I must admit, upon first hearing about human design, thoughts of Dolly the sheep and eugenics crept to mind. Unsure of what to think, but treading lightly I was pleasantly surprised to find nothing irksome here after all. With relief, I plunged into the deliciously satisfying world of human design.
As someone with a voracious appetite for all things astrology, human design seemed the obvious next step. Rather than being another tool for self-optimisation, human design exists to foster a greater understanding of how we were built so that we can create a kind-of user manual for how to live, dare I say it, authentically. It sits at the intersection of Kabbalah, Astrology, I Ching, Indian Chakras and Quantum Physics and has a pretty chaotic origin story.
It all started in the 80s when a guy, formerly known as Alan Krakower now Ra Uru Hu, went to Ibiza and found himself in a cabin for eight days and nights. During this time he saw ‘light beings’ and heard ‘the voice’ transmit messages to him, the ‘reluctant mystic’. The messages were to eventually form a 400 page book explaining the concept of what we now recognise as human design.
While it’s easy to be sceptical of the origin story I wouldn’t dismiss human design so quickly. Over the years it’s gained a lot of traction especially from, you guessed it, Gwyneth Paltrow but it’s a lot less woo-woo than one might assume. As it stands, human design offers a comprehensive and tailored chart, called your Body Graph which is constructed from your birthplace and time. To unpack this further I’ve enlisted some help from Emmie Rae, founder of The Daily Rest and a Human Design Reader.
How would you describe Human Design to those who haven’t heard of it before?
Human Design is a permission slip to fully own and become the person you always knew you were, but thought you shouldn’t be. What sets Human Design apart from other modalities is how practical it is. Human Design is an experiment. It’s a living, breathing practice. It’s not about fixing or giving your power away to something outside of you. It’s an unravelling. A releasing of the shoulds, the guilt, the need for external approval, and finding the way you always wanted to do life, but thought wasn’t possible, works best after all.
What are the five energy types? What are their characteristics?
There are five energy or aura types in Human Design. The Generators are the alchemists and creators. The Manifesting Generators are very non-linear and they’re here to do things in this big and unique way, The Manifestors are the fire starters and impact creators, The Projectors are the Guides and The Reflectors are the ones in the centre of it all, showing us how we’re doing so far. And this is just the beginning.
What are inner authority types?
According to Human Design, we are no longer supported by making decisions from the mind. Your inner authority is your strongest intuitive sense, or the seat of your higher self. It’s where you make your best, most aligned decisions - even if they don’t make sense in the moment.
What is a strategy? How do we implement them?
Each aura type has a strategy. Your strategy is a golden key to unlocking flow in your life instead of feeling like you’re doing all the right things, but still banging your head against a brick wall. Strategy is one of the most important elements to put into practice when working with Human Design, but it’s usually something that brings up a HUGE amount of resistance. My advice: lean into it above all else. It pays off.
Can you unpack what open centres are?
The open centres in your chart are where you have the most potential for insight and wisdom. These are the places that you can feel into and learn about others and the world we live in. It’s helpful to be aware of our open centres, as these are the places in which we can get caught up trying to be like everybody else or hold onto energy that doesn’t belong to us. We can work with simple, daily practices to decondition or empty out our open centres so they develop into portals for intuition, not overwhelm.
How has it influenced the way you live, if at all?
Human Design has completely transformed the way I move through the world, relate to others and run my business. It is a serious joy and pleasure to witness the pure magic this practice brings into my life and the lives of others every single day.
