A 15-minute stream-of-consciousness writing by Elizabeth Stephens

This purple year has been the best year of our project for me. This year of the third eye has allowed me to see things that I’d never been able to understand before or that I just hadn’t noticed. This was the 6th year of the 7-year project with Annie but our 9th year together. We’re headed towards 10 years together, which is amazing in every way. And even more amazing is how fast this time has gone by, almost like a dream. Certainly being in relationship has made me see things differently and being in relationship with Annie has made me see things in a much more spiritual way. The structure of this project is also a spiritual structure and I’m thankful to Linda Montano for suggesting that several artists collaborate with her using the chakras. The right thing has happened each year we have been practicing this piece together.

This has also been a whirlwind year in terms of our work, Vienna for “Dirty Sexecology,” West Virginia to shoot “Goodbye Gauley Mountain,” and then Los Angeles to Marry the Moon and Athens, Ohio to Marry the Appalachian Mountains. Simultaneously I continue to pursue a PhD. I love the deep knowledge that I am gaining. This is exactly what I needed to do and exactly when I needed to do it. The reading and writing that my practice demands is just what I needed in order to clarify the new direction in which my collaborative work is heading. The environmental concerns that Annie and I are working with and the ways in which we articulate these concerns demand deep attention in order to take off in the ways that we want them to fly. I see my PhD as being about art and environmentalism meeting in the mind, the body and on the ground. I can’t really think of anything that is more important than the environment in this day and age.

And our weddings were both more than anything I could have wished for. This year included many wonderful people, exciting events and material for thought. Our first wedding in LA was in collaboration with Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Choir in addition to the many other amazing performers, singers, friends and students. The Moon herself has been putting on quite a show this fall and winter. This past eclipse where she turned deep red was one of the most ecosexually exciting events I’ve ever witnessed even if I did watch it in the rain. In November I had an amazing drive down to Santa Cruz on Highway One. The ocean was on my right, the mountains on my left and the sky above-holding the moon and I am married to all of these wonderful entities. I felt love beyond words as I do with Annie as well. And our wedding to the Appalachian Mountains was all that I could hope for. I am so deeply in love with those beings. Friends, loved ones, and even animals showed up to perform for them. My hope is that mobilizing others through love and art will help give the mountains a chance to survive through the environmental devastation caused by mountain top removal. MTR is one of the most dire and ugly things I have ever seen. It causes death and suffering on every level and especially for all of the living beings, plants and animal, who suffer the explosions, and the subsequent cover-ups simply so that we can maintain our modern electrically propelled lifestyles. It is wrong and it is symptomatic of humanity’s arrogance and greed, which is leading us over the brink of disaster.

But back to the third eye-I see clearly now what it is that I’m doing with my life and my work. I also see how very lucky I am to have Annie and all of the wonderful people and things that are in my life. As this year wraps up I’m grateful and I’m very humble in the face of all of the amazing things that this beautiful planet provides for us. The Earth is worth saving-by any means necessary! Thank you Purple.

A 15-minute stream-of-consciousness writing by Annie Sprinkle

This was the year that was, of third eye kisses & third eye massages. Big highlight, losing sixty-five pounds each and experiencing our new old bodies. Our hugs so different. Then I did a shamanic journey and saw Beth & I making love inside the Earth, rolling around, deep inside our Earth Lover; spinning, orbiting, floating. Ready to make a difference in some weird experimental way.

Two weddings. Purple Wedding to the Moon had political drama when our venue canceled two weeks before wedding after park brass read our press release online. Reverend Billy called it “a blessing.” He was right. White knight lawyer Terry Gross stepped in to save the night. My hard drive failed. Then so much love and generosity from our community, friends, families, that I went into shock and can’t get it together to send thank you letter.Luna, lunacy, lunatic, love… luna, lunacy, lunatic, love… that was our mantra. Head to toes love, and so much production chaos. Two weeks later we married the magnificent Appalachian Mountains in a beautiful chapel. More love-art. More purple. More creative juices flowing. More beauty. More activism. More more, more. How do we like it? How do we like it?

It feels great to give it up and do it for the Earth, instead of about me me me. I LOVE being ecosexual and an environmental activist. Still so much to learn. Our mission for New Year is clear—to make the environmental movement a little more sexy, fun and diverse. What a lovely mission! So inspired by the environmental activists we met this purple summer. We’re co-creating the new ecosexual movement and it’s delight-full; with ecosex symposiums, ecosex flags, sexecological charts & graphs, new eco-fetishes & fantasies, creating the ecosex lexicon. I’m proud to be a tree hugger! Everywhere I see the eroticism of nature as my third eye spreads itself open. Plant auras, nature textures, all senses delighted. Fire between my eyes. Sand, dirt, air, stars, eclipses. Light bodies. Yum. I want, and have, Sea, Sky, sand, dirt, flowers, animals, and nature in my life.

Mom getting old now and will need more care. Bob our doggie getting grey and arthritic. I’m still getting hot flashes from time to time, sleep interrupted by menopausal symptoms.The decades pass quickly with the short years.

Roadtrip! I love being married to Beth, and sharing my life with her. We had biggest fight yet as we drove cross-country in summer. We came out of it with more love. Se la vie. Such is life. Beth is my muse. She gives me comfort and joy, comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Dog walks every day. Bob’s third eye opened too. We visited the Biosphere 2 in Arizona, and my first lover Van. Worked hard. Beth in grad school. She works sooooo hard that sometimes I wonder. The year flew by fast, and went quite smoothly. Purple year started with bad purple face paint and doing egg yolk psychic readings in Vienna. Many travels, lectures, art projects, but not alone any more. With my Beth.

I want some new clothes next year. Need need need. Gratitude, gratitude! Am so grateful for all our abundance in spite of income dropping along with economy. Trying to do Louise Hay positive thinking about money stuff. Beth has my back. So many friends out of work, struggling, but really just all cutting back, changing life styles. Less consumer crap. Sometimes I am confused and anxious, and sometimes I am clear and flying. Thank you purple. It was swell. I am ready for bliss. Ready for the New Year. Welcome new silver year.