Faeries Oracle

Card 3 - The Guardian at the Gate

Passages to new life. Openings. Gatekeeping.

The principle task of the Guardian at the Gate is to facilitate the passage from one realm to another and to block the passage of that which is not ready to pass. These realms may be Earth, Faery, the cosmos of the Singers, or Unity. They can also be considered as levels of reality or states of consciousness. In one state of consciousness we are in the ordinary world; in another we are in Faery or Unity. Our bodies don't move but our minds do. The Guardian at the Gate of Unity facilitates the passage of the song into the hearts of the Singers, and aids the passages of humans and faeries into Unity, to be filled by that song when it is their time. We cannot make the mystical experience happen to us; we can only open our hearts wider and wider until we are ready, usually only momentarily, to receive it. The Guardian at the Gate recognizes our readiness. Along this line, one man in the Oracle on-line group notes, "We see the energy gathering into the starry gate (or streaming out of it) in the picture, but we cannot tell what is happening on the other side of the gate." This is very suggestive of how these gates and our passages through them can be.

This is the primal spirit of all of the guardians that appear when we are about to step through all metaphorical and most physical gateways. From the guardians of the passages between the worlds to the guardians (doorkeepers) at your own front door, they are all manifestations of one spirit, like facets of different sizes on the surface of one diamond. Naturally, this card shows the Guardian at the gateway to Faery and also to the Faeries' Oracle itself. Every person, every faery, who has ever helped us through an important passage, was manifesting the energy of the Guardian.

Now the Guardian holds the gate of the otherworld open for us. Al we need to do is to enter.

Starter Reading

Drawing this card indicates that a passage is being made to the beginning of something new in our lives. It speaks of new opportunities and new openings. Passing through this gate may lead to a physical journey, a mental or an emotional one, or a journey of the spirit. It always leads to adventure. This gateway will also lead to significant change in our lives. The passage through such a gate changes us.

The gate we face may not seem like much, the decision to enter may not seem to be a matter of great moment, but the presence of the Guardian at the Gate tells us that something important is happening. It indicates that going forward through that gate is no small thing, but something to be approached with awareness and prayerfulness. We are embarking on a new phase of our lives, and there will be no going back once this gate has been passed. That is the kind of transition the Guardian at the Gate leads us to - always to irrevocable change. We may, of course, ask the Guardian at the Gate for guidance and protection on our journey - and we would be wise to do so.

Alternatively, the presence of the Gatekeeper in a reading may indicate that the querent is being asked to help open a gate for someone else, to help provide an opportunity for them. The job of a gatekeeper (or gate keeper's assistant) is merely to open the gate, not to push people through it.

Reversed

The reversed Guardian at the Gate card can indicate that a gate is closed to us at this time.

Perhaps we are trying to start things that we are not truly ready for - or that are not yet ready for us. Perhaps we are even trying to do something that is inappropriate for us, something that will take us off on a dead-end road. Standing here and banging our heads on a closed gate is not a productive activity.

If we have our hearts set on going in a particular new direction and this card is reversed, a good question to ask is "What do I need to attend to first in order to bring this opportunity into my life?" The answer to that might be that unfinished business from the past may make us unready to move on. If so, we need to complete that first, whether it is something in our physical world or in our inner selves.

An alternative possibility is that the gate is open and we are refusing, probably out of fear, to see and enter it. We may be telling ourselves that it isn't a real opportunity, that it wouldn't really work, that we can't (or don't want to) do it after all. We might be feeling both an attraction toward it and a substantial fear of it, and we might be denying the fear and giving ourselves all sorts of reasons and rationalizations and justifications as to why a sensible person would not try that. Yet the gate stands open.

When the Guardian at the Gate appears in a reading reversed, deep thought is required. When it appears right side up and the gate is open wide, prepare for an initiation into a new life.

The Singers of the Realms