Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 50, known as the Gateway of “Values”.  Now, the Sun has moved into Gateway 28, which is the Gateway known as “The Game Player”.  And what’s the game? Life itself. Anything can happen in this life at any time. And it’s only going one way. We’re all going to die one day. But until death is staring us right in the face, Gateway 28 reminds us to play the game while we can. If you’re going to be in a body and be alive, then live to the max. Be the game player. Take it on. Wrestle with life if you need to, but dance with life as well. So, in a sense, I always see 28 as the Gateway of celebration. It reminds us that life is a celebration. We forget it too easily and too often.

So, with that, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 28:

The Personal Life Theme: The Unexpected

On one side we have the Sun in Gate 28, where we’re celebrating life, and on the other, we have the Earth is in Gate 27, the Gateway of “Nourishment”. And this opens up the Personal Life Theme of “The Unexpected”.  

• Gate 28 – The Game Player – Embracing life’s challenges with courage, tenacity, and celebration.

• Gate 27 – Nourishment – Providing and receiving nourishment maintains health and wellbeing in all aspects of life.

• 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 Gate 56, the Gateway of “Influence”. It’s the influencing voice which has a logical way of going about things. It’s a very powerful voice as well. If you’ve got Gate 31 in your design, you’ll know people want to hear what you have to say. Make it count.

Next we see the Unconscious Earth in Gate 41, the Gateway of “Imagination”.

It’s also the Gateway of the Start Codon in genetics, where everything begins. Hence, with the Personal Life Theme of “The Unexpected,” expect the

unexpected. (And at this particular moment in time, Pluto’s about to go back into this Gateway for all of us. Which means there’s a whole transition going on, a whole new thing taking place in our lives for the coming years.)

This is where the Game Player really gets to do his/her thing. When the unexpected arrives, are you ready for whatever life wants to give to you?

Are you going to disappear into the fear of it, or can you get involved and play it out? Can you grab the bull by the horns? Can you nourish yourself with good company, good food, good surroundings, good education materials? Good attitude?

People with this Life Theme are sometimes like a lightning rod. Things happen to them that don’t necessarily happen to other people. And they also spark things in other people’s lives. They somehow unsettle the world around them as they produce new things, new possibilities, new expressions.

Notable people with this Life Theme: John Cleese, Bill Gates, Julia Roberts, Pablo Picasso

The Fixed Life Theme: Risks

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gate 28, which brings us into the Fixed Life Theme of “Risks.” Gate 28 is always living on the edge. And on the Earth side we still have Gate 27 there, which has a certain quality of generosity about it. It wants to engage in the world and take on challenges.

• Gate 28 – The Game Player – Embracing life’s challenges with courage, tenacity, and celebration.

• Gate 27 – Nourishing – Providing and receiving nourishment maintains health and wellbeing in all aspects of life.

• Gate 19 – Approach – Reaching out to find how life connects us all in an urge to re-establish unity

• Gate 33 – Retreat – Recharging and assimilating life experiences by withdrawing.

On the Unconscious Sun side, we’ve got Gate 33, which is the voice of “Retreat”. And on the Unconscious Earth side there’s Gate 19, the Gateway called “Approach”. These are both directional Gates. Gate 33 draws in—It looks to wrap things up and find the story behind life experiences. And Gate 19 reaches out to find what people really need in a given situation.

So, people with this life theme are willing to take on challenges and jump into new adventures. They’ll get into the thick of things and come back with a great story to tell. And they’ll be able to deliver the story in a way that gets right to the heart of it—revealing the essence and the moral of an experience in ways that others can’t quite articulate.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Richard Dreyfus

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Alignment

The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gate 28, which brings us into the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Alignment”. The fifth line has a kind of leadership quality about it, it’s the guide, while the sixth line carries with it a kind of quiet wisdom. Together, they oversee everything that’s possible. And here, Gate 27 with the fifth line is recognizing what’s nourishing in life. Meanwhile, Gate 28 with the sixth line is looking to see who benefits from being nourished properly, and how to provide that nourishment.

People with this Life Theme bring things into alignment. They have an amazing ability to guide people toward smooth transitions in life. That’s not to say to say it’s easy. After all, Gate 28 is always playing in all sorts of different realms, so it’s necessarily on the edge, never quite sure if it’s going to make it through or not.

We also see that Gate 28 is in the Individual Circuitry, 27 is in the Tribal Circuitry, 33 is in the Abstract Circuitry, and the 19 is also in the Tribal. So, it’s very much involved with getting to the bottom line of what people really need. What are the morals that need to be put out into the world? What are the life experiences that really need to come to fruition? How can be people be guided towards these things and derive nourishment and be connected into life? And how can we find the celebration of life? 

Notable people with this Life Theme: Grace Slick, Diego Maradona, John Adams

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 28th 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 28, 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.