Hey everyone,
How are you all doing this week?
I’m writing this one a bit late, as I’m still traveling around Central America on a tour of alternative international schools. Over the past week, I tweaked my neck and so have been very slow moving… but feeling much better today as we enter the week of the receptive!
Last week’s forecast was all about Beltane, the sacred cross-quarter day between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. It was beautiful to see so many people celebrating on May 1 — sharing images of maypoles, flower crowns, and dancing in community. These living rituals remind us of our deep-rooted connection to seasonal rhythms.
What many people don’t realize is that Beltane has two layers of timing. The traditional celebration lands on May 1, but astrologically, the true cross-quarter point occurs when the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Taurus — this year, on May 5, 2025. In the I Ching and Human Design mandala, this moment corresponds precisely with Gate 2, marking the solar midpoint between equinox and solstice. So this week, we are still very much within the energetic Beltane window — a time of fertility, sensuality, embodiment, and alignment with nature's life force.
The Receptive: First Yin Line of the Year
Gate 2, or Hexagram 2 in the I Ching, is called K’un. It is Earth over Earth — pure Yin. This is the first gate in the Human Design year that begins with a Yin first line. Since Gate 1 back in late October, every hexagram until now has started with a Yang foundation. Gate 2 marks a turning. The receptive principle begins to lead. The stillness of the Earth, the capacity to hold and nourish, takes over from the energy of striving and initiation.
This is not a time to push forward. It is a time to allow your path to reveal itself through your being. Gate 2 does not rely on mental maps or linear plans. It invites you to listen from the body, to feel where life is guiding you without having to know why.
Monteverde and the Embodied Earth
I’m currently spending some time in the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica, surrounded by interspersed dense mist and bright sunshine, towering ficus trees, and the symphony of life that pulses through this lush ecosystem. It is a lesson in receptivity. Yesterday I was on a hike and witnessed toucans and mot-mots call from the canopy, monkeys leaping across tangled branches, coatis moving deliberately through the underbrush, peccaries crossing trails in silent groups, tiny frogs blinking from behind leaves, and a thousand insects clicking, humming, and glowing in the dim light. There was no hurry, no clear destination, and yet everything moved with purpose. I found myself slowing down to match the pace of the forest, feeling into my body, and letting it lead rather than trying to figure out where I was going next.
This is the essence of this week’s transit through Gate 2. When we stop trying to control the direction of our lives, a deeper compass starts to activate - one aligned not with ambition, but with the pulse of life itself. In that forest, I remembered how direction can arise from stillness, how silence is not empty, and how nature never second-guesses its path.
This week in the Wheel of the Year:
MEDICINE WHEEL Direction: SOUTH
WUXING Element: FIRE
PAGAN Season: BELTANE (Mayday)
ZODIAC Season: Taurus (April 19-May 20)
I’CHING Hexagram/HUMAN DESIGN Gate: 2 (May 4-9) » 23 (May 10-14)
2 = Earth over Earth (“The Receptive”) or The Gate of THE DIRECTION OF THE SELF (Sun-Fri)
23 = Earth (“Splitting Apart”) or The Gate of ASSIMILATION (Sat-Sun)
MOON Phase: Waxing
PLANETARY Transits:
Sunday, May 4: Pluto stationed retrograde in Aquarius
Saturday, May 10: Mercury enters Taurus
Abundance, Pluto Rx in Aquarius, and the Wisdom of Receiving
I just started reading Ezra Klein’s recent book Abundance, which I’m absolutely loving so far.
It opens a vital conversation about how our society can move beyond scarcity thinking —the belief that there isn’t enough to go around- and toward a culture that fosters generosity, creativity, and systemic wellbeing. He points out that so much of what blocks progress isn’t a lack of resources, but a failure of imagination. It’s not that we don’t have the tools to solve our biggest problems, it's that our systems, mindsets, and infrastructures are often designed to maintain the status quo rather than to evolve.
This reflection lands powerfully in the current astrological moment as Pluto stations retrograde in Aquarius, and the Sun enters Gate 2 in the Human Design mandala — the Gate of the Direction of the Self.
Pluto in Aquarius (May 4 to October 13, 2025) is reshaping the collective architecture of our lives: how we innovate, govern, and organize communities. In its retrograde phase, this transformation turns inward. It asks: Are our personal and collective maps still serving us? Or are we following outdated paths rooted in fear, control, or inertia?
And in this same window, Gate 2 (Earth over Earth or The Receptive) invites us to pause. This gate isn’t about directing from the mind. It is about listening with the whole self. In the Gene Keys, Gate 2 speaks to the journey from dislocation to orientation to unity. Rather than trying to think our way toward progress, Gate 2 teaches us to receive direction from life itself - through intuition, emotion, embodiment, and subtle alignment with the living world.
In many ways, Klein’s vision of abundance mirrors the wisdom of Gate 2. The future isn’t something we must conquer or control. It’s something we can participate in - but only when we begin to trust that our deepest intelligence is not in the mind alone, but in how we attune to the larger systems we’re part of.
Pluto’s retrograde invites us to examine what we’ve internalized about scarcity and power. Gate 2 reminds us that there is another way: one where we align not through force, but through presence. In this space of listening, new paths appear… not as strategies, but as truths we already knew.
Gene Key 2: From Dislocation to Unity
Sun in Gate 2: The Direction of the Self
Gene Key 2: Dislocation → Orientation → Unity
I Ching 2: K’un — The Receptive, Earth over Earth
Richard Rudd’s transmission of Gene Key 2 teaches us about the shadow of dislocation. This is the sense of being out of place, misaligned, or confused about our purpose. This feeling is common when we have been pushing toward a life that is not ours, or when we’ve been taught to override our natural rhythms in favor of productivity, comparison, or external validation.
The gift of orientation emerges not from forcing clarity but from allowing space for our true direction to unfold. Through presence and humility, we begin to feel a magnetic pull toward what is right for us. And at the highest frequency, unity reveals itself: the knowing that there is no separate path, that the individual and the whole are one continuous movement.
The G Center and the Turning of the Year
There’s something profoundly poetic in the way the Human Design mandala aligns with the Pagan Wheel of the Year. Every solstice, equinox, and cross-quarter point in the Human Design calendar (including Gate 2 at Beltane) passes through the G Center, the center of love, identity, and direction. This is where our deepest knowing of self lives.
From the spring of Gate 25 at the Equinox, to Gate 15 at the Solstice, to Gate 46 at Lammas, to Gate 1 at Samhain, and now to Gate 2 at Beltane, we see a sacred choreography unfolding. The cycles of the Earth are embedded within the geometry of the self. The wheels are not separate- they turn together, reminding us that personal and planetary alignment are one and the same.
Pluto in Aquarius: Collective Reorientation
As Pluto moves through Aquarius during its retrograde cycle, we are collectively called to examine where we have become dislocated in our systems, technologies, and ideals. Are we innovating for the sake of progress or are we oriented toward interconnection and regeneration? Are we building from fear or from love?
Gate 2’s presence during Pluto’s station reminds us that the most revolutionary act may not be to push harder, but to pause, listen, and receive. The future we are trying to build already exists in the wisdom of the Earth. We are simply learning how to hear it again.
This Week’s Practice: Embodied Listening
Spend time in nature, even if only a few minutes a day, and let yourself observe without analyzing.
Notice where you are trying to figure things out, and gently invite yourself to feel instead.
Rest into the awareness that your body knows something your mind does not.
Ask yourself: What would it mean to allow life to lead?
Pluto retrograde is not a retreat from power. It is a return to the source of it. And Gate 2 reminds us that the true source is not control, but connection. Receptivity is not passivity. It is a fierce trust in the intelligence of life. This week, may you receive your direction not from effort, but from alignment.
This weekend: The Gate of Assimilation & Mercury enters Taurus
Sun in Gate 23 —> May 4 to May 10
I Ching 23: Po —> Splitting Apart (Mountain over Earth)
Gene Key 23: Complexity → Simplicity → Quintessence
As the Sun moves from Gate 2 into Gate 23, we transition from the spacious receptivity of the G Center into the precise, mutative energy of the Throat. Gate 23, known as The Gate of Assimilation, is part of the individual circuit the stream of uniqueness, mutation, and inner knowing. It carries the energy to express new insights, but often in a way that cannot be explained in linear terms. This is the voice that says, “I know”, but often can't articulate exactly how or why.
In the I Ching, Hexagram 23 is called Po, aka Splitting Apart. Traditionally, this hexagram speaks to a time when old structures fall away. It is a season of letting go of what is no longer aligned, even if those structures once felt secure. The invitation here is not to hold on, but to simplify. In Gene Key 23, Richard Rudd explores how the mind tends to overcomplicate, over-explain, and over-justify — all as a defense against vulnerability. The shadow is complexity: talking in circles, rationalizing, or hiding behind language.
But the gift is simplicity- the capacity to distill meaning into a clear, elegant form. Those with Gate 23 prominent often carry insights that feel ahead of their time. Their challenge is to wait for the right moment and the right audience. When this timing aligns, their words can feel like lightning - suddenly illuminating the truth with clarity and beauty.
At its highest frequency, Gate 23 reaches quintessence: a distillation of essence so refined it transcends explanation altogether. It is the voice of spirit made manifest through sound, through speech, through presence.
Mercury Enters Taurus — Saturday, May 10
Adding another layer to the story, Mercury enters Taurus on Saturday, May 10, grounding our thinking and communication. This transit favors clear, deliberate, embodied expression, a beautiful match for the energies of Gate 23. After the flurry and fire of Mercury in Aries, Taurus slows the pace, invites reflection, and brings the focus to values, resources, and practical applications of knowledge.
Gate 23 is the voice of sudden inner knowing, and Mercury in Taurus helps that voice land in the body and on solid ground. It supports us in finding language that resonates, that holds weight, that doesn’t just sound good but feels right in the body.
This weekend is an invitation to say less, but mean more. Trust that your insights are valid even if they can’t be fully explained. And if you do find the words, let them be simple, Let them be true.
All my best in this week of the Receptive!
Talk to you next week for the Full Moon in Scorpio!
xox
Alison
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