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. Mutation opens with gate 1 and closes with gate 19.
Purpose through transformation
The keynote of this quarter is purpose fulfilled through transformation. The Quarter of Mutation is the polarity of the Quarter of Civilization: that one begins with the most yin hexagram, gate 2, and this one with the most yang, gate 1, a deep creative force.
Think about how it differs from the others. Purpose through mind is a conceptual program. Purpose through form is building on patterns that already exist. Purpose through bonding offers countless possibilities. But transformation either comes or it doesn't. You can live your life searching for change and never see it arrive. The first three quarters are fairly rigid, but this one isn't, because it is all about mutation. That's why anything is possible out of it.
The mystical image of the quarter is accepting death. It isn't about slowly fading and getting ready to go. Quite the opposite: death is accepted by those who have lived a full life, and fullness of life comes only with a sense of purpose. Only when you see your purpose fulfilled can you calmly accept the end.
The gates of the quarter
- Gate 1 — Self-Expression
- Gate 43 — Insight
- Gate 14 — Power Skills
- Gate 34 — Power
- Gate 9 — Focus
- Gate 5 — Fixed Rhythms
- Gate 26 — The Trickster
- Gate 11 — Ideas
- Gate 10 — Behavior of the Self
- Gate 58 — Vitality
- Gate 38 — The Fighter
- Gate 54 — Ambition
- Gate 61 — Mystery
- Gate 60 — Acceptance
- Gate 41 — Contraction
- Gate 19 — Wanting
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 here, transformation is what fulfils you. And you are most likely very impatient for it: even in the middle of change it's hard to believe it will really come.
That's why it's especially important for you to know: transformation does come, but it takes time. The body renews itself in seven-year cycles, and the first real step is seven years of living by your strategy and authority, freeing yourself from other people's conditioning. The not-self often can't see the difference between cycles because it doesn't change anything. If you are in the process, you will get there — but you have to be patient.
The formula of life
Put the themes of all four quarters together and you get the formula of human life: the witness returns — through the womb — to build and bond, make more, measure and die. Each of us lives out this formula in one way or another.
The four Faces of Mutation
- The Face of Hades — gates 1, 43, 14, 34: "remember that you will die".
- The Face of Prometheus — gates 9, 5, 26, 11: stolen fire and its price.
- The Face of Vishnu — gates 10, 58, 38, 54: life in form as a sacrifice.
- The Keepers of the Wheel — gates 61, 60, 41, 19: a hidden force for which there is no end.
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 1: Right Angle Cross of the Sphinx, Juxtaposition Cross of Self-Expression, Left Angle Cross of Defiance
- Sun in gate 19: Right Angle Cross of the Four Ways, Juxtaposition Cross of Need, Left Angle Cross of Refinement
The full lists are in the articles on each face.
The Quarter of Mutation is about meaning that comes through change. It doesn't tolerate haste: transformation comes to those who live by their nature and know how to wait.