Resources: Quick Start Guide
Pictured: The System Guide – Human Design, Vol. I
The Human Design System is an extensive framework of theoretical and practical knowledge that individuals can use to differentiate, self-recognize, and connect with their inner potential. The System’s ultimate goal is to help you not only think of yourself as an actual individual, but also be able to recognize and embody your natural characteristics and energies. Despite the tantalizing goals and empowerments offered by Human Design, it can more often than not prove to be too complex and daunting for novice learners or the merely curious.
This blog post aims to lessen the initial shock from this rich and detailed body of knowledge. In particular, we frame our discussion of Human Design from the perspective of a novice learner that has purchased The Energence’s comprehensive book: ‘The System Guide — Human Design’. Whether you’ve purchased the book or not, the information below may still be of use to you as it can help ground you as well as orient your exploration amidst all the jargon and knowledge within Human Design.
Begin with the Bodygraph
Although The System Guide was written and structured to be read in chapter by chapter order, not all of the information may be of initial interest or even pertinent to your unique Design. If you are not a reader that wants to read the book from cover to cover, we suggest you begin by first acquiring your Design’s chart which you can do here.
Once you have your chart, give it a look over — the bodygraph is the visualization of your natural energies, of your Design. While you may not currently understand what any of it means, you can begin to make some simple observations such as: how much of the bodygraph appears to be colored in or white, where the lines are filled in or not, and whether there are any continuous connections of color throughout it. Human Design is extensive, yet it all revolves around your bodygraph because it ultimately is a deeply, deeply personal journey of self-discovery, self-recognition, and self-actualization.
The following is a crash course in visually understanding a bodygraph:
Centers — the geometric shapes in the bodygraph that are nodes of energy within a person. If they are colored in, they are considered to be “defined” which means they both provide consistent energy and emit their associated energy to the outside world. If they are uncolored, they are considered to be undefined or wide-open, both of which receive outside energy and amplify it in different ways; they do not, however, provide an individual with consistent access to their respective energies.
Gates — these are the numbers within the centers, 0—64. Each gate represents an energetic frequency that filters the outgoing or incoming energy of a center. Gates are the fundamental component of a bodygraph that determines how the bodygraph is categorized within Human Design and its particular nuances regarding energy expression. These gates are “activated” by the celestial objects within our solar system; when they are active, they provide consistent energy to an individual’s Design.
Channels — these are the 36 or bars lines between the centers. Each channel connects two gates and requires both gates to be active in order for the channel to be activated. These energetic pathways connect the various centers together, enabling one’s internal energy to flow throughout the Design. The arrangement of energetic connections in the bodygraph determines a Design’s benefits and considerations depending on how and where they connect with one another.
Coloration — a bodygraph has two main colors: black and yellow (sometimes red). When a channel appears black in coloration, the gate or channel is said to be “unconsciously” activated. This means that the component’s associated energy themes and significance will be accessible to a person, but only in a semi-nebulous way that is often times hard to pin down. It’s like knowing something without knowing why you know it or where the knowledge came from. On the other hand, yellow coloration suggests that a bodygraph component is “consciously” activated. This means that the component’s associated energy themes and significance will be accessible to a person in a more overt way. Consciously activated aspects of a Design are typically those that a person is aware of and able to actively attribute to their personality or being. Note that components can also be colored with both black and yellow, indicating mixed-consciousness; this endows the relevant components with an aspect of each side of the activation consciousness, ultimately leading to them having a greater degree of influence or relevance within a Design.
Above: A 7-minute video explaining the most essential components and themes found within the bodygraph.
Follow Your Roadmap
The image to the left illustrates a learning roadmap, the path that a sizable portion of our readers took to guide their initial explorations of the Human Design System. While this route is not aligned with the way The System Guide was structured, it does provide a newcomer with a more customized approach. Maybe not everyone wants to first learn about how a Design is actually generated, the celestial objects involved, the science grounding the System, or other more mechanical, non-personal aspects. Sometimes people just want to get to the meat of their individuality.
Types — the largest “category” in the System, representing the five energetic modalities that optimally allow one to approach life and navigate the world. This information is generally easy to grasp, but has a high skill ceiling when correctly and consistently implementing it in life. Each Type has a corresponding Strategy that helps you correctly adhere to your Type’s optimal operation. The following is a list of each Type and their Strategy: Manifestors are meant to inform others prior to taking action, Reflectors are meant to wait a lunar cycle before making significant decisions, Projectors are meant to wait for formal invitations before committing to endeavors, and both Generators as well as Manifesting Generators are meant to respond to external prompts via their Sacral Center when navigating their life and making decisions.
Centers — the second category of interest for most people are the centers. These nine nodes of energy essentially have two overarching labels: defined or undefined/wide-open. Each center houses a particular kind of energy that is either received and amplified or emitted out into the world by you. They represent various aspects of the human condition, evolution, or psyche. While centers can easily be described to a layman, there is a great deal of nuance as to how their energies actually express based on how they connect to one another, which of their gates are activated, and more. Following the Types, centers provide a newcomer with juicy information regarding their Design’s particular considerations, energies, and attributes which naturally leads them to exploring the next topic.
3. Circuitry — this concept covers the components of a bodygraph that are not centers: gates and channels. For the majority of Human Design followers, circuitry provides the most nuance and complexity when interpreting a Design. The great number of potential connections and combinations between all the gates and channels, along with their even more intricate sub-structures, creates the vast uniqueness and differentiation within Human Design. This section typically captivated readers the most as it not only has the most content, but also the most variety when interpreting it within your Design. It includes all 64 gates and 36 channels, is affected by the kind of consciousness activation, as well as the kind of planetary activation involved.
4. Authorities — Authorities are the counterparts to Strategies in a Design. Unlike Strategy that depends entirely on your Type, Authority can vary and is instead determined by Design’s definition — where the bodybgraph is defined and where it is not. There are eight Authorities within Human Design, each functioning as an optimal decision-making process that is in line with your Design’s natural energetics. Some Authorities require you to take as much time when making decisions, others prompt you to make decisions in the moment, while others reinforce a Type’s Strategy as their guiding mechanic and decision-making tool. Authority is critical to understand as both Strategy and Authority are the two tools all humans must use to help orient their lives along the System’s knowledge and discovery what is authentic to them as individuals and what is merely social conditioning.
5. Profiles — this is the “costume” of your life, the two roles that describe your conscious and unconscious behavioral tendencies or parameters. While Human Design as a whole orients itself around the concept of duality, the Profiles are the most dualistic component and are established by your Design’s Sun placements. There are six roles (1st Line Investigator, 2nd Line Hermit, 3rd Line Martyr, 4th Line Opportunist, 5th Line Heretic, and 6th Line Role Model) that are combined into twelve Profiles. These six roles or Lines are associated with the I Ching’s hexagram symbols. Each one represents a particular archetype of behavior as well as metaphysical, energetic expression. Profiles express very differently depending on which Lines are combined and which line is conscious and which is unconscious.
6. Incarnation Cross — this is a more advanced component of your Design, encapsulating your life’s overall purpose and destiny. An Incarnation Cross describes the vague sense of where your life is meant to go, what you’re meant to pursue, and how your Design’s energies may culminate in the world. Human Design’s founder, Ra Uru Hu, described it as life’s “job description” and the “framework” of one’s purpose. A Cross is established by the four gates activated by one’s conscious and unconscious Sun and Earth placements. Each Cross falls under one of four Quarters on the astrological wheel that each describe one particular aspect of existence’s unified nature, the cycle of life and change within the universe.
7. Advanced Mechanics — this category covers all the most esoteric and intricate of the Human Design System’s components and teachings. Life Markers, Variables, Sub-structures, the planetary transits, as well as exaltations and detriments are all concepts that fall under this umbrella term. These concepts are crucial in fully comprehending your Design, but they almost certainly will confuse rather than enlighten novice learners due to the level of outright complexity of their function in addition to the amount of interdependence with other components they possess.
Choose Your Journey
Regardless of whether you’ve elected to purchase The System Guide or not, chosen to follow our roadmap or another, you should always seek out what resonates with you above all. Learning and practicing Human Design is a deeply, deeply personal experience as well as a journey meant to last years, if not a lifetime.
Learning flourishes best when the student has a passion or interest in the subject material. Let your interests guide your learning, let the knowledge of the System call to you. One key lesson in Human Design is to follow your natural, energetic inclinations and not let your mind second-guess you. However, there is something to be said about covering the fundamentals, and not jumping straight into the deep end before you learn to swim.
No matter how you go about studying and learning Human Design, allow yourself patience and practice self-love. You are taking your first steps into a life of less resistance and greater fulfillment. It is not always an easy journey, requiring dedication and diligence. Human Design involves destiny as much as choice — you came to this knowledge by destiny and it’s your true authenticity laid bare, but it requires you to actively choose to continue with it. We at The Energence wish you a wonderful journey with the priceless System.
To download our Quick Start Guide, click here.