Mago Academy Admin

(Online Course) Reading and Commentating The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City)

What is The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem Capital City)? It is the principal text of Magoism. More information about the Budoji is available in the later part of this post.

Upcoming Commentary Sessions

Are you interested in learning more about the Budoji? We are going to have a new monthly reading group beginning on March 12th at 1PM PST. No prerequisite is required.

Registration: Email the following registration information to Dr. Hwang (magoacademy@gmail.com or ninemagos@gmail.com). You will be emailed about the further details and the Zoom Meeting ID.

  1. Your name and country of residence;
  2. Your email and/or website/blog;
  3. What makes you interested in this online course?;
  4. Your questions, if you have.

Your donation of US$10.00 for the Workbook Volume 1 is appreciated. All inquiries must be emailed to magoacademy@gmail.com or ninemagos@gmail.com.

Ongoing Sessions

1. Beginners (Level One): The Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1-4), no prerequisite

2. Intermediates I (Level Two): The First Tribulation and the First Diaspora (Chapters 5-9), prerequisite Level One

3. Private Sessions: You may request “A Reading with Dr. Hwang” for any chapter (email to Dr. Hwang, magoacademy@gmail.com)

4. Commentary Sessions: Round 1 of Budoji Commentary Sessions began on October 27, 2021 and continues (every fourth Wed at 1 PST). 

For the first four chapters summaries, see Archive for Reading the Budoji (Chapters 1-4) Presentations. The Budoji Workbook: The Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1-4) is available at Mago Bookstore.

(New Arrival) The Budoji Workbook (Volume 1): The Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1-4)

Announcements

Meeting Venue: Zoom (to be informed via email)

Password required: Please email with your application data.

You can read the Budoji on your own as well: The Budoji Workbook Volume 1 (Chapters 1-4) PDF, which includes Introduction, Introduction to Volume 1, Chapters 1-4 in three languages (English, Korean, and Chinese) is available. Your donation of US$10.00 for the Workbook Volume 1 is appreciated. All inquiries must emailed to magoacademy@gmail.com or ninemagos@gmail.com.

Methods: Dr. Hwang facilitates the self-learning process. She will use PPT slides, which cover all verses of The Budoji’s 33 chapters with footnotes during the 30 min Zoom meeting (10 min reading, 20 min Q&A). The course will continue until all verses of the Budoji’s 33 chapters are covered, approximately about 2 years with some short breaks in between. One may request a special Zoom meeting on a chapter to be exclusively designed for your group or organization (Email Dr. Hwang about this, magoacademy@gmail.com or ninemagos@gmail.com) at any time.

Participants are encouraged to draw an imaginary picture of the scene for a verse provided in a slide. For example, the first slide will state the first verse of the Budoji’s Chapter One, which goes, “Mago Stronghold was located on the highest place on earth” with the footnote on “Mago Stronghold.” If you are an illustrator or artist, please consider applying for “(Search of Illustrators) The Budoji Workbook: The Magoist Cosmogony (Volume 1) illustration book project.”

This course can be taken toward Certificate Programs in Magoist Studies. Participants may be considered as Mago Associates. You may also be interested Magoist Studies Online Salon and/or joining joining Mago Scholars.

How to Apply: A donation ($10 for a session including a volume or a chapter in PDF) is appreciated. Or you can purchase The Budoji Workbook (Volume 1), the Magoist Cosmogony (Chapters 1 to 4) and email Dr. Hwang with the application. For the public, please make a donation of $20.00 upon emailing your registration information. You will be considered Mago Work participants for the second attendance.

Email the following registration information to Dr. Hwang (magoacademy@gmail.com or ninemagos@gmail.com). You will be emailed about the further details and the Zoom Meeting ID.

  1. Your name and country of residence;
  2. Your email and/or website/blog;
  3. What makes you interested in this online course?;
  4. Your questions, if you have.

Course Information

Mago Academy offers an online course, Reading the Budoji, facilitated by Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang. The Budoji (Epic of the Emblem CapitalCity), the principal text of Magoism, stands for a thus-far unheard-of ancient matri-centric story. In it, the Great Mother (the Female) and women (the female) represent the divine and the human kind in whom all (non-humans as well as humans) are found kindred. Having studied the Budoji and Magoism for the last 20 years, Dr. Hwang, prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, aims to duly introduce the Budoji among Goddess feminist, activist, spiritual practitioners, broadly defined and to the world during this critical time. Join Hwang and Mago Scholars in her reading The Budoji to the world!

Testified to its compilation and authorship in the late 4th or early 5th century of Silla (57 BCE-935 CE), an ancient Korean state, The Budoji reappeared in the mid 1980s in Korea. It narrates, in an unbroken stroke, the mytho-history of ancient Magoists from the cosmogonic beginning of all beings from Mago, the Creatrix, and the trans-patriarchal mytho-history of Magoists. Its narrative is incomparable with any text thus-far known but relates with worldwide myths, cultures, and histories.

The unimpeded bird-eye view of the Budoji offers the following:

  • The narrative of interconnectedness of all beings (the divine, the human, and the natural);
  • The metamorphic reality of WE/HERE/NOW;
  • The cosmogonic force of sonic numerology (cosmic music and nine-numerology) that operates the mechanism of life and growth in all beings;
  • Theoretical background for Magoist Cetaceanism: How whales are deemed as the non-human paragon of Magoists;
  • The origin of totemism and animism: The seamless matri-centric bond with the natural world;
  • The Magoist Cosmogony: The Nine Mago Creatrix and Sonic Numerology;
  • The Primordial Paradise, Mago Stronghold, its loss by early humans, and the Magoist mandate to Return to the Origin;
  • How the human world underwent the two irreversible catastrophic incidents (explaining the root of today’s veganism and feminism);
  • How the human civilization was built and innovated by the Shaman Queens of Old Korean confederacies;
  • The rise of patriarchy and the mistaken nature of patriarchal thinking and calendar;
  • The Magoist Calendar of 13 months and 28 days;
  • and many more.

In short, it defines the divine, the human and the natural world and tells the purpose of human lives from the perspective of ancient matri-centric Koreans/East Asians.

The Budoji’s Sections: (Sections are aligned with the forthcoming illustration book series):

33 Chapters (Ch. 1-26 The Budoji and Ch. 27-33 The Little Budoji)

Passage I The Beginning that Takes Place HERE/NOW and the Mythic Period

  1. The Magoist Cosmogony: The Paradise Home of Mago Stronghold, the Nine Mago Creatrix, and Sonic Numerology (Ch. 1-4)
  2. First Great Tribulation and First Diaspora (Ch. 5-9)

Passage II Establishment Old Magoist Reigns that Embraced All Peoples

  1. The Mandate of Restoring the Origin and Shaman Queens, Goma Hanung’s Sinsi (Divine City), and Imgeom Dangun’s Budo (Emblem Capital City) (Ch. 10-13)
  2. Renewal of Sinsi: Celebrations of Budo (Ch. 14-16)

Passage III Rise of Degenerative Patriarchal Rule and the Escalated Suffering of All

  1. Rise of Yo/Yao as Second Tribulation and the Establishment of Xia, Ancient China (Ch. 17-20)
  2. Fallacy of Yao’s Patriarchal Thinking and the Magoist Calendar (Ch. 21-23)
  3. Destruction by the Patriarchal Rule, Second Diaspora, and Loss of Old Magoism (Ch. 24-26) 

Passage IV Revival of Trans-patriarchal Magoism by Silla Koreans

  1. Formation of the Sillan Magoist confederacy, the Little Budo (Ch. 27-30)
  2. Sillan Revival of Old Magoism (Ch. 31-33)

 Facilitator: Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.  is scholar, activist, and advocate of Magoism, anciently originated tradition that venerates Mago as the Great Goddess. She earned her MA and Ph.D. in Religion with emphasis on Feminist Studies from Claremont Graduate University, CA. She also studied toward an MA degree in East Asian Studies at UCLA, CA. Hwang has taught for universities in California and Missouri, U.S.A. Since 2012, Dr, Hwang has founded, directed, co-edited, written for the Return to Mago E-Magazine (https://magoism.net), Mago Academy (https://magoacademy.org), and Mago Books (https://magobook.com).

She has co-edited and published Goddesses in Myth, History, and Culture, Celebrating Seasons of the Goddess (Mago Books, 2018), She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 1 (Mago Books, 2015), She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 2 (Mago Books, 2016), and She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 3 (Mago Books, 2019). Also authored The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia (Mago Books, 2016), Mago Almanac: The 13 Month 28 Day Calendar (Mago Books, 2018 and 2019). Dr. Hwang leads Mago Pilgrimage to Korea annually and gives lectures internationally.

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