DRUIDISM I.B

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2004-08-24 18:11:04

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DRUIDISM Isaac Bonewits

One of the brightest (IQ-200) and most colorful figures of the Neo-pagan movement is Isaac Bonewits, known for his leadership in 'Druidism'. He is a priest, magician, scholar, author, bard and activist and has dedicated himself to reviving Druidism as a 'Third Wave' religion, aimed at protecting 'Mother Nature and all Her Children.' Born in Michigan, he moved to San Clemente. CA when he was 12. From his Catholic upbringing, he developed a well developed appreciation for religion.

With a college friend, he formed RDNA (Reformed Druids of N. America) as a religion, and eventually the groves became part of the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA). As a lark, and adventure Bonewits also became a member of the Church of Satan while in college He re-wrote some of their rituals, but had conflicts with Anton LeVey, their leader. The membership, he found, consisted largely of middle-class conservatives who were more 'right-wing and racist' than Satartist. Some believe that LeVey did the whole Satan bit as a joke, to make money on his books, the Satanic Bible. Indeed, the two volumes of the Bible are boring and silly, almost a parody of Wicca...

In 1970, Bonewits graduated from Berkeley with a BA in magic, the first (and last) person ever to do so at a Western educational institution. It caused so much embarrassment to the college, that thereafter Witchcraft and Sorcery were banned from the individual group-study program, but the fame of his degree led to a book contract. In 1971, Real Magic was published, offering Bonewits views on magick, ritual and psychic abilities. A revised edition appeared in 1979, and was reissued in 1988. Bonewits took over the editorship of Gnostica, a Neo-pagan journal published by Llewellyn, a metaphysical press in Minneapolis. He gave the journal a scholarly touch and turned it into the leading journal in the field, but the job lasted only I 1/2 years, because his editorial changes were too high-brow for some, and the magazine lost readers.

While in Minneapolis, Bonewits established a Druid grove called the Schismatic Druids of North America, a splinter group of RDNA. He also joined with several Jewish pagan friends and created the Hasidic Druids of North America. That group formed briefly in St. Louis where it overlapped with the Church of All Worlds. Bonewits wrote, edited, and self-published The Druid Chronicles (Evolved), a compendium of the history, theology, rituals and customs of all the reformed Druid movements, including the ones he invented himself.

He also founded the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL), a civil liberties and public relations organization for members of minority belief systems such as the Rosicrucians, Theosophists and Neo-pagans, witches, occultists, astrologers and others. By bonding together, he felt, they could fight effectively through the press and courts discrimination and harassment of conservatives. Bonewits served as president of the AADL and devoted most of his income (which came from unemployment insurance) to running it. The AADL scored a few small, but insignificant victories, and after a time Bonewits left and the organization disintegrated.

Bonewits returned to Berkeley and rejoined the NRDNA, where he was elected Archdruid. He started a new journal, and attempted to make the Berkeley grove as Neo-pagan as the groves in Minneapolis and St. Louis, which caused a great deal of friction among longtime members. After a few clashes, Bonewits left the organization, and his journal folded.

In 1979, Bonewits married a second time, and in 1982, a third --to Sally Eaton, the actress who created the role of the hippie witch in the Broadway musical, Hair. They moved to NY, where Bonewits started the fellowship Ar Ndralocht Fbin (Our own Druidism). This fresh Neo-pagan religious organization had no ties to the ancient Druids, or to the RDNA, which by this time was defunct. In 1986, Bonewits and Eaton separated and he eventually returned to Berkeley, but could not find work in Silicon Valley. He moved back to the East Coast, with his intended fourth wife, Deborah, a Wiccan HPS. He continued work as a computer consultant and the building of Ar Ndraiocht F~in. He also began work on a book on the creation, preparation, and performance of effective religious rituals.

Bonewits discovered what he called a '10 year gap' between many of his views -- and their acceptance among most Neo-pagans. In 1973, Bonewits was the first pagan to state publicly that the alleged antiquity of Wicca was hogwash. The Craft, he said, did not go back beyond Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente. By 1983, pagans generally acknowledged that Neo-pagan witchcraft was a new religion, not the continuation of an old one. The Anti-Defamation League was also ahead of its time. In 1974-75, pagans were not ready to admit they needed help. A decade later, a number of such organizations were in existence --including Circle, a Neo-pagan networking group, with a national newsletter, led by psychologist, Selena Fox outside of Madison Wisconsin.

By 1985, Bonewits began regularly discussing the need to provide social services for domestic. personal problems and drug dependencies. Neo-pagans, he observed, were brighter and more artistic than average, but also more neurotic. He estimated 80 % came from dis-functional families. Bonewits lobbied for financial support for full time Neo-pagan clergy. (The priesthood is essentially a volunteer job.), but that idea fell on uninterested ears. In 1988, Bonewits was pursuing a goal of buying land and establishing an academically accredited pagan seminary. He still leads a Druid organization and attends various pagan gatherings, giving workshops.

2004-10-04 [Mordigen]: as far as Druidry goes, Issac is nothing but a fraud. He may have a great love and appreciation to Druidism and Druidry, but he follows none of their principles and traditions and goes about it in a manner that no true Druid would approve of. He is a great pagan teacher, he is a great celtic leader, and well respected as far as general wicca goes, but it's an insult to call what he "leads" druidry.

2004-10-04 [Mordigen]: please check out my page Druidry and Traditional Herbology to learn more on true druidry and traditional celtic media

2004-11-28 [Delladreing]: i never said he was anything other than a fraud, im just trying to give a brief history of a vaxtly expanding religion, i merely put down facts or atleast as close to fact as i am aware of, im not saying the people are right, im just saying they are part of the history of modern wicca

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