Human Design: How to discover the real you

Allow Me to Introduce… Prince Harry.

Please meet Prince Harry of England, the second son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. He was born on 15 September 1984 at 16.20 GMT in London. You’ll observe that the software has calculated 15 June 1984 as a period approximately three months before his birth.

These two dates have created the two columns titled ‘unconscious’ (in pink) and ‘conscious’ (black). In these columns, you’ll note the gate numbers, to be examined later.

All the information in the right – hand column is colour – coded black, relating to the moment of birth. These are the aspects that are conscious – sometimes called ‘personality’ information.

All the information in the left – hand column is colour – coded pink, relating to that time approximately three months before birth. These represent the unconscious side and his genetic inheritance.

Note that one square centre is red. From that centre’s right side, you’ll see a narrow channel coloured black leading to the brown triangle centre on the far right. On either end of this connected channel are the gates 59–6. The meanings of this are incidental at this stage. What matters is that you note the distinction between a centre defined in colour and a centre which is white and therefore undefined.

Also note the distinction between a fully coloured channel, which is active, and one which is white or half – coloured and is, therefore, inactive.

It takes just one full channel activation to turn on the connecting centres. For example, in Prince Harry’s chart, the active 59–6 channel defines both the Sacral centre (red) and the Emotions centre (brown).

To recap: a centre is defined in colour, depending on whether a connecting channel is active or non – active.

You are now armed with the rudimentary basics of what constitutes a Human Design life chart. I’ve mapped out the road ahead. Now, let the journey – and the fun – begin.

2 The Energy Within (#ulink_db954524-9901-51ef-9f8d-31ccc3fa58fc)

The Nine Centres

‘Finally, someone has explained what it’s all about – who I am, the way I am, and what to do about it.’

Rob, London, UK

Life is one long sequence of sometimes dramatic events and introductions. Our days ebb and flow with actions and reactions, meetings and greetings, and it is the nine Human Design centres that assimilate and distribute life – energy around our physical body to determine how we interact with each other. These energies within are what build the foundations of our true nature.

Whilst the centres have familiar names such as Spleen, Heart or Throat, they are not physical things but internal zones which correspond with the way we function. So your life chart is a map of your ‘energy body’ as opposed to your physical body. In this respect, it is not dissimilar to the chakra system.

The crucial thing to understand is that each centre ‘communicates’ and crosses over with the designs of other people, meshing together in a daily dance and influencing all our interactions on a moment – by – moment basis. These invisible energies are forever interweaving by simply being in the same room as someone else. So, on the surface, our eyes and mouths may well be doing all the obvious communicating, but it’s the powerful undercurrents of the nine centres that are doing the real work, pulling our strings on a deep bio – energetic level.

In a basic example, a man could be standing in a room with a woman and their respective energies will interact, drawing them together. You’ll be familiar with that feeling when you’ve been pulled towards someone and yet have no idea why. Or there’s something about someone that unsettles you. That ‘something’ is the energy at work within different centres.

Your Human Design, therefore, is always affected by the energies of those with whom you engage in love, business or friendship. It is a system which is interconnected, like humanity itself.

Once you understand how different designs interface, engage and communicate, you’re better able to understand the dynamics and undercurrents running beneath all relationships and associations. It is basic quantum physics – the fact that everything in the Universe consists of vibrations and energy and that we are an integral part of that same energy. I’m not going to indulge in such complexities in this book. All that needs to be understood is something which is supported by science – that the nine centres of the Human Design system interface between the Universe’s energy and the energy within all of us, translating it into individual functions and expressions.

Defined or Undefined

Knowledge of the workings of the nine centres will help you understand what happens within you on a daily basis, but the first thing you need to find out is: are you defined or undefined?

Take a look at your life chart.

If a centre is defined with colour, it indicates a function or tendency that is fixed and consistent. These aspects are set in stone, a constant part of you. They are the part of your being that you can always count on – energy that’s available to be harnessed 24/7.

If a centre is undefined and white, it means that its specific energy is not consistent, making this part of you malleable and flexible. This means you’re open to the influence of those who do have this centre defined. When in their company, you effectively adopt their energy and may be swayed or conditioned by it. This is what we call a ‘conditioning influence’.

But this doesn’t mean you’re a helpless puppet. Instead of absorbing that energy, you can learn to recognize what’s happening, how your undefined centre is being engaged, and say to yourself: ‘This influence is not me, it’s them.’ This will allow you to stand back and adopt a detached objectivity, transforming such an influence into what we call ‘impassive wisdom’. That wisdom allows you, as an uninvolved observer, to reflect back what you are witnessing, allowing the other person to see the wood for the trees. This is why the white centres provide an opportunity for the exchange of considered reflection, comprehension and insight.

Please don’t think that not much is going on in your life chart if it’s not awash with colour. If anything, it makes you more empathic, flexible and less fixed than someone with a more colourful chart.

So, to recap: a defined centre has fixed traits and functions. An undefined centre has qualities that will be intermittent, coming and going depending on what other ‘designs’ are around you.

It is worth knowing that each centre also relates to a bodily organ or gland within us, thereby playing a part in our well – being. When living true to your design, you attune to your body’s needs on physical, mental and emotional levels. When you fall out of synch with your design, or go against your nature, you can become susceptible to physical discomfort or illness. Resistance to a centre’s energy can, therefore, have an adverse effect on the corresponding organ or gland.

THE NINE CENTRES

The Crown

Inspiration

Sitting at the top of the head is the triangle of the Crown. Kings and queens have always worn crowns to denote an attunement to a higher way of thinking. It is no surprise, therefore, that in Human Design terms, the Crown is the centre of inspiration, and the triangle’s peak could well be interpreted as the antennae’s receptor for the body, receiving inspiration from above. This is the centre from which truth, doubt and possibilities can emerge.

The Crown is unique because it is linked to only one other centre, the Mind, where it downloads inspiration to be mentally processed. It is one of two ‘pressure centres’ and its applied pressure is to find meaning in life. Whenever you feel a strain to get your head around something, you’re feeling the pressure of the Crown. Or, put another way, the urgency of a problem searching for an answer.

Anatomically, this centre relates to the pineal gland, a little – known gland about the size of a pea which sits in the middle of the brain. It relates to melatonin levels, suggesting we are either ‘awake’ or ‘asleep’ in life, either inspired or not.

If your Crown is defined

Rattle, rattle, rattle goes your head, pondering all sorts of ideas, truths, doubts and possibilities. I suspect you catch yourself saying, ‘I don’t know where the inspiration comes from – it just does!’

When the Crown is defined, it follows that the Mind will be also. The Crown can only be defined through its link to the Mind, meaning you’re someone who is always thinking, reviewing and searching for exciting insights and fresh realizations. You can be of high intellect but need to understand that intellect and intelligence are not one and the same, because you must learn how to use that intellect. That’s why the CIA should be called the Central Intellect Agency, because until its agents actually think outside the box and process the facts, figures, data and tips, it cannot become intelligence.

If you have the Crown defined, you’ll intrigue others with your mentally active way. That’s because you induce deep thought with your take on the world. This can mean you’re either received as scintillating company or regarded as dull as ditchwater, dependent on how you put yourself across.

The Crown is one place where the sense of spirit can be found within you, whispering, wanting to be heard. It is the nature of the Crown to handle lofty concepts and this can, sometimes, lead to great stress about how to make these concepts practical or communicate them to others in a coherent manner. There is a deep – seated need to understand and explain everything, which, if unchecked, has the potential to send even you round the bend. I always say it can be mentally exhausting to have the Crown defined, and yet highly rewarding when inspiration leads to satisfaction.

If your Crown is undefined

You are open to all sorts of inspirations that seem to pop into your head at odd times. Wherever you go, you find inspiration in all sorts of different company and situations, because you’re open to the conditioning of other designs. This is why you love to immerse yourself in inspiring environments such as art galleries and movie theatres and connect with artistic people. You yearn to be inspired in this way.

This can, however, leave your head spinning with a kaleidoscope of thoughts and inspirations triggered by other people. The risk here is that you’ll be so influenced by other people’s thoughts, issues and puzzles that you’ll act on them. People can end up carrying someone else’s flag their whole life and living in someone else’s shadow. Ask yourself this question: ‘Why do I spend so much time thinking about the dilemmas or ideas of others?’

Refuse to get caught up in the highbrow conceptualizing flooding your Crown from outside designs and allow your centre to act as a receiving dish to the thoughts of others. This is how you turn a conditioning influence into the impassive wisdom that will give you the objectivity to untangle others’ convoluted thought streams and convey them with clarity. An example would be a student understanding a professor’s complex take on a subject and writing it out in a more simple way.

Remain wary about committing to flash – in – the – pan inspirations which can be a waste of energy. Use this openness to remain wise.

The Mind

Thinking

The Mind distils information being pumped in from the Crown and is always filtering and rationalizing to reach an understanding. It’s as if the Crown pressurizes it, saying, ‘Work it out, work it out, work it out.’

As one of our three ‘awareness’ centres, the Mind is in a permanent state of ‘work in progress’. Worries and agitations can fester within this centre. The Mind can trap deep thinkers into an endless loop because the mental wheels never cease as it ponders the past and attempts to relate to the present and future.

This centre relates to the pituitary gland, which is located in the front of the brain. Eastern cultures refer to this gland as ‘the third eye’ or as ‘the mystical eye of knowledge’. It is no surprise, therefore, to see it associated with a centre which interprets inspiration to make you ‘see’ something you need to learn or grasp.