Editing Isaac Bonewits

{{Short description|American Neopagan leader and writer  (1949–2012)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name=Isaac Bonewits
| image=Isaac Bonewits 2004.png
| caption=Bonewits in 2004
| birth_name= Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits
| birth_date= {{birth date|1949|10|1}}
| birth_place= [[Royal Oak, Michigan]]
| death_date= {{Death date and age|2010|08|12|1949|10|1}}
| death_place= [[Valley Cottage, New York]]
| occupation=Public speaker, liturgist, songwriter
| education= [[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], [[Magic (paranormal)|Magic]])
| spouse= Phaedra Bonewits (m. 2007)
| children= 1
| website=http://www.neopagan.net
}}

'''Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits''' (October 1, 1949 &ndash; August 12, 2010) was an American [[Neo-druidry|Neo-Druid]] who wrote a number of books on the subject of [[Neopaganism]] and [[magic (paranormal)|magic]]. Bonewits was a public speaker, liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founder of the Neopagan organizations [[Ár nDraíocht Féin]] (ADF) and the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League. 

==Early life and education==
Bonewits was born on October 1, 1949,<ref name=WVObit>{{cite web|url=http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=22549|title=Isaac Bonewits (1949 - 2010) : A Tribute|access-date=January 19, 2012|first=Peg|last=Aloi|work=Witchvox|date=August 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229032753/http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=22549|archive-date=February 29, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> in [[Royal Oak, Michigan]], as the fourth of five children. His father was a Presbyterian while his mother a Catholic.<ref name="Carlson 2010">{{cite web | last=Carlson | first=Jess | title=Isaac Bonewits Enters the Summerland | website=Jess Carlson | date=August 12, 2010 | url=https://jesscarlson.com/isaac-bonewits-enters-the-summerland/ | access-date=November 11, 2022}}</ref><ref name=Guiley>{{cite book |last=Guiley |first=Rosemary Ellen |author-link=Rosemary Ellen Guiley |title=The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft & Wicca |edition=Third |publisher=[[Facts On File]] |isbn=9781438126845|year=2008 |page=34|quote=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.}}</ref> Spending much of his childhood in [[Ferndale, Michigan]], he was moved at age 12 to [[San 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 at [[UC Berkeley]] in 1966 and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in magic,<ref>{{Cite news| title=Berkeley Student Will Graduate With Bachelor of Arts in Magic |newspaper =[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331 |date=June 1, 1970 |page=24| quote=Among June graduates at the University of California is Isaac Bonewits, who will receive a bachelor of arts in magic.}}</ref> perhaps becoming the first<ref name=WVObit/> and only person known to have ever received any kind of [[academic degree]] in [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] from an accredited university.

In 1966, while enrolled at [[UC Berkeley]], Bonewits joined the [[Reformed Druids of North America]] (RDNA). Bonewits was ordained as a [[Neo-druidism|Neo-druid]] priest in 1969. During this period, the 18-year-old Bonewits was also recruited by the [[Church of Satan]],<ref name=Guiley/> but left due to political and philosophical conflicts with [[Anton LaVey]]. During his stint in the Church of Satan, Bonewits appeared in some scenes of the 1970 documentary ''[[Satanis|Satanis: The Devil's Mass]]''.<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063550/|work=Internet Movie Database|title=Satanis|access-date=January 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227101754/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063550/|archive-date=February 27, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Bonewits, in his article "My Satanic Adventure", asserts that the rituals in ''Satanis'' were staged for the movie at the behest of the filmmakers and were not authentic ceremonies.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bonewits|first=Isaac|url=http://www.neopagan.net/SatanicAdventure.html|title=My Satanic Adventure|access-date=January 19, 2012|year=2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111053132/http://www.neopagan.net/SatanicAdventure.html|archive-date=January 11, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>


==Career==

===1970s: writer and editor===
[[File:IsaacBonewits.jpg|Bonewits (right) at Camp Ramblewood.|thumb|alt=Isaac Bonewits]]

Bonewits' first book, ''Real Magic'', was published in 1971. Between 1973 and 1975 Bonewits was employed as the editor of ''Gnostica'' magazine in Minnesota (published by [[Llewellyn Publications]]). He established an offshoot group of the [[Reformed 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 a [[gentile]]"). He also founded the short-lived Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL), an early Pagan civil rights group.<ref name="Guiley" />

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.<ref name="Guiley" />

===1980s: founding of Ár nDraíocht Féin===
Throughout his life Bonewits had varying degrees of involvement with occult groups including [[Gardnerian Wicca]] and the [[New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn]] (a [[Wicca]]n organization not to be confused with the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]).<ref name="A Brief Biography of Isaac Bonewits">{{cite web|url=http://www.neopagan.net/IB_Bio.html|title=Isaac Bonewits' Biography|first=Isaac|last=Bonewits|website=www.neopagan.net|access-date=January 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131214106/http://www.neopagan.net/IB_Bio.html|archive-date=January 31, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- This ref needs to be carefully vetted. It is hosted on Bonewits' own website and while the original Guiley text is WP:V, it is interspersed with Bonewits' own personal additions in brackets and doesn't support all of this info.--> 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 book ''[[Authentic Thaumaturgy]]'' to gamers as a way of organizing ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' games.

In 1983, Bonewits founded [[Ár nDraíocht Féin]] (also known as "A Druid Fellowship" or ADF), which was incorporated in 1990 in the state of [[Delaware]] as a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization.<ref name="Guiley" />  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.

===Musician and activist===
A songwriter, singer, and recording artist, he produced two CDs of pagan music and numerous recorded lectures and panel discussions, produced and distributed by the [[Association for Consciousness Exploration]]. He lived in [[Rockland County, New York]], and was a member of the [[Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans]] (CUUPS).

Bonewits encouraged charity programs to help Neopagan seniors,<ref name="fn_1">{{cite web|last=Bonewits|first=Isaac|url=http://www.neopagan.net/Adopt-an-Elder.html|title=Adopt an Elder|access-date=January 19, 2012|year=2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205061956/http://www.neopagan.net/Adopt-an-Elder.html|archive-date=February 5, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> and in January 2006 was the keynote speaker at the Conference On Current Pagan Studies at the [[Claremont Graduate University]] in [[Claremont, California|Claremont, CA]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://paganconference.com/past-keynote-speakers/|title=Conference on Current Pagan Studies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203012536/http://paganconference.com/past-keynote-speakers/|archive-date=December 3, 2016|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

==Personal life==
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 to [[Sally Eaton]] (1980 to 1985). His fourth wife was author [[Deborah Lipp]], from 1988 to 1998. On July 23, 2004, he was married in a [[Handfasting (Neopaganism)|handfasting]] ceremony to a former vice-president of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Phaedra Heyman Bonewits. 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 them legally married.<ref name=Guiley/><ref name="marrige">{{cite web|url=http://neopagan.net/blog/?p=179|title=Neopagan.Net 2007 Year-End Report and 2008 Donation Campaign - Views from the Cyberhenge|website=neopagan.net|access-date=January 5, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107002923/http://neopagan.net/blog/?p=179|archive-date=January 7, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

Bonewits' only child was born to Lipp in 1990.<ref name=Guiley/>

==Illness and death==
In 1990, Bonewits was diagnosed with [[eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome]]. The illness was a factor in his eventual resignation from the position of Archdruid of the [[Ár nDraíocht Féin|ADF]].

On October 25, 2009, Bonewits was diagnosed with a rare form of [[colon cancer]],<ref name=":0">[http://wildhunt.org/2009/10/isaac-bonewits-diagnosed-with-cancer.html ''Isaac Bonewits Diagnosed with Cancer''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910072720/http://wildhunt.org/2009/10/isaac-bonewits-diagnosed-with-cancer.html |date=September 10, 2016 }}, Jason Pitzl-Waters, ''[[The Wild Hunt (periodical)|The Wild Hunt]]''</ref> for which he underwent treatment.  He died at home, on August 12, 2010, surrounded by his family.<ref name=WVObit/>

==Accusations of sexual assault==
In 2018, accusations of sexual abuse against a minor rose against ADF founder Bonewits relating to his relationship with Moira Greyland when she was six years old.<ref name="wildhunt.org">{{Cite web|url=https://wildhunt.org/2018/01/accusations-of-abuse-surface-against-adf-founder-isaac-bonewits.html|title=Accusations of abuse surface against ADF founder Isaac Bonewits - News, Paganism, U.S.|first=Heather|last=Greene|date=January 10, 2018|website=The Wild Hunt}}</ref> Greyland said in her book, 'The Last Closet: the Dark Side of Avalon':

{{quote|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'.<ref name="wildhunt.org"/>}}

In light of this accusation, ADF, the lead pagan organization that Issac Bonewits founded, removed his name from their website and repudiated him.

{{quote|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.
<p>May his memory and his dark actions fade with the rising of the sun.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wildhunt.org/2019/11/adf-repudiates-founder-isaac-bonewits.html|title=ADF repudiates founder Isaac Bonewits - News, Paganism, The Wild Hunt, U.S., World|first=The Wild|last=Hunt|date=November 8, 2019|website=The Wild Hunt}}</ref></p>}}

==Contributions to Neopaganism==
{{more footnotes|section|date=March 2025}}
In his book ''Real Magic'' (1971), Bonewits proposed his "Laws of Magic". These "laws" are synthesized from a multitude of [[belief system]]s from around the world to explain and categorize magical beliefs within a cohesive framework. Many interrelationships exist, and some belief systems are [[subset]]s of others. This work was chosen by [[Dennis Wheatley]] in the 1970s to be part of his publishing project ''Library 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.
* Pioneered the modern usage of the terms "[[thealogy]]", "[[Paleo-Paganism]]", "[[Meso-Paganism]]", and numerous other [[retronym]]s.
* Possibly coined the term "[[Polytheistic reconstructionism|Pagan Reconstructionism]]", though the communities in question would later diverge from his initial meaning.<ref name="recon">{{cite book | first =Isaac | last =Bonewits | year =2006 | title =Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism  | pages =131 | publisher =Kensington/Citadel | location =New York| isbn =0-8065-2710-2 }} Author is unsure whether he "got this use of the term from one or more of the other culturally focused Neopagan movements of the time, or if [he] just applied it in a novel fashion".</ref><ref name="McColman">McColman (2003) p.51: "Such reconstructionists are attempting, through both spiritual and scholarly means, to create as purely Celtic a spirituality as possible."</ref>
* Founded [[Ar nDraiocht Fein]], which was incorporated in 1990 in the state of Delaware as a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
* Developed the ''Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame'' (ABCDEF).
* Coined the phrase "Never Again the Burning".<ref name="natb">{{cite web|url=http://www.neopagan.net/AquarianManifesto.html|title=The Aquarian Manifesto with Historical Notes|first=Isaac|last=Bonewits|website=www.neopagan.net|access-date=June 12, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418175456/http://www.neopagan.net/AquarianManifesto.html|archive-date=April 18, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Critiqued the [[Witch-cult hypothesis|Burning Times / Old Religion Murray thesis]] (in ''Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca'').
* In his book ''Real Magic'' (1971), Bonewits proposed his hypothesis on the Laws of Magic, which were then elaborated in his RPG supplement ''Authentic Thaumaturgy''. The book makes it clear it is an adaptation of the ideas from Real Magic to gaming with the Laws presented being abbreviated from those in ''Real Magic''.<ref>Bonewits, Isaac (2005). ''Authentic Thaumaturgy''. Steve Jackson Games. p. 58</ref>

== Bibliography ==
*''Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic''. (1972, 1979, 1989) Weiser Books {{ISBN|0-87728-688-4}}
*''The Druid Chronicles (Evolved)''. (1976 Drunemeton Press, 2005 Drynemetum Press) (With Selene Kumin Vega, Rusty Elliot, and Arlynde d'Loughlan)
*''[[Authentic Thaumaturgy]]''. (With others) (1978 Chaosium, 1998 Steve Jackson Games) {{ISBN|1-55634-360-4}}
*''Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach''. (2003)  Earth Religions Press {{ISBN|1-59405-501-7}} OP
*''Witchcraft: A Concise Guide or Which Witch Is Which?''. (2003) Earth Religions Press {{ISBN|1-59405-500-9}}
*''The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers''. (2005) Citadel {{ISBN|0-8065-2697-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8065-2697-3}}
*''Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca''. (2006) Citadel {{ISBN|0-8065-2711-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8065-2711-6}}
*''Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism''. (2006) Citadel {{ISBN|0-8065-2710-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8065-2710-9}}
*''Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, And Substances to Heal, Change, And Grow''. (2007) New Leaf {{ISBN|1-56414-904-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-56414-904-6}}. Co-authored with Phaedra Bonewits.
*''Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals that Work''. (2007) Llewellyn {{ISBN|0-7387-1199-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7387-1199-7}}
*

==Discography==
===Music===
* ''Be Pagan Once Again!'' &ndash; Isaac Bonewits & Friends (including Ian Corrigan, Victoria Ganger, and Todd Alan) (CD) ([[Association for Consciousness Exploration|ACE]]/[[Ar nDraiocht Fein|ADF]])
* ''Avalon is Rising!'' &ndash; Real Magic (CD)(ACE/ADF)

===Spoken word===
* ''The Structure of Craft Ritual'' (ACE)
* ''A Magician Prepares'' (ACE)
* ''Programming Magical Ritual: Top-Down Liturgical Design'' (ACE)
* ''Druidism: Ancient & Modern'' (ACE)
* ''How Does Magic Work?'' (ACE)
* ''Rituals That Work'' (ACE)
* ''Sexual Magic & Magical Sex'' (with [[Deborah Lipp]]) (ACE)
* ''Making Fun of Religion'' (with [[Deborah Lipp]]) (ACE)

===Panel discussions===
* ''The Magickal Movement: Present & Future'' (with [[Margot Adler]], [[Selena Fox]], and [[Robert Anton Wilson]]) (ACE)
* ''Magick Changing the World, the World Changing Magick'' (with AmyLee, [[Selena Fox]], Jeff Rosenbaum and [[Robert Anton Wilson]]) (ACE)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
<!-- The user who added these simply did a google book search, and added every title that had any inclusion of Bonewits's name. I strongly suggest page numbers of exact content be added here. If the mention is a substantial interview or anthologised article, sure, included it. But if it is simply, say, a cite of his ABCDEF, the ref. doesn't belong here. -->

* {{Cite book | last1 = Vale | first1 = V. | last2 = Sulak | first2 = John | title = Modern Pagans : an Investigation of Contemporary Pagan Practices | year = 2001 | publisher = RE/Search Publications | location = San Francisco, Calif. | isbn = 1-889307-10-6 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/modernpagansinve00john/page/70 70–77] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/modernpagansinve00john/page/70 }}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.neopagan.net Neopagan Net] (formerly "Isaac Bonewits' Homepage")
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080915175519/http://orgs.carleton.edu/druids/ARDA/ A Reformed Druid Anthology] includes ''The Druid Chronicles (Evolved)''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110911010527/http://www.book-of-thoth.com/archives-printpdf-932.html "An Open Letter to Selena Fox"]

{{Neo-druidism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonewits, Isaac}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:American occult writers]]
[[Category:American Wiccans]]
[[Category:Writers from California]]
[[Category:Writers from Michigan]]
[[Category:Neo-druids]]
[[Category:Founders of modern pagan movements]]
[[Category:Writers from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American cultural anthropologists]]
[[Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:People from Valley Cottage, New York]]
[[Category:People from Royal Oak, Michigan]]
[[Category:People from Ferndale, Michigan]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]