broomcloset ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pagan Speak January 2001: Janus .Janus. I must admit, I was at a bit of a loss with this collaboration topic. The members of the Pagan Speak diary collaboration group were given two topics for the month of January: 1. Janus, the Roman God, or 2. New Beginnings. Now, I've never been one for the traditional New Year's. I've never really wanted to watch the ageless Dick Clark kick off the Gregorian new year in the Eastern Time Zone. (maybe that's because I never lived in the same time zone before, so everyone was yelling "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" at the wrong time...) New Year's resolutions always seemed a tad silly, as breaking the resolutions were more of a tradition than making them. Besides, how could anyone make a "new beginning" in the middle of the winter? Sure, the clock struck twelve, but it was still 3 months before the snow melted and the birds came back. (I live in Canada, remember? ;) This is why I didn't feel like writing about new beginnings. My new beginnings seem to coincide more with the time between Samhain, the Wiccan New Year, and Yule, the time of the returning light. The closing down of the old year, culmanating with the end of the harvest, and the dark hibernating time when nature goes within to itself to sleep and to heal before returning again in the spring seems more of a start to me than champagne and paper streamers. Is it just me? <|:) Now, Janus is not a god that I know much about. Some basic facts about Janus: Ancient Roman God of beginnings and activities related to beginnings. January is named for him as it is the beginning of the year. Janus is listed first in prayers. His name is invoked when sowing grain as this is the beginning of the crops. His blessing is asked at the beginning of the day, month, and year. source Janus, in "later" years of the Roman empire, was pictured with two faces. One looked back into the past, the other looked forward into the future. This intrigued me about Janus. What an interesting perspective he must have to look both forward and back at the same time - and I don't just mean visually. He would be constantly weighing the actions of the future against the lessons of the past. He would also be evaluating past actions and looking for improvement in the future. Would this ability be a gift or a burden to him? Would it give him peace or drive him mad? Would any of this even matter to a god? This unique perspective makes me want to read more about Roman and Greek mythology. The Greeks and the Romans were always very colourful with details about the goings-on of their Gods and Goddesses. But I'm not sure if I have ever heard anything about Janus. What does this mean? Was he a relatively calm god? Did he not fraternize with his sister's cousin's horse's owner's young virgin daughter like the rest of the gods? Did that past/future perspective of his have such a profound effect on how he conducted himself and the messages he gave to his devotees? I'm such a novice at Roman mythology, I can only speculate. But I'm inclined to find out more. May Janus bless the beginning and end of this diary entry. Blessed Be. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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