Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the gates in your Human Design...

Remember the Weird Sandwich Metaphor I used to describe how all these different points of information (unconscious design vs. conscious personality, planets, and lines of the hexagram) all come together to flavor how we understand and experience each gate and channel? Today we're going to begin to unpack another one of those layers in the Weird Sandwich: the planets.

In Human Design, each one of our gates chills out with a specific planet or celestial body. That planet's astrological symbolism and mythology provide CRUCIAL CONTEXT into how we experience the gift or lesson of that gate.

EXTRA CREDIT: If you have a copy of your astrological natal chart, you can even take this info a step further: when Saturn, for example, is back in your natal house, the lessons and gifts of your gates and channels chilling with Saturn are going to be even more prominent around that time. Or if Mercury is in Retrograde, that might also impact how you experience the lessons and gifts chilling out with Mercury.

To start off though, let's dig a little deeper into each one of the planets to gain some insight into their symbolism and mythology and how they potentially influence our charts, following the order the information is presented in the bodygraph from mybodygraph.com. (n.b. some software systems present the planets in a slightly different order, so always defer to the symbols next to the gate and line information for the most accurate analysis).

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THE SUN (life force)

The Sun represents vital life force energy, which makes total sense. Life as we know it on this planet would not exist without the life-giving light we get from the sun. Which gates the Sun touches in our charts lets us know how, when we're living our authentic design, we're meant to shine our light in the world. In practical terms, the energy of the Sun is embodied by what we do; it's the active yang to the Earth's receptive yin.

If you pay attention to no other planetary influence in your chart, at least pay attention to the elements touched by the Sun. According to Ra Uru Hu, 70% of the neutrinos that condition our design/personality come from the Sun. This is why our profile is determined by which gates chill out with our conscious and unconscious sun, and why our incarnation cross is determined by which gate our conscious Sun lives in.

In traditional astrological terms, the Sun represents the archetype of the Father, and in Human Design, it is said that the Sun occupies gates and channels where we may have inherited gifts and lessons from our fathers. I know in my own chart, my dad and I both have the Channel of Struggle. We don't have our Sun in the same places, but we actually complete a couple channels together, and both of them are in my conscious & unconscious Earth, which is significant because...

THE EARTH (grounding & balance)

It's through our gates that work with the energy of the Earth that we bring to form the gifts and lessons we learn through the Sun. Earth energy is all about grounding and balance. The energies we get from the Sun and the Earth are always operating together, and they are opposite each other on the mandala (the super complex version of the body graph. See Beyonce's below for reference).

Just as the Sun is the Father archetype, the Earth is the Mother, the yin to the Sun's yang, and really helps to form the backbone and stabilizing force in our charts.

Beyoncé's Sun and Earth are opposite each other on the Rave Mandala, as are yours. Her Conscious Sun is in Gate 64 and her Conscious Earth is in Gate 63. See if you can spot her Unconscious Sun and Earth in red. Notice how they are opposite as well … — Beyoncé's Sun and Earth are opposite each other on the Rave Mandala, as are yours. Her Conscious Sun is in Gate 64 and her Conscious Earth is in Gate 63. See if you can spot her Unconscious Sun and Earth in red. Notice how they are opposite as well :)

NORTH NODE OF THE MOON (Future Direction & Environment)

The Nodes of the Moon are clearly not planets, but that doesn't mean they don't impact our charts in powerful ways. In terms of the North Node, there are two different aspects to its influence:

the gates that are in your conscious (black) North Node are NOT who you are, but instead how your conscious personality views itself and the world around you.
the gates that are in your unconscious (red) North Node act as a frame with which to understand your relationship to the people around you and to your environment.

The energy from the North Node is all about maturing and growing with age, releasing what no longer serves us and holding onto what does. These gifts and lessons might really rise to the surface during each Full Moon, which is also all about releasing what no longer serves us.

SOUTH NODE OF THE MOON (Past Direction & Environment)

Just as the energy of the North Node is all about growing into our future, the South Node is all about our development and experiences that brought us to who we are at present. These gates are all about youth and immaturity and during the middle of our lives, we switch from the influence of the South Nodes to that of the North Nodes. Again, the gates in our South Nodes are all about those crucial moment in our childhood, adolescence and young adulthood that shape how we view the world around us and how we view ourselves as we work toward living our design.

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THE MOON (driving force)

The Moon's energy moves us forward, and is the driving force in our design. Just as the Moon reflects the light of the Sun in our solar system, the Moon reflects the messages from where the Sun lands in our charts. And just as the Moon's pull impacts the tides, the Moon's pulls us away from or pushes us toward the lessons and gifts carried by the gates occupied by the Sun.

In Astrology, the Moon represents our unconscious, innate characteristics, as does the Moon in Human Design. It's the way our inner nature is reflected out for others to see. The Moon also carries a feminine, elder daughter energy which works in concert with the Mother Earth energy to help us live out the gifts and lessons from the Sun's gates/channels.

Which gates do you have in your Sun? In your Earth? How are they expressed in your daily life? How have the gates and lessons of your South Node shaped you into the person you are today? Let me know in the comments!