October 19, 2021November 2, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Mago Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 1) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This and its sequences are a newly added portion in the Mago Almanac Planner Year 5, equivalent to the Gregorian Year 2022. Because the Budoji did not explain Read More …

July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 6) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Dragon Palace Mother (Yonggung Buin) The Dragon Palace Mother is a popular folk and Mu theme of Korean Magoist Cetaceanism. Here the dragon is the messenger of the cetacean divine, Read More …

May 31, 2021February 1, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay) Pandemic, Patriarchy, and Mother Nature by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This essay was written as part of the Introduction to She Summons: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 1, Co-edited by Kaalii Cargill and Helen Hye-Sook Hwang. Read More …

March 16, 2021April 23, 2021 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Essay 1) Magoist Cetaceanism: Why do we listen to the call of whales and dragons? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Moderns have lost the matricentric bond with whales. As a whole, whales are forgotten in the mind of moderns. Listening to the calling of whales has fallen into the hands Read More …

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

(Book Excerpt 5) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Sonic Numerology: The Organizing Force of Life “All (including humans) in the universe is in order and harmony, an embodiment of sonic numerology (p. 156).” In the Magoist Cosmogony, Sonic Read More …

February 15, 2021February 14, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 4) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Wheel of the Year In Old Korea, 24 seasonal marks are celebrated. The eight marks are also celebrated in the West, which includes two solstices, two equinoxes, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, Read More …

December 31, 2020October 20, 2024 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay) Rediscovering Matilda Joslyn Gage as the pioneering anti-colonialist feminist thinker by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898), the 19th century United States radical feminist thinker, activist, and author, stands as the forerunner of anti-colonial matriarchal feminist advocates. Gage, pointing out that U.S. federalism Read More …

December 29, 2020November 2, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 2) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note: This is Part 2 of the Preface. Read Part 1 of the Preface here.] PREFACE What Mago Almanac Planner Offers There is nothing more plainly indicative of the Read More …

October 22, 2020December 29, 2020 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Tribute 1) My Loving Father Hwang Jong-Hwan (黃鍾煥 7/31/1935-10/10/2020) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

My Father and His Return to WE/HERE/NOW My loving father passed on Oct. 10, 2020 in South Korea. It feels like a big portion of my core is torn away. Read More …

September 24, 2020March 31, 2021 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Prose) The Mago Work and Magoist Cetaceanism in the time of the Covid19 by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

If we can make the pandemic a time of opportunity to nail patriarchy in the head once and for all, we may be able to say that the Covid19 is Read More …

June 30, 2020September 26, 2020 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Whale Essay 2) Whales in Korean Linguistics by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Korean Cetacean Words, Expressions, and Sayings (Part 2A) “Gorae (고래)” is a vernacular word, which means a whale or cetacean in Korean. “Gyeong (鯨)” is a logographic syllable that indicates Read More …

June 10, 2020June 11, 2020 Mago Work Admin3 Comments

(Book Excerpt) The Budoji Workbook (Volume 1): The Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1-4)

Introduction [Author’s Note: WorkBook, The Magoist Cosmogony Volume 1 (Chapters 1-4): The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City in English and Korean Translations with the Original Text in the Read More …

February 27, 2020January 24, 2020 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Essay 3) Magoist Cetaceanism and the Myth of the Pacifying Flute (Manpasikjeok) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Reversing the Reversed of the Buddhist Textual Erasure (Part 2) Sillan Magoists saw that whales governed the whole world by their sonic capacities, which conditioned the aquatic environment of the Read More …

(Meet Mago Contributor) Sudie Rakusin

Sudie Rakusin is an American visual artist, sculptor, author, illustrator and publisher. She was born and raised in Washington, DC, and currently resides in Hillsborough, NC. Sudie received her BFA in Painting from Boston University and her MFA in Painting from University of Arizona. Being an animal activist and feminist, Sudie’s artwork flows from what moves her: women, animals and the earth. Through her artwork she creates the world as she would like it to be – where harmony exists between animal and human. Sudie’s artwork is featured in the books of Mary Daly, Carolyn Gage and Patricia Monaghan. P.O. Box 92, Carrboro NC 27510, info@sudierakusin.com www.sudierakusin.com
(Art) Legend: Oracle and Allies by Virginia Masson

Legend – Oracle and Allies The Archetype, Legend, took me on a voyage into the unknown on a search for my own truth. In the many layers beneath the image the over-culture stories are stripped away to expose my inherent truth. These layers call back together the lost parts of who I am. Legend is my Oracle and is surrounded by my allies. (Meet Mago Contributor) Virgina Masson
Brighid in Front of Me, Mary Behind Me by Jude Lally

Just after Lunastal I headed west to Eilean Nam Ban More, The Isle of the Big Women, otherwise known as the Isle of Eigg in the inner Hebrides. It was a fine day as I headed off on a pilgrimage to visit a sacred site. I always head off on pilgrimages alone, for as much as they are a sacred journey, they are a deep communication with the land. I’ve made the journey once before and it is rare to meet another human soul on the route but you’ll be accompanied by other souls such as sheep, perhaps a seal beaking down on the shore, or a little mouse might scurry past your feet. You might be accompanied by the white slender shape of gannets dive bombing into the water and if you’re lucky you might be in the presence of an eagle. The route takes you to the very end of the main road of Eigg and down through the townships of Cleadale and finally Howlin, let me be clear when I saw ‘township’ as this is an island with a population of around 100 and whose terrain is roughly 5 miles by 3. Every time you leave home,Another road takes youInto a world you were never in. New strangers on other paths await.New places that have never seen youWill startle a little at your entry.Old places that know you wellWill pretend nothingChanged since your last visit. John O’Donohue – For the Traveler It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a strong breeze. I hiked up the steep hill that would take me to the other side of the island, and it was at the crest that an entirely new world opens up. The view sweeps down to the Sea of the Hebrides, a vast expanse of water with a flat and glassy surface. A far cry from the rolling waves we sailed in on. Off to the horizon, the faraway peaks of Skye appeared like jagged teeth set in the jawbone of some ancient monster. Suddenly I noticed some movement to the right side and turned to see the large wingspan of an eagle soaring. How wonderful to be in her presence. This story isn’t about the site I was going to visit, it’s about the journey. As this new vista opened up I felt my heart expand to meet it. Without even realizing I find tears streaming down my face and as the track is very narrow, made by little sheep hooves which require you to really dig in with the side of your boots, tears require stopping and sitting down – time to sink into the emotion and the practicality of drying your eyes. The emotion poured like cathartic waves, as the crescendo of the landscape swells, the waves breaking up feelings that drag out old thoughts – tumbling over and out, an emotional landscape, a figurative and actual path of healing. The Return Path Without realizing it, I took a different path on the way back. the path that takes the higher route, I hadn’t realized that this was the exact same scenario that played out last time. About a half hour along I realize I’m far higher than the path I took in, I’m way too close to the cliffs above as I remember viewing them from a far lower viewpoint. This isn’t a big deal as the heather makes for springy padding if you slide down the hillside on your backside. This is normally quite a fun thing but on the journey back that’s when a whole new layer of things started bubbling to the surface. I’m feeling overwhelmed, it’s a three-hour trek back and I keep losing the trail. Staying on a trail is preferable as wading through heather and bracken is hard going. I decide to keep going but the path is leading me even higher. This is normally an easy decision – to lose some elevation but somehow I can’t quite make the decision. Tears come, which means sitting for a while as I can’t walk without clearly seeing where I’m placing my feet. I look out to sea and see two tall white sailboats sailing together. From this vantage point, I can clearly see the path of currents and the fan of the breeze marked across the surface of the water. I wonder how many dolphins, porpoises and whales are out there beneath the surface. I look back to the boats and think If I could just make it back to the shore and caught their attention they could come out on a dingy and pick me up. I decided to scoot down through the heather, using my heel as a brake as you can pick up speed very quickly. I’m not quite sure if I’ve found the path and so wade through the heather looking below me for any signs of breaks in the vegetation. I’m aware that everything that is happening feels like a metaphor for life. When you are off the path and wading through the vegetation you never quite know if there’s a dip in the landscape and you could lose your footing and go over on an ankle. Yet what is life without some risk-taking and heading off on our own? I think I see the path slightly above me and so scramble up a few rocks, but when I look down towards the shore there is a very clear pathway down below me but I’m unsure whether that is the path that I walked in on. As I turn around an outcrop two sheep look utterly shocked to see me, so I sit still for a while and let them run off. Soon they will be herded up from this land and boarded onto the boat which will take them to slaughter. My mind thinks of the traditions and beliefs of these islands were purposely erased as the people themselves were ripped from the land to make way for sheep. The …
(Video) Female Futures by Lila Moore

The presentation is based on excerpts from the Cybernetic Institute’s Letter of Letters Manifesto dedicated to the study of technoetic arts, consciousness and the spiritual in art.
(Art Essay) Blood and Fibre – Weaving Resistance by Claire Dorey

Sisters and Read Thread by Claire Dorey Weaving was both an Original Act and an Act of Resistance. In ancient Goddess belief systems, the weaver Goddess created the universe. In contemporary art, Fibre Artists set out to dismantle the patriarchal grip on the art world, stitch by stitch. Weaving through Tragedy Since weaving is a central theme in Goddess Feminism, I’m delving into the Blood and Fibre of Philomela, a Greek Tragedy, which has inspired many ancient writers, and present day feminist writers alike: Sophocles [born 496 BCE]; Philocles [born 5th C BCE]; Apollodorus in Bibliotheca [born 180 BCE]; Ovid in Metamorphoses [born 43 BCE]; Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus [born 1564 CE]; Margaret Atwood in Nightingale; Emma Tennant in Philomela; Jeannine Hall Gailey in Becoming the Villainess; Timberlake Wertenbaker in The Love of the Nightingale; Erin Shields in If We Were Birds, and Melissa Studdard in Philomela’s tongue [1]. [Trigger Warning] Philomela’s story In summary: Philomela was kidnapped and repeatedly raped, for a year, by her brother-in-law Tereus, King of Thrace. He imprisoned her and cut out her tongue to silence her. Tongueless and mute, Philomela wove her story, in red thread, on a white tapestry, which she sent to her sister, Procne, Tereus’ wife, who rescued her. Seeking revenge Procne and Philomela, plotted to cut out Tereus’ tongue, gouge his eyes out, then castrate him. In a last minute plot twist Procne murdered her own son Itys, boiled him, then served him to Tereus, his father, for dinner. To confirm that Tereus had just eaten his son, Philomela, threw Itys’ severed head at her rapist, Tereus. [Trigger warning] A warning from history This is a story about victims transforming into perpetrators, with a warning from history: When perpetrators dehumanize, a survivor’s trauma, if unresolved, can perpetuate trauma, for generations. Violence spirals. The perpetrator becomes the victim and the vulnerable are harmed in the crossfire. A child is dead. One young woman, possibly a child herself, has been imprisoned, repeatedly raped and mutilated. Two young women have committed a crime they ordinarily wouldn’t have committed. All violence is wrong. No good will ever come of it. To put Philomela’s story into context, girls, as young as twelve, were sent away to marry much older men. Today we might say their parents trafficked them to older men. These girls were victim to a patriarchal system and the violence within that system, which is why we need to create a gentler world that works for women and children. Swallows and nightingales In true Greek style, Tragedy morphs to Romantic Symbolism. As Tereus chases the sisters with an axe, Procne transforms into a swallow, and Philomena into a nightingale. The further tragedy is that the female nightingale cannot sing, even though “Philomela” means “lover of song.” This is a story about the silencing of women as an integral part of patriarchal control. As a side arm: It appears historical bias led to bird song studies focusing almost exclusively on males. Kerry Williams writes in ” Lost voices: uncovering female birdsong, the rise in female scientists, into this arena, has increased research in female birdsong. The voice of the shuttle Sophocles describes Philomela’s tapestry as the “voice of the shuttle,” a powerful tool of communication and resistance [2]. The weaver Goddess Neith, who wove the matrix of the universe, tells us that cosmic patterning is part of matriarchal language. Philomela, whose tongue has been cut out, reverts to speaking in this form of the Mother’s Tongue, the voice of She Who Spins [the universe], which, in this case, is symbol and patterning. Matriarchy exists within patriarchy, when you know how to look for it. Silencing women, at a time when the Goddess still held power, although she was often set to work on behalf of the patriarch, was symbolic of man’s separation from the Mother Goddess cults of the past, a gradual and bloody transition, which I believe is reflected in the tumultuous tales of Greek mythology, which often feature gender based violence. Even in the Old Testament the battle against the Goddess raged. There are myriad passages calling for the destruction of shrines dedicated to the Goddess. Red Thread Philomela weaving her story with red thread reminds us of Ariadne’s ball of red thread guiding Theseus out of the labyrinth. Following the red thread reveals a sisterhood / female lineage / matrix occluded by the paternal line. Red thread is a metaphor for feminine intuition, wisdom, guidance, collective journeying, connection to source, the Mother Goddess, and the unraveling of patriarchal power structures. Philomela was raped at a time when rape was considered a crime against property, not against women. Shame Patriarchal rape culture, is based on power, ownership and control. Shame is weaponized. However in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Philomela is defiant. “Still my revenge shall take its proper time,And suit the baseness of your hellish crime.My self, abandon’d, and devoid of shame,” [3] The shame is not hers. It belongs to her assailant. Victim shaming blights us today, but was victim shaming part of Greco-Roman mythology? The Goddess Adios personified shame, meaning shame was deified. Ovid was a Roman poet delving into the psychology of Greek mythology, rather like contemporary writers do today. However he is a male observer, born into the rape culture that was the Republic of Rome, enjoying male privilege, which is why revisiting rape mythology, time and again, through a feminist lens, exploring themes such as reclaiming the voice, is critical, especially when the remnants of biblical shaming abound. [Trigger warning] Revenge The sister’s revenge is deadly. Their dish is definitely served cold and is garnished with unbelievable horror. Tereus is left in no uncertain terms that his brutality and betrayal stop there. His son [his property] is dead. His patrilineal lineage (at least with Procne) has been terminated and he is alone, choking on grief, guilt, remorse and anger. Without going into the psychology of infanticide, the taboo, or profiling murdering-mother archetypes, in mythological terms, Procne and Philomela were whipped into a divine Bacchanite frenzy. Since the …
(Quilt Art) Artemis or Juksakka, the Mysterious Bow-Woman of Astuvansalmi rock carvings by Kaarina Kailo

Kaarina Kailo, “Artemis or Juksakka, the Mysterious Bow-Woman of Astuvansalmi rock carvings,” 2020. Photo by Alpo and Arja Huhmarniemi. This intriguing image in Finland has led to much speculation that it is a Sami goddess since the timing of this rock art goes back to an era when Finland obviously did not exist and the Sami were among the oldest inhabitants. It challenges patriarchal biased views according to which women did not hunt. We now have more knowledge that indeed, they did hunt alongside the men in matriarchal cultures of prehistor. https://www.magoism.net/2016/03/meet-mago-contributor-kaarina-kailo/
(Book Review) Women in Greek Mythography: Pythias, Melissae and Titanides by Max Dashu, Reviewed by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Cover photo: Eos, titanis of Dawn, Black-figure lekythos attributed to the Sappho Painter, Athens, circa 500 bce (Public Domain, courtesy of New York Metropolitan Museum) Demeter and Persephone, Hera, Athena, Medusa, Artemis, and their Roman counterparts are often the first, sometimes only, goddesses modern women experience, and they have profoundly influenced our 21st century attitudes about gender, violence, and more. Yet, as Max Dashu says in her new book, Women in Greek Mythography, Greek history has “served as a template for supremacy, from male domination and Hellenic colonization, to modern Eurocentric ideologies about history” (xi). While most Greek scholarship generally glosses over these malevolent influences and ignores women’s lives, Dashu focuses on “female spheres of power, priestesses, witches, and of course systemic patriarchy” (xi) in order to “map realities of women’s lives, both their spiritual authority and their subjugation; the spaces they carved out, their ceremonies, and the stories they wove into their tapestries” (xi). Women in Greek Mythography is not only a fascinating historical story of Greek myth and religion to be read cover-to-cover, but a rich sourcebook. Dashu meticulously documents her sources so that readers can continue their own research while being assured that her assertions are true. She draws from scholarly works of history and mythography, as well as analyzing images on vases, friezes, sculpture and more that are essential in the absence of literary sources from the earliest periods. She has carefully rendered 270 drawings of these images so that readers can judge their meaning for themselves. She delves into language, seeking out the origins of words that may indicate where goddesses and myths originated and their relationships to one another. She demonstrates that goddess mythologies often had many variations, sometimes conflicting, with many “countless regional deities that were subsumed under Olympian names, the local origin myths, ceremonies and customs” (xiv). Women dancing in leafy belts: not the Greece we were shown. © 2022 Max Dashu. Let’s follow some of the book’s major themes. We begin at the very beginning of the universe. Creation myths of the Titan goddesses, or titanides, who werethegoddesses before the more familiar Olympians, offer beauty, mystery, and a celebration of female divinity, strength, and wisdom. As Dashu says, “Mythic genealogies are a way of explaining the nature of reality and understanding the world. These beings are not personalities but powers of Nature, realms of existence” (3). Nyx, or Night, was “the first cause” in some Orphic poetry and “the source of vital essence, eternal in nature” (4). Next comes Gē, or Gaia, named in a Homeric Hymn as “Mother of all, eldest of all beings,” (9) whose altars or temples were known in many Greek cities. Meet Tethys, “a primeval sea-goddess” (12) and Thetis who “emerges from the unformed primordial unity, and she shapes and lays out the order of things” (14). In the myth of Eurynome, “The primordial earth, sky, and sea existed as an undifferentiated mass within a great Egg, the cosmic mold” and Eurynome came forth when “everything burst out and separated into form” (18). Other titanides are essential to the cosmic order. Among those Dashu cites are Themis, the goddess of divine law and her daughters, and the Horai, who are “the Seasons, Hours, and All the Cycles of Time” (31). One of the Horai is Dikē, “whose wheel represents the coursing of the sun, moon, and stars through the universe…It is she who endows every living being with its own true nature” (31). The Moirai, the Fates, “sing fate as they spin, measure, and cut the strands of lives” (35) and “spin time, the present from the past, and shape the future” (36). In the face of injustice, the Fates became the Furies, known as the Erinyes (also known as Eumenides). Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory or remembrance and her nine daughters are the Muses. Nemesis, a goddess remembered in our own word “nemesis,” “represents the inexorable justice of divine Law toward all who violate the Order of Nature” (44). Finally, we come to Hekate, widely revered in ancient times, who “determines success or failure in human affairs, and her aid is invoked in most areas of life” (52). Helen recaptured by Menelaos, the husband she left for a Trojan prince. © 2022 Max Dashu. Around 2000 BCE, Indo-European conquerers“imposed their language and political rule on the ancient Aegean peoples, while intermixing and eventually absorbing culture from them” (57). Waves of Indo-Europeans mixed with other populations from mainland Greece and the islands showing that Greece was not one, homogenous population or culture but an ever-changing mix of tribes and peoples whose origins and relationships to one another are still being discovered and debated by scholars, archeologists, linguists, and others. In time, a Hellenic culture developed borrowing from others in the Eastern Mediterranean, including the “Cretans, Egyptians, Libyans, Phoenicians, Cypriots, and Anatolians” (59). Among them, Crete is noteworthy for being peaceful and relatively matricultural, with outstanding art featuring goddesses and women in positions of religious power. The mainland Greek Mycenaean culture began to rise about 1600 BC and was somewhat similar to Crete in that it featured images of goddesses and women leading ceremonies, dancing, at altars, and other elements that indicated women were powerful in the religious sphere. It was, however, more warlike and participated in conquests and enslaving. While the Mycenaean culture finally collapsed about 1200 BCE, the Greeks who came after them glorified the Mycenaeans and their exploits in the Trojan War, especially, in poems including the Iliad and the Odyssey. Dashu shows clearly how in these stories violence against mortal women and goddesses became celebrated in Greek culture. Iphigeneia is sacrificed by her father in order to sail off to Troy at the beginning of the Trojan Warand, at the end, Polyxena “is slain at the grave of Akhilles” (76). The women who are captured are inevitably raped and enslaved. Helen is often blamed and shamed in Greek literature for causing the Trojan War, though she was fleeing a despised …
(Story 2) Freeing the Goddess in Her Outlaw Heart by Carolyn Lee Boyd

Photo by Carolyn Lee Boyd [This fictional story is for all those women who have risked their lives and well being to take on the spiritual stewardship of their communities and the planet over the past millennia.] Part 2 Victoria considered what her ancestor, an ordinary farming woman, would do if she had just learned that all she had always known that kept the universe running properly had been outlawed, that she no longer had a role in harmonizing the greater order of things, and that the goddess she worshipped was now considered evil? What if she had daughters and sons whose lives and futures depended on rites that no one could now do? She would have done everything she could to find a way to maintain those traditions, Victoria thought. She knew that her ancestor’s village had tried to battle those who outlawed their ways and half had died. Some of her ancestors’ neighbors continued on in secret, but had been discovered, tried, and executed or banished. There was only one place her ancestor’s beloved goddess and the force of the rituals that kept time and the seasons in their proper place could survive and never be discovered and that was inside herself. Victoria envisioned her ancestor coming out to the fields in the middle of a moonless night so as to remain unseen, raising her arms to the sky and praying words in a fashion she had heard from the wise women so many times. “May my heart hold You and the harmony of the universe so that the plants and animals and people will flourish, our crops grow, the forests be full of life, and our children be born and live many years.” But what would happen when her heart no longer beat? How would the tradition live on? Perhaps she continued, “May I keep this treasure within me until I die and then I will pass it on to my youngest child, who will live the longest after me. She will hold fast to it until it is her turn to pass it along again.” Maybe it was not only her imagination that led Victoria to the strange notion of what her ancestor had done. The vision of her had come suddenly into Victoria’s mind, full-blown. Victoria thought that she had always known what had been and was to be, and belief in this knowledge was also a part of the reawakening that had to come next. Victoria had no children. Perhaps bearing the burden with no hope of reprieve was causing her heart to fail. All she could do was trust that, if released, the force within her would find a home in a world now more open than in recent centuries. She had only one choice, though she may be cutting short her life and the lives of Sheila and her niece and nephew, and maybe even all existence. Victoria closed her eyes and whispered “I free myself. I free all that I have held within me for so long.” She opened her eyes and saw Sheila and her children still in the field, accepting with grace the abundance of the Earth. When they saw her, her eyes opened, watching them, they came over. “We just now had an inspiration! We’re going to make a standing stone of our own, to share with you. In ancient times, standing stones with holes perfectly directed the first light on the dawn of the solstices. The summer solstice is in just a few weeks. Let’s see if we can make one for the middle of the field where we grow wildflowers,” Sheila said. And they did. They found a small boulder shaped like a standing stone. Sheila’s children calculated exactly where the hole should be in the stone and where the stone should be in the field. They drilled the hole and drove the stone to its new home in the field using Sheila’s tractor. On the morning of the summer solstice, just as the sun had just risen from the gloom, the light came pouring through the hole. It shimmered like cut glass on the morning dew covering the field. Victoria’s heart beat faster, strong and steady, as she always knew it someday would. And, feeling the awe that seeing this beauty creates, she understood that the goddess was never imprisoned within her, but rather had been waiting with her and all people for generations. She had been holding vigil until we came back to her with new understanding and commitment to partnership with her and all beings. It is now time for us to join all the other people on our planet who had never lost their traditions, as well as those who have, in a great circle of reverence, love, and peace that will return our endangered Earth and all beings on Her to health and harmony with all the cosmos above and below. (End of the story) (Meet Mago Contributor) Carolyn Lee Boydhttps://www.magoism.net/2016/08/meet-mago-contributor-carolyn-lee-boyd/
(Prose) Witches Butter by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright The other day I found the most beautiful fungus on an aging white pine set against deep green moss that was almost arcing over the brook. When I looked up Dacrymyces palmatis I discovered that its common name was “Witches Butter”. That figures I thought – this must mean that this plant has medicinal qualities, and of course it does along with the fact that the fungus is edible. Any time I see the word witch associated with a plant if I am not familiar with it. I start digging into research inevitably coming up with the same kind of information – the plant/ tree/ fungus/slime mold is edible and has medicinal value. The word witch as many of us know has at its root to bend or shape. Shape -shifting by non –ordinary means. Witches were and are healers that use herbs, talk intimately with animals, are counseled by plants and humming trees. Witches wait patiently for instructions. It’s no surprise that in fairy tales witches almost always live in the woods and are solitary creatures by nature and design. After having spent the most creative more than half of my life living alone by choice, my non – human neighbors have become my teachers. It is painfully obvious to me that listening to nature is an art form lost to western culture. Observing, listening, refusing to make judgments or draw premature conclusions allows Nature’s truths to seep slowly into our bodies. I think of this process as a kind of percolating – extraordinary knowledge and insights arise out of these complex relationships with the rest of nature that only some Indigenous cultures seem to be able to maintain today. Although I am not a witch in the western tradition as in Wiccan I am one having been initiated by nature. I’ll give the reader one recent example. A number of years ago while walking through a Bosque along the river in NM on a daily basis during the winter months, always before dawn, I began to sense light emanating from under my feet underground. I could feel that this light was beneficent but it also seemed that I was tapping into the unknown. Very mysterious. I was learning something but what? Having learned to trust my body’s truth I waited for more information. When I learned that the latest research in western science had discovered that mycelial networking operated much like the human brain does by creating synapses accompanied by sparks of light that wove the roots below my feet into one tapestry that stretched across unbroken ground, I still experienced as sense of awe and wonder! I thanked my body for hearing the message: We are all connected! At least in some places. These networks stretch across parts of the desert in the wetlands if they are protected as this area was. Most desert lands have been trashed by cattle grazing destroying the networking. The same process occurs in more temperate areas when roads are paved over the earth, cities are built or agribusiness pollutes the earth with chemicals. I could go on here. My point? If earth was allowed to be in her natural state the underground networking would stretch across the whole planet. It is amazing to think that such complex communication lines lie just under the surface of our feet. One of the things I love most about being in unbroken stretches of forest, and I do have one nearby (12,000 plus acres), is that it is very easy to slip into that light trance state while walking slowly. Softening my vision with intent I feel and sense that communication occurring beneath my feet, experience being loved by something so much greater, than I can comprehend. Every time I enter this forest I can her/him casting a veil around me as I slip into “all there is”. My only thought afterwards is to give thanks for the two people who saved this land from destruction. The witch in me is always repeating the same words: let the Powers of Nature leads you Home. I listen with deep love and appreciation, grateful for instruction. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/

(Special Post 1) "The Oldest Civilization" and its Agendas by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: The following discussion took place in response to an article listed blow by the members of The Mago Cirlce, Facebook group of Goddessians/Magoists from May 6 to May 10, 2016. Readers are recommended to read the original article linked below that has invoked the converation.] “The Danube Civilization: Oldest in the World” in The Ancient Ones upon the ruins of our ancestors, published April 3, 2016.
(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) Discussion on Mother-Daughter Wound by Mago Circle Members

[Mago Circle members discussed and answered the question, “What do you think of this (the topic article below)? If you are a feminist, it is something that you would promote? If so, why? If not, why not?” The discussion took place on May 15, 2017 and shortly thereafter in The Mago Circle.] Topic Article: “For The Daughters Who Don’t Love Their Mothers – Screw Mother’s Day” by Sade Andria Zabala Everyone talks about a mother’s unconditional love. But what if it doesn’t exist? Daughters are socially expected to be close with their mothers. But are you one of the women who aren’t? Mother’s Day isn’t just for celebrating moms. It’s a day some of us dread because we are reminded we grew up (or are still) unloved, not good enough. (Read the whole article here.)

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

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

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

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

This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of the author’s new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Imbolc/Early Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – February 1st/2nd though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, thus actually a little later in early August for S.H., and early February for N.H., respectively. Some Imbolc Motifs In this cosmology Imbolc/Early Spring is the quintessential celebration of She Who is the Urge to Be. This aspect of the Creative Triplicity is associated with the differentiation quality of Cosmogenesis,[i] and with the Virgin/Young One aspect of the Triple Goddess, who is ever-new, unique, and singular in Her beauty – as each being is. This Seasonal Moment celebrates an identification with the Virgin/Young One – the rest of the light part of the cycle celebrates Her processes. At this Moment She is the Promise of Life, a spiritual warrior, determined to Be. Her purity is Her singularity of purpose. Her inviolability is Her determination to be … nothing to do with unbroken hymens of the dualistic and patriarchal mind. The Virgin quality is the essential “yes” to Being – not the “no” She was turned into. In the poietic process of the Seasonal Moments of Samhain/Deep Autumn, Winter Solstice and Imbolc/Early Spring, one may get a sense of these three in a movement towards manifest form – syntropy: from the autopoietic fertile sentient space of Samhain, through the gateway and communion of Winter Solstice to differentiated being, constant novelty, infinite particularity of Imbolc/Early Spring. The three are a kaleidoscope, seamlessly connected. The ceremonial breath meditations for all three of these Seasonal Moments focus attention on the Space between the breaths – each with slightly different emphasis: it is from this manifesting Space that form/manifestation arises. If one may observe Sun’s position on the horizon as She rises, the connection of the three can be noted there also: that is, Sun at Samhain/Deep Autumn and Imbolc/Early Spring rises at the same position, halfway between Winter Solstice and Equinox, but the movement is just different in direction.[ii] And these three Seasonal Moments are not clearly distinguishable – they are “fuzzy,”[iii] not simply linear and all three are in each other … this is something recognised of Old, thus the Nine Muses, or the numinosity of any multiple of three. Some Imbolc/early Spring Story This is the Season of the new waxing light. Earth’s tilt has begun taking us in this region back towards the Sun. Traditionally this Seasonal Point has been a time of nurturing the new life that is beginning to show itself – around us in flora and fauna, and within. It is a time of committing one’s self to the new life and to inspiration – in the garden, in the soul, and in the Cosmos. We may celebrate the new young Cosmos – that time in our Cosmic story when She was only a billion years old and galaxies were forming, as well as the new that is ever coming forth. This first Seasonal transition of the light part of the cycle has been named “Imbolc” – Imbolc is thought to mean “ewe’s milk” from the word “Oimelc,” as it is the time when lambs were/are born, and milk was in plentiful supply. It is also known as “the Feast of Brigid,” Brigid being the Great Goddess of the Celtic (and likely pre-Celtic) peoples, who in Christian times was made into a saint. The Great Goddess Brigid is classically associated with early Spring since the earliest of times, but her symbology has evolved with the changing eras – sea, grain, cow. In our times we could associate Her also with the Milky Way, our own galaxy that nurtures our life – Brigid’s jurisdiction has been extended. Some sources say that Imbolc means “in the belly of the Mother.” In either case of its meaning, this celebration is in direct relation to, and an extension of, the Winter Solstice – when the Birth of all is celebrated. Imbolc may be a dwelling upon the “originating power,” and that it is in us: a celebration of each being’s particular participation in this power that permeates the Universe, and is present in the condition of every moment.[iv] This Seasonal Moment focuses on the Urge to Be, the One/Energy deeply resolute about Being. She is wilful in that way – and Self-centred. In the ancient Celtic tradition Great Goddess Brigid has been identified with the role of tending the Flame of Being, and with the Flame itself. Brigid has been described as: “… Great Moon Mother, patroness (sic … why not “matron”) of poetry and of all ‘making’ and of the arts of healing.”[v] Brigid’s name means “the Great or Sublime One,” from the root brig, “power, strength, vigor, force, efficiency, substance, essence, and meaning.”[vi] She is poet, physician/healer, smith-artisan: qualities that resonate with the virgin-mother-crone but are not chronologically or biologically bound – thus are clearly ever present Creative Dynamic. Brigid’s priestesses in Kildare tended a flame, which was extinguished by Papal edict in 1100 C.E., and was re-lit in 1998 C.E.. In the Christian era, these Early Spring/Imbolc celebrations of the Virgin quality, the New Young One – became “Candlemas,” a time for purifying the “polluted” mother – forty days after Solstice birthing. Many nuns took their vows of celibacy at this time, invoking the asexual virgin bride.[vii] This is in contrast to its original meaning, and a great example of what happened to this Earth-based tradition in the period of colonization of indigenous peoples. An Imbolc/Early Spring Ceremonial Altar The flame of being within is to be protected and nurtured: the new Being requires dedication and attention. At this early stage of its advent, there is nothing certain about its staying power and growth: there may be uncertainties of various kinds. So there is traditionally a “dedication” in the ceremonies, which may be considered a “Brigid-ine” dedication, or known as a “Bridal” dedication, since “Bride” is a derivative of …
(Poetry & Photo Essay) Pongal by Susan Hawthorne

I am a secularist rather than a ritualist, but I can’t help but be drawn into the celebrations that people make when they honour the passing of the seasons. Even as a child I felt the disconnect between Christmas and the hot dusty days of summer. When Christians invaded and colonised Australia they brought their holidays but did not consider changing the dates to match the seasons. I was in India recently, invited as a speaker at the Hindu Lit For Life Festival in Chennai where I had lived ten years ago. The last day of the festival was the first day of Pongal. A friend, feminist economist Devaki Jain, who had grown up in Chennai eighty years earlier invited me to join her in a car ride to see Pongal celebrations in the streets. This is a Tamil festival dating back at least a thousand years, a sun festival, welcoming the next six months of the sun’s journey, also a harvest festival. During this time many women produce beautiful drawings, known as kolam. In my book Cow I wrote a poem about kolam which I think says more than I can explain here. what she says about kolam where they are drawn and when is all important early morning is auspicious it sets the shape of the day the hard ground is cleaned points of white grain sprinkled she works quickly she knows her design for the day runs the powdered grain from point to point it is a mandala a yantra a sign so the forces of the universe align themselves with her intentions Back to Pongal. The festival goes for four days. On the first day, which is called Bhogi, people are on the streets with the fruits of harvest, piles of tumeric and stacks of sugar cane tied in bunches. My friend, Devaki, bought flowers to take back to her room in the hotel. The second day, called Thai Pongal, I was invited to a harvest lunch at the house of my friend Mangai who is a playwright, theatre director and human rights activist. The word ‘pongal’ means ‘boiling over’ or’ overflow’ and I saw this in the cooking of the sweetened rice dish into which each of the twelve people present poured some water and milk as it almost overflowed the pot. This sweet rice dish was added to the collection of other dishes on the table. I cannot tell you what they were, but the meal was delicious. After lunch everyone relaxed, someone sang, we talked and caught up on news. The third day, is called Maatu Pongal, and cattle are at the centre of celebrations on that day. I don’t know if this line up of cattle had anything to do with the day’s celebration but there they were tied up alongside a very busy main road. These were not cows and I did not see any cows with decorated horns and flowers on their heads. on that day as I have on other occasions. On the fourth day, Kaanum Pongal, things begin to wind down. One of my co-speakers at the festival said she would be visiting family members on that day. The kolams are drawn again, sugar cane is consumed and people go back to their daily lives. What I liked about being in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal festival is that it felt absolutely right. The time of the year, the connection with harvest, so I did not feel the discomfort I so often feel in the midst of the out-of-season commercialised holidays as they are celebrated in Australia. Susan Hawthorne’s book Cow is available worldwide from distributors in USA, Canada, UK, from all the usual online retailers or from Spinifex Press. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/book/id=215/ © Susan Hawthorne, 2019 (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.
The Ceremonial Creative Cosmos 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. The Cosmos is a ceremony, a ritual. Dawn and dusk, seasons, supernovas – it is an ongoing Event of coming into being and passing away. The Cosmos is always in flux, and we exist as participants in this great ritual event, this “cosmic ceremony of seasonal and diurnal rhythms” which frame “epochal dramas of becoming,” as Charlene Spretnak describes it.[i] Swimme and Berry describe the universe as a dramatic reality, a Great Conversation of announcement and response.[ii]Ritual/ceremony[iii] may be the human conscious response to the announcements of the Universe – an act of conscious participation. Ceremony then may be understood as a microcosmos[iv] – a human-sized replication of the Drama, the Dynamic we find ourselves in. Swimme and Berry describe ritual as an ancient response humans have to the awesome experience of witnessing the coming to be and the passing away of things; they say that a “ritual mode of expression” is from its beginning “the manner in which humans respond to the universe, just as birds respond by flying or as fish respond by swimming.”[v] It is the way in which we as humans, as a species, may respond to this awesome experience of being and becoming, how we may hold the beauty and the terror. Humans have exhibited this tendency to ritualize since the earliest times of our unfolding: evidence so far reveals burial sites dating back one hundred thousand years, as mentioned in the previous chapter. We often went to huge effort in these matters, that is almost incomprehensible to the modern industrialised econocentric mind: the precise placing of huge stones in circles such as found at Stonehenge and the creation of complex sites such as Silbury Hill may be expressions of some priority, indicating that econocentric thinking – such as tool making, finding shelter and food, was not enough or not separate from the participation in Cosmic events. Ritual seems to have expressed, and still does actively express for some peoples, something essential to the human – a way of being integral with our Cosmic Place, which was not perceived as separate from material sustenance, the Source of existence: thus it was a way perhaps of sensing “meaning” as it might be termed these days – or “relationship.” Swimme and Berry note that the order of the Universe has been experienced especially in the seasonal sequence of dissolution and renewal; this most basic pattern has been an ultimate referent for existence.[vi] The seasonal pattern contains within it the most basic dynamics of the Cosmos – desire, fullfilment, loss, transformation, creation, growth, and more. The annual ceremonial celebration of the seasonal wheel – the Earth-Sun sacred site within which we tour – can be a pathway to the Centre of these dynamics, a way of making sense of the pattern, a way of sensing it. One enters the Universe’s story. The Seasonal Moments when marked and celebrated in the art form of ceremony may be sens-ible ‘gateways’ through the flesh of the world[vii] to the Centre – which is omnipresent Creativity. Humans do ritual everyday – we really can’t help ourselves. It is simply a question of what rituals we do, what story we are telling ourselves, what we are “spelling”[viii] ourselves with – individually and collectively. 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”[ix] 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.[x] Ceremony then is a form of social action. NOTES: [i] Spretnak, States of Grace, 145. [ii] Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 153. [iii] I will use either or both of these terms at different times: I generally prefer “ceremony” as Kathy Jones defines it in Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess, 319. She says that ritual involves a repeated set of actions which may contain spiritual or “mundane” elements (such as a daily ritual of brushing one’s teeth), “whereas ceremony is always a spiritual practice and may or may not include ritual elements.” The PaGaian seasonal celebrations/events are thus most kin to “ceremony,” although I do not perceive any action as “mundane.” However, “ritual” is more commonly used to speak of how humans have conversed with cosmos/Earth. [iv] Spretnak, States of Grace, 145. [v] Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 152-153. [vi] Ibid. [vii] Abram speaks of “matter as flesh” in The Spell of the Sensuous, 66, citing Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Invisible and the Invisible (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1968). [viii] Starhawk used this term on her email list in 2004 to describe the story-telling we might do to bring forth the changes we desire. [ix] A term used by Gloria Feman Orenstein in The Reflowering of the Goddess (New York: Pergamon Press, 1990), 147. [x] As my doctoral thesis supervisor Dr. Susan Murphy once described it to me in conversation REFERENCES: Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Jones, Kathy. Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess. Glastonbury: Ariadne Publications, 2006. Orenstein, Gloria Feman. The Reflowering of the Goddess. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Spretnak, Charlene. States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

(Book Announcement 4) Introduction (part 2) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Editor’s Note: This Introduction is from She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2.] Pre-order available now! The Text of the Primordial Mother/the Creatrix/Mago She Rises Volume 2, like her predecessor, is born out of the Magoist vision.[i] It intends to raise the collective consciousness of WE, a cognitive symbolic system derived from the knowing of the Primordial Mother or the Creatrix. One may call it an embodied knowing or gynocentric epistemology. Our stories shed light on the holistic view in which all parts are revered as a microcosm of the Creatrix. The She Rises book is an emblem of gynocentric cosmology: All contributions are interconnected and the book is enriched by each and all contributions. This book is NOT just about what we have discovered and what we have experienced about Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality but what and how we do with our discoveries and experiences. Where are we heading to with our knowing of S/HE? The collective consciousness of WE summons a gynocentric reality. This book is designed to show our togetherness in our uniqueness. It stands for unity that is enhanced by the diversity of individuals. The key phrase in the subtitle, “Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality,” is a reminder of the all-embracing gynocentric way of our becoming. We ARE committed to the making of the book to reflect the gynocentric principle of unity in diversity. We allow our differences to lead us to a new (read gynocentric) territory without making ourselves fall into factionalism. Competition in a constructive manner helps us grow. But factionalism destroys us. We speak our truths not to argue or win. We speak our truths because they are true to us. Truth speaks, even when we can’t hear. And we trust ourselves to speak our truths in HER. And S/HE shall bring us together in WE. To trust in our contributors is the map that we editors have followed in She Rises collective books. In the process, we have learned that what we really need to be careful of, not the other camp of Goddessians, but what really divides us among Goddessians/Magoists. In my Introduction to She Rises Volume 1, I drew attention to the word “Goddess,” concerning our need to reclaim it despite its linguistic drawback. Summarily, we strategically adopt the word, “Goddess,” knowing its derivative and subsequently dualistic nature from the word “God” in the English language.[ii] We are aware of the functional nature of language, a means for the meaning that we intend to convey. We choose one word over another for our political and utilitarian reasons. Our use of the word “Goddess” has given us a common ground to come together and interweave the She Rises books. The Magoist vision of the book merits the stance that the Goddess is not just the female divine or a sum of female deities but the Great Goddess, the Primordial Mother. It is S/HE who allows us the holistic view of WE/HERE/NOW, the ultimate reality. We who are awakened in S/HE know that we ARE this S/HE reality. In writing my Introduction to the second book, another term has come to my attention, “feminine.” As seen in this book, some of our authors have favorably chosen the word, “feminine” in support of Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality for reliable reasons. The context wherein the term is used is complex and highly suggestive of the female divine power. In their uses, some make it clear that the feminine refers to the female divine nature/power of women. Others use it in redefining and deconstructing patriarchal definitions of “the feminine.” It is true that “the divine feminine” or “the sacred feminine” has taken on popularity so much so that it appears almost indispensable in the Goddess Talk. Nonetheless, I hold that there is a point that we need to think and explore together the meaning of “feminine.” Linguistically speaking, referring to the gender quality of women, the meaning of “feminine” fluctuates. I find it worth broaching these questions to us: Is the term “feminine” empowering Goddess feminism? Why yes? Why no? These questions can only be answered by our authors and readers. We editors by no means advocate the purge of the term, feminine, from this book. Forcing unity is not gynocentric. We propose the question as an ongoing conversation among Goddessians. Here is my stance to the question, which is yes and no. When the context indicates an ancient (read gynocentric) or feminist meaning, the word “feminine” certainly empowers women. When “the divine feminine” indicates the Primordial Mother within an environment like this book, the word is empowering. Put differently, the meaning of “feminine” can be conveyed as gynocentric, that is, women-empowering, when “the divine feminine” refers to the Creatrix, the Great Goddess. In this case, the gender quality of “feminine” is coherent with the biological quality of “female.” The meaning of “feminine” in such context does NOT reflect the patriarchally-imposed qualities of women; the feminine is gynocentric and sacred. However, when the word “feminine” is used outside the gynocentric context, it becomes dubious in meaning, if not self-defeating, obstructing the impetus of women’s empowerment. Referring to the gender quality (read a social/patriarchal construct), of women, the meaning of “feminine” changes in different times and cultures. It is not free from socio-cultural settings. Being feminine today in the U.S. would be very different from being feminine two centuries ago. Also, being feminine today in one country would be very different from being feminine today in another country. On the other hand, the word, “female,” conveying the biological and biologically-derived quality of women, remains coherent in meaning across times and cultures. “Female” offers us a solid ground to build our feminist activism and feminist spirituality. Thus far, we women still hold the power of female biological and biologically-derived traits. The word, “feminine” alone risks a powerful conceptual ground for Goddess feminism. Precisely, it falls short in capturing the divine power of the Primordial Mother, the Creatrix. For example, I …
(Essay 2 Part 1) Why Do I Love Korean Historical Dramas? by Anna Tzanova

Part 1 Fans, journalists, critics, and academia in multiple fields have studied this world phenomenon; have written blogs, articles, books; and presented in conferences, dissecting, and making predictions. Still, the magic and mystery of its success persists to be as thrilling as ever. This is the way I see it: DELIGHTING THE SENSES
(Mago Almanac 4) Restoring 13 Month 28 Day Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[This and the following sequels are from Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), Years 1 and 2 (5, 6, 9, 10…), 5915-6 MAGO ERA, 2018-9 CE (Mago Books, 2017).] We want to get back the 13th Friday. This almanac shows how that is possible. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang INTRODUCTION (Continued) 13 MARY DALY QUOTES Each monthly calendar, headed by quotes from Mary Daly’s Wickedary, has space for users to continue OUR Story. 1 Elemental Rhythms 1: rhythms displaying the infinite interplay of unity and diversity characteristic of Elemental phenomena such as tides, seasons, phases of the moon: TIDAL RHYTHMS 2: cadences and vibrations of the wordings of Websters, which are Be-Spoken in cosmic concordance Background the Realm of Wild Reality; the Homeland of women’s Selves and of all other Others; the Time/Space where auras of plants, planets, stars, animals and all Other animate beings connect. 2 New Space Space on the Boundary of patriarchal institutions; Space created by women which provides real alternatives to the archetypal roles of fatherland; Space in which women Realize Power of Presence New Time Time on the Boundary of patriarchal time; women’s Life-Time; Time in which the past is changed and Archaic Futures are Realized 3 Archaic Time Original Creative Time, beyond the stifling grasp of archetypal molds and measures; the measure of Original Motion/E-Motion/Movement Archespheres the Realm of true beginnings, where Shrews shrink alienating archetypes and Unforget Archaic Origins, uncovering the Archimage, the Original Witch within 4 Re-calling 1: persistent/insistent Calling of the Wild; recurring invitation to Realms of Deep Memory 2: Active Unforgetting of participation in Be-ing; Re-membering and giving voice to Original powers, intuitions, memories 5 Courage to live The Courage to refuse inclusion in the State of the Living Dead, to break out from the deadforms of archetypal deadtime, to take leap after leap of Living Faith; Fiercely Biophilic Courage 6 Elemental Spirits Spirits/Angels/Demons manifesting the essential intelligence of spirit/matter; Intelligences ensouling the stars, animating the processes of earth, air, fire, water, enspiriting the sounds that are the Elements of words, connecting words with the earth, air, fire, water and with the sun, moon, planets, stars 7 Tidal Characterized by cosmic interconnections and rhythms; Elemental; Wild Tidal Memory Memory of the Deep Background, characterized by Tidal Rhythms of Re-membering: ELEMENTAL MEMORY Tidal Time Elemental Time, beyond the clocking/clacking of clonedom; Wild Time; Time that cannot be grasped by the tidily man-dated world; Time of Wicked Inspiration/Genius 8 Wild The vast Realm of Reality outside the pinoramic world view constructed by the bores and necrophiliacs of patriarchy; true Homeland of all Elemental be-ing, characterized by diversity, wonder, joy, beauty, Metamorphic Movement and Spirit 9 Biophilic Bonding 1: the Lusty combining of Elemental forces among Others 2: the uniting of Life-Loving women in Hopping/hoping harmony 10 Metabeing Realms of active participation in Powers of Be-ing; State of Ecstasy 11 Re-membering 1: Re-calling the Original intuition of integrity healing the dismembered Self – the Goddess within women; Re-calling the Primordial connections/conversations among women, animals, and other Elemental beings 2: Realzing the power to See and to Spell out connections among apparently disparate phenomena: Spinning, Creating 12 Powers of Be-ing Be-ing the Verb, understood in multiple and diverse manifestations, e.g., Knowing, Creating, Loving, Unfolding – and through diverse Metaphors – e.g. the Fates, Chaning Women (Eastan Atlehi, Creatrix of the Navaho People), Shekhina (female divine presence in Hebrew lore) 13 Thirteen represents the Other Hour, beyond the direction of disaster. It signals the Presence of the Otherworld – Metamorphospheres – True Homeland of all Hags, Crones, Furies, Furries and Other Friends. It represents the Realm of Wild Reality, the Background, the Time/Space when/where auras of plants, planets, stars, animals, and all truly animate be-ing connect. It points to Living Worlds utterly foreign to foolocracy – Worlds that are Eccentric, Erratic, Odd, Queer, Quaint, Outlandish, Weird. (Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.

Category: Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

(Mago Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 1) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

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(Book Excerpt 6) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Essay) Pandemic, Patriarchy, and Mother Nature by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Essay 1) Magoist Cetaceanism: Why do we listen to the call of whales and dragons? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Book Excerpt 5) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Book Excerpt 4) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Essay) Rediscovering Matilda Joslyn Gage as the pioneering anti-colonialist feminist thinker by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Book Excerpt 2) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Tribute 1) My Loving Father Hwang Jong-Hwan (黃鍾煥 7/31/1935-10/10/2020) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Prose) The Mago Work and Magoist Cetaceanism in the time of the Covid19 by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Whale Essay 2) Whales in Korean Linguistics by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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(Book Excerpt) The Budoji Workbook (Volume 1): The Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1-4)

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(Essay 3) Magoist Cetaceanism and the Myth of the Pacifying Flute (Manpasikjeok) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

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Seeking Mago, the Great Mother from Old Korea

S/HE: IJGS V5 N1 2026 (B/W Paperback)

Mago Almanac Year 9 Monthly Wheels

Mago Pod Bulletin #85 August-September 2026

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