Agonalia - Feast of Janus

The origin of the Roman God Janus is lost in time. Some say he was the son of Hecate and Uranus, which would make sense since Janus is seen as the protector of doorways and gateways and Hecate is associated with liminal places. Ovid wrote that Janus says:

The ancients called me Chaos. Watch me sing events long ago. This lucent air and the other three elements, fire, water and earth, were a single heap. Once the dissension of its matter had split the mass, which departed in fragments for new homes, flame headed for the heights, and next place took the air, earth and the ocean settled in mid-ground. Then I, who had been a ball and faceless hulk, got the looks and limbs proper to a God. Now, as a small token of my once confused shape, my front and back appear identical … Whatever you see around, sky, ocean, clouds, earth, they are all closed and opened by my hand. The world’s safekeeping belongs to me alone; only I have the right to turn its hinge … I sit at heaven’s doors with the gentle hours: Jupiter goes and comes through my office. Hence I am called Janus.

This type of origin story goes well with the concept of biocentrism which argues that consciousness is the ground of all being and is the primary source of the universe. The term “Watch me sing events” could describe how consciousness creates reality every moment. Ovid uses the term dissension, which means a disagreement, to split the mass of consciousness into matter which could represent the splitting or observation of quantum waves into particles. Janus owns the world’s safekeeping since all its elements are open and closed by his hand. His is the consciousness which keeps all the elements in their proper place and safeguards the consciousness we all share.

It is perhaps this type of disagreement which makes Janus also associated with social harmony and as the patron of civil and social order. Surely, social order must deal with disagreements in a civil fashion to create social harmony. This perspective on society is well worth contemplating and moving towards in our world today.

Janus’ two facing heads were seen as bringing humans from one state to another. From Ovid’s writings, Janus goes from formless to form, from chaos to order and was one of the first Gods invoked in Roman times since he was seen as a first God. He is a divine gateway to the kind of life that makes people happy. The Romans associated him in particular with social harmony (Concordia), good health, safety and well being (Salus), and peace (Araque Pacis)

As the God overseeing doorways, Janus is the one to honor during any transition. From childhood to adulthood, from one place to another, from one time to another, from one gender to another, from one sense of self to another. As a first God, he is honored at the beginning of anything, the day, the week, the month or any human activity.

Doorways are liminal places, between coming and going, past and future, inside and outside. Doorways are often protected so that bad things do not enter the home or building. In ancient Rome, the doors to the the Janus temple were open during war, so warring people could find their way home and closed during peace to help peace remain. Pagans may put a pentagram above the door to allow only good to enter, Jews put a mezzuah on the door post to remind them of God’s constant presence. Ancient Romans always brought out a body feet first, so that they could not return. At New Year’s Pagans often open the back door and the front door to allow any negative energy to leave and positive energy to come in. Janus could grace our modern doorways to promote harmony in our households and within our selves. We could see him blessings us as we leave the house for the day or for activities and blessings us when we return. When we find ourselves in some type of transition, we might call on Janus to keep it harmonious and civil. And finally, we can work with Janus to contemplate and evidence social harmony, good health, safety, well being, and peace to create happy lives.