A Summary of the Six Human Design Profile Lines (and the 12 Profile Types)

In Human Design, our profiles (that fraction number that you see, ⅓, ¼ etc.) tells us a lot about who we are. These numbers are all about the archetypes of our personality and what we are here to do in this life. 

The profile is taken from the line quality of your Conscious Sun & Earth Gates (right side of the Bodygraph, or Personality side, usually seen in black) and the line quality from your Unconscious Sun & Earth Gates (left side of the Bodygraph, or Design side, usually seen in red). So, if your conscious Sun is 23.1 and your unconscious Sun is 30.3, then your profile would be 1/3.  

So what does it all mean?  Let’s walk through each individual profile line and then put together the two lines that make up our unique design. 

Before we begin, it’s important to note that the first number in that profile is your Conscious Personality, this means that you have a mental awareness of this line and how that presents itself in your life. You will resonate with this line quality as it’s the information you have access to.  The second number in your profile is your Unconscious Body. This may be something that surprises you, something that you’re not quite consciously aware of but you know runs in the background.  It’s the quality of your body and what your body needs.  

Let’s look at a quick example of the 1 / 3 profile.  The 1 line is all about collecting information, this line is the investigator and needs a certain amount of information to feel safe.  This is what this person will resonate with, they will have awareness around the fact that they like to research, get all the facts, ask lots of questions, and really understand things. The 3rd line quality that runs on the body side is all about trial and error, bonds made and broken, it’s the martyr that has to try things out.  So this person is going to have an element of insecurity to them (the 1 / 3’s are known for their insecurities) because they want to have all the information but they also want to experience life on their own terms, experiment often with lots of trial and error, so they can tell others what they found.  Can you see how this may play out? 

Let’s take a look at each Profile line so you can put it together with your own profile! Ready? 

As we just saw, the first line is all about research and investigation.  If you think about a house, as is typically the example given when discussing Profile lines, the first line is going to be the foundation.  This line is all about gaining the information to make a secure and stable foundation for the rest of the house.  They need all the information to feel safe, they want the blueprint and the details, and so they will question everything to come into deeper understanding.  

There is also an element of fear and insecurity at this first line level, because if you think about it, that’s what’s needed to create a secure and stable foundation. In order to create something lasting and strong, you have to understand where the cracks may appear.  

In relationships, this line takes a while to know if it’s right for them or not, and it makes sense too because they need to really understand the other person, really research and investigate that person in order to feel safe enough to decide if this is a relationship they want or not.  

“The very nature of a Hexagram, the very construct itself, cannot survive without a solid foundation” - Ra Uru Hu

The second line is known as the Hermit. Someone with this line in their profile is a natural genius at whatever they’re into, and often, they couldn’t really tell you how they’re so good at what they do, it just comes to them. The most important thing for them is to be able to Hermit, be alone, to master their crafts without much interruption, if any at all. The second line will naturally be called out by those around them to share their talents.  So, although they may want to Hermit and do their thing, they will always be called out for the things they are naturally good at. And, if it’s correct for them, they will ‘answer the call.’

The second line cycles between shyness and boldness.  This all depends on who they are with.  It’s also important to note that the Hermit doesn’t always need to hermit by themselves, if you’re in their close  circle of friends, family, or a partner, then they can hermit along with you. But even still, trust that they will need and sincerely enjoy the space to themselves in order to really master those talents they have. 

The second line is a line of projection, and it’s because the outside world is looking in. If we go back to that house analogy, the Hermit is the one on the first floor, the windows are open and the lights are on, allowing others to peer in and see what’s going on. Everyone peering in is going ‘hey, that’s so cool how do you do that? Can you share that? Can I learn from you? And the Hermit really just wants to be alone, in their own little world mastering all their natural talents.  However, because the lights are on and the windows are open, they can’t avoid the prying eyes and call outs for long, are really are waiting for the right call to come out and share their talents. 

As with anything in Human Design, it’s so important to follow your strategy and authority in knowing what’s correct for you or not.  If you have a 2 line in your profile, knowing what is the right calling for you, knowing when it’s the right person to share your talents with, is so important in your journey.  

“Just sit by the river; sooner or later something will come by.  This is readiness for the unknowable, whatever it may be”. - Ra Uru Hu

The third line is known as the martyr. Someone with a 3 in their profile is here to experiment and experience life. It’s not good enough to just tell them information, they need to trial and error everything in order to know if it’s something that will work or not. If you know someone with a third line, or are a third line yourself, you know this is a deeply resilient profile, going through experiences that would break the average bear only to come out on the other side to say, “Oh yeah, you shouldn’t do X because…” And truly, this insight through personal embodied experience is your gift. 

The third line is about bonds made and broken.  They are constantly in this trial and error phase of things, they literally need to make and break bonds constantly.  Now, if you’re in a romantic relationship with a third line, this doesn’t mean they need to constantly break up and make up (which they very well may do depending on conditioning and awareness) but moreso they may need to take their space, their freedom, or perhaps even sleep in a different room.  Quite literally breaking and making bonds daily.  Ra talks about the importance of sleeping in separate rooms when in partnerships and as it relates to 3rd lines, he describes the reasons as the ability to make and break bonds daily which is healthy for the 3rd line.  

“When operating correctly as true self, however, there is no such thing as failure for the 3rd line - only discovery”. - Ra Uru Hu

The 4th line is known as the Opportunist and this line is all about networking! If you have a 4th line in your life, you know they have probably never met a stranger in their life.  They probably know all sorts of people and have no problem making friends! 

The 4th line is all about being a friend or a lover but most likely it won’t be both at the same time, it’s confidant or not.  The 4th line will either be your friend or your lover.  This is its struggle, the 4th line will also not leave a relationship until it has something else in its place and not just a relationship but a job or a house etc.  It has something in place, something ready to go, something in its network that allows it to ease into something new.  It’s about security for the 4th line, as the 4th line is the start of the second floor of the house (back to that house analogy).  

For a 4th line their network is extremely important, as it’s their source of security and opportunity. If following your Strategy and Authority as a 4th line you’ll find that if you ever find yourself in need of support, jobs, housing, inspiration etc. it is likely to come through your close relationships and immediate network. The 4th line is about cultivating and attracting deep and personal relationships with close contacts. 

“The 4th line is about the human resources of the material plane;  people are the biggest decisions and investments they make in their life”. - Ra Uru Hu

The 5th line is known as the Heretic, the one who delivers practical, universal truth, and it’s often viewed by others as the savior; it’s all about leadership and guiding others with practical wisdom. It’s a projected line which means people often project their problems on this line expecting them to save the day. And really, it’s something they’re here to do, but only if they accept the projection and know they can live up to it.

A 5th line has the experience of projections coming in all the time, from every direction, that they are the perfect friend, the perfect lover, the perfect boss or employee, the one with the ability to save the day, which is a beautiful thing and allows them to be taken in at first glance by almost everyone and share their message far and wide. It isn’t just about the tribe or the immediate community like we see in the 4th line, it works for the good of all.  

Most people like a 5th line when they first meet them. However, it’s important to have boundaries as a 5th line, and if you know someone with a 5th line to be aware they they won’t always be able to save the day and to not hold that against them; it’s up to them to choose what projections they want to take in and take on. If they are unable to live up to the projection, it can backfire and ruin their reputation, and usually, the pedestal they were on becomes the stake they get burned at. Because of this, 5th lines are often deeply concerned with how others perceive them, there is an element of judgement associated with the 5th line. 

It can also work the other way, the 5th line can project onto others that ‘it’s all the other’s fault,’ not taking accountability for their life and relationships, when it’s living its not-self. This often comes from the frustration, anger, disappointment and bitterness of falling from the good graces of those they’ve shown up for in service.

Anyone with a 5th line can’t help but do things without being seen, because they are here to be seen, to be projected on, to project outward, to be the savior that helps and guides others. It’s often said that a lot of famous people have 5th lines in their profile, and you can see how that could be the case. Projected on and loved for the image others make of them, but only truly known by the people allowed in their close inner circle.

“Whatever you’re going to do in this life, make sure it has a practical application.  If that’s the case, you will be a success, whatever it is.  But if it’s not, then you have the reputation problem.  It follows you wherever you go”.  - Ra Uru Hu

The 6th line is the final line in our profiles, and this is the line of The Role Model.  The 6th line is known as a mutative profile as it goes through three phases in their life. The first 30 (ish) years, from their birth to Saturn Return, which can be anywhere from 28-30, this line acts as a 3rd line.  So if you have a 6th line anywhere in your profile, for the first 30 years of your life you acted as a 3rd line.  These profiles are 6/2, 6/3, 4/6, and 3/6.  This can be especially challenging if you are a 6/3 or 3/6 profile because for your first 30 years you are walking around as a 3/3.  That’s a lot of trial and error, a lot of bonds made and broken and a lot of experiences.  

The second phase of the 6th line is 30-50, where this line goes “on the roof”.  This means that the 6 lines take all their 30 years of experience and sit back to observe, reflect and make sense of everything they have experienced and everything they see in others, everything they see happening from the roof, going back to our house analogy.  

The final phase of the 6th line is 50 years and beyond where this profile comes off the roof and can fully step into their 6th line Role Model role. They won’t always want to come back off the roof to play with life again, usually coming down from their bird’s-eye view to get involved with what’s happening below, but it’s a necessity for this profile line.  

Collectively we have been in a 1st line era, and as we move into 2027 and the Cross of the Sleeping Pheonix is upon us, this will be a 6th line era for our planet. This will truly be the time for the 6th lines of the world to shine, to offer their perspective and guide us in this new energy and way of being.

 This line is the end of the cycle and brings us back to our first lines.  It’s all connected and all has its reason and purpose. 

“Every 6th line being carries the magic of the future, it carries the magic of what’s possible for a human being, what’s possible for any human being if they’re fortunate enough in this life to come in contact with this knowledge and they get to experiment with it and see for themselves”. - Ra Uru Hu

That’s all the individual profile lines of which are combined into 12 profiles to help you understand so much about yourself.  Let's take a brief look at each profile.  

The Investigator/Martyr is the foundation of the profiles.  This profile is here to investigate and to understand things.  It tends to be insecure because it’s here to research and learn about everything it can.  It needs time to be able to explore and understand if something is right for it or not.  The third line will trial and error the things that it has learned and must feel secure in its relationships, while making and breaking bonds with its unconscious 3rd line.  

The Investigator/Opportunist is here to learn about and research everything, because the 1st line is its conscious line, these people will actively be researching and learning.  The 4th line is all about opportunities and networking so this line will always be meeting people, connected with people and finding its opportunities from being social.  

The Hermit/Opportunist has many natural talents that need to be called out by their community and because they have the unconscious 4th line they will be very social when called out and gain their opportunities from their networking.  They can be very social beings, when they are called out but the 2nd line likes to be left alone. They like to and want to hermit in order to master their natural talents and will always be called out for them.  If you imagine the house example from before, the 2nd line is hanging out in the first floor, lights on and windows open for everyone to see, but this line doesn't know others are watching, it just wants to do what it wants to do, but people come knocking when they see them doing the things they want shared with others. 

The Hermit/Heretic is similar to the 2/4  in the sense that their conscious personality wants to hermit to cultivate their many natural talents.  They will also be called out to share their talents but in a different way than the 2/4. They are seen as saviors and leaders so they will be called out to share their talents in order to help and be the savior for others.  The 5th line is unconscious so this is how others would see them, it may be something that surprises them when it happens, but they are here to guide and help others.  

The Martyr/Heretic has the 3rd line in its conscious personality so it’s very trial and error, it’s going to figure things out by doing. However, because its unconscious side is the Heretic and others see it as being a savior it may struggle through life with the trial and error side.  The 5th line may feel that it is failing when experimenting with the 3rd line, but it’s through the 3rd line that the 5th line can guide and help others in their processes because they know what works and what doesn’t from experience.  

For the first 30 years of life (birth to Saturn return) this profile acts as a 3/3 so its entire being is here to experience trial and error and failure over and over.  This can be difficult during this phase because of the way others tend to perceive the 3/3 life.  However, when this line hits 30 their body can relax and find itself on the roof to reflect.  The 6th line wants things to be perfect but the 3rd line will always be in trial and error mode so trusting those in your life is very important.  Because of your 3rd line, like the 6/3, you never really get to sit on the roof like the 4/6 or the 6/2.  You will always be pulled back into life so you won’t get too comfortable up there on the roof.  

The Opportunist/Investigator is one of the rare profiles and is a contradiction in it’s friendly and open 4th line and introverted and insecure 1st line.  The 4th line is what this profile experiences itself as and the 1st line is what others perceive this profile to be like.  This profile will research, investigate and master whatever it finds its passion to be and then it can share that through its network abilities.  This profile is here to bridge the world between the first 6 profiles and the last 5 profiles.  

The Opportunist/Role Model is a social creature with the 4th line being in its conscious personality.  This profile has the 6th line, so will also go through 3 phases in its life, acting as a 4/3 for the first 30 years, this makes this profile an Opportunity/Martyr for 30 years. Networking and using trial and error to experience and experiment with life.  The 6th line goes “on the roof” at 30, however because its conscious personality is the networker/opportunist this profile will always be social because of this.  

The Heretic/Investigator has the Heretic as the conscious personality, so this profile sees themselves as being a savior for others.  Your 5th line is always going to be projected upon to be the savior for others so your interactions with others tend to be impactful and meaningful, from small to big encounters.  The unconscious 1st line is here to research and investigate everything so it will allow the 5th line to really know how to help others, it will really know how to use what it knows in its savior role.  

The Heretic/Hermit is an interesting combination and needs to be its own motivation, because this profile is projected on, the 2nd line needs to hermit to cultivate its natural talents, but it must on its own decide to bring these forth or not.  This profile can tend to stay in its hermit mode although people are watching and wanting to call it out.  Your second line is unconscious so that part of you may feel hidden at times or surprise you when it comes out. You may not see all of your natural talents 

The Role Model/Hermit goes through 3 phases in life because of the conscious 6th line.  This profile is here to be a trusted leader. The first 30  years are here to teach you lessons, to take with you into you second phase when you can observe and with an unconscious 2nd line, when you get to the roof you feel that you can relax and enjoy the view.  The second line will always call attention because that’s what it’s here for, so you will always be called out for your natural gifts and talents.  When you hit the third phase of the 6h line, 50 years+ you will come off the roof and really step into the Role Model role.  

Like the 3/6 profile, the 6/3 profile spends its first 30 years as a 3/3.  Again, this is full of failures, trial and errors, bonds made and broken.  It’s a very chaotic and difficult phase for this profile.  This profile may feel more chaotic and unstable than the 3/6, which also goes through a double 3rd line phase because this is the final profile before we return back to the ⅓.  No matter what age this profile is, the 3rd line is going to always pull it back in to play with life, to fail and trial and error.  The Role Model wants to be a bit of a perfectionist and the 3rd line toys with that, constantly pulling to engage with life.  It is very important that this profile be raised as their own individual otherwise it may lead to traumatic experiences and as Ra says, an inferiority complex.

If you want fun tools while you study human design, The Aura Market offers unique digital (and physical) products for you to use (or give as gifts to friends, clients, and colleagues). Explore our notepad bundles, glyphs bundles, bodygraph files, and the first of its kind - Canva Templates for content creation!



Dive deep into all the human design types, authorities, centers, and profile lines below: 

• Generators: the Magnetic Creators
• Manifesting Generators: the Multi-Passionate Geniuses
• Projectors: the Guiding Forces
• Manifestors: the Bold Visionaries
  
• Reflectors: the Mystical Mirrors
• the Seven Human Design Authorities
• the Nine Human Design Centers
• the Six Human Design Profile Lines 
• Digital Products for Human Design Study and Content Creation