What is Authority in Human Design?
In Human Design, your Authority is your unique way of making decisions that align with your true nature. It’s your internal guidance system, designed to help you navigate life in a way that’s authentic to you.
Your specific type of Human Design Authority is like your personal decision-making compass. It might be emotional, where you need to ride out your emotional waves before deciding. Or perhaps it’s sacral, where you rely on an instinctive “uh-huh” or “uh-uh” response. You might have splenic authority, with instant intuitive flashes, or ego authority, where decisions come from your heart or will.
Some of you might have self-projected authority, needing to hear yourself speak to know what’s right. Others might be mental projectors, using your mind to recognize patterns. A few of you might have lunar authority, following a 28-day cycle for clarity. And some of you might have no inner authority, relying on external sources for validation.
The key is to understand and trust your specific Human Design Authority. By doing so, you’re more likely to make choices that resonate with who you truly are, potentially leading to a more fulfilling life. Remember, this is your unique decision-making tool – use it to navigate your path in a way that feels right to you.
Human Design Authority Types
The main types of Human Design Authority in include:
- Emotional Authority: Decisions are best made after riding the emotional wave and reaching clarity.
- Sacral Authority: Characterized by a gut response of “uh-huh” (yes) or “uh-uh” (no).
- Splenic Authority: Instantaneous intuition or “in the moment” knowing.
- Ego Authority: Decisions are made from the heart or will center.
- Self-Projected Authority: Needs to hear themselves speak to know what’s right.
- Mental Projector Authority: Uses the mind to recognize and evaluate patterns.
- Lunar Authority: Follows a 28-day cycle for decision-making clarity.
- No Inner Authority: Relies on external sources for decision validation.
The idea is that by understanding and following one’s inner authority, a person can make decisions that are authentic to their nature and lead to a more fulfilling life. It’s important to note that Human Design is considered an alternative system and is not scientifically validated.
How Authority Works in our Lives
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 Human Design 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.
How Knowing Your Human Design Authority Helps You Make Decisions More Easily
On your journey with Human Design, you will hear, “follow your strategy and authority”, over and over again. Gates, channels, and circuits are amazing information but if you only ever follow your strategy and authority, you will see significant changes in your life.
Although decision-making is tied directly to your strategy, your authority flavors the way you use your strategy. Your defined centers will determine your authority. Not all centers carry authority. So your personal authority will depend on your type and your definition.
Human Design Authority will also depend on your social conditioning and your level of emotional well-being. When you receive a Human Design analysis, you are taught to understand patterns of pain and behaviors that may be keeping you from living out the beauty of the mythology of who you really are.
With cognitive awareness of old patterns, you begin to heal and transform these energies into deep sources of wisdom. The more you clear your old energy patterns, the more effectively your natural decision-making skills (your authority) can function. You can then begin to use your Human Design Authority along with your strategy to help you make better decisions for your life.
It’s very important to note that Authority does not override your strategy—it just shifts the way you use your strategy so that your decisions and choices are even more in alignment with the overall energy in your chart.
How To Find Your Human Design Authority
Manifestors (Initiators), Generators (Alchemists), Manifesting Generators (Time Benders), and Projectors (Orchestrators) have authority in their charts. Reflectors (Calibrators), because they have no centers defined in their charts, have no true authority other than their Reflector strategy.
When we look at a Human Design chart, it consists of three major elements: the Incarnation Cross, the type, and the Profile. Your authority will be in the Keynotes section of your Human Design chart.
Get your free Human Design Chart here to determine your Human Design Authority.
Inner Versus Outer Authority
Knowledge of your Human Design type and strategy will allow you to use your authority as a tool to know if an opportunity is right for you. Authority is separated into two categories – Inner and Outer.
In regards to Inner Authority, Ra Uru Hu said, “What you can trust to make decisions, and it is never the mind.”
Inner Authority
Inner authority in Human Design refers to your innate, reliable decision-making mechanism. It’s the part of you that knows what’s right for you, beyond logical reasoning or external influences.
Inner Authority draws on our internal intelligence. Meaning that when someone with Inner Authority allows themselves to listen to their body, they have access to all the information they need. The challenge with Inner Authority is shutting off the mind and tuning out other’s voices. You have Inner Authority when you have a defined Spleen, Solar Plexus, Sacral, or Will/Ego.
Here’s what you should understand about Inner Authority:
- Personal guidance system: Your Inner Authority is like an internal compass, designed to guide you towards decisions that align with your true nature.
- Body-based wisdom: Most inner authorities are rooted in bodily sensations or feelings rather than mental processes. This emphasizes trusting your body’s intelligence.
- Varies by individual: Your specific inner authority depends on your Human Design chart. It’s a key part of your unique energetic makeup.
- Different types: The main inner authorities include Emotional, Sacral, Splenic, Ego, Self-Projected, Mental Projector, and Lunar. Each operates differently.
- Consistent over time: Your inner authority doesn’t change throughout your life, unlike some other aspects of your personality or decision-making style.
- Requires attunement: Learning to recognize and trust your inner authority often takes practice and patience. It’s about becoming more self-aware.
- Contrasts with conditioning: Following your inner authority might feel strange at first, as it may differ from how you’ve been taught to make decisions.
- Not about quick fixes: Inner authority isn’t about making snap judgments, but about aligning with your natural decision-making process, which can take time.
- Complements strategy: In Human Design, your inner authority works alongside your strategy (based on your type) to guide your actions and decisions.
- Experiential approach: The effectiveness of following your inner authority is best understood through personal experience and observation over time.
Outer Authority
Only 3% of the population has outer authority– Mental Projectors (Orchestrators*) and Reflectors (Calibrators*). Those with outer authority are here to give others their perspective and knowledge. Mental Projectors can bounce ideas off of other people to get clarity. Reflectors rely on their strategy of waiting for a lunar cycle before making decisions.
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 are emotionally defined, 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 anymore. Understanding emotional authority will help you make better choices and significantly improve your chances that your mood won’t affect your commitments.
You are not here to be spontaneous if you have a defined Emotional Solar Plexus. 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.
Those with emotional authority experience will experience one out of four-wave types. When you understand the mechanics of your wave type, it will allow you to flow with your emotions, and not feel the pressure to make decisions until you are ready.
The Emotional Waves:
Source Wave: Channel 59-6
This wave is the source of all the waves coming out of the Emotional Solar Plexus. This channel in itself is very powerful and is known to penetrate the aura of others. The energy breaks through barriers, and because it is so inviting, others tend to feel the power generated from it and want to tap into it – invited or not. People with this channel or either of these gates may find that people want to tell them their deepest, darkest secrets, even random strangers they’ll never see again!
This type of wave tends to be stable but can be triggered by others.
Tribal Wave: Channels 19-49 & 37-40:
This wave is all about needs because it’s based in Tribal Circuitry. This wave goes up and up until it’s set off, then it comes crashing back down. This is the person that lets things go and doesn’t bring it up at the moment. One day, they explode on you for something that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is to them because they never told you all the other things that bothered them as they happened.
Individual Wave: Channels 22-12 & 39-55
This wave is all about moodiness. This wave is also very passionate; when it’s in the mood, it’s all about the auditory. It can literally fall in love with a voice. Think of this wave like a heartbeat, moving along with short spikes up and down, but seems to be stable most of the time. This wave needs to tune in to when to be social or not (12-22 is the only social individual channel). It needs to follow how it feels in the moment to know whether it can be around others.
Collective Wave: Channels: 41-30 & 36-35
This wave goes through a steady rise and sharp fall. It’s all about the desires and feelings of those around them. This wave tends to crash due to unmet expectations. If you have this wave, be cautious about attaching expectations to things. This is all about doing things for the experience and not for expectations.
Sacral Authority
Sacral authority means that you have a defined Sacral Center and no additional energies influence 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.
Spleen 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 (Initiators) and Projectors (Orchestrators), but sometimes it can be confusing for Generators (Alchemists), who may wonder if their spleen overrides their Sacral response. For Generators (Alchemists) with splenic authority, their Sacral response in the moment is correct. Your spleen and your Sacral work together.
Ego Authority
Only Manifestors (Initiators) 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 (Orchestrators) 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 with 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 (Orchestrators) 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 (Calibrators) 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.
How To Tap Into Your Human Design Authority
As you can see, each one of us has a unique authority for experiencing the world. Knowing your Type and Strategy is the most important information you need to know in Human Design. If you follow your strategy and authority, according to your type, your life will invariably improve and become an expression of who you truly are.
It’s important to note that while each one of us is different and magnificent, it is truly in the sum total of the parts of who we are as humans that the true elegance of Human Design and humanity is revealed.
Key Points to Remember about Authority in Human Design
1 Authority is your internal decision-making guide
Your Human Design Authority acts as an inner compass, helping you navigate life’s choices. It’s designed to lead you towards decisions that align with your authentic self, rather than relying solely on logic or external influences.
2 Each person has a specific type of Authority
In Human Design, your Authority is unique to you, based on your individual energetic makeup. Understanding your specific type of authority can provide insights into how you naturally make decisions.
3 Your Authority is consistent throughout your life
Unlike some aspects of personality that may change over time, your Authority in Human Design remains constant. This consistency allows you to develop a deep understanding and trust in your decision-making process throughout your life.
4 Most Authorities are based on bodily sensations, not mental processes
Human Design emphasizes trusting your body’s wisdom over purely mental reasoning. Your Authority often manifests as physical sensations, emotional waves, or gut feelings rather than logical thought processes.
5 Learning to recognize and trust your Authority takes time and practice
Becoming attuned to your inner authority is a skill that develops over time. It requires patience and consistent practice to recognize and trust the subtle signals of your Authority.
6 Following your Authority may conflict with societal norms or conditioning
Your natural decision-making process might differ from what you’ve been taught or what society expects. Trusting your Authority often involves unlearning conditioned responses and embracing your unique way of navigating choices.
7 Authority works in conjunction with your Human Design type
Your authority doesn’t operate in isolation but complements your Human Design type (Generator, Manifestor, Manifesting Generator, Projector, or Reflector). Understanding both your type and authority provides a more comprehensive guide for decision-making and life strategy.
8 There are several main types of Authority
Human Design recognizes various types of authority, including Emotional, Sacral, Splenic, Ego, Self-Projected, Mental Projector, and Lunar. Each type has its own characteristics and optimal decision-making process.
9 Some people have “no Inner Authority” and rely on external sources
In Human Design, some individuals are identified as having no inner authority. These people are designed to seek input from trusted external sources to validate their decisions.
10 Authority is just one aspect of the larger Human Design system
While authority is a crucial concept, it’s part of a broader framework in Human Design. Other elements like strategy, profile, and centers all work together to provide a complete picture of an individual’s energetic blueprint.
11 Following your Authority leads to more authentic decisions.
Aligning with your Human Design Authority results in choices that are true to your nature. This authenticity is thought to lead to greater satisfaction and reduced internal conflict.
12 Understanding different Authorities can improve interpersonal relationships
Recognizing that others may have different decision-making processes can foster empathy and improve communication. It can help in navigating personal and professional relationships with greater understanding and patience.
13 Experiment with following your Authority
Rather than accepting the concept blindly, we advocate for an experiential approach. You’re encouraged to test following your Human Design Authority and observe the results in your life.
14 Human Design Authority is not about impulsiveness, but about alignment with your true nature
Following your Human Design Authority doesn’t mean making rash decisions. Instead, it’s about tuning into your natural rhythms and decision-making processes, which may sometimes require patience and time.
Roughly 70% of the population have Sacral Authority – if this is you then you might like this post
For more information about Emotional Authority – click here
If you want to learn more about how to read your Human Design Chart, you might like this post
If this article has inspired you to want to learn about Human Design, click here
Want more content? Why not follow us on YouTube
Curious about the difference between Human Design and Quantum Human Design? Karen Curry Parker explains it in this video:
