Hail Juno!
We honour now the numinous lady who is to be found in grove and forest.
May we come to know the space of quiet contemplation, the whisper of the breeze and the soft presence of divinity!
We are thankful for the beauty of nature and the quickening of enchantment.
Salve Iuno!

 

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As Jupiter possessed the cult-title Lucetius, Juno has the comparable epithet of Lucina – one she shares with her cognatic equivalent, the goddess Diana. Under this role, both goddesses are known as deities of childbirth, those who bring into the light. To associate Juno with the second Lucaria is speculation, but it based on the male-to-female pattern seen between both the Poplifugia-Nonae Caprotinae and the Neptunalia-Furrinalia, the feriae that belong uniquely to the month of July. Juno is also a deity connected to the grove (lucus, lucar), and her honouring on the second Lucaria may be suggestive of the ‘spiritual’ birth that will now predominate for the rest of the year.

We are also allowed to suppose that a temple of Concordia was founded on this day. Fragments in our oldest surviving Fasti suggest the day belongs to the goddess. This alone allows us to recognise both a feminine association with the second Lucaria but also the notion of concord or harmonious peace that is essential for a valid contemplation of the numinous.