December 25, 2017October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Book Review) Susan Hawthorne’s Dark Matters: a novel by Harriet Ann Ellenberger

LOVE IN THE CROSSHAIRS Reflections on Susan Hawthorne’s Dark Matters: A Novel I am asking myself what accounts for the haunting power of Dark Matters, this latest in a long Read More …

(Prose 1) The Story of a Doll by Jude Lally

Doll – Loch Lomond, Scotland in the background I gathered sticks from an ancient bridle path, one that many have walked through over the centuries. Her wool is from a sheep from the Scottish Isle of Colonsay, a shell from the Isle of Eigg, and some Rowan Berries picked by the River Leven, a fast-flowing river that leaves Loch Lomond, twisting and turning on its journey towards the mightly River Clyde. ‘Dolls serve as talismans. Talismans are reminders of what is left but not seen, what is so but is not immediately obvious. The talismanic numen of the doll is that it reminds us, tells us, and sees ahead for us. This intuitive function belongs to all women. It is a massive and fundamental receptivity – as in possessing immediate access to a profound wisdom that reaches to women’s very bones.’, Clarissa Pinkola Estés – Women who run with the wolves To be truthful, she didn’t speak to me. She was just a thing and I would have been quite happy for her to exist in the moment and be disassembled into her parts. And so she sat on a shelf. As we began the descent into the deep of the year, and now at Samhain in the deep itself with my own personal journey into menopause mirrored in this great descent – she has begun to speak. Her body and arms hold a symbol, I don’t know its meaning but I know it is one of change. I don’t know what will break down but I know things will. Somehow she sees ahead and knows what is coming. She holds the changes within her posture. She and I will journey through the deep together, a midwife to the breaking down, the rebirth, and the transformation. https://www.magoism.net/2016/01/meet-mago-contributor-jude-lally/
(Book Excerpt 9) How to Live Well Despite Capitalist Patriarchy by Trista Hendren

Honor Your Moon Cycle If we are ever to reverse patriarchal thought, we must reach to the roots of our oppressions. The brilliance of patriarchy is that it is so subliminal and insidious. Until reading Helen Hwang’s Mago Almanac, I had never given much thought to the patriarchal calendar—even though I produced one for 5 years—aside from my growing annoyance of trying to incorporate the moon phases into a more “traditional” calendar. I came to realize the idiocy of trying to incorporate liberation for women into a completely patriarchal idea. For this reason, I stopped producing my Girl God calendar a few years ago. Our calendars shape our days and our very lives. As Helen Hye-Sook Hwang explains, “Debunking a patriarchal calendar for what it does is the key to disempowering patriarchy as a whole… The 12-month calendar is a patriarchal invention intended to replace the earlier 13-month sidereal calendar… The 29.5 day lunar calendar has prevented us from seeing what the moon actually does… In order to disconnect the moon cycle and women’s fertility cycle, patriarchal calendars removed the 13th month and made 12 months in a year.”74 Let us begin the process of weeding out every single thing that blinds us to our power and path to liberation—including men’s clocks, calendars and timelines. I would suggest also adding some seasonal ceremonies into your life as well. If you are new to these celebrations, I would strongly suggest Glenys Livingstone’s PaGaian Cosmology Meditations CD collection which supports the preparation and performing of ritual for each Seasonal celebration, including the Solstices and Equinoxes and the cross-quarter days of Early Spring/Imbolc, Beltaine/High Spring, Lammas/Late Summer, and Samhain/Deep Autumn. Personally, I still celebrate ALL holidays, but adding these in has been a rich addition to my life. For at least a decade, my favorite women’s studies and writing professor from college has sent me a moon phases calendar. I keep this up on the wall for the entire family to see—and track my cycle via the phases of the moon.75 If you menstruate, I recommend getting to know your cycle as well as the moon phases to understand the needs of your body.[i] Learn how to best utilize your creative times while honoring your down periods. As Dr. Christiane Northrup explains: “The menstrual cycle governs the flow not only of fluids but of information and creativity. We receive and process information differently at different times in our cycles. I like to describe menstrual cycle wisdom this way: From the onset of menstruation until ovulation, we’re ripening an egg and—symbolically, at least—preparing to give birth to someone (or something) else, a role that society honors. Premenstrually, the “veil” between the worlds of the seen and unseen, the conscious and the unconscious, is much thinner. We have access to parts of our often unconscious selves that are less available to us at all other times of the month. In fact, it has been shown experimentally that the right hemisphere of the brain—the part associated with intuitive knowing—becomes more active premenstrually, while the left hemisphere becomes less active.”76 Personally, I try to take a day off on the first day of my period. If this is not possible for you, at least try to be as easy on yourself as possible and rest during the evening. This is a day that someone else can cook and pamper you. Inga Muscio wrote, “It takes a lot of time, focus and energy to realize the enormity of being the ocean with your very own tide every month. However, by honoring the demands of bleeding, our blood gives something in return. The crazed bitch from irritation hell recedes. In her place arises a side of ourselves with whom we may not—at first—be comfortable. She is a vulnerable, highly perceptive genius who can ponder a given issue and take her world by storm. When we’re quiet and bleeding, we stumble upon the solutions to dilemmas that’ve been bugging us all month. Inspiration hits and moments of epiphany rumba ‘across de tundra of our senses. In this mode of existence one does not feel antipathy towards a bodily ritual so profoundly and routinely reinforces our cuntpower.”77 I often find solutions for things during these quiet moments and have come to value my bleeding time enormously. As Tamara Slayton explained: “We have lost years of educating ourselves to the mysteries of ovulation, menstruation, conception and menopause as we gave over the “research” to others… the process by which women make themselves susceptible to manipulation by a science without soul begins at first menstruation. Women lose a significant aspect of who they are when they deny the demands and rewards of the female body. Ultimately alienation from your own physical experience leads to manipulation by those who do know the value of ovum and lining.”78 Honor your blood. It is sacred—not dirty. Most commercial sanitary products are not good for the environment or your vulva.79 I used to love my cups, but now I don’t even want to touch plastic, let alone put it inside me. You can buy wonderful reusable cotton pads on Etsy. I bought a 6-pack years ago and they are still like new. Save your blood and give it back to Mother Earth. It is wonderfully nurturing. I pour mine on the soil of my indoor plants and herbs as well. If you are menopausal, I bow to your crone wisdom. I can’t (and shouldn’t) offer much advice (yet) but the two books I have heard recommended again and again are The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health During the Change by Christiane Northrup M.D. and New Menopausal Years: Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 by Susun S. Weed. Those are the books I will start with personally. Wherever you are in your life, it is important to honor it. As Jean Shinoda Bolen wrote: “Women’s mysteries, the blood mysteries of the body, are not the same as the physical realities of menstruation, lactation, pregnancy, and menopause; …
(Prose) Answering a Call by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright Answering a Call “Shamans bridge the night flow…” the first lines from a poem I wrote long ago keep coming into my mind. Frustrated because I can no longer access the poem, I accept that the first line is what I need… ‘bridging the night flow’ of intrusive negative feelings/actions on the part of others (as well as myself) is precisely the edge I am on. Even smoke – filled rooms remind me that I need personal protection. An Indigenous healer and impeccable scientist and naturalist friend of mine reminds me of what I know, spiritual forces are moving. When I told him of my dream his response was to focus on protection, create the intention, and let it go… I tried to do this in my mind with limited success but apparently our discussion around this subject opened a door for me or we both did as I remembered how important it is for me to ground my intentions in something concrete. How had I forgotten? I have a terrarium that I created from plants and debris from a beloved forest, and it occurred to me to put my need for protection into this square container allowing nature to take the lead. My friend and I are both aware that this is a dangerous time of year – a time when Shadow is on the move. What’s critical is to acknowledge the danger but not to get caught by either extreme (fear or aggression), allowing these forces to dissipate over time. Winter solstice is over, but fire lingers on; the bridge to a new year is in the making, but new year’s eve is still caught in dark revelry – the kind that hides violence under fun… again, a continuation of this dangerous time ( a personal example : last year I broke my foot on new year’s eve shoveling ice away from my door, and that turned out to be the beginning of a negatively charged year, the details of which no longer matter ). Taking an active stance is necessary. As is staying with the process. After making the necessary offerings, the identity of one of which came to me directly from a plant, the other from a plant scientist’s remark, I continue to hold this awareness of the need for protection close. The child nudged me too and I brought down our spirit animals putting one bear and a frog in my terrarium as she requested, and the rest she directed me, needed to circle my crisped balsam wreath. I recalled the Pueblo Animal Dances beginning on or after the 1st of the year extending into spring. She was right again! Having specific animal protection is necessity. Animals ground us in our bodies. I peer deeply into the shadows gathered around me with the eyes of the mystic turned realist, a person who seeks solid ground within her own little forest, self and in nature. I heed the warnings of smoke; the fire is not yet out. I make a promise to nature to remember that I am part of earth and sky, and both are always present in me along with humans and their non – human relatives. When bad things happen it is a challenge to keep this door open, but I commit to doing my best not to turn away. And most importantly, I get on with my life… I will digress into natural history to use as my example: I spied a tangle of Usnea lying on snow I couldn’t reach. The lichen kept calling, so out the door I went on a quest to gather this lichen that is called “the lungs of the forest”. Indigenous peoples have used the herb for respiratory issues for millennia. Usnea is also useful for wounds helping them to heal faster. Walking up a dirt road near my house I was impressed by the amount of Usnea present on the ground even though it is only December. Usually, I collect this lichen in the spring on those first rainy days that turn the clusters bright green. Every piece I pick up reminds me that this organism, composed of an alga, a fungus and cyanobacteria (sometimes) was the first to inhabit dry land perhaps more than 400 million years ago (there is an ongoing debate on this issue of the oldest land plants). The alga photosynthesizes feeding the fungus, and in return the fungus attaches itself to rock and breaks it down creating the first soil. Imagine. Today, neither can live without the other. Out of twenty thousand lichen possibilities I found hirta, a branched version and glabrescens, one that looks like hair. It wasn’t too long before I had a whole bag full. I deliberately took some from each fallen branch but left some tufts for the deer. Many animals need these lichens for winter food. I was pleased to see that the heavy winds had also deposited plenty of birch seeds on the snow so birds would not go hungry, at least until the next storm. There are so many trees down so early into the winter season that I cannot imagine what the woods will look by spring. The forests as whole are under so much stress from abrupt weather changes, wind, insects, drought, flooding that they are more vulnerable now than ever before. Broken branches lay everywhere. Usnea likes high places, and not surprisingly I picked most of my bounty from fallen topmost branches – many from pines. Returning to the house I cleaned my lichens while thanking them and tinctured the whole with alcohol – Within a few weeks I will have yet another useful medicine on hand. This helpful diversion helped me deal with my general unease. I believe that having adequate protection from dark forces within and without becomes a priority during the times when our Cultural Shadow is on the increase. Indigenous and countryfolk historically dressed in masks to protect their identity from …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 2) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. BACKGROUND INFORMATION For this essay, I provide a translation and commentary of the Budoji’s chapter dedicated to the explication of the Magoist Calendar. I have discussed elsewhere in detail the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the primary text of Magoism.[3] For the purpose of this essay, suffice it to say that the Budoji, alleged to have been written in the late 4th or early 5th century of Silla Korea (57 BCE-935 CE), expounds the Magoist Calendar to warn against the establishment of the Chinese 29.5 day lunar calendar, which marked the onset of a patriarchal rule in the third millennium BCE. How old is the Magoist Calendar, the luni-gyno-solar calendar? That question assumes the idea that the onset of the gynocentric calendar can be marked within a linearly charted chronology, the patriarchal time. What if the gynocentric calendar can’t be marked within the patriarchal time? Questioning the origin of the gynocentric calendar is no matter of how old it actually is but a matter of reorienting one’s understanding of patriarchal chronology as well as time. For, on the one hand, the gynocentric calendar marks a cyclic and rhythmic time that can’t be contained within the patriarchal time. On the other hand, that is because the very existence of the gynocentric calendar presupposes an entirely differently concept of time, the Womb Time, the Time of the Creatrix, which is ever-present (HERE/NOW) and all-inclusive (WE). The Womb Time is an embodied time that can’t be separated from its measurer who is the very scale of time. Its origin can be traced to the collective consciousness of ancient people, the oldest archive of human affairs. According to the Budoji, the Magoist Calendar originates from the establishment of the paradisiacal community of Mago Stronghold, a mythic history remembered in the collective mind of Old Magoists. In other words, the origin of the gynocentric calendar dates back to the human memory of the primordial home of the Mago Clan.[4] Human cultures began by inheriting divine intelligence possessed by primordial Magoists, the residents of Mago Stronghold. A new invention comes about as a timely reification of the female principle that runs through the Magoist Cosmogony. And all cultural apparatuses are an innovation of older ones in one way or another. Doubtless that the Magoist Calendar is likely to be an innovation of the older 13 month calendar. Barbara Mor and Monica Sjoo in The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth tap into the evolutionary nature of a gynocentric invention, the moon calendar. Noting the engraved rocks dating from 300,000 BCE as time-markers, they draw that women as birthers were the primary inventors of the luni-centric calendar. According to them, the calendar system has undergone the process of refinement by the hand of women from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic and thereafter.[5] The Magoist Calendar that this essay expounds possibly dates back to the time of Danguk (ca. 3898 BCE-ca. 2333 BCE), the second oldest confederacy of nine sub-states in the mytho-history of Old Magoism.[6] The Magoist Calendar was likely to be one of the monumental technologies of Sinsi (Divine Exporium) civilization attributed to Goma. Goma is the under-represented Goddess of pre-patriarchal East Asia/Old Magoist Korea who deserves to be known for her innovation of Old Magoism and the spread of the Nine Goddess symbolism across cultures of the pre-patriarchal ancient world. In fact, the Seven Constellations Calendar (七星曆 Chilseong-ryeok), the 7 day weekly calendar (a centripetal sub-calendar of the 28 day, 13 month calendar) that comprises the basic cyclic scheme of the Magoist Calendar, is known to have been created by Seonin Jabu (紫府仙人)[7] in circa 2,700 BCE.[8] The calendric continuity found in today’s calendars (including 12 months calendars) have been extant about 4,700 years. Derived from its matrix, the 28 Constellations, also known as the 28 Mansions of the Moon, the Seven Constellations Calendar stands as a unit of the 28-13-7 scheme of the Magoist Calendar. Can a gynocentric consciousness co-exist with a logical mind? The Magoist Calendar demonstrates a gynocentric consciousness that is organically logical. Its mathematical mind reflects nature’s interconnectedness that supports the life force in all beings. To say that the gynocentric mathematical mind is no less scientific than the patriarchal counterpart is misleading. For it is asymmetrical with the latter, which is solipsistic, directionless, and off-balance. Barbara Mor and Monica Sjoo describe the gynocentric thought process as follows: It is not far-fetched to think women invented symbolic and abstract notation, observational science and early mathematics. Early woman’s thought process (early man’s too) were still organic, still rooted in nature and practical experience – not alienated or born of a desire to “conquer Nature.” Organic rational thought emerged from a desire to cooperate with the natural world, and from a real integral observance of the needs and rhythms of the personal self and the human community. It also emerged from a mind free of the inhabitations, blocks, and dogmas imposed by later patriarchal religions and cultures.[9] Precisely, the gynocentric mind that operates in the Magoist Calendar manifests itself as numerology. Far from being an abstract notion disconnected from the material world, numerology is the very principle that shapes the physical world. Mor and Sjoo also recognize the innate nature of numerology in the universe as following: Geometry and the human image were originally two expressions of the same divine image – the body of the universe. Number emerges from sensory matter. To the ancients, number was always founded in real and concrete human experience, and did not possess abstract universality, or “objectivity” … Pythagoras, like mathematicians after him, came to believe that mathematics is not just a language describing Nature, but in inherent in nature. “All things are numbers.” “Numbers are the first principle, indeed the very elements of the things of Nature.”[10] A numerological explication severed from its bodily/physical manifestation is misled/misleading at best. Judy Grahn in Blood, Bread, and …
(Art) Cailleach, The Queen of Winter by Judith Shaw

The Cailleach (KAL-y-ach), which literally translates as the “Veiled One” is an ancient Goddess whose origins are unknown. When the Celts arrived in Ireland and Scotland she was there. Over time Her name came to mean “old wife” or “old woman”. And yet she was thought to never grow old, an all powerful, ageless, Goddess of transformation. In one of her stories, Cailleach, as an old hag, seeks love from the hero. If he accepts Her, She then transforms into a beautiful young woman, symbolizing the transformation occurring in the depths of winter when the seeds lay dormant in the earth. Yet alive within this dormancy is the promise of rebirth in the spring. She is the guardian of the life force, finding and nourishing the seeds, commanding the power of life and death. As the final phase of the Triple Goddess, she rules the eternal wheel of reincarnation. Cailleach personifies death and the transformative power of darkness. She leads us through death to rebirth. The Cailleach, a Dark Goddess of nature, is clearly one with the land. Sometimes depicted with one eye, She sees beyond duality peering into the Oneness of all Being. She is the embodiment of winter, clothing the land with the whiteness of snow. The sacred stones are Her special places. She leaps from mountaintop to mountaintop, dropping rocks to create sacred hills, the Sidhe. She carries a slachdam, the Druidic rod or a hammer with which she wields power over the seasons and the weather, unleashing powerful and cleansing storms.
(Essay 3) Circe the Island Witch by Hearth Moon Rising

Third in a series. Earlier segments are here and here. I call Circe’s mythical island, Aeaea, The Island of Vowels, but Robert Graves says the name means “wailing.” If so, perhaps the wailing refers to the falcon colonies which nest on islands in the Adriatic Sea. Graves claims Circe’s name means “falcon.” There is some confusion as to whether Circe is really a goddess, a demi-goddess, a mythical heroine, or a historical woman. Circe’s parents are supposedly a god (Helios) and queen (Pasiphae), suggesting a demi-goddess (half-human, half-god). Alternatively, Circe’s mother is an ocean-deity, which would make her a goddess. Roman oil lamp depicting Odysseus and Circe. Photo: Matthias Kabel/Wikimedia Commons. Circe marries the prince of Colchis, a city-state along the Black Sea, and rules there for a time, again suggesting she is human. As queen, she kills her royal husband, which is a mythic trope. In Celtic romance, this sequence is read as goddess-of-the-year vanquishing the winter god, who will be reborn as the summer god. But Circe appears in Classical mythology, where allegoric subterfuge to escape Christian censors is not necessary. She could be read straightforwardly as a heroine performing a well-worked theme. Yet Circe presides over a willow cemetery in Colchis, which might suggest she is a priestess of Hecate. At least one Classical scholar argues that Hecate is the mother of Circe, making Circe, once again, a goddess. Legend has it that Circe is whisked away in the chariot of her father Helios to the island of Aeaea, as punishment for killing her husband. Leaving aside the fantastical method of transportation, Circe behaves much like a stereotypic sorceress on Aeaea, living apart from male rule while blending potions that heal or wound. Turning men into animals suggests an above-average level of magical proficiency, but she is nearly human when she meets Odysseus. Her assistance in his travels is classic shamanic work: she prescribes a journey to the land of the dead; she makes an animal sacrifice for a propitious journey; she provides counsel and framework for his journey to the underworld; and she interprets his experiences for him upon his return. In her most famous appearance in Greek myth, it’s hard to see Circe as anything but a priestess, albeit an extraordinarily powerful one. Scylla. Boeotian red-figure bell-crater, 450–425 BCE. Photo: Jastrow/Wikimedia Commons The appearance of Scylla dashes upon the rocks the theory of Circe nothing more than a mortal sorcerer. Scylla is a sea nymph transformed by Circe into a dangerous beast: beautiful from above, a many-headed death hound from below. Scylla characteristically captures sailors and vessels and savagely wrecks them, and circumventing her is one of the obstacles Odysseus most manage on his route home. Circe offers Odysseus advice in escaping Scylla’s clutches. It doesn’t take much imagination to see Scylla as the spirit embodying a rocky outcrop in the Adriatic Sea, an outcrop with a strong multi-faceted whirlpool. It does seem a stretch to give credit for Scylla’s monstrosity to any mortal woman. Perhaps Circe is given credit for creating Scylla’s fate because she “owns” Scylla by revealing to Odysseus how to escape her. Perhaps the sorceress Circe, as animal shapeshifter, is presumed to have shapeshifted Scylla, since this Scylla supposedly yelps like a dog. The geological formation that is Scylla’s body was reported to emit a hound-like sound, and hounds are associated with the Greek underworld. Another explanation is that Circe is a death goddess, like Hecate, who creates other manifestations of death. Men on Aeaea being turned into animals. 560-550 BCE. Photo: Lucas aka Ancient Art Podcast//Wikimedia Commons The island of Aeaea itself seems to embody divinity. It is surrounded by Alder trees, which, because they bleed red, are considered trees of death. Odysseus senses a bewitching atmosphere about the island as he moors his vessel. He soon kills a deer to feed his crew, a propitious sign the mistress of animals is disposed to help him. On his way to meet Circe, Odysseus is given the mysterious life-giving “moly” herb, offered by Hermes, who is known as Messenger of the Gods. Is Hermes thwarting Circe or conveying her protection? We now have a very complex Circe archetype, one that stretches from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. She is a legendary queen, a semi-divine priestess, and a bona fide goddess – mistress of animals and ruler of death. Beneath all of this we have the word “falcon.” There are reasons for considering Circe a falcon goddess independent of Graves’s etymology. The next essay will examine a denizen of the Mediterranean called Eleonora’s Falcon. https://www.magoism.net/2013/04/meet-mago-contributor-hearth-moon-rising/
(Photo essay 1) Goddess Pilgrimage – Eleusis by Kaalii Cargill

This year I made a six-week pilgrimage to Greece, Malta, Italy, and Turkey, seeking Goddess in archaeological sites and museums. Over six weeks, I walked the streets of ancient cities, stood in caves and megalithic temples, and sat quietly with the Grandmothers . . .
(2022 Pilgrimage 5) A visual Journey of the Goddess as Protectress from the Neolithic to Present in Eastern Europe by Krista Rodin

The Cult of the Virgin as protectress comes through in medieval frescos to 19th C paintings to modern mosaic images in churches in Kosovo, Lithuania and Serbia. Here are a few from Gračanica Monastery, Belgrade Fortress, Vilnius Cathedral and St. Sava’s Cathedral. Gračanica Monastery was built in 1321 by King Stefan Milutin on the ruins of an earlier Medieval Church dedicated to the Virgin that was supposedly constructed in the 6th C. The exonarthex was built prior to 1379, and the frescoes are probably from the late 1400s. There are over 2000 individual faces in the frescoes that tell the story of Christ, of the Virgin Mother Mary to whom the church is dedicated, and church doctrine along with the church leaders and political supporters, i.e., the Prince who commissioned the building and his family tree. The frescoes were recently cleaned after 500+ years of candle soot, and many of them are now quite vibrant. The architecture of the building is also interesting as it is one of the last in Serbian-Byzantine style with waves of domes reaching to the central dome towards heaven. The general layout has four smaller domes around the central one, with the domes laid out along the lines of a Lateran cross. Entrance from the outer narthex to the nave The Ruzika Church at Belgrade Fortress is dedicated to the Nativity of Mary. It is the oldest church in Belgrade and was originally constructed in the early 15th C. It has been remodeled a few times since then, the last time was in 1925. The painting behind the altar is from about that time. Altar in Ruzika Church, Belgrade Fortress, Serbia The image below of Mary as a tree, I found particularly striking. It was in the Ethnographic Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. Vilnius’ Old Town has many many churches dedicated to the Virgin, all with incredible artwork. This painting used to be in the Cathedral before it was moved to the museum. Our Lady of Lesna, Vilnius, 19th C Lithuania St. Sava’s Cathedral in Belgrade is the largest Orthodox Church in the world. While it looks impressive from the outside, it is what is inside that is almost overwhelming. The golden Orthodox Byzantine styled mosaics are simply stunning. The church is named for St. Sava, an important figure in Serbian medieval nationalist history, who was supposedly burned on the site in 1595 by the Ottoman Turks. The Cathedral is still a work in progress, much like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but while there were workers on scaffolds, it looks finished. Not like St. Mark’s, which was my next stop. This is another church where the golden mosaics behind and above the iconostasis are breathtaking. The images of the Virgin as intercessor and protrectress reign above those who come to worship and honor her. St. Sava’s Cathedral, Belgrade, Serbia St. Sava’s Belgrade St. Mark’s, Belgrade, Serbia This visual journey starts and ends in Belgrade. The divine protectress from the proto-European culture continues through many iterations down to the present day in Cathedrals that are still in the process of completing their iconography. I do want to include a little more from the Northern countries, however, and would like to share a couple of myths from the Nordic Center in Stockholm’s “Receding Arctic” Exhibit that might be of interest to RTM readership: The myth of Sedna, goddess of the sea, appears in many place and many versions in the Arctic. One version has her being left alone on an island after coupling with a stranger and bearing his child. Eventually her father, the hunter, comes to pick up his daughter. On the way home, a terrible storm blows up and the boat is in danger of capsizing. To lighten the load, she is thrown overboard. She holds onto the boat, but the hunter chops off her fingers. Sedna sinks to the bottom, where she is transformed into the goddess of the sea. Her fingers turn into sea creatures. From that time onwards, people had to pray to Sedna for a successful hunt. If the hunt failed, Sedna was angry and let the sea creatures hide in her hair. Hunger and death might result from Sedna’s anger. Many Arctic myths teach that one must show gratitude for the resources one needs to take from nature. Fyi: many goddess legends portray her as both protectress and warrior; those who show her respect are protected, but woe to those who don’t. Sami Creation Myth No complete Sami creation myth has been recorded. However, the story of how a person is created and born provides insight into a religious conception in which various gods were essential in creating the basis of human life. The Rå, or Keeper, empowered his son, the Keeper of the Horn, to create a soul, which he gave to the Great Mother, who created a body to house the soul. She then gave it to the Great Father. He took the human embryo in his belly and journeyed round the Sun on its rays to one of Great Mother’s daughters, who would give the foetus its sex. The Separation and Birth Mother created girls, while the Bow Mother created boys. The foetus was then given to an earthly woman who would give birth to the child. When her time came, the Separation and Birth Mother and the Great Mother came to her aid, and for this they were thanked with offerings. Once the baby was born, the Door Mother, the third of the Great Mother’s daughters, entered to serve as the child’s protector.” Life is fragile in the Arctic and it takes a community to take care of one another. References: Borič- Breškovič, Bojana, ed. Step into the Story…in the National Museum. Belgrade: Publikum, 2018. Korhut, Taner, ed.. TLOS A Lycian City on the Slopes of the Akdag Mountains. Istanbul: Yalinlari Ltd., 2016. Sisterhood of Gračanica Monastery, ed.. Gračanica Monastery. Gračanica, 2017. Ullén, Inga, ed.. Guide to the …
(Art) Star of Ishtar by Tamara Wyndham

Star of Ishtar (doubled), mixed media in an ice cream lid, 4 inches diameter x 5/8 inch deep, Art by Tamara Wyndham Inanna is the Sumerian goddess of war, love, and fertility. Ishtar is the Akkadian name of the same goddess. They started as separate goddesses, but were syncretized by the poet/priestess Enheduanna. Inanna/Ishtar’s most common symbol was the eight-pointed star. The eight-pointed star seems to have originally borne a general association with the heavens,[80] but, by the Old Babylonian Period (c.1830 – c.1531 BCE), it had come to be specifically associated with the planet Venus, with which Ishtar was identified. Here I have attributed the more pointed form of the star to Ishtar and the more rounded version to Inanna, though that is my artistic interpretation. I started making these as street altars, placing them on abandoned buildings for passersby to notice. But have since made more for personal household altars. https://www.magoism.net/2025/03/meet-mago-contributor-tamara-wyndham/

(Special Post 2) "The Oldest Cilivization" and its Agendas by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: The following discussion took place in response to an article listed blow by the members of The Mago Cirlce, Facebook group of Goddessians/Magoists from May 6 to May 10, 2016. Readers are recommended to read the original article linked below that has invoked the converation.] “The Danube Civilization: Oldest in the World” in The Ancient Ones upon the ruins of our ancestors, published April 3, 2016.
(Special Post 6) 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 Hwang Without knowing nine numerology, it is NOT possible for us to understand the depth of Magoism, an anciently originated tradition of Old Korea/East Asia that venerated the Creatrix. “Giants” are the hallmark for the Goma, the people of Danguk (nine-state confederacy led by Goma, the Magoist Shaman queen). Those giants are not described as a singular people. They come in “81 brothers,” as mentioned below. We know what “brothers” mean, it is 81 sisters! Changing or translating a female-connoted term to the male proves its agent to be patriarchal. And Chiyou or Chiu (in Korean) is the ruler of Nine Ris (Guri), another name for Nine Hans (Guhan). Check this out: “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China.[1] He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology.[1][2][3] For the Hmong people, Chiyou[4] was a sagacious mythical king.[5] He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi[1]Miao[5] or even Man,[5] depending on the source and view. Today, Chiyou is honored and worshipped as the God of War and one of the three legendary founding fathers of China.” “According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi, Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.[6]According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead.[1] He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand.[7] In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a bull with two horns, although the body was that of a human.[7] He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers.[7] Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’,[6] as well as ‘tyrannical’.[8] Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.[5] Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during the Battle of Zhuolu. TRIBE Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPAWhite Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources.[1] However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Below is from my article, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology,” included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018). Goma is also credited for designating queens of the bear clan to state rulers. Another account of the Goma myth reads, “She looked after numerous spiritual persons and wise persons. Accepting women of the bear clan, Hanung made them rulers (后). Goma chose queens of the bear clan to make them nine state rulers. Note that Danguk is a nine state confedearcy. That Danguk’s nine states were headed by the queens of the bear clan is, among others, corroborated by Chinese mythological accounts. Chinese myth informs that Chiu, Huangdi’s opponent in an epic war, was aided by “a tribe of giants from the far north.”[1] In Chinese mythology, Gonggong and her minister, Xiangliu, symbolized as a dragon with nine heads in the body of a snake, are depicted as an enemy of Emperor Yu of Xia (ruled c. 2200–2100 BCE). Such a story is aligned with Sinocentrism inscribed in Chinese mythology that antagonizes pre-Chinese history of Old Magoist Korea/East Asia. In Chinese mythology, Gonggong (龔工) is described as a sea monster whose minister Xiangliu (相栁 Mutual Willow) is told to have been defeated by Yu, the Great.[2] Assuming the character hu (后 xia in Chinese pronunciation) to mean a male ruler’s wife, androcentric scholars have translated the above account as “Hanung received his queen from the bear clan. And he instituted the rite of matrimony.” This proves to be a modern androcentric bias in that hu originally means a “ruler.” This is the case of the logographic character whose original meaning has changed from “a female ruler” to “a male ruler” and to “the wife of ruler” over time. Ancient Chinese texts betray ample evidence. For example, Xiahou (夏后 Ruler of Xia) and Houyi (后羿 Ruler of Yi) respectively refer to a male ruler. Xiahou refers to Yu of Xia. Other ancient Chinese texts include the Classic of Poetry (詩經商頌玄鳥), the Zuozhuan (左傳) and the Book of Document (書經).[3] [1] C. Scott Littleton, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth & Storytelling (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002), 414. Cited in Hwang, Finding Mago, 239 in note 494. [2] Lihui Yang, Deming An and Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 214-5. [3] Goma, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology” Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018), 272. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am realizing that even ancient Chinese people depicted Chiyou as female. When her image is cropped from the whole frame, it is hard to tell. But see her in the attached image of the whole frame. In comparison with Chinese heroes (supposedly including Yellow Emperor) on the left side, she and her ally are depicted as a figure in a curvy body line. Of course, Chiyou was pejoratively depicted as she was an opponent to the future Chinese emperor, […]
(Special Post) Discussion on Mother-Daughter Wound by Mago Circle Members

[Mago Circle members discussed and answered the question, “What do you think of this (the topic article below)? If you are a feminist, it is something that you would promote? If so, why? If not, why not?” The discussion took place on May 15, 2017 and shortly thereafter in The Mago Circle.] Topic Article: “For The Daughters Who Don’t Love Their Mothers – Screw Mother’s Day” by Sade Andria Zabala Everyone talks about a mother’s unconditional love. But what if it doesn’t exist? Daughters are socially expected to be close with their mothers. But are you one of the women who aren’t? Mother’s Day isn’t just for celebrating moms. It’s a day some of us dread because we are reminded we grew up (or are still) unloved, not good enough. (Read the whole article here.)

Samhain/Deep Autumn within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 4 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Samhain/Deep Autumn are: Northern Hemisphere – October 31st/November 1st Southern Hemisphere – April 30th/May 1st though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, thus actually a little later in early May for S.H., and early November for N.H., respectively. A Samhain/Deep Autumn Ceremonial Altar In this cosmology, Deep Autumn/Samhain is a celebration of She Who creates the Space to Be par excellence. This aspect of the Creative Triplicity is associated with the autopoietic quality of Cosmogenesis[i] and with the Crone/Old One of the Triple Goddess, who is essentially creative in Her process. This Seasonal Moment celebrates the process of the Crone, the Ancient One … how we are formed by Her process, and in that sense conceived by Her: it is an ‘imaginal fertility,’ a fertility of the dark space, the sentient Cosmos. It mirrors the fertility and conception of Beltaine (which is happening in the opposite Hemisphere at the same time). Some Samhain/Deep Autumn Story This celebration of Deep Autumn has been known in Christian times as “Halloween,” since the church in the Northern Hemisphere adopted it as “All Hallow’s eve” (31st October) or “All Saint’s Day” (1st November). This “Deep Autumn” festival as it may be named in our times, was known in old Celtic times as Samhain (pronounced “sow-een), which is an Irish Gaelic word, with a likely meaning of “Summer’s end,” since it is the time of the ending of the Spring-Summer growth. Many leaves of last Summer are turning and falling at this time: it was thus felt as the end of the year, and hence the New Year. It was and is noted as the beginning of Winter. It was the traditional Season for bringing in the animals from the outdoor pastures in pastoral economies, and when many of them were slaughtered. Earth’s tilt is continuing to move the region away from the Sun at this time of year. This Seasonal Moment is the meridian point of the darkest quarter of the year, between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice; the dark part of the day is longer than the light part of the day and is still on the increase. It is thus the dark space of the annual cycle wherein conception and dreaming up the new may occur. As with any New Year, between the old and the new, in that moment, all is possible. We may choose in that moment what to pass to the future, and what to relegate to compost. Samhain may be understood as the Space between the breaths. It is a generative Space – the Source of all. There is particular magic in being with this Dark Space. This Dark Space which is ever present, may be named as the “All-Nourishing Abyss,”[ii] the “Ever-Present Origin.”[iii] It is a generative Place, and we may feel it particularly at this time of year, and call it to consciousness in ceremony. Some Samhain/Deep Autumn Motifs The fermentation of all that has passed begins. This moment may mark the Transformation of Death – the breakdown of old forms, the ferment and rot of the compost, and thus the possibility of renewal.[iv] It is actually a movement towards form and ‘re-solution’ (as Beltaine – its opposite – begins a movement towards entropy and dissolution). With practice we begin to develop this vision: of the rot, the ferment, being a movement towards the renewal, to see the gold. And just so, does one begin to know the movement at Beltaine, towards expansion and thus falling apart, dissolution. In Triple Goddess poetics it may be expressed that the Crone’s face here at Samhain begins to change to the Mother – as at Beltaine the Virgin’s face begins to change to the Mother: the aspects are never alone and kaleidoscope into the other … it is an alive dynamic process, never static. The whole Wheel is a Creation story, and Samhain is the place of the conceiving of this Creativity, and it may be in the Spelling of it – saying what we will; and thus, beginning the Journey through the Wheel. Conception could be described as a “female-referring transformatory power” – a term used by Melissa Raphael in Thealogy and Embodiment:[v] conception happens in a female body, yet it is a multivalent cosmic dynamic, that is, it happens in all being in a variety of forms. It is not bound to the female body, yet it occurs there in a particular and obvious way. Androcentric ideologies, philosophies and theologies have devalued the event and occurrence of conception in the female body: whereas PaGaian Cosmology is a conscious affirmation, invocation and celebration of “female sacrality”[vi] as part of all sacrality. It does thus affirm the female as a place; as well as a place.[vii] ‘Conception’ is identified as a Cosmic Dynamic essential to all being – not exclusive to the female, yet it is a female-based metaphor, one that patriarchal-based religions have either co-opted and attributed to a father-god (Zeus, Yahweh, Chenrezig – have all taken on being the ‘mother’), or it has been left out of the equation altogether. Womb is the place of Creation – not some God’s index finger as is imagined in Michelangelo’s famous painting. Melissa Raphael speaks of a “menstrual cosmology”. It is an “ancient cosmology in which chaos and harmony belong together in a creation where perfection is both impossible and meaningless;”[viii] yet it is recently affirmed in Western scientific understanding of chaos, as essential to order and spontaneous emergence. Samhain is an opportunity for immersion in a deeper reality which the usual cultural trance denies. It may celebrate immersion in what is usually ‘background’ – the real world beyond and within time and space: which is actually the major portion of the Cosmos we live in.[ix] Samhain is about understanding that the Dark is a fertile place: in its decay and rot it seethes with infinite unseen complex golden threads connected to the wealth of Creativity of all that has gone before – like any …
(Prose) Halcyon for the Season by Deanne Quarrie

A bird for this season is the Kingfisher, also known as the Halcyon. The Kingfisher is associated in Greek myth with the Winter Solstice. There were fourteen “halcyon days” in every year, seven of which fell before the winter solstice, seven after; peaceful days when the sea was smooth as a pond and the hen-halcyon built a floating nest and hatched out her young. She also had another habit, that of carrying her dead mate on her back over the sea and mourning him with a plaintive cry. Pliny reported that the halcyon was rarely seen and then only at the winter and summer solstices and at the setting of the Pleiades. She was therefore, a manifestation of the Moon-Goddess who was worshiped at the two solstices as the Goddess of Life in Death and Death in Life and, when the Pleiades set, she sent the sacred king his summons for death. Kingfishers are typically stocky, short-legged birds with large heads and large, heron-like beaks. They feed primarily on fish, hovering over the water or watching intently from perches and they plunge headlong into the water to catch their prey. Their name, Alcedinidae, stems from classical Greek mythology. Alcyone, Daughter of the Wind, was so distraught when her husband perished in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea. Both were then transformed into kingfishers and roamed the waves together. When they nested on the open sea, the winds remained calm and the weather balmy. Still another Alcyone, Queen of Sailing, was the mystical leader of the seven Pleiades. The heliacal rising of the Pleiades in May marked the beginning of the navigational year and their setting marked the end. Alcyone, as Sea Goddess protected sailors from rocks and rough weather. The bird, halcyon continued for centuries to be credited with the magical power of allaying storms. Shakespeare refers to this legend in this passage from Hamlet: Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the time. Hamlet, I, i 157 When I was a young mother, and my children were little, we lived in a house that had a creek in the back yard. There were small trees along the far bank of this creek and every day, a kingfisher would sit in the branches overlooking the creek. Sometimes he sat there very quietly for a very long time. Suddenly he would dive from his perch straight into the creek. Every time he did he came out and up into the air with a fish. It gave me great pleasure to watch him from my kitchen window. I love birds. I love learning about their habits because it teaches me ways of being that are closer to nature. I love drawing birds as well. When I was a young and more able, I was an avid bird watcher, out with my friends hoping for a sight never seen before. I love the story of the kingfisher and her connection to the Halcyon Days of the Winter Solstice. It is for most of us the busiest time of year. Whether it is for the Solstice or Christmas (often both) we are in a frenzy to get things done, making sure everything is just right and perfect. I celebrate the Winter Solstice. As a priestess, my days right now are very busy creating ritual. It is at the Solstice that many passage rites are happening with the women I work with. And of course, I celebrate with my family with our magical Yule Log each year. But I try to honor those seven days before and the seven days after by trying to have the frantic moments before the Halcyon Days begin and then even when busy, hold the peace and calm of that beautiful smooth sea in my mind. Peace and love and joy surrounding the Winter Solstice make it perfect. May the Peace of a Halcyon Sea be yours in this Solstice Season. Do hold the image of that little kingfisher in mind! Meet Mago Contributor, Deanne Quarrie
(Video) A Beltaine Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Beltaine/High Spring: the traditional dates are Southern Hemisphere – October 31st or 1st November Northern Hemisphere – April 30th (May Eve) or 1st May The actual astronomical date varies, and it is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, thus actually a little later in early November for S.H., and early May for N.H., respectively. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pODpbkzfrIU The purpose of the video is for ceremony and I suggest pausing the video where it suits you, to add your own processing, embellishments and/or your own drum, percussion, music, and voice wherever you please. I have made short spaces in the video where it may be paused. The script for this Beltaine ceremony is offered in Chapter 8 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. 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 name the direction, which I only do at the beginning. The images used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Beltaine ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Beltaine ceremonies that I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space, in Gundungurra and Darug country, Blue Mountains Australia. To enhance participation in the ceremony, you may like to have the following: the element of Water flavoured with rose water. the element of Earth in a large dinner plate and card paper large enough for handprints, along with a bowl of water for washing hands after. a small bouquet of scented flowers and/or herbs for the element of Air. a firepot for the element of Fire. This may be a clay pot of sand into which a small amount of methylated spirits will be poured and lit: it produces a soft flame that will not set off fire alarms, though care should still be taken. a larger firepot or two – either near the altar or located where suitable, for either leaping the flames, or simply passing your hand over flames. This firepot may be a larger version of the one for the element of Fire. coloured ribbons, ideally attached to a pole/tree, but it is possible to manage this rite in another creative manner. a pink ring cake, topped with rose water and honey and petals, sliced ready for serving, but whole. sweet pink wine/juice and glasses for serving. Dance Instructions: Celebrant as #1, person next on right as #2. All 1’s face right, all 2’s face left. All 1’s go in & under first, all 2’s go out & over first. The chant for the dance around the tree (a “Novapole” in the Southern Hemipshere, a “Maypole” in the Northern Hemisphere): “We are the Dance of the Earth, Moon and Sun We are the Life that’s in everyone We are the Life that loves to live We are the Love that lives to love.” (Note: This is a slight variation of the chant written and taught to me by thea Gaia. Music credits: A few clips from Coral Sea Dreaming by Tania Rose: https://www.taniarose.net A clip from Benediction Moon by Pia from her album by that name, New World Music, 1998. A clip from “Shedville 28th Nov 05” by Nick Alias, who has generously shared his music, and given permission for me to use it. Image credits: Ishtar (Middle East, 1000 BCE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.131. Aphrodite (Europe, 300 BCE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.133. Xochiquetzal (Mayan, 8th century CE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.135. Inanna/Ishtar (Mesopotamia 400 B.C.E.), Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature, p.39. Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, plate 155. Milky Way photo: Akira Fujii, David Malin images. Beau Ravn’s “Goddess” and “God” artworks (2000). Sri Yantra (1500 CE.), A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle, Sacred Sexuality, p.75.
(Poem) Samhain by Annie Finch

In the season leaves should love, since it gives them leave to move through the wind, towards the ground they were watching while they hung, legend says there is a seam stitching darkness like a name. Now when dying grasses veil earth from the sky in one last pale wave, as autumn dies to bring winter back, and then the spring, we who die ourselves can peel back another kind of veil that hangs among us like thick smoke. Tonight at last I feel it shake. I feel the nights stretching away thousands long behind the days, till they reach the darkness where all of me is ancestor. I turn my hand and feel a touch move with me, and when I brush my young mind across another, I have met my mother’s mother. Sure as footsteps in my waiting self, I find her, and she brings arms that hold answers for me, intimate, waiting, bounty: “Carry me.” She leaves this trail through a shudder of the veil, and leaves, like amber where she stays, a gift for her perpetual gaze. From Eve (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010) (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Video) Winter Solstice Breath Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 Winter Solstice is a celebration of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Triple Goddess in particular – as both Solstices may be, as dark or light come to fullness. Winter Solstice Moment celebrates the ripe fullness of the Dark Womb, and the gateway from that fullness back into new growing light. It is a Birthing Place – into differentiated being, and Her birthing happens in every moment in the breath, and is seamlessly connected with all layers of being – of self, Earth and Cosmos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsVZzXtoyM The Text in the Meditation[i] Take a deep breath and let it go. Notice the Void at the bottom of emptying your breath … feeling it, and feeling the Urge to breathe as it arises. And again … feeling it over and over – this breath that arises out of the full emptiness in every moment, birthing you in every moment. – Recall some of the birthings in your life, your actual birth – see it there in your mind’s eye … you coming into being – your Nativity, your Nativity. Recall projects you have brought into being, new beings within yourself, perhaps children, new beings in others, how you have been Creator and Created – even at the same time … who was birthing who? Staying for a while with the many, many birthings in your life. – recalling now Earth-Gaia’s many birthings out of the Dark everyday … the dawn is constant as She turns. See Her in your mind’s eye – the constant dawning around the globe, the constant birthing. Recall Earth’s many births right now of all beings – as day breaks around the globe – the physical, emotional, spiritual births. Her many, many birthings everyday, and throughout the eons. recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. – recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. Come back to your breath – this wonder – none of it separate … the Origin Ever-Present, birthing you in every moment – out of Her Fertile Dark, in real time and space. Feeling this breath, Her breath. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, Winter Solstice ceremonial script, p. 195-196. Reference: Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology. Music: Fish Nite Moon by Tim Wheater, permission generously given Images: – Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, pl. 155. See https://pagaian.org/book/cover-goddess-image/ – Winter Solstice window, MoonCourt Australia 2016 – some sources unknown
(Art & Poem) Candelmas/Imbolc by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

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

(Mago Essay 1) Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago, the Great Goddess by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Introduction: Why Inaugurate the Great Goddess Consciousness? The Great Goddess is known by many names around the world. “Mago” is one known by East Asians from time immemorial. As such, the term “Mago” is a common noun referring to the Great Goddess rather than the name of a particular goddess. According to my assessment of a large volume of primary sources that I have documented, Mago’s divine nature is characterized as the progenitor, creator, and ultimate sovereign. In short, Mago is supreme as the Creatrix. That does not mean that there is nothing before or even after Her. In fact, according to the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), principal text of Magoism, Mago was born into the cosmic era prior to our cosmic era by the music/vibration/movement of the universe. Being the Creatrix, She is the beginning and the end. She is the Origin of humankind. She will be with us insofar as humanity continues to exist on its cosmic journey. She is the Great Ancestor of all humans as well as goddesses and gods. Furthermore, She is “the Cosmic Great Mother” from whom everything is derived. “Mago” is eponymous of human civilization. With regard to the world, She is immanent and transcendent at once. Standing at the threshold of the world, She embodies the world. She is the Channel that connects humanity with nature and the universe. She is the Lens through which we humans perceive Ultimate Reality. To be precise, She is the Cause for human consciousness. Through Her, we enter the world. She is self-sustained, as symbolized in the ouroboros. The beginning and the end for the world relies on Her. While holding the key to eternity, She shares the rise and fall with humankind. Here is Her intimacy with humanity: We are part of Her and She is in our DNA. My reconstruction of Mago and Magoism did not begin with a teleological scheme. No pre-measured outcome was there to motivate my undertaking of the research project. On the contrary, the topic was a serendipitous yet timely encounter, which I had never consciously expected. Nonetheless, I was not in a vacuum. As a self-identified radical feminist, I sought a new mode of knowing within my own cultural roots that can remedy Eurocentric, nationalist, colonialist, racist, and ethnocentric knowledge. The years of my graduate studies were spent in exploring such possibilities. Only after furthering my research of Mago and Magoism for over a decade, I began to grasp something at which my intellectual/spiritual voyage is destined to arrive. It was this phrase, in fact a very old mandate that ancient Magoists self-identified with, “Return to the Origin of Mago (Mago Bokbon, 麻姑複本),” that surfaced over the horizon with clarity. How do we return to Mago’s Origin? Do we return to Her Realm or invoke Her Reality to our time? Time is one seamless measurement. No need to go there or bring it here. The fact that “Mago” refers to the Great Goddess rather than an individual goddess intimates an implication at the level of consciousness. Talk of Mago invokes the Great Goddess consciousness, primordial unity/oneness. A “new” mode of knowing is re-birthed once and time and time again. Individuals are placed in unity with the whole. Each shares with the subject position, WE. After all, everyone is progeny of the Great Goddess! We are re-stored within the scheme of old knowing that the whole (universality) comprises parts (particularities) and that they are organically interconnected. Complexity and precision of the way microcosmic entities work in harmony with the cosmos are beyond the human grasp. However, we know that an assault on a part affects the whole. And vice versa. This is why I study Mago and Magoism: Reenacting the Great Goddess consciousness is the ultimate antidote to the patriarchal consciousness. WE learn how to see things beyond the isolated position of an “I,” the notion of the self molded to stand against its environments (the other) by the patriarchal mastermind. The separated “I,” implanted in one’s psyche from birth through patriarchal institutions such as the state, religion, family, and heterosexuality, conjoins the new awareness of WE. The Mago consciousness is the original, pristine perspective prior to the split of the patriarchal consciousness. It is an undifferentiated state of mind that underlies patriarchal socialization. Ancient cultures had an understanding of the mysterious working of Mago. With Mago, WE Re-Turn to the Origin! The Female is epistemically invincible, nullifying the assaults of the patriarchal “I.” The power of the Mago consciousness is well depicted in the icon of Durga defeating the patriarchal demon. One should not be mistaken that the Mago consciousness is just another form of patriarchal thinking with reversed gender. It fundamentally differs in nature from the latter. Suffice it to say that “the Almighty God,” unlike the Great Goddess, does not share the same DNA with humans. In fact, He has no DNA! The monotheistic god rules over and against the world in protection of himself. He is needy. He isn’t even transcendent but disconnected from primordial unity. He can’t be “He” but only he of She. He can’t be the representative of the world because he is biased against the female principle. Ultimately, he is incapable of embracing everyone, unlike the Great Goddess. To hide the fact that the monotheistic god leads only to the abyss of self-destruction, patriarchal religions have created dogmas to indoctrinate people. The Great Goddess consciousness exposes the patriarchal deception. As patriarchy developed over the course of history, Mago was made unintelligible. People lost the Original Knowing! The Paradise was gone not only in a physical manner but also epistemically! That may as well be a corollary in that patriarchy precludes the concept of the Great Goddess by definition. It is not patriarchy if a society upholds the female as supreme. Nonetheless, patriarchy could not get rid of the manifestation of Mago in history, culture, and the collective consciousness of people. In fact, the ancient cultures, histories, myths, topographies, religions, and memories …
(Essay 1) Returning Home with Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay was first published in Trivia, Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, September 2007.] I come from Korea. When I say I came from Korea, I do not mean “Korea” in a nationalistic sense. Nationalism, reinforced by international politics as a cardinal rule of the global community, precludes the agency of women; it is a game of the patriarchal controllers. When I say I am Korean, I mean I am a Magoist Korean, a gynocentric Korean. My Korean identity refers to my cultural and historical root. Fortunately, I have found my Korean gynocentric root in the tradition of Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia.1
(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 …