February 3, 2021February 1, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Imbolc: Through Goddess Eyes by Carolyn Lee Boyd

In times past, Creation’s Winter cupped me in her icy hand of sanctuary Gathered in, I sucked dormant life, and slumbered Till Earth’s rebirthing groans awakened my new body Now, Read More …

(Art) Gaia #9 Incandesence by Deborah Jane Milton, Ph.D.

S/He Who Keeps the Fire Too long relegated to the shadows, woman’s fire now ignites heads, hearts and hands to live the power of love. (Meet Mago Contributor) Deborah Jane Milton, Ph.D.
(Essay 2) Poet as Initiate: A Rebirth of the Goddess & The Darkmother in Women’s Poetry in the 70’s by Louisa Calio

Redemption Ntozake Shange did the same work of redemption when she created her choreopoem in the San Francisco Bay area: For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Performing her sacred rite in bars, cafes, galleries, women’s studies departments and other spots, this modern-day ritual would eventually emerge on Broadway in 1976 at the Booth Theater produced by Joe Papp. Seven women dressed in rainbow colors shared their stories, their loves, music and some of the grief of black women in a wilderness of human relationships where friends are capable of rape and husbands of murdering their children.
Heart Drum by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright I listened to my heart murmuring softly her voice a viscous fluid slow moving river changing course from right to left pumping molten minerals over bones tunneling around limbs amazement overcomes me Whole Earth holds heart songs my dogs and me whistling turkeys scolding nuthatch twittering titmouse cheeping chickadee browsing deer astonishment lingers I am treasuring the sweet sounds of this heart my heart thrumming through heartbreak submerged in a flow of wonder… the kind of awe that moves mountains of stone a raging body waterlogged by grief – how can it be this heart continues to pulse drumming to Nature’s rhythm while a crimson soul breaks open over and over keens drowning in losses too deep? Twin chambers pulse in my breast expanding contracting as they continue thrumming Life’s Drum. Trees, birds dear friend (you know who you are) My Beloved Healer Thank You All With every heartbeat my gift to you is the promise of Embodied Love. Yesterday I listened to the sound of my own heart – a strange kind of drumming that was interrupted by a whishing waterfall that reminded me of a slow – moving river cascading over a river of stones. My amazement overflowed; each one of us has this gift that sings of life until its work is done. I felt a fierce and tender visceral love for this muscle that I imagine as an anatomical heart from biology (eons ago) attached to a child’s heaped up heart that is also the Heartbeat of the Universe beating though me. On the way home from the hospital I wept for all the dead and dying trees being hauled away by logging trucks. Our mountains are bald and covered with the prickly fuzz of weakened hardwoods struggling to survive in what’s left of the parched or flooded remains of barren ground so carelessly clawed by deadly machines. All roots destroyed. I have watched each mountain rape, roared my disbelief, screamed rage through measured words, grappled with the knowing I could do nothing to change the trajectory we are on. Each time I leave my sanctuary, I relive my powerlessness. I can do nothing but witness and grieve – it is no wonder this heart is weary. How much of this ocean of grief can one organ take? There is a primeval connection between the trees and me, so it wasn’t surprising that on the way home I felt assaulted by the number of trucks transporting dying tree bodies to their final resting place. No dead bodies to mourn. Shaped by man for his own use, twisted branches and limbs chipped to get rid of the mess. Once a Tree Woman held the Earth in her hands… ________________________________________ For the past six months I have noted some unwelcome changes in my 79-year-old body. A profound lack of energy, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, increased severity of headaches, acute sensitivity to light, intermittent shoulder/chest pain, a racing heart, insomnia and an increased sensitivity to polluted air eventually culminating in what the professionals distantly called ‘an event’ six months ago. Thanks to my Vet, the finest and most sensitive doctor I know who intervened on my behalf, I was eventually able to have the necessary testing done. (The local health center ignored my symptoms – older women are routinely dismissed – let them die). Thanks to Gary I finally have an appointment with a cardiologist next week to see where I will go from here. His support has changed the trajectory I am on. This path might offer answers and perhaps some hope. I am profoundly grateful not to be alone. Yesterday’s intimate encounter with my heart offered me the first glimpse of what it’s like to feel a deep emotional attachment to a muscle that has been supporting me for my entire life. For a moment I was overcome by shame. How could I have been so insensitive to the physiological side of my own heart – centered self? Forgive me. I have been mindful of my eating habits, exercise regularly, am not overweight, so I never thought about heart damage when strange symptoms began to coalesce. I didn’t have any of the normal warning signs, although heart disease does run through my maternal line. What I do know is that the experience I had yesterday was a great gift that I need to share. The magic and mystery of falling in love with my own heart has lifted me out of life’s grief at least temporarily. And for that I thank my heart and the parts of myself who loved me enough to make this love known not just on a personal level but as part of the process also re- attached me to every living being on earth. May anyone who reads this story have a chance to feel the love that a pulsing muscle is capable of transmitting from self to self, and self to other, to earth. May you experience the gratitude I did and do. I can’t help wondering… If we could feel the love emanating from our own hearts would kindness and caring for others follow? Just a moment ago one of my little dogs threw herself against my reclining body. The serpent of life reclines at the base of my spine, but the heart feels what it knows. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Photo Essay 10) Goddess Pilgrimage 2017 by Kaalii Cargill

[Author’s Note: In July 2017, I set out on a 4 month pilgrimage to the Unites States, Italy, France, Spain, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. I name it a “pilgrimage” because my main focus is what I call “visiting with the Grandmothers”, although I also encountered many other wonderful people and places. This series of Photo Essays is an invitation for you to visit with the Grandmothers I met on my journey . . .] Lebanon – Afqa Grotto On the ancient road between Byblos and Baalbek is the amphitheatre and cave system known as Afqa Grotto. A sanctuary of Astarte, Ishtar, and Aphrodite Aphakitis, the amphitheatre points to the summer solstice sunset over the Mediterranean. More recently Afqa Grotto was a place of pilgrimage for the Metawali sect of Shia Islam, who honoured the Sayyidat al-Kabirah or “Great Lady”. Up to the early 20th Century, Metawalis and Christians were bringing the sick to be cured at “the abode of Sa’īdat Afkā”. The sacred spring flows red in Spring. Baalbek – An ancient temple site in the Beqaa Valley, Baalbek sits upon a ‘tel’ or occupational mound on the trade route from Tyre to Palmyra, with signs of 8000-9000 years continual habitation. The Roman era temples are huge – the biggest ever built. Some of the foundation stones weigh hundreds of tons, and no one really knows how old they are (they predate the Roman era). Through the foundations of the temples run three enormous passages the size of railway tunnels, lined with huge, precisely fitted stone blocks, similar to the megalithic temples in Malta and the Valley Temple at Giza. If only the stones could speak . . . Tyre – the settlement has been dated to the start of the third millennium BCE, although archaeological work is limited due to dense urban development. Once again, there are Roman era buildings alongside Canaanite/ Phoenician and earlier structures. The Canaanite culture is thought to have developed in situ from the earlier Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture (5000-3800 BCE). The Tyrians were renown for the purple dye made from the secretions of the Murex shellfish. The name Phoinikes (Phoenicians) means “purple people”. It seems likely that the influence of the Phoenicians on classical culture may have been minimised and/or erased due to cultural and racial bias. There are, for example, links between the Phoenician culture of Lebanon and the Minoan culture in Crete – archaeologists have found that habitation ceased in Tyre and Sidon (c2000 BCE) at the same time that Minoan “palace” culture arose in Crete. After the eruption of the Santorini volcano (c1628 BCE), Sidon and Tyre were once again repopulated. See: Sandford Holst, 2006, Minoans and Phoenicians: Indigenous Development versus Eastern Influence. Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill
(Meet Mago Contributor) Claire French Ph.D.

[Editorial Note 2020, by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D.: With deep sorrow I share the passing of my friend and Mago contributor Dr. Claire French, a remarkable woman who lived through so much, and was deeply dedicated to Goddess. Her doctoral thesis (1989) studied the gender roles in the Welsh saga collection “Mabinogion” with regard to the role of the Celtic Goddess in Her different aspects. It was published in 2001 in English under the title The Celtic Goddess. Claire was perhaps the first to be teaching a course on Gaia in Australia or anywhere, in 1993, with the Melbourne Council of Adult Education. I have her hand written notes. Her funeral will be live-streamed to friends on 17th April, and a proper celebration of her life at a later date.] Dr. Claire French was born in 1924 in the backwoods of Bavaria in South Germany. She was educated by nuns in Italy, and later at high school in Germany. Claire was the first woman in Australia to be awarded a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies (1989). Her thesis studied the gender roles in the Welsh saga collection “Mabinogion” with regard to the role of the Celtic Goddess in Her different aspects. It was published in 2001 in English under the title The Celtic Goddess, Great Queen or Demon Witch, by Floris Books at Edinburgh and in German (2001) by Edition Amalia at Bern, under the title Als die Goettin keltisch wurde (When the Goddess became Celtic). From 1965 to 1995 Claire worked with the Melbourne Council of Adult Education, initiating new courses in European Cultural Studies, Women’s Studies, Spirituality and Celtic Studies. She also contributed lectures and workshops to the C.G. Jung Society of Melbourne – many directly addressing Goddess. In 1993-94, Claire taught a series on GAIA. During the World War II, Claire had been conscripted to the German paramilitary organization for women working for Tyrolean mountain farmers and later in a military hospital: this year of paramilitary service was conditional for enrolment of women at any German University (educated women were seen as dangerous … the authorities wanted “incubators”). Claire studied modern languages and politics at Innsbruck University in Austria after the war and was conscripted as an interpreter by American and French Army forces. In 1951 Claire embarked for Australia, where she worked as a housemaid, a grape picker, an interpreter and as a secretary at Melbourne University. Claire married an Australian engineer, had babies, fitted in some academic positions, and found the voice of Goddess emerging within her continuing research, writing and teaching. Claire has published her memoirs: in German Meine Verkehrte Welt and in English My Upside Down World. PUBLICATIONS: Der Prinz von Annun (First Branch of the Mabinogion retold for Juveniles ), Innsbruck 1979 and Stuttgart 1995 In Dutch: De Grijze Jager, Zeitz 1983 In English: The Queen of the Silver Castle, Edinburgh 1999 The Celtic Goddess, Great Queen or Demon Witch, Edinburgh 2001 In German: Als die Goettin Keltisch wurde, Bern 2001 Autobiography in German: Meine Verkehrte Welt, Bolzano/Italy 2003 English version yet unpublished: “My upside down World, From Bolzano to Australia” Contributions to Books and Magazines English: Robyn Rowland (ed.): Women who do and Women who don’t, London/Melbourne 1984 Jan Fook, Susan Hawthorn and Renate Klein (eds.): Horse Dreams, The Meaning of Horses in Women’s Lives, Melbourne 2004 Patricia Monaghan (ed.): Goddesses in World Cultures Vol.2: “Danu,Raetia,Marisa: Mountain Goddesses of the Alps”, Santa Barbara 2011 (Warning: The Notes have been totally mixed up by the typesetter. No errata sheet was provided. Very poor reproduction!) German: Birgit Grube-Kersten (ed.): “Warum noch Mann und Frau ?” (“Why still Man and Woman ?” Dornach/Switzerland 2007 ” Das Reich der Fanes – eine Tragoedie des Mutterrechts ?” (“The Kingdom of Fanes – a Tragedy of Mother Right? “) in “Der Schlern”, Bolzano, No 49/1975 English translation pending. “Mutmassungen ueber den Namen ‘Danay’ ” (“Thoughts about the Name ‘Danay’ ” ) in “Der Schlern” Bolzano, No73/1999. English translation pending. Various essays in “Pandora” Unpublished: “Die Silbernen Pfeile” (The Silver Arrows ) This is a dramatic treatment of the Ladinian epic ” The Kingdom of Fanes” or “Dolasilla”, (see above) seeking an English translator.
(Essay 3) What It’s Like to Live on Wimmin’s Land by Hearth Moon Rising

These essays don’t have to be read in order, but previous ones are here and here. Teddy Bear Cholla at Joshua Tree National Park. Photo: Matthew Field In the early nineties a mysterious respiratory illness emerged on the Navajo reservation. The illness claimed few victims, but most of those stricken died, and – even more unsettling – most were young and previously healthy. Epidemiologists pounced on empirical data while health officials informed an alarmed public that the disease was contained and not transmissible between humans. Those of us living in the Sonora Desert on wimmin’s land were concerned about our own exposure. Though we were several hundred miles from the Navajo reservation, the similarities in our low tech way of life made us wonder. We spent most of our days outdoors rather than in our cramped living quarters. A few trailers had running water but most women carried water in buckets to their domiciles. Old and rustic buildings had nooks and crannies for wildlife to nest. Fires used for heating, cooking, and ritual meant woodpiles, and woodpiles attract all kinds of vermin. Though most of the women were spectacularly uninterested in the patriarchal news media, we followed reports on this unknown illness thoroughly (and suspiciously). Eventually the culprit was declared to be a variant of hantavirus, already common in Asia but heretofore unidentified in the Western Hemisphere. The vector was determined to be Peromyscus maniculatus, the North American Deer Mouse. Humans became exposed to the virus by breathing air contaminated with Deer Mouse feces and urine. A cursory examination of medical history revealed that the disease was an endemic one that had recently flared into an epidemic, possibly fueled by a mouse irruption. Health officials emphasized that the vector was only one recalcitrant member of the Deer Mouse family, but we maintained a skepticism that was eventually confirmed. Hantavirus is endemic in many Deer Mouse populations throughout Arizona, New Mexico, southwestern Texas, southeastern California and the northern Mexican states. People in cities, or even in modern houses in the backcountry, are at miniscule risk of exposure, unless they also ranch or farm. People in rustic living conditions can usually avoid exposure, if they take precautions. Thus began the wimmin’s land war on mice. We donned gloves, wrapped bandanas around our faces, and restacked wood, clearing out nests and feces. We plugged holes under structures and closed doors where possible. We became scrupulously clean about cooking and washing up, no easy feat in primitive circumstances. We habitually scanned the area for nests in an ongoing campaign we could not afford to relax. Cactus Deer Mouse. Photo: Sally King, US National Park Service. Even before we recognized them as vectors of a deadly disease, the mice were a nuisance. They quickly spoiled any food not hermetically sealed. They dragged sharp cactus balls into houses or even into beds. They chewed the outdoor extension cords some women funneled to their huts for lighting, so that you had a choice of fire danger from candles or fire danger from electrical cords. They even got under the hoods of cars and ate the wire insulation, so that you had to start your car every few days and check under the hood. The constant harassment from mice was one of the reasons we tolerated snakes on the land, even rattlers. Z Budapest once told me that, in folklore, mice are “the enemy of women.” I thought that was overstating their deleterious qualities just a bit, but, I’ll tell you, I grew to hate the critters. Yes, they are cute and cuddly looking. They’re also smart, tenacious, quick-footed, and impossible to intimidate absolutely. Like dogs in a Disney movie, they will always find their way home when relocated. I’ve seen them drive even dedicated vegans to deploying death-traps. The war between mice and women will always be a draw, but it’s war we must keep fighting. Further Reading: If you need to address hantavirus concerns around your domicile. https://www.countynewscenter.com/cactus-mice-test-positive-for-hantavirus-first-local-detection-of-2020/ If you want to read more about the Cactus Deer Mouse. https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/01/08/the-cactus-mouse-another-creature-of-the-night/ About the history of the Sin Nombre orthohantavirus. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/sin-nombre-virus https://www.magoism.net/2013/04/meet-mago-contributor-hearth-moon-rising/
(Essay 4) Goddesses in Hinduism: “All the Mothers are One” by Mary Ann Beavis, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: This essay is from the same title, “Goddesses in Hinduism: “All the Mothers are One”‘ by Mary Ann Beavis with Scott Daniel Dunbar included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018).] CHINNAMASTA Chinnamasta is one of ten powerful Goddesses (Mahavidyas) whose mythology and symbolism transgress androcentric Hindu social norms. Her name means the “one with a severed head”, a feature clearly depicted in her iconography (see Figure 9). In this image, the neck of the beheaded Goddess spurts forth three streams of blood, one from the Goddess’s own mouth, the other two into the mouths of her devotees (yoginis). In some renderings, she holds her head on a platter, as if to make an offering. Beneath her, the deities of sexual desire, Kama and Rati, are engaged in sexual intercourse upon a lotus, with the female deity, Rati, on top. The background of the scene is often a cremation ground.[1] Catherine Benton explains: An image of reversals, Chinnamasta removes her head, has her blood flow outside her body, stands or sits not on the lotus or on the animal vehicle but on the deities responsible for engendering the desire that prevents the attaining of enlightenment. … But because in a Tantric context the obstacle becomes the path, sexual energy becomes the path of spiritual release. … In the iconography of Chinnamasta, Kama and Rati become her mount; they focus attention on the sexuality which is the foundation of her power. An image of untamed nature, Chinnamasta reveals in her nakedness, offers her blood with abandon, and is literally empowered by sexual energy as she touches her body to the copulating god of desire and his consort. Her alternate image communicates this idea even more explicitly by depicting the Goddess herself in sexual intercourse with Shiva as she performs the self-sacrifice. For Chinnamasta and her worshippers, sexuality is presented as an energy that empowers, and energy that can be tapped to realize spiritual identity. Sexual imagery in … iconography and worship … may be understood metaphorically as suggesting the dynamic polar rhythm of reality, the interaction of Shiva and Shakti (male and female principles) that creates and suffuses the cosmos. … the image of Chinnamasta mounted on the joined male and female, … reflects, but also connects [the worshipper] … to … the larger cosmos.[2] Like Kali, Chinnamasta figures significantly in Tantric tradition, where devotees seek to achieve liberation by freeing their consciousness from the limits imposed by everyday life, such as good and bad, pure and impure, proper and improper.[3] Benton notes that the decapitated Goddess can be interpreted “quite literally” to mean that “the practitioner must remove his or her analytical head, give away the physical life, and use the energy generated in sexual union to achieve liberation.”[4] THE MAHADEVI David Kinsley notes that “There is a tendency in many texts, myths, and rituals concerning Goddesses to subsume them all under one great female being” called simply Devi (“Goddess”) or Mahadevi (“Great Goddess”).[5] The Great Goddess tradition can be expressed in two ways: (1) a particular Goddess (e.g., Parvati) can be affirmed as the highest deity, with all other Goddesses interpreted as manifestations of her; (2) “assuming the existence of one transcendent great Goddess who possesses most classical characteristics of ultimate reality as understood in the Hindu tradition and then subsuming all particular Goddesses under her as partial manifestations of her.”[6] In the Shakta Tantra tradition, which developed between the 4th and 7th centuries CE, the Great Goddess, identified with Shakti, the active energy of the divine in creation, is regarded as the highest reality (brahman), and the source of all divine manifestations. Shaktism, devotion to the Great Goddess (Shakti), is one of the major denominations of Hinduism, alongside Vaishnavism (where Vishnu is regarded as the supreme God), Shaivism (where Shiva is supreme), and Smartism (all deities are treated as manifestations of ultimate reality). AVATARS In the Vaishnavite tradition, it is believed that Vishnu has ten (or even countless) incarnations, the most famous of whom are Rama and Krishna, both of whom are renowned demon-killers. The heroines of the myths of these avatars of Vishnu, Sita and Radha, the wives of Rama and Krishna, are considered to be avatars (incarnations) of the Goddess Lakshmi. The relationship between Radha and Krishna is exalted as a symbol of divine love. Sita, who remains faithful to Rama throughout a series of dangers and threats to her chastity, is the exemplar of the perfect wife.[7] Popular Hinduism also acknowledges avatars of other deities. In the 20th century, the “bandit queen,” Phoolan Devi, was a low-caste woman who was abducted by outlaws in the 1970s and eventually became their leader. She gained a reputation as a sort of “Robin Hood” figure who stood up for the poor, and she was popularly regarded as an avatar of the Goddess Durga. She surrendered to the police in 1983, and after 11 years in prison, she was released on parole in 1994. In 1996 she successfully ran for parliament, and she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. She was assassinated in 2001. The controversial film The Bandit Queen (1994) is based on her life story.[8] (To be continued) [1] See Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 172. [2] Catherine Benton, God of Desire: Tales of Kamadeva in Sanskrit Story Literature (New York: SUNY Press, 2006), 125-26. [3] Ibid., 125. [4] Ibid., 125. [5] Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 132. [6] Ibid. [7] Ibid., 65-94. For a feminist retelling of the tale of Rama and Sita, see Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues. http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/, March 8, 2018. [8] See Mary Anne Weaver, “India’s Bandit Queen: A saga of revenge–and the making of ‘the real India’,” The Atlantic (November 1996). https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/11/indias-bandit-queen/304890/, accessed March 8, 2018. (Meet Mago Contributor) Mary Ann Beavis, Ph.D. https://www.magoism.net/2014/02/meet-mago-contributor-mary-ann-beavis/ https://www.magobooks.com/textbooks/goddesses-in-myth-history-and-culture/
(Goddess Writing 10) Notes by Kaalii Cargill

Excerpt from DAUGHTERS OF TIME, my historical/speculative novel that traces a line of daughters from ancient Sumer to the present day. Inanna – life-size panel – Kaalii Cargill, 2014 Urim, Ancient Sumer. c 1993 BCE From the great heaven she set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven the goddess set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven Inanna set her mind on the great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld. Inanna abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld. [i] On the fourth night, when the Moon was dark, and even the crickets had fallen silent, the Mistress beat once on a gong. Mir-ri walked to the courtyard, shed her shift, and washed. Cold water sluiced away the doubts, though fear remained. The sound of the second gong made her jump, but the implacable demand took her back to her room. She lifted the Robe and slipped it over her head. The panels of her old, linen shift rubbed softly against her skin. She hung the Breastplate from her neck and arranged the dried leaves across her chest. She placed the Double Strand over the Breastplate, the Single Strand over the Double. She fitted the Gold Band over her wrist and lifted the Crown onto her head. She took up the Measuring Rod. Was she really going to walk to the Underworld, towards Eresh-ki-gal? Until the threshold is crossed there is still the possibility of refusal. The sound of the third gong throbbed in her body, a summons, a warning, an invocation. She left the small chamber. The silent, robed Mistress led her along a corridor, down two flights of stairs, along another passage, and through a small doorway into a courtyard Mir-ri had never seen before. The stars were bright overhead, the air cool. The Mistress pointed to a rough stairway descending into the earth. Mir-ri spoke the ritual words. “If I am not returned when three days and nights have passed, seek help to secure my return.” She knew there would be no reply. The threshold lay two steps before her, Eresh-ki-gal beyond that. Sweat, acrid with fear, dampened her underarms and inner thighs. The air seemed thicker, harder to draw in, harder to expel. A bird called from the river. With a final look at the night sky, Mir-ri turned and began the descent. Bare feet touched bricks, the steps wide and worn in the middle. Others had walked this walk. Breathe. Hands brushed the sides of the tunnel, the brick smoothed by the hands of others who had passed this way. Breathe. The steps ended in a room of earth with a low ceiling. The walls glowed in the light of coals smouldering in a bowl on the floor. Smoke rose from the coals, redolent with incense. The next threshold lay three steps ahead. A heavy stillness in Mir-ri’s body cautioned against movement. Breathe. The coals died. The room darkened. Three steps to the threshold. She moved one foot. Moved the other. Stepped to the door. Her head was thick with incense, but she remembered that she must knock. Her knuckles barely made a sound on the wood. She pushed against it. Nothing moved. As the last glow faded, she hammered at the door with her fists, like a child begging to come in from the dark. “Who seeks entry to the Otherworld?” asked a voice like a dark-Moon night. Mir-ri’s lips stuck together, mouth too dry to speak. She licked her lips and swallowed. “I, Mir-ri, seek entry,” she whispered. “Wait,” said the voice. Cold seeped from the walls. “You may enter,” said the voice. The door moved to make an opening lit by the glow of a single candle held by a dark-robed figure. Mir-ri strained to see beneath the hood, but there were only shadows. She entered. The door slammed shut behind her. Hands reached for the Crown, pulled it free from her hair. “What is this?” she cried, the ritual words torn from her throat. “Quiet, Mir-ri. The Ways of the Underworld are perfect and may not be questioned.” Her legs trembled. She bit her lip and thought of the Crown: That which is above is the same as that which is below; That which is below is the same as that which is above. From above, the weight of soil pushed down. From below, pressed that which waited. Mir-ri felt herself crushed, cracked like a piece of grain between grinding stones. Her bones snapped like twigs, and she fell into blackness. Her thoughts returned to an absence of pressure. She shivered in the cold darkness. Had she slept? Had she fainted? She pressed her hands against the floor. The soil was hard packed, smooth and dry. It smelled musky, full of life. The Crown was gone, but the Land was solid beneath her hands. She picked up the measuring rod and stood. The ceiling of the chamber was hard-packed, smooth and dry. That which is above is the same as that which is below; That which is below is the same as that which is above. How long had she been there? There was no way to tell. She remembered that she was meant to knock and reached out to find the door. She beat loudly on the wood with her fists. The door opened. She walked through. Hands took the Single Strand from her neck. The eggshells tinkled. “What is this?” she asked, her teeth chattering. “Quiet, Mir-ri. The Ways of the Underworld are perfect and may not be questioned.” Her head spun as if she had been turning in circles. Why was this so difficult when she already knew the story? Dots of light flashed like stars, becoming brighter, bigger. One rushed at her and exploded against her forehead. She was on the ground again, head pulsing with pain like stabbing knives. Was it meant to hurt like this? Was she doing something wrong? …
(Essay 1) Empress Influence on the Establishment and Rise in Popularity of the Virgin Mary and Kuan Yin by Krista K. Rodin, Ph.D.

Introduction The feminine spiritual figures of compassion, the Catholic Christian Virgin Mother Mary, and the Chinese Buddhist, Kuan Yin, share a number of traits and attributes in spite of their cultural differences. They also share a common history in the development of their devotional worship through two empresses who identified themselves with their respective cultural icon thereby enhancing their political roles while endearing themselves to the common people through their promotion of the spiritual figures of compassion. They diverge, however, in their legacies due in part to the influence, or lack of it, of religious institutional support. This paper seeks to show the parallels between the rise in devotion to Mary under the Byzantine Empress Pulcheria (399-453) and the corresponding rise in the interest in Avalokiteshvara/Kuan Yin under the Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zetian (625-705) and how these two religiously powerful women rulers have vastly different legacies. While there has been a substantial amount written about how ancient political leaders used specially selected deities as vehicles for asserting their power, there are only a few that have looked at the these two unique empresses’ promotion and use of their figures of worship. None of them, however, has compared the influence these Empresses had in promoting devotion to a sacred female figure in a male dominated religion. This paper contends that the rise in the popularization of the cults of the Virgin Mary and that of Kuan Yin was at least in part based on the efforts of their culture’s respective Empress. Both Empress Pulcheria and Empress Wu Zeitan identified themselves with the spiritual figure and supported the construction of churches and pagodas for their worship across their wide-ranging Empires while fostering the creation and distribution of sacred texts that supported their religious beliefs. The paper is organized into three major sections: Empress Pulcheria, Empress Wu Zetian, and Common Threads. The first is an introduction to Empress Pulcheria and her relationship with Mary, the second an introduction to Empress Wu’s support of Buddhism in the early Tang Dynasty which led to the feminization of the Bodhisattva, Kuan Yin, and finally some common threads of the Empresses’ use of imperial power to promote their religious causes, foster devotional relationships to their chosen figures, while using the sacred images to solidify their political roles and as a basis for philanthropic endeavors. For the purposes of this magazine the section on Empress Wu is broken into two parts. The first deals with her biography and the second on her impact. Empress Pulcheria Empress Pulcheria (399-453) came from a Spanish-Frankish family and her Western Roman Empire heritage came through in her unabated support of the Roman Pope over more Eastern Church fathers. Pulcheria was the oldest daughter of Emperor Arcadius, and granddaughter of Theodosius I, who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire in 389. When her father died in 408, her younger brother, Theodosius II, assumed the throne when he was only seven. Their mother, Eudoxia, had died a few years earlier, in 404. By 414, the Senate had proclaimed Pulcheria “Augusta” (empress) and made her regent for her younger brother. During their childhood, the family’s spiritual director and tutor was Atticus, who developed a “Treatise on Faith and Virginity” for Pulcheria and her younger sisters. While the work has disappeared, Constas cites Kenneth Holum’s argument that it probably “Exalted women and presented the Mother of God as the archetypal virgin whose chastity the three sisters would do well to emulate. If they did, Atticus suggested, Christ would be born in them mystically, just as he had taken form in the womb of Mary.” He also added a Marian feast to the Church calendar (Constas, 1995, p. 172). Atticus’ influence can be seen in that on the day of her investiture she went from the civil ceremony to the Basilica of St. Sophia to take her spiritual vows (Teetgan, 2010, p. 84). From the time she is named Empress, Pulcheria vowed to remain a virgin and convinced her younger sisters to do the same. The vow was taken at the altar of the Great Church of St. Sophia; her image was placed above the altar and her robe, possibly personally woven, placed on the altar. Her vow was etched onto the table itself. There is some question as to whether this vow was taken, by age 15, out of an inner conviction to be married to Christ and her devotion to the Virgin Mary or whether she was aware, even at that young age, that marriage would undermine her political influence. Whatever her reasons, she stayed true to her vow throughout her life. Her vow and the placing of her image above the altar are among the first documented events of how Pulcheria merged emotionally and spiritually with the Virgin Mary and how that would influence her political affairs. Brother and sister co-ruled for the next ten years, prior to his marriage, arranged by Pulcheria, to the Greek Princess Eudocia. Throughout this early time it appears that Pulcheria was the stronger and more influential of the two sibling rulers as Theodosius appears to have been swayed by whoever had his ear at a given moment. After Theodosius’ marriage, Pulcheria left the court and retired to a cloister away from the hub of political activity, but still within Constantinople, to meditate and fulfill her desire to be a nun. It seems that the two empresses, Pulcheria, who remained Empress while a nun, and Eudocia, got along in the beginning, but as Eudocia tried to exert her influence over her husband, Pulcheria felt she was being pushed aside. This didn’t seem to bother her until Eudocia reached into the spiritual affairs of the Empire by influencing the Emperor to appoint Nestorius as the Archbishop of Constantinople in 428. Nestorius came to the capital from Antioch, where there was a distinct separation of the sexes during worship and little regard for the figure of Mary in Church theology. He was “scandalized by the devotion …

(Special post) Laurie Baymarrwangga, Senior Australian of the Year 2012

Posted with permission in Return to Mago on ‘Australia Day’, 26 January 2014 (Australian time), in recognition of the ill-treatment and misunderstanding of Aboriginal people that was set in train when, in 1788, white people first settled in the land now known as Australia.
(Special Post Mother Teresa 1) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

[Editorial Note: The following is an edited version of the discussion that took place spontaneously on Mago Circle from March 1, 2013 for about two weeks. It was an extensive, heated, yet reflective discussion, now broken into four parts to fit the format of the blog. We thank each and all of the participants for your openness, generosity, and courage to stand up for what you believe and think! Some are marked as anonymous. As someone stated, something may have been “written in the heat of the moment” and some might like to change it at a later time. So we inform our readers that nothing is written in stone. As a matter of fact, the discussion is ongoing, now with Magoism Blog readers. Please comment and respond as you wish.] Part I: Why are we talking about Mother Teresa? [The conversation began among Anne Wilkerson Allen, Helen Hwang, and Wennifer Lin in a personal message and editor’s group. We agreed that Mother Teresa’s Western (Albanian) identity is hardly taken into consideration in the public perception of her as a secular and religious leader. Then, we decided to bring the topic to the Mago Circle.] Anne Wilkerson Allen: [A] posted this today and I think it is discussion worthy. Mother Teresa: Anything but a saint… scienceblog.com The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa is dispelled in a paper by Serge Larivée and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal’s Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Sénéchal of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education… http://scienceblog.com/60730/mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint/#IdkpoWrDtMAAVCAg.99 Anne Wilkerson Allen: It is not my desire to bash the Church – I think everyone here is fully aware of the evils of patriarchy and the way the Church has used women, abused and killed women…but Teresa is an icon in the West, in particular, of saintliness. Even non-Catholics love her. Why? And is what she did really worthy of role modeling? Anne Wilkerson Allen: This was also on the thread. Not a huge fan of Hitchens, and I think calling her work a “death cult” is extreme, but I am interested in your opinions please. Christopher Hitchens – Mother Teresa: Hell’s Angel [1994] In 1994, three years before her death, journalist Christopher Hitchens made this documentary asking if Mother Teresa’s reputation was deserved… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76_qL6fiyDw Anne Wilkerson Allen: I would also like to talk about altruism and some of the areas we have touched on before…at what point is my “help” an imposition in a third world country? Is my desire to “help” spurred by years of programming or heart? I honestly don’t know anymore. Anne Wilkerson Allen: There is also a part of me that wonders if this deflection of blame and highlighting of Teresa’s faults now is yet another “Let the women take the fall” action. Anne Wilkerson Allen: NOT that I find her blameless – her advocacy against contraception and abortion is decidedly anti-female, but there is so much focus on the Pope and the priests now….I keep wondering when the abuses of the nuns is going to come to light. Anne Wilkerson Allen: I think Ireland recently had something in the news about this… Ireland apologizes for Catholic laundry scandal Ireland’s premier has issued a state apology to the thousands of Irish women who spent years working without pay in prison-style laundries run by Catholic nuns. Former residents of the now-defunct Magdalene Laundries have campaigned for the past decade to get the government to apologize and pay compensation to an estimated 1,000 survivors of the workhouses. Two weeks ago the Irish government published an investigation into the state’s role in overseeing the laundries. It found that more than 10,000 women worked in 10 laundries from 1922 to 1996, when the last Dublin facility closed down… http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57570107/ireland-apologizes-for-catholic-laundry-scandal/ Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of my friends was one of these girls. [Z]: I have wanted to bring attention to this issue for a long time but did not have a chance or was biting my time. Now Anne is pointing out some of the crucial issues about her, Mother Teresa, I am so thankful for this opportunity for us to sort out and think collectively. Thank you Anne! [Z]: Yes, the Catholic Laundry Scandal was shared here too!!! Anne Wilkerson Allen: It’s hard. She is iconic for many women. I did not know the sordid details or the horrors – not that it excuses anything….but when I was young, I saw her as someone to emulate….and thus became immolated…. [Z]: I have been thinking all along the way that she should not be a role model for women. Can you believe that I did even as a once Catholic Sister?!!! I know that many religious women out there will agree with me too. [Z]: My critique is not much on her as a person. But the fact that she represents morality for especially women makes me mad. Oh, there seems a lot more about reasons why we should debunk the mystique of Mother Teresa. Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of the things Hirchens pointed out was that it made Westerners feel good that this wonderful white woman was helping the poor in Calcutta….though she rarely seemed to be in Calcutta. Another friend told me that he knew one of the sisters of charity and that she told him they were encouraged to flog themselves on a regular basis….sick sick sick Anne Wilkerson Allen: This is why I have a problem with the mentality that says evil exists to teach us something…..that suffering exists to highlight our joy….there is just something WRONG with that. Anne Wilkerson Allen: We are all dark and light and in-between. [Z]: I am not surprised. Yes, definitely. What a waste of time and intelligence if not already damaging many turning the navigation backward!!! [Helen Hwang calls out the individual names to join the discussion, and is responded by what follows.] [B]: In Minneapolis there is a charity founder, Mary Jo Copeland, who helps the homeless & hungry. She just received an award from the President. She seems selfless, like Mother Teresa did (at least in […]
(Special Post Mother Teresa 3) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

Part III: The Debate, What Went Right/Wrong with Mother Teresa? [Editorial Note: The following is an edited version of the discussion that took place spontaneously on Mago Circle from March 1, 2013 for about two weeks. It was an extensive, heated, yet reflective discussion, now broken into four parts to fit the format of the blog. We thank each and all of the participants for your openness, generosity, and courage to stand up for what you believe and think! Some are marked as anonymous. As someone stated, something may have been “written in the heat of the moment” and some might like to change it at a later time. So we inform our readers that nothing is written in stone. As a matter of fact, the discussion is ongoing, now with Magoism Blog readers. Please comment and respond as you wish.] [C]: Unfortunately, Mother Theresa is not understood here in some of these comments: To be in any way critical of Mother Theresa using what was the state of the world in her time & the poor & dying as tools of compassion, even more so when left to die visibly barely cared for, as a teaching method must not be looked at as unfeeling on her part as it was her greatest sorrow to use them so horribly as means to an end, but they were what she had at hand. Was never her intention to use any money to save them, would negate their very suffering purpose as well. She did not believe we all had learned the lesson yet in her time so she had to pretend to be solving the problem while continuing the problem. You see, the money was a byproduct of no importance to her, used just to get the peoples’ attention by using what they valued, let the Church have it for other things for it had served it’s purpose by bringing her sought after awareness of the poor & dying into view. In pretending to like & accept attention to herself, honors, & even challenges to these choices, all for one purpose to fool, to get the poor & dying attention, is why she was so distressed near the end by the means she had to use to reach that end! And perhaps her sheer loss of hope at having to stoop to such measures which reflects on the sad state of the rest of us. Wondering here where the money went doesn’t understand anything of what she was trying to do. [C]: Thank You Naa Ayele Kumari for plowing through my thoughts enough to ‘like’ even! Could I be understood that Mother Theresa’s intentions were ‘higher’ than just taking care of the poor & dying in institutions, but to have the people understand there should be ‘feelings’ for them so they would never ever even have to be cared for in such ‘style’? She sacrificed these many nonpeaceful deaths to display, to show, to the whole world the direction it was heading, for the saving of the future multitudes of suffering & deaths if no one understood & cared soon. She dreamed these future lives would be right & good & their deaths would be the same attended by loved ones of their own, no need for group interference. She did not wish to just contain such tragedy, but to eliminate it from the whole earth forever. In the smaller scale view of some today the institutions are a necessary step, however Mother Theresa thought this a false step on a horrible path in the wrong direction, & she knew this, & dreamed beyond! To send away, to cage, the suffering, old, & sick in any society is a crime against Mother Nature no matter what the excuses or how pretty the packaged institution is presented! [Z] Did not foresee the discussion would provoke such indepth and rich responses. It feels that we are getting close to the bottom of the matter that has not been brought up for so long, not in my life time. Profound interactions that make us aware of the aspects of how our thinking and living can be based on the kind of values we hold. I treat each and all of you in the hand of our goddesses. Anne Wilkerson Allen: I think the Mother always moves us back toward compassion. Whether we have a sense of deity or not, we can all understand contextually how she was used and that her “beliefs” left her with such poverty of spirit that her entire life is under the microscope. I wonder, will the media ask what the Church has done with all their Billions or simply focus on a dead nun indoctrinated by the system? Diane Horton: No, I am sorry. [C], that is an incredible rationalization of Mother Teresa’s actions. Unbelievable actually. For you to justify her not using the extraordinary amount of money sent to her by saying that she chose to use these horrible deaths to bring attention to the sick and the dying and evoke compassion in people – that is the most megalomaniac position possible! Did she assume the role of God then?? That is outrageous! To think that she had the means to relieve these poor people’s sufferings and chose not to in order to USE them is even more heinous to me! I cannot wrap my head around how you think that is a good thing. She already HAD evoked compassion for these people. That’s why the money poured in! And all the “pretending” and lying you said she did for the greater good? NO. Compassion and empathy are a basic human response to suffering. “She sacrificed these nonpeaceful deaths” REALLY?! She had no right. And she was wrong. I can see no lofty ideal she was displaying there. Diane Horton: Forgive, me. I could not let what was said there lie. I won’t say anymore. Everyone has their own perspective. And each perspective together makes the whole. Blessed Be. [C]: On this […]

(Mago Almanac Excerpt 3) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. MAPPING THE MAGOIST CALENDAR According to the Budoji, the Magoist Calendar was fully implemented and advocated during the period of Old Joseon (ca. 2333 BCE-ca. 232 BCE) whose civilization is known as Budo (Emblem City). Indeed, the Magoist Calendar is referred to as the Budo Calendar in the Budoji. Budo was founded to succeed Sinsi and reignited Sinsi’s innovations including the numerological and musicological thealogy of the Nine Mago Creatrix. The Budoji expounds on the Magoist Calendar as follows: The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a cyclic period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). A cycle of Little Calendar is called Sa (year). One Sa has thirteen Gi (months). One Gi has twenty-eight Il (days). Twenty-eight Il are divided by four Yo (weeks). One Yo has seven Il. A cycle of one Yo is called Bok (completion of a week). One Sa (year) has fifty-two Yobok. That makes 364 Il. This is of Seongsu (Natural Number) 1, 4, 7. Each Sa includes a Dan of the big Sa. A Dan is equal to one day. That adds up to 365 days. At the half point after the third Sa, there is a Pan of the big Sak (the year of the great dark moon). A pan comes at a half point of Sa. This is of Beopsu (Lawful Number) 2, 5, 8. A Pan is equal to a day. Therefore, the fourth Sa has 366 days. At the half point after the tenth Sa, there is a Gu of the big Hoe (Eve of the first day of the month). Gu is the root of time. Three hundred Gu makes one Myo. With Myo, we can sense Gu. A lapse of 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si makes one day. This is of Chesu (Physical Number), 3, 6, 9. By and by, the encircling time charts Medium Calendar and Large Calendar to evince the principle of numerology.[12] KEY TERMS Calendric Cycles Jongsi (終是 Ending and Beginning): Cyclic periods Soryeok (小曆 Little Calendar): One year Jungryeok (中曆 Medium Calendar): Two years Daeryeok (大曆 Large Calendar): Four years Names of Year, Month, Day, Week Sa (祀 Rituals, year): One year refers to the time that takes to complete the cycle of rituals. Gi (期 Periods, month): One month refers to the period of the moon and menstruation cycle. Il (日Sun, day): One day refers to the sun’s movement due to Earth’s rotation. Yo (曜 Resplendence of seven celestial bodies, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, week): Each weekday is dedicated to seven celestial bodies. Bok or Yobok (曜服 Duties of the Celestial Bodies, completion of a week): One week refers to the veneration of the seven celestial bodies. Names of Monthly Transition Days Hoe (晦 Eve of the first day of the month, 28th) Sak (朔 First day of the month, 1st, the dark moon) Names of Intercalation Days Dan (旦 Morning): Leap day for New Year Pan (昄 Big): Leap day for every fourth year Names of Time Units Gu (晷 sun’s shadow): Time measure, 1/300 Myo Myo (眇 minuscule): Time measure, a total of 300 Gu Myo-Gak-Bun-Si (眇刻分時 minuscule, possibly 15-minutes, minute, hour): Time measure, 9,633 Myo-Gak-Bun-Si is equal to a day Names of Three Types of Numbers in Nine Numerology Seongsu (性數Natural Number): 1, 4, 7 in the digital root Beopsu (法數 Lawful Number): 2, 5, 8 in the digital root Chesu (體數 Physical Number): 3, 6, 9 in the digital root THREE SUB-CALENDARS The Way of Heaven circles to generate Jongsi (a period, an ending and a beginning). Jongsi circles to generate another Jongsi of four Jongsi. One cycle of jongsi is called Soryeok (Little Calendar). Jongsi of Jongsi is called Jungryeok (Medium Calendar). Jongsi of four Jongsis is called Daeryeok (Large Calendar). The universe is infinite without beginning and ending. Everything runs the course of self-equilibration in relation to everything else. The Way of Heaven or the Way of the Creatrix circles and makes possible the infinite time/space to be measured and calculated. As the Way of Heaven circles, we are able to perceive Our Universe in finite measures of time/space. Time becomes measurable, as space is stabilized. Seasons and days-nights are demarcated in cyclic patterns, as the Earth makes the three cyclic movements of rotation, revolution, and precession. Calendar, born out of the inter-cosmic time, synchronizes human culture with the song/dance of the universe. The term Jongsi, which means an ending and a beginning, is equivalent to “a cyclic period” that is marked by the beginning and the end. Time (a day, a month, and a year) circles, as space (the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun) spirals. The Magoist Calendar has three sub-calendars: The period of one yearly cycle is called Little Calendar, whereas the period of two yearly cycles is called Medium Calendar and the period of four yearly cycles, Large Calendar. To be continued. (Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang) Notes [12] Budoji, Chapter 23. See Bak Jesang, the Budoji, Bak Geum scrib., Eunsu Kim, trans. (Seoul: Gana Chulpansa, 1986).
(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.
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 5 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Traditionally the dates for this Seasonal Moment are: Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd however the actual astronomical date varies. See archaeoastronomy.com for the actual moment. Lammas table/altar Lammas, as it is often called[1], is the meridian point of the first dark quarter of the year, between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox; it is after the light phase has peaked and is complete, and as such, I choose it as a special celebration of the Crone/Old One. Within the Celtic tradition, it is the wake of Lugh, the Sun King, and it is the Crone that reaps him. But within earlier Goddess traditions, all the transformations were Hers[2]; and the community reflected on the reality that the Mother aspect of the Goddess, having come to fruition, from Lammas on would enter the Earth and slowly become transformed into the Old Woman-Hecate-Cailleach aspect …[3] I dedicate Lammas to the face of the Old One, just as Imbolc, its polar opposite on the Wheel in Old European tradition, is dedicated to the Virgin/Maiden face. The Old One, the Dark and Shining One, has been much maligned, so to celebrate Her can be more of a challenge in our present cultural context. Lammas may be an opportunity to re-aquaint ourselves with the Crone in her purity, to fall in love with Her again. I state the purpose of the seasonal gathering thus: This is the season of the waxing dark. The seed of darkness born at the Summer Solstice now grows … the dark part of the days grows visibly longer. Earth’s tilt is taking us back away from the Sun. This is the time when we celebrate dissolution; each unique self lets go, to the Darkness. It is the time of ending, when the grain, the fruit, is harvested. We meet to remember the Dark Sentience, the All-Nourishing Abyss, She from whom we arise, in whom we are immersed, and to whom we return. This is the time of the Crone, the Wise Dark One, who accepts and receives our harvest, who grinds the grain, who dismantles what has gone before. She is Hecate, Lillith, Medusa, Kali, Erishkagel,Chamunda, Coatlique – Divine Compassionate One, She Who Creates the Space to Be. We meet to accept Her transformative embrace, trusting Her knowing, which is beyond all knowledge. Lammas is the seasonal moment for recognizing that we dissolve into the “night” of the Larger Organism of whom we are part – Gaia. It is She who is immortal, from whom we arise, and into whom we dissolve. This celebration is a development of what was born in the transition of Summer Solstice; the dark sentient Source of Creativity is honoured. The autopoietic space in us recognizes Her, is comforted by Her, desires Her self-transcendence and self-dissolution; Lammas is an opportunity to be with our organism’s love of Larger Self – this Native Place. We have been taught to fear Her, but at this Seasonal Moment we may remember that She is the compassionate One, deeply committed to transformation, which is actually innate to us. Whereas at Imbolc/Early Spring, we shone forth as individual, multiforms of Her; at Lammas, we small individual selves remember that we are She and dissolve back into Her. We are the Promise of Lifeas was affirmed at Imbolc, but we are the Promise of Her- it is not ours to hold. We identify as the sacred Harvest at Lammas; our individual harvest isHer Harvest. We are the process itself – we are Gaia’s Process. Wedo not breathe (though of course we do), we borrow the breath, for a while. It is like a relay: we pick the breath up, create what we do during our time with it, and pass it on. The harvest we reap in our individual lives is important, andit is for us only short term; it belongs to the Cosmos in the long term. Lammas is a time for “making sacred” – as “sacrifice” may be understood; we may “make sacred” ourselves. As Imbolc was a time for dedication, so is Lammas. This is the wisdom of the phase of the Old One. She is the aspect that finds the “yes” to letting go, to loving the Larger Self, beyond all knowledge, and steps into the power of the Abyss; encouraged and nourished by the harvest, She will gradually move into the balance of Autumn Equinox/Mabon, the next Sesaonal Moment on the year’s cycle. References: Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess.Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990. Gray, Susan. The Woman’s Book of Runes.New York: Barnes and Noble, 1999. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. McLean, Adam. The Four Fire Festivals. Edinburgh: Megalithic Research Publications, 1979. Notes: [1]See note 3. [2]Susan Gray, The Woman’s Book of Runes,p. 18. This is also to say that the transformations are within each being, not elsewhere, that is the “sacrifice” is not carried out by another external to the self, as could be and have been interpreted from stories of Lugh or Jesus. [3]Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, The Year of the Goddess, p.143, quoting Adam McLean, Fire Festivals,p.20-22. Another indication of the earlier tradition beneath “Lughnasad” is the other name for it in Ireland of “Tailltean Games”. Taillte was said to be Lugh’s foster-mother, and it was her death that was being commemmorated (Mike Nichols, “The First Harvest”, Pagan Alliance Newsletter NSW Australia). The name “Tailtunasad” has been suggested for this Seasonal Moment, by Cheryl Straffon editor of Goddess Alive! I prefer the name of Lammas, although some think it is a Christian term: however some sources say that Lammas means “feast of the bread” which is how I have understood it, and surely such a feast pre-dates Christianity. It is my opinion that the incoming Christians preferred “Lammas” to “Lughnasad”: the term itself is not Christian in origin. The evolution of all these things is complex, and we may evolve them further with our careful thoughts and experience.
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.
(Essay) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. MoonCourt Ceremonial Space set for Autumn Equinox ceremony, 2013 Ritual/ceremony is often described as “sacred space.” I understand that to mean “awareness of the space as sacred”: all space is sacred, what shifts is our awareness – awareness of the depth of spacetime, and of the depth of all things and all beings. I understand “sacred awareness” as an awareness of deep relationship and identity with the very cosmic dynamics that create and sustain the Universe; or an awareness of what is involved in the depth of each moment, each thing, each being. Ceremony is a space and time given to expression, contemplation and nurturance of that depth … at least to something of it. Ceremony may be both an expression of deep inner truths – perceived relationship to self, Earth and Cosmos, as well as being a mode of teaching and drawing forth deeper participation. Essentially, ceremony is a way of entering into the depth of the present moment … what is deeply present right here and now, a way of entering deep space and deep time, which is not somewhere else but is right here. Every-thing, and every moment, has Depth – more depth than we usually allow ourselves to contemplate, let alone comprehend. This book, this paper, this ink, the chair, the floor – each has a history and connections that go back, all the way back to Origins. This moment you experience now, in its particular configuration, place, people present, subtle feelings, thoughts, and propensity towards certain directions or outcomes, has a depth – many histories and choices that go back … ultimately all the way back to the beginning. Great Origin is present at every point of space and time – right here. In ceremony we are plugging our awareness into something of that. In this holy context then – in this mindframe of knowing connection, everything one does is a participation in the creation of the Cosmos: for the tribal indigenous woman, perhaps the weaving of a basket; for another, perhaps preparing a meal; for you, perhaps getting on the train to go to a workplace. It is possible to regain this sense, to come to feel that the way one breathes makes a difference – that with it, you co-create the present and the future, and you may even be a blessing on the past. In every moment we receive the co-creation, the work, of innumerable beings, of innumerable moments, and innumerable interactions of the elements, in everything we touch … and so are we touched by them. The local is our touchstone to the Cosmos – it is not separate. Ceremony may be a way into this awareness, into strengthening it. Ceremony is actually ‘doing,’ not just theorizing. We can talk about our personal and cultural disconnection endlessly, but we need to actually change our minds. Ceremony can be an enabling practice – a catalyst/practice for personal and cultural change. It is not just talking about eating the pear, it is eating the pear; it is not just talking about sitting on the cushion (meditating), it is sittingon the cushion. It is a cultural practice wherein we tell a story/stories about what we believe to be so most deeply, about who and what we are. Ceremony can be a place for practicing a new language, a new way of speaking, or spelling – a place for practicing “matristic storytelling”[i] if you like: that is, for telling stories of the Mother, of Earth and Cosmos as if She were alive and sentient. We can “play like we know it,” so that we may come to know it.[ii] Ceremony then is a form of social action. I have found it useful to describe ceremony using and extending words used by Ken Wilber to describe a “transpersonal practice,” which is needed for real change: he said it was a practice that discloses “a deeper self (I or Buddha) in a deeper community (We or Sangha) expressing a deeper truth (It or Dharma).”[iii] My extension of that is: ceremony may disclose a deeper beautiful self (the I/Virgin/Urge to Be/Buddha), in a deeper relational community (the We/Mother/Place of Being/Sangha), expressing a deeper transformative truth (the It/Old One/Space to Be/Dharma). This is the “unitive body,” the “microcosmos” that Charlene Spretnak refers to in States of Grace.[iv] Since ceremony is an opportunity to give voice to deeper places in ourselves, forms of communication are used that the dreamer, the emotional, the body, can comprehend, such as music, drama, simulation, dance, chanting, singing.[v] These forms enable the entering of a level of consciousness that is there all the time, but that is not usually expressed or acknowledged. We enter a realm that is ‘out of time,’ which is commonly said to be not the “real” world, but it is more organic/indigenous to all being and at least as real as the tick-tock world. It is a place “between the worlds,” wherein we may put our hands on the very core of our lives, touch whatever it is that we feel our existence is about, and thus touch the possibility of re-creating and renewing ourselves. NOTES: [i] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), 147. [ii] As my doctoral thesis supervisor Dr. Susan Murphy once described it to me in conversation. [iii] Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything (Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996), 306-307. [iv] 145. [v] As Starhawk notes, The Spiral Dance, 45. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Orenstein, Gloria Feman. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1999. Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996.

(Poem) Knowing Mago Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This poem was an offshoot of an essay on Magoist Calendar and Nine Numerology, to be included in the forthcoming anthology, Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). I thank Genevieve Vaughan, Danica Anderson, and Harriet Ann Ellenbeger who have given me feedback to the article and inspiration to this poem.] Mago Calendar is the umbilical cord of the Great Goddess, the umbilical cord that re-members the Beginning Story of us all terrestrial beings, that enables the one and many songs/dances of the Earth, and that nourishes the human world to sing the chorus to the cosmic lullaby. Mago Calendar is the grand wheel of the Great Mother, the grand wheel that spirals the inter-cosmic orbit of truth, goodness, and beauty, that carries all earthlings to the fullest becoming, and that builds bridges into the inter-protonic galaxies. Mago Calendar is the everlasting blessing of the Nine Mago Creatrix, the everlasting blessing that scripts the ecstasy of Heavenly Numerology, that charts the Earth’s metamorphosis from the infinite to the physical, and that unfolds the Reality of the Mago Time, WE/HERE/NOW. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook 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.
(Video) Gurang (Nine Goddesses), Gaeyang Halmi (Grandma Gaeyang), and Goddess Gom: Exploring Old Magoism in Korea by Helen Hwang

Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. Read (Photo Essay 5) Gaeyang Halmi, Sea Goddess of Korea.