The Systems Behind Human Design

Human Design didn't appear from nowhere. It's a synthesis of four much older traditions (the I Ching, the Kabbalah, astrology, and the chakra system) layered into a single map, the BodyGraph. For the overview of what each one contributes and how they fit together, read The four systems behind Human Design first. For the story of how it all came together in 1987, see History and origins.

This section goes deeper: one page per tradition, then the pieces that sit on top of them.

The four source traditions#

• The I Ching and the 64 hexagrams: how the Chinese Book of Changes became the 64 gates, and its six lines the lines of every gate.
• The Kabbalah and the Tree of Life: how its paths inform the channels that connect the centers, and what Ra Uru Hu kept and changed.
• Astrology in Human Design: the same planetary positions as astrology, read through gates instead of signs and houses.
• The chakra system and the 9 centers: how seven chakras were split and remapped into the nine centers.

Built on top of them#

• The Rave Mandala: the wheel that lays the 64 gates around the zodiac and turns a planet's degree into a gate and line.
• Lilith & Chiron: two astrology points that are not Human Design, and why your bodygraph needs neither.
• The Magnetic Monopole and the fractal: the point in the G Center that holds Personality and Design together, a teaching that belongs to no older tradition.
• DreamRave: the sleep chart: the five-center design of the body asleep, its 15 gates in three fields, and why most people sleep as Reflectors.

You don't need any of this to use your chart; your type and Strategy and Authority come first. These pages are for when you want to know why the bodygraph looks the way it does.