Hail Jupiter!
Hail to our Lord of Light!
We honour thee as the essence of all the gods.
May we be mindful of these times
And connect the past with the future in dignity and renewing contemplation!
Salve Iuppiter!

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The January Ides, sacred to Jupiter, are the first Ides of the solar year. As with each month in the Roman calendar, they evoke the luminous apex (the time of the full moon) that is associated with the Lord of Light. These Ides are linked to the second Carmentalia by a dies intercisus or ‘split day’ as the Agonium (to Janus) on the ninth are likewise linked to the first Carmentalia. Another inference that connects Janus and Jupiter as interchangeable indigitations are the legends that name Juturna (= Carmenta) as the wife of Janus and the mistress of Jupiter. Jupiter and Janus are perhaps the original duo fratres arvales. The duality of the divine twins being affirmed calendrically as it is by the Romans in the month of January is perhaps encouraged by the month’s transitional or ‘bridging’ function between December, the concluding month of the solar year, and February, the last month of the sacral year.