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Isaac Bonewits (1949  -  2010)

Written and compiled by George Knowles 

Isaac Bonewits was a well-respected, influential and sometimes controversial leader in the present day Pagan movement in American.  A pagan, priest, author, scholar, bard and activist, in 1983 he co-founded Ar nDraiocht Fein:  A Druid Fellowship (also known as ADF), one of the largest druid organisations in America with groves in every state, and associated members all around the world. 

Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits was born on the 1^st October 1949, in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He was the forth of five children (three girls and two boys) and spent much of his early childhood living in Ferndale, a suburb of Detroit.  His mother was a devout Roman Catholic from whom he acquired an appreciation for religion.  His father was a convert from Presbyterianism to Catholicism, who instilled in his son a healthy dose of skepticism.  In 1961, the family moved to Southern California, first to the Capistrano Beach area, before settling in San Clemente. 

Shortly after their move to California, Bonewits met a young Creole woman from New Orleans who practiced Voodoo.  This was his first exposure to magic and mysticism.  She showed him some of her magic spells and he was so impressed by the accuracy of her divinations, it launched him on a life long study of magic and parapsychology.  During his teen years, he read extensively and was a keen fan of science fiction, which often featured strong magical and psychic themes. 

At school during the second semester of his ninth grade, Bonewits decided to become a Catholic priest and entered a Catholic seminary.  However the constraints of formal religion didn’t suit him, and returned to public school where he graduated a year early.  In 1966 after spending a year in Junior College gaining foreign-language credits, he enrolled for a course of study at the University of California in Berkeley.  At the same time after an intense study of the structure of ritual through books, and observing rituals performed in various churches, Bonewits began practicing magic and devising his own rituals. 

As chance would have it, his roommate at Berkeley was Robert Larsen, a Druid, and alumni of Carleton College where the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) had been founded in 1963.  Larson introduced Bonewits to Druidism and he was later initiated into the RDNA.  Together, they established a grove in Berkeley, and in 1969, Bonewits was ordained as a Druid priest.  Unlike other groves of the RDNA who considered the order of philosophy, they shaped the grove at Berkeley as a contemporary neo-Pagan religion.  As the grove flourished, they and other neo-Pagan groves became part of a new branch of Druidry called the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA). 

During his time at Berkeley, Bonewits also joined the Church of Satan:  “…an adventure that began as a bit of a laugh”, he says.  The campus at Berkeley featured a place where evangelists from various persuasions gather to lecture anyone willing to stop and listen.  As a bit of fun, Bonewits showed up one day and performed a satirical lecture acting as a Devils evangelist.  The lecture proved so successful, he was asked to repeat it a number of times.  Later a lady representing Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, approached him, and invited him to join them.  Bonewits began to attend their church meetings and also improved on some of their rituals, however he soon left after a personality conflict with LaVay himself.  Later in 1970, Bonewits appeared in a TV documentary called Satanis: The Devil's Mass, and in a following article entitled:  “My Satanic Adventure”, he states:  “that the rituals used in Satanis were staged for the movie at the request of the filmmakers and were not authentic rituals”.

Anton Szandor LaVey

When enrolling at Berkeley, Bonewits had signed up for the individual group-study program, which allowed him to create his own degree study course.  He graduated from Berkeley in 1970 becoming the first, and to the present day, the last person, ever to graduate from a Western University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Magic and Thaumaturgy.  The publicity his degree caused so embarrassed the Universities administrators, that Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery was banned from future individual group-study programs.  A year later in 1971, Bonewits wrote and published his first book entitled “Real Magic”.  The book was an immediate success, and was later revised and updated in 1979, and reissued again in 1989. 

In 1973, Bonewits met his first wife, a lady called Rusty Elliot, a folk singer who frequented the Berkeley cafes.  Together they moved to Minneapolis where they were married.  For the next 18 months, Bonewits worked as an editor for Carl Llewellyn Weschcke of Llewellyn Publications, working on their most popular neo-Pagan publication ‘Gnostica’.  However, his scholarly approach and tone alienated him from many of its reader’s who found the magazine too high brow, and as sales of the magazine began to falter he was forced to move on.

Carl Llewellyn Weschcke

Throughout 1974-75, Bonewits remained in Minneapolis where he established a new druidic grove called the “Schismatic Druids of North America”, a schism of the RDNA.  He also joined a number of Jewish friends and created the “Hasidic Druids of North America”.  However, based in St Louis, this group only lasted for a brief time as its membership overlapped with that of the Church of all Worlds.  He also wrote, edited and self-published the “Druids Chronicles (Evolved)”.  This was a compendium of the history, theology, rituals and customs of all the Reformed Druid movements operating at that time, including the ones he had created himself. 

During that same period of time, Bonewits founded the short-lived “Aquarian Anti-Defamation League (AADL)”, an early civil liberties and public relations organization aimed at protecting the legal rights of Pagans and other members of minority belief systems.  As president of the AADL, Bonewits devoted much of his own income and unemployment insurance to funding it.  While the AADL scored a number of small victories defending people in court, in 1976, Bonewits divorced his wife Rusty and returned to Berkeley, after which the AADL discontinued. 

Back in Berkeley, Bonewits rejoined the RDNA grove and was elected Archdruid.  He then established the “Druids Chronicler” in 1978, a national Druid publication (later known as the Pentalpha Journal).  However, he was accused of trying to make the Berkeley grove more neo-Pagan, as he had done with his earlier grove while at University, and this led to clashes with other long-term members.  As a result, he was forced to leave and soon after the Pentalpha Journal folded.  He also researched and wrote his Authentic Thaumaturgy in 1978.  This was essentially a rewrite of his earlier book Real Magic, but written for players of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. 

In 1979, Bonewits married for a second time to a lady called Selene Kumin, but after a brief stay in Santa Cruz, California, where Bonewits worked as a print typesetter, their relationship ended in 1982.  A year later in 1983 he met Sally Eaton, the actress who created the role of the hippie Witch in the Broadway hit musical “Hair”.  Together they became involved in the California revival of the “Ordo Templi Orientis” (O.T.O.), an Order based on the working of the famous occultist Aleister Crowley.  He was also initiated into the New Reformed Order of the Golden Dawn (the Wiccan organization, not to be confused with the earlier Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn).  Later that same year he and Sally married before relocating to New York City.

Aleister Crowley

Up until this time Bonewits had worked mainly as a freelance journalist, and earned a sporadic living from writing and editing.  After moving to New York with Sally Eaton, he began a new career in computer technology.  He started first as a technical writer for a computer firm in Manhattan, however this position didn’t last long as he left the firm over an ethical matter.  He then set himself up as a self-employed computer consultant for small businesses. 

While in New York, Bonewits met up with Shennain Bell, a fellow neo-pagan, and discussed the idea of setting up a new Druid organization, but this time with no ties to the ancient Druids or the RDNA.  They called it “Àr nDraiocht Féin”, which is Irish Gaelic for “Our Own Druidism”, later it became known as The Druid Fellowship or ADF.  With Bonewits as Archdruid and Bell the Vice-Archdruid, between them they made it into the largest most successful neo-Pagan Druid organization in North America.  In 1990 the ADF was incorporated in the state of Delaware as a U.S. 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization.  However the ADF grew more slowly than Bonewits had envisioned, for while they initiated a clergy-training program, it still lacked a seminary facility.

Logo of the ADF

In 1986, Bonewits and Sally Eaton parted company, and in November of 1987 moved to Nyack, New York with his intended forth wife Deborah Lipp.  Deborah was a Gardnerian Wiccan high priestess and together they ran a “Pagan Way” group in New York and New Jersey.  Bonewits had continued working as a computer consultant and after they were married in 1988, made their home in Dumont, New Jersey.  In 1990 they were blessed with a son, Arthur Shaffrey Lipp-Bonewits. 

Their elation was short lived however.  That same year Bonewits began showing the debilitating symptoms of Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, which they believed to have been caused by contaminated L-teyptophane tablets.  On the first of January 1996, Bonewits was forced to resign from his post as Archdruid of the ADF, but retained the lifelong title of Archdruid Emeritus.  He was also forced to stop working as a computer consultant, and to rely for an income on his writing abilities.  His life and his family’s life had started to deteriorate. 

Slowly Bonewits began to recover from the disease, but the long periods of convalescence he required put too much strain on his marriage, and he and Deborah separated in 1998.  Into the new millennium and except for relapses in the winter months, Bonewits returned to his writing and lecturing schedule.  During his travels on the lecture circuit he also met a new love interest, Phaedra Heyman a ceremonial magician, Wiccan Priestess, and a former vice-president of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS).  They were handfasted on the 23^rd July 2004 and made a new home for themselves in Rockland County, New York.  Together they wrote:  Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, and Substances to Heal, Change, and Grow (New Page, March 2007).  After his divorce to Deborah Lipp was finalised on the 7^th December 2007, Bonewits and Phaedra were legally married on 31^st December 2007. 

Having never really regained the best of health, Bonewits was dealt another serious blow when on the 25^th October 2009 he was hospitalized and diagnosed with a rare form of colon cancer.  Despite undertaking several sessions of chemotherapy to beat the disease, he finally succumbed to the inevitable.  At 8:00 am (ET time) on the 12^th August 2010 he passed away peacefully in his sleep with family and friends by his side. 

Bonewits was a prolific writer, not only of books, but also of numerous articles and essays on Druidry, Magic and Paganism.  His final book The Laws of Magic: From Antiquity to the Quantum Age is to be released by Llewellyn Publishing later this year.  Aware of his own imminent departure, and in consultation with his wife Phaedra, all his scholarly papers will be donated to the American Religions Collection, which is held by the Santa Barbara library at the University of California.  This means that his notes and personal papers will be properly preserved and available for researchers and scholars in the future. 

Bonewits own website can be accessed at http://www.neopagan.net. 

Bibliography: 

Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic. (1972, 1979, 1989) Weiser Books

Authentic Thaumaturgy. (1978, 1998) Steve Jackson Games

Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach. (2003) Earth Religions Press

Witchcraft: A Concise Guide or Which Witch Is Which?. (2003) Earth Religions Press

The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers. (2005) Citadel

Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca. (2006) Citadel

Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism. (2006) Citadel

Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, And Substances to Heal, Change, And Grow. (2007) New Leaf. Co-authored with Phaedra Bonewits.

Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals that Work. (2007) Llewellyn

 May he rest in peace.

Sources

To be posted later.

First published on the 30^th January 2007

Updated 13th August 2010

© George Knowles

Best Wishes and Blessed Be.

Gods and Goddesses (Greek Mythology) /  Esbats & Full Moons /  Links to Personal Friends & Resources /  Wicca/Witchcraft Resources /  What's a spell? /  Circle Casting and Sacred Space /  Pentagram - Pentacle /  Marks of a Witch /  The Witches Power /  The Witches Hat /  An esoteric guide to visiting London /  Satanism /  Pow-wow /  The Unitarian Universalist Association /  Numerology:  Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3 /  A history of the Malleus Maleficarum:  includes:  Pope Innocent VIII  /  The papal Bull  /   The Malleus Maleficarum  /  An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum  /  The letter of approbation  /  Johann Nider’s Formicarius  /  Jacob Sprenger  /  Heinrich Kramer  /  Stefano Infessura  /  Montague Summers  /  The Waldenses  /  The Albigenses  /  The Hussites /  The Sun Dance /  Shielding (Occult and Psychic Protection) /  The History of Thanksgiving /

Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:

Murder by Witchcraft /  The Fairy Witch of Clonmel /  A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch /  The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) /  Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife /  The Story of Jack-O-Lantern /  The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost /  Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) /  The Two Brothers - Light and Dark

Abramelin the Mage /  Agrippa /  Aidan A. Kelly /  Albertus Magnus “Albert the Great” /  Aleister Crowley “The Great Beast” /  Alex Sanders "the King of the Witches” /  Alison Harlow /  Amber K /  Anna Franklin /  Anodea Judith /  Anton Szandor LaVey  / Arnold Crowther /  Arthur Edward Waite /  Austin Osman Spare /  Biddy Early /  Bridget Cleary /  Carl Llewellyn Weschcke /  Cecil Hugh Williamson /  Charles Godfrey Leland /  Charles Walton /  Christina Oakley Harrington /  Damh the Bard (Dave Smith) /   Dion Fortune /  Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki /  Dorothy Morrison /  Doreen Valiente /  Edward Fitch /  Eleanor Ray Bone “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” /  Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly /  Dr. Leo Louis Martello /  Eliphas Levi /  Ernest Thompson Seton /  Ernest Westlake and the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry /  Fiona Horne /  Friedrich von Spee /  Francis Barrett /  Gerald B. Gardner /  Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca /  Gwydion Pendderwen /  Hans Holzer /  Helen Duncan /  Herman Slater "Horrible Herman" /  Israel Regardie /  James "Cunning" Murrell /  Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone /  Jessie Wicker Bell “Lady Sheba” / John Belham-Payne /  John George Hohman /  John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave (the White Fox) /  John Michael Greer /  John Score /  Johannes Junius the Burgomaster of Bamberg /  Karl von Eckartshausen /  Laurie Cabot "the Official Witch of Salem" /  Lewis Spence /  Margaret Alice Murray /  Margot Adler /  Marie Laveau the " Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" /  Marion Weinstein /  Matthew Hopkins “The Witch-Finder General” /  Max Ehrmann and the Desiderata /  Monique Wilson the “Queen of the Witches” /  Montague Summers /  Nicholas Culpeper /  Nicholas Remy /  M. R. Sellers /  Mrs. Grieve "A Modern Herbal" /  Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart /  Old Dorothy Clutterbuck /  Old George Pickingill /   Paddy Slade /  Pamela Colman-Smith /  Paracelsus /  Patricia Crowther /  Patricia Monaghan /  Patricia “Trish” Telesco /  Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits /  Philip Heselton /  Raymond Buckland /  Reginald Scot /  Robert Cochrane /  Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and "The White Goddess" /  Rudolf Steiner /  Rosaleen Norton “The Witch of Kings Cross” /  Ross Nichols and The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids /  Sabrina - The Ink Witch /  Scott Cunningham /  Selena Fox /  Silver Ravenwolf /  Sir Francis Dashwood /  Sir James George Frazer /  S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” /  Starhawk /  Stewart Farrar /  Sybil Leek /  Ted Andrews /  The Mather Family - includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather /  Thomas Ady /  Vera Chapman /  Victor Henry Anderson /  Vivianne Crowley /  Walter Brown Gibson /  William Butler Yeats /  Zsuzsanna Budapest

Many of the above biographies are brief and far from complete.  If you know about any of these individuals and can help with aditional information, please cantact me privately at my email address below.  Many thanks for reading  :-)

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