Beginner’s Guide to Human Design Charts: How to Read and Understand Your BodyGraph

If you’re anything like me, from the moment you heard of Human Design, you were instantly connected. You knew that you had found the information you had desperately been searching for. 

For many humans who are embarking on this journey, you have found yourself staring at a tangle of shapes, lines, numbers, and symbols, wondering, “What does any of this mean?!” 

I’ve been there – feeling excited, and curious, but deeply frustrated and very close to giving up. 

The beautiful challenge of Human Design is the depth of wisdom contained in our charts. The layers and layers of guidance and information of our energies, but this information is only beneficial if we can understand it. 

After decades spent reading, learning, experimenting, and teaching, I’m here to walk with you along this learning path and guide you to living in alignment with your unique Human Design. 

My hope is that this step-by-step guide will bring you some clarity and ease you into the beauty of Human Design. 

These are the Human Design resources you need to know about:

• What is Human Design? 
• How to Get Your Human Design Chart 
• Your Human Design Chart or Bodygraph Explained 
• 5 Human Design Types Strategy
• Signature & Not Self Theme Authority 
• Profiles in Human Design 
• Energy Centers 
• Definition 
• Gates in Human Design 
• Planets 
• Channels & Circuitry 
• Incarnation Crosses 
• A Simple Process for Reading Your Own Human Design Chart 
• Your Next Steps with Your Human Design Bodygraph

What is Human Design?

Have you ever wondered what makes you unique from the other people around you? Human Design, is a synthesis of ancient wisdom and modern science. This delicious system can help you understand the magic and the intense power of who you were designed to be. 

Human Design is often referred to as the “new Astrology” and the “intersection of science and spirituality.” Your Human Design chart is created using your birth date, time, and location. This chart provides specific insights into your life path, work style, relationship blueprint, how you experience energy in the world, and, most importantly, how to create a truly meaningful and authentic life.

The most common question people ask about the chart is, “I don’t know my birth time, what can I do?” 

If you don’t know the time you were born:

Check Your Birth Certificate: Most birth certificates in the USA have time of birth although you may need to get that from the Vital Statistics Office in the County where you were born. 

Question Family and Friends of the Family: If you can’t access your birth certificate, ask your parents or other family members who might remember the general time. Even if someone can help narrow down if you were born in the morning, afternoon, or evening can be very helpful. 

Quantum Human Design Specialist: Reach out to one of our Quantum Human Design Specialists and they can help. Find a Quantum Human Design Specialist here

Don’t give up on your Human Design study! Your chart will be more accurate with your birth time, but you can still learn about your unique design without it. 

Don’t have your chart? That’s ok!

You can get your Free Human Design Chart, also called a BodyGraph HERE.

At the bottom or the side (depends which software you use) of your Human Design chart, you will see a section called Keynotes, which is a short summary of the most important parts of your chart. 

The keynotes tell you:

– your type and your unique decision-making strategy,

– your authority – whether you are spontaneous or whether you need time to make good choices—and

– your emotional theme – which emotion you may find most challenging in your life. (Rest assured, if you live true to who you really are, you dramatically improve your experience of your emotional theme.)

Your Human Design Chart Explained

In the beginning, it is easiest to think of your Human Design chart as two main parts although we do always want to consider the whole. 

On the right side, there is a list of items contained in your chart. We’ll talk about the details later. 

On the left side, you will see your BodyGraph. It looks a little like a human, and you can think of this as the representation of how you give and receive energy. The BodyGraph details your strengths, areas for growth, and the role you play in the universe. 

You’ll also see two boxes flanking the BodyGraph on each side:

The lighter boxes tell you about the position the planets were in about 90 days before you were born. These planetary positions are elements of your design and give an overview of your subconscious personality and tendencies. 

The darker boxes also contain the planetary positions at the time of your birth and provide details on your conscious mind. These details are a part of your conscious self. Elements of your personality that you are aware of. 

The conscious and unconscious elements are beautifully designed to make you… you. 

Okay, take a deep breath. Hold it at the top and let it go. Let’s keep going. 

There Are 5 Human Design Types

The five types are written in the language of Quantum Human Design™ and traditional Human Design are the Initiator/Manifestor, the Time Bender/Manifesting Generator, the Alchemist/Generator, the Orchestrator/Projector, and the Calibrator/Reflector. 

You can find your Type at the bottom or the side (depending on which software you use) of your Human Design chart in the Keynotes.

Each of the five personality types in Human Design has a unique strategy for making decisions and being in the world. Knowing your type can help you develop confidence and trust in your capacity to make reliable decisions for yourself.

Manifestor

Manifestors are here to get things started. They have unique bursts of intense energy that are followed by equally intense periods of rest. Manifestor’s intensity is felt by everyone around them and inspires change in the lives of those they come in contact with. 

Generator

At 35% of the population, Generators are here to get stuff done. Generators are here to respond to the needs of the world and their seemingly endless energy is perfect for making real change. 

Manifesting Generator 

If Generators are here to get stuff done, Manifesting Generators are here to get a little bit of everything done. Generators tend to be focused in one area while Manifesting Generators are good at a little bit of everything. They are trailblazers and inspirational to those around them. 

Projector

At 20% of the population, Projectors are here to guide the world. Projectors have a unique and intense gift of being able to truly see those around them and offer meaningful advice. 

Reflector 

Representing less than 1 percent of the population, the Reflector is the rarest of the Human Design types. The Reflector is a truly unique, unusually sensitive person who must be in the right place with the right people to experience true happiness. 

First and foremost, always refer back to your type. Your type is the core of your design and everything stems from there. 

The next piece is your type’s Strategy.

Strategy in Human Design

In Human Design, each Type has a Strategy. Your Strategy describes how the best opportunities in life will come to you, and what you need to do to make sure you don’t miss out. 

The strategies – inform then initiate, wait to respond, respond-envision-inform-then act, wait for recognition and invitation, and wait a full lunar cycle – correlate directly to your Human Design type: Manifestors, Generators, Manifesting Generators, Projectors, and Reflectors.

Each strategy is intricately tailored to the unique energy dynamics of each Human Design type, ensuring that choices align harmoniously with individuals’ natural inclinations and energetic capacities.

The Manifestor’s Strategy: Inform

The Manifestor’s strategy is to inform others of their actions. A powerful Manifestor can soften the impact of their energy, and harness it to serve themselves and others by taking note of all the people who will be impacted by their actions and then tell them what to expect.

The Generator’s Strategy: Wait to Respond 

The Generator’s primary motor is the Sacral Center, which does not have initiating energy, the Generator’s strategy is to wait to respond. The Generator will feel pressured to initiate and follow through, but in reality, their strength is on the follow-through only, not the initiation.

The key to keeping a Generator’s energy sustainable and breaking out of the conditioning field is to respond. The positive response of the Sacral turns it on and gives the Generator the fullest possible access to the Sacral energy.

Generators are the only type who can find clarity simply by responding to yes or no questions. If you are a Generator, ask someone you trust to sit down with you and ask you a series of yes or no questions about a situation you may be wrestling with. This will help you access your deep self-awareness in an easy and joyful way!

The Manifesting Generator’s Strategy: Respond-Envision-Inform-Then Act

Manifesting Generators should try on ideas in their imagination first and visualize the outcome. Then, they must wait before taking action. Manifesting Generators must also inform like Manifestors in order to stabilize the energy around them. They can go so fast that informing feels as if it is slowing them down, but informing will decrease the resistance that they feel from others.

The Projector’s Strategy: Wait to Be Invited

Projectors can have the hardest time in life when they don’t understand their type and their strategy. The Projector’s strategy is to wait to be invited. The waiting for the Projector is about big invitations, such as love, career, and living conditions.

The Reflector’s Strategy: Wait a Full Lunar Cycle 

Reflectors are lunar beings. The moon makes a complete cycle through each of the sixty-four gates every twenty-eight days. As the moon moves through the chart of a reflector, it brings with it consistent changes in definition. Because of these consistent changes, a Reflector can anticipate energetic and decisive days based on their lunar cycle. The Reflector’s strategy is to wait twenty-eight days (the cycle of the moon) to make a decision

Following your Strategy is incredibly simple and incredibly difficult to implement. Hold some safe space for the areas of yourself that feel uncomfortable with this information and I’ll check back in late in this article. 

Authority in Human Design

Now you know your Type and Strategy. Strategy guides you to the best opportunities for you. The challenge here is that not every opportunity that comes to you is a yes. 

One of the most critical pieces in the Human Design puzzle is your authority. So what is authority in Human Design? On the most basic level, Authority is how we make the best decisions for us.

For our entire lives, we are told to trust our gut when making decisions. We are told to simplify a major life decision by making a Pro/Con list.

But what if you are not meant to make decisions from your gut or your mind?

Each person has a unique authority that guides them on how to make decisions. Trusting your true self to access your inner authority ensures that you make the best decisions for you. 

Emotional Authority

When you have a defined Emotional Solar Plexus, it will dramatically influence your strategy. The defined Emotional Solar Plexus is a motor with energy that pulses in waves. If you have Emotional Authority, you probably know that you have moods or changes in your emotional energy pretty regularly. It’s pretty common for emotionally defined people to be terrified of making decisions.

They often have a history of enthusiastically leaping into decisions and then waking up a few days later only to find that their mood has shifted and now they are obligated to finish a project or a relationship that they just aren’t in the mood for any more. Understanding emotional authority will help you make better choices and significantly improve your chances that your mood won’t affect your commitments.

If you have a defined Emotional Solar Plexus, you are not here to be spontaneous. Be careful of others who will often put pressure on you to leap into things. Leaping into things without waiting for clarity will only create chaos in your life if you have emotional authority.

When you have emotional authority in your chart, you still use your strategy, but you need to wait until it feels right.

Sacral Authority

Sacral Authority means that you have a defined Sacral Center and that there are no additional energies influencing your Sacral. Your Sacral is the only decision-making center in your chart, and your Sacral response in the moment is the correct authority for you at any given point in time. 

Spleenic Authority

The spleen is the center for survival, time, health, and intuition. Because it is the energy for basic survival, it is very time-centered and always operates with an intuitive pulse in the moment. You trust your gut and act on it. This is pretty easy for Manifestors and Projectors, but sometimes it can be confusing for Generators, who may wonder if their spleen overrides their Sacral response. For Generators with splenic authority, their Sacral response in the moment is correct. Your spleen and your Sacral work together. 

Ego Authority

Only Manifestors have ego authority. Ego authority is when your Will Center is connected via a colored channel to your Throat Center. With ego authority, you don’t have to wait for anything before you take action.

The one caveat with this is making sure that you are well-rested and ready to take on the world. A defined ego is designed to have cycles of work and rest. It’s easy with the willpower of the ego to push through to burnout and damage your health. If you have ego authority, check in with yourself to see if you need some downtime before you leap into the next commitment.

Self-Projected Authority

Only Projectors can have self-projected authority. Self-projected authority comes from a channel connecting the Identity Center to the Throat Center with no other overriding energies defined in the chart, such as the Solar Plexus or the Spleen.

Self-projected authority means that you have to “see” your decisions reflected or projected through others to get clarity. In order to really know what is correct for you, you need to have a circle of close friends who you can talk to about your choices. You need to hear yourself talking to others and see their response to know whether something is correct for you or not.

Mental Authority

Mental Projected Authority is also only experienced by Projectors with a defined Ajna to the Throat Center and no other overriding energies. Mental projected authority, just like self-projected authority, means that you have to talk to other people to get clarity about which invitations are right for you. 

Lunar Authority

Reflectors are the only type that has Lunar authority because they don’t have any definition in their charts. It is vital for a Reflector to allow a full lunar cycle to pass (28 days) before they make any decisions. 

During the Lunar Cycle, the change in energy will allow the Reflector to sample energy from other authorities, and only then can they come to the right decision for them. It would be very helpful for Reflectors to track the transits when they are making a life-changing decision.

Your Strategy and Authority go hand-in-hand in Human Design. 

Human Design is complex, but if you only ever follow your type’s Strategy and Authority you will be living in harmony with your design.

Strategy is the approach that each Human Design type should adopt in life. Embracing your type’s unique Strategy is how to interact with the world around you. 

Authority is the internal guidance system within you, facilitating decisions aligned with your individual design. Uniquely determined by your Human Design chart, your Authority acts as an internal compass, directing you toward your best life. 

Strategy and Authority work together in the Human Design system. Strategy brings you to the table, while Authority allows you to choose the best dish that life has to serve.

Quick check-in. You know your Type, your Strategy, and your Authority. If you stop here and only follow these three principles your life will begin to blossom. You will notice amazing opportunities, and you will make aligned decisions about those opportunities.  

What will likely happen next, is that you will embrace this way of living and find yourself living better than you ever imagined. After some time passes, you may notice patterns of positive or negative feelings. These patterns are called the Signatures and Not-Self Theme. 

Each Human Design Type has a Signature and Not-Self Theme that serve as reminders, or signals, that ensure you are living in alignment with your design. 

Signature in Human Design

In the realm of Human Design, a signature is often likened to the dynamic sensation experienced by each type when they are in perfect alignment with their true nature. Similar to “being in the flow.” Signatures go beyond personal fulfillment; it also represents the unique contribution that type extends to those around them.  Signatures are also known as Higher emotional Themes.

These distinctive signatures serve as personalized blueprints, uncovering an individual’s inherent traits, strengths, and divine purpose. Delving into Human Design signatures provides a fascinating lens through which to explore the intricacies of one’s design. When one grasps the essence of their signature, a newfound vista opens – a lens through which the needs of others become visible. By shedding light on these domains, clarity emerges, rendering us valuable guides in each other’s journeys.

Signature by Type:

Manifestor – Peace

Generator – Satisfaction

Manifesting Generator – Freedom 

Projector – Success

Reflector – Harmony 

Not-Self Theme in Human Design

When we look at our BodyGraph there are areas of openness (white) and definition (colored in). Our defined areas are our life force. We carry the energy of our definition everywhere we go. On the other hand, our open centers take in energy from our environment. These centers can be a source of great power, but also a place of vulnerability.  When we take in energy that tells us we are wrong, we become vulnerable to living as our not-self theme.  Following our strategy and authority is the way to combat this not-self also known as your Emotional Theme. 

When we are operating in the not-self, it’s common to try to meet the expectations of others in order to be recognized. This is not a flaw in our personalities but part of our hardwiring as a human being. We want to feel accepted by those around us because at a primal level, this means we are safe. We find ourselves in a precarious situation when we are recognized for our not-self because it is not real recognition. 

Not-Self Theme by Type:

Manifestor – Anger

Generator – Frustration

Manifesting Generator – Frustration and Anger

Projector – Bitterness

Reflector – Disappointment

The not-self themes in Human Design are helpful concepts that can be incredibly beneficial to our lives. This is particularly true once we put any judgment aside. And allow ourselves to be receptive to the magnificent (and complex) wisdom we can discover within them. 

We can use our signatures and not-self themes as hints to go within and figure out what’s going on. They are a navigational tool. They do not serve as evidence or proof of anything. 

We can even discover ourselves by embracing our “negative” feelings, and be fully committed to experiencing the discomfort involved in conquering our challenges. Frustration, anger, bitterness, or disappointment are clues that we are experiencing our lives rather than passively living. Your not-self theme might be an alert that you are wasting your energy being tied up in your social conditioning, and you need to take a moment to reflect and reevaluate. 

Your not-self theme showcases where to start looking within and indicates when it is time to make a different, greater, or more courageous decision. 

Profiles in Human Design

Everyone comes into the world with a specific Profile and purpose. The twelve Profiles describe the major life themes that you will encounter, and they illustrate another way in which your personality interacts with the world. Knowing your Human Design Profile can help you recognize some of these major life themes as you move toward fulfilling your life purpose. 

Each number found in a Profile has a specific meaning. The first number in your Profile is the element of your personality of which you are consciously aware.  The second number in the Profile may be unconscious and more hidden from you. 

Line 1: The Investigator  

The Investigator needs information and feels safe when they have sufficient data.  (The internet was created for Line 1 Profiles.) 

Line 2: The Hermit  

Line 2 Profiles need alone time to integrate experiences and to reset their energy.  The Hermit needs space to feel good and grounded. There is a certain magic to having a Line 2 in your Profile. Once you have taken time away, it’s almost as if other people energetically perceive that you are ready to be invited out to do things and be a part of the community again. Your friends and family seem to always find you when you hide and will call you back out into life.

Line 3: The Martyr  

The Martyr must experiment with their ideas and be allowed to make mistakes without judgment. There’s no getting it wrong for the Line 3 Profiles,  only figuring out what works based on their understanding of what doesn’t work. 

Line 4: The Opportunist  

The Opportunist builds a foundation of friendships and needs to network as well as share. Line 4 Profiles need people to accept them for who they are; they need to know what’s next and be prepared to feel safe. (Line 4 Profiles don’t handle being  in limbo well.) 

Line 5: The Heretic

The Heretic is here to teach whatever they’ve experienced in life. They are considered karmic mirrors and are often subject to the projections of others. It’s through relationships with Line 5 Profiles that others discover what they need to heal the most within themselves. Line 5 Profiles need to trust that you will see the truth about them to feel safe, and they sometimes hide their truth very deeply when you first get to know them. 

Line 6: The Role Model  

The Role Model literally models for others what they are here to share and give the world. Line 6 Profiles need to “walk their talk.” They travel through three distinct life phases:

The first phase (birth until age thirty) is a youthful phase of experimentation and experiential learning.

The second phase (ages thirty to fifty)  is a long cycle of healing, growth, and studying.

The final phase (over fifty) is a cycle of living what they’ve learned. Line 6 Profiles need to feel that what they are participating in is worth their effort in order to find meaning and energy in life.

The 12 Human Design Profiles

The 1/3 Profile: Investigator/Martyr

Both the 1 and the 3 lines are in the lower trigram, so there will be an intense focus on your internal processes throughout life. You are naturally very skeptical and you can always detect a lie. The 1/3 Profile needs to investigate and study. Don’t be too cautious though – allow yourself to experiment.  The Investigator energy of the 1 takes control, and you are scared to experiment because you feel like you aren’t ready. Let your experiences be your teacher so you can find out what truth really means for you.

The 1/4 Profile: Investigator/Opportunist

The 1/4 Profile is very rare. The 1 brings a depth of knowledge and a longing to deeply investigate the things you are passionate about. Alone time is important for making sense of your knowledge. Being in a community with people who respect your knowledge, will naturally create an environment in which you share your discoveries. You will become an authority on what you have mastered when you find the correct people to surround you in your network.

The 2/4 Profile: Hermit/Opportunist

There is tension between the 2 and the 4 – you’re never quite sure if you want to be alone or if you want to be out among your community. It’s important for you, as a 2/4 Profile to create a peaceful environment for rest. This space must be where you can go deep into your internal processes to get the rest you need. 

It is equally important for you to develop a safe and welcoming community of people who will see your natural gifts. Your gifts and talents are so inherent you are unable to see them yourself. This is why you’ll need people you trust to draw them out of you.

The 2/5 Profile: Hermit/Heretic

The 2/5 Profile leads people to project onto you and expect your particular natural talents to come to their rescue. It’s important for you to decide what you really want to spend your time and energy on, and then decide what to say yes to and what to say no to. Use your strategy and your alone time to tune inward and get to know what’s aligned with your authentic self’s desire. 

The 3/5 Profile: Martyr/Heretic

As a 3/5 Profile, you are a catalyst for change and, for better or worse,  people like to live vicariously through you. It can be difficult for you when you’ve experimented and “failed” after everyone has been projecting their plans onto you and holding you to their expectations. Embrace life’s ups and downs, and the inherent messiness of life regardless of what people think. You will draw the correct people to you in the end. When you get into this energetic flow, you’ll have some of the most magnetic energy of all the Profiles.

The 3/6 Profile: Martyr/Role Model

For the 3/6 Profile, the first part of your life is all about experimenting. When you reach the end of your Saturn return you will begin to operate as a 3/3. After the age of 30, you may find more contrasting thoughts within yourself.  Do you want to continue to experiment? Do you want to turn inward and settle down to hone in on your passions? You may be unsure.

It is okay to ask for space when you need it to let your inner voice speak to you. Learn to love and appreciate the chaos of life – it’s your greatest teacher. Learn to forgive yourself for mistakes and recognize the wisdom that comes from them. When you do, others won’t be able to ignore your wisdom in the later years of your life.

The 4/6 Profile: Opportunist/ Role Model

Your whole life is about your external world, but you still have a personal karma so it’s okay for you to be absorbed in your process. For your first 30 years as a 4/6 Profile, there will be a lot of experimenting; particularly with interpersonal relationships.  You experience a push and pull between wanting to be among your community and wanting to be alone.

This internal conflict can be very challenging for you. You have a fear of rejection and it’s important not to seek external validation you crave. Settle into who you are with the people you love and respect.

The 4/1 Profile: Opportunist/Investigator

You are true to your innermost self. You have a strong moral compass which allows you to stick to your truth, and share the findings of your investigations about life with your close community. You may be known for externalizing everything you take in, but don’t let anyone stand in your way.

Remember as a 4/1 Profile you can always take your time when you are changing things up there is no rush.  When it feels like you’ve lost touch with your passion, or identity, always go back to the important energy of your sun gate.

The 5/1 Profile: Heretic/Investigator

You want to be a hero. You want to go to the depths of your knowledge base and offer it up to everyone. You love the process of learning, change, new projects, and challenges.  5/1 Profiles aren’t afraid to go against the grain if they need to. You have a magnetic quality that draws people in who want to know what you have to offer. 

There is a chance that others will project onto you, which can feel like a lot of pressure, especially if people have expressed disappointment with you in the past. Following your strategy and learning to say no will help you avoid bitterness. Keep asking questions, becoming an authority on what lights you up, and owning who you are.

The 5/2 Profile: Heretic/Hermit

By design, as a 5/2 Profile, you are internally motivated and you are here to share what you know with the world. You must discover your own genius and the inherent gifts you want to release into the world. Others might not see your inner hero right away because you often hide your gifts and knowledge. If the world hasn’t “discovered” you yet, work on honing your own abilities through experimentation and interactions with others.

If you wait for others to recognize you you may become bitter, angry, frustrated, or disappointed. Ask yourself: where are you separating yourself from others? Are your expectations of others too high of a standard? What is it that you are good at? How can you recognize yourself more? It’s okay to put yourself out there.

The 6/2 Profile: Role Model/Hermit

Prior to your Saturn return, the 6 line operates as a 3, so everything will be about experimenting and letting life be your teacher. Trial and error is your process, even if your 2 line sometimes wants to retreat following a failure.

After 30 years old, there can be a time of deep retreat and aloofness. This time is for deep healing from the pain of your experimental years and a time for going inward to deepen your skills and self-understanding. When the time is right, others will recognize you for your wisdom and come to draw you out of the depths of your process. As a 6/2 Profile, don’t resist this, you were born to be a wise role model in this lifetime.

The 6/3 Profile: Role Model/Martyr

Like the 3/6, for the first 30 years of your life, you’ll operate as a 3/3. These years are full of experimentation with the world around you and your internal self.  The experimentation might slow down after your Saturn return, but never really ends. You may feel restless like you are forever searching for the missing piece.

It’s important to forgive yourself, and life, for not being perfect and to stay hopeful. Your 6/3 Profile means that responsibility and deep wisdom come naturally to you. Learn to balance the structure of what you’ve learned with the natural ebbs and flows of being human.

How Your Human Design Profile Influences Your Life

Your unique Human Design Profile influences how your energy moves and how others see you. The conscious and unconscious parts of your Profile work together to create a unique combination of energies that dictate how you approach your life’s journey. Sometimes just understanding your Profile numbers can be enough to help you understand some of your core inner dilemmas, as well as reveal your ideal way to approach change, relationships, learning, and your energy and influence.

Centers in Human Design

Centers may be one of the most fascinating pieces of your Human Design. In Human Design there are nine energy centers that may be defined or open. The way that your centers are defined, or open, are the building blocks of your type and authority. The configuration of the Centers in the chart tells you about how your energy works in the world, what you’re here to learn from others, and what you’re here to give to the world

Your Defined Human Design Centers

Defined centers have fixed and consistent energy. This energy will always be there for you and radiates out to impact others. Defined centers have their own issues, but in general, they are much easier to deal with than the sometimes traumatic experiences of open centers. To live out the beauty and the deep impact of your defined centers, you have to live your Human Design strategy. It will empower you to always know what to do.

Your Undefined Or Open Human Design Centers

Open centers are white, undefined, and mutable. The energy here is inconsistent and depends on your environment and mood. Understanding your open centers will empower you to work with your energy instead of being victimized by the energy you take in. 

The Head Center

The Head Center is associated with the pineal gland in the brain. It is the center for inspiration, and it is always under pressure to answer questions. It is not motorized, but it is a pressure center.

The Open Head Center

Someone with an open Head Center does not have a consistent way to receive inspiration, so when they come across inspiration they will take it in and amplify it.

It is very easy when you have an open Head Center to feel inspired all the time. Not only do you feel inspired, but you also feel pressure to act on this inspiration. This can make it look as if you don’t know what you’re doing or you are leaping all over the place trying all kinds of different things. People may even say that you just need to be decisive, pick one thing, and stick to it.

Those who understand their open Head Center can have a very deep understanding of who and what is truly inspiring. They can be wise about which inspirations to take action on and which to simply observe.

Not only will someone with an open Head Center have the ability to take in the inspiration of the world and amplify it, but they will also take in all the questions of the world and amplify those, too. This can sometimes make it difficult to make decisions.

For example, let’s say you are going out to eat. Earlier, you had a strong craving for a grilled cheese sandwich. But now that you are at the restaurant, your head is flooded with all kinds of inspiration, especially from the people sitting next to you, and instead of ordering a grilled cheese sandwich, you order a shrimp cocktail. The shrimp arrives, and you spend the rest of the meal wondering why you ordered that. You may be flooded with inspirational energy, but the only thing you really need to do to make good decisions is to follow your strategy for your type.

The Defined Head Center

A defined Head Center is colored in yellow (or burgundy) on your Human Design Chart. The energy in the defined Head Center is always “on,” people with defined Head Centers are inspirational forces on the planet. They are always radiating inspiration out into the world. They may not always be aware of it, because it is energetic, but it’s happening.

Defined Head Centers have a consistent source of inspiration. They are always asking questions and may feel that something is wrong if they don’t have an answer. Inspiration is a reflective process. If you have a defined Head Center, it is important to process the questions you are receiving, but don’t rely on the answers to make decisions about your life.

Often, people with defined Head Centers don’t realize that they are questioning things. You may even find that they seem to have permanent quizzical looks on their faces. It is simply a part of their consistent energy.

The Ajna Center

Based in the anterior and posterior pituitary in the brain, the Ajna is an awareness center. Its function is to research and to conceptualize.

The Open Ajna Center

Someone with an open Ajna Center can see many sides to an issue. They are fair, judicious, empathetic, and open-minded. An open Ajna can be very intellectual. An open Ajna doesn’t have a fixed way of thinking, so they are able to process and understand information in a myriad of ways. People with an open Ajna who are able to relax can become great mind readers.

Because the open Ajna is designed to take in information and ideas and see all the different layers and levels of understanding, it can be a challenge for an open Ajna to “lock on to” a fixed idea or belief. 

With great effort people with open Ajnas can hold a fixed idea, but it doesn’t come easily or naturally. If you have an open Ajna, you may have been told that you need to just make up your mind about something and stick to it.

Remember that you are here to be wise about ideas and beliefs, but not necessarily adopt them. The beliefs that you hold on to will be the ones you came to through using your Human Design strategy and authority.

The Defined Ajna Center

The defined Ajna Center is colored in green (or yellow) on your Human Design Chart. The defined Ajna is designed to hold information. It is trustworthy and reliable, but it is fixed in how it works. It is important to note again that the mind is a great resource, but it is a terrible place to make decisions. Remember that no decisions should come from the mind. 

The Throat Center

The Throat Center represents the thyroid and the parathyroid. On the body graph, the Throat Center is the square underneath the Ajna and the Head Centers. The Throat Center is the center for communication, as well as manifestation into action.

The Open Throat Center

How your Throat is defined will control how you speak. People with undefined, or open, Throats always feel under pressure to speak. When they are in a group or in school this can be very difficult. The open Throat often blurts out comments or answers—sometimes uncontrollably, unaware of where the comment came from (this is even worse if your mind is also undefined).

There is, however, deep wisdom in the open Throat. Many great singers (like Celine Dion) and well-known speakers (like Bill Clinton) have open Throat Centers. Someone with an open Throat can speak in various ways depending on who they are with. The open Throat can be very good at speaking foreign languages and impersonating others’ speech.

In order for the open Throat and the thyroid to remain healthy, it is important to speak according to your strategy. Open Throats can experiment with not talking. Try going to a party or gathering and don’t say a thing unless you’re given something to respond to or you are invited into a conversation. If you are silent, your aura does the talking! Just wait and see. People won’t be able to stop themselves from talking to you!

The Defined Throat Center

The defined Throat is colored in brown (or gold) on your Human Design Chart. The defined Throat Center is designed to speak, but how it speaks is controlled by what it is connected to. Understanding where the Throat is connected is vital to understanding how you relate to others.

For example, if your Throat is connected to your Ajna, you can speak your mind. If your Throat is connected to your Emotional Solar Plexus, you are able to talk about your feelings effectively.

For the defined Throat to be heard, it is vital that they enter into communication according to their strategy: Manifestors and Manifesting Generators can just talk, Generators need to respond, and Projectors need to wait to be invited to speak. Reflectors will never have a defined Throat Center.

Effective communication is vital for personal and global well-being. Experiment with living your strategy and see how it improves the quality of your relationships.

The Identity Or G Center

The Identity Center is one of the most important centers in the Human Design system. It is the center for love and direction, the place where the soul is seated. The liver is represented by this center. The Identity Center, sometimes called the “G-Center” or the “Magnetic Monopole,” is the diamond in the middle of your Human Design chart.

The Open Identity Center

Individuals with an open Identity Center understand other people’s sense of self and direction. They will take in another person’s identity and amplify it, giving them insight into another person’s perspective. Many therapists, teachers, and intuitives have open Identity Centers.

Because this is the center for direction, being in the right place at the right time is the most important thing for individuals with an open Identity Center. Those with an open Identity Center report they experience a “click” on a cellular level when they are in the right place. It is almost as if they feel a deep sigh of relief when they are in the right town, the right restaurant, the right office. Being in the right place allows these individuals to receive the right opportunities.

Conversely, if a person with an open Identity Center is in the wrong place, they will also feel it on a deep, deep level. When they are in the wrong place, they may get all the wrong opportunities—or none at all.

The Defined Identity Center

When you have a defined Identity Center, you are here to give love. Your sense of self is probably pretty solid. While you know who you are and where you are going, you might not always know how you are going to get there.

Individuals who have a full channel connecting their Identity Center to the Throat Center can be very vulnerable to criticism, as their creative expression comes straight from their identity.

The Will, Heart, Or Ego Center

The Will Center is the small triangle located to the right of the diamond in the middle of the chart. It is the center for the heart, the stomach, the gallbladder, and the thymus. It is also one of the four motors.

The Open Will Center

7 out of every 8 people have an open Will Center. All those failed attempts to go on a diet, quit smoking, or stay organized were not your fault. Open Will centers do not have consistent access to willpower. 

When you have an open Will Center, it is crucial that you use your strategy to make agreements and promises. If you don’t, you will be using energy you don’t have and run the risk of entering into the wrong situations and feeling obligated to make yourself follow through. And you might miss the right opportunity because you will be busy forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do.

The Will Center is also all about value and the material plane. It is very common to have a tendency to undervalue yourself. Those with open Will Centers might undercharge for their business services or even give their services away, even when no one asks them to.

The open Will Center can help you become very wise about what is truly valuable in life. You may, with time and experience, become very wise about what you are worth, both in the business arena and in your personal life. You may also become wise about knowing when it is time to work and when it is time to rest. 

The Defined Will Center

A defined Will Center will always be red (or taupe) on your Human Design chart. When you have a defined Will Center, you have consistent access to willpower. If you have a defined Will Center and you decide that you would like to start running every morning, it will be pretty easy for you to get into a regular routine and make yourself run every day, even if you don’t feel like it. You might pause your routine for a few days to rest, but you’ll pick it back up in a few days and stick with it consistently.

When you have a defined Will Center, it is very important for your self- esteem to make promises and keep them, even if you don’t want to. Take your promises seriously if you have a defined Will Center, as it takes time and energy to follow through, and you always deliver on your word.

The Emotional Solar Plexus Center

On the bodygraph, the Emotional Solar Plexus is the large triangle on the far right of the chart. The kidneys and pancreas are associated with the Emotional Solar Plexus. It is a motor center, and this emotional energy fluctuates in waves.

The Open Emotional Solar Plexus

About half of us have an open Emotional Solar Plexus. Emotionally open individuals are here to learn about emotional energy and become wise about feelings. When you are emotionally open, you are truly empathetic and can take in other people’s emotional energy and amplify it.

This can be a great gift because it allows you to deeply understand other people.  This understanding does come with a caution because the open Emotional Solar Plexus will take in emotional energy and amplify it, this can be a very painful center to have open when you do not understand how it works. 

It is easy to think that the emotions you are experiencing are your own, and if someone else’s energy is negative, it can be painful when it flows into your awareness. Consequently, it is common for open-emotional people to develop coping strategies that involve being nice, pleasing, avoiding conflict, and having a secret life.

It is not that emotionally open people are weak or lack character. It is truly more painful for these people to enter into highly charged emotional situations. It is crucial to become conscious of emotional energy when you are emotionally open so that you can allow that frequency of energy to flow through you without you feeling responsible for it or as if you need to fix it. Be an emotional screen, not a sponge.

The Defined Emotional Solar Plexus

The defined Emotional Solar Plexus will be brown (or gold)on your bodygraph chart. If you are part of the 50 percent of the population that has a defined Emotional Solar Plexus, you carry emotional energy at all times.

The channels connecting your Emotional Solar Plexus to other centers will determine the kind of emotional waves that you experience. Some of you have only small undulations in your emotional frequency. Others may experience high emotional highs and low emotional lows, with plateaus in between. The wavelike nature of emotional energy, it is easy to mistake the melancholy of the low end of the wave for depression.

If you are emotionally defined, depression can become a big problem if you are looking for a reason why you are feeling down. We have a lot of judgment against negative emotions in our culture. But not all negative emotions are destructive. Melancholy or the low end of an emotional wave is also a very important creative energy. 

Regardless of your Human Design type, if you have a defined Emotional Solar Plexus you have Emotional Authority. Your emotional waves are a crucial piece of your process because when the emotion passes you can make a clear decision. Waiting for the right emotional state before taking action will keep you from leaping into emotional decisions and regretting them later.

The Sacral Center

The Sacral Center is one of the most important centers in the Human Design system, and it is the most important of the four motors. The Sacral is the square located toward the bottom of the chart. It is the energy center for workforce and life force energy, and it is associated with the reproductive organs – the ovaries and the testes.

The Open Sacral Center

An undefined or open Sacral Center has an unlimited capacity to experience life force and workforce energy. The undefined Sacral Center is here to become wise about work and sexuality. When you have an open Sacral Center, you have the ability to take in and amplify workforce and life force energies for short periods of time.

This means that in short bursts, people with undefined Sacral Centers can work as hard as, or even harder than, Generators and Manifesting Generators. Because of this, a lot of people with open Sacrals think they can do more than anyone else. And for short periods of time this is actually true.

But remember the key word in understanding the energy of the Sacral is sustainability. A person with an open Sacral Center cannot maintain a high level of energy for a prolonged period of time without really burning themselves out.

What that means is that if you have an open Sacral Center, you are not here to work a Monday through Friday, nine-to-five job. For most people with open Sacral Centers, hearing that they are not designed to work in the traditional sense is a great relief! That doesn’t mean that if you have an open Sacral that you can’t work or that you don’t need to work. But you will probably do best finding a way to work that has some level of flexibility built into it.

Collectively, we have a lot of beliefs about the value and importance of work. A non-Sacral being does not have the energy for sustainable labor. Because of this, many non-Sacral beings get a lot of judgment from others about being lazy or incapable. But non-Sacral beings have their own wisdom and energy to add to the planet. They just work differently.

Non-Sacral beings may also be judged as lazy because of their need for naps and significant alone time but these needs are vital for their physical health. As a non-Sacral person, you need alone time to discharge the excess Sacral energy from your system. You also need to nap to recharge yourself and revitalize your body. Both alone time and adequate sleep are crucial for you to stay healthy.

The Defined Sacral Center

If you have a defined Sacral Center, it will be red (or taupe) on your Human Design Chart. This coloured square is what makes you a Generator Type (Generator or a Manifesting Generator). The most important function of the Sacral Center is work. When you have a defined Sacral motor, you are designed to work. The challenge is, of course, finding the right work that you love.

The energy of the Sacral Center is counterintuitive to how most of us have been raised in this culture. Generally speaking, we have been raised to believe that we have to go out and “make things happen.” We have been taught to “manifest our destiny.”

But, as many of you may have already experienced, if you have a defined Sacral and you go out and try to make things happen, you usually just feel frustrated because nothing turns out the way you had planned.

If you have a defined Sacral motor you are designed to wait for things to show up. This can be very difficult because that Sacral energy hums and buzzes and is just longing to do something. Sacral beings are very busy people. They are designed to be “doing.”

The Sacral Center is all about waiting and responding to whatever shows up in your outer reality. Think about this. If you have a defined Sacral Center, how many times have miraculous and unexpected things happened to you out of the blue? Sacral energy works best if you learn to wait for the right thing to show up and then respond to it. 

The Spleen Center

The Spleen is the large triangle located on the left side of the Human Design chart. The Spleen is the center for intuition, time, the lymph nodes, and the immune system. 

The Open Spleen Center

An open Spleen means that you likely have a sensitive immune system. It may seem like you get sick easily, but what that really means is that you are very sensitive to the subtle changes in your body, and you notice when you start to feel a little “off.” You may be very sensitive to medications and need lower doses, or you may even do better with homeopathic remedies. Also, be aware that your tolerance for alcohol or recreational drugs may be lower, and you may experience the effects at much lower rates of consumption.

When you have an open Spleen, it means that you don’t have consistent access to “feel-good” energy. People with open Spleens like to be around people with defined Spleens. It makes them feel nurtured and strong.

Remember that an open center is unlimited in how it can experience the energy of a particular center. If you have an open Spleen you can experience unlimited intuition. It just won’t always be the same.

Someone with an open Spleen may experience “gut feelings” one day, have “inner knowingness” on another day, and hear a guiding voice or have a prophetic dream on a different day. Because an open Spleen doesn’t have consistent access to intuitive energy, many people with an open Spleen think they don’t have very much intuitive insight. How an open Spleen receives their intuition will vary depending on who they are around, but they will probably be deeply intuitive.

The Spleen is also the center for time, it is common for people with open Spleens to struggle with the concept of time. Many are chronically late, while others who have had bad experiences in the past with being late are compulsively early.

It can be difficult for people with open Spleens to rush.  Because our open centers are where we carry our deepest conditioning, if you have an open Spleen, you have the potential to be hyper-aware of time, particularly if you have had bad experiences with losing track of time.

The Defined Spleen Center

The defined Spleen Center will be brown (or gold) on your Human Design chart. When you have a defined Spleen, you are designed to be in the moment. Your decisions will be in the moment. Your sense of timing will be “right now.” A defined Spleen will speed you up, and give you a sense of time and consistent intuitive insights in the moment.

Defined Spleens have very powerful immune systems. Because the immune system is so strong, it is easy for a person with a defined Spleen to “miss” the first symptoms of illness. If you have a defined Spleen, you might not notice that you are sick until you are very, very sick.

It is also common for people with defined Spleens to keep working through an illness. It is important to remember to check in with your body periodically if you have a defined Spleen. 

The intuition of the defined Spleen speaks once and then never again. That gut feeling that you should or shouldn’t be doing something is your Spleen speaking to you. Because the Spleen is survival-based, it can also communicate to you with fear. Some of those fears include a fear of inadequacy, a fear of responsibility, a fear of imperfection, a fear that life is meaningless, and a fear that your dreams will never be realized. It is very easy to become paralyzed by these fears. The wonderful thing about Spleen-based fears is that no matter how frightening they feel, they can be best conquered by just pushing through them.

The challenge of the defined Spleen is to figure out whether your intuition is giving you an important message about survival or whether you are simply experiencing the energy of the Spleen, and you need to push forward with understanding and insight. This is where living your strategy is so important. If you are experiencing the fears of the Spleen, use the strategy of your type to decide whether you should do something or not. 

The Root Center

The Root Center is the square located at the very bottom of the bodygraph. This is the center for adrenaline. It is also considered one of two pressure centers in the system (the other one being the Head Center). The Root Center energy operates in pulses.

The Open Root Center

If the square at the bottom of your chart is white, then you have an open Root Center. It takes in adrenaline energy from others and amplifies it. Someone with an open Root Center might enjoy the rush of being in front of a crowd or other adrenaline-charged experiences, such as skydiving or bungee jumping. On a more simple level, people with open Root Centers may opt for safer adrenaline fixes, such as caffeine or chocolate.

Because the open Root Center is a pressure center, individuals with an open root can sometimes feel that they are under pressure to be free. In other words, people who process energy this way have a hard time relaxing or playing unless all their work is done.

It seems reasonable to get your work done before you can go out to play, but people with an open Root Center will feel such pressure to get things done that they don’t ever allow themselves time to recharge their batteries. Eventually, they can become so drained that they are ineffective at work.

Sometimes, the energy taken in the open Root Center might be too much for a person, and they may suffer from anxiety. Individuals can have different levels of sensitivity in their open centers. The truth of the open Root Center is that the work is never done.

If you give an individual with an open Root Center a job to do, they will do it very quickly in order to get out from under the pressure of having to get it done. Of course, while they may be efficient, they can be moving so quickly that they make mistakes or skip steps—especially if they are a Manifesting Generator. That is why it is crucial to realize that the open Root Center is just an energy center and you do not have to be a victim to that energy. 

The Defined Root Center

If you have a defined Root Center, the square at the base of your Human Design chart will be brown (or gold). This means that you have a fixed way of processing adrenaline energy, and it will operate cyclically, depending on which of the lines you have colored in around your Root Center. 

You will get things done when the adrenaline pulse is there; when you don’t have that adrenaline pulse, things won’t necessarily get done. You have a natural cycle for your adrenaline energy. If you have a defined Root Center then you are somewhat immune to adrenaline pressure. That doesn’t mean that you don’t experience stress. However, your stress may come from other factors or through other open centers that you may have in your body graph. Simply put, when you have a defined Root Center, things get done when they get done.

Definition in Human Design

Now, let’s talk about something that is vital to understanding your Human Design but often overlooked: your energy Definition. 

Your Definition is designed by how your Centers connect with each other.

Split Definition – Approximately 45.89% 

If your Human Design chart features split definition, there is a break in the connections between your energy centers. This break results in two energy teams communicating with you.

Individuals with split definition often experience a sense of feeling that something is missing, due to the lack of a continuous energy flow between all their centers. It’s important to emphasize that split definitions are whole and complete individuals on their own. However, they may be drawn to those who possess gates that, if integrated, would create a single definition. 

In relationships, whether romantic or otherwise, those with split definition often seek their other half or someone who complements aspects they perceive as lacking in themselves. Split definitions will grow into their unique power when they understand they do not need to be completed by another. 

Decision-making for individuals with split definition may take a bit longer than for their single-definition counterparts. This delay is attributed to the fact that not all of their energy centers have a consistent mode of energetic communication, requiring some time to get both energy teams on the same page. 

Single Definition – Approximately 41.95%

Those with a single definition in their Human Design chart have all the defined centers connected in a continuous circuit, creating a unified team of energy communication. This cohesion allows for rapid information processing, as each energy center has a consistent and seamless way of communication. 

Those with single definitions often experience a sense of completeness within themselves. They prefer working independently and may value solitude. The absence of breaks in their energy circuit means they don’t rely on others to maintain a continuous flow of energy between their centers. 

While many with single definitions may desire and thrive in partnerships, some are entirely content being alone for extended periods, emphasizing their self-sufficiency in maintaining a harmonious energy flow within.

Triple Split – Approximately 10.18%

Triple splits are intriguing individuals who often grapple with understanding themselves, due to the three energy teams that they have. 

Triple splits thrive in diverse social environments that require interaction with various kinds of people. Similar to split definitions, triple splits are drawn to individuals who can complete their chart. However, due to the multiple points in their chart where energy centers lack connection, they seek different energies to form a comprehensive circuit. 

The allure lies in finding someone whose energy centers, if integrated, would create a fully defined Human Design chart for them. 

Boredom is likely to set in if they’re consistently surrounded by the same energies.

No Definition – Approximately 1.41%

If you possess, or rather don’t possess, a no-split definition, in your Human Design chart, it means that none of your energy centers are defined. This unique configuration is exclusive to Reflectors, who are the rarest energy type, constituting only 1% of the population.

Given this definition, there isn’t extensive information specific to it, as most details are covered in the Reflector’s strategy and authority. 

The crucial aspect to highlight for a no-split definition is that individuals with this configuration should allow themselves ample time for processing and decision-making. Reflectors absorb significant energy from their surroundings, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that their decisions originate from their own energy rather than external influences.

Quadruple Split – Approximately 0.57%

Being a quadruple split in Human Design means you have four distinct groupings of energy centers, essentially having four energy teams communicating with you.

This split type is exceptionally rare, requiring at least 8 out of the 9 energy centers to be defined. Quad splits are often associated with being Manifesting Generators or Generators.

Given the abundance of defined centers, individuals with quad splits need solitude to allow each center to express itself and synchronize with the others. Their role isn’t to be heavily influenced by external energy but rather to let the wisdom of their centers unfold over time.

Similar to split and triple split definitions, quad splits are drawn to individuals with opposing gates, finding fulfillment in the dynamic interplay of energies. They seek completion in various areas of their chart through the energies of others, making it understandable that they prefer a diverse range of energies to keep their sense of completeness fresh and vibrant.

Gates in Human Design

There are sixty-four gates in the Human Design system. Gates represent specific energetic themes that give you further insight into your personality, what drives you, your life purpose, themes in your relationships, what fulfills you creatively, and even how your intuition works and how you connect to Source energy. 

Like all the energies in the chart, there is a high and a low expression of each gate. As you go through the gates in your chart, ask yourself how that energy may be influencing your life. We are designed to be joyful, connected, creative, abundant, and powerful. When you live out the highest expression of the energies in your chart, the magic of life unfolds naturally for you.

Planets in Human Design

The planets, in the boxes that flank your Bodygraph, are connected to your Gates. Your defined Gates are represented in these boxes. 

If a Gate appears in the dark column, it represents aspects of your conscious personality. You will recognize these parts of yourself. 

If a Gate appears in the light column, it’s part of your unconscious. Your unconscious is still a part of your design but you may not recognize these aspects. 

The same Gate can appear in both of the columns, and the same Gate can appear multiple times within the same column. 

You’ll notice that there is a symbol next to each Gate number in the columns.

Each of these symbols represents a planet and provides information about how the energy of this specific Gate may show up in your life. 

Your Sun ☉

Your Sun is the energy that you put out into the world. It is the most expressive piece of your personality and creates the first impression you give off. 

Your Earth ^🜨

Your Earth is the energy that grounds you. Earth is about taking in, combining, and receiving. The active Gates in your Earth can provide directions to areas that need healing. 

Your North Node ☊

The North Node is the theme of the second half of your life. Around age 38-42, you will feel this energy and it is the right time to express the great wisdom you have gathered on your life path. 

Your South Node ☋

The energy gathered from birth to about age 38 is the energy of your South Node theme. This is the time for learning and taking in information. 

Your Moon ☽

The Moon contains the energy of motivation. The “why” behind your life. 

Your Mercury ☿

Your Mercury is what you are here to teach the world. This is what you are designed to communicate and teach the world. 

Your Venus ♀︎

Venis if your ethics, values, and what you love. The things that make up your value system. 

Your Mars ♂︎

Mars energy can be challenging, as it illuminates the areas of your life that have room for growth. 

Your Jupiter ♃

As you follow your Human Design strategy, Jupiter will reward you with blessings and opportunities. 

Your Saturn ♄

Saturn is an energy of growth and change. When you are living out of alignment with your design, Saturn will shake things up until you are back in alignment. There is a Saturn return around age 28. 

Your Uranus ♅

Slow-moving Uranus is an evolution and tribal energy. 

Your Neptune ♆

Neptune is about the energy carried by your generation. This energy is mysterious and the gates in Neptune are the driver of your spiritual journey. 

Your Pluto ♇

Last, Pluto has great generational influence. Pluto contains beginnings, and endings, for rebirth. 

Your Chiron ⚷

Chiron represents part of our Life and Spiritual Purpose or Spiritual Challenge

Here is a video with Karen explaining what the Planetary symbols represent

Channels & Circuitry in Human Design

Notice how the nine centers are connected to one another through many lines. These lines are called channels, and there are thirty-two of them. The channel’s color tells you about an aspect of your personality:

Black (or burgundy – depending on what software you use) channels carry personality traits that you are consciously aware of. Red (or tan) channels carry personality traits that you are not consciously aware of. 

Checkered channels represent those particular personality aspects that are in your conscious and unconscious definition.

White channels represent open gates. You will always take in the energy of both gates from the world around you, and its expression through you will depend on your environment

Your energy is always in motion. Channels are the way that your energy constantly moves through your Centers. 

Human Design Circuitry

We all have a purpose in our communities. If we are to survive as a species we have to grow and change. We have to use logic and reasoning to make decisions, and we have to communicate with each other. Now, just as all Human Design types have a strategy, all humans have a circuit that tells them how they are contributing to humanity and how they will best serve the greater good. 

The Individual Circuit

If you have Individual Circuitry, you are here to metamorphosis and develop the world around you. This energy was the first to develop in human evolution because it ensures survival. You are here to be unique, which will lead you to a life as a lone wolf.

Being an outsider allows you to see what the group needs in order to survive and thrive. Your community will utilize your innovative and unique ideas, but you will not be the one to implement them – leave the doing to those with the Tribal Circuit.

Individual Circuitry contains two sub-circuits. The Knowing Circuit holds a deep all-knowing truth. This knowledge is not based on perception but on universal truths. The Centering Circuit is all about self-love and individuality. 

The Tribal Circuit

Those with Tribal Circuitry are here for the people of the world. This Circuit places the needs of the many over their own needs. You are emotional, caring, and nurturing. If you are considered touchy-feely you probably have the Tribal Circuit and you need to physically engage with others. 

Those with the Individual Circuit are going to bring you their ideas. It is your path to implement their ideas for the greater good and survival of your community. 

Tribal Circuitry’s two sub-circuits are Ego and Defense. The Ego Circuit holds the energy for resources, such as business, marriage, and management. The Defense Circuit is an intense energy that contains: the creation of resources, intense logic and reason, war and peace, education, and procreation. Defense is deeply primal and responsible for the success, or failure, of a society. 

The Collective Circuit

Collective energy supports the creation of infrastructure for the organization of institutions like schools and Government as well as sharing the capacity of the human experience.

Collective circuitry has two subcircuits – Logic and Sensing.

The Logic Circuit has consistency, duplication, and order. Everything we know has been shared with us from the Collective and has been verified over time establishing cultural patterns, laws, and habits. These patterns help us to predict what is to come based on past patterns.

The Sensing Circuit is about telling stories from the past and incorporating new experiences into the bigger story of humanity. This circuit is holistic, right-brained, sensual, and experiential. Ephianies, aha moments, and curiosity are contained within this circuit. It’s here where we push the boundaries of what is possible for the Collective.

Incarnation Cross in Human Design

In “The Definitive Book of Human Design” Ra Uru Hu explains Incarnation Crosses, “Our Incarnation Cross isn’t something that automatically emerges as we go through our deconditioning process, nor does it provide instant gratification…when we function as our differentiated self in the world, our cross literally but quite naturally takes over our life…we don’t awaken to our cross, we awaken in it.”

The Incarnation Cross is composed of the energies that make up your conscious and unconscious Sun and Earth signs—the top four black and red numbers in your Human Design chart.

These four energies combined comprise about 70 percent of your personality expression. The Incarnation Cross is basically a person’s life purpose. It tells us who they are, what they are driven to do, their foibles, follies, and ultimately their destiny if they choose.

The meaning of each cross is a combination of the four gate energies that comprise it. The gate energy in the conscious sun position—the top right black number—is the most significant of the four. All of the other energies in your cross, and in your whole chart, are expressed through the conscious sun gate energy.

Over the course of a year, the sun will move through all sixty-four gates. There are 192 possible Incarnation Cross combinations, each one a reflection of the solar and earth transits. The Incarnation Cross gives us much more information than a mere sun sign in astrology. It offers a deeper explanation for the path of a soul and the journey of a lifetime.

Variables (Arrows) in Human Design

Before we start on Variables, we have to note that Karen Curry Parker does not teach Variables, and here’s why:

Variables speak to motivation and drive, themes that are interwoven into the entirety of the chart. To truly understand your motivation and drive, you need to understand the interplay between all the parts of your chart, not just the variables. 

It’s too easy to want to codify and label parts of the chart, such as the variables, without looking at the synthesis of all of the parts of the chart and the entire story that the chart reveals. 

When we grossly simplify this process by only looking at one element to tell us “everything” about important aspects of life – such as motivation and drive – we miss the main point of the chart. Your chart does not reveal what you are, but HOW you are. 

In addition, every element in the chart represents a potential with a shadow side and a high side. We’re not a “this” or a “that”. We are living possibilities that are responsive to life in every single moment of our existence. It’s up to us to consciously choose how we’re going to respond and how to de-condition ourselves to increase our capacity to make great choices.

Also, motivation and drive go beyond the chart. Sometimes the things that drive us are love, compassion, purpose, and mission and these core human drivers can push us to transcend the drivers in the chart. The chart is a tool that explains how we run, but it doesn’t always explain what we are driven to run towards.

Here is a video with Karen speaking about this:

That said, people still like to know about Variables, so here goes:

Nothing in Human Design is a prescription. From your type to your profile to your incarnation cross, Human Design gives us tools to use as we go about our lives. Variables are another tool for transformation. Variables point to our awareness and our life experiences. 

Your variables guide you on how you are designed to absorb, process, and learn information which leads to how your perspectives are shaped. Variables can be extremely helpful in understanding your not-self and how to best decondition from societal expectations. 

Your variables guide you to the true nature of your awareness. They show where you are decisive, attentive, and vibrant by nature, and where open, peripheral, and tolerant. Essential aspects of your variable include the best environments and nutritional guidelines for your unique design. 

Left-facing Arrows

Think of left-facing arrows as pointing to the traditional view of left-brain thinking, or masculine energies. Structured, logical, or precise. 

Right-facing Arrows

The right-facing arrows are the traditional view of the right brain or feminine energies: emotional, open, or fluid. 

Human Design Variable #1: Digestion

Human Design Variable number one is for digestion and this is the top left arrow of your chart. Digestion refers to how we take in information and how we set routines. 

Left-facing Digestion Variable Arrow

You benefit from having structure and consistency in your everyday routines. When you have a regular schedule and know what to expect ahead of time, you flourish and feel more empowered to face the day. You’re also someone who probably has no problem eating the same thing repeatedly. Lean into developing routines and timetables for yourself; this is beneficial for you. You can also take in and assimilate a great deal of information.

Right-facing Digestion Variable Arrow

You don’t need to follow a set, predictable pattern or timetable. You can mix things up every day and make room for greater flexibility in your schedule so that you can approach things with a more flexible mindset. You enjoy experimenting with your food, so feel free to try a variety of things. Take your time when learning and taking things in so that you may properly absorb them. You absorb knowledge in a broader, more generalized manner.

Human Design Variable #2: Environment

The second Human Design Variable is for environment and is the arrow on the bottom left.  This variable represents physical spaces and the consistency in which we use routine. 

Left-facing Environment Variable Arrow

You perform best in a predictable setting. You probably enjoy going to the same places each day to sleep, eat, and work. When you visit a new place, you need some time to get comfortable with your surroundings and truly get to know them before going on to something else. Enjoy the consistency of going to the same places and sticking to what works because this is probably how you will feel the most comfortable.

Right-facing Environment Variable Arrow

You like having options for where you spend your time and variation. It’s beneficial for you to travel and spend time in various settings, changing where you work and how you conduct yourself on a daily basis. While maintaining discipline in your daily plans and routines, try not to be overly strict about it. Allow yourself some freedom and movement, and explore various settings and activities to see what appeals to you.

Human Design Variable #3: Awareness

Variable number three is for awareness of how we learn and understand information. This arrow is on the top right. 

Left-facing Awareness Variable Arrow

What works best for you is to pay attention to details, nuances, and getting granular with how you process information. You should fully immerse yourself in the information since this will help you remember it better and make it easier for you to recollect and explain it to others. You learn best by paying attention to what is right in front of you and keeping your head down.

Right-facing Awareness Variable Arrow

You normally view things in a “big-picture” way. You want to zoom out and take everything in at once, and you approach learning in a way that is more fluid and free-flowing, without needing to be overly rigid or detailed with how you process knowledge. You have a talent for recognizing overarching patterns and connecting ideas in a way that no one else can. Give up on the more conventional educational approaches and study things in a way that allows you to interpret and make sense of them.

Human Design Variable #4: Perspective

On the bottom right is the fourth Human Design variable. The fourth variable represents perspective and how we set goals and approach manifesting our wants and needs. 

Left-facing Perspective Variable Arrow

Your specialty is creating thorough plans and establishing clear goals. Release any guilt or criticism you may feel for being detailed and very clear about what you want in life. You get your ideas through writing them down and outlining your aims and dreams, therefore don’t be shy about putting your intention into the Universe in this manner. You’ll probably benefit from incorporating strategy, using company planning, and defining precise goals.

Right-facing Perspective Variable Arrow

You don’t place as much emphasis on the specifics of your objectives or ambitions. It’s better for you to concentrate on the emotions associated with obtaining or receiving those goals. In your career, how do you want to feel? Home? regular life? It’s okay to just have a rough notion of what you want; there’s no need to create a specific strategy or roadmap outlining how you’ll get there. Just having a general sense of what you want is sufficient.

Putting It All Together: The 5-Step Process to Read Your Human Design Chart

We have just barely scratched the surface of the deep wisdom in your Human Design chart. I hope that this overview filled you with knowledge and gave you some touchstones for your journey.

Here is a quick recap of how to approach your chart:

Step 1: Build the Foundation

Focus Areas: Human Design Type, Strategy & Authority

Begin with the essentials: your Type, Strategy, and Authority. If you take away just one concept from Human Design, let it be this. These elements act as your internal GPS for making aligned decisions. Master these, and the rest of your chart will naturally fall into place with ease.

Step 2: Understand How Your Energy Flows

Focus Areas: Human Design Centers & Definition

Next, familiarize yourself with your defined and undefined Centers and how they interconnect (your ‘Definition’).

Defined Centers: These are areas where you possess consistent energy and influence over others. They often represent your reliable strengths.

Undefined or Open Centers: These are areas where you are more flexible but also more susceptible to external influences and your environment.

Definition: Determine whether all your Defined Centers are interconnected or if there are separate parts operating independently. Assess if you process things solo or benefit from external input to connect the dots in your thoughts and feelings.

Step 3: Explore Your Role and How You Relate to Others

Focus Areas: Human Design Profile, Lines, Circuitry, Incarnation Cross

Examine your Profile, Circuitry, and Incarnation Cross to understand your natural role in life.

Do you excel by deep research before action or through trial and error?

Are you more influential within close circles or among strangers?

Are you meant to focus on self-growth or to share wisdom with others for societal advancement?

Understanding these aspects enriches your self-awareness and helps you navigate your roles and relationships with clarity and purpose.

Step 4: Dive Into the Details That Make You, YOU!

Focus Areas: Human Design Channels, Gates, Planets

Now, delve into the Gates, Channels, and Planet activations in your chart. This is where you uncover the intricate details—your strengths, weaknesses, habits, and tendencies.

By recognizing your consistent traits and how these energies manifest in your life, you can appreciate your unique qualities, stop comparing yourself to others, and confidently embrace the person you were designed to be.

Step 5: See the Big Picture: Identify Themes in Your Human Design Chart

Focus Area: Your Entire Human Design Chart

Don’t worry, Quantum Human Design Specialists are here to guide you on your Human Design journey. 

FAQ: Beginner’s Guide to Human Design Charts

Start learning your Human Design and Get Your Free Human Design Chart.

Get your FREE Human Design Chart to check it out. Use your best guess to start with, and then you may want to find a Quantum Human Design Specialist to help you find the right time for you.

Remember that we all have ALL of the chart.  If the Gate is colored in or defined, it’s part of your Soul Curriculum.  If it’s white or undefined, it means you learn about this Gate through relationships with others or through the Transits.

At its core, Human Design is a unique system that offers profound insights into your inner self and how you interact with the world around you. Your Human Design chart is a valuable tool that can help you understand your true nature, discover your strengths and weaknesses, and unlock your full potential.

By downloading and reviewing your unique Human Design Chart you are embarking on a journey of self-discovery that will empower you to make conscious choices in all aspects of your life. Your chart is an Energy Blueprint of your unique energy configuration and contains valuable information about your personality traits, your natural talents, and your life purpose. With this knowledge, you’ll navigate life’s challenges with greater ease and clarity.

Human Design is a deeply empowering system that encourages us to embrace our true selves, rewrite our personal narrative, and live in alignment with our inner wisdom. When we align with our authentic nature, we tap into a wellspring of creativity, joy, and fulfillment that flows effortlessly through us.

There’s More – How To Learn More About Human Design

If you are trying to learn and apply Human Design to your life circumstances, but traditional Human Design rings a little off-key, you don’t quite connect with it, or it feels heavy as you read it. We invite you to explore training options with Quantum Human Design, internationally respected and time-tested training courses.

These courses will empower you to create a life filled with more money, better relationships, health and vitality, a rewarding career, and experience profound personal transformation. 

Do you want to unlock the secrets of Quantum Human Design?

Why not join our on-demand Masterclass and discover the Transformative Power of Quantum Human Design

Curious about the difference between Human Design and Quantum Human Design? Karen Curry Parker explains it in this video:

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