April 23, 2016January 9, 2021 RTM EditorLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Claire French Ph.D.

[Editorial Note 2020, by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D.: With deep sorrow I share the passing of my friend and Mago contributor Dr. Claire French, a remarkable woman who lived through so Read More …

April 23, 2016October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Volunteer) Spider Redgold

Spider Redgold is a Caucasian lesbian woman of spirit, descended through her motherlines from Travellers and through her fatherlines she can trace her blood to the Viking invasions of Yorkshire Read More …

(Book Excerpt 3) Wounded Feminine: Grieving with Goddess Edited by Claire Dorey, Pat Daly, and Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This and subsequent excerpt parts are from the anthology entitled Wounded Feminine: Grieving with Goddess, published by Girl God Books (2024).] Grief for the Mothers Who Lost the Goddess Alison Newvine How do we grieve for our mothers who have lost the Goddess? How do we release the guilt over our own escape, knowing she’s been left behind? How do we relate to her choice to remain within patriarchal belief systems? The Woman Trapped in the Tunnel Imagine you are trapped in a tunnel with no access to or imagination of anything beyond that tunnel. You’ve been there for generations. The options laid before you in this tunnel are virgin, whore or mother, and you are a good Catholic (or Protestant or Jewish or Muslim or Hindu) girl with a strong capacity for connection and nurturance. There is only one “choice” you see. To become a mother. But Mother doesn’t turn out the way you imagined it would. Not within the patriarchal paradigm. On this Mother path you are bound to feel resentment simmer beneath your skin. You’ve lost something, an ancient something you don’t have a memory of, but something to do with your magic, your power. You have become a vessel that is endlessly emptied and never filled, the best parts of you doled out to others, whether you want to or not. The cauldrons in which you brewed elixirs of healing and magic when you were your oldest grandmother are now buried deep in the mud at the bottom of the ocean. You are trying to feed and nurse your sick children with only patriarchy’s poison foods, toxic concoctions and sharp, sterile instruments. There’s a nagging sense of something being deeply wrong. You know you should have the power to make them well, yet they are growing sicker and you are beyond exhausted. There’s a holy rage trying desperately to escape. It has become a caged beast breathing fire from the twisted net of patriarchal suppression, spewing molten spittle upon the skin of your own children in your attempt to express what you know deep in your bones. Something is wrong. Defining Motherhood God defines motherhood very differently than Goddess does. Under patriarchy, mother is synonymous with servant. A good mother is selfless, ever-giving, ever-patient, a bottomless container for everyone else’s pain and tantrums. Who can live up to this? Who should? She subsumes herself to the needs of her children, as well as their father, and this is holy in God’s eyes. She is defined solely by what she provides to others. She must be entirely satiated by the mundane tasks required to sustain young life, and if her husband pitches in from time to time, he is a hero and she should never cease showering him with gratitude. Historically, his participation in child-rearing is insufficiently offered and only guiltily received. Mother is not the head of household, even though it is she who is responsible for running it and seeing that its members flourish. Her innate, sacred impulse towards agency becomes twisted and deformed and winds up harming others and herself. In this she digs herself a deeper hole and she loses the respect and trust of those closest to her. Her attempts at agency instead build the walls of her own coffin. How does Goddess define motherhood? You are Her own majesty reflected back to Her. You are revered for your life-giving and life-sustaining powers. Tens of thousands of archeological artifacts from Goddess-worshiping cultures attest to the reverence with which mothers were treated during an earlier time. Mother is Divine. You are to be supported and nurtured and praised on a regular basis. Perhaps most importantly, Mother is an aspect of your being, not your totality. Your mother aspect functions in harmony with all of your other divine expressions ~ artist, dancer, writer, singer, community organizer, performer, lover, student, teacher, athlete, activist, mystic. Mother isn’t a container you must collapse your entire being into, rather it is one of many powerful expressions of your divinity. As Mother, you are allowed to be imperfect and allowed to say no. You are encouraged to be introspective and evolving. Goddess doesn’t infantilize you. She adores you. She challenges you to continue to grow and change, to desire and create, to heed your soul’s highest calling. Most importantly, She empowers you to define yourself on your own terms. The Daughter of the Goddess Today, there are many daughters who are reaching further back than their own mother’s memory, further back than the memories of all of the grandmothers whose names are still known to them. These daughters are born restless, questioning everything, reacting to what is “normal” in ways their mothers do not understand. These are daughters who refuse to believe what they are told and who spend their lives searching for truth. They act out, go off the rails, cause all manner of chaos and heartache. In contrast to their mother’s engrained self-sacrifice, they seem extraordinarily selfish. These are the daughters who find their way back to the Goddess. Betrayal The Mother of the God and the Daughter of the Goddess do not see eye to eye. They are attempting to relate across paradigms and this can feel like an endless onslaught of betrayals for each of them. The daughter who has recognized patriarchal oppression and actively resists it will feel deeply betrayed by her mother who is loyal to it. She sees her mother as complicit in each of their oppressions and it fills her with horror. She struggles to reconcile the goodness she knows her mother to be with the callousness with which the mother parrots dehumanizing political stances toward those the patriarchy deems “other.” Illegal Immigrants. Drug Dealers. Atheists. Promiscuous Women. Lesbians. FemiNazis. In the early years of their dance, the mother doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know, just how many of those epitaphs belong to her own daughter. As they surface, one by one, the mother feels stabbed in the …
(S/HE V4 N1-2 Book Review) Lila Moore’s Screen Dance as a Rite of Passage by Helen Benigni, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: This was included in the journal, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Vol 4 No 1-2, 2025).] Screen Dance as a Rite of Passage: An Artist’s Monograph – Gaia Mysterious Rhythms I am so grateful to have read Screen Dance as a Rite of Passage by Lila Moore as it enhanced my understanding of the role of dance in the contemporary and ancient rituals of women by embracing the need in our culture to join the past with the present. Primarily, the monograph and film that accompanies the monograph aim at defining the art of dance on screen as a hybrid form of art with its own unique characteristics, and Moore aims much of the monograph at consolidating that art form to an understandable technique for artists who seek creativity and guidance. However, a closer examination of the references with special attention to the goddess Gaia in the film that accompanies the work entitled Gaia Mysterious Rhythms is of interest to feminists and scholars of Creatrix Studies. At the basis of the screen dance itself is a deeply moving path towards self-awareness and healing for both the audience and the participant herself. As we observe Moore as a young woman dancing near the Mediterranean Sea, a profound rite of passage and spiritual awakening immerses us in her art. The dance is a metaphor for the realization of our feminine powers and spiritual strengths. As Moore states: “It is a transformative journey in which a young woman becomes aware of her innate power and potential through profound contact with the imaginal and natural realms. Although the protagonist is a fictional and archetypal character, she reflects my own rite of passage” (15). Moore deftly emphasizes that the natural world and the world of the imagination spurred by the human psyche and the collective unconsciousness that women share are the elements necessary for spiritual awakening. Screen dance itself is the vehicle for that transformation, and the techniques are soundly based on the work of Andrei Trakovsky, David Finch and Carl Gustav Jung. Without subverting the importance of the text concerning the art of screen dance itself, an examination of the symbols and images of the Goddess as Gaia highlight the underlying message so important to scholars and practitioners of feminist studies. As stated, the journey is one of a young woman’s rite of passage in both form and content. In the second section of the monograph, Moore devotes an analysis of Gaia Mysterious Rhythms with its theme base centered on “the interaction between the protagonist and the environment, as well as the natural elements.” To emphasize this interaction, Gaia becomes more of a concept rather than a reference to a specific Goddess or culture. Moore believes that “the concept of Gaia is rooted in the origins of the universe and the beginning of life. She is the primordial creatrix, a central figure in the myths of the pre-patriarchal era” (36). Moore reminds us that like other pre-Hellenic deities, Gaia represents an energy that rose from chaos to create the sun, moon, and the elements of the universe that mirror her image. Gaia also represents the body of the mother as the earth itself where birth and rebirth exist, and life begins and ends. The concept of the environment as a living organism allows the film maker to link the protagonist of the film, who is Moore herself, to the broader myth of the Creatrix. Moore emphasizes: “The mythic association of the protagonist with the ancient goddess of the Earth amplifies the affinity between her and the environment. As a result, the protagonist’s interaction with the natural elements becomes a process of self-revelation” (36). To create this liaison between the protagonist and the environment, Moore designs a set with several symbols or props to create the screen image. The chapter entitled “The Natural Environment” outlines the use of the protagonist’s red dress which emphasizes her physical and mythical connection to the earth mother as Gaia; the seashell as a female symbol of the womb and birth; the ankh as a representative of the key to life”; and, the coastal environment representing “the endless transforming forms of nature.” Moore’s analysis of the symbols also contains observations of the photographic project: “The photographic sessions with the still camera gradually solidified the central theme of Gaia as I became physically and photographically immersed in a passage through a landscape that in my mind, opened a window to a world shaped jointly by nature and my poetic musings” (40). The camera serves to intertwine space and time to create an enclosed universe for the protagonist to experience her movements, and the choreography for the camera and the screen generates a space and time where the natural elements such as the sand, the wind and the shoreline allow the protagonist to experience a transformative journey. Moreover, the soundtrack of the film also serves as an illustration of the poetic discovery of our protagonist by adding layers of texture and rhythm to the experience. The final analysis presented by Moore, “The Journey Towards the Within,” demonstrates how each scene is formally constructed and how each scene delivers “a visual, choreographic, and performative event or screen.” This section is most helpful to perceive the protagonist’s inner thoughts and journey of self-enlightenment as she reacts to the environment. As a rite of passage, this exploration of the inner mind of the protagonist is a non-verbal expression containing emotions and thoughts. In my mind, this analysis explains the phenomena of the image making process of the mind that is so very different from other forms of artistic expression such as writing or painting. The image remains a vital part of comprehending not as a metaphor or a narrative journey, but as “poetic threads of emotion” committed to memory. The introductory scene or invocation is the female figure or protagonist lying beneath the moon near the Mediterranean shore ready for her rite of passage to enlightenment. Moore returns to the Gaia reference …
(Easter Essay 2) The Secret of the Sacred Garden: The Garden of Eden and the Orchard of the Virgin by Harita Meenee

To trace the connection between the gardens of Aphrodite and Adonis on the one hand and the garden of the Resurrection on the other, we have to examine if the cult of Adonis was ever prevalent in Palestine. Although he is known as a Hellenic deity, it seems that his worship was imported to Greece in the 7th c. BCE from the Middle East. His name is linked to the Semitic Adon, which means “Lord.” In some ways he is similar to Tammuz (or Dumuzi), honored by women from Mesopotamia to Syro-Palestine, across languages and cultures. As Reed points out, the Greek celebrants of the Adonia “had their counterparts in the women of Jerusalem weeping for Tammuz at the north gate of the temple, excoriated in Ezekiel, 8:14-15.” Inanna and the Song of Songs The Jewish prophet Ezekiel wrote during the early 6th c. BCE, but Tammuz/Dumuzi comes from a much older era. He was the consort of Ishtar/Inanna, an Eastern version of Aphrodite, who also happened to be associated with a “holy” and “luxuriant” garden, as reported in the epic of Gilgamesh. Furthermore, when she sings her song of love to Dumuzi, she calls him “my desirable apple garden,” “my fruitful garden of meš trees,” and “my shaded garden of the desert.”[1]
(Poem) The Pen and the Sword by Mary Saracino

Goddess sculpture I made, photo credit: Mary Saracino Some say the pen is mightier than the sword but a sword can silence a pen-holder’s tongue. I do not wish to be a martyr for any cause only a voice for peace, equality, justice; my ink is the milk of human kindness the blood of those lost to greed and war the tears of those silenced and maimed; my pen is a staff of compassionate outrage a banner held high for the higher-ups to heed; words have the power to tyrannize or transform I know the pen-holder always has a choice: be a citizen of the world in service to all that is liberating and true or a soldier of isms and ideologies; when your hands embrace death and destruction you can’t dance in the arms of hope. https://www.magoism.net/2013/05/meet-mago-contributor-mary-saracino
(Video) Commemorating the Bombing of Hiroshima by Janie Rezner

https://vimeo.com/107298904 Speaking at Rally to Commemorate the Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug 4, 2001 in Fort Bragg
(Special Post 7) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Ancient China attempted to overthrow the confederacy of Nine Goma peoples through a “divide and conquer” ideology, which gave rise to the Chinese thought “Five Phases,” a distortion/misunderstanding of Nine Numerology (the number five is deemed central, located at the center ruling over the periphery 8 numbers, refer to the Loshu Square also known as the Solomon Square in the West today). Ancient China eventually chased the Nine Goma away into the four directions and called them “barbarians” of the East, South, West, and North, while taking the center for itself by way of military campaign. http://m.photoviewer.naver.com/blog… In ancient Chinese wordview, the emperor (Son of the Heaven) at the center rules over barbarians in the four directions of “the land of outskirt.” Lizzy Bluebell Thanks for this nice juicy explanation of the FIVE! “a distortion/misunderstanding of Nine Numerology (the number five is deemed central, located at the center ruling over the periphery 8 numbers, refer to the Loshu Square also known as the Solomon Square in the West today). Ancient China eventually chased the Nine Goma away into the four directions and called them “barbarians” of the East, South, West, and North, while taking the center for itself by way of military campaign.” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang That is a summary of the Budoji’s critique of Yao’s calendar and the establishment of his patriarchal rule, ancient China. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Lizzy Bluebell and all, please find the Mago Almanac: https://www.magobooks.com/…/2018-Mago-Almanac-for-Mago… Lizzy Bluebell Thank you for your gift Helen. May our interactions prove fruitful for all wombanhood. Upon reading the introductory pages, I am thrilled to discover this passage which cites the possible antiquity of the gynocentric calendar and hope, with your permission, that I may use it in quotations in my own work, because it succinctly confirms my own understanding; “The origin of the 28 day /13 month gynocentric calendar remains unknown. The 13 lunar cycle may have been already available as early as 25,000 to 20, 000 BCE, as shown in the relief of the “Venus of Laussel” in France, the Paleolithic Woman who holds in her hand a bison horn with 13 notches. Her people are possibly to have used the 28 day sidereal lunar cycle 3 in sync with the menstrual cycle for a monthly cycle, given that the 13 months is a consequential number of monthly 28 days in a year. Also the linguistic data supports. Many languages of the world share the same root for “moon”, “menstruation” and “month”. We simply don’t have more data beyond that.” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Lizzy Bluebell The data that I explicated after that is what I want us to pay attention and discuss. We have a plenty of data to discuss that the Budoji and Goma data provide. Lizzy Bluebell I’ll have to finish reading and digest the Almanac for a bit in re: the numerology of nine. My own conception of the ROLL of numbers in the PATRIX we inhabit does not fit exactly like a glove here; simply because I DO LIVE IN THE NOW – FREE FLOWING ALWAYS OUTSIDE of the MAN-Made TIME CON-struckt. Fascinating that the ‘calends’ relates to TAX collection monthly – Wall Street definitely follows that pattern. Phrases in the Almanac that excited me are : “Collective Consciousness is the oldest archive of human affairs” << beautiful ! “Wombtime is embodied time”. “Measurer is me – I am the scale of time” << Reminds me of Egyptian Ma’at as holder of the scales and measures of time in her role as ‘Principle of Natural Balance’. “Reification of the female principle”. “Can a Gynocentric Consciousness co-exist with a logical mind?” << YES absolutely !! “The menstruant is the very embodiment to time and number…” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Lizzy Bluebell Nine Numerology = the Nine Mago Creatrix = Nine Goddess Symbols = Inter-cosmic Time = The Womb Time = WE/HERE/NOW Sara Wright Wow, this is fascinating! Lizzy Bluebell “Chiu won the war, the first international/global war waged over the defense/overthrow of the Magoist throne.” My friend Ravinder has referred to this war !! I forget the details now – but he said it happened in India too. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Leslene Della-Madre and Lizzy Bluebell, For the war between Magoists (Old Korea) and para-Magoists (ancient China to be) comes within a context. If one is aware of ancient Chinese mytho-history (ancient Chinese rulers and their accomplishments, for example), this is easy. I don’t know who is versed in such basic background. I am not expecting that anyone would read it from the perspective of Magoist Old Korea. There are a number of non-mainstream Koreanists who represent that voice but they are not publishing in English. I would say that the war between Chiu and Hwangje marks the archetypal war of sexes. Both parties were of the Goma descent. This war was remembered by ancient Chinese rulers and their supporters as the slaying of the nine-headed snake, one of Gongong’s ministers. Gongong was possibly one of the nine state queens. Chiu was aided by Gonggong and other nine state queens in her war against Hwangje and his allies, the forefathers of ancient China. This war was likely remembered or rather reenacted by patriarchal rulers elsewhere, in Greece for example. Thus, we have the myth of slaying Lernaean Hydra. Like China, they needed a fabricated story of this war. I bet the myth of slaying nine-headed snake monster is known in other ancient patriarchal states. I will keep pointing to such data. It is indeed a juicy topic but I don’t feel I am doing justice without laying out the context, which is …
(Review) Vibrant Voices: Women, Myth, and the Arts, editors Sid Reger & Marna Hauk, by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

If you are passionate about Goddess in your heart and mind and life, you only need to see/hear the titles of the five sections of this book Vibrant Voices: Women, Myth, and the Arts to know that you want to read it and enjoy its images. In my opinion, a passion for Goddess is inseparable from rampant creativity pouring forth and/or begging for expression in one’s life: it is Her nature, it is who She is. And in Her cosmology, nothing is mundane/profane: everyday acts may become conscious art forms. The titles of the sections, which beckon, are: 1. From the Beginning: Research into Images of the Female Divine 2. Inquiry into the Art of Experiencing the Goddess 3. Honoring Our Artist-Scholar Foremothers 4. Artists, Their Work and Their Words 5. Herstories and Solidarities This book is indeed a celebration of women’s creativity in all its forms: visual arts, textiles, sculpture, dance, poetry, dream, altar making and storytelling. It is also a thoroughly scholarly approach, grounding all the contributions in well researched and much considered thought. It is Volume 2 of proceedings from the 2014 annual conference of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. The context for the book is set beautifully in the first essay by Arisika Razak as she recounts the earliest of all human beginnings, in deep relationship with an alive world: and how central the female was to this. Arisika writes: Long before we developed writing, we placed messages in rock shelters open to the sky, in caves deep within the body of the earth, and in high plateaus and cliffs to which we ceremonially returned. We wrote, in the language of artistic expression, not only for ourselves but also for the returning generations, about what was important, revered and necessary for our lives. This is the well from which human art was generated. Although modern technocapitalism and commodity culture have obscured this beginning, it is still the source drawn upon by many cultures, particularly the ones discussed in this book[1]. There is a brilliant article by Miriam Robbins Dexter on Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Ancient Eurasia, followed by an important article by Javanese Muslim artist, Aprina Murwanti, on The Goddess Sri Spirit in Javanese Mitoni Pregnancy Ritual: Traditional Lurik Woven Cloths in Installation Art. The worship of Sri is an indigenous tradition in Javanese culture: she is associated with fertility, and underpins the Mitoni pregnancy ritual of protection, part of which is the weaving and wearing of sacred lurik cloths. The article by Yuria Celidwen, Tonantzin-Coatlique-Guadalupe: Christian Symbolism, Colonization and Social Justice, offers a much needed analysis of the meshing of these narratives over time, within the context of Goddess by these names. In my opinion, such clarity about the influences on metaphors and ritual practices in cultures that have been colonized, contributes much to the present: so that choices can be made about what story one wants to tell, and/or the creative conscious combinations one may make, and are being made. As Yuria says: … by realizing the connotations of the narratives that create our identity, we necessarily comprehend the ideologies by which we live. By understanding the origins of these ideologies, we can better respond and re-create new perspectives that can benefit us all[2]. There is no doubt that the Lady, named here in three guises, lives on in the hearts and minds of the people; they do desire Her. But what narrative guides the cosmology, who may She be, and who may She become? Marna Hauk, Triangle Canyon of the Goddesses Dream, 2014. I found the three essays in Section 2 of Vibrant Voices to be amazing journeys into the experiential modes of very different ritual practices: Mei-Mei Sanford examines and unfolds the “abundant embodiment” and complexity of the orisa deities in the West African Yoruba tradition; Toni Truesdale eloquently presents women’s expression of the sacred in daily routines; and Marna Hauk speaks of earth dreaming, drawing a great deal from her astounding doctoral work entitled “Gaia E/mergent: Earth Regenerative Education Catalyzing Empathy, Creativity, and Wisdom”. I found myself constantly making notes for further exploration throughout the reading of Marna Hauk’s essay. I was personally very excited by the resonance of her work with my own, primarily the Gaian context: Marna refers to the Hygeian dream temples of ancient Greece, as a base for her work, and I was reminded too of Delphi and the original nature of the oracular temple and priestesses there. She says: Earth dreaming can envision possibilities, perhaps sourced from the generative, collaborative ecomind, ecological intelligence, or Gaian intelligence of planet and people … Earth dreaming is a current option for reaching underneath the grid culture overlay of (post) modernity and recontacting the primary biocultural matrix[3]. Each of these essays is supported with beautiful images, that teach so much in themselves. Mary B. Kelly, Lucina, Swedish Goddess of Light, 1989. I was moved by the poem by Gina Belton that introduces Section 3 which honors two artist-scholar foremothers and their work, Lydia Ruyle and Mary B. Kelly. The poem’s title is “I Give You to the Ancestors”, and it expresses their intimate presence. Joan Marler’s essay in that section, “An Appreciation of Mary B. Kelly 1936-2016”, includes a substantial number of Mary’s paintings, and comprehensive story of Mary B. Kelly’s travels particularly to Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia for first hand research of Goddess embroideries; and referring to Mary B. Kelly’s emphasis on questioning established interpretations, much of which has been done by men blinded by their own religious and cultural biases. She encouraged her students: “Listen to what people say and record it. This is especially important with women, who have suffered millennia from lack of documentation of their artwork and religious beliefs[4].” I learned so much in the reading of this rich unfolding of the work of Mary B. Kelly. Section 4 of Vibrant Voices is a plethora of art and story that could occupy one for a long time. I felt very nurtured as I …
Motherline by Susun Weed

We each have a Motherline. The Motherline is held by the mitochondria. Our mitochondria come only from our mother. Mitochondria are small: there are many of them in every cell. They not only churn out energy (ATP), they mastermind and manage our immune responses. There are three different versions of mitochondria in this quilt. Two are illustrations, cut-away views showing the inner membrane of the mitochondria. The other is a transition-electron-microscope photo of an actual mitochondria. Let us create a world that supports women and honors the Motherline. https://www.magoism.net/2024/12/meet-mago-contributor-susun-weed/
(Essay) A Cosmic Metaphor for Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This is an edited excerpt from the author’s doctoral research, “The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change”, University of Western Sydney, 2002. My primary vision of the pattern of the Seasonal wheel of the year is one of creative power. I imagine that it may be so for any regional pattern on the planet … Her Creativity[i] manifests everywhere in various patterns, but is always a gestalt, a cycle of wholeness. The particular pattern as I have experienced and practiced it, is in accord with the Old Western European marking of Solstices, Equinoxes and four cross-quarter moments, and with a cosmology centered on the Female Metaphor.

(Special Post) To Contributors: Strengthening Our Roots by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Dear Contributors, Do you know that Return to Mago (RTM) E*Magazine is entering its fifth year this fall? And, thanks to our collective effort, we are still growing! As of today, our contributors have grown to more than 130 in number and our readership is from about 140 countries around the world. We have some hundred email followers as well as Wordpress blog followers. We draw 3000-4000 clicks per month on average; that is no small accomplishment for a Goddess blog that is named after a yet-to-be heard word, Mago (the Great Goddess), and that began from scratch.
(Special Post Mother Teresa 4) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

Part IV: Illumination and Consensus Reached [Editorial Note: The following is an edited version of the discussion that took place spontaneously on Mago Circle from March 1, 2013 for about two weeks. It was an extensive, heated, yet reflective discussion, now broken into four parts to fit the format of the blog. We thank each and all of the participants for your openness, generosity, and courage to stand up for what you believe and think! Some are marked as anonymous. As someone stated, something may have been “written in the heat of the moment” and some might like to change it at a later time. So we inform our readers that nothing is written in stone. As a matter of fact, the discussion is ongoing, now with Magoism Blog readers. Please comment and respond as you wish.] Diane Horton: [C], how is it that you do not see that MT had no right to sacrifice other people for any purpose whatsoever? None of us have the right or the place to “sacrifice those we care about” for anything. She was not “above them”. And she had abundant means to do far more for them, to cure and comfort them. If indeed she imagined she had some lofty motivation as you so fervently believe, to use the power she had to withhold medical care from the poverty stricken sick and dying in some misguided and ultimately cruel attempt to bring the world’s attention to their suffering and produce compassion within those who would not otherwise feel it is the most monstrous miscarriage of any expression of what you might refer to as “love” that I have heard of outside of Jim Jones killing all of his followers in Ghana. That’s not Love. That’s not Compassion. That is Manipulation, and manipulation is ego-based. Anne Wilkerson Allen: Yes. It is an indoctrination so deep and so prolonged that it takes a lifetime to overcome…and we rely on the love and compassion of others to help bring us to this understanding….thanks, Diane. Diane Horton: Love you, Anne. [C]: Is thinking that any human being sacrificing inside their very soul, their morals, & all that entails, is actually of lesser value than outside human pain, suffering, even death itself, right? Diane Horton: I’m not sure I understand the question really, but I’ll try a response: one’s inner and outer life are of equal importance because they are all the whole person.
(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 […]

(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.
Summer Solstice Poiesis by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

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

The Spring Equinox Moment occurs September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere, March 21-23 Northern Hemisphere. The full story of Spring Equinox is expressed in the full flower connected to the seed fresh from the earth; that is, it is a story of emergence from the dark, from a journey, perhaps long, perhaps short, through challenging places. The joy of the blossoming is rooted in the journey through the dark, and an acknowledgement of the dark’s fertile gift, as well as of great achievement in having made it, of having returned. Both Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, celebrate this sacred balance of grief and joy, light and dark, and they are both celebrations of the mystery of the seed. The seed is essentially the deep Creativity within – that manifests in the Spring as flower, or green emerged One. the full story: the root and the flower As the new young light continues to grow at this time of Spring, it comes into balance with the dark at Spring Equinox, or ‘Eostar’ as it may be named; about to tip further into light when light will dominate the day. The trend at this Equinox is toward increasing hours of light: and thus it is about the power of being – life is stepping into it. Earth in this region is tilting further toward the Sun. Traditionally it may be storied as the joyful celebration of a Lost Beloved One, who may be represented by the Persephone story: She is a shamanic figure who is known for Her journey to the Underworld, and who at this time of Spring Equinox returns. Her Mother Demeter who has waited and longed for Her in deep grief, rejoices and so do all: warmth and growth return to the land. Persephone, the Beloved Daughter, the Seed, has navigated the darkness successfully, has enriched it with Her presence and also gained its riches. Eostar/Spring Equinox is the magic of the unexpected, yet long awaited, green emergence from under the ground, and then the flower: this emergence is especially profound as it is from a seed that has lain dormant for months or longer – much like the magic of desert blooms after long periods of drought. The name of “Eostar” comes from the Saxon Goddess Eostre/Ostara, the northern form of the Sumerian Astarte[i]. The Christian festival in the Spring, was named “Easter” as of the Middle Ages, appropriating Goddess/Earth tradition. The date of Easter, which is set for Northern Hemispheric seasons, is still based on the lunar/menstrual calendar; that is, the 1st Sunday after the first full Moon after Spring Equinox. In Australia where I am, “Easter” is celebrated in Autumn (!) by mainstream culture, so we have the spectacle of fluffy chickens, chocolate eggs and rabbits in the shops at that time. There are other names for “Eostar” in other places …the Welsh name for the Spring Equinox celebration is Eilir, meaning ‘regeneration’ or ‘spring’ – or ‘earth’[ii]. In my own PaGaian tradition, the Spring Equinox celebration is based on the Demeter and Persephone story, the version that is understand as pre-patriarchal, from Old Europe. In the oldest stories, Persephone has agency in Her descent: She descends to the underworld voluntarily as a courageous seeker of wisdom, and a compassionate receiver of the dead. She represents, and IS, the Seed of Life that never fades away. Spring Equinox is a celebration of Her return, Life’s continual return, and thus also our personal and collective emergences/returns.We may contemplate the collective emergence/returns especially in our times. I describe Persephone as a “hera”, which of old was a term for any courageous One. “Hera” was a pre-Hellenic name for the Goddess in general[iii]. “Hera” was the indigenous Queen Goddess of pre-Olympic Greece, before She was married off to Zeus. “Hero” was a term for the brave male Heracles who carried out tasks for his Goddess Hera: “The derivative form ‘heroine’ is therefore completely unnecessary”[iv]. “Hera” may be used as a term for any courageous individual: and participants in PaGaian Spring Equinox ceremony have named themselves this way. The pre-“Olympic” games of Greece were Hera’s games, held at Her Heraion/temple[v]. The winners were “heras” – gaining the status of being like Her[vi]. At the time of Spring Equinox, we may celebrate the Persephone, the Hera, the Courageous One, who steps with new wisdom, into power of being: the organic power that all beings must have, Gaian power, the power of the Cosmos. This Seasonal ceremony may be a rejoicing in how we have made it through great challenges and loss, faced our fears and our demise (in its various forms), had ‘close shaves’ – perhaps physically as well as psychicly and emotionally. It is a time to welcome back that which was lost, and step into the strength of being. Spring Equinox/Eostar is the time for enjoying the fruits of the descent, of the journey taken into the darkness: return is now certain, not tentative as it was in the Early Spring/Imbolc. Demeter, the Mother, receives the Persephones, Lost Beloved Ones, joyously. This may be understood as an individual experience, but also as a collective experience – as we emerge into a new Era as a species. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme speak of the ending of the sixty-five million year geological Era – the Cenozoic Era – in our times, and our possible emergence into an Ecozoic Era. They describe the Ecozoic Era as a time when “the curvature of the universe, the curvature of the earth, and the curvature of the human are once more in their proper relation”[vii]. Joanna Macy speaks of the “Great Turning” of our times[viii]. Collectively we have been away from the Mother for some time and there is a lot of pain. At this time we may contemplate not only our own individual lost wanderings, but also that of the human species. We are part of a much bigger Return that is happening. The Beloved One may be understood as returning on a collective level: …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

(Goma Article Excerpt 4) Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

Part II: The Lost Iconography of Gaeyang Halmi We visited the Suseong Shrine a second time on July 11, 2012. I looked inside the Shrine wherein a shaman ritual was being performed by a Mudang (Korean Shaman)[i] and her assistants. The Mudang in colorful ritual outfit appeared to console her female client on behalf of the spirit. The ritual continued another hour or so and we waited outside until she finished her performance. We had come here on the day of arrival in Jungmak-dong, Buan. The shrine was locked, apparently not being in use. On our second visit, the shrine was packed with four people and their instruments and equipment. It was so compact that it left no room for another person to sit; however, it was pumping up the sober energy. In fact, I have no recollection of which musical instruments were being played inside the shrine. Nonetheless, it feels like that I was hearing the sharp and high banging of the kkwaenggwari (gong) accompanied by the janggu (hourglass drum) rhythm [symbolizing the sound of thunder and rain respectively]. The “musical” sound that I heard shook off the debris of ordinary thoughts and took me to the Other Side of Reality. I began to see things clearly the way they are. I was stepping into the history of this place that I was going to discover.
(Bell Essay 3) The Ancient Korean Bell and Magoism by Helen Hwang

Part III Nipples and Breasts of the Ancient Korean Bell, Revival of Old Magoism in Silla (57 BCE – 935 CE) Female sexuality and the divine are seamless. The ancient Korean bell bespeaks the divine, derived from female sexuality. Emitting reverberation, it casts a spell on the hearer. It is the sound that connects one with the Goddess and with one another. However, lapse of time has never been neutral. It has wrought the change of gender principle in society and in human consciousness. The female principle is severed from the divine. The divine without regard to the female is only astray or make-believe. When the seamlessness is broken, the bell loses its power to enchant. The ancient Korean bell, as a time capsule, sets us to the task of undoing the gender reversal. Unfettering of the arcane knowledge of Magoism is the gain. In proportion to the patriarchal progress in East Asia, Magoism, the gynocentric historical and cultural context, has been submerged. The fact that Magoism remains unregistered is a sign that moderns have drifted too far from the Female Origin. As a result, the female symbology of the bell is rendered irrelevant, if not obsolete. The bell and Buddhism are dysfunctional, if not mismatched. Or, maybe the Sillans who commissioned the bells in the 8th century CE saw Buddhism differently. Keeping at bay what makes the bell as the bell — the female symbology, Buddhist patriarchs have set a maze, heading only to “nothingness.” The sonority of the bell travels to the ear of people. However, deep hearing is thwarted by the patriarchal concept of the divine. Part III begins to deprogram the patriarchal conceptual barrier by shedding light on the core of its female symbology, the Nipples, the Bell Breasts, and the Breast Circumferences. Four Dimensional Mandala Is Here The relief of Nipples depicted elegantly and realistically is an attention grabber. For fear of being mistaken for something else especially by the generation to come, Sillan ancestors named them yudu (breast nipples). To be certain, they named the seat of the nipples jongyu (bell breast) and the enclosure of the breast yugwak (breast circumference). Detailed and refined artistry radiates the spirit of honor and veneration. As seen below, the nipples come in various styles showing the mastery of the bell casters in metallurgic technology. [The following images of Nipples are from the bells of different periods including Silla. The structures of nipples and breasts remain the same throughout history, characterizing Korean bells.] Sometimes, the nipples are depicted as the studs of lotus blossoms. Other times they are seated in lotus petals. Less frequently, the nipples are rendered as flat lotus flowers, perhaps to mitigate the graphic look. Regardless, the viewer can’t miss the number of the Nipples, nine. The nine nipples are aligned in three rows of three in the Bell Breast, which is enclosed by the Breast Circumference. Considering that the triad is the symbol of Mago as Samsin Halmi (The Triad Goddess), the three rows of three represent the triad in all ways, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. One is surrounded by the triad in all directions; an epiphany is stored to enact. Now the bell caster conjoins the number three symbol with the number four symbol. In ancient East Asia, the four corners represent all directions, that is, the whole world. Placed in four corners, thirty-six nipples in all (a set of nine nipples in four directions) represent the female occupying the whole world. Seong Nakju in his inquiry about the thirty-six nipples of an ancient Korean bell states that the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (the first state that united China) divided “the world” into 36 heavens in 221 BCE. (Seong Nakju, see below in Sources.) Unlike the rule of the first Qin emperor infamous for tyranny, the 36 Nipples hint at neither domination nor the hierarchical power of the patriarchal monarch. Instead, they saturate the whole world with the female anatomy. To be discussed at a later point, the nine nipples that came from the 8th century are a time-proven means through which we may enter the consciousness of the Bronze Age, if not earlier when they originated and of the times whenever they reappeared. The four dimensional mandala is revealed, biding its time to evoke one to the fifth direction. The bell delivers the triumph of the Goddess (female principle) to the world in an utterly outlandish manner! Her Way is peace, integration, and beauty. Behold, She is enthroned. Gom (Ungnyeo) and the Nine-State Confederacy of Old Magoism What does a set of nine nipples signify? What does it mean that the ancient Korean bell has four sets of nine nipples? In Magoism the nine nipples are not an isolated symbol. They are on a par with the nine-tailed fox and the nine dragons from East Asia. These are the ancient representations of the female divine. I have delineated elsewhere that the nine-tailed fox is associated with Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) and the nine dragons with Gwaneum (Guanyin, Kannon). Other times, Goddess Herself manifests as of the nine forms. As I discussed, the nine maidens of Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea, is a good example (see “Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea,” Part IV). The nine-female symbology goes beyond East Asia. The concatenation includes the nine Muses, the nine forms of Durga, and the African Goddesses of Oya and Mumbi who are known to have nine daughters. As such, evidence of the nine-female symbolism is intense and cross-cultural. The recurring symbolism of nine in East Asia suggests the once prevalent mytho-history of Old Magoism. Old Magoism is characterized by the rule of Magoist shamans who invented and spread the gynocentric civilization of pre-Chinese East Asia worldwide. Precisely, the nine-female symbolism refers to Gom (Ungnyeo, Bear/Sovereign Woman), founder of the nine-state confederacy in pre-Chinese times (see Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea, Part V). In short, the framework of Magoism …

Day: April 23, 2016

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