February 2, 2021January 31, 2021 Kaalii CargillLeave a comment

(Photo Essay) Pilgrimage in a Time of Plague by Kaalii Cargill

Travel has changed in the last 12 months. Perhaps this is temporary. Perhaps not. What it means to me is less opportunity to stand on the ground where my ancestors Read More …

(Art) Gaia#72: Benediction – We Who Are All Bless-ed by Deborah Jane Milton, Ph.D.

Life’s mandate: Everything created here over billions of years interconnected inextricable beholden one to the other. all sacred all hallowed all revered all sanctified No separation Holiness everywhere. (Meet Mago Contributor) Deborah Jane Milton, Ph.D. This art is included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017).
(Music 2) Arrival by Alison Newvine

Public domain image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKf676WiTnQ The bear has completed her long journey to the cave. This is the moment when her consciousness shifts. She leaves the dimension of earth-based awareness and arrives in the realm of spirit. Traveling alongside her, we are greeted by whispers of ancestors, by the crackling fires of our foremothers huddled in caves for millenia, and by the eerie moans of wandering spirits calling out from the harsh depths of winter cold. Upon entering our hibernation cave, we greet the parts of ourselves we have been out of touch with for some time. There is both celebration and trepidation as we enter the unknown. “Arrival” is the second piece in a four-part series created by Spiral Muse drummer, singer and songwriter Dionne Kohler. Dionne believes that messages from nature and the spirit world can be channeled through the heartbeat of the drum. The full Bear Medicine Series is available on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and other electronic platforms. https://www.magoism.net/2023/10/meet-mago-contributor-alison-newvine/
(Translation) The Heart’s Perfect Wisdom, Mantra of the Heart Sutra by J. A. Burnett

The Heart Sutra: A Dual Language Translation in Verse Palms pressed, I lower my gaze to Guanyin, who hears all sorrows Shifts of consciousness and expanded awareness are effects that have interested humanity since the beginning. Using chanting and language—gaining signifiers bound to sounds is one way to engage pure awareness of mind to effect change. This can be termed various things, such as radical consciousness, or energy manipulation. But whatever the system or phenomena is called, there is something undeniable in tying sound-vibration to intention. Mantras are a part of the ancient practice of chanting. But to all readers, power without guidance is foolish danger. If you choose to follow the path a teacher’s guidance is recommended. In the Heart’s Perfect Wisdom, known famously as the Heart Sutra, the mantra we will examine is the last line of the work. That was my start. Moons ago, when I started this study, I was curious as to what the words could mean from the perspective of the modern vernacular languages that derive from Sanskrit. From the standpoint of a reverse-engineered folk-etymology—I started my translation. I kept this style of backwards looking because I wanted to see if this mantra stood the test of time. I gave it a modern treatment. Would its transcendent nature prove timeless? I’ll explain below. On the Narrative: When the blessédBodhisattva Avalokiteśvara realized how to forever liberate all beings from suffering and sorrow, she taught the way to her student. This sutra, a sacred Buddhist scripture, explains that moment. On the Heart’s Perfect Wisdom: Easily the most popular Buddhist teaching, the Heart Sutra is an exposition of many profound truths; Some lines say that things do not have any permanent, inherent, or absolute nature. Other lines express that phenomena do not arises alone; all is subject to the interdependency of mutual causes and conditions in oneness. This is expressed as the Bodhisattva Guanyin tells the Heart’s Perfect Wisdom to her one student, teaching him the mantra that moves worlds. On the Global Heart Sutra: This sacred teaching is considered to be the cosmic birthplace of all who awaken. Across different lineages of Buddhist teachings from India, Tibet, China, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan. the Heart Sutra is considered to be the final revelation that expounds the final and fundamental truth. This path is a process to awakening individual primordial awareness, and to free the mind. As the last word in Buddhism, it is considered the pinnacle and summation of all Buddhist thought. The Heart’s Perfect Wisdom is considered auspicious, purifying and most holy. It is chanted worldwide, having a place at life events and Buddhist rituals. This Sutra began India in the time of the oral tradition. It was first scribed in the 1st century and additional written documents of the class of prajnaparamita literature has been found and dated to the 7th century. On Mysticism: As a musician I’ve spent decades discerning playing notes, aiming to get closer to the truth. Frequencies intone vibration, giving them a house for energy. In this sutra, the sound and meanings of sacred mantras provide a vibrational powerhouse of energy. I am still on my journey to literacy in translation of Hindi and Sanskrit considering semantics, inflection and cadence as well as respecting the multivalency of language. From there I dance with various metrical forms of verse to smith the perfect sounds and cement their meanings. प्रज्ञापारमिताहॄदय सूत्रं ॐ नमः सर्वज्ञाय ॥ तद्यथा । गते गते पारगते परसंगते बोधि सवाहा ॥ The Heart’s Perfect Wisdom. Uttering the sound of the three states of existence I enter mystic union of oneness with the entire cosmos In the three worlds, in the three times, my breath Binds the sound AUM purifying the body, speech and mind. I take refuge and invoke the awakened mind of the Goddess who knows all and hears all suffering. Gone gone crossed over gone Completely beyond gone to the far shore Awakened And all is good Notes on Translation On Contemplation: When studied the Maha Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutra, (The scripture of the Heart’s Transcendental Perfect Wisdom) known as the “Heart Sutra,” I contemplated it for a long time. I let it take residence in my voice box, subtly sounding the vibrations as I integrated this Sutra into my spiritual practice. This sacred recitation mainly lived in my spoken voice. After seasons of holding this Sutra close to me, I felt my own heart awakening, blossoming like a lotus. On Form: The verse form of the line is also measured with vowel harmony over the entirety of the line through assonance expressed with glides, nasals, and liquids throughout. On Diction: The sutra and its mantra are timeless. To do justice to the timeless nature of this ever-present wisdom, I have tried to render the words into everyday speech. The translation of the mantra of the Heart Sutra uses modern language. This mitigates the need for historical or spiritual context into Buddhist cosmology or culture and abandons the intellectualism of the orthodox and normative Buddhist type of translation glosses. In doing so I maintain the tradition of the effortless view by keeping the diction to what is simple straightforward speech. This was the aim of my words and their expression. On Pronunciation: I have some background speaking Hindi from the impressions of the sounds speakers from Kolkata. In those traditions I have learned the majority of my prayers, rituals and general accent. When this sutra is chanted in Sanskrit, nasalization can be employed to demarcate the end of a passage or phrase. This changes the vowels and consonant syllables slightly as their voicings are intoned through the nose. The View: All is good, and the view is luminous and spontaneous space. With various traditions, views and lineages, different interpretations abide. These ideas confer assignments of different philosophical positions as well as practices of yoga and meditation. Sometimes ideas are expressed as a philosophical view taken, other times these energies enact as a ritual within meditation. There are …
(Art & Poem) Vision Weaver by Arlene Bailey

Art, Vision Weaver ©Arlene Bailey [Author’s Note: Though I wrote this in 2020, each December I continue to share it as it feels so appropriate to this time and this season.] On the longest night of the year,as seeds sleep deep within the dark moist Mother,out of the void I step. Mirroring the essence of the moon,symbol of my own birth, death and rebirth,millennia of lunations course through meas I quietly step fully and completelyinto my visceral raw powerand cosmic sovereignty. Marked by the forest,my very skin the bark of theHallowed Yew, Hemlock and Oak,I send my roots deep and wide. Full moon light guides me asI embody the knowing thatNature’s cycles are my cycles,ancient and woven intricately intothe pattern of all that is. With golden antlers that reach toward the starsconnecting me to ancient wisdom,I am a woman who does not fear death,a woman who goes willing into the depthssubmitting to the alchemy of the void.Death and birth bothportals to my next incarnation.Light and Dark my alchemy. The Flower of Life holding the seedsof all that is yet to come. Each taking, each givingwhatever I need.Each time reborn stronger,I am the Virgin Huntress.A Woman Unto Herself. Complete.Wise.Sovereign.Still. Created from wet, moist, verdant earthas the Sun enters CapricornI am Daughter of both theAbove and Below.I AM the Without and Within. In this time when the Sun stands stilland all outward movement slows,the quiet, gentle light of the growing Moonturns me inward toward the Stillpoint.As a Hallowed birth comes callingon this Winter Solstice eve,I weave the visions of morning’s light. https://www.magoism.net/2020/04/meet-mago-contributor-arlene-bailey/
(Dual-Language Essay 2) The Goddess of Spirals by Noris Binet

Spirals Mother.(c) Noris Binet 2021 The Cyclical Rediscovering the cyclical vision of existence is to return to the origin, over and over. From there we can redirect, correct, reorient ourselves to where we need to aim our attention: where do we have to focus in order to discover what we need, and how can we recover it and integrate it? It has not really disappeared. It’s just buried and forgotten. This is a process of remembering. But how can we remember what we don’t remember? How to remember what we don’t remember we have forgotten? Those are legitimate and important questions that require great attention. They arise from profound suffering and internal devastation, which move us to want to remember because we recognize that the life we are living, the way we live it, is an internal struggle between what I want and what I can, between tantrum and drama, and between moments of peace and dissatisfaction. We recognize this even though it may appear that we are fine and we have what we want—we have learned to present an image of security and satisfaction which is not true. We do not feel complete, whole, realized. This is a process of descent, of excavating layers of beliefs and conditioning to find what is in the depths of the psyche, in the ancestral memory. It’s a process of getting to the place that existed before the belief that tells us we are not part of the whole. Before we learned that our nature is fragmented, that everything is separate, and that complementary aspects are exclusively opposite and are in contradiction. Before we believed that death is unnatural and a tragedy; that only life is valid and must be preserved at all costs; that old age is not beautiful—only youth. We have to descend to the place that is prior to all assimilated beliefs and values: to the place void of beliefs. We enter into a time fissure that does not have a place. It’s not physical. It’s psychic and can only be found when there is no inside or outside. When the separation learned between internal and external disappears, and outside is inside, and vice versa. It’s not possible to show it to anyone—we can only share it with whomever has already covered this territory. Then we all go, “Aha, aha,” as all of us who have explored this dimension find the same thing. The mystery of the feminine is revealed. Why is it a mystery? Because it is not manifested in the linear, direct, tangible, and physical way that we are used to. It has a numinosity that reveals something uncommon, unique; we feel everything is alive and that life permeates everything. It’s an internal recognition of something eminent that is all around us. There is no way to describe it with the language created by a dualistic perception of life—a perception that denies and disqualifies the opposites we consider threatening and scary: the dark, the monstrous, the negative, the bad, the ugly, the painful, the sad, the black. To wit, when we perceive night as a threat, we try to illuminate everything. What we actually find in the deeper layers are the opposites we have rejected and denied due to the learned beliefs that they are not good nor acceptable. This is the preamble, so to speak, before crossing the threshold of nature undivided, without fragmentation: a whole and intact nature. You recognize a sense of totality, of sufficiency never before experienced. It’s as if all the pieces of the puzzle fall in place and form an image where words interconnect and extend each other. Edges are softened as if modeling a clay vessel. We recognize that form is formless and formless is form. We grasp that opposites have never been apart, as we were taught: that they are together, complementing each other, and cannot exist without the other. The eminent totality we are is revealed. There is a profound relaxation, awake in concert with all existence. There is joy with life as is, because it’s wise, intelligent, and we are one with it. From this dimension we remember the feminine before it was devalued, incorrectly interpreted, and disqualified. Joy bursts from this primordial nature that embraces us from inside and outside. We can embrace this body as a representation invoking the great Mother Goddess, germinating internally, fructifying cyclically. This is how we rescue the great Mother Goddess of fertility in every sense. We begin to place her in the center of our lives as the guiding force of our existence. Parte 2 Lo Cíclico Redescubrir la visión cíclica de la existencia es retornar al origen, una y otra vez, para desde ahí redirigirnos, corregirnos, reorientarnos hacia donde tenemos que poner la atención: hacia dónde es que tenemos que observar para descubrir qué es lo que necesitamos y cómo podemos recuperarlo e integrarlo. En realidad no ha desaparecido; simplemente está enterrado y olvidado. Este es un proceso de recordar. ¿Pero cómo recordar lo que no recordamos? ¿Cómo recordar lo que no recordamos que hemos olvidado? Es una pregunta legítima y que requiere un gran interés, pues es producto de un profundo sufrimiento, una devastación interna que nos obliga a querer recordar porque reconocemos que la vida que estamos viviendo, como la estamos viviendo, es de una lucha interna entre lo que quiero y lo que puedo, entre el berrinche y el drama, y entre momentos de paz y satisfacción. Lo reconocemos aunque demostremos que estamos bien porque tenemos lo que queremos y hemos aprendido a mostrar una imagen de seguridad y satisfacción, que en realidad no es cierta. No nos sentimos completas, totales y realizadas. Este proceso es de descenso, de escarbar en las capas de creencias y condicionamientos para encontrar lo que está en las profundidades de la psique, en la memoria ancestral. Antes de la creencia que nos dice que no somos parte del todo, antes de aprender que nuestra naturaleza es fragmentada, que todo está …
(Book Excerpt 6) For-Giving: A Feminist Criticism of Exchange by Genevieve Vaughan

[Editor’s Note: The following sequels are from For-Giving: A Feminist Criticism of Exchange by Genevieve Vaughan. Footnotes may differ from the original text.] Relationship Giving and receiving word-gifts organized in sentences and discourses creates a human relation among people with regard to things in the world. Communicative need is the need for the relation to others with regard to something. We cannot ourselves make the other person relate herself to something. However, we can interpret her lack of a relation as a need for a means to that relation, and we can satisfy that need–with a word-gift. The need arises from the circumstances in which people find themselves, to talk about something. One person gives to the other word-gifts which re-present (give again) the pertinent parts of the world. We are social beings, and language allows us to include others in experiencing the world with us. If I say, ‘Look at the sunset,’ I satisfy the need of the listener to know the sunset is happening, and to know that I think it is something worth looking at. By providing her with these words (which she already knows) in the present, I satisfy her need for a momentary relation to me and to the sunset, which is the same as my need for a relation to her and the sunset. Presumably, I would already be perceiving the sunset, so the motivation of my speech would be to include the other person in that experience, satisfying what I understand as her need to be put in that relation. The word ‘sunset’ has been supplied by the society in general to everyone, as a word-gift which can be used to satisfy communicative needs about sunsets. The listener’s creative reception of that word-gift places her in an inclusive human relation with me and, at the same time, draws her attention to the sunset, so that we can include each other, not only with regard to the words, but by relating ourselves in similar ways through our attention to a shared nonverbal experience. The relation to the nonverbal experience is also to some extent a gift, which we usually call ‘information.’ While looking at a sunset together can be a positive experience for both participants and, therefore, a need-satisfying aesthetic experience, there are many pieces of information which seem decidedly negative. For example, ‘I hate you’ creates a common relation between us to my negative emotion towards you. This emotion is certainly not itself a gift to you, but it is useful to you to know that I have it and, thus, my phrase could be considered a gift or service in spite of its negativity. I believe there are many levels of gifts in life, as in language, but they have been hidden from us, because we have not been looking at them. We can say positive things to each other and nurture each other in that way, but even when we say things that are negative or neutral, the listener has many ways of receiving what has been given to her, transforming them into gifts by her creative use of them. The phrase by Karl Marx that I have used on the frontispiece of this book, “language is practical consciousness that exists also for other men and for that reason alone it really exists personally for me as well,” identifies a logic of other-orientation as the logic of communication. It also brings up the second grail question, “Whom does the Grail serve?” or in simpler terms, “Who is it for?” This question, always pertinent to giftgiving, often remains unasked and unanswered in our profit-based society. (To be Continued) Meet Mago Contributor, Genevieve Vaughan
(Art & Poem) Summer Solstice by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch
(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 12) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.] The Belly The belly of the bell is adorned with Water Nymphs and Striking Seats, enclosed by the Lower Support from below. In the case of the Divine Bell, the Name Text comes in two sections of the bell’s body (Figures 24-1 and 24-2). For the Sangwonsa Bell, there are four relieves – two sets of two water nymphs (see [Figure 22]) and two striking seats – displayed in four corners alternatively. From the frontal side, two nymphs and one striking seat are visible. The two nymphs, playing the instruments of a zither (gonhu) and a windpipe (saenghwang),[1] are posed standing on their knees above the water waves, which carry them in the air. The depictions are so realistic and graphic as stated: They are bending in their knees, as if they are in flight in the sky. Their clothes as well as their bodies and faces are depicted as cubic …. The nymph on the left is holding the zither with her body, whereas the nymph on the right, with the windpipe in her mouth, has her chicks inflated with the air as she plays the instrument.[2] For the Divine Bell, a single water nymph is designed in four corners, flanking the Name Text on both sides (see Figures 23 and 29). These nymphs are being carried upward by the water clouds or the sonic force, the singing of a whale, expressed as the sound of a dragon. The upward wave-like patterns are the visualization of the whale singing, which circulates water from the seas and oceans to the atmosphere. Once again, the nymphs of the Sangwonsa Bell are depicted in a far more dynamic, intuitive, and multifaceted style than that of the counterpart of the Divine Bell. The Sangwonsa Bell conveys the self of a caster and a viewer in union with the cetacean divine. In the Divine Bell, however, the kneeling nymph is presented as a devotee, being carried by the dragon force. The self as a worshipper is separated from the worshipped. The Name Text of the Divine Bell comes in two sides, the front and the back, in the belly (see Figures 24-1 and 24-2). To be discussed later, it is the highlight of the Divine Bell, which was cast as a political statement of Regent Queen Mother Manwol. The Striking Seat (see Figures 25 and 26) comes in the form of a lotus flower with its stylized curvilinear patterns. The Sangwonsa Bell surpasses in beauty and craftsmanship in comparison with the Divine Bell. In both, the nona symbolism is articulated as eight petals. The nona symbolism collectively refers to the Cosmic Music or Palryeo (八呂Eight-toned Music), a ceaseless interplay of all nine numbers. Nine, eight, and three are the major representations of the nona symbolism. The number nine is the Mother Number, which embraces all eight daughter numbers (note the lore of Nine Magos, Mago and her eight shaman daughters). Three (3×3) is an epitome of the number nine. 36 is the number 9 in the digital root. All other numbers, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are part of the nona symbolism. In the Magoist Cosmogony, the Mago Triad refers to the pantheon of the Nine Mago Creatrix, Mago and HER eight (grand)daughters.[3] Lower and Upper Supports For the Sangwonsa Bell, both the Upper and Lower Supports display a metallurgical mastery in elegant flower petals, curvilinear patterns, geometric designs, and musicians. In the Upper Support, there are two musicians carved, whereas in the Lower Support, there are four musicians carved (see Figures 27 and 28). For the Divine Bell, the Lower Support comes in the eight-pointed end, each of eight points is decorated with an eight-petaled flower (see [Figure 29]). (To be continued) [1] Ibid. [2] Ibid. [3] The nona symbol is not an exclusive hallmark of Sillan bells. It is profusely present in pre- and post-Silla Korean culture and history. In fact, it manifests trans-temporary across cultures. Suffice it to say that Sillans and their contemporary Koreans shaped Buddhism with the nona symbolism at the core. Among others, the nine-story pagoda was the most outstanding encodement of the nona symbology. Baekje (18 BCE-660) is known for the large-scale erection of the three nine-story pagodas in Mireuksa (Temple of Maitreya) in the 7th century. Sillans also constructed the nine-story pagoda in Hwangryongsa (Temple of Yellow Dragon). https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang
(Art) The Door Where Time Stands Still by Jhilmil Breckenridge

In a neighbourhood near my house, which is modern and in a privileged area, is this poorer area,

(Special Post 1) 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 Hwang: I am thinking of the Nine Goddess/Mago Symbolism or Nine Numerology. Insights connect the data that I have collected, otherwise seemingly unrelated across cultures and periods. We have reasons to celebrate the nine symbolism among us. As seen in this discussion below, Hercules is most aptly equated with Huangdi (Yellow Emperor, 2698–2598 BCE), one of the forebear emperors of ancient China, who is alleged to have defeated Chiu (successor of Goma), the representative of Danguk’s Nine Giants (nine sub-states). The Magoist history writes the other way around. Chiu won the war, the archetypal international/global war waged over the defense/overthrow of the Magoist throne. Old Magoists (Danguk founded by Goma) of Nine Queen-led States defended the rebellion of the patrilocal force, represented by the Huangdi. With this victory, Old Magoist Confederacy of nine sub-states was able to maintain gynocentric peace of the ancient world for about five centuries longer until a man, Yao, rose to give a way for the establishment of the first patriarchal rule, ancient China of the Xia Dynasty (c. 2070 BCE – c. 1600 BCE). Nonetheless, patriarchal ethnocentric Sinocentric historiography has proliferated to this day. Yu, the founder of the Xia dynasty, is depicted as the hero who slains the nine-headed snake. What I am saying is here that the Nine Goddess/Symbolism is pre-patriarchal in origin and possibly speaks of the same event across cultures! The slain of nine-headed snakes or dragons indicates the usurpation of gynocentric rule by a patriarchal hero across cultures. Let me show you some available information and images to open the discussion. Lernaean Hydra 1 oz Copper | The 12 Labors of Hercules “Hercules was sent to slay the Lernaean Hyrda for his second Labor. The multi-headed, snake-like monster was defeated by Hercules after he sliced its one mortal head. The last day to purchase the 1 oz Copper Lernaean Hyrda was the November 12, 2014. There is, however, time to order the 5 oz Copper Hercules Round, and 5 oz Silver Hercules Round. To read about Hercules and his 12 Labors, check out our blog for more information. If you enjoy the 12 Labors of Hercules coin series, take a look at more Silver and Copper coin collections offered by Provident Metals. After defeating the Nemean Lion, Hercules was sent to slay the Lernaean Hydra for his second labor. The Hydra, a snake-like beast with multiple heads, was raised by Hera to destroy Hercules — making this an inevitable match up. In the face-off between Hercules and Hydra, the son of Zeus used a sword to slice off each of the creature’s necks, according to one popular tale. When the heads grew back, Hercules enlisted his nephew to burn each of the necks to halt regrowth. The Hydra had one mortal head, however; so Hercules used his golden sword to slay the mutant and complete his second labor. The beast is displayed on the Second Labor coin, to be released in the 12 Labors of Hercules Series. The reverse features the multi-headed Hydra in a striking position, displaying the daunting task Hercules faced. LERNAEAN HYDRA and II are inscribed. The familiar obverse portraying Hercules with the Nemean Lion draped over his head as armor is shown on this round, as it will be on each round in the powerful series. “1 oz CMXCIX (999 in Roman numerals) FINE COPPER” is also displayed. The 1 oz. Copper Lernaean Hydra rounds will only be available for one month from Oct. 12 through Nov. 12. Make sure to keep your 12 Labors of Hercules Series collection current before time runs out! 12 Labors of Hercules Driven crazy by Hera, Hercules slew his family — only regretful after recovering his sanity. King Thespius purified the son of Zeus, but to atone for his crimes, he was sent to serve King Eurystheus. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to execute 10 Labors, which were a series of tasks carried out as penance for his actions. Hercules successfully completed all 10, but because his nephew helped with one and he planned to accept payment for another, Eurystheus forced Hercules to finish two more Labors alone. Hercules’ Labors adhere to the traditional order of the Bibliotheca: Nemean Lion – Sept. 12, 2014 Lernaean Hydra – Oct. 12, 2014 Ceryneian Hind – Nov. 12, 2014 Erymanthian Boar – Dec. 12, 2014 Augean Stables – Jan. 12, 2015 Stymphalian Birds – Feb. 12, 2015 Cretan Bull – March 12, 2015 Mares of Diomedes – April 12, 2015 Girdle of Hippolyta – May 12, 2015 Cattle of Geryon – June 12, 2015 Apples of Hesperides – July 12, 2015 Cerberus – Aug. 12, 2015 Commemorate the historic battle between Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra with this 1 oz copper round from Provident Metals.” https://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-copper-lernaean-hydra-the-12-labors-of-hercules.html Helen Hwang: I looked for the answer to this question: How many heads did the Hydra originally have? It is nine, which accords with its icons to be shared shortly. Helen Hwang: Check out Nine-fold or Nine-Headed Phoenix. Not all iconographies of pre-modern China vilify the nine symbolism, which indicates the influence/presence/revival of Magoism. This image is much reminiscent of the blue crane with nine feathers, a Magoist symbol that we have seen in Mago Stronghold, Mt. Jiri during Mago Pilgrimage (to be discussed in another space). “This Qing-dynasty (1644-1911) print shows the nine-headed phoenix, a being from Chinese mythology with a bird’s body and nine heads with human faces. It is one of several hybrid creatures mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), where it is […]
(Special Post 3) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Xiang Yao or Xiangliu is the Chinese equivalent to Hydra in Greek mythology. And Hercules is to Yu, the Great, founder of the Xia dynasty. We will see in the course of this discussion that the myth of Yu, the founding ruler of Xia, the oldest dynasty of China, who slains the nine-headed snake, is only a variation of its older prototype, the myth of Huangdi who fought Chiu, the alliance of the Nine Han Giants (East Asian/Korean Magoists). “According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Xiangliu was a minister of the snake-like water deity Gonggong. Xiangliu devastated the ecology everywhere he went, leaving nothing but gullies and marshes devoid of animal life. Eventually, Xiangliu was killed by Yu the Great, whose other labors included ending the Great Flood of China. In other versions of the story, Xiangliu was killed by Nüwa, after being defeated by Zhurong, but his blood was so virulently poisonous that the soil which it soaked could no longer grow grain.[1] An oral version of the Xiangliu myth was collected as late from Sichuan as 1983, in which Xiangliu is depicted as a nine-headed dragon, responsible for floods and other harm.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangliu Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Ancient China had to demonize the pre-Han myth of the nona Mago because it bespeaks the matriarchal/gynocentric history that it overthrew… the past that had to be severed in order to fake patriarchal originality. With this in mind, we have a better look on patriarchal mythopoeia, which appears to be complex but, nonetheless, transparent in its motive to hide/hijack pre-patriarchal gynocentric histories. “One of the most harrowing myths from ancient China is the story of Gonggong’s rebellion. You can revisit the whole story here, but the quick version is that the evil water god Gonggong attempted to drown the world and was only prevented from doing so by the heroic last resort actions of the beneficent creator goddess Nüwa, who cut the legs off the cosmic turtle in order to set things to rights. In the chaos of the climactic battle, however Gongong’s chief minister and partner in crime Xiangliu the nine-headed snake monster completely escaped. Filled with bitterness about Gonggong’s failure, Xiangliu crawled away across the soggy lands of Szechuan (which were water-logged after the nearly world-ending floods). Wherever he went, the snake monster left permanent fens and swamps which were toxic to life. His very being had become steeped in poison, and his progress through the damp and moldy world had to be stopped. Yu the hero, the third of the three sage kings, finally caught up with the nine-headed monster and killed him in a pitched battle. Yet still there was a problem: Xiangliu’s pestiferous blood has poisoned the whole region, which now stank of rot. Crops would not grow and civilization began to falter. Yu dug up the blood soaked soil again and again, but the corrupted blood of the monster just sank deeper into the ground. Finally, Yu excavated a deep valley by Kunlun mountain and rid the world of Xiangliu’s toxins. With all of the land he had excavated he built a great terraced mountain for the gods. Yu then went forth to found the kingdom of Xia, the first civilized state in Chinese history. Of course some people say that Yu did none of this, that, it was the goddess Nüwa who once again came forth to battle the monster and undo the damage he had caused. Then, with accustomed modesty she let Yu take the credit and begin his kingdom (for Nüwa cared not for empty praise and hollow glory but only for the well-being of her children).” https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/xiangliu-the-nine-headed-snake/ Max Dashu: These patriarchal heroes! Nova Scheller: What a fascinating thread…that the nine headed hydra correlates to the nine headed dragon as a linkage to patriarchy or gynocentric/ matriarchal beginnings…the root being in Korea! Dropping into your work of so many years…a privilege as well as informing some of my personal awareness. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Nova Scheller, indeed! The myth of slaining the nine-headed snake/dragon across cultures shows; (1) The onset of patriarchy did not come naturally but forcefully, which proves that patriarchy is not original. It was a reaction to what had been before, its matrix. Patriarchy faked its originality by inventing the myth of demonizing and killing the female principle. (2) Patriarchal rules established across cultures adopted the mythic motif of slaining the nine-headed snake or dragon, which appears to be of Chinese origin. (3) The Nine Mago mythic system preserved in Korean Magoism testifies to gynocentric/matriarchal beginnings, which were remembered by peoples of the ancient world. (4) Furthermore, Korean Magoist mythology explains the origin/meaning of the nona Goddess symbol. Let’s explore how the Nine Mago pantheon was remembered in East Asian myths and religions. For this, we need to unravel the patriarchal mythopoeia of Goma, the Shaman ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: In principle, we can tell if an ancient rule/culture was patriarchal or gynocentric by the myth of the nine-headed snake/dragon. In the case of ancient China whose heroes are told to have killed the opponent, the nine-headed snake. Nonetheless, the people’s memory of pre-patriarchal gynocentric history never dies. The nine symbolism is still described as auspicious. It revives time and time again throughout history. In other words, ancient China was a small regional power, only modern scholarship seals it all mighty China. Find out what other ancient myths concern about the nine female symbolism. (To be continued) Join us in The Mago Circle https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism/.
(Special Post 8) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. Special thanks to Trista Hendren, founder and author of The Girl God, who passionately and painstakingly promotes the message of each contributor via Facebook’s memes. Without Trista’s devotion to the advocacy, this collective effort would not have continued. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Marija Krstic-Chin To remember who we really are (nature, cycles, network, creative force, one, infinite…) for the benefit of all of humanity and all living things; and to unite and unify as we broadcast, hand down, protect and defend this truth and each other against the oppressive intentions and actions of patriarchal perpetrators, puppets, and pawns who seek to enslave us by various old and new divide-and-conquer strategies.

(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!
(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
(Essay) Contemplating How Her Creativity Proceeds by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of chapter 5 of the author’s book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. It is a chapter on the process of the Wheel of the Year. for the Northern Hemisphere version: https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems to me that the main agenda of the Cosmos is ongoing Creativity, “never-ending renewal” it may be termed, and that this is expressed in Earth’s Seasonal Wheel through the transitions of Autumn,Winter, Spring, Summer; and in the ubiquitous process of a Cosmic Triplicity of Space to Be, Urge to Be and this Place of Being, a dynamic that has often been imagined as the Triple Goddess. In the flow of the PaGaian Wheel of the Year, the Seasonal transitions of the Wheel and the Triplicity of the Cosmos come together. There are two celebrations of the Old One/Crone or the Cosmogenetic quality of autopoiesis creating the Space to Be; and they are Lammas/Late Summer and Samhain/Deep Autumn, which are the meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing dark phase. At Lammas, the first in the dark phase, we may identify with the dark and ancient Wise One – dissolve into Her; at Samhain, we may consciously participate in Her process of the transformation of death/the passing of all. The whole dark part of the cycle is about dissolving/dying/letting go of being – becoming – nurturing it (the midwifing of Lammas/Late Summer), stepping into the power of it (the certain departure of Autumn Equinox/Mabon), the fertility (of Samhain/Deep Autumn), the peaking of it (at Winter Solstice). The meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing light phase then are celebrations of the Young One/Virgin or the Cosmogenetic quality of differentiation, the new continually emerging, the Urge to Be; and they are Imbolc/Early Spring and Beltaine/High Spring. At Imbolc, the first in the light phase, we may identify with She who is shining and new – as we take her form; at Beltaine, we may consciously participate in Her process of the dance of life. The whole light part of the cycle is about coming into being: nurturing it (the midwifing of Imbolc/Early Spring), stepping into the power of it (the certain return of Spring Equinox/Eostar), the fertility (of Beltaine/High Spring), the peaking of it (at Summer Solstice). In the PaGaian wheel of ceremony there are two particular celebrations of the Mother, the Cosmogenetic quality of communion; and they are the Solstices. If one imagines the light part of the cycle as a celebration of the ‘Productions of Time’, and the dark part of the cycle as a celebration of ‘Eternity’, the Solstices then are meeting points, points of interchange, and are celebrations of the communion/relational field of Eternity with the Productions of Time. This is a relationship which does happen in this Place, in this Web. This Place of Being, this Web, is a Communion – it is the Mother; the Solstices mark Her birthings, Her gateways. The Equinoxes then – both Spring and Autumn – are two celebrations wherein the balance of all three Faces/Creative qualities is particularly present: in the PaGaian wheel, the Equinoxes have been special celebrations of Demeter and Persephone – echoing the ancient tradition of Mother-Daughter Mysteries that celebrate the awesomeness of the continuity of life, its creative tension/balance. Both Equinoxes then are celebrations and contemplations of empowerment through deep Wisdom – one contemplation during the dark phase and one during the light phase. The Autumn Equinox is a descent to Wisdom, the Spring Equinox is an emergence with Wisdom gained. I like to think of the Equinoxes, and of the ancient icons of Demeter and Persephone, as celebrations of the delicate ‘curvature of space-time’, the fertile balance of tensions which enables it all. Her Creative Place The Mother aspect then may be understood to be particularly present at four of the Seasonal Moments, which are also regarded traditionally as the Solar festivals; and in this cosmology Sun is felt as Mother. I recognize these four as points of interchange: at Autumn Equinox, Mother is present primarily as Giver – She is letting Persephone go, at Spring Equinox, She is present primarily as Receiver – welcoming the Daughter back, at Winter Solstice the Mother gives birth, creates form, at Summer Solstice, She opens again full of radiance, and disperses form. The Mother is Agent/Actor at the Solstices. She is Participant/Witness at the Equinoxes, where it is then really Persephone who is Agent/Actor, embodying an inseparable Young One and Old One. The Old One is often named as Hecate, who completes the Trio – all seamlessly within each other. Another possible way to visual it, or to tell the story, is this: The Mother – Demeter – is always there, at the Centre if you like. Persephone cycles around. She is the Daughter who returns in the Spring as flower, who will become fruit/grain of the Summer, who at Lammas assents to the dissolution – the consumption. At Autumn Equinox She returns to the underworld as seed – Her harvest is rejoiced in, Her loss is grieved, as She becomes Sovereign of the Underworld – Her face changes to the Dark One, Crone (Hecate). As the wheel turns into the light part of the cycle She becomes Young One/Virgin again. Persephone (as Seed) is that part of Demeter that can be all three aspects – can move through the complete cycle. The Mother and Daughter are really One, and embody the immortal process of creation and destruction. Demeter hands Persephone the wheat, the Mystery, and the thread of life is unbroken – it goes on forever. It is immortal, it is eternal. Even though it is true that all will be lost, and all is lost – Being always arises again: within this field of time there is never-ending renewal, eternity. This is what is revealed in the ubiquitous three faces of the Creative Dynamic/ She of Old, the Triplicity that runs through the Cosmos. The Seed of Life never …
Imbolc/Early Spring – a Season of Uncertainty by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

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

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

(Mago Almanac Basics) What is the Magoist Calendar? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: I have created 13 basics of Mago Almanac, which are included in Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Volume 6), Year 6 or 5920 MAGOMA ERA (Equivalent to 2023 CE). These 13 basics constitute the backbone of Magoist Cetaceanism as well.] It is a 13 month 28 day luni-menstrual-solar calendar of Old Magoist Korea. Insofar as one year marks about 365.25 days, a time taken for the earth to revolve around the sun, it is a solar calendar. The fact that both the moon and the female menstruation cycle mark 28 days, which makes 13 months or 364 days for one year. This makes approximately 1.25 a surplus. Thus, we have days outside the calendar grid. Each year has one extra day on the day before the New Year’s day. The New Year of Year 1 or 5915 Magoma Era was set on the new moon date before Winter Solstice in 2018 by the Gregorian Calendar. With one extra day, the year makes 365 days. Given that the actual period of the Earth’s revolution is approximately 365.25 days, we have the second extra day every fourth year. Setting aside the extra days, we have 364 days for one year. 364 days divided by 28 days is 13. That is how we have 13 months in a year. The Magoist Calendar championing the matricentric worldview is the very indication that our Mother Earth is stabilized in her own voyages. https://www.magobooks.com/update-on-mago-books/mago-almanac-13-month-28-day-calendar-book-a https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Book Announcement 5) Introduction (part 3) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

[Author’s Note: This is my latest research that has led me to restore the 13-month, 28-day Mago Calendar, which will be included at the end of its sequels. See Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), published in 2017.] CALENDARICS AND THE MAGOIST COSMOGONY Calendar is the harmonic numerological chart that indicates specifics of the terrestrial time/space relative to the extrasolar universe. As a cosmic almanac of our terrestrial home, calendar teaches the human world to do the right thing at the right timing, determined by the song/dance of the universe. We humans, part of the calendar, are the guardian of the calendar. Calendar is not and should not be an arbitrary arrangement invented to serve the purpose of a particular group of people, the Budoji says. It is