More Tracy Stuff
Richard Debeaulieu
In case you have not believed me in the Tracy stuff here is some more
information...
here is quote from a newspaper japan dealing with this case.This can also
be found at the subgenius digest , just search under Church of the most
high Goddess :-)
from the Japan Times ,31 July 1991
Priestess of love convicted as a common prostitute.
Los Angeles (reuter-kyodo)
A high priestess who said she had sexual relations with more than 2,700 men
to cleanse them of sins was ordered on Monday to jail to begin serving a
one-year sentence for prostitution.
Her husband was ordered to begin serving a six-month jail sentence for
running a hose of prostitution.
Mary Ellen Tracy, whose religious garb was a red strapless sequined dress
and black high heel shoes, told reporters she was upset about having to go
to jail because she is convinced she is innocent of prostitution.
"This raises real issues about freedom of religion and expression," she
said "i guess we'll be fighting the battle from inside jail."
Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Harry Kohn refused on Monday to
grant any further delays to allow higher courts to condiser the case.
Tracy ,47, who refers to herself as Sabrina Aset , High Priestess of the
Egyptian Church of the Most High Goddess, said earlier she converted to her
"religion" on April 24, 1984 ,when her husband, Wilbur Tracy, 52,had a
vision that led him to found her church.
She had sexual relations in sin-cleansing rituals ,she said. But a jury
found two years ago that "sacrifices" of $100 or mor paid by those
"cleansed" constituted prostitution. She was convicted on two counts.
I support my parents in whatever they do, whether it is deemed legal or
illegal, "the couple's oldest son , Steven ,20 said on Monday.
AND HERE IS A POSTING from a tya...@shell.portal.com. ,it is in defense of
the Tracy's
it can be found at cmhgrvw.tn at hollyfield.org
THIS IS THE WAY IT APPEARS THERE , I'M TYPING IT AS I SEE IT SO ,IF YOUR TO
LAZY TO FIND IT YOURSELF HERE IT IS...
Dave Ondrejco (vond...@nauticom.net ) and i (from alt.satanism! :>) were
talking about sex cults religions and i mentioned the church of the most
high goddess. He said he'd be interested in checking into it someday. Well,
here's what i know of what it *was* . for all i know it was drummed into
another country (denmark).
Does anyone have any additional information about the Tracy's?
Lorax the evul (sexual wikkun (i'm evul and i like it )
ty...@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-----------------------------------------
Report on neopaganism: sexuality and spirituality
by tyagi Nagasiva
Below are some quotes form cog newsletter , which is published eight times
a year and issued to the members of covenant of the goddess (cog) by some
friends of mine who edit it (russel william and rowan fairgrove). The
articles from which i've quoted concern an organization by the name of "the
church of the most high goddess" and the practices whcih it supports
-ritual sexuality derived from ancient Egyptian texts.
Starting with excerpts from an article written by Marsha Smith-Shaw for the
First Wiccan Church (reprinted in Cog Newsletter), you'll find an overview
of the events whcih brought this data to ligyht, a description of the
ritual which led to all the controversy, some background information by
Aidan Kelly, Availynn Waters and Paul Suliin, and an Analysis of the major
issues involved by Russel Williams.
[bracketed paraphrases] are my own. :> Address information can be found
at the end of this document. Enjoy!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
From "sex Cults " on the Montel Williams Show" ,by Martha Smith-Shaw
"i refer to the 29 january 1992 broadcast of "the Montel Williams show"....
The subject matter for this broadcast was "sex Cults" and focused on a
discussion with Mary Ellen (Aka Sabrina Aset ) and Will Tracy of the Church
of the Most High Goddess , Aidan Kelly , First officer of the Sourther
California Local councel of the Covenant of the Goddess, and Avilynn Waters
of the newly formed Los Angeles Nest of the Church of All Worlds."
Cog Newsletter, volume 17 (mabon),No. 6; Page 19.
------
Rather than continue what i consider biased interpretation fo the tape in
question , i provide here a paraphrase after having seen the videotape
myself.
Will Tracy claims to have had a revelation in 1984. Prior to their founding
the Chuch of the Most high goddess the Tracy's were practicing Mormons.
With this revelation , Will approached his wife of more than 20 years, Mary
ellen . he explained the basic components of an ancient Egyptian tradition
involving ritual sexual intercourse with a qualified priestess. She found a
similar interest , and i, in order to qualify as "the 537th priestess" of
their church, she sexually engaged 1000 different men ( within a two year
period ), becoming "lady Sabrina Aset".
since that time she and her husband have been running the church'
initiating more than 2000 men between 1986 and 1989, when she was arrested.
The initiation ritual is described below by Ms. Smith-Shaw (and reflects
fairly accurately what Lady Sabrin said herself on the Television show):
"... There are four parts to the ritual: confession , Dedication, Sacrifice
and PUrification/Negation. Confession is much liky you'd expect confession
to be and the supplicant is expected to make restitution in such cases as
is possible before continuing with the ritual. ONce the confession has been
peformed, the Dedication ritual takes place and this ritual is performed by
both women and men. The Dedication simulates the birth position of the
supplicant who places his/her head between the legs of the priestess.. and
performs [cunnilingus]."
ibid , p. 19.
-----------------
Ms. Smith Shaw takes liberties with interpretation which i find extrem, so
i will continue wiht my own rendition of Lady Sabrina's words. It is during
the Dedication cerimony that the supplicant demonstrates their sensitivity.
If they are sensitive enough to the Priestess (i.e. she is please enough to
achieve orgasm and does not perceive some imbalance in their activities),
then the dedication is completed. If not , she stops the rite and returns
to the confession stage, by reason that an incompleted confession results
in a poor connection or performance. smith-Shaw continures:
"haveing completed successfully the confession and dedication stages, the
supplicant is then asked to make a sacrifice which is generally considered
tobe a tithe (10%) of time or worth. ONce the Sacrifice is made, the male
supplicant then procedds to the Purification/negation section of the ritual
whcih consist of vaginal intercourse with the priestess... The explanation
of this is that the Egyptian word for semen is pronounced "negation" and
means essence of the man. In order for the male supplicant to cleanse
himself and prepare himself for Godhood in the after world , he must be
willing to give up his essence to the personifictation of the goddess, or
the priestess.
ibid, p. 19
------------------
It should be mentioned that , according to Lady Sabrina, women supplicants
undergo the same stages ,yet the purification/negation process is different
, preparing th woman for becoming a goddess in the "afterworld".
Qualification for initiates involves religous instruction and an assessment
of their readiness to undergo the rites.
Aiden Kelly, Ph.D. wrote a letter for the issue in which Smith-Shaw's essay
appears, responding to her criticism of the Tracy's and others who appeared
on the televison show. He describes his hisotry with them , his evaluation
of their background, and his o9wn opinion with respect to practices like
theirs below:
"i suggested to them [when first making contact in1990] that it was
unfortunate they had not been aware of the rest of the neopagan movement,
because they might have been able to mount a better defense by getting some
expert witnesses on their side to testify that they wre, in fact practicing
a type of religion that now has a great many followers. The Tracys told me
that actually they had been aware of some other neopagan groups , had asked
them for help , and had simply had doors slammed in their faces. In
addition , the judges in both trials had simply refused to admit any
evidence that they were practicing a religion... I apologized for the
behaviour of those who had refused to help them, saying i hoped that not
all neopagans would be as narrowminded.
"i have talked at length with the Tracy's and have read a great deal of
what they have written. I am deeply imprssed wiht their sincerety and their
erudition. Will especially seems to have read almost everything ever
written about Goddess worshipp in the ancient mediterranean and
Mesopotamian cultures. I am certain that what they are creating is a new
variation on ancianet pagan religons, just as much else in the in the
neopagan movement is. there is still a chance that their convictions may be
overturned and their records cleared ,and my testimony could still
contribute materially toward that victory of justice..."
"i am one of the very few scholars in the world who can offer an
authoritative opinion on what constitutes a new religion, especially a new
neopagan religion- and by that i mean an opinion that would carry some
weight in a court , which is why i agreed to help the Tracy's in the first
place.
"the tracy's were forced to spend some months in the county jail in 1991-2,
and got back in touch with me afterward. I have taped a half-hour session
for lady sabrina's regular cable-acess show; it is shown on United Cable ,
and is a much better discussion of the craft and new religions in general.
I was also interviewed by the staff of the Montel Williams show , and
invited to appear on it , which i did...
" i personally believe we need more "heathen idolators writing on the
ground in orgies of sex, " and not tacit condoning of any Christians'
pathological beliefs about christianity."
Ibid, page 21-23.
----------------------
Avilynn Waters also wrote a letter for this issue of the Cog Newsletter and
she had the following things to say, quoting Smith-Shaw along the way
(emphasis is hers);
"having met and spoken with them personally , i am quite certain that Mr.
and Mrs. Tracy take their devotion to the Goddess seriously, and seem to be
practicing much like the ancient temples of Ishtar, Astarte , and
Aphrodite, rather than the "abouse of ancient Pagan religion" Ms.
Smith-Shaw refers to...
"_all_ acts of love and pleasure are her rituals (not just those approved
of by fundamentalist Pagans)..."
"...most of the neo-pagans and witches that i know do not practice anything
as remotely close to what the tracys practice. Most of the ones _i_ know
don't practice the sanitized, text-book version of the actual great rite as
described by Ms. Smith-shaw , either, although i am aware there are a great
many who do. Many covens refuse to even practice skyclad and to perform
more than a higly symbolic great right would be unthinkable to them. others
who are less inhibited have discovered that, when drawn down, a god or
goddess generally has no interest in lenghty, flowery poetry and following
somewhat sado-masochistic, or even Tantric, step by step instructions on
how to perform sex magic. They have their own , highly unpredictable ideas.
they may even wind up "writing around the ground [sic] , both can be quite
delightful and powerful. I just don't presume to dictate to gods ,
goddesses , or other pagans and withches how they should and shouldn't
properly behave, as long as they harm none. I "felt compelled to defend the
Tracy's for all the about reasons. I was asked by the producers of the show
to represent church of all worlds, which i agreed to only after conferring
with Otter Zell and receiving his approval."
ibid, p. 24.
------------------
In a subsequent issue of cog newsletter , Paul sulinn describes his
experiences with the church of the most high goddess (cmhg);
"back in the late '80,s before cmhg had come to the attention of the media
, i contacted will and mary ellen tracy to discuss their religion. I had
learned of cmhg through their advertisements in local swingers' magazines
such as the Hollywood free press. A typical cmhg ad might simply be a nude
picture of [lady sabrina] above a caption offering "hedonistic religious
rituals'. Other ads included an Egyptian-style cmhg logo and ad copy
discussing sexual relgious services...
" i contacted the cmhg and began to talk with the tracys in my capacity as
the director of the los angeles area pagan information line. It became
clear almost imediately that cmhg was not a wiccan-style religion. the
tracy's said explicitly that they were not witches , and they didn't seem
to have much in common with other neo-pagan religions either. the point of
the religions was "hedonism' and the centrepiece was always sex..."
" the central rite of [cmhg] is the ritual of negation. in essence this is
a ritual of absolution, in which a man's sins are believed to be passed to
a trained priestess in his semen during sex. the priestess' training is
held to enable ther as the vessel of the goddess , to absorb and negate
these sins . a scarifice is held to be necessary to confirm the man's
contrition and to make the ritual effective. sabrina told me , that the
scrifice can be either service or money, but that most of her followers
chose the latter, and that the normal offering was $100-$150..."
"Aidan felt that the Tracys were convicted 'by the perjured testimony of a
single policeman". As someone who has watched the cmhg for some time i
have to say it was more complex than that . It is not clear that the
officer's testimony was perjured, but in any case there were several
reasons that combined to convict the Tracys . first ,the tracys insisted on
acting as their own attorneys. going up against a trained prosecutor
withouat any legal experience of their own, it should come as no surprise
that they lost. second, there was never any question that cmhg was
accepting money- the tracys' admitted as much. what was at issue was why
they were taking money. the tracys insisted that it was a religious
offering th make the ritual of negation effective. the prosecutor argued
,and the judge agreed, that the money was payment for sex, which is legally
prostitution. third, there was the tracys behavior in court. sabrina
commonly came to court in her 'regalia' as cmhg priestess . this consisted
of a tight thigh-length sheath dress covered in red sequins, high heels
,and fishnet stockngs. dressed liek this she calmly assured the court that
she was not a prostitute.
"even if the tracy's had hired an attorney they would have had an uphill
battle. the court saw a real risk that if the tracy's were let off there
would be a flood of prostitutes claiming protection by religion. in order
to allay that fea4r , the tracys should have set out a program of religous
training to be given to thouse who participated in the ritual of negations
,so that the judge could be assured that a common 'john' looking for sex
would not bother with the formalities and would get his kicks elsewhere. I
advised the tracys to do this when they were charged and i referred them to
don holdgreiwe , a religous freedoms attorney in washington dc, who gave
them the same advice among other things.
"this is one area in which the tracys were not entirely honest with Aiden.
Sabrina claimed that she had gotten no help from other pagan groups
following her arrest. I don't know who else she may have contacted, but the
pagan information line did offer what help we could in the form of advice
and referrals to resources such as Mr. Holdgreiwe . Unfortunately cmhg did
not accept most of that advice, and the outcome was not hard to predict.
"now having said all this , i still must agree with aidan that the church
of the most high goddess is a religion. i do not accept marsha's [smith
shaw] opiion to the neo pagan comunity. in my opinion , having spoken at
some length to will and mary ellen , they are sincere in their religious
beliefs. i thinkg that marsha's 'diagnosis' comes mainly from
unwillinginess to grant religous legitmacy to a group that puts the goddess
in such poor public repute. unfortuantely we cannont copyright
goddess-oriented spirituality, and we must be prepared to share that name
with many whose ideas will make us uncomforable...
"we must always be willing to defend other non-mainstream religions from
persecution"...
cog newsletter, prsumably volume 17, number 7, pgs. 21-23.
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here begins an editorial analysis of the argument and the videotape which
inspired it. russel willims expresses his ideas and concerns in a letter'
"...the outline of the tracy's religion that was communictated [in the
television show] was that sins are absoulved thourgh sex with the
priestess. no significant training is required to participate in the
ritual, and men may partipate as often as they like.i don't feel that the
concepts and pracitces of confessing sins, absoultion of sin through sex
and a contribution to the church ,or participation in sex rituals with
thousands of seekers who have little or no magical training is 'practicing
essentially the same religion' as i or other wiccans do. the question of
wheter this is valid historical bases of the tracy's relgiions are
irrelevant to the wicca. the sublt point that the tracys share with wiccans
a belief is sex as sacred was completly lost . i believe that an inaccurate
imprssion was conveyed..."
like aidan and avilynn, i 'm disturbed that so many pagans are willing to
belittle a religion that includes sex as a central element , not because
there's some element of the religion that is in conflict with our
fundamental values, but seemingly on the basis that ms. tracy has bad taste
in clothing or that she is 'too promiscuous' or that the sexual element was
presented in an unflattering way... the tracys religion is quite different
from modern neo-pagan practice, but i find little basis in wiccan theology
for condemming it..."
"prostitiution laws were clearly not passed for the purpose of interfering
with the tracy's religion . in order to avoid prosecution for violation of
an existing law because of your religon , you must prove that the law
substantially interferes with your religous practice, or that either the
state can accomplish its objective in another way without interfering with
your religion , or that the state has no compelling interest in enforcing
the law against you. such a court battle is expensive and uncetain, because
there tends to be a presumption that if the state outlawed it to begin with
, it must have a compelling interest to do so. The native american church
lost that argument over the issue of sacramental peyote use in oregon. it
would be far easier for the tracys to be one of the hundreds of escort or
outcall massage businesses in the phone book if their aim was just to make
money from sex. instead , they have publicly pursued a very difficult and
unpopular coure ,and have suffered society's wrath for their heresy.
"why are some wiccans so eager to not only disavow connection with ,but
disparage the tracys and their religion ? are practices such as temple
prostitution what other neo -pagan practices are just 'bastardizing ancient
religon'? are we unwilling to defend the use of sex in relgion? or do we
simply fear that if we are publically identified as a sex-positive relgion
,we will be unable to cope with the attacks such as thouse made on the
tracys, aid and avilynn on th montel williams show?
"i don't believe witches and neo-pagans are the arbiters of the correct
ways to practice sacred sexuality . sex is a gift of the goddess. whether
used to raise magical power in a circle , to share love between
sweethearts, or for mutual pleasure in the back seat of a cra. it doesn't
matter how much eye makeup you wear, all acts of love and pleasure are her
rituals."
ibid,p ,24.
---------------
to this is added a very imprtant letter by brianna tracy (apparently no
relation :>):
"...the obvious difference _between_ the church of the most high goddess
and neo-pagan groups is the tracy's emphasis on the issue of sin, and on
confession,cleansing and absolution. it seems to me that amoung the few
universals that one can trace in the neo-pagan movement is the absence of
this vocabulary , and of the assumptions which it represents; that is to
say, of humankind in a state of imperfection and fall from grace, requiring
to be redeemed by connection with the deity and with the help of the
deity's designated earthly representatives.
"modern pagans quite consistently view the wrongs they have done as
mistakes which they are required to make right and learn from as far as
possible , and generally take full responsiblity for doing so themselfes
although such processes of restitution and personal growth might sometimes
figure in a neo-pagan ritual , no modern pagan group that i know of places
a primary and regular emphasis on the problems of sin and expiation . this
emphassis is ,rather ,a hallmark of conservative christianity.
"what the Tracys are doing should ,in my opinion , be legal ,as anything
done by consenting adults in private should be. their practice may also be
a source of genuine religious experience for its participants; no one has
the right to pass judgement on the validity of another's spiritual life,
and aidan is right in implying that any attemt to define religion in legal
terms is aliekly to backfire on all of us who wordship outside of the
judeo-christian mainstream.
"but mary ellen tracy is not my 'sister', and she ;her husband , and their
followeres have no more connection with my religion than ,say
,muslims,mormons or moonies . if aidan kelly and avilynn waters regard the
tracys as their co -religionists , they have every right to say so anywhere
they like; but they do not represent the entire neo-pagan commuity in this
matter ,and should not pretent to."
ibid,p.25.
---------------
i think the above clearly shouws the breath of the controversy within the
neo-pagan movement regarding sex and its role in religous practices. That
many societied now regard certain behaiours as illegal which incur no
direct harm to others (such as sexuality in connection with tithing and the
use of psychoactive substances for ritual) will become a greater and
greater issue as time wears on and the neo-pagan movement comes into its
own . struggles betwen conservative and liberal groups within this movement
serve to show the diverese nature of those who associate themselves within
it.
-------------
NOW MY COMMENTS...
thus ends this edition of the tracy sex cult controversy.
As you can see it appears that the Tracy's both wilbur and Mary ellen
truely do believe in what they are doing , although i find it alarming and
i feel both of these persons need phycological help. i feel they have a
right to their own personal beliefs.
i can't help but feel concerned for their students who don't know this
about the Tracy's and for the parents who are sending their children to be
molded by these instructors in the ways of the martial arts. It is my
opinion that the tracy's relgious movement is why the tracy's moved for
taking religion out of their system, but i can't help to feel that by
removing the traditional religous training ,they are adapting and putting
in their own moral code ,and as we can see the tracys are quite unique.
but this is to be expected as Wilbur Tracy has been contacted by the gods
(this why he started the religon) ,and Mary ellen tracy (aka sabrina aset)
is a goddess , obviously their moral code is different then ours because
they are not affected by their immortal bodies,and are above judgement of
other gods (gods are immortal right) , why our moral code is because of our
mortalness.
Still it bothers me that the last i heard the Tracy's were taking children
on nature hikes. gods and goddesses only knows what could be happening on
these little adventures.
Now i know where Wilbur came up with the term neo-Kosho movement ,when he
and i were debating over the origins of kenpo. He is a neo-pagan , oops i
can't say that because not all the neo-pagans believe what he is doing is
along the same lines of there reglious thought.
But maybe Wilbur has affected his brothers line of thoughts too,because in
the legacy of Mitose's kempo (whatever they called it) he kept claiming
about the "white christian male" and his domance and opression of all the
other relgions and races, maybe this is what happened to Mitose after all
he was Japanese and not a christian although he was "pretending to be a
priest" , i bet the american goverenment railroaded Mitose just as they did
Wil Tracy and his wife in their trial...
anyways thanks for reading this and remember before you believe any
propoganda that is shoveled out by anybody especially someone who claims he
is the only one telling the truth and everyone else is lying (like Will
Tracy) be sure to do a little research , heck there is stuff on the dirty
deeds of Will Tracy and his wife on the internet ,remember do a search on
the church of the most high goddess, to find out more.
Also i would like to ask someone if the porno actress Sabrina Aset is Mr.
Will Tracy's wife or is she an actress who stole the Goddesses name. Heaven
help her if she did , who knows what the goddess will do to her if she did
this.
Also i like the part of the religion ,where the male has to be willing to
part with his sin or essence , giving it to the priestess , yeah like you
know any straight men who have a problem with ejaculating in a female,
during vaginal sex. i can see why they had over 2700 memebers to their
church.
and although it was supposed to be for men and women , how come the
tracy's had no other female members of the church?, oh yeah thats right
they didn't have time to train them.
Anyways i look forward to hearing responses to my question about the
identiy of the porno star,and to anything anyone else has to say.
kungming
please email me at kung...@ici.net
Rajeev Venugopal
Interesting stuff.
How close is Al and his side of the family to Wil now, in light of the post you made?
Has the Al side of the Tracy's made any attempt to separate themselves from Wil's
behaviours?
Raj