oshun

Oshun is the Nigerian goddess of fearless love.

What does fearless love mean? Fearless love is all about daring to love. And whenever you start to find love, where should you first find it and look for it? Who should you first love in your life?

The very first person you should love is the number one person in your life. And that's you; finding fearless for yourself. It's only whenever you can fill yourself up with love for yourself that you know what love feels like, that you then can give love to others, that you then can open yourself up to receive love. Because you know what love feels like and you know what you expect from love.

Nobody else but you can determine the meaning of love for you. Once you love yourself and you know what love is like for yourself, then you have a better understanding of your version of love and you will not compromise. It's about being fearless. You do not compromise whenever it comes to love and receiving love, or giving love as well.

What do we see on this card?

The first thing that stood out for me on the card was all the colours. You have the gold of the mattress and the waterfall, you have a lovely purple of the water that she's lying on, you have the beige of the gown that she's wearing, and you have a lot of very dark green.

The other things that stood out for me on this card were the peacock feathers and, also, the mirror that she's holding in her lap.

So what can we derive from this card about fearless love?

Like I said, you start with yourself. If we look at Oshun, depicted on this card, she's holding a mirror against her lap or against her belly. It's as if she's not wanting to look into that mirror. Think about it yourself. Whenever you look into a mirror what do you see? Well, for most of us we'll see the faults, we'll see the wrinkles, we'll see the lines. We don't always see the beauty. It takes time and effort to stand in front of a mirror, feeling really uncomfortable at the start, before you begin to fall in love with yourself, before you start to see the beauty of your inside coming out and your outside as well, before you really truly, completely, and utterly fall in love with yourself.

She's holding the mirror against herself as if she's feeling unsure that this is quite time. The very presence of the mirror on this card is remininding us that it is time to look at yourself in the mirror but not to pull out the faults. To look at yourself and see the amazing human and the amazing soul that you are. To see that the lines on your face are there as a result of happiness and joy, of a life that is well-lived and has been lived. Not fault-lines, not cracks, but beauty. And we are being encouraged through this card to really let that beauty and that joy of seeing who we truly are; let it wash over us like the waterfalls in the background.

Whenever you think of water, you think of emotions. If you think of a waterfall, it's like a great release of emotions. You see this water tumbling really fast over the edge of a cliff, and it's like a cleansing of emotions, a great release of emotions. And that's what the angels are inviting us to do through this card whenever you experience fearless love. At the beginning it may be difficult because perhaps you have never appreciated the amazing, beautiful, serene being that you are. And whenever you first stand and look at yourself, it may become quite upsetting, you may become quite overwhelmed with emotions, and the angels are saying, let those emotions out, don't try to store them inside. Release those emotions because they are so incredibly cleansing. Let those emotions wash over you because as you let those emotions wash out and over you, you're releasing them and you're letting the true emotions rise. And you're starting to be able to fall in love with yourself.

I mentioned the colour dark green and green, for me, is the colour of healing. It's so closely linked in with the waterfalls and it's a dark green. Green is healing, but dark green? It's like in-depth healing, it's like healing from the very bottom of your soul. It's as if you've been carrying around criticism about yourself for far too long and the angels are here to say, "But you're amazing. Can't you see what we can see? Can't you appreciate and love the amazing soul that you are?" The angels want you to release all the blocks and limitations that you are holding about yourself, inside, because that then will release your soul. And it heals your soul. And when you are healed, you let your light shine brightly and you become even more beautiful; you attract more people around you.

What else is on the card?

I mentioned her beige gown. Beige is a very safe colour. If you're in doubt about adding colour into a room, for example, but you're not sure how much to add, go for beige. It's easy. It's a simple and conservative colour. It's safe. And as she's lying down, she's quite safe. She hasn't looked at the mirror yet. She's quite safe. Imagine if she was standing up and looking at herself in the mirror. Beige would not be the colour that she's wearing. It's a strong enough colour for her. The gown is hanging around her loosely. It's not tightly dressing her like a second skin. It's just very loose and I feel there's an encouragement to let this gown fall off. Which, again, is challenging because not only would that mean you look at your face in the mirror, but you'd be looking at your whole body in the mirror. And how much criticism are you going to find then?

Many of us would stand in front of a mirror, totally naked, and we would spend so much time criticising parts of our body instead of being able to see the amazing body that we are. So you want to, perhaps, be conservative at the start, look in the mirror at your face. And when you find the beauty and the joy in your face, which will take time, then do it for the rest of your body. Get rid of that conservative gown that's been covering. It's really neutral, it's really not doing anything for you. And learn to love your whole body.

We see that the water in the card is a beautiful dark purple. And that reminds us of angelic connection. Purple, for me, is the colour of angelic connection. When we love ourselves, we can start to see our true soul, we can start to see our very essence. We look beyond the skin and the bones and we start to see what the angels can see in us, we start to see our soul, and we can start to celebrate our soul. And when we start to celebrate our soul and who we are as this amazing human being, we raise our vibration and we start to better connect with the angelic and spiritual realm because we are starting to see ourselves in the same way that they see us. So we're starting to understand that we are amazing, we have every right to be here to share love, to give love and to receive love. And that's what the angels want for us.

Finally the peacock feathers.

Think of a peacock. A peacock is never shy of showing off his feathers. You see a peacock standing in a beautiful surrounding like a castle and there it stands showing off its beautiful feathers; very proud of those feathers. And it's noble; there's a nobility about it. Again, the angels are reminding us to be really proud of who you are, stop putting yourself down, because you're amazing. Love yourself fearlessly. Expect others to love you fearlessly. Accept nothing less. And you love others fearlessly as well because when you give out that love, you will also attract it back to you.

So the angels are inviting us to stand proud, show yourself off, show everyone who you truly are, be who you truly are. Don't try to hide behind a mask or anything.

And if we think of feathers. Often when we see a feather out of the blue or somewhere unexpected, we think of a loved one who's crossed over or an angel or someone in the spirit world thinking of us. And the angels are saying through this, it's about a peacock but it's also about the feather - we are always with you, we are always encouraging you to love yourself fearlessly because we love you fearlessly. And we shouldn't be the only ones who love you fearlessly.

You deserve love. You deserve to love yourself because when you do your light will shine brightly. And when you know what it is to love yourself truly, madly, deeply, fearlessly, you can begin to love other people in a similar manner. And when you love other people in a similar manner, they can begin to love back. And it also means that whenever you understand what fearless love is all about, you won't accept second-best, you won't accept anybody in your love who doesn't love you the way you expect to be loved, who won't show you the compassion you need, who won't show the support that you need. You only want to have someone who reflects you, like looking at yourself in the mirror. You want someone who will reflect who you know you are now, into your life: friends, family, lovers, whoever that may be. They have to be of the same standard, same quality, offer the same quality of love that you offer yourself.

This is an incredibly powerful card about love because it's not just saying love yourself, it's talking about fearless love. It takes love to a whole other dimension. And, yes, it's pushing you well and truly out of your comfort zone. And it's pushing the boundaries. Because it's only when you push the boundaries and move out of your comfort zone that you truly can experience what fearless love is. And that's what the angels want you to experience.

Reference: This beautiful card is from African Goddess Rising Oracle Deck by Abiola Abrams, illustrated by Destiny Powell