October 10, 2018October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Tribute 4) Barbara Mor, “Relentless Love”: Letters 1988-2002 from a Writer’s Best Friend by Jack Dempsey

More about Barbara’s evolving style near the end of this collection. Here below comes her next letter (June 4th, 1993)—including Read More …

(Essay) MoonCourt: Goddess Ceremonial Space by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

MoonCourt is dedicated ceremonial space created for the celebration of Her Creativity, as this manifests in the Seasonal Moments, which are holy days of Earth, points of transition marking Earth’s orbit around our mother Sun. MoonCourt as it has been named, is sacred space for celebrating Earth’s everyday sacred journey, our everyday pilgrimage – where we actually are. It is a Goddess safe space where She may be spoken and announced in all Her beauty and power. MoonCourt is the emergent home of PaGaian Cosmology. There are three seasonal markers on the wall: the window for the Winter Solstice dawn, the window for the Summer Solstice dawn, and the Equinox marker in between them. I found the simple placement of these markers in themselves to be mind-altering. I wrote soon after living with them for a while: “It is placing me in a new way.” The Winter Solstice window is vulval in shape, designed and made especially, an open space with a wrought iron Triple Spiral held in its centre. The Summer Solstice window is a round plate of thick glass with a diamond shaped pattern centrally embedded in it. The marker for the Equinoxes, which has the same position on the horizon for both Spring and Autumn, is a downward pointing triangle, a classic Goddess pubic shape; at first with an image from Loughcrew Ireland included within it, then later and presently with an image of Demeter and Persephone within it. The floor of MoonCourt is embedded with a thirty metre brass spiral which represents the unfolding Universe, from the Original Flaring Forth to the present moment: there are forty brass pins embedded along its length at appropriate measured distances, representing moments considered significant by present scientific and cultural understandings, and I always tell the story inclusive of Goddess perspective. The foundations for MoonCourt began in early January of 2008; its advent was an organic process. The only certainties were (i) that the space would be home to the seasonal ceremonies that I had hosted for years, frequently in hired locations and only recently coming back to this ground, and (ii) that it would be made of earthen materials. We did not actually have a plan to go by, other than beginning with the noting and marking of the sunrise on the horizon for the Summer Solstice, the Equinoxes, and the Winter Solstice. My partner Taffy (Robert) Seaborne initiated and took an active role in MoonCourt’s construction, though it was my story, my cosmology (which did not yet have a name), which informed the design. As we reached for a name for this sacred space we wrote: “It is a place for getting caught by the Moon, where Her law/lore is laid out. The seasonal rituals as we do them are a celebration of the dance of Light and Dark – the rhythm of waxing peaking and waning, as Moon holds them within Her round face. It is to be a place for courting the Mother.” We did also think about naming it a MoonAsylum … as it is a “refuge for learning and celebrating Her Wisdom” and we often playfully regarded ourselves as Lunatics! MoonCourt is the name that emerged, partly due to a white marble that was found mysteriously placed exactly in the centre of the rubble of the foundations. I continued to hold the all the seasonal ceremonies on the site as it was built … Earth does not stop turning; the celebration of Her Creativity, the sacred conversation, must always go on. Herewith a photo as it was for Autumn Equinox of 2008, when MoonCourt was the site for the Underworld part of the ceremonial process. I include it for the purpose of showing that one does not have to wait for magic to happen. There are photos here in this link of MoonCourt’s beginnings, and all the way through to the present: https://pagaian.org/articles/mooncourt/ and also links there to three YouTube videos of MoonCourt’s construction. Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone
(Poem) Gathering Woman by Arlene Bailey

I am a gathererAs was my Motherand Her Motherand her Mother beforeAll the ancestral mothersBack to the Bone Mothers WomenWe gather thingsWe gather peopleFor in gathering weshare love, hopeand purposeAnd we protect By gathering we createChanging the energyof the one to the many Gathering is instinctualin nature tooWatch the birds asthey build their nestsSquirrels as they collect acornsCrows as they collect seeminglyunrelated objects We are gatherersAll of usPredisposed to the idea ofthe one becoming manyCreating an interconnectionCreating a whole I am a Gathering WomanAnd I call to meThat which I needThat which needs meAs together we weaveNew beginnings.As together we createA new whole. https://www.magoism.net/2020/04/meet-mago-contributor-arlene-bailey/ (Meet Mago Contributor) Arlene Bailey
(Essay 2) The Power of Metaphor: Spelling Ourselves, Our World by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

[This essay is part 2 of an edited excerpt from the Introduction to her book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion.] A Functional Cosmology and Metaphor Cosmologist Brian Swimme has said that to become fully mature as human persons, we must bring to life within ourselves the dynamics that fashioned the cosmos … That is our task: to create the human form of the central powers of the cosmos.[i] To do this, many women, and men too, need the Female Metaphor (a female metaphor for the Divine) … to become fully human, to embody these dynamics that created the galaxies, the stars. As Carol Christ noted, women “have not actively shaped their experiences of self and world nor named the great powers from their own perspectives”.[ii] Men too may find the Female Metaphor helpful in this matter of embodying the cosmic dynamics, since She is a participatory metaphor – relational – and She may re-store him to the context, partnership, as opposed to centre-stage, dominance and alienation. Adam McLean makes a case for “the Triple Goddess figure” being “for men, a safe inner guide”,[iii] free of the dangers of the “hero”/”saviour” identification.[iv] John Heron has critiqued “gender-laden perennialism”[v] wherein the traditional, typically male, practitioner “claims to have become spirit as spirit”,[vi] whose spiritual practice involves sustained dissociation from the autonomous dynamic impulses of immanent spiritual life.”[vii] Heron describes this as “supremely alienated and inflated agency, a man wanting only to be the whole of reality, and in no sense whatsoever a part of it or participant in it.”[viii]
(Nine Poets Speak) Hear Our Cries by Arlene Bailey

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Art by Katherine Skaggs, Katherine Skaggs Visionary Artist, Shamanic Healer, Spiritual Teacher Author’s Note: I shared a small portion of this before the Isis Anthology came out. This is a beautiful and profound Invocation to the Great Mother, Auset Isis, imploring her to help this world as it is slowly being destroyed, dismembered and dying via Patriarchy. It is a prayer for our time in the words of the original myth. It is long, but I hope it will speak to you.Oh Great MotherBlessed IsisYou who found the lostpieces of your beloved,You who made whole againthat which you adored,hear the cries of yourdescendants, yourdaughters and sons.Hear the cries of ourwaters and lands,flowers and treesand the animals.We have becomedismembered parts,Death wraiths walking.Blessed IsisPowerful Ancestral CreatrixWe call you to work yourmagic upon us, reconnectingthat which is precious,that which is beautiful,that which is essential,that which is dying.We implore you to protectthe very existence ofAll that exists in this time,for Set walks among us stilldismemberingall that is Good,all that is Sacred,piece by piece by pieceOh Great MotherBlessed IsisQueen of the AllQueen of MagicWork this mystery upon us now,gather the pieces of what’s left,there’s not much and soonthere will be nothing.Great MotherBlessed IsisQueen of the AllWe are dead and dyingas we call out your nameimploring you to find us,collecting our disparate parts.Oh Great MotherProtectress of the Dead and DyingDeath CroneBreathe life back into usbefore it’s too late.Great and Powerful IsisWe are your beloved Osirisand our time is running out.Set grows stronger as familiesare torn apart, children starvingand dying, raped and sold, whilefires rage and destroy the land,contaminating the waters, stoppingtheir flow as billions of animals dieand others go extinct.Set is chopping it… us…into pieces and your beloveds,especially your daughters –for Set’s minions target themand the land the most –are raped, tortured and murderedand will be no more.Great Cosmic MotherYou who carry the power of alchemybreathe life back into all that is dying.You who create life from death andwear the ankh – symbol of immortal life -teacher of women and women’s ways –You who are the sun and moon, earth and starsshelter us in your great wings as youreweave a new world, a new way of being.I call You forth by your names!Auset Isis!Great Mother!Sovereign Queen!Witch of the Night!Keeper of Magic!Goddess and Crone of theMysteries of Life and Death!Alchemist!Thou Who is All that has been,Is and Shall be!Thou most Holy!Powerful Auset IsisI call you forth as Reckonerto hold accountable thoseresponsible for the desecrationof all that is sacred and holy,beautiful and life-giving.Oh Great QueenI call you forth to restorethe Sovereignty of yourdaughters, your sons, theSovereignty of the Land.Powerful and Most Holy IsisWe are your beloved Osirisand our time is running out.Hear My…Our…Prayers.Before it’s too late.Duwa Auset, Duwa*______________________________________________Hear Our Cries: An Invocation by Arlene Bailey ©2020Art and Writing previously published in On the Wings of Isis: Reclaiming the Sovereignty of Auset, Girl God Books, Girl God Books Anthologies*Duwa Auset, Duwa –Thou are Goddess the most High (from the ancient Khemetic language) (Meet Mago Contributor) Arlene Bailey – Return to Mago E*Magazine
(Essay 1) What It’s Like to Live on Wimmin’s Land by Hearth Moon Rising

There’s been a lot of discussion on social media over the past year about reviving wimmin’s land. Many women are proposing establishing all-woman living collectives in rural areas, a phenomenon that began in the 1970s and faded somewhat by the turn of the century (though some women’s communities are still around). For women dreaming about this alternative, I wanted to share some of my experience. I lived on Adobeland, a now-defunct women’s community in southern Arizona, from 1989-1990 and again from 1993-1996. I also visited wimmin’s lands in California and New Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s. Last year I had the opportunity to meet with alumni of A Women’s Place, another defunct women’s community in upstate New York, and learn about their experiences. Source: US Bureau of Land Management Many women dreaming of wimmin’s land are inspired by their experiences at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Michfest was an important part of women’s culture and in my memory (I only attended once) a heady experience. Living on wimmin’s land, however, is more ordinary and more difficult than a conference or festival. It’s a lot of work, both physical work and relational work. It’s a lot of hardship, too, both physical hardship and the hardship that comes from the lifestyle. Many women come to wimmin’s land and decide on their third day (or thereabouts) that they are going to live on “the land” for the rest of their lives. They quit jobs, burn bridges and take on commitments to the collective that they cannot follow through on. Reality sets in, and in another six weeks these women are gone, never returning to wimmin’s land again. The good news is that your women’s group can basically set the rules and parameters that you want. Every women’s community has its unique culture, structure, and set of problems. Some communities have time and work commitments; others are more organic. Some communities are all lesbian, others allow women of all sexual orientations. Some allow male children; others do not. You don’t have to be “inclusive” of everyone. That’s a value appropriated by men from feminist collectives striving for diversity of class, ability, and ethnic representation. Men have twisted “inclusivity” into a form of domination. You simply can’t be inclusive of everyone in everything you do. Not even every woman. Wimmin’s land, by it’s nature, is exclusive on many levels, not the least of which is that you usually need to be introduced to the community: it certainly isn’t advertised. Source: US National Park Service Adobeland, where I lived, allowed straight women to live and visit. We also allowed men on the land for specific purposes, such as towing a disabled car. Male children were allowed to visit. I don’t believe we ever had a woman request to raise her son in that environment. With advance warning, we allowed a woman’s father or brother to visit her structure and meet with some of the women. At that time, there were more flaky religious cults around, Jonestown was a recent memory, and the concern of a woman’s relatives (even the male ones) to understand the place where she was living was reasonable. The point is that you can make the structure fit the needs of your group. Your women’s community will have conflicts with neighbors, no matter how isolated your location. Disagreements can arise regarding water rights, right-of-way, and local values around nudity, among other things. Conflicts may not be confined to people you are disposed to dislike, such as redneck men, but may involve other women or indigenous communities. And you may find yourself sympathizing, over time, with some perspectives of poor rural men and possibly aligning with them on local political issues. A women’s community is not a ticket out of the wider world. There is no place on earth isolated enough for that. In retrospect, some members of one women’s community felt that they had needlessly generated conflict through reflexive disregard for the values of the white rural community they settled in. They stressed the importance of active listening and diplomacy from the outset, before ill feelings become established. Source: Darxus/Wikimedia Commons Adobeland initially attracted huge attention from law enforcement, due to the secrecy of the community. Women felt, justifiably, that they had no obligation to seek dispensation from male authorities for living collectively, and male authorities assumed the women were establishing an Amazon terrorist satanic brainwashing child-abusing drug cult. Once that issue was disposed of (which escalated to the point of SWAT teams in helicopters), another problem developed. Adobe bought the land in what she thought was a barren corner of the desert, but the population of Tucson exploded over the years and the area became a bedroom community. New arrivals in what was now a suburban development disliked the “commune” as they called it, and initiated a concerted effort to drive the women out. This took the form of complaints to all manner of local authorities: the health department, child protective services, the sheriff, the dog catcher. These bureaucracies have a mandate to investigate all complaints, and complaints were so numerous that eventually the health department established a regular schedule for inspections. Eventually the various petty law enforcement agencies, weary of the bogus demands on their time and resources, assigned women to investigate complaints against the community. This was a victory of sorts, respecting the request of the women of Adobeland that this was women’s land and all harassers should be women. This article is getting long, so I will continue this subject in a later article. I don’t want to give short shrift to another conflict issue: the conflicts amongst women living on the land. (To be continued)Meet Mago Contributor, Hearth Moon Rising.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Hannah Baek Wha

Hannah creates expression through a variety of mediums, most currently in the roles of visual artist, craftswoman, storyteller, writer and poet. Her personal practices include an evolving blend of Medicine Drumming, Song Awakening, Tea ritual and healing ceremony. A bodywork practitioner for over six years, she has completed and explored studies in Thai Yoga Massage, Zen Shiatsu, Remedial, Tantric Chakra Meditation and Japanese Reiki, as well as Shamanic studies in Vehicles of Consciousness, Crystal Dreaming, Transformation, Feminine Breath and Song, and Japanese Tea Ceremony. Born in South Korea and adopted from a young age, she discovered her “spiritual DNA” through teachers of The Red Road, most significantly that of the Lakota. In 2018 she was adopted as the spiritual daughter of a Lakota elder, as well as receiving the ceremony to practice Tibetan Buddhism. As a beginner student on both these paths she is thankful and slowly learning. Through seeking deeper connection to her Korean roots, Hannah discovered the Mago work of Helen Hye-Sook Hwang through her spiritual sister Narayani. Hannah is slowly tending and creating a collection of visual art inspired by shamanic bird guides, as well as more Spirit Dolls.
(Call for Contributions) Commemorating our ancestor feminists: Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898), Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), Mary Daly (1928-2010), Audre Lorde (1934-1992), Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008), Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004), and Your Hera

Dolmen, Ganghwa Island, S. Korea (from Wikimedia) What is feminism to you? Do you have a feminist ancestor? How do you see your feminist ancestor in your life and work today? And what does it mean that we commemorate our feminist ancestors collectively? Return to Mago (RTM) co-editors, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Jen Taylor, are seeking stories, essays, poems, songs, tributes, artworks, and creative works in memory of our feminist ancestors including Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898), Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), Mary Daly (1928-2010), Audre Lorde (1934-1992), Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008), Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004), and Your Hera.Tell us and the world something about her or her works that have influenced you in a particular way. You may go further to share how you have encountered your ancestor feminist(s), and how your life has evolved because of your ancestor feminist. These questions may be helpful: (1) Who she was/is to you? (2) What has touched you to your core? (3) How have you grown deeper and wider with or through her visions in the course of time? (4) How do you find her influence in you today the same or different from the time when you first encountered it? We are proud of our feminist ancestors. By calling for contributions for this special project (commemorating our ancestor feminists collectively), we co-editors intend to create a timespace wherein a new consciousness may take shape that serves the All (not just women or humans but also the non-human beings). We acknowledge that feminism is a beacon not the destination. No feminist is flawless or stands outside her own cultural and historical contexts. Our individual commemorations do not have to aim at a final statement. Contrarily, our words would always be ephemeral. We are not here to judge our ancestors but acknowledge who they were and how they left an impact on us. “I am grateful for my feminist ancestors. Your fights and struggles, ultimately a gift to ALL, have made it possible for me to become myself and discover the matricentric reality of WE/HERE/NOW. A feminist consciousness reset my life in my late 20s. Feminism was an indispensable and powerful tool for me to carve out my own identity, a Magoist Cetaceanist or a matricentric naturalist advocate. I began to ask hard questions, who I am and how I should live my life. I longed for ultimate freedom and peace in mind/heart. My encounter with Mary Daly, the U.S. post-Christian feminist thinker, in the mid-1990s was destined. Her feminist thought paved my feminist path, a shortcut to my destination. It was an incubator for my own thinking to shape and unfold. For a few years, I could not tell the difference between Daly’s thinking and my own thinking. I was able to break the shell of my own egg from within, thanks to your courage to be and become a Woman. Like you, I never forgot who I was/is, a Korean-native feminist. I am humbled to say that owning my own ethnic and cultural identity is the source of my empowerment, which I extend to you and your intellectual daughters. Our collective consciousness is alive and continues to evolve!” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.“Growing up, I had the sense that something was missing, but I didn’t know what. In my twenties, studying philosophy, I found comfort in the question of a pre-Socratic named Meno, “How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?” For me, unearthing feminist ancestors lost to history was not driven by accident but destiny. Walking to my apartment in Brooklyn at age 25, I stopped to peruse a pile of books left out on the sidewalk. One in particular caught my eye: The Politics of Women’s Spirituality, edited by Charlene Spretnak. I opened it and found an inscription on the first page, “For Mom – The work is only now beginning… May 1990 Love, Lynn.” I knew I had found a treasure. The book was a portal and opened the world of so many feminist ancestors to me. Ntozake Shange’s declaration, “i found god in myself & i loved her fiercely,” sounded a trumpet call. Marija Gimbutas, Merlin Stone, Mary Daly, and so many others spilled from the pages. I read Gimbutas first because, at the time (1997), I was culturally conditioned to cringe at the concept of women’s spirituality. The word Goddess was unutterable. Gimbutas’ fierce scholarship fusing archeology and mythology broke my spell. My life was forever changed. I could name what was missing. The rest of the feminist ancestors in the book opened up to me, and the breadcrumb trail to so many others lay revealed like glistening stones in the moonlight.” Jen Taylor, Doctoral Student at CIIS We are also seeking reviewers who could give editors your feedback about a submission that we will receive. All inquiries must be directed to Dr. Hwang (ninemagos@gmail.com) and/or Ms. Taylor (jentaylor13@yahoo.com) via email. How to submit your contribution, please see here, Call for Contributions.
(Nine Sister Networks E-Interview) Freia Serafina Titland and The Divine Feminine Film Festival by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: Return to Mago E-Magazine (RTME) introduces Sister Organizations under the banner of the Nine Sister Networks as a way of consolidating Matriversal Feminism previously known as Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality. If you are interested in interviewing or being interviewed for this project, please see here.] It is my pleasure for this opportunity to E-Interview Freia Serafina Titland for Nine Sister Networks. I have an honor to know Freia’s research activities through the S/HE Divine Studies Conference as well as our open-access peer-reviewed journal, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies. It is her passion for acting and film that I also noticed along the way. In gratitude and solidarity, I invited Freia to speak about her organizations that she has carved out. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Tell us about yourself and what organization(s) do you represent? Freia Serafina Titland I’m currently a PhD candidate in religion and philosophy with a concentration in women’s spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies. I also work as an adjunct professor of philosophy, the humanities, and film and visual art. My background is in theatre and film, where I used to work as a union actor (in shows like Orange is the New Black, the Perfect Murder, and many off-Broadway theatre and indie films) before stepping behind the camera. I soon began creating mixed medium projects that explored the Goddess in nature, the magical elements of Shakespeare’s work, and more. My work has been featured in gallery exhibitions (most recently “Feminist Art: Contemporary Perspectives” at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Massachusetts), magazines, popular presses (like Feminism and Religion, the Norwegian American, and Enchanted Living Magazine), and has won awards in the international film festival circuit. I wanted to create a space where other filmmakers and artists could showcase their work with similar themes. So, I founded the Divine Feminine Film Festival in NYC. My passion for teaching hidden herstories doesn’t stop with film and the arts, however. So, I found other avenues to work with women in reclaiming rituals, spiritualities, and more. Alongside the film festival, I am the director of a women’s spirituality institute called Lumina, and the co-director of a year-long program called Witch Workshops with Amie Ritchie. Hwang What is the mission of your organization? Tell us about its brief history. Titland The Divine Feminine Film Festival: Feminist art that focused on Goddesses, witchcraft, paganism, and women’s rituals had very few avenues for widespread publication, and finding a supportive community to explore these themes was lacking at the time of conception. The Divine Feminine Film Festival is a way to platform feminist film work. Each year, we have around 500-600 submissions from all around the world– for an indie film festival that focuses on stories told by and for women, non-binary, and gender expansive folks. We have a wide range of films– from students and first time filmmakers, to seasoned professional and Oscar nominees. For a few nights in October, filmmakers, artists, creatives, and more gather together to celebrate their work and connect in community with one another. The Divine Feminine Film Fest is sponsored by Final Draft Screenwriting Software, Hollywood’s go-to program. Our judges consists of individuals working at various levels of the entertainment industry. I feel very proud to platform these artists and their work; even if it’s in a small way. If anyone from the Mago community would like to submit a film, they can use the following code for 50% off: MAGO50 Witch Workshops: Witch Workshops is a year-long, community-centered program designed to uplift your unique witch wisdom! Witch Workshops came into being through feminist sisterhood and partnership with a fellow women’s spirituality PhD student, Amie Ritchie. We knew we wanted to teach witchcraft to others and reclaim the image and meaning of the “witch.” So, we did! Our programs explores working with nature, crystals, deities, guides, ancestors, and more. We honor the Celtic Wheel of the Year, and explore the histories of witchcraft and its modern expressions. Each month focuses on a different theme and we meet virtually to learn, discuss, and practice in community. Throughout the month, we deepen our practice through journal prompts, guided meditations, and ritual suggestions. It’s a great way to stay active with one’s practice. Our next cohort begins in February! Lumina: Lumina was founded with the help of Melanie Struble of the Center for Mind Body Balance. She and I noticed that there was a serious lack of programs available for women across all faith traditions to come together in community with one another. I wanted to change that. Lumina is a haven for women seeking a supportive community and transformative experiences to illuminate their spiritual journeys. Lumina offers women’s circles, workshops, and programs that encourage an integrative process where emotional, spiritual, and mental aspects of well-being are considered, promoting a balanced and authentic life. Hwang How do you see it contribute to the cause of feminist activist spirituality, for which now we have the term, Matriversal Feminism? Titland My work contributes to feminist activist spirituality in a plethora of ways. My film festival provides a platform for creativity that centers the stories, lives, and expressions of spiritual feminists and feminists. This work is showcased, discussed, and celebrated. Filmmakers, creatives, audience members and more come together to witness and celebrate work with themes that are necessary for our survival. The DFFF showcases the work of women from all around the world– Iran, Australia, Norway, South Korea, India, the USA — and so many others. We watch films about abortion, relationships, identity struggles, friendship, finding one’s purpose, loss. It’s a beautiful demonstration of what makes us human. Witch Workshops aids participants in reclaiming their power and agency as part of the collective. Our workshops contribute to the recovery of suppressed histories, practices, beliefs, and creative expressions. Witch Workshops helps participants reconnect with their body’s wisdom as nature and with nature. And, together, we deepen our relationship to ourselves and our communities. This helps us to feel less powerless and confused about the state of the world and …
(Poem) The Revolution Is in the Voices of Women by Stephanie Mines

Dedicated to Olena Zelenska The revolution is in the voices of women Who speak to everyone in the room, Tuned to the rhythms of the Earth. The revolution is in the voices of women Who are not waiting for anyone or anything else. We are the weavers of merciful compassion and authentic outrage. We make the future into now. Our bodies are the economics of the new world. We are ancient and innovative Nurturing economics that leave no bowls empty. That was always the design. The revolution is in the voices of women who know that Vision, dream, planning, implementation, manifestation Are one and the same gesture of simplicity From the unified field of being. The revolution is in the voices of women Who have moved beyond trauma to wholeness. If you can hear us, then It is done. https://www.magoism.net/2024/08/meet-mago-contributor-stephanie-mines-ph-d/

(Special Post 4) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing eight sequels (all nine parts) are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Here is how Goma is known among the ancient Chinese. She is called The Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens (Jiutian xuannu). Nine Heavens refer to the confederacy of nine states, Danguk or Nine Hans. Statue of Jiutian Xuannü, Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiutian_Xuann%C3%BC Another icon of Jiutian Xuannu below. https://www.tinyatdragon.com/blogs/spiritual/jiu-tian-xuan-nu-mysterious-lady-of-the-nine-heavens?fbclid=IwAR0n1Ld6tmxqTec23Pzg3DxRjEQ-DbjdGF1DU_Jjlt4eMbHdTOO9Jd7ePnc Lizzy Bluebell: Oh – now I see what the Buddha riding the deer was carrying; her Gourd. A very interesting link, thanks.”…these statues in Taoism are not for worshipping or praying. They are like a container, a magic tool, which is used to program the energies into profiles and be used for different things in Taoist magic. The outsiders cannot understand too much, and so these “Taoist secrets” are often hidden from the public in the old days or even today.” Lizzy Bluebell: Very informative passage on the power of the NINE:”Nine is the pattern of giving off power, or using up the energies of things to give off powers, just like a flashlight burning it’s battery up for the light. Sky is the pattern that relates to any pool of resources or elements that are considered the proactive party that is “starting” something or the giving side of a situation.Remember that we talk about patterns in Taoism, and it applies to everything including our FU talismans words and these special terms like Jiu Tian / Gau Tin.A practical example for this term can be used as in if you are trying to go to the kitchen and cook something for lunch. Your “sky” here is all the things in the kitchen, and ground is the kitchen itself where you put the food into “process” them. So the 9-sky stage is to have picked out the food you like and let them show themselves to let you know which one is the best to use, maybe some just smell better or some look fresher to you. Nothing has been done yet, but you are now able to “start” something because you can at least feel and sense the food’s potentials and power.” Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, Oh it is gourd. Yes, I forgot about the gourd symbol for Mago/Magu. It is a container for the elixir from which one drinks. It is a common pictographic/literary theme and I have images of Magu with the gourd. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, this is one heuristic analogy. Ancient Magoists depicted/perceived the universe as Nine Heavens, an equivalent to Nine States on earth for it is the lens of Nine Numerology through which they saw everything. Because ancient China removed the history of Goma, they spiritualized/philosophized the teaching of Nine Numerology. If we have Goma’s history (and the mytho-history of Old Magoism), we can perceive the meaning of Nine Heavenly directly (not through theories or analogies). Wherever and whenever the consciousness of Nine Numerology surfaces is a manifestation of Goma’s rule/civilization/religion. This will remain forever insofar as humanity continues because Nine Numerology is the principle of nature including humans. I would say that the teaching/principle of Nine Numerology is Goma’s self-redemptive soteriological gift. Insofar as we understand and honor the Nine Mago Creatrix/Nine Numerology (the female divine in general), we are endowed with the power of self-redemption. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Lizzy Bluebell, the character “Xuan or Hyeon 玄” refers to the quality of gynocentric spirituality, which has been made esoteric or mystic. It refers to the spirituality of the Great Goddess (Magoist spirituality). Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Nine Hans or Nine Heavens manifests in such place-names as Kyūkoku (九国, Nine States). Kyushu (Nine Provinces) Island, Japan, seemingly a replica of Danguk (confederacy of nine states) representing the Nine Mago Creatrix, reflects the ancient glory of the Goma’s gynocentric rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Doumu (Mother of the Northern Dipper) also comes in the icon of eight arms. Doumu, Song Dynasty, Wikimedia Commons Domu, Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doumu Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: She is often conflated with Marici seated on a boar in her iconography (affine to Gemu of the Mosuo and Durga on a tiger/lion). Here Marici is depicted as four-headed and eight-armed. Marici, Wikimedia Commons Marici (Buddhism) – Wikipedia Judy E Foster: So similar to the Indian Goddess… Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Indeed! I am afraid that we may not be able to feature some of the nine forms of Durga from “Hinduism”. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang There is more, Marici. Marici, Wikimedia Commons File:Marichi, Buddhist Goddess of Dawn, China, Qing dynasty, 18th… Marichi, Source below. Marichi (Buddhist Deity) – Kalpoktam (3 faces, 8 hands)… Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: This is new info. on the nine tripod caldrons of ancient China. “The Nine Tripod Cauldrons (Chinese: 九鼎; pinyin: Jiǔ Dǐng) were ancient Chinese ritual cauldrons. They were ascribed to the foundation of the Xia (c. 2200 bce) by Yu the Great, using tribute metal presented by the governors of the Nine Provinces of ancient China.[1] At the time of the Shang Dynasty during the 2nd millennium bce, the tripod cauldrons came to symbolize the power and authority of the ruling dynasty with strict regulations imposed as to their use. Members of the scholarly gentry class were permitted to use one or three cauldrons; the ministers of state (大夫, dàfū) five; the vassal lords seven; and only the sovereign Son of Heaven was entitled to use nine.[2] The use of the nine tripod cauldrons to offer ritual sacrifices to the ancestors from heaven and earth was a major ceremonial occasion so that by natural progression the ding came to symbolize national political power[3] and later to be regarded as a National Treasure. Sources state that two years after the […]
(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) Why I choose to be an RTM contributor by Glenys Livingstone

The contribution of my writing to Return to Mago E-Magazine has evolved since it began four years ago, into a deeply mutually enhancing relationship. The time and effort taken to write carefully and in alignment with my heartfelt passions and insights, and then to be able to publish to a receptive audience, has always been rewarding – for me personally and apparently for many who received it.

(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

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

On February 3rd at 19:45 “Universal Time” (as it is named), Earth our Planet crosses the midpoint of Her orbit between Solstice and Equinox, though the exact time varies each year. In the Northern Hemisphere it is the Season of Imbolc – the welcoming of the Light, post-Winter Solstice, after the fullness of the dark of Winter. Imbolc, and all of the light part of the cycle, is particularly associated with the Young One/Virgin/Maiden aspect of Goddess – or Urge to Be as I have named this aspect. Imbolc may be understood as the quintessential celebration of the Virgin/Young One quality for the year – the rest of the light part of the cycle celebrates Her processes, but this Seasonal Moment is a celebration of Her … identifying with Her. She is the New Young One, the Promise of Life, the Urge to Be. Her purity is Her singularity of purpose. She is spiritual warrior. Her inviolability is Her determination to Be … nothing to do with unbroken hymens of the dualistic and patriarchal mind. The Virgin is the essential “yes” to Being – not the “no” She was turned into. This is some Poetry of the Season: This is the season of the waxing Light … the feast of the Young One – who is the Urge To Be within All. The New One born at the Winter Solstice now grows. This is the time of celebrating the small self – each one’s Gaian uniqueness and beauty. We meet to share the light of inspiration, to be midwifed, by She who tends the Flame of Being, deeply committed to Self, and Who is True. The choice of images is arbitrary … there are so many more, and also, most ancient images of Goddess are multivalent – She was/is One: that is, all Her aspects are not separate from each other. These selected images tell a story of certain qualities that may be contemplated at the Seasonal Moment of Imbolc/Early Spring. Remember that image communicates the unspeakable – that which can only be known in body – below rational mind. You may regard it as a transmission of Herself, insofar as you wish – and particular to you. I offer you these images for you to receive in your own way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUPTKMork9s Artemis 4th Century B.C.E. Greece. (p.52 Austen) – a classic “Virgin” image – wild and free, “Lady of the Beasts”, Goddess of untamed nature. As such, in the patriarchal stories She is often associated with harshness, orgiastic rituals but we may re-story “wildness” in our times as something “innocent”: that is, in direct relationship with the Mother. She is a hunter/archer, protector, midwife, nurturing the new and pure essence (the “wild”) – in earlier times these things were not contradictory. The hunter had an intimate relationship with the hunted, and deep reverence. Aphrodite (p.132 Austen) 300 B.C.E. – often diminished to a sex Goddess in patriarchal narrative, but in more ancient times, praised as She who holds all things in form, which may be comprehended as embodying cosmic power of allurement, which may be identified with what has been named as “gravity”. Re-storied as one who admires her own Beauty, and the Beauty of All. Aphrodite (plate 137 Neumann) an earlier image 600 B.C.E. Brigid/Brigantia (p. 38 Durdin-Robertson) 300 C.E. – Her spear may be understood as the spear of Goddess: that is, as spiritual warrior, or Boadicea-like. Brigid – a later image of Christian times … dressed nun-like. Eurynome (Austen p.8) 4000 B.C.E. Africa. This image is named as Bird-Headed Snake Goddess. Austen stories Her as an image of Eurynome, Goddess of All Things who danced upon the waves in the beginning and laid the Universal Egg. She appears very self-expressive: perhaps a great image of a self-expressive Universe. She integrates animal and human, earth and sky, before dualism existed. I choose her as a Virgin image because of this integrity, and her ecstatic expression. Diana (Neumann Plate 161) Rome. She carries the Flame – is classically Her own person. … not so much “independent” as it may be thought of culturally, as “self-knowing”. She came to be associated with the Greek Artemis: they are sister Goddesses. The Horned Goddess (p. 138 Austen) 6000 B.C.E. Africa – associated with dance and healthy life-force – rain and fertility. She is of the ancient Amazon tribes of what is now known as Algeria. Even today amongst these people, Austen says: “the Tauregs, the women are independent, while the men only appear in public veiled”. Vajravarahi (p.124 Austen) 1600’s C.E. Vajravarahi, show me how to be powerful and compassionate at the same time – let me know that these qualities are one force. Teach me to feel the beauty, power and eroticism of my own being. Show me that I am an exquisite part of the life force, dancing with all other forms of life. and OM! Veneration to you, noble Vajravarahi! OM! Veneration to you, noble and unconquered! Mother of the three worlds! Mistress of knowledge!… OM! Veneration to you, Vajravarahi! Great yogini! Mistress of love! She who moves through the air! TIBETAN TEXT Radha (in my ritual space) … seeing Who She really is. REFERENCES: Austen, Hallie Iglehart. The Heart of the Goddess. Berkeley:Wingbow, 1990. Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990. Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Bergen: Girl God Books, 2023. Neumann, Erich. The Great Mother. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. The music is “Boadicea” by Enya.
(Essay) Conceiving, Imagining the New at Samhain by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

It is the Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere at this time. In the PaGaian version of Samhain/Deep Autumn ceremony participants journey to the “Luminous World Egg” … a term taken from Starhawk in her book The Spiral Dance[i], where she also names that place as the “Shining Isle”, which is of course, the Seed of conception, a metaphor for the origins of all and/or the female egg: it is the place for rebirth. Artist: Bundeluk, Blue Mountains, Australia. The “luminous world egg” is a numinous place within, the MotherStar of conception: that is, a place of unfolding/becoming. The journey to this numinous place within requires first a journey back, through some of each one’s transformations, however each may wish to name those transformations at this time. The transformations for each and every being are infinite in their number, for there is “nothing we have not been” as has been told by Celts and others of Old, and also by Western science in the evolutionary story (a story told so well by evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris, particularly in her video Journey of a Silica Atom.) Ceremonial participants may choose selves from biological, present historical self, or may choose selves from the mythic with whom they feel connection; from any lineage – biological or otherwise. Selves may also be chosen from Gaia’s evolutionary story – earlier creatures, winged or scaled ones … with whom one wishes to identify at this time. Each participant is praised for their “becoming” for each self they share. When all have completed these journeys/stories of transformation, the circle is lauded dramatically by the celebrant for their courage to transform; and she likens them all to Gaia Herself who has made such transitions for eons. The celebrant awards each with a gingerbread snake, “Gaian totems of life renewed”[ii]. gingerbread snakes Participants sit and consume these gingerbread snakes in three parts: (i) as all the “old shapes” of self that were named; and (ii) remembering the ancestors, those whose lives have been harvested, whose lives have fed our own, remembering that we too are the ancestors, that we will be consumed; and (iii) remembering and consuming the stories of our world that they desire to change, the stories that fire their wrath or sympathy: in the consuming, absorbing them (as we do), each may transform them by thoughts and actions – “in our own bodyminds”. When all that is consumed “wasting no part”, it is said that “we are then free to radiate whatever we conceive”, to “exclaim the strongest natural fibre known” – our creative selves, “into such art, such architecture, as can house a world made sacred” by our building[iii]. This “natural fibre” is a reference to the spider’s thread from within her own body, with which she weaves her web, her home; and Spider has frequently been felt in indigenous cultures around the globe as Weaver and Creator of the Cosmos. Spider the Creatrix, North America, C. 1300 C.E., Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.13 In the ceremony, participants linked with a thread that they weave around the circle, may sail together for a new world “across the vast sunless sea between endings and beginnings, across the Womb of magic and transformation, to the “Not-Yet” who beckons”[iv]: to the Luminous World Egg whereupon the new may be conceived and dreamed up. Samhain/Deep Autumn ceremony is an excellent place for co-creating ourselves, for imaginingthe More that we may become, and wish to become. This is where creation and co-creation happens … in the Womb of Space[v], in which we are immersed – at all times: and Samhain is a good season for feeling it. References: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005 Sahtouris, Elisabet. Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution. Lincoln NE:iUniversity Press, 2000. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. NY: Harper and Row, 1999. Swimme, Brian. The Earth’s Imagination.DVD series 1998. NOTES: [i]p.210 [ii]a version of this Samhain script is offered in Chapter 7 PaGaian Cosmology [iii]These quoted phrases are from Robin Morgan, “The Network of the Imaginary Mother”, in Lady of the Beasts, p.84. This poem is a core inspiration of the ceremony. [iv]“Not-Yet” is a term used by Brian Swimme, The Earth’s Imagination, video 8 “The Surprise of Cosmogenesis”. [v]note that creation does not happen at the point of some god’s index finger, as imagined in the Sistine Chapel – what a takeover that is!
Artful Ceremonial Expression by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This article is an edited excerpt from Chapter 7 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. I always wore a special headpiece for the Seasonal ceremonies when I facilitated them over the years, and I feel that any participant may do so, not just the main celebrant. My ceremonial headpiece with its changing and continuous Seasonal decoration took on increasing significance over the years; it became a personal central representation of the year-long ceremonial art process of creating, destroying and re-creating. For the research period of my doctoral studies particularly, when I was documenting the process, I realised that this headpiece came to represent for me the essence of “She” – as Changing One, yet ever as Presence – as I was coming to know Her. In my journal for the Mabon/Autumn Equinox process notes one year I wrote: As I pace the circle with the Mabon headpiece in the centre, I see “Her” as She has been through the Seasons … the black and gold of Samhain, the deep red, white and evergreen of Winter, the white and blue of Imbolc, the flowers of Eostar, the rainbow ribbons of Beltane, the roses of Summer, the seed pods and wheat of Lammas, and now the Autumn leaves. I see in my mind’s eye, and feel, Her changes. I am learning … The Mother knowledge grows within me. The headpiece, the wreath, the altar, the house decorations, all participate in the ceremony: they are part of the learning, the method, the relationship – similar to how one might bring flowers and gifts of significance to a loved one at special moments. Then further, the removal and re-creation of the decorations are part of the learning – an active witness to transformation through time.
(Photography & Poetry) Thoughts of Spring by Deanne Quarrie

Spring At the highest point on the tree, you stretch, reaching for the sun. Your pink petals elegant in their grace, you stand alone. Bravest of all, for leaves have yet to come to offer shade Branches bare except for furry buds that will soon follow in imitation of your daring first move. Intrepid flower of Spring, I feel like you in my yearning for the Sun!
(Essay and Video) Cosmogenesis Dance: Celebrating Her Unfolding by Glenys Livingstone

The dance begins with two concentric circles, which will flow in and out of each other throughout the dance, resulting thus in a third concentric circle that comes and goes. The three circles/layers are understood to represent the three aspects of Goddess, the Creative Triple Dynamic that many ancients were apparently aware of, and imagined in so many different ways across the globe. In Her representation in Ireland as the Triple Spiral motif, which is inscribed on the inner chamber wall at Bru-na-Boinne (known as Newgrange)[1], She seems to be understood as a dynamic essential to on-going Cosmic Creativity, as this ancient motif is dramatically lit up by the Winter Solstice dawn. It seems that this was important to the Indigenous people of this place at the time of Winter Solstice, which celebrates Origins, the continuing birth of all. Thus I like to do this Cosmogenesis Dance, as I have named it[2], at the Winter Solstice in particular. The three aspects that the dance may embody, and are poetically understood as Goddess, celebrate (i) Virgin/Young One – Urge to Be as I have named this quality – the ever new differentiated being (also known as Fodla in the region of the Triple Spiral)[3]. This is the outer circle of individuals. (ii) Mother – the deeply related interwoven web – Dynamic Place of Being as I have named this quality – the communion that our habitat is (also known as Eriu in the region of the Triple Spiral)[4]. This is the woven middle circle where all are linked and swaying in rhythm. (iii) Crone/Old One – the eternal creative return to All-That-Is – She who Creates the Space to Be as I have named this quality (also known as Banba in the region of the Triple Spiral)[5]. This is the inner circle where linked hands are raised and stillness is held. The three concentric layers of the dance may be understood to embody these. The Cosmogenesis Dance represents the flow and balance of these three – a flow and balance of Self, Other and All-That-Is. It may be experienced like a breath, that we breathe together – as we do co-create the Cosmos. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have named the three qualities of Cosmogenesis in the following way: – differentiation … to be is to be unique – communion … to be is to be related – autopoiesis/subjectivity … to be is to be a centre of creativity.[6] The three layers of the dance may be felt to celebrate each unique being, in deep relationship with other, directly participating in the sentient Cosmos, the Well of Creativity. The Cosmogenesis Dance as it is done within PaGaian Winter Solstice ceremony expresses the whole Creative Process we are immersed in. It is a process of complete reciprocity, a flow of Creator and Created, like a breath. There is dynamic exchange in every moment: that is the nature of the Place we inhabit. The dance may help awaken us to it, and to invoke it. The Cosmogenesis Dance on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR73MDMM9Fk For more story: Cosmogenesis Dance for Winter Ritual For Dance Instructions: PaGaian Cosmology Appendix I Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [1] The Triple Spiral engraving is dated at 2,400 B.C.E. [2] This dance is originally named as “The Stillpoint Dance”, or sometimes “Adoramus Te Domine” which is the name of the music used for it. I learned it from Dr. Jean Houston in 1990 at a workshop of hers in Sydney, Australia. I began to use the dance for Winter Solstice ceremony in 1997, and it was only in the second year of doing so that I realised its three layers were resonant with the three traditional qualities of the Female Metaphor/Goddess, and also the three faces of Cosmogenesis. I thereafter re-named and storied the dance that way in the ceremonial preparation and teaching for Winter Solstice. See Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology: pp. 280-281 and 311. [3] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p.192. [4] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [5] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [6] Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story, p. 71-79. I have identified these qualities with the Triple Goddess, and the Triple Spiral in the synthesis of PaGaian Cosmology: see Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, particularly Chapter 4: https://pagaian.org/book/chapter-4/ References: Dames, Michael. Ireland: a Sacred Journey, Element Books, 2000. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Lincoln NE: iUniverse, 2005. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. NY: HarperCollins, 1992.

(Bell Essay 7) The Magoist Whale Bell: Decoding the Cetacean Code of Korean Temple Bells by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This and ensuing sequels are excerpts of a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Whale Mallet, Temple Bell in Sudeok-sa, Chungnam Korea Sources and Methods of Studying the Magoist Whale Bell It is not possible to present the topic in any comprehensive manner due to its complex and outlandish nature. As a whole, its elusive manifestations makes some of this essay’s premises provisional, leaving room for definite conclusions. I suggest that this essay be read as a primer to the large topic, Korean Magoist cetaceanism. I have built this essay on my previously published essay sequels on the Korean temple bell as well as my book, The Mago Way: Re-discovering the Great Goddess Mago from East Asia, on the Magoist Cosmogony.[1] It also draws from my forthcoming essay on Korean Magoist cetacean culture. Importantly, I am indebted to the work of Sungkyu Kim, advocate of Korean cetaceanism, for his valuable insights on the Korean temple bell and Korean cetaceanism in general. While his cross-cultural assessments of ancient Korean cetacean customs are often compelling, his cetacean hermeneutic on the pacifying flute story is in particular indispensable in securing the evidence of Sillan cetacean worship by the generations of Sillan rulers. That said, however, what distinguishes this essay from his work lies in the recognition that Korean cetaceanism is not monolithic totem worship. I hold that Korean cetaceanism was born and flowered within the context of Old Magoism. Here Old Magoism refers to the pre-patriarchal (read pre-Chinese) tradition of East Asia that venerates the Great Goddess, Mago.[2] In turn, the cetacean consciousness of ancient East Asian Magoists enabled a revelation of the Magoist Cosmogony. Thus, Korean cetaceanism is inextricably intertwined with the mytho-history of Magoism. It went underground, as the symbolic power of women inscribed in Magoism was removed from the public space in the course of history. In this light, Kim’s cetacean thought remains revisionist rather than reconstructionist, meaning not radical enough, unable to ask such critical questions as how the Sinocentric mytho-history of Korea or the Buddhist historiography has rendered Korean cetaceanism invisible and what that means to Koreans and the world. Most critically, Kim’s discussion of the Sillan whale bell and the pacifying flute underestimates their musical (read cosmogonic) implications. They are not of a mere musical instrument to call the whale to dance. True that the concept of music is much underestimated outside the context of the Magoist Cosmogony as a whole. The whale bell as well as the pacifying flute represents the regalia of Sillan Magoist rulers who undertook the Magoist mandate of bringing the terrestrial sonic resonance to harmonize the cosmic music of Yulryeo. The whale bell marks a new watershed wherein Sillan rulers successfully reinvented the legacy of Magoist shaman rulers of Old Magoism from the ancient inland mountain culture into the maritime culture of Silla. Stories on the pacifying flute and Manbulsan (Mountain of Ten Thousand Buddhas), the two major myths directly concerning the cetacean code of Korean temple bells, are drawn from the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three States), the 13th century text that recounts myths, legends, and historical events of ancient Korean States including Silla (57 BCE-935), Goguryeo (37 BCE-668), Baekje (18 BCE-660), and Gaya (42-562) from an orthodox Buddhist perspective.[3] To be noted is that the Samguk Yusa (1281), together with another official historical text of Korea, the Samguk Sagi (1145), is a Sinocentric text that tailors ancient Korean history and territory to fit the historical framework of China. As a Sinocentric text, the Samguk Yusa takes a pro-Chinese perspective and presents ancient Korea as a humble little brother who owes Imperial China for his civilized culture. In it, Korean history and territory are curtailed to fit those of Imperial China. Put differently, the Samguk Yusa is a product of a Buddhist evangelist author, Ilyeon (1206-1289), whose interest was in establishing Buddhism of China and India at the cost of traditional Korean Magoism. Among modern Korean historians who are critical of Sinocentric Korean historiography is Sin Chaeho (1880-1936). As Sin’s advocacy of Korean ethnic historiography is largely aligned with the mytho-historical reconstruction of Magoism, I borrow his assessments of the Samguk Yusa and the Samguk Sagi here. Sin maintains that the loss of pre-Chinese Korean history primarily owes to the two survived Korean history books, the Samguk Yusa and the Samguk Sagi, that reduce and distort ancient Korean history. Precisely because of the Sinocentric (read patriarchal and imperialist) take, these two books have survived the persecution of pre-Chinese Korean Magoist historical books. Sin’s poignant criticism goes on to say that the Samguk Yusa employs the Sanskrit words for the names of people and places from the pre-Buddhist period of Wanggeom Joseon and that the Samguk Sagi ascribes Confucian phrases to the speech of Korean warriors who dismiss Confucius thought.[4] What Sin does not see is, however, that the authors of both books chose to be pro-Chinese or pro-Indian to subvert the female-centered tradition of Old Korea, Magoism. In short, they resort to Buddhism and Confucianism, the two major patriarchal religions of East Asia, respectively over against indigenous Magoism. The patriarchal time was waging a war against Magoists and life in general. I hold that both texts mark the milestones that escalated the process of patriarchalization in Korea, which took place much slowerly and later than in China. Damage is not done to Korean history only. A lie brings more lies. In the case of the Samguk Yusa, the portrayal of Sillan Buddhism is distorted. On the surface, the Samguk Yusa treats Esoteric Buddhism as a reservoir of miraculous legendary stories that fertilized orthodox Buddhism. On a deeper level, it dismantles a tie between Magoist cetacean worship and Esoteric Buddhism. The Samguk Yusa’s Buddhist perspective aligned with the Sinocentric historical framework is inherently inadequate in defining Sillan Esoteric …
(Essay 1) How Did I Fall In Love with Korean Historical Drama? by Anna Tzanova, M.A.

Go to online class, Korean Historical Dramas. “To become a kairomancer¹, you need to learn to trust your feelings as you walk the roads of this world, to develop your personal science of shivers, to recognize in your gut and your skin and in free-floating impressions that you know far more than you hold on the surface of consciousness. You need to take care of your poetic health, reading what rhymes in a day or a season. You want to expect the unexpected, to make friends with surprises, and never miss that special moment.” ~ Robert Moss² After a year and a half of work without a day off; driving 100-150 miles every other day; writing past midnight every night; at the end of July 2011, overwhelmed by fatigue, I finally decided to take a weekend off. Little did I know, that time off would last over seven months, during which I would not only change my job, but also acquire a new passion.
(Book Excerpt 1) Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: Year 4’s Mago Almanac celebrates the birth of Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey. The Magoist 13 month 28 day calendric movement has grown steadily and we welcome the public as well!] PREFACE: What Mago Almanac Planner Offers The Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey enchants people and our societies to live with a sense of the natural timespace patterned by the luni-menstrual rhythm in company with the earth’s song and dance. This is not a statement of poetic fancy unsupported by science or mathematics. We are invited to walk through the matrix of Sonic Numerology, the organizing force of Life. The 13 month 28 day Magoist Calendar returns calendric regularity to us. Calendric regularity is the very vision that unfolds the metamorphic reality of WE/HERE/NOW. Unlike the 12 month irregular day calendar that modifies the natural rhythm to serve the purpose of controlling people, the Magoist Calendar guides human activities within the natural rhythm to harmonize the human world with the natural world. The Mago Almanac Planner is built to provide flesh to the bones of the Mago Almanac. Taking the latter as foundation, Mago Almanac Planner partitions a year into the units of weeks and days. The regularity of 28 days makes it possible to lay out 52 weeks and 364 days with one or two extra days seamlessly. The rhythm of nine numbers becomes transparent. Each day of a year is named accumulatively in order i.e. the first to 364th. Likewise, each week of a year is named accumulatively in order i.e. Week 1 to Week 52. Each day is given the daily number, the moon phase, and/or 24 Seasonal Marks. Special days include such double dates as New Year (1st Moon 1st Day), double second (2nd Moon 2nd Day), double third (3rd Moon 3rd Day), and so forth. By writing the Mago Almanac Planner, I have observed that Double Ninth (9th Moon 9th day) overlaps with the 16th mark of 24 Seasonal Marks, Ipchu (立秋 Entering Fall) or Lammas in the Northern Hemisphere. The day of Double Ninth is indeed the center point of a year! Also the interval of 24 Seasonal Marks is about every 15 days, whereas that of 8 Seasonal Marks is about every 45 days. In three Appendixes, I have provided a traditional style of one year calendar, Year 4’s 364 Days (52 Weeks) with 2 Extra Days and their Gregorian Dates or the conversion chart, Large Calendar 1 (Years 1-4) marked in Gregorian C. Dates, and Year 4 Lunar-Menstrual Chart in which one can add their menstrual dates in relation to the moon phases and seasonal marks. As a whole, the Mago Almanac Planner is designed to personalize one’s own celebratory or commemorative days in tune with nature’s rhythm. This Planner marks the 4th year (Volume 4) of the revived Magoist Calendar, Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar. We are about to complete the first Large Calendar, which refers to the first four years (Years 1-4). We set the new moon date (December 18) before Winter Solstice in 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere as the first lunation of the revived Magoist Calendar. If we count the year from the onset of the nine-state Danguk confederacy (3898 BCE-2333 BCE) founded by Goma, Magoist Shaman Queen Mother, our Year 1 would be 5916 ME (Magoma Era). Technically speaking, the Magoist Calendar formed at the time of our beginning came to be reincarnated on December 18, 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere (hereafter it implies the Northern Hemisphere otherwise indicated.) The year 2018 for the rebirth of the revived Magoist Calendar was arbitrary in that it could have been in 2017 or 2019. In retrospect, I must say that we are lucky to set the time of our first lunation on December 18 2018 because it makes the calendric migration process the smoothest. This means that our Magoist Calendar runs as less as 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar. If we had begun in 2017, our New Year would have been December 17. Only one day difference. However, if we had begun in 2016, our New Year would have been on November 29. Likewise, if we had begun in 2019, our New Year would have been on November 26. These dates are the new moon date before Winter Solstice, the New Year day. The Magoist Calendar charts the human world into the Reality of WE/HERE/NOW. The Magoist Calendar needs to be in use today, which means that it has to be translated into the language of the Gregorian Calendar. For we have lost the actual counting of the Magoist Calendar into our days in the course of patriarchal history. Mago Almanac serves the purpose of making our calendric migration possible from the 12 month Gregorian Calendar to the 13 month Magoist Calendar. It guides our collective journey in the Mother TimeSpace interwoven by the cosmogonic force of Sonic Numerology, the musical interplay of nine numbers, which gives birth, nurtures, and transforms all beings in the cosmos. Intriguingly, I have realized only last year that the Magoist Calendar is identical with “the 13 Moon Turtle Calendar,” the calendar of North American indigenous peoples, which adopts the turtle shell that has 13 inner sections and 28 outer sections for the calendar of 13 moons and 28 days (see figure). This speaks volumes that the 13 month 28 day calendar was once widely known among peoples of the ancient world. The Magoist Calendar restores the link between lunation and menstruation as a 28 day monthly cycle, a topic that I have discussed in my essay, “Introducing the Magoist Calendar: Original Blessing of the Womb Time,” included in this planner. Why do we need to reinstate the calendar that is based on the luni-menstruation rhythm? That is because the Magoist Calendar is in accordance with Sonic Numerology. Put differently, the moon-women duet inscribed in the 13 month 28 day calendar is given by the Natural World. In fact, the Magoist Calendar is the first and …