What is Numinism?



Numinism is a spiritual tradition derived from the indigenous religion of the Western world. It is like Shinto (The Way of the Gods) for Westerners.(Go here to read an essay comparing Shinto and Greek myths.) Numinism is the religion of Rome reborn. A Numen (called Kami by the Japanese) is the spirit or power of a being, a place, a thing, or an affair. The weilder of this power is a Divo, a God. The traditions of Numinism attempt to help us attune ourselves to the cycles of life and nature and the Numina (plural of numen) that control these cycles and assertain our true place in the Universe.

I know, you say the Gods and Goddesses of Rome are just fairy tales and no one has worshipped them in almost 2000 years. But, you are wrong. The Gods and Goddesses do exist. And, They are timeless. Modern psychologist Carl Jung proclaimed their existence. He called the Old Gods, Archetypes of the Unconscious. He said that all life is linked together by the Collective Unconscious, a sort of Universal Mind. And within the Collective Unconscious exist energies and powers which individual species connect to and manifest into the world. Just like a newborn animal KNOWS how to find its mother's nipple by instinct or a bird KNOWS how and to where to migrate, mankind has KNOWN the energies which rule over his species.





Apollo
Ra
If you study the religions of the peoples of the Earth, you will find that at the core they are pretty much the same. The Romans realized this fact and when they came in contact with a new people, rather than attempting to inflict the Roman religion upon that people, they sought out the similarities between the two religions. In doing so, they melded their traditions onto the traditions already in place instead of transplanting them. If you look at the mythology of the peoples of the world, you will find that all peoples have at some point worshiped a Sun Deity. All peoples have worshiped a Moon Deity. All peoples have worshiped the power that makes crops grow. These deities and powers have different names and stories for each culture, but at the base they are the same. The Deity of the Sun may be male and called RA in Egypt, while in Greece it is male and called Helios (Apollo), or in Rome it is male and called Sol, or in Japan it is female and called Amaterasu, or in India male and called Surya or somewhere else by a different name. Regardless of the name and outward attributes, the underlying power, the NUMEN, is universal. All peoples have believed that their ancestors watch over them or that forgotten ancestors become malevolent ghosts. The NUMEN of ancestors is universal, the local names and traditions may be different. Today, we dress up like ghosts and goblins on October 31 to scare away the evil spirits. The Romans held a ritual picnic a the graves of their ancestors in February and banged pots and pans to rid their homes of evil spirits in May.




Numinism asks us to attune with the cycles of nature and the seasons of the year. Numinism asks us to recognize God in everything and everyone. Numinism asks us to honor the "spirit of" things and events, like many people in America honor the Spirit of Giving with the name Santa Claus and the pictures of a fat, bearded man in a red suit. We all know that there is no physical Santa Claus, but who can deny the power of the Spirit of Giving and the good done in its name. Numinism asks us to believe in Guardian Spirits who like Guardian Angels watch over us on our daily travels. Numinism asks us to see that we are born from the same parents, the Twin Forces of the Space/ Time Continuum, Mother Nature and Father Time.
We are all one great big family and should respect and honor all our siblings, not just the Caucasians, not just the males, not just the heterosexuals, not just the ones whose religion is Numinism, not just the ones who are human, but all forms of life, everywhere. Numinism asks us to seek truth for ourselves and to do what we know is right. Numinism asks us to believe in magic, the magic created by the hidden powers of the human mind. Numinism asks us to seek the point of peace, to sit quietly, to listen to the guidance of the Universe and to discover, each one of us, our place in the scheme of things.



If you can see the Forces that manifest and bind together the Cosmos, and are seeking truth and the community of fellow seekers, we invite you to join us. This is the indigenous religion of the Western world and even of the entire Earth, there is no need for baptism, there is no need for salvation, the whole of the Cosmos lies within, the link to the Divine lies within each and every being, come inside and discover your SELF.

Although the Roman religion did not survive the onslaught of Christianity intact, the indigenous beliefs could not be eradicated completely. The major celebrations of the Christian calendar correspond exactly to the folk celebrations which they replaced. We can also see many similarities between the Roman religion and the surviving religions of China, Japan, and India as well as similarities in the ritual practices of the polytheistic Romans and the monotheistic Jews. By examining these similarities, we, Numinists, can see the true path to follow. We can use Geomancy (which is very similar to the Chinese I Ching) to replace the Syballine books. We can use the temple sites of Shinto as a guide to construction of our own temple complexes. We can examine the rituals of the Jews and the Christians as well as records of Roman writers to rediscover the best ways to honor the "Spirit " (the Numen). Like Shinto, Numinism has no founder, no sacred scripture only historical writings and mythology. Like Taoists, Numinists seek to discern the Way of things and proceed in accord with the Law of Nature. Therefore, we may look to the scriptures of Taoism for inspiration. Like the Hindus, Numinists honor the One in many different forms and facets. Therefore, we can look to the works of the Hindus also.

Numinists honor the twin forces of the universe, the yin and the yang, the male and the female, space and time, as the Great Mother and the Heavenly Father. Numinists strive to see divinity in all things and to honor divinity in its many and varied forms. We refer to the Great Mother as Pomona, who tends the fruitful Tree of Life, and to the Heavenly Father as Vertumnus, the god of the changing seasons.