Ebony's Pearls

Numenism is a community religion. When it was created, the most important thing to the founders was the support, camaraderie, and information that came from working together. Teamwork was what built Numenism in its earliest days and that evolved into a heavy emphasis on community and family.

Most people who seek new religions and faiths are solitary.

Numenism remains small and autonomous precisely because it revolves around family, community, and group celebrations. There is no dogma, no structure in place for those who are without a support group, without a family interested in the same thing, without a community with whom to celebrate.

This isn't a new problem. It's one we've wrestled with for almost 2 decades.

How do we reach out to those who want to be Numenist but have no family or community local to them? Numenism is a group-oriented religion.

Bacca, Mark, Scott, Dragi, Mary, and Marie all worked on this to a greater or lesser extent when they were alive, and since I've been Eldered and entrusted with writing a guide to being a Numenous Elder, I've struggled with it, as well. We've exchanged reams of letters and gathered for long, late-into-the-night conversations (you'd think we would embrace tech, but nooooo - none of the ones who are still alive even have email...) on this and brain-stormed methods, but the problem with this is that we have our Houses, our groups of celebrants, and we none of us have ever had to celebrate alone. There's always been someone there with us.

I've tried doing celebrations alone, and I have deliberately distanced myself in the past 2 years from my co-celebrants in order to experience what it is like to be a Numenist alone - and I still have people with me, who drop in, who appear for celebrations, who are there.

So, if you're interested in being a Numenist, are alone in your area, and want to help us create build a way in Numenism that is suitable for the single celebrant, please let me know.

We would like to experiment on you.