Winter.
I haven’t left the house much the last two months. I’ve gone into full hibernation mode, as one does in the depths of winter. I think often we fight these seasonal urges when actually we’re just aligning with the timing of nature. Nothing can bloom all-year round.
The darkest part of the year — in the northern hemisphere — falls in the Quarter of Mutation. I’m not an expert on Quarters and transits, so don’t hold me to my word. But from what I understand, it’s a time of death, mutation, and transformation. It is a time of letting go; it is a time of internal (and potentially external) change. The mystical theme of this Quarter is aptly named “accepting death” — what survives is carried forward to make space for new beginnings.
Whilst on the outside, it appears not much has been happening in my life, internally I’ve been processing a lot. As such, I haven’t had much to say here as I’ve been moving through the murky territory of my emotional wave. It finally feels like some of the fog is clearing.
Recently, I came to the decision — or rather, the emotional clarity — that I am no longer offering sessions. This felt like releasing a huge weight I’ve been carrying around for two and a half years. Everything in my body knows this is correct for me. But it doesn’t make it any less scary knowing I’m back in the void of waiting, of surrendering to strategy and authority.
It’s interesting, no matter how hard I try to move away from Human Design, from the experiment, from following the body’s intelligence — somehow I always end up back here. When I had another foundation reading towards the end of last year, it re-inspired my love for this system and appreciation for what a powerful tool it can be for awareness. I’ve even been able to listen to lectures again, something my body refused to take in for most of last year. I feel as if I’m integrating the information in a new way, based on being at a different point in my own deconditioning journey. It doesn’t feel so intellectual anymore — rather, I’m seeing the information as signposts to help me relax into watching the life, instead of letting my mind run away with stories of conditioning.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we experience our personal lives in the context of larger transits. As I was moving through the depths of my emotional wave the last several months, I was contemplating whether these personalized feelings of “depression” were actually just reactions to the neutrino ocean. I think it’s hard to forget how much the collective energy of transits — particularly the outer planets — can affect how we feel about ourselves and our lives. This can create a lot of pressure for the not-self to make decisions to alleviate these heavy frequencies.
I was voice-noting a friend about this and was keynoting the current themes of the outer planets: Pluto in the gate of limitation, Neptune in the gate of crisis, Saturn (at the time) was in the gate of abundance1. It seems to me like we’re all struggling with material limitation, personal emotional crises, and the effect this has on our emotional spirit. Pluto and Neptune are especially heavy hitters — they will be hanging out in gate 60 and gate 36 for some time to come2. The desire to transcend limitations to get rid of the depression, or initiate a new experience for the sake of change and progress, are going to continue to be themes we grapple with as we move closer to 2027.
For me, knowing the effects of planetary conditioning helps to remember that much of what I’m experiencing isn’t personal. It is genuinely a hard time for most people I know right now, whether in the physical material sense, or emotionally and spiritually. That is okay. It is okay if you’re struggling — we are currently surfing big waves in the ocean as a collective and as a species. The best we can do is navigate it correctly for ourselves.
(it’s also okay if you’re doing really well right now! there is of course still beauty and joy to be found, particularly in the individual life3. whilst the collective energy is heavy, it doesn’t mean everything is doom and gloom on a personal level. perhaps you are discovering creativity through limitations, or healing and growth through purging emotional crises.)
On the day I’m writing this, the sun is in gate 19, which falls on the Cross of the Four Ways4. This is the last gate in the Quarter of Mutation before we move into the Quarter of Initiation5. As we have grieved and processed and transformed in the space of darkness, we can now plant the seeds for what comes next. Movement will begin forward. The year will begin to slowly take its shape.
I’m excited to see what the year will bring, even when a lot of things in my life feel up in the air. I suppose, they do every year now as I continue to decondition, each feeling stranger than the last. What to do — it makes for an interesting trip 🙃
Below you’ll find my writing round-up, plus a special announcement on an upcoming class I’ll be co-hosting in March.
That’s all for today — thanks for sticking around, no matter how sporadically I show up here 🥲
Chiara <3
Writing Round-up #2
A few months back I went on a 4th line posting bender on IG. I made a starter pack and a longer post you can read here (or on my blog if you hate the gram.)
I also went deeper into Personal versus Transpersonal Destiny in terms of profile, and what that means in terms of your orientation towards life.
I was on a podcast. I can’t listen back because I’m sure half of what I said I would say differently now, the curse of being a third line with an undefined ajna.
A stream-of-consciousness message for those who are receptive (have mostly right arrows in their design.)
I wrote about the Channel of Recognition. One of my closest MG friends has this channel and I learn so much by observing her process.
Special Announcement! — Back to 2027 class w/ Jenn Cole.
Two years ago, Jenn (@thejoyfulprojector) and myself taught a class on 2027 and we’re back with the next instalment. This time it will be less theory-based and more focused on what we’re seeing currently in the collective. We’ll be discussing how to cope with the fracturing of the communal bargain, End-Stage Capitalism, the rise of Individualism, plus many more practical examples of how we’re already feeling 2027’s frequency in politics, culture, global economics and more.
These are the conversations that me and Jenn riff on constantly, so we are literally jumping out of our seats with excitement to teach this class. It’ll be held on March 9th, 12pm (MST) — early morning for Australian folks, evening for those in Europe.
If you would like to purchase a copy of our last class, you can do so here on Jenn’s Patreon. However, you don’t need to have attended or listened to our first class to benefit from this upcoming one. No preparation or prior knowledge is necessary.
Hope to see you there if it’s correct for you and your authority!
Saturn was hanging out in gate 55 (abundance) for nearly six months and has only recently moved into gate 37 (friendship, family.) The themes of Saturn are about limitation, discipline, and patience — the planet has been moving through the gates of the solar plexus for several years now (and still has a few to go — you can check out an ephemeris here.)
Pluto will move into gate 41 for a short time during April, before retrograding back into 60 in May. It will keep retrograding between both these gates until it stations permanently in gate 41 in 2027. Neptune will also move into gate 25 this year from April to September — it will leave gate 36 permanently in February 2025.
The importance of strategy and authority is to make decisions as yourself, despite the conditioning and transiting energy of the external world. You can have a beautiful life in a world that’s falling apart. This is all we can trust now (ourselves and our own decision-making.)
Interestingly, each gate in the Cross of the Four Ways always is the last before the change of the Quarter. Likewise, each Quarter begins with a gate from the Cross of the Sphinx — signalling a new direction.
The Quarter of Initiation began when the sun entered gate 13 — the mystical theme is titled “the witness returns.”
My favourite writer !