by Morning Glory
This book was in the works for some time, but when I was diagnosed with cancer (multiple myeloma), it put an urgency to telling my life story and personal history that was never quite there before. Also, the birth of my granddaughter added more importance to this effort to leave a written record that will help her make sense out of her wacky grandma’s life.
A lot of people have asked me while I was working on this book whether or not I was worried about exposing all these stories in my life, especially the ones that are outrageous or that show so many of the mistakes that I have made in my past. Believe me, it’s something I certainly have considered. But I made the decision to tell the story of my life in a straightforward manner and let people make up their own minds about me.
People have always said to me, “Don’t you care what people think of you?” Of course I care; I care passionately. But what matters more to me than people’s good opinions are their genuine, informed opinions and their understanding, for those are far rarer commodities than just good opinions alone.
I have lived my life pretty much in public. Why have I done this sort of thing? Do I crave attention that badly? Not really. Am I just a media slut? Well, maybe. The reason that so much of my life is an open book about subjects that are controversial or even downright forbidden in some places, is that I genuinely feel that I have something to contribute—especially in the area of changing public opinion in important areas. These areas include freedom of speech, freedom of religion (most especially unpopular religions like Witchcraft and Paganism), and freedom of choice around sexuality—to choose who and how many my lovers will be, and to let them all be known to each other so that there are no shady secrets that can bring a love life crashing down around my ears. Not that that doesn’t still happen occasionally anyway, but where sex is concerned, honesty is really the best policy, and in this day and age it can save your life. Besides, it makes you a lot harder to blackmail!
I have had lots of amazing adventures (chasing Mermaids) and done things that no one else has managed to do for a very long time (raising Unicorns); I have even coined a word (polyamory) for a lifestyle that lacked a satisfactory name for itself, and seen it adopted—not only by the movement but also by the Oxford English Dictionary. I, along with so many of my other brothers and sisters, have left legacies in the form of political and religious activism that will make it harder to persecute my people in the future and will lead to the hope of a living planet for our great-grandchildren to live on. I have also led with my heart, taking risks and making huge and tragic mistakes, which people can point to as lessons about what not to do. After all, how can you grow if you don’t admit your mistakes?
At this point I can only point to the words of Sappho, a far greater writer than I will ever be:
“Although they are only breath, words which I command are immortal. Gifts that the golden Muses gave me were no delusion: dead, I will not be forgotten; someone in some future time will think of us . . .”
—Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart,
July 20, 2013