indeed over the years of industrialized culture it has appeared to matter less to many of both hemispheres, including the ‘author-ities’, the writers of culture and cosmos. And such ‘author-ity’ and northern-hemispheric rigidity is also assumed by many more Earth-oriented writers as well[ii]. There has been consistent failure to take into account a whole Earth perspective: for example, the North Star does not need to be the point of sacred reference – there is great Poetry to be made of the void of the South Celestial Pole. Nor need the North be rigidly associated with the Earth element and darkness, nor is there really an “up” and a “down” cosmologically speaking. A sense and accountof the Southern Hemisphere perspective with all that that implies metaphorically as well as sens-ibly, seems vitally important to comprehending and sensing a whole perspective and globe – a flexibility of mind, and coming to inhabit the real Cosmos, hence enabling what I have named as a ‘PaGaian’ cosmological perspective, a whole Earth perspective. It has also been of particular significance that my Search has been birthed in the ancient continent of Australia. It is the age of the exposed rock in this Land, present to her inhabitants in an untarnished, primal mode that is significant. This Land Herself has for millennia been largely untouched by human war, conquest and concentrated human agriculture and disturbance. The inhabitants of this Land dwelt here in a manner that was largely peaceful and harmonious, for tens of thousands of years. Therefore the Land Herself may speak more clearly I feel; one may be the recipient of direct transmission of Earth in one of her most primordial modes. Her knowledge may be felt more clearly – one may be taught by Her. I think that the purity of this transmission is a significant factor in the development of the formal research I undertook – in my chosen methodology and in what I perceived in the process, and documented; from my beginnings as a country girl, albeit below my conscious mind in the subtle realms of which I knew little, to the more conscious times of entering into the process of the Search. In this Land that birthed me, ‘spirit’ is not remote and abstract, it is felt in Her red earth[iii]. Aboriginal elder David Mowaljarlai described, “This is a spirit country”[iv], and all of Her inhabitants, including non-Indigenous, may be affected by the strength of Her organic communication. It took me until the later stages of my research to realize the need to state the importance of this particular place for the advent of the research: the significance of both the land of Australia, and the specific region of the Blue Mountains in which I was now dwelling, as well as the community of this particular region, which all lent itself to the whole process. The lateness of this perception on my part, has to do with the extent of my previous alienation; but the fact that it did occur, is perhaps at least in part attributable to the unfolding awakening to my habitat that was part of the project/process. The specific region of the “Blue Mountains” – as Europeans have named them – is significant in that I don’t think that this project/process could have happened as it did in just any region. David Abram says, “The singular magic of a place is evident from what happens there, from what befalls oneself or others when in its vicinity. To tell of such events is implicitly to tell of the particular power of that site, and indeed to participate in its expressive potency[v]”. Blue Mountains, Australia: Dharug and Gundungurra Country The Blue Mountains are impressive ancient rock formations, an uplifted ancient seabed, whose “range of rock types and topographical situations has given rise to distinct plant communities”[vi]; and the presence of this great variation of plant communities, “especially the swamps, offer an abundance and variety of food sources, as well as habitats for varied fauna”[vii]. I feel that this is the case for …

(Essay 1) The Magoist Calendar: Mago Time inscribed in Sonic Numerology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This is my latest research that has led me to restore the 13-month, 28-day Mago Calendar, which will be included at the end of its sequels. See Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), published in 2017.] Magoist Calendar is the inter-cosmic genealogical chart of the Creatrix in which all is found kindred. It unfolds the one standard unified time, which I call the Cosmic Mother’s Time or the Mago Time, wherein all beings in Our Universe from microcosmic quarts to macrocosmic celestial bodies are perceived in continuum. The Cosmic Mother’s Time is an inclusive time in which everyone is re-membered and celebrated. It is revelatory for its numinous nature, which some may call a mystery. The Mago Time is happening
(Art) Nurture by Anna Tzanova

to feed and protect; to support and encourage; to foster and bring up; to train and educate; to develop and nourish; to care for and cherish… Such a multifaceted and meaningful word! It represents to me an essential quality of the Goddess. An aspect I strive to cultivate within, embody, and express externally. I use it to guide all my actions by asking myself, “Is this nurturing?”; “By doing this, what am I nurturing?” Very often, minds have been conditioned to counterpose nature and nurture, creating not only a divide, but also a controversy. The intrinsic feature of Nature is to nurture. The womb not only births, but nurtures. Nothing can be sustained or achieved without nurture. Nature teaches us the lesson of acceptance. Nurture – the lesson of patience. It also provides the opportunity and freedom of choice. Together, they intertwine and weave the entire Creation. What are you nurturing today? From She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2 (forthcoming, 2016). See (Meet Mago Contributror) Anna Tzanova.
(Essay 2) Returning Home with Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay was first published in Trivia, Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, September 2007. Also to be included in the forthcoming anthology She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?] An Introduction to Magoism Mago is the Great Goddess of East Asia. Nonetheless, she remains barely known to the world. Her equals, Xiwangmu (the Supreme Goddess of Daoism) and Amaterasu (the Sun Goddess of the Japanese imperial family), are said to comprise the pantheon of East Asian cosmic goddesses. Considering that these goddesses are often aligned with the ancient culture of China or Japan, one notices that the pantheon of East Asian Great Goddesses thus omits both Mago and “Korean culture.”

Day: October 15, 2014

(2014 Mago Pilgrimage) Thursday 16 October

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