Human Design · Root center

Gate 39: Provocation

Provoking to find out what is really there.

When it overshoots

Provocation as a habit.

At its best

Provocation that frees the feeling.

Carried and open

In a chart that carries it

Carried natally, the urge to provoke is strong; provoking with care can release a stuck feeling.

In a chart where it is open

Where the gate is open, others may provoke; noticing what gets stirred is revealing in itself.

When it is in the sky

Provocation is in the air, poking at feelings to see what is there. It can free things up or stir them up.

The six lines

1. Line 1, The InvestigatorProvocation needs understanding first, so know what is being stirred before stirring it.
2. Line 2, The HermitFeeling wakes up in this company; others become more alive simply by being needled a little.
3. Line 3, The MartyrProvoking carelessly teaches care, often by way of a reaction nobody expected.
4. Line 4, The OpportunistProvocation lands as a gift only among people who already trust the hand that is doing the poking.
5. Line 5, The HereticPeople may want you to stir things up for them; doing so only when it frees something is the wise course.
6. Line 6, The Role ModelLong afterwards, the provocations worth remembering are the ones that freed a feeling held still for years.

Channels through this gate

• Emoting · 39-55Moodiness. Provocation and abundance. Spirit that cannot be argued into place. With Gate 55, Spirit.

The same figure in the Book of Changes

Gate 39 is hexagram 39, Obstruction, read by an older tradition.