Gate 3 ⌇ The Gate of Ordering

The third hexagram is about the generation of life itself. It is about what literally brings us into the world. As such the first line lays a foundation for what it is to be in the world. If you have the 3.1 and you are really introspective, the first thing that you  know is that you are confused. What do you do about it? Nothing, because you know that somewhere down the line life will explain itself to you. If you have the first line and you don’t know that you are confused, then you are really confused. You think you really know what is going on and everything breaks down in your face. This is the nature of this first line. It speaks for our whole life process. Recognize, that we all come into this life confused and we go through most of it confused. In most of those situations if we are psychically healthy, the confusions in our life will be resolved naturally, as a way. That is what we are here for. We are great ordering creatures. We do manage to make sense out of things in the end. Even if it is a lie. But the moment that you do not accept that confusion is natural, that the way is not your way to control, that is the moment that deep confusion comes in. The sense of,  “Where is the way?”

When you get to the second line, you get to ‘Immaturity.’ The first line spends all its time involved in the introspection of saying, “I have confused energy” and the second line projects that out to everybody else. Everybody looks at the 3.2 and they say, “Aren’t they confused?” They do not know where they are going. That brings all kinds of people who say, “Oh, you shouldn’t do that. You should do that.” The 3.2 which does not know its depth, the second line does not look inwards and it does not know that it is truly confused. It just puts out the confused immature impression and then people come and say  “You poor thing. Let me show you the way.” The 3rd gate is very confusing.

The moment that you are confused and someone else shows you the way you get even more confused, because you are being shown the way by someone who is just as confused as you are. The unrestrained acceptance of guidance. They do not know where they are going. They do not have the depth to understand that it is okay that you do not know where you are going. It is not up to you where you go. Our whole process is not about what we do. It is about what happens to us. The moment we let go off trying to control our confusion, the moment we try to hammer our confusion into some kind of order, that is the moment that we get deeply confused. Life has a way. Human beings do not recognize how wonderful they are. How clever and adaptable they are. How much they learn in a lifetime. How what they learn is exactly for their confusion so that they can finally have order in their life.

The second line has Mars exalted. The moment you see Mars heading a line, you know that this is a line that always reflects immaturity. Mars is a twelve or fourteen year old child. They can be delicious some days and they can be absolute monsters the next day. Mars shows a built-in immaturity. The unrelenting energy for growth will eventually triumph.  Again, one side of this process is saying:  Alright. Check out all the guides. Listen to all the teachers and gurus. Eventually, you will find our order anyway and you will resent all these people and what they tried to tell you. On the other side the Uranus in detriment,  Internal instability which both accepts and rejects authority simultaneously. These dichotomies in lines, we all live  them; even if you have a planet fixing one side, you will meet the energy on the other side.

In the white book, The energy and potential for individual mutation.  Mutation, after it has gone trough this deeply confusing process of being guided by others, and finally finding its own order. The whole thing about the lower trigram is that it does not really want to deal with the other. The second line is just a projection that it is putting out. It does not really want to deal with what it will end up dealing with and then it gets very confused. Energy and potential that is conditioned by others, leading to instability.  “Do this! You are doing the wrong thing. Put your energy in this and not in that.” All second lines end up in this dilemma of calling others to them to tell them. They are putting out a projection, and that projection is being met by what they are not prepared to meet. The moment that the second line puts out the projection “I am confused,” it really does not know what it is confused about. It does not know that it is projecting out confusion. It is getting people coming up to them and tell them  “You are confused” and they are astonished. “You are going in the wrong direction. Don’t you see?”  “No.” They immediately pull people who take them and try to control the direction of their mutation.

The most volatile and mutative of all lines is the 3.3. Those mutations can be devastatingly bad, and they can be wonderful. It is called ‘Survival.’ You will notice that in the third line Pluto is in detriment. Pluto has not been in the 3rd gate for over 150 years. Though it will eventually, some time about 2020, reach the 60th hexagram on the other side. Very important to keep that in mind when you take a look at this line because we are living in a time in which only the positive attributes of evolutionary mutation are at work for us. We will get to a point where they will be a negative field of mutation that will affect the whole planet and particularly the children that will be born under the configuration when Pluto enters the 60.  An innate knowing of what is sterile and fertile, where the mutation is specifically biological and dependant on collaboration with others.  In other words, how to come from a state of confusion - after all, every line of this gate is about being confused - to the recognition of what is fertile and what is sterile.

The way we do that is the way the third line works, trial and error. Some things will be  positively or negatively  mutative and some things won’t be. Trial and error is built into this survival. Venus exalted,  In reproduction, the ability to choose the best mate.  By the way, that does not mean the best lover, that does not mean the best friend or partner or person to be in your life. It just means the one who is going to help you to produce the mutation in the child that you are having. Don’t get carried away with that line. It is not about choosing the best mate as your partner for life. It is about being best  productively, in that sense.

Pluto in detriment, The perverse denial of evolutionary standards. We do not have that. That is a recessive gene. All kinds of things that have a negative, mutative impact on us. Again, what you are looking at is this fulfillment - this is the end of the lower trigram after all - it does have its depth and projection, but it also has the capacity to adapt and remember: All third lines know that even though they are stuck within their own gate, they have this sense that there is something out there at the other end of the channel. They do not really know what it is - they are not the fourth line. But they do know something about that, because they are forced to adapt through trial and error.

The third line, that is where the trial and error comes in. One thing to understand about going through this survival process is that in order to survive confusion, you have to be willing to make those mistakes. You have to be ready to try different things because that is built into it.  An innate contrariness which refuses to mutate. When Pluto comes to the 60th hexagram, we will have a whole generation of people who come and provide us with no new mutative material. This is a generation that will be a blind end when it comes to reproduction. It will have difficulties in reproduction. The nature of the third line is that confusion is something that we can transcend trough trial and error. All third lines have within them this ability to make mistakes and survive. That is the person that has four children with four different lovers and one of them is really great. It finally got it right. It got the genetic material it needed. Now I have the order that I really needed in my life. The other three, well?  By the way, politicians are born to the threes. It is perfect for them.

When you come to the fourth line, you come to another process. We move into the upper trigram and in the fourth line we are talking about something that is deeply aware of the fact that there is something else at the other end of the channel, and that it no longer is involved in its own process but has an integrated process with other forces. This fourth line is called ‘Charisma.’ Think about the channel of Charisma, the channel 20/34 in the integration network. If you see that in a chart where it is not connected to an awareness, you know that these are people that deeply need guidance in their life. The most charismatic people have standing behind the curtain someone who takes most of the money, most of the power and does not do the front job which is done by the 20/34. Their charisma goes out in the world, and the people in the back count all the money.

By its very nature, ‘Charisma’ is about being guided. Everything about the 3rd hexagram is about living out the natural confusion of life. No matter what line you are dealing with, on one side there is a way of living out that confusion to find what works and the other side is all about being even more confused by thinking that you can find a way out of the confusion, instead of just letting that natural process happen. Innate quality which attracts valued guidance. These people are focused on being confused. That is their charisma. After all, they have a one-track-mind. If you look at the 18.4, ‘The Incompetent’, they are not capable themselves of solving the confusion because they are not designed to. They are designed to have someone else do it for them, legitimately. After all, they are looking to the other side of the channel. It is a totally different process. They are looking across for someone to give them guidance. They are looking to the 60th hexagram to root them in the stable order of what is past, in order to see the movement of what is new. They are looking for the other side. 

By doing so they attract Neptune exalted, Psychic attunement that magnetizes nurturing.  When you see Neptune in a line, you know that you know nothing about any of it. Neptune is veiling everything. Someone  says, “You just pulled me in”  and they say,  “Did I really do that?” They have no idea of that psychic magnetizing of others. That is pouring out of the Neptunian veil and they do not know. But underneath that 4, it is going back to its resonance in the first line. The first line knows: Let’s wait long enough. Life will solve our confusion. Here, the 4 says, “Not only do I know that. That is what I will project out with all my might: I am confused!”  Immediately there is someone who shows them the way.

On the other side, Mars in detriment, The demands of Ego lead to rejection. To these kind of people you say, “I know exactly what your problem is. All you have to do is...,”  and they look at you and say,  “I am confused.” The other person repeats the advice and they still say, “I am confused.”  They are totally wrapped up in their confusion. They may come to you for guidance because they externalize that confusion and you are there saying,  “Oh, I can help you”  and  then you get mad at them  because they do not  listen to what you tell them. No matter what problem these people have, if you come with a solution, they still say that they are confused. This is their energy. This is the fixed way that is moves out. Please understand the nature of guidance. What it is saying about life itself is that not only is life a confusing ordeal for us - because we need to transcend the confusion to find order - but it is exceedingly difficult to do it alone. 

One of the terminologies that exist in the world that I am most uncomfortable with is this assumption and vanity that human beings have: the idea of having an individual karma. We do not. There will not be any mutation unless there is a whole chain of mutative forces that are at work. At the highest level, once we go through the lower trigram process of saying  “I am confused”, we finally get to the upper trigram process that says “I am confused, but not only will there eventually be order but I will  find that order through others.”  In this sense, being guided. The worst scenario for these people is someone who has this line and a defined Ego. “I am confused. So what, I continue to being confused my way. You are not straightening me up."

The fifth line has this delicious name ‘Victimization.’  Remember the nature of its resonance to the second line. It projects out  “I am confused.”  When you get to the fifth line you have other people who project on the fifth line and say, “that one is confused.” The fifth line may or may not be confused. They may have already transcended the confusion and be totally in order. The other side is looking at them and says, “aha, they are confused. I am going to guide them and take advantage of them.” The moment that the outside force is guiding the fifth line, the victimization is always possible.

Remember, the fifth line is not necessarily confused. It just receives that projection. It is like a child that goes home to his parents as an adult and the parents are still seeing the child. They do not see the mature adult, it is not possible for them. The fifth line is always getting that kind of projection.  They are always being seen as being confused, whether they are or not. As an overview line it says,  When actions designed to overcome confusion alienate others.  “I am not confused, let me show you.”  “Yes, you are.”  That is confused. There is no way that they can convince the others that are projecting on them. “Mom, I am no longer a child, I am a big boy now.”  “Oh, no, you are still my baby.’  No way to escape that.

Mars exalted, The courage to stand by one’s convictions.  Very immature. “I am not victimized.” To deny that projection to live out the nature. Underneath that though, the Earth in detriment, Victimization leads to appeasement and suffering.   These people do not necessarily need to be guided. After all, they are there as a universalizing principle. It is one of the things that we see as a completing process in this hexagram, that so many 3rd gate people are victimized. That confusion gets victimized, projected on from the outside because people think that confusion is bad. Our logical process, which is very different from this individual process, says that order is something that we can establish. Here are the guidelines logically. Being confused is not necessary. “Come over here and I will show you how not to be confused.” The collective gives confusion a dirty name because it loves to be moralistic. Confusion is bad and order is good. Four legs good, two legs bad. What happens to us planetary-wise is that there is this enormous pressure placed on confusion that it must be resolved.

I have so many people that come to me with undefined G centers who have been literally ripped apart by people who said: ”You must know who you are.” They became the victims in that kind of imposition of someone else’s guidance through lack of awareness, through lack of recognition of their own nature. Keep in mind that the fifth lines represent the universalization of a hexagram. The universalization of confusion in our world is victimization. If you are confused, someone is going to pick on you. If you are confused, someone will try to use you. Confusion is not bad. It is life. It will go away, I promise.

The unique energy of individuality to withstand confusion  and  Confused energy which is dominated by the ordering power of others. The integrity of the individual speaks here. The integrity to follow your own convictions despite the projections of others. The integrity of the individual is that it recognizes that confusion is okay. It is about accepting this. Every hexagram  speaks for all of us. We cannot avoid these things, they are in the world. The moment that you are victimized when you are confused, this is the moment that you are at risk. That is the moment that you have given up on the recognition that life itself is the great organizer of things. That is why for me this hexagram begins the wheel, because it begins this process of recognition. There is no way that we will figure things out right away. They all take time and the whole life process is a constant movement through states of confusion until we reach a point of clarity.

Whenever you look at the first and fifth line you see the whole story. The first line tells you the deepest truth of what a hexagram is. The fifth line tells you how the world sees it. The world sees confusion as an opportunity for victimization. By the way, the positive attribute of that is what we call public education. “Let’s straighten all these people out. Let’s show them the order. Teach them the abc. Teach them how to be good, moral, orderly creatures and make sure they do not cross the street against the light.” We ingrain that in everybody, as a result of this being the universalizing symbol of what it is to be confused. Confusion has a bad name.

With the sixth line you get to the roof. There you have a different movie because it is not really part of the hexagram anymore. It has all of that process inherent in it. It knows all of those steps. All of those things are there, even if it is not really in touch with them. They are built into the nature of the sixth line. It has a beautiful name:  ‘Surrender.’ We start with synthesis and end with surrender. This is the nature of what it is to live in a confusing body, in a confusing world. Surrender. It is not up to us to dictate the nature of the solution. Ordering comes of itself. Please remember that the Sacral center is not aware. It is a very hot and sweet, dumb machine. It is just doing its job. It is just putting out an energy force, an energy field. There is no awareness attached to that. In this energy itself lies this wonder of surrender. There is a genetic switch in us that just says: okay, let it be.  What is written beside that is  The ultimate maturity to recognize when struggle is futile.  Don’t fight. “Why should I do anything about my confusion?”  says the 6th line. “It is okay with me. Do you have a problem? I don’t mind being confused. If you think that I am confused, it is okay with me.” 

The 6th line does not have to do anything. It is interested in the whole circuit and the whole individuality circuit is enormously complex. Its final stage is to bring about a viable mutation for all of humanity. That is not likely to happen every two or three seconds. There are so many people with this line who say,  “Yah yah. Why should I do anything about this confusion when I will have that confusion tomorrow. I am still confused. This is not solving anything for me. Let me just be confused. I do not want to mutate. I am not ready to mutate. I don’t care about mutation unless I can really see that it is possible. Can it really happen? Otherwise I will stand back here and do nothing and I vibrate with my 6th line.”

Sun exalted, As its light sustains, so life goes on. This voice says, “The sun is still shining. I will eventually find my order. I will not struggle in this life.”  I meet this all the time. I am very existential and I live with my awareness in the now and I am quite pleased to see that life just happens. We had a client a couple of weeks ago in Munich. It was a woman who by her very genetic structure was inhibited from being able to conceptualize at any sophisticated level. Somebody who has restricted to just being a child. She was 62 years old and looked 19. She had the mind of a twelve year old. She was a nice human being, but just very immature. She realized, after living in the world this long, that there is something else, but didn’t quite know what that was. She wanted me to tell her how to fix it. I told her, “look, all you have to do is to let your life happen.” There is no way that she could have understood that.

We come into this plane of existence into a plane of confusion, and it takes enormous courage to let it all just happen. Over and over again in my work I show people, “Look, it is simple. This is what you are. You cannot change it. It is neither good nor bad. Life will happen to you and you vibrate in that process in response.” It is simply a fact. It is just the way it works. The Sacral is not an awareness. Fear lies in all awareness. Fear is awareness. There is no fear in the Sacral center. It is not afraid of surrender. It does not really know what that means. It just knows that it does not have the energy to fight to get through a confusion, when it is not the complete thing. Those people who won’t believe in any order unless that order is an absolute and you can prove it over and over again. Otherwise, it is not worth the trouble. Why should I go to that therapist when I know damn well that they are not able to solve my problem anyway. The innate acceptance that ordering is a process, not a problem.  Please notice, Pluto in detriment. It has never been there in our lifetime. It will come about 2023. 

The overwhelming power of confused energy can lead to depression. The 6th line is not like the rest of the hexagram. It is looking far beyond  that process. In doing so, in the plutonic darkness it can feel enormously depressed about the nature of  the world. Remember that it is not active yet. In our world, we are very fortunate. In the time that we live in and in the children that are born into this cycle with Neptune in 60,  all these children that are coming in with this mutative potential  to surrender. It is there in us. This gate is about what life is. It is the essence of life. Life begins with confusion and when you get to the end of the process, your ultimate maturity is simply to accept: there is nothing that you can do about anything. Let it just happen. Very difficult for human beings.

One last thing: if you look at the 3.6, the next hexagram is the 27. It is in the Sacral center. It is about nourishment and caring, and the first line of the 27 is about being selfish. With surrender comes the recognition of what it is to really be surrendered to the confusion,  the next step: look after yourself, care for yourself. That is the lesson after the 6th line.