Daily Deity #23 Janus

There is a special reason that I'm doing the Daily Deity on Janus today.

The reason is because today is January 1st.

Okay, so that really wasn't that great of an explanation. A better one is the fact that January is named after Janus himself. January... Janus... You guys are smart, you can totally see the root of January is Janus.

So about Janus. He's an old Roman god. Unlike most of the Classical gods I have told about Janus is strictly Roman. And when I say old... well, he's old. Like way before Caesar and the Republic old. He may have been around even before Aeneas, or Aeneas could have brought him there. And while Janus has never held any particular affection in my heart, you kinda have to respect a god that has had such a long life.

Janus is known as the two-faced god. Not because he's tricky, which he is, but because Janus actually has two faces. One sticking out on opposite sides of his head. This is where we get the term "two-faced" when referring to a person being deceitful. Honestly, I'm not sure that that term is fair to Janus. I mean, yeah sure, he's known as being a trickster-y type of god, but that's kinda because of what his job description is.

Janus is the god of doorways. And while that actually does relate to going through doors it has a deeper figurative sense to it. Which is referring to the fact that doorways also means what path or direction you are going to choose which then sets you down on a path for the rest of your life or part of your life. To me that almost sounds like, for example, "Hey, the Fates are giving you two options, you can either be with this person for the rest of your life or you could be with this person. Your choice." Now did the Fates ever really do that? No, but that's the types of option that Janus could give a person.

But that's sounds a little bit harsh. When you add in Janus being both the two-faced god and the god of doorways it equals to him being the god of change. The popular meaning is that while one of his faces reflects on the past, the other looks to the future. And since he's also the god of doorways, that means that a person has a chance to move past the past, and get on with the future.

The cool part about that is the fact that January is named after Janus. I'm assuming that we all celebrated New Year's last night, or you know, acknowledged that it's now 2015. That's what New Year's is about right? Getting ready for a better year, getting ready for new chances and opportunities.

So whenever you have to make a hard choice this year, Janus might be standing right behind you. So choose wisely.