Image: Astrology and Human Design charts for Michel Gauquelin 1
The following discussion is not intended to cover every feature of astrology and Human Design charts. This overview aims to provide a comparison of each system’s primary components.
The astrological birth chart and the Human Design chart are both created from the placement in these charts of the planets’ positions at the moment of your birth. The Human Design bodygraph would be empty without planets!
The astrology chart and the Human Design chart are systems that offer profound insight and information through their unique architecture and language. Note that each system provides interpretations for individual birth charts, as well as for events, mundane or personal.
Each system is based on astrology. Simply put, astrology is the study of the influence of the stars and planets on human behavior and life. These celestial bodies influence individual psychology and initiate life-changing events through shifts in planetary cycles, including Solar Returns, Saturn Returns, the Uranus Opposition, the Chiron Return, and others. Shifting life circumstances are also triggered by transits and progressions that are unique to the individual’s astrology chart. Planetary (or Life Cycle) charts, transits, and progressions can be read through the lens of Human Design or astrology charts. The influence of the stars and planets also affects global shifts of various kinds, including weather patterns, technological advancements, scientific discoveries, legal developments, conflicts that lead to war, cultural trends, and societal evolution.
While Human Design and astrology are distinct systems, the meanings and natures of the planets remain consistent in both systems.
In astrology, planets sit inside houses. There are 12 houses in the astrology chart or horoscope wheel. Each house has a unique meaning, and so the combination of the planet with the meaning of the house it is located in lends itself to a particular interpretation. In addition, each planet is in a specific sign at the moment of your birth.
Traditional astrological interpretation combines the meaning of the planet with the meaning of the sign it occupies, as well as the meaning of the house in which it resides. It also includes the aspects that natal planets make to each other. Planets in signs and houses, plus the aspects they make, tell us how a natal planet expresses. Again, the essential nature of a horoscope planet is influenced by the sign it is in, the house it is in, and the aspects that it makes to other planets, asteroids, or to the angles of the horoscope (astrology chart).
In the Human Design chart, planets sit inside gates instead of houses. There are 64 gates in the Human Design system. The gates are based on the I Ching’s 64 hexagrams, so it is helpful to have an understanding of these. However, each gate in Human Design has an assigned meaning, which is less complex and more succinct than the contemplations of the I Ching. In Human Design, we blend the meaning of the gate with the meaning of the planet. And we add the meaning of the line the planet occupies.
Each gate contains six lines, and each line has its own specific meaning. In Human Design, we combine the meaning of the planet associated with a gate with the line within which it resides. Given that there are 12 planets, two nodes, and an assortment of asteroids that one can choose to include, the permutations for combinations of planets, nodes, and asteroids with 64 gates and six lines are myriad.
The Human Design planets do not make aspects to each other the way planets in the astrology birth chart do. Still, it is their arrangement in the bodygraph that gives you your energy Type — Projector, Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, or Reflector. Your Type comes with a specific Strategy as well as Authority. In addition, the complex of definition and openness in the chart will give you your unique personal Design.
There’s more: the placement of your planets in the Human Design chart will fall into circuits. There are three primary circuits in Human Design – collective, tribal, and individual, and each of these contains sub-circuits, which I won’t go into here. Circuits and their sub-circuits add further layers of meaning to the interpretation of an individual’s Human Design chart.
I must also mention that the Human Design chart contains the all-important Incarnation Cross, which represents the energy frequency and the storyline of the Life Purpose. This Cross is comprised of four gates: the Conscious and Unconscious Sun, and the Conscious and Unconscious Earth. It is said to constitute 70% of the energy of your being.
As you can see, each system has a unique structure and lens of perception. Each offers excellent information about your essential makeup and temperament. Use these complementary systems to take you on a deep and intriguing exploration to discover and validate your many gifts, traits, and the tools that were given to you at the moment of your birth.
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1 Michel Gauquelin (1928-1991) was a French psychologist and astrologer who, together with his wife, Françoise, also a psychologist, conducted rigorous research over a period of thirty years that demonstrated certain astrological phenomena held true to a high degree of statistical validity.