jesus

What message are we're going to get through this card; this card that really only has one character in it. Can we actually get a full message from this? Well I believe we can.

The first thing I want to talk about the character on the card, Jesus.

When you think of Jesus, you mostly associate him with the Christian faith, with Christian religion. He's the head of the church in Christianity. However, Jesus was not associated with just one religion and faith. As we can see on the card, we have the words forgiveness, compassion, and spiritual teacher. When Jesus walked the earth, he didn't say, "Oh, you can only join my company if you follow a specific religion". He wasn't like that. He was open to everyone joining as long as they joined him with no judgement.

He comes from a place of the heart and he encourages us to follow our heart, not to follow our head, not to place judgement on other people, not to say that he is only associated with one religion. He is open to everyone because he comes from a place of love, a place of non-judgement. So, I believe, to associate him with solely the Christian faith, is wrong and it's unjust to the man who supposedly walked this earth and shared so much love and compassion to anyone who crossed his path, not just because he was of the Christian faith, but because he was a man of love and compassion, forgiveness, non-judgement, openness and peace.

So let's look now at how he's depicted on the card. There are a few things that have caught my eye.

Let's go first, again it's to the Christian faith. The cross, the necklace he's wearing around his neck. Like I said, the cross is also associated with teh Christian faith. But if we look closely at his neck, the necklace is wound round his neck. And that's saying to me, don't wind this round your neck too tight. In other words, "people associate me with the Christian faith but don't hang me by that. I should be associated with all people, with all people who walk a path filled from their heart, who walk with compassion, who walk with love, who are non-judgmental. Sometimes whenever he's associated with a specific religion, it actually becomes very judgemental, "He belongs to our religion, not yours. You can't have him." That's judgemental and that's not what he's about. So he doesn't want to be hanged by the neck, by religion. That's not what he's about. He wants to be brought forth as a beautiful spiritual leader and teacher, and someone who's full of compassion and love, who is wanting to bring peace to your heart and to this world.

The other thing I noticed, it's hard to miss, is that he's wearing a hoodie. Now, these cards are a modern version of how we would see angels, ascended masters, and saints, energetic beings we look up to for guidance and for support. And this is a modern twist on how they may look if they were here today. So he's wearing a hoodie because hoodies are deemed to be incredibly modern and everubody wears hoodies. But they also carry a lot of meaning behind them. They can carry a negative meaning as well as a positive one. We're reading an oracle card, we're associating it with Jesus, the man who is associated with love, compassion and forgiveness. So we want to pull the more positive point of view.

Hoddies aren't just a modern day phenomenon. They have been around for thousands of years. The thing about the hoodie was that, yes, maybe in the Medieval times, the hoodie was associated more with a cape, a long coat or cloak that you would have worn. Not the sporty type of hoodie we know today. But, still, it was a hoodie. And in the medieval times, hoodies were worn by sophisticated ladies whenever they wanted to travel and they were worn by paupers using a thick fabric to keep themselves warm. So, hoodies were worn by a plethora of people from all stages in society: with money, with no money, sophisticated, living on the street. It didn't matter who you were, the hoodie had a purpose for you. And that sums up who this character of Jesus is. He's here for everyone. He's not just here for the ones who can give loads of money. He not just here for the poor souls who are abandoned and, maybe, in the the middle of fighting or living on the streets. He's here for everyone. He just wants you to come with compassion and with love and to share that love out to the world.

The other thing about hoodies. In the modern day, hoodies quite often will cover your face. Quite often we associate them, from a negative point of view, where you want to cover up becasue, maybe, your character or what you're about to do isn't kind, isn't genuine, isn't thoughtful, indeed maybe hurtful to another person. But the thing about a hoodie is that it covers your head so that all you see is the face. And the face is incredibly important to the human psychology because we read people's faces. And if we lok at his face, because we're not distracted by his hair (perhaps he's got dreadlocks underneath... or whatever), we only see his face and his face is beautiful and serene. There's a real gentleness, a real calmness about his face. He just looks  like somebody you'd love to speak to. So, for him, the hoodie brings a kind of reveal so we can just read his face and read who he is without first assuming who you think he is: "read my face and see the true self. See who I truly am."

The other thing about a hoodie and wearing it with the hood up is that it brings anonymity - it makes you anonymous, it helps you to blend in so you don't stand out. Again, this is his character. He wasn't one, and if he was here on earth today, he woudln't be one that whenever he walked down the street he would want everybody to stop and to bend the knee and to worship him. That's not what he was like. He was really down to earth. Again, very humble, full of compassion, full of love. He doesn't want to be the pop star. He doesn't want to be the famous actor. He wants to blend in because when you blend in you actually attract people to you: they're not standing back revering you and scared to touch you or come near you. When you're more anonymous and you blend in with the crowd, people find you more apporachable. And that's what he's like, being compassionate and kind.

The final thing I want to talk to you about the character on the card, is that way he's standing. He's got his hands in his pockets and his coat is open. So he's not standing in any protective way. In fact, he looks really comfortable to me. And that, again, sums up the character coming across on this card; a character that is comfortable around anybody, wants to be around anybody who will want to be in his presence without judgement, only coming from a place of love and compassion.

The final thing to note is the colour in the background, the colour gold. And we associate the golden ray with the ascended master, Jesus. And the golden ray signifies love, compassion, forgiveness, peace, opennness. So, he's encouraging us, by his stance, his very being, and by the golden ray on this card, to follow his spiritual teachings of:

love - do you show love to everyone who crosses your path? Do you show love to Mother Earth and the animal kingdom?

compassion - are you compassionate to yourself as well as to other people?

forgiveness - when somebody does you wrong or hurts you, can you forgive them? Indeed anything you have done in your life to yourself or to others, do you forgive yourself? He's all about forgiveness.

peace - do you live your life in a peaceful way, in a loving way? Are you generous and thoughtful towards others? Do you support charities, do you give to charities? Do you buy ethically and sustainably? How do you live your life?

Do you live your life like this person characterises? Do you live your life with love, with compassion, with an open heart? Do you live your life with forgiveness, with kindness, with thoughtfulness, with gentleness, encouraging people to approach you? Not judging. Not judging a book by its cover. You know, if you saw this guy walking down the street with his hood up, would you judge him? Would you feel wary of him? That's not what he wants. He wants to blend in. He wants to be one of the crowd because he wants to be approachable and for you to be attracted to him because he has such a gentleness and love about him. Not to judge. Too many people judge each other in this world and it's becoming more so. It's time we stepped back from that and become non-judgemental. Everyone makes their own choices and decisions through life. It's not for us to say whether they're right or wrong because we do not know who that person is, we are not in their shoes walking their path. It's time to stop with the judgement and instead give compassion and love and forgiveness: forgiveness for yourself and for others.

That's our card for today. I hope it brings a beautiful message and a reminder of how we should be living our lives today with our heart open, giving to others, receiving as well, and being kind and gentle to everything and everyone who crosses our path.

Reference: This beautiful card is from Angels Among Us Oracle Deck by Victoria Maxwell, illustrated by Ellie Grant