Janus – etching, 40 x 37.5 cm.

Good grief, it’s already the end of January! Christmas was only yesterday. I’ve meant to write this all month because my thoughts have been frequently circling around the notion of looking back and looking ahead while standing over a gate like a moment in time. This made me think of Janus and of this etching, one of a small series of prints I made on the Janus theme over two decades ago. (They can be found in the archives under “Older Works”.)

Janus is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua), beginnings and endings, and hence represented with a double-faced head, each looking in opposite directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events in a person’s life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young people.

Still seems pretty relevant, doesn’t it?
Janus is also the sixth satellite of Saturn. I wonder if that has any astrological or other significance on us earthly subjects?