Remembering Isaac Bonewits
I am very saddened by the death of my old friend, Isaac Bonewits. I guess maybe I knew him longer than most people - we met in 1973 or 1974. Most people know him, or of him, from ADF. But before ADF was RDNA, Reformed Druids of North America, and AADL, the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League. And other groups, large and small.
He was a hell of a lot of fun, gave great parties, was a very joyous, humorous, and sensual man. I was part of his household, off and on, from June 1974 until he left town in the fall of 1976.
Isaac moved to St Paul, MN in the spring of 1974 to take a position as editor of Gnostica Magazine. He held that position for a couple of years, publishing fascinating material and adding humor, a rare thing in those days. Because of Isaac's involvement with Llewellyn, his friend Robert Anton Wilson was a guest speaker at the Gnostica Festival in 1974.
While Isaac was in the Twin Cities, he started a Reformed Druids of North America grove, which met weekly during the summer half of the year, from Beltaine to Samhain, at the park at the base of the Witch's Hat Tower. This may have been the first Pagan organization here that was not connected to Witchcraft or ceremonial Magick.
He was also active in the local Craft, and was invited to Minnesota Church of Wicca rituals, although he was not formally initiated into the Craft at that time.
He participated in the local Church of All Worlds nest. One of my fondest memories of Isaac is him standing outside during a thunderstorm that happened during a Nest meeting. Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" was playing on the stereo, and Isaac (and others) conducted the storm dramatically.
For a while, he and his household resided on Marshall Ave, near Concordia College. It was there that Margot Alder visited, during research on what was to become "Drawing Down the Moon". I have one footnote to that history. The cats were in heat THAT WEEK, but she put their yowling in the book.
In 1975, Isaac started a short-lived group called the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League, to defend people involved with Witchcraft, Paganism, Astrology, and related disciplines from harassment and legal prosecution. It may have been the first organization of its kind; it fell apart after Isaac left town.
Because of Isaac, his brother Michael, better know as Doc, moved to town in late 1974; Doc was in my coven, Prodea, in its early days, but left to found a more traditional coven, Starfire. He remained a valued member of the community for many years.
When Isaac was living on Sherburne Ave near Western in St Paul, he invented a very important Pagan movement. One morning, he had been reading Fate magazine, and drinking coffee. He was looking at the ad on the back cover, and all of a sudden declaimed, "A split second in eternity, the Ancients called it 'coffee break'". He began satirizing the Rosicrucian text to fit his love of coffee, with the Path of Sweetness and Light, and the Left Out Way. And thus the Javacrucians were born. (The Caffiena Chant came later.)
In 1976, he left Gnostica and Llewellyn under a cloud because of disagreements with Carl Weschcke. Not long after, he returned to Berkeley, the home of his heart, and also a better place for someone with a degree in Magic to find a job.
I saw him from time to time after that, but all my best memories of him are from those days.
He was a hell of a lot of fun, gave great parties, was a very joyous, humorous, and sensual man. I was part of his household, off and on, from June 1974 until he left town in the fall of 1976.
Isaac moved to St Paul, MN in the spring of 1974 to take a position as editor of Gnostica Magazine. He held that position for a couple of years, publishing fascinating material and adding humor, a rare thing in those days. Because of Isaac's involvement with Llewellyn, his friend Robert Anton Wilson was a guest speaker at the Gnostica Festival in 1974.
While Isaac was in the Twin Cities, he started a Reformed Druids of North America grove, which met weekly during the summer half of the year, from Beltaine to Samhain, at the park at the base of the Witch's Hat Tower. This may have been the first Pagan organization here that was not connected to Witchcraft or ceremonial Magick.
He was also active in the local Craft, and was invited to Minnesota Church of Wicca rituals, although he was not formally initiated into the Craft at that time.
He participated in the local Church of All Worlds nest. One of my fondest memories of Isaac is him standing outside during a thunderstorm that happened during a Nest meeting. Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" was playing on the stereo, and Isaac (and others) conducted the storm dramatically.
For a while, he and his household resided on Marshall Ave, near Concordia College. It was there that Margot Alder visited, during research on what was to become "Drawing Down the Moon". I have one footnote to that history. The cats were in heat THAT WEEK, but she put their yowling in the book.
In 1975, Isaac started a short-lived group called the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League, to defend people involved with Witchcraft, Paganism, Astrology, and related disciplines from harassment and legal prosecution. It may have been the first organization of its kind; it fell apart after Isaac left town.
Because of Isaac, his brother Michael, better know as Doc, moved to town in late 1974; Doc was in my coven, Prodea, in its early days, but left to found a more traditional coven, Starfire. He remained a valued member of the community for many years.
When Isaac was living on Sherburne Ave near Western in St Paul, he invented a very important Pagan movement. One morning, he had been reading Fate magazine, and drinking coffee. He was looking at the ad on the back cover, and all of a sudden declaimed, "A split second in eternity, the Ancients called it 'coffee break'". He began satirizing the Rosicrucian text to fit his love of coffee, with the Path of Sweetness and Light, and the Left Out Way. And thus the Javacrucians were born. (The Caffiena Chant came later.)
In 1976, he left Gnostica and Llewellyn under a cloud because of disagreements with Carl Weschcke. Not long after, he returned to Berkeley, the home of his heart, and also a better place for someone with a degree in Magic to find a job.
I saw him from time to time after that, but all my best memories of him are from those days.