“you are not moving, you are being moved
you are not singing, you are being sung
you are not dancing, you are being danced
you are being blessed, be blessings in turn”
~ from The God-like Things by Lubomira Kourteva
In human design, the connection between two gates is called a channel. Defined channels create consistent and reliable energy as the two gates connect through a bridge and are continuously communicating and engaging with one another; and essentially, a defined channel shows a natural gift or a specific theme that the native has throughout their life.
Today we’ll discuss the beautiful channel 16-48, which is known as the channel of talent. When someone has the gate of skill and mastery connected to the gate of depth and the wisdom well, they are gifted with a true talent in this life even if they think they aren’t talented or not yet aware of what it is.
Gate 16 is in the throat center, and is known as the gate of skills, enthusiasm and mastery, representing the talent and enthusiasm for expressing your unique skills. Gate 48 is in the spleen center of intuition and our body, and it holds deep wisdom and the potential for profound understanding and knowledge. This channel often has a great taste for all things and is also deeply connected to the senses. This is why they usually make great designers, chefs, photographers; and as it is connected to the throat, they can end up being great writers, poets, teachers and storytellers, as their voice holds beautiful power and makes for a beautiful way of language and a talent for the written or spoken word.
Channel 16-48 is a manifestation channel, meaning that they manifest depth and talent into the world. Through inspired creativity they bring into expression their natural gifts that are meant to be universally recognized. They have the unique ability to learn skills deeply and express them with enthusiasm; and are often drawn to learning new things, not for the sake of learning but to master the skills and then express their gifts in unique ways.
It is important for people with this channel to do something that they love, as it is through this desire that they are then pulled forward in life so that fulfill their purpose. If they are not yet aware of their gift, they should just continue to stay in their curiosity and explore various interests, or even ask their closest friends and family what they think they are good at. The first part of bringing your talents into creation and start using them is awareness, because you must be aware of what they are.
Art by Edgar Degas
What are talents?
Talents are gifts we’ve been given by birth rather than something that comes to us by virtue of our own; and as gifts, we gently hold the responsibility to use them for the benefit of others. One person might have a talent for music, another for visual art, another for storytelling, another for mathematics or mechanics.
The Lakota holy man Black Elk said that gifts are never meant for the individual but for all people around them; a vision, a song, a healing touch, a soothing word, or any other such blessing deepens in meaning only when it is shared. And we express and share our talents, we dance them in front of people, so that others too are inspired to dance their own unique and beautiful ways. When we publish a book, we dance. When we encourage someone and help them along their path, we dance. The making of poems is our way of giving back to the world that which we were gifted, as we share our gift for words.
And yet we need a patience and kindness of rhythm, and we need perseverance and dedication, devotion and consistency, as we follow our path. It takes many years along these devotional paths, where we master our craft, refine our skills.
Most talents, such as the gift of the written word, belong to the realm of grace. Yes, talent is needed, but there is also a thorough understanding of the secret laws and secret threads that weave beyond the veils. There is a kind of serendipity that happens, and we may not even be aware that this is the point from which all our life will sing forward. Creativity is a form of prayer.
Along the creative intuitive pathways, there will be fears, there will be doubts, there will be rejections and obstacles, and there will quiet times, inactive times, discouraging times. But there is value in the learning, in the waiting, in the thinking we are not progressing. Sometimes the greatest progress is made precisely during these quiet seemingly ordinary moments.
Art by Edgar Degas
Along the way …
Often times with this channel, you may sometimes have fears of inadequacy or not being ready enough before you begin sharing their talents; or you are too focused on perfectionism. Both gates 16 and 48 have such fears, and this is where people may get stuck or not step into their path completely. That’s understandable; every writer doubts themselves sometimes, every artist doubts themselves sometimes, but with more experience you will gain more trust in yourself and more confidence. You learn through the doing.
Gate 48 resides in our spleen center, and this centers is about intuition, our body and our primal instincts – mainly, our survival instinct. As such, all gates within this center, while having the potential to carry beautiful intuitive gifts and other talents, have a fear associated with it since they rule our instincts. Think about it: if you go into the jungle and have the potential to face a tiger, the only reason why you won’t get eaten is because you have that fear and survival instinct. You need fear of the tiger, otherwise when he shows up you’ll go cuddle him. Fear, just like all other emotions, are purposeful and carry their messages; some fears protect us, while others, over 90% of them, are not reasonable and they are just a result of our inner fears and thoughts.
With gate 48, the fear is one of not being ready enough, not being prepared, and a fear of inadequacy in some shape or form. Yet this is what motivates you dig deeper into the well of knowledge and master your craft – so in this case, it is your ally. However, if it gets too loud or stops you from progressing or expressing your talents, then you need to find a way to calm it and let it know that you’ll learn along the way but you need to start and just learn as you go. Some of the greatest and most talented artists and people deal with such fears every day, so that’s naturally connected to the talent channel.
And then there’s gate 16, which on its shadow side may create some perfectionism tendencies. This too ties in with the talent channel, because all talented people want to perfect their skills more and more and more; and it stems from this “maybe it’s not ready yet, maybe I’m not the best yet” of the 48 gate. The key here is just to accept our humanness, and know that nothing will ever be perfect but that’s the beauty of it. Again, make this an ally of yours and let it motivate you rather than freeze you from moving forward.
And there is no need to panic when it doesn’t seem perfect or things aren’t moving forward. The intelligence that shaped the universe shaped you too. There is an inner part of us, forever obscured, forever mysterious, which is most alive during the process of composition and of making. And that inner part, that inner glow, is timeless, and it functions beyond time. It drinks from deep waters. It has the stillness and the dance and the radiance of the heavens, the firmament, the seas beyond skies.
Trust is one of our greatest lessons we learn in this life, trust in ourselves, trust in the divine timing of our life, trust in God – and that all will find its way in the right time for us when we need it, it will shape in the way we need it. You need to build trust in yourself and your talent, and that can only come through consistently investing in it and developing it step by step.
Art by Edgar Degas
The dance, the shoes and the dancer.
We can view gate 16 as the shoes and gate 48 as the dancer. And beyond the lines and gates, is you – the dance itself. The shoes is what you are born with as your talent, and through gate 16 which is the gate of skill, mastery, and enthusiasm, you are pulled towards it because it excites you so deeply – it is a desire, a fuel of your life. And it is precisely because of this that you want to learn more and more, and perfect it.
If gate 16 is the shoes, gate 48 is the dancer – and now you’ve followed the souls of your feet, your heart and your passion, and perhaps even soul’s calling, and you are now dancing. It is not enough to have the shoes, we must also dance. Gate 48 is what I call the wisdom well; it is a gate of depth. We move along the intuitive wildlands, deep into the woods, until we reach the deep well, and we look within, and voices older than us call us, and we lean into the learnings, and we listen, truly listen.
This gate is about exploring the depth of life through curiosity; and it is also about learning how to be human. There is complexity to human nature, and no one is perfect.
There are also nuances, and various shades, and it is in these complexities that beauty shines. There is also unknowing, and the humility that we’ll never know it all, and so we must learn to surrender and trust, and stop being so hard on ourselves.
We become wise not through books or education, we become wise through embodiment and experience walking our paths. And because this is a very intuitive space as well, being part of the spleen, this is also about following your intuition, your wisdom, and then creating beautiful solutions for the betterment of people through the expression of your talents, gifts and skills.
Don’t let fears and doubts stop you because you have a real talent you’ve been gifted in this life – and you need to dance it for others. And as we talked about, remember that fear is not a bad thing for this channel, as long as you know how to work with it; because it is what drives you to refine your craft. You can make fear your ally and friend – let it help you refine your skills and dig deeper into the wisdom well. Let fear be a friend that motivates you rather than destroys, stops or discourages you.
Take time connecting to yourself and see where you are drawn towards, what did you love to do since childhood, what is your most favourite thing in the world where you feel like you can lose yourself and have no idea where time goes by. What do people always tell you you’re good at? Sometimes people with this channel can be too focused on education, diplomas and certificates, so you need to be mindful of that, as creativity, gifts and talents are things we embody and express and excel through experience, and not things we read or learn in books.
You need to let the dance dance you. We learn along the way, and the more we do it, the more we refine it, master it, and deepen into it, and then more worlds within it open, and it opens us. Our life’s purpose is not a goal or destination, it is something that unfolds along the way, and each little step matters; it is the art of the apprenticeship that then becomes the art of mastery.
Astro tips: You can look in which planets your gates fall into, and then look at your natal chart for a deeper insight. Often times, if your North Node is connected to these gates, it truly will be a life of expressing your talents and you’ll see very clearly in your astrology; and if it is connected to your 2nd or 3rd house ruler, your gift of words will be quite beautiful, with the ability to touch people’s hearts if in a heart-centered sign or aspect, leading you towards becoming a writer, poet, and storyteller.
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Cover art by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Dancer in Blue, via Wikimedia Commons.
