We are deeply saddened this day to share the below statement from the Mother Grove of ADF, about our founder – Isaac Bonewits.
In 2018, the late founder of ADF, Isaac Bonewits, was accused of sexually molesting a child. Just recently, allegations have been raised from among our membership that are similar in nature.
The Mother Grove publicly denounces Bonewits’ alleged actions toward children. We cannot and will not abide such actions. Children are our most precious asset, as they represent our future, and we have a sacred duty to protect them from harm, including teaching them about their own soveriegnty. For that reason, we also reaffirm our commitment to creating a culture of consent within ADF. The Mother Grove will work with our Human Services Specialist to create a consistent consent training program.
ADF may have begun as a single tree planted by Isaac, but in the years since, each new member has planted and tended their own tree. Some have chosen to plant a single tree, while others have together planted entire groves. Together, these trees make up the forest of Our Druidry. We stand now together, a forest of trees struggling in the darkness and shadow cast by that first tree.
There comes a time in the life of a grove where such trees must be felled, to allow for the growth and health of those which remain. This is such a time.
To preserve the health of our organization, we must cut out the blight that is Isaac Bonewits’ legacy. We sever the ties both historical and spiritual that bind us to him. For his actions against children, Isaac Bonewits will no longer be named as a beloved ancestor of ADF, nor is he welcome at our sacred fire.
May his memory and his dark actions fade with the rising of the sun.
We pray that those in need of support and healing find that swiftly, members and non-members alike, and remind members that they may reach out to the Members’ Advocate (adf-members-advocate@adf.org) or Human Services Specialist (humanservicespecialist.adf@gmail.com) for support.
Blessings,
The Mother Grove
For those of you who may not know, The Grove of Nova Scotia Druids - is a local Grove/chapter of ADF – an international public pagan “church” dedicated to Druidism. Issac was the founder of our international church - a brilliant academic that laid the foundation for one of the largest organized Neopagan groups today, in a time when Christian dominated societal norms would give us no rights to worship as we choose. BUT Isaac was not alone – we are an organization that is now thousands strong, that has been growing organically for decades, with the dedicated help of hundreds of individuals establishing local and mostly autonomous chapters worldwide. We can not, and should not, try to erase or whitewash the past, but we can and will move forward knowing that we as an organization run solely by volunteers (both internationally and locally) will always do our best to support our faith, our families, and our communities. Unlike the revealed religions such as christianity, the only dogma of our church has always been the Dogma of ArchDruid Fallibility – stating that our leaders are still just people and should never be “worshipped” as perfect or infallible. This is not in any way said to make excuses or brush off criticism for our leaders, but to say we stand firm in the knowledge that the felling of one tree does not ruin the entire forest. While we as a local grove have had no involvement in this decision by the Mother Grove, we put our trust in their hardworking guidance and leadership in these difficult times, and must believe that this decision was not made lightly and was given significant deliberation.
We, as a local grove in Nova Scotia are highly family focused, and have spent a lot of time and effort over the years to carefully craft our bylaws and our codes of conduct. We echo the sentiment that children are both our future and most precious asset, and must be protected to be allowed to be just that – children. We strongly condemn, in no uncertain terms, ANY action that violates the trust and personal sovereignty of children or any vulnerable member of our community. We grieve for both our community and for victims everywhere, and we ask for patience and understanding from both our membership and the wider pagan community to have faith that major discussions around communication, consent culture, and leadership training are happening within our international organization, and have always been a part of our local organization.
