In my previous piece I used the system of Human Design to look at two charts: the birth chart of Donald Trump and a chart set for the time of his speech on January 6, 2021 (day of US Capitol Riot). Human Design combines Western astrology with the ancient Taoist Book of Changes (I-Ching), creating a unique, synthetic divinatory system. The I-Ching and its 64 meta-patterns of creation have fascinating linkages for the structure of the genetic code. As such, we can look at the “coding” of various events, people, and organizations.
Coding is of course central to the computing world and therefore the development of cryptocurrencies (as a form of digital currency). In this piece I want to look at the Human Design of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, which as of the time of writing is the second largest cryptocurrency behind only Bitcoin (the original cryptocurrency itself). I did a very brief introduction to Human Design chart setup in my previous piece. For those looking for further in-depth study of Human Design see here.
Standard Disclaimer: This piece is not intended as financial advice. This article is purely for the creative exercise of exploring potential points of “cosmic correlation” in the Human Design and the playing out of the history of Ethereum as a project and of its native token Ether. (Horoscopic information on Ethereum courtesy Quadrivium Astrology):
Initial observations;
Six of the nine centers are defined (i.e., colored in). Those six are: the Sacral (second from bottom), Self (diamond shaped middle), the Heart/Ego (small triangle just to the right of the Self), The Throat (3rd from top), The Ajna (2nd from top), and Crown (uppermost triangle). Self-defined centers means that energy is here consistent and flows from within.
With a Sacral Center self-defined, Ethereum has the ability to generate it’s own internal momentum over and over again. It’s a very dynamic and self-assertive energy. (Its Sun is located in the celestial house of Leo, The Lion). Ethereum has a strong self-identity (Self center defined), as well as strong will and a decent amount of Ego/image at play (Ego). In addition there’s a very strong current of communication (Throat), as well as inspirational and Mind energy (top two centers).
The three white centers (not self-defined) indicate places where Ethereum is open to influence, positively, negatively, or neutrally. Those three are the Root (bottom square), The Emotional Solar Plexus (lower right, inward facing triangle), and the Spleen-Instinctual (Lower Left, inward facing triangle).
While Ethereum has been, from its inception, very dynamic and forward looking, I do think it’s fair to say that it has, at some key points in its young life, struggled to find some ground (Root) and it’s own emotional core. Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, himself physically seems to reflect this energetic dynamic with his classic egghead, skinny body, and distinct emotional and verbal mannerisms.
Furthermore the system is split-definition: meaning the two uppermost centers (Ajna and Crown) are not directly connected to the Throat, which is the junction point to the lower half of centers. In other words, there are two “operating systems”, as it were, in Ethereum’s chart. One connecting the Mind energies (top two) and another set connecting the gut brain (Sacral) and the heart energies (Self + Ego) to the Throat. Bot those two systems are not directly connected to each other. This split (or perhaps better gap) between the two can lead to some confusion as to which operating system is making the decisions.
Ideally the upper two centers should be centers of processing, contemplating, questioning, reflecting, imagining, and opening to inspiration, while the lower system of Sacral, Self, Ego, and Throat be the executive deciding pathway.
The Ego-Heart center (small triangle to the right side of the central column) has two active channels: one connecting to the Self (diamond, middle) and one to the Throat (square, 3rd from top). Ethereum generates a good deal of Ego and strong will among it’s initial co-founders, some of whom (e.g. Charles Hoskinson) left the project.
Ethereum is, by type, a Manifesting Generator (or as Karen Curry Parker calls this type, The Time Bender). Manifesting Generators are meant to listen to life’s invitations and offerings, check those possibilities against their own internal gut sense (Sacral), respond to the affirmative ones, try out those possibilities first in an exploratory way, and then if given a further confirmation, deeply commit to those actions.
Parker's alternative term of Time Bender seems very apt in that Ethereum came into the cryptosphere and then immediately rocketed up the ranks, as if it had a short circuit or time-bending short cut.
Next I want to examine the fully activated channels (i.e. channels that are fully colored in), connecting one centre to another.
21-45: The Channel of Money
I noted this channel in Trump’s birth chart though it functions quite differently in his chart (and life) than in Ethereum. Ethereum literally created its own token, that is a form of currency, called Ether. It’s a cryptocurrency after all. Moreover, at the core of Ethereum is the desire to create a network where other cryptocurrency projects and decentralized applications (called Dapps) could be created. The Channel of Money is part of the tribal circuit of channels, looking to create a sense of community, triple, or kin-style relationships that seek to properly balance the interests of all involved in mutually flourishing ways.
24-61: The Channel of the Thinker
Vitalik Buterin originally conceived of Ethereum in his teens and wrote an influential white paper on the subject, which attracted interest from other coders as well as financial backing. The philosophical drive of Ethereum is quite strong but again is not directly connected to the executive deciding function of the gut, sometimes leading to over-speculatively thoughts published online (usually as tweets) by Buterin that have impacts on the project, not always positive.
7-31: Channel of The Alpha
This channel brings a strong leadership capacity (“alpha”) based on perceived high competency and value-added logical propositions. Ethereum was the first cryptocurrency to create the ability to perform digital decentralized smart contracts. Bitcoin did not have that capability.
25-51: Channel of Initiation
As the name initiation suggests, this channel has an almost spiritual-like quest to bring transformation. It’s an individual circuit, meaning energy here is deeply drawn to one’s internal process and from that internal processing moves outwardly seeking similar such transformations. When combined with the 7-31 Alpha Channel, we see a project that is compelled to internally innovate and then seek to share those innovations to the wider community. Ethereum’s upcoming transformation to Ethereum 2.0 would speak to this dynamic.
29-46: Channel of Discovery
Of special note with this particular channel is that it is made active by Jupiter (personality chart) in the 29th Gate (29.4 to be precise) and the Lunar North Node (46.5).
The Lunar North Node represents a point of clarity, direction, and guidance in a chart (like a north star or north on a compass). In Vedic Astrology the North Node (aka the head of the dragon) is said to be dharmic, while the south node is said to be karmic. In Hellenistic astrology, the North Node is a place of increase.
The 46th Gate is The Gate of Serendipity. Ethereum was very lucky to have been birthed in 2015. The entire cryptocurrency market which at that point was still almost completely dominated by Bitcoin was just coming out of its first bear market (2013-2015). Ethereum entered the scene just as the overall market was turning from a bear to a multi-year bull market. As a network that invited other projects to build upon it, Ethereum was at the core of the 2017 Crytpocurrency Bull Mania as numerous projects were developed that all choose Ethereum as their permanent or at least initial home (called ERC tokens).
Jupiter is the greater benefit in Hellenistic astrology—the magnifying, blessing force. The 29th Gate is the Gate of Commitment. There’s blessing and magnification due to Ethereum’s willingness to stay committed to the overall goals of its inception, even if it’s willing to change strategies towards those ends.
The Lunar South Node (180 degrees opposite the North Node) is the place of potential karma in a chart (tail of the dragon vs. the North Node head). South Node is the place of decrease, with North being the place of increase. The Lunar South Node by personality is in the 25th Gate, the Gate of Innocence. Or rather here, as a South Node, the Gate of Naivete. The Lunar South Node by Design is in the Gate of Control/Hunter. These are two very vulnerable points in the Ethereum chart—whenever naïveté (problematic innocence), particularly around attempts to enforce its will (Gate 21) or control outcomes, things do not go well.
The Incarnation Cross
Following further with the Gates (i.e. Hexagrams of The I-Ching), the first two numbers in both the personality and design charts are The Sun and Earth signs. The Earth sign is always 180 degrees opposite the Sun sign. In Human Design language this set of 4 numbers (Personalty & Design Earth and Sun Sings) creates what is known as the Incarnation Cross, aka The Life Theme.
With an end of July birthdate, Ethereum is a Leo—looking for affirmation, magnanimous, creatively self-expressed, and in a natural leadership/influencing position.
The Sun, by personality, is in the 31st Gate with its Leonine public charisma. The 31st Gate is part of the aforementioned Channel of The Alpha (7-31). It brings the charisma around the project and by extension its original remaining founder Buterin (for better and for worse sometimes it would seem). Either way, the Gate brings influence.
The personality Earth then is in Aquarius (180 degrees from Leo), which corresponds to the 41st Gate/Hexagram of The I-Ching.
Chetan Parkyn, a noted Human Design author, in his Book of Lines (I-Ching for the 21st Century) writes of this Gate: “Living within limited resources gives occasion for dreams and fantasies to arise.”
Note the precise language here: dreams and fantasies to arise. One of the struggles Ethereum has had has been the use of fees (called gas) to fund its network. When the overall price of the crypto market and Ethereum specifically are on a major upswing, the price of the fees concomittantly skyrockets.
Buterin named the project Ethereum (and its token Ether) because he wanted to be like the ether of the traditional alchemists: a background element or substrate coordinating all the other elements with unlimited energetic resources. (I’ve written on alchemy in numerous posts on this site, particularly in its relationship to trans-humanism). Yet as the 41st Gate correctly notes, limited and limiting resources are inherent in all acts of creation—even fully digital ones. But when Ethereum decides to accept certain limitations then it actually can find creative solutions (“dreams”) to the issues at hand. It will remain to be seen if the move form Proof of Work mining to Proof of Stake proposed in Ethereum 2.0 will be dream or fantasy.
The Design Earth is where a person (or in this case a project) must learn to “sharpen the knife.” The Design Earth number is where Life presents core challenges to the individual to respond creatively to life and develop a deeper sense of resiliency. Or, failing to do so, feel themselves oppressed by Life.
The Sun, by design, is in the 24th Gate, the Gate of Returning, part of the Channel of the Thinker (24-61). In the Mind/Ajna centre, the 24th Gate takes the inspiration from The Crown (Gate 61, Inner Truth) and then filters it as to whether it is valuable or invaluable guidance. The 24th Gate brings an energy that will ruminate (literally chew) on a subject, returning again and gain to the same thought/contemplation until there’s a breakthrough into creative understanding. The design Sun is where a person (or in this case an organization/project) gains resource. Or failing to do, the Design Sun is where one will find their greatest tendency towards self-deception and self-betrayal. Examples here might include Buterin’s Twitter ruminations on subjects outside his scope of expertise causing some backlash against him or Ethereum more broadly.
The Earth sign, by design, is in the 44th Gate, the Gate of Patterns. This Gate, in its highest expressions, brings the energy of teamwork and new forms of human relationship. The Design Earth reveals the hidden potential gifting of the chart. Ethereum has the potential to be a major collaborative-based leader in the crypto-space which it has so far revealed at least in part (though tempered by the dreams vs. fantasies question lingering over Design Earth/Gate 41).
Concluding Thoughts
Ethereum does indeed seem to have a serendipitous “charmed” energetic. It was well primed, from its beginnings, to take on a strong leadership energetic (Sun in Leo, The Channels of The Alpha and Initiation). It was also fortunate to go public at the point that it would be in synchrony with its industry, particularly the upstart world of cryptocurrency: e.g. The Channels of Money and Discovery.
Ethereum gains resource from immersion in the depths of coding, cryptography, and creative solutions. It has the potential to be an exemplary leader (6/2 profile). In particular it has the potential gifting/medicine of bringing in radical co-creative collaboration-based space (Design Earth in 44th Gate).
There are however multiple points of vulnerability (as previously mentioned). The 41st Gate acts as the stone that will either sharpen the knife of the project or smash it on the rocks. That rock being limited resources in a supposedly unlimited infinite resource environment. When those limitations are embraced rather than naively (South Node Gate 25) controlled (South Node Gate 21) then Ethereum can move more easily into its 44th Gate of Gifting (Design Earth): teamwork, co-creative collaboration.
A last point of potential vulnerability would be Ethereum’s Pluto both in the Personality and Design charts. In the Personality chart, Pluto is in the Gate of Opposition (Gate 38). The fracture between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, the departure of many of the founders speaks to this Gate getting activated in Ethereum’s history.
The design chart Pluto is Gate 54, The Gate of Ambition. The title of Laura Shin’s book on the early founding of Ethereum is Crytopians: Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. The lies (or rather fantasies) are the 41st Gate in its shadow form. The Greed is the Plutonic (death) energy of ambition which definitely played a significant role in the fractious history of the project. Crytopians, a play of course on Utopians, points to the potential naivete/innocence challenge of the South Node of the Moon (Gate 25, Personality Chart).
The allusion to utopians points us to the planet Uranus, the planet of revolutionary (and often utopian) fervor. As astrologer Richard Tarnas pointed out, Uranus should have been named Prometheus. Cryptocurrency generally, and Ethereum especially, are inherently Promethean projects.
In Ethereum's chart Uranus is the in 51st Gate (both personality & design). Parkyn labels the 51st Gate Arousing and writes, "Individual initiative acts in relation to disruption, rearragnement, and drastic changes." That Gate is a particularly auspicious one for the planet Uranus to be housed in given Ethereum's theme of technological disruption. The question will be whehter such disruption can ultimately be towards a more creative constructive future or will simply be part of deconstructing a decaying, rotting edifice without necessarily (co)creating something better to replace. This latter question takes on particular relevance when we consider larger "cryptocratic" trends towards co-opting of disruptive technologies, a point I've explored in great detail concerning The Great Reset, the Metaverse, gamified realities, and even the noosphere itself.
Vulnerabilities aside, when Ethereum stays true to bringing creative collaboration-based responses out of the limiting resources of humans, human decision making, energy, computing power, it brings its genius to the fore. A genius to internally innovate through a combination of deep reflection and internal transformation which then can become an example to other projects and groups to find their own unique solutions, potentially influenced by (but definitely not controlled by) Ethereum’s initial first steps.