February 12, 2021February 1, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poem) Once upon a time by Arlene Bailey

Once upon a time, All of life coexisted in harmony and beauty. The sacred art of the Cosmos and Nature dwelling side by side. Shades of blue and green, Earth Read More …

February 11, 2021January 30, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Art) 3D Painting: Global Warming: Trust in the Infinite to Answer your Deepest Prayers in the Darkest Times – Snatam Kaur by Sudi Rakusin

This artwork is about global warming. Many of the animals within this piece are endangered. There is a sadness. We are facing this bleak day together. The title is from Read More …

February 10, 2021January 30, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poetry & Art) Tiger Lover by Alex Purbrick

When I tell you my secret I think you will understand dear Friend That I can never be in love with you When my lover lives in the wild. How Read More …

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 2) The Two Marys of Chartres by Anne Baring

[Author’s Note: This essay in four parts is my webinar talk given to the Ubiquity University online Chartres Community Meeting ‘Madonna Rising’ August 14th, 2020] The Virgin Mary Part 2 Read More …

February 8, 2021January 30, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) My Body is a Nation by Sara Wright

“The body is a nation I have not known. The pure joy of air: the moment between leaping from a cliff into the wall of blue below.” Oh, the pure Read More …

February 5, 2021January 30, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poetry) Cyclone time by Susan Hawthorne

when earth exhaleswe inhale, hold our breathas that great turbine of windrolls over us three hours we sitnursing the rising windthe power goes outthe TV light extinguished through the windowtrees Read More …

February 4, 2021January 30, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Pandemic Poem 6) The New Ones by Jyoti Wind

The New Ones The old Gods tumble like huge mountains, tumbling backwards on themselves. The land and seas take them back, bury them with love, as their time is over. Read More …

February 3, 2021February 1, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Imbolc: Through Goddess Eyes 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, Read More …

January 29, 2021January 29, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Art) The Sacred Feminine Trilogy by Glen Rogers

For over thirty years, my work has been women centric and goddess inspired. Ever since I was introduced to our ancient herstory where women were goddesses, priestesses, and rulers in Read More …

January 27, 2021January 11, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) The Navajo Mountain Chant: A Feminist Perspective by Sara Wright

Like the Navajo Night Chant celebrated at winter solstice the Navajo Mountain Chant is the last important winter ceremony, one that marks the shift in seasons and the return of Read More …

January 26, 2021February 23, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 1) On the Wings of Isis: Reclaiming the Sovereignty of Auset, ed. by Trista Hendren et al.

Foreword: She of the Throne Jhenah Telyndru “Know that I am a mother and universal nature, mistress of all the elements, primordial principle of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, Read More …

January 25, 2021January 4, 2021 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Book Excerpt) Blood & Honey The Secret Herstory of Women by Danica Anderson, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: The Kolo, the round dance and to be in the Circle. It’s the archetypal movement of Hands and Feet. Bozaloshtsh: Bird goddess and snake goddesses of regeneration – Read More …

January 22, 2021December 31, 2020 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Poetry & Photography) Night Songs by Phibby Venable

I wander at night, I plant my eyes in stars, and walk the floor to a favorite song Just down the hall, my people hang on walls, mosaic and fleshy, Read More …

(Meet Mago Contributor) Rena Hoffman

Rena Hoffman combines her passion for art and counseling in a fulfilling career as a Soul Centred Creative Arts Psychotherapist. In her private practice deeply engages individual and group based art therapy with all ages. Rena’s quest began in the 1980s, looking for meaning within the Judeo/Christian school she attended and not finding it. She now calls herself an ecofeminist and lives ritual deeply, through her art and her work, as a mother, and in facilitating, supporting and participating in women’s circles. Rena has a BA in Psychology (Swinburne) and a Diploma in Soul Centred Psychotherapy (Kairos Centre).
(Poem) Endarkenment by Leslene della-Madre

Digging deep into her rich, musty moist darkness Searching for my roots, I encounter the memory of my ancient grandmothers, Their hands reaching to clasp mine in remembrance of what once was. Buried by the lies and layers of heavy domination and violence, Sitting in sacred cave by liquid fire, Pouring stars into teacups, Laughing amongst themselves, They patiently wait To see who will come through the mysterious vulva/opening of birth and death, though, both illusions in the great Round, we are beckoned into initiation, dancing with Form and Space. They look at me, full of life, glistening cosmic eyes of the YoniVerse that know no violence against women and children, no rape of womanheart, womanmind, womanlotus and sacred womanearth… Hearts full of earthy love, joy and wisdom. And yet, their diamond tears stream down ancient earth-carved craggy creeks in cheeks They tell me we have been foolish to think That fruition only comes from straining to reach the light of the hegod, enlightenment as we have called it… They say you cannot reach the light without dancing in the dark, Without curling your pristine delicate roots deep into her immense heart, breast and womb of lush, velvety soil, the very core of your soil/soul. Endarkenment they call it. You have forgotten about endarkenment, they say, eyes on fire and hearts nearly bursting with purple, ripe passion… If you reach for the light without your roots firmly held in Her ground of all being, you will perish, they say, as their hands paint the darkness with sapphire and emerald sparks, gently piercing my heart. For far too long you have arrogantly assumed that awakening means turning away from my darkness, my mountain womb/cauldron of transformation. You have taken my name Hel and twisted it into what you call hell-a place of fear, desolation and pain. Hel speaks….she says “I am the Norse Goddess of regeneration. I take all departed souls unto me, in my sacred earth mountain, and hold and rock them, soothing their fears. I love them into newness, into new life. There is no violence here. I am taking my name back. You can no longer use my name. Hell, as you have named it, is a reversal of all that is good and kind. I am Hel, Mother Goddess of transformation. Do not forget.” Demeter speaks….she says, “I am the grain Mother, she who gives life and nourishment. My daughter, Persephone heard the call of her grandmother, Hecate, from the inner earthworld to come and learn her secrets of transformation and regeneration, what you call death. Yes, I was sad when she left, for I love her beyond all measure. But Baubo, Goddess of the Wise Crack, came along and made me laugh. But I tell you now with all the passion of a mother SheBear, that nowhere, nowhere is there a raping god named Hades in my story. You have taught your children in your books about raping gods. Why do you do this? Gods who rape their mothers, sisters and daughters? This is abominable. You must stop teaching the children these stories. And retell the story of love between mother and daughter that sustains all life—stories that create beauty. For too long, you have sown seeds of sorrow, hopelessness and despair in your innocent children. If you want peace, as many of you say you do, you must tell new stories that reflect the deeper truth of a time when the Mother Goddess prevailed and all was well. Give your children hope, encouragement and wisdom so that they may grow strong, kind and respectful of all life. Artemis speaks….I am she who is whole unto herself, owned by no man. I am not well understood, as I have never chosen to marry and I run through the forest with fleet-footed independence. In your time, woman-centered independence is not cherished. Too many of you flock to men as if they are your salvation. They are not. You are your own salvation. And they are theirs. What is it you are looking for, dear sisters, when you paint yourselves, cut your beautiful bodies to make something bigger or smaller, inserting toxic plastic into your lives? For what? To be more loveable? You are already loved, as the flowers in the field are. The rose does not wish to be a daffodil. The oak tree does not wish to be a redwood. What is it you are wishing to be that you are not already?
(Pilgrimage 2) A Day in the Kalash Valley of Pakistan by Krista Rodin, Ph.D.

(See part 1 here.) The Chaumos festival centers around the arrival of the deity Balumain. Impure and uninitiated persons are not admitted to the ceremony. Purification is achieved by waving a fire brand over women and children and by a special fire ritual for men, involving a shaman waving juniper brands over the men. The ‘old rules’ of gods are no longer in force, as is typical for year-end carnival-like rituals. Different from other festivals, drum and flute are now forbidden and only the human voice is allowed. … Balumain is offered specially baked bread, often in the form of sacred animals, such as the ibex. This is later taken up to his mountain seat by a shepherd ‘king’ and offered along with goat milk. In the ritual, a fire is constructed out of superimposed, crossing twigs and a goat, especially its heart, is offered into the fires. Ancestors, impersonated by young boys are worshipped and offered bread. The children hold onto each other and form a chain and snake through the village…. Balumain is a visitor god, he arrives in Kalash in early December, before the solstice, and leaves the day after. He always comes riding a horse…. Sometimes Balumain is seen as female. When he turns right, he is male, when he turns left, she is female. The shaman in a trance at the sacred Tok tree, identifies and addresses Kalumain with Kushumai, the goddess of fertility, and the festival king honors her. There is a myth about Kushumai’s staying away from Balumain’s reception, back on her own mountain. Balumain turned towards her, and he in fact became Kushumai, and is now addressed as such.[1] The goddess Dizane, also called Disni or Dezalik, has many of the same attributes as Jeskak. She “sprang into existence from the right breast of the creator god Imrá. Placing her in the palm of his hand, Imrá threw her violently upwards. She alighted in a lake, and was there concealed and released…” [Robertson, 381] The goddess is conceived of as an emanation from a male creator, but also as coming into being independently. By other accounts, she is Imrá’s sister.”[2] Several hymns to Disni recorded in Shtiwe, Nuristan, celebrate her as a giver of life-force. This one, sung in early spring when the flocks are taken up to the mountain pastures, calls to mind Avestan paeans to the milk-giving Iranian goddess Anahita: O Disni, you are the protector of the gates of Godand moreover you have eighteen grades:Keeper of the templeGiver of milk to human beings,Protector of infants,Well-wisher of man-kind [sic],Bearer of welfare from God,You keep the door of milk flowing,You bring sensuality to mankind,You increase what is created,You are the one who receives permits from God,And you are the keeper of the nine gates of mercy.[Edelberg, 10] One important tradition shows Dizane as the Sacred Tree. Robertson had collected a “good story” about this tree, “but the record of this story was lost in a mountain torrent.” [385] He remembered bits of it: “Dizane the trunk of the fabulous tree whose roots were the goddess Nirmali, while the branches were seven families of brothers, each seven in number. Some Kafirs affirmed that Dizane was the daughter of Satarám. She may have been originally the goddess of fruitfulness. She usually shares a shrine with other deities, but at Kámdesh she has the pretty little temple… all to herself. There, at the Munzilo festival, those Kanesh who live in the upper village have to sleep in the open.” [Robertson, 411] The emphasis on outdoor shrines in Nature is pervasive in Kalasha culture. Another story told by a Kám priest reveals more about what became of Dizane after Imrá threw her up in the air and she alighted in the waters: “In a distant land, unknown to living men, a large tree grew in the middle of a lake. The tree was so big, that if any one had attempted to climb it, he would have taken nine years to accomplish the feat; while the spread of the branches was so great that it would occupy eighteen years to travel from one side of it to other.[3] Carved images of Dezalik, aka Dizane, Disne, in Kalash Museum Dezalik, is the great Mother Goddess and patroness of women in childbirth and confinement. In the villages, there are separate structures for women during their menstrual cycle and for during and just after childbirth. In Chitral, Kalasha women invoke Dezalik in the bashali, the women’s house where they go to menstruate and give birth. If a birth is difficult, they offering walnuts to her, praying, “Oh, my Dezalik of the bashali, make her deliver quickly, bring the new flower into her arms, don’t make things difficult; your eating and drinking.” And again: “Oh, my Dezalik of the bashali, one has come under your care. Bring health, set the flower in her arms, your eating and drinking,” as the women throw more walnuts to the goddess.[4] Community center with hearth At the entrance to some of the villages are Kunduriks, which are wooden sculptures in commemoration of a respected male member of the tribe. They are similar to the Gandaus in appearance, but serve a different purpose. The special exemption for the Kalash tribe to maintain their heritage applies to both the tangible/visual, i.e. dress, language etc. as well as intangible/spiritual aspects of their traditions. While preserving their heritage, today, students learn Urdu in school and can choose between a tribal village life or a more modern one or find a way to balance between the two. Family and community bonds remain quite strong. As a tribal community, the elders used to distribute justice. The federal court system has changed this for federal offences, but family and community matters remain the domain of village elders throughout tribal areas, so long as they don’t interfere with the laws of the land. While we were visiting intricately wood carved rooms and gardens in the village, a young girl …
(Quilt Art) Suonetar, Goddess of Veins and Healing, The Nymph of The Veins by Kaarina Kailo

Misty Suonetar, cosmic weaver of eternity, is related to Ilman Impi and the Creatrix figures of primal beginnings. Sometimes we encounter her sitting on a rainbow weaving on her loom, with a spittle in her hand, sometimes she visits her kin folk Tuulikki, maiden of Air or Suvetar and Päivätär, goddesses of the luminaries of light. The beauteous woman Suonetar, the lovely spinner of the veins, on a splendid spinning-wheel, on a copper spindle-shank, on the top of a golden stool, at the end of an iron bench, she knotted up the veins and the threads prepared with magic words. Later she was transformed into a Christianized Anni-Suonetar, Saint Anni, gracious maid, the beauteous maiden of the veins, who span a ruddy thread, with buzzing sound, a thread of blue, with busy hands of a thread of black, on a copper spindle with silver whorl, on an iron spinning-wheel. https://www.magoism.net/2016/03/meet-mago-contributor-kaarina-kailo/
(Essay) El Día de los Muertos by Jayne Marie DeMente

We know that the essence of El Día de los Muertos festival dates back to at least to 1800 BCE, then later becomes a mixture of indigenous & the Catholic All Saints festivities. El Día de los Muertos is a celebration by the living for their deceased loved ones – using food, dance, costume, music and festive altars to honor life and is a happy celebration usually on November 1st & 2nd! Ofrendas (a type of altar) is set up at home – after the home is thoroughly cleaned. Ofrendas are also seen around the community and at a festivals; it can be layered and a candle is set out for each guest (spirit) to be celebrated. Food, memory items, photos and the crucifix are placed on each layer of the altar. The women dress in their best clothing (or costumes depicting historical wear) and paint their faces as skulls… but finding where the wedding couple myth is derived from is difficult, but is probably from the European version of La Llorona; I suggest it might have a meaning somewhat like the that of the story of DeMeter, Persphone and Hades? Lastly, many colorful sweet foods are shared to dispel the bitterness of death. The first inhabitants of Michoacan, the state where Janitzio island is located in Mexico, thought that because of the extraordinary beauty of the Janitzio lake, that it was the door to heaven and through it the gods/deities used to come down to earth. “One of the vastest and richest kingdoms of pre-Hispanic times was established in this Mexican state, the ‘Purepecha’ Empire, which was able to maintain its independence from the powerful Aztecs…” It is believed that here the myth of La Llorona was preserved & she is regarded as “a woman both faceless and ageless, a compendium of many symbols and pre-Hispanic deities. She’s both a condemned woman and at the same time, a goddess bearing an ominous message. In the book; Vision of the Conquered, by Ángel María Garibay, the author collects the forebodings that theMexicas (the pre-Hispanic Mexican empire) received from their gods before the arrival of the Spaniards. One of these omens makes reference to a woman; ‘La Cihuacoatl’ … (serpent-woman), that wandered about the broad streets of the Great Tenochtitlan wailing and lamenting: My dearly beloved children; your departure is near; we’re about to become estranged! Oh, my children! Where shall I take you? …the echo of La Cihuacoatl was disseminated with the conquest of the Spaniards and every region was fused together by the image of various feminine deities: Auicanime – the needy one, the thirsty one, the goddess of hunger, was of the Michoacan Tarascans; Xtabai – the goddess of suicide, according to the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula; Xonaxi Queculla – “the red-fleshed lady”, the deity of death, of the underworld and of lust among the Zapotec people of Oaxaca. And, of course, the “colonial” version also ensued, that of a young and lovely woman who, having been rejected by the man she loved, drowned her children and then committed suicide. Upon arriving at the gates of Heaven, God asked her about her children and she answered, ‘I know not, my Lord’, so she was sent back to find them.”
Visualising the Energy in Hathor’s Temple by Claire Dorey

Collage various triangular forms with Nut, Eye of Ra and Hathor in Hathor’s Temple by Claire Dorey Was Hathor in vibrational conversation with the universe, the script encoded into Her temple’s walls? “Each temple is ‘tuned’ to a unique musical scale based on it’s dimensions and proportions.” – Harpist Ani Williams and Antoine Seronde. Listen Ani Williams play the Abydos Temple Scale. Perhaps music AND images are ‘tuned’ into temple harmonics. When I wrote Understanding Tanit Through Felt Experience. I visualised Tanit’s triangular logo, a vulva symbol, as a metaphor for holding space and generating energy. Tanit leads me to Hathor’s Temple in the Dendera Complex in Upper Egypt – the triangle featuring in artwork there. As Goddess of percussion and music Hathor IS sound and rhythm – the sistrum was created in Her image. Her carved ‘cow face’ forms a three-sided space enclosed by her hair. Resonant objects, including the human aura, pick up sympathetic vibration. Can hieroglyphs and reliefs carved into temple walls respond to vibration? Is there life in the stone? “Everything in the universe has rhythm, everything dances.” – Maya Angelou. Votive offerings to Hathor include mirrors, mirroring being an artistic technique used in the composition of the temple friezes, perhaps reflecting the perfection of divine creation, or hinting at ‘mirror universes’ where time runs differently. Mirroring the right-angled Kepler triangle creates an isosceles triangle. Images of seated deities fit within the silhouette of the Kepler triangle, as does the graphic for ‘woman’. When the wings of Isis fan energy they form an isosceles triangle. Nut is decorated with trilateral waves representing the ‘flow’ of the Milky Way. The negative space beneath the ‘Dendera Lightbulbs’ (ovaries?) forms an obtuse triangle. Schenti; feet of the deceased; arms in veneration; the snout and ears of Anubis; the Ba Bird and bird hieroglyphs form triangles. The plucked string creates triangle waves. In friezes processions of legs repeat like triangle waves. Processions of barques repeat like sine waves. Serpents drawn as light waves could describe kundalini energy. A script emerges from this patterning possibly to be read like a music score. There is rhythm in the temple. The human form, united in common purpose, eyes forward not engaging with the viewer, indicates hive activity. We get so used to the geo-centric vision of man as anatomical perfection in Classical art that the symbolic how and why the human figure is drawn in other cultures is brushed aside as naive or incompetent by comparison. Collage Visual Rhythms, Mirroring, Triangles, Waves and Dendera Lightbulbs in Hathor’s Temple by Claire Dorey The ancient Egyptians were conversant with anatomy and capable of portraying anatomically ‘correct’ human form, as the Nefertiti Bust 1345 BCE shows us. They chose to draw the human figure in ways that were important to them – torso facing forward, legs and head in profile, arms bent in veneration – component parts forming triangles. Try to stand in this position. Can you feel an energy shift? Perhaps these poses were based on ancient Kemetic yoga – consider Nut in pyramid pose arching over Geb in lizard pose. Was the Divine drawn into the human form or is it simply stylised art? Streams of triangles represent the energy of the sun god Ra. Hathor is the Eye of Ra so perhaps the triangle embodies both Hathor and Ra energy. “Gender is in everything; everything has it’s Masculine and Feminine; Gender manifests on all planes. – Hermetic principle 7 – The Initiates, The Kybalion. Hathor energy synergised with male energy. Yet the entire lower half, bird beak faces and outstretched arms of predynastic Bird Goddess icons form triangles, pointing to its origins as a female power symbol, holding space, generating energy and perhaps a vehicle of ascension – migrating birds fly in triangular formation. As with most Feminine mythologies the triangle may have been subject to patriarchal reversal. Perhaps the upward pointing triangle was hailed as male energy to assert patriarchal power. Goddess of malachite, perfume, cosmetics, music, percussion, dance, joy, love, mining, fertility and drunkenness, Hathor is a girl’s girl and her temple cluster: the temple of Isis, the Hathor temple and the Mammisis (birth houses), where Cleopatra gave birth, could be a gateway to the Divine Psychedelic Feminine experience. Colour stirs emotion and has resonance. Crystals, including malachite, were ground into pigment for cosmetics and paint for temple walls. In crystal healing malachite regulates the menstrual cycle and lessens labor pain. Egyptian Blue was used for the ‘Eye of Hathor’, a luminescent astronomical scene on the ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall. It’s a copper based pigment pulsing with infrared light which helps cells regenerate and repair. Perhaps the temple was a battery harnessing life force, including energies of unity consciousness, female cycles, birth, light, sound, creativity, scent, joy, cosmic forces (Dendera Zodiac), euphoria and lucid dreaming, possibly through consuming the psychoactive Blue Lotus flower. “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” – Emily Dickinson. Imagine the scene: chambers scented with sandalwood, cedar and spices, priestesses wandering beneath the Eye of Ra, temple pulsing with the healing arts: chromotherapy, aromatherapy and sound therapy – dissonant tones indicating disease, harmonic tones raising lower frequencies of the body’s energetic field, including depression and shame. “The medicine of the future will be music and sound.” – Edgar Cayce. Light, sound, emotion – all are vibration. Creative energy is divine energy and ancient Egyptians engaged their higher selves – surely the symbols ‘worn’ at the crown and star chakras show they are open? “Hathor is [ ] the Lady of the Gates of transitions – music and sacred sound open the pathway through the dimensions.” – Ani Williams. Do bird hieroglyphs hint at birdsong as a temple language? The full vocalisation was not written out so were the gaps filled in with song – healing vowels similar to the resonant AUM? I can’t speak for the intention in Spirit Of Hathor’ by Aurora Dendera but I can imagine sonorous vocals activating the …
(Poetry) Talk with peasants by Maya Daniel

When today’s march ends by sunsetAnd the night’s doors start to openYou stretch your weary feetWhat words can you say and write tonightThan wishing a good meal On the peasant’s bamboo floor… The kids are playing around the bonfireAs more peasants gathered the front yardYou started to talk with the old men and womenTelling their hopes of good farm harvests, As against the past production losses,You asked them of their community’s campaignOn production drive, and the struggles againstUsurious loans, reduction of land rent… They have their gains, indeed, in raising a bit higherPrices of their farm products and wishing to earn moreThe peasant abhorred the king’s tax reform package That raised prices of basic commodities and servicesAnd that their P300 amounts to only P200 worth of goods Compared with the first quarter of the year. (Meet Mago Contributor) Maya Daniel
(Book Excerpt 6) Discovering the Gift Paradigm by Genevieve Vaughan

Categorizing Psychological competition for dominance can take the place of physical competition. Categorizing others as inferior replays the gender distinction over and over, placing some people who are usually also themselves the categorizers, in a ‘superior’ category to which those in ‘inferior’ categories must give both materially and psychologically. At the same time the positive gift giving and receiving that is actually continually being done in material and linguistic communication is unrecognized as such and disparaged – or over valued and made unreachable for ordinary people. In its place we have neuter and neutral ‘objective’ categories which reflect the neutral non giving market categories: exchange value, production, distribution (through exchange) consumption, supply and demand, price, monetized labor, commodities, money, capital, all of which are constructed on the back of the gift economy. The logic of categorization, undergirded by the selection process of the market, determines the kinds of things to which value will be given, and the degree of visibility they will have, effectively leaving out gift giving as an aspect of knowing. Inclusion and exclusion are made to precede the satisfaction of needs, which are “legitimately” ignored if for example, those who have the needs are not included in the category of those having money to pay for the products. The overemphasis on categorization in the economic realm influences an over emphasis on categorization in the rest of our thinking. We do not consider our intellectual production in terms of what needs it may be satisfying but only think of it as (giftless) acts of inclusion and exclusion of one kind or another that we are performing. Gift giving is made arduous by its co existence with exchange. Since gift giving is cooperative while exchange is competitive, it loses the competition by not competing. The context of adversarial exchange creates suspicion in the community and gift giving can appear to be a moral ego trip or a veiled bid for power and recognition. In fact, especially in a context where exchange relations are the norm, gift giving can become manipulative, and can be used for ego-oriented purposes, deviating from its unilateral transitive path, and doubling back upon itself. The worst aspect of the competition between exchange and gift giving is that the exchange paradigm really cannot compete in a fair way with gift giving, because living according to the logic of the gift would be life enhancing, while living according to exchange is bio pathic. Therefore in order to prevail, the exchange paradigm has created a system that cripples gift giving and makes it dependent on the market for access to the means of giving. By diverting the flow of gifts into the hands of a few,[1] by wasting ‘excess’ wealth on armaments, drugs and symbols of power (skyscrapers, monuments, jewels), as well as by privatizing the free gifts of nature and culture, Patriarchal Capitalism creates the scarcity that is necessary to penalize gift giving and keep it subservient. In fact even the flow of gifts to the wealthy must be regulated so that not too much will trickle back down. The tide must be kept low; otherwise all the ships would sail away. Although girl children are not socialized to construct a gender identity that opposes that of their nurturing mothers, and many of them will have to do mothering themselves as adults, they can be encouraged to strive for inclusion in ‘superior’ social categories and to achieve the ‘male’ exemplar position. In a context of scarcity, where categorization itself has become excessively important due to the binary categorization of gender, girls may also strive to be included in the privileged social category of people to whom others must give. Nevertheless, because children require unilateral gift giving to survive, women who have been socialized towards this work (or at least have not been socialized in opposition to it), remain in the gift logic in many parts of their lives, even when they do not have children and even when they have been absorbed into the market and see the world mainly through the eyeglasses of the exchange paradigm. The practice of the gift logic at the material and at the verbal level can take place without our being conscious of it as such. In fact unilateral gift giving is transitive and gives value and attention to the other, while exchange requires quantification and measurement, reflecting back to the exchangers an image of what they are doing. We in the North are accustomed to the exchange way of knowledge and self-reflecting consciousness and so we embrace what we see in that way, which is of course NOT the gift. Gratitude might make us look more at the gifts we receive and give but if we make our gift contingent on the others’ gratitude, the gift is no longer unilateral. In the context of exchange, even gratitude becomes problematic. It risks seeming or actually becoming a payment for gifts received. There is also a sort of scarcity of gratitude because ‘deserving’ appears to be more honorable than receiving. What is necessary now is to see gift giving and exchange from a broader ‘meta’ point of view that includes both as modes of distribution and as paradigms, look at the way they interact, and deliberately restore the consciousness of the gift where it has been erased. [1] The wealth of the 225 richest people in the world is equal to that of the poorest 2.5 billion people. The 3 wealthiest people have more than the 48 lowest GDP countries. In 1998, 20 percent of the world’s people living in the highest-income countries accounted for 86 percent of total private consumption expenditures while the poorest 20 percent accounted for only 1.3 percent. That’s down from 2.3 percent three decades ago. (UNDP 1998 – from www.cooperativeindividualism.org.) Meet Mago Contributor, Genevieve Vaughan
(Book Review) Mary Ann Beavis and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, eds. Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture. Reviewed by Jenny Cameron

[Editor’s Note: This book review was first published in S/HE: An international Journal of Goddess Studies Vol 1 No 2, 2022.] This book is designed as a student and academic resource to those wishing to deepen their understanding of the origination and evolution of concepts of Goddess and related social systems in a range of cultures world-wide, from an evidence-based perspective. This is a collection of papers from a total of 21 authors, edited by Mary Ann Beavis and Helen Hwang, who are also contributors. Each of the writers has experience and qualifications that reflect their authority on the topics upon which they write. The overview authority lies with the editors. Mary Ann Beavis PhD, is currently the Professor of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan and an author. Helen Hwang holds an M.A. and Ph.D in Religion and would be the world expert on Magoism (an ancient East Asian faith system and culture, recognising Mago as the Great Goddess), certainly in the English language. She is author or editor of a number of books on Magoism or inclusive of this tradition. Each author is a researcher into a niche area of Goddess tradition and all chapters are extensively footnoted, indicative of the breadth of resources they have drawn upon, including, in some cases images of artworks under discussion. The authors and the chapter headings where images occur are as follows (the number of images or tables is listed in brackets): Helen Hye-Sook Hwang – Mago, the Creatrix from East Asia, and the Mytho-History of Magoism (8) Jody Foster – The Prehistoric Goddess Figurines of Old Europe (3) Joan M. Cichon – The Mother Goddess of Bronze Age Crete. (6) Krista Karen Rodin – From Heaven to Hell, Virgin Mother to Witch: The Evolution of the Great Goddess of Egypt. (12) Mara Lynn Keller – The Myriad Faces, Marvellous Powers, and Thealogy of Greek Goddesses. (2) Marta-Lena Bergstedt & Kristin Brunsgaard Clausen – The Norse Goddesses behind the Asir Veil: The Vanir Mothers in Continental Scandinavia – A Late Shamanistic Culture Rooted in Old European Civilisation. (28) Annette Williams – The Divine Feminine in Yoruba Cosmology. (2) Krista Rodin – The Blending of Bon, Buddhism and the Goddess Gemu in Mosuo Culture. (5) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang – Goma, the Shaman Ruler of old Magoist East Asia/Korea. (5) Mary Ann Beavis & Scott Daniel Dunbar – Goddesses in Hinduism: “All the Mothers are One.” (10) Justin Jaron Lewis – The Divine Feminine in Contemporary Judaism. (1) Mary Ann Beavis – Goddesses and the Divine Female in the Biblical Traditions. (3) Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture explores the key theme that humans originally conceived of the spiritual realm in terms of a female deity – a Mother Goddess to be precise – and that traces of this can be found even in the religions that now place a male God at the centre of their belief system. The book further illustrates that this was a world-wide phenomenon with regional and local expression of it. As the period of Goddess-centred cultures mostly occurred prior to written language, the writers are largely reliant on interpreting the archaeological record for support. However the writers also use linguistics to identify traces in languages today of the old languages that expressed the Goddess culture, lifestyle and spiritual context. We learn in this book that when patriarchy (as opposed to a Goddess centred ideology) came to dominate – usually through invasion – a common strategy was to incorporate the local Goddesses into the invader pantheon, and then, over time diminish their powers and importance. These authors have undertaken to untangle this web to bring to light the original Goddess and her attributes. The book is not just embedded in the past however and also relates how the Goddess tradition is expressed today. Four chapters explore both the practice and the belief system informing this emergent spirituality. This book is a major contribution to the field of Goddess Studies in that it makes readily available informed scholarship, in English, that could otherwise be hard to find. The material in each chapter expands on a specialty that that author has explored. Some interpretations could well be controversial because they shine light into some long-held (or long-assumed) beliefs about cultural origins. I was particularly struck in this regard by the work on the Mago tradition, the Norse Goddesses and Islam. The chapters are written on the basis of an academic approach by the writers, not as believers in a particular religion – although undoubtedly the authors have their own belief systems which in some cases would assist their understanding of the topic of their chapter. This saves the language from the feeling that the reader must make a leap of faith to understand the positions being put, but can assess for themselves how valid they find the arguments made. At points in the book typographical missteps can be identified though without damage to the content. I found the use of Korean/Chinese symbols important but sometimes difficult to fully understand in the translation – further editorial work would have helped here. While I was aware of Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s research that showed the movement of matriarchal peoples throughout Asia, I was particularly struck with the contributions of Helen Hwang with regard to Magoism in the book. She explores, even into historical times, the culture in coastal South-East Asia based on the Mother Goddess Mago and the social system that resulted. This would largely be hidden to the West if not for Helen Hwang’s work. Likewise the exploratory work by Bergstedt and Clausen provides an alternative understanding of the Norse Goddesses from that usually presented. As well, both Keller and Hawthorne in their separate pieces provide insights into the origins of Greek Goddesses, which too often are assumed known from the patriarchal presentation of them. There are many publications available relevant to Goddess Studies, starting with publications in the mid 1970s, which are still relevant today. This book …

(Special Post Mother Teresa 3) A Role Model for Women? by Mago Circle Members

Part III: The Debate, What Went Right/Wrong with Mother Teresa? [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.] [C]: Unfortunately, Mother Theresa is not understood here in some of these comments: To be in any way critical of Mother Theresa using what was the state of the world in her time & the poor & dying as tools of compassion, even more so when left to die visibly barely cared for, as a teaching method must not be looked at as unfeeling on her part as it was her greatest sorrow to use them so horribly as means to an end, but they were what she had at hand. Was never her intention to use any money to save them, would negate their very suffering purpose as well. She did not believe we all had learned the lesson yet in her time so she had to pretend to be solving the problem while continuing the problem. You see, the money was a byproduct of no importance to her, used just to get the peoples’ attention by using what they valued, let the Church have it for other things for it had served it’s purpose by bringing her sought after awareness of the poor & dying into view. In pretending to like & accept attention to herself, honors, & even challenges to these choices, all for one purpose to fool, to get the poor & dying attention, is why she was so distressed near the end by the means she had to use to reach that end! And perhaps her sheer loss of hope at having to stoop to such measures which reflects on the sad state of the rest of us. Wondering here where the money went doesn’t understand anything of what she was trying to do. [C]: Thank You Naa Ayele Kumari for plowing through my thoughts enough to ‘like’ even! Could I be understood that Mother Theresa’s intentions were ‘higher’ than just taking care of the poor & dying in institutions, but to have the people understand there should be ‘feelings’ for them so they would never ever even have to be cared for in such ‘style’? She sacrificed these many nonpeaceful deaths to display, to show, to the whole world the direction it was heading, for the saving of the future multitudes of suffering & deaths if no one understood & cared soon. She dreamed these future lives would be right & good & their deaths would be the same attended by loved ones of their own, no need for group interference. She did not wish to just contain such tragedy, but to eliminate it from the whole earth forever. In the smaller scale view of some today the institutions are a necessary step, however Mother Theresa thought this a false step on a horrible path in the wrong direction, & she knew this, & dreamed beyond! To send away, to cage, the suffering, old, & sick in any society is a crime against Mother Nature no matter what the excuses or how pretty the packaged institution is presented! [Z] Did not foresee the discussion would provoke such indepth and rich responses. It feels that we are getting close to the bottom of the matter that has not been brought up for so long, not in my life time. Profound interactions that make us aware of the aspects of how our thinking and living can be based on the kind of values we hold. I treat each and all of you in the hand of our goddesses. Anne Wilkerson Allen: I think the Mother always moves us back toward compassion. Whether we have a sense of deity or not, we can all understand contextually how she was used and that her “beliefs” left her with such poverty of spirit that her entire life is under the microscope. I wonder, will the media ask what the Church has done with all their Billions or simply focus on a dead nun indoctrinated by the system? Diane Horton: No, I am sorry. [C], that is an incredible rationalization of Mother Teresa’s actions. Unbelievable actually. For you to justify her not using the extraordinary amount of money sent to her by saying that she chose to use these horrible deaths to bring attention to the sick and the dying and evoke compassion in people – that is the most megalomaniac position possible! Did she assume the role of God then?? That is outrageous! To think that she had the means to relieve these poor people’s sufferings and chose not to in order to USE them is even more heinous to me! I cannot wrap my head around how you think that is a good thing. She already HAD evoked compassion for these people. That’s why the money poured in! And all the “pretending” and lying you said she did for the greater good? NO. Compassion and empathy are a basic human response to suffering. “She sacrificed these nonpeaceful deaths” REALLY?! She had no right. And she was wrong. I can see no lofty ideal she was displaying there. Diane Horton: Forgive, me. I could not let what was said there lie. I won’t say anymore. Everyone has their own perspective. And each perspective together makes the whole. Blessed Be. [C]: On this […]
(Special Post) To Contributors: Strengthening Our Roots by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Dear Contributors, Do you know that Return to Mago (RTM) E*Magazine is entering its fifth year this fall? And, thanks to our collective effort, we are still growing! As of today, our contributors have grown to more than 130 in number and our readership is from about 140 countries around the world. We have some hundred email followers as well as Wordpress blog followers. We draw 3000-4000 clicks per month on average; that is no small accomplishment for a Goddess blog that is named after a yet-to-be heard word, Mago (the Great Goddess), and that began from scratch.
(Special Post Mother Teresa 1) 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 I: Why are we talking about Mother Teresa? [The conversation began among Anne Wilkerson Allen, Helen Hwang, and Wennifer Lin in a personal message and editor’s group. We agreed that Mother Teresa’s Western (Albanian) identity is hardly taken into consideration in the public perception of her as a secular and religious leader. Then, we decided to bring the topic to the Mago Circle.] Anne Wilkerson Allen: [A] posted this today and I think it is discussion worthy. Mother Teresa: Anything but a saint… scienceblog.com The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa is dispelled in a paper by Serge Larivée and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal’s Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Sénéchal of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education… http://scienceblog.com/60730/mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint/#IdkpoWrDtMAAVCAg.99 Anne Wilkerson Allen: It is not my desire to bash the Church – I think everyone here is fully aware of the evils of patriarchy and the way the Church has used women, abused and killed women…but Teresa is an icon in the West, in particular, of saintliness. Even non-Catholics love her. Why? And is what she did really worthy of role modeling? Anne Wilkerson Allen: This was also on the thread. Not a huge fan of Hitchens, and I think calling her work a “death cult” is extreme, but I am interested in your opinions please. Christopher Hitchens – Mother Teresa: Hell’s Angel [1994] In 1994, three years before her death, journalist Christopher Hitchens made this documentary asking if Mother Teresa’s reputation was deserved… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76_qL6fiyDw Anne Wilkerson Allen: I would also like to talk about altruism and some of the areas we have touched on before…at what point is my “help” an imposition in a third world country? Is my desire to “help” spurred by years of programming or heart? I honestly don’t know anymore. Anne Wilkerson Allen: There is also a part of me that wonders if this deflection of blame and highlighting of Teresa’s faults now is yet another “Let the women take the fall” action. Anne Wilkerson Allen: NOT that I find her blameless – her advocacy against contraception and abortion is decidedly anti-female, but there is so much focus on the Pope and the priests now….I keep wondering when the abuses of the nuns is going to come to light. Anne Wilkerson Allen: I think Ireland recently had something in the news about this… Ireland apologizes for Catholic laundry scandal Ireland’s premier has issued a state apology to the thousands of Irish women who spent years working without pay in prison-style laundries run by Catholic nuns. Former residents of the now-defunct Magdalene Laundries have campaigned for the past decade to get the government to apologize and pay compensation to an estimated 1,000 survivors of the workhouses. Two weeks ago the Irish government published an investigation into the state’s role in overseeing the laundries. It found that more than 10,000 women worked in 10 laundries from 1922 to 1996, when the last Dublin facility closed down… http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57570107/ireland-apologizes-for-catholic-laundry-scandal/ Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of my friends was one of these girls. [Z]: I have wanted to bring attention to this issue for a long time but did not have a chance or was biting my time. Now Anne is pointing out some of the crucial issues about her, Mother Teresa, I am so thankful for this opportunity for us to sort out and think collectively. Thank you Anne! [Z]: Yes, the Catholic Laundry Scandal was shared here too!!! Anne Wilkerson Allen: It’s hard. She is iconic for many women. I did not know the sordid details or the horrors – not that it excuses anything….but when I was young, I saw her as someone to emulate….and thus became immolated…. [Z]: I have been thinking all along the way that she should not be a role model for women. Can you believe that I did even as a once Catholic Sister?!!! I know that many religious women out there will agree with me too. [Z]: My critique is not much on her as a person. But the fact that she represents morality for especially women makes me mad. Oh, there seems a lot more about reasons why we should debunk the mystique of Mother Teresa. Anne Wilkerson Allen: One of the things Hirchens pointed out was that it made Westerners feel good that this wonderful white woman was helping the poor in Calcutta….though she rarely seemed to be in Calcutta. Another friend told me that he knew one of the sisters of charity and that she told him they were encouraged to flog themselves on a regular basis….sick sick sick Anne Wilkerson Allen: This is why I have a problem with the mentality that says evil exists to teach us something…..that suffering exists to highlight our joy….there is just something WRONG with that. Anne Wilkerson Allen: We are all dark and light and in-between. [Z]: I am not surprised. Yes, definitely. What a waste of time and intelligence if not already damaging many turning the navigation backward!!! [Helen Hwang calls out the individual names to join the discussion, and is responded by what follows.] [B]: In Minneapolis there is a charity founder, Mary Jo Copeland, who helps the homeless & hungry. She just received an award from the President. She seems selfless, like Mother Teresa did (at least in […]

Lammas/Late Summer in PaGaian tradition By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

Tara, Hallie Iglehart Austen, p.122 On November 7th at 22:56 UTC EarthGaia crosses the midpoint in Her orbit between Equinox and Solstice. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the Season of Beltaine – a maturing of the Light, post-Spring Equinox. Beltaine and all of the light part of the cycle, is particularly associated with the Young One/Virgin aspect of Goddess, even as She comes into relationship with Other: She remains Her own agent. Beltaine may be understood as the quintessential annual celebration of Light as it continues to wax towards fullness. It is understood to be the beginning of Summer. Here is some Poetry of the Season: Earth tilts us further towards Mother Sun, the Source of Her pleasure, life and ecstasy You are invited to celebrate BELTAINE the time when sweet Desire For Life is met – when the fruiting begins: the Promise of early Spring exalts in Passion. This is the celebration of Holy Lust, Allurement, Aphrodite … Who holds all things in form, Who unites the cosmos, Who brings forth all things, Who is the Essence of the Dance of Life. Glenys Livingstone, 2005 The choice of images for the Season is arbitrary; there are so many more that may express this quality of Hers. And also for consideration, is the fact that most ancient images of Goddess are multivalent – She was/is One: that is, all Her aspects are not separate from each other. These selected images tell a story of certain qualities that may be contemplated at the Seasonal Moment of Beltaine. As you receive the images, remember that image communicates the unspeakable – that which can only be known in body – below rational mind. So you may open yourself to a transmission of Her, that will be particular to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGRoVjQQHY Aphrodite 300 B.C.E. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). This Greek Goddess is commonly associated with sexuality in a trivial kind of way, but She was said to be older than Time (Barbara Walker p.44). Aphrodite as humans once knew Her, was no mere sex goddess: Aphrodite was once a Virgin-Mother-Crone trinity – the Creative Force itself. The Love that She embodied was a Love deep down in things, an allurement intrinsic to the nature of the Universe. Praised by the Orphics thus: For all things are from You Who unites the cosmos. You will the three-fold fates You bring forth all things Whatever is in the heavens And in the much fruitful earth And in the deep sea. Vajravarahi 1600C.E. Tibetan Tantric Buddhism (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). A Dakini dancing with life energy – a unity of power, beauty, compassion and eroticism. Praised as Mistress of love and of knowledge at the same time. Tara Contemporary – Green Gulch California ,Tibetan Buddhist. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). “Her eroticism is an important part of her bodhisattvahood: the sweetpea represents the yoni, and she is surrounded by the sensual abundance of Nature. One of Tara’s human incarnations was as the Tibetan mystic Yeshe Tsogyal, “who helped many people to enlightenment through sacred sexual union with her”. – Ishtar 1000 B.C.E. Babylon (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). Associated with passionate sexuality (and with Roman Goddess Venus) – which was not perceived as separate from integrity and intelligence … praised for Her beauty and brains! Her lips are sweet, Life is in Her mouth. When She appears, we are filled with rejoicing. She is glorious beneath Her robes. Her body is complete beauty. Her eyes are total brilliance. Who could be equal to Her greatness, for Her decrees are strong, exalted, perfect. MESOPOTAMIAN TEXT 1600 B.C.E. Artemis 4th Cent.B.C.E. Greece. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess) – classic “Virgin” image – wild and free, “Lady of the Beasts”, Goddess of untamed nature. As such, in the patriarchal stories She is often associated with harshness, orgiastic rituals but we may re-story “wildness” in our times as something “innocent” – in direct relationship with the Mother. She is a hunter/archer, protector, midwife, nurturing the new and pure essence (the “wild”) – in earlier times these things were not contradictory. The hunter had an intimate relationship with the hunted. Visvatara and Vajrasattva 1800C.E. Tibetan Goddess and God in Union: it could be any Lover and Beloved, of same sex. Image from Mann and Lyle, “Sacred Sexuality” p.74. Sacred Couple –Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE “Lovers Embracing on Bed”, Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth, Diane Wolkstein and Samuael Noah Kramer. Represents the sacred marriage mythic cycle – late 3rd and into 4th millennium B.C.E. (See Starhawk, Truth or Dare). This period is the time of Enheduanna – great poet and priestess of Inanna. Xochiquetzal 8th century C.E. Mayan (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). Her name means “precious flower” – She is Goddess of pleasure, sexuality beauty and flowers. Sometimes represented by a butterfly who sips the nectar of the flower. “In ancient rituals honouring her, young people made a bower of roses, and, dressed as hummingbirds and butterflies they danced an image of the Goddess of flowers and love.” Her priestesses are depicted with ecstatic faces. (called “laughing Goddesses” !!) She and Her priestesses unashamedly celebrated joyful female sexuality – there is story of decorating pubic hairs to outshine the Goddess’ yoni. https://www.magoism.net/2013/06/meet-mago-contributor-glenys-livingstone/ REFERENCES: Iglehart Austen, Hallie. The Heart of the Goddess. Berkeley: Wingbow, 1990. Mann A.T. and Lyle, Jane. Sacred Sexuality. ELEMENT BOOKS LTD, 1995. Starhawk. Truth or Dare. San Fransisco:Harper and Row, 1990. Walker, Barbara. The Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983. Wolkstein,Diane and Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth. NY: Harper and Rowe, 1983. The music for the slideshow is “”Coral Sea Dreaming” by Tania Rose.
(Essay) The Emergence celebrated at Spring Equinox by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

It is the Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere at this time. In the PaGaian version of Samhain/Deep Autumn ceremony participants journey to the “Luminous World Egg” … a term taken from Starhawk in her book The Spiral Dance[i], where she also names that place as the “Shining Isle”, which is of course, the Seed of conception, a metaphor for the origins of all and/or the female egg: it is the place for rebirth. Artist: Bundeluk, Blue Mountains, Australia. The “luminous world egg” is a numinous place within, the MotherStar of conception: that is, a place of unfolding/becoming. The journey to this numinous place within requires first a journey back, through some of each one’s transformations, however each may wish to name those transformations at this time. The transformations for each and every being are infinite in their number, for there is “nothing we have not been” as has been told by Celts and others of Old, and also by Western science in the evolutionary story (a story told so well by evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris, particularly in her video Journey of a Silica Atom.) Ceremonial participants may choose selves from biological, present historical self, or may choose selves from the mythic with whom they feel connection; from any lineage – biological or otherwise. Selves may also be chosen from Gaia’s evolutionary story – earlier creatures, winged or scaled ones … with whom one wishes to identify at this time. Each participant is praised for their “becoming” for each self they share. When all have completed these journeys/stories of transformation, the circle is lauded dramatically by the celebrant for their courage to transform; and she likens them all to Gaia Herself who has made such transitions for eons. The celebrant awards each with a gingerbread snake, “Gaian totems of life renewed”[ii]. gingerbread snakes Participants sit and consume these gingerbread snakes in three parts: (i) as all the “old shapes” of self that were named; and (ii) remembering the ancestors, those whose lives have been harvested, whose lives have fed our own, remembering that we too are the ancestors, that we will be consumed; and (iii) remembering and consuming the stories of our world that they desire to change, the stories that fire their wrath or sympathy: in the consuming, absorbing them (as we do), each may transform them by thoughts and actions – “in our own bodyminds”. When all that is consumed “wasting no part”, it is said that “we are then free to radiate whatever we conceive”, to “exclaim the strongest natural fibre known” – our creative selves, “into such art, such architecture, as can house a world made sacred” by our building[iii]. This “natural fibre” is a reference to the spider’s thread from within her own body, with which she weaves her web, her home; and Spider has frequently been felt in indigenous cultures around the globe as Weaver and Creator of the Cosmos. Spider the Creatrix, North America, C. 1300 C.E., Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess, p.13 In the ceremony, participants linked with a thread that they weave around the circle, may sail together for a new world “across the vast sunless sea between endings and beginnings, across the Womb of magic and transformation, to the “Not-Yet” who beckons”[iv]: to the Luminous World Egg whereupon the new may be conceived and dreamed up. Samhain/Deep Autumn ceremony is an excellent place for co-creating ourselves, for imaginingthe More that we may become, and wish to become. This is where creation and co-creation happens … in the Womb of Space[v], in which we are immersed – at all times: and Samhain is a good season for feeling it. References: Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005 Sahtouris, Elisabet. Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution. Lincoln NE:iUniversity Press, 2000. Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. NY: Harper and Row, 1999. Swimme, Brian. The Earth’s Imagination.DVD series 1998. NOTES: [i]p.210 [ii]a version of this Samhain script is offered in Chapter 7 PaGaian Cosmology [iii]These quoted phrases are from Robin Morgan, “The Network of the Imaginary Mother”, in Lady of the Beasts, p.84. This poem is a core inspiration of the ceremony. [iv]“Not-Yet” is a term used by Brian Swimme, The Earth’s Imagination, video 8 “The Surprise of Cosmogenesis”. [v]note that creation does not happen at the point of some god’s index finger, as imagined in the Sistine Chapel – what a takeover that is!
Lammas – the Sacred Consuming by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Lammas, the first seasonal transition after Summer Solstice, may be summarised as the Season that marks and celebrates the Sacred Consuming, the Harvest of Life. Many indigenous cultures recognised the grain itself as Mother … Corn Mother being one of those images – She who feeds the community, the world, with Her own body: the Corn, the grain, the food, the bread, is Her body. She the Corn Mother, or any other grain Mother, was/is the original sacrifice … no need for extraordinary heroics: it is the nature of Her being. She is sacrificed, consumed, to make the people whole with Her body (as the word “sacrifice” means “to make whole”). She gives Herself in Her fullness to feed the people …. the original Communion. In cultures that preceded agriculture or were perhaps pastoral – hunted or bred animals for food – this cross-quarter day may not have been celebrated, or perhaps it may have been marked in some other way. Yet even in our times when many are not in relationship with the harvest of food directly, we may still be in relationship with our place: Sun and Earth and Moon still do their dance wherever you are, and are indeed the Ground of one’s being here … a good reason to pay attention and homage, and maybe as a result, and in the process, get the essence of one’s life in order. One does not need to go anywhere to make this pilgrimage … simply Place one’s self. The seasonal transition of Lammas may offer that in particular, being a “moment of grace” – as Thomas Berry has named the seasonal transitions, when the dark part of the day begins to grow longer, as the cloak of darkness slowly envelopes the days again: it is timely to reflect on the Dark Cosmos in Whom we are, from Whom we arise and to Whom we return – and upon that moment when like Corn Mother we give ourselves over. This reflection is good, will serve a person and all – to live fully, as well as simply to be who we are: this dark realm of manifesting is the core of who we are. And what difference might such reflection make to our world – personal and collective – to live in this relationship with where we are, and thus who we are. We all are the grain that is harvested and all are Her harvest … perhaps one may use a different metaphor: the truth that may be reflected upon at this seasonal moment after the peaking of Sun’s light at Summer Solstice and the wind down into Autumn, is that everything passes, all fades away … even our Sun shall pass. All is consumed. So What are we part of? (I write it with a capital because surely it is a sacred entity) And how might we participate creatively? We are Food – whether we like it or not … Lammas is a good time to get with the Creative plot, though many find it the most difficult, or focus on more exoteric celebration. May we be interesting food[i]. We are holy Communion, like Corn Mother. Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [i] This is an expression of cosmologist Brian Swimme in Canticle to the Cosmos DVD series.

Mago, the First Mother from East Asia by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Excerpts from “Mago, the First Mother from East Asia,” Creatrix Media Live (CML) Roundtable Radio Talk with Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang. May 23, 2011] Jayne DeMente: Welcome Helen, I was fortunate to read some of your research and I applaud you because, we in the Western WSE movement have long needed to hear more from Asian women spiritual leaders and feminists and your reference to the Neolithic timeline… For our listeners and participants online, let’s lead with the question of who is Mago, was she a mother figure, what is Magoism, does any other deity pre-date her? Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: *Mago is the great goddess known to East Asians throughout history. She is the first mother of all, cosmogonist, and ultimate sovereign/ruler. She has many names. Among them are Triad Deity (Samsin), Grandmother (halmi), Auspicious Goddess (Seogo), Evil (Magui), and Old Goddess (Nogo). She is also known as the Giantess who shaped the natural and cultural landscape. Her manifestations are so multivalent that one may think they do not refer to the same goddess. She was well loved, given high esteem, celebrated by East Asians in the past. She was almost completely forgotten, however in modern times, up until the 1980s in Korea, when the principle text of Magoism, the Budoji, re-emerged. *Mago is a mother figure in the sense that she bore two daughters, Kunghee and Sohee, and managed her household called the Castle of Mago, the primordial paradise of humanity. She is the ancestor of all races. She takes care of everything on earth via the equilibrium of cosmic music/sound/vibration. *Magoism is the term that refers to the totality of culture/civilization venerating Mago as the great goddess. It is a tradition largely unnoted but co-opted and distorted in major East Asian religions. The concept of Magoism helps one identify and understand Mago’s multivalent manifestations that are found trans-nationally. It also makes possible to name the female-centered original/primal civilization that gave birth to the forthcoming East Asian civilizations and religions. *Whether Mago is the earliest deity known to East Asia is unknown. In fact, there are goddesses unearthed from “pre-historic” archaeological sites without their names. The life-sized goddess statue was unearthed in the site of Hongshan Culture, northeastern region of present China dating from 4,700 to 2,900 BCE. The heavy use of jade along with the partly bear-figured female icon is congruent with the account of Magoism in the Budoji. Also, of course, there are numerous female figurines called dogu excavated in Japan’s “pre-historic” times. The ancient origin of Mago or Magoism has a merit to explain some facts that remain a mystery, so to speak. Korea is also known as the land of dolmens. Half of the world megaliths are populated in the Korean peninsula. There are numerous pyramids found in mainland China. There is a documentary film about the sunken temple beneath the sea of Okinawa Japan, etc. dating to 10,000 years ago. *Then, how early does Mago date to? It is difficult to date the earliest evidence of Mago or Magoism simply because written history does not exist in pre-patriarchal times. As you see here, when we talk about the earliest of something, everyone assumes it is of Chinese. So let me follow this line of thought: Ge Hong’s record on Magu from China dates to the early fourth century CE (Ge Hong 283—343 CE). However, Daoist scholar Robert Ford Campany states that the cult of Mago dates back to the Stone Age. It is more difficult to date Mago in Korean records simply because ancient written records did not survive. Two books, the Budoji and the Handan Gogi, alleged to have been written in the late 4th or early 5th century and subsequent later times, which refer to Mago otherwise known as Samsin (Triad Deity) remain controversial. Considering that the name Mago is embedded in Korean language as in “gom,” “geum,” and “gam,” whose meaning indicates ruler, sovereign, and head, the origin of Mago is as old as these words. Likewise, most materials that recount Mago as cosmogonist are of folklore, place names, literature, arts, and debris of historical and religious records, most of which are difficult to date for its origin. Anniitra Ravenmoon: Thank you Helen, you have done much academic research and hold several degrees, can you explain to us how your education or experience informed you regarding Mago? Helen: *I would say that encountering Mago as a doctoral research topic is ultimately prompted by my intellectual quest as a Korean feminist. Following radical feminism of Mary Daly, I wanted to seek spirituality that is not only non-patriarchal but also East Asian and Korean. This made me study feminism and East Asian religions, histories, and cultures, etc. I end up with so much to study over the past decade and a half. I did not take up graduate studies as a means to develop an academic career. I loved reading and studies from youth. This kind of attitude is not that practical in the job market. However, I believe this is the right path for me. To look back, I did not follow the ready-made conventional path of life. I was a dreamer and idealist. I still value those qualities in myself and others. I used to think to myself, if I had remained a Christian, I would not have sought Mago. How could I? Likewise if I had resorted to Buddhism, I would not have encountered Mago. Because I wanted to carve out my own spiritual path as a Korean feminist, I was able to encounter Mago. Another factor at work in my study of Mago is the cultural or spiritual tradition of cultivating the Dao, the Way, in East Asia. I wanted to find out what the truth was, how I could make the most out of my life and etc. So I tried the shoes of a Catholic overseas missionary for a while. Leaving Christianity behind, however, helped me realize the cultural heritage that I have within. It was …
(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.
(Art) Nurture by Anna Tzanova

to feed and protect; to support and encourage; to foster and bring up; to train and educate; to develop and nourish; to care for and cherish… Such a multifaceted and meaningful word! It represents to me an essential quality of the Goddess. An aspect I strive to cultivate within, embody, and express externally. I use it to guide all my actions by asking myself, “Is this nurturing?”; “By doing this, what am I nurturing?” Very often, minds have been conditioned to counterpose nature and nurture, creating not only a divide, but also a controversy. The intrinsic feature of Nature is to nurture. The womb not only births, but nurtures. Nothing can be sustained or achieved without nurture. Nature teaches us the lesson of acceptance. Nurture – the lesson of patience. It also provides the opportunity and freedom of choice. Together, they intertwine and weave the entire Creation. What are you nurturing today? From She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2 (forthcoming, 2016). See (Meet Mago Contributror) Anna Tzanova.

Author: Mago Work Admin

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