Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 32, known as the Gateway of “Duration”. Now, the Sun has moved into Gateway 50, which is known as the Gateway of “Values”.  In the Chinese I-Ching, the word for the 50th Gateway is “Ding,” which is a word that describes an enormous three-legged cooking pot, usually made of bronze, with two handles and a lid. And if you ever go to a temple in China or Japan, you’ll find one of these pots.

So, what’s it doing at a temple? Well, in times of plenty, everyone goes to the temple and puts their joss sticks, their incense, in the pot, prays, and gives thanks. But in times of hardship or famine or war, those in the temple will dump out all the ash, clean the pot, and fill it up and cook for the community. So, the symbolism here is that this cooking pot stays there through thick and thin, providing support for the community in one form or another, in good times and bad, reminding us that certain values endure for the health and well-being of us all.

So, with that, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 50:

The Personal Life Theme: The Laws

With the Sun in Gate 50, “Values”, we enter into the Personal Life Theme of “The Laws”.  Now, the Earth is in Gate 3, which is the Gateway of “Innovation”. And what’s innovation all about? It’s about doing something new, something different. And laws require innovation in order to remain useful and relevant. They need to change and transform with the times in order to continue benefitting the community and the society they serve.

Gate 50 – Values – Honoring the wisdom and values that enrich both the local community and society at large.

Gate 3 – Innovating – Breaking with the old ways and implementing the new.

Gate 56 – The Wanderer – The movement and views of the inner world are reflected by those of the outer world.

Gate 60 – Limitations – Accepting restrictions allows for the possibility of flow and transcendence.

The Unconscious Sun is in Gate 56, the Gateway of “The Wanderer”. And just like a wanderer, Gate 56 goes through many different experiences in life, necessarily changing belief systems and belief patterns as it goes along.

Next we see the Unconscious Earth in Gate 60, the Gateway of “Limitations”. And what are some limitations we face in life? Not being able to pay our bills, not having any gas in the car or food in the fridge or money in the bank—these are all potential limitations. So, the essence of this particular Life Theme is about taking care of these things.

Now, those of you who are familiar with Human Design will recognize that Gates 60 and 3 (the two Earth placements) make up a Channel, and it’s the Channel of Mutation. So, this Life Theme is all about mutation. It’s about making jumps in life from old perspectives into new innovative perspectives. But in the end, these mutations have to do with values, specifically the values that benefit the community. What are the values, the laws, that benefit the neighborhood, the family, the community at large? How do we change these values and laws when they need to be refreshed, rethought, reshuffled? Sometimes we need to make these radical shifts in the laws in order to honor the true meaning of why the laws are there in the first place, which is to support the community. So, when the Sun goes through this particular Life Theme, we’re going to see some very foundational things changing around us.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Benjamin Netanyahu, Kim Kardashian, Timothy Leary

The Fixed Life Theme: Values

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gate 50, but if you look at the image below, you’ll see that the line goes right between Libra and Scorpio, and these two signs are completely different from each other. Libra is all about finding balance, while Scorpio is all about transformation.

So, this particular Life Theme, the Fixed Life Theme of “Values” falls exactly where the Sun crosses out of Libra and into Scorpio, so we’re dealing with a very different way of viewing our values in life.

Gate 50 – Values – Honoring the wisdom and values that enrich both the local community and society at large.

Gate 3 – Innovating – Breaking with the old ways and implementing the new.

Gate 31 – Influence – Interrelating and leading others through expressing your natural influence.

Gate 41 – Imagination – Living within limited resources opens the door for imagination and possibilities.

The Unconscious Sun is in Gateway 31, the Gateway of “Influence”, which is involved in putting logical possibilities and expressions out into the world. The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 41, the Gateway of “Imagination”. It’s the Gateway of the start codon in genetics. So, in essence, it’s the dream, the vision which exists right at the beginning, right on the verge of something new.

So, when the Sun goes through this particular Life Theme over these next few days you’ll find it brings the possibility of completely upend our values and cast our lives and systems and structures in a very different light. This is a very key moment in the year where we’ll experience a big shift in attitude, so it’s important to be really clear and true to yourself, while remaining alert and aware of the influences and possibilities playing out around you..

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Wishes

The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gate 50, the Ding, the cooking pot, this place that holds the possibility for us to remember that the tides of life are always changing.  Sometimes everything’s great and life’s just buzzing along, and other times we encounter hardship and difficulties. And the 50th Gateway reminds us to step up in all of this. So, we call this the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Wishes”.  

 What are the wishes? Wishes are similar to dreams or visions in that they are things that don’t yet exist but might. They are the potential innovations that will change things for the better, that will benefit to the whole community. And again, we have the Unconscious Sun in Gate 31 which brings the influences that take us forward in a way that benefits everybody involved. And the Unconscious Earth in Gate 41 holds the vision, has the imagination, it contains the possibilities of how things can progress and move on for the benefit of it all. So, with this Life Theme, literally anything is possible. And you’ll find that people who have this Life Theme always seem to produce.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Kevin Kline, Johnny Carson, Roman Abramovich

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 50th Gateway. If you want to learn more about Life Themes, you’ll find them all in the Book of Destinies, part of the Human Design Trilogy which is available in all good bookstores and audiobook platforms.

If you want to find out more about Gate 50, we encourage you to dive into our blog series on the Book of Lines.

And if you’d like to learn more about how your Human Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.