Hera
our Lady Hera

Queen of Heaven

Daughter of flesh & time,n

lucina

prophetic         Complete

New Moon

Gem of the night

painting © 2004 Christa Landon
after ancient relief

Sometimes misidentified
as the birth of Aphrodite,
this Greek relief actually depicts
the bath of Hera,
by which she is annually renewed.

I sing of Hera, 
enthroned on gold,
Daughter of Rhea, 
the Earth,
Glorious and immortal queen, 
Elder sister 
and faithful wife of Zeus,
the Thunderer.
She is revered 
by all the Gods, 
honored 
even as equal to Zeus, 
lover of lightning.


Homeric Hymn to Hera

Transl. Christa Landon.
Orphic Hymn to Hera

You are ensconced in darksome hollows,
and airy is your form,
O Hera,
queen of all the blessed consort of Zeus.
You send soft breezes to mortals, 
such as nourish the soul,
and, O mother of rains, 
you nurture the winds 
and give birth to all.

Without you there is neither life nor growth:
and, mixed as you are in the air we venerate, 
you partake of all,
and of all you are queen and mistress.
You toss and turn with the rushing wind.

May you, O blessed Goddess and many-named queen of all,
come with kindness and joy on your lovely face.


The Orphic Hymns, trans. Apostoios N. Athanassakis
(Missoula MT: Scholars Press, 1977), p. 27.
Used with permission.

Hera's Blessing: The housewife presents Hera with household goods.
Extensively retouched photo of terra cotta tile.

©2004 Christa Landon

Correspondences:

color: white

attributes: all-seeing Eye, veil, peacock, cow, cuckoo, pomegranate, marjoram,
Month of June, tree of golden apples,
double-headed axe, scepter

Titles: Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Gods, Holy Mother, Goddess of the Winds,
Lady of the Air

Truly a Triple Goddess: Hera Parthenos: the girl Hera Teleia: Hera Fulfilled (ripe one,
mother/wife) Hera Chera: the solitary, Wise Old One

Virtues: dignity, watchful care, fidelity

rules: womanly power and leadership,
marriage, household management.

identified with the Etruscan Goddess Uni and the Roman Goddess Juno
identified with The Empress in the Tarot.

Child of Mother Rhea (flesh) and Chronos (Time).

History:

The name, Hera, simply means "Our Lady." She was the Earth Goddess of Argos.

Artifacts establish that a Goddess "Hera" was worshipped in Crete and its colonies on the Western coast of Anatolia (Turkey) and Samos in the Ionian Sea, long before the Hellenes brought Olympian worship. She was honored as a Triple Goddess with three 160 yard footraces for girls, marriageable women and mothers, and crones.

After Crete declined, her worship continued in Mycenean culture. Over time, patriarchal religion "married" Hera and many local Goddesses to Zeus, to legitimize his worship. By the Homeric period (800 bce), poets were engaged in reconciling all these myths, and attributed the many "Brides" of Zeus to infidelity. Some argue that the different names of these local Goddesses all referred to Hera.

Bibliography

Monaghan, The Goddess Path: Myths, Invocations, & Rituals. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1999.)

Philip E. Slater, The Glory of Hera: Greek Mythology and the Greek Family. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.
)
Merlin Stone, Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, vol. 2., 1984.
Christine Downing, The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine. (Crossroad, 1984.)



Last updated March 24, 2007