Why Is Everyone So Obsessed With Finding Out Their ‘Human Design’?

“I am a projector with splenic authority!” said one commentator on a YouTube video explaining Human Design.

“I'm hermit, I have a 2/4 profile. Right angle cross Maya 42/32 61/62. So this gives you an idea of how much I need this science,” said another. 

To the average onlooker, proclamations like these might draw big question marks, but to individuals who study the increasingly popular self-discovery system called Human Design, this is their chart that explains how they were built and how they should channel their unique energies into decision making. 

So is your “real self” really charted out by your birth date, time, and place, or is this all just pseudoscience? Let’s take a look into the truth behind astrology’s toughest competitor: Human Design.

Unpacking the Contract Your Soul Made with the Universe

After Ra Uru Hu allegedly had an “eight-day visitation” from otherworldly beings in the 1980s, he was inspired to create a system of birth charts. Born Alan Krakower, the former advertising executive created a 400-page book about Human Design that has slowly gained popularity over time. Here’s how it works: The process begins by taking into account when you were born, down to the minute, and where you were born. The two biggest aspects of a person’s Human Design is your energy type (how you give and receive energy with those around you) and your authority (your decision-making). Aside from that, your chart explains your personality, your personal intuition, and even how you should be eating.

Since its inception, many curious individuals have taken up careers becoming experts in Human Design, like Jenna Zoe who runs MyHumanDesign.com. To Zoe, she believes that these charts can “help people truly understand who they are and how they function, so that they can spend their energy emphasizing their unique gifts and talents, rather than trying to be more like how they’re being conditioned to be.”

Human Design divides energy into the four following types: Generators, Projectors, Manifestors, and Reflectors. Generators (70% of the population) are builders, initiators, and doers. Projectors (20% of the population) need to feel seen and appreciated and follow the leader. Manifestors (9%) of the population are natural initiators and free spirits. Reflectors (1% of the population) vibe off the energy of others and mirror what surrounds them.

The different authorities describe your chart even further. If you have sacral authority, you tend to listen to your gut feeling. If you have splenic authority, you’re an impulsive decision-maker. If you have self-projected authority, you need to talk your actions out before you take them. If you have an inner ego authority, you follow your heart. Some people don’t have inner authority and are therefore Projectors or Reflectors.

Lastly, there’s your profile which is also considered your archetype. If you’re Profile 1, or Investigator, you’re creative and ground others. If you’re Profile 2, or Hermit, you like your quiet time alone. If you’re Profile 3, or Martyr, you’re self-sacrificing and put in extra effort. If you’re Profile 4, or Opportunist, you’re a natural networker. If you’re Profile 5, or Heretic, you’re a knowledgeable leader. If you’re Profile 6, or Role Model, you lead by example and teach others.

When you look at Human Design for what it is, it makes sense why people would be so curious about their charts. Imagine working with your natural energy and time instead of working against it. Imagine knowing which skills and gifts come easiest to you so that you’re not entirely mismatched with your career. Imagine having a fulfilling routine that might look more or less rigid based on your type. Imagine moving, sleeping, and eating in a specifically designed manner that’s customized to you. Would you feel more free to live out your wildest dreams?

But Wait, Did You Say the Creator Was an Ad Exec?

The first red flag that I see with Human Design is its development. Did a man in the 1980s with a marketing background genuinely have a spiritual awakening that led him to discover, with impeccable specificity, just how a person should live based on their birth? Could he have taken account of the wide range of circumstances surrounding a person’s birth and development, like the cultural heritage of the family they are born to, their unique socioeconomic status, the environment around them, the political environment of times yet unseen to him, any potential traumatic situations or injuries they experience as they grow up, or any life-changing relationships and connections a person makes that could entirely shift the path that they’re on? We don’t choose how we’re born or what time we’re born, and while nature can certainly explain a lot about us, nurture cannot be ignored. 

Here’s what the International Human Design School says about Ra Uru Hu’s awakening: “One morning in 1983, he simply walked away from his family and fast-paced life as an entrepreneur – from life as he knew it – and ‘disappeared.’ Several months later he found himself on the beautiful and temperate island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Spain. This 'Eden,' as he likes to call it, is where his 'real' life, his life as Ra Uru Hu, had its beginnings.

On the evening of January 3, 1987, he encountered the 'Voice'. It was a terrifying experience. The Voice said: ‘Are you ready to work?’ And for eight days and eight nights he worked, transcribing in detail what is now known as The Human Design System. Ra speaks of the encounter as a wake-up call, an education which showed him how blind and ignorant his assumptions were about the nature of being, the cosmos and the way things work.”

Does that story instill confidence in you in his methodology? Hu’s mish-mash of Kabbalah, astrology, Hindu-Brahmin chakra system, quantum physics, genetics and I Ching lacks empirical evidence and shouldn’t be used as a replacement for tried-and-true treatments based on the scientific method. 

One Allure writer, Nikhita Mahtani, explained that though Human Design can’t predict your future, it is meant more to help you analyze and optimize your behaviors and habits in an effort to help you become happier and more productive.

“For instance, I'm a Projector with Emotional Authority. Knowing this transformed my relationships and work life. I no longer find myself going out of my way to pitch stories. Instead, projects come to me, thanks to relationships I've built up with editors. Plus, if I'm well-rested, I notice I can write much faster than I would while I was running around all day, trying to keep up with the Manifestors and Generators of the world.”

Despite a lack of scientific credibility, clearly there’s a niche audience of people who love the results of learning more about their Human Design. There are quite a few logical reasons why these belief systems appeal to us.

Fascination with Human Design Is Interchangeable with Astrology

Like with interest in Western astrology or MBTI-types, our culture values a fair dose of New Age pseudoscience. If you look at the Google Trends for “what is human design” over the past 10 years, interest has skyrocketed, especially in recent times. This tracks with the mainstream popularity of astrology: Over ¼ of Americans believe in astrology or think that their lives are influenced by the stars and planets. Narrow down the sample size to adults under 30 and up to 37% of Americans believe in astrology.

Why might so many people be interested in new spiritual systems? For one, astrology is used as a replacement for coping mechanisms. For example, if you’ve lost your job and you believe in astrology, you might turn to insights about your sign for consolation. As another example, what if you’re living through “unprecedented times” as we were during recent lockdowns? Interest in astrology actually booms during turbulent times; it grew in popularity during the Great Depression, between the two World Wars, and consequently during the 2020 lockdowns. Tech developers grasped this opportunity in recent years and helped fuel the trend with astrology apps like Sanctuary or Co-Star.

Over ¼ of Americans believe in astrology or think their lives are influenced by the stars and planets. 

That said, even astrologists with a background in psychotherapy will admit that things like astrology aren’t the quick fix for our problems like we might think they are in our era of instant gratification. Aimee Barr, LCSW, observed that during this uptick in people choosing astrology over therapy, it’s important to note that it shouldn’t be used as a replacement for treatment with mental health professionals.

“I love astrology, but it can’t help you gain deeper coping skills that allow you to move through trauma,” she said. Similarly, another astrologist went on the record saying that charts and types should “be an addition to your life, not a solution to your problems or an escape from your life.”

Things like horoscopes or Human Design also appeal to our increasingly identity-obsessed society. You’re just as likely to find a person’s MBTI type in their bios as you are their pronouns nowadays. Learning and owning your Human Design charts appeals to people in this similar way as it validates their identity. 

While this could be used for encouragement and confirmation, it could also be used as an excuse for potentially destructive behavior. For those with an external locus of control, astrology, charts, and types might also be appealing because they don’t feel like they’re in control of their own destiny. Rather, outside forces dictate the bad and good things that happen to them; if something goes wrong they blame outside forces and if something good happens, then it’s credited to luck.

But as fellow Evie writer Meghan Dillon rightfully lamented, “Your zodiac sign isn’t a personality trait or an excuse to be rude. You didn’t break up with your last ex because he was a Scorpio and you’re an Aquarius; you broke up with him because he was a selfish jerk and you deserve better.”

You shouldn’t let a definition box you in. Haven’t we been told that from a young age, particularly in our “female empowerment”-focused culture? Anecdotally, every time that I read a horoscope (I’m an Aries), I feel less affirmed by the information put in front of me because it’s oftentimes vague or so irrelevant to the point that you could swap out Aries for any other sign and I’d probably believe that you’re showing me my horoscope. At least with MBTI you have to take a quiz that places you in your respective box, but therein lies my problem with Human Design. If my logic tracks, boxing yourself in a “type” based on your birth time and location seems nonsensical because there are just too many factors left unaccounted for.

Will Astrology and ‘Human Design’ Outlive Religion?

A growing population of American adults are not affiliated with any particular religion, with the starkest difference being self-identified Christians dropping 75% over the past decade alone. I don’t doubt that people still desire wisdom far beyond their own comprehension and an understanding of their future. What will fill the inevitable void that certain individuals feel without faith? Will it be the State? Will it be substances? Or will it be an alternate system like Human Design or astrology?

As I mentioned, there’s a rising interest in things like astrology in lieu of traditional religions. Should Western societies continue to ditch Judeo-Christian religion and turn to Human Design or their horoscope for understanding, we might see society as we know it change fundamentally.

Believers of astrology are not only lower in IQ, but there are strong correlations to narcissism.

A belief in God, whether that’s the Judeo-Christian God or not, has been proven countless times through studies to help people be emotionally and physically healthier, be more resilient to personal and work-related difficulties, become better problem-solvers, have more success in conceiving, and even being perceived as a more trustworthy person. I hear you, you might be recalling examples of religious folk you have known who are untrustworthy, but even if studies aren’t proven fact they do demonstrate important trends.

Another important trend to take note of during the rise in pseudoscientific spiritual belief systems is that researchers have found believers of astrology are not only lower in IQ but that there are strong correlations to narcissism. The study is appropriately titled, “Even the stars think that I am superior.”

All that said, if we become less religious and more pseudoscientific, it’s not as though we’ll revert to paganism and see mobs raiding villages or conducting demonic rituals. However, we might lose what made Western civilization so unique from all previous societies. Think: free speech, true equality, consent of the governed, our inalienable rights, and much more. Neither religious nor scientific, the notion of things like Human Design becoming more than just a fleeting trend to base Buzzfeed quizzes on doesn’t look like a net win for society overall.

Closing Thoughts

Despite criticisms, there’s a place for Human Design. As I mentioned before, some Human Design fans have admitted that it’s not meant to be used to give definitive answers about your life’s path or predict what you should and shouldn’t do. If you’re rightfully curious about what your supposed genetic design is based on your birth date, time, and place, then by all means have fun with it. Even if you’re skeptical, it can be fun to take personality quizzes or read through charts to see if you can even briefly relate to the results. That said, it shouldn’t become your identity, be used to solve any mental health-related needs, or replace your faith if that is something you hold near and dear to your heart.

Readers make our world go round. Make your voice heard in the official Evie reader survey.