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Papers by Mago Books

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

It has long been recognized that the three striking female figures that punctuate the second half... more It has long been recognized that the three striking female figures that punctuate the second half of the Book of Revelation, the Woman Clothed with the Sun, the Whore of Babylon, and the Bride of the Lamb, have affinities with Greco-Roman goddesses. Using the ancient method of interpretation known as the Interpretatio Graeca/Latina, where foreign deities are equated or “translated” as Greek or Roman gods, this essay shows that the Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Bride of the Lamb can be related to several goddesses of the underworld, especially Persephone. This link, in turn, enriches our understanding of the portrayal of the Virgin Mary in the Apocalypse of the Virgin as having special concern for the souls of the dead, a characteristic of the chthonic goddess Isis-Persephone.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

Reception criticism is based partially on the idea that a community claims an idea, a text, or an... more Reception criticism is based partially on the idea that a community claims an idea, a text, or an object for its own usage and interpretation. While the idea/text/object may have come from inside the community, outside the community, or indeed, created the community itself, reception criticism allows us to investigate the relationship between the idea/text/object and its claiming community. A key idea in reception criticism is that the community necessarily creates the meaning for the idea/text/object, modifying it to suit the community’s needs. Furthermore, in reception criticism, how communities tell stories about what they have claimed illustrates what the communities are influenced by, and in turn, what they hope to influence in within their own world. Thus, we can see that these stories have much to say about where these communities came from and who they are. In this article, I will investigate these claims to examine how communities have been created, inspired, and shaped by Anita Diamant’s 1997 novel The Red Tent, which is based on Dinah’s story in Genesis 34, the reclamation of silent feminine voices in the biblical text, and the incorporation of ancient goddess and divine feminine traditions. In doing so, I focus on how Red Tent movements (as featured in the documentary film Things We Don’t Talk About: Women’s Stories from the Red Tent) have also re-created, re-interpreted, and re-imagined the original narrative ideas of The Red Tent and goddess traditions in order to form new communities that uphold female voices in society. I also look at how the miniseries The Red Tent further addresses problems within the history of interpretation of Genesis 34 as well as the goddess and divine feminine traditions that Diamant sheds light on with her novel for contemporary readers of the biblical text.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

The ancient world is rife with caves that seemingly acted as ritual centers, places of Goddess ve... more The ancient world is rife with caves that seemingly acted as ritual centers, places of Goddess veneration, and sacred burial spaces. These cave structures can easily be viewed as sacred containers, separating the worshiper from the outside world while simultaneously holding them within nature’s sacred walls. Due to the dual usage of caves as both places of worship and places of burial, it is not difficult to connect them with notions of regenerative properties and life and death cycles. This paper will explore cave symbolism in the ancient world, their connection to ritual, and Goddess mythology centered around caves. This paper also includes a ritual to incorporate ancient cave venerations into our modern lives.

2023, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

This essay examines the skirt-motif Mago Halmi (Great Mother) cosmogonic folktales from Korea. Ou... more This essay examines the skirt-motif Mago Halmi (Great Mother) cosmogonic folktales from Korea. Out of several hundred tales, I have sought 93 tales with the skirt-motif. In the 93 skirt-motif tales, which come with placenames, Mago Halmi is said to have moved rocks and mountains in her skirt across lands and seas and shaped local topographies located in the current places wherein the stories are told. Given the immensity of data, I have chosen 21 sample stories and translated them for the investigation. In these stories, Mago Halmi is depicted as a giant and strong crone figure who shapes local strongholds, cairns, and megalithic structures apart from the natural constructs of mountains and rocks. The stylized narrative structure, which recurs throughout the Korean peninsula, bespeaks the glorious history of Magoism, the matriversal tradition of Old Korea, during which women held the socio-political-cultural leadership. On the one hand, the skirt is a metaphor for the cosmic womb, which underscores the female identity of the Creatrix. On the other hand, it is a modal prop to convey the principle of causal becoming; ALL is affected by all else and is in the process of becoming. Mago Halmi who carries landmasses in her skirt is susceptible to open possibilities. Sometimes rocks and lumps of soil are leaked from the cracks of her skirt to form the current topographies, for example. When all are co-related and caused by all else, we are revealed to the matriversal (of the maternally perceived universe) reality of WE/HERE/NOW. Beginnings as well as endings are taking place HERE and NOW in WE. By focusing on the cyclic origin of local landscapes, Mago Halmi folktales instill in their storytellers and listeners a particular type of consciousness that recognizes the consanguineous origin of ALL from the Creatrix – the Magoist Cosmogony. The folk persona of Mago Halmi, sometimes replaced with a historical or mythological female deity or a woman (a mother, a sister, a virgin, a sole-mother, and a widow), refers to the Magoma Divine (a merged divine character of Mago, the Creatrix, and Goma, the Heavenly Shaman Queen Mother). Importantly, the broad and rich information released by Mago Halmi folktales unearth the submerged layer of the Goma faith. With Goma exposed, the oral text of Mago Halmi cosmogonic folktales stands as a folk interpretation of the Magoist Cosmogony, the written account of the ever-present beginning in the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City). In short, Mago Halmi folklore and toponymy release the deepest layer of Magoist Cetaceanism (the Magoist veneration of Cetaceans), which underpins the Magoist Cosmogony. Aquatic-draconian-numerological-auditory themes show how pervasively Magoist Cetaceanism is permeated in Korean traditional folk culture.

2023, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

This article explores the integration of Slavic mythic memory narratives in order to elevate and ... more This article explores the integration of Slavic mythic memory narratives in order to elevate and center the stories of women, challenging the denial of their trauma and fostering a more inclusive understanding of herstory through the archaeology of memory. By drawing upon the principles of Kolo Informed Trauma, a somatic and polyvagal clinical trauma approach, trauma is redefined as intensified learning, emphasizing the significance of memories and herstory in the healing and needed in the judicial system and reconciliation process. This approach aims to bridge the gap between invisibility of women’s mythic narratives and erasure of women’s trauma impacts, providing a framework for addressing the historical traumatization and cultural and spiritual context of women’s experiences.

2023, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Due to the loss of an estimated 85% of first and second-century Christian texts, we often find th... more Due to the loss of an estimated 85% of first and second-century Christian texts, we often find themes in early Christian art that do not correspond to the narratives of the canonical gospels. In some cases these themes can be traced to extracanonical gospels, such as the Protoevangelium of James, but in other cases the origin is uncertain. In this study, I address some themes in early Christian art of the Adoration of the Magi that indicate that artists or their patrons were already elevating Mary as if she were Theotokos, and doing so well before the Council of Ephesus in 431 affirmed that title for Mary. These themes include the star placed closest to Mary, the baby as well as the Magi facing Mary, and the Magi offering loaves or platters of bread—bread offerings reminiscent of the bread that some Christians were offering on their altars to the name of Mary according to Epiphanius of Salamis and a detailed liturgical manual embedded in the Six Books Dormition narrative.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Knitting and crochet, as well as other fiber arts, have traditionally not been studied beyond the... more Knitting and crochet, as well as other fiber arts, have traditionally not been studied beyond their use for dating archaeological finds and sites, their artistic value and skill, and historical evidence of the movement of people. These crafts are relegated to ‘women’s work,’ part of women’s home lives that are not considered important to most historians and researchers. However, like many parts of women’s hidden history, this assumption is being challenged and proven false. While not fully in the lens of academia, many women have been writing about the role fiber arts play in women’s social lives, activism, mental health, and spiritual experiences. In this paper, I offer an introduction to the research and writing on the history and benefits of fiber arts done by women from ancient Greece to contemporary Detroit. I believe this topic deserves further study by multiple disciplines, including women’s spirituality, urban studies, psychology, alternative medicine, and feminist history.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Abstract This essay designates Korean bronze bells as the whale-dragon bell and decodes its matri... more Abstract This essay designates Korean bronze bells as the whale-dragon bell and decodes its matriversal (maternally cosmic) language involved in the indigenous tradition of Magoist Cetaceanism. The whale-dragon bell awakens moderns to what has been forgotten, the interspecific bond, originating from a pre-patriarchal time, between matriarchal shaman head mothers and whales. At the core of Magoist Cetaceanism is the consciousness that the bio-sonic-aquatic-ecological behavior of whales is an indispensable blessing to All on the planet. And the planetary influence of whales is symbolized and revered as a dragon. Commonly known for beomjong (梵鐘 the sacred bell) or dongjong (銅鐘 the bronze bell) today, Korean temple bells have originated from the Silla period (57 BCE-935). Female, dragon, and numeric symbols expressed in the whale names, the whale-shaped striker, and such designs as the Nine Nipples, the Breast Circumferences, the eight-fold designs, the Dragon Loop, and the Dragon Tube sculpted on the bell’s body are the hallmark of the Sillan bronze bell. In decoding the matriversal language of the Sillan whale-dragon bell, this essay focuses on the two extant monumental bells, the Bronze Bell of Sangwonsa cast in 725 (the extant oldest bell), and the Divine Bell of Seongdeok the Great cast in 771 (the extant largest bell) and discusses their multifaceted features as well as the Name Texts engraved on the bodies. The whale-dragon bell as a time capsule takes its researchers to the forgotten mytho-history of Magoist Korea. The whale-dragon bell was a socio-political-soteriological undertaking of Sillan Cetacean Magoists upon achieving “the One Unified Home,” the Utopian vision of Unified Silla (676-935). Put differently, the whale-dragon bell was the Sillan Magoist manifesto that Sillans became the Mother State and embraced her daughter peoples. Sillans were able to revive the matriversal confederacy of Old Magoist Korea, succeeding the Budo Joseon confederacy of Three Hans (ca. 2333 BCE – 232 BCE) and the Goma’s pre-patriarchal Danguk confederacy of Nine Hans (ca. 3898 BCE – 2333 BCE). However, the achievement of Unified Silla came with the price. The eighth century Sillans were losing the royal matrilineage, which had been the engine of matriarchal politics. In the wake of the disintegration of the major royal matrilineage, which had lasted for nearly five centuries, Regent Queen Mother Manwol (Full Moon) undertook the casting of the Divine Bell of Seongdeok the Great. The Divine Bell was born to reenact the salvific vision of Cetacean Magoism, when Sillan politics headed to unprecedented political instability. It summons the Magoist Cosmogony, the matriversal consciousness of the Cosmic Music, an interplay of musically charged nine numbers, which bring forth birth, growth, and transformation to ALL.

Keywords bronze bell, Silla, whale, dragon, Magoist Cetaceanism, cosmogony, Korea, Cosmic Music, nine, nona numerology, shaman mothers, Magoism, whale totemism, Silla, royal matrilineage

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Abstract This paper aims to address some of the concerns certain readers might have about Mahavir... more Abstract This paper aims to address some of the concerns certain readers might have about Mahavira and his statements about women in Jain literature. By discussing historical context and alternative and feminist readings of his more controversial dictates, it is argued that Mahavira offers a liberating message that many women have responded to in excess of male mendicants. This reading leaves open the potential for Jain women, through the connection with their bodies and their particular suffering, to also be, alongside men in the Jain community, redeemers of the earth.

Keywords Role of women in Jainism, Mahavira, male chauvinism, alluring quality of women, Apsara, Rishi Viswamitra, Bihar as Jungle-Raj, monk Rathanemi, Sati Rajimati

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies , 2023

Abstract The metaphor for the violence done to the Goddess as a representative of Natural Order a... more Abstract The metaphor for the violence done to the Goddess as a representative of Natural Order and the balance of the Natural World appropriately takes the form in the celestial sphere as an abrupt and frightening change in the heavens: an eclipse. The actions of the Goddess of the Eclipses are not the warrior goddess archetype but the intellectually powerful and disturbed nature of a Goddess represented as a raging fury determined to shake the universe, darken the skies, and set the world into a readjustment of its values after experiencing the chaos of the unnatural. Her power is to astound, frighten, and horrify to create the required and necessary change to the universe of humanity that is out of sync with Nature. Therefore, her power dwells in the unmasking of uncertainty and the shocking of humanity to evoke revenge and correct misconduct through a demonstration of cosmic change. The figure of the archetype must therefore rely on the ratio seminales or seeds of destruction planted in the human imagination to evoke such monumental shifts in cultural behavior. Like the eclipse itself, the Goddess of the Eclipses demands a recalibration of the universe as Divine Feminine Ruler of the Heavens to create a shift in paradigms guaranteed to repeat itself when necessary. The abrupt and frightening change necessary to recalibrate the actions of humanity finds its perfect expression in the lunar and solar eclipse cycle and its perfect metaphor in the human mind as The Goddess of the Eclipses celebrated as the Cailleach Bhéarra, the Goddess of Dowth, the Badb, Nemain and the Mórrigú, The Morrigan, Hecate, Pasiphaë, Circe and Medea.

Keywords Ancient goddesses, Greek mythology, Irish mythology, Celtic mythology, comparative mythology, archetypes, Paleolithic goddesses, Neolithic goddesses, Bronze Age goddesses, Iron Age goddesses, ancient astronomy, archeoastronomy, feminist studies, ancient calendars, goddess spirituality, eclipses

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Abstract The universal symbol of the spiral has various significance in many ancient cultures. Im... more Abstract The universal symbol of the spiral has various significance in many ancient cultures. Images of spirals appeared millennia ago, and ancient people associated the spiral as a symbol of the Goddess. In prehistoric Malta the spiral is closely linked to the Goddess of birth, death and regeneration. Artists were inspired by ancient spirals and interpreted and expressed it in their own way in their works. Some of them connected the spirals with the Goddess and gave it a spiritual significance.

Keywords Prehistoric Malta, the Spiral, Goddesses, Jung, Maltese Prehistoric Art, Archetypal Symbols, Contemporary Art

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Abstract: Both the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade and the British Museum in London had spe... more Abstract: Both the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade and the British Museum in London had special exhibits that dealt with Goddess Studies in 2022. The first was on “Goddesses of Classical Antiquity” and the second was entitled “Feminine Power – the divine to the demonic.” These two special exhibits showcased not only divine feminine figures, but also demonstrated the evolving role of special exhibitions and collections in state-run museums. Accompanying this article is an interview with Belinda Crerar, the curator of the Citi Exhibition “Feminine Power,” conducted in July, 2022.

Keywords: World Goddesses, Classical Goddesses, Special Museum Exhibitions, Museums

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Abstract: This essay describes how I proceeded in introducing little-known Finnish goddesses and ... more Abstract: This essay describes how I proceeded in introducing little-known Finnish goddesses and ancestral great mothers to Finns and non-Finns beyond the hegemonic interpretations of the past. I intend to give a new voice and face to the female spirits through quilt art while honoring ”matriarchal aesthetics.” We need to decolonize mythology and shatter the mythological glass ceiling that has left women’s wisdom traditions invisible. It is not that universities fail to consider the impact of the dominant research. Despite the myth of academic freedom, research has always been part of the ideological machinery of the elites. Only the degree of the utilitarian, exchange-oriented research has varied, and as is widely recognized, under neoliberalism the university has changed in line with the demands of the corporate world and its demands.

Keywords: Finnish goddesses and great mothers, Decolonizing women and mythology, Quilt art

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Abstract: The Overview Effect is a shift in consciousness that occurs upon seeing Earth from spac... more Abstract: The Overview Effect is a shift in consciousness that occurs upon seeing Earth from space. It was reported by astronauts as a state of awe involving a profound comprehension of life on Earth. The Overview Effect is discussed as an emerging feminine archetype and an evolving myth of the Earth Goddess Gaia, which commenced with the iconic photos of Earthrise and the Blue Marble. These images and the Overview Effect as described by astronauts are critically discussed in relation to their impact on religious, feminist and environmental trends and worldviews. Women astronauts’ responses to the Overview Effect are firstly observed through themes depicted in sci-fi films, which is followed by a critical discussion of the Overview Effect through the female gaze of women astronauts. Secondly, the discussion centers on feminist transpersonal, psycho-spiritual, and mythic approaches to the Overview Effect. The demonstrations disclose women astronauts’ unique artistry and creative projects alongside embodied and participatory knowledge and agendas aimed at deepening humanity’s relationship with the Earth as the cosmic cradle of humanity.

Gaia

I shall sing to the earth

mother of the gods

bride of heaven

sparkling with stars[1]

Keywords: overview effect, myth, goddess, Gaia, archetype, transpersonal psychology, spiritual, space art, women astronauts, feminist, technoetic

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Abstract: This essay explores a thealogy of birth for birthing love through a matricentric Goddes... more Abstract: This essay explores a thealogy of birth for birthing love through a matricentric Goddess-feminist lens. I seek to re-evaluate and restore birth-giving itself as Goddess-force and as an embodied source of maternal empowerment towards ecstatic love—for mothers giving birth and all those being born. In this rebirthing task, I critique patriarchal systems of medical authority that disempower mothers’ birth experiences, while highlighting contemporary mother-centred streams of birthing through midwifery and freebirth social movements. In all, I consider thealogical points from Carol P. Christ, to nourish Goddess foundations for experiential understandings of the love-centred power of living from maternal gifts of birth-force.

Key words: thealogy of birth, love, Goddessing, matricentric feminism, freebirth, midwifery

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City), compiled and written by Bak Jesang (363-418?) of Si... more The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City), compiled and written by Bak Jesang (363-418?) of Silla (57 BCE-935), is an ancient Korean testimony to the mytho-history of matriversal (maternally universal) Koreans. Reappeared in the 1980s, the Budoji unleashes the forgotten story of the (M)Other World. Its teaching of Magoism, the Way of the Creatrix, culminates in matricosmology, which magnetizes severed entities in the patriarchal mind and pieces them into the original whole. The Budoji offers a soteriological roadmap to the matriversal consciousness with which human individuals and societies may overcome the consequences of the two colossal tribulations of the human world: the consequential loss of an innate self-regulating ability caused by the eating of living beings for food and the patriarchal takeover of matriversal sovereignty. Ultimately, humans are summoned to the task of restoring a harmonic terrestrial sonic resonance, in alliance with the natural world, to the Cosmic Music (Sonic Numerology), the metamorphic force of the matriverse. The Budoji defines Korean identity as the People of the Creatrix who flowered, spread, and bequeathed the legacy of matriversal confederacies prior to the rise of patriarchy. The course of Korean mytho-history unveils the lineage of Mu (Shaman) Head Mothers, also known as Mountain Deities, for the period of seven millennia (from ca. 7199 BCE to the early 5 th century CE) and their socio-political-civilizational efforts to uphold matriversal sovereignty on the planet Earth.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

This essay introduces the Magoist infant-rearing custom of traditional Korea known as Dandong Sip... more This essay introduces the Magoist infant-rearing custom of traditional Korea known as Dandong Siphun (檀童十訓 단동십훈 Ten Instructions for Dan Children). Relevant lore, language, mytho-history, and thought of traditional Magoist Korea are discussed. The Dandang Siphun (hereafter DDSH) custom of Magoist Korea reenacts the reality of matriversal motherhood through mother-infant interplays conducted during the pretoddler period, creating a postnatal foundation for an infant to grow into a healthy, intelligent, and happy matricentric person. DDSH mothers implement a series of progressive interplays stage by stage in a timely manner. The mother guides her infant to mimic her crafted actions and vocalizations, which are to induce an optimized developmental (physical, cerebral, linguistic, emotional, and spiritual) growth in the latter. During this period of childhood dependency, Magoist mothers lay the foundation of a matricentric personhood in her child.

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

2022, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

This article investigates the question of the influence of Goddess feminism on children’s literat... more This article investigates the question of the influence of Goddess feminism on children’s literature (picture books, early readers, young readers, young adult) since its inception in the 1970s. A key finding is that in contrast to earlier decades, a variety of children’s books featuring Goddesses and the Divine Feminine, mostly in the young readers and young adult categories, have been published in the past 20 years. Apart from their appearance concurrently with the rise of Goddess feminism, a prominent feature that is shared by many, but not all, of these works is the archetypal interpretation of Goddess/es which views the Female Divine as a source of empowerment for women and girls.

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

2022, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2002

Kundalini yoga is a relatively new practice to appear on the Western yoga scene. In this essay, I... more Kundalini yoga is a relatively new practice to appear on the Western yoga scene. In this essay, I examine the place of Kali – or more accurately Her absence – in the transmission to the West from India. Accredited with its appropriation to the West is Yogi Bajhan, a Sikh man from India who is said to have brought the traditional practice of kundalini to the United States in the 1960s. The historical roots of kundalini yoga as posited by scholars in the field of Hinduism and Tantra however, tell us that Kundalini is a serpent goddess coiled around the base cakra and this form of Sakti is the Great Goddess Kali Ma. Through various techniques the Goddess is woken from her dormant state and carried up through the various cakras to be united with her divine consort Siva, leading the practitioner into excelled and ecstatic supreme states of consciousness and heightened states of awareness. Popular kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bajhan – the form taught here in Saskatoon – is missing a very important piece of the practice; the Goddess. In what follows I will explore the missing Kundalini in kundalini yoga.

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

2023, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Keywords bronze bell, Silla, whale, dragon, Magoist Cetaceanism, cosmogony, Korea, Cosmic Music, nine, nona numerology, shaman mothers, Magoism, whale totemism, Silla, royal matrilineage

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Keywords Role of women in Jainism, Mahavira, male chauvinism, alluring quality of women, Apsara, Rishi Viswamitra, Bihar as Jungle-Raj, monk Rathanemi, Sati Rajimati

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies , 2023

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

Keywords Prehistoric Malta, the Spiral, Goddesses, Jung, Maltese Prehistoric Art, Archetypal Symbols, Contemporary Art

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Keywords: World Goddesses, Classical Goddesses, Special Museum Exhibitions, Museums

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Keywords: Finnish goddesses and great mothers, Decolonizing women and mythology, Quilt art

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Gaia

I shall sing to the earth

mother of the gods

bride of heaven

sparkling with stars[1]

Keywords: overview effect, myth, goddess, Gaia, archetype, transpersonal psychology, spiritual, space art, women astronauts, feminist, technoetic

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Key words: thealogy of birth, love, Goddessing, matricentric feminism, freebirth, midwifery

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

2022, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

2022, S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2002

(Free PDF download available at Archives: https://sheijgs.space/?page_id=1262 or https://sheijgs.space.)

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2024

Studies is a web-based, peer-reviewed international scholarly journal committed to the academic e... more Studies is a web-based, peer-reviewed international scholarly journal committed to the academic exploration, analysis and interpretation, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, of Goddesses and the Female Divine in all religions, traditions, and cultures, to be ancient, historical, or contemporary. The journal is a multidisciplinary forum for the publication of feminist scholarship in Goddess Studies and for discussion, comparison, and dialogue among scholars of differing feminist perspectives.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Mission Statement: S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies is a web-based, peer-reviewe... more Mission Statement: S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies is a web-based, peer-reviewed international scholarly journal committed to the academic exploration, analysis and interpretation, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, of Goddesses and the Female Divine in all religions, traditions, and cultures, to be ancient, historical, or contemporary. The journal is a multidisciplinary forum for the publication of feminist scholarship in Goddess Studies and for discussion, comparison, and dialogue among scholars of differing feminist perspectives.

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2023

S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies, 2022

Mago Books, 2023

This reader includes my articles published in my book, anthologies, and journals from 2015 to pre... more This reader includes my articles published in my book, anthologies, and journals from 2015 to present. The majority of chapters were written within the last five years. My research concerning Mago, the Great Mother, began in 2000 for my doctoral dissertation. For the first fourteen years, it was extremely difficult for me to produce articles or a book treating Magoism directly due mainly to the overwhelmingly immense, complex, and slippery nature of the topic. In the course of time, my research focus evolved from Magoism to Magoist Cetaceanism. I learned that Magoist women and mothers were not alone in shaping the destiny of pre- and proto-patriarchal worlds. Contrarily, they were guided by the natural world headed by cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). They discovered cetaceans divine. Whales, surpassing the human standard (in planetary origin, lifespan, biological magnitude, aquatic residence, meteorological influence, sonic communications, and communal social behaviors, to name a few), had been the guardian of the Planet, Earth. Their planetary presence was the model for the divine. In alliance with whales, Shaman Queens of the ancient world cultivated the consciousness of the matriverse (maternally perceived universe). What was feared by patriarchs was not just women but cetaceans whom women revered and bonded with. My encounter with Magoist Cetaceanism enabled me to transform my feminist consciousness into the matriversal consciousness. Feminism is an antidote against patriarchy. Where patriarchy is dispelled, feminism undergoes transformation. Our historical consciousness is not linear. Our view of the past shapes the future. My study of pre-patriarchal confederacies of Old Korea/East Asia shows that patriarchy is a short-living unreality. Patriarchy has proved repeatedly that it is incapable of leading the world in harmony with the universe. That is because it is built on the partial, distorted view that the male is supreme above ALL else. Where the male self is deemed outside the web of interdependence, his rule is there only to be subverted by the rebel force from within. In the matricentric world, women and mothers share agency with ALL else. In the case of Magoist Korea, they revere cetaceans as the terrestrial divine. My research on Magoist Cetaceanism shows the way for humans to restore peace and harmony within the matriverse.

Textbook, 2018

This book fills the very real need for an affordable, accessible, academic textbook featuring God... more This book fills the very real need for an affordable, accessible, academic textbook featuring Goddesses from a wide range of world religious, cultural and mythological traditions. As a textbook, its primary audience is professors and students in university and college courses in Goddess Studies, Religious Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. It will also be of interest to students and instructors in the many Goddess-themed courses outside the academy. The contributors to the textbook were selected for their scholarly expertise and qualifications in their respective areas of study, both established and emerging scholars from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Scandinavia, and Australia. The Goddess traditions surveyed in the 22 chapters include the Female Divine in the major world religions—not only Hinduism and Buddhism, but also in the “Western Religions” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, popularly regarded as impervious to the Goddess. The coverage ranges from ancient to contemporary, Mago to Mary Magdalene. As such, it is a unique and much-needed resource for students and faculty, as well as a treasury of Goddess scholarship.