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Phillip Emmons Issac Bonewits (born October 1, 1949) is an influential Neopagan leader and author. Born in Royal Oak, Michigan, Bonewits has been heavily involved in occultism with an emphasis on Neo-druidism since the 1960's.
Life
In 1966, while enrolled at UC Berkeley, Bonewits was initiated into the Reformed Druids of North America RDNA or RDNA. Bonewits was ordained as a Druid priest in 1969. During this time period, Bonewits joined the Church of Satan, but left due to political and philosphical conflicts with Anton LaVey, whom he considered "too right-wing and racist."
Bonewits graduated in 1970 with a BA, as the only person to have ever received any kind of degree in Magic. Gaining a bit of notoriety from this, Bonewits soon earned a book contract for his first book Real Magic which was published in 1971. Between 1973-1975 Bonewits was employed as editor of Gnostica magazine in Minnesota. During this time period, Bonewits established an offshoot group of the RDNA called the Schismatic Druids of North America and helped create a group called the Hasidic Druids of North America, despite his life-long status as a "gentile." He also founded the short-lived Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL) which was an early Pagan civil-rights group.
In 1976, Bonewits moved back to Berkeley and rejoined the RDNA which was now known as the New Reformed Druids of North America or NRDNA. He was later elected ArchDruid of this organization.
In 1983, Bonewits founded Ar nDraiocht Fein or ADF, which was incorporated in 1990 in the state of Delaware as a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Over the years, Bonewits has had varying degrees of involvement with Santeria, the Caliphate Line of the Ordo Templi Orientis, Gardnerian Wicca, the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (a Wiccan organization not to be confused with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) as well as others.
Bonewits served as Archdruid of the ADF until 1996, when he resigned due to the onset of symptoms of Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Bonewits retains the lifelong title of Archdruid Emeritus of the ADF. He currently lives in Nyack, NY and is a member of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans or CUUPS, and is married to a former vice-president of the organization, Phaedra Heyman Bonewits. He also has a son by Deborah Lipp, Arthur Lipp-Bonewits.
Bonewits is currently encouraging charity programs to help Neopagan seniors, and in January 2006 was the key note speaker at the Conference On Current Pagan Studies at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA.
Contributions to Neopaganism
Bonewits has coined much of the modern terminology used to define and articulate many of the conceptual themes and issues which affect the North American Neopagan community.
- Developed the Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame or ABCDEF
- Pioneered the modern usage of the term thealogy, Paleo-Paganism, Meso-Paganism and numerous other retronyms
- Is thought to have coined the term ''Pagan Reconstructionism
- Coined the phrase "Never again the Burning Times."
Notes
Partial bibliography
- Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic, 1972, 1989 ISBN 0877286884
- Authentic Thaumaturgy, 1978, 1998 ISBN 1556343604
- Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach, 2003 ISBN 1594055017
- Witchcraft: A Concise Guide or Which Witch Is Which?, 2003 ISBN 1594055009
- The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers, 2005 ISBN 0806526971
- Bonewits' Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca, 2006 ISBN 0806527110
See also
External links
- A Reformed Druid Anthology includes The Druid Chronicles (Evolved).
- Isaac Bonewits' Homepage
1949 births | Living people | Druids | Wiccan people | American occultists | Occult writers
"Isaac Bonewits"