Open door or locked Gate? the Middle path on the Pagan Way

Ice Sculptures
OR
Gate Keeping on the Pagan Path

Putting up a Gate is seen as many things

Protective Action, guarding what you consider important

Hostility, As in this is MINE you can't have it

Possessiveness, Which is like the above, but not Hostile

Isolation, cutting one off from all other impute

And

A means to get behind a Wall,
without having to jump over the fence,
whose use rights may be limited

On the Path of Life, Much less the Pagan Path
there is time for openness .. Open Gates
and a time for setting limits ..Closed ones

It is said that good fences make for good neighbors
Ok, where did this Idea come from ?

Setting Well defined limits of what's acceptable, for one

Ever notice how some people seem to think
that because your religion is not in the "main stream"
that the otherwise reasonable behaviors of propriety, go out the window ?
That they feel they can ask you things that are downright rude .. or
at the very least none of their business.

Or say things to you .. that if someone said such to them
they would be calling their Lawyer
and suing for Defamation of character ?

I have had all of the above and then some

When you get one of these .. here's what you do
Put up a Gate of words.. with a sign that says ...

Respect Me and my faith or don't talk about it
as I won't tolerate your disrespect
and stick to it !

Make as much of a Fuss as need be, but make sure this person understands
it's your FAITH they are stepping all over,
which no one on this Earth has a right to do

But not a Wall of forbidding

A wall says.. beyond this you may not go
No trespass into your space ... period

A gate says .. you might pass within .. with MY leave
Again .. is the Gate locked..? Against party crashers
Has a Sign that says, no trespassing ? For everyone ?
Or hanging open just a crack ? In invitation ?

Depends a great deal on who is about I would think :)
and what part of the Faith you are referring to

We must set the limits of trespass and ingress
into our World of the faith and our person,
of what we allow or will not allow ...

Or the foolish will reign and continue to paint us all
with their brush of Slanderous nonsense ..
Only WE can put a stop to this with proper Gate Keeping

Without the need for sermonizing or preaching
This is not so much about the Faith, as about respect

Some might argue that this very Web Site violates that idea
of Preaching or seeking others
But does it?

I wrote the blurbs when submitting to the Engines very carefully ..
to make Very sure that any who read them understand What they are getting into,
before they come here .. It's my Gate.. the Gate that says be

Welcome come on in

But only if you want what's in my "Pagan" Garden,
if not.. ? Hail and Farewell :) and I run through the engines
to see where things pop up at ... just to make sure

Like wise most of the descriptions or titles, that any Web crawler may pull off
and take out of context. Same thing, as defined that this is from a Pagans perspective
as possible .. no surprises ..To date, as far as I know, this has worked :)

I have not gotten any nasty notes from people saying ..
I thought it this was about and it was "AHHHHHHH " ,
at least not that anyone has ever told me

But I have gotten many a nice letter and a few new friends :)
from people who came seeking and liked what they found

Nuff said .. Onward

So why are such limits and slow downs needed at all
for the Average Pagan..? Why would we want/need to ?

Have you ever tried to Explain the Pagan Way
in a 3 minute conversation ? Which is about the extent of most peoples attention span for
Information they did not go seeking .. which is what you are doing if they say something foolish
and you try to correct them by giving them all of Pagandom in a Nutshell ?

They come away more confused or hostile
with the feeling your trying to convert them..!

A simple No. that's not how it is.. will do ..
with perhaps the cravat of

"If you like we can do Coffee and I will tell you the basics"

Which leaves it up to them to seek you out if they are interested

" No that's not how it is.. check out X book from the library,
it's a very good read on what we are " etc. etc...

I have memorized the authors and titles to many books
Again they seek or don't .. their choice

But they can no longer come up and spout their ignorance to your face,
they were given the opportunity to learn , by your hand
or an impartial book .. and if they didn't take it ... their own fault

As in my experience,
there are three kinds of people who ask questions about us

Those who want to bash us because they disagree with us
or use us as a means of self aggrandizement as they figure
we are a cheap shot who won't fight back !

Those who are sensation seekers who have half heard tales of us,
and are into the kicks of it all and get real disappointed
when they find its not like that.. :( and

Those who really want to know :) Welcome

I got to take down a basher once, a particularly pushy type who came up to me .. again .. to ask
" Don't you guys do X " and it was always the WAY out there stuff, that no rational person even considers. He was just doing it to see me try and explain or deny it , so he could poke holes in it,
as this was always before others .. a staged bit .. for him. I took the wind right outta his sails,
as he had to admit, before others, that I did offer and did tell him how to get basic info ..
which he had not bothered to do ..

He never brought the matter up again :)

So this kind of Gate keeping does work

Unless they are the REALLY rabid type who will never look
no matter what they see/hear/read .. in which case
shun the fool and get on with your life

You invent your own.. but can you see where I am going ?

We must gain acceptance in order to practice our faith
without fear .. yes.. can we do this by the Isolation of Walls ?

NO.. if we do this We will never help others understand that
we are no harm to them .. and might even be a friend to them
and that we are more LIKE them than they may think

Will blocking out people .. help.. ? NO

A total open door where we tell all to any who will listen .. again.. NO...
as unless they are ready to hear it.. you waste your time
and make us look like we are seeking converts

Goddess spare me from such a task hehehehehe..
I wouldn't want the job !

So it's a fine line we walk ..
between Open and Closed Gates
But if the fates are kind .. it need not always be so

Which is why I chose the lovely Ice Sculpture at the header to illustrate my point..
as you can see the Sun has melted part of it away and over time will melt it all .. So it is with Us ..
Gates to insure our privacy from those who only seek to Defame us.. but it is a Gate..
that can be opened to honest seekers after knowledge ..

And hopefully
over time will Melt away .. as it will no longer be needed

Welcome and Blessed Be

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