The four quarters of the wheel
The wheel of 64 gates is divided into four quarters of 16 gates, and each has its own general direction of purpose: in the Quarter of Initiation purpose is fulfilled through mind, in the Quarter of Civilization through form, in the Quarter of Duality through bonding with others, and in the Quarter of Mutation through transformation. You can picture humanity as a large organization with four departments, each responsible for its own area. And inside each department there are four divisions — the Faces of the Gods, four gates each. Sixteen in all.
Every quarter begins with a gate of the Cross of the Sphinx and ends with a gate of the Cross of the Four Ways — one of the beautiful symmetries of the wheel. Initiation opens with gate 13 and closes with gate 24.
Purpose through mind
The keynote of this quarter is purpose fulfilled through mind. That doesn't mean people from here "are" their minds or decide everything with their heads. It means that their sense of meaning arrives through the mental plane: through clarity, understanding, ideas — their own or someone else's. Sometimes one precise thought is enough to change something in a person for good.
The mystical image of this quarter is the witness returns. Consciousness comes back into a body again and again to witness the process of life. Of the wheel's four "departments", this one is responsible for consciousness. The other quarters take part in it too, but for Initiation it is the main business.
Initiation is a yang force, a force that begins. Here mind enters form, as it were, and pushes it toward change. The quarter takes its name from the Channel of Initiation 25–51: both of its gates lie within these 16 hexagrams. One more detail: the Quarter of Initiation is home to questions. The answers come from the opposite side of the wheel — the Quarter of Duality.
The gates of the quarter
- Gate 13 — The Listener
- Gate 49 — Principles
- Gate 30 — Feelings
- Gate 55 — Spirit
- Gate 37 — Friendship
- Gate 63 — Doubt
- Gate 22 — Openness
- Gate 36 — Crisis
- Gate 25 — Spirit of the Self
- Gate 17 — Opinions
- Gate 21 — The Hunter
- Gate 51 — Shock
- Gate 42 — Growth
- Gate 3 — Ordering
- Gate 27 — Caring
- Gate 24 — Rationalization
If your Sun is in this quarter
The Personality Sun leads the whole Incarnation Cross, and the quarter it sits in sets the general direction for roughly 70% of the personality's programming. So the quarter of your conscious Sun is the backdrop against which your whole purpose unfolds.
If your conscious Sun is in one of these 16 gates, your purpose is fulfilled when clarity on the mental plane arrives. What kind of clarity, and how it reaches you, depends on your gate, line, type and authority.
This has its price. Purpose through mind means not through form. You can wait for years for fulfilment to come from what you build or buy, when it actually comes through understanding. Someone else will put up the building; you may be the one who gives it the idea. And that's fine.
Don't mix this up: "purpose through mind" doesn't mean "decisions by mind". The not-self grabs this theme very easily, and the mind starts to think it's in charge. Decisions belong to your strategy and authority. When you live by them, the "costume" of the quarter gradually begins to fit.
The four Faces of Initiation
- The Face of Kali — gates 13, 49, 30, 55: the mystical death of the old and rebirth.
- The Face of Mitra — gates 37, 63, 22, 36: covenants, vows and endless questions.
- The Face of Michael — gates 25, 17, 21, 51: law, rules and breaking them.
- The Face of Janus — gates 42, 3, 27, 24: doors, birth, mother and child.
Example crosses
Every quarter holds one variation of each of the 16 Right Angle Crosses — which is why, for example, the Cross of the Sphinx appears in all four quarters. Each Left Angle Cross has two variations in different quarters, and the Juxtaposition Crosses are unique. Here are the crosses of the gates that open and close the quarter:
- Sun in gate 13: Right Angle Cross of the Sphinx, Juxtaposition Cross of Listening, Left Angle Cross of the Masks
- Sun in gate 24: Right Angle Cross of the Four Ways, Juxtaposition Cross of Rationalization, Left Angle Cross of Incarnation
The full lists are in the articles on each face.
The Quarter of Initiation is about meaning that arrives through clarity of mind. But the decisions are still made not by the mind, but by your strategy and authority.