Welcome to 2020 (5917 Magoma Era) Nine Day Mago Celebration! See Words of Invitation by Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and other details here or continue to read.
III. Days 7, 8, 9 (August 4, 5, 6)
The Matricentric Alliance of Humans and the Natural World
7. What is Magoist Cetaceanism?
8. Dragons and Sea-Mustards: How does Magoist Cetaceanism manifest?
9. Magoist Cetacean Totemism as the ultimate alliance between humans and the natural world.
Day 8: Dragons and Sea-Mustards: How does Magoist Cetaceanism manifest? Magoist Cetaceanism refers to the matricentric veneration of the whale divine as a primary underpinning of the Magoist Origin Story. Because this topic is immense and complex, I can share with us only an introductory insight. I had no clue about the undercurrent of the whale vernation in Magoism for more than a decade. Only a few years ago did I come to take notice of an unusual but tangible thread concerning whales in my research on Korean temple bells. Till then, I had an understanding of the Korean temple bell cast after a pregnant female body, which was designed to reverberate the cosmic music, the metamorphic force of the universe. While this was not incorrect, there was something more. The Korean temple bell was also made in the form of a whale’s body, precisely the top half of its body upon breaching. Its wooden mallet carved in the shape of a whale and its whale names were unmistakably real. Thus, my search for Magoist Cetaceanism was launched. In awe and exhilaration, I wrote:
We have seen that the Korean temple bell was designed to reenact the Magoist Cosmogony. Invoking the self-creative power embedded in all beings, the bell channels the self-generating movement of the cosmic music, Yulryeo (Rhythms and Tones), HERE/NOW. Cast in the form of a female body, the bell has the dragon in its head (Yongnyu, the Dragon Loop) known as Poroe (Pulao in Chinese). The dragon is there not only to be the loop for hanging the bell but also to envelop the sound tube (Yongtong or Eumtong). The sound tube is a feature that remains debated over its function, possibly representing the tusk of a narwal, while distinguishing Korean temple bells from their Chinese and Japanese counterparts. That said, there is a yet undergirding theme in the bell to surface, the whale. For those who seek closely, the whale is recognizable as a whale-shaped wooden mallet. A whale-shaped wooden mallet is designed to strike the body of the bell. However, that is only a tip of the whale implication of the bell. A whale is the model that the bell takes after especially for its music. The song of the bells is meant to be a replica of the song of whales to be heard in land as in water. Pre-human in origin on the terrestrial land, whales are the non-human messenger of the Creatrix, Mago. In folk traditions, riding the back of a whale is euphemized as the ascension to Heaven, the Creatrix. Summarily, whales hold key to the inter-cosmic reality that Magoism advocates. It is no coincidence that the bell is called such cetacean names as Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), and Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale). Tapping into the whale bridges time and space beyond the human kind. The bell summons the boundless reality of WE/HERE/NOW. (An introductory part from “Whales and the Korean Temple Bell” by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, forthcoming)
Traditional Korea comes to us as a treasure house, when it comes to Magoist Cetacenism. My task is to assess the cetacean divine manifested in traditional Korean/East Asian linguistics, myths, religions, place-names, petroglyphs, and customs as well as architectural, literary, artistic expressions. Among Korean cetacean symbols are the dragon (미르 mir or 용 yong) and the sea-mustard (미역 miyeok), both of which are deeply rooted in Korean culture. If the dragon is an animal symbol of the cetacean divine, the sea-mustard is a plant symbol of the cetacean divine. The dragon is an imaginative animal personifying the sea waves caused by whales in the sea. A dragon, as a messenger of Whale Ruler the Great, accompanies Magoist Shaman Queen Mothers (Goma and Chiu) in iconography and mythology. Sometimes nine dragons surround Goma/Gwaneum against the background of the sea. And other times the Shaman Queen Mother (Dragon Palace Mother) rides a dragon on its back in the sea background. Most profoundly, the dragon represents a Magoist ship (the back of a whale) that brings people to the Abode of Mago, the Great Mother, in the northern center of the universe, a topic to which we shall return to Day 9.
I had wondered about the dragon engraving that comes atop the Korean temple bell. To be precise, the dragon in the Korean temple bell carries the sound tube on its back (see below). Below is culled from my essay on the Cetacean Code in the Korean Temple Bell:
[Photo left: Restored Sillan Temple Bell (8-9th C), excavated in Uncheong-dong, Cheongju]
Among the many Sillan Magoist Cetacean expressions which stands out is the temple bell, traditionally known as the Whale Bell (鯨鍾 Gyeongjong). The Whale Bell, a signature device of Sillan Magoist Cetaceanism, has two distinctive features, the dragon loop and the sound tube. The dragon loop functions to hang the bell, which occurs in Chinese and Japanese bells as well. This is not to say that the dragon in Chinese and Japanese counterparts are the same as that of the Korean temple bell, a point which was discussed in an earlier part of my essay on the Korean temple bell. However, the sound tube is a feature exclusively present in Korean temple bells, which is, among others, a hallmark of the Korean temple bell, distinguished from its Chinese and Japanese counterparts. Cast adjacent to each other in the bell head, the two are depicted as if the dragon is carrying the sound tube on its back (see the image). By pinpointing the sound tube, a group of Korean scholars (Suyeong Hwang and Donghae Gwak) posit that the sound tube is a replication of the pacifying flute that defeats all (萬波息笛 Manpasikjeok), the seventh century Sillan treasure. Put differently, the Korean temple bell is an innovative remake of the pacifying flute, which is uniquely Sillan. To support their contention, they draw attention to the fact that the sound tube of some Korean temple bells comes in the form of bamboo nodes. Indeed, while most temple bells show the design of nodes etched in the upright pipe, some from the Goryeo period (910-1392) specify the nodes as those of a bamboo tree.[1] Ironically, the bell with the design of bamboo nodes is a whale-effacing variation of earlier Sillan ones with decorative nodes. The Sillan temple bells replicate the bamboo-looking cetacean flute not a bamboo-made flute. This indicates that the Buddhist erasure of Magoist Cetaceanism was gaining hegemony in the Goryeo period. In any case, what does the bamboo-like node design have to do with the pacifying flute? According to the myth of the pacifying flute, the pacifying flute is made from a mysterious bamboo tree grown in a mysteriously floating mountain in the sea. And the dragon loop is no mere functional or decorative design. In the story, the dragon presents the pacifying flute to King Sinmun the Great, the protagonist, with the message that he would be ruling the whole world with the sound. Even if agreeing that the pacifying flute is replicated as the sound tube, there is an enigma yet to be unraveled. How is the sound tube or the pacifying flute related with whales? What is the role of the dragon with regards to whales? Answering these questions requires reinstating the lost name for whales in the myth of the pacifying flute. (The discussion of the Pacifying Flute that Defeats All is available in Resources below).
Together with the dragon, sea-mustards are the prime symbol associated with the divine whale. If the dragon shaped the metaphysical/soteriological landscape of Magoist Koreans, sea-mustards shaped socio-economic lives of Magoist Koreans. Today, the soup made of sea-mustards (미역국 miyeok-guk) is the signature birthday food for Koreans. Korean mothers make and serve miyeok-guk for the whole family on one’s birthday to this day. Adopted from the postpartum behavior of whale mothers who eat sea-mustards, the custom of preparing and consuming miyeok-guk for postpartum women is so pervasive that it has defined the Korean identity among East Asians throughout history. In particular, the miyeok-guk was prepared as an offering to Samsin Halmi (Triad Deity Great Mother) on a baby’s one hundred days birthday. Miyeok was no ordinary food in traditional Korea. Known as a sea vegetable, miyeok was deemed sacred and in high demand as exports, gifts, and ritual offerings among Koreans across social statuses. The love of miyeok among Koreans is a reflection of their love for the whale divine. The Korean expression, miyeok-gamda (미역감다 reeling one’s body with the sea-mustard plant), means to bathe. This expression conveys that ancient Magoist Mothers saw the whale behavior of reeling the sea-mustard over its body as an act of cleaning its body and linguistically adopted it for the human act of bathing. (See other Korean cetacean expressions here.)
Please address your comments and questions as comments below or in the FB group, Nine Mago Celebrations. If convenient, email is available (magoacademy@gmail.com). I will respond and discuss the point with you.
Resources
On the Whale Bell and the Magoist Calendar:
Virtual Midnight Vigil (Dec. 17, 2019) to New Year, Year 3 (5917 Magoma Era)
https://www.magoism.net/2020/06/whale-essay-2-whales-in-korean-linguistics-by-helen-hye-sook-hwang-ph-d/
On dragon as the personifier of the sea waves:
On the Whale and the Korean Temple Bell:
2020 (5917 Magoma Era) Year 3 Nine Mago Celebrations
Dates July 29-August 6 PST (the 9th month the 9th day according to the Magoist Calendar, given the variation of time zones)
Theme Embrace the Dragon, the Messenger of the Cetacean Divine
Words of Invitation by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.
Mago Academy announces this year’s event of Nine Day Mago Celebrations! It has been a blessed journey since last year’s Nine-Nine Day (the ninth month and the ninth day) according to the Mago Almanac (13 month 28 day Magoist Calendar)! We will be thanking for the blessings that we are given for nine days! Join us in the nine-fold litany of our love and gratitude to Mago, the Great Mother!
It is the 9th year since we Magoists found each other and voiced out to the world in the Mago Circle, the Facebook Group, and the Return to Mago E-Magazine (https://www.magoism.net) in 2012. And today we are witnessing in pain and suffering that the whole world is undergoing a massive change by the yet-expanding course of the Covid19 pandemic on a global scale, which may be seen as nature’s due response to patriarchal advancements. You may have seen me as a writer/advocate/indie-publisher of the topic of Goddess feminist activist spirituality for the last few years. Thus far, thanks to our Mago Work volunteers and authors, we have planned and published four collective writing books (the She Rises trilogy and the Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess). You are correct, if you understood what Magoism is about through these collective books and venues. However, I must say that what you have seen is only the broad implication of Magoism, the Way of the Great Mother/Creatrix.
The focused or core implication of Magoism is yet to come! From early this year, I began to speak up on the core implication of Magoism. The monthly Magoist Studies salon meetings were launched from January of this year. Soon after, I began to offer Reading the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City) online course. The Budoji, the principal text of Magoism, is essential for us to assess the core implication of Magoism. As I said, what I have said and written for the last 20 years is only footnotes of the Budoji!
Here is a sign of the time for us. Timing is marvelous, as if my focus on the direct implication of Magoism that began in January of this year was designed to cope with the forthcoming Covid19 pandemic. Almost all schools are closed down and teachers teach students online. Economic activities have slowed down. People shop online. People don’t travel or even don’t talk to each other in the manner we used to for fear of spreading the virus. People stay home and do home-related projects. These are the kind of unprecedented changes that we did not foresee coming. As a whole, the Mago Work was designed to be carried out through online activities, while connecting people and the natural world as the Mago Descent in the first place. I am thankful for this unintentional but time-brought readiness. The mode of my advocacy for Magoism (public and online, based on the free social media tools) is ready for the Covid19 pandemic time and thereafter. It is my hope that the physical place for The Mago Academy Center and the Magoist Cetaceanism Research Center here where I live in Southern California, USA, can serve our post-Covid19 person-to-person meetings.
Amidst the colossal change that we are undergoing, we are having this year’s Nine Day Mago Celebration. And it is the ninth year of the Mago Work. I hope we can reflect back the path of Magoism in public and revisit major themes and accomplishments through a post per day for nine days. The invitation was there for you and is here again!
Check out the theme: Embrace the Dragon, the Messenger of the Cetacean Divine. We are tying knots with Magoists, the dragon, and whales among us. I have laid out nine messages for nine days. And on the last day, we will open the Mago Bookstore for 48 hours for you to download some books for free.
Contents for Nine Day Celebrations may include the below. I will utilize the materials that I have written, published, and archived, some of which have never been shared yet. I would appreciate your interests if you indicate as comments.
1. What is the Nine-Nine according to the Mago Almanac (13 months 28 days calendar)?
2. What is the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City)?
3. What is the Magoist Cosmogony?
4. What is Mago and Magoism?
5. Who is Goma, the Heavenly Shaman Queen Mother, and the Danguk Confederacy of Nine States?
6. Who is Chiu, the Shaman Warrior Queen Mother?
7. What is Magoist Cetaceanism?
8. Dragons and Sea-Mustards: How does Magoist Cetaceanism manifests?
9. Magoist Cetacean Totemism as the ultimate alliance between humans and the natural world.
Where are you at with the above themes? These themes represent a sum of my 20 years research and advocacy. It is just a beginning step for us to take collectively this year and I want you to be with us all in WE/HERE/NOW. Mago blessings to all in WE!
How Receive the nine daily posts from the Mago Books website or the Mago Work social media. In these daily posts, you will be invited to various sources including Dr. Hwang’s unpublished works. You may incorporate daily themes into your readings, workshops, or prayers as you find appropriate. Dr. Hwang will be available for your questions and connections via email and social media networks during these nine days personally. If you find a particular theme interesting, please let me know what, why and how you would like to apply to you together with an introduction of yourself (your residence, work and website etc). I can be reached magoacademy@gmail.com.
Free of charge for daily posts and personal discussions via social media or email. If this helps you, you may consider supporting the Mago Work by (1) donating any amount (Donation available below), (2) purchasing the PDF book or a print book on Magoism by Dr. Hwang (see below Resources), (3) submitting your contributions to Mago Books anthologies and Return to Mago E-Magazine, and/or (4) taking an online class, Reading the Budoji, or participating in the Magoist Studies Online Salon that Dr. Hwang facilitates.
Venue Social Media Networks (WordPress, Twitter, and Facebook)
https://twitter.com/magoism?lang=en (The Mago Web)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/353059021788526/ (Nine Mago Festivals)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism (The Mago Circle)
https://www.magoacademy.org (Mago Academy)
Daily themes
I. Days 1, 2, 3 (July 29, 30, 31)
The metamorphic force of Sonic Numerology (the comic music and nine-numerology)
1. What is the Nine-Nine according to the Mago Almanac (13 months 28 days calendar)?
2. What is the Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City)?
3. What is the Magoist Cosmogony?
II. Days 4, 5, 6 (August 1, 2, 3)
The Cornerstones: Mago, Magoism, and Magoists
4. What is Mago and Magoism?
5. Who is Goma, the Heavenly Shaman Queen Mother, and the Danguk Confederacy of Nine States?
6. Who is Chiu, the Shaman Warrior Queen Mother?
III. Days 7, 8, 9 (August 4, 5, 6)
The Matricentric Alliance of Humans and the Natural World
7. What is Magoist Cetaceanism?
8. Dragons and Sea-Mustards: How does Magoist Cetaceanism manifest?
9. Magoist Cetacean Totemism as the ultimate alliance between humans and the natural world.