Reaping the last gifts of Gate 25
If you’re an astro geek like me, you probably heard the news: this morning Pluto moved into the sign of Aquarius for the first time in almost 150 years. Earlier in the month Saturn moved into Pisces, and Saturday, Mars (which has been in Gemini forever), will move into Cancer. When this kind of movement happens, profound and permanent change is inevitable.
That’s why the energy of the Sun in the last degrees of Gate 25 is especially on the mark this year: it represents the innocence of the Fool as he leaps blindly into the unknown. He is joyful, trusting, and in love with being in his body in the world, one more being among the rest of creation.
We know the Fool’s Journey: he will be tested again and again. How he meets these challenges will determine whether he is defeated/corrupted or he will emerge as a champioin of love as the ultimate law and power.
The Gate of Scars
This is the Gate of Scars, of the Spiritual Warrior. To fully internalize the meaning of Ra’s language, it’s helpful to define innocence. This kind of innocence refers to the ability of the human heart to love without condition- universally – which means you love even the “bad” aspects of people or things. Its love is solely outward gazing; it matters not if any love is reciprocated.
It’s a Christlike energy, and perhaps the closest we can get to experiencing Divine Love – at least in the material realm where polarities must reign.
You might guess why it’s called the Gate of Scars. This purity of spirit – this innocence – is constantly being tested by life, often by competition with others. And when the spirit triumphs again and again, the individual’s quality of being will be like that of the Shaman or Priestess, a sort of permanent transcendence that can be quite healing for others.
For this reason it is also the archetype of the Wounded Healer. Such people show it is possible to dwell in the sheer bliss and wonder of being alive right now, despite unspeakable chaos, loss, and grief.
Human Design Circuitry
The Gate of Innocence reaches for Gate 51 (Shock) in the Ego Center. This is where the test will arise, life presenting us with situations that are so intense and difficult that they force us into initiations.
Gate 51 is all about the Material, so its meeting with Gate 25 exemplifies the tension between the needs and desires of the Tribe and the innocent nature of the spirit. When the initiation is met with grace, transcendence becomes possible.
Gate 25 is located in the G Center, in the Centering Circuit. The Individual’s role is to empower others to “individuate” themselves. The mutation (if successful) will occur when it reaches the Tribe and then the Collective. In this way Gate 25 shows others that Universal Love is attainable.
If the high expression of the Gate of Innocence is transcendence, then the opposite is when we allow life’s shocks and trials to defeat or corrupt us. For example, without Gate 51 we might lack the courage or willpower to make the choices necessary to preserve our innocence. And when this happens, we might become cynical and give up on the possibility of universal love completely.
The Human Design definition of Gate 25 emphasizes the spontaneous and uncontrived nature of what we do. Once our actions lose that quality, our innocence is lost.
The Astrology
Astrologically speaking, Gate 25 straddles the last degrees of Pisces and the first degrees of Aries, the “birth canal” of the Zodiac. Pisces is form dissolving into spirit; Aries is the pure, fiery initiation of becoming. This alone should illuminate the gate’s important position in the sky. It symbolically marks spirit turning into form because when the Sun is here, it is the vernal equinox – the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hempisphere.
A Fool’s Journey of Love
The fall equinox, the winter solstice and the summer solstice are three other key points on the zodiacal wheel and the Rave Mandala. Together they form a cross which intersects the four “love gates” of the G Center, forming the Incarnation Cross of the Vessel of Love.
Across the Mandala is Gate 46, which is the love of the body itself. This means that when the Sun is in Gate 25, the Earth will be grounded in this other, very material love.
The Fool is in love with being in her body. She relies on it as she goes through trial after trial, yet it is her innate love of the spirit alive in all things which protects her.
The Fool by definition does not look before she leaps, and if she keeps her innocent, loving heart open, she will always land on her feet.
