Human Design combines astrological, kabbalistic, I Ching and quantum physics principles into a unique self-discovery system. Based on your exact date, time and place of birth, your Body Graph is generated showing: type (Generator, Manifestor, Projector, Reflector), strategy and authority, defined and undefined centers, profiles and incarnation cross. The analysis explains the optimal way of making decisions, interacting with others and life purpose.
Where it comes from
Human Design was created by Alan Krakower, who published as Ra Uru Hu, after an experience he described in Ibiza in 1987. It combines four existing systems into one diagram: the astrological chart, the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching, the ten sefirot of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and the seven chakras. It is a recent synthesis, roughly forty years old, and it presents itself as a system to be tested by the individual rather than believed.
How the method works
A chart is calculated from birth date, time and place, twice: once for the moment of birth and once for a point about eighty-eight days earlier. Nine centres are shown as defined or undefined. The pattern of definition gives a type — Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector or Reflector — and each type has a strategy and an authority, meaning a recommended way of making decisions. Defined centres are read as consistent, undefined ones as where you take in and amplify what is around you.
What a reading covers
A reading gives your type, strategy and authority, the defined and undefined centres, the profile numbers, and the channels and gates that are active. The practical part is the decision-making strategy, which is what the system is mostly used for.
Common questions
- Do I need an exact birth time?
- Yes, more than for most systems. The gates change quickly, and an hour of error can alter the type itself.
- Is it astrology?
- It uses astrological positions as input but reads them through a different structure. Someone familiar with their natal chart will not recognise much of the vocabulary.
- What is the eighty-eight day calculation for?
- It marks the point where the foetal nervous system is considered to form in the system's own account. It produces the second set of values shown in a different colour on the chart.