December 30, 2025December 31, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino2 Comments

(Nine Poets Speak) Laundry by Leslene della-Madre

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Today I hung my clothesline.I feel twisted inside even thinking about using the clothes dryer Read More …

December 25, 2025January 16, 2026 RTM Co-Editor M SaracinoLeave a comment

(Nine Poets Speak) The Littlest Balsam by Sara Wright

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Five years agoI dug a seedlingin protestki’s deep greenneedlesslender trunkand rootsyieldedto sweetspring earthwith prayers.I believed.One Read More …

December 18, 2025December 18, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino1 Comment

(Nine Poets Speak) Metacrisis by Harriet Ann Ellenberger

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Photo by Cassandra Moore, on Unsplash; Cassandra Moore (@cassanova) | Unsplash Photo Community MetacrisisThere is Read More …

December 11, 2025December 8, 2025 Mago WorkLeave a comment

(Nine Poets Speak) The Creatrix Story Re-spun by Michele J. Celello

Deep inside Mount Etna, red hot lava spurted towards the cosmos.The blood of our beloved sacred Pachamama-Gaia,fed the galaxies above for three days.Galaxies spun in opposing spirals, making love,birthing new Read More …

December 9, 2025December 10, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino2 Comments

(Nine Poets Speak) Hear Our Cries by Arlene Bailey

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Art by Katherine Skaggs, Katherine Skaggs Visionary Artist, Shamanic Healer, Spiritual Teacher Author’s Note: I Read More …

November 6, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino1 Comment

(Nine Poets Speak) Breathing Smoke by Harriet Ann Ellenberger

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Photo by Benjamin Lizardo on Unsplash Horizon to horizon, the sky is covered with haze Read More …

October 30, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino1 Comment

(Nine Poets Speak) The Spiral’s at Hand by Annie Finch

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] My sisters, we’re burning —but not in that fire! The spiral’s at handwhere we love, Read More …

October 28, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino1 Comment

(Nine Poets Speak) Place of the Next Light by Arlene Bailey

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Art, Meraylah Allwood, InANutshellArt, https://www.etsy.com/shop/InANutshellArt I’ve held it all in,all the hopes and dreams,the cries Read More …

October 23, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino3 Comments

(Nine Poets Speak) The Trees by Maria Fama

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Trees on Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA photo by Maria Fama I place my hand on Read More …

October 16, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M SaracinoLeave a comment

(Nine Poets Speak) The Voice by Louisa Calio

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] You have found it, sister Your scattered powers reclaimed Concentrated In the silver waves of Read More …

October 14, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M Saracino2 Comments

(Nine Poets Speak) Echidna by Susan Hawthorne

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Short_beaked_Echidna.jpg indomitable indomitable Echidna lives in the deepest caves of Earth her home Read More …

October 9, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M SaracinoLeave a comment

(Nine Poets Speak) Sisters by Mary Saracino

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Demeter and Persephone Roman Forum photo by Mary Saracino Some sisters are bound by blood Read More …

October 2, 2025December 6, 2025 RTM Co-Editor M SaracinoLeave a comment

(Nine Poets Speak) Woman Know Thyself by Arlene Bailey

[Editors’ Note: Learn about how the “Nine Poets Speak” series came to be in place here.] Art by Amanda Lindupp, https://www.facebook.com/sacredpathart The life of the woman whohears the call of the wildand Read More …

(Prose) All Souls Day by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright “Women must know where they are going, how to get there, and how to get back.” Laura Shannon Living part time in New Mexico, I see a lot of commercial skulls, witches, black cats etc. that mark this turning but I don’t see the rituals that once accompanied the ancient three day festival that is known as the Feast of the Dead and is comprised of All Hallows, All Saints Day, and lastly, today, All Souls Day. Because I am attached to each cycle of the year in an intimate way I create ritual for each of these turnings using the Celtic calendar because it fits with what is happening around me in Nature. I cannot separate myself from Earth’s natural cycles. The leaves are falling and white frost covers the ground. Winter birds have arrived. It is too dark in the morning This year I noticed how deeply private my ritual was, how focused my writing was on personal survival, structural integrity and health of my body, ‘my house’, the absolute necessity of honoring feelings in this body. Normally during these three days I light candles for others and say prayers for those who have gone before, and remember my family – although family memory is rife with pain and betrayal . This year these three days are passing with me aware of but not focused on the dead but on me. I have been wondering what it means that I need to turn so much attention on myself. Making my way to the river through chopped off tree arms in the pre-dawn I was struck by the relationship between the severing of these beloved cottonwood limbs by the man who owns this property, the resulting destruction of my cottonwood cathedral, the powerful feeling that I was/am living the myth of the girl who had her hands severed by her father and his ax, the terrible violence inherent in this story, and how I close I came yesterday to chopping off my own finger while splitting kindling. But didn’t. My ritual intentions were/are twofold: protection of the structure and integrity of this body – house and to “re-member” what was done to the trees and me. I don’t want to hold onto my anger but I want to remember. By remembering I gain the necessary courage to create change. During this writing has it become clear that this need for honoring trees in death is just as important as honoring them in life. I am more intimately attached my three – day ritual and the re kindling of the soul – literally and metaphorically – than ever before. On one hand I remember the dead, on the other I celebrate the sanctity of all life through trees – those that are maimed or dead, and those that are evergreen (a universal symbol for “everlasting” life). There is a wholeness, an integrity attached to this relationship between the days of the dead, my expression through ritual, and what happens in my life that I find especially moving. The souls of those tree limbs live on. On my walk this morning I also discovered a perfect bird’s nest woven out of reeds and grasses, completely empty except for shriveled brown leaves. I gently and reverently removed the nest, and cupping it in frozen hands, brought it back to the house, placing it in the center of the tree that I adorned with lights and crystals just yesterday. I have been lighting up an evergreen tree early in November for about the last 10 years without understanding why except that it felt right. I follow my instincts when it comes to ritual (unfortunately, the rest of the time I often succumb to logic and reason in inappropriate ways especially when under pressure). For the next three months I will be acknowledging my love for trees in a very deliberate and conscious way… To find the empty nest on All Souls Day is significant for three reasons. The nest embodies loss but also acts as a container for the dead, (lost tree limbs)…and perhaps for me. (Meet Mago Contributor) Sara Wright.
(Quilt Art) Väinätär, Veen Emo, Mother Goddess of the Watery Ways, Creation of the world by Kaarina Kailo

According to Kalevala, Ilmatar as the first created being floated in the great nothingness, finally lifting her knee so a teal (sometimes an eagle) could lay its egg on it. The egg rolls into the water, breaks, and its different parts create the universe. The moon is created from the white of the egg, while the yolk yields as its Gift the yellow sun. The Earth and the luminaries (the sky, moon, and stars) are thus the fruit of the cosmic female womb. Ilmatar cannot be separated from the Mother of Watery ways and both are portrayed floating on the primal seas. Veen emo is clearly an ancient shaman figure as she can transform herself according to the needs of her role as Primal Creatrix using both water and air as her primal ingredients. This quilt work honors also a more recent water mother, Väinätär, as the mother of Väinämöinen, the main hero of Kalevala. https://www.magoism.net/2016/03/meet-mago-contributor-kaarina-kailo/
Bulletin Board

August 28, 2017 Dear Readers and Contributors, Return to Mago E-Magzine has moved to a server and is now up running again. If you still don’t see the new website, please refresh your browser’s cache. http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cache (This might be helpful.) As you will see, she has been radically remodeled and will continue to accommodate new applications in the coming weeks. Please check out up-to-date new features: 1. A new widget/application on the sidebar will randomize to show previous posts. This means that readers have access to old posts that would have been otherwise fossilized. Nonetheless, the new website does not allow old post to be commented. For this, I have created a comment form, “I like what you said because…” and made it available on the sidebar. Please feel free to check out older posts and encourage our contributors by leaving your comments in the form and submitting it. Your comments will be posted under “Reader’s Notes” available through the sidebar widget. You will see all of these devices on the sidebar and can’t miss them. https://www.magoism.net/notes-to-an-old-post/ 2. Anyone who is interested in submitting her/his contribution, please feel free to use the submission for included in Call for Contributions. RTM August Newsletter is still coming. Talk to you soon again! Executive Editor/Co-founder Helen Hwang
(Essay) Christian Women and Thealogy by Mary Ann Beavis

For several years, I have been researching a phenomenon that I call “Christian Goddess Spirituality” (CGS), a blending of elements from Christianity and Goddess Spirituality. I have interviewed over 100 women who self-describe as practicing CGS in some form, and held a focus group of fourteen CGS practitioners in June 2013. (The reason for interviewing women only at this stage in the research is strategic, as my hunch is that women and men seek the Goddess for different reasons.) This is a very condensed and preliminary report on some research results, focussing on the thealogical aspects of CGS, illustrated by quotations from the interviews.
(Art) Nurture by Anna Tzanova

to feed and protect; to support and encourage; to foster and bring up; to train and educate; to develop and nourish; to care for and cherish… Such a multifaceted and meaningful word! It represents to me an essential quality of the Goddess. An aspect I strive to cultivate within, embody, and express externally. I use it to guide all my actions by asking myself, “Is this nurturing?”; “By doing this, what am I nurturing?” Very often, minds have been conditioned to counterpose nature and nurture, creating not only a divide, but also a controversy. The intrinsic feature of Nature is to nurture. The womb not only births, but nurtures. Nothing can be sustained or achieved without nurture. Nature teaches us the lesson of acceptance. Nurture – the lesson of patience. It also provides the opportunity and freedom of choice. Together, they intertwine and weave the entire Creation. What are you nurturing today? From She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2 (forthcoming, 2016). See (Meet Mago Contributror) Anna Tzanova.
(Review) Anthology: She Is Everywhere, Volume 3 Review by Judith Laura

REVIEW: Anthology – She Is Everywhere Vol. 3 She Is Everywhere! An Anthology of Writings in Womanist/Feminist Spirituality, Volume 3. Gathered by Mary Saracino and Mary Beth Moser (iUniverse 2012), 460 pages. Available in softcover, hardcover, and as an e-book. She Is Everywhere! Volume 3 combines essays of significant scholarship with poetry, fiction, and art of deep inspiration. This volume focuses on the international community of people who honor the divine or sacred as female. Its contents contain articles not only from many different nationalities, but also from a variety of cultures and religions. In alphabetical order by last name of contributor, this volume includes: Laura Amazzone, “The Fijian Kava Ceremony: An Ancient Menstrual Ritual?”; Michele Arista, “A Midrash of Rosary Prayers”; Gael Belden, “Soror Mystica: New Myth for a Changing Earth”; Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, “Story, gifts, standpoint, and methodologies of feminist cultural history”; Nancy Caronia, “Underworld”; Giana Cicchelli, “Journey to the Center,” “In the Name of Jesus,” and “Resounding Response”; Joanna Clapps-Herman, “Psychic Arrangements” and “Potions, Lotions and Solutions”; Lori Coon, “The Dark Goddess”; Randy P. Conner, “Of Diana, Witches, and Fairies”; Nancy Cosgriff, “Hecate” and “Browned Beauty”; Elizabeth Cunningham, “Hymn to Ma of Ephesus” and “Ave Matres”; Max Dashu, “The Meanings of ‘Goddess’”; Leslene della-Madre, “The Luminous Dark Mother”; Chickie Farella, “I Love You Mom: Do Me a Favor… Don’t Tell Nobody”; Catlyn Fendler, “The Black Madonna and the Labyrinth”; Jean Feraca, “Crossing the Great Divide,” “Mater Dolorosa,” and “Nursing My Child Through His First Illness”; Annie Finch, “Goddess,” “Moon From the Porch,” and “Eve”; Mischa Geracoulis, “Secret Hair”; Tricia Grame, “Beyond The Symbol, VIII” and “Isis”; Mama Donna Henes, “Terra Mater” and “Holy Yoni”; Sheila Marie Hennessy, “Lilith” and “Contemplate Creation”; Theresa Gale Henson, “Finding Ixchel” and “Enough”; Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Making the Gyonocentric [sic] Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and Her Tradition Magoism”; Nané Ariadne Jordan, “A Poetics of the Placenta: Placental cosmology as gift and sacred economy”; Anne Key, “The Stuff of Life: Clay Figurines and Priestesses in Mesoamerica”; Lê Pham Lê, “The Fairy and the Dragon,” “Hát River,” and “Journey to Langbian Mountain”; Glenys Livingstone, “Spelling and Re-Creating Her”; Yvonne M. Lucia, “Black Madonna Cradles the Earth”; Lindy Lyman: “Mother and Daughter/The Forest”; Anne Key, “The Stuff of Life: Clay Figurines and Priestesses in Mesoamerica”; MamaCoAtl, “It is My Heart Who Reminds Me”; Nicole Margiasso-Tran, “Healing Wells and Sacred Fire”; Kathy Martone, “Rebirth” and “Gathering Forces”; Harita Meenee, “Orphic Mysteries and Goddess(es) of Nature: Greek Hymns Honoring the Divine Feminine”; Etoyla McKee, “Garden Okra”; Judy Millyard-Maselli, “Connected”; Mary Beth Moser, “The Motherline: Laundry, Lunedi, and Women’s Lineage”; Andrea Nicki, “Vagina Dentata”; Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, “Saint Sara-La-Kali: The Romani Black Madonna”; Luciana Percovich, “Momolina Marconi: An Italian Passionate Scholar of the Goddess”; Shelley R. Reed, “The Red Mother of the Salish Mountains”; Sandy Miranda Robinett, “Sardegnan Nuraghe”; Lydia Ruyle: Three Goddess Icon Spirit Banners: Crow Mother, Isis, Palden Lhamo”; Bridget Saracino, “Unfamiliar,” “Anubis,” and “Strawberry Lullaby”; Mary Saracino, “The Tarantata,” “Holy Mary,” and “Sicily”; Lisa Sarasohn, “Lisa & Zeb-un-Nissa” Kristin Shilling, “Puberty,” “The China Line,” and “Tendrils”; Elisabeth Sikie, “Descent,” “Tantra With Beloved,”and “Song to Demeter”; David Hatfield Sparks, “The Birth of Xochiquetzal at 948 Noe St.”; Solace Wales, “Messages from the Black Madonna”; Claudia von Werlhof, “The Interconnectedness of All Being: A New Spirituality for a New Civilization.” The anthology contains fiction by Mary Saracino and poetry by Lori Coon, Elizabeth Cunningham, Annie Finch, Jean Feraca, Lê Pham Lê, MamaCoAtl, Judy Millyard-Maselli, Andrea Nicki, and Elisabeth Sikie. Art includes front cover “Black Madonna Cradles the Earth” by Yvonne M. Lucia and back cover “Contemplate Creation” by Sheila Marie Hennessy; interior art by Mary Beth Moser and Nicole Margiasso-Tran; original artwork by Tricia Grame, Lori Coon, Lydia Ruyle, Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Kathy Martone, Theresa Gale Henson, Shelley R. Reed, Sandy Miranda Robinett, Chris Gordoni, Nané Adriadne Jordan, Lindy Lyman, Sheila Marie Hennessy, and Harita Meenee. A List of Illustrations at the beginning of the Table of Contents gives more information on the original media of the artwork. An unusual statement on the copyright page explains the use of “gathered,” rather than “edited.” The gatherers/editors of this anthology do not wish to define an author or define an author’s work by trying to make the text of this anthology consistent in style, grammar, punctuation, etc. One of the challenges in reviewing anthologies is that usually the contributions are diverse in subject matter, approach, and style, while the number of contributions makes it impractical to review each one. This anthology is no exception. Yet I will try to give you an idea of the variety, breadth, and depth of its contents. The opening essay, ” Healing Wells and Sacred Fire: A Pilgrimage to Brigit’s Land,” by Nicole Margiasso-Tran, is a personal story of the author’s journey to Kildare, Ireland, to celebrate the Pagan holiday Brigit/Imbolc and the Catholic Saints Day for St. Brigid with a community of nuns named “Solas Bhride,”which translated from the Celtic into English means “Brigit’s Light (or Flame).” The author also describes visiting Goddess Brigit’s holy places. This is followed by Max Dashu’s global, scholarly, and for me, inspirational, essay, ” The Meanings of ‘Goddess’.” Dashu looks at a large number of female deities from a wide variety of cultures and historical periods, including the present. Pointing out the difficulties that some academics (including some feminist academics) and others have with the word and concepts associated with “Goddess,” Dashu asserts a wonderfully strong socio-political stance, stating: The Goddess movement recognizes the political uses of male-supremacist religion, and undermines its dominionist foundations. We challenge theologies that make females stand for the “inferior” material realm, reduce us to sex, decree our submission to male privilege. We repudiate hierarchy of all kinds, including the demonization of matter, of bodies, of darkness in patriarchal religion. We recognize how the twisted ideas of diabolism not only degraded women in the witch hunts, and inculcated hateful ideas about human sexuality, but at the same time demonized dark peoples …
(Essay 2) Private Religion in Pompeii: An examination of two lararia from Pompeii by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.

Two Lararia from Pompeii The intermingling of deities, both insiders and outsiders, is most evident in private contexts, where no formal stricture limited personal religious expression, most notably in the household shrines that formed the locus of cult in Roman domestic worship[1]. Boyce wrote that the lararium of the shop[2] (Corpus, no. 499) was decorated with pained images, “the Genius and, below him, a single serpent; to the left of the door is Mercury between a cock and an omphalos[3] around which a serpent is coiled.” In this lararium, we find an image of the genius of the household; the serpent found in most lararia coiled around an omphalos, a stone representing the navel of the world; and Mercury, the god of wealth and luck. Since this lararium is located within a shop, the worship of the god Mercury would be used to draw his blessing to the shop and to bring about good trade and wealth. The genius, an inherited god, may indicate that ownership of this shop is passed on from father to son. Therefore, the genius is there to watch over the family’s holding and protect it for another generation. Picture of lararium from the Case dei Vetti. Image taken from http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jjd5t/region-vi/vettii/vettii-table1.html According to Boyce, the lararium found in the Casa dei Vetti (Corpus no. 211) is, “one of the largest, and at the same time finest lararia in Pompeii, consisting of a lararium painting within an aedicule.” Situated on the western wall of the smaller atrium, the aedicule, small shrine is flanked by two Corinthian half-columns and is surrounded on three sides by three bands of elaborate stucco ornamentation in red, blue and yellow. The lararium painting found on the back wall of the aedicule is done on a white background. In the center of the painting is the genius, a young man wearing toga with purple border drawn over his head. Flanking the genius are wreathed Lares, each wearing a white tunic with a purple sash. Underneath this image is that of a bearded serpent with a brown back and a yellow belly that “glides through plants towards a square alter,” painted at the right edge of the image. From the elaborate decoration and display on lararium we can assume that the worship of deities was influenced by how much a family could afford to spend on the lararium. That while there were commonly depicted figures, those who could afford to pay artists to decorate their lararium, possibly to bring great fortune from the gods they worshipped. Conclusion We cannot say with certainty that in the ancient Roman world, the worship of specific deities was restricted to those of different classes or occupations. Some conclusions can be drawn, however, as to why various gods were represented in a lararium, what they meant, and why a lararium might contain them. If the shop was owned by the individual who worked in it, then the deities in the lararium have specific meanings attached to them besides merely the bringing of wealth. The genius would have represented the head of the household who might have worked there and his desire to pass the shop onto his heirs after his death. The depiction of Mercury is part of this desire to continue the family work as Mercury would bring wealth and new trading opportunities to the owner. The lararium from the Casa dei Vetti, a large household, shows elaborate images of the Lares and the genius, along with the more familiar depiction of the serpent. It does not show, however, pictures of personal deities. We can draw some conclusions about this lararium by examining others and from the statuettes contained in them, as well as those statuettes that were taken by people as they fled the city. We can make the argument that in these lararium members of the household most likely had statuettes of personal deities displayed on the shelf of the shrine. That these statuettes could change when a son succeeded his father, or if the family took on a new personal protector. Also, the individual deities could change while the essential household deities, the Lares and genius, would remain constant, always watching over and protecting the family. In examining a lararium, the researcher must remember several essential facts to grasp the complexities of religion and worship in the ancient Roman world. First, that there were several levels of religious practice; public, cult and private. Second, that as the Roman Empire expanded, the people incorporated new gods into the pantheon of deities for cultic and private worship. And third, that the secret religion that took place in the home was individual to the pater of the house. The main lararium, if there were two, contained the Lares and the genius of the head of the household and not that of the servants or slaves. Within this lararium would probably have been statuettes which may or may not be present. The statuettes of deities, if they are found, may have replaced the previous gods of the pater’s father. Or even have been replaced at some point by the pater. So, unless one is examining a recently uncovered lararium or one in which all statuettes and objects were still present, we cannot say for sure what statues were housed in the lararium. While there were common elements to most lararia; the Lares, Penates and genius, there did not exist a standard way of worship within the home. The private worship of deities was a personal matter for the individual based upon their needs and beliefs. Again, the creation and use of altars from Pompeii are very similar to home altars kept by worshippers today. Images of saints, statues of deities, offerings, and candles, the items of reverence on an altar will change as the needs of the person change or as their situation changes. A pregnant woman might make offerings to a deity or saint to keep her safe …
(E-Interview) Kaalii Cargill by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang I have known Dr. Kaalii Cargill for more than a decade. Kaalii came to The Mago Work through the first volume of She Rises: Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality trilogy and stayed as a volunteer throughout other major projects of The Mago Work thereafter. In fact, Kaalii, as co-editor with me, formatted the manuscript and published She Rises Volume 1 by Mago Books and taught me how to use Amazon’s publishing platform for the publication of Mago Books. I was attracted to her life’s project, Soul Centered Psychotherapy, but did not have an opportunity to learn more about it. I am grateful that you answered my question about it here. It is my honor and joy that we have completed this e-interview at this point in our life’s journeys.Your below account on Soul Centered Psychotherapy is a new perspective that I have not heard elsewhere when it comes to therapy. “In this sense, therapy is not about fixing something that is broken but about attending to the rich language of the soul as it manifests in our day to day lives. Part of this is being open to enchantment – the sense of mystery in which we find value, love, and union with the world around us by attending to the rhythms and cycles of nature, the moon, the seasons, and our own mind-body systems.” I can see that your Soul Centered Psychotherapy is aligned with my research and advocacy of Ceto-Magoism (the Cetacean-Caused Way of the Creatrix) referring to the mytho-historical-cultural expression of the matriversal (of maternally perceived universe) soteriology. Methodologically, Soul Centered Psychotherapy is a practical way of doing Ceto-Magoist research for individuals, which aim at solid and profound transformation. Hwang You have founded and operated The Kairos Center and Soul Centered Psychotherapy for many years. Tell us about them and how they have influenced your own life? Kaalii Cargill The Kairos Centre came into being as a response to dissatisfaction with the sort of counselling and psychotherapy that was most commonly available in the late 1980s in Australia. Kairos is a word from ancient Greek meaning ‘the right or critical moment’, in contrast with Chronos, which means ‘chronological or sequential time’. Kairos is the soul’s timing rather than the timing of the logical mind. I worked with my partner Andrew to develop a therapeutic approach that valued relationship, mindfulness, embodied experience, the energetic field, meaning, enchantment, and the sacred – we called it Soul Centred Psychotherapy. This was at a time when the word “soul” had not been used so ubiquitously in advertising and mainstream culture. Western culture has traditionally valued mind and spirit, as in science and organised religion, and neglected soul, as in the sacred, embodied experience of being human. We offered training in Soul Centred Psychotherapy for 30 years. Soul Centred Psychotherapy attends to the human experience through the everyday stuff of life: our thoughts, emotions, body sensations and symptoms, and the relationships we have with others and the world. Value, meaning, and healing emerge from within each person’s unique process of inner work rather than from any external ideal of health, wealth, or happiness. In this sense, therapy is not about fixing something that is broken but about attending to the rich language of the soul as it manifests in our day to day lives. Part of this is being open to enchantment – the sense of mystery in which we find value, love, and union with the world around us by attending to the rhythms and cycles of nature, the moon, the seasons, and our own mind-body systems. The sacred aspect of the work involves meaning, honouring, and enchantment. This is similar to Jung’s idea of the Self as the central organising principle of the psyche, as well as the idea of the Anima Mundi or World Soul. In Soul Centred Psychotherapy some of the great myths that have informed humanity are studied and brought present in the form of story, images, and enactment. This can take the form of rituals that develop spontaneously in a session or are planned over several sessions.Hwang You have written and published novels. Tell us about them, as you feel appropriate for our RTM readers. Cargill I have written and published 6 novels and one non-fiction book. My novels all incorporate elements of sacred traditions – Western Mystery Traditions, Goddess Spirituality, and Nordic Mythology. The Element Series is a young adult epic fantasy trilogy. The system of magic in these novels is based on the alchemical and Wiccan traditions of working with the elements of Air, Fire, Water, Earth. The Warrior Queen Chronicles is a fantasy trilogy based in Nordic mythology – co authored with Kellianna Girouard, an American Neo-Celtic singer and songwriter whose performances of song and chant are inspired by myth, magic, sacred places and ancient times. Daughters of Time is a speculative/historical novel that asks “What if . . .?” What if Abraham, father of the three faiths, had conceived a child with a priestess before the fall of ancient Sumer? What if the child’s descendants were prophesied to carry balance (Goddess) through two millennia to the present day? What if an ancient prophecy can save the World? Daughters of Time is interwoven with archaeological, historical, and mythological details that reveal the ancient world, following a line of daughters and the way of Goddess through ancient Sumer, Egypt, and Jerusalem, and into the modern world. My non-fiction book, Don’t Take It Lying Down: Life According to the Goddess emerged from my PhD thesis in which I explored mindbody birth control. Don’t Take It Lying Down invites readers to see through the collective beliefs, attitudes and practices that bind women to a world view that denies power, choice, and control in many aspects of our lives. It is about Goddess and what has been lost. It is about reclaiming our birthright. It is also a book about mindbody birth control. This radical approach challenges many of our culture’s assumptions about women …
(Art) Winter Solstice by Yvonne Lucia

Longest Solstice night Shepherds, kings and angels’ wings herald newborn light Winter Solstice is the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. But no matter where one lives, the deepening darkness of humanity’s hubris penetrates to the bone. Any hope for peace on earth, goodwill to all has been debunked as dishearteningly as a maturing child’s belief in Santa Claus. Like our ancient ancestors, we feel an unsettling anxiety as we wonder when…how…if …the light will return.

(Special Post 3) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Helen Hwang I study and advocate Goddess feminism or Magoism because it is a way of living for me. I find myself in Mago (the Great Goddess) who in turn leads me to the Way wherein I learn how to become the person who I can be. It has to be Mago, the Female Divine, because She is real! She is the Primordial Mother who is the Beginning and the End of everything to us on the planet Earth. She teaches me the real. I can’t negotiate Her to anything less. Helen Hye Sook Hwang, Ph.D. California http://magoism.net Bridget Robertson A Goddessian I was introduced to a form of meditative journeying by a resident in my grandmother’s retirement community. She approached to me. I know she was at least part Native American, and that alone made her the topic of much gossip in the building. Her Rose colored lipstick, deep brown eyes, wrinkles that only helped illuminate her face and a chiffon scarf that matched none of her clothes. I thought she needed help with her groceries. She didn’t. She had me stop the elevator. and directly asked about my looking tired. My response was about being, busy balancing all the areas of my life. In fact I was exhausted doling out time like pieces of pie.
(Special Post 5) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing sequels are a revised version of the discussion that has taken place in The Mago Circle, Facebook group, since September 24, 2017 to the present. Themes are introduced and interwoven in a somewhat random manner, as different discussants lead the discussion. The topic of the number nine is key to Magoism, primarily manifested as Nine Magos or the Nine Mago Creatrix. Mago Academy hosts a virtual and actual event, Nine Day Mago Celebration, annually.] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: I have come across the origin of the Dokkaebi (image, Heavenly Ruler Chiu, 14th Hanung of Danguk. Chiu represented the Magoist rule aided by her 81 giant sister clan allies (nine groups of Nine Hans) fought Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), one of the ancient rulers of pre-historic China. Chiu is known as the empeor of Guri-guk or Guryeo-guk (Nine Ri State or Nine Ryeo State), which is alternatiely referred to as Goryeo-guk and Goguryeo-guk by East Asians. She was worshipped as the deity of war and remembered/depicted for her helmet made of copper and iron. Records about her war against Hungdi inundates ancient Korean and Chinese texts and myths. About Chiu or Chiyou, it is too complex to discuss here. It is a topic to be treated in its own right. Suffice to say that even some of basic information from Wikipedia is illuminating. “Chiyou (蚩尤) was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎) in ancient China. He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology. For the Hmong people, Chiyou was a sagacious mythical king. He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi, Miao or even Man, depending on the source and view. Today, Chiyou is honored and worshipped as the God of War and one of the three legendary founding fathers of China.” “According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi, Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi. According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with a metal forehead. He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand. In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a bull with two horns, although the body was that of a human. He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers. Historical sources often described him as ‘cruel and greedy’, as well as ‘tyrannical’. Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom. Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during the Battle of Zhuolu.” “Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (九黎, RPA White Hmong: Cuaj Li Ntuj) by nearly all sources. However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him. Some sources from later dynasties, such as the Guoyu book, considered Chiyou’s Li tribe to be related to the ancient San miao tribe (三苗). In the ancient Zhuolu Town is a statue of Chiyou commemorating him as the original ancestor of the Hmong people. The place is regarded as the birthplace of the San miao / Miao people, the Hmong being a subgroup of the Miao. In sources following the Hmong view, the “nine Li” tribe is called the “Jiuli” kingdom, Jiuli meaning “nine Li”. Modern Han Chinese scholar Weng Dujian considers Jiuli and San Miao to be Man southerners. Chiyou has also been counted as part of the Dongyi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou Above all, her depiction by ancient China is of a pejorative one. As we will see in the next part, she is contrasted with her opponent Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), a triumphantly depicted ancient hero of ancient China. Above Wikipedia. See her images created by ancient Koreans, the middle one in the three figures, depicted as a woman with female breasts, one of Dokkaebi images. There are other records that describe one of her allies. as one adorned with snakes in the head, which reminds me of Medusa. Silla (left), Baekje (Center), Goguryeo (right) http://lasvegaskim.com/Etc_Poem_55.htm Max Dashu: Oe-ri, Buyeo, in the Baekje period. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang: That is where the rooftile at the center is excavated. That is the original image of Dokkaebi that Lydia Ruyle chose and depicted in her banner work. I could not connect this image with Chiu until now. We have the female ruler who subdued the patrilocal force of Yellow Emperor, the forebear of ancientChinese emperors. There are lots of myths and data that I have found on them. Chiu is also numerously depicted as Dokkaebi faces, which makes me think of its connection to the iconography of Medusa and Gorgon (who comes as Three Sisters). Eight-snake-headed Medusahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa Gorgon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon https://www.magoism.net/2013/06/art-dokkaebi-by-lydia-ruyle/ Lizzy Bluebell: ‘Gonggong’ is not a far stretch phonetically from ‘Gorgon’ – I note. Briefly here – because it is a complex explanation – much more can be said about the etymology. For example, “gorge” relates to deep mountain passes with water flowing through them as well as the human throat or gullet, (relating the word to both speech and eating) and mountains are/were Goddess terrain, later usurped by MON-A-Ster-ies. The masculine name Ge-Orge is code which relates to GE/Gaia/Gay as well as to ‘orgy’. Sanskrit “garg” begets English ‘gargle’, and a guttural (gut-her-all) sound. I’ve always seen the archetypal Medusa/Gorgon’s ‘snaking curls’ as the energy emmitted from her head by her Wild I-Deas, which returns us to the theme of the Pythia/Oracle/Snake connections too. “In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (/ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ Gorgon/Gorgo) is a female creature. The name derives from the ancient Greek word gorgós, which means “dreadful”, and appears to come from the same root as the Sanskrit word “garğ” (Sanskrit: गर्जन, garjana) which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast,[1] thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia. While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters […]
(Special Post 5) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing

[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed in The Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. We have our voices together below and publish them in sequels. It is an ongoing project and we encourage our reader to join us! Submit yours today to Helen Hwang (magoism@gmail.com). Or visit and contact someone in Return to Mago’s Partner Organizations.] Annie Finch For me, Goddess is completely different from God–Goddess means acceptance of the sacred WITHIN the physical instead of transcending the physical; acceptance of death and life as equally sacred; and the holiness of changing cycles…. Annie Finch, Maine anniefinch.com Marie de Kock Why Goddess spirituality? Goddess spirituality is crucial for our survival and the survival of our planet. I’m referring to every woman’s connection and relationship with her own Spirit which resides in her heart, and her own divine ability to create, which springs from her womb. The womb is infinitely more than a reproductive organ; it is a replica of the Cosmic Womb or Mago. From that profound pool of infinite silent knowledge, women can access the solutions so urgently needed to recover the equilibrium the world with its God spirituality has lost, and women can dream the solutions into being. It is the intelligence of the heart and intelligence of the womb that humanity needs in order to balance out the ill effects of our noisy ‘rational’ left brained society. Women carry the keys to the wisdom within them. Female spirituality is the door. Marie is in Chile for now http://ninenormalwomenwithwings.com Leslene Della-Madre Goddess among many things to me is a verb–Goddessing. “Goding” isn’t the same. She is Love in action in all things–she is the cosmic gen-Her-ator bringing life into form from primordial chaos, the twin serpents of coming and going. She is the plasMA of the YoniVerse filling space with her divine essence creating great beaded necklaces of galaxies all connected to each other by electric pathways. She is the All and Eternal. Leslene Della Madre, California USA midwifingdeath.com Diane Horton Sacred Goddess Sisterhood Each of our stories as women who have come to embrace the Goddess are varied and interesting. Certainly interesting to each other, as our spirits long to resonate with another who has had a similar journey. Mine began while I was still a member of the Episcopal Church and a Christian. But relative to many, it was not that long ago, just 18 years. Some women have been knowing and worshiping the Goddess for more than 30 years, some have only just come to the reawakening and re-membering recently. Some of us call ourselves witches, some priestesses, or both. Some do not identify with either of those words and simply say they have immersed themselves in the Divine Feminine, or that they worship the Goddess. Some will say they are Pagan or Wiccan or Dianic Wiccan. Whatever we call ourselves, or do not call ourselves, we are all Sisters in Goddess, those who worship the Great Mother. And though our numbers are growing, seemingly almost daily, we are still in a minority. We need those who are articulate to voice our views and we need wise teachers who can share practices, philosophy and knowledge with those who are eager for such spiritual food. One of the great things about this Goddess Path is that, although there is much written and oral knowledge to be had for those who seek it, the deepest part of this path is experiential. Personal experience with Goddess, deep within ourselves, and having our eyes opened to Her all around us all the time, seeing and feeling Her magic in our lives, knowing Her love and nurturance in our hearts. We have no dogma, no set of rules or commandments, no rigid ideology. We have our own hearts to guide us into all acts of love and pleasure, compassion, humility and reverence which are Her rituals. When we express strength, hold our power and honor life, as well as giggle and laugh, those are Her rituals, too. There are the Women’s Blood Mysteries, which set women apart from men who worship the Goddess, but that should serve to unite women in a strong eternal bond, not alienate men. There is no place for hierarchy. We are all women equal to each other as daughters of the Goddess. We cannot, we must not, allow the patriarchal mindset to contaminate Feminine Spirituality. No hierarchy, no duality, no controlling others. If we want to see a world in which the Divine Feminine is prominent, the world that many of us believe is coming, we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror of our Sisters’ eyes and all of us individually commit ourselves to Unity, Sisterhood and Unconditional Love. That does not mean we will never disagree, and sometimes disagree vehemently, but it does mean we do not allow those disagreements to fracture us as a body of women or to damage or destroy our Sisterhood. There are many teachers who have their own followings of students, their own coursework, their own publications and newsletters, their own festivals they work all year to organize and make manifest. This is a good thing! Especially with the national economy the way it is now many, many women cannot afford to travel very far from their homes, so the fact that there are festivals in diverse parts of the country is no doubt just as the Goddess desires. Those who know of Her and hear Her call are greatly benefited by all of these in mind, heart and spirit. We all need each other. We who can spread this information far and wide need to do so, not just think of and promote the one group or project we are involved in ourselves individually. This is the BIG PICTURE. This is how the movement moves forward. This is how the Goddess gathers Her women (and men). Unification of purpose. Standing together. Supporting each other in concrete ways. We are Women of Goddess. Her spirit […]

(Music) Songs for Samhain by Alison Newvine

The season of Samhain is upon us. This playlist is an offering for this descent into the sacred darkness, and a companion for the journey into the underworld. Invocation of Witches features music by Loreena McKennitt, Marya Stark, Inkubus Sukubus, Wendy Rule, my band Spiral Muse, and many others. It is a soundtrack for ceremony and each song expresses a different face of the spirit of the witch. May this Samhain season guide you gently into the dissolution of what no longer serves, the honoring of what is complete and the cultivation of the inner space that will gestate what is yet to come. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2CFNoH9exhloz3w95P3Rlb?si=270cf01fabb8421c https://www.magoism.net/2023/10/meet-mago-contributor-alison-newvine/
(Essay) The Wheel of the Year and Climate Change by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from Chapter 2 of the author’s book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ The Wheel of the Year in a PaGaian cosmology essentially celebrates Cosmogenesis – the unfolding of the Cosmos, in which Earth’s extant Creativity participates directly, as does each unique being. The Creativity of Cosmogenesis is expressed through Earth-Sun relationship as it may manifest and be experienced within any region of our Planet. In PaGaian tradition this is expressed with Triple Goddess Poetry, which is understood to be metaphor for the creative dynamics unfolding the Cosmos. At the heart of the Earth-Sun relationship is the dance of light and dark, the waxing and waning of both these qualities, as Earth orbits around our Mother Sun. This dance, which results in the manifestation of form and its dissolution, as it does in the Seasons, happens because of Earth’s tilt in relationship with Sun: and that is because this tilt effects the intensity of regional receptivity to Sun’s energy over the period of the yearly orbit. This tilt was something that happened in the evolution of our planet in its earliest of days – some four and a half billion years ago, and then stabilised over time: and the climatic zones were further formed when Antarctica separated from Australia and South America, giving birth to the Antarctica Circumpolar Current, changing the circulation of water around all the continents … just some thirty million years ago[i]. Within the period since then, which also saw the advent of the earliest humans, Earth has gone through many climatic changes. It is likely that throughout those changes, the dance of light and dark in both hemispheres of the planet … one always the opposite of the other – has been fairly stable and predictable. The resultant effect on flora and fauna regionally however has varied enormously depending on many other factors of Earth’s ever changing ecology: She is an alive Planet who continues to move and re-shape Herself. She is Herself subject to the cosmic dynamics of creativity – the forming and the dissolving and the re-emerging. The earliest of humans must have received all this, ‘observed’ it, in a very participatory way: that is, not as a Western industrialized or dualistic mind would think of ‘observation’ today, but as kin with the events – identifying with their own experience of coming into being and passing away. There is evidence to suggest that humans have expressed awareness of, and response to, the phenomenon of coming into being and passing away, as early as one hundred thousand years ago: ritual burial sites of that age have been found[ii], and more recently a site of ongoing ritual activity as old as seventy thousand years has been found[iii]. The ceremonial celebration of the phenomenon of seasons probably came much later, particularly perhaps when humans began to settle down. These ceremonial celebrations of seasons apparently continued to reflect the awesomeness of existence as well as the marking of transitions of Sun back and forth across the horizon, which became an important method of telling the time for planting and harvesting and the movement of pastoral animals. https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems that the resultant effect of the dance of light and dark on regional flora and fauna, has been fairly stable in recent millennia, the period during which many current Earth-based religious practices and expression arose. In our times, that is changing again. Humans have been, and are, a major part of bringing that change about. Ever since we migrated around the planet, humans have brought change, as any creature would: but humans have gained advantage and distinguished themselves by toolmaking, and increasingly domesticating/harnessing more of Earth’s powers – fire being perhaps the first, and this also aided our migration. In recent times this harnessing/appropriating of Earth’s powers became more intense and at the same time our numbers dramatically increased: and many of us filled with hubris, acting without consciousness or care of our relational context. We are currently living in times when our planet is tangibly and visibly transforming: the seasons themselves as we have known them for millennia – as our ancestors knew them – appear to be changing in most if not all regions of our Planet. Much predictable Poetry – sacred language – for expressing the quality of the Seasonal Moments will change, as regional flora changes, as the movement of animals and birds and sea creatures changes, as economies change[iv]. In Earth’s long story regional seasonal manifestation has changed before, but not so dramatically since the advent of much current Poetic expression for these transitions, as mixed as they are with layers of metaphor: that is, with layers of mythic eras, cultures and economies. We may learn and understand the traditional significance of much of the Poetry, the ceremony and symbol – the art – through which we could relate and converse with our place, as our ancestors may have done; but it will continue to evolve as all language must. At the moment the dance of dark and light remains predictable, but much else is in a process of transformation. As we observe and sense our Place, our Habitat, as our ancestors also did, we can, and may yet still make Poetry of the dance of dark and light, of this quality of relationship with Sun, and how it may be manifesting in a particular region and its significance for the inhabitants: we may still find Poetic expression with which to celebrate the sacred journey that we make everyday around Mother Sun, our Source of life and energy. It has been characteristic of humans for at least several tens of thousands of years, to create ceremony and symbol by which we could relate with the creative dynamics of our place, and perhaps it was initially a method of coming to terms with these dynamics – with the apparently uniquely human awareness of coming into being and passing away[v]. Our need for …
(Poem) Samhain by Annie Finch

In the season leaves should love, since it gives them leave to move through the wind, towards the ground they were watching while they hung, legend says there is a seam stitching darkness like a name. Now when dying grasses veil earth from the sky in one last pale wave, as autumn dies to bring winter back, and then the spring, we who die ourselves can peel back another kind of veil that hangs among us like thick smoke. Tonight at last I feel it shake. I feel the nights stretching away thousands long behind the days, till they reach the darkness where all of me is ancestor. I turn my hand and feel a touch move with me, and when I brush my young mind across another, I have met my mother’s mother. Sure as footsteps in my waiting self, I find her, and she brings arms that hold answers for me, intimate, waiting, bounty: “Carry me.” She leaves this trail through a shudder of the veil, and leaves, like amber where she stays, a gift for her perpetual gaze. From Eve (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010) (Meet Mago Contributor) Annie Finch
(Audio) The Wheel of the Year as a ‘Turas’ by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

The text part is an edited excerpt from the author’s book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, and the audio links are usually part of the Introduction to a year long PaGaian Cosmology course, but here freely offered. Womb of Gaia altar (Southern Hemisphere version) The eight points of the wheel in this and many Pagan calendars represent ‘seasonal thresholds’ (and there may be more or less in your region), the circuit of Earth about the Sun. This is the sacred site in which we, all this planet’s beings, find ourselves, in which we live everyday. We may think of this journey around Sun as the revolving walk of a pilgrim about a sacred site – what the Celts called a “turas.” The circle of eight stones/objects that I place in my wheel[i] represents this sacred Journey. Turas is a Celtic word meaning “journey,” “pilgrimage,” and refers especially to the circular, spiralling prayer used by people in Celtic countries as they walked sunwise around a sacred site[ii](and sunwise in the Southern Hemisphere is counterclockwise). The ceremonial celebration of the “Wheel of the Year” as it manifests in your place, as a whole year-long experience, participated in fully as an art process and relationship with Gaia, IS a sacred site – a kind of virtual sacred site, a morphic field: that is, the ceremonies themselves develop a kind of organism, an alive space (a womb). You can be held within it. One may enter consciously into this sacred site – real space and time – through the practice of ceremonial celebration of this annual journey, the Turas of our planet: and thus enter into the magic and power of deep Creativity – found in real time and space. For this reason I am religious about not doing festivals dictated by the Gregorian calendar, especially since they are out of sync with southern hemispheric seasons – Christmas, Easter. I am on a Journey, a pilgrim in real time and space, and indeed I have learned so much with this creative discipline … I am Her disciple. Below is a walking meditation, that I have developed to create a mini-experience of this everyday turas. It may be done around a simple version of a Womb of Gaia altar as pictured above, which has the Seasonal markers placed in a circle. TURAS EXPERIENCE – a walking meditation NOTE: if you are unable to walk around your altar that is okay … visualize the process as you sit. Begin sitting at the outer edge of your circle then move into the center as directed in the meditation, if you are able to. We begin walking sunwise (counter-clockwise for Southern Hemisphere), starting some distance out from your altar if possible. There are two links here: one for the Northern Hemisphere and one for the Southern Hemisphere. Below the links to the experience is the text for the walk. Northern Hemisphere: PaGaian Turas Experience N.H. (8:27min) Southern Hemisphere: PaGaian Turas Experience S.H. (7:03min) Let us begin, by walking sunwise, slowly around the edge of your circle, gazing upon the eight points of the mandala … aware that you are passing through the Seasons, as you always have done, every day of your life, joining Earth in Her everyday sacred journey. You are Earth making this Journey. After you have made a few circuits, begin to spiral in slowly and contemplating this particular Moment – all that it has taken for you to come to this Place and Moment … beginning with taking the time to be with this process, then all that led to your decision to do this, your personal story that brings you to this, the stories of your parents, of your grandparents … and further back … to stories of ancestors and other ancestral beings, who have walked this turas of Earth around the Sun – joining all these. … and contemplating where your ancestors may have come from, and where every atom in your body may have been … and slowly spiralling into the Centre. When you have arrived at Centre, you may consider this Centre, THE Centre, our Origin, which is always present. Ten percent of your bodymind which is hydrogen, is a direct result of the Original Flaring Forth, when all hydrogen was made. The Origin is present right here within you. And all the rest – carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavier elements – was born in stars. All this recycled many times over.[iii] Here in the Centre, you may celebrate Cosmogenesis, who you are PLACE YOUR HANDS ON YOURSELF your particular beautiful Self, new in every moment – Virgin OPEN UP YOUR ARMS in deep relationship and communion with Other, the web of life – Mother DIRECT YOUR HANDS AND ARMS DOWN TO EARTH directly participating in the sentience of the Creative Cosmos, the Well of Creativity – Old One. FOLDING YOUR ARMS OVER YOUR TORSO All present here … this Creative Dynamic unfolding the Cosmos. And now, with this memory, turning to your left (right for the Northern Hemisphere) and slowly spiraling back out to the circumference, to your place in this Moment of time. DRUM … slowly spiraling back out to the circumference, to your Place in this Moment of Time. DRUM until you/all have arrived at the circumference. And Here you are! And so, it is for every moment. NOTES: [i] I name this altar a “Womb of Gaia” altar, and it is one that students of PaGaian Cosmology create for the Introduction to the year long course. [ii] Matthews, The Celtic Spirit, 31. [iii] This paragraph is a quote from Australian molecular biologist Darryl Reanney when he gave an experiential paper at The Climbing River Foundation conference in Melbourne in 1990. REFERENCES: Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Girl God Books: Bergen, Norway, 2023. Matthews, Caitlin. The Celtic Spirit. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000.
Lammas – the Sacred Consuming by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

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

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

(Mago Pilgrimage video 2) Ganghwa Island by Robert (Taffy) Seaborne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ANT2cPDN-g The first day of Mago Pilgrimage 2014 to Korea, organised by Dr.Helen Hwang, was to Ganghwa Island, starting actually on Gyodong Peace Island: the group included locals, and together we walked up to the Rock of Constellation Marks located atop the Ruin of Hwagae “Castle”/Stronghold. The scenic view up there is from the Ruin of Gwanmi Stronghold (not a fortress, as present minds may think, but a “strong” place). I state all this here about the name because there was a bit of confusion in my mind when making the video. Along our way we came across an ancient sweat lodge – named Hanjeung-mak – shaped like a womb and similar to ancient constructions in other lands. As we walked we could also at some points, see across to the Demilitarized Zone and North Korea, and some in our group expressed deep distress about the loss and splitting of families, with this division.
(Essay 2) Making the Gynocentric Case: Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia, and Her Tradition Magoism by Helen Hwang

[Editor’s note: Numbers of endnotes differ from the original ones in the article] Reconstructing Gynocentric Korean Identity Scholars in the West, upon assessing a religion or deity of the non-Western world, tend to pair the topic with a modern nation. Thus, they often project their modern knowledge of the nation or culture onto the indigenous religion or deity they study. Such a methodology betrays the assumption that the modern notion of national identities is time-proven and bias-free. In this process, one’s perception of other people’s cultural expression is molded by Western-made modern knowledge of that people. This kind of knowledge ceases to exist outside the Western mind. Some go further to point out that the religious expression of a non-Western country in point is colored by the air of nationalism that is culturally on the rise in that country. This kind of assessment suggests the idea that a cultural expression fostered by nationalist zeal is inauthentic or impure and therefore of less value for study. While such conclusions are not necessarily wrong, I find it misguided. Done so, it prepares the ground for Western scholars to wield the authority of Western hegemony over the non-Western world. Precisely, it is blind to the fact that no cultural expression in modern times is free from nationalist ethos. Modern life is inherently shaped by the shade of nationalism whether it is in a non-Western world or a Western world. In my view, the question to be asked is: How can we assess a religious expression of a people beyond the modern notion of national identities? Or how can we go beneath the modern notion of national identities in order to assess a religious expression of a people? I hold that the modern category of national identities in particular causes harm to the study of the goddess. Modern nationalities go hand in hand with the impetus of patriarchal religions that do away with the female principle. There is an unmistakable difference between the male divine and the female divine when their manifestations are found cross-nationally. It is generally assumed that exchange of cultures between nations allows the male divine to be disseminated from one people to another. It is true that patriarchal religions have traveled around the globe and disseminated their gods into other nations. When it comes to the goddess whose worship is widespread across nations, such as the case of Mary in the West, however, this kind of reasoning proves to be inadequate. Antithetical is the idea that patriarchal religions actively promote the transmission of the great goddess from one nation to the other. Thus, the very perception of the transnational goddess is systematically thwarted in the realm of patriarchal religions. Androcentric researchers may choose to either dismiss as anomalous the topic of the goddess whose manifestation is found cross-nationally or treat her as a local deity severing her from her transnational context. This has been done to the topic of Mago. While Mago’s manifestation exists across the national boundaries of Korea, China, and Japan, it differs in nature, density, and complexity in these countries. Likewise, primary sources also show different traits according to the country. Korean sources surpass her Chinese counterparts not only in number but also in density and complexity. Mago’s supreme divinity is essentially affirmed in Korean sources, whereas it is treated as unknown in Chinese and Japanese counterparts. More to the point, the Budoji, the principal text that re-emerged in Korea in 1986, asserts that Koreans were the defenders of Old Magoism (Magoism in pre-patriarchal times) against the pseudo-Magoist Chinese regime. How can we understand the primacy of Korean Magoism without resorting to the modern notion of nationalist identities?
(Book Excerpt 4) The Mago Way by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

[Author’s Note] The following is from Chapter One, “What Is Mago and Magoism and How Did I Study HER?” from The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia, Volume 1. Footnotes below would be different from the monograph version. PDF book of The Mago Way Volume 1 download is available for free here.] This chapter,[i] interweaving the personal (how I came to study Mago) and the political (why I advocate Magoism), informs the general and particular tenets of Magoism. My study of Mago was, although it took the form of a doctoral dissertation, ultimately motivated by my self-searching quest as a Korean-born radical feminist. I came to encounter the Great Goddess known as Mago in East Asia by way of several detours on my life’s journey. Like my non-Western and

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