Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart (May 27, 1948 – May 13, 2014), born as Diana Moore, subsequently known as Morning Glory Ferns, Morning Glory Zell and briefly Morning G'Zell, was an American community leader, author, and lecturer in Neopaganism, as well as a priestess of the

Church of All Worlds The Church of All Worlds (CAW) is an American Neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children thr ...

. An advocate of

polyamory Polyamory () is the practice of, or desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved. People who identify as polyamorous may believe in open relationships wi ...

, she is credited with coining the word. With her husband Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, she designed deity images.

Early life

Diana Moore was born in 1948 in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, May 27, 1948. She was raised an only child in a strict Christian household by her

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

mother, though she switched from attending a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church to a Pentecostal one around age 10–12. At age 14, she broke with Christianity after arguing with her Methodist minister grandfather that animals had souls and went to heaven. She was strongly influenced by the Sybil Leek book, ''Diary of a Witch'', which she read during high school. At the age of 17, Diana began practicing witchcraft. At the age of 20, she changed her name to Morning Glory because she did not care for the chastity requirement demanded of followers of the goddess Diana. While en route to join a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

near Eugene, Oregon, in 1969, Morning Glory met a hitchhiker named Gary Ferns who joined her. The two were soon married, and the next year, she gave birth to a daughter whom she named Rainbow. As a mother, she was known as Morning Glory Ferns. Although Gary and Morning Glory conducted an

open marriage Open marriage is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded by them as infidelity, and consider or establish an open relatio ...

, the union was broken when she met Timothy Zell after he gave the 1973 keynote speech at

Gnosticon Gnosticon, sometimes called the Gnostica Aquarian Convention, was a magical and Neopagan event sponsored by Carl L. Weschcke and Llewellyn Publications from 1971 through 1976, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, one of the first such to be held in th ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Morning Glory divorced Gary and brought her daughter to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, to live with Zell. Morning Glory and Zell married at the Gnosticon of Easter 1974, the well-attended ceremony performed by Archdruid

Isaac Bonewits Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits (October 1, 1949 – August 12, 2010) was an American Neo-druidry, Neo-Druid who published a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic (paranormal), magic. He was a public speaker, liturgist, singer ...

and High Priestess Carolyn Clark.

Church of All Worlds

In St. Louis, Morning Glory studied and was made a priestess of Zell's

. She helped him edit the group's journal, ''

Green Egg ''Green Egg'' is a Neopagan magazine published by the Church of All Worlds intermittently since 1968. The '' Encyclopedia of American Religions'' described it as a significant periodical. First version, 1968–1976 ''Green Egg'' was created by ...

''. In 1976 the two began almost a decade of traveling, adventure, and living in various retreats and in a school bus they converted to a mobile home. They founded the Ecosophical Research Association in 1977 at Coeden Brith, a ranch in rural

Mendocino County, California Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah. Mendocino County consists whol ...

, northwest of Ukiah, to investigate arcane lore and legends of cryptids such as Bigfoot and

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

s. Their wandering years ended in 1985 when they took up permanent residence at Coeden Brith, initially for the purpose of raising "unicorns" created from horn surgery on baby goats, which they did. In 1979, Timothy Zell changed his first name to Otter, and for a short time the couple styled their surnames as G'Zell, a contraction of Glory Zell. In 1994, he changed his name to Oberon.Guiley, page 403 For Morning Glory, the ideal marriage had always been an open one, and her relationship with Zell developed into a polyamorous one made up of three people from 1984 to 1994, including Diane Darling. When this arrangement ended, Zell and Morning Glory bonded with others to make a marriage of five and sometimes six. The group took the collective surname Zell-Ravenheart, and lived in two large homes. Morning Glory's May 1990 article "A Bouquet of Lovers", first published in ''Green Egg'', promoted the concept of a group marriage having more than two partners. The article is widely cited as the original source of the word "polyamory", although the word does not appear in the article—the hyphenated form "poly-amorous" does instead. With Darling, Morning Glory revived ''Green Egg'' in May 1988. The journal had been defunct since 1976. In 1990, she established the business Mythic Images, offering for sale reproductions of goddess and mythology sculptures crafted by Zell. Morning Glory ran the business in addition to lecturing and writing.

Personal life

In 1999, the Zell-Ravenhearts moved to Sonoma County, California, where Oberon started the Grey School of Wizardry, which as of 2014 is the world's only registered wizard academy. Morning Glory went to the hospital in 2005 to treat broken bones suffered in a fall. There, she learned she had multiple myeloma. She received surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and also entreated her friends to form a healing circle. She experienced a great increase in health in 2007. She lapsed in taking her medications in late 2011, and the disease returned in early 2012. During a period of remission in August 2012 she was filmed for a documentary about polyamory for the

Destination America Destination America is an American cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries programming focused on the culture of the United States—including food, lifestyles, an ...

television channel, the show called ''Hidden in America'', the segment titled "Polyamory in America". Her husband Oberon and his long term marriage partner Julie O'Ryan appeared together on screen to talk about their practice of polyamory. In reporting about the upcoming broadcast, Alan M of ''Polyamory in the News'' wrote that Morning Glory and Oberon, both battling cancer, looked "hale and hearty" in the preview available online. In adolescence, her daughter Rainbow left to live with her father Gary, taking the name Gail.

Death

Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart died at her home on May 13, 2014, two weeks before her 66th birthday, of cancer.

Writings

Books

* ''Creating Circles & Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons And Reasons'', with Oberon Zell-Ravenheart. New Page Books, 2006; . * ''Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard'', with Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, et al. New Page Books, 2004; .

Article

* "Firelight and Moon-Shadows: A Survey of Wiccan Lore" in ''Pop! Goes the Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft'', ed. by

Fiona Horne Fiona Horne (born 1966 in Sydney) is the former lead singer of 1990s Australian electro-rock band, Def FX, before continuing on to author several best-selling books on Modern Witchcraft. She is a popular radio and television personality, appe ...

. The Disinformation Company, 2004; .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zell-Ravenheart, Morning Glory 1948 births 2014 deaths American former Protestants American naturists American modern pagans American occult writers American occultists Converts to pagan religions from Protestantism Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from multiple myeloma People from Long Beach, California People from Mendocino County, California People from Sonoma County, California Polyamory Z Writers from California American women non-fiction writers Polyamorous people 21st-century American women