January 17, 2023January 13, 2023 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Art Exhibition 1) Immortal Diamond Exhibition: The Trickster Figure in Art and Alchemy by Frances Guerin

[Author’s Note: “Immortal Diamond Exhibition: The trickster figure inart and alchemy” will be hosted in Assembly Point: Assembly Point:Guild 152 Sturt St Melbourne during the period of 30th Jan-26th Feb2023.] Read More …

(Prose) Baba’s Tapestry by Sara Wright

This morning the first email I read was written by a male friend of mine who reminded me that today, International Women’s day, was “my day.” How delightful to be reminded of this moment by a good man, I thought to myself. An article in MAGO about the biological miracle of female mitochondrial DNA captured my attention immediately afterwards. It had been a while since I had thought about the unbroken line of genes passed down from mother to daughter that allowed geneticists to trace woman’s heritage back to the “first mother.” I reflected for a minute on her-story that I share with all women including my own mother and grandmother. In the same piece of writing references were made to scholar Marija Gimbutas’s research which highlights the importance of spinning and weaving, and how these two creative acts were carried out by women in sacred temples long ago (Neolithic Europe). In ancient times flint blades were used as scissors by the women who cut the cords – umbilical and otherwise. These references swamped me with memories driving me to write about them, today, before I lost the precious threads. First, I was flooded by memories of my grandmother who I named “Baba” because she sang a song to me about three lost sheep that cried bah bah bah. The word “Baba,” I later learned, was a name used to denote a grandmother. My maternal grandmother took care of me as a child. She let me bake cookies and help her put up food that she had grown in her vegetable garden. She taught me how to grow flowers, and together we watched birds for hours. She cooked special foods for me when I was sick and washed my face with warm water every single night. She awakened me so that we could watch the deer grazing around the golden apple tree under a blossoming white moon. But what I remember best is sitting with her as she sewed… My grandmother was a professional seamstress who crafted all my grandfather’s suits, shirts, ties, and silk handkerchiefs from materials from bolts of cloth that she chose with great care. I also have many poignant memories of her sitting at the sewing machine stitching together dresses, shorts, shirts, for her only granddaughter who she loved fiercely. She taught me to sew delicate little stitches, and I have a clear memory of her working on a huge tapestry of the Tree of Life that was filled with colorful birds that I loved. That she never finished this particular piece of embroidery always upset me whenever I thought about it. At the time of her death my grandmother had embroidered so many pillow shams and wall hangings that were so exquisitely executed that I was left to wonder about the significance behind the fact that she abandoned my favorite tapestry of all. I still have the silver heron scissors that she used to cut the threads of that embroidery… Today of all days seems like an appropriate time to honor my very creative grandmother who nurtured me as a child, adolescent, and young woman. When I lost her not long after my brother’s death I lost the only adult I had ever come near to trusting… According to the same article women’s aprons had pockets that often held precious family heirlooms like rings and necklaces, as well as scissors that were passed down from mother to daughter (or as in my case from grandmother to granddaughter). (I stopped writing at this point to get a cup of coffee and to water my plants. I was stunned to discover a small pair of (child’s) scissors in the center of one of my passionflower pots that had been hidden under the leafy vine. Sometimes synchronistic experiences like this reinforce the powers of interconnection like nothing else can.) My grandmother also wore aprons that always had pockets in them. My mother was an artist that worked in a number of mediums. At one point she was silk screening pictures that my brother and I had drawn onto linen napkins. My brother drew a bird’s nest with three eggs in it. The picture that my mother selected for me was a self-portrait of a small child who wore an apron with a single pocket in the left hand side. I was also wearing one of my grandfather’s berets. Oddly I had drawn myself with only one arm. As an adult, I wondered about why my mother had chosen this particular picture for her napkins because it seemed to indicate that her daughter saw herself in a distorted way. The embroidered Tree of Life tapestry that my grandmother never finished and the picture of myself with one arm leads me to believe that something was broken in my grandmother and in me on an archetypal level (tree of life) and the personal (a child with one arm). But I think that the intergenerational woman thread endured and eventually triumphed because the child had a pocket and inside that pocket was a woman who developed into a creative writer, one who continues today to re-weave the threads of her broken woman line. [Author’s note: This beautiful Huichol Indian Tree of Life belongs to a friend of mine. It is one of the finest string paintings that I have ever seen.The Huichol live in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico and only mix with outsiders to sell their string paintings and beaded art.] Meet Mago Contributor Sara Wright.
The Gospel of Dorothy by Jen Taylor

Minoan Snake Goddess or her devotee with bird’s beak – Phaistos, Proto-palatial period, early second millennium BCE (reproduction: linoleum carving ink print / Jen Taylor) The Power of the Word Try to feel your mouth from the inside – a locked box of mandables attached to bone. All sorts of magic starts here, a serpent tongue spilling seed syllables, cursed brews of hate, potions of love & forgiveness. The world is full of lost magicians – you & you & you. If you want to come home, Tell the witch you love her. After she melts, a path so well-known that it is secret will be revealed again. Follow it, a gilded road through your ears, past the canal of flying monkeys to your brain – A wizard lives here. Tell him you don’t believe him anymore. Oct. 8, 2019 Young girls in walking labyrinth full of goldenrod / The Sanctuary, East Haddam, CT (August 2019) Photos copyrighted by Jen Taylor https://www.magoism.net/2021/10/meet-mago-contributor-jen-taylor/
(Book Excerpt 5) The Crone Initiation: Women Speak on the Menopause Journey ed. by Kay Louise Aldred, Pat Daly & Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Phantom Queen Sovereignty: My Lifelong Journey of Initiation” by Kay Louise Aldred The Morrigan – Dark Goddess – Death Walker Crone – is the Queen of the team of Goddess archetypes I lean into and call upon within my mind, body and heart for guidance and empowerment. Her presence was activated within me during my teenage years – when moods, emotions and somatic sensations were erratic and unstable. She was the great initiatory guide who moved me through the mayhem of adolescence into womanhood. I needed her presence in the commotion – strong, fearless and comfortable with darkness and death. Addiction and mental health challenges amongst the adults in my family and life meant I walked through shadowlands in my day-to-day life. There was no comfort externally or internally. I had no human navigating me through the traumatic swamp of my home environment and no compassionate, warm, human showing up to coregulate with me and move me through the internal landscape of chaos and increasingly mounting and stored trauma. Inner and outer life was dark. I inhabited the underworld all day, every day. Morrigan started the mentorship with an armouring. There was no other option. I had to become one with what I was fighting in order to conquer it. And so, the colour black called me. Black feathers. Black eye liner. Black DM boots. Long black coat. Black lace. I started to befriend the dark. She was guiding me to surrender, shapeshift into and then befriend the gloom. To become what I was resisting and feared. Moving into the archetype of Goth – death walker – was seductive and powerful. Like Morrigan I was a walking Phantom Queen – a seer of death – predicting the unstable moods of the adults around me – feeling their trauma energies within me – choosing to harness and transmute them, rather than store them. I was making a sovereign choice. I was walking amongst the joylessness in her embodied form, and I was surviving, thriving even. She saved my life. Her mentorship in adulthood has supported me to develop a more sophisticated relationship with darkness, death and war – both inside and outside of me. I have noticed on many occasions that I am most comfortable in the underworld. It is a well-known place, familiar and feels safe even. I know the terrain and can navigate with my eyes shut, following an internal compass. Training as a shamanic practitioner explicitly demonstrated to me that Morrigan had activated my inner Shaman in my teenage years and that I was already skilled at shamanic journeying with her. My Shamanic Trainer called me a Spiritual Warrior and offered me the gift of black obsidian as my initiatory stone. This obviously became exhausting. Morrigan has shown me since that training, as I move through perimenopause, that my courage, bravery, and resilience are potent, developed and mature. I am metamorphosising again into Crone Morrigan – the Badb – self-sufficient, highly vocal Crow. I have a lot to say. I don’t need to be only phantom or be invisible. She has also shown that I can rest now, integrate, and sit on the throne of my sovereignty in peace. I have survived, protected my loved ones and thrived. (To be continued) https://www.magoism.net/2013/08/meet-mago-contributor-trista-hendren/
Meet Mago Contributor, Susan Hawthorne

Susan Hawthorne is the author of fourteen books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Her poetry collection Cow (2011) was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize in the 2012 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and was also a finalist in the 2012 Publishing Triangle Awards for the Audre Lorde Lesbian Poetry Prize in the US. Earth’s Breath (2009) was shortlisted for the 2010 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in annual Best Australian Poems anthologies, been broadcast on National Radio, and been published in print and digital literary magazines in USA, Canada, India, Macau, Algeria, Germany, UK and Australia. In 2013 she was Literature Resident at the BR Whiting Studio in Rome where she wrote her most recent collection of poetry, Lupa and Lamb (2014) which focuses on the prehistory of the Mediterranean and ancient Rome. Her other collections of poetry include Valence: Considering War through Theory and Poetry (2011), Unsettling the Land (with Suzanne Bellamy, 2008), The Butterfly Effect (2005), and Bird and Other Writing on Epilepsy (1999). As of October 4, 2019, she has published 16 books. Her fiction includes a novel, The Falling Woman (1992), a verse novel Limen (2013) and she published a novel, Dark Matters in 2017. And in 2019 I has published the poetry collection The Sacking of the Muses And the non-fiction book In Defence of Separatism. She is Adjunct Professor in Writing at James Cook University, Director of Spinifex Press, and plays a leading role in independent publishing and eBook publishing. http//:www.spinifexpress.com.au She first began researching the ancient world in 1976. She enrolled to write a PhD on belief structures in the ancient world in 1979, but due to the institution’s incapacity to understand her project and active resistance to it, she left the university and instead wrote a novel, The Falling Woman (1992, reprinted 2004). She eventually completed a PhD in 2002, which forms the basis of her book Wild Politics: Feminism, globalisation and bio/diversity (2002, and published in India). Among her other non-fiction are The Spinifex Quiz Book (1993; translated into German and Spanish) and Bibliodiversity: A Manifesto for Independent Publishing (2004; translated into Arabic, French and Spanish, and to be published in German in 2017). She has also (co-)edited ten anthologies of fiction, poetry and non-fiction, including September 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives (2002, with Bronwyn Winter), CyberFeminism (1999, with Renate Klein), several books on animals, and several lesbian anthologies. For more information go to the Spinifex Press website. After studying Ancient Greek for some years and receiving an MA (Prelim), in recent years she has studied Sanskrit and Latin. In 2009, she spent four months living in Chennai on an Asialink Residency and the result was her collection Cow. During 2016 she has participated in writing a poem a day, including several new sequences on rewriting mythology, among then a twenty-poem sequence on the Muses http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/. She is a publisher at Spinifex Press which she co-founded with Renate Klein 25 years ago. In 2015, she received the George Robertson Award for her Services to the Publishing Industry. Read her published posts from the recent: (Poem) Lost texts: Linear A by Susan Hawthorne (Solstice poem) manitari (Poem) many breasted
(Art 1) Gather the Women by Pegi Eyers

Gather the Women 1/2 Art by Pegi Eyers The shared support and connection between women allows us to heal from the patriarchy that has waged war on us for millennia, and joining together in the true spirit of sisterhood is a revolutionary act. By forming diverse networks we enhance our own lives, our communities and the earth. The co-creation of women’s culture is a space where we can feel safe, celebrated and empowered, and when we gather together in circles of unity, miracles can happen. (This is included in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3)(Meet Mago Contributor) Pegi Eyers.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Jack Dempsey, Ph.D.

Jack Dempsey (b. 1955) began writing freelance in New York City, and published Ariadne’s Brother: A Novel on the Fall of Bronze Age Crete in 1996. With his Ph.D. in Native and Early American Studies from Brown University, Jack wrote, edited and produced four books and two films in those fields, including New English Canaan by Thomas Morton of Merrymount; Mystic Fiasco: How the Indians Won The Pequot War, and Nani: A Native New England Story. Working on People of the Sea since the 1990s, Jack created the collaborative multimedia website Ancientlights.org, and revealed ancient Western astronomy with
(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 2) 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.] Identifying the Sillan Bell as the Whale-Dragon Bell A whale is the very model that the Sillan bell takes after. Because the modern mind has been insulated from whale totemism, the cetacean identity of the Sillan bell may appear unexpected. I hold that whale totemism is a matricentric practice in origin, inseparable from the shaman head mothers of pre-patriarchal times who in turn invented the dragon symbol to express divine cetaceans. The whale-dragon bell exposes the three-way bond among shaman mothers, whales, and the dragon, the three axes that constitute the cetacean divine. By “the cetacean divine,” I mean both whales and female deities who are associated with the dragon. Put differently, whale totemism is a matricentric practice, inseparable from its shaman mothers, the originators. Deductively speaking, the royal association with the dragon accounts for the derivative nature of the throne from the socio-political authority of Magoist Cetacean Mothers.[1] The dynamic force of a dragon conveys that the cetacean divine is no abstract concept. Such triadic bond has survived in the iconography of a shaman deity known as Yonggung Buin (龍宮夫人 Dragon Palace Mother),[2] whose iconography comes as a mother seated on a dragon against the background of the sea (see [Figure 1]).[3] That said, the question, “Is the Sillan Bell really a whale bell?” is only a point of departure. Truth is that the whale bell is one of the myriad expressions of Magoist Cetaceanism.[4] Adding to the gamut of cetacean manifestations, Sillan bells take a special place to hold together the tie between a whale and the dragon. The artistic and poetic language of the Sillan bell betrays the whale-dragon linkage.[5] The dragon represents the “calling” of whales, the sonic waves carried through water. We have the expression, which metaphorically describes the bronze bell as “a standing mountain with the reverberating sound of a dragon.”[6] At the outset, the whale names, the whale-shaped striker, the Dragon Loop, and the Dragon Tube, all taken together, bespeak the whale-dragon bell (see [Figure 10]). The whale identity of the Sillan bell is unequivocal in the following manners: Primarily, its whale names are noted in East Asian sources. The Korean bell is parochially called Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), or Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale).[7] As such, the sound of the bell is alternatively called “the sound of whales (鯨音gyeongeum).”[8] The Sillan bell is an extension of the sound of a whale. Secondly, its striker comes in the shape of “a whale” (see Figures 2 and 12). Some of the Buddhist temple bells in Korea have kept the whale-shaped striker to this day: Sudeok-sa in Yesan, South Chungcheong, Seonam-sa in Suncheon, South Jeolla, and Gwaneum-sa in Palgong-san, Daegu.[9] Thirdly, the Dragon Loop of the whale bell (see Figures 15 and 16) is widely noted as Poroe (蒲牢 Pulao in Chinese) in East Asian historical sources. The whale-dragon link was a puzzle for the ancient mind as well. The lore of Pulao in a Chinese source was known from as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907), which goes: In the sea there is a big fish called whale, and on the shore there is a creature whose name is pulao. The pulao has always been afraid of the whale. Whenever the whale strikes [or attacks] him, pulao cries [or roars] loudly. Thus those who want to make a loud [bell] would put a pulao on top. Therefore the bell-striker would be made [in the shape of] a whale.[10] According to the same source, Pulao became incorporated in a later time as one of the “Nine Children of the Dragon (龍生九子Longshen-jiuzi)” during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).[11] Note the nona symbol for the dragon of the whale bell, which signifies the Cosmic Music or Palryeo (Palryeo (八呂Eight-toned Music).[12] The tone of the above, however, is only a playful stopgap at best: Pulao is “afraid of the whale.” When struck by the whale-shaped striker, it “cries [or roars] loudly.” The Pulao scheme is only a reductionist conceptual apparatus. Whales and dragons are not two separate entities. It is inapt to convey the matriversal inter-cosmic consciousness involved in the whale-dragon symbol. The dragon is a phenomenological representation of the divine cetacean. Taken together the whale names, the whale-shaped striker, and the whale-dragon mythopoeia of Pulao, the Sillan bronze bell, analogized as a standing mountain wherein the sound of a dragon reverberates, is certainly a depiction of the whale in the action of breaching (see [Figure 3]). When the whale-shaped striker hits the striking seat of the bell’s body, the sound waves transmit through the hollow inside of the bell’s body. Some sound waves move upward and pass through the Dragon Tube to the air (see Figures 15 and 16]! Some sound waves move downward to the Depression of Sound Resonance (analogically the bottom of the sea) to be rebounded (see [Figure 13]). The dragon (the sound waves emitted by whales) “soared through the highest peak of heaven and reached below through the bottomless valley.”[13] Note that the bell’s body is adorned with the aquatic images of water nymphs,[14] lotus flower, the sea-wave-like curvilinear designs (see Figures 20-21, 22, 24, 25). The whale-dragon bell reenacts the phenomenon that all beings on the planet are resounding and dancing in responding to the calling of whales! Now let us turn to a Korean Buddhist utterance on the dragon, Poroe, and the whale-shaped striker. Gyeongdeok the Great (r. 742-765), the 35th ruler of Unified Silla, had the wind-powered automated artifact made, which is called the Manbul-san (Mount of Ten Thousand Buddhas). According to the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three States), the Manbulsan was an imitation of a paradisiacal mountain, carved and decorated on a sunken fragrant wood piece about 2 meters in height. Manbulsan was created and presented as a gift to …
(S/HE V3 N1 Book Review) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Helen Benigni (Eds), Celebrating Intercosmic Kinship of the Goddess, Reviewed by Kaarina Kailo

[This is from S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (V3 N1, 2023) Its Ebook edition and paperback are available at Mago Bookstore.] Celebrating Intercosmic Kinship of the Goddess edited by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Helen Benigni is a kaleidoscopic gaze at the Great Goddess interpreted and expressed in myriad creative and academic ways. The contributors explore individually and collectively the theme of “matriversal” cosmologies and the various ways in which peoples across time have experienced and expressed the intercosmic kinship relations. The essays, artwork and other contributions refer also to the unity many cultures feel with constellations and deities, an astral imaginary. The book’s contributions are many—words are also a form of magic that this book makes clear, naming what patriarchal politics of naming have erased or ignored. On one level, it introduces many exciting, soul-tingling concepts and words, like Helen Hwang’s “matriversal” (maternally perceived universe) and “soteriological” adding to the spiritual grammar of Goddess studies. The vision for the anthology aligns itself with the goals of most goddess studies that seek to inspire new spiritual activities, symbols and imaginaries that might help save the planet and advance positive gender-oriented relations and a sense of interconnectedness between human and non-human species. The book’s goal is spiritually and experientially ambitious as it explores the practical outcome of Oneness, of removing illusions. In alignment with goddess culture, Oneness is not only a form of individual mind-fullness or transcendence but is grounded in ethical response-abilities that impact on wellness for all created beings. The contents are embodied in the essays, poems, fictions, photographic works, artworks, and art essays of this volume. The book is structured as four sections with their specific themes or foci: Section One: Understanding Intercosmic Kinship (Noris Binet, Joanna Kujawa, Beth G. Raps, Dorothea Kahena Viale, Glenys Livingstone, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, J.A. Burnett, Harita Meenee, Helen Benigni, Helen Benigni and Sara Wright), Section Two: Seeing with Inner Eyes (Mary Saracino, Alshaad Kara, JoyAnne O’Donnell, Helen Benigni, Harriet Ann Ellenberger, Nicole Rain Sellers, Deborah Hollins, Abigail Ardelle Zammit, Arlene Bailey, Carolyn Lee Boyd, Liz Darling, Pegi Eyers, Nan Conneely, Andrea Redmond, Barbara C. Daughter, Veronica Leandrez, Claudia Vico, Glena Rogers, Crystal Bonnici and Alice-Gervais), Section Three: As Above, So Below (Anna Tzanova, Helen Benigni, Sara Wright, Zoe Anderson, Freeda Cathcart, Carolyn Lee Boyd, Belinda K. Lashea, Claire Dorey , Glenys Livingstone and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang) Section Four: Consolidating Matriversal Kinship (Susan Hawthorne, Katharine I. Ransom, Kathleen McNary Wood and Alison Newvine). There are no less than 61 entries. No small feat. The anthology explores chthonic Earth wisdom. It delves into the different imaginaries to do with the Goddess, how it is understood, interpreted, represented and how it impacts on humans, and has impacted in the Paleolithic and Neolithic past. The deep vision of the book gives birth to intellectually challenging and poetically inspired writings that contrast sharply with anemic, abstract patriarchal theorizing. The entries awaken our bodysoul, one with cosmic dimensions, stir our imagination, yet provide solid proof of the investigated theses. I learnt lots of new facts about Asian cosmologies to mention only one reason why this book delighted me. The book is grounded in new research and philosophical innovations, and as such it empowers wo/men to better perceive the cosmos in their image, that of the feminine divine that embraces us all across the borders of species, genders, generations. It addresses the question of how to live on the earth with the right mix of ecofriendly guilt and yet, without the dominator society’s mental straightjackets and mind colonization. The contributors are gardeners and song writers of another world that they infer is thus not only a dream, but a reality for many spiritually oriented people. In alignment with feminist attitudes towards knowledge and “beingknowing,” the authors and artists explore a breath-taking variety of themes including the ancient traditions and cultures of animals, plants and/or natural elements, Matricentric Calendars, Goddess cosmology and/or cosmogony, Gift economies, Reaffirmation of matriarchal societies, Astrological implications of the Goddess, Moon, Sun, and/or constellations and the Goddess, Trans-cultural or trans-national Goddess manifestations, Ecofeminist spiritualities and the Manifestations and Totemistic beliefs of the Female Divine, Vegetarian customs or Veganism as Goddess activism, Herbalism and the Goddess, Indigenous spiritualities that celebrate oneness with nature, ancient gynocentric spiritualities reflected in modern faith practices, Shamanism and its nature shrines. The starting point of the anthology is that in our consciousness, humanity needs this feminine symbol for renewal both in a cultural and spiritual sense. The editors are both recognized, solid scholars explaining the rigor and artistic quality of the anthology. https://www.magoism.net/2016/03/meet-mago-contributor-kaarina-kailo
Saille – Living the Willow Moon by Deanne Quarrie, D. Min.

Art by Andrew Morton, II Saille Salix Alba Image by Drew Morton The Tree Saille – Willow Moon Fifth Cycle Place on the hand Tip of the Little Finger Color Sodath – Fine colored Stone Ruby, Moonstone Bird Seg – Hawk Goddesses Hecate Planet Moon Metal silver Day of the Week Monday Musical Note b Message Enchantment. Symbolizes death as changes and bringer of life, lucky for journeys Word Ogham Flow, hue of the lifeless, activity of bees, beginning of honey Beautiful Lady who weepsby the water’s edgeOn a dreamSend me the gift of eloquenceTo flowWith youWhispering oneYour silvery hairSwirls about mein your healing depths Poem by Carmen Reyes Willow is sacred to Hecate, Circe, Hera, Minerva and Persephone who are all death aspects of the Triple Goddess. The words Wicca, witchcraft, and witches all possibly derive from an old word for willow. Willow gave its name to Helicon, the abode of nine muses who were orgiastic priestesses of the Moon Goddess. A willow tree grew outside Zeus’ Cretan cave when he was born. It is a tree that loves water the most. It is sacred to moon goddesses, givers of dew. The bark is good for pain, arthritic and rheumatic. It is the tree of enchantment. If we look at the beautiful weeping willow, think of the magical hidden place under her boughs! Saille is feminine, the moon, water, is used to line burial places, and has a symbolic association with death. It is used to attract love, magical wands for moon magic, guard against evil, healing spells, brooms/besoms traditionally bound in willow. The Willow is a sign of intuition and imagination. It is the unfolding of our powers, including psychic and intuitive. From its bird, the hawk, we are made mindful of the possible need for cunning, the skillful and subtle use of mental powers to have your aims met. We are urged to seek out the hidden forces in our lives. The challenge of the Willow is the tendency to ignore the unconscious, hidden aspects of the personality. We may be ignorant of an important aspect of ourselves. Awaken to possibility and embrace the fertile aspects of your mind. The Bird “I am a hawk on a cliff” from The Mystery, The Song of Amergin The hawk lives within certain boundaries – and hunts at liminal times – at the “edge” of day at dawn, as well the second “edge”, at dusk. The hawk is the final catalyst in the change from dark to light: it is her decisive, willed action that liberates our growth-energy from confinement and allows this action-filled and fertile season of summer to become manifest. Hawk is the messenger, attributed with responsibility. She teaches us to observe, receive signals, and grab opportunity. Hawk brings a connection with the far-reaching memory. Hawk is the ancestor soul. The energies of this lunar cycle are bringing desire for action. We gradually gathered ourselves while germinating in the dark. We have taken in the energies of water, air and fire, and now we are ready to take form, bursting out of our shells, expressing our own will, to manifest what it is we have been storing within ourselves. Let us follow her on our quest, enjoying the warmth of summer, growing into our fullness. Grab hold of this wondrous sense of adventure she offers! Hecate as an Archetype for this Cycle From Hecate, who is a lunar goddess and of things hidden, we learn about shadows as well as making choices for She is the Goddess of the Crossroads. In figurines of Hecate, she takes on the form of a pillar called Hecterion. One statue shows her with three heads and six arms, bearing three torches and three sacred emblems, a key, rope, and dagger. With the key to the underworld, Hecate unlocks the secrets of the occult mysteries and knowledge of afterlife. The rope symbolizes the umbilical cord of rebirth and renewal. The Stones Ruby is a stone of passion. Care must be taken when using this crystal, because it can bring negativity and anger to the surface. Ruby should be used with knowledge of how to gain from the experiences it brings. Allow the anger or negativity to come to the surface, and then let it dispel, never to trouble you again. Be purified by the experience, not overwhelmed. Ruby can also amplify positive energies. It is said to boost the positive aspects that you already possess. Use this reserve of positive energies to help you overcome the negative energies that ruby might allow to surface. Ruby’s vibrations energize. It is said to stimulate visualization and motivation. This effect can allow you to be more realistic in your expectations, and more honest in your intentions. Ruby intensifies the life-force energy that we all possess, stimulating the will to live and enhancing your innate survival instinct. Moonstone’s energies are soothing and nurturing. They can help calm and prevent over-reactions to personal situations that involve emotions. Moonstone’s energies are feminine in nature. They can help us all become more sensitive and loving. The subtle energies of moonstone can help to open and cleanse your heart. They are soothing and healing to the mind, emotions, and body. Although moonstone is seen as a feminine influence, it can also help balance aspects of yourself, making moonstone a good choice for men who could benefit from being more sensitive and better able to express love. In India, moonstone is considered sacred. It is said to bring good fortune, but, more importantly, it is seen as a tool to promote spiritual enlightenment. Moonstone can help you become more intuitive. It can also boost psychic ability. Moonstone has a powerful effect on women’s menstrual cycles. Women are cautioned about wearing or carrying moonstone at times of the full moon or when they are menstruating. In summary, Saille is a sign of intuition, imagination, flexibility, balance and sometimes deception. It is the unfolding of psychic powers. The Willow …

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

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Helen Hwang I study and advocate Goddess feminism or Magoism because it is a way of living for me. I find myself in Mago (the Great Goddess) who in turn leads me to the Way wherein I learn how to become the person who I can be. It has to be Mago, the Female Divine, because She is real! She is the Primordial Mother who is the Beginning and the End of everything to us on the planet Earth. She teaches me the real. I can’t negotiate Her to anything less. Helen Hye Sook Hwang, Ph.D. California http://magoism.net Bridget Robertson A Goddessian I was introduced to a form of meditative journeying by a resident in my grandmother’s retirement community. She approached to me. I know she was at least part Native American, and that alone made her the topic of much gossip in the building. Her Rose colored lipstick, deep brown eyes, wrinkles that only helped illuminate her face and a chiffon scarf that matched none of her clothes. I thought she needed help with her groceries. She didn’t. She had me stop the elevator. and directly asked about my looking tired. My response was about being, busy balancing all the areas of my life. In fact I was exhausted doling out time like pieces of pie.
(Special Post) Why I choose to be an RTM contributor by Glenys Livingstone

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

(Music) Songs for Samhain by Alison Newvine

The season of Samhain is upon us. This playlist is an offering for this descent into the sacred darkness, and a companion for the journey into the underworld. Invocation of Witches features music by Loreena McKennitt, Marya Stark, Inkubus Sukubus, Wendy Rule, my band Spiral Muse, and many others. It is a soundtrack for ceremony and each song expresses a different face of the spirit of the witch. May this Samhain season guide you gently into the dissolution of what no longer serves, the honoring of what is complete and the cultivation of the inner space that will gestate what is yet to come. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CFNoH9exhloz3w95P3Rlb?si=270cf01fabb8421c https://www.magoism.net/2023/10/meet-mago-contributor-alison-newvine/
(Video) An Autumn Equinox Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

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

Sekhmet by Katlyn Each year between December 20-23 Sun reaches Her peak in the Southern Hemisphere: it is the Summer Solstice Moment. Poetry of the Season may be expressed in this way: This is the time when the light part of day is longest. You are invited to celebrate SUMMER SOLSTICE Light reaches Her fullness, and yet… She turns, and the seed of Darkness is born. This is the Season of blossom and thorn – for pouring forth the Gift of Being. The story of Old tells that on this day Beloved and Lover dissolve into the single Song of ecstasy – that moves the worlds. Self expands in the bliss of creativity. Sun ripens in us: we are the Bread of Life. We celebrate Her deep Communion and Reciprocity. Glenys Livingstone, 2005 The choice of images for the Season is arbitrary; there are so many more that may express Her fullness of being, Her relational essence and Her Gateway quality at this time. And also for consideration, is the fact that 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 Summer Solstice. As you receive the images, remember that image communicates the unspeakable, that which can only be known in body, below rational mind. So you may open yourself to a transmission of Her, that will be particular to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syTBjWpw3XU Shalako Mana Hopi 1900C.E. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess), Corn Mother. Food is a miracle, food is sacred. She IS the corn, the corn IS Her. She gives Herself to feed all. The food/She is essential to survival, hospitality and ceremony … and all of this is transmuted in our beings. Sekhmet Contemporary image by Katlyn. Egyptian Sun Goddess. Katlyn says: Her story includes the compassionate nature of destruction. The fierce protection of the Mother is sometimes called to destroy in order to preserve well being. And Anne Key expresses: She represents “the awesome and awe-full power of the Sun. This power spans the destructive acts of creation and the creative acts of destruction.”- (p.135 Desert Priestess: a memoir).A chant in Her praise by Abigail Spinner McBride: Sheila-na-gig 900C.E. British Isles. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). From Elinor Gadon The Once and Future Goddess (p.338): “She is remembered in Ireland as the Old Woman who gave birth to all races of human…. In churches her function was to ward off evil”, or to attract the Pagan peoples to the church. From Adele Getty Goddess (p.66): “The first rite of passage of all human beings begins in the womb and ends between the thighs of the Great Mother. In India, the vulva “known as the yoni, is also called cunti or kunda, the root word of cunning, cunt and kin … (the yoni) was worshipped as an object of great mystery … the place of birth and the place where the dead are laid to rest were often one and the same.” Getty says her message here in this image “is double-edged: the opening of her vulva and the smile on her face elicit both awe and terror; one might venture too far inside her and never return to the light of day …” as with all caves and gates of initiation. In the Christian mind the yoni clearly became the “gates of hell”. And as Helene Cixous said in her famous feminist article “The Laugh of the Medusa”: “Let the priests tremble, we’re going to show them our sexts!” (SIGNS Summer 1976) Kunapipi (Australia) “the Aboriginal mother of all living things, came from a land across the sea to establish her clan in Northern Australia, where She is found in both fresh and salt water. In the Northern Territory She is known as Warramurrungundgi. She may also manifest Herself as Julunggul, the rainbow snake goddess of initiations who threatens to swallow children and then regurgitate them, thereby reinforcing the cycle of death and rebirth. In Arnhem Land She is Ngaljod …” (Visions of the Goddess by Courtney Milne and Sherrill Miller – thanks to Lydia Ruyle). More information: re Kunapipi. NOTE the similarity to Gobekli Tepe Sheela Turkey 9600B.C.E., thanks Lydia Ruyle.Lydia Ruyle’s Gobekli Tepe banner. Inanna/Ishtar Mesopotamia 400 B.C.E. (Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature) She holds Her breasts displaying her potency. She is a superpower who feeds the world, nourishes it with Her being. We all desire to feel this potency of being: Swimme and Berry express: “the infinite striving of the sentient being”. Adele Getty calls this offering of breasts to the world “a timeless sacred gesture”. Mary Mother of God 1400 C.E. Europe (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). A recognition, even in the patriarchal context that She contains it all. Wisdom and Compassion Tibetan Goddess and God in Union. This is Visvatara and Vajrasattva 1800C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle). Sri Yantra Hindu meditation diagram of union of Goddess and God. 1500 C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle, p.75). “Goddess and God” is the common metaphor, but it could be “Beloved and Lover”, and so it is in the mind of many mystics and poets: that is, the sacred union is of small self with larger Self. Prajnaparamita the Mother of all Buddhas. (The Great Mother Erich Neumann, pl 183). She is the Wisdom to whom Buddha aspired, Whom he attained. Medusa Contemporary, artist unknown. She is a Sun Goddess: this is one reason why it was difficult to look Her in the eye. See Patricia Monaghan, O Mother Sun! REFERENCES: Gadon, Elinor W. The Once and Future Goddess. Northamptonshire: Aquarian, 1990. Getty, Adele. Goddess: Mother of Living Nature. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Iglehart Austen, Hallie. The Heart of the Goddess.Berkeley: Wingbow, 1990. Katlyn, artist https://www.mermadearts.com/b/altar-images-art-by-katlyn Key, Anne. Desert Priestess: a memoir. NV: Goddess Ink, 2011. Mann A.T. and …
Samhain/Deep Autumn within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

Photo 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, older and full of life’s weeping and wondering awe At all that has happened in my decades on Earth I must shake myself into consciousness My seed’s opaque, blinding hull disintegrates and Bodyless, at last I can see through Goddess eyes I ache as my blood paints each flower petal I spin the whirlwind that cannot stop creating abundance I push the seasons through the year that mortals believe revolve of their own accord. Through Goddess eyes I can see me, I inhabit Winter’s hand as my own. I make the cold to slow creation of outside of me To gather the seed into fertile stillness within. That burgeons in my own time. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/

(Bell Essay 2) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part II Overall Structure and Parts of the Ancient Korean Bell The ancient Korean bell takes on the female form figuratively. In other words, its female implication is expressed symbolically rather than descriptively. Unlike the ancient Greek bell that literally depicts a woman’s body (See Bell Essay 1), the ancient Korean bell characterizes female anatomy with symbols and designs. Neither limbs nor a human face is seen. Instead, breasts and nipples are stylized. The head is represented by a dragon. The belly is adorned with the relief of celestial nymphs. The female symbology that the bell invokes is not limited to the material body of the bell only, however. The legend of a female child sacrifice to the casting of the bell should be taken in the light of its female symbology. Likewise, the inscription made on the Sangwonsa Jong indicating that the commissioner was a woman needs to be taken into consideration. Foremost, the Magoist cosmogony that attributes cosmic music to ultimate creativity holds the key to unlock the very purpose of the bell: The bell is created to sound the Call of Mago, the Great Goddess. Visualizing Her, the bell emits the Sound of Mago for which its sacredness is explained. The bell, if we call it Buddhist, redefines Buddhism, Korean Buddhism, to be precise. It calls people to the arcane knowledge of the female origin. These points are to be discussed in more detail in the forthcoming sequels. In this part, I discuss the overall structure of the bell and examine some major characteristics of its parts. An ancient Korean bell consists of two parts: the bell’s body (jongsin) and the dragon loop (yongnu). The bell’s body part includes the Nipples, the Bell Breast, the Breast Circumference, Bell’s Belly, Celestial Nymphs, Bell’s Mouth, the Striking Seat, the Heavenly Plate, the Upper Support, and the Lower Support. And the dragon loop part includes the Dragon Loop and the Dragon Tube (Sound Tube). In addition, the piece of wood (mallet) that is designed to strike the bell on Dangjwa (Striking Seat) is called Dangmok (the Striking Wood). It also requires an Ullimtong (Depressed Ground for Sound Transmission) for the sound waves to travel. Each part, as a microcosm, adds to the beauty and function of the bell. Images sculpted including foliage, flower, lotus, humans, celestial nymphs, breasts, nipples, and dragon are achieved in sophistication. Artistic mastery is sublime. Behold! The bell is a metaphor of not only the body of a woman, the vulva in particular, but also what she is, her purpose! The bell transforms the female to the divine, the Goddess. Now I invite the reader to take note of the overall shape of the bell made in the form of a large Korean crock (hangari) placed upside down. The curved line drawn from top to bottom with the diameter of its mouth smaller than that of the belly is another distinguishing feature. In fact, there are quite a few features that distinguish ancient Korean bells from the bells of China and Japan. The parts that I illustrated above, in particular the nine Nipples, the Bell Breast, the Dragon Tube, Celestial Nymphs, and the Striking Seat, are its representative characteristics. As a percussion instrument, the ancient Korean bell epitomizes precision and sophistication. Everything contained on the surface of the bell is made to resonate with the inner hollow to maximize the travel of sound waves. As shown below in the figure, even the metal residue remaining on the inner wall plays a key role, creating the sound waves. Without those irregular lumps, the sound will have a far lower frequency making fewer waves. In other words, the rough surface of the inner hollow is intentional. Beauty and functionality are conjoined to create the sound of the Goddess. Functional parts such as the Dragon Loop, Dragon Tube (or Sound Tube), and the Striking Seat are seamlessly integrated with the artistry. The Dragon Loop is there to represent the divinity of the Goddess and at once to be used as a hook for hanging. The Dragon Tube open-ended upward is there to vent out the impurity of the sound. When all is said and done, it is designed not just to please the eye but to awaken the mind to seek. The bell in its mesmerizing beauty wakes up the mind of people, otherwise made dull or dormant under patriarchal inflictive routines. Buddhists might say that the reality to which the sound calls is “the way things are” or “suchness.” However, such understanding is only a tingle of the patriarchal mind that refuses to hear the deeper call. The bell awakens people to the reality of the Goddess. Each striking carries the pulse of Mago, the Great Goddess. Sources: Norugwi. [http://blog.daum.net/euijj31/11296149] Cultural Heritage Administration [http://www.cha.go.kr/main/KorIndex!korMain.action] Sin Hyeongjun. “Why is the Sound of Bell beautiful? The Delicacy of the Striking Spot… The Uneven Thickness Creates Sound Waves” Choson Ilbo, October, 9, 2001. (To be continued in Part III, Read Part I)
(2018 Mago Pilgrimage) Peak of Nine Wells in Yeongam (Spiritual Rock), South Jeolla by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This essay comprises a summary report and its unfolding awakenings to be unraveled in sequences. I dedicate this essay to my 2018 Mago Pilgrimage companions, Narayani Ankh, Kate Besleme, Hyunsuk Jee, and Julie Jang. Learn more about Mago Pilgrimage.] Hike Report The town, Yeong-am (Spirit Rock), emanates an aura from its Magoist natural, historical, and cultural legacies. Among them, what grabbed my attention include Wolchul-san (月出山 Moon Rising Mountain), Dogap-sa (Dogap Temple), and Gurim Village, known for the birth place of Doseon Guksa (State Master Doseon), a prominent Buddhist monk, the 9th century of Silla (827-898). I was most attracted to the Peak of Nine Wells (九井峰 Gujeong-bong) as well as the Loom Cave shaped in the form of a vulva, part of the Moon Rising Mountain ranges. Our goal was to hike the Peak of Nine Wells (hereafter Gujeong-bong). We took the seemingly shortest trail, through Cheonwang-bong (Peak of Heavenly Ruler), the highest peak of Moon Rising Mountain, 809 km above sea level. It took about 8 hours for the entire hike took about 8 hours and it was one of the two most strenuous and significant ones that I have taken. About 30 years ago, I climbed Mt. Halla in Jeju Island and had received the vision of my life. No longer a youth, I had a much clearer vision about my life and the act of high altitude hiking this time. With my two companions, Narayani Ankh and Kate Besleme, who showed no sign of hesitation or tiredness in the beginning and throughout the course, I embarked my day’s journey. With occasional breaks, we were able gain distance and progress. Beautiful streams adorned the valley. Rocks were emitting the oldest song of the earth. Our talks continued and deepened, when we had breath to spare. It was such a blessing that I had these two co-hikers from elsewhere! My mind zoomed in and worked in detail. All thinking and feeling became registered. Impromptu, I began to count my steps up on stiff wooden stairways. My counting one, two, three… and thirteen carried me to the top of the stairs. The 13 counting chant worked; There was no medium between me and WE/HERE/NOW. We were gifted a 360-degree bird’s eye view on Cheongwang-bong. Several ridges with the depth of Magoist history came within a vision. We took a small lunch break. On a high mountain top wherein all remains visibly related, everyone becomes kin. On Cheongwang-gong, we were instructed by the rangers we met along the journey about the ridge path to Gujeong-bong. Gujeong-bong would be about another one and half hour hike away from us. We passed by a few masses of gigantic boulder formations for which Wolchul-san is known for. Among them was the standing stone called the Phallic Rock, a name that I suspected to be original. For standing stones are called the Rock of Mago Halmi in other regions of Korea. In any case, the very existence of the Phallic Rock (남근바위 Namgeun Bawi) heralded the appearance of the Loom Cave, a misnomer for the Yoni Cave (여근바위 Yeogeun Bawi). Heart beatings escalated as we approached our destination. We finally reached the Loom Cave, which closely resembled the vulva. The cave was made of a huge boulder, three times taller than an average person in size. A small pond sat inside the entrance made the cave a real yoni of nature. I was pulled into the state of trance, as we made a final climb up the stairs around the left side of the Loom Cave. I was able to see that the Peak of Nine Wells is located on the top plain of the Loom Cave. It is part of the yoni cave! I saw a number of wells pocketed in various sizes of ponds. They numbered more than nine, about 13, variable in number in that a couple of them were made in between adjacent boulders. The biggest well was larger than one meter (3.3 feet) in diameter. Moderns do their typical things in a time like this, indeed odd out of other options or necessity to share with others: I took photos of the wells and my companions, which were absolutely beautiful as they were. However, mental imprints were not able to be contained then and in nature. WE/HERE/NOW embraced all on the spot, perhaps like a black hole. Casual conversations wouldn’t continue. The silence and the oneness fast permeated our time/space. Our minds worked on layers. The deepest mind was stored in the reservoir of the unspoken. Descending is good as a time/space of tuning/balancing oneself to the power of WE/HERE/NOW. There wasn’t much time left for us to return, while the sun was still out. We hurriedly descended a different tail. I was no longer the same person I was prior to the experience of hiking Gujeong-bong. No need to dig up and count the number of branches in one’s root. To live means to grow and evolve, as we are meant to be. To be continued. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.
(Mago Pilgrimage video 2) Ganghwa Island by Robert (Taffy) Seaborne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ANT2cPDN-g The first day of Mago Pilgrimage 2014 to Korea, organised by Dr.Helen Hwang, was to Ganghwa Island, starting actually on Gyodong Peace Island: the group included locals, and together we walked up to the Rock of Constellation Marks located atop the Ruin of Hwagae “Castle”/Stronghold. The scenic view up there is from the Ruin of Gwanmi Stronghold (not a fortress, as present minds may think, but a “strong” place). I state all this here about the name because there was a bit of confusion in my mind when making the video. Along our way we came across an ancient sweat lodge – named Hanjeung-mak – shaped like a womb and similar to ancient constructions in other lands. As we walked we could also at some points, see across to the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea, and some in our group expressed deep distress about the loss and splitting of families, with this division.