Rest In Peace and Joy Maria de Jesus

The oldest person in the world died yesterday. Her name was Maria de Jesus and she was born in Urqueira, Portugal on September 10, 1893. Seeing her birth date, I couldn’t help but calculate what tarot soul card represented Maria. Much to my delight, her birthday adds up to 13 – Death . I say it delighted me because it makes clear that the number 13 and the card it represents has very little, if anything, to do with mortal demise. She was around for a long, long time.

On the other hand, at least in Maria’s case, transformation proved to be a key aspect of her ‘13’ energy. After six children, eleven grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren and 11 ½ decades on this planet, Maria watched the world shift. It’s hard to believe, but she lived in three different centuries. She didn’t read or write but wow did she witness transformation.

Just imagine - when she was born, Grover Cleveland was President of the United States and Leo XIII (notice his number) was Pope. Mao Tse Tung was a newborn and the Kingdom of Hawaii became a Republic. A Republic! - not a State – that didn’t happen for another 66 years!

Weirdly enough, Maria’s birth year also marks the anniversary of the first electric car (apparently built in Toronto) and the year Henry Ford (alive and inventing at the time) perfected his first gas engine. After all these years, it looks like the automotive battle is still on.

Of course, anyone who lived as long as Maria de Jesus would have seen a lot of things, regardless of what day they were born and what tarot card might represent them. I just like writing about her because she stuck around for so much more than most of us do and certainly deserves a shout out. And with lucky 13 as her number, her story makes such an excellent point.

There’s a new oldest person in the world now. Her name is Gertrude Baines and she was born in the US on April 6, 1894. Her soul number adds up to 14 . . . interesting, doesn’t fit with my theme, but still interesting . . .

Have fun with numbers and don’t be afraid of 13!