The last post was supposed to be private, just notes to myself on the upcoming events in which I had an obligation to participate. Since I inadvertently made it public, I will just leave it that way.
None of these events includes personal or social activities (other than the trip to Muskogee, which still has Eldering activities tacked on), this is all related to being a Numenist Elder. I’ve left out the weekends where I’ll be playing at SoonerCon and ConEstoga, because those are purely for fun, no religious activities tacked on, or duties required, and I’ve left out “portable” events, like Movie Night, Ice Cream Socials, Game Night, and such, because they aren’t tied to a specific date adn time and they aren’t tied to a specific religious need.
Please note that very little of this also involves working outside of Numenism. Sometimes we get called on for being “elitist”. We’re not being elitist, we’re still consolidating our beliefs and building internal communities.
We take very few student priests or apprentices in to learn Numenism in depth. Again, we don’t do this to be exclusionary, but because Numenism is still relatively new (OK, it’s older than I am, but in terms of religions, it’s still in its newborn period), and the students we take on have to be old enough and prepared to help build Numenism, in theology, theory, liturgy, and more. They can’t be dabblers, they can’t be seekers. They have to already be ready to commit the rest of their live to studying and being Numenist, and they have to be prepared to make adaptations and decisions about Numenism that our Founders and our Elders didn’t forsee – and it’s not easy to find such people. The Elders will be the ones who make the final decisions on changes to theology, but until we have more Elders, our priests may be called upon to offer input. This means pretty much that our students aren’t and can’t be “students” in the traditional sense of learning from someone who has already learned things. Even as an Elder, I am still discovering new needs and new aspects of theology, and I don’t have the answers. And the other Elders upon whom I depend don’t always have the answers, either. This is why writing the Elder Guide to Numenism is so critical to our religion. I am humbled by this task. The other books were relatively easy to compile – just root through all our correspondences and notes and check it for consistency, verify that it’s all canon, and hit print. This Elder Guide, though, I have to work at it, and with Numenism being so very new and the pool of Elders so very small, it is seriously hard work.
Most of our membership are Celebrants – people who believe as we do and follow our traditions and formats without worrying too much about the whys and history of it all. They show up at Numenist events and participate, may even help in planning and presenting the events, but they rarely delve into the philosophy and theology of it. Those we take on as “students” (and this is why we refer to them as “apprentices”) must already be well-grounded in theology and philosophy and want to bring their knowledge and experience to Numenism to help shape it into the sustainable and viable form our Founders envisioned. Those people are few and far between – and many whom I, personally, feel would like the challenges of Numenism are not interested in learning about Numenism.
The children who grew up Numenist are still young enough to want to explore other religions, they are in what we refer to as their journeyman stage. Whether they return to Numenism is something only time will reveal. A lot of Celebrants are also in this journeyman phase, and whether the remain Numenistsor move on to some other religion is also a matter of time.
We don’t happen to believe that massive organization of events with huge crushes of people improves the experience, nor does hiring outside speakers to boost attendance even more. This isn’t a popularity contest. When we hold our events, we may only have 3 or 4 people in attendance. Or we may have better than 60 people participating. The numbers of participants isn’t as important to us as the reason for the event and that the event fulfills its purpose. Most of the time, our events are not to educate the public, or to recruit new members, or to spread the word about Numenism, or to collect funds to support our activities. This lack of emphasis on educating and recruiting reduces even further any potential pool of apprentices.
Our events are to further our spiritual development, integrate us into a more solid community, create and maintain connections with the divine, inspire us, and to make Numenism a viable religion for our adherents.
Our forays into the general mixed Pagan community hasn’t always worked out as we’d hoped, but we still make them and learn from them.
All of our events are open ones. Anyone is allowed to circle with us. We welcome everyone as a Celebrant, and we welcome their input. They may come for a single event, or for as many as they want. Each Celebrant, whatever the length of their stay, matters. Former Celebrants are always welcome to return. Many see only the surface, and leave. Sometimes they return.
Some of our strongest priests have dallied with Numenism off and on for years before settling in and committing to it.
Because we don’t charge for attending any of our events (beyond potluck), and we don’t hire non-Numenist guest speakers, and we don’t conform to the expected formats of most Pagan rituals, and most of us don’t promote Numenism, it grows very slowly.
Considering how small we are, we have a lot of holy days and celebrations.
Ebonypearl 