On The Archetype of The Gatekeeper

The concept of “gatekeeping” has taken on an interesting connotation in culture over the last few years. It’s become pejorative, connoting disapproval for anyone who denies access to something. 

When we talk about the archetype of the “gatekeeper,” as with any archetype there are powerful and purposeful uses of the energy, as well as the more negative aspects that we may now associate with it.

First, we must consider these questions: what is gatekeeping, why does such a role exist, why does it matter, and how does it show us its positive and negative aspects? 

In its most literal sense, a gatekeeper is, of course, the person who guards the gate, and decides who gets to pass through. This concept is an important one in the symbolic and metaphoric world of mythology, and it is my feeling that the archetype of the gatekeeper deserves more respect in culture than it’s currently receiving.

In the Sumerian myth “The Descent of Inanna,” the Goddess decides to go on a journey into the underworld, which is not her natural realm, to visit her sister, who has just lost her husband.

Inanna, in preparation for her journey into the underworld, decks herself out in all of the emblems of her power, called the mes. The mes are the signifiers of civilization itself, and she adorns herself completely, positioning herself in a place of strength as she descends into this realm that is not her own. 

Once she is wrapped completely in her place of power, she begins her descent toward the underworld, but shortly into her journey she encounters a gate, and a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper demands that a price be paid to cross the gate, and she must give one of her symbols in order to pass. 

There are seven gates, and seven mes. At each one, a piece of herself, and her power, is stripped away. When she arrives in her sister’s throne room, she is completely naked, and in a final act of gatekeeping, her life is taken from her as well, and her corpse is hung on a meat hook. 

There are deep psychological and mythic implications for modern mythic journeys that can be gleaned from Inanna’s experiences in this myth. So often, in order to move through our heroic journeys, we must pass through gates, and at each passing something of who we were before is lost to us. 

These symbols change, for each person’s story, but consider some common mes that must be given. Our wedding rings, if we’re going through a divorce. Our hair, if we’re being treated for cancer. Our status and place the culture of a company or a community, if we get laid off, or if a schism happens in our community. 

These are all mes, much like Inanna’s. We give them up, as we must, in order to be transformed into the new person that we are becoming. 

By speaking of gatekeeping in the modern, pejorative way, we rob it of so much of its power. We need our gatekeepers, because part of their function archetypally is to show us whether or not we’re ready to move forward. You want to sell your art, but you can’t find an agent, or a gallery who wants to take you on. These people are essential gatekeepers, telling us that we have more work to do before we’re ready to share. 

Many of us have gatekeepers in our lives, and that might frustrate us, or make us angry. We’re so often used to getting what we want, and it can be rough to be told no. What if, instead, we saw the gatekeeping as an important message? We need to ask ourselves, what if I’m not ready? 

There is another side to this gatekeeper archetype as well, of course. Sometimes gatekeepers are fulfilling the role to stop people from doing what they should be doing. It can be a denial of essential progress, a way to stop change from happening. This must be true, both sides of this archetype, because understanding myth and archetype is never linear or simple. Sometimes gatekeepers allow for essential growth to happen before the gate is passed, and other times they are holding the old ways in place too much.

Which one is stopping you? Do you need to grow and bring more to the place you’re in, or do you need to find a way around the gatekeeper, and make a whole new path? Inanna passed through the gates, and came back through them from the other direction in the second half of this myth, after she is resurrected. 

However, in the story of the Gordian Knot, Alexander is “gatekept” by the knot itself, but he isn’t interested in following the old ways of doing things, so he slices the knot open and enters the city as its conqueror. 

Are you Inanna, or Alexander? The myths, and your unconscious mind, they will show you the way.