Hey friends,
How’s it going out there? We’re deepening into the heat of summer, with the solstice less than 2 weeks away. I’ve noticed all my flowers that have started blooming in my garden are the color of fire- hot pink v by ghgb snapdragons, coral geraniums, orange roses, red begonias, and with the temps in the high 90s here in Santa Fe, it truly feels like fire season.
Last week during the Gate of Change, I listened to my New Moon of Change playlist on repeat, and really felt the winds of change blow in in my life. Nothing major happened on the outside, but I felt a big shift toward yang energy in my internal world, after feeling very inward-gazing all spring.
How did the new moon in Gemini and the Gate of Change show up for you last week?
Gemini Guest Star: Daje Aloh
Over the past weekend we entered into Gate 45, known as the Gate of the Gatherer, which I talked a little bit about last week. This week, I’m super excited to have my friend Dajé Alōh on the show. Her birthday was yesterday (Sunday) with her sun in Gate 45, so we chatted a lot about this specific energy of gathering together in our conversation. Daje is a lovely soul and wise teacher who truly embodies this gate’s energies of collective prosperity and community, and I’m thrilled to have her as my Gemini season guest.
Daje, known to many by her alias The Story Doula, is a Vision Midwife + Leadership Coach for Healing Artists, Spirit-Led Founders, and Wild-Hearted Professional Guides. As a Memphis-born, Appalachian-cured storyteller, story doula, and ecosomatic depth guide; Daje supports seekers, lovers, crafters, and kin in finding and singing the deep song of their lives. She does this in several domains: entrepreneurship, creative rites of passage, and musings on culture work and leadership in these times.
Daje has such a profound way of weaving poetic words into profound truths that instantly hit your heart, and then keep digesting over the coming days. In our conversation, we talk about her current work as a facilitator and midwife for the full spectrum of human experience, where she holds space for the descent into the void as well as the visioning process of creativity.
We talk about decolonization as the first baby step toward re-indigenization, which she describes as a process of healing our collective ‘crisis of belonging’ by recognizing our inherent belonging with the cycles of the earth and all her beings. We also chat about this week’s archetypical energies in celebration of her birthday: the complexities of the Gemini archetype, the season of Fire, and Human Design’s Gate 45, the queenly Gate of the Gatherer. Thanks so much for listening to our conversation and contemplations!
I do a brief rundown of where we are this week in the Cycle of Time Wheel, then we’ll jump into the conversation with Daje - I’ll put those minutes in the notes, along with how to find and follow her!
-Alison
This week’s highlights:
Human Design/I’Ching:
June 7-12: the Sun is transiting Gate 45, the Gate of the Gatherer
Wednesday the 12th through next Tuesday 18th the the sun will transit through Gate 12, the Gate of Caution (the final full gate of Gemini Season)
Next week we enter Cancer season with a Full Moon Summer Solstice, known as Litha in the Pagan Wheel of the Year!
This week’s themes:
Leadership through gathering people and resources together
Big Queen energy
Streams flow into an alpine lake from all directions
Mindful communication and noticing the impact of our words
Timing is everything
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction: South (Fire, Youth)
Wuxing Cycle Element: Fire
Pagan Season: Beltane
Zodiac Season: Gemini (May 20-June 20)
Moon Phase: Waxing
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gates: 45 (Mon-Wed) into 12 (Thurs-Tues)
45 = Lake over Earth (Cui: “Gathering Together”) or The Gate of THE GATHERER
12 = Heaven over Earth (Bi: “Obstruction”) or The Gate of CAUTION
Gate 45: The Gate of the Gatherer, aka “The Queen”
Today’s guest, Daje Aloh, was born when the sun was in Gate 45, the Gate of the Gatherer, a gate that emphasizes themes of leadership, resource management, and the collective good.
Also known as the “Gate of the Queen/King”, it represents the ability to gather resources, people, and ideas to create wealth. This is not just wealth in material terms but also in terms of knowledge and experiences that benefit the community or group.
This gate highlights the role of leadership in organizing and distributing resources effectively, ensuring that everyone's needs are met and that there is a sense of abundance shared among all.
The I’Ching hexagram for 45 is called “Gathering Together”, and is represented by the trigrams Lake over Earth, evoking a beautiful, serene lake naturally gathering together all of the disparate streams coming from surrounding mountains.
Daje truly embodies the qualities of this gate, bringing together her beautiful vision as a beacon for people to live their fullest expressions. I recommend reading a recent post of hers which really exemplifies how she advocates and holds space for brave creators that are sharing their visions- and embracing their values- in these truly transformational times.
Listen to the audio of our conversation above (or anywhere you find podcasts), or read the transcript to discover many pearls of compassionate wisdom from this brilliant and insightful Gemini! You can find out more about her current offerings at thestorydoula.co and on Instagram at @thestorydoula.
Gate 12: The Gate of Caution, aka “The Prophet”
After the sun leaves the Gate of the Gatherer on Wednesday, we enter Gate 12, the Gate of Caution. This is also known as “The Fine Artist” (Christy Inge) and “The Prophet” (64 Doors). This Gate is about the delicate balance between the need to express oneself and the wisdom of timing in communication. This gate delves into the dual aspects of personal expression: the compelling urge to share our innermost feelings and thoughts, and the critical importance of doing so when the mood and moment are right.
Gate 12, this week, highlights a natural pull towards creative expression as a means to channel and share one’s emotional energy through mediums like poetry, art, music, or other forms. This gate teaches us that expressing ourselves, whether through words or art, needs to be in tune with how we truly feel inside. By matching our expression with our mood, we can connect more deeply with others, avoid misunderstandings, and have a greater impact.
In the I’Ching, Hexagram 12 is known as Standstill, or Heaven over Earth. In this hexagram, heaven and earth, aka vision and reality, are not combining or flowing together. Heaven is over earth, in it’s own domain, and earth is standing still under heaven, in its own domain. Vision and the tangible world are separate.
To me this resonates with something Daje said in this week’s episode, when she spoke about her process of growth toward being a better leader.
She says “When it's clear and available for wholeness and beauty, I’m just having a very clear vision, being willing to show up, pull up to it — because nobody else is gonna do my vision for me. I think one of the biggest things [in getting to this place] has been to stop assuming that people understand what I'm saying. It's, like, the deepest kindness I can ever offer anyone who's working with me, anyone I'm working with, to just not assume that people know what's in my head.”’
Over time, she learned to stop making assumptions about what other people understand about her visions and ideas, leading her to being impeccably clear with her words. Her birthday is in Gate 45, but this quote gives Gate 12 vibes for sure. In the process of gathering people together and any kind of leadership, some healthy caution is needed in the way we communicate. By being clear and deliberate with putting our visions on the table, we are expressing from our heart, and not assuming that other people already know our intentions.
Both of these Gemini season gates share a common theme of what it takes to be in community, emphasizing the way we communicate with and have influence on others.
If your birthday is this week, Happy Birthday! Let me know in the comments: How does the Gate of the Gatherer or the Gate of Caution resonate with you?
Wishing you all the love this week! I’ll report back soon for next week’s Solstice, full moon, and gate of Extremes. See you then. <3
xxo,
Alison
