September 12, 2013 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Xochitl Alvizo

Feminist, theologian, and Christian identified woman, Xochitl is a Ph.D. Candidate in Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Her research is focused on new and postmodern forms of church. She Read More …

September 11, 2013 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Poem) The Dancer by Donna Snyder

the woman is a fetish all bellies and breasts she moves across the floor like undulating silk the air caresses her hips she moves like the Ayasofya mosque if it Read More …

September 10, 2013 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Carly Bryson

Carly Bryson lives in Houston and writes poetry and prose about cracked dirt, the desert, lonesome highways, dirty rotten wars, nasty city air, pending dystopia and the frailty of the Read More …

September 7, 2013February 20, 2018 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Sabrina Montanaro

I was born and brought up in London in an Italo-Swedish Family. I trained as a vocal-composer in Florence with Gabriella Bartolomei. I’m now resident in Roma. Once upon a Read More …

September 6, 2013February 23, 2018 Mago Work Admin7 Comments

(Essay 1) Making the Gynocentric Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and Her Tradition Magoism by Helen Hwang

Making the Gynocentric Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and her Tradition Magoism[i] This study documents and interprets a substantial body of primary sources concerning Mago [麻姑, also Read More …

September 5, 2013February 20, 2018 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Jayne Marie DeMente

Jayne Marie DeMente received a Masters Degree in Religion and Philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, with a specialty in Women’s Spirituality. She attended Antioch Read More …

September 4, 2013November 17, 2018 Mago Work Admin2 Comments

(Poem) Niebla verde/Green Fog by Xánath Caraza (in Spanish and English)

Niebla verde Para la poesía de Carmen Boullosa, Sor Juana, and Alfonsina Storni Hombres de humo De eternidad azul De pensamientos fragmentados Hombres que ya no sienten a la mujer Read More …

September 3, 2013February 22, 2018 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Angelika Heike Rüdiger

Having grown up close to nature in the countryside under the care of my grandmothers and my great-grandmother, my love for poetry, myth and legend was wakened and became firmly Read More …

August 30, 2013November 15, 2019 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 2) The Terms ‘Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’ by Glenys Livingstone

This essay is the second part of an evolved version of an excerpt from Chapter 2 of her book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. In the first part of Read More …

August 29, 2013February 23, 2018 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Janie “Oquawka” Rezner, MA

Heralding the Return of our Mother I am a great grandmother, singing publicly most of my life, influenced by my musical mother who grew up on a farm in Illinois, Read More …

August 28, 2013February 14, 2018 Mago Work Admin3 Comments

(Poem) medusa cantadera by Jillian Parker aka Flame in the Snow

(for michelle escobedo) wrapped in black electric exile a mantle of guilt and shame she drags her fingers in the river her locks just might be serpents slithering down to Read More …

August 27, 2013 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

Meet Mago Contributor, Vana Kim

Vana studied art and fashion design, in Sao Paulo, Brazil; studied western and eastern philosophy at University of Toronto, obtained Master’s degree from University of Chicago, obtained Doctoral degree in Read More …

August 26, 2013November 8, 2019 Mago Work Admin2 Comments

(Essay 4) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising

Excerpt from Invoking Animal Magic: A guide for the Pagan priestess Some say the famous shrine of Artemis at Ephesus was once dedicated to Cybele. Statues of Artemis originating there Read More …

(S/HE V2 N1 Essay 14) The Ancient Korean Whale-Bell: An Encodement of Magoist Cetacean Soteriology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This essay to be posted as sequels is from the second volume of the S/HE journal. See S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies (Volume 2 Number 1, 2023). Page numbers and footnote numbers differ in this page.] The Divine Bell of Seongdeok the Great The Name Text of the Divine Bell comes in two sections the Main Words (the prose part) and the Verse Words (the poetry part), (see Figures 24-1 and 24-2). The Main Words is made of 24 lines (630 characters), whereas the Verse Words comprises 21 lines (407 characters). A total of 1,037 characters, the text contains rich data and deserves a study on its own. The author of the Main Words is Gim Pilo, whereas the Verse Words is Out of the whole text, I have selected relevant segments to introduce and discuss. Gim Pilo, a middle ranking officer, writes: Because the utmost way includes the exterior of forms, its source is invisible in the eye. As the big sound vibrates between heaven and earth, its echo is inaudible in the ear. That is why words are spoken as theory. That is to help people see through the profound meaning of the three-fold truth. The Divine Bell installed high awakens the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride. The Divine Bell appeals beyond human faculty. While words spoken as theory are to help understand the mind the three-fold truth, the Divine Bell is to invoke “the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride. This literature is distinguished from the other ancient texts of the kind, e.g., the Daodejing (Classic of the Virtuous Way), in the sense that its perception of ultimate reality goes deeper beyond the metaphysical nature but also the sonic property.[1] The expression, “the Unhindered Sound of the One Ride (一乘之圓音),” captures the matriversal reality of WE/HERE/NOW. I have translated “seung 乘 (ride or vehicle)” as “a ride” rather than “a vehicle,” the latter which is commonly adopted by Buddhologists.[2] “A ride” depicts an action of being in transition, whereas “a vehicle” concerns a transportation to enable transition. The former indicates a journey itself, whereas the latter something makes a journey possible. Its voidness amplifies the sound, which makes its resonance linger. Its heaviness makes it immovable, which makes its body immutable. Thus, it is apt to engrave the great achievements of the ruler on the bell, whose purpose was to halt people’s suffering. The bell is hollow inside to amplify the sound. The language is literal and metaphoric at the same time. The void in the bell’s body augments the sound. The gigantic weight of the bell makes it immovable and immutable. Such properties of the bell are associated with the duties of a ruler. The literal, the metaphorical, and the political are interwoven. And the ruler’s achievement lies in his or her duty to halt people’s suffering. Note that it is the ruler who is attributed to the divine nature of the divine bell not the Buddha or a monk. Buddhism is subverted from the core. Humbly speaking, Seongdeok the Great soared in virtue like mountains and rivers. His Majesty’s fame was esteemed high like the sun and the moon. His Majesty appointed the loyal and the good to offices and had them administer seasons and customs with care. Venerating propriety and music, His Majesty looked after folk lives. Agriculture was supported in the field, whereas no extravagant products circulated on the market. People of the time abhorred gold and jade but cherished literary talents. Rather than living in despair by the unexpected death of his son, His Majesty kept that in heart and took heed in life till his old age. For about forty years of his administration, His Majesty diligently attended to state affairs. His Majesty did not frighten people by waging war even one year. Thus, neighboring states in four directions and surrenderers from far admired His Majesty’s way of governing and did not attempt to invade us militarily. It is praised that Yan and Qin [ancient Chinese states] appointed people properly, and that Qi and Jin [ancient Chinese states] alternated in conquering. However, how can they be addressed on a par with His Majesty? It was hard to predict the time of death, nonetheless. The nights of a thousand autumns passed quickly. It is the 34th year this year since His Majesty passed on. The segment C concerns the 33rd ruler Seongdeok the Great (r. 702-737) to whom the Divine Bell is dedicated. Seongdeok was the second son of Queen Sinmok and the 31st ruler Sinmun the Great, the protagonist in the myth of the Pacifying Flute (see [Table 1]). His first son, the crowned price, begotten from his first consort, Queen Seongjeong, died at a young age.[3] Historical sources confirm that the 35 year-rule of Seongdeok the Great was an era of peace and stability. What they often neglect is that Seongdeok, following in the footsteps of his grandfather ruler Munmu the Great (r. 661-681), took the non-military policy.[4] Noteworthy is the account, “His Majesty did not frighten people by waging war even one year. Thus, neighboring states in four directions and surrenderers from far admired His Majesty’s way of governing and did not attempt to invade us militarily.” His pacifist policy was aligned with the vision of Unified Silla, restoring the matriversal confederacy of Old Magoist Korea. In fact, the Magoist cetacean devices including the whale-dragon bells, the Pacifying Flute, and Manbul-san testify to the pacific matriversal policy that Unified Sillan rulers distinguished themselves from the counterparts of patriarchally armed ancient China. A filial successor, Gyeongdeok the Great, inherited the great royal task and attended to the duty of the crown prince. Because His Majesty lost his mother at a young age, however, His Majesty’s longing for her became stronger as time went by. With an overwhelming task of royal instructions, his sorrow grew deeper in the chambers of the palace. His Majesty’s wish to benefit their spirits grew ever stronger. Thereupon, His Majesty …
(Book Excerpt 2) Nun too Clever by Elaine Drew

[An excerpt from the the mystery novel Nun Too Clever, which looks at what life as a queen was really like for the fairytale maiden who landed the prince.] “You discovered a body, Your Excellency?” “Indeed I did.” “Where?” “At St. Wihtburh’s.” Had the bishop been saving this news to spring on me? Everyone knows that the abbey is under my protection. My mother was its founder. The thing that most unsettled me, though, is that a childhood friend is cloistered there. “What happened?” I asked. “I came across her in the stable. The nuns were at prayer—I had to take my own horse. They really don’t have enough servants there. So very disturbing.” “The lack of servants or the death, Your Excellency?” “Surely Your Royal Highness has been informed?” Was His Excellency gloating? He was one of those people who believes that information is power, and he wasn’t eager to lose his edge. I was too rattled to care. “Who?” I asked. “Her name was Elfwinne. A fairly recent arrival. From Mercia, they said.” I could breathe again. I hadn’t met the girl. Or thought I hadn’t, at the time. At least it wasn’t Athelflad. Death is ordinary enough, but not the way he described it. Stumbling across a body in a stable is unusual. It must have been an accident. The bishop agreed, although he couldn’t say for sure. Whatever the cause, short of murder, the matter could have waited to receive my attention. Nevertheless, it provided an excuse to get away from a tiresome evening. “Forgive me, Your Excellency. My lord,” I said, nodding to my two nearest table companions. “I must leave. St. Wihtburh’s—” “No need to burn your wits on my account,” said the old warrior. “It is my Christian duty,” I said, “to offer the sisters my support in view of this tragedy.” Was the girl’s death a tragedy? Probably not. The bishop knew this as well as I did. I hoped his vanity would shield him from realising I wanted to escape. It didn’t. He raised an eyebrow. He was offended. Before he could protest, I commanded a lad to saddle my horse. I cantered from the hall to gallop for the abbey. It was not a long ride, and I knew the route well, but hearing of a death had unnerved me. The fitful moonlight flickered on the woodland’s gnarly trees, bringing to life fearsome creatures. Ghouls writhe and monsters lurk in a forest at night. When I got to the abbey, shaken by my imagination, I wandered the grounds looking for Athelflad. I wanted my friend to fill me in on the sister’s death before I talked to the abbess. I’ve learned from sitting at the centre of power for the past ten years to get all the information I can get before I talk to anyone in authority. Stakeholders have more to lose and, therefore, more to hide. It took a while to find Athelflad. Candlelight in an outbuilding tipped me off. My friend was sitting at a writing table in the dilapidated little scriptorium, long neglected. The sisters found medicine more interesting than writing. Athelflad bent over a scrap of parchment scratching out letters. Had I been blindfolded, I could have recognised my friend by the subtle fragrance of incense that surrounded her. I knew she hadn’t come here to write; she wasn’t a writer. She came to the scriptorium and doodled when she wanted to be alone. Her face was drawn; her normal sparkle had dimmed like the December sun. The unsteady candlelight made it hard to read her expression. Without preliminary—we’d been friends too long for that—I asked her about the death. “It was shocking, Cynethrith. It was so unexpected.” Athelflad couldn’t quite collect her thoughts. “Tell me about the sister you lost.” “She was a gentlelady named Elfwinne. She had recently come to us. You might remember her from the old court. I heard she was a favourite before Egbert was crowned.” I remembered an Elfwinne, and not fondly. At first I didn’t believe that Athelflad was talking about the girl I had known, a malevolent little imp. The one I remembered had spent her days toadying to our previous queen, a poisoner who had dispatched her own husband with one of her concoctions. Accidentally, some thought. And it probably was, because the morning after her husband’s death the queen disappeared, Elfwinne in tow. It took years for Egbert and me to put the kingdom back together after King Beorhtric’s disastrous reign. “You say she was a gentlelady and a nun? That’s not the Elfwinne I remember.” “Don’t speak ill of the dead,” sniffed Athelflad, who never stops trying to make me a better person. The way she chided me this time, though, reminded me of a parent telling a child not to be too greedy at dinner. It was something said without thought. She toyed with her quill. Her mind was elsewhere. (To be continued) https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-elaine-drew/
(Poem) My Beloved Sisters by Mary Saracino

Trinacria personal archives, photo by Mary Saracino We were birthedfrom the same woman’s body,emerging from the pain of our mother’s labor,screaming, proclaiming ourexistence to ourselvesand to her.Each a girl-child.Me, the first,and five years later, Teresa,and three years more, Margaret.Three females, strong and healthy,inheritors of our mother’s heritage,gifts to her and to each other.But, we owe more than lifeto our mother,more than blood lines.She breathed love into usthat we might share itwith each other.With the wisdom of her woman’s heart,she taught us the allegianceof an embrace.We are each an extension of the other,mother to daughters to sisters to daughters to mother,a woman-bond created and renewedin our clasped hands.A strength unshakeable, a love eternal,a sisterhood irreplaceableand forever true. Meet Mago Contributor, Mary Saracino – Return to Mago E*Magazine
(Book Excerpt 5) Re-visioning Medusa Eds. by Glenys Livingstone, Trista Hendren, et. al.

The Medusa Imaginal Pegi Eyers WHEN I PUT ON MY PAPER MEDUSA MASK,154 my serpent jewelry and snakeskin robes, I embody an ancient feminine force of resistance, seeking to shut down all that is harmful to life, like imperialist patriarchies and other walls of division. If Medusa’s talents are to freeze male violence and warfare and stop the androcracy in its tracks, then her converse role as nurturer, rewilder and sustainer of the living green world must equally be in play. Undulating across the land like magnetic lines of earth-emergent serpentine delight, the Medusa mythos inspires us to rage against the machine, and to never, ever forget our bond to the Ancestral Mothers and their sacred legacy of love. Strong in my own Medusa energy, embodying the hard and the soft, the holding and the letting go, I can’t imagine a more empowering role model for women. May you know the blessings of Medusa’s fury! Meet Mago Contributor Pegi Eyers Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone Meet Mago Contributor Trista Hendren
(Essay) The Religious Life of Children by Janie Rezner

I remember as a child going out into the pasture one warm summer evening after dinner, and climbing up on a gate, gazing into the pink and gold streaked western sky, wondering where God was. “Are you there?” I spent quite a while on that gate, gazing upward. I know my son, as a child, held similar conversations, as he gazed into the night sky from his bed. All children, if allowed to be, are deeply religious before they’ve been dulled out. It comes with the territory for after all, they are only recently on this side. My then 12-year-old grandson in Davenport, Iowa, called some years ago to tell me that something was coming in the mail for me. He said, much to my surprise, that he had been listening to my CD, Oquawka Speaks the Words and Music of Mother God, and that his favorite song was “Letter to Ed”.
(Pilgrimage 4) Eight Devi Temples in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India by Krista Rodin

[Editor’s Note: This and forthcoming parts are the report of pilgrimage visits made during October 2022.] Baijnath Shiva/Parvati Marriage site Baijnath is one of the most famous temple complexes in Kumaon. This is the place where Shiva is supposed to have married Parvati. The medieval complex dedicated to Shiva is directly on a bend in the Gomati River. The main temple commemorates the occasion and includes Ganesha, which is why it is called the temple of The Holy Trio. In front of it is a pond called “Golden Mahaseer,” which is an extension of the river. The goldfish in the pond are famous. The temple looks out at the surrounding mountains and hills, with the river, it would make an idyllic spot – prior to all the contemporary construction – for the legendary marriage to take place. There are eighteen shrines/temples of various sizes in the complex. One that was locked up while I was there, was dedicated to the Goddess Brahmani. This was perhaps the oldest of the group as it was constructed in the 9th c. The complex was built by the Katyuri kings, who ruled from the 7th to 13th c CE, and the area surrounding the temple complex was their capital, Karthikeypur. The majority of the construction probably occurred around 1150 CE. The main temple was built in a Dravidian style, which is a bit unusual for the region. It, and the Parvati temple, are the only two that are still functioning worship spaces, but the complex as a whole is an official Kumaon pilgrimage site.[1] Photo by Krista Rodin Dunagiri Devi To get to the Dunagiri Temple, there is a turn off heading up the mountain from the main road. This road is somewhat smaller, but also in very good condition as it leads to another major pilgrimage site. The road ends after about 16 km at the base of the Dunagiri Devi Temple. Upon arriving, a small temple to Ganesha greets the visitor before they start the ca. 500 broad step climb to the temple complex. There is a path through the woods as well, but as it was raining, I chose the covered staircase lined with bells. Before going I didn’t know how many steps were involved, so it came as a bit of a surprise that the staircase never seemed to end. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way either given what the others at the site were saying. There are many legends about the origin of the Dunagiri Devi Temple. One from the Mahabharata era (9-8th c BCE) states that the original site was built by the Pandava brothers during their exile. Later during the Ramayana period (5th-1st c BCE), Hanuman’s search for the Himalayan life-giving herb to save Lord Laxman led him to carry part of the mountain away and take it to Sri Lanka. A small piece fell to the ground at the spot of the later Dunagiri Temple. Dunagiri mountain is part of the Nanda Devi Mountain Group. Like Nanda Devi mountain, Dunagiri mountain has its own temple and both are dedicated to a form of the Goddess Durga. The temple is also known as Dronanchal or Dronagiri, which relates back to the Mahabharata story about how Guru Dronacharya of the Pandavas used to meditate here. Later other gurus and swamis were known to meditate under the Banyan tree in the middle of the courtyard. The temple itself is a square building with a rather smallish shrine space. There is a poster of Durga on the wall and room for the priest to perform pujas. Along a side wall is a glass cabinet with puja offerings. Just below the main platform to the left is another puja site. The entire area is in the middle of the forest. Off the left side in front is a bench where one can sit and admire the view of the Himalayan peaks all the way to Mt. Kailash on a clear sunny day. Unfortunately, I was there in the midst of rain and clouds, so I wasn’t able to get the fabled view, but what I was able to see was still pretty amazing. Photo by Krista Rodin (To be continued) [1] https://misfitwanderers.com/baijnath-temple-uttarakhand/ Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.magoism.net/2018/09/meet-mago-contributor-krista-rodin-ph-d/
(Poem) Two Rabbits and the Moon by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright The Cottontail watched me climb a steep hill to meet her at the Cross – road. She split the stone. Datura delusions emerge from this bloodline. I stumble down down down… Her feet beat a mourning drum I’m in free fall. Tropical mist chokes mountain air. What force can annihilate this hopeless story? Both Hares dead – one murdered, the other abandoned by the Moon. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Call for Contributions) Time of changes

This is a time of changes. Yet, as the French saying goes, ‘The more it changes, the more it stays the same.’ To change with integrity, we often need to explore and even re-explore our unchanging roots, those we know of, those we are unaware of, to discover and sometimes to re-discover. For many of us reading and contributing to Magoism, the Way of S/He, exploration of our roots has led us to express our discoveries as writing or art or some other medium. Have you shared your discoveries here yet? Many readers would love to see your essay, poem, art, film or music. Previous contributors, it would be great to have more submissions from you. Potential contributors, please consider submissions! It can be something new, or it can be something you’ve already published, stand-alone, part of a series, an extract. We’re looking for all genres, any already published, any new genre you might have created. At this time, we’re particularly looking for poetry and art, but submissions of any genre are always warmly welcomed. We’ve posted most submissions we’ve received. So give it a go, we’d love to hear from you! June is solstice month, so you might wish to consider a submission with a solstice theme, southern or northern hemisphere. Here’s a guide to what we’re broadly looking for: http://magoism.net/people/call-for-contribution/ 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.)
(Prose)The Goddess As All of Creation by Deanne Quarrie

The Goddess is the “All of Creation.” She is the Creatress and the Created. She is the life force of all there is. She is one, whole, and complete. Before Her, nothing was. She arose from the Great Void, the source of all potential, giving birth to Herself before anything else had ever been born. She separated the sky and the water and She danced. In the ecstasy of Her Dance She conceived of all there is. In every culture, in every part of the world, the Goddess has been revered as the Birth Giver of all Life. From the very beginning of time, in our earliest primitive state, we sought to explain the unexplainable by drawing from what we knew. The female of every species brought forth life; therefore, the Creatrix also had to be Birth Giving Mother and the Great Mother was given Her identity. She has been loved, feared, respected, honored, and glorified in every way imaginable throughout thousands of years of human development. She has been given a “face” for every conceivable aspect of Her nature. She has taken the form of animals, humans, and elemental energies. She has been given associations with plants, colors, sounds, stones, music, and more. For every aspect and every view, She has a face.

(Special Post 1) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members

“Ma” in “Mago” and “Ma-Gaia” Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey [Conversation between Carol P. Christ, Ph.D. and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.] Carol P. Christ (CPC): Below is culled from “Gaia” in Wikipedia: The Greek word γαῖα (transliterated as gaia) is a collateral form of γῆ (gē, Doric γᾶ ga and probably δᾶ da) meaning Earth, a word of uncertain origin. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (trans. as Ma-ga, “Mother Gaia”) also contains the root ga-. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang (HHH): “Mago” and “Goma” are closely linked. Gom or Goma means the bear and Magoist shaman queen of the late fourth millennium BCE. She is also related with the Big Bear constellation. “Go” is used as a modifier referring to Mago or the Goddess in various texts of East Asia. “Mago” is related with “magi,” whose singular form is “magus” or “magos.” Will have to check for more details and the source. CPC: My intuition is that “ma” and “na” are baby talk for mother. In other words, preceding any language. Mycenean is IE language, “Pre-Greek” is not IE. CPC: Below is “Mother” from Wikipedia: Synonyms and translations The proverbial “first word” of an infant often sounds like “ma” or “mama”. This strong association of that sound with “mother” has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language. Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are: Aama, Mata used in Nepal Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, India and parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Mum and mummy are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Ireland. Charles, Prince of Wales publicly addressed his mother Queen Elizabeth II as “Mummy” on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of the United Kingdom, and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States. In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply: Maa, aai, amma, and mata are used in languages of India like Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu etc. Mamá, mama, ma, and mami in Spanish Mama in Polish, German, Russian and Slovak Māma (妈妈/媽媽) in Chinese Máma in Czech and in Ukrainian Maman in French and Persian Ma, mama in Indonesian Mamaí, mam in Irish Mamma in Italian, Icelandic, Latvian and Swedish Māman or mādar in Persian Mamãe or mãe in Portuguese Mā̃ (ਮਾਂ) in Punjabi Mama in Swahili Em (אם) in Hebrew A’ma (ܐܡܐ) in Aramaic Má or mẹ in Vietnamese Mam in Welsh Eomma (엄마, pronounced [ʌmma]) in Korean In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East, the mother is known as amma, oma, ammi or “ummi”, or variations thereof. Many times, these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child’s life. HHH: The name for Goddess seems as ancient as the language itself. [“Ma” being the first intentional word to be spoken by a baby.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: Scholars and mythologists agree that “ma” means both one’s mother and the Goddess, I quoted it in my dissertation written in 2004. Judy E Foster: Brilliant discussion, Helen and Carol! So many revelations… hard to keep up! But do continue, its fascinating – makes so much sense. (To be continued)Join the discussion of this and other topics in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group.
(Special Post 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.

(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!
(Video) A Beltaine Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX . . . till I feel the earth around the place my head has lain under winter’s touch, and it crumbles. Slanted weight of clouds. Reaching with my head and shoulders past the open crust dried by spring wind. Sun. Tucking through the ground that has planted cold inside me, made its waiting be my food. Now I watch the watching dark my light’s long-grown dark makes known. Art and poem are included in Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2017). (Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright

Walking with Bb: a story exploring the psychic connection between one woman and her bear. Preface: The black bear – hunting season in Maine is brutal – four months of bear hell – five if one includes the month where hunters can track bears for “practice” with hounds – separate mothers and cubs, terrorize them, tree them and do anything but legally kill them. During the legal slaughter, Hunters bait bears with junk food by putting old donuts etc. in cans and shoot the bear while he or she is eating. Most bears (82 percent) are slaughtered in this manner, the rest are killed by hounding and trapping. The season begins in August and lasts through December. Trapping, by the way, is illegal in every state but Maine. Black bears are hated, and that hatred will, of course, eventually result in their extirpation. I had a shy (male) year old black bear visiting my house this past summer with whom I developed a friendship, and what follows is part of our story: Last Saturday I was walking down the road when I remembered that I had not done my daily “circle of protection” imaging for Bb (standing as he was the day he visited me at the window early in August). When I began to do this another picture of Bb moving on all four feet with his face turned towards mine super-imposed itself over his standing image. I could almost see his expression, but not quite. I didn’t know what this imaging meant beyond that we were communicating in some unknown way, and he was in the area (not a good thing on hunting Saturdays). He had not been coming in most nights and I was worried… That night he came. He is still making nightly visits five days later, the most sequentially consistent visits since September 15th, the day I believed that he had been shot. This experience prompted me to write about telepathy and precognition. It is close to All Hallows and the full Hunter’s moon (Nov 3). I keep listening to Charlie Russell’ story which reminds me that loving bears (especially male bears) is hard, almost a sure recipe for disaster, and that I was not alone in this deep concern for and fear of losing Bb. I can barely stand to remember my other bear losses and I can’t stand feeling them. Even after I wrote about the incident with Bb, the experience seemed to carry a charge that didn’t dissipate. Had I missed something? Next I wrote “Root Healer,” exploring the possibility that as I continued to act as Bb’s “little bear mother” now employing psychic techniques to keep him safe (in some desperation as it was the only means left open to me to protect this very vulnerable yearling), that Bb’s presence might also include a gift for me and that it might involve some kind of root healing for my body because Nature thrives on reciprocity. One idea I missed completely, for it was so obvious. Bb’s image was communicating to me that we were having a psychic conversation in that very moment. It was the first time in three months of imaging protective circles that moved with him that I had confirmation from him that we were communicating effectively in this unknown way. This rarely happens. Normally when I do this kind of work, I just do it. I don’t get direct confirmation that it’s working from the animal itself (except with Lily b). Knowing this helped me make another decision I might not have made so intentionally. The hunting season will last into mid December, and I will be traveling during that last month. I keep thinking that putting actual physical distance between Bb and I might pose more of a threat for his life and I have to remind myself that psychic phenomena are not distance dependent. I should be able to image that protective circle every day and feel that it is working. Bb has already shown me that it can but I fear adding distance because I don’t completely trust my own perceptions.* I suspect believing might be an additional dimension of ensuring success when it comes to psychic protection for this bear. But how do I incorporate belief into a picture that is so clouded with personal/cultural doubt? Half the time I don’t believe myself and virtually no one except Rupert Sheldrake, Iren and Harriet have ever taken my experiences seriously. I have to remind myself that I have done this work many times dealing with doubt and it worked anyway. The point of writing this reflection might be to put me on a new edge of increasing Bb’s odds of survival. If it’s possible that an attitude that embraces believing in what I do could help me protect Bb more effectively until hunting is over and its time for him to den in peace I want to claim it. The question I need to answer now is how to go about moving into a more trusting self as a woman who continues to walk with a bear at her side? The night after I wrote the above paragraph I dream of the doubters in the roles of my parents, and in a friend. I take these dreams seriously as doubters inside me and out. These dreams may be telling me that it is unreasonable to expect me to believe that what I do works when no one else does? The problem with this idea is that on some level I do believe. I feel as if I am walking with this bear, every single day. I think about him constantly. The only thing that got me out of the house yesterday was that he was out of chocolate donuts. Something is intensifying my relationship with Bb although I never see him. I am caught in a field of bear energy and information, perhaps through some version of beauty and the beast. That an archetype is …
(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.
(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 …

(Mago Stronghold Essay 1) The Forgotten Primordial Paradise by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Part I Multivalent Meaning of Mago Stronghold Mago Stronghold (麻姑城, Mago-seong) refers to the center of the world (axis mundi) in the Magoist Cosmogony. It is a metaphor for the Source/Origin/Womb of Life for terrestrial beings. Mago Stronghold represents the forgotten paradise of the Great Goddess in patriarchy. In patriarchal times, it has become a code to unlock the hidden S/HE Reality. As one’s life in the body and mind is the very proof for the first mother, “Mago,” from whom one comes, the existence of Mago Stronghold in toponym and meaning is the very token to prove vital for the primordial home of terrestrial beings, also called the Earth. The Mago Stronghold talk, upon being fully deciphered, merits the bird’s eye view of human history from the cosmogonic beginning of the Great Goddess to this day. Its message is, among others, we are NOT locked out from the blissful time of S/HE beginning. We are NOT disconnected from our ancestors and deities. And we are NOT substantively different from our non-human sojourns. All in WE are found in Mago Stronghold. I present my investigation of Mago Stronghold, rather than a new theory, as an alternative mode of perceiving reality. The Mago Stronghold talk answers the ultimate question of “who I am” as a person and why we are here in our life journey. It is meant to engender metamorphosis, the process of awakening and navigating in S/HE Reality, for both an individual and the collective. We realize that no one is bound to patriarchal reality except those who create it. WE are HERE/NOW. However, the full-fledged implication of Mago Stronghold can’t be unveiled without naming the systemic working of mental blocks and lifting the limit. Official (read patriarchal) historiography is not the place where we nest our conversation. Linear thinking can’t help us arrive at the Scene. Thinking within ethnocentric and nationalist grids is among the mental blocks. We are invited to explore a whole new/old/original way of seeing and knowing matters. You and I across cultures, nationalities, and geographies have a lot in common to talk and think about. Precisely, the Mago Stronghold talk bridges the gap among moderns. Its implication is NOT confined to Korea or East Asia. One may wonder how it is so? The concept of Mago Stronghold, remembered by East Asian Magoists, concerns the common origin of all beings on Earth. Discourse on the Great Goddess/Primordial Mother/Creatrix can’t be parochial by nature. It maps out the gynocentric consciousness of WE, which redefines national/cultural identities as consanguineous. The Mago Stronghold talk works at multi-dimensions crisscrossing and connecting the personal and the collective, the local and the universal, and the physical and the symbolic. Mago Stronghold found across Korea and China is no ordinary cultural or historical landmark. It is also equated with Mago Mountain or Triad Mountain. The extant toponym of Mago Stronghold is a door to the Other Realm of the Great Goddess. Precisely, it signifies the Primordial/Perennial Home for not only the Mago Clan (Mago and HER divine and human descendants) but also all terrestrial beings, according to the Magoist Cosmogony. “Mago Stronghold” is an eponym for such socio-natural-architectural variations as castles, citadels, mountain villages, fortresses, stone walls, earthen walls, and ultimately the Earth. It is etiological, explaining the gynocentric origin of the axis mundi and the sacred mountain reverence known in many ancient worlds. Macrocosmically, Mago Stronghold refers to the Earth, the Splendid Land of the Primordial Mother. Residing in the Big Dipper (Seven Stars),[1] Mago governs the solar system and chooses the Earth as HER Garden.[2] S/HE delegates HER divine and human offspring to cultivate sonic resonance in harmony with cosmic music. In that sense, Earth IS HER Civilization. Its literal meaning, the Stronghold of the Great Goddess, conveys that all Earth’s civilizations are born of the Great Goddess. The Mago Civilization of Earth is aligned with the Law of Nature established by the marvelous working of the Great Goddess. Nature reflects HER Majestic Work. When the Creatrix (Cosmogonic Matrix) is made unthinkable, if not erased, in the course of patriarchal mytho-history, Mago Stronghold stands as an enigmatic cultural icon. It comes to us as a code to decipher. Much is to be unveiled for HER Paradise to be reinstated in the collective mind of humanity. Euphemisms that are severed from the Magoist implication in the course of history are linked back to the original Magoist words. The Mago Stronghold Code enchants us to the holistic view of the Great Goddess, the WE consciousness in S/HE, that is tabooed in patriarchy. Reminding people of the common origin from the Primordial Mother, Mago Stronghold opens a new horizon of the gynocentric reality, WE/HERE/NOW. We have been part of the Grand Plan of the Great Goddess. When it comes to the female, official historiography, which is after all a product of the patriarchal dominant group, offers little to, if not obstructs, the researcher. The history it calls is nothing other than a self-aggrandizing distorted view of the past events, or rather an imposed false view of the past by patriarchal colonizers. Patriarchal history should be called pseudo-history. It concerns not truth but domination and self-expansion. The history of self-sharers/altruists/Magoists never dies for it is about re-membering of all in WE. What happened is never left unanimated, according to the Law of Nature. It can’t be erased, for truth is the language of Life. As such, the collective memory that ancient (read pre-patriarchal) Magoists were the bearers of the Magoist royal lineage has survived official East Asian (read Sinocentric) historiography. It is imbued in such socio-cultural data as lore, literature, art, and place-names, as well as the so-called apocryphal texts. My task here is to decode the meaning of Mago Stronghold, unearthing non-official data and reading them between the lines of written records. (To be continued) See Meet Mago Contributor Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. [1] The Big Dipper (Seven Stars) is favored by Koreans. Triad Deity (Samsin), another name for Mago, is …
(Book Excerpt 3) The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia

[Author’s Note: The following is from Chapter 8, The Consciousness of WE/HERE/NOW.] The Budoji stories the primordial drama of Mago’s beginning. It furnishes a yet-to-be-heard story of the beginning of the Great Goddess, the taboo story in patriarchy. It is the story of the Creatrix that patriarchy has attempted to erase. It can be temporarily forgotten but can never die because it is the story that is at the root of patriarchy. Ultimately, it is The Story that is happening HERE and NOW. The merit of the Magoist Cosmogony lies in the fact that it, through storying, restores the view of the whole, the macrocosmic view of the All. The holistic view necessarily involves the Great Goddess or the First Mother in that S/HE is the Creatrix. Time is not a linear concept, flowing from one end to the other. Time is the unified Present, happening NOW. It may be said that time is circular or cyclic, as all beings are constantly in motion to enhance the process of self-creation, which causes the whole to change ceaselessly. The Present hosts an infinite number of stories that take place in the undividable One Space HERE. The beginning of the Great Goddess is still happening and we are invited to re-cognize HER STORY in the HERE and NOW. The beginning is a process, not a single isolated event that took place in the remote past.[i] All things exist in the process of becoming HERE and NOW as part of WE. Put differently, the beginning of the Great Goddess is the LIVE SCENE/DRAMA/STORY. We are part of HER STORY. Mago’s beginning is the heart that pumps fresh blood to the body of the terrestrial becoming. The beginning of the Great Goddess is still taking place HERE/NOW. The terrestrial beginning is attributed to the Great Goddess who is self-born through the sonic movement of cosmic light. The beginning story of the Great Goddess is no ordinary one. It is of power and truth, that is, metamorphic. It provides the original text to the meaning of “salvation.” HER Beginning that is happening HERE/NOW holds all from falling into cacophony. For one thing, it delivers us from the patriarchal misconception of ultimate reality that does away with the Creatrix. The holistic view of the Creatrix is capable of saving us from misconceptions and misconduct. Ultimately, it guides us to live our life in harmony with the whole, HERE/NOW. The Magoist Cosmogony engenders the consciousness that WE ARE HERE/NOW. The universe is existent without beginning or end. In one ever-existing reality, things ceaselessly appear and disappear in relation to one another on all levels. All things are in the constant movement of autogenesis striving to arrive at a new position of balance. S/HE IS HERE/NOW telling us the STORY of WE. That is the source of our metamorphosis. Notes: [i] Process thought founded by Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Hartshorne, and John B. Cobb shares a common premise on that regard, although it does not associate ultimate reality with the Creatrix. (See Book Excerpt 1 and Book Excerpt 2. Available in Mago Bookstore.) Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.
(Video) Gurang (Nine Goddesses), Gaeyang Halmi (Grandma Gaeyang), and Goddess Gom: Exploring Old Magoism in Korea by Helen Hwang

Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D. Read (Photo Essay 5) Gaeyang Halmi, Sea Goddess of Korea.

Category: Goddess

Meet Mago Contributor, Xochitl Alvizo

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(Poem) The Dancer by Donna Snyder

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Meet Mago Contributor, Carly Bryson

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Meet Mago Contributor, Sabrina Montanaro

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(Essay 1) Making the Gynocentric Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and Her Tradition Magoism by Helen Hwang

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Meet Mago Contributor, Jayne Marie DeMente

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(Poem) Niebla verde/Green Fog by Xánath Caraza (in Spanish and English)

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Meet Mago Contributor, Angelika Heike Rüdiger

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(Essay 2) The Terms ‘Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’ by Glenys Livingstone

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(Meet Mago Contributor) Janie “Oquawka” Rezner, MA

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(Poem) medusa cantadera by Jillian Parker aka Flame in the Snow

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Meet Mago Contributor, Vana Kim

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(Essay 4) The Animal Mother Goddess by Hearth Moon Rising

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Mago Almanac Year 9 Monthly Wheels

S/HE: IJGS V4 N1-2 2025 (B/W Paperback)

Mago Almanac Year 8 (for 2025)

Program Booklets

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