All About Isaac

This blog is about a man I have known for more than 35 years. His name is Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits, known either as Isaac, or affectionately as ol’ Boney. Stephen called him Boneywits. It was he who gave me my 1st Order ordination in the RDNA. Actually, to be more exact, I was ordained into the SDNA (Schismatic Druids of North America), the schism he started, which became in a few years the ADF (Ar nDraiochta Fein our own Druidry). Recently he underwent surgery for two worrisome colonic cysts. Unfortunately, these cysts have been found to be cancerous, and he has already started chemotherapy and radiation.

Do I need to go into what this man has done for the Pagan community at large? He also started the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League, which defended the rights of American Pagans to live and worship as they choose. .Chick comics, a Christian anti-Pagan comic by Jack Chick featured Bonewits as a mastermind with over 100,000 Witches under his control. Obviously he doesn’t understand how de-centralized we Pagans are, but he did have a handle on how important to the Pagan community Isaac Bonewits is.

After the ritual, we came back to Isaac’s and had a rip roaring good old Pagan orgy. Isaac looked so frail I at first didn’t want to orgy with him. I was afraid that I’d break him. But I looked at his first wife Wanda, called Rusty, who later became David Geller, and she out-weighed me at that time by at least forty pounds. If she hadn’t broken him. I doubt that I would have. He would go on to have 4 wives after Rusty.

Stephen first met Isaac in June of 1970 when he and Robert Larson (the Druid not the fanatical Christian) went to where Isaac was staying. They talked about working together as Druidic and magickal colleagues. Isaac was working with his publisher to bring out his first book Real Magic. Isaac was concerned about Stephen’s involvement in the Weathermen because he had to be careful about his reputation. The three men talked until evening, when Stephen had to leave to go to work. Isaac invited Stephen to events, and Stephen spent much time at Isaac’s apartment. Their friendship grew. Stephen saw him as very intellectual, an inveterate incorrigible punster. “He had certain phrases that made him sound like a college professor such as, Hmm, I see. Heheheheheheheh, there is that. With his pipe, he looked like a Jewish Sherlock Holmes, but he isn’t Jewish, he came from as German Catholic family.” He came home to Paganism after his flirtation with Satanism and as Clayton O’Clearach calls him, “Anton Sandbox LaFeces.” Since then, he has been a fervent Pagan. Stephen and Isaac shared lovers on many occasions. Isaac and Stephen both came from the old Pagan tradition of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. This was, of course, before AIDS. Isaac had a reputation for being just a bit more serious than Stephen, but that was BS. He loves to tell jokes, and make bad puns. I’m sure that when he was in the hospital, and when he goes for radiation therapy, he keeps the doctors, nurses, medtechs, and other medical personnel in stitches with his jokes and bad puns. It’s how he copes, so I’m sure he’s even funnier than ever. What bonded the two men together even more than their whacked out senses of humor, was their shared hatred of Republicans and other conservatives. They also both love pizza. They are also both showmen, and comedians. Isaac as well as Stephen is an avid gamer, as was the late great Robert Larson. Isaac liked to give Stephen compliments such as he was the greatest Tarot scholar that Isaac had ever met.

Newsflash: Altavista’s Babelfish has now been added to Yahoo’s toolbar. Go to Altavista Babelfish and they will offer to put it on your Yahoo toolbar. Log in, restart, and it shall be done onto you.

Stephen did many public events with Isaac, and many public Pagan protests. There was a former church in Berkeley that Isaac and Stephen had access to because of their status as Universal Life Church ministers. It was later taken over by the Hare Krishnas. They did a protest against the Japanese harvesting of dolphins. While I’m writing this, and Stephen has been dictating, he has been puttied by Bailee Beasley Beastly, or 3B for short. He has this rule that unless he has a call, he can’t get up when he’s puttied. Being puttied means you have a silly putty on your body. The putties are so tough that they can lick anyone in the house, and often do. They did many public rituals in places like Live Oak Park, and the Rose Garden, which got featured media attention. In Tilden Park, there was a ritual that was featured in Margo Adler’s Drawing down the Moon.

Stephen was there when Authentic Thaumaturgy was being created. Authentic Thaumaturgy is a version of Real Magic [sic], which shows how magick really works in fantasy role playing gaming situations. I believe it was his second book to come out. If you can get hold of a copy do so. Buy directly from Isaac and Phaedra. They can use the bucks. They were both in the OTO. The one thing they were not in together was Wicca. Isaac was in another different coven and tradition from Stephen. Stephen was in Ken Ra’s own peculiar version of British Traditional Witchcraft, while Isaac was in NROOGD. The two men went and lectured at gaming conventions. Isaac eventually moved into Stephen’s apartment building at 2435 Channing Way. Isaac ordained Stephen into the 3rd order in May ’71, and in June, Stephen started the Hazelnut MotherGrove. Isaac gave Stephen and Bill Heidrick jobs at Gnostica News when he moved to Minnesota to work at Llewellyn Publications. Before that Isaac and Stephen worked together on the Pentalpha Journal. In 1976, Isaac sold me a copy of the Druid Chronicles (evolved) which he worked on. Since then, it has been recopied several times for those we ordained to the 1st order. All in all, Stephen helped Isaac in a lot of his projects. Isaac introduced Stephen to the Order of Wizard Lore in 1970. Now we have clones of the Order of Wizard Lore on several networks. Look for a clone of that group coming to Facebook soon.

Isaac did return to the Bay Area from time to time, even after he moved east. When he returned, he and Stephen would do rituals together. Eventually the visits stopped. Either he could not afford to travel, or he was too firmly settled back east to travel anymore. And now he has this illness. Stephen kept in contact first on the phone, then as he got on the Internet, email, Skype, and Yahoo. But in the past year, Stephen has lost contact with Isaac, which he deeply regrets. Whenever they spoke on the phone, they greeted each other with a bad joke or pun. For updates, go to his site at http://neopagan.net Views from the Cyberhenge. .

I’m on KEEN now, so call me. I changed the spelling of my name slightly so that the non-Welsh speakers could pronounce it. It’s spelled Teiweth ShadowDancer. My number is 8342. My extension is 03877627 I’m sure it means something qabalistically, but I haven’t looked it up yet in Godwin’s. The site is www.keen.com, so go there and look me up. Stephen’s British friend Peter is threatening to call me, but he hasn’t called me yet. He has only 6 hours yet tonight, before he’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning. I refuse to be a slave to the telephone as Stephen is, so I’m offline from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m. I need my beauty sleep. I don’t know whether it does me any good cosmetically, but it does my moods a world of good, as well as my physical body. If you need a clairvoyant, call on AstroWing 3323. For exact dates, call Stephen6580.

We’re working on Abbott’s Inn International. I changed the Griffin Network this morning so that it can take groups. We’re looking for a housemate now, so if you are in the Sacramento area, and need a place to live, or are thinking of moving to Sacramento and need a place to live it is only $400 + 1/3 of the utilities. It is perfect for someone who either has a low paying job or is on Social Security or SSI. You can have cats here. Please no smoking. We can share food if you are an omnivore, as Stephen and I are.

We’re both behind on our rent and are offering readings and classes for $32 each. For $60, you can have both a reading and a class. It’s payable through Paypal. My account is tezra.reitan@gmail.com. Stephen’s account name is abbottsinn@gmail.com. We’re the contact people for Isaac. We encourage people to buy his books to pay his medical bills. Isaac’s books, while they have his distinctive sense of humor, also are very informative. For readings and classes, call either Stephen at (landline) 916-455-2267 (cell) 916-612-2504. With webcam and voice on Yahoo IM , Skype, or Windows Live Msgr, it’s almost like being here. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet. We also need staff members, who if they work as hard as we do on Abbott’s Inn International, will receive readings and classes for a year and a day.

If you are in the Sacramento area, go by 14th an 60th to Gallery 14. It is run by Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. They have exhibitions by local artists each month.

Well that’s all for now. We’ll be back soon.


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