How to Read Your Human Design Chart

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What is Human Design?

Human Design is a wonderful new tool to help you understand who you are and to live your life authentically. 

Human Design is a synthesis of four wisdom traditions – The Chinese I’Ching, The Hindu Chakra System, Western & Eastern Astrology, and the Jewish Kabbalah –  and two cutting edge sciences – quantum physics, and the human genome. 

In the videos below, learn what knowing your Human Design can do for you, and how to read your Human Design chart. 

Human Design – The 5 Types

There are 5 Types in Human Design, and they are as follows:

Manifestors   |   Manifesting Generators   |   Generators   |   Projectors   |   Reflectors

Each Type has a role and each piece is vital to the whole of Humanity. By living your Type and Strategy, life becomes much easier and things seem to fall into place.

What do we mean by ‘Strategy’ in Human Design?

• A specific way of behaving and making a decision
• Each Type has a unique Strategy
• Strategy flows both ways
• Live Your Strategy = Live Authentically

Manifestor

Manifestors make up about 8% to 9% of the population.  They are the Creators and Initiators.  They are truly the only Type designed to go out into the world and ‘Just Do It’, the other Types must either wait to respond or wait for an invitation to act.  Manifestors have access to tremendous creative and initiating energy, yet they do not have access to sustainable energy, and so completing projects can be challenging for them.  Manifestors are most successful in the world when they are informing the people who are affected by their decisions before they act.

Keywords: Energetic, Powerful, Successful, Impulsive, Not a Team Player, Anger

Key Traits of Manifestors

On an energy level, you have a very deep impact on others, but your aura doesn’t communicate as much as the auras of other types. That’s why people often don’t know what to think about you. It creates unconscious fear in them and they try to control you from the moment you were born. This leads you to your predominant negative feeling – anger.

The secret of success for you lies in communication. The way to operate correctly for you as a Manifestor is to inform. Inform those that are going to be impacted by your actions about what you’re going to do. In this way, others will not be so intimidated by you. They may actually help you and put their energy into whatever it is that you have initiated. Then you can find what you are looking for – PEACE.

Without informing, you will get resistance every step of the way. That’s why many Manifestors, already in their childhood, resign, after being punished over and over again by parents, teachers, and others. They give up their manifesting powers and concentrate on going through life, just getting by. They may feel ignored, or like they’ve been run over by a truck. The last thing they would want to do is to inform others. Everybody else is in their way all the time, so the idea of making it easier for others by informing is unacceptable. Yet it’s the only way out of the circle of control and resistance. (While still living with parents, Manifestor’s strategy is actually different – they need to ask for permission.)

Go to sleep as soon as you begin to feel tired. You can read or watch a movie for a while before you fall asleep, but already lying down in a horizontal position. If possible, sleep alone, not in other people’s aura – you will feel the difference in you in the morning. Remember that there may be a neighbor above or behind the wall and if you’re closer then your two arm-lengths, you are still in each other’s aura.

Strategy

Inform those who will be impacted by your actions before you actually take action. This helps to eliminate outer resistance to your ideas. It is also a good idea to act in accordance to your Authority as well.

Conditioning Theme

Anger

Famous Manifestors​

Johnny Depp, Richard Burton, George W. Bush, Adolf Hitler, Frida Kahlo, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Orson Welles, and Susan Sarandon

Manifesting Generator

Manifesting Generators are similar to Generators and make up about 33% to 35% of the population. They are the consummate multi-taskers and have sustainable life force or work force energy like the Generators.  However, Manifesting Generators work fast and do things quickly and are designed to find the shortcuts to completing any task. They form a type of hybrid between Manifestors and Generators.  Manifesting Generators must also practice response to the outer world instead of purely initiating action. It serves them well to inform those affected by their decisions before taking action.

Keywords: Energetic, Self-Aware, Multi-Tasking, Impatient, Anger & Frustration, Skip Important Step

Key Traits of Manifesting Generators

A Manifesting Generator’s Sacral energy only has dedication when they are connected to what they are doing from deep within. With their natural enthusiasm, they can be vulnerable to getting locked into commitments that seemed like a good idea at the time, but that they don’t ultimately want or like. Even though a Manifesting Generator might be skilled in these areas, if they don’t have a deeper connection, at a certain point they will lose power.

If a Manifesting Generators’ Sacral energy is connected to what they are doing, they can persevere in the face of difficulties and obstacles. Finding activities they have a natural Sacral connection to will help their power grow and be expressed in a healthy way. As they find and connect to their deeper passions, dedication will lead to mastery, and mastery will lead to success and satisfaction.

Strategy

As a Generator type, Manifesting Generators must learn to wait to respond to what shows up in their outer world. This means they must refrain from taking action on thoughts, inspirations and ideas that are generated from within. When something in their outer world mirrors their inner inspirations, then they choose to act (in accordance with their Authority).

Additionally, they must learn the art of Informing in order to prevent resistance from people in their world. Informing is not asking permission, but rather it is a process of letting people know what actions they are taking before they take them.

While Manifesting Generators are waiting for something in the outer world to respond to, it is helpful if they envision what it is they desire.

Conditioning Theme

Frustration & Anger

Famous Manifesting Generators

Frederic Chopin, Marie Curie, Hillary Clinton, Clint Eastwood, Sigmund Freud, Mahatma Gandhi, Steffi Graf, Marie Antoinette, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimi Hendrix, Pope John Paul II, Janis Joplin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Nixon, Yoko Ono, Prince, Jacqueline Onassis, Martin Luther King, Vincent Van Gogh​

Generators

Generators have access to tremendous sustainable Life Force or Work Force energy, consequently, they are designed to work and are the ‘doers’ in Human Design.  However, the work that they do cannot be any kind of work.  They must find their ‘right’ work, what they are passionate about, and their aim is to master whatever it is they are working on this life.  Generators make up about 35% of the population.  Generators find the most success in life when they are acting in response to opportunities in their outer world and not from ideas or inspiration coming from within them.

Keywords: Energetic, Masters of their Craft/Work, Self-Aware, Frustration, Quit Too Soon, Can Feel Stuck

Key Traits of Generators

They might feel stuck and frustrated. Without healthy connections, obstacles can be insurmountable, and making progress becomes difficult.

Doing the things they like to do seems simple enough, but there are many external influential forces pushing for other priorities. They affect decisions. Learning to find and stand up for what feels true to them is a life long journey.

Strategy

Wait to respond to what shows up in your outer world.

Generators must learn to wait to respond to what shows up in their outer world. This means they must refrain from taking action on thoughts, inspirations and ideas that are generated from within. When something in their outer world mirrors their inner inspirations, then they can take action (in accordance with their Authority).

Conditioning Theme

Frustration

Famous Generators

Albert Einstein, Dalai Lama, Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton, Meryl Streep, John Lennon, Madonna, James Dean, Vladimir Lenin, Carl Jung, Timothy Leary, Oprah Winfrey, Meg Ryan, Greta Garbo, Margaret Thatcher, Deepak Chopra​

Projectors

Projectors are gifted managers, leaders, and guides. They make up only 20% of the population. Projectors do not have access to sustainable Life Force energy, so they are not designed to work in the world like Generators or Manifesting Generators. Although they may be conditioned to believe that they are supposed to work as the Generator types, and indeed can do so for short periods of times, Projectors simply do not have the stamina to do work that way and can do damage to their physical bodies and spirits by doing so. Projectors are also designed to enter into the big things in life (relationships, jobs, relocations) through invitation. Through the process of being invited, Projectors are guided into the right conditions to excel as the natural leaders and creators they are.

Keywords: Leadership, Intuitive, Insightful, Susceptible to Burn Out, Perceived by Others as Lazy, Bitterness

Key Traits of Projectors

If you don’t wait for an invitation or the energy of invitation, you meet resistance from those around you. To be invited means that you are seen and recognized for your value.

Projectors fear that they will not be invited. But if you follow your strategy of waiting for the invitation, what happens is that your aura’s frequency starts to change and the more you live according to your design, the more invitations you get. This will bring you success.

Projectors cannot force an invitation and you must be patient in between invitations. Once invited, you do not need to wait for any more invitations regarding whatever you were invited into (job, relationship, project). You can do anything once you are invited into something.

Projectors Energy

You may have noticed in your Human Design that some of the energy centers are white and some are colored in. The white centers are open or undefined and mean that you are absorbing the energy from around you, amplifying it and re-broadcasting it as if it were your own energy. By contrast, the colored in centers or defined centers are areas where you are broadcasting your own authentic energy.

A defining characteristic of the Projector is that the Sacral Center (2nd one from the bottom) is open or undefined. The Sacral Center is a motor and contained in it is the energy for sustainable life force energy or vitality. Projectors do not have access to sustainable life force energy and that is the primary reason that you are not here to work in the normally accepted way.

Your openness can be energetically exhausting so it is important to have your own space where you can relax. This is also why it is so important for you to only get involved in projects, jobs, relationships that you are invited into. You can simply get burned out if you are not careful.

Through your Open Centers, you take others in deeply. You take in other people’s definition and you can clearly see who they are. Your aura focuses on the very core of their being and you can recognize others. But if you try to guide others without being invited to do so, you meet resistance or feel that no one really sees you, or no one recognizes you. Out of that comes a deep feeling of bitterness, often mixed with exhaustion.

Strategy

• Your energy is not sustainable so take frequent breaks
• Because you cannot work the same way 70% of the population does, you can often be referred to as lazy…which of course, is not true!
• You need time alone to recharge your batteries
• Projectors face burnout when they try to do too many things
• You are not “Superman or Superwoman” – you are more like the Sitting Guru!

Conditioning Theme

Bitterness​

Famous Projectors

Barack Obama, Queen Elisabeth II, Mick Jagger, Joseph Stalin, Ringo Starr, Osho, Napoleon, Woody Allen, Salvador Dali, Elizabeth Taylor, Fidel Castro, James Joyce, Barbra Streisand, Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, Demi Moore, Princess Diana, Tony Blair, Ramana Maharshi, George Gurdjieff​

Reflectors

Reflectors are the rarest type in Human Design, making up less than 1% of the population. They reflect the general health of the communities in which they live. Reflectors are sensitive and unique individuals who care deeply about peace and prosperity for humanity. Reflectors have no inner authority and must wait for a full cycle of the moon, 28 days, in order to make good decisions. During this time, they are talking to people and getting their opinions and input, as a Reflector can only see the truth when reflected through others. Ideally, a Reflector would be part of every community to help guide us into healthy and supportive decisions. 

Keywords: Sensitive, Passionate, Unique, Clingy, Inconsistent, Disappointment

Key Traits of Reflectors

For you, the open G center rule – to be only in places that you like – is even more important. Then you will be with the right people and get the love you seek. Your total openness can make you at times almost invisible to others. Without knowing the mechanics of your design, you may feel deeply disappointed in life. But this very openness is a potential for great wisdom, if you learn how to work with it correctly. You are here to sample life.

To successfully apply this knowledge, Reflectors have the need to study and intellectually understand the Human Design System.

Any kind of pressure is detrimental to your health. Take your time to make important decisions and don’t let anyone pressure you.

Life for you is an impersonal experience. As you go through life, learning the truth of “this isn’t me” again and again, your greatest potential is that of complete transparency. Your openness can be energetically exhausting so it is important to have your own space where you can relax. The same advice regarding sleep applies for you as for everyone else with an undefined Sacral: go to bed as soon as you begin to feel tired and if at all possible, sleep alone.

Strategy

You are a lunar being, tied to the lunar cycle, so the strategy for you is to wait 29 days before making any major decision. During these 29 days, talk with different people about your decision – and listen to what you yourself say about it. That’s how you find something different and how you get to be SURPRISED.

Conditioning Theme

Disappointment

Famous Reflectors

H.G. Wells, Sandra Bullock, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ammaji (hugging Amma)​

Authority in Human Design

Authority – Your “Go-To” Decision-Making Tool

The primary way we make decisions in Human Design is by using our Type/Strategy. For example, if you are a Generator, you respond to what shows up in your outer world. If you are a Projector, then you are waiting for invitations, etc. Authority, gives us an edge in answering questions like, “What should I do? Or, how do I proceed?”

According to Human Design, Authority is the body intelligence we have inborn that guides us in making decisions. This requires a completely different awareness than the mind as it is not logical, and the mind may not always agree with the decisions that your body wisdom is pointing you to.  By first knowing and then using your Authority in making decisions, you learn to trust your body’s inherent wisdom.

Authority is determined by what centers are defined in your Human Design. A defined center is one that is colored in.

There are several types of Authority:  Sacral or Generated Authority, Emotional, Splenic, Ego, Self-Projected, and Mental Projected Authority. Manifestors, Generators, Manifesting Generators and Projectors all have Authority in their Designs. Reflectors have no defined centers in their design and so they do not have true Authority. They must use their Strategy in making decisions.

Sacral or Generated Authority

Only Generators or Manifesting Generators can have this type of Authority because it comes from having a defined Sacral center in the body graph. If you have Sacral Authority then decisions are made based on the Yes or No response you feel in the moment from the Sacral Center.

Splenic Authority

This could also be called “gut instinct” and means that you are meant to make decisions in the moment based on intuition. The intuitive Authority in the Spleen Center works in the moment and has to be heeded when it appears. Ignoring the information from your intuition can have serious effects. This is complicated by the fact that this type of intuition comes on strongly, but then disappears and does not return. If you don’t listen or go with your intuition, you may find yourself making the wrong decisions.

Emotional Authority

Having a defined Emotional Center in your design dramatically influences your Human Design. The decision-making strategy in the Emotional Center is about getting clarity over time. That means people with defined emotional centers cannot make spontaneous decisions, yet others will pressure you to make decisions quickly. Often, emotionally defined people will make snap decisions, then the mood changes and they find themselves committed to something that they really don’t want to do anymore. Waiting until you have emotional clarity can save you from a lot of frustration, and help you preserve your relationships with the people around you. 

Ego Authority

Only Manifestors can have Ego Authority, which means that their Authority comes from the Will or Heart Center connection to the Throat. People with Ego Authority do not need to wait for anything before they make decisions. The only thing they must do is make sure that their energy is up to the task. The energy in the Will Center works in cycles that pulse on and off. If Manifestors push through an “off” cycle, they risk burning themselves out. 

Self-Projected Authority

Only Projectors can have Self-Projected Authority. Self-Projected Authority occurs when there is a connection from the G-Center/Identity Center to the Throat Center with no other defined centers that override it. Self-Projected Authority means that you make decisions by discussing things with your close friends or family. Their responses to your ideas show you whether or not something is correct for you.

Mental Projected Authority

Only Projectors experience Mental Projected Authority. This type of Authority happens when the Ajna (2nd center from the top in the body graph) is connected to the Throat Center with no other overriding centers defined. Mental Projected Authority means that you are meant to discuss your invitations with the people around you in order to get clarity on what is right or correct for you.

When we can let go of our mind’s need to control what is going on in our outer world, the wisdom inherent in our bodies can become a very powerful decision-making tool. Knowing your Type/Strategy and Authority, helps you tune in to your personal body intelligence. Of course, like anything new, using this skill takes time and practice and also a willingness to shift your awareness. The benefits – Priceless!

9 Energy Centers

The 9 Energy Centers in the Human Design body graph show us the energies that are our own and also where we are subject to conditioning.

Notice in the graphic how some centers are colored in and some are white. The colored centers are called Defined centers. In these centers, you are broadcasting or transmitting energies which are true for you. You could say that in these centers you are being authentic. The Defined Centers have fixed, and consistent energy.

The white centers in the graphic are called Open or Undefined centers. In these centers you absorb, amplify and then re-transmit energies from in your environment. You may believe that these energies are your Truth or are really coming from you, but that is not the case. The very people in your life, through your family, workplace, school and other connections are influencing you in these centers. These are the centers where you are here to learn what is authentic to you and what is not. The Undefined or Open Centers have mutable, inconsistent energy and are dependent on mood, or environment.

Below is a graphic of the 9 Energy Centers and what they represent energetically:

Head – Center for Ideas & Inspiration (top of the chart)

Ajna – The Mind & Certainty (green triangle)

Throat – Communication, Metabolism, & Manifestation (brown square)

G-Center – Identity (yellow diamond) – this is the center for love and direction

Ego Center – Managing & Resource allocation (small white triangle on the right)

Solar Plexus – Emotions & Creativity (white triangle at lower right)

Sacral – Vitality & Life-force (white square just up from the bottom)

Spleen Center – Intuition, Time, Survival, Health (triangle at lower left)

Root Center – Stress/Adrenaline, Pressure to do (bottom square)

The Head Center

The Head Center is the first energy center and when it is defined, it is colored in yellow.

In the body, the Head Center is associated with the pineal gland. It is the center for inspiration and it is a Pressure Center. The pressure that comes through the Head Center is the pressure to answer questions – How? Why? Can you prove it?

About 30% of the population has the Head Center defined (colored in) and 70% of us are open or undefined.

The Open Head Center often feels pressured to act on their inspiration. And, because what inspires you in the moment is not what may inspire you in the next, you may appear as if you are leaping from one idea to the next or one activity to the next. The lesson of the Open Head Center is to be wise about what actually inspires you to action. Of course, you default to your Type, Strategy, and Authority to help you make correct decisions.

The Defined Head Center transmits or radiates inspiration outward to the world. These people always ask questions and search for answers. It is very important that Defined Head Centers don’t rely on the answers they receive in the Head to make decisions. There is no one on the planet who is designed to use the head as the source of decision-making! Let me say that again: there is not one human on the planet who is designed to make decisions from the Head Center, nor from the thinking process! All Authorities are lower in the body: the Identity, the Heart, the Solar Plexus, the Sacral or the Spleen.

The Ajna Center

The Ajna is the second Energy Center down from the Head Center. When it is defined, it is colored in green.

About 50% of the population is Defined and 50% Undefined. The Ajna is related to the pituitary in the body, and it is called an Awareness Center. The main activity of this center is mental processing, conceptualizing, and fact finding and association.

The Open Ajna  helps someone see many sides of situations. They are fair and open minded. A person with an Open Ajna has no one set way of thinking, and so they process information in many different ways. They are also not set in any one belief system or philosophy, so it can be difficult for them to hold onto a fixed idea. These are the people who go to conventions and workshops, get totally excited and inspired by what they learn there, and then go home and wonder why the magic disappears a few hours or days later. They are designed to be wise about what beliefs and philosophies that they are going to hold onto.

The Defined Ajna manifests as Certainty. They are very sure of their beliefs and ideas. They also have a consistent or fixed way of thinking. If they tend to be logical, they will always think logically. However, even the Defined Ajna is not designed to make decisions from here! Again, no one has Authority in the head or Ajna! In fact, we could say that no one should make decisions from above the neck!!