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I've been thinking a lot about this over the last month
or so, and I think I've finally got a handle on who Hera is,
the particular activity or sphere over which she presides,
the golden thread running through all of her manifestations
and uniting them into a recognizable whole which we may
grant the name "Heraean". And no, it is not marriage,
although that is perhaps the most profound manifestation of
this. Actually, it's change, growth, transformation. Hera is
a catalyst, an outside force which sets things in motion,
which nurtures growth and the transition from one state to
another. Her very name itself is said to be connected
entymologically with the Horai or Seasons, in whose company
she is frequently depicted. She is the embodiment of this
seasonal change: the Argives said that each spring, Hera
would bathe in the river Kanathos to regain her virginity,
and at Stamphylos she was gifted with the names Pais,
Teleia, and Khera, representing the lifecycle of the human
female. Yet it is signifigant that one step is left out -
mother. And that is because she is not a manifestation of
the nurturing, fruitful earth out of which all material
substance arises and to which it must inevitably return. No,
Hera is the force that acts upon that substance, which
causes the lillies to bloom, young girls to grow into women,
cows to give birth in the proper season. But none of these
happen within her, from her, but rather she is the force
that acts upon them, from outside, like a potter shaping
clay at his wheel, or a maiden plaiting a garland of flowers
she intends to offer on Hera's altar at her marriage. And in
the lives of most women in antiquity, this was the single
biggest transition that they would make, for without it,
they could not become women. In ancient Greek, the word for
bride and woman is the same. So, in that sense, Hera watches
over them as they transition into fullness, as they pass
from girlhood into womanhood, like Artemis, with whom she
shared the epithet Kourotrophos. Similarly, marriage
itself is transition, bringing two separate lives, two
separate families and households together into one - thus
Hera was also called Zygia, the "Uniter". This
requires constant change as one alters everything about
their lives: how they act, how they eat, how they sleep, new
responsibilities, when and where they may come and go, who
they may associate with, and how they may associate with
them. Marriage is never a static thing, and two people can
spend a lifetime getting to know each other and becoming
comfortable with the person who emerges. Also, this role
applies to the role of heroes, whose name also has been
linked with that of Hera. Consider the greatest hero known
to the Greek world, Herakles, whose name means either "glory
of Hera" or "one made famous through Hera". And indeed that
was the case, because at every step of the road Hera was
there, driving him on, throwing obstacles in his path,
challenging him, forcing him to become stronger, wiser, and
more courageous - or else to become destroyed by the
Goddess, like an impure piece of metal bursting under the
pressure and fire of the forge. But Herakles was worthy of
the challenge, and at the end of his trials, ascended to
Olympos and was met by Hera who gave him her daughter Hebe
as his immortal bride. We see this too in her interactions
with Dionysos - who is the force of life upon which Hera
acts. And that action, when experienced personally, and
especially by those who are resistant to the process, may
seem like persecution, madness, suffering - but it is really
transformation and growth into fullness, a testing of the
will. And those who come out the other end, pure and full,
are truly worthy of being called Teleia and Hero.
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