How to Read Your Human Design Chart

A basic handy reference

Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash

The Human Design System was founded in 1992 by a mystic Ra Uru Hu who had a spontaneous channeling experience in January 1987 that lasted for eight consecutive days and nights.

Though its origins are quite mystical, the applications of Human Design are surprisingly very practical!

Many people from all over the world have been using Human Design as an ongoing tool for:

• personal growth,
• creating more aligned business systems,
• parenting their children of various ages,
• improve relationships, and
• prevent burn out.

When I first saw my Human Design chart more than four years ago, I was so fascinated by the deep insights! I got myself trained and certified as a Human Design Specialist right away.

I learned a tonne about Human Design over the past four years using a combination of studying it mentally, energetically tuning into specific gates/channels/energy centers, interviewing people to find out what it’s like to experience life through their design, and experimenting with aligning more to my design.

If you have generated your chart and are feeling overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information it contains, I hope you can refer to this article as a handy reference.

You can generate your chart for free at Genetic Matrix, by entering your date, time, and place of birth to create an accurate birth chart.

Here’s what a typical Human Design chart looks like

*Birth data is removed for privacy. Source: Genetic Matrix

Does this chart look super complicated to you?
Don’t worry, take a slow and calming breath. We can do this together!

Basic anatomy of a chart

There are three sections in a typical chart:

1. Keynotes — This is a simple table that lists out vital information about your chart.
   The most important terms to take note of are:
   Your Type and Strategy, Inner Authority, and Profile.
2. Bodygraph — this is the diagram that has 9 geometric shapes representing 9 different energy centers with various themes of processing energies.
   Every one of us will have the same 9 energy centers, but our Definition of the energy centers will be different according to our birth details.
   I will explain more about the energy centers and Definition in the next section.
3. Design and Personality columns — There are two columns of Gate numbers and planetary symbols flanking both sides of the bodygraph.
   The numbers in red represent qualities of your unconscious nature, known as Design, which is calculated approximately 88 days before the moment of your birth.
   The numbers in black represent qualities of your conscious nature, which is calculated at the moment of your birth.
   If you are a beginner, you can safely ignore these columns first and learn at a later time.

In summary, your bodygraph contains most of the information about your chart. The keynotes help to highlight critical information about your bodygraph. The Design and Personality columns help you to understand the deeper layers of your chart.

The nine energy centers

The nine geometric shapes in your bodygraph represent your energy centers. Each energy center processes various themes in your life.

Here is a diagram showing the names of the nine energy centers.

Image by Author

Here are the themes in each of the nine energy centers.

1. Head Center — Pressure Center, Inspiration
2. Ajna Center — Awareness Center, Thoughts, Ideas, Beliefs, Solutions
3. Throat Center — Manifestation, Speaking, Doing
4. Identity (G) Center — Sense of Identity, Love, Direction in Life
5. Will Center — Motor Center, Willpower, Ego
6. Emotional Solar Plexus Center — Motor and Awareness Center, Emotional Waves
7. Root Center — Pressure and Motor Center, Adrenaline, Stress
8. Spleen Center — Awareness Center, Immune System, Intuition
9. Sacral Center — Motor Center, Life Force, Sexuality

Defined VS Undefined Centers

Your Defined Centers (shown as colored) represent the energy that you radiate out into the world consistently, the aspects of your Personality that is true all the time, independent of any factors in your environment.

Your Undefined Centers (shown as white) take in and amplify energy and information from the world around you. We tend to feel more overwhelmed from varying energies that feel much more intense through our Undefined Centers.

For example (see my chart above):

• My Defined Centers are the Ajna, Throat, Identity, and Sacral.
• My Undefined Centers are the Head, Will, Emotional Solar Plexus, Root, and Spleen.

Your Type and Strategy, Inner Authority, and Profile

#1- Type and Strategy

There are five Energy Types that are determined based on how your Throat and Sacral energy centers are Defined/Undefined.

Each Energy Type has its specific Strategy, a correct way of approaching and navigating life.

Out of these five Energy Types, The Manifesting Generator and Generator types have the same main Strategy and are thus known as one Type here for simplification.

*The following descriptions are taken from the Jovian Archive website, which is the official Human Design website maintained by the founder Ra Uru Hu’s family.

Generators and Manifesting Generators — are the dominant Type on the planet, with nearly 70% of the population. They are the driving life force of the earth. Their Strategy is to respond, and through following their responses, they find satisfaction and avoid frustration. They have an open and enveloping aura and need to learn about themselves.

Projectors — are around 20% of the population. The Strategy is to wait for the Invitation to find success and avoid bitterness. They have a focused and absorbing aura and need to learn about and understand the other.

Manifestors — are about nine percent of the population. Their Strategy is to inform before they act to find peace and avoid anger. They have a closed and repelling aura and are here to understand their impact on others.

Reflectors — are without Definition and are just over one percent of the population. Their strategy is to wait for a full cycle of the moon before making decisions to find clarity, leading to a life of more surprises and less disappointment. They have a resistant and sampling aura and are learning to reflect rather than identify.

#2- Inner Authority

Our Inner Authority is a body-based knowing that precedes the cognition of the mind, and thus accessing it requires us to become more embodied and to listen better to our bodies.~ Jovian Archive

Decision-making is such a tricky process! Knowing your specific Inner Authority can help you honor the way you instinctively make the best decisions for yourself.

Almost 50% of us have Emotional Authority, which is indicated by a Defined (Colored) Emotional Solar Plexus center. People with Emotional Authority have fixed internal waves that keep oscillating between high and low moods. They need some time for their emotional waves to pass so that they have enough clarity to make better decisions for themselves.

I will be sharing more on other forms of Inner Authority in future articles.

#3- Profile

Your Profile is like a costume you wear while learning to play specific roles. By understanding your Profile, you get to appreciate how you learn and interact with people around you.

There are 12 possible Profiles in the form of fractions with Lines 1–6. Each Line represents a specific theme. The 1st Line (numerator) is part of your Personality, and the 2nd Line (denominator) shows your Design.

I will be sharing more about the various Profiles with actual case studies in future articles.

Learning about your energetic sensitivity through your chart

The connection between energetic sensitivity and the Definition of your energy centers is something I’ve learned through helping my clients, who are mostly energetically sensitive, understand more about the specific ways that they are sensitive.

Knowing which centers are Defined and which centers are Undefined in your chart is so important here!

Learning more about our Defined (colored) Centers can help us understand our sensitivity to our internal rhythms.

I have also found that our Undefined (white) Centers can help us understand how we are sensitive to other people, events, and places.

Learning about our Undefined centers can help us to self-reflect and manage our energies especially during times when we experience huge transitions and feel overwhelmed.

We also tend to be conditioned to thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and fears from our closest family and friends through our Undefined centers.

There is a lot of pain and suffering that can be released from these centers when we have more awareness about our Undefined Centers.

For example, I have 5 Undefined Centers and just knowing how I can be sensitive to external influences through so many centers helps to validate the anxiety and overwhelm I used to feel even in my everyday life.

Conclusion

I hope that this serves as a quick and easy guide for you to navigate and start to understand your Human Design chart.

If you’d like to understand more about your unique Human Design chart, do consider booking a basic Human Design chart reading with me.