The Human Design New Year—Gate 41
At the beginning of this year, I proposed a reevaluation of the way we approach The New Year. The idea that a single day serves to integrate the knowledge of the previous year, complete the cycles, and wipe the slate clean seems (to me) out of touch with our natural world in which everything has a season. We can witness the earth’s processes in the plants and animals around us, and yet we assign ourselves an arbitrary calendar that leaves little room for our organic growth.
The last six weeks of our Gregorian calendar often culminates with festivities of gratitude, celebrations of joy, and actions considered out of love that inadvertently and/or inevitably leave many folks mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. And then we are expected to flip it all around on Day 1 of The New Year. In Human Design, the new year doesn’t start until the sun moves into Gate 41. This year that transit occurs today, on January 22. The last three weeks we have experienced the oppositional, driving, pressurizing and limiting energies of Gates 38, 54, 61, and 60. These gates have introduced us to what will launch us into the next year, and hopefully we have allowed ourselves the grace and the time to integrate the lessons of the last one.
The gates are based on the 64 Hexagrams of the IChing and Gate 41 is known as Decrease—The Gate of Contraction. In our DNA, there are 64 possible codon combinations and the start codon (Methonine) corresponds to Gate 41. Think of it in terms of the contraction before birth. In order for life to come through, in order for us to embark on a new human experience, we undergo a contraction that launches us into the new. It is in this contraction, this root pressure-fueled desire, that all the possibilities for the experience exist. We fantasize about what they could be, what the future holds.
As a Hexagram, 41 teaches us that the decrease of our superficial ego leads to success without blame. When we sacrifice the seed phrases that support our ego emotions—such as believing in ourselves/humans as the center of the world or that we are somehow born deficient—and our pride to ask for help—because collaboration is the key to progress—we become more closely aligned with Cosmic harmony. This in turn reduces resistance to our goals, creating success without the blame of compromise.
In the US we were fortunate for the limited eventfulness this week, but that doesn’t mean that all of our feelings are uncomplicated. If this New Year has felt uneasy so far, you are not alone. Nor is this feeling unexplainable or unnatural. Giving ourselves time to integrate lessons, clearing out that which no longer serves us or our old goals and creating the space for what is to come provides the launchpad for a new experience.
I’d be skeptical of anyone who tells you we’re in the clear, but at least we can aim to navigate this year with flexibility and critical thinking. If you’re curious about how to work with this energy further, let’s chat. It’s not going to be the same for everyone, but with some new tools you can find yourself growing, creating, and practicing with ease.
