numen \NOO-min\,
noun:
Divine power, especially one who inhabits a particular object.
This “liquid” flowing up his arm and out of the other was numen, the divine substance, the sacred spirit that lives in a certain place in the body and sustains us all.
-- Jonathan Carroll,"White Apples"
He was now fairly confident that a shrine, unlike a temple, would contain no resident numen.
-- Dave Duncan, "Present Tense (Round Two of the Great Game)"
Numen is derived from the Latin word nūmen meaning "a nod, command, or divine will or power."
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