Council: Gatekeeper to Success

Gatekeeper to Success by Caroline

with a Creative Commons License that allows non-commercial use and further remixing provided all attributions are given and a similar license is given on new images. Images used in this remix are all from flickr with appropriate CC licenses:

North Lees track by Roger B.
Gatekeeper by Ben Werdmuller
Gardening Trophy by east_lothian_museums
Glum beardy man by hugovk

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On KaleidoSoul Inner Surprises, Anne Marie has put up a challenge to do a card from a quotation.

I rarely remember exact wordings so I was really glad to see Anne Marie had provided some suggestions of places to look for inspiring quotes. I picked the middle link: The Quote Garden. And was hit right between the eyes by the "Daily Harvest" quote of the day:

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
~Bill Gates

From this seed the card above grew.

Anne Marie asked which inner voices might be saying this and I heard one I've not named before - Gatekeeper of Success. I was immediately both amused and contented by the play on Bill Gates' name and his status as a successful man. It even gave me the words to search on flickr with.

So the first search I made was for gate and when I saw this one, within a few pages of images, I knew it was perfect. I realised that for me future success and living in the country are inextricably linked - the story is too long to relate now but I have been struggling to sell our house and leave Bristol for several years, actually I no longer feel that I am struggling, but do feel that it will be lovely to live in the country once more whenever that happens. Two of my future self cards are about living in the country.

Then I wondered if I could find a gatekeeper. I wasn't sure if this would be a person or not until I saw the image of a greenman in gold on blue. Who else is a better gatekeeper to the country?

Then I wondered what would signify success? How about a trophy? My first search for champion's cup was a washout - I quickly realised I needed to be more specific and tried silver cup - on the third page I found this classic cup. What's more it is a Gardening Trophy which chimes well with my country ambitions. And I liked the fact that it also said "Young Cup" - I don't want to be too old when I get there!

But back to the quote - how was I to represent the unhappy customer. I did a search for unhappy man and found this "Glum beardy man". He was in grey but I did some image manipulation to make him blue and he became a little like a dull blue version of the gatekeeper himself - I placed him so that he is supporting the gatekeeper.

This all came together very quickly and easily. There were lots of little additional clues that nudged me on - ones that I saw and acknowledged but that to explain would be too cumbersome - the way was littered with synchronicities of names, places and ideas.

Now I've printed out the card and can hold it.

I am One who shows you the way.

I am One who beckons you with both my welcoming and my unhappy faces.
Find the energy work needed whenever you see my unhappy face.

In shadow, I am One who has been pulling you from behind for many a year, now you have turned to see me it'll be much easier to lead you on!

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This feels like a really major card, so thank you very much for this challenge Anne Marie!