When you start exploring the world of Human Design, one of the most confusing parts is the terminology. A lot 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 some of the most common Human Design terms and highlight what each piece of the Human Design puzzle can tell you about yourself.

Before we start breaking down the HD terminology, here’s a look at a sample Human Design “chart”, which is called a BodyGraph.

Human Design Terminology

1. Energy Type

Your energy type stems from your unique energetic nature or aura. There are four energy types in Human Design:

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

(Note: There is also a hybrid type known as the Manifesting Generator.)

Think of the energy types as like the four Houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin. Students sorted into each House have very specific traits and characteristics, right? “Gryffindor, the Bold and Brave…”

Similarly, each of the four energy 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 type has a unique role to play within the collective.

2. Strategy

Each of the four energy 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 energy type:

Manifestor: To Inform

Generator: To Respond

Projector: To Wait for the Invitation

Reflector: To Wait a Lunar Cycle

In future posts and on the Soul & Sage podcast, we’ll explore each Strategy in detail.

3. 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, but the way someone experiences their intuition can differ from person to person. Your Authority is the way you are designed to make decisions in your life.

There are seven possible Authorities you can have:

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

4. Profile

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

The archetypes are as follows:

1: The Investigator

2: The Hermit/Natural

3: The Martyr

4: The Opportunist

5: The Heretic

6: The Role Model

5. Energy Centers

Within the Human Design BodyGraph are nine energy centers. Each energy center is a hub of energy within the body that corresponds to specific types of energy. As energy flows through an energy center on its journey to the Throat Center (where all energy in the BodyGraph is moving towards), it is transformed and transmuted.

Here are some of the themes and types of energy governed by each energy 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

6. Incarnation Cross

Your Incarnation Cross is a very unique part of your Human Design and relates to your life path and purpose. It is not always something you automatically fall into naturally, but rather something you grow and evolve into throughout your life.

Your Incarnation Cross is composed based on 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.

7. Gates

There are 64 total gates in the Human Design system and BodyGraph, and you will have approximately 15-20 of these gates activated (or “defined”) within your chart.

Each gate correlates to specific skills, gifts, and themes. Your activated gates essentially reflect the “superpowers” and skills/gifts you have consistent access to. For example, Gate X is the Gate of Ambition.

Interpreting gates is a very intricate and complex process, so this isn’t one of the first areas of Human Design I’d recommend exploring.

8. Channels

Two opposite gates come together to form a Channel in the Human Design BodyGraph. If both gates within the same channel are activated, that channel then becomes “defined” (colored in on the BodyGraph as opposed to white).

There are 36 channels in total, and the meaning of each channel stems from the meanings of both of its constituent gates, but is also greater than the sum of its parts. Again, this is an advanced area of Human Design and probably not the first thing you’ll want to dive into.

There you have it!

I hope this post helped clarify some of the confusing Human Design terminology and has made you even more excited to explore your unique Human Design more deeply.