What are your activated gates in your Human Design?

Recently I went through all of the 64 gates with my Human Design teacher Martin Grassinger. He has been working directly with Ra and has over 30 years of experience with this material. He is the reason why there is a Primary Health System within the Human Design system. So his specialty is the health and the biological aspect of these themes. 

The gates is not something you might start with. I remember that I looked up my gates when I download my own chart a few years ago. And I was curious about these gates. But it is not yet something you can make practical within a day, so I kind of took a mental note of it and then focussed on the more practical elements like type, strategy, profile & authority. 

But the gates are the foundation of your definition, so let’s dive a bit deeper in these gate shall we?

There are 64 gates in the Human Design system and they come from the Chinese I-Ching. Your Human Design chart is a calculation of two measuring points. The day, time & place of your birth and where the positions of the planets are in the Rave Mandala. And the positions of the planets and their corresponding place in the Rave Mandala 88 degrees before you where born. This is approximately 88 or 89 days before you where born. 

In total there are 13 measuring points per data set, so in total you can have 26 gates defined as a maximum. 

Do you only have the activated gates?

No, just like you have all the codons of your DNA, you also have the 64 themes of these gates in your life. The difference lies in if it is a “fixed and reliable” expression of that theme when you have a gate activated in your chart. Or when it is undefined, or white in your chart, then you have a variable way of expressing this theme in your life. 

Why are the activated gates important?

During a Human Design reading we don’t specifically look at the gates, except for the gates of your Incarnation Cross. 

The gates are a deeper layer of the Human Design system and it is not something you start with when you are discovering your Human Design chart and embarking on your personal journey of self awareness. However, these gate activations make up your definition. And that results in the channels that are activated in your chart and the centers that are “switched” on like light bulbs. And with that we can determine your Energy type with your Strategy and your Not self themes and your Signature theme. And your activated gates also determines your Inner Authority, the decision making tool from your body. So these gate themes are very important, but it might takes some time to grasp these qualities and recognize these themes in your day to day life. 

What is the difference between a red gate and a black gate?

Your black gates are the 13 measuring points from the planets and the lunar nodes during your birth. 

Your red gates are the 13 measuring points from the planets and the lunar nodes of your “design date”. These are about 88 or 89 days before your birthday. When a chart is calculated, and I have to knowledge to do this by hand, we count backwards from your birthday and time. So therefore it is wise to investigate if you have the correct time of birth. 

What does it mean if I have the same gate in the list on the black side and the red side?

If you have a gate “double” or sometime “triple” defined you will see the gate show up multiple times in your chart. If you have a gate double defined on the black personality side, then you might not see it directly in your chart. But if you have a double gate definition on both your black and red list of numbers you will see a black / red line in your bodygraph. 

If you have a gate double defined then the quality of this theme is extra strong in you. Most likely you will have the gate in a different hexagram line. So look at the number behind the dot. 

What are the hexagram lines?

Every gate has 6 lines. So in total there are 384 hexagram lines. There hexagram lines come from the Chinese I-Ching and represent a specific theme in the bigger theme of the gate. Our profile already says a lot about these hexagram lines. 

Is there anything under a Hexagram line?

Yes, there are actually three more layers underneath a hexagram line. In the chart calculation software we don’t look so deep. But in this “substructure” we have the layers of “color, tone & base”.

Every gate has 6 lines, 6 colors, 6 tones and 5 based. So when you have a gate activation that means that of the 6x6x6x5 = 1080 variations of this theme you have a fixed way of expressing one version out of the 1080 expressions of this gate. If you have a gate undefined you have the possibility to express all 1080 variations of this theme. Therefore we say that your activated gates is the energy you can rely on. This is your inner truth. These are your gifts, what you are here to bring to the world. While the open gates are where you learn in life. This is where you will go to the school of life. This is where you will meet the other and be influenced by others and by the “cosmic weather”.