Last time, we explored Hexagram 49, which was all about the ways in which we enact changes that benefit ourselves, our tribes, and the world at large. Now, the sun has moved on into Human Design Gateway 30, which is the one we call “Desires.”
The literal Chinese translation of Gate 30 is “The Clinging Fire.” You sometimes see, in movies for instance, where people catch fire and no matter how much they shake or roll around, the fire doesn’t let go. It’s a gruesome picture, but when we associate it with desires, it’s about looking at the things in our lives that we can’t get rid of.
What are the things that really draw your attention, hold your attention? What are the things you cannot shake off until there is a recognition, some awareness, some clarification inside yourself?
You have a great array of desirable experiences on offer to you in life. And the 30th gateway is asking you, “what is the value of this experience? Is this an experience that’s going to bring you some level of satisfaction, or is it just another bright, shiny object you’re chasing after because everybody else is doing it?” It’s about really burning through things in this lifetime, or getting burned up by things.
Let’s see how this plays out in the 30th Human Design Gateway line by line:
First Line: Clarifying
The first line always lays out the principle behind the whole hexagram, and here the line is called, “Clarifying: finding inner balance whenever feelings stir.” It’s not always as simple as it sounds, but as your feelings arise, there is a moment to relate to them clearly. Otherwise, you risk being overwhelmed by them. Feelings can rise up like a tsunami. You’re either going to be on top of the tsunami, riding the wave, or you’re going to get totally overloaded by it.
Sureness and stability allow you to ride all feelings, no matter what the situation is. You’ll have experienced times when you’re in love, or you’re in total bliss, full of the joys of life and it doesn’t matter what happens, you can ride the feelings whatever they are. You’re not overloaded by them.
The other side of it is that you recognize your feelings, but your expansive temperament has trouble letting go. Imagine that your desires are fire raging right in front of you. You can’t get them out of your mind until you come to that clarity, that state of totality, and you say, “I’m gonna do this.” And you dive through the fire. You have the experience and you come out the other side.
The other option is to tiptoe back and forth, all the while wondering “can I do this a little bit? Maybe nobody’s noticing, I’m not gonna get in trouble.” And then you find out you have to keep tiptoeing back and forth your whole life. You never actually accomplish it. You never cleanse. You just get burned up in the clinging fire.
Second Line: The Golden Mean
The second line is called, “Finding the Golden Mean: moderating between the extremes of feelings.” Emotions come in waves. They rise up to a peak, a crescendo, and then come crashing down. Completely gone. Dissipated. Clarity comes by finding the golden thread between the highs and lows of an emotional wave. So, what this second line is about is just being natural within it, recognizing that they’re just waves. They come and go.
The question is, as the wave crashes and rises and crashes again, can you find that thread of continuity through it, the strength to be true to your feelings, and find considerate, natural ways to express them?
Being natural in your expression is key here. Otherwise, you end up expressing feelings and desires regardless of the effects they have on yourself and others. There’s no clarity. You get driven by the wave itself rather than having clarity about what’s really happening in that wave.
Third Line: All Things Must Pass
Third lines are experimental. They’re always a bit touch and go. They’re always jumping into things, going beyond desires by going through them. The third line perhaps has the least trouble in in diving through the fire, diving into the experience. And the line says, “all things must pass, and you’ll come to honor the acceptance or regret when acknowledging this.”
A persistently moderate yet steady approach to confronting trials brings greater rewards. The question here is, when you get into an emotional predicament, can you find that clarity before you get overly involved, is it possible for you? And the answer is “Yes!” There can be a shift in emotional awareness. It starts with recognizing when you’re in those waves and not letting them pull you under.
You have to see the funny side of the emotions. We’re all here playing in this thing. We’re all experimenting with feelings. They do not have to control us. Meditation is also a key here. Finding that stillness, finding your breath. It guides your attention to the solar plexus and opens you up to finding that clarity.
Fourth Line: Pacing
The fourth line here is called, “Pacing: enduring potential meltdowns and moving on.” The fourth line always wants to engage. It wants to take on everybody’s stuff. It wants to bring everybody together in shared experiences. And the thing is, the 30th Human Design Gateway is impersonal, but the fourth line can get very wrapped up in everybody else’s agenda. Which easily leads to meltdowns and/or burnouts.
Finalizing certain passages of life conclusively alerts you to refresh, rebuild and realign. For people with the 30 with fourth line in their chart, it’s just part of life. Every now and there’s a meltdown. So, the key is to plan ahead. You know that the wave is going to crash from time to time, that every now and again there’s a complete meltdown, so why not plan ahead for it? Give yourself permission to regroup, pick up the pieces, and start again.
Fifth Line: Hearts Ease
The fifth line always has a leadership quality. And here we call it, “Hearts ease: acknowledging that embracing adversity enriches your life.” We’re all given challenges of all shapes and sizes. Do you always react? Do you fall back on your old tried and true methods of dealing with them? Or do you recognize that if your life is going to be enriched or advanced in some way, you need to step through this particular experience?
It’s about balancing between feelings that bring you growth and surrendering to the will of existence. We’re here as sovereign beings in this lifetime. And part of our work here has to be appreciating our feelings, the nature of feelings, what moves us, what triggers us, what upsets us, and why?
Have the openness to explore your true feelings in depth before judging or acting on them. This will help steer you away from constantly being called in to sort out other people’s issues and becoming a “rescuer” while you’re not even clear in yourself. This is invaluable.
Sixth Line: Being Purified
The sixth line has the overview of the whole hexagram. And here, the line is called “Being purified: self-acceptance and the clarity to release emotional expectations.” You’ve no doubt been in situations where the reality fell short of your expectations. You thought everything was going to go perfectly and it just didn’t turn out right. Other times maybe you’ve been pleasantly surprised by a situation for which you had very low expectations.
It all comes back to riding the wave. Life is always presenting us with potential upsets. The question is, will you let yourself be triggered by them, or can you find the emotional clarity to engage with them?
You know when there’s an emotional problem. You can feel it in your belly like a big lump of energy that you can’t move. So, how do you release them? It can be as simple as breathing into your belly to start with. And you can move on to deeper meditative appreciation. Just ask yourself, is this something that’s important for me or not? And if it isn’t important, then perhaps you’ll consider releasing it. In the end it comes down to self-acceptance and the clarity to release any emotional expectations.
When we come to this kind of clarity inside ourselves, we find that all kinds of things get cleared out of the way and we’re able to reconnect with the joy of recognizing this extraordinary thing that we’ve been given to participate in.
You are unique. You have a unique presence in this lifetime. You have a unique frequency, and coming to this state of clarity opens up your potential to fully appreciate this life without being attached to anything. Yes, you live out desires, but you live them out through being the witness of what it is you’re engaged in. You reacquaint yourself with being in love with life.
So, there we are, that’s the 30th Human Design Gateway. We’ll check in again soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about Human Design and discover how your own Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.
