Numen, Numina (plural)

Presence, one that is taken to be divine. “A local or presiding power or spirit,” per the Oxford English Dictionary. Originally the term “numen” referred to the disembodied presence of an unspecified god or demon (which once meant the same thing in Greek). It can also refer to an influence, commonly assumed to be “not of this world.” Greeks and Romans had shrines for Numina. In the OC, the Numen is how Kayin refers to the Ouranian. The Numen may appear as a voice in Kayin’s head, not unlike Socrates’ daimonion, but also as an influence that can “possess” the body of a shaman or healer, though for some unspecified reason the vessel is usually a female shaman, dream interpreter, or oracle—in other words, a Pythia. What makes the relationship between Kayin and the Numen peculiar in the OC is that Kayin steadfastly denies that the Numen is his First Self. In fact, Kayin insists that the Voice he hears feels alien to him.