What is Human Design? 

by Pierre Wittmann

Human Design is a new science that was revealed in 1987 to a Canadian scientist, who was living at the time as a hermit on the island of Ibiza in Spain. After this experience, he has been called Ra Uru Hu and has taught Human Design throughout the world until his death in 2011. 

Human Design is based on the one hand on the latest discoveries of genetics and quantum physics, and on the other hand on the ancient teachings of astrology, of the I Ching (the Chinese book of changes), and of the Indian chakra system. The amalgam of these different kinds of knowledge that do not seem to relate to each other, make up a very complex system that challenges any rational mind called Human Design.

Neutrinos and our genetic code

Neutrinos are tiny sub-atomic particles sent out by the stars (and in particular by our sun) that cross the universe carrying information. These particles would be the equivalent in modern science to that which the ancients called ether, prana or chi. They move at a speed close to the speed of light, but are not however pure energy: they have mass, and they go through everything that they meet on their way. They act as a network of communication between all parts of the universe. According to Human Design, it is the flux of neutrinos that imprints uniquely the genetic code of every individual.

The bodygraph 

Our genetic code, our design, can be represented by a diagram, the bodygraph, which is a symbolic picture of what we really are. It is us! The bodygraph includes nine centres that correspond to our chakras. Every centre has a certain number of gates joined two by two by channels that connect the centres together. Every gate represents a particular domain of our personality, and every channel a particular aspect of our human functioning. When two gates, named harmonic, that are situated at both ends of one channel are activated, this channel, as well as the two centres that it connects, are defined, and appear in colour on the bodygraph. The defined centres are well structured, and function permanently in a fixed and reliable manner. The undefined centres, shown as white on the bodygraph, are our openings to the conditioning of our environment and to our relationship with others.

Calculating the bodygraph

To calculate the bodygraph, the circular arrangement of the I Ching hexagrams assigned to Fu Xi is placed around the zodiacal circle. The date, the place and the precise time of birth determine the positions of the planets, first at the time of birth and then 88 solar degrees before birth, the moment when, according to Human Design, the personality enters the foetus (Human Design uniquely takes into account two sets of planetary positions). The hexagrams of the I Ching placed in front of these positions activate the corresponding gates on the bodygraph.

Our activations show us who we are 

In each person's design, the planetary positions only activate about twenty gates from a total of 64 that constitute the complete archetypal genetic code of the human being. This means that in each of us only some of the potential capacities of a human being are activated. This limited number of activations determines our very particular and unique personality, and explains why we are all different! Note that researchers are presently attempting to establish a link between the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching and the 64 codons of the human genome. 

The fact that only some of the human capacities are activated in us doesn't mean that we don't have access to the others. They are not permanently active, but we can experiment with them all at particular moments in our life, either in our relationships with those who have these predispositions activated, or during the periods when the planets activate the corresponding gates while passing in front of the hexagrams that represent them. The transit of the Moon in front of a hexagram lasts about ten hours, the transit of the Sun six days and the transit of Pluto more than one year. The transits are collective phenomena that affect all beings on the planet at the same time. 

The missing activations and our connections with others 

Human Design shows us our predispositions, and also those of our partners, our children, our friends, our colleagues. A comparative reading of the designs of two people unveils the nature and the particularities of their relationship. We will notice that we are attracted to the people who have the activations that are lacking in us, those that complete our channels and our circuits. Human beings are not designed to live and to function alone, but fulfil themselves in their interactions with their fellows. And, genetically, it is the union of two different and complementary beings that is the most favourable to the evolution of the species.

The Human Design System explains what differentiates us, and also what connects us to other people. The centres, gates and channels that are white on our bodygraph are the open domains that are not activated in our design. These are the domains where we tend to be conditioned and influenced by others. We live the experiences of others, we identify with them, and have the feeling that we are not ourselves anymore, but victims of energies that we cannot control.

On the other hand, if we don't identify with the experiences of others, we can take advantage of these openings to live all kinds of new experiences and to discover the multiple facets of human nature. It is these openings that allow our evolution on the path to freedom and wisdom.

The harmonious working of life

Every cell of our body does its particular work so that our whole body functions harmoniously. In the same way, we each have a very particular role to play in the harmonious working of society, of the planet, of the universe. This role is simply to be ourselves, to live our design, by placing our capacities in the service of others. We will notice that our role is precisely the one we have always dreamed of, to do what we love best, simply to express our talents!

The functioning of human beings 

Human Design shows us how we function in our individual behaviours, and also in our interrelations within the tribe (our family or community) and within society as a whole, it shows us our capacities, how to use them and to enhance them, and also our deficiencies, and how to counteract them efficiently by collaborating with others. We are not designed to be what we are not, we have to leave that to others, but to be fully ourselves, unique and different from others. 

When everyone is in the right place and participates in the flux of life, everything functions harmoniously, without effort and without problems. But when we try to be what we are not, in spite of a lot of effort and difficulty, nothing functions as we would like. To be ourselves is not easy, because since our childhood we have been conditioned to be what we are not, by our parents, by our education, by our friends, by society and its political and economic imperatives.

Knowing how to make good decisions

Human Design also teaches us to make the decisions that are good for us. The majority of us are not designed to act spontaneously on our own initiative, but to wait to respond to an incitement, a request or even a formal invitation before getting into an action, an enterprise or a relationship. We thus avoid difficulties, obstacles, failures, and at the same time frustration, bitterness, anger, seemingly unavoidable ingredients of our daily life.

Like the I Ching that counsels us to adopt a yin attitude rather than a yang attitude twice as often, Human Design recommends patience in most cases. The right action, dear to Buddhists, will appear when we know how to wait for the appropriate time. This always leads us along the good path, the path of harmony with others and with the universe.

Strategies, authorities and deconditioning  

Human Design clearly shows, for each of us, the appropriate strategies to manage our life and our relationships, and what is, in us, a reliable authority that we need to listen to in order to make decisions and to enter correctly into any activity or relationship. And this authority is never, never, our mind!  

From the day we discover our design, what we really are, we can begin to decondition ourselves, to abandon the old strategies learned in our childhood that never functioned, and to stop obeying our inner authorities that had always led us to suffering and disillusion.

Shadows, gifts and siddhis

Richard Rudd, in his book Gene Keys, Unlocking the Higher Purpose Hidden in your DNA,  explains that the domain of our personality that is symbolized by a hexagram has three different aspects that represent three fundamental attitudes.  One attitude is the attitude of negativity, the shadow, the attitude of the victim, which we adopt when we don't follow the advice and the strategies of our design. Another is the attitude of positivity, the gift, the attitude of a seeker on the path, that we adopt when we live our design. The third is an attitude of awakening, the siddhi, the attitude of the Accomplished Being who has transcended the duality of the other two. 

Let's take hexagram 6, Conflict, as an example. When gate 6 is activated in our design, it means that we tend to find ourselves, or to put ourselves, in situations of conflict. The negative attitude, the shadow, if it is introverted will be an anguished, finicky, quibbling attitude, and, if it is extroverted, a clumsy, disagreeable, aggressive attitude. The positive attitude, the gift, is a flexible, diplomatic, conciliatory attitude. The siddhi, the awakened consciousness, appears when Accomplished Beings put their gift for mediation in the service of others. This is absence of conflict, peace that they radiate around them. 

The first stage is to recognize our personality's negative aspects, our shadows, and how they imprison us in the position of the victim, and then to accept them as something that belongs to us. From the acceptance of our shadows, we can begin to change our attitudes by living our design, and developing our positive aspects, our gifts. When we fully live our gifts and put them in the service of others, the siddhis appear spontaneously. 

Accepting who we are, the secret of harmonious life 

To live our design means to be ourselves and to completely accept who we are. To be ourselves means to function in a healthy and harmonious way and to understand that we have incarnated on this planet with the gifts that are ours to live them out and to put them in the service of our environment, our dear ones, of society, of the universe. This is the secret of harmonious life. 

To know if we are really living our design, here is a decisive test. Ask yourself this question: “Is there something in my life that I would like to change?" Until we can answer “No” to this question, we are not living our design completely. We are still responding to conditioning and are not accepting all the aspects of our personality. But do not get discouraged. Seven years are necessary to integrate the teaching of Human Design, to decondition ourselves completely and to live our design at 100%. And the process of transformation begins on the first day!

For a detailed description of the Human Design Sessions, please consult: 

The Sessions