Another Druid Fracas
Nov. 15th, 2019 12:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
(With thanks to reader Lady Cutekitten for the title)I've been asked by several readers over on the blog about the recent blowup in the Druid organization ADF (that's Ar nDraiocht Fein if you're wondering, Irish for "Our Own Druidry") and, since that's not relevant to the theme of this week's blog post, I figured I'd take the discussion over here.
What I know about the matter is this. In a book published several years ago, a woman accused the late Neopagan leader and ADF founder Isaac Bonewits of molesting her when she was a child of six. Two weeks ago, five senior ADF members abruptly resigned, citing the lack of responsiveness to that accusation as one of a long list of reasons for their resignation. Last week the Mother Grove -- the board of directors of the organization -- announced that they were formally repudiating Bonewits, dismissing him from his posthumous role of "Beloved Ancestor." The Mother Grove claimed that they had received other accusations of misbehavior on Bonewits' part and cited these as reasons for their actions. The result has been a great deal of anger and bad feeling on all sides, with one side arguing that concern for victims of sexual abuse should be paramount, while the other argues that condemning him without a trial on the basis of mere accusation is exactly the modality of the "Satanic ritual abuse" fraud of the 1980s, which destroyed so many innocent people's lives.
Myself, I have no dog in this fight. I joined ADF just after the turn of the millennium, and quit shaking my head a few years later; I thought the ritual and religious aspects of the organization had a great deal of promise but the organizational structure was the most dysfunctional I'd ever seen in action -- it's no exaggeration to say that Bonewits and the other founding members came up with a scheme that combines all the downsides of hierarchy and democracy, while providing none of the advantages of either. I had several interactions with Isaac Bonewits later on, when I was head of AODA, and we were civil to each other but I won't claim that I liked the man; it was kind of hard to forget that he spent much of his career spewing insults at the kind of Druidry I love and practice.
With regard to the accusations against him, that's not something I'm qualified to assess. I do know that quite literally every time I was around him for more than a minute or so, I got to watch him trying to put the moves on some woman, and I don't recall ever seeing him take a simple "no" for an answer. The guy was frankly a creep. On the other hand, I never saw him make a play for anyone who wasn't obviously adult.
Whatever the truth of that issue, though, on a magical level ADF has probably signed its own death certificate. You don't turn somebody into a "Beloved Ancestor" and spend a decade making offerings to his spirit, then suddenly turn around and give him the bum's rush -- especially when you've made him a central figure in the ritual for ADF's attempt to create an initiatory tradition. (That's a flustered cluck all its own, but we can leave it aside for now.) That's perhaps the most effective way I can think of to create a wrathful spirit: empowered by a decade of offerings, linked closely to the egregor of your organization, and now enraged by the organization's 180-degree turn...oog. Whatever ADF's principal fissures are -- I have my guesses, but we'll see -- I'd expect to see the organization splitting wide open along those in the very near future.
It's unfortunate. As I noted above, the ritual and religious aspects of the organization were quite good, and if they hadn't been saddled with a great deal of unhelpful organizational baggage, ADF might have been around for the long haul. As it is, with the Neopagan movement generally in a state of accelerating decline, I expect to see it added to the long list of defunct American alternative spiritual movements in the not too distant future.
Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-15 10:22 pm (UTC)However, I’ve retained my membership mainly because of my grove. My entire world right now outside of work consists of the grove and the Masonic lodge (and the two worlds have been combining more and more lately with friends who are interested in the esoteric side of Masonry expressing interest in visiting the grove, and some grove members joining up with local lodges). And the one thing the grove offers that the lodge doesn’t is a place where I can relax and fully be myself away from the constant striving for perfection that defines lodge culture (it’s enormously beneficial as far as personal growth but also anxiety inducing sometimes).
So, when I hear about threats to ADF, even though my personal practice or belief system really has virtually nothing to do with ADF and I’ve always been known as the token OBODie and Hermeticist... It very often comes down to pretty much all of my friends, most of the world that I know, and the literal place that I live.
I sat down with our senior Druid and Priest a few weeks ago (I... felt something like this coming), and had a conversation with her about what would happen to Cedarlight if ADF collapsed as an organization. She said there would be some legal hoops and paperwork mostly to get some of the federal statuses we currently have through the National organization but it’d be fairly easy to do. For mostly legal reasons relating to our articles of incorporation, it would probably require a collapse on an organizational level for us to actually take those steps.
Regarding Isaac, Cedarlight along with several other groves are continuing to honor him for similar reasons to the ones you outlined here, I used almost your exact words Sunday... and the general attitude is that, in an ancestor venerating tradition it’s a really -really- bad idea to desecrate the dead. The mother grove did give autonomy in that decision to groves, and several will continue that veneration including ours.
So... questions:
1: What steps would you recommend for a group like Cedarlight trying to navigate this mess? We’ve always been a little different in terms of ADF, and the even back when ADF was first created we had a reputation for being an oddball grove. We’re part of ADF, but aside from the colorful stories Caryn has about the things that go on in the obligatory clergy council and Senior Druids Council boards that she has to sit in on, we don’t have much involvement in the broader organization. Most of the regular members think of themselves as Cedarlight Grove members rather than ADF members and our regular Sunday Ritual isn’t even done in ADF’s core order but rather a modified ritual the grove’s been doing since the ‘90s. So we have our own egregore that remains independent of ADF’s egregore.
2: What would you recommend someone in my situation doing on an individual level? Leaving is... not an option since that would involve losing virtually everything including my home... and all of my friends are there... but I’m also pretty terrified about all of this. As far as spiritual practices, I’ve been working on LRM for the past few years so daily LBRP, daily Tarot divination (and occasional consultation of Ogham just to keep it fresh), and Meditation plus a few hours of study a day are my primary spiritual practices for the last year and a half... (I have a Magic Monday question I’m sitting on for when I finish the course in another two months) the only things I do spiritually other than that are devotional offerings and prayers to my personal gods (mostly Manannan and Jesus) and ancestors and if it counts, relentless study and practice with blue lodge and red lodge rituals... As for natural magic, I use the red bag amulet you recommend and change it every two months and take a hoodoo bath on the last Sunday of every month. I’ve read your natural magic handbook several times and have read several Cat Yronwood books but I’ve never actually done anything in that department beyond those basic protective spells...
Is there anything that needs to be added to my spiritual toolbox if I’m going to try to weather this mess?
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 01:00 am (UTC)2) You should be fine, too. Keep up your banishings and meditate regularly, and that ought to keep you in good shape.
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 01:49 am (UTC)Withdrawing from ADF probably won’t be an option as long as ADF continues to function as an organization for legal and financial reasons as well as personal loyalties on behalf of the older members who have devoted their lives to this. But we’ve definitely discussed the contingencies for worst case scenarios. This will all definitely be getting discussed in detail this Sunday.
Overall my biggest worry is the core order of ritual itself getting tainted but from your comments it doesn’t sound like that’s a concern at this point.
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 02:32 am (UTC)Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-20 08:12 pm (UTC)RW
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-20 08:44 pm (UTC)Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 02:40 am (UTC)(Pope Francis mumble mumble mumble)
I’m going to Reality for a while, lest I violate canon law by talking about what a jerk I think the Pope is. (Mumble mumble mumble)
—Lady Cutekitten
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 03:23 am (UTC)—Lady Cutekitten
Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 05:01 am (UTC)Re: Getting through this
Date: 2019-11-16 04:16 am (UTC)I looked up Cedarlight Grove. In my outsider’s opinion, which is worth at least as much as you’d pay for it, you’re a fine congregation, walking your talk, and have thus earned the Prestigious Lady Cutekitten Seal Of Approval. Long may you wave!