Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 17, the Gateway of “Following”. Now, we move on into Gateway 21, the Gateway known as “Control”. What’s it controlling? It controls our environment. It controls what we want. It controls good and bad behaviors. It controls our attitudes and all kinds of different things. But this Gateway also has another name, “The Hunter/Huntress”. And what I always say about this is that there are two different ways to go hunting. One, you put on your running shoes and chase after your prey hoping to track it down and catch it. Or two, you let the prey come to you. You place yourself in the right position and then you wait until whatever it is you really want in life comes walking right into your lap. The point is to be clear what really holds value for you and how to draw it into your life.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 21:
The Personal Life Theme: Tension
With the Conscious Sun in Gate 21, we find ourselves in the Personal Life Theme of “Tension”. So, Gate 21 is Control. It wants to be able to maneuver things around at will. On the Earth side, we have Gate 48, the “Well”, the “Water source”. It’s a Gateway of knowledge, specifically the knowledge we share with each other in order to lift up our quality of life.
Gate 21 – The Hunter/Huntress – Being very clear on what holds value for you in your life.
Gate 48 – The Well – Establishing and re-establishing access to the unending source of knowledge.
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.
The Unconscious Sun now has gone into Gateway 38, the Gateway of “Opposition”. And what it’s opposed to is stupidity, unfairness, and essentially all forms of B.S. It opposes those things in life that don’t work, the rule systems and/or traditions that don’t really serve the people they’re supposedly meant to serve. On the other side, the Unconscious Earth is in Gate 39, which is the Gateway of “Provocation”. Gate 39 is always pushing. It’s pushing to see if there’s any life here, any juice, any new creative energy that can emerge and take hold.
So, when we say that this is the Life Theme of Tension, it might sound like a curious name, but I think about it in terms of playing a guitar. If all its strings are at the right tension you can get the right notes and the right harmonies out of it. But nobody wants to hear a guitar that’s gone out of tune. So, this Life Theme is very much about aligning with life and constantly bringing things up to speed and into a state of attunement. My experience of people with this Life Theme is that they can recognize right away when somebody’s not being straightforward, not being truthful or authentic. And they’ll often call them on it right away. They may seem uptight to people sometimes. But that’s just their role here, they’re bringing people back into tune with their lives.
Notable people with this Life Theme: Eric Clapton, Al Gore, Ewan McGregor, Vincent Van Gogh, Norah Jones, Piers Morgan
The Fixed Life Theme: Control
The Sun moves on into the fourth line of Gates 21 and 48, and we enter the Fixed Life Theme of “Control”. And here, control is more an act of gauging the environment and moving the energy accordingly. So here we have the same axis, with Gates 21 and 48, but the Unconscious Sun has moved on into Gate 54, which we call the Gateway of “Ambition”. Gate 54 is focused on finding what’s really worth pursuing in this lifetime.
Gate 21 – The Hunter/Huntress – Being very clear on what holds value for you in your life.
Gate 48 – The Well – Establishing and re-establishing access to the unending source of knowledge.
Gate 54 – Ambition – Committing to our independence before making helpful connections.
Gate 53 – New Beginnings – Gradually increasing self-knowledge and experience.
The Unconscious Earth has gone into Gate 53, which is geared toward making new starts and opening up new possibilities. So, people with this particular Life Theme can be catalytic. They can really spark the energy and get other people going on things in their lives.
People with fixed Life Themes are always set on a particular course. And people with this particular Life Theme have to be very clear on whether or not they are really in charge of a situation, or if they’re just in a position of giving guidance, holding up new possibilities, and opening pathways for ambitions to become reality.
The Interpersonal Life Theme: Endeavor
The Sun then moves into the fifth and sixth lines of Gates 21 and 48, and we find ourselves in the Interpersonal Life Theme of “Endeavor”. What are we endeavoring to do? What adventures are we getting ourselves into? Again, Gate 21 in the fifth and sixth lines is involved in recognizing what it is that’s worth pursuing and how to bring it into our lives. And Gate 48 has such an expansive gift of recognizing what it is that’s worth latching on to. What are the ways in which we can challenge ourselves?
And again, we have the Unconscious Sun in Gate 54, the Gateway of “Ambition”, which helps us to recognize that we can actually go out and do these things. We can get involved and energize that drive inside to get out and really live. And then the Unconscious Earth is in Gateway 53, the Gateway of “New Beginnings”. So, we’ll see multiple different opportunities showing up in life, and a tremendous drive to get involved in so many new experiences.
Notable people with this Life Theme: Marlon Brando, Maya Angelou, Robert Downey Jr.
That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 21st 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 21, 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.