nounplural noun numina/ˈno͞omənə/ /ˈnumənə/

• The spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or place.

  ‘the spirit of the place—its numen—was strong’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Carew's speaker chooses to drain the Christian supernatural of its numen.’
  • ‘I feel as if one massive exercise of reason burnt me out, and now I'm moving in a world of numina, moved not by will but by the application of force.’
  • ‘In the work of the late Swaminathan, the cultural symbols are converted to serve the elusive numen with a formal language.’
  • ‘As he wrote in ‘The Truth and Life of Myth,’ ‘The word numen I take from Rudolf Otto's The Idea of the Holy.’’
  • ‘It is able to do this because of the numen, the specific energy stored up in the archetype.’
  • ‘Whatever numen is cast in the appropriate role depends on the personnel to hand.’
  • ‘There was neither numen, nor fear, nor ecstasy.’

  Synonyms

  deity, god, goddess, mother goddess, divine being, celestial being, supreme being