Also called Hera Teleia, Hera Basileia, Queen of Olympus.
Their story
Pausanias tells that Zeus first won Hera by taking the form of a cuckoo caught in a storm, which she sheltered in her lap. Her great sanctuaries stood at Argos and on Samos, and each year near Nauplia her image was bathed in the spring of Kanathos, where she was said to renew herself.
Their day
Thursday. In modern practice, many give Hera Thursday alongside Zeus, since she rules beside him as queen of the gods.
Best times to give to them
- the month of Gamelion (January to February), the season of weddings
- the Theogamia, the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera
- before a wedding or anniversary
- Thursdays
What they like being given
- pomegranates
- lilies or other white flowers
- honey cakes
- incense such as myrrh or frankincense
- a libation of wine or grape juice
How to honour them
- Light a candle to Hera on a wedding anniversary and give thanks for the partnership.
- Place a pomegranate on your altar as a sign of lasting union.
- Speak up for women and wives who are treated unfairly, as an act of honour to her.
- Keep your commitments to your partner with dignity, as she keeps hers.
How they can help you
- marriage and committed partnership
- self-respect and dignity
- pregnancy and childbirth
- stepping into authority
Symbols
- peacock
- cuckoo
- pomegranate
- diadem
- lily
Later stories often show Hera as jealous, but in cult she was deeply honoured as the protector of married women.
More Greek goddesses
- Athena Grey-eyed goddess of wisdom and craft
- Artemis Lady of wild things and the hunt
- Aphrodite Foam-born goddess of love and beauty
- Hestia Goddess of the hearth and the home fire
- Demeter Mother of the grain and the harvest
- Persephone Queen of the underworld and the returning spring
- Hecate Keeper of crossroads and keys
- Selene The moon herself, driving her silver chariot