Mat gave a very good answer, which boils down to \u201cgatekeeping is bad\u201d \u201cnot every group is for everyone\u201d and \u201cif you won\u2019t do the work necessary to find a teacher don\u2019t whine about gatekeeping.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have some strong opinions on this subject \u2013 it was all I could do to keep from grabbing the microphone and answering the question myself. And while that would have been rude to Mat and to the people who came to hear him talk \u2013 not to mention unnecessary \u2013 I think there\u2019s value in exploring this topic in more depth.<\/p>\n
Gatekeeping is what happens when people without authority arbitrarily decide who is and isn\u2019t worthy of being in a movement that they\u2019re in. Note that I didn\u2019t say \u201ctheir movement.\u201d They\u2019re part of it, but it doesn\u2019t belong to them and they have no right to say who does or doesn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n This is most common in fandoms, with people trying to decide who is and isn\u2019t a \u201creal\u201d fan of a band or a movie or a TV show or something else. Here\u2019s a good piece from Medium titled Gatekeeping Doesn\u2019t Make You A God, It Just Makes You An Asshole<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Paganism we often see gatekeeping around the question of who is or isn\u2019t a witch. Now, I have opinions about what witchcraft is and isn\u2019t, but as I told Devin Hunter on his podcast<\/a>, that\u2019s not my gate to keep. If you call yourself a witch, I\u2019m not going to argue with you\u2026 but I am going to be here in case you decide you\u2019re looking for more depth<\/a>.<\/p>\n We also see people gatekeeping based on DNA and bloodlines<\/a>. This is a bad idea that can have dangerous repercussions.<\/p>\n Gatekeeping is bad and we shouldn\u2019t do it. But that doesn\u2019t mean everything should be open to everyone with no qualifications.<\/p>\n Paganism is a movement. Like all movements, it has no boundaries but instead has a center (four of them<\/a>) and a direction.<\/p>\n OBOD Druidry is an institution. Institutions have boundaries \u2013 either you\u2019re in or you aren\u2019t. Sign up for the course and you\u2019re an OBOD member \u2013 and a Bard. But I wasn\u2019t an Ovate until I completed the Bardic grade, applied for membership in the Ovate grove, and was accepted. The Ovate grade has boundaries and either you\u2019re in or you aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n The same is true of Gardnerian Wicca, Feri Witchcraft, and every other organization (no matter how disorganized!) in the world.<\/p>\n Boundaries are necessary to respect and preserve traditions and the identities that flow from them, and all institutions have the right \u2013 and the responsibility \u2013 to set boundaries as they see fit.<\/p>\n Of course, if you set boundaries to keep people out because of their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and such, I have the right to decide that you\u2019re a bad person whose institution should be ignored.<\/p>\n Not everybody belongs in every group. As a Pagan, I don\u2019t belong in Christian or atheist groups. I have no desire to join a men\u2019s group<\/a>. If you do, more power to you\u2026 so long as you\u2019re open to all men, and you\u2019re not using \u201cmen\u2019s group\u201d as a pretext for excluding women.<\/p>\n Mat Auryn brought up the Anderson Feri tradition in his answer. Feri doesn\u2019t have the visibility it had a few years ago, but it\u2019s still a popular organization with more prospective students than available teachers. My Feri friends make their position clear: no one has a right to learn Feri and each teacher takes only those students they want to take. If you can\u2019t find a teacher that means you aren\u2019t meant to be Feri.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not gatekeeping. That\u2019s setting boundaries and maintaining them.<\/p>\n And also, too many people get their minds set on one particular tradition without really knowing if it\u2019s right for them or not. Then it becomes like the college admissions process<\/a> \u2013 people put too much emphasis on getting into the \u201cright\u201d school and not enough emphasis on learning all they can while they\u2019re in the school they can get into. If you can\u2019t find a teacher in the tradition you want, see if you might be just as happy in a tradition where teachers are available, or that aren\u2019t taught one-on-one.<\/p>\n Most of my public work has been with Denton CUUPS. As a UU group, CUUPS is open to anyone who shares our values and our interests. In my 17 years we\u2019ve never told a prospective member \u201cyou don\u2019t belong here.\u201d<\/p>\n Not all groups are that open. My Gardnerian friends tell me a coven more like a family than a church or a social club. They don\u2019t just want to know if you share their values \u2013 they want to know if you\u2019re someone they\u2019re comfortable inviting into their homes\u2026 and in the case of some covens, if they\u2019re comfortable being naked with you.<\/p>\n If CUUPS is doing a public ritual, everyone is invited \u201cwho comes in love and friendship.\u201d But if I\u2019m doing an ecstatic polytheist ritual in my back yard, I want to make sure everyone who\u2019s there sees the Gods the same way I do. Religious differences matter and respecting those differences sometimes means we can\u2019t worship together<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vetting isn\u2019t gatekeeping. Vetting is making sure a group stays true to its mission and that everyone who joins it can and will support that mission.<\/p>\n Sometimes I hear the charge of \u201cgatekeeping!\u201d when groups keep secrets and only reveal them to a \u201cproper person properly prepared\u201d (to borrow a line from the Freemasons).<\/p>\n Paganism has too many stories (and not all of them in the distant past) of people who were promised access to powerful secrets if they paid the leader in money, sex, or subservience. That\u2019s not gatekeeping \u2013 that\u2019s cultish abuse. If someone offers you a deal like this, walk away. That\u2019s unethical behavior and the odds are very good their secrets aren\u2019t worth having at any price.<\/p>\n On the other hand, there\u2019s a place for progressive learning. In OBOD you don\u2019t get the Ovate material till you finish the Bardic grade, and you don\u2019t get the Druid material till you finish the Ovate grade. Initiations often have ordeals<\/a> that rely in part on the element of surprise \u2013 those need to be kept secret.<\/p>\n More than that, though, it\u2019s necessary to keep sacred things from being profaned (i.e. \u2013 made ordinary) by people who haven\u2019t demonstrated they understand how to treat them with proper respect. I wrote a blog post about my oath to the Morrigan<\/a> and I included a few lines from the oath\u2019s preamble. I did not post the text of the oath, nor will I. Those words are sacred and intimate and they are not for the casually curious.<\/p>\n![\"gatekeeping\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/03\/gatekeeping.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGatekeeping is garbage<\/h1>\n
Institutions need boundaries<\/h1>\n
Some institutions aren\u2019t for you<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/03\/Mat-Auryn-03.07.20-02.jpg\")
<\/a>Vetting is necessary<\/h1>\n
There is a place for secrets<\/h1>\n
![\"sealed](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2020\/03\/closed-book.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n