Human Design: How to discover the real you

In these rapidly changing times, science is uncovering more and more about the mysteries of life. Human Design is where science and spirituality come together like never before to inform you about the essence of your life. It provides a way of reading your genetic neutrino imprint, of seeing your own design.

To create the chart which will reveal your blueprint for life:

1. Install the software using the download link hosted on the website printed on the first page of this book. Open the Human Design Life Chart program, click on ‘Select a Folder’ then ‘Create Life Chart’.

2. Then enter your name, date and exact time of birth. If you don’t know your exact time, you may input 12 noon as a good estimate for now. However, to make certain you have an absolutely accurate life chart, it’s best to consult your birth certificate, hospital records or a relative to find the exact time.

3. Then click on the ‘Place’ tab and insert the country or US state followed by the city or nearest city of birth. Don’t worry about the time zone – that is automatically calculated for you.

4. When you press ‘OK’, your life chart will be created.

Staring back at you is a reflection of your inner being.

When anyone first lays eyes on a Human Design life chart, it provokes a carbon – copy reaction: a puzzled frown forms across the brow and a bewildered voice asks: ‘What – that’s me?’

Yes, that’s you, on the inside, the mechanics of your true nature laid bare on the page. All those shapes, colours, lines, symbols and numbers denote the person you were designed to be. You are looking at the very core of your being – what makes you tick, what makes you function.

The software you downloaded creates the life chart based on two factors: the first, the exact time, date and place of your birth; and the second, a separate time, which it calculates, from a moment three months before birth – the instant when the neo – cortex in the front lobe of the brain turns on and when the spirit is said to enter the body. It’s at this time that the soul ‘tunes in’ to the physical vehicle it’s been handed in life.

When you are born, a natal astrological calculation is made based on the time and place of birth and the planetary influences. Then this calculation is computed and combined with three other ancient wisdoms: the chakra system, the I Ching and the Kabbalah. All this information combines to create a life chart.

One initial question I’m often asked is: ‘Does my design ever change?’ The truth of the matter is that during the course of your life you will be exposed to, and perhaps conditioned by, almost every facet and nuance of the different designs of other people. But your design is consistent and forever remains your true foundation. It is unique and can always be relied on. There is no need to be anyone other than who you are, because you have everything you need within your design to live a complete and fulfilling life.

This understanding should remove all thoughts of wanting to change something about yourself or trying to be like someone else. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ design, no ‘better’ or ‘worse’. There is only authenticity. Once you accept that and start to be yourself, everything around you starts to become clear.

The beauty of what lies within will become clear as we examine you, stage by stage, chapter by chapter, identifying the different ingredients that fuse to create the whole person. So, in order to follow this book, keep the life chart in your hand or posted on a computer screen. I’ll be the driver, taking you on a journey. You keep your eyes on the map. Because each shape, colour, channel or number tells you so much about your inside story.

Nine Brilliant Jewels

I often tell people to imagine their Human Design as an intricate precious piece of jewellery – sheer bedazzling craftsmanship as created by the Universe.

We each have nine brilliant jewels within us, represented by the square, triangular or diamond shapes around the illustrative body. These are the nine centres that form the foundation of our design. They are known as the Crown, the Mind, the Throat, the Self, the Heart, the Spleen, the Sacral, the Emotions and the Root.

These shining stones are set within an intricate framework of 36 narrow ‘channels’. At either end of those channels are numbers denoting the 64 ‘gates’ that determine the cut and polish of the jewels.

So each Human Design life chart contains 9 centres, 36 channels and 64 gates, all with something to say about our true nature and role in life.

The nine centres are effectively chakras, energy centres which, like opening and closing valves, regulate the flow of energy throughout our being. It is not physical energy, but life – energy which has resided within us since birth. Each centre, in its own unique way, receives, assimilates, modifies and expresses this energy, turning it into a human function, perception, awareness, instinct or behaviour. It flows through us, and out of us, every second of every day, connecting us to everyone around us.

Connecting the centres is the framework of 36 channels through which the flow of energy passes. These channels, therefore, enhance, shape and modify energy into more precise qualities, traits and abilities.

At either end of each channel is a number relating to the 64 gates which represent the DNA of your true nature, the imprint left by neutrinos. Each person has the same 64 numbers in the same place – the configuration is rigid within each and every design – but some of the gates are ‘on’ and some ‘off’, creating yet more specific components of your design.

We examine all these layers further in the book, as well as the other components that make up your design. For now, just take a look at the symbols and numbers you’ll see in the top left – hand corner of your chart. You will observe many numbers in both black and pink. Each number corresponds to a gate and, therefore, a specific trait, determining whether it’s an unconscious or conscious aspect of you.

Unconscious/Conscious

One fascinating truth which emerges from a life chart is that we see in vivid detail the conscious and unconscious elements of our make – up.

The ‘conscious’ is the intentional things we act out, of which we are mostly aware. These are the awake and watchful elements of our personality and way of behaving.

The ‘unconscious’ is our hidden side – the undercurrents that influence the automatic or involuntary behaviour that shapes our character. These aspects may not be instantly recognizable to us, but will no doubt resonate with the people who observe us. Have you ever had someone say something like ‘You do that just the way your granddad did’, or ‘Your great grandmother used to say things like that’? Such statements imply that you have inherited recognizable but unconscious characteristics from various parts of your family tree.

I always say that the conscious is the tip of the iceberg, whereas the unconscious is what lies beneath the surface of our beings. Jungian analyst Gerhard Adler describes the unconscious as ‘possessing a superior knowledge of our real needs’. Psychologists and psychotherapists can spend weeks, months or years mining and analyzing the thoughts of clients to determine unconscious traits. But now, for the first time in recorded history, there is a system which, at the click of a mouse, reveals what is conscious and unconscious within each individual.

In Human Design, the term ‘unconscious’ represents our ancestral input on a soul level – the combined and collective patterns from our ancestral line, which read like a DNA of our soul. This imprinting starts inside our mother’s womb when there is no access to outside influences. All we can receive is our soul’s genetic inheritance, and that inevitably comes from our father, mother and further back in the family tree. On a biological front, we receive the genes that determine the colour of our eyes and hair, the height we’ll stand and the weight we’ll gain, plus a host of other physical characteristics. But, in a spiritual sense, the Human Design imprinting also passes down our emotional, psychological and behavioural characteristics. In some ways, we might say that the gifts, talents or issues of our ancestors are echoed in our make – up.

In some respects, this truth within Human Design echoes the theory that, somehow, the experiences of a mother and father are transmitted to their offspring, above and beyond the normal DNA syntax. According to this theory, expounded by a Frenchman called Jean – Baptiste Lamarck, children inherit the traits of parents. Once discredited, it was in fact built on by scientists in the late nineties when laboratory tests suggested that an experience felt by a pregnant mouse left a physical mark on the DNA in her eggs. It’s as if a parent’s or grandparent’s experience leaves a molecular memory in the child. This is not a mutation, but a transference that science continues to explore, fascinated by the possibility that an experience can somehow alter actual DNA.

Human Design makes it possible for you to become aware of this fascinating genetic inheritance and live a more fulfilling life by becoming aware of the unconscious influences which stir within. It is why, once acquainted with your Human Design, you may suddenly recognize unconscious traits that relatives have already observed about you.

Remember, the conscious influences stem from the exact moment of your birth; the unconscious from that moment calculated as being three months before birth. It’s at this point that your developing foetus is energetically receiving the make – up of your ancestral line.

The conscious/unconscious themes will become more apparent as we go on. For now, simply take an initial look at which parts of your life chart are conscious (black) and which are unconscious (pink). When you see striped sections of black and pink, this indicates an overlap of conscious and unconscious traits. This implies that you are actually capable of recognizing these unconscious traits in yourself.

The Planets

In the Human Design system there are 13 different influences that come to us through the placement of the sun, moon, planets and nodes at the time of our birth. It is the precise placement of the planets in the neutrino stream at that moment that determines which gates are ‘on’ and therefore which centres are defined.

On the life chart, these ‘heavenly bodies’ are indicated by the black glyphs alongside the pink and black gate numbers. Their influences, and what they bring to the table, belong in an advanced form of teaching beyond the scope of this initial grasp of Human Design. But, for your understanding of what you are seeing in that top left – hand corner matrix, I provide this symbolic outline:

The Sun

The Earth

The Moon

The North Node

The South Node

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Now, to guide you through the basics of a life chart’s structure, let’s look at an example…