Cross of Innocence

Full breakdown

Gates: 25 the Spirit of the Self, 46 the Determination of the Self, 52 Inaction, 58 Aliveness. Gate numbers: 25.4/58.1, 46.4/52.1.

Moving toward the 4th line and the last stretch of this quarter shifts the unconscious design: Sun/Earth move from 10 and 15 into 58 and 52. Gate 58.1 is the most beautiful of all 384 lines — Love of Life — the energy of loving being in the world, a genuinely beautiful energy. This Cross is driven by delight in love and life. But enjoying love and life doesn't automatically mean being happy. It's part of individuality's nature that someone can have a wonderful life and still be deeply sad, since melancholy comes bundled with individuality, and the conscious Sun in Gate 25 carries that individuality. So these people can have a real problem: fixed on delighting in life, and still sad underneath.

Hedonism, in a sense, was invented by someone born into this Cross — 'let's all just enjoy life.' What's beautiful about this Cross is that it leads directly into the one Cross devoted to healing. The pursuit of happiness belongs to this Juxtaposition, and it's a very rigid pursuit — but the moment that pursuit turns transpersonal, becomes karmic interaction, healing follows: 'it's not about my happiness, my journey — it's about how I can make you happy.' These, remember, are our priests and priestesses.

Human Design describes three paths of authority. There's 21/45, power through the tribe and its traditional territorial rule. There's 31/7, our essentially democratic path, where authorities are chosen or elected but power ultimately belongs to the people. And there's a third, mystical path — a different kind of authority and leadership that pulls the tribe out of its comfortable corner. That's the priest or priestess who can draw the individual out of the tribe toward the edge, ready to be thrown into the void — Gate 25's role.

That kind of authority is what gives this Cross its influence. All 4th-line personalities carry significant influence, precisely because they're this fixed — like the missionary boiling in the Mohawk cauldron, still singing praises to Jesus. You can't do that unless you're a fixed 4th line; anyone else would be screaming and panicking. But a fixed 4th line stands upright, boiling, singing — and, notably, it genuinely impressed the Mohawk, even though it didn't convert them. That's the flavor of these people, working to influence you toward enjoying life.