"In my early years I was called “father” although I had not fathered. I then left this rocky prominence to descend to a rich fertile land in which I became a priestess and parent, investigative journalist and filmmaker.
On my journey I learnt about my nature, changed gender-roles, brought up children, survived male violence, wrote articles and books with the Aborigines among whom I lived and worked — as well as producing films shown on Australian, American and British television and testified to the US Congress on Blood Diamonds. During that time I did not speak publicly of my own unusual path for I wished to protect my children from being teased. But the children grew up, and into my life came a critical illness. I had no time to lose. I returned to what was most sacred to me.
In this book I use my gender-journey as a metaphor for our society’s journey out of patriarchy. I thus weave in many stories of gender and sexuality from Australian Aboriginal and other ancient cultures, of magic and menstruation, circumcision, and childhood gender-typing, on how martyrdom became a route to heaven, of the suppression of the Gnostics and the Beguine women, on the witch-hunts, European shamanism, meditation and mysticism, child-welcoming and Wiccan initiation rituals, the Final Rites – and much else. I hope you will find this a rich and rewarding book."
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