Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 30, the Gateway of “Desires”.  Now, we move on into Gateway 55, the Gateway known as “Abundance”, but which I call “Abundant Spirit”. Gate 55 is a reminder that we live in an abundant universe and that abundance is not just a measure of material wealth. Abundance doesn’t have anything to do with economics or history, it just wants to get on with life.

Out of all the 64 hexagrams in the I-ching, 55 is probably the least reasonable. So if you have Gate 55 somewhere in your chart, you’ll know that you don’t always fit in or go along with everybody else’s prescriptions. In a way, it’s totally free. And really, Gate 55 does represent freedom. Now, there are three different concepts of freedom. There’s freedom from, which is the freedom to be done with something, to leave it behind. There’s freedom for, which is the freedom to do something, like perhaps finally having the time or space to try some new experience. But both of these are relational. They are defined against something else. They depend on other factors to give them freedom. In other words, they’re attached. And Gate 55 is not about attachment. It’s not free from or free for, it’s just free.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 55:

The Personal Life Theme: The Sleeping Phoenix

With the Conscious Sun in Gate 55, we find ourselves in the Personal Life Theme of “The Sleeping Phoenix”. To me, this is a beautiful name for this particular Life Theme. And we’re moving into a time where this is going to become the Life Theme for this whole planet. As we move into this age of automation, where the old jobs and habits we’ve taken for granted are systematically replaced by Ai, bots, self-driving cars and all these things, what are we going to do instead?  We’re going to find the possibility of becoming extraordinarily creative, which is what we came here for, to be co-creators in existence. So, I’m very excited as I look into this Life Theme of the Sleeping Phoenix

So, we have the Sun in Gate 55, the Gateway of “Abundant Spirit”, where there are no limits. It’s not tied down by anything.  And we have the Unconscious Earth in Gate 59, the Gateway of fertility. It’s the Gateway of the scattering of the seed. It’s putting out life force energy in a very creative way to benefit the family, the tribe, the community.

• Gate 55 – Abundant Spirit – A spirited nature has the means to access abundance in all of life’s arenas.

• Gate 59 – Intimacy – By dissolving barriers we establish union

• Gate 34 – Power – Power is only great when its display comes from inner balance.

• Gate 20 – The “Now” – The Gateway to knowing is simple: be present in the here and now.

The Unconscious Sun is now in Gate 34, the Gateway of “Power”. This is the only asexual gait in the Sacral Center. It’s not about sex, it’s about power. Raw sacral, life force power. The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 20, the Gateway of “The Now”. And those of you who are familiar with Human Design will know that Gates 34 and 20 make up a Channel. I call it the Channel of being “busy, busy, busy”, but it’s also the Channel of “Charisma.” If you have this Channel, the energy changes when you walk into a room. People are drawn to you. They see you as someone who can make things happen for them. So, people with this channel have to be really careful about being taken advantage of.

So, we have Gate 55 with its pure individuality that lives outside the realms of logic and restriction. We have Gate 59, this Gateway of dispersing life force energy towards great creativity. Then we have Gates 34 and 20 which make up this Channel of pure power and pure individual presence. So, we can see that this personal Life Theme of the Sleeping Phoenix is a call for all of us to get busy being creative, living life, and experiencing this whole concept of freedom without limits.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Drew Barrymore, Kurt Cobain, Gloria Vanderbilt, Cindy Crawford, Alan Rickman

The Fixed Life Theme: Moods

The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gate 55 and Gate 59, and we enter into the Fixed Life Theme of “Moods”.  The Unconscious Sun has slipped into Gateway 9, the Gateway of “Applied Details”, which is always looking to have everything lined up so things work beautifully. The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 16, the Gateway of “Selectivity”, which is concerned with parsing out exactly where we should be putting our energy so that we’re not wasting it on things that simply won’t work.

• Gate 55 – Abundant Spirit – A spirited nature has the means to access abundance in all of life’s arenas.

• Gate 59 – Intimacy – By dissolving barriers we establish union

• Gate 9 – Applied Details – An inherent attentiveness to everything, whether it brings satisfaction or not.

• Gate 16 – Selectivity – The ability to evaluate and identify endeavors that have relevance and promise.

The nature of this Life Theme is that even the spirted nature experiences big swings in energy. It’s not just about being happy all the time. And we have to understand that Gate 55 not reasonable, so its mood swings are not reasonable either. It’s a cosmic thing. It can’t be nailed down. Sometimes it’s in a state of deep depression, or melancholy, and then suddenly the wave rises back up and the mood shifts. And so the key with this Life Theme is finding the balance within it all, and just accepting that these energetic shifts, these moods, come and go.

The Interpersonal Life Theme: Spirit

The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gate 55, and we find ourselves in the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Spirit”. But we might also call it the interpersonal Life Theme of “Abundance” because there are no limitations here. Anything is possible.

 Again, we have the Unconscious Earth in Gate 59 with the fifth and sixth lines, which has this incredible ability to draw people in and be very clear about how we can relate with each other in the best and most creative ways. Then we have the Unconscious Sun in Gate 9, which is always assembling the details needed to put things together. And finally, the Unconscious Earth remains in Gate 16, the Gateway of recognizing what’s going to work and what’s not.

The 16th Gateway is in the Throat Center, it’s one of our voices, and it has this instant recognition of who’s got a great idea and who hasn’t. And it’s just about the ideas. It’s not about the people. It’s not a personal thing. So, people with Gate 16 in their charts have to be really careful about how they address the fact that somebody has produced something that’s really useless. There’s an art to letting people down gently, and it might serve you well—If you have this 16th Gateway and this Life Theme—to learn how to master it.

Notable people with this Life Theme: Steve Jobs, George Harrison, Lleyton Hewitt

That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 55th 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 55, 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.