Medusa Speaks

Janus is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings, we find him still in modern culture in his namesake, the month of January.

Flowered Doorway from AllPosters

Doors and gateways look in two directions, so Janus looks both backward and forward at the same time. With his two faces, one regarding what is behind and the other looking toward what lies ahead, Janus represents the contemplation of an old year while looking forward to the new.

Janus symbolises change and transitions, the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, of one universe to another. He is the middle ground between barbarity and civilisation, rural country and urban cities, and the doorway between youth and adulthood. As the Guardian of Exits and Entrances, Janus also represents beginnings and, apart from planting season and harvest time, Janus oversees marriages and coming-of-age transitions.

Janus has no analogous Greek mythology, he was originally the much earlier Etruscan deity Ani, and the oldest lists of Roman Gods began with his name, divom deus, a very ancient form of Latin meaning the god’s god. His two faces, one usually bearded, one clean-shaven, originally represented the sun and the moon.

Cardea

Janus, with his ability to see both forwards and backwards at the same time, captured the beautiful nymph Cardea and gave her power over door hinges as a reward for her favours.

Cardea became the goddess of door hinges and handles, her name is from cardo, meaning door-pivot, and her power is to open what is shut – and to shut what is open. Cardea was honoured during June, another metaphorical hinge for the year.