What is Human Design, and where do Strategy and Authority sit within it?
Human Design is a system that calls itself a holistic self-knowledge system, published in 1992 by Alan Robert Krakower under the pen name Ra Uru Hu, after an experience he described as mystical in 1987. Wikipedia classifies it as pseudoscience and notes that it blends astrology, the I Ching, Jewish Kabbalah, Vedic philosophy, and modern physics. Theologian J. R. Hustwit calls it a transreligious project of astonishing scale, synthesizing seven or more traditions.
Within the system's structure, Strategy and Authority are the two concepts used most in daily practice. They do not stand alone but are tied tightly to type and to the energy centers in the bodygraph. In short: type determines which Strategy you have, while the configuration of the centers determines which Authority you have.
This article follows Human Design's own conventions when describing its internal concepts, while making clear which parts are the system's conventions and which parts can be independently verified.
What exactly is Strategy in Human Design?
Strategy is a behavioral pattern the system treats as natural to how an aura operates, aimed at reducing resistance when interacting with others and with circumstances. It is not a life goal, nor moral advice, but a description of how that type is said to enter action most smoothly.
According to Wikipedia, Human Design divides people into four energy types: Manifestor, Generator, Projector, and Reflector, sometimes adding the hybrid Manifesting Generator as a fifth. Each type has a corresponding Strategy. The four commonly cited Strategies are:
- Manifestor: Initiate then Inform
- Generator and Manifesting Generator: Wait to Respond
- Projector: Wait for the invitation
- Reflector: Wait a lunar cycle
What all four share is that they revolve around who initiates, and when. The Manifestor is said to be the opener, but needs to inform first so those around are not pushed into a passive position. The Generator is said to be strongest when responding to something already present, rather than creating from nothing. The Projector is said to receive the best recognition when a real invitation comes, rather than self-proposing. The Reflector, the rarest type, is advised to move through a full cycle of about 28 days before deciding.
Why is "waiting" considered a strategy rather than passivity?
Because in the system's logic, waiting here means waiting for the right signal, not waiting indefinitely. The Generator waits for something to arrive and the body responds with wanting or not wanting. The Projector waits for recognition from outside. This is a distinction between grounded action and action under pressure. To be clear: this is Human Design's internal interpretation, not a conclusion from psychological research.
What is Authority, and how does it differ from Strategy?
Authority is the inner mechanism Human Design treats as the place you should rely on to make decisions. If Strategy answers "how should I engage," then Authority answers "what do I base my final decision on."
One easily confused point: Authority is not rationality, and in many cases the system advises against making rationality the final arbiter. Authority is determined by which of the nine energy centers is defined and plays the leading role in a person's configuration. Commonly cited Authority types include:
- Emotional Authority: move through the emotional wave over time before deciding
- Sacral Authority: instant response in the lower abdomen
- Splenic Authority: instant, quiet signal, usually arriving only once
- Ego/Heart Authority: based on will and what is truly wanted
- Self/G Authority: based on speaking aloud to hear oneself
- Mental/Environmental Authority: no personal authority, needs environment and interlocutors
- Lunar Authority for Reflectors: wait a full lunar cycle
Why does the system split Strategy and Authority into two?
Because according to the system, knowing how you should act is not enough; you also need to know which signal to base it on. A Projector with Splenic Authority and a Projector with Emotional Authority are advised to finalize decisions at very different rhythms, even though the general Strategy remains waiting for the invitation.
Comparison table of Strategy and Authority by type
| Type | Strategy | Common Authority | Not-Self theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manifestor | Initiate then Inform | Emotional, Splenic, or Ego | Anger |
| Generator | Wait to Respond | Sacral or Emotional | Frustration |
| Manifesting Generator | Wait to Respond, then Inform | Sacral or Emotional | Frustration and anger |
| Projector | Wait for the invitation | Splenic, Emotional, Self, or Mental | Bitterness |
| Reflector | Wait a lunar cycle | Lunar | Disappointment |
This table is how the system classifies itself, not a scientific reference chart. It is useful in gathering in one place what Human Design says, so readers see the whole picture instead of picking up scattered pieces.
The mechanisms Human Design invokes to explain these two concepts
Human Design rests on two foundations: the bodygraph and the nine energy centers.
The bodygraph is a kind of chart in which the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are placed at various positions on the body, sometimes drawn in a mandala overlaid on the 12 zodiac signs. According to Wikipedia, the bodygraph displays planets in a horoscope-like manner and indicates which centers are defined, meaning they operate stably and reliably in the system's terms.
The nine centers are a variant of the chakra idea. Context matters here: chakras in Indian traditions are aids to meditation, described as spiritual energy centers in the subtle body. Medieval Buddhist texts from the 8th century CE mention four or five chakras, while Hindu sources give various numbers; the most familiar seven-chakra variant comes from Sir John Woodroffe's 1919 book The Serpent Power. The modern Western view of chakras as real but esoteric energy centers begins with H. P. Blavatsky and Theosophists in the 1880s, then was further shaped by Woodroffe and Charles W. Leadbeater's 1927 book The Chakras. Rainbow colors and many correspondences with astrology, gemstones, Kabbalah, and Tarot were added later.
In other words, Human Design takes an esoteric concept that had already been restructured several times in the West, then maps it onto an astrological chart mixed with the I Ching. That is why the system is classified as pseudoscience: the chain of reasoning is symbolic and self-referential, with no independent mechanism of verification.
What role does the I Ching play in Strategy and Authority?
The I Ching provides the structural source for the 64 gates in the bodygraph. According to Wikipedia, the I Ching or Yijing is an ancient Chinese divination text, beginning as a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (around 1000 to 750 BCE), later becoming a cosmological text with philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings. From the 2nd century BCE it was part of the Five Classics and became the foundation for divination practices across East Asia for centuries.
The basic unit of the I Ching is the hexagram, consisting of six stacked lines, each either solid or broken. The sixty-four possible hexagrams form a lookup system, arranged in an order called the King Wen sequence. Traditional casting uses yarrow stalks, manipulating a bundle of about 50 to produce numbers from 6 to 9.
Human Design does not use the I Ching for casting. It borrows the 64 hexagrams as a framework of 64 units of meaning, then assigns them to positions on the bodygraph according to birth time. This is a fairly free reuse, and it is a point critics often raise: the I Ching's structure is detached from its original divinatory and philosophical context.
Comparison with chakras and the "subtle body"
Three layers of concepts often get mixed and should be distinguished:
- Chakras in Indian traditions: aids to meditation, with numbers varying by tradition, from four to seven, and some texts mentioning 88,000 chakras in the subtle body.
- Chakras in Theosophy and Western esotericism: treated as real energy centers, tied to colors and correspondences with many other systems.
- The nine centers in Human Design: a separate system, not identical to the seven chakras, though influenced by the second stream of thought.
In Indian traditions, chakras are said to lie along the spine, connected by vertical channels, with practitioners progressing from lower chakras to the highest chakra blooming at the crown. In Hindu tradition it is called Kundalini; in Tibetan Buddhism it is called Candali or Tummo. Notably, chakras are described as having positions but no definite nerve nodes and no precise anatomical connections. This is the traditions' own description, and it is also why the concept cannot be verified by anatomy.
Copyright dispute: a milestone worth knowing
A little-mentioned but important detail for serious learners: on June 3, 2020, the Court of Florence ruled that no copyright can exist over the Human Design system.
Background: Human Design Italia, an association claiming exclusive copyright in Italy and for Italian based on a license from Krakower's company Jovian Archive, sued publisher Terra Nuova after Chetan Parkyn's book Human Design – Scopri la Tua Vera Natura launched in June 2019. The court found that the plaintiff failed to provide evidence of exclusive rights over the "Human Design system" or its teachings. These teachings consist of ideas, processes, and methods of expression that can be freely discussed, referenced, and illustrated by non-authors without constituting intellectual property infringement. Nor is permission needed from any school or founder.
The principle invoked, present in U.S. law and accepted by the Berne Convention for all member states including Italy, holds that no copyright can be recognized for "an idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described." From this: if Krakower cannot hold a general copyright over his ideas, he also cannot transfer that right to others.
For readers, the practical consequence is: you can read, write, compare, and critique Human Design without asking permission from any school. This matters especially because many Human Design communities operate on paid certification models, and newcomers easily assume they must take an official course before speaking about it.
How far should you take Strategy and Authority?
This part needs to be said plainly.
Human Design has no empirical evidence for its claims. Type, Strategy, Authority, and the nine centers are all symbolic structures, not measurable variables. No independent research in this article's sources confirms that a Projector who waits for an invitation will have better outcomes than one who does not.
What the system can do, at a reasonable level, is create a language for self-observation. "Am I acting from pressure or from a real response" is a useful question, whether or not you believe in the bodygraph. "I need time to move through emotions before deciding" is also a reasonable reminder for many people, and it overlaps with decision-management advice in applied psychology, though Human Design does not cite that source.
What the system cannot do is replace medical diagnosis, financial advice, or legal decisions. Authority should not be used to delay a medical decision that needs to be made immediately, and Strategy should not be used to justify avoiding responsibility for consequences.
Should Strategy be treated as mandatory?
No. Schools within the Human Design community are not fully unified on how binding Strategy is. Some branches emphasize strict practice, treating deviation from Strategy as the source of the Not-Self theme. Other branches treat it as a soft suggestion for reference. This article presents both readings and does not choose on the reader's behalf.
Should Authority be treated as your "true voice"?
This is a common phrasing in Human Design literature, but it is easily read as a claim about human nature. A safer reading: Authority is a label assigned by the system, used to remind you to pay attention to a specific information channel (emotion, body reflex, instant intuition, will, speech, environment). Its value lies in forcing you to distinguish those channels, not in being scientifically correct.
In summary
Strategy and Authority are two central concepts of Human Design: one speaks to how to engage, the other to what to base the final decision on. Both are internal conventions of a system classified as pseudoscience, created in 1992 by a single author, blending astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah, Vedic philosophy, and modern physics. They can be useful as a self-observation framework, as long as users know they are using a symbolic framework, not a verified mechanism. And as the 2020 Court of Florence ruling confirmed, no one holds exclusive rights over this system, not even its founder.
