December 29, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 1) blackbird and a pear tree by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum

A family story told in art, names, places, denied cultures, black and sensual madonnas, diversity of beliefs, visionary and healing Santa Lucia of Sicily A note on style: the text Read More …

December 28, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Luke Buckham

Luke Buckham lives in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, where he makes art, music, and poetry. Over a thousand of his poems written since 2004 are in his blog at O Machine. Read More …

December 27, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum

Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Ph.D., is a feminist cultural historian and a Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Religion in the Women’s Spirituality program of the California Institute of Integral Studies in Read More …

December 26, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Art poem) Uncharted by Sandra Torrez

I wash up on the shores of indigo Neptune boundless, infinite in scope hiding in corral skin amphibian cells float in my currents of blue quarts inside are my Read More …

December 24, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 2) Blossoms in Dark Times – Triads of Women Saints in Catholic tradition by Angelika Heike Rüdiger

The Three Holy Maidens Barbara, Margareta and Katharina are by no means the only triads of holy virgins or women who can be found in the popular Catholic belief. We Read More …

December 22, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 1) 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.] Magos, Read More …

December 20, 2014December 21, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

Join the Solstice Chant of 24 Seasonal Marks!

We’d like to invite Return to Mago readers and contributors to join us in chanting the earth’s twenty-four seasons for nine days beginning from December 21, 2014 till December 29, Read More …

December 19, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Art) Winter Solstice by Yvonne Lucia

Longest Solstice night Shepherds, kings and angels’ wings herald newborn light Winter Solstice is the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. But no matter where one lives, Read More …

December 17, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Review) She Appears! Encounters with Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion by Sandy Boucher; reviewed by Mary Saracino

In She Appears! Encounters with Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion, Sandy Boucher has compiled a sustaining feast of personal stories and artwork about the beloved Asian Goddess, the Celestial Bodhisattva Read More …

December 15, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 2) What Is Gender-specific Profitability? by Stacey Hughes

After healing from the initial burnout from this subjective experience and getting my hands on as much knowledge, lore, women’s medicine and women’s power as I could access, and with Read More …

December 12, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Art) Volunteer Lifesavers (with Annette Kellermann) by Eileen Haley

Women lifesavers (including one in a burqini) dance on a beach. Mermaids populate the ocean behind the figures.

December 10, 2014October 2, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Praise poem) Litany of the Black Madonna by Mary Beth Moser

She is the Our Lady of the Tree, Rock, Sea and Cave Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful! She is the Madonna of Fire and Water Beloved Read More …

December 8, 2014November 15, 2019 Mago Work Admin6 Comments

(Essay 2) Re-Visioning Mythologies of Gender/Sex by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This is the second part of a slightly edited essay by the author published in Goddess Pages in 2008 More on “Creative Potency” The main problem in issues of sex Read More …

(Art) Gaia #10: Perpetuity – S/He Who Orchestrates the Weather by Deborah Jane Milton

(Meet Mago Contributor) Deborah Jane Milton Editor’s Note: This is also published in SHE RISES :How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? (Volume 2)
(Poem) Kinship by Mary Saracino

Nature scene New Mexico, photo by Mary Saracino Trees and bees birds and beasts rivers and seas butterflies and whales flowers and weeds thistles and grains clouds and sky moon and sun earth and air fire and water all that breathes all that dances in the breeze all that flies or crawls or stands tall all that sings and dances flits or flutters stings or howls all that lives all that dies all that smiles or laughs or cries in this circle of kinship called life all are kin to me Meet Mago Contributor, Mary Saracino – Return to Mago E*Magazine
Daughters of the Goddess Resistance by Francesca Tronetti

I have been part of Return to Mago for over a year now, and one common theme I have seen repeated is the Goddess or Female Divine described as a Great Mother figure. She brings life, healing, compassion, and support. Similar descriptions of her are found in many of our academic and spiritual texts. She is not the angry God of the Old Testament. Instead, she is a nurturing and calm influence on our lives. That is how many have understood and praised her in our modern world. I have tried to hold to these principles of offering compassion and support to those who need it. With so much hatred and anger in our world, made worse by the current political climate and leadership in America during this time of unprecedented suffering, this outlook made sense. I got angry and sometimes raged at idiots who held power and wielded it for their own economic advantage. Many of us American women feared those who sought politics to impose their religious views on our bodies or families. To fight these leaders, progressive U.S. Americans stood together regardless of our politics or viewpoint. We knew we had to work together to protect our black neighbors, our gay neighbors, our immigrant neighbors, and our trans neighbors. We would gather peacefully at rallies, sign petitions, and go to town hall events to ask questions. Our resistance took place outside the home. We gathered downtown and at capitals with hundreds who we might never see again. But Americans all had a common goal, and that was enough to feel like we were changing the world and that things could only get better. These were our acts of passive resistance, we showed our numbers with our bodies or our names, but most did not actively change their daily lives because we thought that this showing of solidarity was enough. That changed on January 6, 2021, when the United States president incited a violent insurrection. An insurrection founded on lies and megalomania spurred a violent mob to storm the US Capitol Building, sending lawmakers fleeing in fear of their lives and causing the death of a police officer who was attacked with a fire extinguisher. There were acts of bravery during that day that have to be acknowledged. A lone police officer convinced a mob to follow, harass, and attack him while leading them away from the Senate chambers, which had not been fully evacuated. Others stood fast, preventing the rampaging mob from gaining access to their targets. After the Capitol had been taken back, I was left in shock, the words “This can’t have happened here” reverberating around the country. But it had happened here. The news soon reported on how the attack was planned and how police or congresspeople might have assisted these traitors. Now, days before the inauguration, law enforcement across the country are preparing for more violent riots, for mods to attempt to sieve state capitals or launch an attack on the President-Elect. Now I see online people who were peaceful calling on others to arm themselves, to prepare for physical violence in the streets. But what if I told you that there was another Mother Goddess? Of course, one who embodied compassion and love of family and community, but one who was a Warrior? She is the Goddess of resistance, and her weapons are the spade, the hoe, and the pen. With this knowledge, a new sense of peace has come over me because other American women and I have been preparing for the coming trials for months. We have built new gardens and groves of fruit trees, enough to sustain our families. Time has been spent acquiring books on old skills, homesteading, and building. My friends, who know I have quite the library, have contacted me, asking me to share my survivalist and off the grid living books with them. Many have taken the last year to learn new skills, once practiced by their grandparents. Sewing and quilting, knitting, and crocheting are crafts that many people didn’t know until last year. I can see this new Goddess of resistance at work in her daughter’s hands and hearts. The daughters are not preparing for violence, but they are acknowledging that it may fall upon them. That violence in the capitals and on the streets may put their families and neighbors in jeopardy. While they pray and hope nothing will happen to them, they have taught themselves the skills they need to survive and thrive. This new Goddess has made a land army of her daughters, like those who served in world wars. They till and plant, tend and reap. Their carbon footprint is diminished, the pollinators are fed with nectar from flowers planted to draw them to the gardens. Fresh organic vegetables and healthy meals are the order of the day, enriching the body and the soul. Time is spent with the family in the sun, rather than in the house, all attached to their favorite device. She is also calling us to nurture our souls in other ways. People in the America are reading books, hardcover, paperback, and on Kindle. Many are spending less time watching and more time immersing themselves in their imaginations. This is sparking in them a newfound sense of creativity. People are writing poetry and articles, and ebooks are flourishing as first-time authors share their stories with the world, stories they always felt too afraid to share. What incredible freedom this brings to the soul. To be free to share your work with your family or perhaps with millions around the world. The Goddess of Resistance is fighting many things, and she asks only that we set our hand to creating life and beauty and that we set our heart to helping others. Plan your gardens sisters, and buy your seeds. Contact your elderly neighbor who needs help tilling their garden this year and offer to do so if they will teach you how to preserve the …
(Prose) Visiting Il Giardino dei Tarocchi (The Tarot Garden) Capalbo, Italy by Susan Hawthorne

In October 2023, I travelled to Italy, after Rome my major destination was the Tarot Garden, a sculpture park created by the artist Niki de Saint Phalle. It was my second visit and so I had some expectations and wondered if I might be a bit disappointed this time round. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was completely overwhelmed. It is hard to imagine a place that is filled with twenty-two ceramic sculptures of the tarot cards, some the size of a house, one even with a functioning bathroom. It is built on a hill and each path leads you to yet another magical place. The Empress is giant with huge breasts that look as though they might feed the world. Photo by Susan Hawthorne Inside The Empress are several mirrored rooms, including the bathroom with this giant serpent. Photo by Susan Hawthorne As well as the giant figures and smaller ones there is also extraordinary detail. In the walls of one of the sculptures I noticed these little prehistory goddess figures. Photo by Susan Hawthorne It is simultaneously whimsical and thoughtful. Of all the sculptures, on both occasions I fell for The Moon with its two dogs howling but set against the trees and a blue sky. Photo by Susan Hawthorne Niki de Saint Phalle began working on this project in 1969 and it was her primary artwork until around 1996. She also has sculptures in other places such as Zurich, Jerusalem and San Diego. Her work is found in many art galleries across Europe and North America. You can find other photos and commentary online including at the Tarot Garden website here: https://ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it/en/ Copyright on all photos and text, Susan Hawthorne, 2024 https://www.magoism.net/2013/12/meet-mago-contributor-susan-hawthone/
(Meet Mago Contributor) Rhyannan

Pashta MaryMoon (Rhyannan) is the elder priestess of the Kairosean Kithentradition; and has spent over 20 years being the Pagan visiting clergy/chaplain in hospitals, hospices, and prisons — as well as being a long-time Friend (Quaker), and the Pastoral Care and Memorials clerk for her Quaker Meeting. She is also a Death Midwife, and the executive director of CINDEA (Canadian Integrative Network for Death Education and Alternatives http://www.cindea.ca/) — as well as an Advance Care Planning consultant, and Bedside Singing teacher. She is the leader of the “By My Own Heart and Hand” (basics in home funerals) workshop. She sees herself as a ‘dark priestess’, with a bias towards the positive and active side of The Dark.
(Prose poem) Plaiting by Ruma Chakravarti

Meet Mago Contributor, Ruma Chakravarti. When I was very young, my mother did my hair in two plaits. I plait my life today with so many others. She would make me, sit, pull my nose out of a book, talk about my day; and all the while her fingers would be at work, combing, untangling, oiling if necessary. I still have the hair, the mother and more things to put in my hair than that time in 1974; but now I want to be the one caring for her. She always divided my hair in two. The parting at the back ran like a logging road through virgin forest. White, pristine. As the comb moved through my hair I complained if it bit too deep into my young skin, unmarked by the pains of growing up and knowing. I deal with those now on my own. Virginity to me is completely a state of mind. She used a length of black ‘caar’ to tie the lengths up high on my head. Tightly, because that was the accepted way to make hair grow. Her mother had done the same for all four girls of hers. I pick up a butterfly clip and pile my hair in a messy up-do, shabby chic is more my style. The silver that I have stopped hiding gives me highlights in the mirror of my imagination. Then the fingers play, up and down, through and over. Three strands always, occasionally four – in what she called ‘tentul paata’, the tamarind leaf, or the more ambitious ‘chataai’ or mat weave. I sit now in meetings, bored if people take more than ten minutes to make their case for yet another piece of useless pfaffing, a new way to engage the kids. I play with ‘caar’ threads in my mind…..suddenly I know, it meant cord! Eureka! I am out of here! I used to do my daughter’s hair for a long time. Carefully brushing the baby curls into three or four wisps, attaching the little shiny baubles that the writer Susan Kurosawa has called Love In Tokyo. I still do it for her, once or twice a year. When my mother finished she wrapped the plaits in ribbon and twisted them Heidi-style along the back of my head. She would pick loose hair off the back of my dress and give them to me to throw in the bin. Me? I was just happy to be allowed to move again. But now I think how much I learned from that comb, those fingers, those teeth. Patience above all, then an ability to put up with pain. Accepting what was old fashioned simply because it came labelled, Fragile. I have watched so many children since then; girls mostly, a few boys too, playing with doll hair or strings. I always see if they can plait three together; if not, I try to teach. My thread tied to the threads of my past, splitting each day into more strands. We, the co-editors, contributors, and advisers, have started the Mago Web (Cross-cultural Goddess Web) to rekindle old Gynocentric Unity in our time. Now YOU can help us raise this torch high to the Primordial Mountain Home (Our Mother Earth Herself) wherein everyone is embraced in WE. There are many ways to support Return to Mago. You may donate to us. No amount is too small for us. For your time and skill, please email Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Please take an action today and we need that! Thank YOU in Goddesshood of all beings! (Click Donate button below. You can donate by credit card or bank account without registering PayPal. Find “Don’t have a PayPal account?” above the credit card icons.)
(Part 2) Why Celebrating the 9th Anniversary of the Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality Movement? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: Mago is an East Asian/Korean word for the Cosmic Mother or the Creatrix. This piece is written as the second of the four-part essays. I am surveying the past 9 years of The Mago Work (A collective effort to restore the consciousness of Mago, the Creatrix), which birthed the Movement of Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality, while being shaped by the latter. A slightly revised version is first published in Feminism and Religion on October 12, 2024] This year marks the 9th anniversary of the first volume of She Rises trilogy, a collective writing project, which was first published in 2015 by Mago Books. Entitled Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality?, the 93 contributors trumpeted the onset of the Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality. It was followed by the second volume, How… Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?, with 96 contributors, in the following year, and the third one, What… Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?, in 2019. The 9th anniversary of the first volume provided a new momentum for all contributors of the trilogy to come together as a virtual group, which we named “She Rises…” This group allows the authors of all three volumes to gather together for the first time, while inviting newcomers from outside the She Rises trilogy. Where is the Movement of Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality now? We certainly are not in the same place as we were 9 years ago. The vision, intelligence, and passion that made the She Rises trilogy must not be forgotten or dried out. Where should we go from here? We need to move together and evolve in order to help ourselves and the world. There is another uphill for us to climb, to arrive in the area in which we can have the bird-eye view, to look back at what we have done and see where we are going. The bird-eye view heals in the vision of ALL. Our efforts do not have to be left on some brave individuals. Everyone will walk together as we have done for the She Rises trilogy. Here is the herald that I bring: The evolution of the GFAS Movement is underway. We in the 21st century are not the only ones on this path. What do I mean by that? The answer is embracing the nine symbology. I suggest that we adopt a systematic way of ever re-membering the beginning and ever staying on the course by honoring the Nine Symbol. A way that won’t exhaust us or defeat us. Contrarily, we get ever inspired and ever envisioned. That is possible. The Nine Symbol signifies that we are on the spirally interdependent journey. We are guided by our journey itself, spiral and interdependent. The spirally interdependent journey is the way of Life. Biologically, organisms are structured not arbitrarily but rhythmically, in three ways by the ceaseless interplay of nine numbers, to be explained later. I am inviting us to tap into the power of the Nine. The Nine encodes soteriology for ALL on the planet. We are called to see matters from the perspective of the Creatrix, ALL (including non-organic beings) are found kindred. Celebrating the 9th anniversary of the She Rises trilogy offers a momentum for us to enter the matriversal (of the maternally perceived universe) consciousness. Our pre-patriarchal ancestors bequeathed us moderns Nine Soteriology. Nine Soteriology is an intangible heritage embedded in our cultures. The Nine Symbol unfolds the reality of matriversal unity. We are transformed by the power of the Nine Symbol. On August 10 of this year (2024), we, She Rises trilogy authors and new members of the She Rises… group, celebrated the ninth anniversary by holding a salon in which the authors shared their then and now whereabouts under the theme of “She Rises: Tell the World Your Journey of Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality.” Among them were Molly Remer, Glenys Livingstone, Amy Smolinski, Leslene della-Madre, and myself. Kaalii Cargill kindly and generously facilitated the session. Our presentation summaries are available below: https://www.magoacademy.org/2024/07/06/salon-9th-anniversary-of-she-rises/ The salon was a perfect format wherein the authors of different volumes came, met, and learned from each other. It confirmed our matured, ever charged, and endured commitments. It seemed like a reunion of comrades who came from matriarchal villages in pre-patriarchal times. New neighbors, Dr. Helen Benigni, Jillian Burnett, and Dr. Stephanie Mines, from outside the trilogy also came to meet us. What about the Nine? In fact, we have been consciously honoring the Nine. All anthologies of the She Rises trilogy are structured as Nine Sisters (Chapters) under Three Mothers (Sections). Three MothersNine SistersMother OneSister EastSister SouthSister WestMother TwoSister NorthSister CenterSister WindMother ThreeSister FireSister WaterSister Earth From the perspective of Magoism, celebrating the Nine is to make a Ceto-Magoist statement that ALL is in harmony with the Cosmic Music, the creative force of the Matriverse. I wrote about the Nine below in the announcement:“9 years is a symbol for the Cosmic Music (Sonic Numerology), the metamorphic force of the matriverse (maternally perceived universe), which refers to a ceaseless interplay of sonically charged nine numbers. We have completed the first full cycle of nine years!” And I presented on the topic of the Nine at the salon. My presentation, “The Nine Maps the Sono-Numerological DNA of Mativersal Soteriology,” explains why we celebrate the ninth anniversary. Revival of the Nine Symbol is an act of decoding the message of the pre-patriarchal ancestors, Old Ceto-Magoists. Below is the summary of my presentation: We moderns have forgotten the Nine. The ancient world across cultures bequeathed the legacy of Nine Sisters, Nine Mothers, Nine Mountains, Nine Villages, Nine Worlds, Navratri, and Novena, to name a few. Nine signifies Matriversal Soteriology; The Matriverse (Maternally Perceived Universe) is a sono-numerological organism of LIFE, represented by Mago, the Creatrix. Salvation lies in knowing and honoring the nine-fold sonic force of the Matriverse, the Cosmic Music. Nine conveys the consanguineous matriversal ontology of ALL. ALL are on the homecoming journey (causal becoming) to the Cosmic Mother by way of the birthing, evolving, and transforming force of the …
(Art) Eyes of the Virgin by Mario Colín

The Eyes of the Virgin no longer exist. They were painted in memory of Monseñor Gómez, on the exterior wall of the party hall of Holy Family Church in the historic Sunset Heights neighborhood of El Paso, Texas, on the side of I-10, directly across the river from Juárez, Chihuahua, México.
(Ritual Art) Nephthys: Lament & Liberation by Nuit Moore

Nephthys is the Dark Sister to the Bright Auset/Isis. She, the Winged Vulture of Night, Mother of Death/Rebirth transformation/regeneration. In Nephthys is the deep dark mystery and the echo of the abyss- the reverberation of wombic portal. She of shade sight to see what is hidden by the moonlight. The starry wings of nocturnal flight. The lament and the liberation. Ritual Art/Text: Nuit Moore My Nephthys ritual sculpture from 2005. On this piece, I chose to represent Her ‘face’ with a mirror, and I placed a smaller mirror at the center of Her womb- as mirrors are portals. Her body has numerous imprints of the Scarab, connected to resurrection and rebirth. On her chest, an imprint of the Ankh- that which serves as Key of Life and opens the Gates of the Afterlife. Her body is embedded with black pearls, and Her head with a crown of tiny seed pearls; pearls were used in funerary rites- rites ruled by Nephthys- as an offering during entombment. Her wings are black hand carved bone with quartz, pearl, onyx, and jet glass. I meditated with this work in an intensely personal ceremonial manner 9 years after creating this sculpture when my husband took his life in 2014, and Nephthys, the Shadow Sister, activated to attend me during my lamentations. In Her mirror, I found my face. In Her mirror, I saw myself reflected back as vessel, as portal, as abyss. Like the Bright Auset, I had lost my Osiris, felled by his inner Set. Like the 14 pieces of the dismembered body of Osiris, the 14 years I was with my husband, who suffered from untreated BPD, resulted in horrific multiple losses before the final irrevocable one. My grief over the loss of him was and remains complex and heavy, but through my lamentations, attended by the activated Nephthys, I was gifted a healing liberation and transmutation that lifted Her veil, and allowed me to see once again the face of my Beloved. https://www.magoism.net/2019/02/meet-mago-contributor-nuit-moore/

(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 2) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

Artwork, “The-great-mother” by Julie Stewart Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Magi/Magus, from Magi – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Magi (/ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; singular magus /ˈmeɪɡəs/; from Latin magus) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Persian texts, predating the Hellenistic period, refer to a magus as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, priest. Pervasive throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia until late antiquity and beyond, mágos was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek goēs (γόης), the older word for a practitioner of magic, to include astronomy/astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge. This association was in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for (Pseudo‑)Zoroaster, who was perceived by the Greeks to be the Chaldean founder of the Magi and inventor of both astrology and magic, a meaning that still survives in the modern-day words “magic” and “magician”. In the Gospel of Matthew, “μάγοι” (magoi) from the east do homage to the newborn Jesus, and the transliterated plural “magi” entered English from Latin in this context around 1200 (this particular use is also commonly rendered in English as “kings” and more often in recent times as “wise men”).[1] The singular “magus” appears considerably later, when it was borrowed from Old French in the late 14th century with the meaning magician. … An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic Avestan language texts. This word, adjectival magavan meaning “possessing maga-“, was once the premise that Avestan maga- and Median (i.e. Old Persian) magu- were co-eval (and also that both these were cognates of Vedic Sanskrit magha-). While “in the Gathas the word seems to mean both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepted that teaching”, and it seems that Avestan maga- is related to Sanskrit magha-, “there is no reason to suppose that the western Iranian form magu (Magus) has exactly the same meaning”[4] as well. But it “may be, however”, that Avestan moghu (which is not the same as Avestan maga-) “and Medean magu were the same word in origin, a common Iranian term for ‘member of the tribe’ having developed among the Medes the special sense of ‘member of the (priestly) tribe’, hence a priest.”[2]cf[3] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gaia, from Gaia (mythology) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In Greek mythology, Gaia (/ˈɡaɪə, ˈɡeɪə/ GHY-ə, GAY-ə;[1] from Ancient Greek Γαῖα, a poetical form of Γῆ Gē, “land” or “earth”),[2] also spelled Gaea (/ˈdʒiːə/ JEE-ə),[1] is the personification of the Earth[3] and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. She is the mother of Uranus (the sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods) and the Giants, and of Pontus (the sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.[4] … The Greek name Γαῖα (Gaĩa)[5] is a mostly epic, collateral form of Attic Γῆ[6] (Gê), Doric Γᾶ (Gã, perhaps identical to Δᾶ Dã)[7] meaning “Earth”, a word of uncertain origin.[8] Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin.[9] In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (transliterated as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-.[9][10] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Greek mythology of Gaia’s family tree is remotely evocative of the Magoist genealogy written in the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem City), the principale text of Magoism. In Korean, “Mama” is also an honorary title referring to the royal family including ruler, ruler’s mother, father, grandmother and so on. This suggests that “ma” means “mother,” “ruler,” and “Goddess” all at once in gynocentric/gynocratic (Magoist/Magocratic) societies, pre-patriarchal in origin. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: I came to search the etymology of “montgomery” in relation to Mt. Mago or Mt. Goya and am led to such related terms as Gomer, Gog, Magog. Montgomery (name) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Montgomery or Montgomerie is a surname from a place name in Normandy.[1] Although there are many stories of its origin,[2][3][4][5] An old theory explains that the name is a corruption of “Gomer’s Mount” or “Gomer’s Hill” (Latin: Mons Gomeris), any of a number of hills in Europe named in attribution to the biblical patriarch Gomer,[2] but it does not explain the final -y or -ie (the phonetical evolution would have been *Montgomers) and it does not correspond to the old mentions of the place name Montgommery in Normandie : Monte Gomeri in 1032 – 1035, de Monte Gomerico in 1040 and de Monte Gumbri in 1046 – 1048.[6] More relevant is the explanation by the Germanic first name Gumarik,[7] a compound of guma “man” (see bridegroom) and rik “powerful”, that regularly gives the final -ry (-ri) in the French first names and surnames (Thierry, Amaury, Henry, etc.). Moreover, the name is still used as a surname in France as Gommery,[8] from the older first name Gomeri.[9] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gomer below from Wikipedia. Gomer (גֹּמֶר, Standard Hebrew Gómer, Tiberian Hebrew Gōmer, pronounced [ɡoˈmeʁ]) was the eldest son of Japheth (and of the Japhetic line), and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, according to the “Table of Nations” in the Hebrew Bible, (Genesis 10). The eponymous Gomer, “standing for the whole family,” as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it,[1] is also mentioned in Book of Ezekiel 38:6 as the ally of Gog, the chief of the land of Magog. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: On the word, Gog and Magog from Wikipedia. Gog and Magog: They are depicted as monsters and barbarians from the East/Eurasia. Gog and Magog (/ɡɒɡ/; /ˈmeɪɡɒɡ/; Hebrew: גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג Gog u-Magog; Arabic: يَأْجُوج وَمَأْجُوج Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj) are names that appear in the Hebrew bible (Old Testament), the Book of Revelation and the Qur’an, sometimes indicating individuals and sometimes lands and peoples. Sometimes, but not always, they are connected with the “end times”, and the passages from the book of Ezekiel and Revelation in particular have attracted attention for this reason. From ancient times to the late Middle Ages Gog and Magog were identified with Eurasian nomads such as the Khazars, Huns and Mongols (this was true also for Islam, where they were identified first with Turkic tribes of Central Asia and later with the Mongols). Throughout this period they were conflated with various other legends, notably those concerning Alexander the Great, the Amazons, Red Jews, and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and became the subject of much fanciful literature. In modern times they remain associated with apocalyptic thinking, especially in the United States and the Muslim world. Helen […]
(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 […]

Lammas/Late Summer within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 10 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Southern Hemisphere – Feb. 1st/2nd, Northern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd These dates are traditional, though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, thus actually a little later in early February for S.H., and early August for N.H., respectively. a Lammas/Late Summer table 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, to celebrate She Who creates the Space to Be. Lammas is a welcoming of the Dark in all its complexity: and as with any funerary moment, there is celebration of the life lived (enjoyment of the harvest) – a “wake,” and there is grieving for the loss. One may fear it, which is good reason to make ceremony, to go deeper, to commit to the Mother, who is the Deep; to “make sacred” this emotion, as much as one may celebrate the hope and wonder of Spring, its opposite. If Imbolc/Early Spring is a nurturing of new young life, Lammas may be a nurturing/midwifing of death or dying to small self, the assent to larger self, an expansion or dissipation – further to the radiance of Summer Solstice. Whereas Imbolc is a Bridal commitment to being and form, where we are the Promise of Life; Lammas may be felt as a commitment marriage to the Dark within, as we accept the Harvest of that Promise, the cutting of it. We remember that the Promise is returned to Source. “The forces which began to rise out of the Earth at the festival of Bride now return at Lammas.”[i] Creativity is called forth when an end (or impasse) is reached: we can no longer rely on our small self to carry it off. We may call Her forth, this Creative Wise Dark One – of the Ages, when our ways no longer work. We are not individuals, though we often think we are. We are Larger Self, subjects within theSubject.[ii] And this is a joyful thing. We do experience ourselves as individuals and we celebrate that creativity at Imbolc. Lammas is the time for celebrating the fact that we are part of, in the context of, a Larger Organism, and expanding into that. Death will teach us that, but we don’t have to wait – it is happening around us all the time, we are constantly immersed in the process, and everyday creativity is sourced in this subjectivity. As it is said, She is “that which is attained at the end of Desire:”[iii] the same Desire we celebrated at Beltaine, has peaked at Summer and is now dissolving form, returning to Source to nourish the Plenum, the manifesting – as all form does. This Seasonal Moment of Lammas/Late Summer celebrates the beginning of dismantling, de-structuring. Gaia-Universe has done a lot of this de-structuring – it is in Her nature to return all to the “Sentient Soup” … nothing is wasted. We recall the Dark Sentience, the “All-Nourishing Abyss”[iv] at the base of being, as we enter this dark part of the cycle of the year. This Dark/Deep at the base of being, to whom we are returned, may be understood as the Sentience within all – within the entire Universe. The dictionary definition of sentience is: “intelligence,” “feeling,” “the readiness to receive sensation, idea or image; unstructured available consciousness,” “a state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness.”[v] The Old Wise One is the aspect of the Cosmic Triplicity/Triple Goddess that returns us to this sentience, the Great Subject out of whom we arise. We are subjects within the Great Subject – the sentient Universe; we are not a collection of objects, as Thomas Berry has said.[vi] This sentience within, this “readiness-to-receive,” is a dark space, as all places of ending and beginning are. Mystics of all religious traditions have understood the quintessential darkness of the Divinity, known often as the Abyss. Goddesses such as Nammu and Tiamat, Aditi and Kali, are the anthropomorphic forms of this Abyss/Sea of Darkness that existed before creation. She is really the Matrix of the Universe. This sentience is ever present and dynamic. It could be understood as the dark matter that is now recognized to form most of the Universe. This may be recognized as Her “Cauldron of Creativity” and celebrated at this Lammas Moment. Her Cauldron of Creativity is the constant flux of all form in the Universe – all matter is constantly transforming. We are constantly transforming on every level. a Lammas/Late Summer altar These times that we find ourselves in have been storied as the Age of Kali, the Age of Caillaech – the Age of the Crone. There is much that is being turned over, much that will be dismantled. We are in the midst of the revealing of compost, and transformation – social, cultural, and geophysical. Kali is not a pretty one – but we trust She is transformer, and creative in the long term. She has a good track record. Our main problem is that we tend to take it personally. The Crone – the Old Phase of the cycle, creates the Space to Be. Lammas is the particular celebration of the beauty of this awesome One. She is symbolized and expressed in the image of the waning moon, which is filling with darkness. She is the nurturant darkness that may fill your being, comfort the sentience in you, that will eventually allow new constellations to gestate in you, renew you. So the focus in ceremony may be to contemplate opening to Her, noticing our fears and our hopes involved in that. She is the Great Receiver – receives all, and as such She is the Great Compassionate One. Her Darkness may be understood as a Depth of Love. And She is Compassionate because of …
(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) Ceremony as “Prayer” or Sacred Awareness By Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. MoonCourt Ceremonial Space set for Autumn Equinox ceremony, 2013 Ritual/ceremony is often described as “sacred space.” I understand that to mean “awareness of the space as sacred”: all space is sacred, what shifts is our awareness – awareness of the depth of spacetime, and of the depth of all things and all beings. I understand “sacred awareness” as an awareness of deep relationship and identity with the very cosmic dynamics that create and sustain the Universe; or an awareness of what is involved in the depth of each moment, each thing, each being. Ceremony is a space and time given to expression, contemplation and nurturance of that depth … at least to something of it. Ceremony may be both an expression of deep inner truths – perceived relationship to self, Earth and Cosmos, as well as being a mode of teaching and drawing forth deeper participation. Essentially, ceremony is a way of entering into the depth of the present moment … what is deeply present right here and now, a way of entering deep space and deep time, which is not somewhere else but is right here. Every-thing, and every moment, has Depth – more depth than we usually allow ourselves to contemplate, let alone comprehend. This book, this paper, this ink, the chair, the floor – each has a history and connections that go back, all the way back to Origins. This moment you experience now, in its particular configuration, place, people present, subtle feelings, thoughts, and propensity towards certain directions or outcomes, has a depth – many histories and choices that go back … ultimately all the way back to the beginning. Great Origin is present at every point of space and time – right here. In ceremony we are plugging our awareness into something of that. In this holy context then – in this mindframe of knowing connection, everything one does is a participation in the creation of the Cosmos: for the tribal indigenous woman, perhaps the weaving of a basket; for another, perhaps preparing a meal; for you, perhaps getting on the train to go to a workplace. It is possible to regain this sense, to come to feel that the way one breathes makes a difference – that with it, you co-create the present and the future, and you may even be a blessing on the past. In every moment we receive the co-creation, the work, of innumerable beings, of innumerable moments, and innumerable interactions of the elements, in everything we touch … and so are we touched by them. The local is our touchstone to the Cosmos – it is not separate. Ceremony may be a way into this awareness, into strengthening it. Ceremony is actually ‘doing,’ not just theorizing. We can talk about our personal and cultural disconnection endlessly, but we need to actually change our minds. Ceremony can be an enabling practice – a catalyst/practice for personal and cultural change. It is not just talking about eating the pear, it is eating the pear; it is not just talking about sitting on the cushion (meditating), it is sittingon the cushion. It is a cultural practice wherein we tell a story/stories about what we believe to be so most deeply, about who and what we are. Ceremony can be a place for practicing a new language, a new way of speaking, or spelling – a place for practicing “matristic storytelling”[i] if you like: that is, for telling stories of the Mother, of Earth and Cosmos as if She were alive and sentient. We can “play like we know it,” so that we may come to know it.[ii] Ceremony then is a form of social action. I have found it useful to describe ceremony using and extending words used by Ken Wilber to describe a “transpersonal practice,” which is needed for real change: he said it was a practice that discloses “a deeper self (I or Buddha) in a deeper community (We or Sangha) expressing a deeper truth (It or Dharma).”[iii] My extension of that is: ceremony may disclose a deeper beautiful self (the I/Virgin/Urge to Be/Buddha), in a deeper relational community (the We/Mother/Place of Being/Sangha), expressing a deeper transformative truth (the It/Old One/Space to Be/Dharma). This is the “unitive body,” the “microcosmos” that Charlene Spretnak refers to in States of Grace.[iv] Since ceremony is an opportunity to give voice to deeper places in ourselves, forms of communication are used that the dreamer, the emotional, the body, can comprehend, such as music, drama, simulation, dance, chanting, singing.[v] These forms enable the entering of a level of consciousness that is there all the time, but that is not usually expressed or acknowledged. We enter a realm that is ‘out of time,’ which is commonly said to be not the “real” world, but it is more organic/indigenous to all being and at least as real as the tick-tock world. It is a place “between the worlds,” wherein we may put our hands on the very core of our lives, touch whatever it is that we feel our existence is about, and thus touch the possibility of re-creating and renewing ourselves. NOTES: [i] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), 147. [ii] As my doctoral thesis supervisor Dr. Susan Murphy once described it to me in conversation. [iii] Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything (Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996), 306-307. [iv] 145. [v] As Starhawk notes, The Spiral Dance, 45. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Orenstein, Gloria Feman. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1999. Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Massachusetts: Shambhala, 1996.
(Book Excerpt) Held in the Womb of the Wheel of the Year by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an excerpt from the Introduction of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Meditation cushion in circle of decorated stones My ancestors built great circles of stones that represented their perception of real time and space, and enabled them to tell time: the stone circles were cosmic calendars.[i] They went to great lengths and detail to get it right. It was obviously very important to them to have the stones of a particular kind, in the right positions according to position of the Sun at different times of the year, and then to celebrate ceremony within it. I have for decades had a much smaller circle of stones assembled. I have regarded this small circle of stones as a medicine wheel. It is a portable collection, that I can spread out in my living space, or let sit in a small circle on an altar, with a candle/candles in the middle. Each stone (or objects, as some are) represents a particular Seasonal Moment/transition and is placed in the corresponding direction. The small circle of eight stones represents the flow of the Solstices and Equinoxes and the cross-quarter Moments in between: that is, it represents the “Wheel of the Year” as it is commonly known in Pagan traditions. I have found this assembled circle to have been an important presence. It makes the year, my everyday sacred journey of Earth around Sun, tangible and visible as a circle, and has been a method of changing my mind, as I am placed in real space and time. My stone wheel has been a method of bringing me home to my indigenous sense of being. Each stone/object of my small wheel may be understood to represent a “moment of grace,” as Thomas Berry named the seasonal transitions – each is a threshold to the Centre, wherein I may now sit: I sense it as a powerful point. As I sit on the floor in the centre of my small circle of stones, I reflect on its significance as I have come to know the Seasonal transitions that it marks, over decades of celebrating them. I sense the aesthetics and poetry of each. I facilitated and was part of the celebration and contemplation of these Moments in my region for decades. It was always an open group that gathered, and so its participants changed over the years but it remained in form, like a live body which it was: a ceremonial body that conversed with the sacred Cosmos in my place. We spoke a year-long story and poetry of never-ending renewal – of the unfolding self, Earth and Cosmos. We danced and chanted our relationship with the Mother, opened ourselves to Her Creativity, and conversed with Her by this method. All participants in their own way within these ceremonies made meaning of their lives – which is what I understand relationship to be, in this context of Earth and Sun, our Place and Home in the Cosmos: that is, existence is innately meaningful when a being knows Who one is and Where one is. Barbara Walker notes that religions based on the Mother are free of the “neurotic” quest for indefinable meaning in life as such religions “never assumed that life would be required to justify itself.”[ii] I face the North stone, which in my hemisphere is where I place the Summer Solstice. From behind me and to my right is the light part of the cycle – representing manifest form, all that we see and touch. From behind me and to my left is the dark part of the cycle – representing the manifesting, the reality beneath the visible, which includes the non-visible. The Centre wherein I sit, represents the present. The wheel of stones has offered to me a way of experiencing the present as “presence,” as it recalls in an instant that, That which has been and that which is to come are not elsewhere – they are not autonomous dimensions independent of the encompassing present in which we dwell. They are, rather, the very depths of this living place – the hidden depth of its distances and the concealed depth on which we stand.[iii] This wheel of stones, which captures the Wheel of the Year in essence, locates me in the deep present, wherein the past and the future are contained – both always gestating in the dark, through the gateways. And all this has been continually enacted and expressed in the ceremonies of the Wheel of the Year, as the open, yet formal group has done them, mostly in the place of Blue Mountains, Australia. PaGaian Cosmology altar/mandala: a “Womb of Gaia” map Over the years of practice of ritually celebrating these eight Seasonal Moments – Earth’s whole annual journey around Sun, I have been held in this creative story, this Story of Creativity as it may be written – it is a sacred story. Her pattern of Creativity can be identified at all levels of reality – manifesting in seasonal cycles, moon cycles, body cycles – and to be aligned with it aligns a person’s core with the Creative Mother Universe. I have identified the placing of one’s self within this wheel through ceremonial practice of the whole year of creativity, as the placing of one’s self in Her Womb – Gaia’s Womb, a Place of Creativity. All that is necessary for Creativity is present in this Place. All may come forth from here/Here – and so it does, and so it has, and so it will. NOTES: [i] See Martin Brennan, The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials, and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland (Rochester Vermont, Inner Traditions, 1994). [ii] Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983), 693. [iii] David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), 216. REFERENCES: Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Brennan, Martin. The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials, and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland.Rochester Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1994. Walker, Barbara. The Woman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: …
(Mago Almanac Excerpt 5) Introducing the Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A) Free PDF available at Mago Bookstore. THE 28-13-7 INTERPLAY How does the number, 28 (days), for the lunar cycle come about? Why is it 28 days and not 29 or 30, the latter implicated in the traditional lunar calendar of East Asia? It appears that 28 days is a value closer to the moon’s sidereal period (about 27.3 days) than the synodic period (about 29.5 days). Or is it that 28 days points to the median between the synodic lunar cycle and the sidereal lunar cycle? To answer these questions, it is important to note that a value in the Mago Time captures an inter-cosmic biological cusp/juncture derived from the matrix of sonic numerology. Distinguished from the patriarchal measure of time fixated into a solipsistic space, it makes visible the interconnectedness of all bodies. It never stands as an isolated single occasion. The 28 day, 13 month calendar has to do with how we perceive the moon. There are two ways of understanding the lunar cycle; the sidereal period and the synodic period (see Figure 2). The synodic period refers to the time, about 29.5 days, that we on earth see the moon complete one round of revolution, e.g. from the full moon to the full moon. In contrast, the sidereal period refers to the actual time, about 27.3 days, that the moon takes to complete one round of revolution. While the synodic time is measured relative to the Earth (the observer’s position is on earth), the sidereal time is measured relative to the distant “fixed” stars (the observer’s position is far out at the distant stars). Since the distant stars are considered at rest, the sidereal period is taken as a universal value, not affected by the location of the viewer, we on earth. There is, apparently, a discrepancy between the lunar cycle that we on earth see the moon return to the same phase and the lunar cycle that the moon actually completes a revolution. The former is based on our observation of the moon’s phases, whereas the latter is based on the moon’s actual orbital motions. The two differs basically because all celestial bodies, the moon, earth, and sun, in the solar system are in motion. It is not just the moon that we watch revolving but Earth also revolves around the sun. We are watching the movement of the moon on a moving vehicle, earth, so to speak. Therefore, the moon has to travel about 2 more days in order for us on earth to see it in the same phase (see the green portion in Figure 2 part). At the position A of the moon in Figure 2, the moon is in line with the sun and the distant stars, which is a new moon. In the position of B (the new moon), the moon is in line with the sun but not with the distant stars. The right hand line of the green portion in line with the distant stars is where the moon started as a new moon. The moon has traveled about 2 more days to be in line with the sun. That is why the synodic period is about 2 days longer than the sidereal period. When it comes to “the lunar calendar”, moderns tend to think of it as the waxing and waning phases of the moon (29.5 days, the synodic period). The problem lies in that, following the synodic period, people see nothing beyond the moon’s phases. They overlook the fact that the moon rotates and revolves on its own axis and around the earth approximately 13 degrees every day. The synodic lunisolar calendar is a navel-gazing vision. Attending to the moon’s phases may seem benign. However, that is a planned pitfall; the synodic lunisolar calendar with 12 months in a year is here to supersede the 28 day, 13 month gynocentric calendar. Its irregularity with the number of days in a month (29 or 30 days with about 11 extra days for intercalation) is an inherently critical flaw. Its inaccuracy when incorporated within the solar annual calendar (approximately 365.25 days) stands out. Seen below in the table, the synodic lunar track results in as many leap days as a total of 44 days for 4 years, whereas the sidereal lunar track has 2 days for 4 years. The synodic lunisolar calendar undercuts the moon’s given capacity – guiding earthly beings into the intergalactic voyage of WE/HERE/NOW. In it, both the moon and women are, glorified and objectified by the viewer, cast under the male voyeuristic eye. On the contrary, the sidereal lunisolar calendar, based on the cyclic synchrony between the moon and women, offers the lens to the interconnectedness of all bodies in the universe. Synodic Lunar Track (Patriarchal) Sidereal Lunar Track (Magoist) Focus Moon’s phases Moon’s motions Days of month 29 or 30 (irregular) 28 (regular) No. of months in a year 12 13 Women’s menstrual cycle Assumed sync Synced Luni-centric Astolonomy Unknown 28 Constellations Intercalations 11 days annually, a total of 44 days for 4 years 1 day annually & 1 day every 4 years, a total of 2 days for 4 years Sources prove that the sidereal lunation is, albeit esoterically, known across cultures to this day. Through the comparative study of ancient cultures of Babylon, Arabia, India and China, W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) observes the substantive difference in dynamic between the two lunation tracks, the synodic and the sidereal. He notes that the moon’s orbital motion, apart from the sun’s, charts out the celestial sphere as the 28 Mansions. I have learned that the 28 Mansions or 28 Constellations of the Moon is a popular form of the 28 day and 13 month Magoist calendar, widely circulated among East Asians especially Koreans from the ancient time. Yeats’ following insights corroborate the Budoji’s explication of the Magoist Calendar in general and the faulty nature of the patriarchal (ancient Chinese) calendar in …
(Essay and Video) Cosmogenesis Dance: Celebrating Her Unfolding by Glenys Livingstone

The dance begins with two concentric circles, which will flow in and out of each other throughout the dance, resulting thus in a third concentric circle that comes and goes. The three circles/layers are understood to represent the three aspects of Goddess, the Creative Triple Dynamic that many ancients were apparently aware of, and imagined in so many different ways across the globe. In Her representation in Ireland as the Triple Spiral motif, which is inscribed on the inner chamber wall at Bru-na-Boinne (known as Newgrange)[1], She seems to be understood as a dynamic essential to on-going Cosmic Creativity, as this ancient motif is dramatically lit up by the Winter Solstice dawn. It seems that this was important to the Indigenous people of this place at the time of Winter Solstice, which celebrates Origins, the continuing birth of all. Thus I like to do this Cosmogenesis Dance, as I have named it[2], at the Winter Solstice in particular. The three aspects that the dance may embody, and are poetically understood as Goddess, celebrate (i) Virgin/Young One – Urge to Be as I have named this quality – the ever new differentiated being (also known as Fodla in the region of the Triple Spiral)[3]. This is the outer circle of individuals. (ii) Mother – the deeply related interwoven web – Dynamic Place of Being as I have named this quality – the communion that our habitat is (also known as Eriu in the region of the Triple Spiral)[4]. This is the woven middle circle where all are linked and swaying in rhythm. (iii) Crone/Old One – the eternal creative return to All-That-Is – She who Creates the Space to Be as I have named this quality (also known as Banba in the region of the Triple Spiral)[5]. This is the inner circle where linked hands are raised and stillness is held. The three concentric layers of the dance may be understood to embody these. The Cosmogenesis Dance represents the flow and balance of these three – a flow and balance of Self, Other and All-That-Is. It may be experienced like a breath, that we breathe together – as we do co-create the Cosmos. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have named the three qualities of Cosmogenesis in the following way: – differentiation … to be is to be unique – communion … to be is to be related – autopoiesis/subjectivity … to be is to be a centre of creativity.[6] The three layers of the dance may be felt to celebrate each unique being, in deep relationship with other, directly participating in the sentient Cosmos, the Well of Creativity. The Cosmogenesis Dance as it is done within PaGaian Winter Solstice ceremony expresses the whole Creative Process we are immersed in. It is a process of complete reciprocity, a flow of Creator and Created, like a breath. There is dynamic exchange in every moment: that is the nature of the Place we inhabit. The dance may help awaken us to it, and to invoke it. The Cosmogenesis Dance on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR73MDMM9Fk For more story: Cosmogenesis Dance for Winter Ritual For Dance Instructions: PaGaian Cosmology Appendix I Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [1] The Triple Spiral engraving is dated at 2,400 B.C.E. [2] This dance is originally named as “The Stillpoint Dance”, or sometimes “Adoramus Te Domine” which is the name of the music used for it. I learned it from Dr. Jean Houston in 1990 at a workshop of hers in Sydney, Australia. I began to use the dance for Winter Solstice ceremony in 1997, and it was only in the second year of doing so that I realised its three layers were resonant with the three traditional qualities of the Female Metaphor/Goddess, and also the three faces of Cosmogenesis. I thereafter re-named and storied the dance that way in the ceremonial preparation and teaching for Winter Solstice. See Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology: pp. 280-281 and 311. [3] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p.192. [4] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [5] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [6] Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story, p. 71-79. I have identified these qualities with the Triple Goddess, and the Triple Spiral in the synthesis of PaGaian Cosmology: see Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, particularly Chapter 4: https://pagaian.org/book/chapter-4/ References: Dames, Michael. Ireland: a Sacred Journey, Element Books, 2000. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Lincoln NE: iUniverse, 2005. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. NY: HarperCollins, 1992.

(Photo Essay 2) ‘Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess of Korea’ by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Part II: The Lost Iconography of Gaeyang Halmi We visited the Suseong Shrine a second time on July 11, 2012. I looked inside the Shrine wherein a shaman ritual was being performed by a Mudang (Korean Shaman)[i] and her assistants. The Mudang in colorful ritual outfit appeared to console her female client on behalf of the spirit. The ritual continued another hour or so and we waited outside until she finished her performance. We had come here on the day of arrival in Jungmak-dong, Buan. The shrine was locked, apparently not being in use. On our second visit, the shrine was packed with four people and their instruments and equipment. It was so compact that it left no room for another person to sit; however, it was pumping up the sober energy. In fact, I have no recollection of which musical instruments were being played inside the shrine. Nonetheless, it feels like that I was hearing the sharp and high banging of the kkwaenggwari (gong) accompanied by the janggu (hourglass drum) rhythm [symbolizing the sound of thunder and rain respectively]. The “musical” sound that I heard shook off the debris of ordinary thoughts and took me to the Other Side of Reality. I began to see things clearly the way they are. I was stepping into the history of this place that I was going to discover.
(2014 Mago Pilgrimage Report 1) Sweat Lodge in Gyodong, Ganghwa Islands by Helen Hwang

[Author’s Note: Revised verison of this report is published in Celebrating the Seasons of the Goddess (Lytle Creek, CA: Mago Books, 2017). 2014 Mago Pilgrimage to Korea (Oct. 7-Oct. 20) was participated by a culturally mixed group of pilgrims from the U.S. Australia, and Korea. Among non-Koreans were Dr. Glenys Livingstone (co-facilitator), Mr. Robert (Taffy) Seaborne, and Ms. Rosemary Mattingly. For details, read 2014 Mago Pilgrimage. View the video on our visit to Ganghwa Islands by Robert (Taffy) Seaborne.] 2014 Mago Pilgrimage granted me ever unfolding revelations. The first of them that I would like to mention concerned the sweat lodge called Hanjeung-mak (汗蒸幕, Chamber of chill and steam).[1] Until we visited the traditional sweat lodge in Gyodong, Ganghwa Island, it did not occur to me that the origin of its modern variations[2] has to do with the rebirthing experience in the Womb of Mago. (Here Mago means the Great Goddess or the Primordial Mother.)
How do you say what The Mago Work is? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang & Mago Circle Members

It took many years for me to pronounce the communal nature of the Mago Work. Defining the Mago Work necessarily endows us with the bird’s eye view of the Great Goddess, the primordial consciousness of WE in S/HE. Early this year, I asked people to define the Mago Work and their definitions are illuminating about what this book ultimately seeks to achieve.[1]

Author: Mago Work Admin

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