Mago (Madre Terra),
la più antica cosmogonia dell’Asia orientale
di Hye Sook
Hye Sook è una studiosa coreana di miti e religioni. Sta scrivendo un libro sulla
riscoperta recente del poema epico Budoji (Epica della Città Emblematica) e del
Handan Gogi(Le arcaiche cronache Han e Dan).
E’ una opportunità veramente unica questa che abbiamo di presentare una summa
del suo lavoro ancora inedito e che molto generosamente Hye Sook ci permette di
pubblicare sul nostro sito.
Si tratta del mito di creazione forse più completo e antico che ci sia arrivato dal più
lontano passato, e parla di Mago come creatrice partogenetica dell’umanità,
progenitrice di donne e uomini, sovrana della prima Città dell’Armonia Celeste.
Luciana Percovich
Hye Sook Hwang
Ph.D. Candidate
Women’s Studies in Religion
Claremont Graduate University
E-mail: helen.hwang@cgu.edu
Tel: (909) 399-9326
(This Essay was originally presented as part of the panel entitled “Women’s Spiritual
Practices” to the Conference of Pacific and Southwest Women’s Studies on April 17,
2004, in Scripps College, Claremont CA)
An Investigation of Gynocentric Unity in Mago,
the East Asian Great Goddess, and Elsewhere
This essay introduces the hitherto unexplored topic of Mago (麻姑),[1] the Great
Goddess, and Magoism, the archaic gynocentric cultural matrix of East Asia, which
derives from the worship of Mago as creatress, progenitress, and sovereign. By
focusing on thematic motifs such as trinity and parthenogenesis, which are central
to the creation myth of Magoism, I will discuss a phenomenon of cultural unity in
pre-patriarchal traditions of East Asia and elsewhere. I propose the hypothesis,
despite its potential controversy, that the Myth of Mago provides a mythological and
theological framework, which explains a common origin and cultural unity in the
world-widely spread archaic traditions of goddesses.
Prompted by the sporadic reemergence of the “forgotten” corpus of Mago,
which abounds in pan-East Asian sources from Korea, China, and Japan, I have
sought, in a spirit marked by continuous surprises and exhilarations, the one
unbroken rubric of the gynocentric cultural matrix, which I have named Magoism.
The supreme divinity of Mago and the tradition of Magoism are explicit, if not
distorted, in various sources such as the Budoji (Epic of the Emblematic City),[2] the
principal text of Magoism allegedly written around the late 4th century; the Handan
Gogi (Archaic Chronicles of Han and Dan),[3] the diachronic record of the archaic
states of Magoism; folktales; Taoist records; topological names; the debris of
literary and historical writings; paintings; and miscellanies from Korea, China, and
Japan.
Magoism has never completely vanished from the course of history but has
been truncated, distorted, and eroded especially for the past several hundred years
in the case of Korea. However, traces of Magoism abound in East Asia in the form of
not only written and oral texts but also in the religious and cultural practices that
have survived until today. In other words, Magoism is a living tradition. The recent
publication of the Budoji (Epic of the Emblematic City) heralds another new time, in
which the archaically-originated reality of Magoism revives. While recovering and
examining these materials, this paper ultimately illumines the making of an East
Asian feminist perspective of Magoism, which I call feminist Magoism or Magoist
feminism.
The Beginning of Mago
The Budoji (Epic of the Emblematic City) recounts the primordial event of Mago’s
Origin in the Paradise of Mago. A series of astounding stories uniquely and richly
encoded with Magoist conceptions and symbols comes to resurface as motifs in the
forthcoming historical and cultural developments of East Asia/Korea. The creation
account presented by the Budoji furnishes a coherent and holistic paradigm, in
which gynocentric principles play central roles. It delineates how the Myth of Mago
expresses the Primordial Music and Dance that begins with Mago.
The cosmogonic myth of Mago recounted in the Budoji tells us a story of the
primordial beginning. It delineates “a primal history,” to borrow Eliade’s phrase, “a
beginning: a cosmogonic proper, or a myth that describes the first, germinal state of
the world.”[4] By citing Eliade’s definition of the creation myth, I intend to
demonstrate that the creation myth of Magoism undermines the pre-established
notion of the hierarchical dualism between Judeo-Christian, monotheistic, and male
divinity and henotheistic, animistic, and female divinity, which is usually treated as
“inferior” or “anomalous.” This story is about the beginning of Mago, who is the
Primordial Being on earth. Mago is born from the Cosmic Music. The primordial
creation described in the Myth of Mago is neither ex nihilo (from nothing) nor an
explosion (Big Bang). The universe is a web in which our earth is interwoven. The
earth is a self-equilibrating mixture of land, water, and light.
While the Budoji describes a continuous process of (pro)creation in four
chapters (Chapters 1-4), I will focus on the first two chapters that describe the
primordial beginning, the Emergence of Mago and the Paradise of Mago. The
following is my summation of the two incipient chapters of the Budoji:
In the age of the Former Heaven (先天), there existed only sunlight and water on
earth. When YulRyoe (Harmonized Cosmic Music) rose repeatedly, stars emerged.
From PalRyoe (Eightfold Cosmic Music), Mago, the Paradise of Mago, and other
earthlings came forth. It was an event that took place in the interim cosmic age
called JimSe (My/Our/This World). Mago prepared for the coming of the age called
the Latter Heaven (後天).
Prior to the Latter Heaven, Mago asexually bore two daughters, KungHee
(Vault Woman) and SoHee (Nest Woman). Mago assigned them to manage
OEmChilJo (Five Notes and Seven Tunes). As the earth sprang forth milk, KungHee
and SoHee each parthenogenetically bore two sons and two daughters. Thereupon,
Mago assigned four granddaughters to manage Ryoe (呂) and four grandsons Ryul
(律).
The Paradise of Mago, MagoSeong (Walled City of Mago), honoring the
Heavenly Emblem, succeeded the Former Heaven. Four heavenly women/men
named HwangGung (Yellow Vault), BaekSo (White Nest), ChungGung (Blue Vault),
HeukSo (Black Nest) were positioned in the four corners of the City. They built
tubes [flutes] and composed music.[5]
To read carefully, the beginning of the Myth of Mago may unfold as hierophany,
manifestation of the sacred, as it did to the ancients. In this magnificent beginning,
stars were created, when the cosmic music autonomously rose and fell in the
universe. When everything was eventually equilibrated on earth, Mago was selfborn and began her life. Mago practiced the Art/Way of Living, that is, she
harmonized herself with the cosmic music, for a long time by herself. She
eventually succeeded in self-procreation and bore two other women just like herself,
the two daughters of Mago, KungHee and SoHee. Thus Mago became the Triple
Goddess. The Three in Unity co-practiced the Art of Living. Thereupon, the earth
sprang milk. KungHee and SoHee parthenogenetically bore daughters and sons and
raised them with earth-milk. Finally there came to exist two sexes/genders on
earth. Sons were “new beings” and were possibly celebrated for their first entry into
the world, just as daughters were genuinely welcomed. Mago, KungHee and SoHee
taught them the Art/Way of Living. Daughters and sons, Heavenly Women and Men,
lived two by two in the four Corners/Gates of the Paradise. It is assumed that they
all co-practiced the Way of Living.
I am somehow perplexed by the lack of emphasis on fertility and/or
motherhood in the account of the Budoji. Furthermore, strikingly absent is the
emphasis on female sexuality and her “voluptuous” body. The same applies to the
folkloric myths of Mago. Only a few cases out of over 200 folktales, which I have
documented, address such themes as fertility, motherhood, and/or female
sexuality. I hold that the mythic portrayal of Mago coveys an archaic consciousness,
which predates the patriarchal formulation of “the feminine.” Mago is envisaged as
an incredibly strong, wise, and spiritual woman who understands the imminence of
her task to equilibrate with the cosmic music in order to survive and thrive. It is not
enough to say that Mago is the noun, that is, the Mother, the Progenitor, or the
Provider.[6] She is the Verb or a verb, who (pro)creates, administrates, and
summons, as the Budoji continues to describe the ensuing process of creation and
the evolvement of history.[7] She is not static. The truth is that nothing stays
immutable and immobile in the Magoist cosmology. Everything self-equilibrates,
self-evolves, and self-creates. Thus, it can be said that Mago is the Primal
Choreographer who designed the cosmic dance for humanity. And she is the
Archivist who holds the knowledge of the Origin for us all.
The Female Cosmic Music and Muses
The above account of the creation myth of Magoism crystallizes the female principle
into the following gynocentric motifs: PalRyoe (the eight-fold female cosmic music);
trinity; parthenogenesis; and the female as the primordial human species. From
PalRyoe came forth not only Mago but also the Paradise of Mago called Magoseong
(Walled City of Mago),[8] and two other earthlings.[9] Mago and her creation are the
embodiment of PalRyoe, the Female Music of the universe. The creation myth of
Mago reenacts the self-creating and self-sustaining power of the universe. Its
fundamental message is the Power of Life in Process. The ecstatic joy and awe are
contagiously vitalized. As to PalRyoe and OEmChilJo (Five Notes and Seven Tunes),
it is helpful to note the exegesis of JungPyong Noh, one of the few Korean scholars
who consider the Budoji seriously, as he writes:
The Universe is created by PalRyoe. The music of PalRyoe is a vibration, which is
generated by the movement of the gravity axis [of the Earth], and goes out into
eight directions. [ ] OEm (Five Notes) is a sound that comes inward from the center
of the gravity axis. It cycles crescendos and diminuendos. ChilJo (Seven Tunes)
functions to transfer the direction of the sound outward, when an incoming sound
reaches its zenith. KungHee and SoHee manages the task [of OEmChilJo].”[10]
Noh sees the Primal Force/Music deriving from the self-balancing act/dance of the
Earth within the Universe. His association of the self-sustaining movement of the
earth with music is not a mere euphemism or poetic fancy but rather a partial
description of the cultural heritage of East Asia. According to Noh, the traditional
rhythms and notes of Korean music signify the “dance” of the Earth in tune with the
music of the universe. The movement of the universe is perceived as the cosmic
music, the sacred sound, which (pro)creates the primal beings. This
reconceptualization of the comic music is starkly contrasted with the modern
technology of measuring mechanic noises by scientific equipments. The technique
that maintains self-equilibration with the cosmic music is absolutely necessary. The
Magoist Myth advocates the symbiosis of all beings through harmonizing with
Female Cosmic Music.
It is astounding to note that gynocentric notions and images of PalRyoe
highly echo those of European and elsewhere pre-patriarchal goddesses. First of all,
the etymological connection between Muse and Music in European languages is
compelling.[11] “Intergalactic Communications,” as Mary Daly phrases, take place
between PalRyoe and the “Music of the Spheres,” which is defined as “an ethereal
harmony supposed by the Pythagoreans to be produced by the vibration of the
celestial spheres upon which the stars and planets were thought to move.”[12] Daly
has dis-covered the “sleeping” gynocentic meanings of Muses in Greek mythology
and irrigated them into her original feminist thought. Thus, she cites, “[O]riginally
the Muses were represented as virgins of the strictest chastity.”[13] While the
expression, “virgins of the strictest chastity,” is left somewhat precarious, Daly
elaborates, “A woman wielding Musing Powers releases waves of meanings so that
new and ancient words can be heard and spoken.”[14] Is it a mere coincidence that
Mary Daly’s thought on Muses resonates with a feminist hermeneutic of the Magoist
creation myth? I can only state here that there is something in the Magoist Myth
that explains the “Syn-Crone-icities.”[15] I shall illumine this “something” throughout
my dissertation chapters, which include the synchronicities between pre-patriarchal
Western mythology including the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Magoist Myth.
With regards to the motifs of the Triple Goddess of Mago, KungHee, and
SoHee and OEmChilJo (Five Notes and Seven tunes), to which Mago assigned her
two daughters for management, the semantic and symbolic unity in the worldwide
gynocentic cultures and cosmologies is too evident to dismiss. The Samguk Sagi
(History of Three Kingdoms) lists the names of musical instruments: SamJuk Jeok,
three bamboo flues, and SamHyoen, three string instruments.[16] It states that the
music of three bamboo flutes has seven tunes. The technical information of these
seven tunes is not my concern here, but it is worth noting that the numerical
symbols of three and seven from the Myth of Mago echo in the tradition of Korean
music.
Barbara Walker’s following exegesis of Muses reverberates on these motifs,
as she writes: “The Muses were originally a triad—the primordial Triple Goddess. [ ]
The seven-tone musical scale was the Muses’ invention, supposedly based on their
‘music’ of the seven spheres [Italics are mine].”[17] Also, Barbara Smith states that
Muses “were the fount of all knowledge, and poets would invoke them at the
beginning of each declamation, thus ‘proving’ that the poet sang the truth.”[18]
Conveying the unequivocal authority of Muses, which was coopted by ancient poets,
Smith includes the following:
The number of Muses varied from three to nine; originally the triad together held
the various powers, but by the Roman period each of the nine was attributed
separate spheres of influence in arts. Mouseia were sacred places where birds
sang—thought to be manifestations of the gods—and later philosophers, such as
Plato and Aristotle, called their Schools ‘museums.’[19]
From a feminist Magoist perspective, it is not surprising to note that the etymology
of “museums” derived from Muses in that it is one of the many examples, which
show how the archaic symbolism of the Triad Goddess is deeply permeated and
takes a central role in modern culture/consciousness. On the other hand, the above
statement alludes to the Hindu tradition of the Goddess Matrika, one of the two
major manifestations of Durga, according to Laura Kristine Chamberlain.[20] I must
admit my surprise with Chamberlian’s delineation of the worship of the Asta
Matrikas (eight Mother Goddesses), which is highly reminiscent of rituals of Magoism
described in the folktales with regards to aniconic ritual practices associating with
natural landscapes as well as some terms for “mother” and “grandmother.”[21] While
the comparative research between Magoism and the worship of Matirkas requires a
future occasion, I will approach the multiple manifestations of Matrika, as
Chamberlain cites,
The inconsistency in the number of Matrikas found in the valley [Indus] today
(seven, eight, or nine) possibly reflects the localization of goddesses [ ] Although
the Matrikas are mostly grouped as seven goddesses over the rest of the Indian
Subcontinent, an eighth Matrikas has sometimes been added in Nepal to represent
the eight cardinal direction. In Bhaktapur, a city in the Kathmandu Valley, a ninth
Matrika is added to the set to represent the center.[22]
The above statement affirms the manifold envisagement of the Great Goddess in the
worldwide cultures. The ritual practice of Magoism by the populace is not an
exception. In folktales, Mago is addressed as Mother of the eight shamans who
were sent by Mago to eight provinces as progenitors. Not only the numeric
similarity but also the inconsistency of the number of Muses, Matrikas, and Magoist
Shamans is incredibly analogous in each tradition. I hold that this is another clue
that supports the reliability of the Myth of Mago.
The Symbolism of Parthenogenesis and Woman/Goddess Species
As I have shown above, the symbolism of the Triad Goddess is not unique to Asia
but rather recurs in other parts of the world. The parthenogenetic birth of the Triad
Goddess of Mago, KungHee, and SoHee also finds a counterpart in the work of
Elizabeth Gould Davis who writes, “In early Greek mythology the creative principle is
Metis—female intelligence. She is the creator of all who, like PhoenicianCarthaginian Tanit, like Tiamat, like Gaia, like ‘Anat, creates the world without a
male partner.”[23] I am not simply suggesting Mago as another goddess to the list.
I am proposing a hypothesis that the Myth of Mago is the One Unbroken Narrative
that tells the Origin of us all and the unity of the pre-patriarchal culture, which I will
continue to discuss in my dissertation. More precisely, this is what feminist
Magoism proposes. My postulation is that only those who are born to the later
patriarchal period are deprived of this knowledge.
Noteworthy is the Budoji’s indication of the cosmic period called JimSe, which
can be transliterated as My/Our/This World, the Age that the Triad Goddess Mago,
KungHee, and SoHee were born and lived. Why does the Myth of Mago name JimSe
the World of the Triad Goddess? In this cyclic notion of time, JimSe is the age
between the two ages, the Former Heaven and the Latter Heaven, to the latter
which modern humanity is born. JimSe means the age of primordial
women/goddesses in which only female beings lived and procreated through
parthenogenesis, as Mago and her two daughters did. Is such a history plausible or
even imaginable? The myth of Magoism tells us so.
I hold that the idea is not entirely futile, if we consider the wealth of evidence
on parthenogenesis of the primordial female deities from the world.
Parthenogenesis is almost always mentioned in the discourse of the Primal
Goddess. Monica Sjoo (1991 1987c, 2-3), Starhawk (1997, 72), Joseph Campbell
(1988, 167), and Elizabeth Gould Davis (1971) are but a few. Despite a different
emphasis, the work of Elizabeth Gould Davis, who shows particular interests in the
idea of the female as a Race, is thought provoking. She writes:
Originally she was all female. By the time of Orpheus, however, she had become
bisexual—a hermaphrodite, Metis-Phanes, creator and begetter in one body. Her
final transformation by classical times into all male Phanes illustrates the ancient
concept of the evolution of the human race; for the original femaleness of all human
beings is reflected in the belief among the ancients, and voiced by Plato in the
Symposium, that the human race was once unisexed—male and female combined in
one self-perpetuating female body.”[24]
Davis helps us envision the metamorphic trajectory of the Greek Goddesses from
female to hermaphrodite, and to male.
Inspired by Davis’ I am inclined to suggest physical/genetic and psychical
mutations of Goddess, which necessarily accompanies social and historical
adjustments. The following is my interpretation of the Budoji’s account of Mago’s
cosmogony. Once there was the Period of the Goddess/Woman Species called
JimSe (My/Our/This World).[25] Mago is the generic name of the Go (Goddess)
Species. She is asexual but called female because she is able to procreate. Her
procreation would be a self-duplication/multiplication. The newly emerged
Goddesses are called KungHee and SoHee. Hee is the generic name for the Hee
(Woman) Species. There are two races of Hee: Kung (Vault) and So (Nest).
Because the Hees are the Duplicated Selves of Mago, Mago, KungHee and SoHee are
called Trinity. However, these duplicated Goddesses underwent a process of
mutation and became hermaphroditic. Thus, procreation occurs through
parthenogenesis. A sexual union taking place within the Woman Self. Only this
time, according to the Myth of Mago, the earth sprang milk. KungHee and SoHee
were able to procreate beings who would rely on milk for food.
The Triad Goddess of Mago, KungHee and SoHee is qualitatively
distinguished from their third generation women and men. This third generation is
the Human Species. Generation means mutation that creates new Species. In the
beginning of the Human Species, there were four races: Yellow (Hwang), White
(Baek), Blue (Chung), and Black (Heuk). They were eight heavenly women and
men, half of them were the Kung (Vaults) and the other half the So (Nests). Even
after sexual union became a way of procreation, parthenogenesis co-existed for a
long time in the archaic past. The parthenogenetic procreation was highly revered
as theaphany, the manifestation of the Goddess, since it represents the Origin of
Mago.[26] In the history of Magoism, which I construct, the Genealogy of Mago was
the Family Tree in which everyone finds one’s consanguinity with all peoples and
their languages.[27]
In order to surmount the damage and oppression done to women in
patriarchy, contemporary women need to be reminded of the history of human
female beginning in the Myth of Mago. The female was the first sex and species
who broke through into existence and marched into the dawn of history. Women
cracked the path into spirituality, knowledge, culture, peace, and history itself. To
be Re-Membered is that women’s independent creative power crystallized in
parthenogenesis invoked magophany, the manifestation of the Great Goddess Mago,
for the women and men of the pre-patriarchal time. Parthenogenesis is a powerful
notion for women in diversity to break through illusory patriarchal conditions that
diminish the power of women. East Asian women are not “the outsider of the
outsiders,” who need to be spoken of. We are the agents of Magoism. Our Mothers
and Grandmothers opened the path for Us.
[1]
Read Ma as in Mama.
Bahk, Jae-Sang. The Budoji (Epic of the Emblematic City). Eun-Soo Kim,
translated and annotated. Seoul: Hanmunhwa, 2002, 1986c. Also refer to Thomas
Yoon’s English translation and commentary on the Budoji. The BuDoZhi: The
Genesis of MaGo (Mother Earth) and The History of the City of Heavenly Ordiance.
Notre Dame, IN: Cross Cultural Publications, 2003.
[2]
There are at least three renditions of the Handan Gogi (Archaic Chronicles of Han
and Dan), which are almost simultaneously published in 1986. The most popular
version among Koreans is that of Seung-Guk Im trans. and annotated. The Handan
Gogi. Seoul: Jungshin Segyesa, 1986. Tens of commentaries have been written
and published in Korea since then. To be noted is that the modern Japanese
translation and annotation of the Handan Gogi was published prior to these Korean
ones. Refer to Noboru Kashima, trans. and annotated. The Kandan Koki. Pusan:
Minjok Munhwasa, 1986, 1982c. Originally published in Tokyo: Rekishi to
Gendaisha, 1982. The “correct” interpretation of the Handan Gogi poses a
controversy of nationalist conflicts between Korea and Japan, as Seung-Guk Im
accuses Noboru Kashima of “imperialist.”
[3]
Mercia Elaide 1969, 76. Cited in Marta Weigle. Creation and Procreation.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989, 4.
[4]
The Budoji Chapters 1 and 2. Thereafter all translations of the Korean texts are
mine, otherwise indicated. I have unscrambled the events according to the
“natural” sequence. To be noted is that in the original text the first chapter begins
with the names and works of the “four heavenly men,” sons of GungHee and
SoHee. I hold that it is due to the androcentric perspective of the author or
redactor, who somehow transposed the first chapter and the second chapter.
[5]
Intriguingly, in the Budoji Mago is never referred to as “Mother” or
“Grandmother.” She is called Mago. However, in the folklore Mago is more
preferably called Halmi, which means the Great Mother and/or “Granny.” The
[6]
problem of addressing Goddess as Mother has been pointed out by Emily
Culpepper. I concur with Culpepper in her critique of “mother-based imagery”
feeding heterosexism. Refer to Emily Culpepper. “Missing Goddesses, Missing
Women: Reflections of a Middle-Aged Amazon,” in Woman and Goddess Traditions:
In Antiquity and Today. Karen L. King, ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997, 426446.
Mary Daly claimed earlier in her work that Goddess is Verb not Noun. I believe
that she intends to break off the consciousness that sees everything static and void
of self-evolving power. Mary Daly. Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy.
Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1984, xix. Also refer to Hye Sook Hwang. “The Radical
Feminism of Mary Daly: A Metapatriarchal Religious Consciousness.” Journal of
Asian and Asian American Theology, Vol. III, No. 1, Spring 1999, 79-84.
[7]
Magoseong, which literally means Walled City of Mago, is not an ancient fanciful
imagination but represents the provenance of the City-States in pre- and protohistory of Korea. The assessment of Ki-baik Lee, Korean historian, which develops
the notions of “Walled-Town States and Confederated Kingdoms,” accords with the
history of Magoism, which my study reconstructs. Refer to Ki-baik Lee. A New
History of Korea. Translated by E. Wagner and E. Shultz. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1984, 9-13. According to the Budoji, city-States were built on high
mountains and surrounded by stone-made walls with gates. Budo (Emblem City) is
one typical city constructed after the structure of Magoseong.
[8]
The two other earthlings are mentioned as SilDalSung (Walled City of SilDal) and
HuhDalSung (Walled City of HuhDal). In this case, Sung (Walled City) means a
lump of land. Refer to Thomas Yoon, 160. The interpretation of these two entities,
which are employed in the incipient stage of the grand creation, is too complicated
to mention here. Although I may not completely agree with Thomas Yoon’s
interpretation, it is helpful to access to an exemplary interpretation of the
complicated cosmological presuppositions of the Budoji.
[9]
JungPyong Noh. KoChosone Jonggyo Hyukmyong (The Revolution of Old
Choson). Seoul: DaeHan, 2003, 41.
[10]
In several variations in European language, the word muse means “any art
presided over the the Muses, esp. music.” Refer to Mirriam Wester’s Collegiate
Dictionary.
[11]
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language. Cited by
Mary Daly 1987, 147.
[12]
[13]
New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Cited Mary Daly, 1984, 304.
[14]
Mary Daly 1984, 301.
In Daly’s terms, Syn-Crone-icities means ‘“coincidences” experienced and
recognized by Crones as Strangely significant.” Refer to Mary Daly 1987, 170.
[15]
[16]
Bu-sik Kim. The Samguk Sagi (History of Three Kingdoms). Translated and
annotated by ByongSu Lee. Seoul: Elyu Munhwasa,1977, 503; 507.
Barbara G. Walker. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. San
Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983, 701.
[17]
Barbara Smith. “Greece” in The Feminist Companion to Mythology. Carolyne
Larrington ed. Hammersmith, London: Pandora Press, 1992, 86.
[18]
[19]
Ibid.
Levy 1990; Slusser 1982. Cited in Laura Kristine Chamberlain. “Durga and the
Dashain Harvest Festival: From the Indus to Kathmandu Valleys” in ReVision,
Summer 2002, vol. 25, no. 1, 24-32.
[20]
Based on Chamberlain’s explication, the aniconic rituals offered at “crossroads,
rivers, the sea, and mountains” are almost identical with those of Magoism.
Furthermore, the “two of the oldest names for the goddess in Nepal” Mai (mother)
and Ajima (grandmother) are closely analogous in Korean words Umma (Mother)
and Ajime (Woman), whose modern usage is demythologized but whose divine
province is traceable. Ibid., 26. According to an informal source, the term Ajime
indicates a goddess in the ritual of the Japanese imperial family.
[21]
[22]
Ibid., 26.
[23]
Elizabeth Gould Davis. The First Sex. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971,
33.
[24]
Ibid., 33-4.
A semantic translation of JimSe (One’s World) would be the Goddess’ World.
Thus, the word JimSe reflects the Goddess/Woman-centered cosmology.
[25]
Parthenogenesis continues to play a central role in the Epic of Magoism, which I
further explicate in my dissertation.
[26]
The Budoji states that the people of Budo (Emblem City), a Mecca of intercultural and inter-racial cultures of Magoism built in the third millennium BC traced
the genealogy of Mago in order to locate the consanguinity of peoples and
languages. The Budoji, Chapter 14, 59.
[27]