April 26, 2024April 25, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

(Poem) A Prayer for Mother Earth by Mary Saracino

Hail Mother full of grace The Earth is full of beauty Blessed art thou among all beings And beloved is the fruit of thy womb Holy Earth, Mother Planet Pray Read More …

April 25, 2024April 25, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(E-Interview) Luciana Percovich by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

I have the honor of staying connected with Luciana Percovich, an Italian feminist advocate, writer, and researcher, for almost the last three decades. Details are fading in my memory on Read More …

April 24, 2024April 20, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

Understory – Spring Meditation by Sara Wright

Time stretches, folds back on herself as I gaze out the window squared by the four directions. A slanted sun glows golden green in early twilight. How comforting to see Read More …

April 22, 2024April 20, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

(Book Excerpt 4) Rainbow Goddess: Celebrating Neurodiversity ed. by K. L. Aldred, P. Daly, T Albanna, and Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Nourishing Giftedness: Neurodiversity and Niche Construction” by Stephanie Mines, Ph.D. WHAT IS Niche Construction? Niche construction is a concept Read More …

March 21, 2024February 23, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Poem) Power of Feminism by Alshaad Kara

It is to stand for what is right. There is no usage of morality Since all starts in the womb Of a woman to mother earth. The spirit of this Read More …

March 20, 2024March 20, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Poem) Dark Feminine by Arlene Bailey

March 19, 2024February 23, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 9) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, Read More …

March 18, 2024March 14, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

(Quilt Art) The Syrian Eye Mother Goddess and her Daughter by Kaarina Kailo

With the Ancient Votive Eye Statues one reaches to the beginning of civilization ca. 3700–3500 B.C. when the first cities sprang up in Mesopotamia and the near East. I recreated Read More …

March 15, 2024February 23, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

(Essay 3) Red Poppies Among the Ruins by Mary Saracino

[Author’s Note: Originally published in TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, September 2007, www.triviavoices.net.] The Kurgan legacy survives to this day. Too often humankind worships the warrior culture, the power Read More …

March 14, 2024February 11, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Music) Fire of Hope by Alison Newvine

This year on Imbolc, Spiral Muse is releasing our forth album, “Fire of Hope.” Spiral Muse is a feminist folk rock band dedicated to the Goddess. This project reflects our Read More …

March 13, 2024March 12, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Poem) Morning reflections by Arlene Bailey

(Meet Mago Contributor) Arlene Bailey

March 12, 2024March 12, 2024 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(An Early Milestone) My Editorial Note to a Trivia Journal Issue by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: In 2009, as a young Ph.D. scholar I was at a crossroad. I was losing interest in maintaining a part-time university lecturer’s position. Furthermore, I was getting tired Read More …

March 11, 2024February 23, 2024 Mago Work2 Comments

Bird Talk: Prayer to the Bird Goddesses by Sara Wright

Every fall I look forward to the wild turkeys that visit me during the winter. This year visits are more sporadic but the friendship between the three male turkeys that Read More …

(Essay 5) Goddesses in Hinduism: “All the Mothers are One” by Mary Ann Beavis, Ph.D.

[Editor’s Note: This essay is from the same title, “Goddesses in Hinduism: “All the Mothers are One”‘ by Mary Ann Beavis with Scott Daniel Dunbar included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture (Mago Books, 2018).] VILLAGE GODDESSES These have been called “Untamed Goddesses of Village India.”[1] As opposed to the pantheon of orthodox Hinduism, the village Goddesses are popular or folk deities, particularly prominent in southern India. Richard Brubaker describes them as “powerfully ambivalent deities crucial to the welfare of their village”,[2] whose worship arises out of times of crisis: floods, famines, drought, epidemics. They are regarded as both the cause of these disasters and as their cure. Some are strictly localized to a specific village, some are more regionally recognized. Venerated physical images of the village Goddesses are often temporary, and rather crude, made specifically for their festivals. They may not be represented anthropomorphically, but by uncarved stones, trees, or small, imageless shrines.[3] Goddess festivals are held according to the mythological cycles of the various deities, but particularly when some calamity strikes. The crisis festival usually includes a blood sacrifice that represents the demonic force to be overthrown by the Goddess. The mythology of the village Goddesses often involves the theme of the injustices to women done by men;[4] they are often addressed as “Mother” (Ma), but they are not necessarily “mothers” of other deities. Perhaps this is because, for her worshippers, “She represents human survival—the well-being of their children, the continuity of life, and the success of crops dependent on favorable weather conditions as well as fertility of the soil. Their lineage should be secure for, if she is honored, people should not be bothered by barrenness or the death of children. She places humans in harmony with nature, reaffirming their connection to it.”[5] One of the myths associated with the Tamil (southeastern India) Goddess Mariyamman (or just Amman) identifies her with a young Brahman girl who was tricked into marrying an untouchable man; when she discovers the deception, she is furious and kills herself, is transformed into a Goddess, and burns the man to ashes. Mariyamman is a rain Goddess, associated with skin diseases like chicken pox, measles, rashes, etc. Although she is a village deity, she is popular enough to have temples both within and outside villages. Her local shrines are often adjacent to an anthill that might be a cobra’s lair, and eggs and milk are offered to the snake.[6] However, as Judy Grahn notes, “among others, two notable Indian scholars, Karin Kapadia and Pupul Jayakar, have each subverted this diminutive view. Jayakar refers to Mariamma as ‘the mighty goddess’ while Kapadia, who lived with and became friends with people of the village of Auruloor in Tamil Nadu, and who calls Mariamma a ‘great goddess,’ reports that the villagers think of their Mariamma as no less than ‘the autonomous ruling power of the universe’.”[7] Mariamma is similar to a village “pox” deity, Shitala,[8] and both are offered a rice porridge called pongal at a women-only festival held once a year. The Pongala Festival is participated in by Muslim and Christian women as well as Hindus.[9] New Goddesses As noted earlier, most of the prominent deities of contemporary Hinduism are not mentioned in the Vedas, the most sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The Hindu pantheon is not closed, and new deities can emerge or be added at any time. A new Goddess who has been studied quite extensively is Santoshi Ma (“Mother of Satisfaction/Contentment”), who emerged in the 1950s-1960s in central India. In her myth, she is identified as the daughter of Ganesha, son of Parvati. She is first revealed when she comes to the aid of a young woman who is abandoned and forgotten by her husband who left home to find work; the woman is left behind to be abused by her in-laws. Despite her troubles, she remains faithful to her husband, and when she observes a fast one day a week in honour of the Goddess, her husband is restored to her and they move into their own house. The release of the film Jai Santoshi Maa in 1975 popularized the Goddess, and her weekly fast (vrat). Philip Lutgendorf relates the popularity of the new Goddess, and particularly of the film, with the rise of middle class aspirations of women in the latter half of the 20th century.[10] A more recent example of a new Hindu Goddess is the AIDS Goddess (AIDS-Amma), a village Goddess created in the late 1990s by a high school science teacher, H.N. Girish, in the south Indian village of Menasikyathana to raise social awareness of the AIDS epidemic.[11] The Hindu Goddess and Feminism The question of whether the Hindu Goddess is a feminist is one that has arisen in recent decades.[12] Of course, the question is deliberately stated in provocative terms that make little sense: why would the Mahadevi, or any of her many manifestations, espouse a contemporary human social movement? It has often been observed that Goddess-worshipping cultures do not necessarily correlate with high status for women.[13] As Rajeswari Sunder Rajan puts it, in India, “the divide between goddesses and women as social beings can be maintained by patriarchy without any sense of contradiction.”[14] Moreover, in India, appropriations of the Goddess/es are intertwined with political, social and religious movements and struggles, including the Indian women’s movement, which may or may not resonate with western concepts of feminism.[15] A recent example of the political, cultural and religious entanglements that feminist appropriations of Hindu Goddesses can engender is the “Bruised Goddess” Campaign, sponsored by Save the Children India to draw attention to the gap between the Hindu reverence for Goddesses and the prevalence of violence against women in India. Here, hand-painted images of Lakshmi, Durga and Sarasvati portray the Goddesses as victims of domestic abuse: “Rendered in classic calendar art style, the goddesses are depicted in all their finery and beauty, but with disturbing bruises on their faces. The copy reads ‘Pray that we never see this day. …
Meet Mago Contributor, Hae Kyoung Ahn

Eco-feminst, Singer-Songwriter Ahn has returned to a rural village at the foot of Mt. Jiri, Korea, wherein the Altar of Mago (Nogo-dan) is located atop the peak, to farm and create music. Previously, she founded a feminist rock band named the Mago Band. She was the lead singer for the Amazon Band, a female Latin Band. She performed concert over one hundred times nationwide in such events as The Suda (Prattle) Concert and Herstory Concert. She recorded four albums among which the latest is the MaGaiaWomb released October, 2013. ●「안혜경 약력」 •에코페미니스트 singer songwriter •지리산 노고단 끝자락에 있는 마을에 귀촌하여 텃밭과 노래농사를 짓고 있다. •여성 롹밴드 (마고밴드)를 만들었고, 여성 라틴밴드(아마손밴드)를 이끌었다. •(수다콘써트) (허스토리콘써트)등 전국 순회공연을 100회 이상 하였다. •음반 1집 (여성과자연) ”커피카피아가씨, 침묵의봄” 2집 ”눈산, 가던길멈추고” 3집 ”오래된 미래, Good Sister” 4집 (마가이아움, Magaiawomb) ”바리데기, 꽃잎비” Published posts from the recent:
(Poem) The Blessings of Ravioli by Mary Saracino

The ravioli lay on floured pillow cases on your dining room table looking like stuffed pillows themselves — the dough kneaded smooth, then rolled to the right thickness, the spinach and ricotta filling dropped like clusters of snow-crusted grass onto the naked strips of pasta, plumped into fullness with a quick fold of the dough, the corners tucked in place with the pinch of a fork. Your hands move in a holy rhythm. You anoint the ravioli with flour to prevent them from drying out. White halos the arch of your cheekbone as you laugh and sprinkle, saying, “Bless these ravioli,” like some Italian nun. I laugh, too, reminded of my Catholic grade school days. I wish we had known each other then. We could have draped our little girl bodies in my grandmother’s gaudy red and yellow aprons and watched her wrinkled fingers press each ravioli into perfect form. “The secret’s in the touch,” she told me. Life is full of such holy mysteries. How could I have known the blessings of ravioli passed from Grandma’s hands to mine, and now to yours. I touch your floured fingertips and smile. There is grace here and beauty beyond words. Originally published in Writers Who Cook, Herringbone Press (Minneapolis: 1993). https://www.magoism.net/2013/05/meet-mago-contributor-mary-saracino
(Poetry) The Hawk and Squirrel in the Garden by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Carolyn Lee Boyd A summer snowfall of white feathers A dragon sleeping on a perfect square of suburb A cloudlike portal to a parallel mythic realm above heaven, Such were the ponderings of the weekend Gardener, The Divinely appointed caretaker of this tiny speck of soil, As she first spotted, while walking home from her office job, The mystery, the creature overspreading Half the grass leading up to her yellow-painted, Picket-fenced so ordinary house. What could it be? It was, in the Gardener’s eyes, so immense with its wings spread Appearing several times its actual size due to its creation Of a protective realm of sovereignty around itself Maybe an ancient shapeshifting fantasy So out of place She thought In her own homely and unconsecrated place and time. It was a hawk who rose from the grass and beneath, In its claws, a squirrel struggled. The Gardener witnessed the small being’s last few breaths While captive high above the Garden She had made in her backyard of fragrant herbs and flowers for smelling, Berries and nuts for feasting, soft beds of leaves for sleeping To entice through the gate Squirrels and chipmunks and woodchucks. Now thirty feet in the air and soaring to the west The hawk and its prey disappeared in the pastel blue sky. What the Gardener calls her Garden was once covered by glaciers Which receded, leaving an Arctic tundra That warmed and, at least 10,000 years ago, According to artifacts still emerging at just the right moment To tell the stories that need to be heard, Humans set their feet upon the ground to dwell, To live, to be birthed and give birth, to make stories and sing, and to die. First the land was hunted and fished Just enough to feed the First People who lived here. Then it was ripped open by European plows And planted with only apple trees, the animals, birds, insects, grasses Shut out by wire and wood fence, poisons and grasping tools. Finally, a century ago, after the house was built, The land was lovingly cultivated by Generations of women who each made it her own vision of paradise. The last in this line of women, the Gardener, Envisions the land to be a calm, peaceful, lovely place That embraces neither the fierce, majesty of the hawk Nor the violent death of the squirrel. I am the Spirit of this land, Holder of both the Gardener’s everyday realm And the almost infinitely complex world of the Garden’s Real nature and all the beings who live in it From bacteria to humans, from fern spores to maple trees three feet in diameter, from sparrows to owls. Propelled by the sight of the hawk and squirrel Into an instant of understanding that the Garden was not only What she had created and conceived it to be But also a place much more than she could imagine And all she had ever desired, I levitated the Gardener’s soul into the air And she saw her Garden with the eyes of the hawk. She witnessed, in her orderly beds, The native and storebought flowers and herbs planted by her own hand. And, amongst them, with wild abundance, More species than are known to human science Grown from seeds dropped from traveling birds or on the breeze Snakelike runners under the ground, roots burrowed deep in the soil Coming to life now that they are welcome. Woodchucks, foxes and cubs, squirrels, chipmunks, coyotes, and Millions of dragonflies, butterflies, mosquitoes, grubs, ladybugs Billions of one celled beings that are part of the Massive ecosystems that are plants and animals. All connected to hundreds or thousands of other beings by chemical communication By sound, taste, smell, and instinct and intuition. By my Spirit. The taking of the squirrel was just one of millions of interactions Exchanges of life and death that happen everyday so that The entire web may exist in balance and well being. Birth, growth, life, and decay, the dance that enlivens the universe Within that one-eighth acre landscape. She closed her eyes and began to truly listen To the cacophony of all the beings in that small area of ground Each with its own voice and its own rhythm Seemingly, each struggling to make itself heard Amongst the chaos of so many other beings. But then she listened even more deeply A united song began to emerge That of the Spirit of the Land itself. My Voice. All the rhythms and melodies of all the beings As well as the soil, air, sun, and water that call the Land home Emerged into one rhythm and melody. “I can hear it!” the Gardener exclaimed, “With my own ears, I can hear it!” She had heard it every day since she had moved into the house But never perceived it because She had been taught that no realm existed In the world of daily human life Where such a song could make galaxies far away reverberate. Then she heard her own voice And it was clearly a part of this symphony An essential element of the music and without it The Land’s song would be not just different But incomplete, not fully alive. She began to sing with her throat So anyone walking down the sidewalk On their way home from work or school could hear. She sang to the land, sang to it a love song and a lullaby A chant of praise and thanksgiving. She told the Land of her longing to be part of its true being for so long And all the while she had never been apart from it. The Land, My voice, listened and responded, altering its song to harmonize even more closely with hers. At that moment she knew what the Spirit of the Land was, Who I was. I am the relationship between all the living beings, I am that eternal aspect of them all, including the Gardener, That exists beyond physical birth, life, and death. I am …
(Nine Poets Speak) Daughter of the Cranes by Sara Wright

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Photo: Cranes in the Fog by Sara Wright When I see themI enter the Dreaming.In the backgrounda jagged coat of barrenreptilian mountainsframes bountiful bodiesstanding on stilts asundulating necks,crimson crownsbeaded eyesdive below the surfacein search of last year’s grain.Each deliberate step is takenin syncopated rhythmwith those of nearby neighborsEach three toed talonpierces still waters.Ruffling six foot wingsclasped close to form,serpentine ropes dip and sway.Cranes leap into thin airwhen encountering old friends.Parachute back down.Relaxing into the calm mirror –each one casts a silvery shadowtrilling, rattling, rolling, whirring,brurrring with excitementwhen greeting relatives.Circling around beforemaking their descent,cranes bounce off the fieldas they land!Always in communion echo makers conversewith others in nearby pondsin the hushed chamberof the lowlands-a Bosque of Cottonwoods, lakes,and reeds –Cranes are always listening.No wonder one can trust them.As twilight deepens,they fall soundly asleep,thin billed domesnestled deep in warm flesh,scaly feet sunk under oozing mud.They dream an ancient languagetapping into fieldsof primal patterningIndigenous knowledgeEarth’s current keening.Cranes know thatonly by attending will they survive.During the night,One bird stands sentry…Next monththey will beginthe great migrationa bi -annual flight madeyear after year for millennia.Cranes return to the same locationsthousands of miles traversed when‘North Country’ calls them home.Upon arrival, the birdspaint their plumage brownblending into last year’swetlands to escape detection.Mothers hover over two eggssinking onto nestsbraided out of reeds.A most attentive Protectorscans horizon and sky.Nearby.One chick mightsurvive to make the return journey…But for nowthese sentient Beingscelebrate communityby the thousands,feeding in harmony…The tranquil ponds echowith a symphony of sound socompelling, so enchantingthat I am sweptinto the Heart of Creation,folded into feathery down,cupped by Primeval Wingsfringed ashen cloaks –immersed in Natural Grace. (Meet Mago Contributor) Sara Wright – Return to Mago E*Magazine
(Pandemic Poem 8) To all of you future beings by Jyoti Wind

OM. Photo by Jyoti Wind. To all of you future beings who may never realize, know that there were those of us who held the world in Universal Light during the darkest days, so that our dream and ideal, your current life of peace and happiness, could finally become a reality. https://www.magoism.net/2020/08/meet-mago-contributor-jyoti-wind/
(Poem) My Father and I by Dale Allen

Image art by Dale Allen My father and I Were staring at the beautiful night sky. It was so black, so big, and unbounded. And the stars were there Trillions of them! Fixed, bright, clear: It was magnificent. I felt small under that panorama. It’s been there so long, And it will be there Even when this earth is long gone. It’s so awesome and overpowering, And the thought it being so eternal And me being so transient Scared me. But not my father. He understands the universe. I was lying down on the grass And he was lying underneath it.Notes I wrote this poem when I was 18 years old. My father died when I was 3 ½ years old. He has been with me all my life. When my Mago submission was due this morning, this poem came to my attention me like a shooting star. I went to the basement and found my poetry book. Yesterday was my father’s birthday. Tomorrow is Father’s Day. This Mago submission is my father, Allen Schmid’s doing. PS: My name is Dale Allen. When I was in my 20s and working in New York and LA in acting, voice-overs and stand-up comedy, I created the name Dale Allen, using my father’s first name in place of our surname. https://www.magoism.net/2024/05/meet-mago-contributor-dale-allen
(Nine Poets Speak) Sisters by Mary Saracino

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Demeter and Persephone Roman Forum photo by Mary Saracino Some sisters are bound by blood familial ties, heart songs harmonized by umbilical memories. Other sisters enrich our lives as friends, lovers, classmates, coworkers in-laws, artists, scholars, truth-tellers. Each sister-bond sustains us through hard times, celebrates with us in joyful times. Sisters provide safe harbor in times of peril and sorrow. We dance, laugh, and sing reveling in our happiness We share our life stories, discovering our limitless possibilities. United we stand, steadfast and true, sisters-in-arms, heart-to-heart, shoulder-to-shoulder in circles of equals no one up, no one down, moving forward together powered by uterine strength blessed by the blood of our ancient wombs Meet Mago Contributor, Mary Saracino – Return to Mago E*Magazine
(Pandemic Poem 11) Dreaming the New Dream by Jyoti Wind

Colorado Sunset, Boulder CO. Photo by Jyoti Wind The coloring has come outside the lines. Those hard line definitions are blurring, softening, making more room for new possibilities, new terms, new words. New pictures are forming on the inside. As they emerge, engaging the emotions, not just the mind, we move closer to wholeness, dreaming the new dream. https://www.magoism.net/2020/08/meet-mago-contributor-jyoti-wind/

(Special Post 1) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Wennifer Lin-Haver Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I am asking each of us to consider writing a sentence or paragraph on “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” This idea is prompted by Wennifer Lin-Haver, Founder of Mother Tree Sanctuary, and I agree that we need to and can create a sort of collective writing on the topic. What we write below will be included and published in The Girl God, Mother Tree Sanctuary, and Return to Mago. As a subaltern minority as we seem at the current point of time, Goddessians/Magoists [the term Mago means the Great Goddess] need to make extra efforts to make our voices and presences exposed to the public and inner circles. Length and style are open. Please also include your name, region/state/country, title, and/or website URL. We strongly encourage you if you are located in a place where Goddessians are rarely around. We intend to make a collective testimonial tapestry of WE as Goddessians/Magoists! Please keep this in your mind and join us in this collective effort. Thank you in advance. March 6, 2014 AF (Archaic Future)! Wennifer Lin-Haver Our “call” started as a conversation between Helen and me where I was expressing to her the real need for Mother Tree Sanctuary to be more articulate with exploring the significance and importance of Goddess in our lives. I was prompted to give such a response, when asked “why” we had to differentiate God and Goddess. “Isn’t everything God?” She asked. And “Isn’t Goddess also God?” “Isn’t it all the same as long was we’re all coming from our ‘higher’ self?” she asked. So I saw this warranted a longer and much deeper discussion. I initially thought I should formulate a response and post it as a Page or Tab in our website, but after some reflection with Helen, I saw how much better it would be if we replied to this question as a diverse and creative collective. I surely do not have all the answers as an individual but perhaps together, we can come up with something more whole, colorful and satisfying. I do hope you will contribute a little something! We are always grateful for all that you have to share.
(Special Post Isis 2) 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 2 The Color Talk in Goddesses Kahena Dorothea Athena was also whitened which is sad. However the statues were worshiped by many women to whom they brought comfort. And their origins were later remembered by the abundance of Black Virgins that became important in Italy and other parts of Europe. I don’t see Dark Goddesses as shadows but as having depths of Creativity and Knowledge. My main Goddess is Kirke and the bast relief I have of her is a chocolate brown. Diane Horton The worship of Isis broadened from Egypt to all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, as well as the Middle East and the isles called now the British Isles. She and Her worship were virtually everywhere in the westernly known world of the time! She IS the Goddess of 10,000 Names! And as such she was adapted to each culture’s vision of Her. She was the basis of all the” Black Madonnas”. I do not think of this as Isis/Auset representing the “dark” Goddess as something somehow bad or to be dealt with, but rather that ancient darkness represents infinite potential, eternal creativity/fertility, the beginning and ending of all things, and the always deepening knowledge of magick. Max Dashu However, there is a politics of representation that we all need to be aware of, that pushes original African iconography down and away, and fronts Europeanized images. There is no possibility of “colorblindness” in such a system; a restoration of the original must be actively striven toward. This is incumbent on all of us not of (recent) African descent. Otherwise we perpetuate the injurious status quo, instead of overturning it. Harita Meenee I agree with those who say that race is largely a social construct. Its roots seem to lie in colonialism and the slave trade. I would also like to add that racism is used to oppress people of different nationalities and colors. Ηere in Greece the IMF neo-liberal policies are destroying our economy (and lives); they go hand in hand with a vicious racist campaign against immigrants, along with the rise of a neo-Nazi party. This is part of an effort to redirect people’s anger away from the government and bankers, towards those who are poor and foreign and often have a different color or religion. Fortunately, many grassroots activists are responding to this by building a strong anti-racist, antifascist movement. You can see our Facebook page below. It’s in Greek but the photos are quite revealing. If anyone is interested in learning more about the situation here, please message me and I’ll try to find some articles in English for you. https://www.facebook.co/19JanuaryATHENSvsFASCISM?fref=ts 19 Γεναρη – ΑΘΗΝΑ ΠΟΛΗ Αντιφασιστικη Μπροστά στη κλιμάκωση της φασιστικής απειλής και της ρατσιστικής βίας, στη εμφάν…See More Naa Ayele Kumari Let me put this in the context of something you might understand. This is a goddess group that honors the feminine and the power it represents. People in this group understand the oppression and misrepresentation of women. We understand the implications of misogynistic patriarchal thinking. We understand the implications of stealing the information, rites, and traditions from goddess centered cultures and rephrasing them into male dominated themes… especially those that then went on to oppress women today. This is the same thing that has happened as it related to race and our cultures. It infuriates us when a man may say… why do we have to focus on the goddess? Let us just accept that we are all human and no special consideration should be given to anyone because of their gender. Or, this is just a distraction or social construct and it really doesn’t matter. We understand the blatant disregard and ignorance of those statements. Yet, the same is true for race and people of other races. Your attitude and casual disregard perpetuates a lie that you are comfortable with and don’t wish to move from that comfort zone. It means you don’t have to be accountable for the injustices or oppression it continues to perpetuate in the larger culture toward people who do not look like you. As far as I am concerned, I truly believe that the dark goddess for many with white skin IS their shadow… It is the part of themselves that they deny and fear. That you may have come from black people may scare you… even when the science proves it. That deep down… you fear what you don’t understand. To even confront it is frightening… something that you would rather ignore and deny… Yet… here we are. Black, Yellow, Red… people.. women… who have been oppressed for thousands of year because of this… and are asking… to be seen in their true likeness… not as you wish them to be… or fear them to be. Naa Ayele Kumari Thank you Max Dashu, I so appreciate your scholarship and dedication to the truth where ever you find it… and Helen Hwang for staying open to it as well. [Someone withdrew the threads.] Rick Williams No, you can’t passively aggressively slither your way out of this, reread your own statements and that last post contradicts most of your ascertains. I can’t believe that you honestly say fire away at you like you’re some sort of martyr and VICTIM of being misunderstood, not at all, I understand you very well. I don’t think you understand yourSELF. That’s the real tragedy. Rick Williams “The Lips of Wisdom are Closed except to the Ears of Understanding.” It is in quotes, and it’s part of Ancient Wisdom, of Tehuti, DJehuti, or Hermes Trimegitus… The Great Scribe of KMT.. they have alot of pretty pictures of him all over KMT(Egypt).. still have no idea what you are saying have the time. Max Dashu Thank you Naa Ayele for taking the time to make the extremely apt analogy of women’s oppression to clarify the politics of race oppression […]
(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.

The Passing of Last Summer’s Growth by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ as is experienced and contemplated in the Season of Deep Autumn/Samhain, may be a metaphor for the passing of all/any that has come to fullness of being, or that has had a fullness, a blossoming of some kind, and borne fruit; and in the passing it has been received, and thus transforms. The ‘passing of last Summer’s growth’ may be in hearts and minds, an event or events, a period of time, or an era, that was a deep communion, now passed and dissolved into receptive hearts and minds, where it/they reside for reconstitution, within each unique being. Samhain is traditionally understood as ‘Summer’s end’: indeed that is what the word ‘Samhain’ means. In terms of the seasonal transitions in indigenous Old European traditions, Summer is understood as over when the Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Lughnasad comes around; it is the first marked transition after the fullness of Summer Solstice. The passing and losses may have been grieved, the bounty received, thanksgiving felt and expressed, perhaps ceremonially at Autumn Equinox/Mabon; yet now in this Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn it composts, clearly falls, as darkness and cooler/cold weather sets in, change is clearer. In the places where this Earth-based tradition arose, Winter could be sensed setting in at this time, and changes to everyday activity had to be made. In our times and in our personal lives, we may sense this kind of ending, when change becomes necessary, no longer arbitrary: and the Seasonal Moment of Samhain may be an excellent moment for expressing these deep truths, telling the deep story, and making meaning of the ending, as we witness such passing. What new shapes will emerge from the infinite well of creativity? And we may wonder what will return from the dissolution? What re-solution will be found? We may wonder what new shapes will emerge. In the compost of what has been, what new syntheses, new synergies, may come forth? Now is the time for dreaming, for drawing on the richness within, trusting the sentience, within which we are immersed, and which we are: and then awaiting the arrival, being patient with the fermentation and gestation. Seize the moment, this Moment – and converse with the depths within your own bodymind, wherein She is. Make space for the sacred conversation, the Conversing with your root and source of being, and take comfort in this presence. We may ponder what yet unkown beauty and wellness may emerge from this infinite well of creativity. The Samhain Moment in the Northern Hemisphere is 17:14 UT 7thNovember this year. Wishing you a sense of the deep communion present in the sacred space you make for this holy transition.
Imbolc: Through Goddess Eyes by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd In times past, Creation’s Winter cupped me in her icy hand of sanctuary Gathered in, I sucked dormant life, and slumbered Till Earth’s rebirthing groans awakened my new body Now, older and full of life’s weeping and wondering awe At all that has happened in my decades on Earth I must shake myself into consciousness My seed’s opaque, blinding hull disintegrates and Bodyless, at last I can see through Goddess eyes I ache as my blood paints each flower petal I spin the whirlwind that cannot stop creating abundance I push the seasons through the year that mortals believe revolve of their own accord. Through Goddess eyes I can see me, I inhabit Winter’s hand as my own. I make the cold to slow creation of outside of me To gather the seed into fertile stillness within. That burgeons in my own time. https://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
Beltaine/High Spring within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 8 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Beltaine/High Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – October 31st or 1st November Northern Hemisphere – April 30th (May Eve) or 1st May though the actual astronomical date varies. 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. The twin fires lit in older times on hilltops in Ireland for Beltaine likely represented the two eyes of night and day.[i] With this vision, Goddess as Sun and Moon sees Her Land, and with the power of Her eyes (Sun and Moon) brings forth life and beauty. With the fire eyes, Goddess“reoccupied and saw her whole land…”[ii] The twin fires later came to be used to run cattle between as they headed out to Summer pasture, for the purpose of burning off the bugs and ticks of Winter; the fires may thus be understood to serve a cleansing effect and likely the origins of the tradition of the ceremonial leaping of flames by participants in Beltaine festivities. In PaGaian Cosmology this is poetically expressed as the Flame of Love that burns away the psyche’s “bugs and ticks,” and sees the Beauty present, and calls it forth. The Beltaine flames may be a celebration of Sun entering into the eye, into the whole bodymind: a powerful creative evocation upon which the Dance of Life depends, and as the cleansing power of love and pleasure. PaGaian focus for Beltaine is on the Holy Desire/Passion for life, and it may be accounted for on as many levels as possible … the complete holarchy/dimensions of the erotic power. On an elemental level, there is our desire for Air, Water, the warmth of Fire, and to be of use/service to Earth. There is an essential longing, sometimes nameless, sometimes constellated, experienced physically, that may be recognized as the Desire of the Universe Herself – desiring in us.[iii] We may remember that we are united in this desire with each other, with all who have gone before us, and with all who come after us – all who dance the Dance of Life. Beltaine is a time for dancing and weaving into our lives, our heart’s desires; traditionally the dance is done with participants holding ribbons attached to a pole or tree (a Maypole in the Northern Hemisphere, which may be renamed as a “Novapole” in the Southern Hemisphere), wrapping the pole with the ribbons. This is not simply the heterosexual metaphor as is thought in modern times (thanks largely to Freudian thinking) – it is deeper than that. As Caitlin and John Matthews point out: it is symbolic of a far greater exchange than that between men and women – in fact between the elements themselves. … the maypole, a comparatively recent manifestation in the history of mystery celebrations, can be seen as the linking of heaven and earth, binding those who dance around it … into a pattern of birth, life and death which lay at the heart of the maze of earth mysteries.[iv] Beltaine is a celebration of Desire on all levels – microcosm and on the macrocosm, the exoteric and the esoteric.[v] It brought you forth physically, and it brings forth all that you produce in your life, and it keeps the Cosmos spinning. It is felt in you as Desire, it urges you on. It is the deep awesome dynamic that pervades the Cosmos and brings forth all things – babies, meals, gardens, careers, books and solar systems. We have often been taught, certainly by religious traditions, to pay it as little attention as possible; whereas it should be the cause of much more meditation/attention, tracing it to its deepest place in us. What are our deepest desires beneath our surface desires. What if we enter more deeply into this feeling, this power? It may be a place where the Universe is a deep reciprocity – a receiving and giving that is One. Brian Swimme says, in a whole chapter on “Allurement”: You can examine your own self and your own life with this question: Do I desire to have this pleasure? Or rather, do I desire to become pleasure? The demand to ‘have,’ to possess, always reveals an element of immaturity. To keep, to hold, to control, to own; all of this is fundamentally a delusion, for our own truest desire is to be and to live. We have ripened and matured when we realize that our own deepest desire in erotic attractions is to become pleasure … to enter ecstatically into pleasure so that giving and receiving pleasure become one simple activity. Our most mature hope is to become pleasure’s source and pleasure’s home simultaneously. So it is with the allurements of life: we become beauty to ignite the beauty of others.[vi] Beltaine is a good time to contemplate this animal bodymind that you are: how it seeks real pleasure. What is your real pleasure? Be gracious with this bodymind and in awe of this form, this wonder. Beltaine is also a good time to contemplate light, and its affects on our bodyminds as it enters into us; how our animal bodyminds respond directly to the Sun’s light, which apparently may awaken physical desires. Light vibrates into us – different wavelengths as different colours – and shifts to pulse. It is felt most fully in Springtime (“spring fever”), as light courses down a direct neural line from retina to pineal gland. When the pineal gland receives the light pulse it releases “a cascade of hormones, drenching the body in hunger, thirst, or great desire.”[vii] We respond directly to Sun as an organism: it is primal. NOTES: [i] Michael Dames, Ireland, 195-199. [ii] Ibid., 196. [iii] I have been inspired and informed by Swimme’s articulations about desire, particularly in Canticle to the Cosmos, video 2 “The Primeval Fireball,” video 5 “Destruction and Loss,” and video 10 “The Timing of Creativity.” [iv] Matthews, The Western Way, 54. And for more, see “Creativity …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 7) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) at Mago Bookstore. YEARLY LEAP DAY AND EVERY FOURTH YEAR LEAP DAY Each Sa includes a Dan of the big Sa. A Dan is equal to one day. That adds to 365 days. At the half point of 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. Each year has a leap day (Dan), which makes a total of 365 days. Every fourth year is a leap year that has a leap day (Pan), which makes a total of 366 days. The Dan day comes before the New Year in the winter solstice month. And the Pan day comes before the first day of the summer solstice month in the fourth year. The above, however, does not indicate when the New Year comes. Logographic characters of Dan and Pan each suggest their meanings. While each year includes the Dan day (the morning), every fourth year has the Pan day. A unit of four years makes the Big Calendar. Dan (旦 Morning) Leap day for every first three years Pan (昄 Big) Leap day for every fourth year I have postulated that the year begins on the Dan day (one leap day), a day before New Year that comes in the month of Winter Solstice in the Norther Hemisphere. And the Pan day comes on the day before the first day of the 7th month that has Summer Solstice in the fourth year in the Norther Hemisphere. Years Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Months Dan Dan Dan Dan 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 Pan 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 Days 365 365 365 366 The Magoist Calendar’s intercalation involves one leap day every year and one leap day every four years. That is, each year has one extra day to make it 365 days. Every fourth year has an extra day to make it 366 days. Four years has a total of 1461 days (365×3+366), which makes the mean of 365.25 days. Considering that the month is following the sidereal period rather than the synodic period, it is inferred that the year also follows the sidereal year rather than the solar year. In fact, Magoist Calendar’s one year is very close to today’s 365.25636 days of the sidereal year compared to 365.24217 days of the solar year or the tropical year. Given that, as seen below, the Budoji mentions the tiniest discrepancy of one leap day for 31,788,900 years, the discrepancy between 365.25 and 365.25636 (0.00636 day) can be explained that the year was actually 365.25 days at the time of Budo circa 2333 BCE, 4440 years ago. In other words, there is a discrepancy of 0.12375936 seconds between 2017 CE and 2333 BCE. Regarding Lawful Numbers 2, 5, 8, it is involved as follows: 365 days (3+6+5=14, 1+4=5) Lawful Numbers 2, 5, 8 refers the unit of 365 days (364 days with one intercalary day). Further dynamics are unknown. The sidereal year refers to the time taken by the Earth to orbit the sun once with respect to the distant stars. In contrast, the solar or tropical year means the time taken by the Earth to orbit the sun once with respect to the sun. The sidereal year, 365.25636 days, is about 20 minutes and 24 seconds longer than the mean tropical year (365.24217 days) and about 19 minutes and 57 seconds longer than the average Gregorian year of 365.2425 days. The difference occurs primarily because the solar system spins on its own axis and around the Milky Way galactic center making the solar year’s observed position relative. Time is no independent concept apart from space and the agent. The very concept of time is preceded by the agent bound in a space. It is always contextualized. In Magoism, both calendar and time are born out of the cosmogonic universe, the universe that is in self-creation. Like calendar, time is to be discovered or measured. It is a numinous concept. The very concept of time testifies to the reality of the Creatrix. Time proves the orderly movement of the universe into which we are born. Calendar patterns time, whereas time undergirds calendar. How can we measure time? We are given the time of the Earth that comes from its rotation, revolution, and precession in sync with the moon and the sun (and its planets). One type of time is the solar time. The solar time is a calculation of time based on the position of the sun. Traditionally, the solar time is measured by the sundial. The solar time is, however, specific to the Earth only. It is valid only for the-same-observed-location. It is not made to be used for the time of another celestial body. For example, Mars’ solar time has to be measured independently based on its own rotation and revolution rates. The solar time is an isolated time. It is static and exclusive, not made for the time of other celestial bodies. By nature, it is unfit for connection and communication across celestial bodies. The second type is the sidereal time. The sidereal time is a time scale based on the rate of Earth’s rotations measured relative to the distant stars.[29] Because the observed position is in the far distant stars beyond the solar system, the sidereal time may as well be called an extrasolar stellar time. We can think of the observer’s position of an imaginary cosmic bird far out there, infinitely far beyond not only the solar system and …
(Essay) Contemplating How Her Creativity Proceeds by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of chapter 5 of the author’s book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. It is a chapter on the process of the Wheel of the Year. for the Northern Hemisphere version: https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems to me that the main agenda of the Cosmos is ongoing Creativity, “never-ending renewal” it may be termed, and that this is expressed in Earth’s Seasonal Wheel through the transitions of Autumn,Winter, Spring, Summer; and in the ubiquitous process of a Cosmic Triplicity of Space to Be, Urge to Be and this Place of Being, a dynamic that has often been imagined as the Triple Goddess. In the flow of the PaGaian Wheel of the Year, the Seasonal transitions of the Wheel and the Triplicity of the Cosmos come together. There are two celebrations of the Old One/Crone or the Cosmogenetic quality of autopoiesis creating the Space to Be; and they are Lammas/Late Summer and Samhain/Deep Autumn, which are the meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing dark phase. At Lammas, the first in the dark phase, we may identify with the dark and ancient Wise One – dissolve into Her; at Samhain, we may consciously participate in Her process of the transformation of death/the passing of all. The whole dark part of the cycle is about dissolving/dying/letting go of being – becoming – nurturing it (the midwifing of Lammas/Late Summer), stepping into the power of it (the certain departure of Autumn Equinox/Mabon), the fertility (of Samhain/Deep Autumn), the peaking of it (at Winter Solstice). The meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing light phase then are celebrations of the Young One/Virgin or the Cosmogenetic quality of differentiation, the new continually emerging, the Urge to Be; and they are Imbolc/Early Spring and Beltaine/High Spring. At Imbolc, the first in the light phase, we may identify with She who is shining and new – as we take her form; at Beltaine, we may consciously participate in Her process of the dance of life. The whole light part of the cycle is about coming into being: nurturing it (the midwifing of Imbolc/Early Spring), stepping into the power of it (the certain return of Spring Equinox/Eostar), the fertility (of Beltaine/High Spring), the peaking of it (at Summer Solstice). In the PaGaian wheel of ceremony there are two particular celebrations of the Mother, the Cosmogenetic quality of communion; and they are the Solstices. If one imagines the light part of the cycle as a celebration of the ‘Productions of Time’, and the dark part of the cycle as a celebration of ‘Eternity’, the Solstices then are meeting points, points of interchange, and are celebrations of the communion/relational field of Eternity with the Productions of Time. This is a relationship which does happen in this Place, in this Web. This Place of Being, this Web, is a Communion – it is the Mother; the Solstices mark Her birthings, Her gateways. The Equinoxes then – both Spring and Autumn – are two celebrations wherein the balance of all three Faces/Creative qualities is particularly present: in the PaGaian wheel, the Equinoxes have been special celebrations of Demeter and Persephone – echoing the ancient tradition of Mother-Daughter Mysteries that celebrate the awesomeness of the continuity of life, its creative tension/balance. Both Equinoxes then are celebrations and contemplations of empowerment through deep Wisdom – one contemplation during the dark phase and one during the light phase. The Autumn Equinox is a descent to Wisdom, the Spring Equinox is an emergence with Wisdom gained. I like to think of the Equinoxes, and of the ancient icons of Demeter and Persephone, as celebrations of the delicate ‘curvature of space-time’, the fertile balance of tensions which enables it all. Her Creative Place The Mother aspect then may be understood to be particularly present at four of the Seasonal Moments, which are also regarded traditionally as the Solar festivals; and in this cosmology Sun is felt as Mother. I recognize these four as points of interchange: at Autumn Equinox, Mother is present primarily as Giver – She is letting Persephone go, at Spring Equinox, She is present primarily as Receiver – welcoming the Daughter back, at Winter Solstice the Mother gives birth, creates form, at Summer Solstice, She opens again full of radiance, and disperses form. The Mother is Agent/Actor at the Solstices. She is Participant/Witness at the Equinoxes, where it is then really Persephone who is Agent/Actor, embodying an inseparable Young One and Old One. The Old One is often named as Hecate, who completes the Trio – all seamlessly within each other. Another possible way to visual it, or to tell the story, is this: The Mother – Demeter – is always there, at the Centre if you like. Persephone cycles around. She is the Daughter who returns in the Spring as flower, who will become fruit/grain of the Summer, who at Lammas assents to the dissolution – the consumption. At Autumn Equinox She returns to the underworld as seed – Her harvest is rejoiced in, Her loss is grieved, as She becomes Sovereign of the Underworld – Her face changes to the Dark One, Crone (Hecate). As the wheel turns into the light part of the cycle She becomes Young One/Virgin again. Persephone (as Seed) is that part of Demeter that can be all three aspects – can move through the complete cycle. The Mother and Daughter are really One, and embody the immortal process of creation and destruction. Demeter hands Persephone the wheat, the Mystery, and the thread of life is unbroken – it goes on forever. It is immortal, it is eternal. Even though it is true that all will be lost, and all is lost – Being always arises again: within this field of time there is never-ending renewal, eternity. This is what is revealed in the ubiquitous three faces of the Creative Dynamic/ She of Old, the Triplicity that runs through the Cosmos. The Seed of Life never …
A Southern Hemisphere Perspective on Place by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the Introduction to the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, which was an outcome of her doctoral research/thesis entitled The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change. This doctoral work was in turn a documentation and deeper research of the Seasonal ceremonial celebrations that the author was already engaged in for over a decade. The whole of the process is here named as her “Search”. photo credit: David Widdowson, Astrovisuals. The site of seasonal ceremonial celebrations will always be significant. In my case, the place in which I have created them has been notably in the Southern Hemisphere of out Planet Earth. The fact of my context being thus – the Southern Hemisphere – had contributed in the past to my deep internalized sense of being “other”, and dissociated from my senses, since almost all stories told were based in Northern Hemisphere perspective. Yet at the same time this context of inhabiting the Southern Hemisphere contributed to my deep awareness of Gaia’s Northern Hemisphere and Her reciprocal Seasonal Moment: thus, awareness of the whole Planet. My initial confusion about the sensed Cosmos – as a Place, became a clarity about the actual Cosmos – which remained inclusive of my sensed Cosmos. PaGaian reality – the reality of our Gaian “country” – is that the whole Creative Dynamic happens all the time, all at once. The “other”, the opposite, is always present – underneath and within the Moment. This has affected my comprehension of each Sabbat/Seasonal Moment, its particular beauty but also a fullness of its transitory nature. Many in the Northern Hemisphere – even today – have no idea that the Southern Hemisphere has a ‘different’ lunar, diurnal, seasonal perspective; and because of this there often is a rigidity of frame of reference for place, language, metaphor and hence cosmology[i]. Indeed over the years of industrialized culture it has appeared to matter less to many of both hemispheres, including the ‘author-ities’, the writers of culture and cosmos. And such ‘author-ity’ and northern-hemispheric rigidity is also assumed by many more Earth-oriented writers as well[ii]. There has been consistent failure to take into account a whole Earth perspective: for example, the North Star does not need to be the point of sacred reference – there is great Poetry to be made of the void of the South Celestial Pole. Nor need the North be rigidly associated with the Earth element and darkness, nor is there really an “up” and a “down” cosmologically speaking. A sense and accountof the Southern Hemisphere perspective with all that that implies metaphorically as well as sens-ibly, seems vitally important to comprehending and sensing a whole perspective and globe – a flexibility of mind, and coming to inhabit the real Cosmos, hence enabling what I have named as a ‘PaGaian’ cosmological perspective, a whole Earth perspective. It has also been of particular significance that my Search has been birthed in the ancient continent of Australia. It is the age of the exposed rock in this Land, present to her inhabitants in an untarnished, primal mode that is significant. This Land Herself has for millennia been largely untouched by human war, conquest and concentrated human agriculture and disturbance. The inhabitants of this Land dwelt here in a manner that was largely peaceful and harmonious, for tens of thousands of years. Therefore the Land Herself may speak more clearly I feel; one may be the recipient of direct transmission of Earth in one of her most primordial modes. Her knowledge may be felt more clearly – one may be taught by Her. I think that the purity of this transmission is a significant factor in the development of the formal research I undertook – in my chosen methodology and in what I perceived in the process, and documented; from my beginnings as a country girl, albeit below my conscious mind in the subtle realms of which I knew little, to the more conscious times of entering into the process of the Search. In this Land that birthed me, ‘spirit’ is not remote and abstract, it is felt in Her red earth[iii]. Aboriginal elder David Mowaljarlai described, “This is a spirit country”[iv], and all of Her inhabitants, including non-Indigenous, may be affected by the strength of Her organic communication. It took me until the later stages of my research to realize the need to state the importance of this particular place for the advent of the research: the significance of both the land of Australia, and the specific region of the Blue Mountains in which I was now dwelling, as well as the community of this particular region, which all lent itself to the whole process. The lateness of this perception on my part, has to do with the extent of my previous alienation; but the fact that it did occur, is perhaps at least in part attributable to the unfolding awakening to my habitat that was part of the project/process. The specific region of the “Blue Mountains” – as Europeans have named them – is significant in that I don’t think that this project/process could have happened as it did in just any region. David Abram says, “The singular magic of a place is evident from what happens there, from what befalls oneself or others when in its vicinity. To tell of such events is implicitly to tell of the particular power of that site, and indeed to participate in its expressive potency[v]”. Blue Mountains, Australia: Dharug and Gundungurra Country The Blue Mountains are impressive ancient rock formations, an uplifted ancient seabed, whose “range of rock types and topographical situations has given rise to distinct plant communities”[vi]; and the presence of this great variation of plant communities, “especially the swamps, offer an abundance and variety of food sources, as well as habitats for varied fauna”[vii]. I feel that this is the case for …

(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 …
(Photo Essay 4) ‘Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea’ by Helen Hwang

Part IV: Revival of the Gurang (Nine Maidens) Gaeyang Halmi There is more to reveal. As I write this part of the photo essay, I have encountered new information, previously made available online by individuals and organizations. It is reported that the “Suseong-dang” (水聖堂, Sea Saint Shrine) was once called the “Gurang-sa” (九娘祠, Nine Maidens Shine), of which I never heard before.[i] That Suseong-dang is a fake name blew my mind! Note the difference of gender between “the Nine Maidens Shrine” and “the Sea Saint Shrine”! The female-connoted term was stolen just like that! “Gurang-sa,” a female-referenced term as the character “rang” means a maiden, had to go due to its overt female representation. It is not without grounds that I was taken aback to see its present logography, “the Sea Saint Shrine,” on the information board.[ii] I almost heard a voice warning me, “This is not the place that you think it is!” That voice attempted to force me to leave the place without further investigation. However, I intuitively took a mental note, “Something is not correct here.” And I was right! Its name change sheds a consistent light on the meddling of patriarchal distortion/deception done to the tradition of Gaeyang Halmi. Readers are reminded of the lost painting of Gaeyang Halmi, which was replaced by that of the Sea God explicated in Part 2 of this photo essay (also Part 3). Like “the Sea God,” “the Suseong-dang” constitutes no reality. It is not only a conceptual deception but also a theft of the intangible cultural heritage, righteously committed by faceless patriarchal men disappeared into the lapse of time. It is clear that systematic erasure of the Female/Goddess has been in operation. Female power embodied whether in the name of the shrine or in the iconography was stripped away. However, it is proven once again that the Female is immortal because it constitutes the root of patriarchy. People smuggled the forbidden knowledge of the Female to later generations through oral stories. Thus, we find the folklore of the Female subversive.
(Art) Mago by Lydia Ruyle

Mago of old Korea and East Asia, also known as Magu, Mako, Samsin Halmeoni (Triad Grandmother Goddess) and Cheonsin (Heavenly Deity), is the Great Goddess. Mago is the progenitor, creatrix, and ultimate sovereign. Early gynocentric cultures venerated Her in many forms. Her multivalent identities include an immortal, mendicant, crone, shaman, and/or nature-shaper of mountains, rocks, caves and seas. In art, Mago often carries a basket of lingzi mushrooms, medicinal herbs and flowers–all symbols of immortality. Source: Painting c. 1400 CE by Seokgyeong. Joseon Dynasty. Korea Meet Mago Contributor, Lydia Ruyle.

Author: Mago Work

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