January’s History
The first month of the Celtic and Greco-Roman Calendar
The great Germanic tribes like the Saxons, called the first month of the year wulf-monath, the month of the wolf. Among the Norse peoples, the Finns named the first month tammikuu, whose original meaning was the heart of winter and later also came to mean the month of the oak. January’s color is the deep blood red of the garnet and its flower is the red carnation. Red is the color of passion, life, love, strength, courage and certainty.
This powerful lunar cycle is named after Janus or Ianuaris whom the ancient Romans honored as the god of the threshold; guardian of entrances and exits. This wonder-full deity has two faces each looking in opposite directions. In this aspect Janus is both the guardian of farewells, completions and honoring the past as we lay it to rest and the prophet and auger of new or renewed visions; of beginnings and exploring the unknown; he is a seer of the future. He is also a foundation builder.
Often these processes take place either literally or metaphorically in the context of a threshold or crossroads experience. The word threshold is linguistically related to the word thresh. Threshing is the process of shaking, beating with a flail, or mechanically manipulating grains in order to separate or release them from their husks so that they may be cleaned and polished and made ready to nourish humans and animals. From a depth psychological perspective on the process of individuation, we 
could say that there are times when we are buffeted about by the fates, propelled or metaphorically “threshed” or “thrashed” toward an experience that shakes us to the core, and we may be thwarted in every attempt to escape or deny the given moment. Furthermore, deep wounding can occur on the journey toward a “threshold encounter,” experience, or endeavor. One may arrive at the starting gate, as it were, already battered and bruised yet this might be exactly the state necessary to be thrust out onto the road to individuation or pushed forward along a path leading to new levels of growth or deeper awareness. A threshold may serve as a guidepost to the border regions of the psyche. It can also clearly mark the borders of a given piece of territory whether geographic or interior to the Self. It is a point of exit or entry. It is the beginning or ending of an experience or undertaking. Crossing the threshold often takes great courage and faith in the moment for one may not know what lies ahead
As the overseer of new beginnings Janus was worshipped at the spring planting, before the harvesting, he was called upon to bless marriages, births, and to oversee rites of passage. He also accompanies us through our transitions and transformations. He is a bridge-being spanning the journey of human communities between the ancient, indigenous life and modern civilization, between the wilderness, the countryside and the city, between times of peace and times of war. He is a mediator and a peacemaker and his wisdom is still available to those who wish to open themselves to receive and experience it.