JUNO

Juno is the Roman Queen of Heaven, daughter of Cronos & Rhea, & the sister and consort of Jupiter who seduced her in the guise of a cuckoo.  Juno 
is the mother of Mars (Ares), Vulcan, & Hebe.  Mars is not the son of Jupiter, but was conceived when the Goddess Flora produced an herb and 
touched it to Juno, she became pregnant with the God of War.  This was done because Juno found out that Jupiter produced Minerva from his own 
head without the help of a mother, and when she complained to Flora, Flora aided her in this way and Juno produced Mars without a father.  
However, in Greek myth, Hera is the mother of Ares, but Zues is the father of Ares; on the other hand, Hera bears Hephaestus without male 
assistance.

Juno’s known period of worship was circa 400 BC to circa 400 AD.  Her Greek aspect is Hera.  Juno’s centers of cult were Rome, Sparta, & Haraeum.

Juno’s sacred animals are the peacock and the cuckoo, and she is usually depicted in majestic apparal.  Her chief festival in Rome is Matronalia, 
which is celebrated the first of March, the month of Mars.

Juno is associated with the Moon.  Malachite is sacred to the Goddess, Juno, whose sacred bird was the peacock.   A common feature of this green 
stone is the swirls of various greens that sometimes forms an “eye” in the patterns.  Sometimes called “peacock stones,” this particular pattern 
in the malachite was cut for jewelry or talismans to protect against the evil eye.  Also, amber has been linked to the Greek elixer, Ambrosia, 
which was kept in safe keeping by the Greek Goddess, Hera.

Juno is the Roman Mother Goddess protecting childbirth, marriage and women in general.  Wife of Jovis (Jupiter, whose Greek aspect is Zeus). 

Though generally equated with the Greek Goddess Hera, Juno was in fact a native Latin Goddess with a mythology of Her own; some has survived.  
Her disposition was also much different than Hera's, and Juno was accounted the wisest counselor and beloved wife of Jupiter, which she was not 
from the beginning of her worship. 

She actually started as a Goddess of her own right and was responsible for youth. 

There was a famous statue of Juno from the Etruscian city, Veii, which the Romans transferred in 296, before our time, to Rome after defeating 
the city.

The Church Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome was erected near the site of an old temple dedicated to Juno Lucina:  Even in the late Empire a temple to 
the Roman mother goddess Juno Lucina was still flourishing on the Esquiline Hill and was frequented by many Roman matrons approaching childbirth.  
It is highly likely that a church to the Virgin Mother of God was erected to supplant the enduring pagan cult of Juno Lucina.  In fact, some of 
Santa Maria Maggiore's marble columns came from the Juno Lucina temple, which was located, according to archeological findings, about 300 meters 
from the basilica's present site. (cited from: THE BASILICA OF SUMMER SNOWS by June Hager).

SOURCES:

Internet source:

Roman Goddesses Realm

Crystal Enchantments, DJ Conway

Encyclopedia of Gods, Michael Jordan

Who’s Who in Classical Mythology, Michael Grant & John Hazel

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