Aeolyma: the mode of unveiling. The gushing forth of the unseen that stirs all things. The breath-surge that opens the veil. A scale born not of harmony, but of piercingâwhere revelation rides on dissonance and the beautiful, refusing to be resolved instead enters every wound, not to harm but to let there the hidden light become audible.
Abyssalwareness: this and that, unmoored. In the void. Marked by disorientation and awe-drenched clarity, the state of consciousness that arises when one is in attunement to the infinite depths of existence, confronting the vast, unfathomable nature of being. The simultaneous awareness of profound absence and overwhelming presence. A sense of time collapsing into eternity, where past, present, and future fold into a singular abyss.
Acedic: spiritual torpor or paralysis: inability to act or engage, stemming from a kind of soul-deep weariness or listlessness, linked to feelings of futility and stagnation.
Acta Sanctorum: "Acts of the Saints," an encyclopedic hagiography in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints conceived by Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde, continued after his death (1629) by Jesuit scholar Jean Bolland and gradually finished over centuries by the Bollandists.
Actuaria: short form of navis actuaria, "ship that moves", known by term akatos. Possible modification of actus meaning "act" or "motion", a force that propels action even in the face of absence or emptinessâa kind of spiritual wind that moves despite the apparent absence of anything to act upon
Ad astra per aspera: to the stars through difficulties
AdrĚŁsĚŁtĚŁaĚsrutapuĚrvatva: the state of never having been seen or heard before
Akenosis: divine self-emptying, inverted, as if instead of God emptying Himself into creation, the world is being pulled into a void that paradoxically has shape, weight, and agency. Voice.
Ala: the sting in the tail of a scorpion or bee
Alikula: a swarm of bees
Aliviruta: - song or hum of the bee
Ana: per Schindler's The Definition of Memory (p.231-236), Ana ("recollection") has two basic meanings: "to go backwards" and "to go upwards"
Anteadromia: a conceptual sibling to enantiodromia (the process by which things turn into their opposites). Primordial regression. The ebb-embedded flow. The always already retraced pause of hesitation before one is swept into transformation, unraveling the linear flow of one's life. An unbidden ontological return flight, fraught with awe, terror, and revelation.
Asmodeus: often viewed as a demon or fallen angel rather than purely celestial being, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Asmodeus appears as a figure of desire and destruction (see the Book of Tobit). Later demonologies depict him as a high-ranking demon, oft associated with lust and chaotic passions, though his role and symbolism vary (slip). His name appears in mystical and esoteric literature. See The Testament of Solomon, wherein Asmodeus claims he was thwarted by Raphael and reveals his role in spreading lust and destruction, targeting the righteous and instilling discord. He also claims knowledge of cosmic mysteries, implying that his knowledge is both forbidden and desirable, adding layer of esoteric allure. See The Malleus Maleficarum (1487 witch-hunting manual) in which he represents lust, seen as seducer who works not through overt possession but through whispering and tempting thoughts, subtly influencing the mind from the shadows. See The Zohar where he is sometimes associated with Samael, another figure of darkness, as a demonic force tied to lust, chaos, or impurity. Here he is part of the "other side" (Sitra Achra), a shadow aspect that contrasts with the holy, embodying forces that disrupt the divine order, reflecting a sense of holiness and unholiness entwined together in creation. Eliphas Levi's Transcendental Magic depicts him as a prince of demons who rules over carnal passions and discord, tempting humans away from divine alignment. Levi emphasizes the dual nature of spiritual beings â where Asmodeus embodies powerful energies that could, in differing contexts, lead to higher consciousness or profound loss. Dante's Inferno and The Ars Goetia / Lesser Key of Solomon are further potential sources.
AyugmasaĚra: out of multiple possible interpretations, "uneven essence" emerges, suggesting a negation (a-) of paired, symmetrical, or joined (yugma) essence (saĚra). A splitting of separation itself, a sinking or fainting into awe-steeped unity.
Chebar: river referenced in Ezekiel where he first encounters the "four creatures" who are part of a divine chariot or throne... (i.e., Cherubim) whose role is to carry the glory of God
Chion: "snow," blanketing silence, an Entity of Erasure to be certain, or a palimpsestic landscape where what lies beneath is hidden yet still present
Chiasmus:
Chimaeric: evokes the mythological chimera, a creature composed of disparate partsâoften grotesque and awe-inspiring, hybrid, multifaceted, inherently paradoxical, beyond understanding, ever-resisting coherence.
Chimeweres: a fusion of "chime" and "somewhere," conjuring both sound and place in a way that feels almost mystical, as though a location could exist through sound alone. It suggests an auditory geography, a place that exists in the tonal vibrations of bells or chimesâa "where" that cannot be mapped but is accessible through resonance somehow. The word "chime" also carries connotations of time (as with clock chimes) and cosmic regularity, here inverted, with the chimes marking places rather than moments, chimeweres that call to "those with ears to hear". The word suggests places that might be secret or hidden, barely accessible to those listening for something beyond or in between the frequencies, a haunted invitation echoing things forgotten, or calling forth things we're not meant to know.
Chirotheca: a liturgical glove of protection for mediation of sacred / ceremonial encounters, offering protection from / signaling reverence to the Numinous
Chironomy: the art of hand gestures, particularly in directing music or liturgical ceremonies. Many a failed chironomer have found themselves overwhelmed and at the mercy of the very powers they seek to direct.
Drumfail: off-kilter, failed performance of expected rhythms
Echryma: derived from Greek ekchýma meaning "outpouring", echryma suggests eternity flowing outward beyond the rusty container of linear time; the experience of saturation related to a graceful yet uncontrollable leakage of eternity into temporality, seeping through the cracks of chronology, pooling in the present moment and rendering it something uncontainable, like the outpouring of grace. In sum: the way the eternal is constantly bleeding into and reshaping the temporal.
En Absentis: a play on the Latin in absentia, meaning "in the absence of" or "while absent", referring to something intangible or elusive, hinting at a presence that is felt but cannot be grasped. In "wind en absentis, actuaria", a wind of emptiness that still acts, suggesting a force that's simultaneously present and not present
Entelegy: from entelechy (the state of full actualization) + elegy (reverent poem of mourning or lamentation). The mourning that arrives when something reaches its full actualization, the grief of burdens sloughed off, the bittersweet realization that to become is to leave behind.
Ibid: "in the same place"
Ibim:
Kindlikespitting: a kindness that is offensive somehow, or no longer appropriate
KoshakÄra: one who makes cases or boxes, a compiler of a dictionary, a silkworm (or the insect while in its cocoon)
Molingee
Myroblyte: a Christian saint from whose relics or place of burial flows Myron, aka oleum martyris, an aromatic liquid with healing properties. This exudation is referred to as myroblysia.
Naming: Per the Water Pages, a sacred act of communion with the fleeting ("to give name is to break bread with impermanence"). Naming isn't about fixing something in place, but rather an irreversible entry into the stream of its transience.
Negative numinosity: the mysterious awe-inspiring quality of the divine is present in its own overwhelming lack.
Negative plenitude: a weighty absence, the fullness of emptiness, the gravity of absence being so heavy as to feel undeniably like a presence
Nightwalk
Nomina sacra
Numinous: Otto's mysterium tremendum et fascinans
Obliterata: from the Latin root verb obliterare, which means "to erase," "to efface," or "to destroy". It carries the sense of wiping out or removing all traces of something. The ending -ata implies something that has been obliterated or wiped away, beyond recovery. The form Obliterata names a state or entity of erasure rather than just an act, transforming the concept of destruction into something with presence or agency. It conveys something sacredly, irrevocably lost â a near-numinous form of erasure pregnant with both finality and awe.
Oleum martyris: "Oil of the Saints" or "Manna of the Martyrs", an aromatic liquid with believed to be imbued with healing properties or said to have flowed, or still to flow, from the relics or burial places of certain Christian saints. These oils are or have been used by the faithful, with the belief that they will cure bodily and spiritual ailments, not through any intrinsic power of their own, but through the intercession of the saints with whom the oils have some connection
Quamion:
Phonomancy: the privy of phonomancers, oracular recipients of visionary experience conveyed through sound, a sort of prophetic or revelatory audiation. Seeing silence, knows.
Ribim
Rince: an ineffective or failed purification
Scholia: ancient commentary, notes, or marginalia on a text. Writ by scholars and scribes, these annotations explain, interpret, expand, and riff upon the obscure or difficult to provide insights, clarification, context, or further esoterically-intended obfuscations. Some wonder the unhidden unbidden secret lives that, echoing, respond to the core narrative.
Stromata: from the Greek word for "patchwork" or "miscellany"âa collection of varied and seemingly unrelated pieces brought together in a single work. A work composed of fragments, ideas, and reflections that refuse or happen to skirt linearity or coherence but instead form a mosaic of connected thoughts, themes, insights, and mysterious salience. Historically, the term is associated with Stromateis (or Stromata) by Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian work combining theology, philosophy, ethics, and spirituality in a scattered, non-linear fashion. This approach embraces multiplicity, inviting readers to make connections between diverse elements, letting meaning emerge through juxtaposition of fragments rather than through a single, unified narrative.
Stromata Obliterata: an esoteric or divine text that, in its fullness, was/is too vast, too numinous to survive in its original form. Instead, it exists in fragments or echoesâpieces eroded, erased, or rewritten by time, experience, or even by a mystical force that deemed it too overwhelming for human comprehension. It carries with it the paradox of something that is absent and yet still felt, like the ghostly imprint of knowledge that persists even after erasure. It may represent a text that, when encountered, leaves one marked by its absenceâa terrifying, awe-filled silence where the lost knowledge feels as if it could return at any moment, bringing with it an obliterating clarity.
Summa grand summa: sum of all sums, the highest high, the greatest great.
Tenuate: from tenuis (âfine, slender, thin; feeble, weak; slight, trifling; delicate, subtle, watery; [by extension] phantomâ)
Theoclaustrophobia: the feeling of being crushed or trapped not by the presence of God, but by the oppressive density of Godâs apparent absence.
Theohauntology: encountering the Divine as an experience of haunting, disruption, and transformationâan experience so intense it leaves ordinary existence disoriented and forever altered. Theohauntology grapples with the reality of God's presence and absence as something felt, yet ungraspable. God's presence is overwhelming, perhaps unbearable, as if reality itself buckles under the weight of divine proximity. This intimacy with the divine, rather than (or in addition to) brining comfort or clarity, often yields awe and terrorâan encounter with the numinous that reconfigures life, infusing it with beauty but also leaving it impossible to navigate as one has before. The divine absence paradoxically carries its own terrifying fullness, like an echoing void that exerts an oppressive weight, so charged that it feels like a Presence in itself. The concept draws together haunting, spirituality, and disorientation. The divine tears at the fabric of reality (itself), leaving characters and readers in a state of paralysis, ungrounded, and without direction. The "haunting" is not just ghostly, but a lingering presence that insists upon itself without ever settling into knowability. It is a fragmented mosaic of resonances, as if each piece might reveal more of this divine mystery, yet always keeps full understanding just out of reach. In other words, theohauntology is the attempt to weave together the Felt, the Unfathomable, and the Inescapable into a world where divine encounters resonate through absence, echoing within layers of reality.
Tombstoning: entry into the image of death, or the act of memorialization, a kind of permanent anchoring, an ongoing engagement with mortality as if unable to resist diving deeper into the liminal where death and legacy, endings and continuations, together swim. It is being enshrined, like a life (or a vision) committed to eternity.
Tremendum mundis: world-shaking divine awe
Uncreated crown: a concept that speaks. Speaking to the divine as the ultimate, un/manifest source of all existenceâbeyond creation, beyond form, beyond even being itself, the Uncreated Crown is an image of God as the pure, transcendent origin, untouched by the material or finite, existing in absolute and ineffable perfection. The term suggests a crown that is nevermade, symbolizing the highest, most unapproachable aspect of the divineâa crown not of any earthly or celestial ruler, but of the uncreated divine itself. It holds within itself all potential realities, yet it is so entirely beyond beyond them that it remains mysterious, unreachable, and unknowable. It is an apophatic artifact, a fullness paradoxically distant and overwhelming that crowns all things with meaning while remaining forever beyond comprehension. It embodies the idea of an ultimate Source that one can feel haunted by, in longing or terror, but never fully approach.
Wae: archaic word from Scots and Northern English dialects that means "woe" or "sorrow". It conveys deep grief, suffering, or lament as feelings almost out of time. Wae is a grief woven into the fabric of existence itself, a sorrow that resonates not merely personally but cosmically, as if part of the very essence of being.
Woebegone: stricken with sorrow, as if physically weighted down by grief or despair, a sort of gloom gloam blotting out all other aura. In another sense, woebegone is sorrow-as-companion, oddly tender and intimate, nearly cherished.
Xe: the sound of a dead bee. The quiet, nearly imperceptible hum of a creature once alive, now suspended in the stillness of its absence. A kind of lingering, resonant silenceâa reminder of energy stilled, of flight halted, of a life barely echoing in death. Like a residue of (adieu to) movement that has ceased but (aghast) hasn't entirely faded away, hovering in memory or perception. The sound of a dead bee is a veil of sortsâa faint presence of life in the echo of stillness.