Hey everyone,
I hope you’re all doing well and were able to soak up some juicy-barefoot-nature time during the gate of receptivity last week. We just entered the energy of Earthy yin for the next 6 months in the I’Ching, with the cross quarter day of Beltane moving us from the active energy of mid-fall to mid-spring into the more receptive energy of the warmer months in the northern hemisphere.
I’m recording this on Sunday the 11th, so Happy Mother’s day to all the mama’s out there. I love that Mother’s Day falls in Taurus season around the gate of receptive and the gate of breakthrough, as the base energy of the wheel turns from yang to yin. I feel like the role of mother requires both yin and yang energies.
It is very aligned with this week’s Full Moon in Scorpio, known as the full Flower Moon. It’s said that the Buddha reached enlightenment under the Scorpio Full Moon in May! It’s a transmutative, deep full moon- and becoming a mother has been by far the most transformative experience of my life! Motherhood is receptive, yes, but also requires being fierce and digging deep within one’s inner power- just like a scorpion. (All my talk last week about harmony and integration with nature was real and true, but spending the past few days “glamping” in the mountains and beach in Costa Rica, we’ve had to share space and fend off a good number of aggressive birds and bugs… this scorpion showed up right on time!
We have only a few days left on our Central America journey, and as I write I’m watching hummingbirds sip on the sweet nectar of pink flowers right below where the moon rose last night. We’ve been exploring a wide variety of towns and schools and being receptive to all of the different ways there are to live this life.
Monday’s full moon is a potent reflection point in the wheel of the year: the sun in fixed earth sign Taurus opposite the moon in fixed water sign Scorpio. The moon is in Gate 43 (Insight), opposite from the sun in Gate 23 (Assimilation), making it an ideal time to vocalize and share our insights with the world. The people who are ready to hear them will hear them, although some may feel that your insights are far-fetched or ahead of their time… the 43/23 axis and channel is known as the Genius to Freak channel, after all.
This moon highlight’s my daughter’s sun gate by degree (the Gate of The Rebel/Inspiration). She’s shining bright as she meets friends in Spanish, identifies birds in the trees, and learns the right moment to dive under the waves as they crash. This trip has been such a confidence-builder for my little rebel, and ending it on the full moon in her exact sign feels like such an omen.
Overall, today (Monday’s) Full Flower Moon in Scorpio in invites deep emotional transformation and healing. Scorpio, a sign associated with intensity, regeneration, and the shadow self, intensifies the energy of the Full Moon, urging us to confront hidden truths and release what no longer serves us. This powerful lunation encourages a deep dive into our emotional depths, empowering us to shed old patterns, fears, and attachments.
The Flower Moon, traditionally a time of blooming and growth in the northern hemisphere, calls for transformation in our relationships, finances, and sense of self-worth. It’s an ideal time for letting go of old wounds, embracing vulnerability, and forging a path of renewal. Like Scorpio’s deep totem of the scorpion and transformative totem of the Phoenix, this Full Moon offers us all the chance to rise from the ashes, stronger, more authentic, and aligned with our soul’s true desires.
This week in the Wheel of the Year:
MEDICINE WHEEL Direction: SOUTH
WUXING Element: FIRE
PAGAN Season: BELTANE (Mayday)
ZODIAC Season: Taurus (April 19-May
20)
I’CHING Hexagram/HUMAN DESIGN Gate: 23 (May 10-14), 8 (May 15-20)
23 = Mountain over Earth (“Splitting Apart”) or The Gate of ASSIMILATION (Sat-Wed)
8 = Water over Earth (“Holding Together/Union”) or The Gate of CONTRIBUTION (Thurs-Tues)
MOON Phase: Full Flower Moon in Scorpio (in Gate 43, “Insight”)
We enter this week within a vibrant and alchemical window on the Wheel of the Year. The Sun sits in the earthy sign of Taurus, and we are rooted in the Direction of the South on the Indigenous Medicine Wheel — the place of Fire, transformation, and the heart. In the Taoist Wuxing cycle, this is also the elemental season of Fire, which correlates with movement, maturation, and illumination. Everything that was planted during Ostara and activated at Beltane is now beginning to take form.
And this week, that fire is lit from within. As we arrive at a powerful moment of revelation and internal revolution with the Full Moon in Scorpio, this moon illuminates a deep axis of transformation, asking us to confront what has been hidden, repressed, or waiting for permission to emerge.
The Moon lands in Human Design Gate 43, known as “The Gate of Insight,” while the Sun opposes it in Gate 23, “The Gate of Assimilation.” Together, this axis speaks to the tension and synthesis between knowing something instinctively (Gate 43) and finding the language to express that knowing (Gate 23). Both gates belong to the Individual Circuitry — which means they carry a unique, mutative, and often misunderstood frequency. Their purpose is not to fit in but to change the narrative, often through inner breakthroughs that later ripple into collective culture.
Monday’s moon/sun opposition in 43/23 highlights an interesting polarity because it is one of 3 polarities in the Human Design wheel that are ALSO a channel in the bodygraph, connecting and defining two energy centers. The 23-43 is called the"Channel of Structuring," and those who have it in their design are natural builders and organizers. It connects the Ajna center to the throat center, making it easy to truly speak truths and insights directly from the intuitive 3rd eye. (By having the polarity also activate a channel, this means that twice a year, the sun or earth are transiting these gates- so statistically more people have these energies in their charts than other energies.)
Here’s a description of 23-43 from Evolutionary Human Design:
Picture a mountain that you can see from your window. Every day you look out at this mountain and it’s the same as it ever was. It’s been there forever. It’s substantial. It’s set in time and space. You can rely on it. Then one day there’s a sudden avalanche. You hear a great big rumble and see clouds of dust and rocks tumbling down from the mountaintop. And after it’s settled, you look out your window again and see that the shape of that old familiar mountain has changed.
That is the nature of this 23rd gateway. It literally splits apart old concepts, old ideas, old appreciations, old traditions, and renders something completely new and different. So, there can be a great degree of shock in this gateway, but ultimately it is a gateway of bringing about stability. A gateway of peeling away the non-essential to reveal what is substantial.
The 23 makes up a channel, with the 43rd gateway, called “Structuring.” And this channel is all about expressing individuality, expressing the novel, expressing something different. It relies on speech and being able to say something clearly in an easily comprehensible way.
Moon in Gate 43: The Gate of Insight
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough
In the I Ching, Gate 43 is the hexagram of Breakthrough, an energetic surge that allows deeply personal, sometimes radical ideas to rise to the surface. In Human Design, Gate 43 sits in the Ajna Center, giving form to spontaneous knowing — the kind that just is, without explanation. The challenge of this gate is to avoid external pressure to explain yourself prematurely. Gate 43 must be given time and silence to let insight mature into clarity.
In the Gene Keys, Richard Rudd names the journey of Gate 43 as moving from the Shadow of Deafness to the Gift of Insight to the Siddhi of Epiphany. Deafness here is not literal, but metaphorical — a refusal or inability to listen to the deep inner voice that offers truth. This week’s Full Moon may pressurize us to stop ignoring what we already know. When we create silence and space — and resist the urge to rationalize everything — we become conduits for truly original insight. This is Scorpio’s domain: deep inner wisdom that surfaces after descent.
This week’s Full Moon draws attention to these internal “aha” moments that may still feel tender or half-formed. With the Moon in Scorpio, the insights arising are not merely intellectual — they’re emotional, ancestral, and embodied. They often come after periods of solitude or shadow work.
Opposing the Sun in Gate 23: The Art of Saying What’s True
The Moon’s light reflects the Sun in Taurus, transiting Gate 23 – The Gate of Assimilation, from Saturday through Wednesday. Gate 23 is associated with Hexagram 23 – “Splitting Apart” in the I Ching (Mountain over Earth). This is a gate of stripping down to the essential. In Human Design, it lives in the Throat Center, and it holds the energy to translate insight into speech — but only when the conditions are right.
In the Gene Keys, this gate moves from the Shadow of Complexity to the Gift of Simplicity, and ultimately to the Siddhi of Quintessence. The insight of Gate 43 often arrives fully formed - but Gate 23 must find a way to express it clearly, simply, and without diluting its essence. The danger is overcomplication. The opportunity is mastery in saying what truly matters.
This Sun-Moon opposition asks: Can you hold your insight with integrity, even if others don’t yet understand? Can you let truth guide your voice or your silence with discernment?
Scorpio Full Moon Aspects: Juno, Saturn, and the North Node
The Full Moon is also conjunct Juno, asteroid of commitment and sacred bonds, and trine Saturn and the North Node in Pisces. These water trines create a strong emotional and spiritual undercurrent. The insights rising under this Moon aren’t just intellectual — they are connected to your path, your partnerships, and your deeper calling.
Juno adds a relational dimension to the Scorpio Moon: the breakthroughs we experience now may involve the core patterns we hold in intimacy, especially around power, control, and truth. The trine to Saturn and the North Node gives this moment a karmic tone. Insights coming through now could feel like this is what I’ve been trying to name for years. You may not need to act immediately, but do take note. There is clarity on offer.
The full moon’s Rulers: Mars and Venus
The Moon’s ruler, Mars, is currently in Leo, forming a bright, dynamic trine to Venus in Aries. This is beautiful energy for creative ignition, bold expression, and confident movement. While the Moon and Sun work through the paradox of internal truth versus external voice, Mars and Venus remind us that sometimes, we move first… and the clarity comes after.
This trine also supports relational bravery: saying what’s true, initiating what’s needed, and making space for passion, play, and new momentum in love, art, and desire. With Venus and Mars both in fire signs, the emphasis is on directness and embodiment. Let your body lead, let your heart express.
Transitioning to Gate 8 on Thursday: Contribution and Authentic Influence
As we move toward the end of the week, from Thursday through Tuesday, the Sun enters Gate 8, associated with Hexagram 8: Holding Together (Water over Earth). This is The Gate of Contribution, located in the Throat Center. Gate 8 expresses the self, not to gain approval, but to inspire others through authenticity.
In the Gene Keys, Gate 8 evolves from the Shadow of Mediocrity to the Gift of Style, and ultimately to the Siddhi of Exquisiteness. It’s not about performance, it’s about shining in a way that uplifts the whole. The challenge is to trust that your natural frequency is enough. The invitation is to lead not by dominance, but by example.
Shadow of Mediocrity:
At the Shadow frequency, Gate 8 expresses as a loss of individuality. This happens when we conform to social expectations, suppress our creative essence, or live in fear of rejection. It’s the inner voice that says, “Who am I to be different?” or “Why bother standing out?” The result is not overt failure, but something subtler…. a muted life, void of originality. We follow trends instead of truth.
This shadow often forms early, as we internalize pressures to fit in, be useful, or avoid drawing too much attention. Over time, it breeds a kind of quiet disempowerment, where the fire of individuality dims.
Gift of Style:
As we move into the Gift of Style, something essential unlocks. Richard Rudd describes Style not as fashion or aesthetics, but as the signature frequency of the soul expressed through form. It’s the authenticity that shines when we stop performing and start embodying our true nature.
People living from the Gift of Gate 8 are magnetic because they are unapologetically themselves. They may not shout, but their presence speaks volumes. This kind of influence is not about hierarchy or charisma in the traditional sense. It’s about frequency. When we live from Style, we give others permission to do the same.
Style is contagious. It doesn’t seek approval, yet it naturally contributes to the collective. It uplifts not through effort, but through integrity.
Siddhi of Exquisiteness:
The Siddhi of Gate 8 is Exquisiteness. This is the purest, most refined essence of soul expression. This is the flowering of individuality so precise and rare that it becomes divine art in motion. Exquisiteness is the realization that the self is not something to edit or improve , it is already a flawless fractal of the universe.
At this level, everything becomes a sacred offering. Every word, gesture, creation, or silence radiates truth. Exquisiteness doesn’t try to lead it is the path, simply through its being. In the world of the Siddhi, uniqueness is unity.
Gate 8 reminds us that our greatest contribution isn’t what we do, but who we are when we show up authentically. Especially during times of collective transformation - like this season of fire and flowering- the world doesn’t need more imitation. It needs the radiance of realness.
When the Sun transits Gate 8 (as it will from May 15–20), we are all invited to examine:
Where are we holding back our voice or presence?
Are we trying to blend in when we’re meant to stand out?
What wants to be expressed through us in this season?
You don’t have to strive for greatness. Just speak from your frequency. That alone is exquisiteness.
This is a week of breakthroughs that may not be easy, but they are real. Trust the strange insights. Welcome the words that rise up from your belly and your bones. Let your clarity come in its own time. The Full Moon in Gate 43 brings knowing; the Sun in Gate 23 helps us share it. And the movement into Gate 8 will ask us to show up in full color.
Thanks for tracking the cycles of time and the wheels of the year together with me here, as always, friends. I’m looking forward to getting back to my own bed and my own desk, and getting back in a rhythm and routine of breath, movement, and astrological meetups over the summer.
See you next week,
Alison
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