The Winter Solstice and Its Relationship to Gate 10: Love of the Self
On Wednesday, December 21 those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere will experience the Winter Solstice. A day where we receive the least amount of daylight hours, nicknaming it “the shortest day of the year.” In the teachings of Human Design, it brings our attention directly to the center of self in the bodygraph and Gate 10: The Love of the Self.
I always get a chuckle out of “short” references as I have spent a lifetime being labeled and defining myself as the short girl. The small girl in school who was always placed in the front row. She was considered cute by adults and often overlooked by kids her own age. The last to be picked for a sports team, and easy to stuff into a junior high locker if she was gullible enough that day to demonstrate her size and ability to fit. She was a girl of fierce independence who learned to take care of herself and her needs, adaptable to finding innovative ways to reach the top shelf or leverage her small body to gain enough momentum to independently rearrange her bedroom furniture. She had determination and a desire to push forward towards life and its experiences and wasn’t going to let a silly thing like height stand in her way.
Being short was not just a way of life, it would become the internal measuring stick of my self-worth that would play out and then begin to unravel along my spiritual journey as I ventured in to discover who I was under all those labels and masks of trying to fit into a world where I just couldn’t get comfortable in.
When I sat down to write this blog you are now reading, I wasn’t quite sure where this was all going to lead or what direction it was to go, but what I did sense was a desire to explore nonetheless and allow the words to flow as they may. Perhaps by the end, you and I both will know what in the world this is all about, or at least I hope I will arrive to find another has stayed long enough to journey through with me.
And that's where we shall start. From a place of honest and raw emotion, spoken from the heart of a woman that tends to give her all and then surfaces every once in a while to look around and feel completely lost in the journey. A tendency at times to fall into the poor me syndrome and want to throw in the towel, as it feels the time and effort is just heading in the direction of going nowhere fast. I’m sure you have also been down this same road and perhaps experienced similar feelings. To be honest, life is friggin hard, and when you are undergoing a spiritual journey in the process, it gets to be downright messy during the best of times.
When I first started teaching Human Design, I was intrigued to discover how much information could be discovered about oneself and I felt like for the first time I recognized aspects of my truth that had been overshadowed by believing I had to be someone or something different for the world.
As I learn and discover for myself, I am grateful for opportunities to pass along my findings and help others navigate through the stormy waters of life as they discover how their energy type is designed to work, and how to learn to tune into their body’s way of saying “that’s correct for me, and that isn’t”. Watching and receiving validation to the teachings as students share how they trusted in their intuition and higher guidance and less on their conditioned mind.
Teaching has brought moments of my greatest joy and reflection of my own need for inner guidance as we are never done learning. You see, when we take the time to get to know others, engage in research, and dedicate countless hours to be of service, we are reminded through the expression of words and actions of what we also need to learn and reflect upon.
Ever think to yourself after having a conversation with another, “Huh, that was some great advice!” Eventually I learned that the message had come out of my mouth to be absorbed vibrationally not just by others but by my own two ears. All too often we are so busy helping and driven to saving the world that we forget to take the wisdom in our own advice.
So now we are listening. Attentive, ready, tapping our pencil in anticipation for the life changing words of wisdom. Will they come? Who knows but let’s see what happens when we focus on the teachings of Gate 10: The Love of the Self and its relationship to the Winter Solstice.
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The center of self in Human Design is our inner compass designed to help us find and navigate our way towards the correct love, identity, and direction. Think of it as your inner magnet that energetically attracts towards you all people, places and events.
For each of us, this will show up differently based on your birth information and the alignment of the planets at your moment of birth. If you have this center defined (colored in) on your bodygraph you will experience consistent energy to support you as you learn to explore and discover your personal vibration of love, direction, and identity.
If you are undefined or open (it appears white on your bodygraph) you are designed to be adaptable to many different people & places which means your magnetic energy varies to allow for many different experiences of love in all its various forms from multiple directions. Think of yourself as a chameleon of sorts, blending in and adapting to its environment.
For those of us with gate 10 circled on the bodygraph you are provided with an opportunity to immerse yourself into the Love of the Self and discover what it means to live life on your terms, according to your version of happiness, and the pressure to show up authentically.
Gate 10 is also known as the Gate of Behaviour, and very specifically your individual expression of behaviour. Its relationship to the winter solstice is a reflection of an alignment to true north on the compass of life directing you towards the highest good and providing a sense of lost when you are off course in your own soul’s journey.
Feeling lost is how I personally started to build a relationship with Gate 10. That point where the shadow self of identifying as small, insignificant, and meaningless started to have a louder voice and drive the energy. When you pull away from your true alignment it feels like you are swimming upstream against the current. Everything feels hard, your exhausted, burnt out, lacking motivation, and not enjoying the journey of life. It’s easy to come out of alignment energetically as all the shadow needs to do is feed your fears, emotions, stories, and push up against the walls of your personally created comfort zone. Many of us don’t like change, don’t care for the unpredictability of life, and want to feel a sense of safety, which is why its so easy to find yourself back in your own personal prison (aka comfort zone).
So, let’s bring Gate 10 into the light and even if it only comes to the forefront for a little while during the dwindling daylight hours of the winter solstice, perhaps it will be enough to remind you of your truth and understanding that from this point forward the hours of daylight start to increase. A symbolic understanding that when you courageously stand in acceptance of both your shadow and light that you will see how it is you and you alone that energetically feeds the shadow or the light aspects of self through the creation of your thoughts and emotional response.
The energy of Gate 10 pushes you towards self-respect. A respect that is created when one lets go of worrying what anybody else thinks. It’s the inner drive and deep reflection of Self that asks you to consider, “How do you want to show up in the world?” It is designed to push you towards a love for the journey of life which can only show up for you when you are respecting yourself enough to put yourself on the front burner and invite in those deep probing questions so you can consider for yourself, “If I only had a precious few moments of light before the darkness sets in, how would I like to represent myself during that precious time?”
Life is truly precious. We have no idea as to when we will take our last breath. Moment’s matter. What you feed matters. How you show up for you matters.
Consider those precious moments of light reflecting a conscious awareness of basking in a love for the journey of life according to your terms and yours alone. The darkness than a reflection of denying yourself opportunities for growth, nourishment, and happiness. Both exist within the same space. Both are needed for balance.
You get to decide where you are going to spend the majority of your time and energy. You may notice that your ability to adapt to your shadow and light varies at certain times of the year, cycles of the moon, and the realities of life. You will be on a journey of constant mindfulness as you are energetically poked and prodded to check in and ask yourself, “How am I showing up today? Am I respecting and loving myself in the way that I wish the world to respond to me?” Its not an easy journey but when you place both hands on the steering wheel of life and check in with the true driver (your higher-self) then the road gets easier to navigate and the periods of darkness become opportunities for self-reflection and deeper faith instead of self-sabotage. It takes practice. You are guaranteed to have setbacks and you are also guaranteed to have many moments of deep satisfaction where you allow yourself to authentically be you.
Imagine what life would be like if you gave yourself permission to emerge out of your cocoon as your true self and shed away those soft-fuzzy irritating pieces that are designed to make everyone else comfortable around you but are internally driving you insane.
The Winter Solstice is a beautiful time for deep inner reflection inviting you into Self to examine your behaviour and considering where do you want to go from here. Allow this energy to hold you in its embrace as you shift through the aspects of shadow and extract the light needed to build strength for the journey ahead.
Allow yourself the grace of using this season to reflect on all that you have accomplished in 2022. Where do you feel you have experienced the most growth? What did you learn about yourself this year? What can you see in the shadow that doesn’t serve this more consciously aware version of Self? What do you need to do to lovingly remove those things that are keeping you small and inhibiting your growth?
I know for myself, I will be carving out lots of time to really sit and consider these questions. Authenticity matters to me and it’s the foundation of what I teach, therefore it is perhaps the biggest area of my own personal growth to reflect upon and heal through in this journey of life as I too learn the power of Gate 10: The love of the Self and apply its teachings.
Human Design teaches us who we are and invites us in to do the inner work necessary to live a life in accordance with what is meaningful to us. This will be different for each and everyone of us and a path that only you can discover for yourself.
May the light lead you toward what is in your highest good as you embrace all aspects of your shadow and light, discovering who you are, and what love truly means.
Much love,
Lisa Richard
** To learn more about Human Design and create your FREE Bodygraph visit: https://www.lovingenergyrecharge.com/human-design
LISA RICHARD
An intuitive and sensitive empath, Lisa is a certified Lightworker Coach, Emotion Code Practitioner, Reiki Master/Teacher, Business Innovator, and certified Living Your Design Guide through the International Human Design School.
With a passion in energy work and strong background working with top executives in the post secondary sector, Lisa combines science and spirituality to create unlimited potential for growth.
Lisa empowers others to embrace and discover their authentic self, bringing forward their own healing abilities, gifts, and stepping into their full potential.
Learn more @ lovingenergyrecharge.com
