It all starts with a chart.
Your human design chart, which you can generate here for free, is the chart of who you are as an individual, a description of your unique potential here on earth. This chart describes your complex energy blueprint, which determines how you interact with others and move through life – how you think, feel, and behave. It’s the combination of your personality and unconscious self: the parts you know and those you don’t – in other words, all the aspects that make you so uniquely you.
There are others out there exactly like you, others who are far different, and a vast majority somewhere in between. It all boils down to how each person is configured to show up in life. How you’re “charted out” determines the ways in which you use energy and leave an impact on yourself, the people you meet, and the world around you.
Your chart is the sum total of what’s written into your body and mind at a sub-genetic level. And through human design, you can discover exactly why you are the way you are and open up the dazzling possibilities of what you can be.
Wouldn’t you like to know exactly what’s in your chart and what it means for you? Read on, fellow traveler…
Human design is a system of understanding yourself and others through the mechanics of differentiation.
It is a blend of ancient wisdom and alternative science, a radical way of getting to the bottom of the themes, patterns, and tendencies of human beings. “It’s all just mechanics,” as the founder of human design was fond of saying: simple energetic activations in the deep, unseen corners of ourselves.
There are eight core concepts that determine who we are, which together form the matrix of a person’s unique design. These are the gates and lines, channels and centers, energy types and profiles, strategies and decision-making authorities of human design.
Interested? We certainly were (and still are!). Let’s take a short walk through these concepts.
At the most basic level, your design is made up of themes, patterns, and tendencies.
These building blocks of who you are form the bedrock of your chart.
In the human design system, there are 64 possible themes of the human experience. These themes are called gates.
Each of the 64 gates contain six possible patterns of thought, behavior, and feelings. These are the lines of human design.
These patterns carry a certain polarity, allowing them to be expressed “this” way or “that” way. These are human tendencies, which can have profound implications for how you live out your life.
You can learn more about these concepts in our post entitled “Your Life in HD: Gates and Lines.”
On the basis of gates, lines, and polarity alone, there are over a thousand possibilities for uniqueness within anyone’s individual chart. But this is only the beginning!
Everyone’s chart has something in common.
Although most people form countless tiny habits throughout the course of their lives, two overarching patterns tower above all others. These are the “stencils” of your personality and your unconscious self, which guide the broad movements in your day-to-day existence. Together, these two patterns form your profile.
Similar to “types” in personality guides such as the Myers-Brigg and the Enneagram, the 12 archetypal profiles in the human design system describe broad ways of being human and can give you deep insight into who you are and where you’re going.
You can learn more about the concept of profile in our post entitled “Your Life in HD: Profiles.”
When two themes join together, whether within your own chart or through your interactions with other people, they form the 36 hallmarks of humanity.
These are the channels of human design, the links between fundamental aspects of ourselves. Taken together, our hallmarks define the parts of ourselves responsible for feeling, behavior, thought, and expression.
Those “parts” that are defined (or not defined) by channels are the machinery for every human process. If the human being is the whole, then there are nine fractions within it. These are the nine centers in human design, the electrochemical hubs that govern the primal functions of willpower, fitness, survival, and forward movement; and the restlessly human characteristics of expression and emotion, identity, and of thinking and making sense of the world around and within us.
When a channel links two of these centers together, a profound change occurs. Given definition, the centers consistently thrum with thematic energy and create a reliable aspect of oneself. And taken together, someone’s aspects determine their very nature.
You can learn more about channels and centers in our post entitled “Your Life in HD: Channels and Centers.”
The qualities of your nine energy centers determine the primary manner in which you interface with the universe.
This is the core of your very nature as an energetic being, what is known in human design as energy type.
Each of the eight billion human beings on earth embodies the qualities of only one of five possible energy types, so it’s one of the most fundamental and easiest to grasp elements of the human design system.
You can learn more about the five energy types in our post entitled “Your Life in HD: Energy Type.”
Your channels (or lack thereof) determine not only your energy type, but your optimal way for navigating life, which boils down to two all-important components.
The first is the most efficient pathway through which to utilize your energies in life. In the language of human design, this is one’s strategy.
The second is the innate cornerstone of your decision-making process, the deep wisdom of your body – separate from the mind – that points you in the right direction. This is your decision-making authority.
Together, there are four different strategies and seven different decision-making authorities. When you understand and follow your own strategy and decision-making authority, it will create a snowball effect of positive outcomes – no matter your age, past struggles, or current lot in life.
You can learn more about these crucial concepts in our post entitled “Your Life in HD: Strategy and Decision-Making Authority.”
Human design is an immensely rewarding system to study, experiment with, and enjoy along the way.
Yet without the right guide, it can seem like a confusing web of words, numbers, and shapes. To get the most out of your experience right out of the gates (ha!), we recommend you explore the different posts of “Your Life in HD,” which are linked throughout this introduction and below.
Beyond the basics, HD&Me offers a fantastic mix of thought-provoking blog posts, personalized products, and free resources for learning more about human design and what it means for you.
Stay curious, friends!