Janus maintains a place of slight remembrance on our calendars — Januarius (pertaining to Janus) — but his occupation at the start of the year is no accident. New Year's Day is sacred to Him. Pater Matutinus¹ — father of the morning, son of light — came before Jupiter and all of the other Roman gods that the modern world so readily remembers. Janus is the God of Gods.

Also called Janus Patulcius, the opener, and Janus Clusius, the closer, his images are painted and engraved on thresholds, gates, doors and arches. They are His natural realm, as a ruler of Time/Space/Mind. Standing under the lintel, He commands the present, with the past and future spread out behind and before Him. Janus' two faces (or very often, two separate heads) sometimes show a clean-shaven youth gazing naively toward the future, and a somber bearded sage reflecting on the wisdom of the past. Nothing hides from the far-sighted vision of Janus. He minds journeys, beginnings and endings, and success. A god of prophecy, he reconciles opposites. His white thorn rod, placed in a window, keeps evil away².

Janus came to Rome from the ancient Italic Sabine tribes who inhabited the areas of Lazio, Umbria, and Abruzzi in Northern Italy. The godform of Janus remained wholly Roman, with no Greek counterpart. He evolved from Dianus, an oak god. One of his wives, Jana, is a version of Diana (Dione), the moon and woodland goddess. His parents were Aurora, bringer of light, and Orion, the mighty hunter and fire-setter. Interestingly enough, Janus is also associated with Lucifer, another fire and light diety.

Janus guarded the entryways to every Roman home, and the gates of every Roman city. The blessings of Janus where implored before every business venture, marriage, war, coronation... pretty much before every activitiy of Roman life. His two faces were stamped on every Roman coin. He is called Matutinus (morning), as He greets every rising sun.

Modern playing cards still hold his image in the two-faced jack. His tarot aspects are seen in potential beginnings and endings of deuces, far-sighted kings and venturing knights. One of Janus' important symbols is also embedded in the Hierophant card dressed as a pontiff, whose outfit derives from "the pomp of the Babylonian costume, as Belshazzar himself might have done, in robes of scarlet, with the crosier of Nimrod in his hand, wearing the mitre of Dagon and bearing the keys of Janus [time/space] and Cybele [growth/regeneration]." ³ The protector of trade and shipping, Janus is often depicted with His set of keys in one hand, and a staff or sheaf of corn in the other. His image was engraved not only over the lintels of doors, but on docks and the prows of ships, to protect sailors and merchants in their comings and goings.

During the reign of Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus — 75 - 86 a.d.), Janus acquired two more heads, and became known as Janus Quadrifons (four-sided). Not only in charge of minding the past, present and future, He was now put in charge of the seasons of the year, holding the number 300 in one hand, and 65 in the other. It might be His way of saying that Life isn't even-handed.

Janus' place of worship began as an archway through which the Roman army marched to and returned from war. His temple stood on the Janiculum (the Hill of Janus), one of Rome's seven foundational hills. Each side of this temple contains one doorway and twelve windows representing the four seasons and the months in that season. Inside were twelve altars, one for each month. In times of war the temple gates were kept open to allow easy access for offerings to the god. In times of peace, the gates were closed. Not surprisingly,this only happened a handful of times in warrior Rome's seven hundred years.

Janus Quirinus, which our ancestors ordered to be closed whenever there was peace, secured by victory, throughout the whole domain of the Roman people on land and sea, and which, before my birth is recorded to have been closed but twice in all since the foundation of the city, the senate ordered to be closed thrice while I was princeps.
—Augustus Res Gestae 13

Though images of Janus are plentiful, there aren't many stories. One, according to Ovid⁴, involves his accidental meeting of the flirtatious nymph Cardea. She was a saucy one, who delighted in tempting a suitor to enter a cave before her with the promise of favours. He would ready himself for a hot time, and then Cardea simply skipped off. Such a tease! She tried the same trick on Janus, but forgot that two heads are better than one. Janus had eyes in the back of his head. Being a god of prophecy, He knew Cardea's plan and caught the nymph before she could flee. Janus rewarded Cardea with the power to scare off the strigæ and lamii, the nocturnal vampires. He also endowed Cardea (whose name means "she of the Hinge") with His own protective power "to open what is shut and shut what is open", — a generous lover, Janus.

As we enter each new year, think on Janus with a Roman prayer:

Matutine pater, seu Jane, libentius audis, unde homines operum primos vitaeque labores instituunt, sic dis placitum, tu caminis esto principium.
— Satires II 6.20-3 by Q. Horatius Flaccus

1. (HORACE, Sat. ii. 6, 20, p. 674)
2. MARCUS SULLA, Secespita (The Sacrificial Knife), A Roman Book of Blood Sacrifice
3. (HISSOP, The Two Babylons, Sec. I, The Red Dragon, para 30 and notes)
4. (OVID, (Fast. vi. 101, seq.)