Human Design Centers Guide

After writing about how I use HD for self-reflection I thought it would be a good idea to make a cheat sheet for anyone that is exploring Human Design to learn more about their energy and how to utilize it.

You can grab your HD Centers Guide here:

HD Centers Guide.pdf

Download PDF • 2.24MB

This guide comes with a cheat sheet for defined vs open centers as well as journal prompts that you can refer to when reflecting on your unique energy expressions.

I'll be making more guides in the future for your profile, energy type, and incarnation cross. So be sure to join my newsletter to stay up to date.

If you'd like a deeper look into your Human Design chart, you can click the link below to book with me.

Human Design Reading

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with love,

Talula

How I Use Human Design for Self Reflection

Human Design looks like an astrology chart on crack.

You can definitely dive into your chart yourself and figure out what everything means and take notes and do the damn thing. However, I do recommend getting a reading from someone’s energy you trust. Every reader has a unique flair with Human Design since it is such a vast pot of information.

When I look at someone else’s or my own chart, I look for points of self-reflection. How can this chart help me solidify who I am and the narratives that I hold regarding my identity?

The Energy Centers

The shapes on the body graph are the energy centers. Each energy center offers a different expression and when they are defined (colored in) that energy responds in a different way.

Here is a quick reference for the theme of each energy center:

• Head: the pressure center of inspiration

• Anja: the awareness center of conceptualization and analysis

• Throat: manifestation, communication and doing

• G: the center of identity, love, and direction

• Heart (small triangle): the motor center of ego, worth and willpower

• Solar Plexus (large triangle on right): the motor and awareness center of emotions

• Sacral (middle square): the motor center of life force and sexual energy

• Spleen (large triangle on left): the awareness center of the immune system and intuition

• Root (bottom square): the pressure and motor center of adrenaline and stress

The main thing to note about energy centers is that when they are defined, you receive a consistent energy source through that expression, which you radiate out to the world. When they are open, you absorb that energy expression from outside sources and amplify it.

Not-Self

Because you receive energy from your environment with open centers, that is typically where you will find themes for lessons in life. This is called your “Not-Self” theme, which can be expressed through any open centers on your chart, when you are not in alignment.

You can see this the easiest through the heart center. The majority of people will have an open heart center, so we don’t have consistent access to willpower (succumbing to cravings isn’t your fault, it’s human design’s). When we have that open center, our not-self theme might show up as a sensation of having to prove ourselves and our worth. This usually leads to frustration and dog-paddling energy.

With each open center, when we step into that not-self theme it can feel like pressure.

• Head: pressure to figure things out

• Anja: pressure to be certain

• Throat: pressure to be seen and heard

• G: pressure to find love or direction

• Heart (small triangle): pressure to prove your worth

• Solar Plexus (large triangle on right): pressure to avoid truth or emotion

• Sacral (middle square): pressure to work or avoid limitation

• Spleen (large triangle on left): pressure to hold onto something

• Root (bottom square): pressure to do

This is not to say having open centers is a bad thing or wrong. This is an invitation to see how the lessons in your life may have been expressed through those open centers. An open center has the potential to be our biggest strength.

Since we do not have consistent access to the energy in an open center, we have more possibility to master that energy. We get to experiment with how that energy is amplified through us and we can take that energy and show others the lessons we have learned.

I have an open G center and growing up, I constantly had this pressure to figure out my direction or to find love, to be “complete.” My energy expression went completely against the ideal in society of knowing “who we want to be when we grow up.” I wanted to be everything. I still do.

And after looking at those lessons, instead of shaming myself for all the pivoting I’ve done in this life, I get to show up fully embodying the values that I choose to hold. Through that, I get to empower others to shift their identities without fear of losing everything.

In fact, defined centers may hold most of the narratives we place upon ourselves while growing up. If someone has a defined G center, they may have been constantly told that they had to be an engineer. So they took that narrative and placed it in their center, being so sure that this is what they truly wanted. Only to find out after years of going down that path, that that was a projection placed on them and was not actually true to their identity. So what happens?

They feel stuck; like they can’t shift out of that energy because that is all they know. They held onto that energy for so long and have such consistent access to the identity energy that they don’t know how to release it.

Cue me, coming in hot like a fluid identity fairy, to show the defined G center babies how to release these narratives and move into a new, more aligned path.

Your open centers may be your biggest lessons, but they will also show you your greatest strengths.

Making it work for you

When you pull up your chart, take note of the defined vs open centers.

First, I like to look at all the open centers and ask myself what lessons are showing up from those pressures. If you have an open head center, where is your mind focused? Are you overthinking things or are you allowing inspiration to move through you? An open head center may feel pressure to make decisions through your mind, but it’s important to focus on your authority and strategy instead.

Do you feel frustration with that energy or a sense of peace? When you look and the themes of each center, you can start to identify your own patterns and how they are showing up for you.

Next, I look at all my defined centers, starting with my strengths in each. How do they show up for me? Do people gravitate towards me for this energy? Defined centers are where we “sell” from. It’s energy that naturally radiates from us and I would say a lot of people with that center open, will gravitate towards you if that center is defined.

After that, it’s time to focus on narratives. For each strength you write in that defined center, ask yourself, “Is this a narrative I naturally embodied or is this a narrative that was projected onto me from someone or something outside of me?”

You might find that some narratives feel frustrating and confining because they aren’t actually yours. You might be holding onto a fear narrative in your Spleen that your mom projected onto you when you were 10 because she was afraid of you climbing trees so now you don’t really trust your ability to climb. Speaking from experience.

Going deeper

There is so much to unpack with Human Design that it can be a lifelong tool for self-reflection and development.

If you’re not sure where to start with self-reflection, I offer Human Design readings that come with 7 days of personalized journal prompts to start you on your embodiment journey. Book Here

If you have any questions about utilizing Human Design, be sure to comment below!

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What the F*ck is Human Design?

Astrology, Enneagram, Myers-Briggs; it seems there are a lot of systems out there with the intention of telling us who we are.

And now you can add Human Design to the list.

Just kidding. Kind of.

You can most certainly get a free chart on Jovian Archive and start looking up what it means to be a Generator or a Projector, but there is SO much information in Human Design that 1) it will completely overwhelm you and 2) it will make absolutely no sense.

I like to use Human Design as an introspection toolkit. It offers me insight on how energy might show up for me and a strategy that is best for me to interact with that energy. It essentially is a magnifying glass that helps me understand the patterns that keep popping up in my life and ways to create a game plan on how to best deal with said patterns.

So What is Human Design?

Human Design is a system channeled by Ra Uru Hu. It is a blend of astrology, the I-Ching, Kabbalah and Vedic philosophy.

The empirical system holds insights to your personality, emotions and energy centers.

Yes you still put in your date, time and location of birth. But, it goes much deeper than that. It also takes account 88 days before you were born, offering more exploration into what makes you you.

And when we start to play with these insights and find ways to incorporate shifts for better alignment, we will (hopefully) end up feeling our Signature. The Signature is a sensation that occurs when we are in that alignment. Everyone has one: peace, satisfaction, success, or surprise.

In all of the hoopla that is HD, there are two main things to focus on when we first look at our chart. Energy type and authority.

Energy Type

There are five energy types in the HD system - Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector and Reflector. What your energy type does is describe the unique expression of your energy and how you interact with life. Ya know, sleeping, eating, shitting, etc.

When we optimize this energy knowledge, we will feel one of those signature sensations. When we don't optimize we might feel this sensation called the "Not-Self." A generator, for example, will feel satisfaction when in alignment, and frustration when they're not.

Each energy type also shows what strategy to best experience life. Manifestors are here "to inform," or start things. They are essentially the domino setters in the game of life. But, Generators and Man Gen's are here to respond to what is presented, and Projectors are here to wait for an invitation. If you're like me and asking "what the hell is the difference?" Generators have a infinite battery supply of energy for what lights them up, where Projectors have an ebb and flow that only lasts about 4-5 hours a day. Reflectors are also non-energy beings like Projectors and are here to reflect back the energy they experience. The true mirrors of the Universe.

All of this helps us understand why some of us can work 12 hours on a project we get really excited about while others need time to rest and will easily get burnt out if they aren't in alignment with their energy type.

Authority

The other focus is our Authority. This is how we make decisions. When looking at your chart, you'll see the energy centers (the shapes in your graph). The energy centers that are defined (filled in) are the centers from which we make our decisions.

If you're a Generator, you'll have a defined Sacral, where all that energy comes from. And so you'll either be a Sacral Authority or an Emotional Authority.

Let me back up a bit.

Have you ever experienced a little hit of intuition in your day? Where you're asked a question and you'll have an immediate response bubble up? Or you'll feel an emotion swell up in you, or have an inner knowing?

We all have intuition, but we all have a personal and unique way of experiencing it.

An Emotional Authority needs to ride that wave before saying yes or no to something where a Sacral Authority will have an immediate gut response to things.

Splenic Authority has "inner knowings," as if a voice is just speaking to you (not in the creepy way).

Ego Authority is the epitome of "follow your heart's desire." You'll have this feeling in your chest as if it is pulling you into that direction.

G-Center Authority is a bit different. You don't inward to get your answer, you speak it out. You discuss. Similarly the Mental Authority is about observing your environment, receiving feedback and then making a decision.

Lastly, there is No Inner Authority, who make their decisions best with the lunar cycle.

But, Does this Matter?

I didn't want to go into too much detail with energy type and authority, because it can get overwhelming, very quickly.

But, when you have your chart up and working with someone, it opens a portal into yourself.

The way I like to use Human Design is a tool to investigate your being and desires to help point you in the direction your energy needs to be focused. When we use something like Human Design, or Astrology, we're opening ourselves up to asking questions we might not have been open to before.

That's why I always offer personalized journal prompts with every reading; to help you dig deeper.

Even if you never touch a Human Design chart, take note of your energy. Without looking at your chart, what do you feel is your Signature sensation? It doesn't even need to be the ones we described. And then ask yourself what your Not-Self sensation is?

That question alone can shift your entire perspective. Connecting with your Not-Self theme can offer you so much insight into what is no longer aligned for you. Where you might want to expand and shift. What you are ready to leave behind.

Human Design won't predict the future. It won't tell you who you'll become or the kind of people you'll meet. But it will offer a way to analyze aspects to assist you in changing habits and outlooks to lead a happier and more fulfilled life.

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