When we adhere to other people's rules and definitions of magic without questioning them or testing them, we become dogmatic and lose out on innovation. For magic to be an effective practice, we need to question all definitions and practices, with an eye toward improving our magical practice and also toward improving magic as a whole.
A memoriam to Isaac Bonewits
I only met Isaac Bonewits a few times in my life, but each time I met him I was struck by his humor and intelligence, and a willingness to question his own beliefs and theories as well as others. What I count as one of my favorite moments was meeting him at Gathering of the Tribes and getting the opportunity to speak with him at some length. In fact, he even invited me back to his trailer and we chatted for a couple hours about magical theory and practice. Given that he was busy writing a book and preferred at least some alone time, I am and was very grateful. The discussion we had was one that allowed me to clarify a lot of my thoughts about my approach to magic. I also felt very honored when he wrote at some length about one of my experiments in one of his books. I have a lot of respect for Isaac. But what I also appreciated was the humor and humanity of him. While I can't say I knew him well, my interactions with him were ones that moved back and froth from seriousness to humor. I wish I'd had more opportunities to speak with and even work with him, but I'm grateful for those moments I did have, as I imagine many other people are. Isaac gave a lot to the community and now he's moving on. I wish him the safest journey and bow to him in respect for his works and ideas. I also wish condolences to his family.