December 23, 2025January 21, 2026 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Nine Sister Networks E-interview) Feminism and Religion Blog Editors by Carolyn Lee Boyd

[Editor’s Note: Return to Mago E-Magazine (RTME) introduces Sister Organizations under the banner of the Nine Sister Networks as a way of consolidating Matriversal Feminism previously known as Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality. Read More …

(2015 Mago Pilgrimage) Triad Seonghwang Shrines in Gangmun by Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Our visit as well as my lecture in the northeastern coastal region of South Korea was arranged by Ms. Eungyeong Kim. Ms. Kim, lecturer at Gangneung Wonju University, had contacted me three years prior and requested me to visit her region during Mago Pilgrimage. We visited several cultural and natural sites including the three Seonghwang Shrines, Buddhist temple, Rock of Mago Halmi, and Rock of Mago. Traditionally, this region is famed for high Neo-Confucian culture during the last Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). That meant we were stepping into the area wherein male leadership characterized the local culture for the last few centuries. I could sense that highly valued order, balance, and accuracy were embedded in the life of people. The triad symbol was strikingly visible all around us. Not only the three Seonghwang Shrines but also the female triad divine venerated in them. The Seonghwang Shrine refers to a Korean indigenous shrine. And the shrine comprised the three chambers. The triad symbol goes on: The origin story of the shrine involved three geese. Sotdae (the wooden pole that symbolizes Magoism) had the carving of three geese atop. Ancestral tablets came in three. At another level, the Female Seonghwang Shrine was balanced with the Male Seonghwang Shrine. One may assume that the male-female balance follows the Chinese heterosexual model, a patriarchal device that subjugates the female to the male principle. Intriguingly, however, such female-male balance did not render the pantheon of the female triad divine in the case of Gangmun Seonghwang shrine! We found female triad ancestral worship in the Male Seonghwang Shrine as well! Their ancestral tablets bespoke that villagers deemed themselves as the descendants of the female triad. We were given their titles, the Deity of Seonghwang at the center flanked by the Deity of Earth and the Deity of Disease or Smallpox. That substantiates difference between traditional Korean society and Chinese patriarchal society, an insight that Matrina Deuchler maintains.[1] Deuchler, having researched familial institutions and inheritance customs during the late period of Goryeo (918-1392) and the early period of Joseon, shows that traditional Korean society, unlike China, operated a gender-balanced system in which women held equal rights as men. When it comes to gender principle, Korean traditional society, as the whole world fell under patriarchal history, accepted a form of patriarchy on the outlook. Facing the pressure of patriarchal culture from China and India in particular, however, traditional Koreans were able to shape a gynocentric form of gender-balanced society in which preserved the female principle, the legacy of ancient Magoists. In short, villagers of Gangmun sustained the female-male balance of Magoism to this day throughout the vicissitudes of misogynist cultural inventions spawned by the Neo-Confucian social order that took root in the late Joseon period and was consolidated during the Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War. [1] See Martina Deuchler, The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology (Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University; Distributed by Harvard University Press, 1992). Cited in Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Korean History and Religion Viewed from a Gender Perspective 성의 관점에서 본 한국역사와 종교 (I): Korean Women during the Koryo and early Choson periods 고려말 조선초 한국 여성들,” in Segyeo-ui Sinhak (Theology of the World) Vol. 52 (Fall 2001), 175-208” and “Korean History and Religion Viewed from a Gender Perspective 성의 관점에서 본 한국역사와 종교 (2): Medieval Korean Women’s Movements of Tantric Buddhism and Korean Alphabet 중세 한국 여성들의 탄트릭 불교와 한글운동,” in Segyeo-ui Sinhak (Theology of the World) Vol. 54 (Spring 2002), 247-282. The first place we visited was the old town of Gangmun in Gangneung (강릉) City. Gangmun is known for her ancient faith practice of Seonghwang (城隍, Moated Stronghold), whose origin I trace in the Magoist Budo civilization in the third millennium BCE.[i] Unfortunately, the topic of the Seonghwang Shrine remains largely misrepresented and its discussion is complex. Suffice it to say that it refers to a Magoist Shamanic shrine and a village center wherein villagers practiced and preserved Magoism throughout generations. We were there to visit what Gangmun is best known for: The three shrines, the Female Seonghwang Shrine, the Male Seonghwang Shrine, and the outdoor place of Jinttobaegi Seonghwang (진또배기 성황). The Female Seonghwang Shrine (여성황당, Yeo Seonghwang-dang) sits on the ground under the Peak of Juk-do (Big or Bamboo Island), a low hill by the seashore. Below the peak amidst its waist, nettle trees are lined up, looking down the roof of the shine. The shine building, small in size, exudes a swirl of high energy in the air. Having three chambers, it enshrines the female triad in the middle chamber. Our guide, Mr. Yeongmok Jang (80 year-old), an elder of the village, told us the origin story of the shrine. About four hundred fifty years ago, three geese flew from Mongolia and sat on the current spot. Villagers deemed the place sacred and began to offer rituals. At the beginning, the shrine had no structure but was marked by a rock and a small edifice made from rice-straw. The present shrine building was from two hundred some years ago, the late Joseon period (1392-1897). The next shrine, Jinttobaegi Seonghwang, was an outdoor open space made into a park wherein numerous jinttobaegis better known in other regions as sotdaes (솟대 wooden poles with carved three geese atop) stood in different heights. This place is deemed as one of the three shrines in Gangmun together with the Female Seonghwang Shrine and the Male Seonghwang Shrine. All three are located in proximity within 100 meters from each other. According to Mr. Wongeun Kim, a representative of the Gangmun Fishing Community, the tallest sotdae is re-constructed every three years upon the ritual of Pungeo-je (calming the wind for sea voyagers). Other data show that the tallest sotdae is designated as the focus of worship in this outdoor shrine. The third shrine, the Male Seonghwang Shrine (숫성황당, Sut Seonghwang-dang or 남성황당, Nam Seonghwang-dang), was of a small hut-like structure with only one chamber. It was …
(Poem) My Holy Wildness by Arlene Bailey

Art by Mary Feywood I was travelling to find myself When I met the most amazing woman With honey dripping through her fingers, Her essence was furious and intoxicating As memories of times gone by flooded Her soul, her awareness shifted to this now Then her awareness became my awareness And I realized we were one in the same No longer the Performative Feminine I tasted the feral elixir of my existence With knowings of both past and future I embraced my holy wildness within https://www.magoism.net/2020/04/meet-mago-contributor-arlene-bailey
(Poem) Goddesslines/Motherlines: A Poem of Three Goddesses for Your Three Bodies By Swami Pujananda Saraswati

Kali-Durga: She Who Destroys About us and peace. Though war keeps raging around us, Ongoing genocides for depopulation. No end to the lies surrounding overpopulation. True we are many! But there is no scarcity other than what is artificially constructed for profit –while surplus grains go on being burned day by day! Demons in control of markets! So, there is famine, poverty, wars for depopulation. Women! Mothers! Your boys are killing your children, daughters and sons, all children of Mothers. Your small gods turned robotized demons out of control. They are now in control. Kali Ma! Kali Ma! Kali Ma! (While all along, secretly I am a lover of the Flute Player, chariot driver in the Gita.) Lakshmi: She Who Gives Abundance and Rules Your Feelings Like grains of rice in boiling water, the karmic mix pulls some upwards, some down (some evolving, some devolving) in this playground of Mother Divine challenging us with others, similar, different, as all move in cycles fueled by desires. Neutral? Are desires ever neutral? In this place of many reducing desires is non-violence. All you want, many more want too. It becomes vulgar. Try non-interference as a way of caring. There comes a time for doing less and less, bring the love you cradle, listen and do not listen. Discern what is lasting from what is not. Keep discerning, question what moves you… Are you conserving energies for the Big Merging with Goddess? Or will She find you distracted with only the personal. The personal alone pulls you away from Her embrace. Care for your little body, bodies and Big Body Gaia in every move, thought-emotion. This way you´ll be ripe when it´s time for the Big Merging. And then, whatever She does to you comes out in a sweet note. Om Sri Lakshmiai Namah! Om Sri Lakshmiai Namah! Om Sri Lakshmiai Namah! Saraswati: Waters of Wisdom Goddess One and many is who you are. Your nature, your truth, your peace, your shelter, your beginning and end. When you see the pain around you, witness Her dancing for your freedom! This is Her show. Only She can move you. See Her in your breath, feelings, thoughts. She is the water that surrounds us. This is Her embrace. Stay sweet, always sweet for Goddess’ sake. I´m telling you, out there it’s a desert. Stay sweet, my love. Om Aim Saraswatiai Namah! Om Aim Saraswatiai Namah! Om Aim Saraswatiai Namah! *According to Yogic spirituality, which offered the first framework for complex systems thinking, the person experiences or lives in three bodies simultaneously: physical, mental-emotional, spirit or transcendental. [These poems are previously included in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3.] (Meet Mago Contributor) Swami Pujananda Saraswati.
(Call for Contributions) Gathering Threads to Weave into the Ever-evolving Mago Tapestry

What’s your life story? What’s your passion? What are you exploring? experiencing? ruminating on? bringing to consciousness? Send us your unique thread to weave into the Return to Mago E-Magazine, a visible manifestation of the never-ending Mago tapestry. It might be prose, a poem, art, video, music, a combination of any of these, or something we’ve never thought of. Contributed to RTM before? We’d love to hear from you again! Not yet contributed to RTM? Our experienced and enthusiastic RTM team will be delighted to chat with you. We gladly consider all submissions. See Basic Guidelines for submission here.
(Art) The Door Where Time Stands Still by Jhilmil Breckenridge

In a neighbourhood near my house, which is modern and in a privileged area, is this poorer area,
(Poem from Refuge/Solstice) Winds of Change by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright Hemlock hidingin the gorgeSpring seepingNeedled twigsGreening. Abandoned nestWaxing lightFledglings soarSummer’s dawning. Moon summonedby tidesblossomingpearl loosinggolden pollen. Sun slipping lowbittersweet changeabrupt reversalflips flamingorange round. Postscript: I think the young hemlock tree demonstrates how the waxing of the light has been accomplished before the summer solstice and before summer begins. The pines are raining needles, the maples spiral wings – both will transform; some enriching the earth. Others will sleep away three seasons in rich moist ground until next spring… At the solstice: Gratitude for Greening –For every tree and plant.For every bird who sings…For the sun’s golden lightFor Refuge in the forestFor flowing river waters.For flower fragrant nights. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Prose) The Scarlet Runner Outside My Window by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright I have grown scarlet runner beans ever since I can remember. I have heirloom seeds that I collect every fall to dry and store for the winter. During the last few years as the weather began to shift planting became tricky. The deer were also decimating my plants before they could produce seeds pods so eventually after sharing seeds with others, I gave up growing my own… Last winter I had an opportunity to look at lichens, molds, and stones under a powerful microscope at the Mineral and Gem Museum (MGM) and since I had one old seed from many years past, I took it in along with some slime molds because I wanted to see the colors. To my utter shock when I opened the damp packet the seed had produced a big fat white root. Although it was only the first of March, I brought home my treasure and planted it in a pot. Any seed that wanted to grow that much had to be given a chance to live. Within a month I had this huge vine climbing up my window. Every day, after apologizing profusely and telling the vine how much I loved her, I wound her tendrils back on each other. May came with a hard killing freeze and then the rains began. The flooding lasted all summer along with the worst air quality we have ever had here in Maine (nano particles are not measured, the worst air pollution of all). Our beloved Northern Forests are still on fire. In desperation I planted my vine just outside my window to avoid deer predation, where it immediately died. Imagine my astonishment when a tiny leaf appeared about two weeks later in the rain. It was now almost July. The scarlet runner sent out more shoots and by mid – August tiny scarlet flowers appeared. Hummingbirds flocked to the blossoms. Bees too. I waited, and lo, a few pods finally appeared in September. A terrifying accident prevented me from seeing my beans again… Just two days ago my dear friend James, the Bird Man, collected the few pods for me. Most were unripe but when I shelled the beans this morning I had three good seeds, and some unripe ones that looked like jewels . I will dry all of them for about a week and then store the three viable seeds in a cool place for the winter… Maybe my heirloom seeds will produce another magic vine or two next year. I know that I will never forget this old, abandoned bean seed that simply refused to give up. I am awed by the Powers of Nature. S/he will endure. Perhaps before too long theses beans will be gone forever, but for now, I may see another scarlet runner vine bear flowers and seed pods next year. Our only hope lies with the Powers of Nature. No matter what humans continue to do to destroy this beautiful blue green planet – one day S/he will begin again. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Essay 3) Open, Please!: Persian & Islamic Tales of Women Rescued by Mountains by Krista Rodin, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: All photos are taken by the author.] The Pir-e Banu legend has been intermingled with the story of Bibi Shahrbanu, (Bib Sharbanu) whose pilgrimage site lies in the ancient Persian city of Rey (Raay) just south of modern day Tehran. Mary Boyce has effectively shown the relationship between the Pir-e Banu story and the Shahrbanu legends. In her article, “Bibi Shahrbanu and the Lady of Pars” she discusses how the literary tradition regarding Shahrbanu has her as Imam Hussyn’s wife/mother whereas in the oral tradition she is both the daughter of Yazdegard III and Hussyn’s wife/mother. There are multiple versions of her story, but she was most often considered another of King Yagdegird III’s daughters who: was captured by the Arabs and taken to Madina, where she became the wife of Husayn, son of Ali. To him she bore a son, “Ali Zayn al-Abidin, who became the fourth Shia Imam. After the tragedy of Karbala, the Persian princess fled, as Husayn himself had bidden her, on her dead husband’s horse, and rode for her life back to Persia, with her enemies in hot pursuit. They were close upon her as she drew near Ray, and in desperation she tried to call on God; but instead of Yallahu” O God! Her weary tongue uttered instead Ya kuh! O mountain!, and miraculously the mountain opened before her and took her living into its rocks. A piece of her veil was caught in the stone and remained an object of veneration for centuries.viii An early mid10thC rendition by Kulini states: …Ali’s mother brought, not before Uthman, but before Umar, hated by the Shia; ignoring thereby two historical facts, one, that “’Umar died in 644, whereas ‘Ali was not born until 657, the year after Uthman’’s death; the other, that Khorasan was conquered during the caliphate of Uthman. According to Kulini, “Umar sought to harm the princess, but Ali father of Husayn intervened, and bade him let her choose for herself a husband among those assembled. She went at one to Husayn. Being questioned by Ali, she declared her name to be Shahrbanu, wherat he replied: ‘No, you are Jehanshah’.ix A later 10th C version in the Tarikh-I Qum relates: that the mother of the Imam Ali, son of Husayn, was Sharhbanoe, daughter of Yazdigird, and that she died giving birth to Ali. … there is some agreement among the texts for the name of Ali’s mother and that she was a slave by capture, but her identity and fate differ according to Shi’a and Sunni versions.x In all of them there is some overlap. Basically, according to Boyce, “the princess was brought before Umar, threatened by him (usually with being sold as a slave), and rescued by Ali; and that she was either given by Ali to Husayn, or herself chose Husayn as husband. In none of these accounts is anything said about the ultimate fate of the princess.”xi Similar to Chak Chak, there is a spring at the foot of the arid mountain where Bibi Shahrbanu’s cave is situated with a mulberry wishing tree nearby. The actual pilgrimage shrine is across a courtyard from the cave with supposedly Bibi Shahrbanu’s handprints on the inside walls. The shrine itself is now more like a typical Shiite mausoleum. There is no archeological evidence to indicate that the structures are older than about 200-300 years, but there is reason to believe that the site has been used as a place of worship for Shiite Muslims at least since the 9th C. The generic oral tradition tie to the older Sassanian legend is perhaps a way to assert Persianness over the Arab invaders while building a bridge between ancient Anahita worship and the new religion.xii Bibi Shahrbanu’s Shrine, Rey (Ray), Iran The worship of Anahid became disreputable, while the story of Husayn’s Sassanian wife gained currency. With her, ‘the Mother of the Nine Imams’, a princess of the Persian blood royal, a human figure came into existence remote enough and exalted enough to be identified with ‘the Lady’ of Ray. Once the identification was made, then it became necessary to forge a link between the wife of the long-dead martyr of Karbala and the mountain shrine where ‘the Lady’ was still venerated as a living presence; and so, one may suppose, the legend was shaped that brought the princess to find refuge alive in the rocks of the sanctuary.xiii Later the Zoroastrian elements were overridden, and the site became regarded as the grave of Shahrbanu in line with the worship of saints in Shiite Iran. “Inside the inner sanctuary there is an inscription, ‘This tomb of the Mother of Believers, the most excellent of princesses, my Lady Shahrbanoe. May Allah sanctify her secret!’”ix Plaque and Pilgrims at Bibi Shahrbanu’s Shrine and Cave, Rey, Iran The basic story is that of a woman seeking refuge from invading non-believers. She is lost and desperate when she begs a desert rocky mountain to provide her shelter and maintain her purity. Beyond the scope of human reasoning, the earth barren rock opens to save her. This pattern is the same at all of these five sites. The caves where the women were sheltered are indicative of the earliest symbols of the womb of mother earth while the caverns are each on steep and difficult to reach mountain slopes, the traditional home of the gods. Each of them also has a water source, indicating abundance. This ancient symbolism, also indicated by the animals associated with the earliest sites, sheep and cows, harken back to elements of the pre-Zoroastrian goddess Anahita, who was adopted into the Zoroastrian temple and formal religious system by Artaxerxes II (404-358 BCE). He adopted the Babylonian kings’ concept of building temples and placing a tax on the people of the neighboring villages to pay for the sacred sites as well as fill the royal coffers. Artaxerxes II built temples to Anahita at Susa, Echabatana, and perhaps the largest at Kangavar. Anahita is aligned …
(Essay 9) The Blending of Bön, Buddhism and the Goddess Gemu in Mosuo Culture by Krista Rodin

An Uncertain Future Buddhist Temple with Bön and Goddess images at Goddess Gemu Cave. Photo K. Rodin One of the ways the legends have been popularized and coopted is in the public murals that grace the wall outside the Yongling Tourist Office. In keeping with the patriarchal religious traditions of the region, only lamas are allowed to make storyboard murals and paintings, or to interpret them, even when they are placed in public spaces. This means that unless there is a general knowledge of the symbolism and iconography that is associated with the images, the interpretation is subject to guesswork. The murals are supposed to represent scenes from Mosuo history and legends, including a story of the seven fathers and seven stars, six in the sky and one below the earth under the waters. One of the murals is reminiscent of PadmaSambhava, and as this region follows the Black Hat tradition, the great yogi is worshipped, although it may not be intended to be his image. There is a mural of a fire prayer and the worship of fire, as well as scenes of making wine and of carrying water, singing, dancing, and of the former ancient King. The Goddess Gemu is on the last panel riding her white mare, with her rainbow-colored streamers flying in the wind. There is a clear merging of iconographic imagery among the three religious traditions in Mosuo culture, which also makes for vivid tourist posters. Both Green and White Tara appear in the temples alongside the Goddess Gemu and not a few images the Goddess take on Tara’s attributes. The murals in Yongning’s central square demonstrate this merger through a highly selective representation of Mosuo myths that are intended to portray a harmonious, pure and peaceful society. The Bay of the Goddess, a special sacred site on the lake, has so far not been disturbed by the influx of tourism, but these new forces are some that she may not be able to overcome. The seemingly binary opposites of earth and sky, mountain and lake, male and female, shamanism and monasticism, the Goddess and the Buddha became equally balanced in traditional Mosuo culture, even if not in the region’s political sphere. The increase in tourism, however, is changing these configurations by popularizing both Mosuo and Buddhist cultures in the region as tourist attractions. The cable car to Gemu’s sacred cave, the vendors, often not Mosuo, renting costumes on the walking bridge, the literature on “free love” that is promoted to entice young men to the area, the renovations and rebuilding of stupas and temples, as well as the murals themselves bring needed economic growth to the region. The question for the next few years is, how will the binary opposites of economic growth and traditional values, including a respect for the natural world, the Goddess in the lake and mountain, be balanced with new highways, an airport, and new hotels? The Goddess has survived Kublai Khan and the Cultural Revolution, but can she survive this latest invasion? Time, as always, will tell. Works and People Cited and Referenced Anshi, Pan. “The Translation of Naxi Religious Texts.” In Naxi and Moso Ethnography: Kin, Rites, Pictographs, eds. Michael Oppitz and Elizabeth Hsu, Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum, 1998. 275-309. Arcones, Pedro Ceinos. Sons of Heaven, Brothers of Nature: The Naxi of Southwestern China. Kunming: Papers of the White Dragon, 2012. Aris, Michael. Lamas, Princes, and Brigands: Joseph Rock’s Photographs of the Tibetan Borderlands of China. NYC: China House, 1992. Bliss, Carol. “The Capacity of Folk Song to Reveal Complexities in Musuo Culture.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Claremont Graduate University, Educational Studies, 2004. “A Collection of Studies on the Tibetan Bon Tradition.” http://vajrayana.faithweb.com/ACollectionOfStudiesOnBon.pdf Edwards, Mike. “Our Man in China: Joseph Rock.” National Geographic 191, 1997. 62-81. Gurung, B.C. Bon in the Himalaya. Kathmandu: Uma Gurung Publisher, 2003. Hau, Cai. A Society Without Fathers or Husbands: The Na of China, trans. Asti Hustvedt. New York: Zone Books, 2001. Knödel, Susanne. Die Matrilinearen Musuo von Yongning: Eine quellenkritische Auswertung Moderner Chinesischer Ethnographen. Kölner Ethnologische Studien, Band 22, eds. Ulla Johansen and Thomas Schweizer. Cologne: Cologne University Press. 1995. Mathieu, Christine. A History and Anthropological Study of the Kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland- Naxi and Musuo. Lewiston: Mellen Press, 2003. Mathieu, Christine. “The Moso Ddaba Relgious Specialists.” In Naxi and Moso Ethnography: Kin Rites Pictorgraphs, eds. Michael Oppitz and Elizabeth Hsu. Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum Zürich, 1998. 209-234. Mattison, S. M. “Demystifying the Mosuo: The Behavioral Ecology of Kinship and Reproduction in China’s ‘Last Matriarchal’ Society.” (3431674). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. 2010. (808257489). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.nau.edu/docview/808257489?accountid=12706. Moore, Robert W. “Along the Old Mandarin Road of Indo-China,” National Geographic 60. August 1931. 157-200. Namu, Yang Erche and Christine Mathieu. Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World. New York: Back Bay Books, 2004. Norbu, Namkhai. Drung, Deu and Bön: Narrations, Symbolic Languages and the Bön Tradition in Ancient Tibet. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1997. Oppitz, Michael and Elisabeth Hsu, eds. Naxi and Moso Ethnography: Kin, Rites, Pictographs. Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum, 1998. Oppitz, Michael. “The Propitiation of Heaven.” In Naxi and Moso Ethnography: Kin, Rites, Pictographs, eds.Michael Oppitz and Elizabeth Hsu. Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum, 1998. 173-188. Peters, Larry. Tamang Shamans: An Ethnopsychiatric Study of Ecstasy and Healing in Nepal. New Delhi: Nirala Publications, 1998. Rock, Joseph. The Ancient Na-Khi Kingdom of Southwest China 1-2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947. ______. The Life and Culture of the Nakhi Trine of China—Tibet Borderland. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963. ______. “Konka Risumgongba, Holy Mountain of the Outlaws,” National Geographic, LX. July 1931. 1-65. Samuel, Geoffrey. Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Kathmandu and Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993. Shih, Chuan-kang. “Mortuary Rituals and Symbols among the Moso.” In Naxi and Moso Ethnography: Kin Rites Pictorgraphs, edited by Michael Oppitz and Elizabeth Hsu. Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum, 1998: 103-125. Snellgrove, David. Buddhist Himalaya. Kathmandu: Himalayan Book Sellers, 1995. Turner, Kevin. Sky Shamans of Mongolia: Meetings with Remarkable Healers. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2016. Walsh, E.R. “The Mosuo: …

(Special Post Isis 3) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 3 Isis, Arab Women Revolution, and Black Goddesses Naa Ayele Kumari Going back to the original topic of the post…. Some quotes ” Women are in half the society… How come there are only 7 in the Assembly… and they are all Islamist! ” I can’t beat up my wife and almost kill her and call it discipline… this is not discipline… this is abuse and insanity” http://youtu.be/y4umifTLSII 12-Year Old Explains Egyptian Revolution in Under 3 Minutes www.youtube.com Max Dashu It is tremendously heartening to see these insights being expressed, and spread. The Salafis have made such inroads, and now the pushback is happening. Harita Meenee Dear Naa Ayele Kumari, thank you actually reading my post and commenting something relevant to it. It’s refreshing when someone does hear what we have to say instead of projecting their own notions. Building a solidarity movement with those who are oppressed but fighting is very important during these critical times! Harita Meenee See also: https://www.facebook.co/intifadat.almar2a?fref=ts The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي حرية الفكر ، حرية التعبير ، حرية الاعتقاد ، حرية التنقل ، حرية الجسد ، حرية اللب…See More Glenys Livingstone … as you say Max …” way too much of it going on” – amongst people who should know better (I would have thought): “Dark goddess as terrifying, challenging, white goddess as benign; “black magic” as harmful; I see way, way too much of this going on out there.” And related to that in my mind is all the “love and light” business that is so common: the Ground of Being is Dark … it seems to me that mystics have always understood the quintessential darkness of Love/Deity. Max Dashu Sure. I would just like to add that the critique raised here addressed issues much broader than the substance of the article, which made some good points. But once the choice of graphics flagged the issue of representation, people had much more to say about that old yet still very fresh wound which is constantly reopened by the cultural habit of whitening Egypt, or interpreting Africa through a eurocentric lens. It is not on any one person to carry the weight of that; we all have a responsibility to address the issues, but especially those of us of European heritage need to familiarize ourselves with how this plays out over and over. Just as men have a responsibility to speak up in support of women when patriarchal assumptions are on board. We all can learn something from each other, along all the various axes of domination, and overthrow them in coalition. Naa Ayele Kumari I have often considered where the roots of this psychology comes from. It is dualistic thinking that causes us to compare and contrast, then sum up judgement of good or bad and place a value on each. It extends into competition and justification for war. It also doesn’t escape me that often this came with certain civilizations who systematically destroyed others. It didn’t just happen with blacks in Africa… but blacks in Asia and the Indus Valley as well. With the Aryan invasions of India, came the eventual introduction to lighter divinities and more emphasis on male divinities. Southern Indians, Sri Lankans are very dark… even more so than many African Blacks. The caste systems implemented by the Aryan invaders did the same thing to them casting them as “untouchables”. With that came the marginalization of their black female divinities such as Kali. Kali actually has 10-16 forms… from compassionate mother, the fountain of wisdom, to she of great beauty but she is minimized as just destructive and terrifying… especially as Brhaman, Vishnuu, and Shiva grow in popularity. One of Kali’s statues has her black self standing on top of Shiva because she conquered him. Later there is a discussion in on of the Hindu text explaining Kali (as Parvati) after being subdued by Shiva she becomes lighter. Further they have stories about him rejecting her and calling her blackie which made her do austerities to rid herself of her black skin. Naa Ayele Kumari It should not be overlooked that in the Story of Alice in Wonderland… a story intended to keep Goddess elements for future generations, has the Elder sister ( the Queen of Hearts) portrayed as man, ego, and power driven who cuts off heads and has a fierce dragon…a clear reference to Kali. The White goddess as the younger sister is her opponent… and her mission is to usurp the throne of the Queen of Hearts even though she was the rightful heir as the oldest … or primordial. Stories like these also reinforce the stereotypes and negative iconography. Max Dashu Yes, it is pervasive in many cultures of domination. Demons are portrayed as black not only in Europe, which we know well, but also in China and in a lot of Buddhist iconography. In modern India, the sweet goddesses are shown as pink, the wrathful as black; and Krishna (name means “dark”) is turned powder blue. (Another of his titles, s’yam, also meaning dark, is the word translated as “green” in Green Tara.) The countercurrents (Black Mazu, loving Kali – esp in Bengal and south India, Black Madonna) bubbled up from the common people, who knew and longed for something other than the dominant racialized hierarchy. Naa Ayele Kumari I am just discovering Mazu ( Matzu/LuShui) in China today! Never knew about her. This discussion has led me to look deeper for black goddesses in Asia. Max Dashu Taoist spiritual tradition often refers to Xüan Nü, which can be translated in several ways. You’ll usually see it rendered as “the Mysterious Female,” a phrase that occurs in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), and this is a valid translation; but what is less emphasized is that it also means “the Dark Woman.” In […]
(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) Laurie Baymarrwangga, Senior Australian of the Year 2012

Posted with permission in Return to Mago on ‘Australia Day’, 26 January 2014 (Australian time), in recognition of the ill-treatment and misunderstanding of Aboriginal people that was set in train when, in 1788, white people first settled in the land now known as Australia.

(Book Excerpt) Held in the Womb of the Wheel of the Year by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from the Introduction of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Meditation cushion in circle of decorated stones My ancestors built great circles of stones that represented their perception of real time and space, and enabled them to tell time: the stone circles were cosmic calendars.[i] They went to great lengths and detail to get it right. It was obviously very important to them to have the stones of a particular kind, in the right positions according to position of the Sun at different times of the year, and then to celebrate ceremony within it. I have for decades had a much smaller circle of stones assembled. I have regarded this small circle of stones as a medicine wheel. It is a portable collection, that I can spread out in my living space, or let sit in a small circle on an altar, with a candle/candles in the middle. Each stone (or objects, as some are) represents a particular Seasonal Moment/transition and is placed in the corresponding direction. The small circle of eight stones represents the flow of the Solstices and Equinoxes and the cross-quarter Moments in between: that is, it represents the “Wheel of the Year” as it is commonly known in Pagan traditions. I have found this assembled circle to have been an important presence. It makes the year, my everyday sacred journey of Earth around Sun, tangible and visible as a circle, and has been a method of changing my mind, as I am placed in real space and time. My stone wheel has been a method of bringing me home to my indigenous sense of being. Each stone/object of my small wheel may be understood to represent a “moment of grace,” as Thomas Berry named the seasonal transitions – each is a threshold to the Centre, wherein I may now sit: I sense it as a powerful point. As I sit on the floor in the centre of my small circle of stones, I reflect on its significance as I have come to know the Seasonal transitions that it marks, over decades of celebrating them. I sense the aesthetics and poetry of each. I facilitated and was part of the celebration and contemplation of these Moments in my region for decades. It was always an open group that gathered, and so its participants changed over the years but it remained in form, like a live body which it was: a ceremonial body that conversed with the sacred Cosmos in my place. We spoke a year-long story and poetry of never-ending renewal – of the unfolding self, Earth and Cosmos. We danced and chanted our relationship with the Mother, opened ourselves to Her Creativity, and conversed with Her by this method. All participants in their own way within these ceremonies made meaning of their lives – which is what I understand relationship to be, in this context of Earth and Sun, our Place and Home in the Cosmos: that is, existence is innately meaningful when a being knows Who one is and Where one is. Barbara Walker notes that religions based on the Mother are free of the “neurotic” quest for indefinable meaning in life as such religions “never assumed that life would be required to justify itself.”[ii] I face the North stone, which in my hemisphere is where I place the Summer Solstice. From behind me and to my right is the light part of the cycle – representing manifest form, all that we see and touch. From behind me and to my left is the dark part of the cycle – representing the manifesting, the reality beneath the visible, which includes the non-visible. The Centre wherein I sit, represents the present. The wheel of stones has offered to me a way of experiencing the present as “presence,” as it recalls in an instant that, That which has been and that which is to come are not elsewhere – they are not autonomous dimensions independent of the encompassing present in which we dwell. They are, rather, the very depths of this living place – the hidden depth of its distances and the concealed depth on which we stand.[iii] This wheel of stones, which captures the Wheel of the Year in essence, locates me in the deep present, wherein the past and the future are contained – both always gestating in the dark, through the gateways. And all this has been continually enacted and expressed in the ceremonies of the Wheel of the Year, as the open, yet formal group has done them, mostly in the place of Blue Mountains, Australia. PaGaian Cosmology altar/mandala: a “Womb of Gaia” map Over the years of practice of ritually celebrating these eight Seasonal Moments – Earth’s whole annual journey around Sun, I have been held in this creative story, this Story of Creativity as it may be written – it is a sacred story. Her pattern of Creativity can be identified at all levels of reality – manifesting in seasonal cycles, moon cycles, body cycles – and to be aligned with it aligns a person’s core with the Creative Mother Universe. I have identified the placing of one’s self within this wheel through ceremonial practice of the whole year of creativity, as the placing of one’s self in Her Womb – Gaia’s Womb, a Place of Creativity. All that is necessary for Creativity is present in this Place. All may come forth from here/Here – and so it does, and so it has, and so it will. NOTES: [i] See Martin Brennan, The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials, and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland (Rochester Vermont, Inner Traditions, 1994). [ii] Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983), 693. [iii] David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), 216. REFERENCES: Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Brennan, Martin. The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials, and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland.Rochester Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1994. Walker, Barbara. The Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: …
(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 …
(Video) A Beltaine Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Beltaine/High Spring: the traditional dates are Southern Hemisphere – October 31st or 1st November Northern Hemisphere – April 30th (May Eve) or 1st May The actual astronomical date varies, and it is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, thus actually a little later in early November for S.H., and early May for N.H., respectively. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pODpbkzfrIU The purpose of the video is for ceremony and I suggest pausing the video where it suits you, to add your own processing, embellishments and/or your own drum, percussion, music, and voice wherever you please. I have made short spaces in the video where it may be paused. The script for this Beltaine ceremony is offered in Chapter 8 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. The elements of Water, Fire, Earth and Air on the altar in this video are placed in directions that are appropriate to my region in the Southern Hemisphere, and East Coast Australia: you may place yours differently, and transliterate when I name the direction, which I only do at the beginning. The images used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Beltaine ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Beltaine ceremonies that I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space, in Gundungurra and Darug country, Blue Mountains Australia. To enhance participation in the ceremony, you may like to have the following: the element of Water flavoured with rose water. the element of Earth in a large dinner plate and card paper large enough for handprints, along with a bowl of water for washing hands after. a small bouquet of scented flowers and/or herbs for the element of Air. a firepot for the element of Fire. This may be a clay pot of sand into which a small amount of methylated spirits will be poured and lit: it produces a soft flame that will not set off fire alarms, though care should still be taken. a larger firepot or two – either near the altar or located where suitable, for either leaping the flames, or simply passing your hand over flames. This firepot may be a larger version of the one for the element of Fire. coloured ribbons, ideally attached to a pole/tree, but it is possible to manage this rite in another creative manner. a pink ring cake, topped with rose water and honey and petals, sliced ready for serving, but whole. sweet pink wine/juice and glasses for serving. Dance Instructions: Celebrant as #1, person next on right as #2. All 1’s face right, all 2’s face left. All 1’s go in & under first, all 2’s go out & over first. The chant for the dance around the tree (a “Novapole” in the Southern Hemipshere, a “Maypole” in the Northern Hemisphere): “We are the Dance of the Earth, Moon and Sun We are the Life that’s in everyone We are the Life that loves to live We are the Love that lives to love.” (Note: This is a slight variation of the chant written and taught to me by thea Gaia. Music credits: A few clips from Coral Sea Dreaming by Tania Rose: https://www.taniarose.net A clip from Benediction Moon by Pia from her album by that name, New World Music, 1998. A clip from “Shedville 28th Nov 05” by Nick Alias, who has generously shared his music, and given permission for me to use it. Image credits: Ishtar (Middle East, 1000 BCE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.131. Aphrodite (Europe, 300 BCE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.133. Xochiquetzal (Mayan, 8th century CE), Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.135. Inanna/Ishtar (Mesopotamia 400 B.C.E.), Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature, p.39. Birth of the Goddess, Erich Neumann, The Great Mother, plate 155. Milky Way photo: Akira Fujii, David Malin images. Beau Ravn’s “Goddess” and “God” artworks (2000). Sri Yantra (1500 CE.), A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle, Sacred Sexuality, p.75.
Lammas/Late Summer in PaGaian tradition By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

The Spring Equinox Moment occurs September 21-23 Southern Hemisphere, March 21-23 Northern Hemisphere. The full story of Spring Equinox is expressed in the full flower connected to the seed fresh from the earth; that is, it is a story of emergence from the dark, from a journey, perhaps long, perhaps short, through challenging places. The joy of the blossoming is rooted in the journey through the dark, and an acknowledgement of the dark’s fertile gift, as well as of great achievement in having made it, of having returned. Both Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, celebrate this sacred balance of grief and joy, light and dark, and they are both celebrations of the mystery of the seed. The seed is essentially the deep Creativity within – that manifests in the Spring as flower, or green emerged One. the full story: the root and the flower As the new young light continues to grow at this time of Spring, it comes into balance with the dark at Spring Equinox, or ‘Eostar’ as it may be named; about to tip further into light when light will dominate the day. The trend at this Equinox is toward increasing hours of light: and thus it is about the power of being – life is stepping into it. Earth in this region is tilting further toward the Sun. Traditionally it may be storied as the joyful celebration of a Lost Beloved One, who may be represented by the Persephone story: She is a shamanic figure who is known for Her journey to the Underworld, and who at this time of Spring Equinox returns. Her Mother Demeter who has waited and longed for Her in deep grief, rejoices and so do all: warmth and growth return to the land. Persephone, the Beloved Daughter, the Seed, has navigated the darkness successfully, has enriched it with Her presence and also gained its riches. Eostar/Spring Equinox is the magic of the unexpected, yet long awaited, green emergence from under the ground, and then the flower: this emergence is especially profound as it is from a seed that has lain dormant for months or longer – much like the magic of desert blooms after long periods of drought. The name of “Eostar” comes from the Saxon Goddess Eostre/Ostara, the northern form of the Sumerian Astarte[i]. The Christian festival in the Spring, was named “Easter” as of the Middle Ages, appropriating Goddess/Earth tradition. The date of Easter, which is set for Northern Hemispheric seasons, is still based on the lunar/menstrual calendar; that is, the 1st Sunday after the first full Moon after Spring Equinox. In Australia where I am, “Easter” is celebrated in Autumn (!) by mainstream culture, so we have the spectacle of fluffy chickens, chocolate eggs and rabbits in the shops at that time. There are other names for “Eostar” in other places …the Welsh name for the Spring Equinox celebration is Eilir, meaning ‘regeneration’ or ‘spring’ – or ‘earth’[ii]. In my own PaGaian tradition, the Spring Equinox celebration is based on the Demeter and Persephone story, the version that is understand as pre-patriarchal, from Old Europe. In the oldest stories, Persephone has agency in Her descent: She descends to the underworld voluntarily as a courageous seeker of wisdom, and a compassionate receiver of the dead. She represents, and IS, the Seed of Life that never fades away. Spring Equinox is a celebration of Her return, Life’s continual return, and thus also our personal and collective emergences/returns.We may contemplate the collective emergence/returns especially in our times. I describe Persephone as a “hera”, which of old was a term for any courageous One. “Hera” was a pre-Hellenic name for the Goddess in general[iii]. “Hera” was the indigenous Queen Goddess of pre-Olympic Greece, before She was married off to Zeus. “Hero” was a term for the brave male Heracles who carried out tasks for his Goddess Hera: “The derivative form ‘heroine’ is therefore completely unnecessary”[iv]. “Hera” may be used as a term for any courageous individual: and participants in PaGaian Spring Equinox ceremony have named themselves this way. The pre-“Olympic” games of Greece were Hera’s games, held at Her Heraion/temple[v]. The winners were “heras” – gaining the status of being like Her[vi]. At the time of Spring Equinox, we may celebrate the Persephone, the Hera, the Courageous One, who steps with new wisdom, into power of being: the organic power that all beings must have, Gaian power, the power of the Cosmos. This Seasonal ceremony may be a rejoicing in how we have made it through great challenges and loss, faced our fears and our demise (in its various forms), had ‘close shaves’ – perhaps physically as well as psychicly and emotionally. It is a time to welcome back that which was lost, and step into the strength of being. Spring Equinox/Eostar is the time for enjoying the fruits of the descent, of the journey taken into the darkness: return is now certain, not tentative as it was in the Early Spring/Imbolc. Demeter, the Mother, receives the Persephones, Lost Beloved Ones, joyously. This may be understood as an individual experience, but also as a collective experience – as we emerge into a new Era as a species. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme speak of the ending of the sixty-five million year geological Era – the Cenozoic Era – in our times, and our possible emergence into an Ecozoic Era. They describe the Ecozoic Era as a time when “the curvature of the universe, the curvature of the earth, and the curvature of the human are once more in their proper relation”[vii]. Joanna Macy speaks of the “Great Turning” of our times[viii]. Collectively we have been away from the Mother for some time and there is a lot of pain. At this time we may contemplate not only our own individual lost wanderings, but also that of the human species. We are part of a much bigger Return that is happening. The Beloved One may be understood as returning on a collective level: …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 3) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

(Bell Essay 5) The Ancient Korean Bell and Magoism by Helen Hwang

Part V: The Nine Nipples and Korean Magoist Identity Part V demonstrates the difference in bells of Korea, China, and Japan with regard to the relief of nine nipples. Chinese bells after the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) got away with the nipples wholesale, whereas Japanese bells inaccurately mimicked nine nipples. On the other hand, the nine nipples continued to be sculpted on Sillan Korean bells and throughout history. In fact, the nine nipples became the hallmark of Korean bells. Why did post-Han China discontinue the nine nipples, a legacy from Shang and Zhou times? What made Japan mimic the nipples on the bell? What does it mean that Korean bells kept the nine nipples intact throughout history? These questions remain unanswered without the framework of the mytho-history of Old Magoism that defines ancient Korea as the creator and defender of Magoism in pre- and proto-Chinese times. The fact that bells with the nine nipples re-emerged during 7th-8th century Silla (57 BCE-935 CE) is no accident. In fact, it supports the premise that Old Magoism during which Magoist female shamans ruled was revived by Sillan leaders. Silla Koreans took the role of witness to the legacy of Old Magoism before it vanished into the subliminal memory of history once and for all. Like other symbols of the number nine such as the nine dragons, nine-tailed fox, and nine maidens that I have shown in a series of preceding essays, the nine nipples are the cultural/conceptual relic from the bygone Magoist history underlying Sinocentric historiography of East Asia. On one level, the relief of nipples forged on the bells from Korea, China, and Japan in one way or another at some point of history substantiates the cultural influence of Old Magoism across the national boundaries of East Asia. On another level, the fact that the nine nipples characterize Korean bells throughout history suggests the primary association of ancient Koreans with Magoism. Korean bells have served the mission of carrying the cultural memory of Old Magoism. Let us backtrack a bit and ask: Is it possible to conclude that the Zhou bell was the original model of the Sillan bell? It is dubious to deem that the Sillan bell took the model of the Zhou bell solely. That is primarily because the Sillan bell is far more explicit than the Zhou bell in female symbology. The Zhou bell’s nipples are not even called nipples. Foremost, official history of ancient China has no explanation for the female principle embodied in the nine nipples of Zhou and Shang bells. It appears that the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) was the landmark that defined China without regard to its attitude toward Old Magoism. The umbilical cord was not only cut off but also used to matricide, marking the birth of full-fledged patriarchy. The bloody hand was washed in falsified historiography. The Han dynasty marks the period of transition from the pseudo-Magoist to the anti-Magoist for China. In other words, China as a political force began, or rather continued, to abandon the legacy of Old Magoism and forged a new identity of patriarchal rulership in writing. In about four centuries thereafter, we find the bells of the Dang dynasty (618-906) utterly non-traditional in style, showing no sign of female symbology. Bell, Chen Dynasty (575), China Jingyun Bell, Tang Dynasty (711), China Protruded knobs are expressed in Jingyun bell cast in 711 CE but hard to associate them with nipples. The number nine symbology is no longer included. Instead, the magnitude in size and weight (247 cm and 6,500 kg) was there to adumbrate what has gone into oblivion, the magical work of epiphany. Discontinuity between Zhou bells and Dang bells cannot be more overt. As seen in above images, Chinese bells of the post-Dang period are adorned in entirely new styles among which the convoluted end-lines are one of the most distinctive features. Creativity without harmony is no ingenuity but an expression of confusion. Power without harmony is only a disguise of fear and guilt. And harmony comes from the Great Goddess, Mago. The contrast of the Dang bell is heightened when it is juxtaposed with the contemporaneous Sillan counterpart. It is unequivocal that the Sillan Korean bell is closer to the Zhou bell in appearance than the Dang bell to the Zhou bell. Experts may deem this as a corollary that ancient Silla was under the influence of Zhou culture. However, I suggest that both Silla and Zhou took the footstep of the pre-Chinese tradition of Old Magoism. Put differently, there were older models that are not fully exposed at this time. Precisely, Sinocentric thinking is under investigation. On the part of proto-Chinese Korean history, according to mainstream historians, Joseon (2333 BCE-232 BCE) is rendered a myth lacking historicity. Silla not only duly inherited the heritage of Old Magoism but also sought to revive the rule of Old Magoism whose political stance strikingly differed from her contemporaneous neighboring state, Dang China. In fact, the Dang dynasty (618 CE-906 CE) coexisted with the united Silla period (668 CE-936 CE), shorter than the last third of the Silla period (57 BCE-935 CE). What prevents one from thinking that Silla inherited the symbolism of nine nipples directly from pre-Chinese East Asian/Korean Magoist Culture? Interestingly, Japanese bells have nipples whose numbers are, nonetheless, inconsistent, more than nine. While showing no overt symbology of female sexuality, the Japanese bell displays the nipples in the four corners aligning with its predecessors. In comparison with Korean bells, nonetheless, they are evidently monotonous in artistry. Absent are the breast circumferences as well as the seats for nipples. Neither goddess images nor intricately designed rinceau designs are employed. However, a hue of mimicry is echoing. The lack of originality in Japanese bells seemed plainly noticed by the Japanese themselves upon encountering Korean bells. More than fifty Korean bells were taken to Japan during the colonial period (1910-1945) and even before then and still remain there. Among them, six bells are known from Silla, cast before the 10th century CE. In fact, the bell in Unjuji, Japan, is alleged …
(Essay 4) Magos, Muses, and Matrikas: The Magoist Cosmogony and Gynocentric Unity by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s note: This paper is published in the journal, the Gukhak yeonguronchong 국학연구론총 (Issue 14, December 2014). Here it will appear in five sequels including the response by Dr. Glenys Livingstone. Numbers of end notes differ from the original paper.] (Part 4) Parallels between Magos and Matrikas The numeric fluidity of a particular pantheon of Goddesses from three to nine is no isolated phenomenon in Western Muse tradition only. Laura K. Chamberlain’s research on the Hindu Goddess Matrika, one of the major manifestations of Durga, bears a close resemblance to the counterpart in Magoism.[1] In the story of Mago Halmi, Mago had eight daughters and dispatched seven daughters to seven regions/islands who respectively became the shaman progenitor of the region. She lived with the youngest daughter, whose region was the center of Magoism.[2] The Mago pantheon is also addressed as Gurang (Nine Goddesses) in the case of Gaeyang Halmi (Sea Goddess/Grandmother).[3] Among others, a parallel between Chamberlian’s delineation of the worship of the Asta Matrikas (Eight Mother Goddesses) and folk rituals concerning Mago is striking with regards to the aniconic rituals offered at “crossroads, rivers, the sea, and mountains” to Matrika. In the case of Magoism, the veneration of rocks and mountains that may be seen as “animistic beliefs” is widespread throughout the Korean peninsula. The linguistic resemblance is also present between Matrikas and Magos. According to Chamberlian, Mai (mother) and Ajima (grandmother) are the “two of the oldest names for the goddess in Nepal.” [4] They appear analogous with the Korean words Eomma 엄마 (Omai 오마이, Omasi 오마시, and etc. for mother) and Ajime (아지매, a female relative or aunt), a dialect from which the modern term Ajuma (아줌마, neighbor woman often pejoratively referring to a housewife) is derived. Chamberlain also notes the varied number of Matrikas and writes: The inconsistency in the number of Matrikas found in the valley [Indus] today (seven, eight, or nine) possibly reflects the localization of goddesses [ ] Although the Matrikas are mostly grouped as seven goddesses over the rest of the Indian Subcontinent, an eighth Matrikas has sometimes been added in Nepal to represent the eight cardinal direction. In Bhaktapur, a city in the Kathmandu Valley, a ninth Matrika is added to the set to represent the center.[5] On the one hand, it is true that the indeterminate number of Matrikas, as Chamberlain points out, explains localization of Hindu Goddesses in the Indian Subcontinent. On the other hand, it is equally possible to posit that there was a Goddess myth once shared by the members of mother community in a remote past. A daughter community, which resided in the mother community, came to migrate farther away from the mother community. She herself became a mother and was known as the mother community by her own daughter communities. From the perspective of the original mother community, the memory of the original myth by granddaughter communities would be fragmented and flavored with their own cultural, historical, and linguistic backgrounds. After many generations passed, granddaughter communities would lose the memory of the original myth and that they would not recognize kindred communities all over the world. However, the first mother was wise. She chose one daughter to carry on the legacy of the original myth. This is exactly what Mago stories tells us. When all is said and done, the numeric similarity of three, seven, eight, or nine and the inconsistency of the number are only some of the fragmented testimonies by granddaughter communities. Under such circumstances, Mago’s lineage, especially the first three generations, works as a blueprint of the family tree lost among granddaughter communities. (Read Part 3, to be continued in Part 5, Dr. Glenys Livingstone’s response to this essay.) References: Bak, Geum (Bak, Jesang). Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City). Eun-Soo Kim, translated and annotated. Seoul: Hanmunhwa, 2002, 1986c. Baring, Anne and Julies Cashford, eds. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. London: Viking Arkana, 1991. Chamberlain, Laura K. “Durga and the Dashain Harvest Festival: From the Indus to Katmandu Valleys” in ReVision (vol. 25, no. 1, Summer 2002), 24-32. Chung, Yenkyu. Ancient Korea and the Dawn of History on the Pamirs. Seoul: Jimoondang, 2007. Daly, Mary. Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1984. Davis, Elizabeth Gould. The First Sex. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971, 33. Hwang, Helen Hye-Sook. “Issues in Studying Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia: Primary Sources, Gynocentric History, and Nationalism,” in The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia, eds. Deepak Shimkhada and Phyllis Herman (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2008), 10-33. ____________________. “The Female Principle in the Magoist Cosmogony.” Ochre Journal of Women’s Spirituality, (Spring 2007) [http://www.ochrejournal.org/2007/scholarship/hwang1.html]. ____________________. Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess: A Mytho-Historic-Thealogical Reconstruction of Magoism, an Archaically Originated Gynocentric Tradition of East Asia. Ph.D. Dissertation: Claremont Graduate University, 2005. Kim, Busik. The Samguk Sagi (History of Three Kingdoms). Translated and annotated by ByongSu Lee. Seoul: Elyu Munhwasa, 1977. Lee, Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Translated by E. Wagner and E. Shultz. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984. Smith, Barbara. “Greece” in The Feminist Companion to Mythology. Carolyne Larrington ed. Hammersmith, London: Pandora Press, 1992. Yoon, Thomas. BuDoZhi: The Genesis of MaGo (Mother Earth) and The History of the City of Heavenly Ordinance. Notre Dame, IN: Cross Cultural Publications, 2003. Walker, Barbara G. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983. [1] Levy 1990; Slusser 1982, cited in Laura K. Chamberlain, “Durga and the Dashain Harvest Festival: From the Indus to Katmandu Valleys” in ReVision (vol. 25, no. 1, Summer 2002), 24-32. [2] See Tales [9-1] and [5-3] in the Appendix, Hwang (2005), 391-8. [3] I was able to join a field research trip organized by the research team of Kunguk University’s Korean Literature Graduate Studies to collect the folk stories of Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess, in Buan-gun (Buan County), North Jeolla Province, South Korea July 10-12, 2012. Only after the trip, I realized Gaeyang Halmi with her eight daughters was …
(Essay 1) The Magoist Calendar: Mago Time inscribed in Sonic Numerology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This is my latest research that has led me to restore the 13-month, 28-day Mago Calendar, which will be included at the end of its sequels. See Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), published in 2017.] Magoist Calendar is the inter-cosmic genealogical chart of the Creatrix in which all is found kindred. It unfolds the one standard unified time, which I call the Cosmic Mother’s Time or the Mago Time, wherein all beings in Our Universe from microcosmic quarts to macrocosmic celestial bodies are perceived in continuum. The Cosmic Mother’s Time is an inclusive time in which everyone is re-membered and celebrated. It is revelatory for its numinous nature, which some may call a mystery. The Mago Time is happening