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Phillip Emmons Isaac 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 1960s.

Life

In 1966, while enrolled at UC Berkeley, Bonewits was initiated into the Reformed Druids of North America 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 philosophical conflicts with Anton LaVey. During his stint in the Church of Satan, Bonewits appeared in the 1970 documentary Satanis, asking for LaVey to bless his penis.

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 has been a presenter at nearly every Starwood Festival and many WinterStar Symposiums, and has performed there and elsewhere with Sally Eaton and with the band Real Magic. A songwriter, singer and recording artist, he has produced two CDs of Pagan music, and numerous recorded lectures. He currently lives in Rockland County, NY and is a member of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans or CUUPS. He was married in a handfasting ceremony to a former vice-president of the organization, Phaedra Heyman Bonewits, and has a son from a previous marriage to author 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 Neo-Paganism

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 Neo-Pagan 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."

Partial bibliography

• Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic, 1972, 1989 ISBN 0-87728-688-4
• Authentic Thaumaturgy, 1978, 1998 ISBN 1-55634-360-4
• Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach, 2003 ISBN 1-59405-501-7
• Witchcraft: A Concise Guide or Which Witch Is Which?, 2003 ISBN 1-59405-500-9
• The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers, 2005 ISBN 0-8065-2697-1
• Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca, 2006 ISBN 0-8065-2711-0
• Bonewits's Essentual Guide to Druidism, 2006 ISBN 0-8065-2710-2

Partial discography

• Be Pagan Once Again! - Isaac Bonewits & Friends (including Ian Corrigan, Victoria Ganger, and Todd Alan) - Music CD
• Avalon is Rising! - Real Magic - Music CD
• The Structure of Craft Ritual - Recorded Lecture
• A Magician Prepares - Recorded Lecture
• Programming Magical Ritual: Top-Down Liturgical Design - Recorded Lecture
• Druidism: Ancient & Modern - Recorded Lecture
• How Does Magic Work? - Recorded Lecture
• Rituals That Work - Recorded Lecture
• Sexual Magic & Magical Sex (with Deborah Lipp) - Recorded Lecture
• Making Fun of Religion (with Deborah Lipp) - Recorded Lecture
• The Magickal Movement: Present & Future (Panel Discussion with Margot Adler, Selena Fox, and Robert Anton Wilson)
• Magick Changing the World, the World Changing Magick (Panel Discussion with AmyLee, Selena Fox, Jeff Rosenbaum and Robert Anton Wilson)

References

• Bond, Lawrence & Ellen Evert Hopman (1996) People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak Out (reissued as Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans & Witches Today in 2002 Destiny Books ISBN 0-89281-904-9) Interview.
• Vale, V. and John Sulak (2001). Modern Pagans. San Francisco: Re/Search Publications. ISBN 1-889307-10-6

See also

• Ar nDraiocht Fein
• Neo-Paganism
• Thealogy

Notes

1. Adopt an Elder

External links

• Isaac Bonewits' Homepage
• A Reformed Druid Anthology includes The Druid Chronicles (Evolved).

• 1949 births
• Living people
• American occult writers
• Druids
• Wiccan people
• Neopagan religious leaders