[Author’s Note: This essay was included in the journal, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Vol 3 No 1, 2024). Footnotes numbers here differ from those of the original article.]
21 SAMPLE MAGO HALMI FOLKTALES
Due to the immensity of data, I have chosen 21 sample folktales from each of almost all provinces of South Korea (see [Figure 3]). Although they are somewhat arbitrarily selected, they serve the purpose of introducing a broad range of central themes. All translations are mine. The original Korean data are included in the Appendix II with their sources indicated. To be noted is that many of the local topographies are designated as tourist sites by local government authorities. Most of them are well noted for their scenic, historical, and/or ritual attractions. I have included some photos of these sites.
[Figure 1: Provinces focused on South Korea]
Tales from Gangwon Province (A)
Of 10 tales, five tales refer to “Mago” and five tales to “Magui.” As aforementioned, the five tales of “Magui Halmi” attribute “Magui” to the cosmogonist. Skirt and skirt wraps are mentioned in six tales, whereas aprons are mentioned in four tales. Toponyms concern rocks, lakes, stonewalls, caves, rivers, mountains, cairns, and altars.
| Region/Placename/Theme | Divine/Agent | Keywords | |
| A S-1 | Donghae, Mago Rock | Magui Halmi, Dragon Ruler | Apron |
| A S-2 | Jeongseon, Mueun Lake stonewall | Magui Halmeoni | Transcendental Sight, Jeongam Temple pagoda, skirt wrap |
| A S-3 | Jeongseon Cave | Magui Halmeom | Apron, marks |
| A S-4 | Cheolwon, Hantan River, Songdae Lake, Mt. Oseong, Mt. Geumhak | Magui Halmeom | Jackstones, skirt wrap |
| A S-5 | Chuncheon, Rocking Rock | Magui Halmi | Skirt |
| A S-6 | Taebaek, Sandrock Cairn | Mago Halmeom | Apron |
| A S-7 | Taebaek, Altar of Heavenly Ruler in Spirit Peak | Mago Halmi | Skirt, Heavenly Sovereign |
| A S-8 | Taebaeck, Altar of Heavenly Sovereign in Spirit Peak (Mago Altar, Altar of Nine Spirits, Tower of Nine Sprits, Mago Tower) | Mago Halmi | Skirt, Guryeong-guk (Nine Spirit State), Sora-guk (Sora State), rain-making ritual, Heaven Opening Day, flag of the Seven Stars (Big Dipper) |
| A S-9 | Taebaek/Jeongseon, Mago Halmi Cairn | Mago Halmi | Apron |
| A S-10 | Taebaek/Jeongseon, Mago Halmi Cairn | Mago Halmi | Skirt wrap, Great Wall |
Tale A S-4: Mago Halmi shapes the river, lakes, rocks, and mountains[1]
[Figure 2: Hantan River. Photo origin unknown]
| A S-4 | Gangwon Province |
| Region/Origin | Cheolwon Galmal-eup Jigyeong-ri |
| Toponym/Motif | Rocks, Hantan River, Songdae Lake, Mt. Oseong, Mt. Geumhak |
| Divine/Agent | Magui Halmeom |
| Lore/Information | It is said that the current of Hantan River began along the trail left by Magui Halmeom’s cane as she walked with her cane. She went on dragging her cane. At Songdae Lake, she poked the water with her cane, which made the water deep so much so that it was interconnected with that of Jangdae Lake. And she carried the huge jackstones in her skirt while ascending to the sky. She dropped two rocks near Mt. Geumhak. Two huge jackstones are still found there today. Mt. Oseong and Mt. Geumhak are the sites for Mago Halmeom to place her legs upon squatting to poo. |
| Related themes | Cane, jackstones, skirt wrap, pooing |
| Notes | Continuous creation, Mago Halmi the Cosmogonist |
This tale depicts a continuous creation of Mago Halmi. The skirt motif is among other cosmogonic motifs including her cane, jackstones, and pooing. Topographies include a river, lakes, rocks, and mountains. Jackstones (공깃돌Gonggit-dol) refer to the stones for a children’s game, usually played by girls. The image of dropping jackstones overlaps between Mago Halmi and girls. Huge rocks placed in certain locations are called Mago Halmi’s jackstones (see Tales B S-14, C S-36, C S-37, E S-65). “Magui Halmeom” is the Cosmogonist.
Tale A S-8: Mago Altar on Mt. Taebaek built by Mago Halmi
[Figure 3: Mt. Taebaeck, Gangwon Province. Photo from Wikimedia Commons]
[Figure 4: Mago Altar (Altar of Heavenly Sovereign), Mt. Taebaek. Photo from Korea National Park Service]
| A S-8 | Gangwon Province |
| Region/Origin | Taebaek Sodo-dong Yeongbong (靈峰 Peak Spirit), Mt. Taebaek |
| Toponym/Motif | Mago Altar (Altar of Heavenly Sovereign, Mago Cairn, Nine Spirit Altar, Nine Spirit Cairn) |
| Divine/Agent | Mago Halmi |
| Lore/Information | Legend has it that the Altar of Heavenly Sovereign located on Yeongbong (Spirit Peak) was made by Mago Halmi who brought stones in her skirt and poured them there. Another legend has it that Mago Halmi who dwelt in Mt. Taebaek reached the top of Mt. Taebaek to ascend to Heaven. She found the mountain a bit too low. Bringing stones in her skirt, she poured them there, which is known as Mago Altar (Altar of Heavenly Sovereign)… The Altar of Heavenly Sovereign is located atop Yeongbong. In the past, Nine Spirit State and Sora State, both of which are ancient tribal nations in Chunyang-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, performed Heavenly Ritual here. In Silla, King Ilseong performed Heavenly Ritual for the first time. Later, King Girim performed Ritual for the Dead. Throughout the Goryeo and Joseon periods, high officials and leaders conducted Heavenly Ritual… Altar of Heavenly Sovereign is also called Nine Spirit Altar, Nine Spirit Tower, or Mago Cairn. On the Korean Foundational Day (Opening Heaven Day), a ritual is conducted here annually. At the center, the national flag and the flag of the Seven Stars (Big Dipper) are elected. And 33 Heaven Flags (33 Cheongi天旗) and 28 Constellation Flags (28 Sugi 宿旗) are placed in a circle around it. Nine ritual offerings are prepared. |
| Related themes | Skirt, Nine Spirit State, Gaecheon-jeol (Opening Heaven Day, Korean Foundational Day), flag of the Seven Stars, 33 Heaven Flags, 28 Constellation Flags, nine ritual offerings |
| Notes | Continuous creation, the Goma Myth, Mago Halmi the Magoma Divine |
This tale threads the mythological foundation of the Goma Myth, better known as the Korean foundation myth, with the Magoist Cosmogony. Here “Mago Halmi” represents the Magoma Divine, the merged persona between Mago, the Creatrix, and Goma, the Shaman Queen Mother Divine. Mt. Taebaek holds the linchpin. Mt. Taebaek is the sacred mountain wherein Goma’s Divine Tree Altar is told to have been located. Mago Altar on Mt. Taebaek in this tale refers to the altar of Goma’s Divine Tree (壇樹 Dansu).[2] Mt. Taebaek in the current location is one of several replicas of the original Mt. Taebaek, the cradle of the Goma Myth.[3] The location of the original Mt. Taebaek mentioned in the Goma Myth is debated among Koreanists. Note that old Magoist toponyms (including Mt. Taebaek, Mago Stronghold, Mt. Mago, Mt. Cheontae, for example) recur in the Korean peninsula, mainland China, and the Japanese Archipelago, a topic to be discussed elsewhere due to complexity. The fact that Heavenly Rituals are annually offered at the Mago Altar in this place indicates that the Goma Myth is reenacted among Koreans to this day. Modern Koreans, however, associate Hanung or Cheonje (Heavely Sovereign), the protagonist divine of the Korean foundation myth, with the spouse of Ungnyeo (Bear/Sovereign Woman), Goma. That is, he married Goma and begot the son, Dangun. This folktale, although indirectly, bespeak otherwise. Mago Halmi, the Magoma Divine, lived on the mountain and built the Altar of Heavenly Sovereign, also known as Mago Altar or Mago Cairn.[4]
Equally noteworthy are such placenames as Yeongbong (Peak Spirit), Mago Cairn, Nine Spirit Cairn, Nine Spirit Altar, and Nine Spirit State, insinuating the Mago Cosmogony. The Nine symbolizes the cosmogenic force (sonically charged interplays of nine numbers) of the Matriverse, the Cosmic Music, which brings forth lifeforms HERE and NOW. The symbolism of the Nine (3, 33, 9 and 99) is also expressed in “nine ritual offerings.”[5] In fact, the nine kinds of actions and objects recur in village festivals and rituals of Korea to this day.[6] In addition, today’s Heavenly Rituals described above is also indicative of the matriversal consciousness of the Creatrix. Circumambulating the Flag of the Seven Stars (Big Dipper) at the center, 28 Constellation Flags represent the solar-lunar-menstrual calendric journey inscribed in the Magoist Calendar. The moon visits 28 sections of the matriverse (known as 28 Lunar Mansions) during one year of 13 months.[7] Also, the ritual arrangement with the Flag of the Seven Stars at the center circumambulated by 28 Constellation Flags and 33 Heavenly Flags reenacts the mythological scene of the north-bound homecoming journey of earthlings to the Abode of Mago at the northern center of the Matriverse.[8]
[1] Narrated by Gim Myeongho (64). “Folktales of Gangwon (2005)” in Indigenous Cultural Electronic Encyclopedia. http://cheorwon.grandculture.net/cheorwon/toc/GC07801200.
[2] I have discussed Goma’s Divine Tree (Dansu) on Mt. Taebaek at length elsewhere:
Dan is a signature term for Goma, the founding Shaman Queen Mother of Danguk.[2] The etymology of “dan” lies in Goma’s Dansu (Altar Tree) or Sindansu (Divine Altar Tree). Dansu, literally referring to Goma’s birch tree altar in Mt. Taebaek (Great Resplendence), stands as a matriversal symbol of the Tree of Life. Goma and her women as Nine Mothers/Sisters set an epochal landmark under the Dansu. Goma’s divinity manifests through the symbol of nine-numbers across cultures. Representing the Reign of Mago, the Creatrix, on earth, the nine-state Danguk confederacy, Goma’s Dansu was the cradle of matricentric human civilization. Leading the collective socio-political-cosmic body of Nine Mothers/Sisters, Goma is attributed to the matricentric civilizer who laid the foundation for humanity, Dan Children, once and for all.
See Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Reinstating Matriversal Motherhood: A Study of Dandong Siphun (Ten Instructions for Dan Children), the Magoist Pretoddler Childrearing Custom of Traditional Korea” in Reader, 344-345. Also see Hwang, “Goma” in Reader, 61-65.
[3] The actual location of Mt. Taebaek remains debated among Korean scholars. North Koreans say that Mt. Taebaek refers to Mt. Baekdu or Mt. Myohyang, located in North Korea today. I hold that it refers to one in today’s mainland China, given that the pre- and proto-Chinese history of Magoist Koreans took place in today’s mainland China.
[4] It is unfortunate that modern Koreans do not read the Korean foundation myth from the perspective of Goma. Splitting Hanung or Cheonung, the title of Goma, from Goma herself is unsupported. Rendering Hanung the male hero lacks textual evidence. I wrote below elsewhere:
The idea that Hanung is the male ruler remains unsupported. First of all, the present myth is rife with female symbols and images including the cave initiation, the divine tree, conception, and procreation. Indeed, the Goma myth is a completely pacific or rather pacifying story, void of conquering, killing or raping. Secondly, the idea of Hanung as a male founder is left without a direct connection with the bear clan (Ungjok) and the Goma words, a topic to be explicated in detail at a later section. Most critically, if Hanung were the male ruler, his association with Sindansu would be too superficial to give due meaning to the Korean foundation myth. The present myth ascertains that the protagonist of the Sindansu (Divine Goma Tree) motif is a female. Sindansu, the tree of life or the world tree, to be explicated at a later section, is credited with one of the most pivotal mythemes, if not the most, of the Korean foundation myth. It is the cosmic tree, which Goma envisioned for the common origin of all beings from the Triad Creatrix and prayed for conception without a male partner.
See Hwang, “Goma” in Reader, 61.
[5] The number 33 recurs in traditional Korean culture. It is a number associated with the number nine: 33 is 3 times 33. Three threes are implicated. Well-known is that, during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), the bell was struck 28 times, which is called Ingyeong, to inform 10 PM, whereas 33 times, which is called Paru, 4 PM. Also, Buddhist cosmology involves 33 Heavens (Trayastrimsha).
[6] Examples are too many to mention here. To be discussed in my forthcoming book series on Mago Folklore and Toponymy.
[7] Ancient Magoists chanted the names of the 28 Lunar Mansions for the purpose of exorcism and healing illness. By calling out the names of the 28 mansions, we are summoning the power of the Matriverse! Here are the 28 words for the chant:
Gak-Hang-Jeo-Bang-Sim-Mi-Gi
Du-Wu-Nyeo-Heo-Wi-Sil-Byeok
Gyu-Ryu-Wi-Myo-Pil-Ja-Cham
Jeong-Gui-Yu-Seong-Jang-Ik-Jin
See Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Mago Almanac Year 7: Menstruators’ Planner with Monthly Wheels (13 Month 28 Day Calendar) (Mago Books, 2023), 12.
[8] The whale-back riding homecoming journey to the abode of Mago in the northern center of the matriverse is the mytheme, which I have drawn from my research on Magoist Cetaceanism. I hold that the iconography of a dragon-riding mother known as Dragon Palace Mother (Yonggung Buin), Dragon Divine Halmeoni (Yongsin Halmeoni), Dragon Palace Lady (Yonggung Aegissi), and Dagon Ruler Mother (Yongwang Buin), depicts the Goma character. See “Dragon Deity Shrine (용신당 龍神堂)” in Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Accessed March 12, 2024). https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0039555. An iconographic discussion on Goma as the dragon-rider is discussed elsewhere:
Myogyeon (妙見 Marvelous Sight) or Myoken (Japanese) refers to the female deity whose veneration involves the circumpolar constellations in the northern center of the matriverse (maternally perceived universe). These constellations include the Polaris and the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper (hereafter the Big Dipper), referring to the bear constellations, Ursa Minor (the little bear constellation) and Ursa Major (the big bear constellation). This essay examines the iconographies of Myoken from Japan and offers Magoist insights (insights drawn from the perspective Magoism, the Way of the Creatrix) on their major symbols. The Myogyeon text, bridging the dragon/whale (a mystical sea monster) symbol and northern circumpolar star venerations, offers the lynchpin in assessing pan-East Asian culture of Magoist Cetaceanism. Magoist Cetaceanism refers to the matriversal consciousness, which venerates the bio-sonic-aquatic-ecological behavior of whales as an indispensable blessing to All on the planet.[8] Put differently, the Myogeyon text charts how the mytheme of the whale-back-riding homecoming journey to the abode of Mago, the Creatrix, in the northern center of the matriverse takes shape in history. Myogyeon represents Goma, the founding teacher of Magoist Cetaceanism, who is deified as the greatest deity born of a woman.[8] Goma manifests broadly across cultures. Such major Goddesses as Amaterasu and Xiwangmu in East Asia, for example, display divine characteristics of Goma. Myogyeon stands among them. See Hwang, “Myogyeon,” in Reader, 103-4.
(To be continued)