(Poem) The Traveller by Arlene Bailey (2024)

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(E-Interview) Luciana Percovich by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang
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Foundational

(Prose) Water, Spiritual Source by Deanne Quarrie
We are creatures of water. Water is our original source as well as what makes up at least 70% of our bodies. It is part of every cell and fiber in us and is our essence. What if water were the common denominator weaving all of life (earth, animal, human, and plant) together? Is it what connects us all? It is pretty incredible when you realize that the water we have here on Earth right now is the same water that has always been here. Do you suppose there are messages contained within water? Do you think it is possible for our ancestors to speak to us through water?
RTM Newsletter #1 10/22/16
“The tree that looks up at the sun grows without limit.” ~Maxim News: Call for Contributions: Special Topics and Four Categories of Contributors. Tell us how RTM inspires you inTestimonials.Now open to our readers! Focus: Contributions byFeatured Contributor, Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D.
(Book Excerpt 1) She who gives life, She who gives form: Female Cosmogonies (English Edition) by Luciana Percovich
[Author’s Note: She who gives life, She who gives form: Female Cosmogonies is an English translation of the original Italian book, Colei che dà la Vita Colei che dà la Forma. Below is from the back cover: How the creation of the universe was imagined and transmitted for millennia in different places on Earth long before the myth of Adam and Eve, and how it still speaks to our present. A collection of extraordinary creation lore stretching from Asia to Oceania, from Africa to America, from the Mediterranean to India, where the origin of the cosmos is referred as female. The Mother/Goddess was She who gave Life and Form, that is the Rules and Teachings necessary to the never-ending renewing of Creation. Before the rise of patriarchy, in the golden Ages of earthly Paradises, the daughters and sons of the Mother lived following the Path of Balance and Harmony between nature and human societies.] Preface to the English Edition This book was first published in Italy in 2007, but its lore is in no danger of falling out of date. What has changed to some degree since then is the information contemporary scientific disciplines have been able to offer regarding the historical contextualization that I propose in each chapter: the growing interest about our deepest roots has led to many advancements in terms of population genetics based on ancient DNA, statistical studies on climatic changes, their impact on human cultures, palethnology – especially when run by women. These areas of study are all contributing more detailed data about the Earth’s distribution of emerging lands in different eras and about the movements of peoples, their interactions or isolation, in a process which involved our far distant ancestors all around the world. And this often helps to confirm the knowledge contained in many tales, to establish connections between recurrent themes in different parts of the world, and to appreciate the gems of wisdom they still disclose. The first source for this research was Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood. A Treasury of Goddess and Heroine Lore from Around the World by Merlin Stone, first published in 1979. In general, many of the ideas in that book are still valid. Stone was a major forerunner in the field of mythology and visual art. She is now walking in the Realm of our Ancestors, surrounded by the gratitude of a generation of female scholars and investigators into the misty memories of banned civilizations. She who gives Life, She who gives Form focuses on that particular kind of very old stories which explain how Mother Nature began to expand through all her creatures, and how She lay down the rules to follow for the continuation of Creation on this planet. Momolina Marconi, an Italian professor of religious history, classified these types of stories as “Existential myths (or cosmogonies), which explain the origins and the secret force that brings forth life and Providential myths which more than cosmogonies guarantee the salvation of future life”. My effort to present them to the contemporary reader – far from providing an exhaustive gallery on the subject – is to offer a glimpse into some of these stories, as geological samples retrieved from delving into the deepest layers of earth can do. This selection also addresses crucial themes of our time: the conflictual relationship between women and men, their different approach and vision of life and death, the forgotten connection between humans and nature, the fulfilling of needs without the brutal exploitation of other living species or of “second class citizens”. May we remember the lessons of our ancestors and reemerge once more as a species with a future! The narration takes the form of chapters that focus on different continents and on how they unveil the Wisdom of the Mothers in the Beginning. From the forces and energies at work in nature and the cosmos as waves generated from a primordial explosion and in perennial search of new balance, the order of number Eight develops (myths of China and Japan), expanding into the tones of a cosmic music which condenses fluctuating energy into physical matter (Korea). The Creatrix appears when Music plays in attunement, and Her well-being multiplies parthenogenetically in these moments of balance. Next, when the continuous dance polarizes in yin and yang energies, new ruptures become necessary for life to proceed in this earthly form; and the drama of separation from oneness and the labour of the soul in embodiment manifest (Islands and Continents of the Pacific Ocean). Subsequently, life in human sexualized bodies requires the invention of a refined community, a sense of belonging, a constant connection creating spiritual and physical harmony (Africa). When this is achieved and encoded in cellular tissue as well as in social organization, Beauty is generated by civilizations in balance that contain polarities and prevent them from becoming divergent and destructive (North America). But if disjointed impulses prevail, violence through rough and rigid hierarchies cause the end of harmony, and the fall out of balance propagates assuming the form of an artificial order and rule (Mediterranean Sea and Levant): a mental grid is invented, dismembering, and reducing the cosmovision into a male centered world vision. Still, the Mother of all possibilities resists, along different paths and adjustments in the impermanence of the Creation (India). Will humankind be able to carry Creation on through a new “evolutive leap”, reestablishing the balance between now opposing polarities and conflicting energies? Or are we being pulled into the Abyss of the cosmic Cauldron to be re-generated once more in another form?(To be continued)Available in Amazon. https://www.magoism.net/2013/10/meet-mago-contributor-luciana-percovich/
Goddess Epiphany 1978: She was Laughing, by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
Laughing Goddess (Veracruz region), The Heart of the Goddess, Hallie Iglehart Austen. Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a young woman with a toddling child, who went off to the mythical land of Berkeley California, all the way from her homeland of the Great South Land called Australia. She went with her husband, who was going there to study theology. She of course was not going to study, though she loved the study of such deep things. She was mindful of her duties to the home and child and could not imagine what use it would be for her to have such a degree: and they did not really have the means to waste on such an enterprise. She would read the books along with her husband, discuss with him, even help him write his thesis … all out of her passion for it, but not for her own piece of paper. But other women there told her that things need not be this way, that she had the ability and maybe even the responsibility, to learn and study – for credit – for her own piece of paper. She decided to apply for a scholarship, and it was granted. She timidly began her own course of study, and to let her child go more often to his father and other good caretakers. She began to write her own papers and to think for herself. And then across her path came another married couple; really a man and his wife, who had a child for every year of her marriage. The man knew that he was “a man of God”, and that his wife knew her place. He pointed out that this studious young woman with toddling child obviously did not know hers. The young hera (which she was though she didn’t know it yet), being naive and defenceless at this point allowed this reproach to upset her: she cried in anger and indignation in front of the man and his wife, for which she was reproached further. That night, in her dreams, the Divine came to her and ministered, in the form of four Goddesses. She had never seen such women before, even in her dreams. They were strong women with long flowing gowns and long flowing hair. They were pointing at this man and laughing. They were laughing so hard that they held themselves and rocked and swayed. Our dreamer awoke empowered, able to shake off her weakness and walk on. And so she has. https://www.magoism.net/2013/06/meet-mago-contributor-glenys-livingstone/ (Meet Mago Contributor) Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D.
(Essay) Education for a Girl in Bozen 1930’s by Claire French Ph.D.
A translated excerpt from the author’s book: Meine verkehrte Welt: von Bozen nach Australien Since the day of my birth my father had decided that I would remain his only child. If I had been born in this hell hole of an industrial town I must get to know his homeland and some day take over his family’s property at Bozen (Bolzano) in South Tyrol, now the Italian Provincia di Bolzano. Besides he deemed that an education in a small Bavarian township was not good enough for his daughter: he was an Italian citizen and Italian civil law followed the Latin jus sanguinis, that is the Law of the Father. This meant that I was an Italian citizen by birth and under the Fascist regime the ownership of real estate made it necessary to speak Italian. Under these circ*mstances it seemed to be inevitable to spend some of my school years at a boarding school in Italy. My mother was heartbroken at the thought to send me so far way and to entrust my education to Catholic nuns. But she understood that a girl needed a good schooling if she did not want to be dependent on a husband. She saw the misery of the women working in factories and of women who had been married for their dowry, and as young as I was I could see it too. “When I grow up I shall not get married.” I said to Mutti. “That won’t be necessary.” She answered. Once I had asked Grandfather if all girls had to marry. He had laughed and said that no obligation was needed, as they never could get a husband quick enough. I did not believe him. There was Fraeulein Meyer, a hunchback seamstress, who came to us periodically to sew and alter our cloths and she was not married. I asked Mutti about marriage. She said that it was a wonderful thing to have a baby, and for this a husband was necessary. But if I promised to work hard she would help me to get a decent job, like the lady who wrote the English letters for Rosenthal. Nevertheless she insisted that apart from my school work I would also have to learn everything that a good housewife must know. She would not like to hear that I did not know how to clean, cook and sew, like Mrs. B. I knew what she meant. In those years women with secondary education were called “Blue Stockings” after an English Ladies’ Club and they were the object of much ridicule. I must not become one of them. Grandfather of course was against any form of higher education for girls. He did not know what that should be good for. “Just let them learn how to scrub and clean and do the washing” and “Girls who can whistle and hens which can crow should get their necks wrung while they are young”: this was Grandfather’s slogan and he never stopped quoting it. I am sorry to say that initially Vati tended to agree. Initially he could not understand that women needed to learn anything beside cooking, knitting and sewing, not to forget how to darn socks and sew on buttons. His mother, a lady in her seventies, was still knitting woollen stockings and socks for the whole family. She did not read the Bible but the Yearly Almanac of the City of Bozen. Like all the women of her standing she went to Mass on Sunday mornings and to Rosary on Sunday afternoon. What else did a woman need for Eternal Salvation. My poor mother had been yearning all her life for a better education. In vain she had implored her father to let her learn French like her cousin Lorenz Fluegel, who had grown up at Metz in Lorraine. Now she was determined to give her daughter what had been denied to her, and for this she was prepared to make every sacrifice. Soon Vati also came to see it her way. During our yearly holyday at Bozen my parents had made enquiries about a suitable boarding school for me. But they drew a blank. At Bozen there was the “Elisabethinum” for orphan girls and at Meran there was the School of the English Ladies, also called Institute of Our Lady of Zion. The former was unsuitable for me and the latter too expensive for my father’s income. The daughters of the old Austrian aristocracy had governesses who taught them French and all the accomplishments necessary for their status. Vati had hoped that the nuns of the Franciscan Tertiary Order had a boarding school for girls. But the nuns had given up their boarding facility and divided their energies between running a hospital and a day school for girls for the first five grades. Their former boarding facility was now reserved for the novices of their Order. My parents were disappointed. Then Vati asked his sister Clara and her husband Othmar Leitner if they would take me in fosterage. Clara had no children of her own and I suspect she only agreed because she did not trust Mutti to give me a good Catholic education. She was also my godmother and I never called her Aunt Clara, but Patin (godmother) as was the local custom. Her husband, Uncle Othmar, saw the possibility of an extra income and a cheap house hold help. His villa in the Via Castel Roncolo was only a short walk from the private girls’ school of the Franciscan nuns, Scuola Santa Maria, which was frequented by the daughters of the German speaking middle class and had an excellent reputation. … In Italy the school year starts after the long summer vacation on the 1st of October and finishes on the Day of St. Peter and Paul on the 29th of June. Our neighbours at Selb were all agog when my parents took me and my copious luggage to the whistle stop station of Selb Nordbahnhof, and put …
(Prose) Animal Altruism by Susan Hawthorne
Young cassowaries, they are several months old, June 2019. During the recent bushfire period which went from September to mid-February, animals in Australia were killed in the millions. The latest figure stands at a billion. Among them were many iconic Australian animals including kangaroos, koalas and wombats. But it also included a huge number of birds, many of whom washed up on the beaches along the south coast of NSW. The animals who survived are still being cared for in wildlife shelters and by vets. My favourite stories were of the wombats. Wombats dig deep holes and because wombats are rotund and quite large, these burrows have to be pretty big. They are also well protected from fire because they are quite deep and long, in some cases a hundred metres in length. Wombats share their burrows with other wombats, and during a fire, other animals also take shelter. In one instance I saw that a snake had taken refuge in a wombat hole. Children’s author Jackie French, noticed that the wombats began preparing for the fire in November. The fire that came to her place, did so in January. And while some scientists have pooh poohed the idea of wombats sharing their territories, when you live with wild animals constantly, you see things that get missed by scientists who come for just a short period with their sensors and cameras. Another woman woke one morning to find 50 kangaroos in her garage. She had been rescuing joeys and young kangaroos for many years and recognised some of them. They knew that her place was one of safety. The taller cassowary at the back is the female, December 2019. We watch cassowaries where we live and over the years have seen many things that are denied in the official story. It is the case that male cassowaries mostly take the stripeys (the young chicks) around for several months. The story we heard was that the females never do this. Last year both female and male looked after three chicks for about five months. With our increasing disconnection from nature, people have ceased to understand how the world works and how important it is to see altruism displayed by wild animals and how they operate in times of need. Not too long ago I had dream about cassowaries in which I was worried that one would go for me. You can see from the photo that they are rather large. At the end of the dream: Three very large cassowaries come through the door. I manage to walk between them to open the door, as I do the largest one yet walks past me and as she does she says, ‘Are you all right?’ At this point I realise that I will be okay with them no matter how many of them there are. As I write this, a green tree ant walks across the top of my computer! Mum (at front), dad and three chicks, May 2019. (Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne, Ph.D.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Alshaad Kara
Alshaad Kara is a Mauritian poet who writes from his heart. He won the 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup” Literary Award Third Prize. His latest poems were published in “The Social Rhyme”, “Spered Gouez”, “Caractère” and “Coin-Operated Press” and “Slamming Bricks Anthology 3rd Edition”.
(Art) The Deep Within by Lucy Pierce
This piece sprang directly from the drum journey I participated in as a part of the preparation for the red tepee project, the rhythm of the drum taking me on a journey deep within my body, to surprise and enlighten me with what lay beneath.
(Essay) The Brewer was a Lady by Hearth Moon Rising
Drinking beer with straws. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Like the swelling of the Tigris and Euphrates,You pour the filtered beer.Like the onrush of the sacred rivers, Ninkasi,You pour the filtered beer.~ Hymn to Ninkasi The grocery chain where I shop used to have a sign in the beer aisle that read: It was a wise man who invented beer. I didn’t speak to the management about that sign, though I was tempted, but eventually it was taken down. Because, you see, beer was almost certainly invented by a woman. I had intended to write this article on women and beer brewing, but I soon discovered that’s a topic for an entire book. It’s a book that needs to be written, because while there are many histories of beer, there is a dearth of material focused on women. The drinking of beer dates so far back in pre-history that we can’t ascertain where or when it first appeared. There is evidence for grain fermentation in Turkey 12,000 years ago and China 9,000 years ago. It is doubtful that brewing was “discovered” in one place and spread; it probably emerged independently all over the world, in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. By the time a culture had pottery and grain stores, they were probably brewing. The drink may have been developed as a way of utilizing excess grain, with intoxication a happy byproduct. In recorded times women were always the early brewers. Since food production and processing was primarily directed and conducted by women in Neolithic societies, it is easy to see how brewing would be under a woman’s province. Ancient beer had an alcohol content of less than 1% or as high as 3.5%. The high figure comes from scientific analysis of beer brewed from a Mesopotamian recipe, and scholars speculate that most brewers in Mesopotamia and elsewhere did not attain the high figure. Jean Bottero asserts that alcohol content was so low that drunkenness was rare, though with examples of inebriation present in mythology, I have to wonder. Beer receipt. Photo: Jim Kuhn. Mesopotamia was indisputably the greatest beer culture of all time. There are at least half a dozen varieties described in the literature, and beer was consumed daily, usually diluted with as much as 75% water (which supports the idea that the alcohol content was not insignificant). In most countries, rich men switched primarily to wine with the introduction of the fermented grape, but Mesopotamians remained loyal to the barley grain even after they began producing their own wine. Beer was sipped communally through large bowls or vats, presumably to strain residual solids. The Mesopotamian gods drank quantities of beer several times a day in temple rituals. The goddess who presided over beer was named Ninkasi, and as far as we know she only involved herself in brewing, at least until she took on wine production. Even as Mesopotamian society grew complex, women continued to brew their own beer at home. Commercial brewers and taverns did a brisk business however. These businesses were run by women for millennia, but as patriarchy progressed men encroached on the territory. Taverns and the drinking of beer are prominent in many Mesopotamian myths. My favorite intoxication story is Inanna’s visit to Enki, the God of wisdom. After realizing how wonderful she is, Inanna decides to honor Enki with a visit. When she leaned against the apple tree, her vulva was wondrous to behold.Rejoicing at her wondrous vulva, the young woman Inanna applauded herself.(Wolkstein and Kramer, see below.) Inanna lives in the night sky as the star Venus, so I envision Inanna embarking in her sky-canoe to visit that other bright star in the sky, Jupiter. This is probably a story about a Venus-Jupiter conjunction. As Inanna journeys to Enki’s domain, the God of Wisdom, since he knows all things, anticipates her arrival. He tells his servant: Give her butter cake to eat.Pour cold water to refresh her heart.Offer her beer before the statue of the lion.Treat her like an equal. Inanna with reed arrows in her backpack restraining a lion. Photo: Sailko/Wikimedia Commons. Enki entertains Inanna at the Temple of Heaven, drinking liberally of his own beer. His generosity increases in proportion to his intoxication, and he offers Inanna all the accoutrements of civilization: music, writing, textiles, metal working, animal husbandry, the priesthoods. With increasing liberality, he bestows more and more gifts, and with the bestowal of each gift, Inanna says, “I take it!” As her canoe becomes heavy with shwag, Inanna wisely decides it’s time to head home. She is only a short way across the sky, however, when Enki begins to sober up. Enki asks his servant where his stuff is, and in reply the servant tells him that he has given it to Inanna. Enki sends his servant in pursuit of the Boat of Heaven to retrieve his treasures. Inanna is outraged at the request to return the gifts. “He gave them to me. They are mine!” she cries. Enki responds to Inanna’s determination by sending monsters to seize her boat and guide it back to him. He sends wave after wave of monsters, seven times fifty of them. Inanna stands her ground. Inanna asks her priestess Ninshubur to fight off the monsters and save her boat. Picture Inanna and her humble servant in their space canoe warding off monster after monster in an epic battle. From Earth it would look something like a meteor shower. Ninshubur rises to the challenge and wards off all the monsters as Inanna escapes with her valuable cargo. Inanna orders her boat to dock in her city of Uruk. There she unloads treasure after treasure, more than Enki had given her, even, to share with her people. She says: Let all the lands proclaim my noble name.Let the people sing my praises. Then Enki, perhaps recovering from his hangover, blesses the city of Uruk as well. Let the citizens of your city prosper,Let the children of Uruk rejoice. Sources: Alok Bannerjee, …
Tigh nam Bodach or Cailleach – House of the Old Man/ Old Woman – Both appear on maps There’s a little shrine in a remote Scottish valley whose ritual stretches back past living memory into the mists of time. The story told is that the Cailleach, her husband Bodach and daughter Nighean were passing through this glen when the weather turned bad. The local folks, who were spending the summer in the glen grazing their cattle welcomed them all in as is the way with Celtic hospitality. The families of the area relied on her astute wisdom of country lore and she was treated with the utmost respect. To them, she was regarded as a diety. By her acute perception of the ways of the world and life, both mortal and immortal, she became central to their daily existence. Their food and health depended on her benevolence. The Cailleach of Glen Lyon, contained in Perthsire folk tales When it was time to leave the people began to worry as the Cailleach had become so central to their lives and the Cailleach herself understood this and so constructed a wee shieling (a Norse word meaning little dwelling), simlar to the summer dwellings the women and children lived in throughout the summer months. The Cailleach took three stones out of the near-by stream, explaining that if they tended to this little family by putting the stones out at Beltane then they could look after the glen, the people themselves ensuring that all were healthy and that the land remained fertile. At Samhain she instructed that the stones were to be returned to the shrine for the winter months. No one knows when this ritual began and although the little shrine is rebuild every decade or so this age old ritual is still performed every Beltane and Samhain. The Doll, the Antler and the Stone An Eye Shaped Rock, an Antler and a Doll. It had been a wonderfully bright day the day I visited the Shrine. It was late may, and so the little sheiling had been opened in that age old ritual and Glen Lyon, Scotland’s longest glen was filled with bluebells and the sounds of lambs. Yet on arriving at the Shrine clouds quickly gathered, the sky turned dark and there was 20 minutues of torrential rain. I had taken some photos of my little Cailleach doll beside the stones before heading over and spending some time by the stream. Felted Cailleach doll by Jude Lally beside the ‘cailleach’ stone I felt drawn to putting my hands in the cold fast flowing waters and took out a stone, whose rings of mica shimmered like a great eye. After heading back to the shrine the doll was gone. I searched everywhere and could not find her – for I didn’t want to leave anything behind in this remote place. In my experience, this Old Crone has quite the sense of humor – much like the 20 minute rainstorm that stopped the minute we left the Shrine and started heading back on the track. As we were passing a big black peaty bog my eye was drawn to something white. As I peered in I saw an antler, it looked pretty old as it had a few gnaw marks which resembled an ancient pictorial langauge. I leaned in to pick up the antler but then thought maybe it should just stay where it was, then an image of the Old Crone came to mind cackling, nstructing me to take the antler, for it was her swap for the doll. Recreation of a shieling at Highland FOlk park, Scotland When I think back to Glen Cailleach and the women who spent their summers in the shielings I picture their evenings, singing and telling stories. I imagine their ritual of gathering at the end of summer when it was time to pack up and take the herd back down to their homes. I see them gathered around the stones, each women giving thanks to the Cailleach, whispering their gratitudes as did their mothers and their mothers before them. Click on the image above to listen to Julie Fowlis sing Bothan Àirigh am Bràigh Raithneach, A Shieling Bothie on the Braes of Rannoch. (Meet Mago Contributor) Jude Lally.
(Essay 9) From Heaven to Hell, Virgin Mother to Witch: The Evolution of the Great Goddess of Egypt by Krista Rodin
[Author’s Note:This series based on a chapter inGoddesses in Culture, History and Mythseeks todemonstrate how many of the ideas behind the Ancient Egyptian goddesses and theirimages, though changing over time and culture, remain relevant today.] The Egyptian Goddess Isis to Western Witch Krista Rodin, Ph.D. While it seems that the goddess’ split into the Holy Mother and the damned witch was common throughout the Western world, there are distinct differences in the tenor of legends of witches on the Continent and those of North America and England. This may in part be due to the localities where the legends persist and their earlier pagan relationship to the goddess as well as how well the local Christian church adapted to earlier pagan traditions. In Alpine regions, for example, witches are not necessarily evil, they can be seen as the women who live in the mountains and protect the innocent, while they deal out strikes to those who harm the land, animals or their protected people. The LadyPerchta, who inhabits the mountains of Bavaria, Tirol and Salzburg, is an example of just such a witch. In one tale, “The Witch fromGleichenberg” from Styria, Austria, the Witch, who is also called a gypsy, saves a young boy, who grows up to be the head of castle, with water from a sacred spring. She keeps the spring and its powers to herself,i.e, keeps the magic to herself, but when she knows she is dying, she lets the lord of the castle know where the healing water is located to protect the community.40TheUntersbergFrauen, the women who live in theUntersbergmountain,which lies on the border of the province of Salzburg, Austria and Bavaria, Germany, play tricks on passersby with light shows on wet rocks and undergrowth.They can lead the innocent to safety in storms and through fog, while they have been known to push those they don’t like into crevasses. They live amid the many caves in the mountain, while they play in its streams andwaterfalls. They are still respected by the local population, even those who go to church every Sunday. Recently, post-Reformation traditionally negative views on witches have also been mitigated by children’s stories such as the award winningDiekleineHexe(TheLittle Witch) byOtfriedPreussler.41The story includes some of the popularized elements associated with witches, and yet it has a twist that brings the Little Witch back in line with elements of the great goddess and her Alpinedescendants. The popularized elements include: the Little Witch has a raven companion namedAbraxas; the witches at the Walpurgis Night celebration encompass those who have command of the natural elements, such as mountains, woods, swamps, fog, weather, wind, and herbs/plants; they make a witches’ fire and sing and dance around it as they fly through the night; and the witching hour is midnight. They have a Witches’ Council with a chief witch who listens to the other witches as they govern the community—not letting the Little Witch participate in the activities. The witches put spells on people to change bodily features to include parts of animals, e.g., donkey ears and cows’ feet.The Little Witch makes salves of frogs’ eggs and mouse droppings, i.e. she uses natural elements to heal.In one chapter, ‘The Lightly Spelled Marksmen Festival,’ she helps children save their favorite ox from being killed and eaten. In the story, the Witches’Council gave the Little Witch a year to learn to be a good witch.The young girl, who is only 127 years old, has perfected her powers, learned all the spells in the book of magic, and helped a number of innocent people during the year.When she goes for her final exam on Walpurgis Night in order to be allowed to participate in the Nightly Festival, she answers the questions easily and seems to have passed the exam until one of the other witches, who had been tracking her throughout the year, announced all of the ways she had helped people. The witches in the Council are appalled because being a good witch means harming rather than helping. The Little Witch then uses her magic to trick the other witches and destroy them in the Witches’ Fire created for the Walpurgis Night celebration.She is alone, but she will continue to be the good witch, destroying that which harms and protecting the innocent. This theme of the good witch who only selectively uses magic, and then only to be helpful, was seen in the U.S. television showsBewitched(1964-1972),Sabrina, the Teen-age Witch(1996-2003)andCharmed(1998-2006) along with a variety of children’s books similar toThe Little Witch.This change may, at least in part, be related to the development of Wicca. Wicca originated in England after WWII, as a creation of Gerald Gardner, an amateur anthropologist, who combined diverse pagan traditions with early 20thcentury theosophical thought. One impetus for creating the new pagan tradition was a reaction and denunciation of organized religion, and as such Wicca has no central authority or doctrine.42The one most predominant aspect of the various Wiccan traditions is the worship of the Great Goddess and the Great Horned God, reminiscent of the Babylonian/Mesopotamian Baal. While not all Wiccans practice magic, many do, and they associate their skills with their deities. Ellen Reed, a renown Wicca practitioner, tiesher faith back to the Great Goddess, even in the title of her book,Circle of Isis: Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches.In it she explains: In Wicca, our approach to magic is usually through the Gods.Having done all we are capable of doing on this plane, we turn to magic, and will often ask for the help, guidance, and blessing of specific deities. Egyptian legend says that Ra invented magic.The Gods were too busy to do everything, so Ra gave humankind magical powers,heka, so that we would be able to handle the unseen world ourselves. Wicca is, first and foremost, a religion.You might call magic a fringe benefit, a result of our beliefs.We believe that we are part of the Gods and able to do muchTheycan do.The very source of the ability to do magic, however, makes it imperative …
(Essay) Sacred Sound Healing: Goddess as Music by Jillian Burentt
This Image is the word “SHAKTI” meaningFEMALE DIVINE SPIRITUAL POWER AND AUTHORITY in sanskrit, written in the BONJI/Siddham buddhist scripts used in Japan. For millennia humankind has looked to the celestial spheres as a place of divine music, to a place beyond this world where tones exist in the great void of deep space. In my own way, I too expect that near the black hole is a beautiful symphony of slow tones that move beyond time. Throughout mythology, religious archetypes and cultures of societies everywhere on earth, sounds are ritualized, recognized, formulated and placed within the context of sacredness. Music is recognized as divine. In some cases, as expressed by the choirs of angels, and in others, as in the cases of the Vedic religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, music is recognized as a form of deity. This paper will express some of the aspects of the divine feminine as she is recognized musically. My main focus will be in the Buddhist and Hindu religious pantheon, and my reference is both Vedic and tantric; the Kali Sahasranama stotram. Aspects of providence include ability to heal all illnesses, to move from all perceived negative states, and to transcend all concerns of body and mind as well as suffering in all of its forms. For those who maintain a goddess centered lifestyle, they recognize the divinity of the cosmic mother, the earth mother, the spirit mother, and the Goddess in all forms as she appears. To connect with Goddess further, I will begin to briefly explain cosmic sound healing. Considering that all that exists in the perceivable universe is energy and matter in the great oneness and apparent duality, the expression of existence of all beings and all phenomena includes sounds and music. Music is frequency and time, along with pauses and movement and layers increasing in aspects of volume and speed and varying with pulses and rhythms and forms of sequencing tones that we call melodies. And we think of them as sad or happy oftentimes, or both mixed and we apply ideas and concepts to them, to further complicate their existence. But, as beauteous as they are, they also are waves of sound. Sounds travel in wave forms. And solid matter, solid mass, is inversely proportional to light energy, as we understand particles and waves in their solid and electromagnetic states. All states of all existence are known as Goddess. And when she takes the form of sound, those are the sacred vibrations which are known to have the power to heal. Fundamentally, I examine closely the Sri Kalisahasranama stotram, whereupon the one thousand names of the Great Mother Goddess are contained. It is beyond the scope of this short assayance to express every name ever given across all centuries and all languages on Earth; but these names are meaningfully expressed to me in Sanskrit, as I know them through Hindi, which is known as the ‘language of song.’ The language of song derives from its mother Sanskrit where these names of the Goddess descend down the ages handed down from teacher to student across millennia. For those interested in cosmology; Goddess is literally in the form of vibration. When she exists in sound form, some call that bija. Bijarupa is one of her names which suggests that she takes the form or rupa of sound itself. So, as each stellar configuration and cosmic object has a frequency and a sound identity, the Goddess is expressed in that particular form or configuration, and it is then that she is identified with a unique bija. The word bija additionally means seed. Ideally this seed is the tonic, the modal center of the song. And Goddess loves songs. The cosmos is a divine musical ordering, each planet and celestial body sending a unique frequency which reaches earth as sound and light both. For those interested in the meditative practice, I have conducted sadhanas (extensive rituals) and pujas (prayer offerings) always with sound and music as part of the vehicle for energy movement. At this time I have three means whereupon the sound form of Goddess is deeply ingrained in my practice and consciousness. In one way, I listen to the tones, and achieve samadhi, what is called rigpa or perhaps gnosis to the western spiritualists. This possibly can be expressed as deep trance-state. With music, I lose my ego and completely dissolve into the greater vibration of the cosmos. For tantrikas, this is the secret of dissolution that will allow the space for compassion to arise. In another sense, I use music as the sacred offering for my ancestors, for all sentient beings, and for whatever specific healing purpose I would aid or send aid to another; in this shamanic way, the music pacifies the problems of spirit which can cause bodily ills. In the tonal sense, I intone the Goddess inside my voice box, literally invoking her inside of my body, being a part of her, and partnering with her, as she is part of me. That oneness, is the absolute state; it is called anuyoga tantra, or it is called evocation or possession by spiritualists, but ultimately, it calls to the divine feminine energy principally known as Goddess by intoning her. Intonation is in the body. For example, if I want to aid to heal someone, I will use a frequency for a planet that I know will help in healing. Thus, the frequency of the planets which have their own tonal sound I intone in my body, thus adding the celestial object’s power- which is the form of goddess as planet to the sound form of goddess, as I call to her from inside myself. I heal from a place of compassion this way. For those looking for a way to practice the healing gifts of the goddess, I will list a few sound healing techniques that I have seen work with positive results in a corporal sense. There was a time when I had seen …
(Essay) Does Facebook Hate All Women—or just Feminists? by Trista Hendren
This photo was banned from Facebook (used with permission from Joanne Jackson). I have been hearing rumors about Facebook’s policies towards feminist posts for quite a while now. I will begin by saying that I have been ahugeFacebook fan; I met my husband through mutual friends on Facebook, as well as partners for various women-oriented projects over the last few years.But something seems to have shifted lately—nearlyeveryoneI spoke to regarding this article shared the same conflicted sentiment: we have enjoyed Facebook for the connections it has brought us but feel we have beenunfairly censored or punished. Sonya Renee Taylor, the page owner ofThe Body is Not an Apology, started apetitiononChange.orglast month: “The Body Is Not An Apology, an international movement focused on radical self-love and body empowerment, account was SUSPENDED from Facebook after posting a photo of an empowered female body and tribal women in Senegal with their breasts visible. We believe this sort of cultural and gender discrimination is absolutely asking women to apologize for their bodies and is unacceptable. We want a stop to the sexist hypocrisy of suspending accounts and deleting non-sexual images posted by women! The Body Is Not An Apology has over 12,500 friends in over 25 countries who share images, articles and affirmations focused on celebrating our bodies and truly embracing self-love. As a community we are outraged by the sexism and hypocrisy of Facebook’s policies!” What is troubling is that Facebook has allowed certain posts, which are derogatory towards women, to remain on its pages, while penalizing feminists for speaking out against them. Facebook has allowed hyper-sexualized images of women to remain, as well as comments, posts and pages that support rape culture;Soraya Chemalywrote anexcellent articleseveral months ago about Facebook’s misogyny problem. Rabid Feministpointed outthis particularly “fun”pageon Wednesday, even after hundreds of women reported the page and many of the pictures,is still up and running.However, asThe Body is Not an Apology’spetition reminds us, Facebook has censored images of: 1. Women who have beat breast cancer, includingJoanne Jacksonpictured above. 2. Women withchildren born with birth defects. 3. Women whobreastfeed. In researching this article, it appears there are many feminist pages, from all over the world, who feel they have been silenced by Facebook. The uprising of women in the Arab world, a site with more than 60,000 fans from around the world, released a press release November seventh. It seems their five administrators were all reprimanded by Facebook to some degree, varying from a warning, to a 30 day block. All five women werewarnedthey could permanently lose their accounts. They give the followingexplanation: “Dana Bakdounes is one the hundreds of women and men who participated in the Uprising of Women in the Arab World campaign, holding a sign expressing the reason why they support this uprising. Dana’s slogan stated: “I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because for 20 years I wasn’t allowed to feel the wind in my hair and on my body,” and her picture showed an unveiled woman carrying her passport with her picture when she was veiled. Dana’s picture was initially posted on October 21, among many other photos and statements of women and men of various religious beliefs and practices (some women were veiled, some unveiled, some in niqab…), all demanding women’s rights and equally enjoying the freedom of speech, in a secular space that promotes tolerance and embraces the differences. But on October 25, Facebook chose to censor Dana’s image and to suspend for 24 hours the account of the admin who posted it. This incident provoked an outrage among the defenders of freedom of speech who started sharing Dana’s picture all over Facebook, Twitter and other media channels.” It is difficult to understand what Facebook’s policies are exactly; it seems that the blocking has something to do with Facebook users reporting something they find offensive. While this can be helpful in some ways, the rules don’t seem to apply the same way towards all pages—and there does not seem to be much in the way ofexamining whether something actuallyisoffensive, once it is reported as such. Icelandic feminist, Hildur Lilliendahl, was recently temporarily blocked from posting content on Facebook, for the fourth time. The blocking began when she started collecting abusive public comments from men about women and/or feminists from around the web. Hildur published these comments on Facebook, in an album called “Men who hate women.” The material Facebook termed “abusive” were screenshots of hateful, misogynist comments. Hildur was reported for re-posting other people’s comments, most recently resulting in a 30-day block.Facebook warned her that she must “stop violating the community standards of Facebook.” Keep in mind, this wasaftershe re-posted a public status from a man with these kind words about her: “If I ‘accidentally’ ran over Hildur, she is probably the only person on earth that I would back up over and leave the car on top of her with the hand brake on!!!) Put this in your ‘men who hate Hildur’ folder, Hildur Lilliendahl.” Theresulting petitionon Change.org states; “I want to draw attention to the drawbacks of this platform, the Facebook and how easy it’s “community standards” make it to silence our voices.” When I confirmed the story with Hildur yesterday, she gave this statement: “I could have gone around the rules, I could have published the screenshots elsewhere and linked to them on Facebook, but I refuse to be silenced. I will not abide to rules that offend me. Neither will I allow corporate mass media to control my behavior.” What seems unfair about Facebook’s blocking policies is that it is almost impossible to get in touch with a live person or even defend yourself. Thus, other than comparing stories, it is hard to know what Facebook’s actual policies are and how to best deal with them. According to Facebook’s community standards page, there are nine types of content that may be deemed offensive and removed: Violence and Threats, Self-Harm, Bullying and Harassment, Hate Speech, Graphic Violence, Nudity and …

Special Posts

(Special Post 1) Nine-Headed Dragon Slain by Patriarchal Heroes: A Cross-cultural Discussion by Mago Circle Members
[Editor’s Note: This and the ensuing eight sequels (all nine parts) are a revised version […]
(Special Post 6) 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 […]
(Special Post 1) Multi-linguistic Resemblances of “Mago” by Mago Circle Members
“Ma” in “Mago” and “Ma-Gaia” Mother Goddess, ca.7250-6700 BCE, Catal Huyuk Turkey [Conversation betweenCarol P. […]
(Special Post 3) 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 […]
(Special Post 7) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?
[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed inThe Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. […]
(Special Post 5) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing
[Editor’s Note: This was first proposed inThe Mago Circle, Facebook Group, on March 6, 2014. […]

Seasonal

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
Samhain: Stepping Wisely through the Open Door by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Day of the Dead altar, via Wikimedia Commons According to Celtic tradition, on Samhain (October 31 for those in the north and April 30 for those in the south) the doors between the human and spirit worlds open. Faeries, demons, and spirits of the dead pour out of the Otherworld to walk the Earth. In the past, some would try to hurry ghosts past their houses or ward off evil spirits by setting jack o’lanterns in their windows. They avoided going outside, especially past cemeteries, lest they be snatched away to the Otherworld. In ancient times, some offered sacrifices to propitiate deities. However, others have invited in the souls of friends and family who have passed away. In Brittany, according to W.Y. Evans-Wentz’s Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, people would provide “a feast and entertainment for them of curded-milk, hot pancakes, and cider, served on the family table covered with a fresh white tablecloth, and to supply music” which “the dead come to enjoy with their friends” (p. 218). Other cultures also have such welcoming traditions. In Korea, as so beautifully described by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang in her posts about her family’s mourning for her father (Part I and Part II), in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, and elsewhere, food and flowers are brought to cemeteries to honor those no longer in the realm of the living. Many of us live in a society where death is pushed out of sight and Samhain’s sacred traditions have devolved into Halloween, a commercialized children’s holiday. Still, it seems to me that the pandemic, climate catastrophes, and war have made death much more present in our everyday thoughts over the past couple of years than before, so perhaps this year’s Samhain offers us the opportunity to re-examine Celtic and other practices of the past and present to see what insights and meaning they may have for us. Jack o lanterns: By Mihaela Bodlovic, via Wikimedia Commons All these ancient practices respect the spirit world and its power. Whether you believe that the Otherworld can wreak havoc on us at Samhain or not, the realm where spirits dwell clearly has power. Its allure can take us away from focusing on mundane, daily challenges or, more positively, open our eyes to the value of relating to forces that can give richness and meaning to our lives. At the same time, we must remember that each domain has its own power. We can use our physical bodies in beneficial ways that those in the Otherworld cannot. We must respect the power of the Otherworld as well as our own. Some kinds of healing are only possible when we welcome those from the Otherworld into our lives in a healthy way, whether through holiday visits or every day through remembrance, meditation, prayer, or other means. I’m of an age when many of my beloveds are in the Otherworld and so I am beginning to find that the idea of being able to sit with someone I have lost is cause not for fear, but rather joy and comfort. Perhaps those who have longstanding wounds from the past can heal by remembering those we have lost at Samhain and forgiving them or ourselves or realizing that we are no longer bound to those who have hurt us and are now gone. Samhain can also reassure us of the truth of our intuitive sense that our beloveds who we grieve are with us still, in some way, on this night and throughout the year. When we participate in the celebration of Samhain’s opening of doors to the Otherworld, if only for a day, we are honoring our own participation into the great cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We are expanding our vision of ourselves to be more than our bodies on the Earth and experiencing ourselves as connected to many realms, seen and unseen, spirit and human. We are accepting that at some time we will also become ancestors, with all the responsibility that entails and the fulfillment of taking our place in the complex matrix of being that is our universe. When we interact with the souls of those we have lost in ways that are healthy for us, however we may choose and believe that happens, we can also better celebrate the realm of the living. Just as we may listen in various ways for positive messages from those whom we have lost, we can ensure that we are expressing important guidance to those who will come after us by who we are and how we live our lives. We can express that life is worth living, even with all its traumas, and that we respect both the boundaries and the doors between the worlds so that we may continue living fully in our physical bodies on our beautiful, awe-inspiring Earth. I hope my message to my descendants will be: Love your lives. Build on what we have done and do better. Leave behind what we left you that no longer serves. If you feel alone, remember that you have thousands of generations of mothers sending you unconditional love and also generations of women coming after you eager to pick up where you left off. According to Mary Condren in The Serpent and the Goddess, in the most ancient times, “Samhain had been primarily a harvest feast celebrating the successful growth and gathering of the fruits of the past year” (p. 36). While we in the north are coming into the season of death, those in the south are experiencing Beltane, the first moments of spring when the doors between the worlds are also open. The eternal cycle of life, death, and regeneration turns again. Whether you are celebrating Samhain or Beltane, know that this holy time offers us all a chance to enter into the task of maintaining harmony with those we have loved before and for bringing balance between life and death, winter and summer, and the realm of the living and …
Artful Ceremonial Expression by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
This article is an edited excerpt from Chapter 7 of the author’s book PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. I always wore a special headpiece for the Seasonal ceremonies when I facilitated them over the years, and I feel that any participant may do so, not just the main celebrant. My ceremonial headpiece with its changing and continuous Seasonal decoration took on increasing significance over the years; it became a personal central representation of the year-long ceremonial art process of creating, destroying and re-creating. For the research period of my doctoral studies particularly, when I was documenting the process, I realised that this headpiece came to represent for me the essence of “She” – as Changing One, yet ever as Presence – as I was coming to know Her. In my journal for the Mabon/Autumn Equinox process notes one year I wrote: As I pace the circle with the Mabon headpiece in the centre, I see “Her” as She has been through the Seasons … the black and gold of Samhain, the deep red, white and evergreen of Winter, the white and blue of Imbolc, the flowers of Eostar, the rainbow ribbons of Beltane, the roses of Summer, the seed pods and wheat of Lammas, and now the Autumn leaves. I see in my mind’s eye, and feel, Her changes. I am learning … The Mother knowledge grows within me. The headpiece, the wreath, the altar, the house decorations, all participate in the ceremony: they are part of the learning, the method, the relationship – similar to how one might bring flowers and gifts of significance to a loved one at special moments. Then further, the removal and re-creation of the decorations are part of the learning – an active witness to transformation through time.
(Essay) Walking with Bb by Sara Wright
Walking with Bb:a story exploring the psychic connection between one woman and her bear. Preface: The black bear – hunting season in Maine is brutal – four months of bear hell – five if one includes the month where hunters can track bears for “practice” with hounds – separate mothers and cubs, terrorize them, tree them and do anything but legally kill them. During the legal slaughter, Hunters bait bears with junk food by putting old donuts etc. in cans and shoot the bear while he or she is eating. Most bears (82 percent) are slaughtered in this manner, the rest are killed by hounding and trapping. The season begins in August and lasts through December. Trapping, by the way, is illegal in every state but Maine. Black bears are hated, and that hatred will, of course, eventually result in their extirpation. I had a shy (male) year old black bear visiting my house this past summer with whom I developed a friendship, and what follows is part of our story: Last Saturday I was walking down the road when I remembered that I had not done my daily “circle of protection” imaging for Bb (standing as he was the day he visited me at the window early in August). When I began to do this another picture of Bb moving on all four feet with his face turned towards mine super-imposed itself over his standing image. I could almost see his expression, but not quite. I didn’t know what this imaging meant beyond that we were communicating in some unknown way, and he was in the area (not a good thing on hunting Saturdays). He had not been coming in most nights and I was worried… That night he came. He is still making nightly visits five days later, the most sequentially consistent visits since September 15th, the day I believed that he had been shot. This experience prompted me to write about telepathy and precognition. It is close to All Hallows and the full Hunter’s moon (Nov 3). I keep listening to Charlie Russell’ story which reminds me that loving bears (especially male bears) is hard, almost a sure recipe for disaster, and that I was not alone in this deep concern for and fear of losing Bb. I can barely stand to remember my other bear losses and I can’t stand feeling them. Even after I wrote about the incident with Bb, the experience seemed to carry a charge that didn’t dissipate. Had I missed something? Next I wrote “Root Healer,” exploring the possibility that as I continued to act as Bb’s “little bear mother” now employing psychic techniques to keep him safe (in some desperation as it was the only means left open to me to protect this very vulnerable yearling), that Bb’s presence might also include a gift for me and that it might involve some kind of root healing for my body because Nature thrives on reciprocity. One idea I missed completely, for it was so obvious. Bb’s image was communicating to me that we were having a psychic conversation in that very moment. It was the first time in three months of imaging protective circles that moved with him that I had confirmation from him that we were communicating effectively in this unknown way. This rarely happens. Normally when I do this kind of work, I just do it. I don’t get direct confirmation that it’s working from the animal itself (except with Lily b). Knowing this helped me make another decision I might not have made so intentionally. The hunting season will last into mid December, and I will be traveling during that last month. I keep thinking that putting actual physical distance between Bb and I might pose more of a threat for his life and I have to remind myself that psychic phenomena are not distance dependent. I should be able to image that protective circle every day and feel that it is working. Bb has already shown me that it can but I fear adding distance because I don’t completely trust my own perceptions.* I suspect believing might be an additional dimension of ensuring success when it comes to psychic protection for this bear. But how do I incorporate belief into a picture that is so clouded with personal/cultural doubt? Half the time I don’t believe myself and virtually no one except Rupert Sheldrake, Iren and Harriet have ever taken my experiences seriously. I have to remind myself that I have done this work many times dealing with doubt and it worked anyway. The point of writing this reflection might be to put me on a new edge of increasing Bb’s odds of survival. If it’s possible that an attitude that embraces believing in what I do could help me protect Bb more effectively until hunting is over and its time for him to den in peace I want to claim it. The question I need to answer now is how to go about moving into a more trusting self as a woman who continues to walk with a bear at her side? The night after I wrote the above paragraph I dream of the doubters in the roles of my parents, and in a friend. I take these dreams seriously as doubters inside me and out. These dreams may be telling me that it is unreasonable to expect me to believe that what I do works when no one else does? The problem with this idea is that on some level I do believe. I feel as if I am walking with this bear, every single day. I think about him constantly. The only thing that got me out of the house yesterday was that he was out of chocolate donuts. Something is intensifying my relationship with Bb although I never see him. I am caught in a field of bear energy and information, perhaps through some version of beauty and the beast. That an archetype is …
Photography by Sara Wright I gaze out my bedroom window and hear yet another golden apple hit the ground. The vines that hug the cabin and climb up the screens are heavy with unripe grapes and the light that is filtered through the trees in front of the brook is luminous – lime green tipped in gold – My too sensitive eyes are blessedly well protected by this canopy of late summer leaves. The maples on the hill are losing chlorophyll and are painting the hollow with splashes of bittersweet orange and red. The dead spruces by the brook will probably collapse this winter providing Black bears with even more precious ants and larvae to eat in early spring. I only hope that some bears will survive the fall slaughter to return to this black bear sanctuary; in particular two beloved young ones… Mushrooms abound, amanitas, boletes morels, puff balls, the latter two finding their way into my salads. The forest around my house is in an active state of becoming with downed limbs and sprouting fungi becoming next year’s soil. The forest floor smells so sweet that all I can imagine is laying myself down on a bed of mosses to sleep and dream. The garden looks as tired as I am; lily fronds droop, yellowing leaves betraying the season at hand. Bright green pods provide a startling contrast to fading scarlet bee balm. Wild asters are abundant and goldenrod covers the fields with a bright yellow garment. Every wild bush has sprays of berries. My crabapple trees are bowed, each twig heavy with winter fruit. Most of the birds have absconded to the fields that are ripe with the seeds of wild grasses. The mourning doves are an exception – they gather together each dawn waiting patiently for me to fill the feeder. In the evening I am serenaded by soft cooing. One chicken hawk hides in the pine, lying in wait for the unwary…Just a few hummingbirds remain…whirring wings and twittering alert me to continued presence as they settle into the cherry tree to sleep, slipping into a light torpor with these cool September nights… Spiders are spinning their egg cases, even as they prepare to die. I can still find toads hopping around the house during the warmest hours of the day. Although the grass is long I will not mow it for fear of killing these most precious and threatened of species. I am heavily invested in seeing these toads burrow in to see another spring. My little frogs sit on their lily pads seeking the warmth of a dimming afternoon sun. Soon they too will slumber below fallen leaves or mud. I am surrounded by such beauty, and so much harvest bounty that even though I am exhausted I take deep pleasure out of each passing day of this glorious month of September, the month of my birth. Unlike many folks, for me, moving into the dark of the year feels like a blessing. Another leave -taking is almost upon me, and I am having trouble letting go of this small oasis that I have tended with such care for more than thirty years… I don’t know what this winter will bring to my modest cabin whose foundation is crumbling under too much moisture and too many years of heavy snow. In the spring extensive excavation will begin. A new foundation must be poured and this work will destroy the gardens I have loved, the mossy grounds around the south end of the house that I have nurtured for so long. In this season of letting go I must find a way to lay down my fears, and release that which I am powerless to change. Somehow… I have no idea what I will return to except that I have made it clear that none of my beloved trees be harmed. I am grateful that Nature is mirroring back to me so poignantly that letting go is the way through: That this dying can provide a bedrock foundation for another spring birth. As a Daughter of the Earth I lean into ancient wisdom, praying that this exhausted mind and body will be able to follow suit. (Meet Mago Contributor) Sara Wright.
(Slideshow) Summer Solstice Goddess by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
Sekhmet by Katlyn Each year between December 20-23 Sun reaches Her peak in the Southern Hemisphere: it is the Summer Solstice Moment. Poetry of the Season may be expressed in this way: This is the time when the light part of day is longest. You are invited to celebrate SUMMER SOLSTICE Light reaches Her fullness, and yet… She turns, and the seed of Darkness is born. This is the Season of blossom and thorn – for pouring forth the Gift of Being. The story of Old tells that on this day Beloved and Lover dissolve into the single Song of ecstasy – that moves the worlds. Self expands in the bliss of creativity. Sun ripens in us: we are the Bread of Life. We celebrate Her deep Communion and Reciprocity. Glenys Livingstone, 2005 The choice of images for the Season is arbitrary; there are so many more that may express Her fullness of being, Her relational essence and Her Gateway quality at this time. And also for consideration, is the fact that most ancient images of Goddess are multivalent – She was/is One: that is, all Her aspects are not separate from each other. These selected imagestell a story of certain qualities that may be contemplated at the Seasonal Momentof Summer Solstice. As you receive the images, remember that image communicates the unspeakable, that which can only be known in body, below rational mind. So you may open yourself to a transmission of Her, that will be particular to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syTBjWpw3XU Shalako Mana Hopi 1900C.E. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess), Corn Mother. Food is a miracle, food is sacred. She IS the corn, the corn IS Her. She gives Herself to feed all. The food/She is essential to survival, hospitality and ceremony … and all of this is transmuted in our beings. Sekhmet Contemporary image by Katlyn. Egyptian Sun Goddess. Katlyn says: Her story includes the compassionate nature of destruction. The fierce protection of the Mother is sometimes called to destroy in order to preserve well being. And Anne Key expresses: She represents “the awesome and awe-full power of the Sun. This power spans the destructive acts of creation and the creative acts of destruction.”- (p.135 Desert Priestess: a memoir).A chant in Her praise by Abigail Spinner McBride: Sheila-na-gig 900C.E. British Isles. (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). From Elinor Gadon The Once and Future Goddess (p.338): “She is remembered in Ireland as the Old Woman who gave birth to all races of human…. In churches her function was to ward off evil”, or to attract the Pagan peoples to the church. From Adele Getty Goddess (p.66): “The first rite of passage of all human beings begins in the womb and ends between the thighs of the Great Mother. In India, the vulva “known as the yoni, is also called c*nti or kunda, the root word of cunning, c*nt and kin … (the yoni) was worshipped as an object of great mystery … the place of birth and the place where the dead are laid to rest were often one and the same.” Getty says her message here in this image “is double-edged: the opening of her vulva and the smile on her face elicit both awe and terror; one might venture too far inside her and never return to the light of day …” as with all caves and gates of initiation. In the Christian mind the yoni clearly became the “gates of hell”. And as Helene Cixous said in her famous feminist article “The Laugh of the Medusa”: “Let the priests tremble, we’re going to show them our sexts!” (SIGNS Summer 1976) Kunapipi (Australia) “the Aboriginal mother of all living things, came from a land across the sea to establish her clan in Northern Australia, where She is found in both fresh and salt water. In the Northern Territory She is known as Warramurrungundgi. She may also manifest Herself as Julunggul, the rainbow snake goddess of initiations who threatens to swallow children and then regurgitate them, thereby reinforcing the cycle of death and rebirth. In Arnhem Land She is Ngaljod …” (Visions of the Goddess by Courtney Milne and Sherrill Miller – thanks to Lydia Ruyle). More information: re Kunapipi. NOTE the similarity to Gobekli Tepe Sheela Turkey 9600B.C.E., thanks Lydia Ruyle.Lydia Ruyle’s Gobekli Tepe banner. Inanna/Ishtar Mesopotamia 400 B.C.E. (Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature) She holds Her breasts displaying her potency. She is a superpower who feeds the world, nourishes it with Her being. We all desire to feel this potency of being: Swimme and Berry express: “the infinite striving of the sentient being”. Adele Getty calls this offering of breasts to the world “a timeless sacred gesture”. Mary Mother of God 1400 C.E. Europe (Hallie Iglehart Austen, The Heart of the Goddess). A recognition, even in the patriarchal context that She contains it all. Wisdom and Compassion Tibetan Goddess and God in Union. This is Visvatara and Vajrasattva 1800C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle). Sri Yantra Hindu meditation diagram of union of Goddess and God. 1500 C.E. (Sacred Sexuality A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle, p.75). “Goddess and God” is the common metaphor, but it could be “Beloved and Lover”, and so it is in the mind of many mystics and poets: that is, the sacred union is of small self with larger Self. Prajnaparamita the Mother of all Buddhas. (The Great Mother Erich Neumann, pl 183). She is the Wisdom to whom Buddha aspired, Whom he attained. Medusa Contemporary, artist unknown. She is a Sun Goddess: this is one reason why it was difficult to look Her in the eye. See Patricia Monaghan, O Mother Sun! REFERENCES: Gadon, Elinor W. The Once and Future Goddess. Northamptonshire: Aquarian, 1990. Getty, Adele. Goddess: Mother of Living Nature. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Iglehart Austen, Hallie. The Heart of the Goddess.Berkeley: Wingbow, 1990. Katlyn, artist https://www.mermadearts.com/b/altar-images-art-by-katlyn Key, Anne. Desert Priestess: a memoir. NV: Goddess Ink, 2011. Mann A.T. and …
Summer Solstice Poiesis by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
Seasonal Wheel of Stones Both Summer and Winter Solstices may be understood as particular celebrations of the Mother/Creator aspect of the Creative Triplicity of the Cosmos (often named as the Triple Goddess). The Solstices are Gateways between the dark and the light parts of the annual cycle of our orbit around Sun; they are both sacred interchanges, celebrating deep relationship, communion, with the peaking of fullness of either dark or light, and the turning into the other. The story is that the Young One/Virgin aspect of Spring has matured and now at Summer Solstice her face changes into the Mother of Summer. Summer Solstice may be understood as a birthing place,as Winter Solstice may also be, but at this time the transiton is from light back into dark, returning to larger self, from whence we come: it is the full opening, the “Great Om”, the Omega. I represent the Summer Solstice on my altar wheel of stones with the Omega-yonic shape of the horseshoe. I take this inspiration from Barbara Walker’s description of the horseshoe in herWoman’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets, as “Goddess’s symbol of‘Great Gate’[i]”; and her later connection of it with the Sheil-na-gig yoni display[ii]. Sri Yantra. Ref: A.T. Mann & Jane Lyle, p.75 Summer Solstice is traditonally understood as a celebration of Union between Lover and Beloved, and the deep meaning of that is essentially a Re-Union: of sensed manifest form (the Lover) with All-That-Is (the Beloved). This may be understood as a fullness of expression of this manifest form, the small selves that we are, being all that we may be, and giving of this fullness of being in every moment: that would be a blissful thing, like aSummerland as it was understood to be.The boundaries of the self are broken, they merge: all is given away – all is poured forth, the deep rich dark stream of life flows out. It is a Radiance,the shining forth of the self which is at the same time a give-away, a consuming of the self.In traditional PaGaian Summer ceremony each participant is affirmed as “Gift”[iii]; and that is understood to mean that we are bothgiven and received– all at the same time. The breath is given and life is received. We receive the Gift with each breath in, and we are the Gift with each breath out. As we fulfill our purpose, as we give ourselves over, we dissolve, as the Sun is actually doing in every moment. The “moment of grace”[iv]that is Summer Solstice, marks the stillpoint in the height of Summer, when light reaches its peak, and Earth’s tilt causes the Sun to begin its “decline”: that is, its movement back to the South in the Northern Hemisphere (in June), and back to the North in the Southern Hemisphere (in December). Whereas at Winter Solstice when out of the darkness it is light that is “born”, as it may be expressed: at the peak of Summer, in the warmth of expansion, it is the dark that is “born”. Insofar as Winter Solstice is about birth, then Summer Solstice is about death, the passing into the harvest. It is a celebration of profound mystical significance, which may be confronting in a culture where the dark is not valued for its creative telios; and it is noteworthy that Summer Solstice has not gained any popularity of the kind that Winter Solstice has globally (as ‘Christmas’). The re-union with All-That-Is is not generally considered a jolly affair, though when understood it may actually be blissful. Full Flowers to the Flames Summer is a time when many grains ripen, deciduous trees peak in their greenery, lots of bugs and creatures are bursting with business and creativity: yet in that ripening, is the turning, the fulfilment of creativity, and it is given away. Like the Sun and the wheat and the fruit, we find the purpose of our Creativity in the releasing of it; just as our breath must be released for its purpose of life. The symbolism used to express this in ceremony has been the giving of a full rose/flower to the flames.Summer is like the rose, as it says in this tradition[v]– blossom and thorn … beautiful, fragrant, full – yet it comes with thorns that open the skin. All is given over. All is given over: the feast is for enjoying With the daily giving of ourselves in our everyday acts, we each feed the world with our lives: we do participate in creating the cosmos, as many indigenous traditions still recognise. Just as our everyday lives are built on the fabric of the work/creativity of all who went before us, so the future, as well as the present, is built on ours, no matter how humble we may think our contribution is. We may celebrate the blossoming of our creativity then, which isCreativity, and the bliss of that blossoming, at a time when Earth and Sun are pouring forth their abundance, giving it away. In this Earth-based cosmology, what is given is the self fully realized and celebrated, not a self that is abnegated – just as the fruit gives its full self: as Starhawk says, “Oneness is attained not through losing the self, but through realizing it fully”[vi]. Everyday tasks can be joyful, if valued, and graciously received: I think of Eastern European women singing as they work in the fields – it is a common practice still for many. We are the Bread of Life Summer Solstice celebratesMother Sun coming to fullness in Her creative engagement with Earth, and we are the Sun.Solstice Moment is a celebration of communion, the feast of life – which is for the enjoying, not for the holding onto.We do desire to be received, to be consumed – it is our joy and our grief. Brian Swimme says: “Every moment of our lives disappears into the ongoing story of the Universe. Our creativity is energising the whole[vii]”. As it may be ceremoniously affirmed: we are (each is) …
Spring At the highest point on the tree, you stretch, reaching for the sun. Your pink petals elegant in their grace, you stand alone. Bravest of all, for leaves have yet to come to offer shade Branches bare except for furry buds that will soon follow in imitation of your daring first move. Intrepid flower of Spring, I feel like you in my yearning for the Sun!
(Essay) Contemplating How Her Creativity Proceeds by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
This essay is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of chapter 5 of the author’s book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. It is a chapter on the process of the Wheel of the Year. for the Northern Hemisphere version: https://pagaian.org/pagaian-wheel-of-the-year/ It seems to me that the main agenda of the Cosmos is ongoing Creativity, “never-ending renewal” it may be termed, and that this is expressed in Earth’s Seasonal Wheel through the transitions of Autumn,Winter, Spring, Summer; and in the ubiquitous process of a Cosmic Triplicity of Space to Be, Urge to Be and this Place of Being, a dynamic that has often been imagined as the Triple Goddess. In the flow of the PaGaian Wheel of the Year, the Seasonal transitions of the Wheel and the Triplicity of the Cosmos come together. There are two celebrations of the Old One/Crone or the Cosmogenetic quality of autopoiesis creating the Space to Be; and they are Lammas/Late Summer and Samhain/Deep Autumn, which are the meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing dark phase. At Lammas, the first in the dark phase, we may identify with the dark and ancient Wise One – dissolve into Her; at Samhain, we may consciously participate in Her process of the transformation of death/the passing of all. The whole dark part of the cycle is about dissolving/dying/letting go of being – becoming – nurturing it (the midwifing of Lammas/Late Summer), stepping into the power of it (the certain departure of Autumn Equinox/Mabon), the fertility (of Samhain/Deep Autumn), the peaking of it (at Winter Solstice). The meridian points of the two quarters of the waxing light phase then are celebrations of the Young One/Virgin or the Cosmogenetic quality of differentiation, the new continually emerging, the Urge to Be; and they are Imbolc/Early Spring and Beltaine/High Spring. At Imbolc, the first in the light phase, we may identify with She who is shining and new – as we take her form; at Beltaine, we may consciously participate in Her process of the dance of life. The whole light part of the cycle is about coming into being: nurturing it (the midwifing of Imbolc/Early Spring), stepping into the power of it (the certain return of Spring Equinox/Eostar), the fertility (of Beltaine/High Spring), the peaking of it (at Summer Solstice). In the PaGaian wheel of ceremony there are two particular celebrations of the Mother, the Cosmogenetic quality of communion; and they are the Solstices. If one imagines the light part of the cycle as a celebration of the ‘Productions of Time’, and the dark part of the cycle as a celebration of ‘Eternity’, the Solstices then are meeting points, points of interchange, and are celebrations of the communion/relational field of Eternity with the Productions of Time. This is a relationship which does happen in this Place, in this Web. This Place of Being, this Web, is a Communion – it is the Mother; the Solstices mark Her birthings, Her gateways. The Equinoxes then – both Spring and Autumn – are two celebrations wherein the balance of all three Faces/Creative qualities is particularly present: in the PaGaian wheel, the Equinoxes have been special celebrations of Demeter and Persephone – echoing the ancient tradition of Mother-Daughter Mysteries that celebrate the awesomeness of the continuity of life, its creative tension/balance. Both Equinoxes then are celebrations and contemplations of empowerment through deep Wisdom – one contemplation during the dark phase and one during the light phase. The Autumn Equinox is a descent to Wisdom, the Spring Equinox is an emergence with Wisdom gained. I like to think of the Equinoxes, and of the ancient icons of Demeter and Persephone, as celebrations of the delicate ‘curvature of space-time’, the fertile balance of tensions which enables it all. Her Creative Place The Mother aspect then may be understood to be particularly present at four of the Seasonal Moments, which are also regarded traditionally as the Solar festivals; and in this cosmology Sun is felt as Mother. I recognize these four as points of interchange: at Autumn Equinox, Mother is present primarily as Giver – She is letting Persephone go, at Spring Equinox, She is present primarily as Receiver – welcoming the Daughter back, at Winter Solstice the Mother gives birth, creates form, at Summer Solstice, She opens again full of radiance, and disperses form. The Mother is Agent/Actor at the Solstices. She is Participant/Witness at the Equinoxes, where it is then really Persephone who is Agent/Actor, embodying an inseparable Young One and Old One. The Old One is often named as Hecate, who completes the Trio – all seamlessly within each other. Another possible way to visual it, or to tell the story, is this: The Mother – Demeter – is always there, at the Centre if you like. Persephone cycles around. She is the Daughter who returns in the Spring as flower, who will become fruit/grain of the Summer, who at Lammas assents to the dissolution – the consumption. At Autumn Equinox She returns to the underworld as seed – Her harvest is rejoiced in, Her loss is grieved, as She becomes Sovereign of the Underworld – Her face changes to the Dark One, Crone (Hecate). As the wheel turns into the light part of the cycle She becomes Young One/Virgin again. Persephone (as Seed) is that part of Demeter that can be all three aspects – can move through the complete cycle. The Mother and Daughter are really One, and embody the immortal process of creation and destruction. Demeter hands Persephone the wheat, the Mystery, and the thread of life is unbroken – it goes on forever. It is immortal, it is eternal. Even though it is true that all will be lost, and all is lost – Being always arises again: within this field of time there is never-ending renewal, eternity. This is what is revealed in the ubiquitous three faces of the Creative Dynamic/ She of Old, the Triplicity that runs through the Cosmos. The Seed of Life never …
(Essay and Video) Cosmogenesis Dance: Celebrating Her Unfolding by Glenys Livingstone
The dance begins with two concentric circles, which will flow in and out of each other throughout the dance, resulting thus in a third concentric circle that comes and goes. The three circles/layers are understood to represent the three aspects of Goddess, the Creative Triple Dynamic that many ancients were apparently aware of, and imagined in so many different waysacross the globe. In Her representation in Ireland as the Triple Spiral motif, which is inscribed on the inner chamber wall at Bru-na-Boinne(known as Newgrange)[1], She seems to be understood as a dynamic essential to on-going Cosmic Creativity, as this ancient motif is dramatically lit up by the Winter Solstice dawn. It seems that this was important to the Indigenous people of this place at the time of Winter Solstice, which celebrates Origins, the continuing birth of all. Thus I like to do this Cosmogenesis Dance, as I have named it[2], at the Winter Solstice in particular. The three aspects that the dance may embody, and are poetically understood as Goddess, celebrate (i) Virgin/Young One – Urge to Be as I have named this quality – the ever new differentiated being (also known as Fodla in the region of the Triple Spiral)[3]. This is the outer circle of individuals. (ii) Mother – the deeply related interwoven web – Dynamic Place of Being as I have named this quality – the communion that our habitat is (also known as Eriu in the region of the Triple Spiral)[4]. This is the woven middle circle where all are linked and swaying in rhythm. (iii) Crone/Old One – the eternal creative return to All-That-Is – She who Creates the Space to Be as I have named this quality (also known as Banba in the region of the Triple Spiral)[5]. This is the inner circle where linked hands are raised and stillness is held. The three concentric layers of the dance may be understood to embody these. The Cosmogenesis Dance represents the flow and balance of these three – a flow and balanceof Self, Other and All-That-Is. It may be experienced like a breath, that we breathe together – as we do co-create the Cosmos. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have named the three qualities of Cosmogenesis in the following way: – differentiation … to be is to be unique – communion … to be is to be related – autopoiesis/subjectivity … to be is to be a centre of creativity.[6] The three layers of the dance may be felt to celebrate each unique being, in deep relationship with other, directly participating in the sentient Cosmos, the Well of Creativity. The Cosmogenesis Dance as it is done within PaGaian Winter Solstice ceremony expresses the whole Creative Process we are immersed in. It is a process of complete reciprocity, a flow of Creator and Created, like a breath. There is dynamic exchange in every moment: that is the nature of the Place we inhabit. The dance may help awaken us to it, and to invoke it. The Cosmogenesis Dance on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR73MDMM9Fk For more story: Cosmogenesis Dance for Winter Ritual For Dance Instructions: PaGaian Cosmology Appendix I Meet Mago Contributor Glenys Livingstone NOTES: [1] The Triple Spiral engraving is dated at 2,400 B.C.E. [2] This dance is originally named as “The Stillpoint Dance”, or sometimes “Adoramus Te Domine” which is the name of the music used for it. I learned it from Dr. Jean Houston in 1990 at a workshop of hers in Sydney, Australia. I began to use the dance for Winter Solstice ceremony in 1997, and it was only in the second year of doing so that I realised its three layers were resonant with the three traditional qualities of the Female Metaphor/Goddess, and also the three faces of Cosmogenesis. I thereafter re-named and storied the dance that way in the ceremonial preparation and teaching for Winter Solstice. See Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology: pp. 280-281 and 311. [3] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p.192. [4] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [5] Michael Dames, Ireland: a Sacred Journey, p. 192. [6] Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story, p. 71-79. I have identified these qualities with the Triple Goddess, and the Triple Spiral in the synthesis of PaGaian Cosmology: see Glenys Livingstone, PaGaian Cosmology, particularly Chapter 4: https://pagaian.org/book/chapter-4/ References: Dames, Michael. Ireland: a Sacred Journey, Element Books, 2000. Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. Lincoln NE: iUniverse, 2005. Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era. NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
(Book Excerpt) Imbolc/Early Spring within the Creative Cosmos by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
This essay is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of the author’s new bookA Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Traditionally the dates for Imbolc/Early Spring are: Southern Hemisphere – August 1st/2nd Northern Hemisphere – February 1st/2nd though the actual astronomical date varies. It is the meridian point or cross-quarter day between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, thus actually a little later in early August for S.H., and early February for N.H., respectively. Some Imbolc Motifs In this cosmology Imbolc/Early Spring is the quintessential celebration ofShe Who is the Urge to Be. This aspect of the Creative Triplicity is associated with thedifferentiationquality of Cosmogenesis,[i]and with the Virgin/Young One aspect of the Triple Goddess, who is ever-new, unique, and singular in Her beauty – as each being is. This Seasonal Moment celebrates anidentificationwith the Virgin/Young One – the rest of the light part of the cycle celebrates Herprocesses. At this Moment She is the Promise of Life, a spiritual warrior, determined to Be. Her purity is Her singularity of purpose. Her inviolability is Her determination to be … nothing to do with unbroken hymens of the dualistic and patriarchal mind. The Virgin quality is the essential “yes” to Being – not the “no” She was turned into. In the poietic process of the Seasonal Moments of Samhain/Deep Autumn, Winter Solstice and Imbolc/Early Spring, one may get a sense of these three in a movement towards manifest form – syntropy: from theautopoieticfertile sentient space of Samhain, through the gateway andcommunionof Winter Solstice todifferentiatedbeing, constant novelty, infinite particularity of Imbolc/Early Spring. The three are a kaleidoscope, seamlessly connected. The ceremonial breath meditations for all three of these Seasonal Moments focus attention on the Space between the breaths – each with slightly different emphasis: it is from this manifesting Space that form/manifestation arises. If one may observe Sun’s position on the horizon as She rises, the connection of the three can be noted there also: that is, Sun at Samhain/Deep Autumn and Imbolc/Early Spring rises at the same position, halfway between Winter Solstice and Equinox, but the movement is just different in direction.[ii]And these three Seasonal Moments are not clearly distinguishable – they are “fuzzy,”[iii]not simply linear and all three are in each other … this is something recognised of Old, thus the Nine Muses, or the numinosity of any multiple of three. Some Imbolc/early Spring Story This is the Season of the new waxing light. Earth’s tilt has begun taking us in this region back towards the Sun.Traditionally this Seasonal Point has been a time of nurturing the new life that is beginning to show itself – around us in flora and fauna, and within. It is a time of committing one’s self to the new life and to inspiration – in the garden, in the soul, and in the Cosmos. We may celebrate the new young Cosmos – that time in our Cosmic story when She was only a billion years old and galaxies were forming, as well as the new that is ever coming forth. This first Seasonal transition of the light part of the cycle has been named “Imbolc” – Imbolc is thought to mean “ewe’s milk” from the word “Oimelc,” as it is the time when lambs were/are born, and milk was in plentiful supply. It is also known as “the Feast of Brigid,” Brigid being the Great Goddess of the Celtic (and likely pre-Celtic) peoples, who in Christian times was made into a saint. The Great Goddess Brigid is classically associated with early Spring since the earliest of times, but her symbology has evolved with the changing eras – sea, grain, cow. In our times we could associateHer also with the Milky Way, our own galaxy that nurtures our life – Brigid’s jurisdiction has been extended. Some sources say that Imbolc means “in the belly of the Mother.” In either case of its meaning, this celebration is in direct relation to, and an extension of, the Winter Solstice – when the Birth of all is celebrated. Imbolc may be a dwelling upon the “originating power,” and that it is in us: a celebration of each being’s particular participation in this power that permeates the Universe, and is present in the condition of every moment.[iv] This Seasonal Moment focuses on theUrge to Be, the One/Energy deeply resolute about Being. She is wilful in that way – and Self-centred. In the ancient Celtic tradition Great Goddess Brigid has been identified with the role of tending the Flame of Being, and with the Flame itself. Brigid has been described as: “… Great Moon Mother, patroness (sic … why not “matron”) of poetry and of all ‘making’ and of the arts of healing.”[v]Brigid’s name means “the Great or Sublime One,” from the rootbrig, “power, strength, vigor, force, efficiency, substance, essence, and meaning.”[vi]She is poet, physician/healer, smith-artisan: qualities that resonate with the virgin-mother-crone but are not chronologically or biologically bound – thus are clearly ever present Creative Dynamic. Brigid’s priestesses in Kildare tended a flame, which was extinguished by Papal edict in 1100 C.E., and was re-lit in 1998 C.E.. In the Christian era, these Early Spring/Imbolc celebrations of the Virgin quality, the New Young One – became “Candlemas,” a time for purifying the “polluted” mother – forty days after Solstice birthing. Many nuns took their vows of celibacy at this time, invoking the asexual virgin bride.[vii]This is in contrast to its original meaning, and a great example of what happened to this Earth-based tradition in the period of colonization of indigenous peoples. An Imbolc/Early Spring Ceremonial Altar The flame of being within is to be protected and nurtured: the new Being requires dedication and attention. At this early stage of its advent, there is nothing certain about its staying power and growth: there may be uncertainties of various kinds. So there is traditionally a “dedication” in the ceremonies, which may be considered a “Brigid-ine” dedication, or known as a “Bridal” dedication, since “Bride” is a derivative of …

Mago, the Creatrix

(Mago Almanac Basics 1) What is the Magoist Calendar? by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang
[Author’s Note: I have created 13 basics of Mago Almanac, which are included inMago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Volume 6), Year 6 or 5920 MAGOMA ERA (Equivalent to 2023 CE). These 13 basics constitute the backbone of Magoist Cetaceanism as well.] It is a 13 month 28 day luni-menstrual-solar calendar of Old Magoist Korea. Insofar as one year marks about 365.25 days, a time taken for the earth to revolve around the sun, it is a solar calendar. The fact that both the moon and the female menstruation cycle mark 28 days, which makes 13 months or 364 days for one year. This makes approximately 1.25 a surplus. Thus, we have days outside the calendar grid. Each year has one extra day on the day before the New Year’s day. The New Year of Year 1 or 5915 Magoma Era was set on the new moon date before Winter Solstice in 2018 by the Gregorian Calendar. With one extra day, the year makes 365 days. Given that the actual period of the Earth’s revolution is approximately 365.25 days, we have the second extra day every fourth year. Setting aside the extra days, we have 364 days for one year. 364 days divided by 28 days is 13. That is how we have 13 months in a year. The Magoist Calendar championing the matricentric worldview is the very indication that our Mother Earth is stabilized in her own voyages. https://www.magobooks.com/download-mago-almanac-circular-calendar-year-6-2023/ https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Italian language essay) Corea: la Musica cosmica di Mago by Luciana Percovich
[Author’s note: FromColei che dà la vita. Colei che dà la forma. Miti di creazione femminili, Venexia, Roma, Italia, 2009] Capitolo 3 Corea: la Musica cosmica di Mago Mago Nell’Età del Primo Cielo, esistevano solo la luce del sole e l’acqua. Quando Ryoe Ryul (la Musica cosmica armonizzata) risuonò più volte, emersero le stelle. Da Pal Ryoe (la Musica cosmica otto volte avvolta), si generarono Mago e il paradiso di Mago (Mago Sung). Fu un evento che ebbe luogo nell’Età Cosmica di Mezzo chiamata Jim Se (il Suo/Loro mondo). Mago preparò l’età che si chiama Ultimo Cielo. Mago non provava sentimenti né di piacere né di dolore. Nell’Età del Primo Cielo la grande cittadella di Mago stava sopra il SilDal (la Terra reale) e vicina all’HeoDal (la Terra ideale). Anche queste erano emerse dalla musica. Quando il Jim Se ebbe compiuto i suoi cicli per molto tempo, prima dell’Ultimo Cielo (il Nostro/Questo mondo), Mago generò da sola due figlie, Kung Hee (volta) e So Hee (nido) e affidò loro l’Oem Chil Jo (le cinque note e i sette toni). E mentre praticavano l’arte di vivere, dalla terra sgorgava il latte; Kung Hee e So Hee generarono ciascuna due figlie e due figli. In seguito, Mago affidò Ryoe (la Musica cosmica femminile) alle quattro nipoti femmine e Ryul (la Musica cosmica maschile) ai quattro nipoti maschi. Il paradiso di Mago, Mago Sung (la cittadella di Mago), che onorava l’Emblema celeste, seguì al Primo Cielo. Le quattro coppie, chiamate Hwang Gung (volta gialla), Baek So (nido bianco), Chun Gung (volta azzurra) e Heuk So (nido nero) furono posizionate ai quattro angoli della città. Ed esse costruirono i tubi (flauti) e composero musica. Il ciclo dell’Ultimo Cielo si srotolava. Ryul e Ryoe tornavano a risuonare. Si formò Hyang Sang (la rappresentazione dell’eco), suoni e musica si mescolavano. Mago tirò la grande cittadella di SilDal e la immerse nella regione dell’Acqua celeste. L’energia del SilDal salì e coprì la nuvola d’acqua. Quando il corpo del SilDal si espanse, comparve la terra in mezzo all’acqua. Terra e acqua stavano parallele, sorsero le montagne e le correnti si allungarono. La regione dell’Acqua celeste divenne terra e le due nuove regioni di acqua e terra ruotarono ripetutamente, finché il sopra e il sotto si rovesciarono. Da qui iniziarono numeri e calendario. Energia, fuoco, acqua e terra si generavano, mescolavano e equilibravano in mutua relazione. Da quel momento la luce separò il giorno dalla notte e le quattro stagioni. Piante e animali crescevano in abbondanza. C’era tanto lavoro da fare sulla terra… Poiché non c’erano altri se non i quattro uomini e le quattro donne celesti che amministravano la musica originale e la rappresentazione dell’eco, le cose apparivano e sparivano rapidamente senza tenersi in equilibrio. Mago allora mostrò loro come procreare dalle ascelle. Fu allora che i quattro uomini celesti si unirono alle quattro donne celesti. E ciascuna generò tre figlie e tre figli: gli antenati umani che apparvero per la prima volta sulla terra. Tutti gli abitanti di Mago Sung avevano disposizioni di cuore e di mente pure e sincere e conoscevano l’armonia. Bevevano il latte che sgorgava dalla terra e il loro sangue era energia pura. Avevano oro nelle orecchie e sentivano la musica celeste. Correvano e camminavano a loro piacere, erano liberi nei movimenti. Alla fine della loro vita, diventavano polvere dorata. L’essenza dei loro corpi si conservava. Con l’hon (spirito dell’aria) risvegliato, sapevano parlare senza voce e muovendo il baek (spirito del corpo) sapevano agire senza forme. Vivevano sparsi tra le energie della terra e la lunghezza delle loro esistenze era infinita… Quando ogni clan raggiunse il numero di 3000 … Ji So (nido di ramo), del clan dei Baek So (nido bianco), non riuscì più a bere il latte della terra. La sorgente del latte era così piccola e affollata che Ji So perse il suo turno più volte. Così Ji So per la fame assaggiò l’uva e invitò altri a farlo e fu così che un gruppo fu mosso a provare questa nuova esperienza… Il loro sangue e il loro corpo cominciarono a diventare torbidi, crebbero loro i denti, gli si aprirono gli occhi … stavano perdendo la loro natura celeste. Cominciarono a morire e la morte non fece più parte della vita. Nacquero creature bestiali. L’ordinato calendario cadde nel disordine. La comunità si divise e quelli che mangiavano l’uva lasciarono Mago Sung con vergogna, disperdendosi in luoghi diversi … . Fu allora che Mago chiuse i cancelli e ritirò le nuvole attraverso cui la gente poteva restare in sintonia con la Musica cosmica.
(Essay 1) Magoist Cetaceanism and the Myth of the Pacifying Flute (Manpasikjeok) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.
Pod of narwhals, northern Canada, August 2005. Image courtesy of Kristin Laidre. Wikemedia Commons Manpasikjeok (the pacifying flute that defeats all) is a legendary flute, purportedly made from a narwhal’s tusk, originating in the 7th century Silla (57 BCE-935 CE). King Sinmun (r. 681-692) had a revelation concerning “a bamboo tree” growing on a mysterious mountain floating in the Sea of Whales, today’s East Sea of Korea. From this tree, a flute was made with which he was able to protect the whole world. As a national treasure of Silla, this instrument was famed to defeat all enemies at the time of troubles. What we have is the accounts of the pacifying flute recounted in Korea’s official historical texts. Two sources from the Samguk Sagi (Historical Records of the Three States) and the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three States) shall be examined. Not surprisingly, whales are made unrecognizable not only within the story but also in the official history books of Korea. Magoist Cetaceanism was subjected to erasure in the course of Korean official history, but apparently not in the time of King Sinmun of Silla. The myth of Manpasikjeok testifies to Sillan Magoist Cetaceanism upheld by 7th century Sillan rulers. We are reading a Magoist Cetacean myth, however, told by people of a later time when Magoist Cetaceanism was no longer recognized. The fact that these two official historical texts of Korea recount the narrative of Manpasikjeok speaks to its significance: The story is told with a sense of mystery or suspicion. While the Samguk Sagi overtly treats the author’s sense of disbelief, the Samguk Yusa provides a full narrative in tantalizing but mystified details. How was Manpasikjeok 萬波息笛 created in the first place? Below is the Samguk Sagi version of the story: According to Gogi (Ancient Records), “During the reign of King Sinmun, a little mountain emerged in the East Sea out of nowhere. It looked like a head of a turtle. Atop the mountain there was a bamboo tree growing, which became two during the day and became one at night. The king had his subject cut the bamboo tree and had it made a flute. He named it Manpasik (Pacifying and Defeating All).” Although it is written so, its account is weird and unreliable.[1] Written by Gim Busik (1075–1151), a Neo-Confucian historiographer, the above account betrays an unengaged author’s mind in the story. For Gim, Korean indigenous narratives like Manpasikjeok are anomalous, if not unreliable, by the norms of Chinese history. In contrast to the former, the Samguk Yusa details the Manpasikjeok story in a tantalizing sense of mystery. Its author Ilyeon (1206-1289) was a Buddhist monk, a religious historian who saw the history of Korea as fundamentally Buddhist from the beginning. He elaborates the story with factual data but fails to bring to surface the cetacean underpinning of the myth. It is possible that Magoist Cetaceanism had already submerged much earlier than his time. King Sinmun (r. 681-692) had built the temple, Gameun-sa (Graced Temple), to commemorate his late father King Munmu (r. 661-681) who willed to become a sea dragon upon death. The relic of King Munmu had been spread in Whale Ferry (Gyeongjin 鯨津), also known as the Rock of Ruler the Great (Daewang-am) located in the waterfront of the East Sea also known as the Sea of Whales. Evidence substantiates that King Munmu was a Magoist Cetacean devotee clad in a Buddhist attire. Or today’s Buddhologiests call it Esoteric Buddhism. The Manpasikjeok myth may be called the story of King Sinmun’s initiation to Magoist Cetaceanism. Before explicating the Samguk Yusa account, which is prolix and complex, I have summarized the Samguk Yusa’s account as follows: (Summary of the Manpasikjeok Myth) King Sinmun ordered the completion of Gameunsa (Graced Temple) to commemorate his deceased father, King Munmu. The main hall of Gameunsa was designed at the sea level to allow the dragon to enter and stroll through the ebb and flow of the sea waves. In the second year of his reign (682 CE), Marine Officer reported that a little mountain in the East Sea was approaching Gameunsa. The king had Solar Officer perform a divination. The divination foretold that he would be given a treasure with which he could protect Wolseong (Moon Stronghold), Silla’s capital. This would be a gift from King Munmu who became a sea dragon and Gim Yusin who became a heavenly being again. In seven days, the king went out to Yigyeondae (Platform of Gaining Vision) and saw the mountain floating like a turtle’s head in the sea. There was a bamboo tree growing on its top, which became two during the day and one at night. The king stayed overnight in Gameumsa to listen to the dragon who entered the yard and the substructure of the main hall. Then, there was darkness for seven days due to a storm in the sea. After the sea calmed, the king went into the mountain to meet the dragon. The dragon told him that, if he made a flute out of the bamboo tree, the whole world would be pacified. The king had the bamboo tree brought out of the sea and made it into a flute, which became a treasure of Silla. The mountain and the dragon disappeared. The flute, when played during times of the nation’s trouble, brought peace. Thus comes its name, Manpasikjeok (the pacifying flute that defeats all). During the reign of King Hyoso (r. 692-702), his son, the flute continued to make miracles. Thus it was renamed Manmanpapasikjeok (the pacifying flute that surely defeats all of all). One day, it was reported to King Sinmun that a little mountain was approaching Gameunsa. That mountain had a mysterious bamboo tree atop. On the seventh day from then, he went out to Yigyeondae (Platform of Gaining Vision), the whale watch place near Gameumsa. Then, he stayed overnight in Gameunsa to hear the dragon who entered the temple yard through the ebb and flow of the …
(Mago Almanac Planner Year 5 Excerpt 3) 13 Month 28 Day Magoist Calendar by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang
[Author’s Note: This and its sequences are a newly added portion in the Mago Almanac Planner Year 5, equivalent to the Gregorian Year 2022. Because the Budoji did not explain further about time units smaller than 1 day, I did not follow through some possible implications in previous Mago Almanac volumes. Next year’s Mago Almanac Planner for Personal Journey: 13 Month 28 Day Calendar Year 5 or 5919 MAGOMA ERA is forthcoming in Mago Bookstore (October 25, 2021). PDF version is available for purchase.] We set the new moon day of the Winter Solstice month in 2017 as the New Year of Year 1. With that, we are able to tap Magoist days into Gregorian days that we moderns use. Then, how do we bring down a Magoist time in the scheme of the Gregorian time? How do we determine the onset of New Year in the Magoist Calendar? When would be the midnight of New Year in Year 1? That requires a translation of Mago time into Gregorian time. We can designate midnight as a midpoint in time equidistant from the sunset of New Year’s Eve to the sunrise of New Year. As local times vary around the globe, the midnight of New Year varies in states and cities. In Los Angeles, California USA, the first Magoist midnight falls on 23:29 on December 17, 2017 for Year 1. That would be 07:29 on December 18, 2017 in UTC. Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Midnight12/17/2017 23:2912/17/2018 23:2912/17/2019 23:2912/16/2020 23:30Sunset16:45, 12/1716:45, 12/1716:45, 12/1716:44, 12/16Sunrise6:53, 12/186:53, 12/186:53, 12/186:53, 12/17 (Sunset and sunrise times in Los Angeles, USA) The below table shows the first Magoist midnight (around 0.33 AM) falls on December 18, 2017 in Gyeongju, South Korea. That would be 15:33 on December 17, 2017 in UTC. Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Midnight12/18/2017 0:33.512/18/2018 0:32.512/18/2019 0:32.512/17/2020 0:32.5Sunset17:11, 12/1717:11, 12/1717:11, 12/1717:11, 12/16Sunrise7:28, 12/187:27, 12/187:27, 12/187:27, 12/17 (Sunset and sunrise times in Gyeongju, South Korea) We can imagine a spiral progression of years from Little Calendar (one year) to Medium Calendar (two years) and to Large Calendar (four years). Every year has one leap day, whereas every fourth year has another leap day in the middle of the year. Cyclic time, as it progresses, creates rhythm and harmony in the human world. Little Calendar (1 year)13×1=13 months364 days+1 leap day=365 daysMedium Calendar (2 years)13×2=26 months2x(364 days+1 leap day) =730 daysLarge Calendar (4 years)13×4=52 months4x(364 days+1 leap day)+1 leap day=1,461 days (End of the series) https://www.magoacademy.org/virtual-midnight-vigil-to-new-year/ https://www.magoism.net/2013/07/meet-mago-contributor-helen-hwang/
(Essay 2) Returning Home with Mago, the Great Goddess, from East Asia by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang
[Author’s Note: This essay was first published in Trivia, Voices of Feminism, Issue 6, September 2007. Also to be included in the forthcoming anthology She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?] An Introduction to Magoism Mago is the Great Goddess of East Asia. Nonetheless, she remains barely known to the world. Her equals, Xiwangmu (the Supreme Goddess of Daoism) and Amaterasu (the Sun Goddess of the Japanese imperial family), are said to comprise the pantheon of East Asian cosmic goddesses. Considering that these goddesses are often aligned with the ancient culture of China or Japan, one notices that the pantheon of East Asian Great Goddesses thus omits both Mago and “Korean culture.”
(Essay 2 Part 1) Why Do I Love Korean Historical Dramas? by Anna Tzanova
Part1 Fans, journalists, critics, and academia in multiple fields have studied this world phenomenon; have written blogs, articles, books; and presented in conferences, dissecting, and making predictions. Still, the magic and mystery of its success persists to be as thrilling as ever. This is the way I see it: DELIGHTING THE SENSES

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