| To: |
All members of the Mother Grove
of ADF, all Senior Druids & Grove Organizers, all Guild and
SIG heads |
| cc: |
alt.pagan, alt.religion.druid,
Druid folders on AOL, Compuserve, Genie, eWorld [those tell you
how ancient this is!], and Prodigy, selected colleagues. |
| From: |
Isaac Bonewits |
| Date: |
January 1, 1996 c.e. |
| Subject: |
Archdruidic Resignation |
As I write these words, I am watching the
snow fall swiftly outside my windows and am trying to ignore
the severe pain cramping my hands and feet. I expect the winter
months to come will make my Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome worse,
diminishing my ability to perform my Archdruidic duties. At the
same time, ADF is more than able to function without my personal
guidance.
It is primarily for these reasons that I have
chosen to resign as Archdruid. It is also true that I am tired
of fighting to maintain our standards in training and liturgy,
of the constant backbiting and gossip that has replaced actual
work for many of our members and some officers, of egalitarian
campaigns to cripple my office, and of sanctimonious efforts
to silence me from expressing controversial opinions. All of
these are, of course, common human behaviors for members of all
religions. I just don't have the physical and mental stamina
to handle them anymore.
Given all this, and after a great deal of
meditation and prayer, I have decided to spend the little energy
I have on my first career, that of a writer. I have several books
partially written and would like to take a year or three to finish
them. I will also be cutting down on my lecture appearances,
to save time and energy for writing and to avoid the physical
stress of travel.
I hereby resign and retire as Archdruid of
Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship,
Inc., effective immediately. I will forward all records and files
in my possession to the office of the national Scribe within
the next few week. I will continue to keep the 1-800-DRUIDRY
line going until the end of January, at which point another officer
of ADF may take it over, or the Mother Grove may vote to shut
it down. I will assist in making the transition to a new Archdruid
as smooth as possible.
According to Article 11, Section (3) of the
By Laws of ADF, “After the death, retirement, or permanent
incapacitation of the initial Archdruid, the Vice Archdruid shall
become the Acting Archdruid, and shall exercise all the rights,
privileges, and responsibilities of the initial Archdruid until
the second High Day following the next annual meeting.”
According to 11:4, “At said annual meeting, a new Archdruid
shall be elected by a two-thirds majority of the available votes
held by those members participating, with no quorum required.
Should no single candidate win a two-thirds approval, the candidate
with the lowest total shall be disqualified, and this process
shall continue until only one candidate is left or a candidate
has won two-thirds of the votes.”
Ian Corrigan is now the Acting Archdruid until
a new Archdruid can be elected and take office. This resignation
notice gives everyone time to nominate and campaign for the Archdruidic
candidate of their choice along with those for other national
offices to be decided at this year’s annual members’
meeting at Wellspring.
I will remain a Lifetime Member of ADF, and
I will continue to write and speak about ancient and modern Druidism,
but I will no longer represent ADF in public or private. Therefore,
any further efforts to censor my speech and writing will be simply
ignored.
I retain the copyright on all my lectures
and writings which I have created for ADF in the past, but hereby
grant ADF permission to continue to publish and distribute them,
provided no editing is performed upon them without my cooperation.
yours in the Earth Mother,
Isaac Bonewits
|
Historical Notes
My EMS did get much worse that winter, though
it improved greatly in the warmer months that followed and the
years since.
As I mention in my review of Kenneth Haugk’s
book, Antagonists in the Church,
if I had had his book earlier much of the turmoil of ADF’s
internal politics would have been far less destructive to myself
and the organization. Oh well. :)
I kept the 1-800-DRUIDRY line going for a
year, then ran out of money. Later the Mother Grove declined
to take it over, so it was shut down.
The transition steps were all done successfully.
Ian Corrigan was a great interim Archdruid. John “Fox”
Adelmann became the first Elected Archdruid of ADF, and has done
an excellent job ever since, guiding ADF through its early adolescence
(he resigned recently and there will be an election to pick his
successor at the 2001 Wellspring festival).
While I have tried to make it clear that I’m
not in charge anymore (if I ever was!), it’s been difficult
to keep people from treating me as an official representative
of ADF. Nonetheless, I now feel much freer to get silly at parties…
Contrary to rumours, I still consider myself
an active and enthusiastic member of ADF. In fact, I’ve
found that I enjoy being the Archdruid Emeritus much more than
I ever enjoyed being the Archdruid!
|