The Argothald Journal

I recently picked up Playing at the World by Jon Peterson. This book is a history of the game Dungeon & Dragons.

Since many of my readers are Wiccan, I'll use an analogy that will make sense to them: Playing at the World does for D&D what Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon did for Wicca. It explores the different elements and influences that resulted in D&D, and follows the chain of influence forward as D&D affected the world around it. [1] [2]

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I spent about an hour last night writing a long blog post about research techniques. Why did I bother?

At the time, I thought it was because I'm still processing all I learned, and it would help to set it down. Late last night, I realized that there was another reason:

Isaac would have loved this.

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...and one step back.

Isaac Bonewits' big wall calendars take twice as long to scan as I thought they did. I thought an entire page could be scanned by my big scanner at once, but the images are chopped off at the top or bottom. I'll have to rescan those calendar pages in the flipped orientation so I have the entire image in my computer.

Isaac had the strong sense of personal history to keep all his old calendars, but not enough predictive power to get smaller ones for easier archival storage. Please, old friend, in the next lifetime buy smaller wall calendars.

(Of course, in his next lifetime all the calendars will be computerized, password-protected, and inaccessible to biographers. Isaac foresaw this issue, and printed out copies of his computer calendars. I don't how historians of the future will function when all the key information may be behind unbreakable encryption.)

Deborah Lipp was kind enough to point me to a 1974 Tom Snyder interview with Isaac Bonewits, Ed Fitch, Fred Adams, and "Poke" Runyon. I've already tweeted about how young Isaac looks.

Then I came to later section of the interview. Tom Snyder asks about pagan beliefs in life after death. The other three agree with some notion of reincarnation. Isaac says:

"I do not have a personal belief in reincarnation or in survival after death, and that's not a required belief in the groups with which I work. I just say 'I don't know. I'll find out when the time comes.'"

Tom Snyder replies with a chuckle, "Won't we all."

And now Isaac knows. As does Fred Adams and Tom Snyder.

The crappiest thing about writing this biography is becoming aware of the heavy hand of time on those for whom I care and respect. Yes, the passage of time is natural and, as Tom Synder said, one day we'll all have an answer about existence after death. I still feel sad at the consequences of age and loss. I see a picture of someone young and vital; I talk with them when they're old or ill... or perhaps I cannot speak with them at all.

I'm writing a biography of Isaac Bonewits (with the support of Phaedra Bonewits, Deborah Lipp, and Arthur Lipp-Bonewits). I continue to search for people who knew Isaac Bonewits. I know I've posted these requests before, but sometimes persistence pays off.

Please let me know if you know how to get in touch with any of the following people. If you can, please boost the signal, and/or copy this request to any appropriate mail groups and message boards. You don't have to ask my permission before forwarding or copying this post.

Ron Wright was an editor of Gnostica in the 1970s, and Isaac's immediate superior. Four years ago, Ron Wright was the head of Big Mountain Publishing in Montana. But that web site is now defunct, and he may have moved.

Robert C. Pennell wrote fantasy novels and songs with Isaac in (I think) the 1970s.

Gavin and Yvonne Frost are the organizers of the Church of Wicca, and were good friends of Isaac starting in the 70s.

Dana R Beard knew Isaac around 1977. She would be around 50 now.

Jennifer Edytha "Jeni" Carroll would be in her mid-40s now. She knew Isaac in the mid 1980s.

Edna Marie "Meghan" Probst would be in her mid-40s now. Again, she was in contact with Isaac in the mid 1980s.

I already know that some of these people are readily found on Facebook, but those that are have not responded to Facebook messages. I'm looking for a way to contact any of them directly. I can be reached at bonewits.research of gmail.com.

Thanks!

The URL of this post is http://wgseligman.livejournal.com/44129.html

Given human nature and the nature of the pagan community, it was inevitable: One of the people I contacted in connection with Isaac's biography is having some financial difficulties. He didn't ask for a hand-out; instead he asked that I spread awareness of his services as a reader.

His name is Stephan Abbott. He knew Isaac 40 years ago; Isaac got him a job working at Gnostica, one of the influential publications of the pagan movement. I haven't interviewed Stephan yet, but I'm sure he's got lots of juicy Isaac stories.

Here are the links for Stephan's school of magic:
http://abbottsinn.com/ (click on the graphics to get to different portions of the site)
http://abbottsinninternational.com/

You can arrange readings from him via:
http://www.keen.com/memberpub/homepage.asp?user=stephen6580

Please spread the word, speak with Stephen, and learn what he can offer. I may not interview him for a while, so you may be able to get the cool stories before I do!

OK, Internet, let's see what you can do. If you know how to reach any of the people listed below, would you please send me contact information or arrange and introduction?

In connection with my work on the biography of Isaac Bonewits, I'd like to get in touch with Ron Wright. He was an editor of Gnostica in the 1970s, and Isaac's immediate superior. Carl Weschcke was kind enough to tell me that, four years ago, Ron Wright was the head of Big Mountain Publishing in Montana. But that web site is now defunct, and he may have moved. Addendum: He's on Facebook, but I don't know how often he checks his FB messages. If anyone has a more direct way to contact him, I'd like to know.

Can I get confirmation that Robert Larsen has passed away? He was Isaac's roommate at Berkeley, and introduced Isaac to organized druidry. I'd've loved to have interviewed him, not only to get an idea of what Isaac was like in the late 60s, but what Berkeley was like.

I'd also like to get in touch with Robert C. Pennell. He and Isaac wrote fantasy novels in (I think) the 1970s. They were never published, but I have a couple of the manuscripts. Aside from asking him questions about Isaac, I'd like to get permission to potentially quote a section of their work in the biography. Addendum: He's also on FB. Again, I don't know how often he checks his messages, so any more direct contact information would be appreciated.

I'm sure I'll have more requests, but let's see how these work out.

In case it's not clear: yes, please boost the signal!

PS: My thanks to Barbara Giacalone, whose superior detective skills helped locate Ron and Robert on FB.

After several months, and many long hours in front of a scanner, I've mostly completed copying Isaac's files. It was a huge pile of paper, about thirty large boxes; apparently he never threw away anything he'd written or received. (It's "mostly completed" because Phaedra still has some boxes of his unsorted papers in North Carolina.)

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I've working on a biography of Isaac Bonewits.

As a writer, Isaac apparently never threw away any piece of paper with his own writing on it, nor any correspondence he received. I'm going through boxes of his files, scanning what I can, before shipping the files to the archives of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Some of the earliest papers in his files are the assignments he wrote in college in the late 1960s. In one of them (a creative writing class? I don't know) he decided to write a faux introduction to his own life's work:

"When one attempts to collect and edit the works of such a great and prodigious writer as Philip Emmons Bonewits one finds that he is faced with a monumental task."

To which the teacher wrote in the margin:

"Come on! Save it for your literary campaign."

And to which I say: Yeah, Isaac got another one right.