Gate 17: The Gate of Opinions and Attitudes

This line asks how far your perception lets stimuli in and how varied the resulting opinions become. In its exalted expression, it withstands a great wealth of impressions and can form an opinion on many subjects. In its weakened expression, the openness lets in only what is appealing, and the opinions, too, stay with what is pleasing.

Here, connections are chosen according to the highest values. In its exalted expression, the line finds a fitting alignment, and opinions can develop within relationships. In its weakened expression, the selection is so strict that hardly any connections remain, and insisting on your own opinion can easily get in the way of relationships.

This line stands for the insight that the best path is often not the most exciting one. In its exalted expression, the steady path brings the experience its final stretch needs, and opinions rest on details that have been grasped precisely. In its weakened expression, shortcuts tempt you to skip over details, so important experience is missing and the opinion can be less sound.

This line is about how you deal with people who want to join you, and about the relationship between opinions and a following. In its exalted expression, you recognize what moves such people and what they bring, and your own views build on that. In its weakened expression, people willing to follow are accepted too readily and without scrutiny; your views then come across as more appealing than well-founded.

This line rests on the knowledge that hierarchies do not disappear and that no one stands entirely alone. In its exalted expression, the connectedness of everyone finds its most creative form, and opinions can convey the value of organization, whether understood spiritually or in worldly terms. In its weakened expression, opinion declares itself the final authority against all evidence and refuses to accept the value of organization.

This line stands for a following so complete that it can no longer be told apart from leadership at its fullest. In its exalted expression, the awareness that everyone depends on one another grows into an attitude of care, and from that care come perspectives that are useful to others. In its weakened expression, what has been achieved is taken as the goal, with apparently nothing left to learn beyond it.

This Right Angle Cross is the most logical of the crosses. At its core is correction: the people who carry it suffer deeply from everything that doesn't fit, and that displeasure turns into service. Here, serving doesn't necessarily mean kindness toward people. As a Right Angle, this cross draws its satisfaction from the work itself; when others benefit from it, that is valuable, but that isn't where the satisfaction comes from.

For you, with the Sun in Gate 17, the focus is on opinions and on the attempt to bring order to humanity's thinking. This is where philosophy begins, along with the search for details and the preoccupation with time.

In the Not-Self, meaning away from Strategy and Authority, this can turn into constant criticism and constant complaint: nothing is right, nothing works, not in your own life and not in the world.

The angle is personal: encounters enrich your own path, but they don't fundamentally pull you away from it. You grow into this theme when you follow your Strategy and Authority. It isn't a prediction.

The Juxtaposition Cross of Opinions is rare and follows a fixed path of its own. Something strong and challenging joins the energy here: people on this cross hold on to their opinions and voice them constantly.

For you, with the Sun in Gate 17, your opinions often lack the detailed knowledge that would back them up. Time is often misjudged along the way: five minutes can easily turn into thirty, and that is exactly what makes time so fascinating for these people.

People with this cross are easy to discuss things with but hard to argue with, and some of their opinions are spot on. An argument with people like this ends in all or nothing, so often the only options left are to accept them or let them go.

This angle lies between the personal and the transpersonal and builds a bridge between them. It is like a train on fixed rails, and anyone who travels with you for a longer stretch can ride along on your track. You grow into this theme when you follow your Strategy and Authority. This does not predict events.

People with this cross stir things up and push buttons. No other cross creates as much tension, and that is their task. Whoever disturbs the status quo is seen as a necessary part of the whole, even if, in the Not-Self, they are often uncomfortable for others to be around.

For you, with your Sun in Gate 17, opinion sits at the heart of the stirring. In Profiles with Line 5, projection easily leaves people with a reputation for bringing anger or misfortune, because things start to move. This kind of stirring can wake up what has gone rigid. With Line 6, the cross only meddles in the lives of those who explicitly allow it.

This angle is transpersonal: your theme matures in contact with others, and they can change your path in noticeable ways. You can grow into it by following your Strategy and Authority. It is not a fixed fate.