June 6, 2022May 12, 2022 RTMeditorsKG1 Comment

(Video) Winter Solstice Breath Meditation by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

Winter Solstice/Yule Southern Hemisphere – June 20 – 23. Northern Hemisphere – December 20 – 23 Winter Solstice is a celebration of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Triple Goddess in Read More …

June 4, 2022May 31, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Meet Mago Contributor) Freeda Cathcart

Freeda Cathcart is a mother living in Southwest Virginia with her husband. She raised four children and homeschooled them until they went to college. She is a founding shareholder of Read More …

June 3, 2022May 29, 2022 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Prose) Language makes us by Susan Hawthorne

Language makes us. But we too remake language. And ourselves. If we listen, imagine, invent. Listen to me. Listen to my language. Once upon a time it was the Read More …

June 2, 2022May 26, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Tribute 2) In Loving Memory of Eve Helene Wilkowitz by Jack Dempsey, Ph.D.

Eve is on the verge of her 21st birthday that Spring: a smart strong happy outgoing person grown up in Oakdale, Long Island, and moving now from Bay Shore Read More …

June 1, 2022April 25, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Video 11) Genevieve Vaughan & Chiquie Estrada in Maternal Gift Economy: Breaking Through by Genevieve Vaughan

(Words of Invitation) Drawing on Maternal Gift Economy theory, the suppressed wisdom of women, and the traditions and ethics of Indigenous societies, this integrated programme of presentations sponsored by the Read More …

May 31, 2022June 13, 2022 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Pilgrimage 2) A Day in the Kalash Valley of Pakistan by Krista Rodin, Ph.D.

(See part 1 here.) The Chaumos festival centers around the arrival of the deity Balumain. Impure and uninitiated persons are not admitted to the ceremony. Purification is achieved by waving Read More …

May 29, 2022May 26, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(She Summons Excerpt) Why is the World calling for Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? by Jennifer Cooper

[Editor’s Note: This piece is included in She Summons: Why… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality?” Volume 1 (Mago Books, 2021).] The week before quarantine began I felt a squirrel inside Read More …

May 27, 2022May 26, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt) Lessons from the Legends of the Salzkammergut: The Divine Feminine in Place and Time by Krista Rodin, Ph.D.

[This book was publish by Mago Books (April 1, 2022). Details and purchase info is available here (Mago Bookstore).] INTRODUCTION The Salzkammergut is one of the most beautiful places on Read More …

May 26, 2022May 26, 2022 Mago Work Admin1 Comment

(Poem) Phoebe by Donna Snyder

for Phibby Venable Titan of prophecy and moonlight, daughter of Earth and Sky, mother of the stars and that which is hidden. Through her came the Sun and Moon, the Read More …

May 25, 2022May 19, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Poem & Photography) Ephemeral Emergence by Sara Wright

Ephemeral Emergence Arbutus trumpets seduce bumblebees three lobed trillium wings streak rose shining stars pearling forest floors wild oats bow bluebead swords unfurl wild lily leaves clasp palms in prayer Read More …

May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Book Excerpt 3) Willendorf’s Legacy: The Sacred Body edited by Trista Hendren, Tamara Albanna, and Pat Daly

“How I Have Expanded into My Fullness” by Annie Matan A year ago, I had a hard time passing a mirror without thinking harsh thoughts about my body. And now, Read More …

May 23, 2022May 15, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Tribute 1) In Loving Memory of Eve Helene Wilkowitz by Jack Dempsey, Ph.D.

She was not a document. She was not a number or a photograph. Not an abstract idea or a madman’s fantasy. She was flesh and blood. —Susan Griffin, Pornography and Read More …

May 20, 2022May 17, 2022 Mago Work AdminLeave a comment

(Video) PAAWBAC Interview by Cynthia Tom

Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition’s Board Member Elsie Lum interviews Cynthia Tom, visual artist (Cultural Surrealism) and founder of A PLACE OF HER OWN, an arts-based healing program Read More …

Winter Turns the Tide… by Sara Wright

Photo by Sara Wright [Editor’s Note: This was written last year. Sara Wright was so prolific that we missed timing for this piece of her writing last year.] This winter has been most challenging on every level. I am exhausted, emotionally and physically. Most of my hair has turned gray. In my mind and body I have become an old woman. On December 31st of 2021, I broke my foot at three in the morning when a horrible crash awakened me to a blocked front door. I shoveled pure ice for an hour. Frantic with anxiety, I didn’t even realize that I had broken my foot until the crisis was over and the door could be opened again. Initially, I believed I had one woman and two men who would help me with snow removal this winter but all three backed out for one reason or another. My trust was misplaced. (Human betrayal/racism have dogged me ever since I moved here almost 40 years ago. It has only been recently that I recognize that this problem is part of a larger story that is more about others than me.) When help isn’t available – well – there’s nothing to do but to go on alone and that’s what I did. I have two little Chihuahuas who can’t go outdoors until they have paths to get through the snow. This means that regardless of the severity of the storm I need to snowshoe…The night I broke my foot I had already been out four times keeping the way open. We were being buried by a winter storm. When I broke a second bone a month later while shoveling ice again I was beyond distraught. A kindly woman who I barely knew became a fierce advocate for me – the first genuine advocate I have ever had in all the years I have lived here. She called upon others to help me find two young men who promised to do the shoveling that I can no longer do. Snowshoeing those paths is all that’s left, and I think I can do that much. I hope. This winter of ice – freeze thaw – always with ice at the beginning and/or end of every rain/snow storm has made walking so dangerous that even with spikes it is not safe. Never in forty years have we had this much rain all winter long – rain that turns to ice – then snow – then more freezing rain. Never have I been so housebound. The changing weather made it profoundly real on a practical level that I must sell the house because I can no longer take care of myself here. Soul, spirit, and body have finally been re-united as I make this decision seek ‘home’ elsewhere. I am shocked to realize how ready I am to leave… I came to these mountains to experience woodland peace, to engage with wild animals as a naturalist and to develop into the courageous woman I have become – one whose integrity stands before her. I was fortunate. For a while I had peace, wild animals, and land I loved… Gradually my feelings began to shift with the changes that were underway… As the Spirit of the Forest began to recede I felt the loss keenly. The logging machine was destroying our woods. My little patch of land became sandwiched in between land that has been brutally logged or senselessly maimed by my nearest neighbor. The animals and birds lost their habitat; most have disappeared. Road noise, gunning, motorcycles, traffic, speed of any kind has become the norm. It is no longer possible to walk on my road. Most recently the mountain behind me swarms with ‘recreationists’ who use the trails they cut through the land as their playground. Curiously, a year ago I thought I might stay, not because these changes weren’t happening but because I thought I had a reason to… but this belief turned out to be illusion, thankfully. As the final veil fell away, I was almost free. Strangely, it was the dead that still held me. My beloved brother was buried below the house and I couldn’t imagine leaving him behind…But last fall I had a series of dreams that informed me that my little brother was no longer here; that he now lived in the very forest that has become my refuge, a place some distance from here that I still love fiercely. Silence, biodiversity – large intact trees, a healthy understory, mosses and lichen, a plethora of ground covers, a winding river, bears and other animals, birds and beavers all befriend me here, offering solace, peace, companionship and love. In one of the dreams my brother has become this whole green forest and he wears an animal skin. That my little brother is free, that he is finally at peace has set me free too. Oh, the joy and the relief. I can let go! No matter where I find home I can always return to my refuge because this forest is protected for perpetuity. I have a multitude of unknown challenges ahead of me, but because I am flowing with the river to the sea, I believe I will be able to make this transition. As difficult as winter has been I can also feel gratitude because I have finally been able to make this decision. Letting go allows me to embrace the old woman in myself, the one with limitations. I make the choice to love her, to advocate for her, just as my fierce and caring friend did for me. https://www.magoism.net/2014/12/meet-mago-contributor-sara-wright/
(Poem) The Watcher and The Watched by Harriet Ann Ellenberger

for Susan Robinson I send a poem to my friend, asking her, Do you think it is finished? My poem speeds off to join internet traffic, passing through the super-computers of US intelligence before it reaches her. If I call long-distance to read her my poem, each word I say, each word she says, travels through the same computers. This gives me an idea. What do these super-computers do? They scan for keywords selected by humans following the daily threat assessment. And what do poems do? They tell the truth of human feeling. What if the world of poets scanned the news for probable keywords? What if we scattered them liberally throughout our poems and shared our poems prodigally, far and wide— would humans who answer to no one be forced, by the exigencies of their job, to read poetry? Poets too assess the real behind the rumour, and should our keywords catch their ear, what then—spy to spy—shall we say to the boys and girls at the NSA? We’ll say that humans are become a single suffering tribe, moving into unmarked territory, hungry and hallucinating. We’ll say, here’s a truth of human feeling: it hurts to be awake out here. Note to “Return to Mago” readers: This poem was recently published in CounterPunch, but I wanted to add a few comments for its re-publication here. Being under surveillance used to be an unnerving experience reserved for activists who criticized their government’s excesses; now it’s an experience shared by everyone who uses a cell phone or computer. If we include satellite surveillance, all you have to do is to live and breathe somewhere on the planet and you will be imaged by technology so precise that it can capture a license-plate number from space. This turning of our earth home into an electronically monitored open-air prison has outraged me for years, and I think it must also have silenced me to some degree because I feel freer and more myself since this particular poem has been launched into cyberspace. I’m including the watchers in the “single suffering tribe” we belong to because they are individually under surveillance by the agency they work for, and the penalty for screwing up, or being perceived by a superior to have screwed up, can be heavier than losing a job and a pension. I also include them since, like any other human, they are caught in a world financial system that appears to have been hijacked by the socially pathological. Finally, I include them because they are earthlings and therefore subject to runaway global warming. (And, by the way, guys, Washington, D.C. was built on reclaimed swamp land ― wouldn’t you be making your nation more secure by turning your attention to boat-building?) This was first published in the Counterpunch, [http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/23/ellenberger-anderson-and-williams/].
(Special Post Isis 3) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 3 Isis, Arab Women Revolution, and Black Goddesses Naa Ayele Kumari Going back to the original topic of the post…. Some quotes ” Women are in half the society… How come there are only 7 in the Assembly… and they are all Islamist! ” I can’t beat up my wife and almost kill her and call it discipline… this is not discipline… this is abuse and insanity” http://youtu.be/y4umifTLSII 12-Year Old Explains Egyptian Revolution in Under 3 Minutes www.youtube.com Max Dashu It is tremendously heartening to see these insights being expressed, and spread. The Salafis have made such inroads, and now the pushback is happening. Harita Meenee Dear Naa Ayele Kumari, thank you actually reading my post and commenting something relevant to it. It’s refreshing when someone does hear what we have to say instead of projecting their own notions. Building a solidarity movement with those who are oppressed but fighting is very important during these critical times! Harita Meenee See also: https://www.facebook.co/intifadat.almar2a?fref=ts The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي حرية الفكر ، حرية التعبير ، حرية الاعتقاد ، حرية التنقل ، حرية الجسد ، حرية اللب…See More Glenys Livingstone … as you say Max …” way too much of it going on” – amongst people who should know better (I would have thought): “Dark goddess as terrifying, challenging, white goddess as benign; “black magic” as harmful; I see way, way too much of this going on out there.” And related to that in my mind is all the “love and light” business that is so common: the Ground of Being is Dark … it seems to me that mystics have always understood the quintessential darkness of Love/Deity. Max Dashu Sure. I would just like to add that the critique raised here addressed issues much broader than the substance of the article, which made some good points. But once the choice of graphics flagged the issue of representation, people had much more to say about that old yet still very fresh wound which is constantly reopened by the cultural habit of whitening Egypt, or interpreting Africa through a eurocentric lens. It is not on any one person to carry the weight of that; we all have a responsibility to address the issues, but especially those of us of European heritage need to familiarize ourselves with how this plays out over and over. Just as men have a responsibility to speak up in support of women when patriarchal assumptions are on board. We all can learn something from each other, along all the various axes of domination, and overthrow them in coalition. Naa Ayele Kumari I have often considered where the roots of this psychology comes from. It is dualistic thinking that causes us to compare and contrast, then sum up judgement of good or bad and place a value on each. It extends into competition and justification for war. It also doesn’t escape me that often this came with certain civilizations who systematically destroyed others. It didn’t just happen with blacks in Africa… but blacks in Asia and the Indus Valley as well. With the Aryan invasions of India, came the eventual introduction to lighter divinities and more emphasis on male divinities. Southern Indians, Sri Lankans are very dark… even more so than many African Blacks. The caste systems implemented by the Aryan invaders did the same thing to them casting them as “untouchables”. With that came the marginalization of their black female divinities such as Kali. Kali actually has 10-16 forms… from compassionate mother, the fountain of wisdom, to she of great beauty but she is minimized as just destructive and terrifying… especially as Brhaman, Vishnuu, and Shiva grow in popularity. One of Kali’s statues has her black self standing on top of Shiva because she conquered him. Later there is a discussion in on of the Hindu text explaining Kali (as Parvati) after being subdued by Shiva she becomes lighter. Further they have stories about him rejecting her and calling her blackie which made her do austerities to rid herself of her black skin. Naa Ayele Kumari It should not be overlooked that in the Story of Alice in Wonderland… a story intended to keep Goddess elements for future generations, has the Elder sister ( the Queen of Hearts) portrayed as man, ego, and power driven who cuts off heads and has a fierce dragon…a clear reference to Kali. The White goddess as the younger sister is her opponent… and her mission is to usurp the throne of the Queen of Hearts even though she was the rightful heir as the oldest … or primordial. Stories like these also reinforce the stereotypes and negative iconography. Max Dashu Yes, it is pervasive in many cultures of domination. Demons are portrayed as black not only in Europe, which we know well, but also in China and in a lot of Buddhist iconography. In modern India, the sweet goddesses are shown as pink, the wrathful as black; and Krishna (name means “dark”) is turned powder blue. (Another of his titles, s’yam, also meaning dark, is the word translated as “green” in Green Tara.) The countercurrents (Black Mazu, loving Kali – esp in Bengal and south India, Black Madonna) bubbled up from the common people, who knew and longed for something other than the dominant racialized hierarchy. Naa Ayele Kumari I am just discovering Mazu ( Matzu/LuShui) in China today! Never knew about her. This discussion has led me to look deeper for black goddesses in Asia. Max Dashu Taoist spiritual tradition often refers to Xüan Nü, which can be translated in several ways. You’ll usually see it rendered as “the Mysterious Female,” a phrase that occurs in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), and this is a valid translation; but what is less emphasized is that it also means “the Dark Woman.” In …
(Poem) Winter Solstice Prayer by Mary Saracino

Deep night, Dark night Night of the longest sigh Soulful night, Sacred night Night of the longest dreams Cold night, Holy night Night of unfurling desires Womb of the world, Birther of hope Bringer of peace and good will Pray, pray for all good things That suffering for all will end That life will thrive and generosity reign In the hearts of all humankind That joy will rise and children will fly On wings of prosperity Oh hear our plea, this silent night When the moon is round in the sky When hopes are high and eyes are wide with delight and audacity May Love prevail tonight, and always Leading us back to our Source May we dance with the dark, without hesitation or fear And savor her promise of plenty Deep night Dark night Night of the longest sigh May our weary hearts stay vigilant and receptive To all that is loving and dear Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Lafayette, CO. Her most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Her short story, “Vicky’s Secret” earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.
Why the World Needs Matriversal Archetypes? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This essay is a revised version of my presentation to the She Rises Salon, “Poets Lead Goddess Feminist Activist Spirituality Movement” held on April 12, 2025.] Image credited to Glenys Livingstone Without the consciousness of the Cosmic Mother, we humans would be left without symbolic means to achieve peace and harmony not only among peoples and cultures but also with non-human species. Ceto-Magoism, the pre-patriarchally originated consciousness of Mago, the Creatrix, enabled through the reverence to cetaceans (whales), evinces that the consciousness of the Cosmic Mother refers to the allied force of the original triad: The Cosmic Mother, the Whale Mother, and the Queen Mother. What are matriversal archetypes? They are the symbols and ideas, which indicate the Maternal Origin of ALL (including inorganic entities). They inherently expose compartmentalized, hierarchical, and colonialist ideologies as traps in the mind. Furthermore, I hold that anciently bequeathed matriversal archetypes are salvific, guiding humanity from patriarchal snares. Put differently, matriversal archetypes restore intercosmic bonds of ALL. Matriarchal archetypes unleash pre-patriarchal or matristic contexts enveloped in myths and religious or cultural practices. That is the reason why we moderns need to study matristic histories and practices, which are underrepresented if mentioned in mainstream academic studies. Where do we find matriversal archetypes? We find them not just in forgotten histories of matristic histories and religious practices. They come in major patriarchal religions, myths, and philosophies disguised as the male supreme or a patriarchal idea. Like women and Nature under patriarchy, matriversal archetypes remain harnessed. Without rebuilding matricentric contexts, they are forced to serve the patriarchal world order. Sadly, today’s national or religious celebrations that people commemorate are built on patriarchal symbols and archetypes. Thus, a celebration of one group’s victory usually means a defeat of another group. Goma known as Myoken, Image from https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/28-moon-stations.html The world needs matriversal archetypes to stop war and feud for good. Matriversal archetypes are the milk of the Creatrix, the elixir, and the miracle sought by the wise of the world throughout history. Matriversal archetypes unleash the Reality of WE/HERE/NOW, the ever-unfolding timespace manifest through the progeny of the Creatrix. In S/HE, ALL are found kindred. The Great Unity of ALL in the Creatrix pervades insofar as matriversal archetypes are upheld in the human mind. Only matriarchal symbols can quench the thirst, hunger, and pain of humankind. They heal, build, and comfort the mind/heart/soul. For societies, they bring peace, harmony, and collaboration. Under patriarchy, people have been deprived of matriversal archetypes. Matriversal symbols make us realize the delusive nature of patriarchal symbols including the father creator god, the nationalist identity, and the male savior/teacher/civilizer. Moderns are trapped within the snares of patriarchal symbols ever more tightly due to the expansion of patriarchal grips on almost all levels. The cries for healing and peace by individuals and societies, while getting louder ever-more desperately, will echo in the void unless people consciously abandon patriarchal archetypes, which I would call the act of symbol cleansing. Symbol discerning must be taken in the language of poets, artists, ritualists, and scholars. I suggest that poets sort out patriarchal archetypes and symbols so that our cries will become the dragon to bring rain for ALL on the planet. I invite you and the world to the discourse of Ceto-Magoism (the Whale-guided Way of the Creatrix), the reservoir of matriversal symbols and archetypes stored and handed down by our pre-patriarchal ancestors, to be introduced in the form of Creatrix Studies. https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Poem) Nothing is never nothing by Donna Snyder

The Night with the Genii of Study and Love – Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo (1843–1905) from public domain. A message Written for a bottle with no ocean. The body atremble, the mouth a desert. Sirens so far away but still the jaws grind. Not even the dogs know what dogs always know. Hands thrust into what becomes a salivating mouth. Birds fall, frozen, from the sky to unyielding ground. Words without meaning. Ask the women, they all will tell you, An utterance shuts out objective meaning. Oxygen sucks the life out of a lying mouth. Not even the shadow knits truth from facts. The first page missing, the first line begins, But that was long after Night arose from nothing. Chaos, Dark void of space, Counter-intuitively comprising Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. The gods both spirit and being, But their answers illusory, begging the question. Something from nothing, they tell us again, Yet nothing was ever made of something. Chaos, The first something from which gods appeared, And from those primordial beings, everything. A vacuum that yielded only luminous flashes Yet gave birth to Night and her brother, Darkness. And when Night and Darkness coupled, Night Gave birth to Light and Day, Sleep and Death. Time killed Space, his father, While Night, hidden in her cave, made oracles, Listened to drums, the raucous timpani, the zills, The celestial bodies’ thrum, as her daughter judged, Moving the universe in the rhythms of ecstatic dance. Time dreamed, prophesied the future, drunk on honey, Oblivious to Retribution that chained him within Night’s cave. A blank book No longer wholly incomplete. Ink now scratched over ruled lines Filled with fragments, a two-lane highway, Leaves plucked from a boll of cotton. A vignette of tin roofs and stucco shacks. A stalk of bronze maize braided to the dusty green. An artist’s eye No better than the eye of a witness in a court of law, Each untrustworthy as the basis for a just outcome. The mere act of observation will change the observed. Time lies incognizant of retribution yet prophesying still. With neither bottle nor letter, the world spins in a lonely sea. Previously published in the Western Voices of Setu, this poem is included in Snyder’s newest collection of poetry, As Meaningful As Any Other (Gutter Snob Books 2022) (Meet Mago Contributor) Donna Snyder https://www.magoism.net/2013/04/meet-mago-contributor-donna-snyder/
(Prose Part 1) Sacred Engagement by Yia Alias

Today, I am writing from an old open shed in the Australian bush, on the property that has claimed me as custodian, HearthGround. Surrounded by giant blue gums, rocky hills, the sound of lyrebirds and cicadas, I can just hear the movement of the creek through the trees. And now a gentle breeze. I acknowledge the spirits of the first peoples of this Blessed area, the Darug and the Darkinjung, I offer my Deep Respect. Nature as mirror/metaphor/personal reflection To stop, be still, to allow the Present Moment to commune with me is HOW I experience the ever present divinity of Creation/Goddess.
(Book Excerpt 4) The Crone Initiation: Women Speak on the Menopause Journey ed. by Kay Louise Aldred, Pat Daly & Trista Hendren

[Editor’s Note: This anthology was published by Girl God Books (2022).] “Things We Don’t Talk About at Menopause” by Trista Hendren Trigger Warning for suicide ideation. This was tough to write and may be difficult to read. Make sure you are in a good place first. After I gave birth the first time, I frantically called the nurse into the bathroom. A brick of blood Jello had plopped out of my vagina—and I was terrified. She just laughed it off and said, “Oh that’s normal!” Later, I commiserated with a friend who had a similar experience. “Why didn’t they tell us any of this?” There was so much about my births that I would do over if I could. Had I birthed another baby, I would have done almost everything differently. Like birth, menopause is something people don’t tell you much about. In my early forties, I began thinking about what books I would read when the time came, but I did not consider that maybe I should read them ahead of time to be prepared. Peri-menopause has been a volatile second adolescence for me. I don’t have patience for things I used to. The tantrums I repressed as a child came out in full force. I stopped sleeping well and entered a severe depression. Nothing about my state of mind made logical sense to me. I had everything in the world to be happy about—but I could not pull myself out of my moods. I tried just about every sort of supplement and herb I could think of before I finally got some relief for my insomnia with Skullcap and Motherwort. But months without decent sleep did a number on my brain—and I could not seem to pull myself out of the hellish anxiety I was suffering. I was embarrassed to tell anyone besides my husband (and finally my best friend) that I sometimes thought about killing myself. I did not know that suicide idealization in menopause was a thing until I read Susun Weed’s book on menopause. “Like uncontrollable emotions, thoughts of suicide are normal for menopausal women. Remember that the death phase of menopausal initiation does not imply actual physical death. Yet it would be foolish to deny that the feeling of dying can be as real emotionally as if it were actually happening. There is a physical/emotional logic to thoughts of suicide. These righting disturbing thoughts can show the menopausal woman the next steps on her journey. Real suicide is an act of desperate self-empowerment. But thoughts of suicide can be pathways to wholeness, health, and self-realization. Like depression, suicidal thoughts during menopause are potent guides to truth and joy.”[1] Wow, I thought! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this??? I took a screenshot of the passages and sent them to my bestie. She knew instantly this was about me. I thought I had done a pretty good job of hiding it. I didn’t want to worry anyone since it seemed highly unlikely that I would go through with it—and I felt self-conscious to be struggling in this way when there was seemingly nothing wrong with my life. It was a huge relief to finally start talking about it. As I opened up to more people, I realized I was not alone. When I googled suicidal thoughts during menopause, I saw a slew of articles that were published last fall. The Independent reported, “Around one in ten women experience suicidal thoughts because of the perimenopause, according to a new study. Research, exclusively shared with The Independent, found around nine in ten women going through the perimenopause experience mental health problems. The study, carried out by a free women’s health app called Health & Her, discovered three quarters of women said they had never experienced mental health issues before going through the perimenopause. Researchers, who polled 2,000 women in the UK aged between 46 and 60 who have experienced the peri-menopause, found just over a third of women polled have not sought help with their symptoms, while eight out of 10 do not discuss mental health issues with their partner or spouse.”[2] Upon reading this, I felt extremely grateful to be married to Anders. This is not my first marriage: I fully understand why so many women do not share this with their husbands. Weeks later, I came as close as I hope I ever come to taking my life. Anders held me all night while I sobbed until I finally fell into a deep sleep. It was a spiritual death of sorts. I felt the deepest, most excruciating emotional pain I have ever endured in my life. Everything that I had pushed down within me throughout my life was no longer willing to be stored in my body. I couldn’t numb it out or stuff it down longer; it wanted to come out. I realized the next morning that my life was not working for me anymore. In truth, it never had. I had spent my entire life giving myself away, piece by piece. There was nothing left to give. I had to reassess. And, I had to change. As someone who abhors any sort of pain, I was puzzled by my sudden desire to slit my wrists. This is the absolute last way I would ever want to end my life. I found Susun Weed’s question helpful. “If you were to cut your wrists off (cut off your hands, symbolically) what would you no longer have to handle?”[3] That struck me right at my core. As a recovering co-dependent, I have carried far too many tasks for others my entire fucking life. Carmel Glenane posed a question that has haunted me since I read it several years ago. She wrote, “Delve into yourself and ask yourself why you don’t consider yourself ‘first’ in everything.”[4] The more I thought about it, the angrier I became at my own indoctrination. I find putting myself first almost impossible. And that is after decades of re-programming. While this …
(Multi-genre) The Last of the Scottish Orca’s by Jude Lally

Orca John Coe off the Isle of Eigg 2014 photo by Arisaig Marine It was an emotional journey in 2018 following the lives of Tahlequah, her calf, and her pod in their heartfelt grief ritual. Killer whales are one of the most widely distributed species, although many of the individual pods are severely threatened. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a nonprofit group which maintains the ‘”Red List” a global list of endangered and threatened wildlife. While they haven’t put killer whales on the list many individual pods of orca are facing widespread and localized threats to their survival. Click on the Orca to listen to a recording of J Pod Before I introduce the Scottish orca pod to you I had to share this recording (made by the Whalemuseaum.org) of Tahlequah and her pod communicating. This was recorded on the 29th July, 5 days after Tahlequah’s calf had died. Click on the Orca above to listen to the recording. The top photo isn’t Puget Sound but an orca swimming off the coast of Eigg in Scotland. This is where I run my Ancestral Mothers of Scotland retreat each year. Just a few months ago the same pod was spotted in the River Clyde! Celtic Soul Prayer Beads with Orca Pendant. Ritual and ceremony inspiring connection and activism The West Coast Community Orca Pod Britain occasionally has visits from transient Orcas who travel down to Northern Scotland in pursuit of their prey. Many of these visitors are from the Icelandic population of Orcas. Transient Orcas can be spotted from Shetland, Orkney, and Caithness where they are regularly seen. Scotland however, has its own resident pod of 8 Orcas that are regularly seen around the Hebrides, where it is commonly referred to as the West Coast Community. These animals are sighted year round, throughout the inner and outer Hebrides, particularly around the Small Isles and the Isle of Skye. These resident Orcas never mix with the transients from the North. Research from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and North Carolina State University carried out a study, published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology which discovered that the main difference between the transient pod and the residential pods is their diet. Residents eat fish, whereas transients hunt and eat marine mammals, including seals and porpoises. In the 40 years that these animals have been studied, scientists have never seen a resident eat a mammal and never seen a transient eat a fish. Each of the Scottish resident Orcas can be identified by their unique markings, and have been given names: John Coe, Floppy Fin, Nicola, Moon, Comet, Moneypenny, Aquarius, Puffin, and Occasus. The body of Lulu, one of the West Coast Community orca pod who washed up on the Hebridean Isle of Tiree ‘Possibly one of the most contaminated individuals in the world’ Last year, the body of a female orca was found on the shores of the Isle of Tiree, Scotland. Her name was Lulu and she was one of the West Coast Community pod members. She died after becoming ensnared in fishing nets yet after analysis it was found that her body produced surprising results, as Rebecca Morelle reports for the BBC reported, her body was found to contain one of the highest concentrations of pollutants ever recorded in a marine mammal. The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and the University of Aberdeen conducted an in-depth investigation of Lulu’s corpse and found that analysis of her blubber revealed a PCB concentrate 100 times higher than the accepted toxicity threshold for marine mammals. High PCB levels are linked to poor health, impaired immune function, increased susceptibility to cancers and infertility. The investigation revealed that Lulu was at least 20 years old but apparently never reproduced, despite being much older than the average age for maturity in killer whales. Brownlow called Lulu’s apparent infertility an ominous warning and said it is “increasingly likely that this small group will eventually go extinct.” Scotland has known orca’s around the Hebridean isles for thousands of years. Some of the earliest people to these islands might well have swan with these great creatures in their hand-built boats as they came to spend the summer gathering and hunting. This Samhain I am launching an Ancestral Mothers of Scotland online Wheel of the Year course which will cover an ancient Scottish wise woman, Cee-al, who has a unique connection with the creatures of the Hebridean seas! The Fate of Captive Orca’s There are currently a total of 60 orcas held in captivity (27 wild-captured plus 33 captive-born) in at least 14 marine parks in 8 different countries. I remember campaigning in the early 1990’s when I lived in Brighton, on the south coast of England to free Missie a dolphin who I think had been in captivity for around 20 years (I was the same age). With great campaigns all over the country, the majority of these businesses shut down and closed their doors forever. Missie, the dolphin from Brighton was released back into the wild in the Caribbean (with several other UK dolphins). A great short film created by the International Marine Animal project discussing Sea world’s lies of happy and healthy captive orcas and the real alternative of returning them to a sea sanctuary. (Meet Mago Contributor) Jude Lally Organizations to support The Whale Museum: promoting stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education & research. You can support their work in various ways including adopting a killer whale! (Meet Mago Contributor) Jude Lally. Links and source articles PCBs: Why Are Banned Chemicals Still Hurting the Environment Today? Baby Orca Death Could be Linked to Salmon Farm Virus Dead orca found with extremely high levels of PCBs Killer whales seen in river Clyde U.K. Killer Whale Contained Staggering Levels of Toxic Chemical Killer Whales Hunt in ‘Stealth Mode’

(Special Post Isis 1) Why the Color of Isis Matters by Mago Circle Members

[Editor’s note: The discussion took place in Mago Circle during the month of July, 2013. Our heartfelt thanks go to the members who participated in this discussion with openness and courage.] Part 1 Is Isis White (European) or Black (African)? Harita Meenee What could Isis have to do with the political situation in Egypt? Read on to find out! Isis, Egypt and the Revolution For the past few years Egypt has felt like a second home to me. Some cherished friends and co-workers live there, to whom my thoughts often travel. Also, Isis, the Egyptian great goddess once worshiped all over the Mediterranean, has been an ever-present source of inspiration… By: Harita Meenee, Author https://www.facebook.com/notes/harita-meenee-author/isis-egypt-and-the-revolution/457348724361326 Rick Williams Isis and that picture for me is kind of offensive in 2013. KMT [Kemet, Egypt] and AUSET [Isis] “worship” is an oxymoron. Kahena Dorothea Can you explain, Rick Williams, how it is an oxymoron? I am curious. Rick Williams First, Auset as a deity was not a singularly honored symbolic personage. KMT taught principles of BALANCE and UNIVERSAL COSMOLOGICAL TRUTH. There are NO images from the dawn of that age depicting her as EUROPEAN. [Threads curtailed] Helen Hwang I would strongly suggest that Rick and others who see Rick’s point educate us in Mago Circle. I know this is very difficult but we are here to learn and express differences from each other. We are all centers and please share your perspective and knowledge so that others can learn. I am doing that with patience and tolerance as well. Thank you all! Rick Williams I try to be as honest and respectful when I can, Helen. I only personalize things when ONE person says something. Yet there are those who know that the people of that land now weren’t the same people who honored the deities of mythology and that image isn’t of Auset. When will folks stop promoting fictitious images and uneducated observations? I could have beat around the bush and politely asked about the statue, why that one isn’t truly the same of Auset’s time? Helen Hwang Okay, conflicts and contradictions are everywhere. Nonetheless, we can’t be beat by those. We are exploring ways to be empowered by addressing our differences in Mago Circle. We trust that we have good intentions and yet we are not perfect. I do Mago Circle and Return to Mago because I believe there is a way for us to meet and talk with our differences, I can’t let that hope go! Thank us for talking to each other. Naa Ayele Kumari I can see both points. Egypt has a long and ancient history… One filled with invaders.. wars.. people who stole the magic and manipulated it for their own purposes… Those invaders changed images to make them in their own reflections all the while slowly destroying the indigenous images of power and strength as well as the sacred tradition they were built on.. As a woman of African descent, it is sometimes difficult to see the Hellenistic images of our mother.. because her original images were a woman of color. Racism… whether we chose to admit it or not has played an immense part in our oppression as a people and that includes the struggle for Egypt today. It is especially a sensitive issue because those images play a role in how people see and view black women… even today. The dark goddess is stereotyped as being a part of our shadow while the white goddess is caste as being all that is good in the world. What black women struggle to tell the world is that those projections are simply racist projections… and so we reject them. Still, I recognize that people like to experience the divine in their own image and that our Mother has been taken around the world… and by extension absorbed many names and faces because after all, she is mother not to just Africans… but to the World. Right now, we have dominant tradition of Islam… that at its roots has a feminine basis… (Islam came from the word Isis) all the while oppressing women by its dogma. The indigenous people of Egypt, the Badarians and Nubians… are oppressed by Arab invaders who have taken control, projected their own religions all the while wanting to destroy the remainder of the images of the ancients. Injustice recognizes injustice… and all the ways that it shows up. At the root of Egypt…is Isis… called also Esi and Auset by the indigenous people. She has been oppressed by many layers of invaders… Her daughter’s voices have been muted… Timeless icon that she is, as the tides are turning, so are the heavy oppressions being lifted. Women are finding and re-remembering their power… and as they do… Mama Esi.. is taking back her throne. Naa Ayele Kumari This is the Isis on the walls and temples of Egypt. Harita Meenee Seeing the people of Egypt as all white or all Black means stereotyping them. In fact the inhabitants of Egypt are of different colors: some are white, others are Black and many others are something in-between. The same was true in antiquity and it’s reflected in Egyptian art. Rick Williams Harita, really? What does that have to do with your choice of misrepresentation of that image? Please enlighten me, thank you. Harita Meenee Τhere is no misrepresentation, dear Rick Williams. If you read my note carefully, you’ll see that it talks about Isis as a goddess who was worshiped all over the Mediterranean–I’m not referring to just her Egyptian manifestation. The statue depicted is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. I took this picture and processed it slightly so that it looks more like a painting than a sculpture. No change was made to the actual form or color of the statue. I’m attaching a photo of the museum label of this work of art. It may not be clearly visible, but it reads: Marble statue of the goddess Isis-Tyche-Pelagia. 1st-2nd century AD. The composite name means that, as was often the case in […]
(Special Post 2) "The Oldest Cilivization" 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 6) 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.] Esther Essinger “Why Goddess, when “GD” is perpetrating so much grief? 1) First, it’s vital to know that Goddess is NOT “GD” in a skirt. It is demanded of NO one that they “believe” or “have faith”, so there can be no guilt (and no punishment! (No Hell below us, thank you John) in NOT choosing to interest oneself in these particular Stories, myths, legends and tales which center the Cosmic Female, the Universal Mother, Mother Earth /Mother Nature at their core. No evangelism happening here!

(Video) A Samhain Ceremony by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVRoK2XNeqw The purpose of the video is for ceremony and I suggest pausing the video where it suits you, to add your own processing, embellishments and/or your own drum, percussion and voice wherever you please. I have made short spaces in the video where it could be paused. For more full participation in the ceremony, you could have some past photos of yourself, an altar with ancestor photos, a gingerbread snake, some apples sliced up, and some apple juice. The script for this Samhain ceremony is offered in Chapter 4 of my book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, with all acknowledgements and references there. However I want to acknowledge here the inspiration and some text of Robin Morgan’s poem “The Network of the Imaginary Mother” in her book Lady of the Beasts, for which I was given permission in my book. I also acknowledge here the paraphrase of some words by Starhawk in her book The Spiral Dance, used in the rite of Sailing to a New World. I also use a line from the poem Song of Hecate by Bridget McKern. The elements of Water, Fire, Earth and Air on the altar in this video are placed in directions that are appropriate to my region in the Southern Hemisphere, and East Coast Australia: you may place yours differently, and transliterate when I mention the direction (which I do minimally). For the rite of the Transformation Journey (remembering old selves) I use an adaptation of a children’s game “In and Out the Windows”, where each participant travels in and out of upraised and linked arms of the circle, and when ‘in’ may speak and /or show photos of themselves from the past. Some may choose to remember any self from the entire evolutionary story, with whom they would like to identify. The game seems appropriate to what each being does existentially in so many ways, over the eons as well as in our personal lives. The chant can be found on YouTube. The photos used are a collage of footage and photos from the 2024 Samhain ceremony at my place in Wakka Wakka country, South East Queensland Australia, and from previous Samhain ceremonies I facilitated over the decades in MoonCourt, Goddess ceremonial space in NSW Australia, Darug and Gundungurra country. Music credit: All music used in this video is by Tim Wheater, which has previously generously allowed me to use in my work. The pieces used are from Tim’s CD Fish Nite Moon: they are Ancient Footsteps, Fish Nite Moon, Spiritbirth, and Conception. I thank my partner Robert (Taffy) Seaborne for his participation in the creation of the video.
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) Spring Equinox by Sudie Rakusin & Annie Finch

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

On February 3rd at 19:45 “Universal Time” (as it is named), Earth our Planet crosses the midpoint of Her orbit between Solstice and Equinox, though the exact time varies each year. In the Northern Hemisphere it is the Season of Imbolc – the welcoming of the Light, post-Winter Solstice, after the fullness of the dark of Winter. Imbolc, and all of the light part of the cycle, is particularly associated with the Young One/Virgin/Maiden aspect of Goddess – or Urge to Be as I have named this aspect. Imbolc may be understood as the quintessential celebration of the Virgin/Young One quality for the year – the rest of the light part of the cycle celebrates Her processes, but this Seasonal Moment is a celebration of Her … identifying with Her. She is the New Young One, the Promise of Life, the Urge to Be. Her purity is Her singularity of purpose. She is spiritual warrior. Her inviolability is Her determination to Be … nothing to do with unbroken hymens of the dualistic and patriarchal mind. The Virgin is the essential “yes” to Being – not the “no” She was turned into. This is some Poetry of the Season: This is the season of the waxing Light … the feast of the Young One – who is the Urge To Be within All. The New One born at the Winter Solstice now grows. This is the time of celebrating the small self – each one’s Gaian uniqueness and beauty. We meet to share the light of inspiration, to be midwifed, by She who tends the Flame of Being, deeply committed to Self, and Who is True. The choice of images is arbitrary … there are so many more, and also, most ancient images of Goddess are multivalent – She was/is One: that is, all Her aspects are not separate from each other. These selected images tell a story of certain qualities that may be contemplated at the Seasonal Moment of Imbolc/Early Spring. Remember that image communicates the unspeakable – that which can only be known in body – below rational mind. You may regard it as a transmission of Herself, insofar as you wish – and particular to you. I offer you these images for you to receive in your own way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUPTKMork9s Artemis 4th Century B.C.E. Greece. (p.52 Austen) – a classic “Virgin” image – wild and free, “Lady of the Beasts”, Goddess of untamed nature. As such, in the patriarchal stories She is often associated with harshness, orgiastic rituals but we may re-story “wildness” in our times as something “innocent”: that is, in direct relationship with the Mother. She is a hunter/archer, protector, midwife, nurturing the new and pure essence (the “wild”) – in earlier times these things were not contradictory. The hunter had an intimate relationship with the hunted, and deep reverence. Aphrodite (p.132 Austen) 300 B.C.E. – often diminished to a sex Goddess in patriarchal narrative, but in more ancient times, praised as She who holds all things in form, which may be comprehended as embodying cosmic power of allurement, which may be identified with what has been named as “gravity”. Re-storied as one who admires her own Beauty, and the Beauty of All. Aphrodite (plate 137 Neumann) an earlier image 600 B.C.E. Brigid/Brigantia (p. 38 Durdin-Robertson) 300 C.E. – Her spear may be understood as the spear of Goddess: that is, as spiritual warrior, or Boadicea-like. Brigid – a later image of Christian times … dressed nun-like. Eurynome (Austen p.8) 4000 B.C.E. Africa. This image is named as Bird-Headed Snake Goddess. Austen stories Her as an image of Eurynome, Goddess of All Things who danced upon the waves in the beginning and laid the Universal Egg. She appears very self-expressive: perhaps a great image of a self-expressive Universe. She integrates animal and human, earth and sky, before dualism existed. I choose her as a Virgin image because of this integrity, and her ecstatic expression. Diana (Neumann Plate 161) Rome. She carries the Flame – is classically Her own person. … not so much “independent” as it may be thought of culturally, as “self-knowing”. She came to be associated with the Greek Artemis: they are sister Goddesses. The Horned Goddess (p. 138 Austen) 6000 B.C.E. Africa – associated with dance and healthy life-force – rain and fertility. She is of the ancient Amazon tribes of what is now known as Algeria. Even today amongst these people, Austen says: “the Tauregs, the women are independent, while the men only appear in public veiled”. Vajravarahi (p.124 Austen) 1600’s C.E. Vajravarahi, show me how to be powerful and compassionate at the same time – let me know that these qualities are one force. Teach me to feel the beauty, power and eroticism of my own being. Show me that I am an exquisite part of the life force, dancing with all other forms of life. and OM! Veneration to you, noble Vajravarahi! OM! Veneration to you, noble and unconquered! Mother of the three worlds! Mistress of knowledge!… OM! Veneration to you, Vajravarahi! Great yogini! Mistress of love! She who moves through the air! TIBETAN TEXT Radha (in my ritual space) … seeing Who She really is. REFERENCES: Austen, Hallie Iglehart. The Heart of the Goddess. Berkeley:Wingbow, 1990. Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990. Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Bergen: Girl God Books, 2023. Neumann, Erich. The Great Mother. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. The music is “Boadicea” by Enya.
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 …
A Southern Hemisphere Perspective on Place by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.

This essay is an edited excerpt from the Introduction to the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, which was an outcome of her doctoral research/thesis entitled The Female Metaphor – Virgin, Mother, Crone – of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding: Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change. This doctoral work was in turn a documentation and deeper research of the Seasonal ceremonial celebrations that the author was already engaged in for over a decade. The whole of the process is here named as her “Search”. photo credit: David Widdowson, Astrovisuals. The site of seasonal ceremonial celebrations will always be significant. In my case, the place in which I have created them has been notably in the Southern Hemisphere of out Planet Earth. The fact of my context being thus – the Southern Hemisphere – had contributed in the past to my deep internalized sense of being “other”, and dissociated from my senses, since almost all stories told were based in Northern Hemisphere perspective. Yet at the same time this context of inhabiting the Southern Hemisphere contributed to my deep awareness of Gaia’s Northern Hemisphere and Her reciprocal Seasonal Moment: thus, awareness of the whole Planet. My initial confusion about the sensed Cosmos – as a Place, became a clarity about the actual Cosmos – which remained inclusive of my sensed Cosmos. PaGaian reality – the reality of our Gaian “country” – is that the whole Creative Dynamic happens all the time, all at once. The “other”, the opposite, is always present – underneath and within the Moment. This has affected my comprehension of each Sabbat/Seasonal Moment, its particular beauty but also a fullness of its transitory nature. Many in the Northern Hemisphere – even today – have no idea that the Southern Hemisphere has a ‘different’ lunar, diurnal, seasonal perspective; and because of this there often is a rigidity of frame of reference for place, language, metaphor and hence cosmology[i]. Indeed over the years of industrialized culture it has appeared to matter less to many of both hemispheres, including the ‘author-ities’, the writers of culture and cosmos. And such ‘author-ity’ and northern-hemispheric rigidity is also assumed by many more Earth-oriented writers as well[ii]. There has been consistent failure to take into account a whole Earth perspective: for example, the North Star does not need to be the point of sacred reference – there is great Poetry to be made of the void of the South Celestial Pole. Nor need the North be rigidly associated with the Earth element and darkness, nor is there really an “up” and a “down” cosmologically speaking. A sense and accountof the Southern Hemisphere perspective with all that that implies metaphorically as well as sens-ibly, seems vitally important to comprehending and sensing a whole perspective and globe – a flexibility of mind, and coming to inhabit the real Cosmos, hence enabling what I have named as a ‘PaGaian’ cosmological perspective, a whole Earth perspective. It has also been of particular significance that my Search has been birthed in the ancient continent of Australia. It is the age of the exposed rock in this Land, present to her inhabitants in an untarnished, primal mode that is significant. This Land Herself has for millennia been largely untouched by human war, conquest and concentrated human agriculture and disturbance. The inhabitants of this Land dwelt here in a manner that was largely peaceful and harmonious, for tens of thousands of years. Therefore the Land Herself may speak more clearly I feel; one may be the recipient of direct transmission of Earth in one of her most primordial modes. Her knowledge may be felt more clearly – one may be taught by Her. I think that the purity of this transmission is a significant factor in the development of the formal research I undertook – in my chosen methodology and in what I perceived in the process, and documented; from my beginnings as a country girl, albeit below my conscious mind in the subtle realms of which I knew little, to the more conscious times of entering into the process of the Search. In this Land that birthed me, ‘spirit’ is not remote and abstract, it is felt in Her red earth[iii]. Aboriginal elder David Mowaljarlai described, “This is a spirit country”[iv], and all of Her inhabitants, including non-Indigenous, may be affected by the strength of Her organic communication. It took me until the later stages of my research to realize the need to state the importance of this particular place for the advent of the research: the significance of both the land of Australia, and the specific region of the Blue Mountains in which I was now dwelling, as well as the community of this particular region, which all lent itself to the whole process. The lateness of this perception on my part, has to do with the extent of my previous alienation; but the fact that it did occur, is perhaps at least in part attributable to the unfolding awakening to my habitat that was part of the project/process. The specific region of the “Blue Mountains” – as Europeans have named them – is significant in that I don’t think that this project/process could have happened as it did in just any region. David Abram says, “The singular magic of a place is evident from what happens there, from what befalls oneself or others when in its vicinity. To tell of such events is implicitly to tell of the particular power of that site, and indeed to participate in its expressive potency[v]”. Blue Mountains, Australia: Dharug and Gundungurra Country The Blue Mountains are impressive ancient rock formations, an uplifted ancient seabed, whose “range of rock types and topographical situations has given rise to distinct plant communities”[vi]; and the presence of this great variation of plant communities, “especially the swamps, offer an abundance and variety of food sources, as well as habitats for varied fauna”[vii]. I feel that this is the case for …

(Essay 2) The Magoist Calendar: Mago Time inscribed in Sonic Numerology by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: This is my latest research that has led me to restore the 13-month, 28-day Mago Calendar, which will be included at the end of its sequels. See Mago Almanac: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Book A), published in 2017.] CALENDARICS AND THE MAGOIST COSMOGONY Calendar is the harmonic numerological chart that indicates specifics of the terrestrial time/space relative to the extrasolar universe. As a cosmic almanac of our terrestrial home, calendar teaches the human world to do the right thing at the right timing, determined by the song/dance of the universe. We humans, part of the calendar, are the guardian of the calendar. Calendar is not and should not be an arbitrary arrangement invented to serve the purpose of a particular group of people, the Budoji says. It is
(Book Announcement 5) Introduction (part 3) 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! Engendering the Gynocentric Economy In the sense that the She Rises collective writing project does NOT begin with a ready-made blueprint, it is distinguished from a standard anthology. More to the point, this book is a book of the Goddess. By saying that, I do not mean that it is just about the Goddess. It is created in a gynocentric way and it serves a gynocentric purpose. Motivations matter; the task of the She Rises collective writing was first undertaken as a way of enhancing the Goddess/Mago Movement in 2014.[i] It has taken place spontaneously by the hand of volunteers. It relies on the gynocentric economy, a system of enabling the life of all beings operated through voluntary collaboration and egalitarian coordination. As an extension of the Gift Economy that Genevieve Vaughan advocates, the gynocentric economy is based on the voluntary sharing of one’s available resources for the whole.[ii] Gift-givers not only give what we can give freely but also enable a whole new (read non-patriarchal) mode of doing economic activities. In other words, they summon gynocentric reality to take place. Gynocentric economy secures free gift-giving activities and at the same time is shaped by the latter.
(Book Excerpt 2) Mago Almanac Planner by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

Details for Mago Almanac Planner are available here. [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 fallacy of patriarchal thinking, that is, the perspective of male-supremacy than the 12 month calendar. Considering that the calendar is the basic foundation for human activities, the standard 12 month calendar that the modern world is adapting functions to maintain patriarchy. According to the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City), the principal text of Magoism, the 12 month calendar was first invented and introduced by Yao (ca. 2356-2255 BCE), the pre-dynastic ruler of ancient China to replace the 13 month Magoist Calendar. The newly risen patriarchal rule needed to amend the female-centered 13 month calendar, which would make the Mother-Nature bond invisible. First of all, the 12 month calendar has an irregular number of days (28, 29, 30, or 31). The inconsistent number of days is an indication that the 12 month calendar is out of tune with Nature’s rhythm, ultimately Sonic Numerology. Reality is distorted. Fundamentally based on the imposed or presumed balance within the scheme of dyads (the male and the female), the 12 month calendar propagates a hierarchical dualism. In the dyad, the two are viewed as independent single entities disconnected from each other so that it allows one to be superior to the other (A>B). The worldview it represents is reductionist; the evolutionary process of life is predetermined. On the other hand, the 13 month calendar has 28 days in a month. It is regular and rhythmic, a sign of a healthy living entity. In tune with Nature’s rhythm, the 13 month calendar guides us into an infinitely creative and open-ended worldview based on Sonic Numerology (musical interplay of nine numbers), the cosmogonic force of WE/HERE/NOW. Numerologically aligned, the 13 month 28 day calendar leads us to an ever-unfolding reality. The triadic principle, an epitome of Nine Numerology, stands for the web of spiral interconnection. One divided by three leads to the realm that never ends as it goes 0.3333… for example. That said, what is the better way to restore the lunar-female song and dance than women themselves by charting out the menstrual cycle in the 13 moon calendar? Mago Almanac Planner provides tools for menstruators to mark menstrual dates side by side with lunation dates. We want our modern-day maidens and mothers to see how their own menstrual cycles run in harmony with all other beings in the Natural World! Menstruation is a calendric indicator designed to guide human societies. Biology is not only social but also cosmic. Menstruation is never a separate biological phenomenon. For non-menstruators, Mago Almanac Planner opens the door to each day, week, and month of the cosmic song and dance. We are about to move the axis of our consciousness in tune with all else in the universe!Book information on Magoist Calendar Year 4 and Magoist Calendar Planner Year 4 here. (To be continued) https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/ [1] This is a topic that will be treated in detail in my forthcoming book, The Magoist Calendar: Mago Time Inscribed in Sonic Numerology.

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