My heartfelt thanks go to my co-editor Kaalii Cargill and the project committee members, Trista Hendren and Wennifer Lin. This collaborative writing project began as a discussion in The Mago Circle, a Facebook group venue for Goddessians/Magoists. The phone conversation I had with Wennifer Lin, during which she expressed a need of focusing on the Goddess for her organization, Mother Tree Sanctuary, prompted me to think of an idea for a collective writing on the topic of Goddess. I facilitated a discussion in The Mago Circle by inviting members to answer the question “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality?” As indicated in the question, I wanted us not only to revive the Goddess talk but also to claim its transformative power. Many members of The Mago Circle participated in the discussion over the course of the coming months. Initially, short writing contributions were published in the Return to Mago E-zine in eight parts.[1] Our discussion gained momentum and grew strong, as Trista Hendren, founder of The Girl God, created and shared a meme out of each contribution. Along the way, I noticed that there were longer essays/articles already written for the topic by such longtime writers/advocates as Carol P. Christ, Max Dashu, and Genevieve Vaughan. The next task became apparent, to publish it as an anthology. We formed ourselves as the planning committee and collected short writings, poems, and artworks, as well as longer essays. At this point, Kaalii Cargill joined the project committee with her expertise in self-publishing as well as a keen interest in the topic. With Kaalii, the editing process was soon set on schedule. I am indebted to her collegial support and commitment beyond the project.
Consequently, the original manuscript published in Return to Mago has evolved to a large volume of the present anthology over the course of one year. The present volume represents the collective voice of as many as ninety contributors, many of whom are well noted for excellence in their work, activism, and advocacy. The number itself adds a sense of collaboration, to say the least. It is our hope that the patterns of the WE consciousness that this anthology interweaves will continue to grow in our collective mind/heart/body. With our gratitude and honor, we share with our readers that She Rises pronounces our collective turning of the wheel toward the primordial consciousness of WE in S/HE.
Our authors take us far and near, from the cosmic horizon to the very political site of one’s inner feeling. Readers are invited to feel, laugh, rage, celebrate, experience, and do the ritual together with our authors. The Great Mother is Here, was in the Beginning, and will be in the End. S/HE lives after we humans may be gone from Her Garden, the planet Earth. It is true that the English term “Goddess” is incapable of conveying the original and ultimate status of the Female Divine. Derived from “God,” “Goddess” is linguistically hampered in the sense that it can’t be perceived without an association with “God.” (For more, see Max Dashu’s “The Meanings of Goddess” in this volume.) This is no small linguistic predicament, when it comes to “the Goddess talk.” S/HE as the Source of all beings precedes the “God.” Also unlike “Mago,” for example, the term “Goddess” lacks a gynocentric mytho-historical-cultural context. Indeed, we are faced with the dilemma that our modern languages are inadequate for the talk of the Primordial Mother. By embracing the word “Goddess,” however, we invite our readers to think at the level of epistemology. I often use “the Goddess” and “the Great Goddess” interchangeably. The distinction between the two lies in the emphasis of her manifestation as One and/or many. S/HE is the First Mother, the Great Goddess, from whom all beings on earth originate for existence. S/HE manifests in the form of Her female descendant, the Goddess. We need to keep in mind that the modern languages that we use, to different extents, work against our perception of the ultimate female. It is no secret that the Great Goddess has been, both nominally and ontologically, hijacked by patriarchal mind-molders. The Great Goddess is called many names according to ancient peoples of the world. Mago is the one that I introduce.
[1] See “(Special Post 1) Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, or Spirituality? A Collective Writing” in Return to Mago [http://magoism.net/2014/04/12/special-post-1-why-goddess-feminism-activism-or-spirituality-a-collective-writing/ (May 11, 2015)].
(This is the beginning of a section of Introduction by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, co-editor and publisher of Mago Books)
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