Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 26, the Gateway of “Accumulation”. Now, we move on into Gateway 11, the Gateway of “Harmony”, also the Gateway of “Peace” and the Gateway of “Ideas”. The 11th Gateway is closely associated with the left eye. It’s part of the Collective Circuitry, the Abstract Circuitry which seeks to make sense out of life. And it does this by taking in what goes on in the world via the optical senses.

So, with that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 11:

The Personal Life Theme: The Garden of Eden

The Conscious Sun is in Gate 11, and we find ourselves in the Personal Life Theme of “The Garden of Eden”. We’ve all heard the story of the Garden of Eden. Everything was perfect, everyone was getting along beautifully, and then all of a sudden everything started coming unglued. As a result, humankind was thrown out of the Garden, and we’ve been trying to get back in ever since. So, the Garden of Eden represents the possibility of reacquainting ourselves with the perfection of life.  

The Earth is in Gate 12, the Gateway of “Standstill”. Sometimes life is going along as usual and all of a sudden there’s a halt. Everything is brought to a sudden stop. In these moments we can either get frustrated or we can see it as an opportunity to take stock and have a look down the road to see if we might want to do something differently. Gate 12 is in the Individual Circuitry, which represents empowerment and growth. So, when we have these sudden stops in life, they are opportunities for real growth and transformation. They give us a chance to make a very important choice: do we keep on going down the same path, or do we look for alternatives?

• Gate 11 – Harmony – As harmony emanates out into the world, small ideas can yield big returns.

• Gate 12 – Standstill – Being cautious and remaining inactive until the moment is right.

• Gate 6 – Conflict Resolution – By monitoring changing emotions, you recognize the needs of any particular moment.

• Gate 36 – Crisis Resolution – The potential to feel a sense of crisis before moving into a new experience.

Now, the Unconscious Sun has moved into Gate 6, the Gateway of “Conflict Resolution”, and the Unconscious Earth is in Gate 36, the Gateway of “Crisis Resolution”—and indeed the story of the Garden of Eden itself can be seen a story of conflict/crisis resolution. Both of these Gates are in the Emotions Center, so they very much relate to our feelings.

In my experience, people with this Life Theme come into this world from a very bright, high frequency place, and around the age of four or five, they suddenly realize they’re not in the Garden anymore. People around them are not living in integrity, they’re being told things that are just patently untrue, and people are not interacting with each other in a clear and loving way. So, they suddenly realize that they’re out of the Garden and they panic a bit as they scramble for ways to get back in. They go in search of things that make them feel they can resolve this crisis, this chaos in their life—sex, material possessions, drugs, etc. And sometimes it works…. for a while. Eventually they find themselves back in the chaos and the crisis.

People with this Life Theme either keep chasing after things in the outside world in the hopes of finding some peace and fulfillment, or they realize that they are not in search of the Garden after all, but that they are the Garden. This whole Life Theme is about living in peace and harmony with the world. But the crucial thing is that the world exists within and projects outwards, not the other way around.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Ludwig van Beethoven, Brad Pitt, Jane Austen, Edith Piaf

The Fixed Life Theme: Ideas

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gate 11, and we move into the Fixed Life Theme of “Ideas”.  And when we say “fixed”, we’re talking about people who have a very stable, rigid sense of where it is their thought processes are taking them.

On the Earth side we have Gate 12, the Gateway of “Standstill” in the fourth line. And that’s a very particular line in that it tends to be able to see when there’s a roadblock up ahead. It can sense when there’s no point in going the way we were going and whether or not it might be time to change direction.

• Gate 11 – Harmony – As harmony emanates out into the world, small ideas can yield big returns.

• Gate 12 – Standstill – Being cautious and remaining inactive until the moment is right.

• Gate 46 – Serendipity – Growth comes from being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude.

• Gate 25 – Innocence – Our natural state of inherent trust, honesty and presence.

Now, the Unconscious Sun has moved into Gate 46, the Gateway of “Love of the body” as well as, “Serendipity”, which involves being in the right place, at right time with the right attitude, ready for whatever life has there. The Unconscious Earth has gone into Gate 25, the Gateway of “Innocence”, of universal love, a love for everything, even to the point of being guileless.

So, people with this Fixed Life Theme are seeking to put out ideas. But the key question for them is whether or not they can put them out in a way that anyone can understand and digest. They have this ability to see things, and they really want to relay these things into the world. But often they just can’t get through. Their ideas just seem too radical, too outside the box, too different.

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Education

The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gates 11 and 12, which opens up the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Education”. If you’ve studied your Latin, you might know that “Education” comes from the word Educare, which means to ‘draw out’.  So, education in its true sense is the art of enticing a student to recognize their innate gifts and use them. These days, it’s become something completely different. It’s all about following a syllabus, memorizing facts and figures, and checking things off a list on your way to getting that coveted piece of paper that says you’ve been educated.

Everybody on this planet comes with unique gifts and talents. And people with the 11th gateway with the fifth and sixth lines have a natural ability to tune into and recognize the gifts of a particular person. And Gate 12 with the fifth and sixth lines has the ability to literally stop people in their tracks and offer them something different when they’re going in a direction that doesn’t serve them.

On the other side, we have the Unconscious Sun in Gate 46, “Serendipity”. And what I’ve found with Gate 46 is that it draws the eye. If you’ve got this Gateway in your Design, you might’ve noticed that wherever you go, people turn their heads. The eyes are just naturally drawn to you. Serendipity is all about being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude. that thing of being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude, being ready to engage with whatever life has to offer you. Similarly, Gate25 is an exploration of life from a place of innocence. So, through this lens we see that in a sense, education is allowing yourself to be where you are and be open in innocence. From that basis, extraordinary learning can take place.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Katie Holmes, Steven Spielberg, Queen Christina of Sweden, Christina Aguilera

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 11th 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 11, 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.