April 17, 2016October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin

(Meet Mago Contributor) Maya Daniel

Maya Daniel is a pen name, living in the Philippines, in my 50s, and i am dishing out rebel poetry.

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(Essay 3) The Old Sow by Hearth Moon Rising

Read Meet Mago Contributor Hearth Moon Rising. The Hebrew prohibition against pork was a product of the agricultural realities of the Levant. While Egypt and Mesopotamia were able to amass large stores of grain that could outlast prolonged drought, the harvest in this region was sparse and uncertain. It did not make sense to divert precious grain stores for porcine consumption when much of the arid land would only support grass. Goats and sheep were better suited for the region even though kids and lambs grow more slowly than piglets. The taboo against pork precipitated a crisis for early Christians. If they allowed converts to eat pork they could no longer consider themselves a Jewish sect, even a controversial one. Yet Christian leaders desired converts in Europe and Asia Minor, where pork was widely consumed among the poorer classes (who happened at that time to be more open to their message). It was not simply a matter of substituting pork for chicken or beef like we would do today in our grocery shopping. Low income laborers kept pigs because pigs demanded little time and effort, and they did not have the resources to buy or raise other animals to meet their high protein requirements. It was either loosen dietary restrictions or abandon efforts to convert Greece and Rome. At the same time devotion to the Sow Goddess could not be allowed to continue, not in Greece or anywhere else. Hence negative references to pigs in the New Testament outnumber those in the Old, and church leaders continued to inveigh against the wretched swine. From the point of view of the convert, to enjoy continued dependence on grain and pork while reviling the Sow Goddess required a change in thinking that was profound. It was only natural that the Great Sow would nourish the grain harvest, since pigs and humans depended on it. The task of humans, as pagans understood it, was to demonstrate gratitude for her largess and to remind her occasionally where her interest lay. Christian emphasis on the rewards of heaven was partially driven by the need to break allegiance to the powers that made life on earth possible. As Christianity spread to northern Europe, clerics continued to rail against the pagan swine. In forested areas pigs roamed half feral feasting on acorns, linking the sow with the oak tree so sacred to the Celts. Magical or enchanted pigs appear often in the Celtic romances, although any goddesses associated with these pigs have been unrecorded. Robert Graves in The White Goddess presents a theory that the Welsh goddess Cerridwyn is the sacred White Sow, and this conjecture is generally accepted by practicing Pagans, if not by academics. Celtic folklore includes many references to fairy pigs. Sometimes the pig or boar leads unsuspecting men or dogs directly into the Otherworld. One story features a self regenerating Otherworld pig. Folklore featuring fairy pigs survived well into Christian times. Says Patrick V. O’Sullivan in Irish Superstitions and Legends of Animals and Birds: “Pigs were often seen going in and out of forts, which would seem to indicate that fairies were as fond of their bacon and cabbage as their human neighbors. Occasionally, pigs came out of rivers and streams, and these too were enchanted porkers.” The Pagan revival beginning in the mid twentieth century has not reignited much interest in the pig and the Sow Goddess. The association of pigs with ugliness, dirt and stupidity continues to prevail in most quarters, even though people in direct contact with pigs will insist that they are both intelligent and clean. Despite my promotion of pigs for over twenty years I have not convinced any crones to accept “Old Sow” as an honorific. I do not think this is entirely due to Christian propaganda. After all, the snake has been vilified as much if not more. Nor can it be attributed to the pig’s domestic status, given the popularity of Pan, though wild animals and domestic companion animals do tend to attract more devotees. The sow’s lack of sex appeal, at least in male defined terms, probably plays a significant role in her neglect, but crone goddesses such as Baba Yaga or Cailleach Bhear do have a following. Part of the reason the sow continues to wallow in ignominy is that the biggest impetus for the Pagan revival, at least in numbers, has come from America, where wild pigs are not regarded with any warm feelings. The boar and her cousins are not native to the Americas, and the first pigs were brought by colonials who allowed them to forage freely, causing conflicts with natives that sometimes erupted in violence. Pigs are gourmets as well as gourmands, and they naturally chose the foods that humans also prefer, so they depleted certain nutritious wild plants quickly. Feral pigs continue to wreak ecological havoc in many forested regions despite decades of work by state wildlife agencies to eradicate them. To be continued. Read part 1 and part 2. Hearth Moon Rising is a Dianic Priestess living in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York and the author of Invoking Animal Magic: A guide for the Pagan priestess. www.invokinganimalmagic.com. She blogs at www.hearthmoonblog.com. Sources: Barrett, Clive. The Egyptian Gods and Goddesses: The Mythology and Beliefs of Ancient Egypt. London: Diamond Books, 1991. Bottero, Jean. The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Cooper, D. Jason. Using the Runes. Wellingborough, UK: The Aquarian Press, 1986. Germond, Phillippe. An Egyptian Bestiary: Animals in Life and Religion in the Life of the Pharoahs. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001. Gimbutas, Marija. The Living Goddesses. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999. Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989. Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. London: Penguin, 1960. Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1948. Green, Miranda. Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London: Routledge, 1992. Johnson, Buffie. Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1994. O’Sullivan, Patrick V. Irish Superstitions and Legends of …
(Prose) Connection by Deanne Quarrie

As an introvert, I do a lot of listening. However, I have noticed that when I am in a group and think I am listening, quite often I have tuned out and am lost in my own thoughts. That doesn’t happen near as often when I am with one person, sharing in conversation. Clearly there are times when I am with someone who is a “talker” and our conversation is mostly a monologue. I find this need to talk comes either from being alone most of the time or from not being listened to by anyone. So when I care about someone, I simply listen as the rattle on. Pretty soon
(Poetry) The Hawk and Squirrel in the Garden by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Carolyn Lee Boyd A summer snowfall of white feathers A dragon sleeping on a perfect square of suburb A cloudlike portal to a parallel mythic realm above heaven, Such were the ponderings of the weekend Gardener, The Divinely appointed caretaker of this tiny speck of soil, As she first spotted, while walking home from her office job, The mystery, the creature overspreading Half the grass leading up to her yellow-painted, Picket-fenced so ordinary house. What could it be? It was, in the Gardener’s eyes, so immense with its wings spread Appearing several times its actual size due to its creation Of a protective realm of sovereignty around itself Maybe an ancient shapeshifting fantasy So out of place She thought In her own homely and unconsecrated place and time. It was a hawk who rose from the grass and beneath, In its claws, a squirrel struggled. The Gardener witnessed the small being’s last few breaths While captive high above the Garden She had made in her backyard of fragrant herbs and flowers for smelling, Berries and nuts for feasting, soft beds of leaves for sleeping To entice through the gate Squirrels and chipmunks and woodchucks. Now thirty feet in the air and soaring to the west The hawk and its prey disappeared in the pastel blue sky. What the Gardener calls her Garden was once covered by glaciers Which receded, leaving an Arctic tundra That warmed and, at least 10,000 years ago, According to artifacts still emerging at just the right moment To tell the stories that need to be heard, Humans set their feet upon the ground to dwell, To live, to be birthed and give birth, to make stories and sing, and to die. First the land was hunted and fished Just enough to feed the First People who lived here. Then it was ripped open by European plows And planted with only apple trees, the animals, birds, insects, grasses Shut out by wire and wood fence, poisons and grasping tools. Finally, a century ago, after the house was built, The land was lovingly cultivated by Generations of women who each made it her own vision of paradise. The last in this line of women, the Gardener, Envisions the land to be a calm, peaceful, lovely place That embraces neither the fierce, majesty of the hawk Nor the violent death of the squirrel. I am the Spirit of this land, Holder of both the Gardener’s everyday realm And the almost infinitely complex world of the Garden’s Real nature and all the beings who live in it From bacteria to humans, from fern spores to maple trees three feet in diameter, from sparrows to owls. Propelled by the sight of the hawk and squirrel Into an instant of understanding that the Garden was not only What she had created and conceived it to be But also a place much more than she could imagine And all she had ever desired, I levitated the Gardener’s soul into the air And she saw her Garden with the eyes of the hawk. She witnessed, in her orderly beds, The native and storebought flowers and herbs planted by her own hand. And, amongst them, with wild abundance, More species than are known to human science Grown from seeds dropped from traveling birds or on the breeze Snakelike runners under the ground, roots burrowed deep in the soil Coming to life now that they are welcome. Woodchucks, foxes and cubs, squirrels, chipmunks, coyotes, and Millions of dragonflies, butterflies, mosquitoes, grubs, ladybugs Billions of one celled beings that are part of the Massive ecosystems that are plants and animals. All connected to hundreds or thousands of other beings by chemical communication By sound, taste, smell, and instinct and intuition. By my Spirit. The taking of the squirrel was just one of millions of interactions Exchanges of life and death that happen everyday so that The entire web may exist in balance and well being. Birth, growth, life, and decay, the dance that enlivens the universe Within that one-eighth acre landscape. She closed her eyes and began to truly listen To the cacophony of all the beings in that small area of ground Each with its own voice and its own rhythm Seemingly, each struggling to make itself heard Amongst the chaos of so many other beings. But then she listened even more deeply A united song began to emerge That of the Spirit of the Land itself. My Voice. All the rhythms and melodies of all the beings As well as the soil, air, sun, and water that call the Land home Emerged into one rhythm and melody. “I can hear it!” the Gardener exclaimed, “With my own ears, I can hear it!” She had heard it every day since she had moved into the house But never perceived it because She had been taught that no realm existed In the world of daily human life Where such a song could make galaxies far away reverberate. Then she heard her own voice And it was clearly a part of this symphony An essential element of the music and without it The Land’s song would be not just different But incomplete, not fully alive. She began to sing with her throat So anyone walking down the sidewalk On their way home from work or school could hear. She sang to the land, sang to it a love song and a lullaby A chant of praise and thanksgiving. She told the Land of her longing to be part of its true being for so long And all the while she had never been apart from it. The Land, My voice, listened and responded, altering its song to harmonize even more closely with hers. At that moment she knew what the Spirit of the Land was, Who I was. I am the relationship between all the living beings, I am that eternal aspect of them all, including the Gardener, That exists beyond physical birth, life, and death. I am …
(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 14) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.] The Divine Bell of Seongdeok the Great The Name Text of the Divine Bell comes in two sections the Main Words (the prose part) and the Verse Words (the poetry part), (see Figures 24-1 and 24-2). The Main Words is made of 24 lines (630 characters), whereas the Verse Words comprises 21 lines (407 characters). A total of 1,037 characters, the text contains rich data and deserves a study on its own. The author of the Main Words is Gim Pilo, whereas the Verse Words is Out of the whole text, I have selected relevant segments to introduce and discuss. Gim Pilo, a middle ranking officer, writes: Because the utmost way includes the exterior of forms, its source is invisible in the eye. As the big sound vibrates between heaven and earth, its echo is inaudible in the ear. That is why words are spoken as theory. That is to help people see through the profound meaning of the three-fold truth. The Divine Bell installed high awakens the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride. The Divine Bell appeals beyond human faculty. While words spoken as theory are to help understand the mind the three-fold truth, the Divine Bell is to invoke “the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride. This literature is distinguished from the other ancient texts of the kind, e.g., the Daodejing (Classic of the Virtuous Way), in the sense that its perception of ultimate reality goes deeper beyond the metaphysical nature but also the sonic property.[1] The expression, “the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride (一乘之圓音),” captures the matriversal reality of WE/HERE/NOW. I have translated “seung 乘 (ride or vehicle)” as “a ride” rather than “a vehicle,” the latter which is commonly adopted by Buddhologists.[2] “A ride” depicts an action of being in transition, whereas “a vehicle” concerns a transportation to enable transition. The former indicates a journey itself, whereas the latter something makes a journey possible. Its voidness amplifies the sound, which makes its resonance linger. Its heaviness makes it immovable, which makes its body immutable. Thus, it is apt to engrave the great achievements of the ruler on the bell, whose purpose was to halt people’s suffering. The bell is hollow inside to amplify the sound. The language is literal and metaphoric at the same time. The void in the bell’s body augments the sound. The gigantic weight of the bell makes it immovable and immutable. Such properties of the bell are associated with the duties of a ruler. The literal, the metaphorical, and the political are interwoven. And the ruler’s achievement lies in his or her duty to halt people’s suffering. Note that it is the ruler who is attributed to the divine nature of the divine bell not the Buddha or a monk. Buddhism is subverted from the core. Humbly speaking, Seongdeok the Great soared in virtue like mountains and rivers. His Majesty’s fame was esteemed high like the sun and the moon. His Majesty appointed the loyal and the good to offices and had them administer seasons and customs with care. Venerating propriety and music, His Majesty looked after folk lives. Agriculture was supported in the field, whereas no extravagant products circulated on the market. People of the time abhorred gold and jade but cherished literary talents. Rather than living in despair by the unexpected death of his son, His Majesty kept that in heart and took heed in life till his old age. For about forty years of his administration, His Majesty diligently attended to state affairs. His Majesty did not frighten people by waging war even one year. Thus, neighboring states in four directions and surrenderers from far admired His Majesty’s way of governing and did not attempt to invade us militarily. It is praised that Yan and Qin [ancient Chinese states] appointed people properly, and that Qi and Jin [ancient Chinese states] alternated in conquering. However, how can they be addressed on a par with His Majesty? It was hard to predict the time of death, nonetheless. The nights of a thousand autumns passed quickly. It is the 34th year this year since His Majesty passed on. The segment C concerns the 33rd ruler Seongdeok the Great (r. 702-737) to whom the Divine Bell is dedicated. Seongdeok was the second son of Queen Sinmok and the 31st ruler Sinmun the Great, the protagonist in the myth of the Pacifying Flute (see [Table 1]). His first son, the crowned price, begotten from his first consort, Queen Seongjeong, died at a young age.[3] Historical sources confirm that the 35 year-rule of Seongdeok the Great was an era of peace and stability. What they often neglect is that Seongdeok, following in the footsteps of his grandfather ruler Munmu the Great (r. 661-681), took the non-military policy.[4] Noteworthy is the account, “His Majesty did not frighten people by waging war even one year. Thus, neighboring states in four directions and surrenderers from far admired His Majesty’s way of governing and did not attempt to invade us militarily.” His pacifist policy was aligned with the vision of Unified Silla, restoring the matriversal confederacy of Old Magoist Korea. In fact, the Magoist cetacean devices including the whale-dragon bells, the Pacifying Flute, and Manbul-san testify to the pacific matriversal policy that Unified Sillan rulers distinguished themselves from the counterparts of patriarchally armed ancient China. A filial successor, Gyeongdeok the Great, inherited the great royal task and attended to the duty of the crown prince. Because His Majesty lost his mother at a young age, however, His Majesty’s longing for her became stronger as time went by. With an overwhelming task of royal instructions, his sorrow grew deeper in the chambers of the palace. His Majesty’s wish to benefit their spirits grew ever stronger. Thereupon, His Majesty …
(Book Excerpt 1) Pagan, Goddess, Mother by Nane Jordan, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This is the Introduction chapter from: Pagan, Goddess, Mother, edited by Nané Jordan and Chandra Alexandre, Demeter Press, 2021, pp. 11-28, https://demeterpress.org/books/pagan-goddess-mother/.] Introduction Nané Jordan and Chandra Alexandre I am the Mother of all things and my love ispoured out upon the earth…I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters,I call upon your soul to arise and come unto me.For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. (From Traditional Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente, adapted by Starhawk) This book gathers creative voices, stories, and scholarship from the forefront of Pagan and Goddess-centred homes—where Goddesses, divine Mothers, female embodiment, and generative life cycles are honoured as sacred. Pagan and Goddess spirituality are distinct yet overlapping traditions, lived through diverse communities in North America and beyond. Those who inhabit these spaces have much to say about deity as mother and about human mothers in relationship to deity. This anthology puts Pagan and Goddess mothering into focus by highlighting the philosophies and experiences of mothers in these movements and spiritual traditions. By doing so, we hope to generate new ways of imagining and enacting motherhood. Questions informing this collection are as follows. How do mothers in contemporary Pagan and Goddess movements negotiate their mothering roles and identities? How does devotion towards Mother Goddesses empower and/or affect the lived experiences of mothers and feminist practices of mothering? As editors, we wondered how Pagan- and Goddess-centred mothers engage in, and are affected by, their particular spiritual leadership through practices of ceremony, ritual, magic, priestessing, as well as through living connections with nature, the more-than-human world, the Earth as Mother, and our own bodies. We were curious to know how Pagan- and Goddess-centred mothers interface with dominant religions, the public sphere, social institutions for children, community leadership, and social justice movements. We were curious especially because Pagan and Goddess spirituality are not mainstream religions, nor are they accepted as such. Adherents often co-create new pathways, subcultures, or countercultures in life and spirit. Practitioners may or may not belong to particular communities or faith-based groups and may even practice traditional religions alongside their Pagan and Goddess spirituality. For many, the term “spirituality” rather than “religion” best describes Pagan and Goddess philosophies and ways of life. Spirituality may be equated with the search for meaning in life; it is related to sensing the more-than-material world of the sacred, numinous, or divine—feeling interconnections within the web of life, and all that is. Spirituality often describes subtle human experiences that are immanent (from within) and/or transcendent (from outside) of the self. Spiritual experiences often have transformative, healing, or uplifting qualities. For some practitioners, Pagan and Goddess spirituality are understood as growing from the roots of ancient religions or as reclaimed from pre-Christian spiritual worldviews. Pagan- and Goddess-loving individuals may be hidden in their communities and face misunderstanding from mainstream religion and society. Conversely, others live openly and identify with particular pathways, groups, or circles, gathering in designated places of worship to practice their spiritual expression. What especially intrigued us, as editors, is the knowledge gained from our own experiences, struggles, and insights with Goddess spirituality. In this, our practices and experiences of mothering have been uniquely affected by living spiritual paths that value women, the sacred female and feminine, daily embodied life, and mothers themselves as divine and part of the sacred cycle of life. We particularly live our mother- centred spirituality as women seeking to engage in nonpatriarchal spiritual practices and leadership. We see this form of spiritual feminist leadership reflected in this volume—through stories of those who support and uplift women as mothers in their communities and through the voices of mothers who strive to live in balance with male partners and/or the men in their lives. Many Pagan- and Goddess- identified mothers and mother-centred people find their spiritual pathways to be life-enhancing alternatives to patriarchal, male-centred religions. In particular, Goddess spirituality, as a women- and female-empowering movement, has grown out of social gender justice and feminist movements in North America and beyond (e.g. Hwang et al., Robbins Dexter and Noble; Sjoo and Mor, Spretnak). Some common principles to both Pagan and Goddess spirituality are a love of nature and the Earth as sacred; knowing the Earth as our Mother; a respect for the elements and the more-than-human worlds of trees, plants, earth, water, and animal life; belief in the importance of the unseen realms; valuing embodied life and our bodies as sacred in female and all gendered forms; honouring the seasons and the cosmic turning of the wheel of the year; and appreciating the depth of interconnections between birth, life, and death. Through the authors represented herein, this anthology examines the pleasures, struggles, and challenges of living Pagan- and Goddess-centred truths as mothers raising children towards postpatriarchal, Earth-based, and love-centred lives, which recognize the pain of suffering alongside the importance of healing, compassion, and the pursuit of an interconnected, joyful life. Such mothers are striving to unleash their own and their children’s fullest potential from worldviews that honour the female/feminine and mothers as divine and sacred to all life. Engaged in and uplifting Pagan- and Goddess-centred spirituality, this anthology reveals the tensions and insights of these communities, philosophies, and practices for empowering and healing the lives of mothers as well as the next generation. (To be continued) (Meet Mago Contributor) Nane Jordan https://www.magoism.net/2014/03/meet-mago-contributor-nane-jordan/
Winter Blessings by Susun Weed

Winter Solstice returns the light, but deepens the cold. The sun stands still, wordlessly. Then it turns. It returns. Silence reigns. The moon wanes. Breath freezes in icy clouds. Return. Time to return. Time to turn inward. Time to remember what I am made of. Time to consider my age. I am five billion years in the making. The earth is five billion years old. I am made of the earth. Every cell, every mitochondria is a gift from the earth, from five billion years of recycling. Wait. I am fourteen billion years old. I am stardust. Every molecule, every atom, every electron is made of stardust. The stars are fourteen billion years old. Shining. Silent. Shhhh https://www.magoism.net/2024/12/meet-mago-contributor-susun-weed/
(Essay) Integrating the Co-essential Darkness by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

We live in times wherein beings the world over are witnessing global transformation. Such a scale of planetary change has happened before, but humans are integral to this one – not only as witnesses and participants, but also as primary agent/cause. These times have apparently been expressed and foretold by different religious traditions: in the Celtic tradition, as the Age of Cailleach – the Old Woman whose song heralds changing tides; in Hindu tradition, as the Age of Kali – the awesome Goddess whose capacities embrace the process of destroying for the purposes of Creativity … it is her passion for Being, for birthing the New. She, like many of Her Dark Sisters around the globe, embodies the truth (an ultimate Truth) that this life is built on the passing or transformation of all that went before: that we are here by the grace of the Space, and the knowledge of the eons that is passed on.
(Poetry) Sita by Susan Hawthorne

After the recent TRA (Trans Rights Activists) attacks on Nina Paley, a very talented film maker, I decided that I would post my poem ‘what Queenie says about Sita’. I wrote this after seeing Nina Paley’s film Sita Sings the Blues in 2010 when I was studying Sanskrit at ANU. The poem is from my book Cow (2011) and Queenie is an intergalactic cow with a deep knowledge of philosophy (she has been around for many millennia and seen it all); she knows every famous cow who has ever been; and is quite keen on any religion in which cows play an important part (and there are many of them). Cow is a book full of mythic stories and my retelling of Sita is just one among many. what Queenie says about Sita Sita was no slouch just a woman in the tumult of emotion she tried to help her man get a life get out and about she said why not follow that deer dear she needed time alone but it’s always been hard for women to find solitude Sita was no different soon the rival king was coming round asking for samosas with pickles and chutney and before she knew it he had her tucked up in his flying chariot heading south she flew with him to see a bit of the country from the air but Raavana had other ideas he tried to woo her but that wasn’t why she consorted a mountain from a molehill before she knew it the scouts were arriving on her doorstep begging her to turn back why couldn’t Rama come and ask her himself? if she wasn’t important enough for a visit why bother? so she stayed on at the mountain resort with its beach views elephants peacocks temples evening dancing and good intelligent conversation Raavana too didn’t get it what was it with these men? can’t they tell the difference between great conversation and no desire for sex? (in the case of Raavana) or great love lust and passion but no wish to give up on intellectual pursuits for housework sitting pretty and emotional deserts? (in the case of Rama) all Sita wanted was a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle was it really that hard? she contemplated suicide this woman who knew her mind she could not understand why Rama ten months after her capture had not come to fight for her but suicide is hard without implements and then came the war unwarranted just as for Helen across the desert lands there seemed no end to the bloodshed the fear the escalating madness of war hatred destruction once started she was no longer relevant to the discussion she tried negotiating nothing happening tried the cold shoulder only to inflame the passions of Raavana she retreated kept out of sight one day a great conflagration arose a river of blood the palace burnt to the ground Raavana lost his head there was Rama standing before her his eyes cold his heart stone but there was nothing else for it but to turn homeward it hadn’t changed a bit still irrelevant in Rama’s list of duties she sat alone like Penelope waiting for the man she thought she knew to return before long she noticed the early signs she conceived what was to come well before her belly swelled this time he evicted her sent her into exile she was not much more alone and here she could get her life back together stop waiting for someone to notice her she started a school for the study of language people came from the lands all around they told stories recited day-long epic poems played music danced and painted finally life was good she became revered among the people for her intelligence her wit her sense of justice and fun they also thought her beautiful one among many fine attributes Sita stayed in her own country her children flourished knowing only a little of their mother’s trials (of their father they knew only that he had been most interested in his reputation among men) Notes on the poem Sita: a foundling, regarded as the daughter of Bhudevi, the earth gooddess. Sita’s name means furrow, the line of a ploughshare; she was discovered in a furrow of a ploughed field. She is a principle player in the epic Ramayana and married to Rama. Raavana: the demon king of Lanka. Rama the exiled king of Ayodhya. You can watch Nina Paley’s animated movie Sita Sings the Blues here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=RzTg7YXuy34 It has had almost a million viewers. Nina Paley on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Paley For an image, I like this one: http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html The film is produced under a copyleft licence. So images can be shared. You can find out more about my book Cow here: http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=215/ Meet Mago Contributor, Susan Hawthorne
(Art) Throne for a Goddess, inspired by the “Venus” of Willendorf by Glen Rogers

Throne for a Goddess The “Venus” of Willendorf has long been an icon of the Sacred Feminine and for me a beacon of what was and what could be. (Many feel that the “Venus” nomenclature unfortunately frames this very important figure in a sexist manner.) However, despite her title, She represents a female figure connected to Mother Earth, revered for her fecundity and her role as life-giver. On September 9, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, my new sculpture, Throne for a Goddess, inspired by this historical figurine was installed at St. Ruprecht/Raab sculpture park in Austria. It was an exciting project for me and viewing the finished Throne via photos versus in person, because of the travel ban, did not diminish my enthusiasm. Throne for a Goddess Backside It was through a number of synchronous events on a trip to Vienna only a year earlier that culminated in the sculpture coming into being. My main reason for going to Europe was a group exhibition I was in, Crossing Borders, in Ghent, Belgium. But my friend whom I was traveling with had family in Austria, so she convinced me we should go there after the show. Sitting around the dinner table our first night in Vienna, I asked her cousins if there were any Neolithic Goddess sites to explore nearby. Some may be surprised that I would ask that question, but visiting sacred sites has been my passion for many years. My book, Art and Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place, chronicles 10 such sites around the world that inspired my artwork such as Newgrange in Ireland, Uluru in Australia, and Font de Gaume cave in South of France. To my utter surprise, they said the Venus of Willendorf, one of the oldest and most celebrated Paleolithic goddess sculptures, was housed in The Natural History Museum in Vienna. With a feeling of reverence and excitement, we paid her a visit the very next day. On display in a special room with only a few other artifacts, the tiny 4½-inch limestone figure is believed to be almost 30,000 years old. Although I’ve seen many fertility figures from early cultures in museums around the world, the Willendorf statue took my breath away. It was awe inspiring to be in the presence of a figure so ancient and so imbued with the Sacred Feminine and I knew at that moment she would inspire a new artwork in me. Our host then took us to the beautiful Styria countryside specifically to show us a new sculpture park in St. Ruprecht/Raab where he had a piece. The park which is beautifully laid out like a giant peace symbol, already had 20 to 25 sculptures by local artists. I’ve done a lot of public sculpture myself, with pieces like Beacon and Spirit Gate in California, so my wheels were spinning imagining one of my pieces there. After meeting the park’s developer, I decided to empower myself and ask if I could submit a proposal. He agreed! Artist/Author Having been newly inspired by the Willendorf figure, I knew I would create a piece to honor this symbol of the Divine Feminine – the primary focus for my art for so many years. I also felt lucky to be introduced to Jitka Derler of the Binder Company, for the fabrication in Austria, a female artist who also honored the Goddess. We worked well together sending computer files and encouragement back and forth over the internet. My idea was to design an interactive sculpture where visitors are invited to sit and feel the energy of the Great Mother. The final Throne is made of gold-tone anodized aluminum and rusted steel and stands 6.5 feet tall. Along with the Willendorf figure are symbols associated with the Goddess such as the moon and the spiral and my inspirational message cut into the metal: Rest in the Warm Embrace of the Goddess, the Great Mother, the Divine Feminine. Feel Her Nurturing Love and Offer of Abundance and Prosperity. Sit in Her Lap of Fertility and Plant a Seed for your Dreams and New Beginnings. Print Back in my studio in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I decided to create a commemorative print as a way to honor the sculpture locally. Since this project is all about empowering and honoring women – from the ancient to the present, I partnered with the non-profit, Mujeres en Cambio (Women in Change). This organization was a logical choice since they, in turn, empower young women in rural SMA communities by offering educational scholarships. The beautiful Throne for a Goddess commemorative print is available via my website with 40% going to Mujeres: www.glenrogersart.com/shop It was amazing how all of this came together within a year – especially the year of 2020. It felt like I was being looked after, just like the mantra I use while traveling, In Her Hands. As soon as vaccines are administered and bans are lifted, my friend and I will surely return to Austria and experience Throne for a Goddess first-hand. https://www.magoism.net/2021/01/meet-mago-contributor-glen-rogers/

(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 1) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Wennifer Lin-Haver Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am asking each of us to consider writing a sentence or paragraph on “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” This idea is prompted by Wennifer Lin-Haver, Founder of Mother Tree Sanctuary, and I agree that we need to and can create a sort of collective writing on the topic. What we write below will be included and published in The Girl God, Mother Tree Sanctuary, and Return to Mago. As a subaltern minority as we seem at the current point of time, Goddessians/Magoists [the term Mago means the Great Goddess] need to make extra efforts to make our voices and presences exposed to the public and inner circles. Length and style are open. Please also include your name, region/state/country, title, and/or website URL. We strongly encourage you if you are located in a place where Goddessians are rarely around. We intend to make a collective testimonial tapestry of WE as Goddessians/Magoists! Please keep this in your mind and join us in this collective effort. Thank you in advance. March 6, 2014 AF (Archaic Future)! Wennifer Lin-Haver Our “call” started as a conversation between Helen and me where I was expressing to her the real need for Mother Tree Sanctuary to be more articulate with exploring the significance and importance of Goddess in our lives. I was prompted to give such a response, when asked “why” we had to differentiate God and Goddess. “Isn’t everything God?” She asked. And “Isn’t Goddess also God?” “Isn’t it all the same as long was we’re all coming from our ‘higher’ self?” she asked. So I saw this warranted a longer and much deeper discussion. I initially thought I should formulate a response and post it as a Page or Tab in our website, but after some reflection with Helen, I saw how much better it would be if we replied to this question as a diverse and creative collective. I surely do not have all the answers as an individual but perhaps together, we can come up with something more whole, colorful and satisfying. I do hope you will contribute a little something! We are always grateful for all that you have to share.
(Special Post Isis 1) 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 1 Is Isis White (European) or Black (African)? Harita Meenee What could Isis have to do with the political situation in Egypt? Read on to find out! Isis, Egypt and the Revolution For the past few years Egypt has felt like a second home to me. Some cherished friends and co-workers live there, to whom my thoughts often travel. Also, Isis, the Egyptian great goddess once worshiped all over the Mediterranean, has been an ever-present source of inspiration… By: Harita Meenee, Author https://www.facebook.com/notes/harita-meenee-author/isis-egypt-and-the-revolution/457348724361326 Rick Williams Isis and that picture for me is kind of offensive in 2013. KMT [Kemet, Egypt] and AUSET [Isis] “worship” is an oxymoron. Kahena Dorothea Can you explain, Rick Williams, how it is an oxymoron? I am curious. Rick Williams First, Auset as a deity was not a singularly honored symbolic personage. KMT taught principles of BALANCE and UNIVERSAL COSMOLOGICAL TRUTH. There are NO images from the dawn of that age depicting her as EUROPEAN. [Threads curtailed] Helen Hwang I would strongly suggest that Rick and others who see Rick’s point educate us in Mago Circle. I know this is very difficult but we are here to learn and express differences from each other. We are all centers and please share your perspective and knowledge so that others can learn. I am doing that with patience and tolerance as well. Thank you all! Rick Williams I try to be as honest and respectful when I can, Helen. I only personalize things when ONE person says something. Yet there are those who know that the people of that land now weren’t the same people who honored the deities of mythology and that image isn’t of Auset. When will folks stop promoting fictitious images and uneducated observations? I could have beat around the bush and politely asked about the statue, why that one isn’t truly the same of Auset’s time? Helen Hwang Okay, conflicts and contradictions are everywhere. Nonetheless, we can’t be beat by those. We are exploring ways to be empowered by addressing our differences in Mago Circle. We trust that we have good intentions and yet we are not perfect. I do Mago Circle and Return to Mago because I believe there is a way for us to meet and talk with our differences, I can’t let that hope go! Thank us for talking to each other. Naa Ayele Kumari I can see both points. Egypt has a long and ancient history… One filled with invaders.. wars.. people who stole the magic and manipulated it for their own purposes… Those invaders changed images to make them in their own reflections all the while slowly destroying the indigenous images of power and strength as well as the sacred tradition they were built on.. As a woman of African descent, it is sometimes difficult to see the Hellenistic images of our mother.. because her original images were a woman of color. Racism… whether we chose to admit it or not has played an immense part in our oppression as a people and that includes the struggle for Egypt today. It is especially a sensitive issue because those images play a role in how people see and view black women… even today. The dark goddess is stereotyped as being a part of our shadow while the white goddess is caste as being all that is good in the world. What black women struggle to tell the world is that those projections are simply racist projections… and so we reject them. Still, I recognize that people like to experience the divine in their own image and that our Mother has been taken around the world… and by extension absorbed many names and faces because after all, she is mother not to just Africans… but to the World. Right now, we have dominant tradition of Islam… that at its roots has a feminine basis… (Islam came from the word Isis) all the while oppressing women by its dogma. The indigenous people of Egypt, the Badarians and Nubians… are oppressed by Arab invaders who have taken control, projected their own religions all the while wanting to destroy the remainder of the images of the ancients. Injustice recognizes injustice… and all the ways that it shows up. At the root of Egypt…is Isis… called also Esi and Auset by the indigenous people. She has been oppressed by many layers of invaders… Her daughter’s voices have been muted… Timeless icon that she is, as the tides are turning, so are the heavy oppressions being lifted. Women are finding and re-remembering their power… and as they do… Mama Esi.. is taking back her throne. Naa Ayele Kumari This is the Isis on the walls and temples of Egypt. Harita Meenee Seeing the people of Egypt as all white or all Black means stereotyping them. In fact the inhabitants of Egypt are of different colors: some are white, others are Black and many others are something in-between. The same was true in antiquity and it’s reflected in Egyptian art. Rick Williams Harita, really? What does that have to do with your choice of misrepresentation of that image? Please enlighten me, thank you. Harita Meenee Τhere is no misrepresentation, dear Rick Williams. If you read my note carefully, you’ll see that it talks about Isis as a goddess who was worshiped all over the Mediterranean–I’m not referring to just her Egyptian manifestation. The statue depicted is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. I took this picture and processed it slightly so that it looks more like a painting than a sculpture. No change was made to the actual form or color of the statue. I’m attaching a photo of the museum label of this work of art. It may not be clearly visible, but it reads: Marble statue of the goddess Isis-Tyche-Pelagia. 1st-2nd century AD. The composite name means that, as was often the case in […]

(Prose & Photography) Equinox Reflection by Sara Wright

Photography by Sara Wright I gaze out my bedroom window and hear yet another golden apple hit the ground. The vines that hug the cabin and climb up the screens are heavy with unripe grapes and the light that is filtered through the trees in front of the brook is luminous – lime green tipped in gold – My too sensitive eyes are blessedly well protected by this canopy of late summer leaves. The maples on the hill are losing chlorophyll and are painting the hollow with splashes of bittersweet orange and red. The dead spruces by the brook will probably collapse this winter providing Black bears with even more precious ants and larvae to eat in early spring. I only hope that some bears will survive the fall slaughter to return to this black bear sanctuary; in particular two beloved young ones… Mushrooms abound, amanitas, boletes morels, puff balls, the latter two finding their way into my salads. The forest around my house is in an active state of becoming with downed limbs and sprouting fungi becoming next year’s soil. The forest floor smells so sweet that all I can imagine is laying myself down on a bed of mosses to sleep and dream. The garden looks as tired as I am; lily fronds droop, yellowing leaves betraying the season at hand. Bright green pods provide a startling contrast to fading scarlet bee balm. Wild asters are abundant and goldenrod covers the fields with a bright yellow garment. Every wild bush has sprays of berries. My crabapple trees are bowed, each twig heavy with winter fruit. Most of the birds have absconded to the fields that are ripe with the seeds of wild grasses. The mourning doves are an exception – they gather together each dawn waiting patiently for me to fill the feeder. In the evening I am serenaded by soft cooing. One chicken hawk hides in the pine, lying in wait for the unwary…Just a few hummingbirds remain…whirring wings and twittering alert me to continued presence as they settle into the cherry tree to sleep, slipping into a light torpor with these cool September nights… Spiders are spinning their egg cases, even as they prepare to die. I can still find toads hopping around the house during the warmest hours of the day. Although the grass is long I will not mow it for fear of killing these most precious and threatened of species. I am heavily invested in seeing these toads burrow in to see another spring. My little frogs sit on their lily pads seeking the warmth of a dimming afternoon sun. Soon they too will slumber below fallen leaves or mud. I am surrounded by such beauty, and so much harvest bounty that even though I am exhausted I take deep pleasure out of each passing day of this glorious month of September, the month of my birth. Unlike many folks, for me, moving into the dark of the year feels like a blessing. Another leave -taking is almost upon me, and I am having trouble letting go of this small oasis that I have tended with such care for more than thirty years… I don’t know what this winter will bring to my modest cabin whose foundation is crumbling under too much moisture and too many years of heavy snow. In the spring extensive excavation will begin. A new foundation must be poured and this work will destroy the gardens I have loved, the mossy grounds around the south end of the house that I have nurtured for so long. In this season of letting go I must find a way to lay down my fears, and release that which I am powerless to change. Somehow… I have no idea what I will return to except that I have made it clear that none of my beloved trees be harmed. I am grateful that Nature is mirroring back to me so poignantly that letting go is the way through: That this dying can provide a bedrock foundation for another spring birth. As a Daughter of the Earth I lean into ancient wisdom, praying that this exhausted mind and body will be able to follow suit. (Meet Mago Contributor) Sara Wright.
(Essay) The Wheel of the Year and Climate Change by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ The Wheel of the Year in a PaGaian cosmology essentially celebrates Cosmogenesis – the unfolding of the Cosmos, in which Earth’s extant Creativity participates directly, as does each unique being. The Creativity of Cosmogenesis is expressed through Earth-Sun relationship as it may manifest and be experienced within any region of our Planet. In PaGaian tradition this is expressed with Triple Goddess Poetry, which is understood to be metaphor for the creative dynamics unfolding the Cosmos. At the heart of the Earth-Sun relationship is the dance of light and dark, the waxing and waning of both these qualities, as Earth orbits around our Mother Sun. This dance, which results in the manifestation of form and its dissolution, as it does in the Seasons, happens because of Earth’s tilt in relationship with Sun: and that is because this tilt effects the intensity of regional receptivity to Sun’s energy over the period of the yearly orbit. This tilt was something that happened in the evolution of our planet in its earliest of days – some four and a half billion years ago, and then stabilised over time: and the climatic zones were further formed when Antarctica separated from Australia and South America, giving birth to the Antarctica Circumpolar Current, changing the circulation of water around all the continents … just some thirty million years ago[i]. Within the period since then, which also saw the advent of the earliest humans, Earth has gone through many climatic changes. It is likely that throughout those changes, the dance of light and dark in both hemispheres of the planet … one always the opposite of the other – has been fairly stable and predictable. The resultant effect on flora and fauna regionally however has varied enormously depending on many other factors of Earth’s ever changing ecology: She is an alive Planet who continues to move and re-shape Herself. She is Herself subject to the cosmic dynamics of creativity – the forming and the dissolving and the re-emerging. The earliest of humans must have received all this, ‘observed’ it, in a very participatory way: that is, not as a Western industrialized or dualistic mind would think of ‘observation’ today, but as kin with the events – identifying with their own experience of coming into being and passing away. There is evidence to suggest that humans have expressed awareness of, and response to, the phenomenon of coming into being and passing away, as early as one hundred thousand years ago: ritual burial sites of that age have been found[ii], and more recently a site of ongoing ritual activity as old as seventy thousand years has been found[iii]. The ceremonial celebration of the phenomenon of seasons probably came much later, particularly perhaps when humans began to settle down. These ceremonial celebrations of seasons apparently continued to reflect the awesomeness of existence as well as the marking of transitions of Sun back and forth across the horizon, which became an important method of telling the time for planting and harvesting and the movement of pastoral animals. https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems that the resultant effect of the dance of light and dark on regional flora and fauna, has been fairly stable in recent millennia, the period during which many current Earth-based religious practices and expression arose. In our times, that is changing again. Humans have been, and are, a major part of bringing that change about. Ever since we migrated around the planet, humans have brought change, as any creature would: but humans have gained advantage and distinguished themselves by toolmaking, and increasingly domesticating/harnessing more of Earth’s powers – fire being perhaps the first, and this also aided our migration. In recent times this harnessing/appropriating of Earth’s powers became more intense and at the same time our numbers dramatically increased: and many of us filled with hubris, acting without consciousness or care of our relational context. We are currently living in times when our planet is tangibly and visibly transforming: the seasons themselves as we have known them for millennia – as our ancestors knew them – appear to be changing in most if not all regions of our Planet. Much predictable Poetry – sacred language – for expressing the quality of the Seasonal Moments will change, as regional flora changes, as the movement of animals and birds and sea creatures changes, as economies change[iv]. In Earth’s long story regional seasonal manifestation has changed before, but not so dramatically since the advent of much current Poetic expression for these transitions, as mixed as they are with layers of metaphor: that is, with layers of mythic eras, cultures and economies. We may learn and understand the traditional significance of much of the Poetry, the ceremony and symbol – the art – through which we could relate and converse with our place, as our ancestors may have done; but it will continue to evolve as all language must. At the moment the dance of dark and light remains predictable, but much else is in a process of transformation. As we observe and sense our Place, our Habitat, as our ancestors also did, we can, and may yet still make Poetry of the dance of dark and light, of this quality of relationship with Sun, and how it may be manifesting in a particular region and its significance for the inhabitants: we may still find Poetic expression with which to celebrate the sacred journey that we make everyday around Mother Sun, our Source of life and energy. It has been characteristic of humans for at least several tens of thousands of years, to create ceremony and symbol by which we could relate with the creative dynamics of our place, and perhaps it was initially a method of coming to terms with these dynamics – with the apparently uniquely human awareness of coming into being and passing away[v]. Our need for sacred ceremony of relationship with our place, can only be more dire in these times, as we are witness to, and aware of, …
(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.
(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 …
(Video) An Autumn Equinox Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Autumn Equinox/Mabon Northern Hemisphere – September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere – March 21-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRJNY1LSvIs&t=1175s …oOo… The purpose of this 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. The script for this Autumn Equinox/Mabon ceremony is offered in Chapter 11 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. In particular I mention here, credit for the story of Demeter and Persephone as told by Charlene Spretnak in her book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. For more full participation in the ceremony, you could have one or more stalks of wheat or native grain tied with a red thread/ribbon, a garden pot with soil, a small garden trowel, a flower bulb (daffodil type), food and drink, that may represent your “harvest” – ready for eating and drinking. 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). The images used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Autumn Equinox ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Autumn Equinox ceremonies I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space in NSW Australia, Darug and Gundungurra country. My partner Robert (Taffy) Seaborne who has participated in all the Seasonal ceremonies since Samhain 2000, adds his voice to this video. Image credits: Demeter and Persephone (500 B.C.E. Greece). Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.72. Art of Demeter and Persephone on MoonCourt wall: Cernak Herself Music credit: “Gentle Sorrow” by Sky: which he has previously allowed me to use in my work. This piece of music is also used in the Autumn Equinox meditation on my PaGaian Cosmology Meditations published 2015.
Lammas – the Sacred Consuming by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Lammas, the first seasonal transition after Summer Solstice, may be summarised as the Season that marks and celebrates the Sacred Consuming, the Harvest of Life. Many indigenous cultures recognised the grain itself as Mother … Corn Mother being one of those images – She who feeds the community, the world, with Her own body: the Corn, the grain, the food, the bread, is Her body. She the Corn Mother, or any other grain Mother, was/is the original sacrifice … no need for extraordinary heroics: it is the nature of Her being. She is sacrificed, consumed, to make the people whole with Her body (as the word “sacrifice” means “to make whole”). She gives Herself in Her fullness to feed the people …. the original Communion. In cultures that preceded agriculture or were perhaps pastoral – hunted or bred animals for food – this cross-quarter day may not have been celebrated, or perhaps it may have been marked in some other way. Yet even in our times when many are not in relationship with the harvest of food directly, we may still be in relationship with our place: Sun and Earth and Moon still do their dance wherever you are, and are indeed the Ground of one’s being here … a good reason to pay attention and homage, and maybe as a result, and in the process, get the essence of one’s life in order. One does not need to go anywhere to make this pilgrimage … simply Place one’s self. The seasonal transition of Lammas may offer that in particular, being a “moment of grace” – as Thomas Berry has named the seasonal transitions, when the dark part of the day begins to grow longer, as the cloak of darkness slowly envelopes the days again: it is timely to reflect on the Dark Cosmos in Whom we are, from Whom we arise and to Whom we return – and upon that moment when like Corn Mother we give ourselves over. This reflection is good, will serve a person and all – to live fully, as well as simply to be who we are: this dark realm of manifesting is the core of who we are. And what difference might such reflection make to our world – personal and collective – to live in this relationship with where we are, and thus who we are. We all are the grain that is harvested and all are Her harvest … perhaps one may use a different metaphor: the truth that may be reflected upon at this seasonal moment after the peaking of Sun’s light at Summer Solstice and the wind down into Autumn, is that everything passes, all fades away … even our Sun shall pass. All is consumed. So What are we part of? (I write it with a capital because surely it is a sacred entity) And how might we participate creatively? We are Food – whether we like it or not … Lammas is a good time to get with the Creative plot, though many find it the most difficult, or focus on more exoteric celebration. May we be interesting food[i]. We are holy Communion, like Corn Mother. Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [i] This is an expression of cosmologist Brian Swimme in Canticle to the Cosmos DVD series.

(Book Announcement 5) Introduction (part 3) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This Introduction is from She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2.] Pre-order available now! Engendering the Gynocentric Economy In the sense that the She Rises collective writing project does NOT begin with a ready-made blueprint, it is distinguished from a standard anthology. More to the point, this book is a book of the Goddess. By saying that, I do not mean that it is just about the Goddess. It is created in a gynocentric way and it serves a gynocentric purpose. Motivations matter; the task of the She Rises collective writing was first undertaken as a way of enhancing the Goddess/Mago Movement in 2014.[i] It has taken place spontaneously by the hand of volunteers. It relies on the gynocentric economy, a system of enabling the life of all beings operated through voluntary collaboration and egalitarian coordination. As an extension of the Gift Economy that Genevieve Vaughan advocates, the gynocentric economy is based on the voluntary sharing of one’s available resources for the whole.[ii] Gift-givers not only give what we can give freely but also enable a whole new (read non-patriarchal) mode of doing economic activities. In other words, they summon gynocentric reality to take place. Gynocentric economy secures free gift-giving activities and at the same time is shaped by the latter.
(Video) 2013 Mago Pilgrimage to Korea by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s note: The first Mago Pilgrimage to Korea took place June 6-19, 2013. We visited Ganghwa Island, Seoul, Wonju, Mt. Jiri, Yeong Island (Busan), and Jeju Island.] Read Mago Pilgrimage Essay 1 and Mago Pilgrimage Essay 2. See Meet Mago Contributor, Hae Kyoung Ahn for “Ma Gaia Womb” chant music and Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hwang Ph.D.
(Bell Essay 6) The Magoist Whale Bell: Unraveling the Cetacean Code of Korean Temple Bells by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: The part 6 and ensuing sequels are a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Southern right whale from Wikimedia Commons Introduction The Korean temple bell is no mere Buddhist device. Calling it a Sillan Esoteric Buddhist invention in origin only adds to its mystification. Commissioned by Sillan rulers who represented traditional Magoist shaman rulers, Sillan temple bells administer sonic balance within and without all beings once and for all. In short, the Sillan temple bell reenacts the Magost Cosmogony HERE and NOW.[1] Engendering resonance to the self-creative power of cosmic music, Yulryeo (Rhythms and Tones), the Korean temple bell summons the paradisiacal reality of the Creatrix, Mago. Cast in the form of a female body, the bell structurally embodies the gynocentric principle of the Creatrix, the Mago Way. I have discussed earlier such features as nine nipples and apsaras. Here the dragon figure (Yongnyu) and the sound tube (Yongtong or Eumtong) in its head are focused. Multi-functional and polysemic, the dragon is there not only to be the loop for hanging but also to envelop the sound tube, seen below. Among others, the sound tube stands out as a distinctive feature of Korean temple bells that distinguishes them from their Chinese and Japanese counterparts. What is the sound tube of the Korean temple bell? Why do Korean temple bells have a sound tube? Answers to these questions concern a yet-to-be-unraveled undergirding theme of the Korean temple bell, the whale. Although its origin is debated, the sound tube signals Sillan cetacean veneration. In the mytho-history of Magoism, Silla (57 BCE-935 CE) stands as a prominent ancient Korean state, which succeeded and flowered ancient Magoist cetaceanism. Sillan cetacenism defines Silla as a new government that succeeded Old Magoist confederacies. In this context, we can assess a whale-shaped wooden mallet, which is no mere decorative addition to the bell. Nonetheless, the whale-shaped mallet is only a tip of the cetacean meaning of the bell. A whale (고래 Gorae in Korean) is the very model that the Korean temple bell (the bell hereafter) takes after, especially for its vocalizations. The bell mimics the music of whales. While the latter is heard in water, the former is heard in land. Its cetacean names corroborate such an assessment. The bell is called Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), or Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale). As such, the sound of the bell is alternatively called “the sound of whale (鯨音gyeongeum).” Ancient Koreans perceived whales, pre-human in origin and once a land animal, as the messenger of the Creatrix, Mago. In folk traditions, the phrase, “riding the back of a whale,” was widely popularized among East Asians throughout history, which means that one returns to Mago, by riding the back of a whale upon death. That ancient Koreans were cetacean venerators remains esoteric. The cetacean code of Korean temple bells holds the key to unraveling what has gone suppressed in patriarchy, the Magoist Cosmogony. By the Magoist Cosmogony, I mean a systematic origin story of our universe, as is recounted in the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City). I have summarized the Budoji’s cosmogonic chapters in my aforementioned book, The Mago Way, as follows: The Magoist Cosmogony highlights the sonic movement of cosmic elements as the Creatrix. In the beginning, there was light. The movement/vibration of light (cosmic music) in the universe caused creation to take place over eons. Stars were born in the previous cosmic era. In due time, Mago was born together with the Earth (the Stronghold of Mago) with her moons. Her (self-)emergence marks the beginning of earthly history. Mago listened to and acted in tune with the cyclic movement of the cosmic music. In further due time, S/HE bore two daughters, Gunghui (Goddess Gung) and Sohui (Goddess So) parthenogenetically. This Primordial Triad laid the foundation for the earthly environment for all species. Mago, assisted by HER two daughters, orchestrated the terrestrial plan to bring acoustic balance in harmony with the cosmic music/sound/vibration. S/HE delegated HER descendants to cultivate and manage the sonic equilibrium of the Earth [Italics added].[2] Precisely, the Sillan temple bell encodes the message that whales are the paragon of Magoists whose mandate is “to cultivate and manage the sonic equilibrium of the Earth.” Restoring Magoist cetaceanism is metamorphic. Antithetical to the very establishment of patriarchy, ancient Magoist Korean cetacean practice unfolds the Other World that has been ever HERE. This essay, assessing the sound tube as a Magoist code of Sillan cetaceanism, aims to delineate how the Magoist cetacean meaning came to be encoded in the sound tube of the bell by the Sillan rulers of the 7th and 8th centuries. In decoding the cetacean message, we are led to the myth of Manpasikjeok (萬波息笛 the pacifying flute that defeats all, hereafter the pacifying flute), a Sillan royal treasure that is hermeneutically construed as made of the tusk of a narwhal. A group of Korean scholars maintain that the sound tube was designed to represent the pacifying flute. The task of this essay is to go further and to re-read the myth of Manpasikjeok—a story of King Sinmun the Great (r. 681-692) of Silla (57 BCE-935 CE) who was told by a sea dragon to create a flute out of a mysterious bamboo tree growing in a mysterious mountain in the East Sea, alternatively known as the Sea of Whales—from the Magoist perspective. This story has been written and misinterpreted as an enigmatic Buddhist story. I hold that “Ruler (King or Queen) the Great (大王 Daewang),” unlike other kings of the ancient world, does not refer to a patriarchal monarch. It is a Magoist cetacean term that is related with “Ruler Whale the Great (Daewang Gorae),” referring to the blue whale for its gigantic size or whales collectively. By adopting the cetacean title …