Guide to the Rave New Year: Everything You Need to Know!
Jan 05, 2023Updated: January 15th, 2024
If you tend to feel more resistance around the Calendar New Year — there’s a cosmic reason for that!
In fact, you might even feel a sense of pressure or dread when that clock hits midnight, rather than clarity and expansion for the year ahead!
Why is that?
Well, we can look to the stars for the answer.
In Human Design, the New Year, officially known as the “The Rave New Year” actually begins around January 22nd, specifically when the Sun enters the 41st Gate, the Gate of Decrease - Contraction... but more on that later!
The end of the Calendar Year actually marks the start of the 4 Stages of Completion that lead us towards the Rave New Year.
What are the 4 Stages of Completion?
First of all, it’s important to understand that one complete cycle or “Human Design Year” refers to the cycle of the Sun transiting each of the 64 Gates in the Mandala, which takes about 365 days.
In other words, over a year, the Sun transits each of the 64 Gates around the Human Design Mandala.
The primary difference between a Rave Year and a calendar year, is that the start of the Rave Year is marked by the entrance of the Sun entering the 41st Gate.
This is the beginning of a new human experiential cycle.
"Every January as the Sun enters into the 41st Gate, we initiate a new experiential cycle. A new human experiential cycle on this plane.” - Ra Uru Hu
An annual cycle comes to a close as the Sun begins to transit the last 4 Gates of the Mandala (that come before the 41st Gate), which represent the 4 Stages of Completion:
➡️ Stage 1: Sun Enters Gate 38 // Theme of Resistance & Tension
➡️ Stage 2: Sun Enters Gate 54 // Theme of Drive & Beginnings
➡️ Stage 3: Sun Enters Gate 61 // Theme of Inner Truth & Details
➡️ Stage 4: Sun Enters Gate 60 // Theme of Acceptance & Letting Go
The better you understand these stages and their purpose, the easier it will be step into the new cycle and new year with clarity and confidence.
So let’s look at these in more detail!
Stage 1: Sun Enters Gate 38 // Theme of Resistance & Tension
On December 31st at 11:18AM UTC, the Sun enters into the 38th Gate, the Gate of the Fighter and the Earth (i.e. the opposition of the Sun) enters into the 39th Gate, the Gate of Provocation.
According to Ra, this is Stage 1 of 4, of our transition into the Rave New Year.
Gate 38 is a fighter energy that pressures us to fight for meaning and purposes in our lives.
Gate 39 is a provocative energy that pressures us to express emotions and find spirit.
These two background frequencies together can create or amplify a lot of resistance and tension that trigger us in areas of our life in which we’re living out of alignment. Especially if we are not following our personal truth, and perhaps we’re holding on too tightly to people, beliefs, situations that are no longer good for us.
This is why we can feel so much resistance around New Years Eve!
Great way to ring in the New Year, isn’t it?!
Not all is bad though!
The purpose of this energy is to force us to look back and reflect on the past:
To look at what’s worked and what hasn’t.
To reflect on whether you’re fighting for things that actually bring you meaning and purpose in your life.
To look at what’s getting in the way of you living out your most authentic self.
📌 Tips During This Stage: Before you try to catapult yourself forward -- make sure to use this time to look back and reflect over the past year (or past in general!) so that you can build the new year on a solid foundation. Grab a pen, your journal, your favourite tea, and get to reflecting!
Here's some questions to get you started:
- What brought you the most meaning and purpose over the last 12 months?
- What were some of the most challenging things that happened?
- What lessons did you learn from these challenging moments?
- What's holding me back from living out my authentic path even further?
Stage 2: Sun Enters Gate 54 // Theme of Drive & Beginnings
On January 5th, you’ll start to feel the heaviness of the first stage being lifted as the Sun officially enters into the 54th Gate at 23:45PM UTC and enters the 2nd Stage of Completion. At this time of course, the Earth also enters the 53rd Gate.
The 54th Gate is the Gate of Ambition - Marrying Maiden. This is a highly driven energy that pressures us to work towards our ambitions and make them a reality.
The 53rd Gate is the Gate of Beginnings - Development. This is a cyclical energy that pressures us to start something fresh and new.
These two background frequencies together assists us in expressing our drive and ambition, in order to set the foundation for new beginnings. In other words, we’ve looked back on the past in the first stage, and now we’re here to look forward.
It's when you start to gain more clarity and actually begin to feel ready to take on the New Year.
Ra also says that it’s the stage in which we’re here to look clearly. It’s a time to look at who your allies are - i.e. who can you trust and rely on, who can you work with.
📌 Tips During This Stage: Use this time to do a review of who is truly here to support you in living out your truth and your ambitions, and who is just getting in your way. Also, use this time to put those wheels in motion, and start taking the small steps you need to set a solid foundation and get your year off to the best start possible!
Stage 3: Sun Enters Gate 61 // Theme of Inner Truth & Details
On January 11th at 12:11PM UTC, the Sun enters into the 61th Gate, the Gate of Mystery - Inner Truth and the Earth (i.e. the opposition of the Sun) enters into the 62nd Gate, the Gate of Detail - Preponderance of the Small.
You’re taking that momentum and clarity you’ve built from Stage 2, and now you’re getting closer to the truth you always carried within yourself — that may have been hidden and obscured out of view.
Gate 61 is the energy of spontaneous inner knowing and pressure to know the answers to the mysteries of life.
Gate 62 is a meticulous energy all about details and facts.
Around this time, it’s about getting even more into alignment with your inner truth. These two background frequencies will push us to look for truth within ourselves, and back them up with details and facts.
📌 Tips During This Stage: It can be a great time for meditation (or simply getting quiet) to disconnect from the noise and plug into your Higher Self. Then, grab a pen and paper and free write on what comes through for you! This technique is commonly known as Stream of Consciousness Writing and it can be a great way to connect to your inner truth.
Perhaps you’ll even want to take your New Year planning to the next level and fill in the details that weren’t clear enough at the end of the previous calendar year.
Stage 4: Sun Enters Gate 60 // Theme of Acceptance & Letting Go
Lastly the final stage of this cycle starts on January 17th at 00:39AM UTC, as the Sun moves into the 60th Gate, the Gate of Acceptance - Limitation and the Earth moves into the 56th Gate, the Gate of Stimulation - The Wanderer.
Gate 60 is the energy of acceptance and specifically accepting our limitations (e.g. physical, financial, energetic, time, etc).
Gate 56 is all about experiences, seeking stimulation and stimulating others with your ideas and stories.
“Limitation isn’t something extraordinary, because what limitation is all about is transcendence. The moment you can accept limitation, it no longer exists.” - Ra Uru Hu
Ultimately, this stage is about acceptance of limitations and letting go of all that no longer serves you.
From self-sabotaging beliefs, to unsupportive people, to not-self desires and behaviours.
As you let go and surrender to your truth, you open up a clear path into a new cycle.
📌 Tips During This Stage: Try doing a letting go ritual to clear out the old. I like to write a list of all the things you’re choosing to let go of (e.g. beliefs, habits, people), and safely burn or toss this letter as a way of symbolically letting go and surrendering deeper into the truth of who you are.
Commencing The Rave New Year
Now that we’ve gone through the 4 Stages, what’s next?!
Well… as I mentioned earlier, the Human Design New Year, officially known as the “The Rave New Year” begins around January 22nd when the Sun enters the 41st Gate, the Gate of Decrease - Contraction.
This year, we'll see this event take place on January 22nd, 2024 at 13:18PM UTC.
Not when the clock strikes midnight at the end of the calendar year!
Fun fact: This year, the Rave New Year is on the same date as Chinese New Year!
Background Frequency of The Rave New Year
The Sun starts the Rave Year in the 41st Gate, which is an initiating energy for our dreams and experiences.
In the BodyGraph, its the beginning of the Stream of the Human Experiential Wave that starts at the Root Center and moves towards the Solar Plexus via the Channel of Recognition (41-30). This stream continues from the Solar Plexus and goes up into the Throat via the Channel of Transitoriness (36-35).
In other words, these are the Collective Emotional Waves of 41-30 and the 36-35 which are all about desires and expectations.
The background frequency of the 41st Gate inspires us to use our imagination and dream big. You might find yourself daydreaming quite a bit if you’ve been feeling stuck for a while.
Being in the Root Center, it also pressures us to bring new experiences and feelings into reality!
With the Sun being in Gate 41, the Earth (i.e. the opposition of the Sun) is in Gate 31, the Gate of Influence. So, on top of this inspiring dreamer energy — it’s a time that you may feel even more empowered to lead yourself forward into the new cycle.
Give yourself that permission slip to simply have fun with it, and if you get lost — remember that you always have your Strategy & Authority to guide you back along your next trip around the Mandala.
Learn More About The Rave New Year
If you want to learn more (and directly from the source), check out these videos for Ra's take on the Rave New Year:
If you're into transits and energetic forecasts, you might even want to take a look at some of the offerings on Jovian Archive, such as this 2024 Rave New Year Forecast.
Conclusion
If you don't have everything all planned out for the year, you are NOT behind!
In fact, the 2024 Rave New Year hasn't even happened yet.
So if you needed a sign to get things going now, this is it! Good luck!