Human Design

The 9 Human Design Centers

Human Design maps your chart onto nine centers. Each one is either defined, meaning it is colored in and works the same steady way most of the time, or undefined, meaning it is white and stays open to, and amplifies, other people's energy.

Defined, undefined and completely open

A defined center has at least one of its gates connected all the way through to another defined center, forming a channel. It is consistent. It produces its own energy or signal and keeps producing it whether or not anyone else is around.

An undefined center has no such connection running through it, even if one or two gates there are activated. It is not broken and it is not a weakness. It is where you take in and amplify whatever is around you, which is exactly how it is meant to work.

A completely open center has no gates activated at all, on either side of the chart. It reads the room with even less of your own filter than an undefined center with a gate or two lit up, which usually means even more sensitivity to whoever is nearby.

Most charts have a mix of defined and undefined centers. The specific mix is what makes one person's undefined Solar Plexus feel different from another's.

The kinds of centers

Four centers are motors: they generate the energy that can drive action. The Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart and Root all push energy toward something happening.

Three centers are about awareness rather than force: the Ajna (mental awareness), the Spleen (instinctive, in-the-moment awareness) and the Solar Plexus again, which is both a motor and the seat of emotional awareness.

The Head and the Root are pressure centers. The Head applies mental pressure, questions that want answers. The Root applies a more physical pressure, the push to get moving and get things done.

The Throat is the center of expression and manifestation. Nearly everything that gets said or made passes through it on the way out into the world.

The G Center holds identity, direction and love. It is less about doing and more about who you are and where you are headed while you do it.

The nine centers

Head

The Head center governs mental pressure and inspiration. It is where questions arrive, the ones that keep circling until you have chewed on them.

Defined, it produces a steady, consistent stream of questions and ideas, in a specific style that stays fairly stable across your life.

Undefined, it takes in whatever questions are in the air around you and can amplify them past their original size. A quiet worry that belongs to someone else in the room can suddenly feel like yours, and urgent.

The not-self pattern here is trying to answer every question that shows up, including ones that were never really yours to solve.

Gate 61: Mystery Gate 63: Doubt Gate 64: Confusion

Ajna

The Ajna center governs mental processing and how you form opinions and certainty. It takes in raw questions from the Head and works them into thoughts, beliefs and conclusions.

Defined, your way of thinking and processing information is fixed and recognizable. You tend to arrive at conclusions in a particular, repeatable way and hold them with some confidence.

Undefined, your thinking is flexible and can take on other people's logic and certainty as if it were your own, which makes you genuinely good at seeing multiple sides.

The not-self pattern is trying to seem certain, forcing an opinion into a fixed shape it was never meant to hold.

Gate 4: Formulization Gate 11: Ideas Gate 17: Opinions Gate 24: Rationalization Gate 43: Insight Gate 47: Realization

Throat

The Throat center governs expression, communication and manifestation. Talking, making, doing anything visible to others runs through here.

Defined, you have a consistent way of getting your voice or your work out into the world, and a reliable channel for turning inner material into something others can see or hear.

Undefined, your way of expressing yourself shifts depending on who is around and what energy is moving through you at the time, which can make you a chameleon in conversation.

The not-self pattern is trying to get attention, speaking or acting just to be noticed rather than because something real is ready to come out.

Gate 8: Contribution Gate 12: Caution Gate 16: Skills Gate 20: The Now Gate 23: Assimilation Gate 31: Influence Gate 33: Privacy Gate 35: Change Gate 45: The Gatherer Gate 56: Stimulation Gate 62: Details

G

The G Center governs identity, direction and love. It answers, or amplifies the question of, who you are and where your life is headed.

Defined, you carry a fixed sense of self and a consistent internal compass, one that tends to hold steady no matter where you are or who you are with.

Undefined, your sense of identity and direction can shift with your environment and your people, which is often mistaken for not knowing yourself when it is really a different, more responsive way of being.

The not-self pattern is looking outside yourself for love and direction that only your own life, lived, can supply.

Gate 1: Self-Expression Gate 2: The Direction of the Self Gate 7: The Role of the Self Gate 10: The Behavior of the Self Gate 13: The Listener Gate 15: Extremes Gate 25: The Spirit of the Self Gate 46: The Determination of the Self

Heart

The Heart center, also called the Ego, governs willpower, material value and the drive to prove yourself. It is also where Ego Authority lives when it is defined.

Defined, you have consistent access to willpower for the things that matter to you, along with a natural sense of your own worth and what you are owed for your work.

Undefined, your access to willpower varies and you can end up trying to prove your value over and over to people who never actually asked you to.

The not-self pattern is trying to prove your worth, taking on promises and commitments the will was never there to back up.

Gate 21: The Hunter/Huntress Gate 26: The Egoist Gate 40: Aloneness Gate 51: Shock

Sacral

The Sacral center governs life force, work energy and, when the Solar Plexus is undefined, Sacral Authority. It is the center behind the Generator and Manifesting Generator types.

Defined, you have a steady, renewable source of energy for work you are actually drawn to, along with the gut "uh-huh" or "unh-unh" response Sacral Authority runs on.

Undefined, your energy for work varies a lot depending on who and what you are around, and you can take on other people's Sacral energy and run on it well past the point of exhaustion.

The not-self pattern is not knowing when enough is enough, working or saying yes long after the energy for it has actually left.

Gate 3: Ordering Gate 5: Fixed Rhythms Gate 9: Focus Gate 14: Power Skills Gate 27: Caring Gate 29: Perseverance Gate 34: Power Gate 42: Growth Gate 59: Sexuality

Solar Plexus

The Solar Plexus center governs emotional awareness and, for those who have it defined, Emotional Authority. It is a motor and an awareness center at once.

Defined, you run on an emotional wave that moves through highs and lows on its own schedule. Clarity arrives over time as the wave moves. It rarely arrives in the moment a decision is asked for.

Undefined, you feel and amplify the emotions in a room without necessarily having a wave of your own, which can make other people's moods hard to tell apart from your own reactions.

The not-self pattern is avoiding confrontation and truth, smoothing things over now to dodge emotional weather that was likely to pass anyway.

Gate 6: Friction Gate 22: Openness Gate 30: Recognition of Feelings Gate 36: Crisis Gate 37: Friendship Gate 49: Principles Gate 55: Spirit

Spleen

The Spleen center governs instinctive awareness: health, well-being and a sense for what does or does not support your survival. It is also where Splenic Authority lives when it is defined.

Defined, you have consistent, quiet access to in-the-moment intuition and a steady sense of your own body and what it needs, even if you rarely announce it.

Undefined, you can pick up on other people's fears and instincts as though they were your own, and it may take you longer to trust a hit of intuition because it does not arrive on a predictable schedule.

The not-self pattern is holding on to what is not good for you: a job, a relationship, a habit, past the point where your body already flagged it.

Gate 18: Correction Gate 28: The Game Player Gate 32: Continuity Gate 44: Alertness Gate 48: Depth Gate 50: Values Gate 57: Intuitive Clarity

Root

The Root center governs pressure and drive, the push to get things done and move on to the next thing. It is a motor and a pressure center at once.

Defined, you carry a steady, manageable hum of drive that you have mostly learned to pace, even under deadline.

Undefined, you take in the pressure and urgency around you and can feel a rush to finish or decide that is not actually yours, especially in a stressed room or a busy season.

The not-self pattern is rushing to get rid of pressure, making a decision just to make the feeling of pressure stop rather than because the decision itself was ready.

Gate 19: Wanting Gate 38: The Fighter Gate 39: Provocation Gate 41: Contraction Gate 52: Stillness Gate 53: Beginnings Gate 54: Ambition Gate 58: Vitality Gate 60: Acceptance

A question to sit with. Pick one center you know is undefined in your chart. Where in your life have you been amplifying a feeling that started with someone else and only felt like your own?

Questions

What does an undefined center mean?

It means no channel runs all the way through that center in your chart. It takes in and amplifies energy from other people rather than producing a consistent signal of its own, which is a source of flexibility and sensitivity rather than a flaw.

What are the motor centers in Human Design?

The Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart and Root are the four motor centers. Each one generates energy that can drive action, and which motors you have defined shapes how your energy for doing things actually works.

What is the G Center?

The G Center governs identity, direction and love. Defined, it gives you a fixed sense of self and direction. Undefined, your sense of who you are and where you are headed can shift with your environment and the people around you.

How many centers are completely open versus just undefined?

That depends on the individual chart. A center is undefined if no channel runs through it, even with a gate or two activated. It is completely open only if it has no activated gates at all on either side.

Human Design was developed by Ra Uru Hu. The Gene Keys are the work of Richard Rudd. This guide is Project Me's own summary of both systems.