Guide6 min read

Human Design Glossary

Overview

Human Design has a small set of words that do a lot of work, and a larger set that only matter once the small set is clear. This page defines the words the way the rest of this library uses them. Each term that has its own page links there. Nothing here introduces a second definition.

If you want the story rather than the list, start with what Human Design is or how to read a chart. If you have a chart already, the free chart result uses these same labels: type, strategy, authority, profile, definition, signature.

How to use the list

Read type, strategy, authority, signature, and not-self before aura, profile, or gates. Those five tell you how the chart moves. Centers, channels, and gates tell you where. Personality and Design tell you which column a planet sits in. The incarnation cross and the variables are last, because both of them sit on top of the Sun and Earth gates.

Percentages below are the ones printed on the type pages: Generator 37%, Manifesting Generator about a third, Projector 21%, Manifestor 8%, Reflector about 1%. They are population counts from those pages, not a ranking.

Human Design: A system that combines astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah, and the chakra model into one chart. Birth date, time, and place are used to calculate type, strategy, authority, profile, centers, gates, and channels.
BodyGraph: The diagram of the chart: nine centers, the channels between them, and the gates switched on by the planets. Colored centers are defined. White centers are open.
Type: One of five mechanical types: Generator (37%), Manifesting Generator (about a third), Projector (21%), Manifestor (8%), Reflector (about 1%). Type comes from which centers are defined and how they connect to the Throat.
Generator: Defined Sacral, no motor-to-Throat connection. Strategy: wait to respond. Signature: satisfaction. Not-self: frustration. Aura: open and enveloping. 37% of people on the type page.
Manifesting Generator: Defined Sacral plus a motor connected to the Throat. Strategy: respond, test, then inform. Signature: satisfaction. Not-self: frustration and anger. Aura: open and enveloping. About a third of people.
Projector: No defined Sacral and no motor-to-Throat connection. Strategy: wait for the invitation. Signature: success. Not-self: bitterness. Aura: focused and absorbing. 21% of people.
Manifestor: A motor connected to the Throat, Sacral undefined. Strategy: inform before acting. Signature: peace. Not-self: anger. Aura: closed and repelling. 8% of people.
Reflector: All nine centers open. Strategy: wait a lunar cycle of about 28 days. Signature: surprise. Not-self: disappointment. Aura: resistant and sampling. About 1% of people.
Strategy: How your type is built to engage: respond, respond then test and inform, wait for the invitation, inform before acting, or wait a lunar cycle. Strategy is not the same thing as authority.
Authority: How you decide. The six on this site are Emotional, Sacral, Splenic, Ego (Heart), Self-Projected, and Outer (lunar). If the Solar Plexus is defined, Emotional authority outranks the others.
Emotional authority: Defined Solar Plexus. There is no truth in the now. Clarity comes after the emotional wave, not at the high or the low. The authority page calls this the most common inner authority, found in roughly half of people.
Sacral authority: Defined Sacral and undefined Solar Plexus, so only Generators and Manifesting Generators. The gut answers in the moment to something present, often as a yes-leaning or no-leaning sound, before the mind argues.
Signature: The felt signal that the strategy is working. Satisfaction for Generator and Manifesting Generator, success for Projector, peace for Manifestor, surprise for Reflector.
Not-self theme: The felt signal that you are off your strategy. Frustration for Generators, frustration and anger for Manifesting Generators, bitterness for Projectors, anger for Manifestors, disappointment for Reflectors.
Aura: The way a type meets other people. Open and enveloping (Generator, Manifesting Generator), focused and absorbing (Projector), closed and repelling (Manifestor), resistant and sampling (Reflector).
Profile: Two numbers, such as 3/5 or 4/6. The first is the conscious Personality line. The second is the unconscious Design line. There are 12 profiles. The angle of the incarnation cross follows the profile.
Center: One of nine shapes in the BodyGraph. Defined (colored) centers run in a consistent way. Undefined (white) centers sample and amplify other people. The nine are Head, Ajna, Throat, G, Heart, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Spleen, and Root.
Definition: How the defined centers connect. Single Definition is one circuit. Split, Triple Split, and Quadruple Split are separate islands of definition. No Definition is the Reflector, with nothing defined.
Gate: One of 64 themes, each mapped to a hexagram of the I Ching. Planets at birth activate specific gates. A gate sits on a center. Two gates, one at each end, make a channel when both are on.
Channel: A connection between two centers, made of two gates. There are 36 channels. A defined channel is what defines the centers at both ends.
Personality: The conscious side of the chart, shown in the black column of the pro view. These are the traits you tend to recognize as yourself. Personality Sun and Earth are half of the incarnation cross.
Design: The unconscious side of the chart, shown in the red column of the pro view. Body-level traits other people often notice before you do. Design Sun and Earth are the other half of the incarnation cross.
Incarnation cross: The life theme printed from the Personality Sun, Personality Earth, Design Sun, and Design Earth. The angle is Right Angle, Juxtaposition, or Left Angle, and it follows the profile. The Personality Sun gate places the cross in one of four quarters.
Variables: The four arrows on many Human Design charts, pointing left or right. They are a deeper layer under the line (color, then tone). The free Soul Flow reading shows gate and line. It does not draw the arrows.

Common questions

What is the difference between strategy and authority?

Strategy is how your type engages with life: respond, wait for an invitation, inform, or wait a lunar cycle. Authority is how you make a decision: emotional wave, Sacral response, splenic hit, Ego will, self-projected voice, or a lunar cycle. You use both. One does not replace the other.

What does defined mean?

A defined center is colored on the BodyGraph and has a consistent way of working. An undefined, or open, center is white. It samples and amplifies other people. Definition also names how many separate clusters of defined centers you have: single, split, triple split, quadruple split, or none.

Are gates the same as I Ching hexagrams?

Yes. The 64 gates map to the 64 hexagrams. Human Design places each one on a center. A channel is two gates connecting two centers.

Where are the arrows defined?

On the variables page. The four arrows are a layer under the line. The free chart on this site shows gate and line for each planet. It does not draw the arrow directions.

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