Bestiary

For many people on this earth, there’s only one God: the omniscient eternal Father of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, maker of heaven and earth, ruler of all that is seen and unseen. Call Him by his many names, it’s still the same God, at least in the eyes of the faithful. All other “gods” are mere shadows of His Divine Presence. Such immanence, though, is too hard for mortal minds to grasp. And so, God took on flesh and became a man. In the form of the Christ, the Christos (“Anointed One”), the man Yeshua — commonly known as Jesus — walked among humanity to show by teachings and example what God desired and the prophets decreed. This Jesus was exalted, rejected, cast down, and tortured to death as an offering to redeem the sins of the world. According to scripture, he rose again three days later, returned to his disciples, and ascended into heaven to await the Final Judgement. When God destroys the world as we know it, Christ will usher in the world to come. This, to much of the world, is literally the Gospel truth. Jesus Christ is the human personification of God. And although mages experience a world far more complex than that known by most human beings, a fair number of Awakened Ones still believe that Jesus is Lord.

Which Jesus, though, is the real “Only Begotten Son of God?” The compassionate rebel? The doomsday judge? The conserva­ tive Jesus of southern evangelists, or the socialist Jesus of their progressive rivals? The rabbi? The prophet? The magician? All

of them, or none of them? Was Jesus a man, a myth, a divinity, or perhaps a lot of each? People live and die by those questions, and to posit any answer than the one accepted by a believer is to court blasphemy at the very least. As a god-form, then, there may be many Christs personified, each inspiring or inspired by the disparate visions of a flawed humanity.

As a god, the Christ is transcendent. And yet, believers throughout the last 2,000 years have claimed to walk with Christ, talk to Christ, hear His voice in their hour of need. “With man,” Christ said, “this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.” The Good Shepherd, then, is a true presence in the hearts of His believers. Whether or not He is what people say He is, Christ’s reality as a godhead is un­ deniable. This is as true for Pagan mages who don’t accept His divinity as it is for Choristers who do.

The Christ one meets (if indeed, one meets Jesus face-to-face) depends, as usual, on the spirit one expects to see. A devout Saudi Muslim might see the Middle Eastern Jew speaking Aramaic in an ancient accent. A megachurch parishioner from Alabama sees a pale-skinned king with a soft southern drawl. The Jesus whis­ pering to a death row inmate isn’t the same guy who reportedly “hates fags.” Even if both figures come from the same book and Holy Spirit, the form they take in the eyes of the beholder reveal more about the person than they do about the god.

In any form, the Christ embodies justice. To some believ­ ers, He tempers God’s implacable perfection, while for others He’s the stern judge of righteousness. Because his Gospels pose so many questions, this godhead might be a Prince of Peace or the King of the Apocalypse. Maybe he was just a man who became a myth. Regardless, he speaks across the centuries as a voice for righteousness, bringing compassion to a world desperately in need of it.

And so, the Good Shepherd remains a contested figure, adored by many, despised by some. The enigma at the heart of Christian creeds is a Rorschach test for the human soul. Thus, a mage could encounter a blinding presence that inspires radical conversion, or else hang out with a gentle hippie who really digs good wine. Despite the omniscient nature of the One True God, His godhood, it is said, has a face in the man called Christ, and any mage — believer or not — could have a personal relationship with Him.