January is named for Janus, avatar of the liminal, guardian of the gateway, opening the door to the new year. So was January 1st the New Year for everyone? Romans established it but the feast of Janus is for some reason January 9th, and also the earlier Roman calendar contained only ten months, with the new year starting at the Kalends (new moon) of March. They later assigned January 1 as the New Years day, and expanded the year to twelve months. The rest of Europe followed. Yet it wasn't actually January 1 as we know it today, it was the Kalends, the New Moon of Ianuarius (Latin - "doorway month"). So by that count, the new year of 2010 starts on January 15. More traditional New Years days:- The old Celtic New Year begins on Hallows eve at dusk. Some modern Witches also celebrate Halloween (Samhain) as the New Year.
- In ancient Egypt, new year comes around Summer Solstice, the time of the annual flooding of the Nile, when the star Sirius rises at sunrise.
- The old Athenian calendar began at new moon following summer solstice.
- Chinese New Year will come at a new moon following the winter solstice.
- India has a different New Year's Day for every region!
For most of us in the western world, New Years Day is the 1st of January, the month of Janus (from the Latin ianua, "door") a backward and forward looking god of doorways and thresholds.
Doorways, thresholds, liminal places brings to mind a most talented writer and photographer, Catherine Kerr. I've followed her nature blog, Beyond the Fields We Know for years, amazed at how aptly she articulates my own visceral experiences during my jaunts in the woods. I share her fascination with what she calls "twilight" places, passageways beyond which "lies something rich and strange, a dimension which is... extraordinary, enlightening...ecstatic, exhilarating and absolutely terrifying" where dragons lurk "just beyond the portal, but there are also wonders to be seen, and wisdom, adventure..."
Where are these portals that inspire a tingling sense of anticipation, that beckon us to explore? Open doors, gates, hearths and chimneys, mirrors, windows, shorelines, woodland arcades, tree holes, winding leafy hidden pathways...
Janus is guardian of them all. He is also a god of liminal time, the boundaries between past and present, endings and beginnings, sunrise and sunset. He holds the keys to unlock the doors between worlds, leading to rich secrets just waiting to be discovered.
The Tarot might be considered one of those keys. Last week's cards (Hermit and Sun) showed us a kind of Janus, two faces of the ending and beginning year. This week, 8 of Swords:
All this snow and especially the cold is binding me from going anywhere and I do miss my favourite traipsing spots - I'll bet they're a winter wonderland now! Also I'm holding myself back from engaging in life to the fullest, each sword representing an "excuse" such as "it's too cold...I don't want to drive in this weather...I'm sooo tired...I don't know anyone else whose going there/doing this...he doesn't want me to travel so far...I don't have anything to contribute to this gathering...it'll keep me from getting this other crap done...it might be boring/ unfulfilling/ too expensive after all..."
Also the blindfold keeps me from seeing the opportunities in the first place. Yet there are spaces between the swords, yes, this fence does have a gate! and, even blindfolded, I can find my way out of the mental quagmire that holds me back, if I just apply my intuition and will.
I know there are outdoorsy types who venture out snowshoeing and hiking and even camping in the cold and snow and I much admire and salute these hardy souls. They have not let a fort of sword "no's" keep them from doing what they want to do. I too can step through the spaces and be free.
But not today. Temperatures of blow zero windchill can turn even a prison into a sanctuary. So like the 8 Swords bear in the Shapeshifter deck, I think I'll rest for a little while longer.
