There is a tradition in the Dark Aspect of the Force Academy to describe its various incarnations as dynasties. They tend to build their understanding of their history around the key personalities of each period of the Dark Aspect, and how these key characters shaped the structure, ideology, and framework of the Aspect. Dynasty is also a suitable word for each later leader, in most ways, has justified their perpetuation of the Aspect under their leadership with an appeal to their involvement in the prior.
An interesting aside is that many well-known figures of the Sith movement have also been entwined in the Force Academy’s Dark Aspect. The first leader of the Dark Aspect styled himself as Darth Moor, and though the Aspect was titled Dark Jedi in its earliest incarnation, it was shaped by the Lore of the Sith. Arguably, the Dark Aspect was the first real Sith group. Several Sith have led the Dark Aspect: Khaos, Darth Draconis, and for a brief period Luciana. Other leaders have been the students of Sith, or affiliated with the Sith, in some manner. The dynasties of the Dark Aspect are a veritable who is who of Sith personalities, even if that is no longer true since the return of Satelle. A leader who favours a different flavour of philosophy.
As those who are members of the Jedi Monastery may know, I recently posted a link to an article. The Jedi Community: History and Folk-Lore of a Fiction-based Religion (Davidsen, 2017) was the article in question. Written by Markus Davidsen, of the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion, it is a compelling read about the formation of Jediism and Jedi Realism, and which places the Path within the context of emergent religion and folklore. As an outsider view it is compelling and well worth studying.
However, what caught my eye and what led to todays article was where Davidsen discusses Opie McCleod’s begrudging placement of the year 2000 as the Zenith of the Jedi movement. It led me to reflect on how the Dark Aspect, and in turn, the Sith have always mythologised their history. Yet rarely do you see a view of history that is rose tinted when you read these interpretations of the path of Dark Aspect. It also made me reflect that even if we wished it would be impossible to describe the various iterations of the Jedi Movement as Dynasties: no one could claim an unbroken lineage from one period to another. A boon and a curse of the Jedi community is that we consistently lose members and gain members: we spend as much time reinventing as we spend engaged in forward progress. As we lost the masters of the first generation, we gained new masters of the second, and yet few of this second generation could or would claim to have inherited the mantle from their predecessors. A trend that has continued until today.
The Force Academy Light Aspect has produced one unbroken link from those heady days of 1997 when the Force Academy came into being. Caledvolc, an early master of the Light Council, trained Loremaster who in turn trained Paladin Draconis (Vandor/Nidan). Paladin Draconis was the teaching master of Setaneako (Alethea Thompson): The co-founder and vice-president of Armonia Seminary, and Head of Education for both the Light Aspect and Jedi Federation. The Light Aspect has a record of producing twenty-nine knights in its history, of which sixteen became masters, but only seven of which came through the Padawan-Master model. Furthermore, only the line beginning with Caledvolc is still involved in the Force Academy.
This is not a trend unique to the Force Academy and the Light Aspect when it comes to the continuity of knowledge and authority from one generation to the next. Most Jedi, if they looked to their direct lineage, would probably discover their teacher was the founder of their branch of Jediism or Force Realism or a direct student of the founder. If not, that they earned their rank through means such as a training program and had no personal connection to the earlier generation through mentorship.
Yet, despite this lack of continuity in general, I believe we could ascribe a certain pattern of history to the Jedi Community. To do so, I have broken Jedi history down into several ages which I shall explore below and discuss my reasoning. This week, let's talk about the "Dark Ages"
1987-1997: The Dark Ages
- October 1987: Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game Published.
- 1988: Mythologist Joseph Campbell tells Bill Moyers that he considers Star Wars to be a modern myth.
- March 1994: Jedi Search Published (First book of the Jedi Academy Trilogy)
- July 1994: Dark Apprentice (Second book of the Jedi Academy Trilogy)
- September: Champions of the Force (Final book of the Jedi Academy Trilogy)
- December 1995: the Jedi Praxeum is created by Kharis Nightflayer
- April 1996: The Jedi Academy Sourcebook published.
- August 1996: Tales of the Jedi Companion published.
Some might be surprised to see me use a date as early as 1987 when talking of the history of the community and might also be surprised to see me use a date as late as 1997 to make the end of the first age. To those who know that the Jedi Praxeum of Kharis Nightflyer is often considered the de facto start point of the community, then the inclusion of 1995 in this period might seem strange. Yet, I shall explain.
In 1987, the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was published and within was a guide on role-playing as a Jedi and flavour text on the Force. The 2nd Edition can be found through this Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sGuSzqcWC3crvYrTpYdQ4t9FuQO_1GBg/view. This Year marks the first-year people could role-play as Jedi, and the place of role-play in the formation of the Jedi Community will become clear later. It also gave us a key document that is still integral to the Jedi path to this day: The Jedi Code.
As early as the release of Star Wars, people were discussing the mythos of Star Wars, and discussing its religious and mythological content, yet by the eighties, and after the involvement of Joseph Campbell, these discussions took on greater weight. In an interview, the ever-familiar Joseph Campbell stated the following: “I’ve heard youngsters use some of George Lucas’ terms. The Force and the Dark Side. So, it must be hitting somewhere. It’s a good, sound teaching I would say.” (Campbell and Moyers, 1988).
I describe this period as the dark ages because we know the ingredients that would lead to Jedi community were present. People were playing the role of Jedi, even if at a table with their friends, and through the power of imagination they did so in a Galaxy Far, Far way. People were discussing the themes of Star Wars and engaging with language we now take for granted, but they yet to take it to the stage where it was taken as anything but tongue in cheek reference. People were doing what led to the community, but we have no records of how: we are ignorant of how little or how much this period really informed the formation of the Jedi community and that includes the Jedi Praxeum. The Praxeum is the first evidence that we have of people blurring the line between role-play and real application and finding real lessons in the teachings of the Jedi. Indeed, it is a place that people state introduced them to the idea of applying Jedi philosophy to reality, but I would argue it did not help a community form. It was a web page, but it had nothing that truly created the community: it lacked a forum and interaction between those who enjoyed and were influenced by its content. People were still effectively in the dark about one another, and one could not build a community without interaction.
1997-2001: Genesis and Schism
- 1997: Jedi Alliance message boards created (Role-Playing)
- June 1997: Jedi Lore Created
- 1998: The Force Academy is Founded
- June 1998: Jedi of the New Millennium Founded.
- December 2nd, 1998: The Jedi Academy (Baal Legato) is Founded.
- December 1998: Jedi Alliance becomes The Jedi Council (Jedi Realist)
- March 21st, 1999: I’m a Cynic who has hope for the Human Race published in the New York Times.
- Apr. 18th, 1999: Of Myth and Men published in Time Magazine.
- April 25th, 1999: The Skywalker Code is published in I am a Jedi.
- July 1999: West End Games lost the Star Wars RPG license.
- August 6th, 1999: The Jedi Council becomes Jedi Creed.
- November 2000: Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game published.
- 2000 (1): Schism at Jedi of the New Millennium. (JotNM)
- 2000 (2): Creation of Two Sites for JotNM.
- 2000 (3): One JotNM Site becomes Temple of the Jedi Arts under Koren Jay.
- 2000 (4): Mi-Zhe Fu joins Temple of the Jedi Arts.
- April 2000: The Apocalyptic Cosmology of Star Wars published.
- 2001 (1): The Jedi census phenomenon. Over 500,000 identify Jedi as their religion.
- March 6th, 2001: The Gospel according to Luke Skywalker published by the BBC.
The year 1997 is when the community truly started to form. In 1997 the Mos Eisley Cantina chat had become very popular as a Role-Playing platform, and a Jedi who went by the name Tionne was a regular of the Mos Eisley chats. Tionne was one of the first to apply some of the more practical lessons of the fiction to life, and she was one of the first to have a Jedi master to help her progress. Her Master was Gedi and he shared his knowledge in a way that appealed to him, and how he shared his knowledge was through Jedi Lore.
Like the Praxeum before it, the lessons were grounded firmly in the fiction. They were presented through Role-Play, and through the medium of stories grounded in the Star Wars fiction. Yet, it also leaned on what is often termed the fourth wall (The barrier between the fiction and reality: out of character and in character), and even thoroughly broke it. Lesson Five of the Knowledge of the Force was titled Reality and posed questions directly to the reader about applying the lessons of the fiction to their own life. In this way the spark of the idea of Jedi realism began with the Jedi Lore and the teachings of Gedi and Tionne.
Yet, I would not credit it with the formation of the community: the technical limitations of the site of Jedi Lore, like the Praxeum, meant it was not an ergonomic place for community to form. One could e-mail those who ran the site but that was it. The idea might have taken shape via Jedi Lore, but the idea alone. Instead, we must look to the Jedi Academy of Baal Legato and the first online discussion forum for Jedi Realists that came with it. Jedi Academy set the tone for what would become the natural habitat of the Jedi until the creation of Facebook Groups and Discord: the online forum. With that said, the Jedi Council too, deserves some credit as though it evolved from role-playing, it is development from a Rope-Playing forum into a Jedi Realist forum was within the same period as the Jedi Academy. After this year, all Jedi communities would be built around online forums in some manner. The Force Academy and Jedi of the New Millennium, despite being founded before either the Jedi Academy or Jedi Council, would have discussion forums by 1999.
This period was one where communities came into being, and it was also a fertile time for ideas which are still with us now. A new generation had been introduced to Star Wars through the 1997 theatrical rereleases of the original trilogy, and of course the 1999 release of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. With the release of the prequels a new version of the Jedi appeared in the fiction, and a new deluge of writing about the Jedi Knights began. The so-called Alternative or Skywalker Code came from the book I am a Jedi, by Marc Cerasini and we were given a sense of how the Jedi Order had once been run: a council, the padawan-master relationship, and the ranks and responsibilities they carried which existed for the Jedi Order. The Jedi realist movement swiftly adopted: the council structure; the apprenticeship model became the de jure as well as de facto method of instruction; and rank was used as both a gatekeeping system and an organisational structure. The concept of a Jedi code became common knowledge through its mention by Obi-Wan in Episode I: an otherwise throw away line that was otherwise informative for the Jedi Realist movement. Where before the Code had been an informative piece of writing hidden away in role-playing sourcebooks, it now became akin to a sacred text in Jedi Realist circles.
Yet, the Jedi community did not borrow from the fiction entirely: it was not a simple imitation. Indeed, study of Buddhism, Gnosticism, Stoicism, Taoism, Mysticism, the values of Chivalry and Bushido, and Judeo-Christian Ethics were prevalent at the time. Indeed, the Syncretic nature of much Jedi philosophy is the legacy of this early period. It is not a symptom of people looking to the sources of Lucas’ fiction, and drawing from Joseph Campbell’s monomyth idea when they discover Campbell’s influence. Rather, the Jedi community brought together people who found the language of Star Wars, and the archetype of the Jedi, communicated ideas they were already exploring and trying to share with others.
The Jedi did not simply borrow ideas either. The Force Academy and the Temple of the Jedi Arts both came to use of Light and Dark as a means of orientating different teachings very quickly. Something borrowed from the fiction but divorced from the notion of good and evil to a great degree. Dark was not seen as inherently evil: just dark. Not unlike the Right-Hand Path, and Left-Hand Path in Western Mysticism: The right (Light)) is selfless and the left (Dark) selfish. Yet, from this the idea of a middle path appeared and Koren Jay founded the Gray Jedi Path at the Temple, and Shinobi founded the Shadow Aspect at the Force Academy. Though, that original Gray Path now lies buried beneath the weight of History, the Shadow Aspect is still with us. Similarly, that early idea of what constitutes Light and Dark is still regularly appealed to in the community.
But why have I used 2001 to mark the end of this period of the Jedi? Well, first I would like to clarify that I use the early half of 2001 as the end of this period. However, with that said, I shall outline the basic reasons:
A. This year marks the beginning of the end for most of the pioneering communities of Jedi realism. Many of the sites that began prior to 2001 would not make it past 2002.
B. The Jedi Census Phenomena and a BBC article that was a result of it would end Jedi realism being an underground phenomenon. Although a fraction of the 500,000 plus individuals who claimed Jedi as their religion were Jedi, the article (The Gospel According to the Luke Skywalker) would directly mention the existence of Jedi Creed and thus bring to the public eye the existence of the online Jedi community. Some cite this public exposure as the death knell of Jedi Creed.
C. The latter half of 2001 would see a real division between Jedi Realism, and the emerging Jediism movement, occur with the founding of churches. The early half of 2001 would mark the final days before this division in the community occurred.
D. By 2002 internet saturation in the United States would reach 50%. Between 2002 and 2007 internet saturation in most developed countries would reach over 50% thus exposing access to the Jedi Communities to a much larger population. This would lead to Jedi Realism and Jediism becoming an international phenomenon rather than largely restricted to the United States, dramatically affecting the character of the Jedi Path from its first period of 1997-2001.
Lastly, however, the Jedi community from 2001 onwards was incredibly creative. Unity projects, new churches, and groups seemed to appear every year. No matter the groups lost a new one seemed to rise in its place. Names came and went at an astonishing rate. Key documents such as the 21 Maxims, 16 Basic Teachings, and the Jedi Circle, which are still used or influenced later documents were created and published. The first offline groups came into being along with the first Jedi Gatherings, which changed the Jedi Community into an offline reality no longer constrained to the internet. The Jedi Path from 2001 onward was inherently different to what came before it.
2001-2008: Jediism and Force Realism
2001 (1): Jedi Knights Website Created by Mi-Zhe Fu.
2001 (2): Jediism: The Jedi Religion founded by David Dolan.
2001 (3) JEDI founded by Relan Volkrum (Initially the Jedi Organisation)
October 2001: Christopher Chanada creates the 21 Maxims of Jediism.
2002 (1): Jedi Praxeum becomes inactive.
2002 (2): The Jedi of the New Millennium becomes inactive.
2002 (3): Jedi Creed becomes inactive.
7th August 2002: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook published.
2003 (1): Jedi Academy becomes Forsaken Jedi (Role-Playing group.)
2003 (2) The Jediism Way Founded by Xhaidan.
2003 (3): Jedi Sanctuary (Initially Jedi Fellowship) Founded by Kidohdin.
2003 (4): Jedi Church (New Zealand) Founded.
2003 (5): 16 Basic Teachings of the Jedi created by Kidohdin.
2005 (1): The Temple of the Jedi Arts becomes inactive.
2005 (2): Jediism: The Jedi Religion becomes inactive.
2005 (2): Jedi Knights online discussion forums created.
2005 (3): Jedi Knights changes name to Real Jedi Knights.
2005 (4) Temple of the Jedi Order founded by Br. John (J. H. Phelon)
11th March 2005: Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters by Dick Straub published.
31st May 2005: Komali’s Jedi Order founded by Komali.
25th August 2005: The Jedi Circle by K. S. Trout published.
December 25th, 2005: Temple of the Jedi Order awarded Tax-Exempt status in Texas.
2006 (1): Jedi Academy West becomes inactive.
2006 (2): JEDI (The Jedi Organisation) becomes inactive.
2006 (3): Chicago Jedi Founded (Offline Group).
2006 (4): Ashla Knights Founded.
2006 (5): The Great Jedi Holocron compiled by Adam Yaw.
2006 (6): Censuses in Australia and New Zealand show drop in numbers of those identifying as Jedi compared to 2001.
2006 (7): Finding the force of the Star Wars franchise: fans, merchandise, & critics published. September 2006: Komali’s Jedi Order becomes inactive.
2007 (1): The Jedi Sanctuary becomes inactive.
2007 (2): Institute of Jedi Realist Studies Founded (Initially the Jedi Academy).
2007 (3): Church of Jediism (United Kingdom) founded by Daniel Jones.
2007 (4): Jedi Academy Online/Jedi Foundation founded by K. S. Trout (Now Jedi Living)
2007 (5): Temple of the Jedi Force Founded.
2008 (1): Jedi Mythos becomes inactive.
2008 (2): Maryland/Virgina Jedi Founded (Offline Group).
2008 (3): Order of the Jedi (Canada) Founded.
8th January 2008: Tenebrae Surgunt founded by Jesse Bendyn.
1st October 2008: Jedi Church (The Original) Facebook Group Created by Jedi Church (NZ).
As mentioned, prior, the Jedi community from 2001 onwards was incredibly creative. That, I hope has been shown by the number of events of interest outlined that happened during this period. Even still the list is shorter than it could be. It has not outlined the existences of the Earth Jedi Order, the Gray Jedi Order, The Christian Jedi Order, and the various attempts at Jedi Unity and Umbrella Councils from this period such as Jedi United. The exact dates for these groups have been lost in the miasma of internet history. Yet, the exact information we have is enough to paint a picture of a fractured, but incredibly creative and energetic Jedi movement.
The most important element of this period is the creation of the key documents that have since influenced the community. The 21 maxims of Chanada have continued to be used by The Temple of the Jedi Order and the Temple of the Jedi Force. The 16 basic teachings greatly influenced the movement at the time, and again continue to be utilised by the Temple of the Jedi Order and Temple of the Jedi Force. The teachings are also central to the works of Matthew Vossler: one of the first authors from the community to publish a manual dedicated to the Jedi Path. The Jedi Circle, as created by K. S. Trout, was also originally published as an online document during this period, before later becoming the object of study of a manual published by Trout. Adam Yaw also compiled the Great Jedi Holocron, a PDF document, holding all the documents published by the Jedi Community, about the various topics considered important at the time. A veritable time capsule of Jedi teachings from 1998-2006: it has come to be a fundamental reference document. However, all these documents greatest influence has come from the weight they have all had in the discussions that would lead to the seminal 2015 document the Jedi Compass. Produced by a veritable who is who of the Jedi Community, and a document influenced by most of the Orders, Churches, and Groups extant between 2013-2015.
Yet, for the time itself these documents represented something else. It was evidence that Jedi had begun to engage in self-identification and self-definition. These documents are a leap in ideological thinking from reliance on Star Wars documents and simple emulation of the fiction’s Jedi formula into actual applied practice. They are the beginnings of the now accepted notion of Jedi Realism and Jediism being lived paths and practical philosophies inspired but distinct from the fiction of the Jedi.
These documents, however, serve almost as bullet points in the emergence of identity politics in the Jedi community. In this period came about the division between Jedi/Force Realism and Jediism. Some consider the above documents to be Jedi teachings, where as others consider them exclusive to a Realist or a Jediist. Some consider there to be profound differences between the two, while, others consider the notion moot. There several key differences, but the key difference lies in ambition. Jedi Realism sees the Jedi path as a practical guide to living a meaningful life, and thus its ambitions lie in applying what is useful from Jedi thinking to real life. The yard stick on what is useful is still very different from Jedi Realist group to Jedi Realist group. Jedi Realism is thus defined by orthopraxy: it is what you do as a Jedi that matters. In contrast Jediism, although equally deontological in its outlook, is focused much more on orthodoxy: proper doctrine and cohesivity of thought. Its focus is on the establishment of church and a community built around shared belief. How these differences manifest is best shown in a table format (Davidsen, 2017):
The table, I would argue, is not entirely accurate. Yet, it does provide us useful talking points regarding how the two approaches differ.
Let us consider animism as a point of comparison. Animism is the attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. That a power of some form organizes and animates the material universe. That is a firm description of the basic notion of the Force as an energy field that binds the universe together and what everything is a part of. Yet, here Davidsen identifies dynamism as a characteristic of Jediism. Dynamism is the theory that all phenomena (such as matter or motion) can be explained as manifestations of force. In a sense, Jediism supposedly argues that everything is an expression of force, or the Force, if we take the attribution of souls and thus energy to everything literally. Yet, this concept is in no way alien to Jedi Realism, and indeed, the cosmology of the Force varies from Jedi Group to Jedi Group and then from individual to individual Jedi. Some interpretations of the force may better be described as panpsychism or panentheism, and some Jedi use the Force as nothing more than a metaphor for the connections all individual parts of existence have to each other through being part of a shared, objective, reality. However, with that said, Jediism encourages a path towards truth claims about the universe and existence that Jedi Realism discourages or at least considers a matter of personal faith that is secondary to the Ethics of being a Jedi.
The notion of relation to Star Wars is a fascinating one, and although Davidsen discusses the nuances in his article, they are missing from the table I have presented. It is also important to discuss what purist and syncretic mean within the context of being a Jedi. In this context it comes from the use of source material: does the individual use only Star Wars sources, for example the RPG sourcebooks, or do they employ a variety of sources from various traditions. This distinction emerges from the discursive tactics used in the Jedi community to justify Jedi belief. Appeals to tradition are easier to make when one can show parallels between Jedi practice and the practice of established spiritual traditions. As such, many pioneers of the path readily adapted the practices of other traditions into the emerging Jedi path. Similarly, others came to the Jedi community with a religious heritage or spiritual identity that they then integrated into the Jedi Way, as they saw the parallels and through a Jedi identity kept what they liked but could discard what they disliked.
Jediism from its roots was inherently syncretic: its first key document, the 21 Maxims, was based upon the Chivalric code, and those who set the foundations of Jediism readily appealed to the past for antecedents for Jediism. In contrast, Jedi Realism has been both puritanical and deeply syncretic in its approach. However, while syncretism is used in Jediism as rich source of inspiration and affirmation to create a new religious identity, in Jedi Realism it is a tool of showing religious pluralism. Jedi realism is not held to be the sole and exclusive source of truth, it accepts that religions regardless of exclusive truth claims are all valid and promotes the understanding that the exclusive claims of different religions are variations of universal truths of the human experience.
Yet, some Jedi Realists reject syncretism in any form, and argue for the use of Star Wars only sources of direction. K. S. Trout is perhaps the longest standing of those who hold this approach, and even he proposes an extensive reading list which is dominated by non-Star Wars materials. Mi-Zhe Fu too, was a proponent of using the films as the gold standard for what a Jedi should aspire to be, and even he employed his experience of Tae Kwon Do and Qi Gong, as well as his Christian background to influence his approach to the Jedi Way. I suspect one can argue for the Purist approach but living in the real world as a real person means understanding real philosophy, and methods. One inherently carries the weight of their past into their approach to the Jedi Path.
Self-Categorisation is an interesting one admittedly. You will find people who refer to themselves as Jedi, but reject the word Jediism, who still adhere to the Jedi Way as a religion. Those who have a religious identity but are involved in the Jedi path are more likely to identity it as a philosophy that informs their life, but not as their Way of Life. Those who are best described as Secular or Humanist Jedi would identify it as their Way of Life as it is the primary authority of their life-style. Furthermore, there are those who are primarily involved in the Jedi Community through Jediist circles but whom consider it a philosophy and not their religion. With all the above said, Jedi Realism is a philosophy first and foremost, and Jediism is a religion when all is said and done.
Rituals is not so black and white as this table might make it appear. Many Jedi Realists engage in prayer, and there are several esoteric traditions such as Qi-Gong, Reiki, and Magick that are thoroughly ensconced in the Jedi community. There is also the Labyrinth tradition within the Mystic Path devised by Alethea Thompson and Gabriel Calderon which are readily used in a religious context but are not exclusive to either Jedi Realism or Jediism. The giving of sermons is a distinct element of Jediism, however, it comes from the traditions of Jedi Lore of a master giving a lecture to his student.
Institutional model is rather self-explanatory, and I honestly cannot add anything to it. Jedi Realism still employs the traditional academy model, while Jediism has long modelled itself after the church environment. The line has become blurred by seminary groups whom instruct topics relevant to both Jedi Realism and Jediism, but the line still exists largely.
Non-Star Wars sources of inspiration goes back to the prior discussion on syncretism and relation to Star Wars. I would largely disagree with New Age Religion being predominantly Jedi Realism, and Christianity predominantly Jediism. Both have tangled with Judeo-Christina morality, ethics, and culture since their respective beginning. The Jedi community has after all been spearheaded by populations from nominally Christian or what can be described as Post-Christian countries. The distinction is that Jedi Realism does not derive structuralism from a traditional Christian church as Jediism does. However, many of the inspirations are functionally the same. Wicca, Heathenry, Thelema, and Neopaganism are as well represented in Jediism as Jedi Realism when it comes to dialogue on spirituality. Both also make significant use of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism to equal measure in most respects. Then we must consider the influences of Stoicism, Chivalry, and Bushido. As such, the materials used for syncretism and which shape the Jedi Community are functionally the same regardless of Jediism or Jedi Realism.
Finally, the paths. It is true that in Force Realism you have the Shadow Path, and the Dark Path but neither would identify as Jedi or consider themselves Jedi. Shadows are Shadows, and Sith are Sith, as such I would not include them as part of the continuing Jedi movement even if they began as part of it back in the late nineties. There are of course those who identity as Gray Jedi to this day, yet, in the Jedi Realist and Jediism communities the notion of Light is increasingly moot making such a distinction moot too. Jedi communities focus on what is Jedi-Like and believe that is good, and what is not-Jedi like and believe that is bad for a Jedi. Yet, Jedi do not make a truth claim about absolute good that the concept of a Light side of the Force implies.
Main Groups active, and inactive, I would like to think speak for themselves. Yet they serve as a useful closing point for this part of the discussion, and a useful start for the next. The period between 2001 and 2008 would see the evolution, and end, of several of the founding efforts from the late nineties. The Jedi Praxeum, Jedi Lore, Jedi of the New Millennium, Temple of the Jedi Arts, Jedi Creed, and The Jedi Academy would all be gone by 2004/2005. Jedi Creed would become JEDI (The Jedi Organisation) and would serve as a central hub of Jedi Realism until 2006, but its extinction would mark the end of Reklaw’s involvement in the community along with his closest peers. The remnants of Jedi Academy would create Jedi Academy West and Jedi Mythos, but their efforts would de facto come to end by 2006, although Jedi Mythos as a website would linger until 2008 before its de jure end. Only the Force Academy would survive as the lone group founded in the nineties. This situation left open the opportunity for a new generation to take the helm, and for Jediism to come into its own.
This period marked a veritable golden age for the Jedi community if one was to look at it and discuss obvious progress, and energy in the community. It marks the beginning of the offline gatherings back in 2002, and the formation of the first offline groups. Chicago Jedi in 2006 is the oldest I can verify, but there were individuals gathering before then on a regular basis, and there is evidence of a Texas group in 2005 due to them showing interest in helping with the Katrina Emergency in New Orleans. I have found no further evidence of their existence, but it suggests 2006 might be a late start for offline groups forming even if it is the first year we can confirm. The forum format also meant that many groups were forming online, and some with very high energy and interest, such as Real Jedi Knights. Some were even distinctly national in outlook. Jedi Church was distinctly of a New Zealand bent reflecting its founder’s nationality. Church of Jediism founded by Daniel Jones was distinctly aimed at bringing Jediism to the United Kingdom. Order of the Jedi (Canada) placed emphasis on its Canadian roots. These groups were as much online entities as offline and yet they put stock on national lines. Jediism: the Jedi religion also took the Jedi Community in another direction than it had begun, aiming to model the Jedi Path after Western concepts of organised religion. Jedi Sanctuary (Founded 2003) was another early group that embraced the concept of Jediism, with its founders initially being members of Jediism: The Jedi Religion, and Jedi Sanctuary is noteworthy for having members that secured ordination through the Universal Life Church as well as being the origin point of the Sixteen Teachings of the Jedi. Jediism: the Jedi Religion stayed the focal point of Jediism until 2005 but inevitably ground to a halt, and Jedi Sanctuary never truly exceeded their first successes. However, a successor in Br. John and the Temple of the Jedi Order took up the baton. His success in achieving tax-exempt status for the Temple in Texas was an incredible step forward. Although members of the Sanctuary had achieved ordination, this was the first group that could claim to be a legal church. These successes also meant that by 2006, atheist groups were warning people to not place Jedi as their religion in censuses because Jedi was gaining traction and notoriety as a sincere belief system. Several Academics also began to look at Jedi Realism and Jediism as authentic examples of a New Age Religion or a New Thought Movement and began to publish on the Jedi, and in 2005 Dick Straub co-opted the image of Jedi to communicate Christian teachings through his book Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters.
Ultimately, 2001-2008 marks the high energy point of the Jedi movement, and marks its transition from an exploration of an idea to an assertion of a self-identity. As with all these things, it created a variety of identities, but all were ultimately Jedi. Jedi that gathered offline, and who asserted they had a right to express Jedi as their religious identity.
Yet, 2001-2008 also marks the golden age of the internet forum as the natural habitat of the Jedi. It also marks the beginning of the division between Jedi Realism and Jediism, which is a rift which is only slowly being bridged now. However, after 2008 things would begin to change: Jedi would find new habitats. The existence of Facebook would change where Jedi chose to gather online. Podcasts and YouTube would change how Jedi would communicate lessons to one another, and how they communicated to the outside world. Jedi would also begin to publish books about themselves rather than have books published about them. The impetus on the formation of groups would also be away from the digital world, and instead, the offline world.
2009-2019: Controversies, Censuses, and Compasses
2009 (1): The Jediism Way becomes inactive.
2009 (2): Knights of Awakening Founded. (Podcast team with Force Realist focus)
2009 (3): The Washington Post reports that Jedi is the tenth most common self-identified religion on Facebook.
2009 (4): Jedi Manual Basic: Introduction to Jedi Knighthood published.
September 2009: Daniel Jones, Founder of the Church of Jediism (UK) removed from Tesco Supermarket over a dispute about his wearing of a Hood.
2011: Censuses in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The number of self-identified Jedi once again dropped from the prior 2006 census in Canada and the UK but increased in Australia.
21st June 2011: Tenebrae Surgunt becomes inactive.
2012: California Jedi Founded (Offline Group).
2012: Meditation Journal for Force Realists Published.
2012: The Jedi Circle: Jedi Philosophy for Everyday Life Published.
2012: Jediism – Philosophy and Practice Published.
2013 (1): Work begins on the Jedi Compass.
2013 (2): The Jedi Religion: A 21st Century Search for Spiritual Answers Published.
2013 (3): The Jedi Academy Online Presents: Exploring the Jedi Lifestyle Published.
2014 (1): Ashla Knights becomes inactive.
2014 (2): Heartland Jedi Founded (Offline Group)
2014 (3): Setanaoko’s School for Jedi: The Uninitiated Published.
2015: Jedi Federation Founded.
2015: Jedi Federation launches the Holocron: a digital quarterly for Jedi.
2015: Publication of The Jedi Compass: Collected Works of The Jedi Community.
13th May 2015: First Release of Discord: digital distribution platform that specializes in text, image, video, and audio communication between users.
If 2001-2008 was the age of the Forum and the Offline Gathering for the Jedi, then 2009-2015 onwards marks the age of Multimedia and Offline Chapters. 2009 was the first year of the Knights of Awakening Podcasts, which although a Force Realist group including people who self-identified as other than Jedi, have had an important influence on the Jedi. It led to other Jedi making use of YouTube and Podcasts to communicate the lessons of Jedi Realism and Jediism to others. Even today, groups tend to make use of YouTube as the platform of choice for video lessons. Podcasts also are still the platform of choice for hosting discussions intended for distribution to the wider community. A significant move away from the strictly text-based approach that dominated for a decade from 1998 to 2008.
The first Facebook group dedicated to the Jedi Religion: Jedi Church (The Original) was also created in 2008, and from then on, many Jedi groups have followed suit by having a presence on Facebook. The presence of such groups on Social Media also changed the nature of the Jedi Community. Faces and Names, Nationalities and Races, became part of the discussion: Jedi were no longer hidden behind online pseudonyms. By 2009, Jedi was the tenth most common religion on Facebook. How seriously one takes most claims is up the individual, but Jedi were now part of a digital space that they did not create themselves. Jedi Realism and Jediism have since become part of people’s social identities. Again, a shift from the seclusion and anonymity that dominated the first decade of the Jedi movement.
Jedi also began to publish books about the path, instead of having books be published about them. The nature of writing changed in the community from brief lectures and essays, to comprehensive books and courses of work. Jedi began to put a value on the teachings, a monetary value, which did not exist before. Another step-in self-valuation of the path, and self-identity. It argues that the Jedi Path is worth something, and that something can include monetary compensation.
Jedi Chapters also became the most energetic part of the movement with regards to the formation of groups. From 2008-2014, three of the four chapters, that eventually founded the Jedi Federation came into being. The Jedi Federation is also a very distinct Unity movement in that it is arguably not a Unity movement. One can look at the processes of Jedi Federation and argue it is a loose confederation of Offline chapters who have a great deal of autonomy. Yet, the existence of the Federation shows how many offline groups now exist: The Federation exists due to the need for it to exist.
Finally, however, we have the most important document of the Jedi Movement come into existence between 2013-2015: The Jedi compass. It was contributed to by a significant segment of the Jedi Community; indeed, one can argue almost the entire community:
Contributing Orders/ Organisations
1. Jedi Federation
2. Temple of the Jedi Order
3. Temple of the Jedi Force
4. The Force Academy: Light Aspect (Armonia Seminary)
5. Real Jedi Knights (Jedi Knights)
6. Institute of Jedi Realist Studies
7. Ashla Knights
8. Jedi Living
9. Arkinnea Jedi Order
10. Jedi Church (New Zealand)
Other Contributors
1. At least Three offline groups
2. Knights of Awakening: A Radio/Podcast platform made up of a loose connection of individuals
3. Former members of Coalescere Enclave
4. A representative of the Church of Jediism (United Kingdom)
There are of course some exceptions, such as Order of the Jedi (Canada) who were still active in this period, however, the number of groups not included are few and far between compared to majority of the community that was involved. One will also note that Jedi Realist and Jediist groups contributed to the Compass, and though all the groups keep their own heterodox approaches, and there do remain divisions between Realists and Jediists: The Compass sets out the shared values that make a Jedi. The Compass can be argued as the outline of the Orthodox Jedi Path. An agreement on what it means to be a Jedi: something that had been lost to the community since 2001.
For all these triumphs though, there must be controversies. Daniel Jones, founder of The Church of Jediism, was famously kicked out of a supermarket in 2009 due to refusing to remove his hood while in the store. Some thing which was against the store’s policies, yet, Mr Jones claimed it was his religious right to wear a hood as a Jedi. From this emerged the debate as to whether Jedi was a valid religion, and in their response to the allegation of bigotry, the store even referenced how the Jedi of the Star Wars films regularly went without a hood. To refer to the films to denigrate the matter of the Jedi Path still is a favoured tactic by third parties.
2015 thus ends this age as it marks the beginning of the sealing of the rift between Jedi Realism and Jediism, but it also marks the end of the themes of the age. The emergence of the Jedi into the world of multimedia, and the emergence of Jedi as a self-identification in the real world and in social circles that were not strictly Jedi. 2009-2015 is the proper end of the Jedi as an online phenomenon with dalliances with the real world.
2016-Present: Set Backs and Seminary
2016 (1): Temple of the Jedi Order applies for legal recognition in the United Kingdom as a charity. The Charity Commission concluded that the TotJO was not set up for exclusively charitable purposes and was not satisfied that Jediism is a religion under charity law.
2016 (2): Order of the Jedi (Canada) becomes inactive.
2017: The Movie “American Jedi” Released.
30th December 2017: Armonia Seminary launched.
February-May 2018: First Twelve Armonia Seminary Classes Launched on Openlearning.
29th May 2018: The Jedi Navigation System (JNS) Published.
3rd December 2018: Labyrinths of Jediism Published.
21st December 2018: Heart and Soul – To be a Jedi Broadcasts.
21st January 2019: The Spiritual Art of Meditation Published.
23rd February 2019: The Jedi Code: A Jedi's True Ally? Published.
11th March 2019: The Force: Beyond Star Wars Published.
If 2015 saw the start of the healing of the rift between Jedi Realism and Jediism, then 2016 was perhaps a brutal revelation of how moot the notion of Jediism being disparate from Jedi Realism is. In 2016, the Charity commission of the United Kingdom rejected the application of the Temple of the Jedi Order for charity status in the UK, on the basis that TotJO did not exist for charitable purposes but more importantly to this discussion that Jediism was not a religion. Expects in the UK, when determining religion, have taken to using the Wittgenstein inspired model of family resemblances, and judging emerging religious movements against extant ones. Jediism does not have a model of proctology: it has no belief structure explaining the existence of the Universe, and why it exists. It has no model of eschatology: Jediism does not concern itself with what happens after death, whether there is judgement, and what the final destiny of the soul and of humankind is. Jediism does not discuss nor have a doctrine of salvation: Soteriology. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, and the various Ancient Mystery Religions which have inspired Neopaganism and New Age Religion address these matters of theology and make assertive truth claims. If addressing the concept of religion through the lens of family resemblances, then Jediism as best resembles a form of secular Buddhism or Daoism. It has the trappings of religion, but it is not a religion.
This could all be explained by the problem of discursive reasoning within the Jedi Movement. We appeal to tradition and parallels, but we do so on matters of form rather than substance: Meditation is used in various religions, but it is part of their doctrine of salvation. Jedi do it for various reasons, and some do so for a deeper connection to the Force, but it is done as much for the health benefits. We appeal to science but that turns the matter into scientific debate: what does a concept of the Force grounded in a metaphysical understanding of Unified Field theory say about the destiny of mankind? The appeal to experience is no more valid in proving validity for the religion of Jediism than any kind of self-help program. Self-report is not enough as a model of discourse.
Jediism has not matured itself to the point of bearing a resemblance to extant religions. If anything, it is simply Jedi Realism, but models it structure after the Judeo-Christian Church tradition. What differentiates it is that the leading group for Jediism, The Temple of the Jedi Order, offers degrees in divinity and ordination in what is arguably a form of Religious Humanism. Something that most of the Jedi Realists groups do not.
This debate being reopened has also marked a spike in interest in the Jedi Community. American Jedi, a movie, made by independent film-makers was recorded and released in this period. Many Jedi argue it says very little about the Jedi, and more about the three Jedi the film resolves around, but it nonetheless is an important marker in time where the spotlight was placed on the community by outsiders. A much more nuanced and balanced view of the Jedi community was broadcast as part of the Heart and Soul series, called To be a Jedi, and though reaching a smaller audience gave a much fuller view of the community.
Armonia Seminary also marks a change in approach to teaching and reaching students again. It has experimented with Openlearning as a platform, but has now extended to distance learning workbooks, and is integrating its approach with the Jedi Federation and others. Again, marking another step in a new direction in the Jedi community.
*(since this piece, we have moved the entire OpenLearning platform to the FA Academy)