39 § The Solstitial Symbolism of Janus
W E have just seen that the symbolism of the two solstitial gateways existed in the West among the Greeks and, more especially, among the Pythagoreans. It was to be found likewise among the Latins, where it was linked essentially to the symbolism of Janus; and as we have already referred many time to this symbolism and its diverse aspects, we will consider here only those points that are more directly related to the last chapters, though it may be difficult to isolate them entirely from the very complex totality of which they form part.
Janus, under the aspect now in question, is the janitor who opens and closes the doors (januæ) of the annual cycle with the keys which are one of his principle attributes; and we recall in this connection that the key is an axial symbol. The
doorsthemselves are none other than the solstitial gates of which we have spoken. There can be no doubt about this; in fact, Janus has given his name to the month of January (januarius), the first month of the year, that with which it opens when it begins, as is normal at the winter solstice. Moreover, and this makes it still clearer, the feast of Janus at Rome was celebrated at the two solstices by the Collegia Fabrorum (the Guilds of the Artisans); and we shall shortly have to dwell on this point at greater length. Janus has already been mentioned as 'Master of threefold time' (an appellation applied likewise to Shiva by the Hindu tradition) and also as 'Master of the two ways', those of the right and of the left, which the Pythagoreans represented by the letter Y, and which are fundamentally identical with the deva-yāna and the pitri-yāna; and as regards the symbolism of the two ways, it should be added that there is a third, the 'middle way', which leads directly to Deliverance, and to which would correspond the undrawn upper prolongation of the vertical part of the letter Y; and this, again, is to be compared to what was said above about the third and invisible countenance of Janus (see p. 90).
The fact that Janus was the god of initiation is most important, not only in itself but also from out present standpoint, because there is an evident connection here with what we have said about the obviously initiatic function of the cave and of the other 'images of the world' which are its equivalents, and that is precisely what has brought us to consider the question of the solstitial gates. Furthermore, it is on this basis that Janus presided over the Collegia Fabrorum, these being the trustees of the initiations which, as in all traditional civilisations, were linked to the practice of the crafts; and what is altogether remarkable is that we have here something which, far from having disappeared with the ancient Roman civilisation, continued on without interruption into Christianity itself, and of which traces can still be found in our day, however strange that may appear to those who are ignorant about certain 'transmissions'.
In Christianity, the solstitial feasts of Janus became those of the two Saint Johns, and these are always celebrated at the same period, that is, within the immediate vicinity of the two solstices of winter and of summer; [1] and it is significant also that the esoteric aspect of the Christian tradition has always been considered as 'johannite', which confers on this fact a meaning that clearly goes beyond the simply religious and exoteric domain, whatever
may be the outward appearances. The guilds moreover were made, by regular transmission, the successors of the ancient Collegia Fabrorum, and throughout the Middle Ages they maintained the same initiatic status. This applies in particular to the guild of the builders, which thus naturally had as patrons the two Saint Johns, whence the well-known expression of 'Lodge of St John' which has been preserved by Masonry, this in itself being nothing but the continuation by direct filiation of the organisations we have just mentioned. [2] Even under its modern 'speculative' form, Masonry has likewise always kept, as one of the more explicity testimonies of its origin, the solstitial feasts consecrated to the two Saint Johns, these feasts having been consecrated to the two faces of Janus previously; and it is thus that the traditional lore of the two solstitial gates, with its initiatic connections, has been maintained, still living even if greatly misunderstood, down to the modern Western world.