Epigenesis

n. development of an organism from a single undifferentiated cell through a gradual process of cell division and differentiation into organs (Biology); change in the nature of a mineral which is brought about by external forces (Mineralogy)

Epigenesis can refer to one of the following:In geology, changes in the mineral composition of a rock because of outside influences, e.g. the injection of a vein of ore into existing rock.Epigenesis (biology) describes morphogenesis and development of an organismEpigenesis (creative intelligences) is the philosophical/theological/esoteric idea that since the mind was given to the human being, it is this original creative impulse, epigenesis, which has been the cause of all our development
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Noun
1. a geological change in the mineral content of rock after the rock has formed
(hypernym) metamorphism

(n.)
The theory of generation which holds that the germ is created entirely new, not merely expanded, by the procreative power of the parents. It is opposed to the theory of evolution, also to syngenesis.
  

Epigenesis [from Greek epi upon + genesis production] A biological theory of generation which holds that the embryo is created from the original germinal elements by a process of gradual evolution, i.e., by a passage from a relatively homogeneous condition to a specialized condition through a process of differentiation. This replaced the older idea of encasement according to which the future organism existed entire, but of microscopic dimensions, within the ovum, and was afterwards merely enlarged; and it also replaced the idea that the organism was formed by a relatively sudden accretion of parts derived from the corresponding organs in the parents. It thus accommodated embryology to the modern theory of evolution. It is open to the objections that by attempting to view growth as a purely physical process, development is made to appear as a process of accretion or adding together, instead of as a process of unfolding; and suggests the notion that something entirely new can be formed by such an additive process. But nothing can be formed unless it has previously existed in entirety, though on a subtler plane of materiality; and the coming together of physical elements is merely the filling in of a plan that has already been sketched. The astral prototype of the physical organism, seeking incarnation, draws together the physical elements required, using the procreative processes as a means. The older theory of encasement contains as much truth as the epigenesis theory, though distorted by a too physical and theological view of the process. See also EMBRYO