A character study: Janus

The next in my series of character analysis for the upcoming movie “The conjuration of Victor Dee Strider"

Mysterious,Ever watchful and Knowing,Janus presides over the concrete and abstract beginnings of the world, such as religion and the gods themselves, he too holds the access to Heaven and other gods: this is the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the God or Demon they want to placate.He only wants the doorway and the crossroad to be kept pure,and the correct forms to be observed.High Handed,Kind and Cruel depending on what face he shows,Victor is an Ant to this God of old,and he knows it.

Janus means "archway" in Latin. Janus was the Roman god of gateways and beginnings, often depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions. The month of January is named for him.As a god of motion he looks after passages, causes the starting of actions, presides on all beginnings and since movement and change are bivalent, he has a double nature, symbolized in his two headed image.His two faces (originally, one was always bearded, one clean-shaven; later both bearded) originally represented the sun and the moon. He was usually depicted with a key. Janus head is a popular phrase for deception, that is, when action does not match speech.He can be found at any Bridge,Crossroad or Doorway and is the initiator of the human life, of new historical ages, and economical enterprises: in myth he first minted coins and the as, first coin of the liberal series, bears his effigy on one face.

He knows this and Holds himself as such,proud,Stiff upper lip,The forms must be observed with him or you get nothing. Janus was actually known as Janus-Bifrons to the Magicians of old,In demonology Bifrons was a demon, Earl of Hell, with six legions of demons (twenty-six for other authors) under his command. He teaches sciences and arts, the virtues of the gems and woods, herbs, and changes corpses from their original grave into other places, sometimes putting magick lights on the graves that seem candles. He appears as a monster, but then changes his shape into that of a man.He knows this and has used it to his advantage time and time again.Often found in a Robe,carrying a set of Keys,but today, often as not, he prefers a three piece suit of the Business man on the move.



You see,it is known that a temple of Janus is said to have been consecrated by the consul Gaius Duilius in 260 BC after the Battle of Mylae in the Forum Holitorium. It contained a statue of the god with the right hand showing the number 300 and the left the number 65—i.e., the length in days of the solar year, and twelve altars, one for each month,he was saddened for a time that temples are no longer set up in his name,but then a deal was struck with the head of the Janus Capital Group,and now his face and name are spoken of daily in the Halls Money and Commerce.Still powerful after so many years,he is a force to be reckoned with...This is our Janus !