The Reiki Cafe 

One question about your 'hehehehehehehehehehehehehe' response to my uncovering your secret shamanic journies: are you a Yogi the bear wannabee? and if so, shouldn't it be heyheyheyheyheylittle buddy. Are grammar corrections grounds for being bounced? And would you like a pic-uh-nick basket before Mr. Ranger gets wise to your whereabouts?????????????????????????????????????

Okay, let me go with this.

Your "bouncer role" comment blew me away.

First of all, though this is a bit in jest, safety is serious. Even if we are largely a group of gentle, Reiki-type, nurturing folk - that itself is not protection: remember, the Chinese did cause a bit of a stir in Tibet.

PROPOSED REIKI CAFE BOUNCER APPLICATION

1. Must be subtly intimidating to threats - perceived or real.

In the sixth grade, Catholic school, we had *the talk*. Our priest, Father Gargantua [not real name] [6 ft. 6 in. 245 pounds of holy steel muscle] gently told the young male tribes that they should be nice to the temples of the Holy Spirit that were wearing pleated jumpers and white blouses in the room next store.

Now he said this calmly, without force, voice inflection or severe facial grimaces.

But -

and this *is* a big but ...

We all watched, like gerbels in a boa constrictor's cage --while he spoke of love, commitment, God's love, mercy, forgiveness and eternal fire [probably not in that order]. He admonished us to wait for marriage. As he did so, he lifted a 120-pound chair and twirled it before around in front of us and over his head as if it were a toothpick - or temple-defiler, and he had just concluded a BBQ banquet.

Reiki bouncer, kinda like that, only without a physical form ... 'kay?

2. Have unusual strength/awareness/understanding of human complexities.

I have heard that mental health nurses know ways to hold folks who are erupting in a way that will protect both the upset person as well as those around them. Gentle but firm restraint. The Reiki touch, with a bit of necessary steel.

But*******************************************

And here is the reason I like firekeeper for the position:
3. You must have the ability to defuse volatile situtions.

[How can you yell at those wonderful symbols?]

Or

be able to send tranquilizing viruses to inapproprate folks
finding a way to control-x. control-v, [and in especially rough cases] the del-te key [presto-vanisho] and *PZAZZZZZZZZZZ* the offending person is sent away like Scottie on the bridge of the Starship enterprise

or

Hoss manhandling a rough-rider from the Bonanza saloon.

4. Have the virtual vision/awareness to detect and forsee virtual trouble. [see ahead]

4a.[leaping into alternate realities or co-exiting time warps would be a nice touch. When we are being here now, then our bouncer could have already been: Or at least he could have already have been back there in the past when the future arrives: clear?]

Finally ...

[and this is the *real* reason for this post:

How does someone with a user name *firekeeper* stop *flames*?. [you don't have to answer,you can hehehehehe me again if you want/don't give away all your secrets, okay?].

Is it not true that when a forest fire gets in the raging zone they go out a ways and start another fire to contain the raging one.

Maybe you are that kind of bouncer.

Sorry for the diabtribe. Couldn't let a good oxymoron go to waste. Like WWWIII wresting champ, Mohatma Gandhi. Or Jerry Springer hosting a workshop on empathy and mutual respect in relationships. Or the sun dressing up as Frosty the Snow Man for a Halloween party.

Enough already.

Thank you for your words and reply.

To be serious for a bit. I am new to this. And it is worth sharing about safety. Perhaps others have questions too?

How can we keep the cafe safe for one another? How best can we mutually guard this spot. What works best? All sharing appreciated.

Blessings and peace to all who bear [not Yogi though] with my meanderings.

beau

/*\ Namaste :-}}

My "bouncerness" blew you away?? heheheheheheh -

:-}}

- hey, this is Samsara, not Nirvana

>:-}}

- the bouncer capacity was set up by our intrepid and wise Webmaster.

- There are only a few rules here at The Cafe: we like it very much as sort of a sanctuary

courtesy, courtesy, courtesy

>:-}}

- insulting other memebers on the boards is frowned upon (alot) - got to insult someone?? do it by private E-mail.

>:-}}

- wide differences of opinion expressed even strongly are not insults - so let's not push the envelope too much there

- sarcasm runs about the same - frowned upon

profanity is frowned upon (a lot)

- posting of your own website URLs anywhere except the Announcement Boards is frowned upon (a lot)

- spam is frowned upon (a lot)

- Now, as Bouncer I (or Coyote) am mandated to delete posts upon which we "frown alot" :-}}

- or that are blatantly deemed "offensive" and\or which severly violate The Cafe rules.

- this is only so there is no taking advantage of the generally good nature of all here :-}}

- The site itself is only secure to the extent that everyone must sign in to post -

- and Coyote is on the watch with regularity - so we do not have to put up with vulgar intruders for long - Webmaster also has "bouncerness" bagl but he seems a more retiring than Coyote - also busy trying to help us transfom The Cafe into Nirvana

>:-}}

>:-}}

- Hope this clarifies.

reiki all around,

all blessings,

firekeeper

sorry, another question:

- I feel like a third-grader at a vocabulary quiz.

Please instruct:

'bagl'

a] would be defined as *___________*

b] probably not the muffin-resembling roll?

c]= bag [one] [as in Coyote bags a snipe?]

d] Bagwhan [sp] - send Coyote a caravan of rolls royces and give your life savings away

e] none of the above?

perhaps:

an alternate reality conundrum not for understanding ... [?]

?

Special thanks for the rules update -

I think it is important for new folk who enter cafe.

Thanks to you [and coyote] for protection/watchfulness in maintaining sanctuary.

Blessings,

I appreciate yours and Mike's contributions all around.

Beau

/*\ Namaste :-}}

bagl <--------- not used with lox or cream cheese - that is a bagel.

>:-}}

bagl <-------- bust a gut laughing - those joyous reverberations heard throughout The Cafe

Reiki all around,

all blessings,

firekeeper

beau,

The Cafe is the way it is now in large part due to Firekeeper's constant attendance. I started the Cafe specificly to be a haven for Reiki practitioners to congregate in peace. It is succesful because it is moderated.

When I first started the Cafe I looked for places to advertise it's existence and came accross a Reiki newsgroup that was being ruined by the efforts of a single person who intentially provoked people by being abusive and just generally nasty. There was no way to moderate the forum so it was just a free for all. A lot of people from the newsgroup came over to the Reiki Cafe to get away from all the negativity that one person caused.

We have never had any major problems here and that is mostly due to the fact that Firekeeper can remove any post and I can even remove users if neccessary. Firekeeper also happens to be very good a handling things in a gentle way (much better than myself btw - that's why I asked him to host these boards).

The few rules we have came from my wishes. Not being abusive or insulting is a rather obvious rule to have. The one about not posting personal URL's in your signiture comes from the fact that there are many people who post to message boards soley to advertise their sites, so to stop that I made a general rule of just not doing it. There are plenty of places on the Cafe to advertise sites (announcement board, user profiles).

I'm glad that you are enjoying the site,

-Mike

Thanks for clarity.

It seems that behind every successful group, structure, organization, team, there are key players quietly doing excellent work.

I appreciate your explanation and commitment - the combination of a welcoming, nurturing space with fierce guardianship is tough to beat. I can't image the damage that can be done when searching, sometimes open/vulnerable folks entering a space assuming sanctuary and healing and encounter assaultive messages.

Namaste,

Beau