"I sing about golden-throned Hera, who Rhea bore, immortal queen, outstanding in beauty, sister and wife of loud-thundering Zeus; she is the illustrious one whom all the blessed ones throughout high Olympus hold in awe and honor, just as they do Zeus who delights in his lightning and thunder."

Homeric Hymn to Hera

	Originally a pre-Greek deity, Hera was the earth goddess of Argos. She was assimilated into the Greek pantheon as the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and the sister/wife of Zeus. Hera is consistently depicted as the vehement wife and mother who will punish and avenge the romantic escapades of her husband. She acts with matriarchal severity, and is the champion of morality and marriage. In ancient mythology, Hera is the guardian of the sacred marriage. Hera is also the goddess of childbirth and the home. Embodied, she represents abundance, harmony, community, and relationship. Hera is known to the Romans as Juno, and the Etruscans as Uni.
	Hera vibrates to the number three, or the idea of creative synthesis. The number three is embedded in the symbolism of many powerful trinities: the Maiden, Mother and Crone; the past, the present, and the future; the mother, father, and child; the beginning, the middle, and the end.
	Connected to the Empress in the Tarot, Hera is sometimes pictured as a winged goddess or embracing a golden eagle. This, as with all ancient bird images, represents the connection to spirit and the life force that soars beyond the physical plane. The Tarot Empress is in touch with the purest essence of femininity, with sensuousness, and with the love of beauty. She embraces the notion that the power of love is dearer than the love of power. If badly dignified, the Empress can represent unhappiness, selfishness, poverty and disruption of the home or family. Also, indecision, sterility and bad luck. May also indicate indecision.
	The Hera archetype manifests the energy of the Sun in Pisces that is imaginative and compassionate, tolerant and kind. A mutable water sign, it exemplifies the capacity to adapt readily to change and concerns itself with emotions and the welfare of others. This archetype is loving and can easily be influenced. There is an aversion to inflicting pain on others.
	When Zeus failed to deceive Hera, Io was turned into a white cow, and Argus set to guard over her. Argus, whose parentage is variously given, had many eyes (numbering from four in Aeschylus to one hundred in Ovid) and was called Argus Panoptes (the all-seeing) because his eyes never all slept at once. To rescue Io, Zeus sent Hermes, who lulled Argus to sleep by telling him stories, and then lopped of his head. Hera set Argus' eyes in the tail of the peacock, the bird with which she is especially associated.

HERA has nothing to do with STREGHERIA. She happens to be a Diety that I have always worked with and have been drawn to.