Numinous? You what?

Jo Walton has written a nice piece over at tor.com entitled Fantasy and the Numinous. Go and check it out. She's elaborating on an earlier post, essentially talking about definitions of magic in fantasy fiction. She says, "By 'the numinous' I don’t mean magic as it can be codified in a magic system, I mean the kind of thing that genuinely makes you feel awe." It's a debate close to my heart, the same thing I was talking about in my earlier post Where does the magic live? ... but I think Jo's more articulate than me on the subject!