Hera

Culture: Ancient Greek   Domain: Marriage, women, family, queenship

Hera is Zeus's sister and wife and queen of Olympus, goddess of marriage and of the household. Myth remembers her chiefly through her anger at Zeus's infidelities, but earlier and broader worship, especially at her great sanctuaries on Samos and at Argos, honored her as a powerful goddess of civic and married life in her own right, not only as a jealous wife.

Associations

Marriage and fidelity, the peacock, the cow, the pomegranate, queenship, protection of women through life's stages.

Ways people honor her (modern)

• Renew commitments or vows with intention and follow-through
• Tend a household altar or shared domestic space with care
• Offer pomegranate, milk, or flowers
• Read her cult at Argos and Samos as a corrective to her purely mythic portrayal

Approach any deity with respect and do your own research. Practices vary widely between traditions, and modern devotional practice often goes beyond what survives in ancient sources.