“The words gay and lesbian do not exist in the village, but there is the word gatekeeper. Gatekeepers are people who live a life at the edge between the worlds – the world of the village and the world of spirit.”
In-Between People
are born to live at the threshold
between the polarities of gender, spirit and soul;
when honoured in society
they keep the tribe connected to the whole
they bring remembrance of the unity
channel the wisdom of the mystery
but the attempt to eradicate the guardians
has been the play of history.
“The gatekeepers stand on the threshold of the gender line. They are mediators between the two genders. They make sure there is peace and balance between women and men. If the two genders are in conflict and the whole village is caught in it, the gatekeepers are the ones to bring peace. Gatekeepers do not take sides. They simply act as ‘the sword of truth and integrity.’
“In the village, gatekeepers have an eye of both genders. They can help the genders to understand each other better than usual in their daily life. That’s why a group of women, for example, might gather and bring a male gatekeeper to help them understand certain village issues. The same things happens on the other side, with a female gatekeeper coming into the middle of the men’s circle.”
When the in-betweeners are not free
the grace is cut off from everybody,
the gods separated from humanity
and nature treated with profanity.
god was placed in the sky –
a new myth of a dominator up on high
replaced the tales of nature spirits
and goddesses whose presence is always with us.
“Gatekeepers hold keys to other dimensions. They maintain a certain alignment between the spirit world and the world of the village. Without them, the gates to the other world would be shut.
“On the other side of these gates lies the spirit world or other dimensions. Gatekeepers are in constant communication with beings who live there, who have the ability to teach us how to deal with ritual. And gatekeepers have the capacity to take other people to those places.”
Led by the myth of one highest
humanity became separated from the rivers and forests.
nature’s priests were condemned as filthy beasts
and nature herself became a resource;
in time atheism became the natural course
for free thinking people who saw through the lie
of a dominator god living up in the sky
but the western world had forgotten it’s ancestral ways
and lost touch with the sacred powers of androgynes, dykes and gays.
“Now what would happen if you’re dealing with a culture that doesn’t care about these gateways? What happens is that a gay person cannot do his job. Gatekeepers are left unable to accomplish their purpose. This is one of the most distinguishing factors about gays in the village. Now, as to their sexual orientation, nobody cares about this questions: they care only about their performance as gatekeepers. I figure if they want people in the village to know about their sexuality, they will share it with them. I once heard that one of the reasons why gatekeepers are able to open gates to other dimensions is in the way they use their sexual energy. Their ability to focus their sexual energy is a particular way allows them to open and close different gates.”
Science is the new religion:
the belief that existence is material and categories are fixed
has now blinded our inner eyes –
but life is much more than biological
it is also emotional, magical, spiritual –
and as the veils of illusion fall away
as the in-betweeners recdiscover their place
the world’s in for a big surprise.
“Gays and lesbians in the West are often very spiritual, but they have been taken away from their connection with spirit. My feeling is that without that outlet or that role in the culture, they have to find other ways of defining themselves. This could be one of the reasons why they would want to get married or make themselves look as though they do not have a unique purpose.
“In the village homosexuality is seen very differently that it is seen in the West, in part because all sexuality is spiritually based. Taken away from its spiritual context, it becomes a source of controversy, and can be exploited.”
Quotations from The Spirit of Intimacy by Sobonfu Some, wisdom teacher from the Dagara Tribe of West Africa READ MORE: https://rainbowmessenger.blog/2018/06/23/gatekeepers-gays-in-the-dagara-tribe/
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