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John Michael Greer
Written and compiled by George Knowles
John Michael Greer is currently the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a Druid Companion of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), a certified Tarot Grandmaster, and a practicing Geomancer. Since 1996 he has authored numerous books on magic and the occult including: Paths of Wisdom: Cabala in the Western Tradition, Natural Magic: Potions and Powers from the Magical Garden, Circles of Power: Ritual Magic in the Western Tradition and Inside a Magical Lodge. He has also contributed articles for: Renaissance Magazine, the Golden Dawn Journal, the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Mezlim, New Moon Rising, Gnosis, and Alexandria.
John Michael Greer was born in 1962 in Bremerton, a small town suburb of Seattle, in Washington State, USA. Raised in a non-religious family, his parents, John D. Greer and Jo Ann M. Greer (nee Smith) were both schoolteachers in the local area, and as John reveals: “They were not so much atheists as simply apathetic toward religion, which simply didn’t matter to them,” as such they had no influence on his own later religious evolution. John also has a sister Pamela J. Smith (nee Greer).
As a child, John was very much a loner and often shied away from social interaction, however it was clear to those who knew him, his parents and schoolteachers, that he was also a very bright child, if a little obsessive about things that gained his interest. It was not until much later in his life, that a name was put to this obsessive side of his nature. In 1998 he was diagnosed with a condition called Asperger Syndrome (AS). AS is a sub-group of autism, it contains many of its symptoms but without it’s history of language delay. Those with AS are most likely to have a better than average IQ, but have trouble learning social skills, instead they take up obsessive interests to make up for their lack of social contact.
One of John’s early interests was reading fantasy fiction, and by the age of ten he had discovered his first role model, the wizard Gandalf from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, an obsession that led to his later interests in Spirituality, Mythology and Esoteric traditions. Indeed while still attending Highline High School in Burien, WA (another small suburb of Seattle), he was already studying the Golden Dawn system of Hermetic magic.
After finishing High School in 1980, John started his college education studying Comparative History at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington State, but in 1983 took a 7-year break from his academic studies to concentrate on developing his skills as a writer. Shortly after starting his break, John met his future wife Sara Carroll, a Ceremonial magician, herbalist, musician and a Priestess in the Pagan arm of the Universal Gnostic Church. They were married on the 28th July 1984.
Sara
Greer (nee Carroll)
Throughout the remaining 1980’s, John took on a variety of jobs to make ends meet, including: work as a certified nurses aide in nursing homes, a clerk in a photocopy shop, work in a dry cleaning shop, and work as a microfilmer. In 1991, he returned to complete his college education at the University of Washington in Seattle, from where he graduated in 1993 with a BA (magna cum laude) degree in Comparative History.
By this time John was becoming dissatisfied with some aspects of the Golden Dawn system of Hermetic magic, and wanted to explore a more nature based spirituality, which led him to Druidry. In 1995 he started a correspondence course taught by the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). The OBOD is an English Druidic Order founded by Ross Nichols in 1964, and is now the largest Druidic Order in the world with an international following. The Order takes it’s named from its three traditional grades, each of which normally takes seven years to complete. The first grade “Bard” focuses on the powers and gifts of song and poetry, the second grade “Ovate” teaches medical knowledge and healing (herb craft etc), while the third and final grade “Druid” is centred on spirituality in conjunction with nature.
A year later John’s career as a writer took-off when his first book: Paths of Wisdom: Cabala in the Western Tradition (1996), a handbook based on the Golden Dawn’s cabalistic philosophy and published by Llewellyn Publications. Since then he has averaged at least one new book each year. By the end of the decade and in order to supplement his correspondence studies, John tried to make contact with other Druidic Orders in America. One such was the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a Church of Druid nature spirituality founded in 1912 by a Dr. James Manchester M.D. However, the Order had been going through a management crisis, and during the late 1990’s had become non-active. Unable to make contact with them at that time, in 2001 John joined the Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF), a modern Druid Order founded by Isaac Bonewits in 1983. Both John and his wife Sara, who had also joined the ADF, allowed their membership of the ADF to lapse in 2004, this due to other pressing commitments.
In 2002, in just 7 years, John completed all three grades of his OBOD correspondence course and received certification as a Druid Companion of the Order. He was further honoured with the ‘Mount Haemus Award’ for Druid scholarship in 2003. That same year he finally made contact with Betty Jean McCloud Reeves, the Grand Archdruid of the struggling AODA. After a series of discussions about their future viability, he was invited into the Grand Grove as Archdruid of the East (Air). Later that year on the 21st December 2003, when Betty the Grand Archdruid resignation due to ill health, John was elevated to the North (Earth) as the seventh Grand Archdruid of the Order.
John has long held concerns about the depletion of the earth’s natural resources, and in 2003 signed up for a Master Conservers course in energy conservation. This was a program started in the States of Washington and Oregon with the aim of training volunteers in energy conservation. Participants in the classes then volunteered their time to local communities using methods such as weather-stripping and insulation to help conserve natural energy resources. After returning to Seattle from Washington State, John received his Master Conservers certificate in 2005.
In 2005, John was also initiated into the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) and received his third grade ordination in 2008. Founded in 1963 by a group of students at Carleton College in Minnesota, the RDNA was initially formed as a protest against their forced requirement to attend main line “established” Church services on Sundays. As an alternative, a group of students put together their own liturgy and theology base on Earth and Nature spirituality, and held their own services outside. As a result, the College relaxed their religious requirements the following year, but the RDNA continued grow and expand. As original members of the group left the College and formed their own groves, so did the RDNA influence the formation of other Druidic groups in North America.
John’s wife Sara, who had been a Priestess in the Pagan arm of the Universal Gnostic Church since 1994, also joined her husband in the AODA. Initially she served as the Almoner, but is now the Archdruid of the West (Water). In addition, Sara is also a member of the OBOD, the RDNA and the Druid Gorsedd of the First Circle (DGOFC), an Order co-founded in 1995 by Paul Anthony Dunn (Nathairwen) in South East Tennessee, USA. Under her pen name Clare Vaughn, together with her husband John, she is the co-author of: Learning Ritual Magic: Fundamental Theory and Practice for the Solitary Apprentice (2004) and Pagan Prayer Beads (2007).
As well as writing books and attending to AODA business, John has had a long time interest in Oriental mystery traditions and Martial arts, and in particular the practice of “Neigong” a set of Chinese breathing, meditation and spiritual disciplines associated with Daoism. In 2001, he started studies and training in the Yang style of T'ai Chi (a system of physical exercise, based on slow controlled movements and thoughts to relieve stress and develop inner spiritual force) with Sifu Andrew Dale of Seattle, and in 2009 received his teacher’s certificate from Sifu Gene Burnett of Ashland, Oregon. John is also a certified Tarot Grandmaster, a practicing Geomancer, and a student of Sacred Geometry. John and Sara relocated to Cumberland, MD, in 2009 and now live in an old mill town in the north central Appalachians.
(1996) (2000 + 2005) (2009)
Bibliography:
Paths of
Wisdom: Cabala in the Western Tradition
(Llewellyn, 1996) Circles of
Power: Ritual Magic in the Western Tradition
(Llewellyn, 1997) Inside A
Magical Lodge (Llewellyn,
1998) Earth
Divination, Earth Magic: A Practical Guide to Geomancy
(Llewellyn, 1999) Natural
Magic (Llewellyn, 2000;
reprinted as The Encyclopedia of Natural Magic, 2005) Monsters (Llewellyn,
2001) The New
Encyclopedia of the Occult (Llewellyn, 2003) Learning
High Magic (with Carl
Hood Jr. and Clare Vaughn - Weiser, 2004) A World
Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism (ADF Press, 2005) The Druidry
Handbook (Weiser, 2006) The
Geomancer's Handbook
(Renaissance Astrology, 2006) The Element
Encyclopedia of Secret Societies (Element, 2006) The Academy
of the Sword by Gérard Thibault d'Anvers, 1628
(translation; Chivalry Bookshelf, 2006) Pagan Prayer Beads (with Clare Vaughn; Weiser, 2007) Atlantis: Ancient Legacy,
Hidden Prophecy (Llewellyn, 2007) The Long Descent (New Society, 2008) The Art and Practice of Geomancy
(Weiser, 2009) The Fires of Shalsha (science fiction: Starseed Publications, 2009) The UFO Phenomenon (Llewellyn, 2009) The Ecotechnic Future (New Society, 2009) Secrets of the Lost Symbol (Llewellyn Publications, 2010) Picatrix: The Classic Medieval Handbook of Astrological Magic (translation, with Christopher Warnock; Renaissance Astrology, 2010)
Sources:
My grateful thanks to John Michael Greer for his correspondence and help in compiling this short biography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Greer http://www.aoda.org/about/greerbio.htm http://www.twpt.com/johnmichaelgreer.htm
Plus too many others to mention.
Best wishes and Blessed Be
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