And as the rain fell, the light came again, and a rainbow appeared in the sky, shedding its light upon all things. 2And whereas all things had been Silver, now they took on every hue and colour, and the world was beautiful; but it was not so beautiful as it had formerly been. 3And She set Her Seven Powers in the firmament, giving one to rule each color of the earth.
-“The Creation”. The Clear Recital
A Jana (Jana- portal, gate. Plural- Janati) is a divine, untarnished and unmarred reflection of a specific aspect of Dea.
There are many janati recognized by Deanic branches and devotees around the world as beings whose role is fundamental and primordial to the manifestion of the universe, but highest and most worthy of all are the seven referred to simply as the Seven Great Janati, often referred to by name along with the titles of ‘Agia’ (most holy), ‘Lady’ (female royalty), or the older, Filianic ‘Sai’ (Sanskrit- Sri, ‘divine being’).
The Janite faith teaches that Dea is One, Three and Seven per our scriptures, creed, and catechism. This signifies that She is a singularity, a trinity and a septet. In Her septet form, She is the Seven Great Janati. To know and love them is to know and love Her. The septad-Goddess is a pattern of feminine Divinity that repeats through all of human history, and we give honor and glory to the prayers of our ancestors by continuing this beautiful faith-tradition.
Their harmony and divinely joyful play created, creates, and will create all color and physicality of material existence, and from Their love is born the many lesser Janati, who are Their daughters.
(While the true meaning of the terms ‘Goddess’ and ‘Goddesses’ are quite accurate when used in reference to Jana and Janae Greater and minor, it’s important to note that, in the past, we tried to avoid the terms ‘goddesses’ or ‘angels’ when referring to the seven Great Janati, which as a whole are a concept unique to the Deanic faiths. Western minds have had very specific and embedded beliefs when it comes to the terms ‘goddess’ and ‘angel’, and those beliefs did not accurately describe the Divine nature of the Great Janati clearly. However, cultural mindsets and beliefs change, and as the Divine Feminine re-enters the shared consciousness of global humanity, the term ‘Goddess’ has begun to come back to the majesty and honor that it deserves.)
The Seven Great Janati, from here on referred to simply as ‘the Janati’ on this page, help us “narrow down” the massive scope of Dea’s all-encompassing Nature into more streamlined figures that are easier to process at once for our limited, child-like mortal minds. They are the source of a pattern that repeats through every culture and faith; the Seven Pleiades, the seven Matrika, the Greek Titanides, and even to more mundane reflections such as the seven modern days of the week that descend from older, more sacred traditions, as well as so many more.
14And She said to them: Do not forget your sisters of the earth, but move yourselves among them and hear their voices; lend them succour and breathe with them in their upward aspiration. 15And when a soul in true devotion passes from the earth, lead her to the portal of Heaven and the garden of Avala, and give her rest, and provision her with treasures of the Spirit to help her on her way.
-“The Creation” The Clear Recital
So, when we pray to Sai Thema, for example, or when we ask for the mighty help of Sai Vicka; when we honor Sai Candra as Matroness of priestesses, or appeal to Sai Rhea for help in patience or self-restraint; when we ask Sai Sushuri-Grace for healing or need Sai Mati-Sageโs assistance with wisdom; when we consciously open our minds and hearts to the joy of Sai Theia…we are praying to Dea Herself.
They are the same as the Trinity. They are the nature of the Godhood.
From an essay by Arch Madria Sophia:
“The seven planetary streams, or powers, represent the Essential bases of manifestation. That is, what things inwardly are, rather than how they happen to be manifest in physical matter.
They represent the Essential (or if one prefers, informational) content by which all earthly forms are shaped. Everything that is, is fashioned by one or more of these great Essential streams.
In the first place, let us be clear that the Janyati are not โforcesโ or โenergiesโ conceived after the model of Newtonian physics (and dearly beloved of New Age movements). They are Intelligences.
They are not people like us, it is true. But they are something more than people, not less than people….we are speaking here of Intelligences immeasurably greater than ourselves. They have everything we people have, magnified a thousand times, and they have many qualities we cannot even conceive of.
To picture them as something akin to people may not do them justice, but to picture them as something impersonal, like a force of nature, would do them infinitely less justice. They are everything we are and much more.
In the second place, let us remember that we are dealing with an intelligent, not an accidental, universe. The things below mirror the things above. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm. While the Janyati are very different from us, they nonetheless have a common measure with us. Just as we are made in Godโs image, so are they. Indeed they are far closer to the Dea-nature than we are, and in a sense, we may say that each Janya is Dea, in a certain aspect. That is why the translation โgoddessโ is in some sense as appropriate as โangelโ (Minna’s note- this is true only if the listener/speaker has a clear understanding of what meaning they put behind these words.)
AM. Sophia goes on to mention- “Of note: The word โinfluenceโ means, originally and literally, a โflowing-inโ from the โstarsโ, or celestial beings.”
They are the Seven Spirits of Dea.
They are the Seven Natures of Dea.
They are the Seven Streams of Dea
To speak of Dea as the Empress of Creation is to acknowledge that all things flow from Her, and all things are upheld in Her. The Seven Great Janati are the royal ministers, the Sustaining-Queens through whom Her governance becomes manifest. They are the living principles of order and vitality, each bearing a stream of Her nature into the worlds. Their ceaseless procession is the dance that shapes the cosmos โ a dance mirrored in the seven planets of antiquity, the sevenfold modes of music, the seven colors refracted from visible light, and the sacred number seven that appears across civilizations.
When we look back into the mythologies of the world, we find that the pattern of Seven has often been bound to the feminine and the divine. The ancient Sumerians told of the seven goddesses of birth, called the Sebittu in later texts, who oversaw the process of life entering the world. In Egypt, the Seven Hathors were invoked at childbirth and destiny, holding sway over the fates of mortals. Among the Phoenicians, Astarte was attended by seven maiden-spirits who carried her power into the sea and sky. In the Hittite traditions, the mother-goddess Hannahannah had seven daughters who moved with her through the cycles of fertility. Even in Christian hagiography, the cult of Saint Anne sometimes portrays her as the matriarch of seven daughters, each becoming the mother of a saint, echoing the septad pattern of generative queenship.
These examples show that the number seven has been a vessel for divine femininity across times and cultures. The Janati belong to this lineage of vision, yet they are not simply echoes: they are the very archetype from which those echoes arose. When Dea shines forth as Seven, She establishes an order by which all creation can be sustained, harmonized, and sanctified.
To approach God through the Janati is to meet the Divine Mother in a form that resonates with the human soul. One may come to Agia Thema for harmony and cohesion, to Agia Candra for contemplation or matters of the spirit, to Agia Vicka for strength of character or bravery in action. Each of these Queens represents a path into the Whole, guiding us by their specific quality while never ceasing to be the stream of Dea Herself. Just as a great ruler governs through her trusted ministers, Dea touches the worlds through these beings who both serve and embody Her.
The presence of the Janati is woven into the very fabric of our lives. They are heard in the intervals of music, seen in the hues of the spectrum, traced in the cycles of the planets, and remembered in myths of goddesses who travel in sevens. To honor them is to recognize the patterns of harmony and intelligence that underpin existence. Their dance is not an abstraction but the continual rhythm of creation itself, and in turning toward them in prayer, we align ourselves with that rhythm.
The soul does not stand alone before infinity. It is welcomed into a circle of loving, immanent powers who sustain, guide, and protect, all beneath the Holy Mother of Creation who is their Source. The Seven remind us that divinity is not remote: it moves constantly through the cosmos in streams that nourish, sustain, and call us home.
Why are they important to our faith?
The Janati are the Supernal Genetrixes, Guardians or Wellsprings of the Seven Streams of Life and Virtue. They are the Seven Faces/Powers/Spirits of Dรฉa, Our Divine Mother God, in rarefied angelic form.”
-Madria Pamela L.
It’s hard to fathom the literal Mistress of All Things, and so the Seven often feel easier to approach and connect spiritually with. Having Their own domains and living as Her streams of force, we find comfort and peace in the knowledge that They are all our Mother, and thus everything that is true for Her (like loving us unconditionally and “delighting in giving Her Grace”) are also all true for Them as well.
The Janati rule over the seven colors of light as well as the classical planetary forces and traditional elements, as They are the primordial roots of those powers; the ordering of the planets and the metaphysical realities of our world reflect Them and the infinite interplay of Their laughter.
In addition, their portrayal of the seven great virtues gives us a guiding light in the darkness of our current times, and another means to individualize a pathway to deity by approaching Them rather than the seemingly abstract nature of the sheer majesty of Dea Herself.
The ancient historical religious traditions of seven sister powers- the seven Muses, the seven handmaidens of Frigg, the seven sister of the Pleiades, the seven Matrikas, and many more -echo their divine harmony. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm, the moving spokes of the wheel reflect the still center, and so earthly faiths cannot help but reflect Their truth in countless ways.
Their holy names, often containing aspects of multiple ancient languages, reflect the belief of ‘all being one’; that all languages are beautiful shadows of the first music of creation. But there are ‘thousands of thousands’ of names and epithets for each; some known and many not.
Below, I have summarized the classical and thealogical information about them into simple introductions for ease of understanding. After all, the simplest thing is often the truest.
The Great Janati
Matricia Vicka (Sai Vikhรซ, Lady Victory), The First Flame
Lady Vicka is the Opener. The cutting edge, and the strength to endure. She is the patron of warriors, surgeons, firemen, and anyone else who uses blade and force to save lives or remove danger. She is precision, a rallying cry, and the protector of those who cannot protect themselves from the danger they face. Lady of battle, her iron spear and shield glowing with fire.
At the highest level, she is Holy Valour. The never ending war against demons, against darkness; to fight for eternity and to exhaustion because without her protection, we would be consumed by monsters within and monsters without. The valour to wield truth like a blade, the sharpest edge.
Matricia Theia (Sai Raya, Lady Radiance), The First Sun
Lady Theia is the Enlightener, the golden chalice, and the vassal of the Mother. She is the Dawn Mother, the first light of creation and the gentle mercy of Avala after death. Queen of queens, She in whose name the law is obeyed. All of the riches of the world belong to her, and all leadership descends from the authority of her holy crown; from the empresses of the world on down to the matriarchs of households.
Her shining mantle is ever present, and to call on her is to be protected from any evil force, no matter its power. She is the essence of light, the source of life, and the comforter of all souls.
Matricia Mati-Sageย (Sai Mati, Lady Wisdom), The First Wind
Lady Mati-Sage is the Knower. She is patron of engineers, scientists, farmers and craftsmen; of those whose hands and minds provide what civilization needs. Yet She also guides the prophet’s hand, and inspires the artist with higher purpose.
She is Holy Wisdom, with the ledger of creation in Her left hand and the lens of heaven in Her right. The saying, โAny work done prayerfully becomes an offering of infinite virtueโ comes to mind.
The maiden picking apples who cuts one open and is suddenly struck by the epiphany of the Pentacle within- that is Agia Sage.
Matricia Sushuri-Grace (Sai Sucri, Lady Grace), The First Water
Lady Sushuri-Grace is the Soother. The healing touch, and the deep waters. She is patron of psychiatrists, guards, hospice workers, and naturopathic medical professionals, as well as sailors, boaters and fishermen; any who make their money off the open waters.
She is the calm lake and the terrible storm- the First Waters flow from her pitcher that glows with Holy Love. Gentle love and fierce love, the love of Dea for us. A love that compelled the Daughter to be shattered for our ultimate healing and redemption, and the love that tore apart the very gates of hell itself.
Matricia Thema (Sai Thamรซ, Lady Order), The First Song
Lady Thema is the Composer. The music of creation, and the ordering of the cosmos. She is objective beauty, what the Greeks called ฮบฮฑฮปฮฎ, or โdivine beautyโ, for the source of all beauty is โcosmosโ (order). Each pluck of Her harp is a heartbeat of the universe, a smile between friends, and a great error mended.
She is the patron of musicians, artists, designers, organizers, housekeepers, archivists, and all others who make a livelihood putting the various pieces of the world into a more harmonious arrangement. She is the โchoreographerโ of the universeโs dance, so beloved that her name in โlittle lettersโ (thame) is a virtue of Deanic living.
Matricia Rhea (Sai Rhavรซ Lady Discipline), The First Word
Lady Rhea is the Originator, the leaden chalice, and vassal of the Great Mother. She is the perfect still center, and the fathomless foundation- the first out-breathing of the universe into existence, and the final in-breath when all returns to Her. Her heart is the sanctity of mystery- a mirror that does not reflect.
Patience is in Her right hand, discipline in Her left, and Her feet rest on the keystone of the universe. The day we learn all there is to know of Her is the day we rejoin Her, and creation is no more. Hers is not abuse disguised as ‘discipline’, or the hand of a cruel Mistress- She is the embodiment of willpower, of disciplined action and perfect self-knowledge, and invites us to sit in the pews of Her sublime darkness. She teaches without words, and thus are Her teachings Perfect.
Matricia Candra (Sai Candrรซ, Lady Faith), The First Prayer
Lady Candra is the Purifier, the silver chalice, and a vassal of the immanent Daughter. She is the protector of the wilderness, and of all the creatures that live therein; the wild places and the blessed harts are hers.
The purity of untouched forests and clear, flowing water- of the priestessโs heart, and the dedicantโs striving, are given grace by Her sacred Moon Axe. She is the High Priestess of all holy maids, and the patron of those whose fight against evil happens not with a blade, but with their soul. Many believe that the force known as ‘magic’ originates in her.
This page lovingly written by Madria Minna, 2023, with contributions from the greater Janite and Deanic community. All original material is copyright Kore Di-Jana.
Kore Di-Jana, The Janite Ekklesia 