What is Human Design?

Human Design is a modality for self-analysis, using a combination of 5 pre-existing systems: The Chinese I Ching, the chakra system, the Kabbalah Tree of Life, your astrological natal chart, and quantum mechanics.

It uses your birth time, day, and location to produce your chart (so it stays the same your entire life!).

On a surface level, Human design is a personality “index” similar to the Enneagram or Myers-Briggs, but on, like, steroids. In reality, it’s a unique energy map to help you tap into who you truly are, shed who you are not (or who you thought you “had to” be in order to get the life you want) and work with the awesome gifts that are already in you.

Where can I find my Human Design chart?

STEP 1: Get your free Human Design chart HERE.

STEP 2: Put in your exact birth date, time, and location. Get as close as possible to the minute — Human Design calculations are quite exact.

STEP 3: Check out your chart. On the left will be your chart, on the right will be a bunch of words that describe your chart (don’t worry if you don’t understand them right now!).

Why Human Design is important (i.e., Ariana, why tf should I care?)

By using Human Design, we learn how to harness our power in:

Manifesting, or co-creating with the universe to call in your desires
Working with instead of against your energy – to be successful in ways society has told you isn’t even possible
Understanding the specific gifts and themes we’re born with so we can make them work for us
Self-love and acceptance, which is a BIG one, but I know you would probably skip over it if I put it first, because almost no one cares about this. Yes, I see you, article-skimmer.

All this by being ourselves, and following a strategy that works for US.

People use Human Design for everything from picking a career to choosing what kind of diet is best for them, but I use it mostly for lovin’ life and tapping into our genius/gifts… not whether or not to drink celery juice in the morning (which, by the way, I will not be doing).

Who the hell came up with this?

*Robert Krakower, AKA Ra Uru Hu. I sometimes call him Ra-bert.*

Buckle up for this. It’s a wild ride.

In 1987, a traveling newspaper advertiser named Robert Alan Krakower was visiting Ibiza with his dog. One day, he walked into his cottage, was blitzed by a source of energy he calls The Voice, and then channeled HD over the course of 8 days.

He then took the name Ra Uru Hu (which means “door-closer,” because the voice told him that he was the messenger come to tell us of the end of a very long era we’d been living in. He was letting us know that the door to how things have been is now closing — now, onto the future!).

Ra organized what he’d channeled for a few years, shared some of it, and then tried to destroy all the documents he’d created about Human Design because he was (1) felt like people weren’t ready to hear this, and was getting kind of annoyed about it, (2) really a curmudgeon who would rather hang with his dog than lead a revolution.

But it turns out someone had already written down everything he’d shared, so he was like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ guess I’ll keep teaching this!

Long story short (too late), he continued to share this massive system with the world until he passed away in 2011.

So… here… we… are.

The goal of HD: to live as the real you + get out of your “conditioning”

Human Design’s entire point as a system isn’t to become more of who you are, it’s to let go of who you are not so you can tap into the power of the real you (which you never have to “try” to be, anyway!).

Conditioning is the way we show up in the world according when we identify with energy that is not coming from us – instead of showing up as we truly are.

It’s what happens when you come into the world as your authentic self (as we all do) and we pick up – consciously or subconsciously – the idea that, “That’s not right or okay. You need to change.”

When we act out of conditioning instead of our true designs, we live in something called the “not-self” – which is not us, will not work for us in the long run, and does not feel good.

Common causes of conditioning:

Taking on energy from outside sources + believing it’s us
The pressure to conform and be like everyone else
Your family’s/community’s beliefs about what was right, good, and acceptable in a person
Your family’s/caretaker’s beliefs about what would help you survive, succeed, and be loved
Cultural or religious norms
Being told your body can’t be trusted to make decisions – use your head!
People telling you you’re too X, Y, and Z (too talkative, too blunt, too quiet, too rash, too artsy, too smart, too ditzy, etc.)

The goal of Human Design is to get you OUT of this “not-self” conditioning and INTO your true self.

We’re all susceptible to conditioning, but there are usually certain places where we are more susceptible to being conditioned, which is one of the things your Human Design chart actually shows you and helps you overcome.

You do this by acting in alignment with something called your ENERGY TYPE.

The 5 Human Design Energy Types – SUPER IMPORTANT

If you know nothing else in human design, you should understand your energy type/strategy. This alone could deeply change your life.

Your type determines the best way for you to use your energy.

There are 5 energy types: Reflector, Projector, Manifestor, Manifesting Generator, and Generator (Check your chart to see which one you are).

These are determined by which centers you have defined in your chart. We’ll go over that in a minute – hold tight.

A few key terms:

STRATEGY – The way for you to use your energy most successfully, according to your type.

SIGNATURE – What you will feel when you follow your strategy (i.e., the good feeling that lets you know you are operating according to your design).

NOT-SELF THEME – What you will feel when you DO NOT follow your strategy (i.e., the crappy feelings that tell you you’re trying to work against your design). Basically, when you’re not being yourself.

MANIFESTORS (8-9% of population)

*Set fire to the rain, and also, to everything else.*

Strategy: To Inform

Signature: Peace

Not-Self Theme: Anger

Manifestors are here to be the big-time “sparkers” of the world, and are responsible for getting energy moving. In the past, they were the pharaohs, the warrior kings, the monarchs (at least, not the prissy ones that ate macarons all day).

Basically… they’re supposed to start shit.

If you are manifestor, you’re mean to act on impulses + let others know (inform them) of what you’re doing, so they don’t get in the way.

By telling people what you’re going to do, you will actually meet less resistance and be more effective in whatever you’re trying to achieve.

GENERATORS + MANIFESTING GENERATORS (70% of the population)

Strategy: To Wait To Respond

Signature: Satisfaction

Not-Self Theme: Frustration

Anyone with their sacral center defined is a generator (like me, weeee!).

There are two types of generators: pure generators and manifesting generators. I treat them as different energy types, but technically they’re both subtypes.

Pure Generators (35% of population)

*You get sacral energy! You get sacral energy! EVERYBODY GETS SACRAL ENERGYYYYYYYYY!*

Generators are the great workers of the world. The reason is we are the only type with defined sacral centers (explained further down), which means we are the only ones with consistent access to life force energy.

Buuuut we are not here to do just any work – we are here to do work we LOVE.

Generators make the very energy that the world lives in, and we do it by doing what lights us up. When we create that energy, we become super productive – and everyone else gets to use the “overflow” to power their lives, too.

Generators access the nearly endless energy of the sacral center by waiting to respond – essentially, following the things that our gut says HELL YES to and rejecting the things that it says NO or “EH” to.

Manifesting Generators (35% of population)

*Henry Rollins: punk rock frontman, spoken-word performer, photographer, traveler, author, podcaster, and my all-around favorite crazy person. I would have let him throw a beer bottle at me in the 80s.*

Manifesting Generators have a defined sacral center AND a defined throat center that is connected to one of the four motor centers (root, sacral, solar plexus, or heart).

Thus, MGs are pretty much exactly what they sound like: a combo of pure generators and pure manifestors. They have more of a get-up-and-go tendency, like manifestors. If pure generators are marathon runners, manifesting generators are sprinters.

PROJECTORS (10% of the population)

Strategy: To Wait For The Invitation

Signature: Success

Not-Self Theme: Bitterness

Projectors are here to be humanity’s guides by sharing their wisdom with us.

They have crystal clarity, for both themselves and others. They’re here to be recognized for that incredible clarity (again, by others and by themselves). Projectors are the kind of people who can walk into a situation and see what others cannot see – making them the ones who go, “Uh, yeah, there is a MUCH better way to do this.”

This becomes a problem, though, when projectors share their wisdom in a way that people didn’t ask for.

This is because if people cannot give a projector somewhere to put the energy of their wisdom (by being receptive to it), that wisdom just comes off as unsolicited advice. Which most people really hate… and causes a projector to feel the not-self theme of bitterness, because they don’t feel recognized.

To avoid this, projectors must Wait for the Invitation, or rather, recognize the right invitation.

REFLECTORS (1% of Population)

Strategy: To wait a Lunar Cycle (28 days)

Signature: Surprise

Not-Self Theme: Disappointment

Reflectors have NONE of their centers defined, and as a result, they are ultra-receptive to the energies around them.

They reflect humanity and how things are going in their environment, so whether or not reflectors are healthy is a good sign that the world is on the right path. They’re also highly chameleonic – they’re meant to change how they appear + feel, frequently!

While all the other energy types are connected to the sun, reflectors are innately connected and receptive to the power of the moon. That’s why their strategy is “to wait 28 days”… their action/decision-making process is based on the lunar cycle.

The Centers

*According to Ra Uru Hu, humans started being born with 9 chakras instead of 7 around 1781. We are supposed to be fully adapted to this new system by 2027.*

The centers in Human design are little “hubs” that regulate energy in the body – whether it’s creating energy, receiving energy, or sending energy towards a different center. They show up as the little shapes (white or colored in) in the body graph.

They also define what kind of energy type you are!

There are 9 centers in the body:

CROWN (pressure center) – Inspiration, ideas, and “shoulds.”
AJNA/THIRD EYE/MIND (awareness center) – Opinions, mental awareness, concepts.
THROAT – Manifestation, speaking, doing.
G CENTER/SELF/IDENTITY – Self, Love, Direction.
HEART (motor center) – Motivation, will power
SPLEEN (awareness center) – Intuition, fear
SOLAR PLEXUS (motor + awareness center) – Emotional wave
SACRAL (motor center) – Life force energy, creation, sexuality
ROOT (pressure + motor center) – Movement, adrenaline, stress

When a center is colored in, it is DEFINED or “CLOSED.” This means you create consistent energy here.

When a center is left uncolored, it is UNDEFINED or “OPEN.” You do not create consistent energy here. Instead, you receive and amplify energy here from people who have this center defined.

Because of this, open centers are also where we are most likely to be conditioned.

Learn more about the 9 centers here.

The Authorities

Your authority determines the best way for you to make decisions.

There are 7 authorities, each connected to a center:

SACRAL – immediate, clear-cut YES or NO from your gut in the form of excitement
SOLAR PLEXUS – Wait out your emotional highs and lows to make a decision
SPLENIC – You get snap insights. A voice that speaks to you once about something, then not again.
EGO – Heart center connected to throat. Assess by their level of desire.
THROAT/Self-projected – G Center connected to throat. Assess by sharing thoughts with others.
MENTAL – Assess by observing the environment and “calculating” an answer.
LUNAR – Let the universe bring you clarity within the 28-day lunar cycle.

Learn more about the authorities here.

Lines

The lines come from I-Ching hexagram, and they represent different energies that we can carry. They are what make up our profiles (we’ll get to that in a second).

There are 6 lines:

1 – The Investigator (AKA, the studier)

2 – The Hermit (AKA, the natural)

3 – The Martyr (AKA, the adventurer)

4 – The Opportunist (AKA, the buddy)

5 – The Heretic (AKA, the hero)

6 – The Role Model (actually, this name is already pretty spot-on)

Learn more about the profile lines + profile overall HERE.

Profiles

The profiles are sort of like your personality and how you learn, build relationships + express yourself to the world. While there is no true one archetype in Human Design – we have too many influences on our chart – this is kind of the closest thing to it!

Your profile is made up of the two most influential profile lines in your chart.

In my case, my profile is 5/1 – the Heretic Investigator.

Gates/Channels

The gates and channels hold our lessons, qualities, challenges, and gifts. They come from I Ching, and are based on life lessons that have been mapped out on the Human Design chart.

Learn more about gates and channels here.

Incarnation Crosses

The incarnation crosses represent the lifelong purpose we are here to fulfill during our time on Earth.

Learn more about your incarnation cross here.

PHEW! We’re done (for now).

If you’re a glutton for Human Design/punishment and want to go more in depth RIGHT NOW, go here.

If not, take a little time to absorb this giant chonk of information, and always feel free to come back to this.

And I’ll be right here with you!

Love + joy,

Ariana

HUMAN DESIGN 101: The Basics of Human Design