Must be the Season of the Spleen...

All of the Human Design Gates of Libra season + the first 2 of Scorpio are in the Spleen Center. What does that mean for the current moment?

As we transition deeper into fall and the colder months ahead, does this time of year make you feel a little… on edge? Like you need to strip things down to the basics and hunker down? Like you want to push a big red reset button?

Must be the Season of the Spleen.

Spleen drawing by codexanatomy.com

In Human Design, 5 out of the 6 gates that the sun travels through during Libra season are located in the Spleen Center in the bodygraph. The first two gates of Scorpio season are also in the Spleen, so we are in the midst of month-and-a-half-long Splenic semester.

The Spleen speaks in quiet, body-level signals that say “this is safe” or “this is off,” and it only operates in the present moment. If your spleen center is defined in your bodygraph, it can serve as Splenic Authority, guiding rapid, clean decisions without debate or deliberation from the mind. The Spleen is an awareness center that is responsible for present-moment awareness, instinct, fear, primordial wisdom, embodied truth, and right timing.

(A few other parts of the year have sequential gates that are focused in one bodygraph center, such as:

• Late Taurus → Gemini → early Cancer: Several gates in the Throat Center, making late spring/early summer focused on expression and communication.

• Late Capricorn → Aquarius: Several gates in the Root Center, with pressure, momentum, restraint, and beginnings are the theme in mid-winter.

• Late Pisces → early Aries: Solar Plexus-heavy, so this time around the Spring Equinox emphasizes emotional awareness, desire, and social bonding.

….but the transitional season of autumn (Libra/early Scorpio season) is the only one that has 100% of its gates in one center. We’re deep in spleen territory.

The Splenic Gates of Libra and early Scorpio Season

In order of appearance as the sun travels around the HD mandala, these gates tell a story:

• Gate 18 (Correction) spots distortion and edits it.

• Gate 48 (Depth) draws from the deep well so there is substance to work with.

• Gate 57 (Intuitive Clarity) sharpens intuition in real time.

• Gate 32 (Continuity) senses what will endure and what will fade, so you commit where continuity is possible.

• On the cusp between Libra and Scorpio, Gate 50 (The Cauldron) sets living values that protect the tribe and the body.

• Then, Scorpio’s Gate 28 (The Game Player) tests purpose through risk and struggle, asking if the stakes are worthy of your life force,

  and finally

• Gate 44 (Alertness) scans patterns from the past to meet the right allies and opportunities now.

The Splenic gates definitely carry specific fear frequencies. These aren’t necessarily pathologies - they are early-warning signals meant to sharpen timing and keep you alive and well. Splenic fear is quiet, present-only, and stops broadcasting if it’s ignored. When you listen and respond, the fear resolves into clarity.

How to transmute Splenic fear into clarity:

• Get present. One slow exhale, feel feet, re-scan the moment.

• Make a small, timely adjustment instead of a grand fix.

• Check the body’s simple yes or no, then act once.

• Let proof replace worry. The Spleen trusts what is tested and clean.

• Support the system. Sleep, light movement, uncluttered spaces, and food your body likes all turn down fear noise.

The Spleen in Traditional Chinese Medicine vs. Human Design

In the Wuxing (5-Element) Cycle of Daoism/Traditional Chinese Medicine, the season of fall correlates with the element Metal.

The characteristics of the Spleen in the Human Design system resonate with the characteristics of Metal in the 5-Element system. Metal in Chinese medicine is one of the Five Phases that describes how nature and the body move through cycles of buildup and release. Metal’s core action is contraction and refinement: taking what is essential, and letting the rest go. Metal governs boundaries, immunity, and elimination. Like the Spleen in Human Design, the element Metal functions like a built-in smoke detector. It senses in the present, flags what is clean or not, and helps you cut what does not serve so your system stays clear.

In TCM, however, the organs associated with Metal and the fall season are the Lungs and Large Intestine. The Spleen and Stomach govern Late Summer and the element Earth, related to nourishment and digestion of the harvest.

Since I study both Human Design and Daoist/elemental Qigong, I’ve been curious about the different conceptions of the Spleen. Here’s what I found:

In ancient times, before modern medical research proved otherwise, the spleen used to be recognized as an organ of digestion in close relation with the stomach. In modern medical research, though, the spleen has been discovered to filter blood, recycle worn-out red blood cells, store platelets and white cells, and mount rapid immune responses, especially against encapsulated bacteria. It is part of the lymphatic system, not the digestive tract, although it does sit near the stomach in the left upper abdomen.

In Chinese Medicine, the Spleen–Stomach governs nourishment, digestion and transport of food and qi in Late Summer. The modern understanding of the anatomical spleen is for immunity, immediate response to danger, and filtering out what is healthy from unhealthy- all traits that definitely relate to the Spleen Center in Human Design, as well as the element Metal’s swordlike quality of cutting what won’t be essential during the months of cold and dark.

All this to say that the Large Intestine and Lungs are other organs to consider during this Splenic season. The spleen’s immune response is well-paired with the lungs’ ability to exhale grief and trauma, and the large intestine is the final step in elimination, the ability to truly let go. Together, the 3 organs relate to trusting our instinct, clear choices, clean endings, and less clutter in body and life.

Notice how Splenic energy shows up this season:

• Subtle yes or no sensations in the body

• Early warnings about people, food, places, and timing

• Fear themes that sharpen awareness rather than paralyze

• Relief and ease when something is correct, tension when it is not

• Natural pull toward clean spaces, clean food, and clear boundaries

• Knowing when to stop, rest, or leave before things go sideways

• Preference for what is proven, reliable, and time tested

• Sudden clarity that feels soft rather than loud

• Immune cues like instant aversion or attraction

• Calm that returns quickly after the right decision is made

From Libra into early Scorpio season, we are moving through a living seminar on present-moment clarity, where the Spleen teaches us to listen with the body first and let action arise from that quiet signal. This is a season of gentle edits and right-sized risks, resourcing the deep internal well so there is something true to pull from through the winter months. It is a time of maturity, of aligning with what will actually endure instead of chasing what shines for a minute.

In the Human Design rhythm, these splenic gates tune instinct into clean timing and care into practice, while in the Chinese medicine frame the Metal flavor reminds us to breathe a little longer on the exhale, to let go of what is complete, and to keep boundaries clear enough that the vital things can stay close.

So we make small corrections and let them add up, we feed ourselves warmth and simplicity, we close loops that have lingered and invite the next good timing to find us. When the signal lands in your body, silently, move. When it does not, wait without drama, trusting that clarity returns to a system that is less cluttered and better resourced. This is a season of alertness without rushing, like a spider in it’s web waiting for the right moment to move.

Happy Season of the Spleen, y’all.

If you’re new to Human Design or want a refresher, here’s a little info about the connection between the Mandala (which I sometimes call the “Human Design wheel of the year” and the Bodygraph:

The Human Design Mandala, the Zodiac, and the Wheel of the Year

The Human Design mandala is a circular map that overlays the 64 I Ching hexagrams onto the 360° zodiac. Each hexagram appears as a “gate” around the rim. Inside the circle sits the Bodygraph with its nine Centers. The outer ring is time and sky. The inner graph is circuitry and physiology. The mandala shows how the sky feeds the body’s mechanics.

Zodiac and seasonal timing
As the Sun moves through the zodiac, it also moves gate by gate in the mandala. Each gate spans roughly 5°37′ of zodiac and about 5 to 6 days. That cadence ties gate themes to the Wheel of the Year. Aries to Pisces becomes a full cycle through all 64 gates. Seasonal thresholds remain intact, but the gate layer adds finer texture. For example, Libra season still focuses on balance and relating, while the specific Libra gates refine the weekly lesson.

Polarities and pairs
Every time the Sun occupies a gate, the Earth sits exactly opposite in the complementary gate. This Sun–Earth pair creates a working polarity: expression and grounding, outer action and inner stabilizing. The weekly “weather” is the dialogue between these two gates.

Centers: where the gates live in the body
Each gate is wired to one Center in the BodyGraph, which points to how its theme shows up somatically and behaviorally.

• Head and Ajna: mental pressure, questions, concepts

• Throat: expression, manifestation, timing of speech and action

• G Center: identity, direction, love

• Ego/Heart: will, commitments, value exchange

• Spleen: instinct, immune health, present-moment awareness

• Solar Plexus: emotional wave, desire, spirit

• Sacral: life force, sustainable work, response

• Root: stress-to-momentum conversion, initiation cycles

Because gates are fixed to Centers, a season can emphasize a bodily domain. Libra runs through multiple Spleen gates, so you get a month of refinement in instinct, immunity, and right timing. Early Scorpio continues that Spleen arc before shifting to other Centers.

How to use this in practice

• Track the Sun gate for the weekly theme and the Earth gate for how to ground it.

• Note the Center those gates belong to, then practice through that part of the body and life. Spleen gates invite somatic listening and small, timely corrections, while throat gates favor clean statements and well-timed moves.

• Read the gate in the context of its zodiac sign and season. (The sign sets the backdrop adnd the gate sets the scene.)

• Over a year, you will have touched all 64 gates. The Wheel of the Year becomes a full curriculum, not just twelve chapters.

I’ll leave you with the inspiration for the title of this post, a song that’s always in my head this time of year. The Season of the Spleen aligns with the Season of the Witch in my mind, as it’s a time of year where we can transmute fear into magic.

Enjoy.

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