Read an Excerpt
Human Design
Discover the Person You Were Born to Be
By Chetan Parkyn, Steven Dennis New World Library
Copyright © 2009 Chetan Parkyn
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57731-946-7
CHAPTER 1
Meet Yourself
The Life Chart
After my Human Design reading, I felt recognized on so many levels. I've met myself, and it feels right! I can now move forward into the rest of my life with confidence, joy, and enthusiasm.
MM, Colorado
Human Design is ripe for these changing times, encouraging us to meet ourselves head-on and be responsible for who we are. It is a system that takes the torch from the hand of astrology and carries it to the next level, providing both an accurate guide for life and a self-assessment device. Human Design is astrology's natural successor, something old making way for something new. No longer will it be enough for human curiosity to simply ask of others: "What is your sign?" You will want — and need — to know more.
For example, if you were born under the sign of Libra, you'll already know how different you are from fellow Librans, and yet you have to read the same forecasts. Without an in-depth astrological reading, you are collectively defined with a one-size-fits-all label. But Human Design, through this book, unveils and celebrates your unique individuality.
With that in mind, perhaps a better opening question for future social introductions could be "Forget your sign; what's your design?"
So, how does it work?
Human Design draws from four ancient wisdom traditions to become a system in its own right that provides a technical-looking design of the person you were born to be. It uses data to determine your exact placement in time and space relative to the solar system and star fields around you at the precise moment of birth. But whereas in astrology the sky is divided into twelve compartments (the signs of the zodiac), Human Design divides it into sixty-four. This correlates to two things: first, the sixty-four codons of the human genetic code; and second, the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching, a tool used by the Chinese to better understand human nature. Each one of these sixty-four compartments carries a unique meaning, allowing us to see, in depth, which characteristics make up our being.
We are all, in effect, human cells interacting within one giant energy vessel, the Universe, impacted by what is called a neutrino stream. Neutrinos are minute particles that travel near the speed of light, passing through everything. If we, as humans, live in an atmosphere of air, the Universe lives in an atmosphere of neutrinos. These are the very emissions of all the stars in the sky, and our bodies are being bombarded by trillions of them every second of the day. Because neutrinos have mass, they exchange information with everything they pass through, including us. So, at the moment of birth, we are imprinted with neutrino information, which leaves a genetic thumbprint, determining the nature we will carry throughout life.
Imagine the sky above us divided into sixty-four equal compartments. Within each of these compartments there are star fields "breathing out" neutrinos, trillions at a time, in all directions. These neutrinos pass through the planets, exchanging information as they go. When those same neutrinos pass through us at the exact time of our birth, they leave that planetary-flavored information embedded within us. It's as if they gently "bump" our human vehicle as we enter the world, leaving an indelible impression on our beings and shaping how we are going to interact in life.
In 1987, when Human Design was first developed, neutrinos were merely a theory. But proof arrived in the late 1990s when scientists in Japan and Canada established that neutrino particles change 'flavors' and, therefore, must have mass. This discovery, it was said, explained the "missing mass" of the Universe.
In these rapidly changing times, science is uncovering more and more about the mysteries of life. Human Design is where science and spirituality come together like never before to inform you about the essence of your life. It provides a way of reading your genetic neutrino imprint, of seeing your own design.
To create the chart that will reveal your blueprint for life:
1. Install the software using the download link hosted on the website printed on the first page of this book. Open the Human Design Life Chart program, click on "Select a Folder," then "Create Life Chart."
2. Then enter your name, date, and exact time of birth. If you don't know your exact time, you may input twelve noon as a good estimate for now. However, to make certain you have an absolutely accurate life chart, it's best to consult your birth certificate, hospital records, or a relative to find the exact time.
3. Then click on the "Place" tab and insert the country or U.S. state followed by the city or nearest city of birth. Don't worry about the time zone — that is automatically calculated for you.
4. When you press "OK," your life chart will be created.
Staring back at you is a reflection of your inner being.
When people first lay eyes on a Human Design life chart, it provokes a carbon-copy reaction: a puzzled frown forms across the brow and a bewildered voice asks: "What — that's me?"
Yes, that's you, on the inside, the mechanics of your true nature laid bare on the page. All those shapes, colors, lines, symbols, and numbers denote the person you were designed to be. You are looking at the very core of your being — what makes you tick, what makes you function.
The software you downloaded creates the life chart based on two factors: the first, the exact time, date, and place of your birth; and the second, a separate time, which it calculates, from a moment three months before birth — the instant when the neocortex in the front lobe of the brain turns on and when the spirit is said to enter the body. It's at this time that the soul "tunes in" to the physical vehicle it's been handed in life.
A natal astrological calculation is made based on the time and place of your birth and the planetary influences. Then this calculation is computed and combined with three other ancient wisdoms: the chakra system, the I Ching, and the Kabbalah. All this information combines to create a life chart.
One initial question I'm often asked is "Does my design ever change?" The truth of the matter is that during the course of your life you will be exposed to, and perhaps conditioned by, almost every facet and nuance of the different designs of other people. But your design is consistent and forever remains your true foundation. It is unique and can always be relied on. There is no need to be anyone other than who you are, because you have everything you need within your design to live a complete and fulfilling life.
This understanding should remove all thoughts of wanting to change something about yourself or trying to be like someone else. There is no "good" or "bad" design, no "better" or "worse." There is only authenticity. Once you accept that and start to be yourself, everything around you starts to become clear.
The beauty of what lies within will become clear as we examine you, stage by stage, chapter by chapter, identifying the different ingredients that fuse to create the whole person. So, in order to follow this book, keep your life chart in your hand or posted on a computer screen. I'll be the driver, taking you on a journey. You keep your eyes on the map, because each shape, color, channel, or number tells you so much about your inside story.
Nine Brilliant Jewels
I often tell people to imagine their Human Design as an intricate, precious piece of jewelry — sheer bedazzling craftsmanship as created by the Universe.
We each have nine brilliant "jewels" within us, represented by the square, triangular, or diamond shapes in the illustration. These are the nine centers that form the foundation of our design. They are known as the Crown, the Mind, the Throat, the Self, the Heart, the Sacral, the Emotions, the Spleen, and the Root.
These shining stones are set within an intricate framework of thirty-six narrow channels. At either end of those channels are numbers denoting the sixty-four gates that determine the cut and polish of the jewels.
So each Human Design life chart contains nine centers, thirty-six channels, and sixty-four gates, all with something to say about our true nature and role in life.
The nine centers are effectively chakras, energy centers that, like opening and closing valves, regulate the flow of energy throughout our being. It is not physical energy, but life-energy that has resided within us since birth. Each center, in its own unique way, receives, assimilates, modifies, and expresses this energy, turning it into a human function, perception, awareness, instinct, or behavior. It flows through us, and out of us, every second of every day, connecting us to everyone around us.
Connecting the centers is the framework of thirty-six channels through which the flow of energy passes. These channels, therefore, enhance, shape, and modify energy into more precise qualities, traits, and abilities.
At either end of each channel is a number relating to the sixty- four gates that represent the DNA of your true nature, the imprint left by neutrinos. Each person has the same sixty-four numbers in the same place — the configuration is rigid within each and every design — but some of the gates are "on" and some "off," creating yet more specific components of your design.
We examine all these layers further in the book, as well as the other components that make up your design. For now, just take a look at the symbols and numbers you see in the top left-hand corner of your chart. You will observe many numbers in both black and pink. Each number corresponds to a gate and, therefore, a specific trait, determining whether it's an unconscious or conscious aspect of you.
Unconscious/Conscious
One fascinating truth that emerges from a life chart is that we see in vivid detail the conscious and unconscious elements of our makeup.
The conscious is the intentional things we act out, of which we are mostly aware. These are the awake and watchful elements of our personality and way of behaving.
The unconscious is our hidden side — the undercurrents that influence the automatic or involuntary behavior that shapes our character. These aspects may not be instantly recognizable to us but will no doubt resonate with the people who observe us. Have you ever had someone say something like "You do that just the way your granddad did," or "Your great-grandmother used to say things like that"? Such statements imply that you have inherited recognizable but unconscious characteristics from various parts of your family tree.
I always say that the conscious is the tip of the iceberg, whereas the unconscious is what lies beneath the surface of our beings. Jungian analyst Gerhard Adler describes the unconscious as "possessing a superior knowledge of our real needs." Psychologists and psychotherapists can spend weeks, months, or years mining and analyzing the thoughts of clients to determine unconscious traits. But now, for the first time in recorded history, there is a system that, at the click of a mouse, reveals what is conscious and unconscious within each individual.
In Human Design, the term unconscious represents our ancestral input on a soul level — the combined and collective patterns from our ancestral line, which reads like the DNA of our soul. This imprinting starts inside our mother's womb when there is no access to outside influences. All we can receive is our soul's genetic inheritance, and that inevitably comes from our father, mother, and farther back in the family tree. On a biological front, we receive the genes that determine the color of our eyes and hair, the height we'll stand, and the weight we'll gain, plus a host of other physical characteristics. But, in a spiritual sense, the Human Design imprinting also passes down our emotional, psychological, and behavioral characteristics. In some ways, we might say that the gifts, talents, or issues of our ancestors are echoed in our makeup.
In some respects, this truth within Human Design echoes the theory that, somehow, the experiences of a mother and father are transmitted to their offspring, above and beyond the normal DNA syntax. According to this theory, expounded by a Frenchman named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, children inherit the traits of parents. Once discredited, it was in fact built on by scientists in the late 1990s when laboratory tests suggested that an experience felt by a pregnant mouse left a physical mark on the DNA in her eggs. It's as if a parent's or grandparent's experience leaves a molecular memory in the child. This is not a mutation, but a transference that science continues to explore, fascinated by the possibility that an experience can somehow alter actual DNA.
Human Design makes it possible for you to become aware of this fascinating genetic inheritance and live a more fulfilling life by becoming aware of the unconscious influences that stir within. It is why, once acquainted with your Human Design, you may suddenly recognize unconscious traits that relatives have already observed about you.
Remember, the conscious influences stem from the exact moment of your birth; the unconscious, from that moment calculated as being three months before birth. It's at this point that your developing fetus is energetically receiving the makeup of your ancestral line.
The conscious/unconscious themes will become more apparent as we go on. For now, simply take an initial look at which parts of your life chart are conscious (black) and which are unconscious (pink). Striped sections of black and pink indicate an overlap of conscious and unconscious traits. This implies that you are actually capable of recognizing these unconscious traits in yourself.
The Planets
In the Human Design system there are thirteen different influences that come to us through the placement of the sun, moon, planets, and nodes at the time of our birth. It is the precise placement of the planets in the neutrino stream at that moment that determines which gates are on and therefore which centers are defined.
On the life chart, these heavenly bodies are indicated by the black glyphs alongside the pink and black gate numbers. Their influences, and what they bring to the table, belong in an advanced form of teaching beyond the scope of this initial presentation of Human Design. But, for your understanding of what you are seeing in that top left-hand corner matrix, I provide this symbolic outline:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Now, to guide you through the basics of a life chart's structure, let's look at an example. Allow me to introduce ... Prince Harry.
Prince Harry of England, the second son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, was born on September 15, 1984, at 16:20 GMT in London. You'll observe that the software has calculated June 15, 1984, as a period approximately three months before his birth.
These two dates have created the two columns titled "Unconscious" (in pink) and "Conscious" (black). In these columns, you'll note the gate numbers, to be examined later.
All the information in the right-hand column is color-coded black, relating to the moment of birth. These are the aspects that are conscious — sometimes called "personality" information.
All the information in the left-hand column is color-coded pink, relating to that time approximately three months before birth. These represent the unconscious side and Prince Harry's genetic inheritance.
Note that one square center is red. From that center's right side, you'll see a narrow channel colored black leading to the brown triangle center on the far right. On either end of this connected channel are the gates 59 and 6. The meanings of this are incidental at this stage. What matters is that you note the distinction between a center defined in color and a center that is white and therefore undefined.
Also note the distinction between a fully colored channel, which is active, and one that is white or half-colored and is, therefore, inactive.
It takes just one full channel activation to turn on the connecting centers. For example, in Prince Harry's chart, the active 59-6 channel defines both the Sacral center (red) and the Emotions center (brown).
To recap: a center is defined in color, depending on whether a connecting channel is active or nonactive.
You are now armed with the rudimentary basics of what constitutes a Human Design life chart. I've mapped out the road ahead. Now, let the journey — and the fun — begin.
CHAPTER 2
The Energy Within
The Nine Centers
Finally, someone has explained what it's all about — who I am, the way I am, and what to do about it.
Rob, London, UK
Life is one long sequence of sometimes dramatic events and introductions. Our days ebb and flow with actions and reactions, meetings and greetings, and it is the nine Human Design centers that assimilate and distribute life-energy around our physical body to determine how we interact with one another. These energies within are what build the foundations of our true nature.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Human Design by Chetan Parkyn, Steven Dennis. Copyright © 2009 Chetan Parkyn. Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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