HD101: The Human Design Circuits

In Human Design, the circuits are distinct groupings of the 32 channels found in the bodygraph.

Every circuit has an overarching theme/purpose that the channels and the gates within it will have in common – and each of them plays a unique role for humanity’s growth and evolution. 

Knowing which you have a lot of (or only a wee bit of) in your chart can give you a lot of insight into how you work, why you work that way, and how your gifts add not just to your life, but to the world!

The 3 circuits

There are 3 major circuits in the Human Design bodygraph.

They are: 

The Individual Circuit (“Empowering”)

The Tribal Circuit (“Support”)

The Collective Circuit (“Sharing”)

Each of these circuits is made up of two minor circuits, or “subcircuits” (they’re listed below if you want to know what those are).

There’s also the Integration Channel, which is a connector for all the other circuits and represents surviving as a 9-centered, individuated being – i.e., it’s the “backbone” for the graph that holds it all together. It’s a circuit, but it also stands on its own a little bit, so I set it apart.

How to find your circuitry

Okay, there are 2 ways to do this.

1. Get percentages calculated for you (paid)

For this, you need to pay a monthly subscription on Genetic Matrix.

Go to geneticmatrix.com, input your info, and generate your chart.

Click the third drop down menu (it’s the one that says “Quantum”), and go to the Quantum Data – 1 view. Under Energy Families, you’ll see all the levels/percentages of each circuit in your chart!

If you have a lot of a certain circuit, you’re likely to show up with a LOT of that energy. For example, basically 50% of my chart is from the individual circuit… so I resonate with it quite a bit.

NOTE: They separate the major circuits into their minor circuits, so they show 7 total. 

Also, the labels are a little different from what other HD resources – so just remember that Individual = Empowering, Tribal = Support, and Collective = Sharing.

2. Eyeball it (free)

If you don’t want to pay, that’s okay! It might take a little bit longer to calculate, but you CAN do this on your own if you want.

You can just check the chart graphics below, match them to the gates and channels you have, and see how much you have of each circuit in your chart.

The Integration Channel

This channel is a connector for the other circuits, but it’s just as important as any of the others — because it’s all about living, surviving, and thriving by being YOU and no one else.

This channel is all about “the individual,” self-empowerment, following your own personal path/direction, making choices based on what’s right for you + your evolution (even if it doesn’t make sense on the outside to others), and generally just doin’ your thing.

People with any part of this channel, but particularly a full defined channel (not just gates) tend to have very self-absorbed processes of discovery and finding their way in life.

They are also very self-guided and self-sufficient, and don’t naturally require much input from the outside. Sometimes they can seem like they don’t hear what someone else is saying, but in a way that’s kind of a good thing. It’s part of the journey to self-empowerment that they came here to experience.

The Individual Circuit is all about individuality (duh), innovation, uniqueness, following your own path, in-the-moment awareness and creativity, and personal inspiration.

It’s a little different from the integration channel because it’s not just about self-empowerment, it’s about empowering others THROUGH self-empowerment.

The insights, inspirations, and transformation of this circuit is unpredictable and spontaneous. It works on a sort of pulse that really just goes the F off when it wants to.

People with a lot of individual circuitry are the people we see as very unique, because they naturally love new, different things. They’re really good at seeing the potential for transformation and change in something, and love those initial stages of discovery.

However, they also generally feel like people just don’t really… “get” them. 

They tend to feel very different, can’t always explain their ideas, like others don’t see what they’re seeing, and may have a difficult time fitting in (especially as children). Their job is to know that their individuality needs to be embraced, because it’s what makes them so good at finding new stuff everyone benefits from.

The Tribal Circuit

The Tribal Circuit is all about close connection, community, responsibility, obligation to one another, family, interpersonal support, and cohesiveness. 

This circuit is what has helped us survive as units of people for a very long time – because it’s the basis of interconnection and working together for a common goal. 

People who have significant tribal circuitry in their chart naturally have this as a lens they look through. They have that “I am my brother’s keeper because I am my brother’s brother,” vibe. They’re exceptionally driven to make others feel loved, cared for, and accepted. They also feel the need to keep people, groups, or organizations together.

While this is awesome, they caaaaaan fall into codependency fairly easily. Tribal circuitry can feel kind of sticky, obligatory, and group-think-y (even suffocating).

If you have significant tribal energy, your job is to remember it’s not your job to care for, give to, or be responsible for other people all the time. 

The Collective Circuit

The Collective Circuit is all about systematization, regulation, long term growth, larger-scale community + interconnection, and universalization. 

People with a lot of collective circuitry feel a need to make things better by sharing what they know and have learned. They create efficiency and save us time by reminding us that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

At the same time, they can forget that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, and a little resistant to throwing out old systems. They tend to want to depend on what they’ve experienced or “logic”-ed out.

A big job for them is to know the difference between keeping something because it works, and keeping something because you’ve had it around for so long.

Oh — and because they’re so good at sharing and making things part of the collective, they do often need to learn that not everything needs to be shared with others! (Trust me, I know from personal experience)

Gates + channels list for each circuit

The cool thing about learning your circuitry is you don’t actually have to know which gates in your chart are there (or even what they mean) in order to know how the circuitry affects you – since they all have the same overall theme!

HOWEVER, if you want ‘em, here they are. Go crazy.

(Each circuit below is also divided into its two subcircuits.)

INTEGRATION CHANNEL

  • Channel 34-57 (Power) – sacral → spleen

  • Channel 34-20 (Charisma/Manifestation in the now) – sacral → throat

  • Channel 57-10 (Perfected form/survival in the now) – spleen → g center

  • Channel 10-20 (Awakening/commitment to higher principles) – g center → throat

INDIVIDUAL CIRCUIT

KNOWING SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 3-60 (mutation) – root → sacral

  • CHANNEL 14-2 (beat) – sacral center → g center

  • CHANNEL 1-8 (inspiration) – g center → throat

  • CHANNEL 61-24 (awareness) – crown → mind

  • CHANNEL 43-23 (structuring) – mind/ajna → throat

  • CHANNEL 28-38 (struggle) – root → spleen

  • CHANNEL 57-20 (clarity/ “the brain wave”) – spleen → throat

  • CHANNEL 39-55 (emoting) – root → solar plexus

  • CHANNEL 22-12 – (openness) solar plexus → throat

CENTERING SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 34-10 (Exploration) – g center → sacral

  • CHANNEL 51-25 (Initiation) – g center → ego

TRIBAL CIRCUIT

EGO SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 54-32 (transformation) – root → spleen

  • CHANNEL 44-26 (surrender) – spleen → ego

  • CHANNEL 19-49 (synthesis) – sacral → solar plexus

  • CHANNEL 37- 40 (community) – ego → solar

  • CHANNEL 21-45 (money) – ego → throat

DEFENSE SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 59-6 (mating) – sacral → solar plexus

  • CHANNEL 27-50 (preservation) – sacral → spleen

COLLECTIVE CIRCUIT

UNDERSTANDING SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 52-9 (Concentration) – root → sacral

  • CHANNEL 5-15 (Rhythm) – sacral → g center

  • CHANNEL 7-31 (The Alpha) – g center → throat

  • CHANNEL 58-18 (Judgment) – root → spleen

  • CHANNEL 48-16 (The Wavelength) – spleen → throat

  • CHANNEL 63-4 (Logic) – crown → mind/ajna

  • CHANNEL 17-62 (Acceptance) – mind/ajna → throat

SENSING SUBCIRCUIT

  • CHANNEL 53-42 (Maturation) – root → sacral

  • CHANNEL 29-46 (Discovery) – sacral → g center

  • CHANNEL 13-33 (The Prodigal) – g center → throat

  • CHANNEL 41-30 (The Recognition) – root → solar plexus

  • CHANNEL 36-35 (Transitoriness) – solar plexus → throat

  • CHANNEL 64-47 (Abstraction) – crown → ajna/mind

  • CHANNEL 11-56 (Curiosity) – ajna/mind center → throat

What kind of circuitry do you have in your chart? Does it explain some things (or a lot of things) to you about your experience so far?

Previous
Previous

How do I find my Human Design Profile?

Next
Next

The 5 Human Design Energy Types