Numen

Word of the Day for Thursday, May 3, 2012

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."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/