Isaac Bonewits | |
|---|---|
 Bonewits in 2004 | |
| Born | Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits (1949-10-01)October 1, 1949 |
| Died | August 12, 2010(2010-08-12) (aged 60) |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (B.A.,Magic) |
| Occupations | Public speaker, liturgist, songwriter |
| Spouse | Phaedra Bonewits (m. 2007) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | http://www.neopagan.net |
Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits (October 1, 1949 – August 12, 2010) was an AmericanNeo-Druid who wrote a number of books on the subject ofNeopaganism andmagic. Bonewits was a public speaker, liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founder of the Neopagan organizationsÁr nDraíocht Féin (ADF) and the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League.
Bonewits was born on October 1, 1949,[1] inRoyal Oak, Michigan, as the fourth of five children. His father was a Presbyterian while his mother a Catholic.[2][3] Spending much of his childhood inFerndale, Michigan, he was moved at age 12 toSan Clemente, California, where he spent a short time in a Catholic high school before he went back to public school to graduate from high school a year early. He enrolled atUC Berkeley in 1966 and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in magic,[4] perhaps becoming the first[1] and only person known to have ever received any kind ofacademic degree inmagic from an accredited university.
In 1966, while enrolled atUC Berkeley, Bonewits joined theReformed Druids of North America (RDNA). Bonewits was ordained as aNeo-druid priest in 1969. During this period, the 18-year-old Bonewits was also recruited by theChurch of Satan,[3] but left due to political and philosophical conflicts withAnton LaVey. During his stint in the Church of Satan, Bonewits appeared in some scenes of the 1970 documentarySatanis: The Devil's Mass.[5] Bonewits, in his article "My Satanic Adventure", asserts that the rituals inSatanis were staged for the movie at the behest of the filmmakers and were not authentic ceremonies.[6]
Bonewits' first book,Real Magic, was published in 1971. Between 1973 and 1975 Bonewits was employed as the editor ofGnostica magazine in Minnesota (published byLlewellyn Publications). He established an offshoot group of theReformed Druids of North America (RDNA) called the Schismatic Druids of North America, and helped create a group called the Hasidic Druids of North America (despite, in his words, his "lifelong status as agentile"). He also founded the short-lived Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL), an early Pagan civil rights group.[3]
In 1976, Bonewits moved back to Berkeley and rejoined his original grove there, now part of the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA). He was later elected Archdruid of the Berkeley Grove.[3]
Throughout his life Bonewits had varying degrees of involvement with occult groups includingGardnerian Wicca and theNew Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (aWiccan organization not to be confused with theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn).[7] Bonewits was a regular presenter at Neopagan conferences and festivals all over the US, as well as attending gaming conventions in the Bay Area. He promoted his bookAuthentic Thaumaturgy to gamers as a way of organizingDungeons & Dragons games.
In 1983, Bonewits foundedÁr nDraíocht Féin (also known as "A Druid Fellowship" or ADF), which was incorporated in 1990 in the state ofDelaware as a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization.[3] Although illness curtailed many of his activities and travels for a time, he remained Archdruid of ADF until 1996. In that year, he resigned from the position of Archdruid but retained the lifelong title of ADF Archdruid Emeritus.
A songwriter, singer, and recording artist, he produced two CDs of pagan music and numerous recorded lectures and panel discussions, produced and distributed by theAssociation for Consciousness Exploration. He lived inRockland County, New York, and was a member of theCovenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS).
Bonewits encouraged charity programs to help Neopagan seniors,[8] and in January 2006 was the keynote speaker at the Conference On Current Pagan Studies at theClaremont Graduate University inClaremont, CA.[9]
Bonewits was married five times. He was married to Rusty Elliot from 1973 to 1976. His second wife was Selene Kumin Vega, followed by marriage toSally Eaton (1980 to 1985). His fourth wife was authorDeborah Lipp, from 1988 to 1998. On July 23, 2004, he was married in ahandfasting ceremony to Phaedra Heyman Bonewits, a former vice-president of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. At the time of the handfasting, the marriage was not yet legal because he had not yet been legally divorced from Lipp, although they had been separated for several years. Paperwork and legalities caught up on December 31, 2007, making Bonewitz and Phaedra legally married.[3][10]
Bonewits' only child was born to Lipp in 1990.[3]
In 1990, Bonewits was diagnosed witheosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. The illness was a factor in his eventual resignation from the position of Archdruid of theADF.
On October 25, 2009, Bonewits was diagnosed with a rare form ofcolon cancer,[11] for which he underwent treatment. He died at home, on August 12, 2010, surrounded by his family.[1]
In 2018, Moira Greyland (daughter ofMarion Zimmer Bradley andWalter Breen) accused Bonewits of sexually abusing her when she was six years old.[12] Greyland wrote in her book, 'The Last Closet: the Dark Side of Avalon':
Some people called him the Pagan pope […] I hated Isaac, and refused to be in the same room with him, even if the only way I could articulate my objections to him was to say 'he tickled me'.[12]
In light of this accusation, ADF, the lead pagan organization that Issac Bonewits founded, removed his name from their website and repudiated him.
To preserve the health of our organization, we must cut out the blight that is Isaac Bonewits’ legacy. We sever the ties both historical and spiritual that bind us to him. For his actions against children, Isaac Bonewits will no longer be named as a beloved ancestor of ADF, nor is he welcome at our sacred fire.
May his memory and his dark actions fade with the rising of the sun.[13]
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In his bookReal Magic (1971), Bonewits proposed his "Laws of Magic". These "laws" are synthesized from a multitude ofbelief systems from around the world to explain and categorize magical beliefs within a cohesive framework. Many interrelationships exist, and some belief systems aresubsets of others. This work was chosen byDennis Wheatley in the 1970s to be part of his publishing projectLibrary of the Occult.
Bonewits also coined much of the modern terminology used to articulate the themes and issues that affect the North American Neopagan community.
He also was the last to do so in the United States. College administrators were so embarrassed over the publicity about the degree that magic, witchcraft, and sorcery were banned from the individual group study program.
Among June graduates at the University of California is Isaac Bonewits, who will receive a bachelor of arts in magic.
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