Shopping Tips and Guidance by Mandy Claire

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," where we've swapped the great I Am for the great We Are! There's a long line of deities who would love to have your attention -- why direct it to One who is chock a block with followers? Explore, explore!

We at "The Gods Are Bored" add our sorrow to the many who are marking the passing of Isaac Bonewits to the Summerlands. What a wise and interesting man! Isaac was possibly the most visible Druid in America, author of many works on magick and theology, founder and leader of the ... oh gosh, we declared war on acronyms here ... Ar nDraiocht Fein (accents missing), translating to A Druid Fellowship. It's hard to pin numbers on Druid activity in America, but Ar nDraiocht Fein is probably either the largest or second largest group in the United States.

Several years ago, Spare and I went to an Ar nDraiocht Fein gathering in the Jersey Pine Barrens at which Isaac spoke at length about the founding of ADF (okay, I give up) and its organizational goals. He said two things that day that sat in my mind: First, that Druid leaders should be as scrupulous about their theological educations as pastors of other faiths; and second, that doing praise and worship out of doors eliminates not only the costly church buildings that become drains on personal and outreach income, but also "boxes" that shut humanity off from the fabulous world in all its majesty.

We did a Ritual that day in the Pinelands, but Isaac did not preside, nor did Skip Ellison, who was the Archdruid at that time. One of the principal glories of Druidism is that no one in particular "presides." We stand in a circle, the tall and the small. I like that.

From personal experience and from everything I've ever read by and about Isaac, I can only conclude that he was a first-rate champion of the bored gods whose life was dedicated to Them. May Queen Brighid the Bright guide him to the gates of Avalon!

Postscript: Isaac was a freelance writer and speaker whose costly medical treatments were not covered by insurance. If you would like to donate to his memorial, you can go to http://www.neopagan.net and put a little jingle toward his expenses. If everyone who reads "The Gods Are Bored" would do that, Isaac's family might be able to buy a few bottles of mead with which to toast his memory.