“Jana, Goddess of January
January is the month presided over by the goddess Jana, wife of the two-faced god, Janus. She, too, is often depicted as having two faces, one facing the past, and one facing the future. Jana is a moon goddess who presides over the great Wheel of the Year, doorways, childbirth, new beginnings and initiations. January comes from the Latin word, janua, meaning doorway, gate or path.”
~https://www.pinterest.com/krisoster/jana-goddess-of-january/
“It is the shortest day of the year. It is also the darkest. Winter Solstice at the Moab Slough is serene. I am here as an act of faith, believing the sun has completed the southern end of its journey and is now contemplating its return toward light.
A few hundred miles south, the Hopi celebrate Soyalangwul, “the time to establish life anew for all the world.”
At dawn, they will take their prayer sticks, pahos, to a shrine on the edge of the mesa and plant them securely in the earth. The pahos, decorated with feathers, will make prayers to the sun, the moon, the fields, and the orchards. These prayer feathers will call forth blessings of health and love and a fullness of life for human beings and animals.”
From Winter Solstice at the Moab Slough by Terry Tempest Williams
‘January God’
by Seamus Heaney
Then I found a two faced stone
On burial ground,
God-eyed, sex-mouthed, it’s brain
A watery wound….”
Read the rest of the poem and learn more about the Janus-like Celtic deity on Boa Island from Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland
You don’t need to go to Stonehenge to celebrate the magic of solstice.