Hey there friends,
How’s everyone doing out there as the cycle of time weaves its way toward autumn?
In the last episode I mentioned I was going to be having a “Summer Forever” party, which we did - it truly was like a going away party for a beautiful season. It was a hot, cloud-less day filled with pink flamingo headbands and inflatable kiddie pools and bubbles galore, fresh sunflowers in all the vases and watermelon and pasta salad on the colorful paper plates. Kids and adults donned swimsuits and hung out under umbrellas for shade, splashing in the cold plunge and throwing water balloons.
The morning after that, I woke up shivering- it was almost like summer had permission to leave, and fall had truly arrived. My partner had planned a late summer backpacking trip to the high-country, a solo venture that he’s done every year since he was 17, but by the time he had space to go, snow and hail was already hitting the peaks he wanted to climb. The sadness he felt in not getting to do this annual adventure was palpable; not just a missed opportunity, but one that also rang in the beginning of the upcoming cold months, the dark months.
Do you feel sad when summer ends? How are y’all feeling right now?
It’s natural to feel grief when the first freeze hits, when the bounty of the growing, living world starts to droop and fall into the fall. Have we done enough? Have we seized enough sunlight? Do we have enough sustenance to get through winter?
These days, we may be a little less tethered to literal survival through the cold months, but it still affects our psyches, the shortening days and the drying flowers reminding us of the continuous death and grief that the world is holding. While there seems to be more hope going into this fall season than I was anticipating in the spring (here in the US with the Kamala wildcard, at least), the natural slowing down of the season fills me with re-awakened realizations about a world that needs a lot of work, a lot of love, a lot of attention. This fall’s astrology, beyond the normal felt sense of seasonal change, is also filled with transformational astrology this year, with a lunar eclipse in Pisces next week and a solar eclipse in Libra on October 2.
As the moon waxes it’s way full after last week’s Virgo New Moon, this week before the eclipses begin is already considered “Eclipse Season”, so in this episode we’ll chat a little bit about what to expect over the next month’s lunation (hint: no manifesting in eclipse season!). I also want to talk a little bit about the approaching season of Metal in the Chinese Wuxing cycle, which is associated with autumn and with the Western direction of adulthood and emotionality in the Medicine Wheel. Lastly, we’ll dig into the Human Design gate of the week, The Gate of Realization (47) where the sun will be transiting from Monday-Saturday.
This episode is coming out a day after my birthday, so I wanted to take a moment to say thanks so much for all the birthday wishes and notes! It was fun to hear many of your thoughts and reflections on my birthday gate, Gate 64, the Gate of Confusion and Imagination, and how it’s showed up in your world over the past week. It’s certainly a confusing time to be alive, a time that requires exercising the muscles of our imagination on a near-constant basis. I’m so happy to be doing that here with you all each week!
This week’s highlights:
We’re preparing for Eclipse season (with a Lunar
Entering the season of Metal in the Taoist 5-Phase (Wuxing) Cycle
Human Design/I’Ching:
Monday- Saturday: Gate 47, the Gate of Realization
Sunday: Gate 6, the Gate of Friction (more on that next week)
This week’s themes:
Realizations, coming to terms with our version of reality
Editing down the infinite possibilities from last week
Transformation, Transmutation, Transfiguration
Metal season’s grief, letting go, and alchemical processes
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction:WEST (Water, Adulthood)
Wuxing Cycle Element: Earth » Metal
Pagan Season: Lammas
Zodiac Season: Virgo (Aug 22-Aug 21)
Moon Phase: Waxing
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design: Gate 47 (Mon-Sat), Gate 6 (Sun)
47 = Lake over Water (Kun: “Oppression/Confined”) or The Gate of REALIZATION
6 = Heaven over Water (Sung: “Conflict”) or The Gate of FRICTION
The Wuxing Season of Metal
In the Taoist 5-Element Wuxing Cycle, there is no definitive date or moment when the seasonal, elemental phases shift, but we can feel them in our bodies. From where I stand, here in the high desert of Northern New Mexico, the brief season of rich, fertile Earth that is evoked by late summer seems to be fading into the season of Metal. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Metal is the element of contraction, dryness, and moving inward.
In the body, the organs associated with Metal are the Lungs and the Large intestine, both parts of the body that are more vulnerable during this time of seasonal transition. These associations are interesting because in Astrology, both the lungs and the large intestine are governed by signs that are ruled by Mercury: Virgo and Gemini. Our current season, Virgo, rules the intestine, responsible for discernment, digesting, and processing the food we eat, and Gemini rules the lungs, responsible for filtering, absorbing, and processing the air we breathe.
I’m traveling and visiting family this week in Oregon, which is allowing me a slight extension of summer-vacation vibes, thanks to my cousin getting married on September 15. It’s nice to be ringing in my birthday here, with my grandmother, on the land where my parents grew up and many ancestors came before me. Due to so much history and family ties, visits here always require a lot of digestion, processing, and absorbing- so this feels like the perfect season to do just that.
Last year I came up for a visit on my birthday as well. I wanted to bring my daughter to an annual Labor Day lake campout that my extended family has done for decades, one that I rarely got to attend due to growing up in New Mexico and school starting before Labor Day. Last year I had a last-minute gut instinct that I needed to come up for the campout, where I got to celebrate with my aunt Kathy and cousin Justin who both share my birthday. We had a wonderful time, a big family reunion, where my daughter got to meet my cousins kids and we got to play in the mud and paddle board and share games around the fire.
Earlier this year my aunt passed away, just a couple of months before her daughter’s wedding. It has been a grief filled time, making me feel so grateful my impromptu visit last year so much, to get to spend some quality time with the whole family together. This family wedding will be tinged with both joy and sorrow, to be sure, and I’m so grateful to be here for it.
Coming back to the season of Metal, the Metal Element in the Wuxing Cycle (the Lungs especially) are is associated with grief, sorrow, and sadness. Grief goes hand in hand with loss, and also with change- changes to our relationships, lifestyles, family structures, situations, and, as we discussed, seasons can bring up feelings of sadness.
The other organ ruled by the metal element, the large intestine, is associated with letting go, both physically and mentally. Lea Darnowsky from Chrysalis Chinese Medicine states: “This [letting go] can relate to any emotion, but is particularly potent when working with grief and sadness. As we look to nature in autumn, we see the trees letting go of their leaves, ready for death and rebirth. Autumn is a fantastic time to reflect on what is no longer needed in our life, and to let go of what no longer serves our greater good. This can be big things like a person, relationship or a job, or smaller things like letting go of a belief we hold about ourselves, certain emotions, or spending some time de-cluttering our homes.
When it comes to supporting our Lungs and Large Intestines, especially through autumn, remember to take it easy and take it slow. It’s the excess of these emotions that weakens these organs, and feeling these emotions is completely natural. Feeling some sadness and grief in the current situation is completely normal, but it’s when this emotion is controlling your life that it’s time to reflect. Same with letting go – it’s natural for us as humans to resist certain changes in our lives, but it’s when we hold onto these to our detriment that it starts to become unhealthy.”
With the Wuxing season of Metal upon us, corresponding with Virgo season, adulthood, and emotional processing, give yourself space and time this week (and in the month ahead) to grieve, to digest, to process, and to release.
Speaking of releasing… we’ve officially entered Eclipse Season
Eclipse season is here! And thus begins one of the twice-annual periods that promise us radical changes, unexpected revelations, and big releases of what’s no longer serving us.
Astronomically, Eclipse Seasons are the only times of the year when the Sun (from the perspective of the Earth) is close enough to one of the Moon's nodes to allow an eclipse to occur. During the season, whenever there is a full moon a lunar eclipse may occur and whenever there is a new moon a solar eclipse may occur. each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later, thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season.
Lunar eclipses always happen on full moons, when the earth is between the sun and the moon, and the earth’s shadow overcomes the full moon’s light. Solar eclipses always happen on new moons, when the moon is between the sun and the earth, the moon’s size being the perfect ratio of the sun to block its rays. Eclipses can be partial, annular (aka “ring of fire”), or total, depending on the degree of the lunation.
Astrologically, I like to think of eclipses as supercharged new and full moons. While most full and new moons are ripe times for ritual, manifestation, and reflection, eclipses are noted as times to open yourself up to receive messages from the universe, without trying to control the outcome. It is generally advised not to do any manifestation or ritual on eclipses, but rather act like an antenna, welcoming what comes in.
A great metaphor for eclipses is they are like the power going out in your home, and when the lights come back on, you perceive the world in a different way, almost like all the furniture has been rearranged during the blackout. For this reason, eclipses can be shocking times, and also times of important quantum leaps, taking is out of the linear timeline of our lives so that we can gain new perspectives.
Next week’s episode will focus on the first eclipse of this season’s lunations, which is a partial full moon lunar eclipse in Pisces happening on Tuesday, September 17 (or Wednesday, September 18 depending on your timezone). Then, two weeks after that on October 2, we will experience an annular new-moon solar eclipse in Libra.
Eclipses happen along the binary axis of the nodes of the moon (the points in space where the orbit of the sun and moon meet in the ecliptic). This year, the nodes are shifting from Aries/Libra, where they have been over the past year, to Pisces/Virgo, where they will be for the next 18 months. The Aries/Libra axis focuses on me vs. we, selfhood (Aries) vs. relationships (Libra), while the Pisces/Virgo axis focuses on spiritual understanding through breaking things down (Virgo) and merging things together (Pisces).
We’ll dive more into the specifics of how these eclipses will affect you (and what micro-season/Human Design gate they are in) over the next several episodes, but for now, just know that if you’re feeling transmutative, grieving the past while anticipating the future, facing some reality checks, or just feeling a little out of sorts, the current skies can provide a good reason why!
Gate 47: The Gate of Realization & Transmutation
After downloads of raw inspiration from above and visual imagination in last week’s Gate 64, Gate 47 comes in like a film editor to cut and chop all of the magnanimous data into a cohesive storyline. It’s a gate that’s all about transmuting the energy of oppressive confusion into profound realizations that transfigure us at a fundamental level.
This is a gate that is deeply connected to last week’s energy, Gate 64’s Gate of Confusion- not just because it comes after gate 64 in the Fuxi sequence’s wheel of the year, but also because it completes the Channel of Abstraction in the Human Design Bodygraph, connecting the Head and the Ajna centers together.
For those of you new to Human Design: All of the 64 ancient I’Ching hexagram symbols and meanings are correlated with Zodiacal seasons around the wheel of the year, which is what I focus on in this podcast. But in addition to that, within the Human Design system, each of the 64 gates are also correlated with energy centers within the body, based on the Hindu-Brahman chakra system. As you can see in the image below of my HD chart, Gate 64 is in the “head” energy center, and Gate 47 connects to it in the “ajna” chakra center.
( If you’re new here (or a longtime listener/reader) and you would like to follow along with your Human Design chart and see what gates you have active as I speak about them week by week, I highly recommend downloading the Neutrino Design App for iPhone and Android. It lets you see the gates in your bodygraph along, the gates highlighted on the wheel of the year, and the I’Ching hexagrams, and you can save charts to the app and have them right on your phone. The OG source, mybodygraph.com, is a good web based option too. Or, you can book a reading with me to get an overview of your HD chart!)
As you can see in my chart above, I don’t have Gate 47 active in my design. But I did just discover that it’s my daughter’s Rising Sign gate. I knew my daughter was a Virgo rising, so I was curious which slice of the sign of Virgo was rising over the horizon when she was born, which ‘micro-season’ defines her rising sign, if you will. I started listening to the Gene Keys audiobook for gate 47, and I thought “…this is so her”. Then I looked her chart up, and it was confirmed- her rising sign is the Gate of Realization. (Note: In traditional Human Design, the rising degree is not included as a factor in the chart, but as an astrologer, I love to include the rising sign and see what energies show up in that gate.)
One thing I love about looking at the bodygraph in Human Design is the ability to create composite charts. This is essentially overlaying 2 people’s charts on each other, like a synastry chart in astrology, and noting the connections between them. The tree-of-life esque channel connections between the energy centers in the body graph make it easy to see how your active gates will interact with another person’s active gates. Learning about composite charts and viewing collaborations and partnerships through this lens has helped me in my relationships so much over the past few years!
In this case, my daughter’s Gate 47 rising sign connects to my Gate 64 sun sign in the body graph chart. When two gates meet together in the bodygraph, they create “channels”- there are 36 channels in human design, made up from the 64 gates, connecting the energy centers in the body together through the meanings of the I’Ching. So, when my daughter and I are together, our two gates create a complete and connected “Channel of Abstraction”. This channel represents a deep mental process, from conceptualizing ideas in abstract forms to understanding them on a practical level. As such, individuals with this channel often exhibit a strong ability to grasp complex concepts and view situations from unique, abstract perspectives. I bring the confusion/imagination of the 64, and she brings the editing/realizations of the 47.
I’ve always thought of my little one as a being who came into my life for a reason. Learning that we have these two complimentary gates in our charts made sense. I download the raw, confusing, imaginal cells of imagination, and she transmutes them into something meaningful. Sounds about right!
Gate 47 is composed of the two trigrams “Lake over Water” in the I’Ching, and is known as “Confinement” or “Oppression”. The ancient Chinese character shows a tree within an enclosure, and the symbol is of a joyous lake being drained by the endless abyss of water below.
“The Joyous Lake is dispersing water into the Abysmal Water below. Since both bodies of water tend to move downward, eventually the Lake is drained. “There is no water in the Lake”and when oppression appears, you can lose your joy and consider giving up.
The Lake represents a sense of trying to contain fulfillment, while the Abysmal Water suggests a source that is inexhaustible. Kùn’s message is that while you tend to attach yourself to what can be held within the hand, you cannot know today what will come to fulfill you tomorrow. Like an ocean that cannot be depleted because all streams lead back to it, you access a source within that is inexhaustible. It is inexhaustible only when you do not try to contain it. In giving it is only when there are strings attached that we become exhausted. The hidden influence of Family shows us the proper way to support others as if everyone is our Family.
(From Cafe au Soul)
Similarly, in the Gene Keys, Gate 47’s shadow is Oppression, its gift is Transmutation, and its siddhi is Transfiguration. Just as this September-Virgo-Metal-West season is bringing transition and change with it in astrology, the Wuxing cycle, and the Medicine wheel, this micro-season of the I’Ching also deeply indicates a period of discomfort, a place where we learn the deepest truths.
“The bottom line is that our Oppression – the particular nuances and flavours of our suffering and karma during this lifetime, are exactly equivalent to the greatness of our inner light. Their purpose is to awaken that light.” – Richard Rudd, 64 Ways
The Gene Keys describes Gate 47 as the process of following the script of the dark, non-coding or “junk DNA” in our genome. Geneticists know that all life arises through the process of mutation. Before genetics, the word transmutation was associated with alchemy- the complete changing of one element to another. Alchemy -the royal art- is the art of living dangerously, being truly alive, holding back nothing and embracing everything, knowing that there is always something more. Alchemy is a process of small and finite mutations which lead to noticeable transmutations, quantum leaps. This gate is about taking the lid off of our Pandora’s box, shedding illusions and fears so that we can align with the wider levels of reality- realizing that we are more than our fears and things that we blame our oppressions on. We must embrace suffering by immersing into it, surrendering into it, in order to rise out of it.
Tthe 47th siddhi, transfiguration, can be mythologically aligned with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as he came back from death and into life. Ancient Tibetans and Taoists have many records of masters who have attained states of transfiguration as well, individuals who have attained resurrected light frequency.
The ultimate purpose of “junk” or non-coding DNA is revealed in the 47th siddhi. Richard Rudd says in the Gene Keys: “The force of transmutation strips you emotionally and mentally to such an extent that it eventually reaches down into the physical matter of your body. The power of the myth then takes over, and the very cells of your body begin to transmute into the pure light frequencies from which they are made. The elements that make up your body were made in stars. And you turn back into a star in your own mini supernova. This is the final state described by the alchemists: “Unio mystica , or sacred marriage, in which all your constituent elements dissolve back into one another, and out of your base matter, symbolic gold is formed.”
As a little aside, I found it interesting that my daughter’s rising gate is one of transfiguration and mutation, because her sun sign (Scorpio) and sun gate (43: Insight/Breakthrough) are also deeply transformational energies. When I found out that I was pregnant and that she would be born in the month of Scorpio, I did some research and learned that Scorpio is the only sign in the Zodiac that is represented by the transmutation between 3 totems: the scorpion, the eagle, and the phoenix. The energy of Scorpio, the sign that naturally rules the 8th house of taboos, sex, death, and resurrection, is all about transforming energy from the hidden depths of our experiences into the spiritual realm.
Her sun gate is known as the gate of the Rebel, characterized by gaining insight and awareness seemingly out of nowhere. And her rising gate, this week’s Virgo gate 47, is similarly about transmuting darkness and oppression into beauty. On that same day that I found out I was carrying her in my womb, I decided to name her Tala, which means “Bright Star” or “the goddess of the morning and evening star” in Tagalog (her father’s ancestral language), “to Blossom” in Finnish (my ancestral language), and also “Gold” in Persian. What an alchemical babe!
It’s my goal to rise to the occasion as a parent to help her navigate the transmutations from scorpion to eagle to phoenix, from oppression to the embodiment of starry-golden light…! She knows that she’s named after the ‘bright star’, the planet Venus…. and lately every night before bed she’s been going outside to say goodnight to ‘her star’. Her imagination is a beautiful thing, and the things she says in play about connecting to the spirits and the ancestors are truly mind blowing sometimes. Often times she leads statements with “when I was a star….”, and she talks about things like how she used to swim with manta rays deep in the ocean before she was born, when she was a star. So when I read the Gene Keys interpretation of her rising sign gate talking about alchemically turning back into a star in your own mini supernova, I have to say I was more than a little touched.
As challenging as some of her deep, raw feelings (and insistent, stubborn knowings) can be to work with sometimes, being a mom of such a little star-child has certainly made it impossible to not find deep purpose and meaning in life, grounding my gate of confusion and imagination into deep realizations as she affirms, without question, how truly real the notion of infinite potential really is! What. a. trip!
So there we have it…. that wraps up a week of realizations, transmutations and welcomes us into the season of eclipses and the element metal…. I’d love to hear how this is hitting in your life!
On Sunday, we enter Gate 6, the Gate of Friction, with keynotes that are about diplomacy rising out of conflict- we’ll chat more about those vibes next week, and how they beautifully correlate with the lunar eclipse in Pisces on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading, listening, sharing, and commenting- it means so much to be on this journey with you.
Talk to you again next week,
xoxoxo,
Alison
Click the image below to get visuals & descriptions of the gates of Virgo season on Instagram:
The Season of Metal, Eclipses & Realizations