Human Design explained — what it is and how to use it.

November 27, 2023

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Human Design is a self-discovery system that helps you remember who you came here to be.

Umm…What’s That?

The first time I looked up my Human Design chart I was confused.

I saw a silhouette of a person with lines and numbers all over it (the Human Design bodygraph) and read that my energy type was a “projector.”

My conditioning immediately kicked in. I was aware that “projecting” on others was negative psychological behaviour.

I closed the webpage, deciding Human Design wasn’t for me.

But the Universe continued to bring it back into my awareness.

And I began researching it. Really researching it. Which led to hundreds of hours of independent study, advanced courses, a certification, a completely expanded and transformed mindset — and an understanding of what a human design “projector” really means.

Here’s an overview of the system and what it can teach you about yourself.

Human Design Explained

Human design is a self-discovery system used to explore your unique blueprint.

It unifies ancient wisdom (astrology, I’Ching, the chakra system, the Tree of Life) and aspects of modern science to shed light on:

your life theme
opportunities for growth and expansion
Your unique gifts/innate qualities
how you relate to, and exchange energy with, others
your communication style
your creativity
your energy level
the best way to make decisions
the way you learn
what dims your light
your motivation
what you need to decondition/deprogram
your emotional reactivity
your preferred environment
how to get unstuck & move forward
Etc.

Related Post: How to Read Your Human Design Chart

Where to Find Your Human Design Chart

You can get your free personalized Human Design chart here.

Your Unique Energetic Blueprint

Human Design provides you with an energetic blueprint called the Bodygraph chart.

Human Design Bodygraph Chart including all planets, gates, and centers.

The Bodygraph is made up of many parts that reveal your:

Energy type and strategy — The way your energy field/aura interacts with the world.

Profile — The way you relate to yourself and others.

Authority — Your decision-making tool.

Centers — Where you absorb or give energy.

Gates — Activations of specific gifts and themes.

Planets — The astrological influence over your activated gates 3 months before birth (Design) and the time of birth (Personality).

Channels — Connecting gates and lines of communication between energy centers.

Incarnation cross — Your life theme.

Definition — The way you process information.

Variables — Your learning, digestion, and environmental preferences as well as manifestation style.

Learn how to read key areas of your chart here.

Human Design vs. Astrology

Astrology is a part of the Human Design system but Human Design isn’t astrology.

Like astrology, Human Design has transits that affect the collective.

Unlike astrology, it takes into account where the planets were 3 months before your birth (called your Design) as well as at the time of your birth (called your Personality). Your Design planets often play more of an unconscious role in your life and your Personality planets often play more of a conscious role.

Also, the Human Design meaning of each planet can be slightly different than the astrological meaning.

Learn more about 1:1 Human Design Readings with me.

How to Use Human Design to Up-Level Your Life

Decision-making

Understanding your design helps you bypass the monkey mind and tap into your Authority (your inner knowing and awareness — more about it here) to make aligned and beneficial decisions.

Discovering your gifts

Each of your defined (coloured in) gates (numbers) represent an innate quality (or gift) that consistently flavours your life experience, and is part of your evolutionary path in this lifetime.

Interacting with others

When comparing your chart with the charts of your loved ones, you can see where you compliment each other and where you may trigger or provoke each other.

You can also see how your communication and emotional styles vary.

This knowledge brings a great level of understanding and compassion to relationships.

Deconditioning

When you realize the potential of your gifts by understanding your chart, you can clearly see which ones you aren’t tapping into due to conditioning (negative/untrue beliefs). And once you recognize that conditioning, you can work to clear it (psst … I believe about 80% of the work is done just by becoming aware of it).

Greater Self-Love

When you understand the fullness of your expression, your emotional reactivity, your conditioning, and your energetic needs, the critic inside naturally quiets down.

It realizes you’ve been who you were designed to be all along, there’s nothing wrong with you, and that you’re loveable just the way you are.

Related Post: How to Read Your Human Design Chart

What Human Design is Not

Human Design isn’t a religion or dogmatic practice.

It’s a practical system of understanding that doesn’t ask you to take any aspect of it as “truth.”

In fact, the originator of Human Design (Ra Uru Hu) described it as an experiment: a way to test the mechanics of your nature and evolving consciousness. He invited people to explore it themselves and see what works for them.

Human Design is not a labeling system.

You’re not your energy type, your defined centers, or your gates. You’re what you do with them.

It’s not meant to put you in a category or a box. We have every aspect and every potential of the Human Design chart in our fields at all times. It’s just that certain aspects are more consistent than others, and we can learn to work with that energy to create a more fulfilling and easeful life.

Human Design is not a predictive tool.

We know when certain transits will happen (when the planets move into particular gates — similar to astrology). And we know how those gates can activate us. But that’s a prediction of the energetic climate.

How it affects us will have to do with the decisions, the situations, the mindset, and the environment we find ourselves in at that time.

And our particular charts show us our gifts and potential areas of growth and transformation, but how that growth unfolds is up to us.

Who Created Human Design?

The system is a synthesis of several existing ancient teachings and practices as well as modern physics, but it was brought together by Ra Uru Hu who received the knowledge of the Human Design System during a mystical experience. He devoted the last 25 years of his life to sharing this knowledge.