The official name for Human Design Gate 59 is The Gate of Sexuality. But I call it The Intimacy Catalyst because its primary action is being honest and vulnerable.
About Human Design Gate 59 – Gene Key 59
Archetype Name: The Intimacy Catalyst
In Action: being honest and vulnerable
Keywords: vulnerability, honesty, and intimacy
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Official Gate Name: Sexuality
Human Design Definition: The ability to break down barriers to achieve union.
Core Theme: The sexual energy to bond with a mate.
Bodygraph Center: Sacral center and connects to the Plexus center via human design gate 6.
Tropical Sign: Virgo
(Want all of the correspondences and keynotes for the gates of your incarnation cross? The Human Design Map is for you.)
The Energy Spectrum of Human Design Gate 59
All energy in the Human Design chart exists on a spectrum of potential.
On the “positive” end of the spectrum, Human Design Gate 59 is the energy for being honest and vulnerable. Gate 59 has an innate knowing that being vulnerable is the secret sauce to intimacy. It breaks down the barriers to intimacy by being vulnerable.
On the “negative” end of the spectrum, Human Design Gate 59 is the energy for avoiding vulnerability with dishonesty and lying. When it is guarded or has dishonest agendas in relationships, it can foster relationships where power struggles, codependency, or poor communication are the norm.
If you don’t like the results that the “negative” side of the spectrum is creating in your life, you can raise the frequency of Gate 59 with a number of boundaries, practices, and tools.
I cover the boundaries and practices for all four gate in your incarnation cross in the Human Design Map.
But, the most important thing to raise the frequency of gate 59 is to learn healthy communication skills, vulnerability, and boundaries.
My personal contemplation of Human Design Gate 59 (Gene Key 59)
Gate 59 (line 5) is defined in my unconscious mars placement. According to the Gene Keys, our unconscious mars is the core wound we carry in our relationships and becomes our vocation as we heal those wounds.
(If you are one of my Human Design Map clients and are a business owner, go to the Human Design and Business quick and dirty guide inside the map portal for more information about how vocation relates to marketing! There is a login link at the bottom of this email. )
Understanding the symbolism of the 59 as my core wound was nothing short of a holy revelation.
I have often been called an “oversharer” because I’ve never really been afraid to share intimate details about my life.
I do have lines I don’t cross, of course, but I do tend to be more open, honest, and willing to risk emotional rejection than a lot of people. I’ll answer almost any question people ask and see great value in sharing my authentic experience.
But, holy shit, being an “over-sharer” has created so much freaking pain in my life.
It took me a long time to understand that being “too” vulnerable was such a great source of suffering.
We are so often told that we “should be more vulnerable” and I took that to the max.
But, as Brene so wisely says, we need to be discerning about our vulnerability and that we should only share with those that have earned the right to hear our story.
Perhaps it was my Projector energy that so desperately wanted to be recognized or my undefined will trying to prove something, but I often found myself sharing intimate details and having them fall on deaf ears.
Once, I shared a painful experience in my life with someone that I genuinely thought was my friend and they very plainly responded with:
“We aren’t that kind of friends.”
I can look back on that and respect her boundaries.
But at the time, it was heart-wrenching.
Sadly, it didn’t stop me. In fact, I doubled down on vulnerability and found myself in multiple situations where my vulnerability was used as a weapon against me.
With the help of Gene Keys and Brene Brown’s words, I started to wise up, though.
I started to pay more attention to who had “earned the right” to my vulnerability. Probably more importantly, I started to pay close attention to who was critical of my vulnerable nature.
Are they daring greatly, as Theodore Roosevelt said?
Are they in the arena?
Are they doing something with their lives that I admire?
Or are they just being an armchair critic?
Are they using my vulnerability for their own gain or were they willing to traverse it with me to create more connection and intimacy?
The answers to those questions really matter and help guide me as I encounter “feedback” about my level of vulnerability.
I’d love to say that it never hurts when my vulnerability isn’t received well. Because it still does sometimes. I am a human being with normal human feelings, afterall.
But, I am more discerning. And in the times I get it wrong, I’m learning to let go of attachment to how my sharing is received. True to the 5th line, I am trusting that what other people think about me is on them, and that when I share with the people who do truly love me, it sets the stage for others to do the same.
And that risk is worth it to me. Because I do want to live in a world where we can deeply understand one another and that can only happen through vulnerability, honesty, and willingness to risk other people’s opinions.
Now it’s your turn to contemplate Gate 59
When you stand in the truth that the gifts of gate 59 are always available to you, (whether it’s defined in your chart or not)…
Are you willing to be vulnerable enough to create intimacy?
Do you to tend to hold back or are you more of an oversharer? Why is that?
Where do you crave more intimacy in your life and how might you “go first” in being vulnerable enough to create it?
Who has earned the right to your vulnerability and who hasn’t?
I encourage you to take some time with these questions. Take them out into your world and let their answers reveal themselves to you. Intend for deeper levels of clarity about gate 59.
And, if you have gate 59 in your Human Design Incarnation Cross, be sure to check out the Human Design Map where I go super deep into each gate of your cross.