The Sun enters Aquarius at the tail end of Human Design Gate 60, Limitation. It spends a few days in this energy asking us to look at how we can create lasting change within the given limitations of the moment. These are the last few days of the previous year, so the real, true end of 2025.

Just two days in to the season, when the Sun enters Gate 41 on January 22, that’s the start of the next yearly cycle—the Rave New Year. An auspicious time every year, but the 2026 Aquarius season is Aquarian energy cubed. This year the Sun, Mercury, Mars AND Pluto will all be in Aquarius. This is a lot of revolutionary, new beginnings energy. The last time Pluto was in Gate 41 was 250 years ago. Right at the time of the French Revolution, The American Revolution and a multitude of discoveries in all manner of arenas. This was a time of radical change—exactly what Pluto in Aquarius is known for.

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The first few degrees of Aquarius in Human Design belong to Gate 41. This part of Aquarius carries the archetypal energy of Contraction and Decrease. Not words that necessarily conjure thoughts of things radical, but when we look at the etymology of that word we can start to see how Decrease and initiation relate to one another.

Radix is Latin for ‘root’ and simultaneously the root of our word radical. In the Chinese parable for Hexagram 41 the story of the farmer cutting back the dead and decaying plant matter from the garden in late fall is often told. This decrease of plant material is a necessary part of clearing space for what comes next. The roots of the plants that house the potential, initiatory energy. The lesson contained in the narrative is that decrease is a natural and needed part of every cycle. In order for the new to be born, the old must give way.

To me, this is the overarching energy of not only this Aquarius season, but of the next few years. It also speaks to something I frequently talk to my kids about—the difference between complexity and complication. Life is inherently complex, but it’s humans who complicate it. Simplicity is the practice of working to keep the complex as uncomplicated as possible.

We are at a pivotal moment in history. We are closing out a 400 year global cycle and entering another in 2027. This year is our last trip around the sun under the Cross of Planning energy and I think things are lining up asking us to take stock, decrease our desires, and simplify.

Modernity has conditioned us all to believe that more is better, resources are limitless and the whole goal to this life is to die with the most toys. This works great for the forces of capitalism, but we are slowly waking up to how tragic it is for our psyches and for our fellow beings with whom we share the planet. We are entering a hypnopompic state—that interstitial space between asleep and awake. Both hynogogic and hypnopompic state can involve vivid hallucinations, sensations of floating or falling, and a sense of disorientation. Sound familiar? This Aquarius season is the first sliver of morning light streaming in under the curtains nudging us to .

Use these background frequencies of the Sun as it charts its way though Decrease (41), Wanting (19), The Listener (13), Principles (49) and Feelings (30) this season. With each Gate activation you’ll have an opportunity to think about what simplifying could mean to you in light of that particular archetypal energy. For me I’ll be contemplating where desires can be curbed and where I might be more discerning about who and what receives my energy and attention.

At the very end of the season on Feb 17th the New Moon conjuncts the Sun in Gate 30 at exactly 6:11a EST and is the first Solar eclipse of the year. Though Human Design doesn’t track eclipse energy, Astrology gives us a lot of useful insights. At the moment of the eclipse the conjunction of the Sun and Moon in the Gate of Feelings (30) meets Pluto in Gate 41 to activate the Channel of Recognition. This moment sets the tone for the period of time until the next eclipse.

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The Channel of Recognition is a deep feeling, experiential energy that could have us in unusually emotionally fiery states, or looking for new experiences, or caught up in deep expectations, or just generally hungering for change. Or, all of the above. So using your time during the Aquarius transit to prune and snip away at the things that no longer light us up or serve us will give you more space for managing what the eclipse might send your way.

To be sure, these are radical times we are living through. We are all being asked to look closely at ourselves. Right now these lessons are coming most clearly as we look out at others. Where are we being activated by others’ words and behavior? These are the first and best places to look at as jumping off points for our own growth.

If you too have noticed the struggles our fellow humans seem to be having with enoughness, you might find this season to be particularly instructive, or at least interesting. Of course, I have no idea what may happen, but I’m excited to see if this Contraction energy starts moving the needle on the global consumption problem. With Pluto remaining in Gate 41 for two years, we will have plenty of this radicalizing energy to inspire us to rethink all sorts of things. Maybe we’ll even get to the root of our problems. 

I hope this month is filled with opportunities to simplify and streamline in many aspects of your life.

Get out there and be the YOUest!

PS: We’d love for you to join us live in the Coherence Lab tomorrow at 11:30 EST for our recording of Gates 41 and 19. We’ll be celebrating the Rave New Year and hopefully answering some of your questions.

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