September 13, 2023September 9, 2023 Mago Work

(Poem) I Bow by Arlene Bailey

(Meet Mago Contributor) Arlene Bailey

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(Essay 2) ‘Archetype or Patriarchetype? A Brief History of the Symbolic Meanings of Thorn Trees’ by Kelly A. Greer

Children of Eve, Abraham, or Acacia? The stories of Abraham offer yet another clue regarding the symbolic meaning of thorn trees. According to scriptures, after he returned from Beersheeba, Abraham was directed by God to sacrifice his son. He prepared the altar with wood for a fire and, as he was ready to raise his hand to the boy, an angel called out to stop him. Just then a ram, caught with his horns in a thicket, was provided in place of Abraham’s son (Genesis 22: 1-18). While he was in Beersheba Abraham had planted a grove (Genesis 21:33) which Jacob later cut and carried into Egypt. This was the beginning of the biblical Patriarchs: Abraham begat Isaac; Isaac begat Jacob; Jacob begat Joseph, all in a patrilineal succession without the mention of their mothers. The substitution of the ram Abraham found in the thicket saved the life of Isaac, or Ishmael, and, according to Jay: By this act, Isaac, on the edge of death, received his life not by birth from his mother but from the hand of his father as directed by God (Elohim); and the granting of life was a deliberate, purposeful act rather than a mere natural process, a spiritual “birth” accomplished without female assistance. Abraham received, at this sacrifice, assurance of countless descendants. In the Islamic tradition, the near-sacrifice of the son took place with Ibrahim and Ismael, his son through Hajar (Hagar). An interpretation similar to Jay’s is given by M.E. Combs-Schilling, wherein sacrifice is likewise discussed as a form of male childbirth, and male childbirth, as argued above, is the central patriarchetype. The thicket and the bundle of wood used for the fire intended for the sacrifice of Isaac are widely held to have been thorn-bushes. These bushes provided the sacrificial ram caught by its horns. If, as Jay and Combs-Schilling insist, the symbolic nature of the act of Abraham sacrificing the ram is a form of male childbirth, then the thicket is itself symbolic of the mother. If this is so, then Abraham’s son Isaac was symbolically born of the thorn tree. This explains why Isaac’s son Jacob returned to Beersheba on his way to Egypt to cut the grove planted there by his grandfather Abraham, taking the sacred wood of the thorn trees with him, and finally why Moses was instructed to use this wood for the Ark of the Covenant. Abraham’s planting of the grove foreshadows the near-sacrifice of Isaac and it also implies that these trees were already held to be sacred. It is interesting that later folktales regarding the so-called “Man in the Moon” – in reference to the shapes of the darker images on the face of the moon — hold that this silhouette is that of Isaac, carrying the bundle of thorns for his own sacrifice. Literature that refers to the image also render it as a thorn tree, though many, including Dante, Shakespeare, and Chaucer, have written that Man in the Moon is the image of Cain carrying a thorn tree. As the son of Adam and Eve, Cain is associated with thorn trees because in Genesis thorns are associated with the fall and perceived as punishment for having partaken of the tree of knowledge. According to Jewish legend, “In Paradise stand the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, the latter forming a hedge about the former.” Throughout history hedges have traditionally been made of thorn trees. Hence, in this role the thorn tree is the Tree of Knowledge enclosing the Tree of Life. An enclosed area that is set apart by the use of a fence is symbolic of the womb. Such defended enclosures were the original “sacred precincts”; however, to apply an example given by Erich Neumann, “the primitive fence enclosing the female place of childbearing became a sign for the sacred precinct in general.” Thorn-bushes provide protection and so have been used in a variety of ways, including barriers and shelter for humans and animals. Along with the curse of thistles and thorns in Genesis 3, Eve was cursed with the pain of childbirth, and sacrifice has been postulated by Jay as a “remedy for having been born of woman.” The blood of the sacrificial animal represented the father’s bloodline, replaced the mother’s biological tie to her offspring with socially constructed ones, and represented a symbolic birth of the child into the father’s realm. The symbolic use of acacia gum in the birth ritual parallels the use of sacrificial blood as a means of blessing a child. Why this is so is unclear beyond the likening of the tree to a woman. It is possible that if the meaning of the acacia ritual was matrilineal it might be the origin of what came to be a central patrilineal practice — the archetype underlying the patriarchetype. Before menstrual blood came to be feared under patriarchy, viewed as dirty and dangerous, it was revered for its life-giving power. Since acacia gum was equated with menstrual blood, the use of this gum in the same manner as that of sacrificial animal blood in the birth or kinship rituals implies symbolic parallels. This reflects the fact that menstrual blood is the archetype and that sacrificial blood is the patriarchetype. The history of the symbolic use of thorn trees is not limited to these Judaic and pre-Islamic traditions, nor are the associations with women and childbirth limited to the gum of the acacia. In fact, the thorn tree is also found in Christian symbolism, as Jesus was mockingly crowned with thorns as the King of the Jews. However, long before the advent of Christianity or Judaism, thorn trees were revered throughout Africa. Thorn Trees in Ancient Egypt and Tribal Africa The acacia was prominent among the sacred trees of ancient Egypt. The goddess Saosis, better known as Hathor, gave birth to the gods beneath the sacred acacia north of Heliopolis. The ancient pyramids proclaim that Horus was born from an acacia, and the temple …
(Prose Pt.2) Transcending Boundaries – Hatshepsut’s Path to Destiny by Alaya Advaita Dannu

Upon waking, the first thing I did was write this down. As I wrote in my journal I wondered what this could mean – not just for myself and the rest of the dreams I’ve had prior to this one, but for the collective? Could this dream be the key I needed to unlock a much deeper understanding of myself and my place within the cosmos? Would it help me to further understand my purpose in this life? Could I share this with the collective? The country that she traveled to that began with a “P” was Punt. To this day scholars debate on its location and whether or not it was real or mythological. Did I know about Punt before the dream? I did not know it existed until the morning of. Have I dreamt of its location since having the dream? No. Have I asked to be shown? Of course! Will it be revealed in the near or distant future? The question to ask is, “Is it necessary for me to know or for the location to be known?” I am okay with not knowing because the focus of my inquiry is not centered on Hatshepsut. She also stated in my dream that she was a Sheshu-Hor – which loosely translates to “Follower of Horus”, and can be simply understood to be a holy order that contained the esoteric knowledge of the civilization from its earliest conception. Hatshepsut was a priestess both as a Queen and Pharaoh; I’ve concluded the information presented from the dream to be accurate. When I look at Hatshepsut I am looking at a representation of destiny and purpose, and I ask these questions [amongst many others]: What was it that inspired Hatshepsut to take hold of what she deemed to be her destiny? How did her closest advisor, Senenmut, know what to look for in order to assist her? Why did those after her disagree with her actions to the point of wanting to erase her existence? I was surprised at the number of assumptions made by many scholars, past and present, around Hatshepsut’s actions: that she usurped the throne or was creative in her taking of something that belonged to Thutmose III, or that of a male. She was so adamant in the dream that it was her birthright, that it was necessary to reorient how I looked at the dreams I’ve had before and after this one, and how I approached my search for clarity. Could my dreams provide more clues to support my search for uncovering more details to her claim? My viewpoint shifted away from looking at the ancient Egyptian mythology through the discipline of Egyptology, and settled upon an exploration of my prior dreams that utilized mythological themes from the ancient Egyptian civilization. I wanted to know why this was her birthright without imposing any assumptions I had about kingship. This allowed my inquiry to take a more intuitive and organic approach, allowing myself to follow the process as it unfolded. Comparing themes between the two sources – dreams and mythology – would illuminate aspects of Hatshepsut’s actions in ways that would not have been previously explored. In my search, I found two statements that support the idea that she was well within her right to be pharaoh: one attributed to Hatshepsut at the temple of Mut: “Oh, ye who see my monument in the course of years, and converse of what I have done, beware of saying ‘I know not, I know not, why these things were done”, And the other from Senenmut [also at the temple of Mut], her foremost advisor and head priest: “I have access to every book of the priests, I do not ignore what has happened since the beginning of time”. To fully understand these statements, one would need to uncover the origins of their beliefs – uncover the same source of knowledge that Senenmut had access to. If, as a collective, we are able to look beneath the layer of the superficial, and identify what is being communicated, we would be better able to reconstruct our collective backstory; allowing this experience to open up fresh avenues for our evolutionary process. In understanding Hatshepsut’s actions, all I needed to do was look at my previous dream journal entries and wait for another dream to reveal how to weave all of the pieces together. I felt, that all I needed was one key – only one explanation, and I would be able to give voice to her actions in ways she could not. I waited two weeks and three days before I dreamt of what I determined to be the key to not only understanding Hatshepsut’s actions, but the premise of the ancient Egyptian belief system, and the essence of their mythology. _________ Imagine if we applied this process of inquiry to all aspects of life: What fresh avenues for discovery could we allow to open up before us? What deep rigid structures are we engaged in that could be transformed by the possibility of what could be? What is it that we are not seeing clearly? What is it that inspires us to use our discernment to its maximum potential? How does this bring to light that which is hidden and how does it help us in our lives right now? Why is this important? Dreams reveal details or aspects about things that would otherwise remain hidden, both for the individual and the collective. If we can learn the language of dreams in the same form it was created – and not out of the limitations of the mind – perhaps we can integrate the wisdom from the past with our efforts in the present for the creation of a more inclusive world we so desire and crave for. End of the sequel. Read Part 1 (Meet Mago Contributor, Alaya A. Dannu) _____ Resources Benson, Margaret, Janet Gourlay, and Percy E Newberry. The Temple Of Mut In Asher. London: Murray, 1899. …
(Poem) Goodbye D.C. by Francesca Tronetti

Lincoln Memorial, WASHINGTON, Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images The nation’s capital stands empty today No throngs of politicians, aides, and lobbyists Fill the streets with cars, buses, and taxis No snarled traffic fills the freeways Would that image have shaken America awake? Would people have then finally realized this is real? That there is a sickness destroying our lives? A desolate city, the Capital has gone quiet I doubt it, I doubt it because this has happened Because the news is full of business owners Complaining that people refuse to work for starvation wages Instead workers are demanding shares of record profits News of the pandemic deaths are so old now Like shootings at schools, they aren’t reported The deaths have become an everyday report Check the weather, check the traffic, check the death total But now the monuments and museums of DC stand empty Or they would if Covid was limited to only one city If deaths and shortages stopped at the city limit Then we could truly see the scale of devastation We seem to have moved on to the question of jobs An increase in wages for “essential workers” And the return of low pain child labor on school nights Sighing and shaking our heads as our eyes skim past red maps We have moved on to more important topics. (Meet Mago Contributor) Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D. https://www.magoism.net/2018/11/meet-mago-contributor-rev-francesca-tronetti-ph-d/
(Essay 1) The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia by Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen

[This part and the forthcoming sequels are an elaborated version of the original article entitled “The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia—a late Shamanistic Branch of the Old European Civilization?” by Märta-Lena Bergstedt & Kirsten Brunsgaard Clausen, included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018) Edited by Mary Ann Beavis and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.] Fig. 1. Bronze Age Stronghold, Stockholm “Once, something else existed”[1] In the beginning there was a war …, so the Icelandic Eddas on Norse mythology of the Asir-belief state for the beginning of time.[2] But the fact is that before this first war, there was peace in Scandinavia, and peace for millennia – society was not yet organized and dominated by warfare values.[3] Instead another type of society, akin with the Old European Society lingered on in Scandinavia until the decline of the Roman Empire. In this society, Norse goddesses like Hel (Hell); Natt (Night); När/Njärd (Nerthus, Earth); Freya/Fröja (Völva/shaman and guardian of Growth); Ran (Mother of the Sea); Idun, the Apple Maiden, and many others are primarily known from medieval scripts, dating 11th‒13th century were neither Asirs, nor goddesses. The Mothers of Old were knitted into the new and rather late 4th century Asir world of gods, and Asir mythology itself reports that in principle all their new goddesses originated from an earlier layer of cosmology – that they belonged to Vanaheim (Vanir Home), Alfheim (Elven Home), and some to Jotunheim (Giants’ Home). And further, they were all taken into Asgård (the Asir Court) as hostages in the peace-agreement that followed the first Asir-Vanir war, which, seemingly on purpose the Asir High-god, Odin, ended in a draw.[4] Our research has set out to find out, who these Norse goddesses may once have been in their original Vanir cultural and mythological context, predating Asir mythology. By means of different disciplines and based on a mytho-historical-archaeological perspective, the main aim of this article is to present some of the most well-known Vanir mothers. In order to find the Old Mothers, we have had to work our way through layers of patriarchal, war dominated history of Scandinavia, as well as Christianity and Asir religion. Scandinavian Pagan religion – two, not one Although the Old Norse (ON) texts themselves make clear references to two different systems and orders of society in Scandinavia – the Vanirs and the Asirs – Nordic pre-Christian religion is traditionally portrayed as one single pagan religion based on war and fertility. At times, references are made to an underlying culture of fertility and wealth, predating Asir religion, but with no further explanations concerning its substance.[5] We will review this perception by means of archaeology and religious history, and other fields. Already for decades the possibility of a substantial shift of power and ruling structure taking place in Scandinavia around 400CE has been discussed.[6] Today, there is quite a widespread acceptance that a new kind of warrior-based and elitist dynasty did establish itself in this period, radically changing society into a hierarchical and military stratified system not seen before in Scandinavia. Design and framework for the new society took its inspiration mainly from the Roman Empire itself, but also adopted ideas from different European cults further south, associated with the Roman Empire, e.g. the Mithras cult, Christianity, and thereto from the Huns.[7] The new system overrode former borders and authority. In Scandinavia, this meant that former loyalty to one´s own clan and tribe was now challenged by the quick expansion of the house-carl system (följeväsen, hird), where young warriors swore their oaths of loyalty to non-kindred or foreign kings. The profound change in mentality does show even in landscape as the new Asir religion and ideology manifested itself in the building of strongholds dating from c. 450, and later halls and royal estates and temples. Although new strongholds were carefully erected close to the much older Bronze Age borgs or hill-forts, the two differed considerably in function. The older Bronze Age borgs were once used in a society, characterized by archaeologist Åsa Wall as collective and mythic,[8] peaceful and female led, whereas the new 4th century forts are generally suggested as military camps for training and initiation of youngsters into the closed and exclusive warrior brotherhood of the Asir-belief, modelled with unmistakable inspiration from the Mithras and Roman Emperor Cult, which will be discussed further below. The military forts were soon after succeeded by the first royal halls and temples.[9] A hierarchical pantheon of Asir warrior gods naturally challenged the old Vanir-belief system. In the beginning of this era the old tradition of laying down gifts of sharing into lakes and sacred groves at ancient holy places was abandoned,[10] simultaneously the first findings of war-trophic offerings appear in Scandinavia.[11] Archeologists like Lotte Hedeager and Charlotte Fabech and others suggest a dramatic shift in the 5th Century, meaning that a new kind of elite took control and birthed territorial thinking for the first time.[12] Religious history points to a phenomenon designating patriarchal take-overs world-wide, that this is accompanied also by a new hierarchical religion. The new patriarchal religion will most often keep certain core elements from the older layer of local divinities and legends, and knit them into the new construction, for the sake of stability and legitimacy. Local older icons is dressed in new garments and given partly old, partly new legends about them, as well as they are equipped with new or supplementary areas of function. This process is generally known as the acculturation or syncretistic process.[13] We will argue that the patriarchal take-over in Scandinavia was no exception. For legitimacy, the 5th Century elite initiators of Asir religion found good reasons to interweave spiritual entities from the local, pre-existing Germanic culture. Professors of Archeology Kristiansen and Larsson indirectly confirm the syncretic process of the Asir belief, putting it like this: “It is remarkable that this central Bronze Age myth should not [?] be …
(Poem) Whale Dancer Prayer by Mary Saracino

a drawing I made, Vibrant Life, photo credit: Mary Saracino In the heart of the whale In the belly of the sea In the womb of memory Dream Dream Dream Sing Sing Sing Dance Dance Dance One love One life One world One people One peace https://www.magoism.net/2013/05/meet-mago-contributor-mary-saracino
Evergreen: Of Trees and Visions by Sara Wright

I I forgot the ‘Original Instructions’ until She nudged me Black Bear Chloe Green Shoot alive or dead She lives on like the Evergreens she evolved with, climbed to safety from those who would harm. I picked some boughs for him as a gift illness intervened Absence drills holes in my heart but I reclaimed your fragrant branches reminding myself that he doesn’t know your story The People* hold you Sacred Evergreens and I do too. because you taught me it was true. Oh, Trees of Life I remember the Tewa Dancing prayers fringed needled branches held tightly chasing dark spirits back to Mountains Shadows all Even in the Desert Cedar poles stand at the center of your Ancient Kivas. You speak in Heart tongues Choose Compassion Community Compromise Self- Govern Equality Maintain healthy distance from poisoned peoples – You save Seeds, and those you Love. Pass on Stories already Present in Earth’s Memory You offer genuine hope for survival for All but no one is listening to your ways your prayers for Life. You never take more than you need, listen to weasel and otter deer and turkey all manner of bears Familiars all Roots and Trees Plants Mushrooms those you continue to protect against all odds You sing to the Underground Web, Spiral Galaxies spin Light overhead. Resilience, Patience, Believing. When dawn burns a hole through delusion Evergreen boats carved from hollowed trees from hallowed trees guided by Ancestral Tree Beings will beach you on lush green shores. ‘In Beauty may you walk In Beauty may you Walk.’ ** *All Indigenous peoples of this country call themselves the (first) People **(The last sentence is part of the Navajo Night Chant enacted at this time of year) I wrote this poem in Honor of Evergreens (and by extension all trees) and for the Native Peoples of this land. When I began, I didn’t know I would be also writing a story of hope. Most tribal nations describe themselves as the ‘First People” of this continent, which of course they were and are. When colonists first came to conquer, they cut down the Old Ones, evergreens, and shot the animals. They raped the women and murdered whole villages using disease and guns to manifest their goals. When the violent oppressors stole Indigenous land, the People were driven from their homes and stuffed onto reservations where they were left to starve. For five hundred years Indigenous persecution has dominated the lives of these people who continue to persevere despite being made invisible by their American oppressors. Genocide lives on. Accustomed to suffering the People continue to create Community, live the Great Round, hold close their songs dances and Ceremonies, pass on the Stories that their Elders tell about a time when the People will be finally free from tyranny…Each tribe has different variations but at the core of each story is that Change is Coming, and that the People will live on. The Time of Change that they speak of is upon us now. As Nature demonstrates, western culture with its lust for economic wealth and power has brought us all to edge of catastrophe, one that includes the death of non – human species, intolerable human suffering across the globe and the destruction of the earth as we know it. Living through the sixth extinction is not easy. Sorrow runs deep. I center my winter ceremony around the Tree of Life, of which there are many…. I honor all trees but especially during the winter I lean into the evergreens as some Indigenous peoples do, tipping boughs, and making a wreath to celebrate the Tree of Life and to participate in the Great Round. This year during the week of the solstice I created the shape of a ‘tree of life’ around my medicine wheel one evening that I didn’t even realize I’d done until the next morning. I never know where I am headed when I start to craft each year’s story which occurs in the same room but has a different focus each year. Nature’s artist takes over. II This year while submerged in this process of creating my winter story I remembered… When the vision occurred that frigid winter solstice dawning in 2019, I was traversing the Bosque (a wetland) in Abiquiu NM. I had slipped into a light trance as I walked with my hands tucked into my pockets around the junipers, cottonwoods, thorny olives in a repetitive circle. The geese and cranes were wheeling overhead, welcoming in the dawn. The sound of the river in the background was a soothing murmur. Suddenly I stopped. I was looking down at my cupped hands, entranced. A perfect miniature marbled earth had appeared there. Inside the clear plastic film, the whole earth was visible and pulsing with light. Lush green trees, fields, plains, mountains, deserts, oceans, and clear waters flowed through the pristine planet. I saw a tiny wooden boat with all manner of creatures streaming out of the vessel all at once. What? An Ark? Bewildered, I watched butterflies and bees, deer and bear, birds of every conceivable species flooding the sky and the earth, the tree studded hills, fields and forests. Experiencing a fierce love and feeling unbearable joy, no – ecstasy, I kept staring at this vision, awe overcoming all other senses – oh, the earth had become whole. Was that when I noticed that not one human being could be seen anywhere on this beautiful blue green planet, my home? Where were the people? I kept searching. Their absence jarred me… and then the images began fading. No! I wasn’t ready. Waves of grief gripped my heart. But the vision of my earth was gone. Now empty, my cupped palms were red, half – frozen. Hurriedly, I buried my hands in their pockets and walked on in a daze, dazzled, by what I had seen. A few days previously (can’t remember exact sequence but the story is recorded elsewhere on my blog) …
(Poem & Art) Power to Women, Jealous Jack by Phibby Venable with art by Victor Hernández

Morning, and a chandelier of snow hangs heavy over the tin of Jack’s barn. He leans into the doorway, watching his house. From here, he can see the chimney spew the gray enthusiasm of a fresh fire. Inside, she is pressing double handed into the white bowl on the table. Her hands squeeze, knead and press, into the soft dough. He imagines it is the same softness as his fist feels on her face
(Video 10) Genevieve Vaughan & Chiquie Estrada in Maternal Gift Economy: Breaking Through by Genevieve Vaughan

(Words of Invitation) Drawing on Maternal Gift Economy theory, the suppressed wisdom of women, and the traditions and ethics of Indigenous societies, this integrated programme of presentations sponsored by the International Feminists for a Gift Economy Network will offer new insights, perspectives, and challenges to the underlying market-based mentality of the dominant world order. In this time of crisis and systemic upheaval, the model of the Maternal Gift Economy on which our survival depends at the beginning of life, is being revealed and celebrated. The interdependence of all living beings can now be made visible and honored. Mother Earth provides the model of an economy based on gifting that we receive as young children from our nurturers—before we are alienated into market exchange. We must make the transition from the exploitive Euro-American patriarchal/dominating and capitalistic ideology to a gift-based economy and culture grounded in the values of nurturing and care rather than competition and greed. We invite you to join us in exploring the possibilities in this series of presentations and dialogues that bring together those who have been laboring to articulate the principles of the Maternal Gift Economy, protect Indigenous values, and practice peaceful and just community building. The time is now for all humans to cooperate rather than compete. Please join us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlyeb_O6LuE For more information on the Maternal Gift Economy, see here. https://www.magoism.net/2014/06/meet-mago-contributor-genevieve-vaughan/
(Essay 1) The Blending of Bön, Buddhism and the Goddess Gemu in Mosuo Culture by Krista Rodin

[Editor’s Note: This series is included as a chapter in Goddesses in Culture, History and Myth (Mago Books, 2018), a textbook on Goddess Studies related courses at the university level.] Goddess Gemu and Tara in Buddhist Temple, Lugu Lake, photo K . Rodin In a small formerly isolated region in SW China lies one of the most interesting still functional matriarchal societies, the Mosuo. There are about 8,000 Mosuo living in the Lugu Lake region. The Mosuo have survived various invasions into their lands, including the great Mongol chieftains and a few foreign powers whose representatives stayed to integrate their traditions with those of the indigenous people. Among the foreigners were Black Hat Böns, along with Yellow and Red Hat Buddhists, from the neighboring Tibetan Plateau. These distinct forms of Tibetan sacred traditions merged with indigenous worship to form a sacred tradition based on the Goddess Gemu that is unique to the Mosuo of Lugu Lake, which straddles the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. While there remain clear differences among the Buddhist and Bön monasteries, the Goddess Gemu is infused in all of them. Currently, this very beautiful area is undergoing yet another transformation, a more commercial one, as it has become a major domestic tourist destination for Han Chinese. The influx of tourists has brought needed income to the villages, their monasteries, and sacred sites, but it has also led to popularizing and secularizing the region’s peoples’ sacred legacy. This chapter unravels some of the various historical and religious strains within this region in order to demonstrate how what appears at first blush to be the binary opposites of patriarchal Tibetan ideologies and an indigenous matriarchal goddess worshipping community can merge into a rich story-telling tradition with corresponding sacred rituals, and how the survival of these traditions is now threatened by popularization and commercialization. The opposing forces to be discussed include: patriarchal Tibetan ideologies with an indigenous matriarchal goddess worshipping tradition, local vs. external pressures, and ancient sacred vs. modern secular economies. The Mosuo No one knows for sure from where the Mosuo originated. There are records of Mosuo families in the region starting around the 9th-10th century, and it is assumed that they migrated south from what is now Sichuan Province. As the name was originally written in a non-Latin script, the English spelling takes on various forms, which can at times be confusing. A few of the most common spellings for this ethnic group include: Mo-so, Muso, and Museo, although, the preferred English version today is Mosuo. According to Christine Mathieu who has extensively studied the Mosuo, “They may have gotten their name from the six Mo – so chief or chiefs who were Mou through their matrilines, because the Mu’s notions of kingship were derived from the Tibetan royal tradition and the ancient Bon ritual.” [1] Most scholars speculate that they came as traders then settled in the fertile valleys around the spectacular lake. From the earliest records, the Mosuo were considered to have had strange practices, and even Marco Polo, who visited nearby Lijiang, commented on what to him were the strange sexual mores of the people. Much later in the early 20th century, Joseph Rock wrote extensively on the Na-khi (Naxi) people of the region and included the Mosuo among them. This may be the source of Chinese government’s classification of the Mosuo as Naxi, one of the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in China, although the two groups have distinctly different cultural traits as both Rock in his “The Life and Culture of the Na-khi Tribe of the China-Tibet Borderland,” as well as his articles for the National Geographic in 1931,[2] and Susanne Knödel in her 1998 “Naxi and Moso Ethnography” describe. [3] Among the differences are the sacred traditions, including the ‘priests’, the dongba in the case of the Naxi and the dabas and lamas for the Musuo, the social organization, language and script. The Naxi have a large collection of sacred texts based on a pictographic script, whereas knowledge of a Mosuo written language was lost until 1986 when a daba explained 32 characters, including pictograms and symbols for abstract ideas, to Han scholar Yuan Xuenheng, who then published them in his 1995 “The Daba Religion of the Yongning Naxi,” which is referenced in Knodel’s book.[4] Yongning Naxi is another term for the Mosuo. The Mosuo characters appear to be primarily related to calendaring, which would probably have been used by the daba to divine the appropriate days for rituals. Naxi Dongba texts, on the other hand, consist of complete stories. [1] Christine Mathieu, A History and Anthropological Study of the Ancient Kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland – Naxi and Mosuo, Mellen Studies in Anthropology 2 (Lewiston: Mellen Press, 2003), 111. [2] Joseph Rock, The Ancient Na-Khi Kingdom of Southwest China 1-2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947; “Konka Risumgongba, Holy Mountain of the Outlaws,” National Geographic, LX. July 1931. 1-65. [3] Susanne Knödel, Die Matrilinearen Mosuo von Yongning: Eine quellenkritische Auswertung Moderner Chinesischer Ethnographen. Kolner Ethnologische Studien, Band 22, edited by Ulla Johansen und Thomas Schweizer, (Cologne: Cologne University Press, 1995), 214-215. [4] Ibid, 212. (To be continued.)Meet Mago Contributor, Krista Rodin.

(Special Post 2) 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.] Harriet Ann Ellenberger I got involved with women’s liberation in the early 1970s, so involved that it became my life for many years. During those beginnings of what is now called “the second wave of feminism,” everything was new to us and everything was mushed together — the political, the economic, the intellectual, the emotional, the spiritual. I liked that a lot; it felt as if all the parts of myself were coming together. During that time, I learned something crucial the imagery and concepts of patriarchal religion justify and are embedded in the material structures of oppression. I don’t know which came first, institutionalized oppression (of everyone; I’m not speaking here only of women) or the religious expression of that oppression. All I’m certain of is that patriarchal religion permeates, for example, the Oxford English Dictionary, which I use all the time, in conjunction with Websters’ First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language, conjured by Mary Daly in cahoots with Jane Caputi.
(Special Post 1) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

“Ma” in “Mago” and “Ma-Gaia” Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey [Conversation between Carol P. Christ, Ph.D. and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.] Carol P. Christ (CPC): Below is culled from “Gaia” in Wikipedia: The Greek word γαῖα (transliterated as gaia) is a collateral form of γῆ (gē, Doric γᾶ ga and probably δᾶ da) meaning Earth, a word of uncertain origin. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (trans. as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang (HHH): “Mago” and “Goma” are closely linked. Gom or Goma means the bear and Magoist shaman queen of the late fourth millennium BCE. She is also related with the Big Bear constellation. “Go” is used as a modifier referring to Mago or the Goddess in various texts of East Asia. “Mago” is related with “magi,” whose singular form is “magus” or “magos.” Will have to check for more details and the source. CPC: My intuition is that “ma” and “na” are baby talk for mother. In other words, preceding any language. Mycenean is IE language, “Pre-Greek” is not IE. CPC: Below is “Mother” from Wikipedia: Synonyms and translations The proverbial “first word” of an infant often sounds like “ma” or “mama”. This strong association of that sound with “mother” has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language. Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are: Aama, Mata used in Nepal Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, India and parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Mum and mummy are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Ireland. Charles, Prince of Wales publicly addressed his mother Queen Elizabeth II as “Mummy” on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of the United Kingdom, and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States. In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply: Maa, aai, amma, and mata are used in languages of India like Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu etc. Mamá, mama, ma, and mami in Spanish Mama in Polish, German, Russian and Slovak Māma (妈妈/媽媽) in Chinese Máma in Czech and in Ukrainian Maman in French and Persian Ma, mama in Indonesian Mamaí, mam in Irish Mamma in Italian, Icelandic, Latvian and Swedish Māman or mādar in Persian Mamãe or mãe in Portuguese Mā̃ (ਮਾਂ) in Punjabi Mama in Swahili Em (אם) in Hebrew A’ma (ܐܡܐ) in Aramaic Má or mẹ in Vietnamese Mam in Welsh Eomma (엄마, pronounced [ʌmma]) in Korean In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East, the mother is known as amma, oma, ammi or “ummi”, or variations thereof. Many times, these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child’s life. HHH: The name for Goddess seems as ancient as the language itself. [“Ma” being the first intentional word to be spoken by a baby.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Scholars and mythologists agree that “ma” means both one’s mother and the Goddess, I quoted it in my dissertation written in 2004. Judy E Foster: Brilliant discussion, Helen and Carol! So many revelations… hard to keep up! But do continue, its fascinating – makes so much sense. (To be continued)Join the discussion of this and other topics in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group.
(Special Post 1) 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.] Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Wennifer Lin-Haver Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am asking each of us to consider writing a sentence or paragraph on “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” This idea is prompted by Wennifer Lin-Haver, Founder of Mother Tree Sanctuary, and I agree that we need to and can create a sort of collective writing on the topic. What we write below will be included and published in The Girl God, Mother Tree Sanctuary, and Return to Mago. As a subaltern minority as we seem at the current point of time, Goddessians/Magoists [the term Mago means the Great Goddess] need to make extra efforts to make our voices and presences exposed to the public and inner circles. Length and style are open. Please also include your name, region/state/country, title, and/or website URL. We strongly encourage you if you are located in a place where Goddessians are rarely around. We intend to make a collective testimonial tapestry of WE as Goddessians/Magoists! Please keep this in your mind and join us in this collective effort. Thank you in advance. March 6, 2014 AF (Archaic Future)! Wennifer Lin-Haver Our “call” started as a conversation between Helen and me where I was expressing to her the real need for Mother Tree Sanctuary to be more articulate with exploring the significance and importance of Goddess in our lives. I was prompted to give such a response, when asked “why” we had to differentiate God and Goddess. “Isn’t everything God?” She asked. And “Isn’t Goddess also God?” “Isn’t it all the same as long was we’re all coming from our ‘higher’ self?” she asked. So I saw this warranted a longer and much deeper discussion. I initially thought I should formulate a response and post it as a Page or Tab in our website, but after some reflection with Helen, I saw how much better it would be if we replied to this question as a diverse and creative collective. I surely do not have all the answers as an individual but perhaps together, we can come up with something more whole, colorful and satisfying. I do hope you will contribute a little something! We are always grateful for all that you have to share.

(Video) Winter Solstice Breath Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 Winter Solstice is a celebration of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Triple Goddess in particular – as both Solstices may be, as dark or light come to fullness. Winter Solstice Moment celebrates the ripe fullness of the Dark Womb, and the gateway from that fullness back into new growing light. It is a Birthing Place – into differentiated being, and Her birthing happens in every moment in the breath, and is seamlessly connected with all layers of being – of self, Earth and Cosmos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsVZzXtoyM The Text in the Meditation[i] Take a deep breath and let it go. Notice the Void at the bottom of emptying your breath … feeling it, and feeling the Urge to breathe as it arises. And again … feeling it over and over – this breath that arises out of the full emptiness in every moment, birthing you in every moment. – Recall some of the birthings in your life, your actual birth – see it there in your mind’s eye … you coming into being – your Nativity, your Nativity. Recall projects you have brought into being, new beings within yourself, perhaps children, new beings in others, how you have been Creator and Created – even at the same time … who was birthing who? Staying for a while with the many, many birthings in your life. – recalling now Earth-Gaia’s many birthings out of the Dark everyday … the dawn is constant as She turns. See Her in your mind’s eye – the constant dawning around the globe, the constant birthing. Recall Earth’s many births right now of all beings – as day breaks around the globe – the physical, emotional, spiritual births. Her many, many birthings everyday, and throughout the eons. recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. – recalling now Universe-Gaia’s many birthings – happening in every moment – right now in real time and space … supernovas right now, stars and planets being born right now. Her many, many birthings in every moment and throughout the eons. Come back to your breath – this wonder – none of it separate … the Origin Ever-Present, birthing you in every moment – out of Her Fertile Dark, in real time and space. Feeling this breath, Her breath. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, Winter Solstice ceremonial script, p. 195-196. Reference: Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology. Music: Fish Nite Moon by Tim Wheater, permission generously given Images: – Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, pl. 155. See https://pagaian.org/book/cover-goddess-image/ – Winter Solstice window, MoonCourt Australia 2016 – some sources unknown
(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 …
Happy New Year, Year 2/5916 Magoma Era! by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

“The Bell of King Seongdeok, known as the Emille Bell, a massive bronze bell at 19 tons is the largest in Korea.” Wikimedia Commons. Cast in 771, the bell reenacts the music of whales to remind people of the Female Beginning, the self-creative power innate all beings. Today is Day 2 of the New Year in the reconstructed Magoist Calendar characterized by 13 months per year and 28 days per month. We are heading toward the Solstice that falls on Dec. 21/22 (Day 5 of the first month in the Magoist Calendar), which happens to be the day of the first full moon of Year 2. Below is the details about the Magoist Calendar. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/03/27/magoist-calendar-13-month-28-day-year-1-5915-me-2018-gregorian-year/ The Gregorian year 2018 marks a watershed in that we began to implement the Magoist Calendar. The Magoma Era is based on the onset of the nine-state confederacy of Danguk (State of Dan, the Birth Tree) traditinally dated 3898 BCE-2333 BCE. We just passed Year 1 or 5915 Magoma Era (the Gregorian 2018). For Year 1, we had the New Year Day on December 18 of 2017, the first new moon day before the December Solstice. That makes December 18 of 2017 our lunation 1, the first lunar year that the reconstructed Magoist Calendar determines its first day of the Year 1! Although relatively short in history, the Mago Work began to celebrate the Nine Day Mago Celebration on the day of December Solstice annually since 2015. With the reconstructed Magoist Calendar, we placed it in its due timeframe, the Ninth Month and the Ninth Day, which fell on August 8, 2018 (US PST) and celebrated it for the first time according to the Magoist Calendar. Apparently, this had to be a mid-Summer event. This left us with another seasonal event, the New Year/Solstice Celebration. For Year 2, we hold the 3 Day New Year/Solstice Celebration on December 20, 21, and 22 (December 22 to be the Solstice Dat in PST) and the Virtual Midnight Vigil as a precussor to the New Year Day. http://www.magoacademy.org/2018/07/17/2018-5915-magoma-era-year-1-nine-day-mago-celebration/ https://www.magoacademy.org/home-2/new-year-solstice-celebrations/ We just greeted the Year 2 by holding the event called Virtual Midnight Vigil during which we sounded the Korean temple bell, in particular the Emile Bell or the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great, to the world. A few from around the globe (Germany, Korea, Italy and the US) participated in it or hosted their own local vigils. The Korean temple bell is the key symbol for the Magoist Calendar as well as the Magoist Cosmogony. It is not a coincidence that it is struck on the midnight of the New Year’s Eve. It is Korean tradition that even modern Koreans gather at the bell tower in Seoul to hear the sound of the bell at midnight. And these bells are gigantic weighing 19 tons in the case of the Emile Bell. That this convention has an ancient Magoist root remains esoteric. For not only they strike the bell 28 times in the evening indicating the 28 lunar stations that the Moon stops by in the sky throughout the year (please read below what the 28 day lunar journey means and how it is represented by women). But also the Korean temple bell is no mere acoustic device to play the beautiful sound only. It is designed to reenact the Magoist Cosmogony. https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/14/virtual-midnight-vigil-dec-17-2018-to-new-year-year-2-5916-magoma-era/ That said, that is not what’s all about the Korean Magoist convention of welcoming the New Year by sounding the temple bell, however. That the bell sound is a mimicry of the music of whales has been in the hand of wisdom seekers! Ancient Korean bells testify that whales are with us in the journey of the Moon and her terrestrial dependents headed by women. You may like to hear the sound of the Magoist Korean whale bell included in the Participation Manual for Virtual Midnight Vigil below. Happy New Year to all terrestrial beings in WE/HERE/NOW! https://www.magoacademy.org/2018/12/16/participation-manual-for-virtual-midnight-vigil-year-2/
(Prose) Desire: the Wheel of Her Creativity by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the concluding chapter (Chapter 8) of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Place of Being is a passionate place, where desire draws forth what is sought, co-creates what is needed[1]; within a con-text – a story – where love of self, other and all-that-is are indistinguishable … they are nested within each other and so is the passion for being. I begin to understand desire afresh: this renewed understanding has been an emergent property of the religious practice of seasonal celebration: that is, the religious practice of the ceremonial celebration of Her Creativity. It has been said She is “that which is attained at the end of desire[2].” Within the context of ceremonial engagement and inner search for Her, I begin to realize how desire turns the Wheel. As the light part of the cycle waxes from Early Spring, form/life builds in desire. At Beltaine/High Spring, desire runs wild, at Summer Solstice, it peaks into creative fullness, union … and breaks open at that interchange into the dark part of the cycle – the dissolution of Lammas/ Late Summer. She becomes the Dark One, who receives us back – the end of desire. It has been a popular notion in the Christian West, that the beautiful virgin lures men (sic) to their destruction, and as I perceive the Wheel, it is indeed Virgin who moves in Her wild delight towards entropy/dissolution; however in a cosmology that is in relationship with the dark, this is not perceived as a negative thing. Also, in this cosmology, there is the balancing factor of the Crone’s movement towards new life, in the conceiving dark space of Samhain/Deep Autumn – a dynamic and story that has not been a popular notion in recent millennia. Desire seems not so much a grasping, as a receiving, an ability or capacity to open and dissolve. I think of an image of an open bowl as a signifier of the Virgin’s gift. The increasing light is received, and causes the opening, which will become a dispersal of form – entropy, if you like: this is Beltaine/High Spring – the Desire[3]that is celebrated is a movement towards dis-solution … that is its direction. In contrast, and in balance, Samhain/Deep Autumn celebrates re-solution, which is a movement towards form – it is a materializing gathering into form, as the increasing darkness is received. It seems it is darkness that creates form, as it gathers into itself – as many ancient stories say, and it is light that creates dispersal. And yet I see that the opposite is true also. I think of how there is desire for this work that I have done, for whatever one does – it is then already being received. Desire is receiving. What if I wrote this, and it was not received or welcomed in some way. But the desire for it is already there, and perhaps the desire made it manifest. Perhaps the desire draws forth manifestation, even at Winter Solstice, even at Imbolc/Early Spring, as we head towards Beltaine – it is desire that is drawing that forth, drawing that process around. Desire is already receiving; it is open. Its receptivity draws forth the manifestation. And then the manifestation climaxes at Summer and dissolves into the manifesting, which is perhaps where the desire is coming from – the desire is in the darkness, in the dark’s receptivity[4]. It becomes very active at the time of Beltaine, it lures the differentiated beings back into Her. So the lure at Beltaine is the luring of differentiated beings into a Holy Lust, into a froth and dance of life, whereupon they dissolve ecstatically back into Her – She is “that which is attained at the end of Desire.” And in the dissolution, we sink deeper into that, and begin again. All the time, it is Desire that is luring the manifest into the manifesting, and the manifesting into the manifest. Passion is the glue, the underlying dynamic that streams through it all – through the light and the dark, through the creative triplicities of Virgin-Mother-Crone, of Differentiation-Communion-Autopoeisis[5]. Passion/Desire then is worthy of much more contemplation. If desire/allurement is the same cosmic dynamic as gravity, as cosmologist Brian Swimme suggests[6], then desire like gravity is the dynamic that links/holds us to our Place, to “that which is”, as philosopher Linda Holler describes the effect of gravity[7]. Held in relationship by desire/allurement we lose abstraction and artificial boundaries, and “become embodied and grow heavy with the weight of the earth[8].” We then know that “being is being-in relation-to”[9]. Holler says that when we think with the weight of Earth, space becomes “thick” as this “relational presence … turns notes into melodies, words into phrases with meaning, and space into vital forms with color and content, (and) also holds the knower in the world[10].”Thus, I at last become a particular, a subject, a felt being in the world – a Place laden with content, sentient: continuous with other and all-that-is. Notes: [1]“…as surely as the chlorophyll molecule was co-created by Earth and Sun, as Earth reached for nourishment; as surely as the ear was co-created by subject and sound, as the subject reached for an unknown signal.” As I have written in PaGaian Cosmology, p. 248. [2]Doreen Valiente, The Charge of the Goddessas referred to in Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, p.102-103. [3]I capitalize here, for it is a holy quality. [4]Perhaps the popular cultural association of the darkness/black lingerie etc. with erotica is an expression/”memory” of this deep truth. [5]These are the three qualities of Cosmogenesis, as referred to in PaGaian Cosmology, Chapter 4, “Cosmogenesis and the Female Metaphor”: https://pagaian.org/book/chapter-4/ [6]Brian Swimme, The Universe is a Green Dragon, p.43. [7]Linda Holler, “Thinking with the Weight of the Earth: Feminist Contributions to an Epistemology of Concreteness”, Hypatia, Vol. 5 No. 1, p.2. [8]Linda Holler, “Thinking with the Weight of the Earth: Feminist Contributions to an Epistemology of Concreteness”,Hypatia, Vol. …
(Art & Poem) Spring Equinox by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX . . . till I feel the earth around the place my head has lain under winter’s touch, and it crumbles. Slanted weight of clouds. Reaching with my head and shoulders past the open crust dried by spring wind. Sun. Tucking through the ground that has planted cold inside me, made its waiting be my food. Now I watch the watching dark my light’s long-grown dark makes known. Art and poem are included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
Samhain: Stepping Wisely through the Open Door by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Day of the Dead altar, via Wikimedia Commons According to Celtic tradition, on Samhain (October 31 for those in the north and April 30 for those in the south) the doors between the human and spirit worlds open. Faeries, demons, and spirits of the dead pour out of the Otherworld to walk the Earth. In the past, some would try to hurry ghosts past their houses or ward off evil spirits by setting jack o’lanterns in their windows. They avoided going outside, especially past cemeteries, lest they be snatched away to the Otherworld. In ancient times, some offered sacrifices to propitiate deities. However, others have invited in the souls of friends and family who have passed away. In Brittany, according to W.Y. Evans-Wentz’s Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, people would provide “a feast and entertainment for them of curded-milk, hot pancakes, and cider, served on the family table covered with a fresh white tablecloth, and to supply music” which “the dead come to enjoy with their friends” (p. 218). Other cultures also have such welcoming traditions. In Korea, as so beautifully described by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang in her posts about her family’s mourning for her father (Part I and Part II), in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, and elsewhere, food and flowers are brought to cemeteries to honor those no longer in the realm of the living. Many of us live in a society where death is pushed out of sight and Samhain’s sacred traditions have devolved into Halloween, a commercialized children’s holiday. Still, it seems to me that the pandemic, climate catastrophes, and war have made death much more present in our everyday thoughts over the past couple of years than before, so perhaps this year’s Samhain offers us the opportunity to re-examine Celtic and other practices of the past and present to see what insights and meaning they may have for us. Jack o lanterns: By Mihaela Bodlovic, via Wikimedia Commons All these ancient practices respect the spirit world and its power. Whether you believe that the Otherworld can wreak havoc on us at Samhain or not, the realm where spirits dwell clearly has power. Its allure can take us away from focusing on mundane, daily challenges or, more positively, open our eyes to the value of relating to forces that can give richness and meaning to our lives. At the same time, we must remember that each domain has its own power. We can use our physical bodies in beneficial ways that those in the Otherworld cannot. We must respect the power of the Otherworld as well as our own. Some kinds of healing are only possible when we welcome those from the Otherworld into our lives in a healthy way, whether through holiday visits or every day through remembrance, meditation, prayer, or other means. I’m of an age when many of my beloveds are in the Otherworld and so I am beginning to find that the idea of being able to sit with someone I have lost is cause not for fear, but rather joy and comfort. Perhaps those who have longstanding wounds from the past can heal by remembering those we have lost at Samhain and forgiving them or ourselves or realizing that we are no longer bound to those who have hurt us and are now gone. Samhain can also reassure us of the truth of our intuitive sense that our beloveds who we grieve are with us still, in some way, on this night and throughout the year. When we participate in the celebration of Samhain’s opening of doors to the Otherworld, if only for a day, we are honoring our own participation into the great cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We are expanding our vision of ourselves to be more than our bodies on the Earth and experiencing ourselves as connected to many realms, seen and unseen, spirit and human. We are accepting that at some time we will also become ancestors, with all the responsibility that entails and the fulfillment of taking our place in the complex matrix of being that is our universe. When we interact with the souls of those we have lost in ways that are healthy for us, however we may choose and believe that happens, we can also better celebrate the realm of the living. Just as we may listen in various ways for positive messages from those whom we have lost, we can ensure that we are expressing important guidance to those who will come after us by who we are and how we live our lives. We can express that life is worth living, even with all its traumas, and that we respect both the boundaries and the doors between the worlds so that we may continue living fully in our physical bodies on our beautiful, awe-inspiring Earth. I hope my message to my descendants will be: Love your lives. Build on what we have done and do better. Leave behind what we left you that no longer serves. If you feel alone, remember that you have thousands of generations of mothers sending you unconditional love and also generations of women coming after you eager to pick up where you left off. According to Mary Condren in The Serpent and the Goddess, in the most ancient times, “Samhain had been primarily a harvest feast celebrating the successful growth and gathering of the fruits of the past year” (p. 36). While we in the north are coming into the season of death, those in the south are experiencing Beltane, the first moments of spring when the doors between the worlds are also open. The eternal cycle of life, death, and regeneration turns again. Whether you are celebrating Samhain or Beltane, know that this holy time offers us all a chance to enter into the task of maintaining harmony with those we have loved before and for bringing balance between life and death, winter and summer, and the realm of the living and …

(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 Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 1) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This and its sequences are a newly added portion in the Mago Almanac Planner Year 5, equivalent to the Gregorian Year 2022. Because the Budoji did not explain further about time units smaller than 1 day, I did not follow through some possible implications in previous Mago Almanac volumes. Next year’s Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar Year 5 or 5919 MAGOMA ERA is forthcoming in Mago Bookstore (October 25, 2021). PDF version is available for purchase.] Angbuilgu (仰釜日晷 Concave Sundial) dated in 1434 of Joseon Dynasty Korea (13 horizontal lines are engraved, indicating 24 seasons and 7 vertical lines indicating times of a day) UNITS OF TIME MEASURE At the half point of the eleventh Sa, there is one 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. 1 Gu (approx. 3.71 miliseconds) refers an infinitesimal discrepancy that occurs every eleven years or every ten and a half years precisely. Because Gu (a noncognitive time unit) is a time too small to count, Gu can only be treated as 1 Myo, equivalent to 300 Gu. As shown in the below table, Myo is still a tiny unit of time. 9,633 Myo equals 1 day, which is 288,990 Gu (300×9633=288,990). Because of this, there will be one extra day (9,633 Myo) every 31,788,900 years. This means, the Magoist Calendar has another (the third) leap day every 31,788,900 years (11 x 300 x 9,633). 31,788,900 years is a long time, which we will presumably not take into consideration for the Magoist Calendar dating 3898 BCE (the beginning year of Goma’s Danguk confederacy) that we are under. Because the units of Gak, Bun, and Si are not further explained in the Budoji,[1] it is difficult to designate what they indicate. Although the terms of Gak, Bun, and Si are familiar to moderns as time indicators, what each unit indicates is unknown. Given that 9,633 Myo (Gak-Bun-Si) equals 1 day (1 Il 日 일), it is conjectured that Gak-Bun-Si refers to time segments equivalent to hours, minutes, and seconds in today’s 24 hour a day scheme. 1 Myo is approximately 1.115 seconds, as 9,633 Myo is approximately 8,640 seconds. If we project the time of 1 day into a circle, the whole circle indicates 1 day. Doing this implies that time/space is inseparable in a circular notion of timespace. To specify a size of time smaller than 1 day, we can first divide the circle into two halves. Let’s call the half circle or a half day A. A (equivalent to 12 hours) equals 4,816.5 Myo or 1,444,950 Gu. Then, we divide the half circle into two halves. And let’s call it B. B refers to a quarter of 1 day or B (equivalent to 6 hours), which equals 2,408.25 Myo or 722,475 Gu. Likewise, C refers to one eighth of 1 day, equivalent to 3 hours), which equals 1,204.125 Myo or 361,237.5 Gu. A subsequent division by 2 aligns with the Physical Numbers, 3, 6, 9 in the digital root.[2] Given one sidereal day to be 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.0916 seconds or 23.9344696 hours, 1 A would be 11 hours, 58 minutes, and 2.0458 seconds. 1 B would be 5 hours, 59 minutes, and 1.0229 seconds. 1 C would be 2 hours, 59.5 minutes, and 0.51145 seconds. The circle represents the sidereal day of 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.0916 seconds. Note that the time divisions of 1 day (A, B, and C) follow the order of 1, 2, 4, and 8. Precisely, this is what the Magoist Genealogy of the first three generations that I illustrated above and elsewhere: The Magoist Cosmogony recounts that from one (Mago, the Great Mother) born are the two daughters (Gunghui and Sohui), which makes the triad. From the two daughters born are the four twins, which makes eight. This is observed in meiosis (cell division for sexually reproducing organisms) from one to two and to four and to eight and so forth. The Mago triad and the eight granddaughters are called Nine Magos.[3] The calendar is not just an indication of times or seasons. It is an indication of the life-organizing principle. The Magoist Calendar is a summary of cosmic and planetary life systems. From a microcosmic entity to a macrocosmic universe, all runs by the same force of Sonic Numerology, the metamorphic reality of WE/HERE/NOW. Beings, time, and space are the three inseparable aspects of one reality.(To be continued) [1] It is indeed regretful that the sequence book of the Budoji, Yeoksiji (Book of Calendar and Time), that treats calendar and time has been lost. We have only the Budoji available, the first book of 15 books of the Jingsimnok (Record of Cleansing Mind/Heart), a compendium of 3 volumes that have 5 books in each. Doubtless that the Yeoksiji (Book of Calendar and Time), the third book of Volume 1, would detail the rest of time measures and sub-calendars. [2] D would refer to one sixteenth of 1 day, equivalent to 1.5 hours, which equals 602.0625 Myo (3 in the Digital Root) or 180,618.75 (9 in the Digital Root). If we divide one eighth of 1 day by 3, it is one twenty-fourth of 1 day or E (equivalent to 1 hour). A total of 24 segments. E equals 401.375 Myo or 120,412.5 Gu. These numbers do not follow the suit of 3, 6, and 9, Chesu or Physical Numbers. 401.375 is 2 in the Digital Root and 120,412.5 is 6 in the Digital Root. [3] See this book, 112. https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Mago Pilgrimage 3) Seonam-sa (Seonam Temple), Suncheon, South Jeolla Korea by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Seonsam-sa, located in Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province, is one of many ancient Buddhist temples in Korea. It is among the seven Korean Buddhist temples designated as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites this year. I visited Seonam-sa during the Mago Pilgrimage to Korea in 2014. The name, Seonsam-sa (仙巖寺 Seonam Temple), drew my attention immediately for the first two characters “seon (read sun)” and “am (read ahm)” of its title convey Magoism. It remains esoteric that Seon-am (仙巖 Precipice of Seon) is an alternative of Mago-am (Precipice of Mago) also known as Nogo-am (Precipice of Nogo). “Nogo” (老姑 Primordial Goddess) is a popular epithet, which is often interchangeably used with “Mago” in place-names and folktales. That said, the character “seon or xian (仙)” refers to Magoists rather than Daoist Immortals, a topic that requires another space to explicate. Fork traditions have preserved its Magoist meaning (Mago or Magoist) in place-names and stories. One prominent exmaple is “Mago Seonnyeo” to convey a Maogist Female Seon. Below I use it as Seon without transliteration. It is rarely recognized by the public that Seonam-sa is imbued with Magoist mytho-historical-cultural memories. This is not to say that Korean Buddhist temples are as a whole independent of Magoism. I have discussed, among others, that the main hall (Daeung-jeon) of many Korean Buddhist temples is dedicated to Goma, the Magoist shaman queen founder of Danguk (3898-2333 BCE), also known as Daeung (Great Hero), as follows: Korean Buddhism is characterized by its idiosyncratic feature of Daeung-jeon (Hall of the Great Hero), its main building, in most Buddhist temples. That Goma is enshrined in Daeung-jeon accounts for the Magoist root of Korean Buddhism.[1] Seonsam-sa has some intriguing unorthodox Buddhist characters. While its foundation is debated to be in the mid 6th century by Ado Hwasang in 592 or the second half of the 9th century by Monk Doseon (827-898), we have stories about Monk Doseon , the alleged founder. Monk Doseon, according to the story, had a revelation from the Heavenly Ruler of the Holy Mother (聖母天王) of Mt. Jiri who told him “If you establish three Amsas (Precipice Temples), Three Hans will unite and there will be no wars.” Doseon founded the three precipice temples known as Seonam (Seon Precipice), Unam (Cloud Precipice), and Yongam (Drago Precipice).[2] Three Hans (Samhan) refers to the descendants of Old Joseon (ca. 2333-232 BCE), the Magoist people of ancient Korean states including Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, Gaya and their remnants who sought to restore the bygone rule of Magoist confederacies.[3] In short, the foundation story of Seonamsa reflects the mytho-history of Magoism. Also intriguing is the fact that Seonam-sa has Seungseon-gyo (Bridge of the Ascended Seon) and Gangseon-ru (Pavilion of the Descended Seon), which are evocative of such Magoist place-names as Mangsoen-gyo (Bridge of Anticipated Seon) and Biseon-dae (Point of Ascending Seon), to name a few. In addition, Seonam-sa is, among numerous halls and shrines, noted for Sansin-gak (Mountain Deity Pavilion) and Samseong-gak (Three Sages Pavilion), the indigenous faith practices that are incorporated in a Buddhist temple. We were enrolled in Seonam-sa’s Temple Stay. Later I detected that the monk who guided us was unenthused about our interests in indigenous elements of Seonam-sa. Out of honesty, he mentioned that Seonam-sa needed to purge itself of indigenous shrines. It was sad to hear that but I could see where he was coming from. It appeared that monks were not all in agreement with him, however. Our visit to Seonsam-sa seemed to end with a somewhat uneasy stroll with the monk. Lo and behold! As we were about to leave the temple, we ran into a female Buddhist novice who took interest in our queries. Together with her, we hurriedly payed visit to Sansin-gak and a couple of indigenous shines located in the backside of the main sectors. While on a brief leisurely stroll with our new guide, she finally led us to an unlikely place, the unseen heart of Seanam-sa by the public. She showed us the place wherein monks gather to begin Dong-angeo (Winter Retreat), an annual three-month-long winter medication practice. Inside this ordinary-looking Korean traditional house was a traditional style kitchen stove. Above the big iron cast cooking pot was hung a tablet that reads “Nammu Jowangsinwi,” which means “Take refuge in Jowang Deity who is present here.” Faith in Jowang Deity was still alive among Buddhist monks!!! Jowang-sin or Jowang Halmi, the Kitchen Goddess or the Hearth Goddess, is one of the many indigenous Goddesses of Korea. It is known today that she was enshrined in the kitchen and widely venerated by women in the past. Today, She is still worshipped in Muism (Korean Shamanism) as the deity of fire, children, and wealth of the household. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang. Notes [1] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, and Her Mythology” in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Lytle Creek, CA: Mago Books), 293. [2] Sanghyeon Kim, “Suncheon Seonam-sa,” in Hanguk Daebaekgwa Sajeon (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture). http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0028783/. August 12, 2018. [3] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Mago, the Creatrix from East Asia, and the Mytho-History of Magoism” in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Lytle Creek, CA: Mago Books), 29-34.