Before Pythia the Oracle, before Cassandra of Troy, we have Hera, queen of Mount Olympus, goddess of marriage, women, and family. Her connection to vision and sight is through her loyal watchman Argus Panoptes, many-eyed and vigilant.
When Argus was slain by Hermes, Hera placed his eyes on the peacock and made it her sacred bird. This immortalized the faithful servant. That’s worth remembering.
Argus was watching over Io, a priestess of Hera’s who was pursued and raped by Zeus, the king of Mount Olympus and the Greek gods, husband of Hera. For this trespass, Io was turned into a white heifer and placed under the watchful eyes of Argus. After Argus’s death, Io wandered the earth, tormented by a gadfly sent by Hera.
Even then, Hera showed no mercy or forgiveness.
Another important thing to remember here is Hera herself. Hera sees accurately. She exacts punishment. Unafraid to act. Even though the objects of her retribution are always the mortal women who didn’t invite Zeus’ attention, but got it anyway.
The goddess Hera is strongly associated with meadows. Scholars surmise she has roots as a fertility figure, so that makes sense. It also makes sense that Hera has an assortment of flowers in her meadow.
We can imagine Hera as a figure we know in our own meadow–the field that is our workplace or our institution, where we spend a lot of our time. Hera, as a fertility and nature goddess, presents as kind, warm, nurturing.
She is all of this. Until that way of being is tested.
The events with Io, one of her devotees no less, revealed another side of Hera. We see it nakedly when Paris, then an unknown prince of Troy and a shepherd boy, was made to choose. Three goddesses stood before him–Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite–who all claimed the gift of the golden apple. “To the most beautiful,” the apple was addressed. Paris chose Aphrodite, who promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.
Here, we see Hera’s wrathful face. She vowed to destroy Paris and his city of Troy, the destruction of which was foreseen and foretold by Cassandra, the sister Paris didn’t know he had. And Hera kept her promise.
Yet, Hera also has a meadow, where gentle animals frolic and beautiful flowers bloom. It is filled with lovely daisies, bright and uncomplicated, bringing simple, unadorned joy to those around them. It also has tall poppies, bright and proud, that get trimmed lest they get too tall.
In today’s world there are Heras among us. There are also meadows. Hera rules over the meadow. She and Argus, her faithful servant, oversee the order on the meadow. The variety of plants and animals is just enough. As any good overseer and gardener, Hera maintains beauty and order by trimming what she sees as excess and chaos.
Tall poppies beware. However gentle, however careful, all on the meadow know to heed Hera. With the many eyes of Argus on the peacock, Hera sees it all.
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