Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 46, known as the Gate of “Serendipity”.  Now, the Sun has moved on into Gateway 18.  I call this the Gateway of “Improving”, but the traditional translation from the I-Ching is “Work on what has been spoiled by the parents”. So, it’s all about conditioning.

 What are the things we’ve been told that are patently wrong for us? All of us come into this world open and innocent. And we happen to be born into a particular family or living situation, and we get given the ground rules. We’re told how life works, how the world works, what’s expected of us. We’re given a certain religion and certain practices. We go to school, and we learn all kinds of things about everybody else. Nothing about ourselves. So, Gateway 18 becomes thoroughly conditioned according to everyone else’s ideas about life and can, with awareness and determination, be in a position of seeing what can be done to improve the situation.

 

 

 

So, with that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 18:

 

The Personal Life Theme: Service

When we look at all four Gateways in this particular Life Theme of “Service”, we see they’re all in the Logic Circuitry. This means they all have to do with how we bring about improvement, how we make things better.

Now, the Sun is in Gate 18, and on Earth side, we have Gate 17, the Gateway of “Following”. It’s the Gateway of opinions and thought processes, wherein one thought follows another in a logical progression.

The Unconscious Sun is in Gateway 52, which is the Gate of “Mountain”.  It offers stillness and calm, a place to be deliberate in recognizing how things can be improved. And on the Unconscious Earth side, we have Gate 58, the Gateway of Joy.

 

• Gate 18 – Improving – All traditions and customs need constant review to find if they are presently wholesome and healthy

 

• Gate 17 – Following – Theories, debate, and discussion temper all thoughts into base for concepts and ideals to move toward a potential future wellbeing for all.

 

• Gate 52 – Mountain – Stillness, patience, and presence provide perspective on all life’s circumstances.

 

• Gate 58 – Joyous Vitality – Embracing the great power and delight of expressing joy and celebrating life.

 

The fact that all four Gateways are in the Logic Circuitry points to a very foundational thing: This Life Theme is not personal, it’s impersonal. It’s invested in bringing about improvement for the world around you. So, people with this Life Theme have to be very clear that service is not a quid pro quo proposition. It’s not, “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine”. The whole energy of this Life Theme is to provide service without an expectation of compensation. Of course, recompense might come in many different ways, but it’s not directly linked to how the service is provided.

 

Notable people with this Life Theme: Brigette Bardot, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Adams

 

The Fixed Life Theme: Correction

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gate 18 which brings us into the Fixed Life Theme of “Correction”. So, Gate 18 is involved in bringing about improvements in life. It wants to get past the conditioning and break out of the prescribed ways of doing things. And the fourth line allows things to just be. It recognizes that everything has a cause and a solution. You can choose to fight, if you want. You can be very rigid and heavy-handed about how things get repaired and improved. Or you can just acknowledge that this is the nature of life, this is how things go sometimes and if life really calls you to do so, you can step in and make your corrections and improvements.

 

• Gate 18 – Improving – All traditions and customs need constant review to find if they are presently wholesome and healthy

 

• Gate 17 – Following – Theories, debate, and discussion temper all thoughts into base for concepts and ideals to move toward a potential future wellbeing for all.

 

• Gate 39 – Provocation – finding your way through obstacles opens you up to personal growth.

 

• Gate 38 – Opposition – The individual stands for authenticity against unfairness and untruth.

 

The Unconscious Sun is in Gateway 39, the Gateway of “Provocation”. It’s very easy for people with this particular Gateway in their Design to ruffle other people’s feathers; to cause upset, cause disturbances, and unsettle people in some way or other so they “get real.”

The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 38, the Gateway of “Opposition”. Essentially, this is the Gateway of recognizing those things in life that aren’t fair. If you have this Gateway, you can be very ornery in your resistance to things that don’t meet your standards in life, and will do whatever you can to oppose them.

 In a sense, Gates 38 and 39 are both Gateways that uplevel the possibilities for an individual presence. They’re both individual, and therefore “empowering” Gateways. So, people with this particular Life Theme can be very particular about how things go in the world around them. They can either be extreme in wanting things to get better or upgraded, or they can just recognize that this is how things are and that there are certain things that call to them deliberately for correction in one way or another.

 

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Upheaval

Now the Sun goes into the fifth and sixth lines of Gates 18 and 17, and this opens up the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Upheaval”.  People with this Life Theme have the ability to instantly recognize things that are not working properly. They see the conditions that have been set in place, the unfairness, the reactive patterns that go on and on. This is why they can sometimes get in over their heads. They can very easily get involved in tilting at windmills; running into brick walls and causing chaos trying to improve things that just aren’t going to budge.

By the time Gate 18 gets to the sixth line, the line called “Being the Buddha”. If anyone ever had a life of upheaval, it’s the Buddha. He went through years and years of trial and tribulation trying to find himself, trying to find the answer to life. He went through all the initiations, all the difficulties. He just couldn’t leave things alone. He had to try it all until, in the end, he dropped it all relaxed. And in that relaxation. Everything happened to him. Everything opened up, and he went on to have a 40-year ministry bringing about massive change for the world and for the people around him. So, Upheaval has a very particular pathway, but the question is, does the upheaval need to disturb everybody else, or is it really concerned with what’s going inside?

 

Notable people with this Life Theme: Mahatma Gandhi, Sting, Kelly Ripa

 

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 18th 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 18, 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.