When you start exploring the world of Human Design, hands down one of the most confusing parts is the terminology.

Most of the words and phrases don’t make intuitive or logical sense unless you already have a background in Human Design.

In this post, we’re going to demystify the most common Human Design terms and highlight what each piece of the Human Design puzzle can tell you about yourself or your coaching clients.

But before we start breaking down the HD terminology, here’s a look at the Human Design “chart”—aka the BodyGraph:

Human Design Terminology 101

Here are eight key terms within the Human Design system and what they actually are:

(Energy) Type

Your Type stems from your unique energetic nature or aura. There are four Types in Human Design:

1. Manifestor
2. Generator
3. Projector
4. Reflector

There is also a sub-type of the Generator known as the Manifesting Generator.

Think of these Types as like the four Houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin. Students sorted into each House have very specific traits and characteristics, right? Gryffindors are brave and bold while Slytherins are cunning and ambitious.

Similarly, each of the four Human Design Types has a unique set of personality traits, strengths, skills, and potential weaknesses. Each Type is designed to move through the world and interact with other people in a unique way, and each has a unique role to play within the collective.

If you’re a coach who wants to learn how to coach your clients more powerfully based on their Type, click the image below to download your free guide:

Strategy

Each of the four Types has a corresponding Strategy.

Your Strategy is a set of guidelines for moving through life in a way that reduces resistance and creates more ease and flow. When you follow your Strategy, life feels a lot easier and your interactions with other people are smoother and more productive.

Here are the Strategies for each Type:

Manifestor: To Inform

Generator (and Mani-Gen): To Respond

Projector: To Wait for the Invitation

Reflector: To Wait a Lunar Cycle

Authority

Authority is all about your decision-making process. I like to think of it as your unique form of intuition. We all have intuition or “inner wisdom”, but the way we access and experience our intuition can differ from person to person..

There are seven possible Authorities you can have:

1. Emotional
2. Sacral
3. Splenic
4. Heart/Ego
5. Self
6. Mental
7. Lunar

Click here for a full breakdown of all seven Authorities, plus how to use Authority as a powerful tool with your coaching clients.

Profile

Your profile will be compromised of two numbers that range from 1 to 6. Each number represents an archetype that you are embodying in this lifetime, a “role” you came to play.

The names of the six archetypes are as follows:

1: The Investigator

2: The Hermit/Natural

3: The Martyr

4: The Opportunist

5: The Heretic

6: The Role Model

Energy Centers

Within the Human Design BodyGraph there are nine Energy Centers. Each Center is a hub of energy within the body that governs certain types of energy. As energy flows through the BodyGraph on its journey to the Throat Center (where all energy is attempting to move towards so that it can be express or acted on), it is transformed and transmuted by each Center.

Here are some of the themes and energies governed by each Center:

• Root Center: Ambition, Stress, Adrenaline, the Pressure to “Do”
• Sacral Center: Creativity, Life-Force Energy, Sexuality
• Spleen Center: Survival instinct, Intuition, Health & Wellbeing, Spontaneity
• Solar Plexus Center: Emotions, Moods, Passion, Desire
• G Center: Identity, Life Path, Self-Love
• Heart/Ego Center: Willpower, Self-Esteem, Competitiveness
• Throat Center: Communication, Manifestation
• Ajna/Mind Center: Mental Processing, Answers, Opinions
• Head/Crown Center: Conceptualizing, Ideas, Questions, Mental Pressure

Incarnation Cross

Your Incarnation Cross is a very unique part of your Human Design, as it relates to your life path and purpose. It’s not always something you automatically fall into naturally, but rather something you grow and evolve into throughout your life as you live in alignment with your energetic design.

Your Incarnation Cross is composed from the four most important Gates in your Human Design chart: Your Conscious Sun and Earth Gates, and your Unconscious Sun and Earth Gates. There are 192 possible Incarnation Crosses, so this is a highly personal thing!

Gates

Speaking of Gates, there are 64 total Gates in the Human Design BodyGraph. Each of us has roughly 15-20 of these Gates activated (or “defined”) within our chart.

Each Gate correlates to specific skills, gifts, themes, and challenges. For example, Gate 54 is the Gate of Drive/Ambition, and means you are driven to move ahead in life and to better your own standing and the standing of your family or community.

Channels

Two Harmonic Gates come together to form a Channel in the Human Design BodyGraph. If both Gates within the same Channel are activated/defined, that channel also then becomes defined. Anything defined is colored in on the BodyGraph as opposed to white.

There are 36 Channels in total, and each Channel is associated with specific skills, challenges, and energy. By understanding the two Centers that a specific Channel connects together, the type of Channel it is, and the two Gates within that Channel, you create a deeper understanding of its nature and purpose.

And there you have it, my friend!

I hope this post helped you understand Human Design a bit more clearly and has made you more excited to explore your unique chart more deeply. If you haven’t already downloaded your chart, click here to generate it.