Leo Season: Through the Lens of Human Design

The Sun entered Leo on July 22 at the tail end of Human Design Gate 56, Stimulation. As a Throat gate, this energy opens the season with the thought that movement is the constant in the world and through aligned movement is where we actually find stability. With the voice of I Believe—we have to be thoughtful about our beliefs and recognize where our stories might be keeping us fixed or fixated. 

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Just two days in to the season we move into Gate 31, the seat of leadership and influence. This Throat gate carries the voice of I Lead (or not) and is connected deeply to the flavor of this whole Leo period. The Sun will enter Gate 7 in August and Mercury—always closely tied to the movement of the Sun—is transiting these same gates. This means that the Alpha channel (31-7) will come in and out of definition throughout these next 30 days.

Gates 31 and 7 come together in our design to form the Alpha Channel. This idea about the alpha role in pack animals can give us a lot of clues about how we can harness this powerful energy. As a culture we often misconstrue the Alpha male as the group member who leads through strength, dominance and fear. That view of alpha energy served the purposes of patriarchy and capitalism, but isn’t at all how the energy functions in the wild. It is true that intermittently an alpha animal is called to dominate or discipline a fellow pack member, but the bulk of their energy is mostly spent not in the up front, ‘follow me’ position, but the roving protector who is paying attention to all the possible threats to the tribe and making sure no one gets lost or left behind. This vigilant, empowered, clever protector is the vision of this energy I want you to work with this season. 

This Alpha energy is very much about leadership. It’s designed to be able to listen to the collective, logically understand what the needs of the group are and to provide wisdom, vision and direction when asked. Though it can be used otherwise, this is primarily a very democratic, shared-power approach. It’s particularly interesting to me that this channel will be so prominently featured in the next few weeks. It makes me wonder if we will see some movement away from the Alpha male myth we’ve built and the power-over model we are so deeply ensconced in at the moment. This could also show up as a theme in our individual dramas. Where have we been accepting (or not) roles of leadership and where may we have been inserting our power and need for control where it might not be wanted?

The Sun moves out of Gate 31 and into Gate 33 on July 30 which also happens to be another Collective circuitry Throat gate. Interestingly, just like in Cancer season, each of these Sun gates this season (56, 31, 33, 7, 4 & 29) are in Collective circuitry—so this whole stretch of time will continue to have an undertone of sharing ourselves and our gifts with the broader world. In Leo season I would expect these sharings to prominently feature our own unique self-expression and a real push to shine this out into the world. This is an excellent time to really focus on your many gifts and talents and work to pare down to the 2 or 3 things you most love and want to focus on. This is most definitely the stuff that’s going to help your light burn brighter and is most likely to be the piece the world needs from you—the thing that ONLY YOU can deliver.

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This season is also a place where you’re going to get extra help with this endeavor to focus and curate your offerings. Jupiter enters Gate 39, The Provocateur, on July 22—just as the Sun shifts into Leo. As the second largest heavenly body in our solar system, Jupiter has the greatest influence on us other than the Sun. This provoking energy will likely have you feeling a bit restless with the same ol’ same ol’ and feeling a deep desire for new experiences and new ways to fuel your individual interests and desires. Jupiter in Human Design is our personal law—it is always working to gently guide us and brings us opportunities to refine what’s right for us, who we are and how we show up for ourselves and others. Gate 39 often does this by throwing a wrench into your works, so if your path this month feels littered with potholes and detours, consider that these provocations are actually here to ask you to reevaluate and reassess. You may unexpectedly find a beautiful new trail or shortcut you didn’t know existed. This Jupiter in 39 energy is concerned primarily with your own individual inner knowing, but it is happening inside this window of the Sun in Leo in all those Collective gates, so you may feel a real push to reexamine your relationship to others. In particular I would consider looking at how you might be dimming your light.

On July 24th the New Moon conjuncts the Sun exactly at 3:11p EST in gate 31.1. (Interesting numbers there, right?!) This brings forward the theme of leadership in yet another way. In Human Design we say all of these energies contain their opposite as well. So 31 is about leading. Or not. It’s this ‘Or not’ part that might be worth paying attention to here. The New Moon energy is about setting intentions and ushering in new ways of being so it might be the perfect time to look at where you’re leading, where you’re abdicating and where a dose of Leo courage could help you shift to ways more aligned and true for you.

On July 30 the Sun and Retrograde Mercury find themselves together in Gate 33, The Gate of Privacy. In the I Ching this is Retreat. So as the Sun is showering us with the desire to pull back to consider and contemplate, retrograding Mercury is doubling down on that. I would expect these 4 days to find you really feeling the need to step back to reflect on what you want to carry forward and what stories, habits, ideas you should probably drop. As this is a Throat gate with the voice of I Remember, there may be an inclination to actually discuss these things as well. You may find yourself in heavy or hard conversations or feel the need to journal and organize your own thoughts.

All that will set you up nicely for August 5th when the Sun enters Gate 7 where we will likely feel more energy to choose our direction and role for how we might enact the things we’ve been contemplating. The Gate of The Role of the Self is a point of convergence where we have access to our higher self and the ability to find clarity about where we can provide structure for others to be most influential in the world. You may experience this energy as a need to help, lead or guide—either through example or by real boots on the ground in community. This is a moment where the stars align and you may feel a real calling to help others and through that empowered action you discover new roles and ways of being for yourself.

The Sun continues in Gate 7 until the 10th, so this flavor of influence is the backdrop to the Full Moon on August 9 at 3:55a EST in Gate 13.5, The Listener. Full moons are points in the cycle where we review, consider where our new moon intentions have led us and use the culmination energy to release what’s not serving us. This full moon in Aquarius may offer us the powerful listening gift that allow us to truly see ourselves or others. There is also some orientation energy here. The inclination to take all the stories you’ve collected over time to bring order, make sense of the past in service of a better direction and future for all.

As we close out Leo season, Jupiter shifts into Gate 53, Beginnings. So all that poking and prodding Jupiter was doing while in Gate 39 will now be fueling action on some of those nudges from the universe. You may feel ready to enter into new projects, commitments, and ways of being that are CORRECT for you. This is Jupiter again—your personal law, so be cognizant of what new things you start because this energy will want to see it through to the end—even if you figure out halfway down the path that you would rather not. 

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If you’ve been looking out at the world and seeing the same struggles I see with global leadership, you might find this next 30 days to be particularly interesting. I have no idea how it may all play out, but I feel almost certain that there will be some shifts on the global stage that bring more clarity around power-over vs shared power. With Jupiter provoking us all to consider new ways, this month might make the old ways seem particularly distasteful and tiresome. There is no doubt that we are moving to a time of much more shared power, but the power-over fever has to break first. Maybe this month will crack that nut open a bit more. 

Leo Season Human Design Transits

I hope this month is filled with opportunities notice where the power-over model is being updated with shared-power energy.

Get out there and be the YOUest!

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looking for tools to help better understand themselves and the world.

USING HUMAN DESIGN TO EXPAND