Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 58, the Gateway of “Joy”. Now, we move on into Gateway 38, the Gateway of “Opposition”. The new year is just around the corner, and in the Roman calendar the month of January is named after Janus. Janus was a god with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward. And January 1st was a day in which all accounts for the year were rendered; all the rents were paid, all the bills were caught up, and everything was settled. It’s when Janus looks back at what has drawn to a close and then looks forward to what’s coming up in the future. So, as the Sun goes into Gateway 38, we’re opening up a whole new story.

 With that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 38:

The Personal Life Theme: Tension

With the Conscious Sun is in Gate 38 and the Conscious Earth in Gate 39, we find ourselves in the Personal Life Theme of “Tension”. It might sound like an intense name. And it can be intense; people with this Life Theme can get really wound up if they’re not careful. But if you stop to consider it, why do we need tension in life? Think about it in terms of playing a musical instrument. If all the strings are at the right tension you can get the right notes and harmonies out of them. So, this Life Theme is seeking to align with life. It’s constantly bringing things up to speed and into a state of attunement. It’s orchestrating things to find a better balance. And this is particularly relevant at the beginning of a new year when we’re looking to pull things together.

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

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

• Gate 48 – The Well – Establishing and re-establishing access to the unending source of knowledge.

• Gate 21 – Control – Being very clear on what holds value for you in your life.

The  Unconscious Sun is in Gate 48, “The Well”, as in the water source, the source of everything that’s important for life. The well has everything to do with freshness, with keeping things interesting and up to date. It also has a lot to do with depth. How deep are we prepared to go into life? Are we just going to stay on the surface, or are we able plumb the depths of what it is that’s going on in our world? The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 21, the Gateway of “Control”, the Gateway of the “Hunter/Huntress”. And I always say there are two ways to go hunting. You can go running after your quarry, or you can position yourself in such a way that your quarry comes to you.

People with this Life Theme are very adept at gauging authenticity. They can sense when people aren’t being true to their nature, when they’re putting up a façade. They can spot it right away and call people on it. It comes back to that idea of a musical instrument; they just know when the people around them are in tune and playing in the right frequency. And if not, they’re prepared to tighten things up and bring it back into the right tension.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Michael Schumacher, Henri Matisse, Stephen Stills, J. R. R. Tolkien

The Fixed Life Theme: Opposition

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gates 38 and 39 and we enter into the Fixed Life Theme of “Opposition”. On the Unconscious side, we have the Sun in Gate 57, “The Gentle, Penetrating Wind” which has a lot to do with intuition, and we have the Unconscious Earth in Gateway 51, the Gateway of “Shock” and “Arousing”.

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

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

• Gate 57 – The Gentle/Penetrating Wind – You proceed gently while paying attention to your intuitive clarity.

• Gate 51 – Shock – Growth through disruptions and drastic changes.

Opposition is a very powerful Life Theme. But what is the opposition all about? Where is it coming from? It’s possible to be opposed to just about anything. And what I always say to people with this Life Theme is that you’ve got to pick your battles. You can’t fight with everything. There are so many things in the world that are just plainly unfair. But you simply can’t fight every battle on every front.

People with this Life Theme are allergic to stupidity. They can’t stand B.S. and they’re going to call it out when they see it. If you’re not living up to individual standards, if you’re just going along with everybody else’s ways of doing things, you’re going to hear about it. And it’s not a matter of scolding or putting people down. If you get called out by somebody with this Life Theme, don’t sweat it, but do try to recognize what they’re trying to illustrate for you.

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Individualism

The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gate 38 and we find ourselves in the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Individualism”. What does it mean to be an individual? Just like in the Fixed Life Theme mentioned above, part of it certainly has to do with standing up to stupidity and rules that are unfair, unjust, or wasteful. But it comes down to standing for yourself.

We all come into this world as a unique consciousness in human form. It’s up to us to work out what it is we’re doing here and what it is that’s really important for us. But the key to it all is living as an empowered individual. So, the bottom line with this Life Theme is standing in your truth, which is to say standing up for what you perceive as truthful in your own way. Truth is a very personal attunement.

All four Gateways in this Life Theme are in the Individual Circuitry, which means they’re all involved in empowerment. They’re also all acoustic in nature, which means they have a lot to do with what you can hear. What’s to be heard in your environment? Where’s the transformation in what it is you’re able to pick up on, sonically, in the world around you?

Notable people with this Life Theme: Alan Watts, Julia Ormond, Dyan Cannon

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 38th 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 38, 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.