What is Human Design?

Human Design is a system for understanding how your energy works and how you are designed to make decisions. It synthesises four ancient and modern knowledge systems into a single map called the Bodygraph.

The four systems it draws from

  • Astrology — the positions of the planets at the time of your birth and approximately 88 days before it
  • The I Ching — the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes, which map to 64 gates on the Bodygraph
  • The Kabbalah (Tree of Life) — the structure of the nine energy centers and how they connect
  • Vedic Chakra system — the nine centers correspond to the traditional chakra energy points

The Bodygraph

Your Bodygraph is a chart generated from your birth date, time, and location. It shows nine energy centers (like the chakras), 64 gates (like the I Ching hexagrams), and 36 channels (the lines connecting gates). Centers, gates, and channels can be defined (colored) or undefined (white), which determines how that energy operates in you.

The five types

Every person has one of five Types, determined by the defined channels and centers in their chart:

  • Manifestor — initiates, here to impact
  • Generator — the life force, here to respond and master
  • Manifesting Generator — multi-passionate Generator with Manifestor speed
  • Projector — here to guide and be invited
  • Reflector — a mirror of the community, here to evaluate

Strategy and Authority

Each type has a Strategy — a decision-making approach aligned with how its energy works. Alongside Strategy, your Authority is your inner guidance system: emotional, sacral, splenic, ego, self-projected, mental, or lunar.

Together, Strategy and Authority form the core of how Human Design suggests you navigate decisions and avoid resistance.

The 64 gates

Each of the 64 gates on the Bodygraph corresponds directly to a hexagram in the I Ching. The gate carries the hexagram's energy and meaning. When two gates at opposite ends of a channel are both defined, they form a channel — a complete circuit of energy between two centers. Learn about the I Ching →

Explore your own design

Gatelines generates your Bodygraph and lets you talk directly with an AI that has your chart loaded in full context. Create a free account to get started →