Sex Priestess Takes Path as Park Docent

Mary Ellen Tracy, who was convicted of prostitution for practicing what she says is an ancient religion that preaches absolution through sex, has traded in her red-sequined dress, fishnet hose and black, spiked heels for khaki pants and walking shoes.

Tracy, who was released from jail about a year ago after serving five months of a one-year sentence, is working as a volunteer docent at the nature center in Placerita Canyon State and County Park in Newhall. Since finishing her training last month, the Canyon Country resident has been giving nature talks and guiding visitors--mostly schoolchildren--on hikes through the park southeast of Santa Clarita a few times a week.

Although Tracy said she isn’t giving up her religion and plans to begin promoting her beliefs again, she considers her work at Placerita Canyon to be a natural extension of her background and education.

“I like teaching very much and I like children,” said the mother of eight, who holds a master’s degree in environmental science and chemistry. “I try to interest the kids in preserving nature.”

Park officials say they’re chagrined by recent publicity surrounding Tracy’s work at the nature center, particularly since it comes at a time when the existence of the nature center is threatened by government budget cutbacks.

“I resent what’s going on,” said Frank Hovore, natural areas administrator for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. Hovore said that after recent news reports on Tracy appeared, one Boy Scout group canceled its scheduled visit to Placerita Canyon and a few of the other 75 active volunteer guides refused to work with Tracy.

“I don’t blame her, I blame the publicity,” Hovore said, adding that Tracy has offered to quit. “That’s a decision only she can make.”

Tracy, 50, and her husband, Will Tracy, 55, ran what they call the Church of the Most High Goddess in West Los Angeles, which claimed to absolve the sins of male followers through sexual religious rites that predate Christianity.

As high priestess whose religious moniker is Sabrina, Tracy said that she had sex with more than 2,000 men, many of whom also gave monetary “sacrifices” to the church. She discussed the religion frequently on talk shows such as “Sally Jessy Raphael” and “Geraldo,” decked out in her trademark red sequins.

Despite the Tracys’ arguments that the sex acts were protected by constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, the pair were found guilty in September, 1989, of running a house of prostitution. Will Tracy was released after serving 2 1/2 months of a six-month sentence.

Today, the Tracys maintain their innocence and say they seek vindication. “I am not a scandalous lady that sells sex,” Mary Ellen Tracy said. “I don’t just want to say, leave it behind and move onto something else. I want to get it cleared up.”

The Tracys say they’ve been wiped out financially by their legal problems, but hope to begin promoting their religion again, through books, lectures and talk shows. “We’re going to be very public,” Will Tracy said. “What we want to do is change attitudes.”

Mary Ellen Tracy, who recalled her jail time as “real hell,” said she isn’t worried about another prostitution charge. She alleged that she was convicted only because an undercover police officer lied when he testified that Tracy offered him sex for money during a sting operation. She now tapes all her conversations regarding religion in case she must prove, she said, that her church’s sexual rites do not constitute prostitution.

But at the nature center on Tuesday, any controversy over Tracy’s notorious past was apparently lost on a visiting group of about 40 second-, third- and fourth-graders from Los Encinos School in Encino. The children were clearly delighted when Tracy entered the center’s meeting room clutching a California king snake.

“Now what does he have that you don’t have?” Tracy asked the children.

“It doesn’t have feet!” one boy shouted.

“That’s right,” Tracy replied. “They have scales and those scales are attached to their muscles. They contract and that’s how they move.”

Tracy went on to show the students a baby tortoise, and later led a group of about 10 of the kids on a hike through part of the 350-acre park. Along the way she pointed out various plants, such as the sage bushes that are also known as “cowboy cologne” and the berry-laden plants that gave Hollywood its name.

Tracy handled her group deftly, smiling, telling stories and patiently answering questions. Kneeling down to peer under a bush, with the children gathered close around her, Tracy showed them where a wood rat had built its nest. A few of the boys were disappointed that the rat did not make an appearance.

“I know they’d like to see more animals,” Tracy later observed, but she said that most children show a keen interest in all aspects of nature. “Kids are usually open-minded.”