Symbols - What does heaven look like
Janus
Janus was a Roman deity who is represented with two faces joined along the line from ear to jaw, the two faces looking in opposite directions.
It is a symbol denoting that balance has been reached between the Conscious and the Subconscious mind. The faces looking to the left and right take on the symbolism of left and right - see Brain split. The added symbolism is that the balance so obtained gives a person the abilities to prophecy [look forward] and look back at past lives or events [perception recall]. Where a third head is present looking forward it means that theperson knows themself - they also know their destiny.
The following description is also helpful
A Dictionary of Symbols - J E Cirlot
Like all symbols facing right and left at the same time, Janus is a symbol of wholeness – of the desire to master all things. Because of its duality, it may be taken to signify all pairs of opposites - that is, to be equivalent to the myth of the Gemini. It seems that the Romans associated Janus essentially with 'destiny, time and war'.
His faces were turned towards the past and the future, denoting both awareness of history and foreknowledge (the two-headed eagle has a comparable significance). But, as Guenon has rightly pointed out, two heads are, in fact, hindrances to the knowledge of true destiny, which lies in the 'eternal present'. This explains why many peoples (those of Northern Europe for example) invented similar symbols but with three heads arranged in the form of a rotating triangle, after the fashion of Janus, but with a third head facing forward. Triform Hecate is represented in this way.
It is worth noting that wherever the symbol is used within an Eastern depiction, it may not have the meaning described above. Instead it may be a depiction of the Trimurti.
Observations
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- Bloomfield, William - The Dreame of Mr Blomefeild
- Boehme, Jacob - Dialogues between Disciple and Master - The eye of eternity
- Coleridge, Samuel Taylor - Time Real and Imaginary
- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - Blindfold
- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - Janus and Hecate
- Indus valley - Harappa - 04 Seals and script
- Intelligences - ELEMENTS EARTH MOTHER Ninhursag
- Nuremberg Chronicle - Janus
- Palenque - Mayan - Lady Zak Kuk
- Schulz, Charles - Janus
- The Knights Templar - Royston Cave
- Uxmal - Mayan - Governor's Palace
- Wang, Wen-Lu’s Embryonic Breathing method
- Zosimos of Panopolis - The Mushaf as-suwar - 2nd Book of Names
- Zosimos of Panopolis - The Mushaf as-suwar - 7th Book of the Mercuries picture 3