Human Design: Gates of the Month January 2023

This month’s solar transits discussed by Marga.

In Human Design, as in astrology, the Sun moves from sign to sign over the course of the year, but the 360 degrees of the Zodiac are not just divided into the 12 signs, but into 64 further sections, called Gates, which are inspired by the 64 hexagrams of the Chinese I-Ching, also known as the Book of Changes. In this column we present, month by month, the Gates that are activated by the passage of the Sun, and any Channel that might come into being in combination with the movement of other planets. Together they influence everything that happens to us, as we are individuals immersed in the collective cosmic energy…

Zodiac signs: Capricorn to Aquarius

1-5 January – Gate 38 ~ Opposition

The challenge we face at the start of a new year, a new solar cycle, no matter how festive and filled with resolutions, is always a time of existential tension… It is, in a way, the birthday of life, marking inexorably the passing of time and missed opportunities.

During these days it is important to assert our inner freedom in the face of the whole cosmos, the freedom to be ourselves and at the same time ‘from ourselves’, otherwise the tension may manifest at the lowest levels of life, with fights, misunderstandings, and disagreements.

Another important aspect of the energy of this Gate is that it gives us the possibility to grow and accept challenges and mistakes as an essential part of our journey. Be careful not to find yourself isolated in the face of possible adversity.

6-10 January – Gate 54 ~ Ambition

If you are a fan of New Year’s resolutions, here come the perfect days to make them, because this Gate opens up for us the powerful energy of ambition towards material goals and of aspirations towards the non-material.

It is one of the Gates of the Ego, so be careful not to get too identified with its driving force and make sure that the goals you set are an expression of something bigger and higher.

Among the Gates of the Ego this is the one that most clearly expresses female ambition, a path that is often ruthless and unnecessarily competitive, full of compromises and renunciations, but which is also capable of rising from the plane of material survival to the highest dimensions of power: enlightened rulership! And certainly these days we could all use some enlightened rulership, which is hardly found and much needed.

11-16 January – Gate 61 ~ The Inner Truth

For the duration of this transit, thanks to the North Node in Gate 24, we will see not only an activation of Gate 61, but also of the entire Channel 24-61, known as ‘The Channel of the Thinker’. Very mental days are awaiting us! We will have to be very careful not to lose ourselves in lucubrations, theories and speculations, especially if we have an undefined Mind and/or Crown and are therefore open to outside influences.

The invitation is to play with our thoughts, instead of taking them too seriously! Let’s remember that, after all, thoughts are not our own, and even if they seem to spring from the depths of our being, they are nothing more than the reflection of something that is unreliable by definition, in particular if we are in search of the Truth. I am talking about the mind, of course, which is a very useful tool, as long as it is working in our service and does not become the master instead!

If we can transcend this mental aspect, the inherent sincerity of Gate 61 can give us access to the most mysterious dimensions of being!

17-21 January – Gate 60 ~ The Limitation

It’s been about three years since we started to get accustomed to the limiting effects of this Gate, first though Saturn’s and then through Pluto’s transits: lockdowns, pandemic restrictions, economic hardship, and all the border disputes between states that we now witness almost helplessly… And the list goes on and on…

The passage of the Sun through this Gate can bring a little light and lightness, helping us to understand that some things happen because they cannot not happen, as they are written in the cosmos; and that our only freedom is that of choosing how we want to approach everything that eludes our power and control. We can either react unconsciously or we can respond from a place that is adult, mature, and spiritual and take our share of responsibility for everything that happens.

It is not easy, but it is possible. And it’s life-transforming!

22-27 January – Gate 41 ~ Imagination

Thanks to Saturn’s presence in Gate 30, we will have access, for the whole duration of the transit, to one of the most powerful Human Design Channels, 30-41.

From the point of decrease of Gate 41 (that’s its name in traditional I Ching), fueled by the intensity of desire in Gate 30, limiteless visions can open up and take shape. This Channel has the power to concentrate energy in a single point, cutting out everything else and burning at extremely high temperatures, a bit like what happens in the core of galaxies. A Quasar Channel, in short, though not in a literal sense…

We will have access to an energy field capable of working magic through imagination, which is not a mutation, but light born out of nothingness… But you will have to burn with it, or at least live like a torch that burns from both sides…

28-31 January – Gate 19 ~ The Approach

It’s cuddling time. Time to approach others and find inclusion; to seek and offer support, to move beyond separation. It’s also a time when, more clearly and palpably than usual, we might feel the sweetness and the burden of our own and others’ needs.

Need is sweet when it comes from a being that is authentically entitled to its satisfaction – like a child, an animal, or a weak and defenceless person – and it is unbearable when it comes as an unjustified demand.

These days could help us shed light on the very question of Needs: as adults, what right do we have to expect someone or something to take care of us? To love us and give us unconditional support? Or is it not rather a gift when it just comes?

All old, ancestral and important questions that certainly won’t be solved in a few days, but we might as well start from somewhere…