The Sun in the Gate of The Role of the Self, aka The Army ✨ The Mandala 64 Walk

August 5-11 · Astrological Lammas · Sun in Leo · Gate 7

This article is part of the Mandala 64 Walk, a series following the Sun as it moves around the Zodiac through all 64 Human Design gates.

Every 5-6 days, you can expect musings on the I’ching, Gene Keys, and ancestral wisdom of the Gate, along with Somatic Practices and Creativity Prompts relevant to the energy of the season. Come take a walk with me!

---

Hey everyone,

How’s everyone staying cool out there in this juicy, hot, late summer season? I got a shaved ice maker and have been dousing myself in the stuff between misting myself with a hose. Feeling the fruits of the past year’s work coming out to the surface more and more too, which feels good and right on schedule for this season.

Speaking of which, if you’re in Santa Fe, I’m going to be posting up with my Mandala 64 cards for mini Astro-HD readings at the new 505 Night market this Saturday, 8/8. Swing by and say hi!

This week the Sun passes through 15° Leo in Gate 7: The Role of the Self, aka The Army. Although some folks celebrated Lammas or Lughnassa on August 1, this 15-degree point of leo is astrological/astronomical Lammas, the true cross-quarter point between summer solstice and fall equinox.

Fun fact: Every solstice, equinox, AND cross-quarter day in the wheel of the year happens when the Sun passes through a G Center gate- the center of identity, direction, and love. Gate 7 is one of these gates, focusing on direction and strategy of leadership behind-the-scenes (as opposed to the loud and vocal influencer leadership of Gate 31, which we just celebrated week before last).

So- happy Lammas, happy midway point between summer and fall, happy first harvest festival! What are you harvesting now that first sprouted out of the ground back in March, literally and metaphorically?

Gate 46 is another G-Center Gate, the gate that the sun is in on the Fall Equinox/Mabon. And this Thursday, Venus moves there, into her own home sign of Libra. Mars is also in a G-gate, Gate 15 (the gate the sun is in on summer solstice), and Earth sits in Gate 13, the Imbolc gate.

So four G-Center gates are lit up at once this week, all reaching toward the Throat and the Sacral. Expect a week that asks for both direction and love, and doesn’t let you fake either one.

Look at all that G-Center energy this week! Sun/Earth in 7: the army and 13: the listener, venus in 46: embodiment, and mars in 15: extremes/magentism. Feel into your higher heart as we prepare for the Leo eclipse!

Gate 7: The Story

Last week, leadership gate 31 handed you a microphone. After a week of retreat, this week Gate 7 sits down in that same seat and takes out the map of the battlefield.

The hexagram is Shī, usually translated as The Army, with the trigrams Earth over Water. This evokes the image of groundwater gathered under the surface of the land, an underground river, nourishing but invisible until it’s needed.

The old commentary in the I’Ching talks about discipline; strength that only holds if it’s shaped by real order, a leader trusted because the people also trust each other and know that they are seen by the one making the plans. This is the first hexagram of a brand new season too, so the lower trigram flips from Mountain to Water, which means the whole felt tone of the wheel just shifted under our feet. This is the first of 8 water gates as we move through this juicy season before the fall equinox’s Wind takes over.

An army of lions

In Human Design this is the gate of the self showing up in a group, and it lives in the G Center creating a channel with Gate 31 in the Throat- the Channel of the Alpha. Gate 31 is elected and influential, and Gate 7 is the quieter half of that pair, the part that knows where the group is headed before anyone’s said a word out loud.

The shadow of Gate 7 is Division, picking a side or forcing a direction because sitting in not-knowing feels unbearable. The gift is Guidance, an inner compass that leads without needing to be seen leading. The siddhi is Virtue, leadership so unselfconscious it stops looking like leadership at all.

Gate 7 in the Body

Gate 7 lives in the G Center, the territory as identity, love, and direction, located right behind the sternum in the high heart chakra, the fascia that connects to our pericardium and creates a living cross within our bodies. This gate’s energy is also where the liver and blood do their work of filtering and carrying, which tracks with the theme of leading from behind. Blood doesn’t announce itself either. It just moves, and everything downstream depends on it moving well.

When this center gets pulled into performing a direction instead of feeling one, the chest tightens into something braced and directive instead of open. Our bodies know the difference between a leader who’s found their bearings and one who’s just afraid of the silence.

Season, Channel & Polarity

Season: Water begins its run as the new lower trigram this week through the next 8 gates. Water is,the felt quality of something submerged, patient, finding the path of least resistance without losing its power. Earth sits above it in Gate 7, giving this first hexagram of the season a grounded, held quality before the water gets a chance to show its other faces in the gates ahead.

Channel: Gate 7 completes the Channel of the Alpha with Gate 31 in the Throat. Gate 31 speaks leadership. Gate 7 makes sure there’s strategy behind it. Gate 33, Retreat, is the one gate between these two types of leadership in Leo season, which also create this channel. It’s like the lion stepping out with a big roar, retreating into his den, and then coming back out with a greater awareness of what leading the pack really means: discipline and strategy. How can retreat serve you to be a better leader?

Polarity: Directly across the wheel from Gate 7 sits Gate 13, the Listener. One end leads, and the other end remembers everything it’s been told. A leader who never listens burns out fast, and a listener who never leads just holds a room full of stories with nowhere to land. As I mentioned, Gate 13 is the Imbolc Gate, the cross quarter day between the winter solstice and spring equinox, and Gate 7 is Lammas, the cross quarter day between summer solstice and fall equinox. Think about how you feel in those seasons as you contemplate the polarity!

A Somatic Practice for Gate 7

Rest a hand on your sternum. Don’t try to have an answer about anything, just notice whether your chest feels like it’s steering something or holding something. Breathe there until the difference gets clear, and let whatever direction is actually true rise up on its own instead of the one you think you’re supposed to have.

Creativity Prompts

Give yourself 15 minutes with one of these:

• Write about a time you led without meaning to, someone followed you somewhere before you’d even decided you were going.

• Draw water pooling underground, unseen, already shaping the land above it.

• Or pull the Gate 7 card from your Mandala 64 deck and notice which side you’re living in this week, the one that grips the wheel or the one that trusts the road.

Next up: Gate 4, Formulization, the mind’s turn to soften its grip on certainty. This is the gate where the solar eclipse on Wednesday is occurring- you can read my longer post about that here:

xox!

Alison

---

ELA Map, our new astrocartography and human design workspace, is now live! Get your free map here:

---

Mandala 64 Decks are for learning & divination:

If you’d like to have a physical, IRL way to deepen your learnings of Human Design, the I’Ching & the Gene Keys- and how they fit into the Zodiac Wheel and the Bodygraph, you can order a copy of my Mandala 64 deck!

I’ve been selling a lot lately, so only have TWO decks left in hand, so get yours while it’s hot! <3

Mandala 64 is a learning and oracle deck I created last year, with one card for each gate, plus 14 cards for each of the planets and luminaries that transit through the gates.

My favorite practice is to pull the card for the current gate and place it on your altar for the week. Let it sit in your field. It’s one of the most embodied ways I know to learn the gates - not through study but through slow, repeated encounter.

---

Thanks for reading! Let me know how y’all are doing this week in the comments, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you have or to book a reading about your life’s path in this season!

My books are open: Get an Astrology, Human Design or Astrocartography Reading

I have some new reading types up on my site: Astrocartography and Midlife Transits readings, in addition to my Astro-HD Personal Myth readings. I’d love to work with you as we move through eclipse season’s revealations!

All my G-center love,

Alison