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(Essay) She Summons – Introduction by Kaalii Cargill

[Author’s Note: I have been co-editing the Mago Books anthology She Summons: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? with Helen Hye-Sook Hwang for a Solstice publication date. This anthology speaks to the urgency of Her summons and, on the eve of final edits, a severe storm destroyed the infrastructure of the electricity grid servicing my home, leaving me without power for over a month. It seems apt that publication has been delayed as I deal with the immediate consequences of the terrible imbalance we are all living with.] She Summons: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality is an urgent call to participate in revolution. In his book – the end of protest. a new playbook for the revolution[i] – Micah White described four theories of revolution: structuralism, voluntarism, subjectivism, and theurgism. He says that “spiritual insurrection” calls for an amalgamation of all four approaches, with an emphasis on subjectivism and theurgism, on “targeting the mental environment, the collective imagination, in order to achieve socio-political change.”[ii] What does this mean for Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality? It means it is more vital than ever to heed the summons of Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality. We are challenging “temporal power”, challenging the “monopoly on the material and physical realms of life” that has “left the money worshippers overconfident and vulnerable to a social movement that pulls the people’s allegiance out from under the current world”.[iii] But do enough people read anthologies like this? This echoes White’s question: “So where does our authority come from if we are not the majority?”[iv] He quotes the philosopher Alain Badiou, who “argues we must rid ourselves of the electoral notion that authority ‘emerges in the form is a numerical majority’. Instead it comes from our ability to conjure . . . ‘historical riots, which are minoritarain but localised, unified and intense’.”[v] I think of Lysistrata as an example of this. The 5th Century BCE comedy by Aristophanes introduced themes of women’s rights, women’s purpose and power in determining societal outcomes. The main character, Lysistrata, organised a women’s sex strike to bring an end to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). Despite the patriarchal representations of women in the play, and the fact that it was a fictional comedy, this is one of the first recorded examples of a localised, unified, and intense riot that brought about a peaceful resolution that had previously seemed impossible. Did it really happen that way? No. But it was an idea that entered the collective and has persisted as an example of women working together to upend existing social structures. If, as White argues, “Western governments are (no longer) required to comply with their people’s demands”[vi], how do we bring about social transformation? By targeting the “mental environment” to “trigger a species-wide metanoia – from the Ancient Greek for ‘a turnaround’ – capable of releasing the tremendous forces necessary for a social revolution.”[vii] I believe that this anthology and others like it are threads in the tapestry of this turnaround. White quotes Rumi: “By one thought that comes into the mind a hundred worlds are overturned in a single moment”[viii]. May the offerings in She Summons, Vol 1, bring just such a thought into your mind and the minds of others . . . [i] M White, 2016. the end of protest. a playbook for revolution. Penguin, Random House, Knopf Canada [ii] Ibid, p. 241 [iii] Ibid, pp. 241-242 [iv] Ibid, p. 246 [v] Ibid, p. 246 [vi] Ibid, p.36 [vii] Ibid, p.43 [viii] Ibid, p.43 Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill
(Book Excerpt 2) Pagan, Goddess, Mother by Nane Jordan, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This is the Introduction chapter from: Pagan, Goddess, Mother, edited by Nané Jordan and Chandra Alexandre, Demeter Press, 2021, pp. 11-28, https://demeterpress.org/books/pagan-goddess-mother/.] Introduction (continued) Pagan and Goddess: Unruly Terms Pagan and Goddess spiritual movements and practices are multifaceted and diverse—it is not our intention to define and debate these various theologies, thealogies, philosophies, and traditions. Rather, this anthology adds to the literature of these fields from mother- and family-centred perspectives, offering insight to the study of women and others as mothers in religion and spirituality. We have chosen to capitalize the terms “Pagan” and “Goddess” to keep these two terms in view throughout our introduction. But this need not be so—anthology authors may or may not capitalize these terms in the chapters that follow. The mother-authors of this anthology are each unique in their voices and visions, reflecting how Pagan and Goddess pathways allow for differing expressions and multiple contexts. Throughout Western, European-based history, the terms “Pagan” and “Goddess” were deemed derogatory titles. The term “Pagan” was historically used in a negative sense to define and denigrate non- Christians as being heathens or irreligious (Ball 423). This was especially so as Christianity came to dominate all forms of faith and spirituality in the European historical context and extended into European histories of global colonization. In its contemporary, Western-based spiritual use, the term “Pagan” has been reclaimed to honour the beliefs and practices of pre-Christians, of sacred Indigenous and ancestral spiritual traditions, and regarding contemporary polytheistic (multiple divinities), Earth- based, and pantheistic or panentheistic (divinity as pervading nature and the cosmos) views. In this, nature, all life forms, and the land itself, including elements of water, fire, earth, and air, are regarded as sacred, alive, and full of spirit, with the human body being equally sacred. From the term Pagan comes the “neo-Pagan” movement, which references the modern revival of Pagan beliefs, deities, festivals, and celebrations (Adler). From its Latin root, Pagan means a “country dweller,” as in peoples who lived closely with the Earth and the cycles of nature. As defined in this volume by Pagan theologian Christine Hoff Kraemer, Western spiritual movements in contemporary Pagansim include “Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, and various reconstructionist Polytheisms” (this volume). Further terms for Pagan spirituality include “the Craft” or the “Old Religion,” which refer to the aforementioned pre-Christian religious identification and involve valuing women’s wisdom and female spiritual power. Another unruly term related to Pagan and Goddess spirituality is the infamous “witch.” As noted by women’s history scholar Max Dashu, “Modern Western culture is saturated with demonized concepts of the witch, while lacking knowledge about authentic cultural practices of its own past” (59). Dashu points to lineages of the term “witch” across proto Indo-European languages as related to words for “wise woman,” “wisdom,” and “seer, prophet, or sage” (60). The witch as an archetypal female figure—with her European history of vilification through the mass persecution of women in the historical “Burning Times” (Reid), turned modern, magical icon of North Amer-ican movie and TV fame (e.g., Harry Potter and Maleficent)—is a powerful, galvanizing term. Some Pagan and Goddess practitioners have reclaimed the word “witch” to identify themselves. For witches, this statement reclaims and empowers women’s social status, self-authorization, and bodied, sexual life-giving capacities beyond patriarchal control. Contemporary witches identify across Pagan and Goddess spiritual pathways—seeking to break through historical and contemporary misogyny and to offer liberation through a spiritual revival of female/feminine power and magic for modern life. The practice of magic is active in many traditions as a tool for nature-, self-, community-, and spirit-based connections, with potential for trans- formation, healing, and inner growth through rituals and celebrations. Paganism writ-large encompasses many peace-loving ways of life. Most Pagan communities value individual autonomy and self- actualization. Some operate under a hierarchical order with progressive levels of leadership, whereas others engage community consensus. Furthermore, some Pagans chose to practice alone. Deities worshipped or honoured in Paganism come from wide-ranging sources—including ancient Greek, Egyptian, British, Irish, African, East Asian, and Middle Eastern traditions—and may reflect male, female, or gender fluid forms. Some Pagans honour sacred wisdoms, such as the Tarot or Kabbala, whereas others access pantheons and deities from folklore and myth in an extensive array that can be both personal and varied (Adler). Traversing this spiritual terrain, “Goddess” is an equally contested term. Being an “other” to male-centred divinity, this word claims the power of female/feminine divinity in singular and multiple forms. Whereas some people may speak of and honour “the Goddess” as a singular Supreme Being, others worship Goddesses from many cultures and/or in many forms. Feminist theologian Mary Daly pointed out over forty years ago in, Beyond God the Father, that patriarchal religions revering a male-only, father God tend to legitimize hierarchical, power- over, and oppressive relations in daily social life that place male above female and father over mother. Countering these patriarchal symbolic, physical, and psychological effects, Goddess spirituality in its contemp- orary North American feminist revival seeks to empower and validate women’s lives, bodies, and spiritual experiences (Christ). Goddess as a spiritual “She,” thus reflects, through varied female and feminine forms, the experiences of women’s lives through a diversity of expressions and traditions. Reclaiming Goddess(es) in singular and multiple forms has been a central practice of the women’s spirituality movement in North America. Women’s spirituality as a social movement is conjunct with feminist politics. Although it includes secular concerns for women’s rights and critiques of patriarchy towards women’s empowerment, women’s spirit- uality goes further to reimagine religion, culture, society, personhood, and community from spiritualized, postpatriarchal views (Spretnak). Women’s, feminist, and Goddess spirituality struggled to give birth to and liberate the very notion of Goddess. Through such spiritual, cultural, political, and bodied liberations—often anathema to the views and practices of organized religion—visions and practices of female-centred spirituality have emerged through contemporary practices. These traditions are forwarded and embodied by American women’s spirituality leaders, such as Elinor Gadon, Luisah Teish, Zsuzsanna Budapest, Vicki Noble, and Judy Grahn. As editors, we …
(Essay) Mental and Emotional Abuse: Surviving Patriarchy and Finding Healing Through the Goddess by Sharon Smith

Public domain image Twenty-eight years of my life. That’s how long I endured mental and emotional abuse and neglect from my first husband. That may seem crazy: I mean, why would anyone want to stay in an abusive relationship for so long? The answer is both simple and complicated. As is the case with so many women living in patriarchal cultures, the reason is twofold: 1) I had two children to care for; and 2) I didn’t think I could make it on my own.Patriarchy cripples women by making them dependent upon men for their existence. I was one of the crippled ones—a bird, whose wings had been clipped and whose body had been shoved into a cage called “Home”. I married right out of high school and had no work experience. So I literally depended upon my ex for everything.My ex, who had treated me like a queen before we were married, was “Mr. Happy Man” to the outside world. Everybody in our rural, upstate New York community loved him. He seemed jovial, always laughing and making corny jokes. But, after the ring was on my finger, when the door was shut to the outside world and we were alone in our home, the mask came off. He was not a “happy man”.Like many men raised in a home with a strict patriarchal father, my ex, who was not by nature a “macho” kind of guy, grew up lacking self confidence. So in order to feel “big” and “in charge” he found the perfect “punching bag” in me—not physically (he never laid a hand on me) but verbally, emotionally and mentally. He fine-honed his skill, over the years of our marriage, of slicing and dicing me verbally and neglecting me to the point that, as my second husband, Jerry, once noted:“Honey, he made you feel lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean!”Yeah…That’s pretty accurate! My self-esteem, what little I had of it going into the marriage, was stripped away, bit by bit—kind of like having your nails ripped off, one by one.Physical abuse is terrible. I don’t want to minimize the horrors, or the pain, of being beaten and bloodied. But sometimes we forget how damaging mental and emotional abuse and neglect can be, and how difficult it is to heal from it. The problem is this: With physical abuse, there are “tells”: The black eyes, bloodied lips, the cuts, bruises, broken noses, arms, legs, ribs, etc. The damage can be seen. Not so with mental/emotional abuse and neglect. That kind of damage is done through words—hurtful name-calling, accusations, mockery, mean and spiteful teasing, the “shame-and-blame” game. It’s also done through neglect: in my case, my ex never bought me a birthday gift—or even a card; he didn’t acknowledge me on any holiday—not Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day, not even Christmas. No cards, no gifts, nothing. And what did I do? I shoved it all down, put on a smile, and pretended everything was okay.Mental and emotional abuse and neglect is the silent, unseen killer of self-worth. Your best friend may be suffering from it, and you might not even notice. Chances are, you won’t.As I mentioned earlier, I stayed in that toxic relationship because I had no college education and no work experience, outside of the home.. Another factor was my small-town upbringing. I was raised to believe that you don’t just throw away your marriage: You worked through the hard times. You persevered. Also, as I was in the Christian religion at the time, I believed it was my job to submit to my husband, as long as he wasn’t physically threatening my life. He was, after all, God’s appointed “Head” (authority) over me, and who was I to question God?This is Patriarchy’s subtle brainwashing of Womanity: make us believe we MUST have a man to guard, guide and decide for us. Because Eve screwed up the world, right?Eventually, my ex decided a wife wasn’t enough. He needed a girlfriend on the side. And when I discovered his infidelity, I knew I couldn’t stay with him any longer. Although I was terrified of being on my own, I knew I couldn’t subject myself, or my daughters, to his abusive, neglectful ways any longer. I thought I had finally secured a “just way” (according to the Bible) to leave my marriage. I went to the Elder Women of my church and told them what was going on and looked to them for help: Surely they would counsel me to leave him. How shocked I was to hear them say, “You can’t leave your husband! God hates divorce. You need to go home and try harder to be a better and more submissive wife, so your husband doesn’t feel the need for comfort from another woman!”BAM! The weight of those words fell on me, hard! The burden and responsibility for the success or failure of my marriage landed squarely on me, not my roving, abusive, neglectful husband. I had to try harder. Not him. I went home that afternoon dispirited, disillusioned…Later, as I stood at the kitchen sink, washing the supper dishes, I picked up a carving knife and, in a moment of hopelessness, thought how easy it would be to slit my wrist and free myself from the pain of that abusive marriage. What saved me was the fact that my daughters needed me (their father was harsh with them and neglected them, too) and I could not, I would not, leave them with HIM.But that night I prayed for iron to enter my soul. But I did not call out to the patriarchal Father God of Christianity. I prayed to someone, somewhere, who would truly understand my plight; someone who would hear me and help me and my children to be free. The next morning, I experienced what is called a ”lightbulb moment”: I finally understood that my ex’s abusive treatment was not my fault. I didn’t need to feel guilty about a damned …
(Poem) I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams by Mary Saracino

Vergamini Clan from Author’s personal archives of old family photos. I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams realized,a woman unafraid to speak her mindlive out loudunabashedly love who I choosewithout hesitationor shameI honor their passage in steeragecrossing an ocean to embracea different life than what was given themthey dreamed of freedomliving life unfettered by theboot heels of tyrannythey dreamed of days and nightsbrimming with ease, laughter, pride,inviolable sovereigntymy grandmothers no longer shackled to traditionsthat entombed their spirits, constrained their giftsmy grandfathers no longer imprisonedby the limitations of class and ethnicityI am their dream actualized at long, long lastnot perfect, but perfectingnot finished, but ever evolvingleaping to conjure the hopes they heldin their hearts, dance with the possibilitiesthey envisionedsing the songs they left unsungno longer silenced by omertano longer afraid to breatheto say I amI amI am https://www.magoism.net/2013/05/meet-mago-contributor-mary-saracino/
(Meet Mago Contributor) Jennifer Powell

Jennifer Powell has a B.A. Hon in Fine Art and a Grad Dip in Transpersonal Art Therapy and Counseling. She has facilitated workshops in self-development using the Goddess Archetypes for 30 years. She is published in both EBook and Print and has been writing for nearly thirty years. As the owner of The House of Visionary Publishing she has developed and produces transformational tools like the Shaman Journey and Inner Journeys. She still paints and sculpts and lives a quiet but productive live in rural Australia. She is now a 74 yrs old Artist and producer of the Shaman Journey game. Since the recent death of her beloved partner, she is living rather reclusively in rural Victoria, Australia. She is giving herself time to grieve and re-envision herself.
(Essay 2) We Need to Talk Frankly About Sexual Abuse in Paganism by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.

The non-structured nature of Pagan worship allows for many interpretations of beliefs and practices which can be very confusing to a newcomer. There is no master list of certified pagan groups, recognized and overseen by a committee to ensure that the teachings and practices of the group follow set standards. Pagan leaders don’t go to a seminary or receive a master’s in divinity. There is no Confederation of Pagan Churches, to investigate and police the actions of groups. This lack of oversight and accountability can enable evil individuals to make claims that they know the “true” spiritual path and draw in unsuspecting followers to abuse them. I came to Goddess paganism in the early 2000’s, and I remember a song a friend downloaded and shared with me. This friend had a large collection of pagan music, and we loved listening to it. The song was called “Witch War,” and some of the lyrics that I still remember were: So you’re a mystic sister, and you’ve been through puberty/And you think you might be pagan and you want community… he calls himself an elder but he’s only 23…. He takes you to a house, and the priest gives you a shove’in/Says if you f*** my friends and me we’ll let you in our coven/Cause we like polyamory and lots of carnal loving/ And if you want a family we’ll put one in your oven. As you might have guessed this song was more of a joke, like the Mountie Song. But satire is always based on some truth, and other pagans I have known have told me stories that make this seem more like a cautionary tale than a drinking song. A bisexual friend told me about a polyamorous pagan group she had once been part of where pressure was put on members, of both sexes, to engage in sex with the male and female leaders of the group. And she had heard the same stories from other pagans about other groups. Because there are no certification or membership requirements for forming a coven or group it is difficult to say if a leader is lying or making up a practice or belief system out of whole cloth. Especially since most discussions of Paganism take place on website and blog pages and many books are self-published. Now I don’t believe that we need a structure like that of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Paganism can continue to exist as individuals or independent groups. This is how it has been throughout history even in societies like Rome or Greece. There was no Pope or high council making sure everyone was worshipping in the same way. The festivals had the same names, and that was enough for the people. But we do need to be faster to address and acknowledge bad behavior among ourselves, and especially from our leaders. In past years, there have been multiple instances of Pagans in “leadership” positions and well-respected Pagans abusing their power. Gavin and Yvonne Frost wrote the Good Witch’s Bible in 1972 and were leaders in Paganism since the early 1970s. In chapter 4 of Good Witch’s Bible, they advocated for pedophilia and incest. The Frosts were confronted, and they threatened to sue their accusers to scare them into silence. Even today some in the Pagan community said that the Frost’s crimes should not be discussed because, again, it played into the narrative of Pagans as child abusers. Even after their support of pedophilia became widely known they were still invited to speak at large Pagan gatherings and lectures. Within Paganism there needs to be a concerted movement to address issues and allegations of sexual abuse of children and adults as well as emotional manipulation and spiritual abuse. By taking immediate action, we can hold a moral high ground and keep ourselves safe. If we, as individuals, can reconcile the truth, that some people will use any religion as a means of gaining access to victims, we can make it easier for others to report problems. Maybe you have been reading a blog by a self-proclaimed “high priest” who pushes members to engage in sex with him; maybe you heard a story from a friend about a creeper at a festival; maybe there is a family where the father talks about guiding his daughters into their sexual awakening. We need to talk openly, warn each other, and engage with law enforcement and other authorities when necessary. Then if someone calls us child molesters we can proudly say, “we report abusers in our community, how about you?” The high road is easy to claim when you are already doing the right thing. (End of the essay) (Meet Mago Contributor) Rev. Francesca Tronetti Ph.D.
Blow by Lise Weil

We are all so much more than we think we are…. We are air exhaled by hemlocks, we are water plowed by whales, we are matter born in stars, we are children of deep time.Kathleen Dean Moore, Great Tide Rising It was our last day in Baja. I had come here to spend time with whales. I am not fond of heat and Baja is hot. And truthfully, whales, though I worshipped them from afar, had not been my favourite mammals. Despair drove me to Baja. It was March 2017 and I was still reeling from the elections and what they said about the U.S. and our chances of redeeming ourselves as a species. Could nature recover from our relentless assaults? Was there any reason to hope? I thought the whales might have some wisdom to offer. That I would be travelling with a women’s wilderness outfit and a guide who communicated with whales seemed to increase the likelihood of this outcome. When a blue whale first approached – we were camped on the shore of the Sea of Cortez, just gathering for our morning circle—all the other women fell to their knees and stayed there as we watched her circle the bay (a mama and her calf our guide told us). In circle, the women spoke in tones of reverence and rapture. I abstained. I had seen those huge bodies blowing and breaching and yes it was impressive, they were BIG (the biggest mammals on the face of the earth, we had been informed, up to two city blocks in length), and these enormous creatures had come to us, or so the others insisted, come repeatedly, but I felt nothing…. certainly by contrast with my companions. Or, to be honest, I felt rage. What the fuck makes you think they are coming for us? Why the fuck would they want to come to us? After what we’ve done to them? Done to the oceans. I said this one night around the campfire, my face wet with tears which in all honesty were probably less tears of shame for our species than pain at not being able to feel what the others felt, at feeling separate from them. But after five days on the Sea of Cortez, spying one fluke after another, watching those giant bodies dive and surface and dive again, I had come to believe, I can’t say how exactly, that maybe yes they did love us and yes they had come for us. Now we were staying in cabins on San Ignacio Bay on the other side of the peninsula. San Ignacio is a protected lagoon where gray whales come to calve and where for this reason they were murdered en masse by humans in the nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century. But in 1977, a fisherman in the bay received a visit from a mama gray and her calf who would not leave the side of his boat until he had stroked the baby. Since then, San Ignacio has become a pilgrimage site, a place where humans can venture out in boats and be pretty sure that they’ll not only see but be able to touch a gray whale. It was now our fourth day here on the lagoon and already its rippling waters had come to feel like one of those neighborhoods that was sacred to me because she lived there—the woman I loved—and any second she might suddenly appear. It had been a hard morning. The hardest of the trip. Several days earlier, after a rough day of paddling that had done me in, I had leapt to the aid of someone who was heaving a double kayak out of the water—in the spirit of pitching in but also so as not to be outdone by my younger travel mates. In the process I pulled something skeletal badly out of whack. It had caught up to me the day before and I had barely slept. All night I had dreamt of a chiropractor—could I find one in this area? In the morning in the circle I told the dream and then, since the dream seemed to be wanting it of me, asked if anyone in the circle knew anything about alignment. There were on this trip an assortment of healers and yoga teachers and I was secretly hoping someone might offer to help straighten me out. No one did. I felt—there is only one word for it—rejected. No one wanted to take on my case, my crooked, aging body. An old haunted place—not beautiful enough—I went back to it. But there is something I’ve left out here, something about that sleepless night that feels important to say. I have spent many nights lying awake with one kind of ailment or another just listening to the minutes tick away. This night was not like any of those. Because throughout the hours, and the muscular cramps that seized my neck and held it in a vice, I remained completely calm. I remained calm because I had every confidence I would be healed….in fact it occurred to me during that long night that there is no healing without affliction. So maybe affliction is necessary? I was afflicted, and I needed this affliction so that I could be healed. I had been reading about whales the night before, suddenly ravenous for knowledge about these beings about whom until now my main source of information had been Moby Dick. In one book I read that just by the way they navigate, conducting waves of light and sound, whales serve to bring everything into balance. “Planetary alignment” is how the writer put it. Well if they could align planets why not one human body? In late morning, after the circle, we went out in the boats. The driver of my boat was Sextos, a big burly Mexican who never ventured out into the lagoon without his flute. “A blow!” someone would shout, pointing, and all binoculars would take aim as Sextos sped up to get near, …
(Book Excerpt 3) Pagan, Goddess, Mother by Nane Jordan, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This is the Introduction chapter from: Pagan, Goddess, Mother, edited by Nané Jordan and Chandra Alexandre, Demeter Press, 2021, pp. 11-28, https://demeterpress.org/books/pagan-goddess-mother/.] Introduction (continued) Following Pagan, Goddess, Mother Threads As editors, we see obvious interconnections between Pagan and Goddess traditions for empowering practices of actual mothers and mothering. Yet this is the first anthology we know of to explore this field from the perspective of mothers and matricentric (mother- centred) feminism. This gap of knowledge may be explained by the ongoing lack of focus on mothers and mothering as subjects of academic study and inquiry, despite humans being born from mothers. As noted by motherhood studies leader and scholar Andrea O’Reilly, the study of motherhood and mothering remains peripheral to academic feminism (“Matricentric” 19). In pursuing matricentric feminism, O’Reilly notes that “Motherhood is the unfinished business of feminism” (14). Intriguingly, we note that “spirituality” and “Goddess” also remain sidelined topics in academia (Jordan, Inspiriting), as little material is found in any coursework or research across North American universities, despite our knowledge of the many vital scholarly and practice-based contacts and communities in these fields. Thus, to amalgamate Pagan and Goddess spirituality with matricentric feminism brings new perspectives forwards from both fields, with much material remaining to be uncovered. O’Reilly notes that one of the governing principles of matricentric feminism is that it “commits to social change and social justice, and regards mothering as a socially engaged enterprise and site of power, wherein mothers can and do create social change through childrearing and activism” (“Matricentric” 18) For us, Goddess is the penultimate extension, expansion, and worldview of matricentric feminism. Through a spiritualized matricentric worldview, Goddess as deity, symbol, energy, form, culture, creative power, and practice feeds our daily lives as mothers, and nourishes our lives as people who engage in the gifting work of social change. We know the value of the motherwork we do, and the maternal gifts we give (Vaughan). We cocreate with and expect the support of others in raising our children. We equally value our self-actualization as spirited human beings. Thus, mothering is an ongoing weaving of many threads for thriving of self and other as in the philosophical value of “eudaimonia,” which refers to human flourishing and the blessedness of a life well lived. As editors, we value how the mother-scholar authors in this anthology pursue what O’Reilly terms “the matrifocal narrative.” In such narratives, mothers play “a role of cultural and social significance in which motherhood is thematically elaborated and valued, and is structurally central to the plot” (Matricentric, 5-6). To begin exploring Pagan and Goddess spirituality through the lens of matricentric feminism, Pagan, Goddess, Mother is divided into three sections, with a total of thirteen chapters, including essays and poems. We mention the number thirteen, as we can only think that Goddess is giving us a wink—thirteen being, in the esoteric literature, the perfect coven (gathering circle) of witches. The number thirteen was also made famously unlucky in Western culture. Yet for Pagans and Goddess lovers, the number thirteen is well known as the original lunar calendar. This denotes the yearly cycle of thirteen moons for tracking human time on Earth. Furthermore, the phases of thirteen moons are interconnected with the timing of the life-giving female menstrual cycle, where body and cosmos are united as sacred cycles of life. The first section, “Priestess, Witch, Artist, Midwife: Mother Stories,” opens the anthology. We delve into mothers’ narratives from the forefronts of home-, self-, and life-making as Pagan- and Goddess-loving mothers. In “Mamapriestess,” Molly Remer explores the intricate interconnections among her birthing, mothering, and Goddess spirituality priestessing in her working-from-home life. Remer is the home-based priestess of Brigid’s Grove, through which she leads and teaches Goddess-centred women’s spirituality programs, circles, and rituals. Her story deeply expresses how Goddess as Mother affirms her worth and value in her own maternal role. Remer shares and reflects upon her study of contemporary American priestesses who are, like herself, in the “immersive stage of life as a mother.” Sarah Rosehill, in “Finding my Footing as a Witch and a Mother,” shares the intensity of birthing and becoming a mother to her daughter, alongside insights into her spiritual life as a witch, through the path of Anamanta, which “invites us to open to the world around us—the earth, the wind, the lake, the stars.” Rosehill’s experiences of early mothering are deeply informed by her Pagan pathway, where she finds solace and joy in surrendering to the demanding new rhythms of her mothering life. Mothering is coenriched by her spiritual life, revealing the deeper meanings of each. In “Remothering and the Goddess,” Asia Morgenthaler reveals her interconnected journeys of becoming a mother and an artist as well as the enrichment of her life pathway through her relationship to the Goddess. As Morgenthaler emerges as an artist, she finds Goddess images pour through her, creatively healing childhood and family wounds. Morgenthaler artfully reclaims her once strained relationship to the figure of the Virgin Mary through Goddess-led meanings and symbolism and the power of painting “her sacred face.” Her artwork from her series “Mary” graces this anthology cover. In her poem, “Minks,” Elizabeth Cunningham tells a mother- daughter story of remembering across the generations. In this, a wise daughter, wearing an old mink coat from her grandma, prays to heal the family’s past transgressions. The chapter written by Welsh midwife and professor, Alys Einion, is titled, “‘Call Unto Thy Soul’: A Reflexive Autoethnography of a Pagan, Priestess, Goddess-Worshipper, and Mother.” Einion explores interlinking threads of her varied life roles, including her early-life dedication to the Goddess, her experiences as a lesbian woman and mother, and her service to women’s birthing powers as a midwife. Einion’s experiential and embodied dedication to her Goddess and birth- work pathways creatively reveals “the ecstasy of that femaleness, of the sheer power of what some call our physicality, but which cannot be separated from the divine. We are Goddess.” The next book section, “Scholarship from Pagan …
(Video) Goddess Pilgrimage by Kaalii Cargill

[Editor’s Note: The video was created and produced as part of 2015 Nine Day Solstice Celebration organized by Mago Academy.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fENgZ1_lBVE

(Special Post) BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE FOR EL PASO ARTIST MARIO COLÍN by Donna Snyder

Born in Juárez in 1959, Mario Colín lived his entire life in the Five Points area of Central El Paso, where he attended Houston Elementary and Austin High School. From the age of fifteen, he worked as a construction worker, building silos and other large construction projects across the U.S.A., at some point hitch hiking from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic shores. In his late twenties, he began to focus all his attention and energy on art, which had been an interest since early childhood, working as a muralist and portrait painter. Much of his art is of a religious nature, although he also painted secular art, portraits, and historical scenes. Colín painted his first mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe in collaboration with deceased artist Chuck Zavala in 1987 at Esparza’s Grocery, a small store in Central El Paso. It has now become a shrine, with community members building a stone arch and bringing flowers and candles, and has been pronounced a religious site by the parish church. Since that first mural, Colín has painted over 40 pieces of public art, many of which have become landmarks. Many of those murals are in that same Central El Paso neighborhood, on or near Piedras, including the House of Pizza, Los Alamos Grocery, The Elbo Room bar, the former Sanitary Plumbing at Piedras and Fort Boulevard. Colín twice painted a 25 foot mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe, at Alameda and Zaragoza, across from the Ysleta mission. The first version, painted in 1997, became decayed, but was a popular landmark. That mural has appeared in periodicals, art books, calendars, many newspaper articles, and in photographs exhibited in the El Paso Art Museum and galleries. In 2004, Señor José Villalobos donated and members of the community contributed money to pay laborers to replaster the wall of the century-old adobe building where it is located, and Colín repainted the entire mural for donations from passers-by and community members. Colín’s work has also been featured on the International History Channel and Canal 44, XHUI TV, in a Ford television commercial, and numerous times in the El Paso Times and the defunct El Paso Herald-Post, as well as in periodicals such as Texas Monthly, Dallas Morning News, Texas Observer, Austin American Statesman, Stanton Street magazine; literary journals such as Mezcla and GypsyMag.com; in documentaries including Walls that Speak: El Paso’s Murals, directed by Jim Klaes; in art books such as Colors on Desert Walls: The Murals of El Paso and Texas 24:7, and in various editions of Chicano Studies: Survey and Analysis, a text book used throughout the country.
(Special Post 6) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hwang Without knowing nine numerology, it is NOT possible for us to understand the depth of Magoism, an anciently originated tradition of Old Korea/East Asia that venerated the Creatrix. “Giants” are the hallmark for the Goma, the people of Danguk (nine-state confederacy led by Goma, the Magoist Shaman queen). Those giants are not described as a singular people. They come in “81 brothers,” as mentioned below. We know what “brothers” mean, it is 81 sisters! Changing or translating a female-connoted term to the male proves its agent to be patriarchal. And Chiyou or Chiu (in Korean) is the ruler of Nine Ris (Guri), another name for Nine Hans (Guhan). Check this out: “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China.[1] He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology.[1][2][3] For the Hmong people, Chiyou[4] was a sagacious mythical king.[5] He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi[1]Miao[5] or even Man,[5] depending on the source and view. Today, Chiyou is honored and worshipped as the God of War and one of the three legendary founding fathers of China.” “According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi, Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.[6]According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead.[1] He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand.[7] In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a bull with two horns, although the body was that of a human.[7] He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers.[7] Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’,[6] as well as ‘tyrannical’.[8] Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.[5] Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during the Battle of Zhuolu. TRIBE Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPAWhite Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources.[1] However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Helen Hye-Sook Hwang Below is from my article, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology,” included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018). Goma is also credited for designating queens of the bear clan to state rulers. Another account of the Goma myth reads, “She looked after numerous spiritual persons and wise persons. Accepting women of the bear clan, Hanung made them rulers (后). Goma chose queens of the bear clan to make them nine state rulers. Note that Danguk is a nine state confedearcy. That Danguk’s nine states were headed by the queens of the bear clan is, among others, corroborated by Chinese mythological accounts. Chinese myth informs that Chiu, Huangdi’s opponent in an epic war, was aided by “a tribe of giants from the far north.”[1] In Chinese mythology, Gonggong and her minister, Xiangliu, symbolized as a dragon with nine heads in the body of a snake, are depicted as an enemy of Emperor Yu of Xia (ruled c. 2200–2100 BCE). Such a story is aligned with Sinocentrism inscribed in Chinese mythology that antagonizes pre-Chinese history of Old Magoist Korea/East Asia. In Chinese mythology, Gonggong (龔工) is described as a sea monster whose minister Xiangliu (相栁 Mutual Willow) is told to have been defeated by Yu, the Great.[2] Assuming the character hu (后 xia in Chinese pronunciation) to mean a male ruler’s wife, androcentric scholars have translated the above account as “Hanung received his queen from the bear clan. And he instituted the rite of matrimony.” This proves to be a modern androcentric bias in that hu originally means a “ruler.” This is the case of the logographic character whose original meaning has changed from “a female ruler” to “a male ruler” and to “the wife of ruler” over time. Ancient Chinese texts betray ample evidence. For example, Xiahou (夏后 Ruler of Xia) and Houyi (后羿 Ruler of Yi) respectively refer to a male ruler. Xiahou refers to Yu of Xia. Other ancient Chinese texts include the Classic of Poetry (詩經商頌玄鳥), the Zuozhuan (左傳) and the Book of Document (書經).[3] [1] C. Scott Littleton, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth & Storytelling (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2002), 414. Cited in Hwang, Finding Mago, 239 in note 494. [2] Lihui Yang, Deming An and Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 214-5. [3] Goma, “Goma, The Shaman Ruler Of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea, And Her Mythology” Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018), 272. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am realizing that even ancient Chinese people depicted Chiyou as female. When her image is cropped from the whole frame, it is hard to tell. But see her in the attached image of the whole frame. In comparison with Chinese heroes (supposedly including Yellow Emperor) on the left side, she and her ally are depicted as a figure in a curvy body line. Of course, Chiyou was pejoratively depicted as she was an opponent to the future Chinese emperor, […]
(Special Post Mother Teresa 2) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

[Editorial Note: The following is an edited version of the discussion that took place spontaneously on Mago Circle from March 1, 2013 for about two weeks. It was an extensive, heated, yet reflective discussion, now broken into four parts to fit the format of the blog. We thank each and all of the participants for your openness, generosity, and courage to stand up for what you believe and think! Some are marked as anonymous. As someone stated, something may have been “written in the heat of the moment” and some might like to change it at a later time. So we inform our readers that nothing is written in stone. As a matter of fact, the discussion is ongoing, now with Magoism Blog readers. Please comment and respond as you wish.] Part II: We Disagree! Stand up for what you believe but be open-minded! Naa Ayele Kumari: I am going to step away from the common responses and say this… Binary is only no in betweens if you choose sides and can’t see the whole. I have been a part of black consciousness movements and women’s movements and both have the capacity for progress as well as extreme viewpoints. Both have the capacity to become so hypercritical that the movement itself transcends common human compassion and understanding. Mother Teresa was a human being with flaws and goodness. She had a public image and private fears and insecurities.. l like all of us. She lived her life the best way she knew how.. Like all of us. She made mistakes.. misjudgments.. Like all of us. But she also DID help and inspire others to help too. It is this dualistic thinking that forces people to feel like they have to assign the label of good or bad and no in between. None of us are all good or all bad.. so it seems to me that to label her has an evil traitor who let people die is no better than labeling her an Angel of god who did no wrong. She was a woman who lived her life and managed to come to worldwide fame and inspire others to love at a time and in an institution that was highly patriarchal and women were not raised up at all. Mother Goddesses in Africa were known for great nurturing and care symbolized by carrying a baby and also carried a machete on the other side for justice. This was the fine balance of wholeness…she was the gentle rain and the storm.. This was binary, but not one or the other but both.. Opposite ends of the same pole. [H]: I’m having a powerful visceral effect from this conversation. I feel as if I’m going to vomit violently. Mother Teresa comes to me in dreams and meditations. Makes me wonder what kind of person I’m seen as if I attract her energy. I have always felt so much love for her. Naa Ayele Kumari: If she comes in your dreams and it has been healing for you… Allow it/ her to continue to be healing for you. Its all about love and anything that is not love… Leave it be.. Vomiting is rejecting something that doesn’t belong with you. Embrace love my sister. Antonia McGuire: I think we may all agree that all belief systems initially began to promote a sense of goodness or fairness to some degree, but over time they are corrupted and produce both advantages and disadvantages. Donna Snyder: Yes, Gandhi, too. Back in the 90’s when I was in a band/performance art troupe called Central Nervous System, I shocked all the guys in the band coming out with an improv in response to a melody played on a banjo tuned like a sitar, called exactly that-Yes, Gandhi. Now make no mistake, he is one of my heroes, devoid of the falsified sentimentality that clings to MT. Gandhi’s work was for the world, for the masses, not for the appropriately humbled. Yet I spoke out about his sexual practices, his use of female bodies. Telling the truth about a hero requires courage. Retreating into a blind defense of a myth is a form of ethical cowardice. Anne Wilkerson Allen: Strangely I had a discussion with someone about the “hero’s journey” moving from metaphorical to physical being part of the problem…..when the “demons” are human instead of our own flaws, there seems to be a tendency to point the finger (and gun barrel) elsewhere. [B]: Fascinating & thought-provoking conversation, all. I think the biggest stumbling block I have with MT is how her acceptance of the dogma of the Catholic church blinded her to seeing and then being moved by the suffering of others enough to do something to alleviate & not vicariously celebrate it. No wonder she “suffered a lack of connection with the Divine”. This crisis with her spirituality seems to have been divorced from her and others’ body wisdom. Self-abnegation (perhaps not the same as “sacrifice”) ultimately backfires because some small part of us insists, “I am worthy!” To which I say, “We are all worthy!” [H]: I do not see or feel that she vicariously celebrated the suffering of others. I feel that she devoted her life to deeply loving and serving the poorest of the poor. I have not been to Calcutta and I have also seen some unimaginable poverty in India that is not like anything that I’ve been exposed to before. I truly believe that she had a very deep way of working with suffering that is not necessarily visible to those more accustomed to modern medical intervention and the resources available for such. I have participated in a very small amount of poverty medicine and the resources that we take for granted are just not readily available to MANY. I learned very powerfully from my experience how blessed and fortunate and often very careless we really are with our precious resources. This discussion has been a learning experience for me. I am trying to not take the critical comments […]

(Video) Autumn Equinox/Mabon Poetry by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The Autumnal Equinox occurs each year in the range of March 20-23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and in the range of September 20 -23 in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn Equinox is a point of sacred balance: it is the point of balance in the dark part of Earth’s annual cycle. Sun is equidistant between North and South as it was/is at Spring Equinox, but in this dark phase of the cycle, the trend is toward increasing dark. Henceforth the dark part of the day will exceed the light part: thus it is a Moment of certain descent … and a sacred Moment for feeling and contemplating the grief and power of loss, for ceremoniously joining personal and collective grief and loss with the larger Self in whom we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZflKLkvP8 Below is the text of the video. It is based on the traditional poetry for PaGaian Autumn Equinox/Mabon ceremony[i]. This is the Moment of the Autumnal Equinox in our Hemisphere – the moment of balance of light and dark in the dark part of the cycle. The light and dark parts of the day in the South and in the North of our planet, are of equal length at this time. We feel for the balance in this moment – Earth as She is poised in relationship with the Sun … breathing in the light, swelling with it, letting our breath go to the dark, staying with it. In our part of Earth, the balance is tipping into the dark. We remember the coolness of it. This is the time when we give thanks for our harvests – all that we have gained. And we remember too the sorrows, losses involved. The story of Old tells us that Persephone, Beloved Daughter, is given the wheat from Her Mother – the Mystery, knowledge of life and death. She receives it graciously. But she sets forth into the darkness – both Mother and Daughter grieve that it is so. Demeter, the Mother, says: “You are offered the wheat in every moment … I let you go as Child, most loved of Mine: you descend to Wisdom, to Sovereignty. You will return as Mother, co-Creator with me. You are the Seed in the Fruit, becoming the Fruit in the Seed. Inner Wisdom guides your path.” We give thanks for our harvests – our lives they are blessed. We are Daughters and Sons of the Mother. Yet we take our Wisdom and all that we have gained, and remember the sorrows – the losses involved. We remember the grief of the Mother, of mothers and lovers everywhere, our grief. Persephone descends. The Beloved One is lost. Persephone goes forth into the darkness to become Queen of that world. She tends the sorrows. The Seed represents our Persephones, who tends the sorrows – we are the Persephones, who may tend the sorrows. We go out into the night with Her and plant our seeds. Persephone blesses us with her fertile promise: “You have waxed into the fullness of life, And waned into darkness; May you be renewed in tranquility and wisdom[ii].” These represent our hope. The Seed of life never fades away. She is always present. Blessed be the Mother of all life. Blessed be the life that comes from Her and returns to Her. We tie red threads on each other: we participate in the Vision of the Seed – of the continuity of Life, that continues beneath the visible. The Mother knowledge grows within us. Our hope is in the Sacred Balance of the Cosmos – the Thread of Life, the Seed that never fades away: it is the Balance of Grief and Joy, the Care that we may feel in our Hearts. NOTES: [i] Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, p. 239-247. [ii] Charlene Spretrnak, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, p. 116. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005. Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: a Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992/1978.
(Music) Songs for Samhain by Alison Newvine

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

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 9 of the author’s book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. The dates for Summer Solstice/Litha are: Southern Hemisphere – December 20-23 Northern Hemisphere – June 20-23 A Summer Solstice altar The ‘moment of grace’[i] that is Summer Solstice, marks the stillpoint in the height of Summer, when Earth’s tilt causes the Sun to begin its ‘decline’: that is, its movement back to the North in the Southern Hemisphere, and back to the South in the Northern Hemisphere. This Seasonal Moment is polar opposite Winter Solstice when it is light that is “born,” as it may be expressed. At the peak of Summer, in the bliss of expansion, it is the dark that is “born.” Insofar as Winter Solstice is about birth, then Summer Solstice is about death. It is a celebration of profound mystical significance, that may be confronting in a culture where the dark is not valued for its creative telios. Summer Solstice is a time for celebrating our realized Creativity, whose birth we celebrated at Winter Solstice, whose tenderness we dedicated ourselves to at Imbolc/Early Spring, whose certain presence and power we rejoiced in at Spring Equinox, whose fertile passion we danced for at Beltaine/High Spring. Now, at this seasonal point, as we celebrate light’s fullness, we celebrate our own ripening – like that of the wheat, and the fruit. And like the wheat and the fruit, it is the Sun that is in us, that has ripened: the Sun is the Source of our every thought and action. The analogy is complete in that our everyday creativity – our everyday actions, and we, ultimately, are also “Food for the Universe”[ii] … it is all how we feed the Universe. flowers to flames – everyday creativity consumed Like the Sun and the wheat and the fruit, we find the purpose of our Creativity in the releasing of it; just as our breath must be released for its purpose of life. The symbolism used to express this in ceremony has been the giving of a full rose/flower to the flames.[iii] We, and our everyday creativity, are the “Bread of Life,” as it may be expressed; just as many other indigenous traditions recognize everyday acts as evoking “the ongoing creation of the cosmos,”[iv] so in this tradition, Summer is the time for particularly celebrating that. Our everyday lives, moment to moment, are built on the fabric of the work/creativity of the ancestors and ancient creatures that went before us; and so the future is built on ours. We are constantly consuming the work and creativity of others and we are constantly being consumed. The question may be asked: “Who are you feeding?,”[v] and consideration given to whether you are happy with the answer. It is the Sun that is in you. See how you shine. Summer Solstice is a celebration of the Fullness of the Mother – in ourselves, in Earth, in the Cosmos. We are the Sun, coming to fullness in its creative engagement with Earth. We affirm this in ceremony with: “It is the Sun that is in you, see how you shine.” It is the ripening of Her manifestation, which fulfills itself in the awesome act of dissolution. This is the mystery of the Moment. Brian Swimme has described this mystery of radiance as a Power of the Universe, as Radiance: the shining forth of the self is at the same time a give-away, a decline of the self – just as the Sun is constantly giving itself away. This Solstice Moment of Summer is a celebration of communion, the feast of life – which is for the enjoying, not for the holding onto. Summer and Winter Solstices are Gateways – between the manifest and the manifesting, and Summer Solstice is a Union/Re-Union of these, a kind of meeting with the deeper self. Winter Solstice may be more of a separation, though it is usually experienced as joyful, because it is also a meeting, as the new is being brought forth. The interchange of Summer Solstice may be experienced as an entry into loss – the Cosmological Dynamic of Loss, as manifestation passes. Beltaine, Summer Solstice and Lammas – the next Seasonal Moment, may be felt as the three faces of Cosmogenesis in the movement towards entropy.[vi] The light part of the annual cycle of Earth around Sun is a celebration of the Young One/Virgin quality of Cosmogenesis, with Her face gradually changing to the Mother/Communion quality; and through the Autumn, the dark part of the annual cycle, it is a celebration of the Old One/Crone quality, whose face will gradually change also, back to the Mother/Communion. They are never separate.In this cosmology, desire for full creativity has been celebrated as the allurement of the Cosmos, and being experienced as gravity, as relationship with Earth, our place of being, how She holds us. At both Solstices there is celebration of deep engagement, communion. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Spretnak, Charlene. States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1999. Swimme, Brian. Canticle to the Cosmos. DVD series. CA: Tides Foundation, 1990. NOTES: [i] As Thomas Berry named the Seasonal transitions. [ii] Swimme uses this expression in Canticle to the Cosmos, video 5 “Destruction and Loss.” [iii] This is based on the traditional Litha (Summer Solstice) rite described by Starhawk, The Spiral Dance, 206. [iv] Spretnak, States of Grace, 95. [v] As Swimme asks in Canticle to the Cosmos, video 5 “Destruction and Loss.” [vi] Just as Samhain, Winter Solstice and Imbolc may be felt as the three faces of Cosmogenesis in the movement towards toward form – syntropy.
(Art & Poem) Candelmas/Imbolc by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

IMBOLC DANCE From the east she has gathered like wishes. She has woven a night into dawn. We are quickening ivy. We grow where her warmth melts out over the ice. Now spiral south bends into flame to push the morning over doors. The light swings wide, green with the pulse of seasons, and we let her in We are quickening ivy. We grow The light swings wide, green with the pulse till the west is rocked by darkness pulled from where the fire rises. Shortened time’s reflecting water rakes her through the thickened cold. Hands cover north smooth with emptiness, stinging the mill of night’s hours. Wait with me. See, she comes circling over the listening snow to us. Shortened time’s reflecting water Wait with me. See, she comes circling From Calendars (Tupelo Press, 2003) Art is included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
Artful Ceremonial Expression by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This article is an edited excerpt from Chapter 7 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. I always wore a special headpiece for the Seasonal ceremonies when I facilitated them over the years, and I feel that any participant may do so, not just the main celebrant. My ceremonial headpiece with its changing and continuous Seasonal decoration took on increasing significance over the years; it became a personal central representation of the year-long ceremonial art process of creating, destroying and re-creating. For the research period of my doctoral studies particularly, when I was documenting the process, I realised that this headpiece came to represent for me the essence of “She” – as Changing One, yet ever as Presence – as I was coming to know Her. In my journal for the Mabon/Autumn Equinox process notes one year I wrote: As I pace the circle with the Mabon headpiece in the centre, I see “Her” as She has been through the Seasons … the black and gold of Samhain, the deep red, white and evergreen of Winter, the white and blue of Imbolc, the flowers of Eostar, the rainbow ribbons of Beltane, the roses of Summer, the seed pods and wheat of Lammas, and now the Autumn leaves. I see in my mind’s eye, and feel, Her changes. I am learning … The Mother knowledge grows within me. The headpiece, the wreath, the altar, the house decorations, all participate in the ceremony: they are part of the learning, the method, the relationship – similar to how one might bring flowers and gifts of significance to a loved one at special moments. Then further, the removal and re-creation of the decorations are part of the learning – an active witness to transformation through time.
(Poem) Samhain by Annie Finch

In the season leaves should love, since it gives them leave to move through the wind, towards the ground they were watching while they hung, legend says there is a seam stitching darkness like a name. Now when dying grasses veil earth from the sky in one last pale wave, as autumn dies to bring winter back, and then the spring, we who die ourselves can peel back another kind of veil that hangs among us like thick smoke. Tonight at last I feel it shake. I feel the nights stretching away thousands long behind the days, till they reach the darkness where all of me is ancestor. I turn my hand and feel a touch move with me, and when I brush my young mind across another, I have met my mother’s mother. Sure as footsteps in my waiting self, I find her, and she brings arms that hold answers for me, intimate, waiting, bounty: “Carry me.” She leaves this trail through a shudder of the veil, and leaves, like amber where she stays, a gift for her perpetual gaze. From Eve (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010) (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch

(Video) Gurang (Nine Goddesses), Gaeyang Halmi (Grandma Gaeyang), and Goddess Gom: Exploring Old Magoism in Korea by Helen Hwang

Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. Read (Photo Essay 5) Gaeyang Halmi, Sea Goddess of Korea.
(Goma Article Excerpt 2) Goma, the Shaman Ruler of Old Magoist East Asia/Korea and Her Mythology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay was first included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture, published in 2018 by Mago Books]. Background Discussions Hanung (Her Title) and Sindansu (Divine Goma Tree) We will peel off the layers of patriarchal and Sinocentric devices that conceal her unparalleled supreme manifestations. In a conventional interpretation, we are told that Goma and Hanung are two different persons as the mother and the father of Dangun. This proves to be an androcentric invention to divest Goma of supremacy. Goma is not the consort of Hanung. Nor Hanung the male counterpart of Goma. Goma and Hanung refer to the same figure, not a heterosexual couple. It is her title (Hanung 桓雄) that is split from her (Goma) and made into a male ruler. Androcentric interpreters have noted the two homonyms “Ung (熊 bear)” and “Ung (雄 hero)” but made them two different figures. Thus, they deem that the former “Ung” refers to Ungnyeo, the bear-woman, whereas the latter “Ung” to Hanung, the male ruler. However, the latter “Ung” does not mean a male. It is true that logographic characters are characteristically polysemic. And Ung is no exception as it means “a hero,” “a great person,” or “a male bird.” When it is used to mean a male, it refers to a male bird or animal. The literal meaning of Hanung should be the heroic ruler (Sovereign) of Han (the People of the Creatrix). In short, the character “Ung (Hero),” as is in Cheonung (天雄 Heavenly Hero) and Sinung (神雄 Divine Hero), refers to Goma, the heroic founding ruler (Sovereign) of Danguk. 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. The syllable, “dan (檀)” in “Sindansu,” refers to the divine tree in Mount Taebaek. It is the eponymous root of the terms that indicate the Goma people. It is used in such words as Danguk (Goma State), Dangun (Head of the Goma State), and Danmok (Goma Tree), to name a few. Note that “Danguk was the strongest among the states of the bear clan,” headed by queens,[1] indicating that Danguk was the the confederal mother state that led the nine daughter states. Put differently, Danguk represents the matriarchal (magocratic, referring to a society ruled by a Magoist shaman queen) confederacy of the bear clan states.[2] Goma’s alternative epithets including “Ungssi-ja (Decendant of the Goma Clan), “Ungssi-wang” (Ruler of the Goma Clan), and “Ungssi-gun” (Head of the Goma Clan) substantiate that she is the ruler and head of the bear clan.[3] Also note that Dangun, Goma’s dynastic successor, “was enthroned as the Descendant of Heavenly Sovereign, as she established the capital in Danmok, Asadal, succeeding Danguk.”[4] Danmok is another word for Sindansu. Its alternative meaning “the birch” comes from the sound of “bakdal (박달).” Prominent Koreanists tend to agree that the character “dan” is related to “barkdal (밝달),” “baekdal (백달),” and “baedal (배달),” all of which indicate the Korean people.[5] However, they do not seem to see the multi-connection among Sindansu, Danmok, Baedal and Goma (Ungnyeo). Thus, they fail to see the Magoist context of the Goma myth. The Goma myth is about Danmok and Sindansu, Goma’s tree in Mount Taeback (Great Resplendence). The Divine Tree of Mount Taebaek is wherein Hanung Goma descended to rule the world. Goma has been commemorated as Ungsang (熊常Eternal Tree) and Dangmok (堂木 Shrine Tree) throughout history. The Goma tree sheds light on the origin of the tree worship in Korea and beyond. According to the Handan Gogi, the veneration of Ungsang originated from the time of Danguk and revived throughout the period of Dangun Joseon.[6] In traditional Korea, it is enshrined as Dangmok (Shrine Tree) in village shrines, Seonhwang-dang. It is not haphazard that Korean women are noted for their prayers of conception under the shrine tree. Splitting Goma into Ungnyeo and Hanung has resulted in awkward phraseology especially concerning her procreation in the story. Ultimately, it proves to be an androcentric device to dismiss the mytheme of her parthenogenetic birth to a child, the virgin birth, a contradictory concept to the patriarchal mindset. She, the shaman queen of the bear clan, was enthroned as Hanung, the dynastic founder Hanung of Danguk. Also, her offspring, Dangun, is the new queen-founder of Joseon who succeeded Danguk, rather than her biological son. The Goma myth is the story of a polity not a family. I maintain that the shaman rulers in Old Magoism (Hanguk, Danguk, and Joseon) are predominantly women.[7] In addition to “Hanung,” other titles of Goma include “Cheongwang (天王 Heavenly Ruler),” “Cheonung (天雄Heavenly Sovereign),” “Sinung (神雄 Divine Sovereign),” “Cheonhwang (天皇 Heavenly Empress),” “Seonhwang (仙皇Immortal Empress), and “Daeung (大雄Great Hero).” The Goma worship in Korean culture remains too pervasive to be recognized. As suggested in these alternative epithets, it has shaped the landscape of Korean popular religions, in particular Shamanism and Buddhism. Most prominently, the Goma worship manifests in the form of revering the Shrine Tree (Dangmok) in Seonhwang-dang (Seonghwang-dang or …
(Mago Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 1) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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

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