Exploring Your Spiritual Blueprint Through Human Design

by Emanuel Kuntzelman

On a recent trip to Ibiza I was sitting at La Paloma restaurant with some of our Greenheart board members and I mentioned that the high incidence of “synchronicities” on Ibiza would surely lend itself to running into someone that day, as La Paloma was such a vital meeting point.  Sure enough, the unplanned encounter was not long in coming when we spotted Sylvie Bader, the yoga instructor at our Transit to Transformation retreat on Ibiza the year before.  Sylvie introduced us to her friend Billy White, a practitioner and teacher of Human Design.  Since neither my wife Laura, nor I were very familiar with Human Design, we set up a reading with Billy a few days later and were treated to a profound introduction to the concept.

This system of understanding ourselves and our relationships was developed by a Canadian seeker named Alan Robert Krakower on Ibiza in 1987. Human Design is a unique mixture of astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah and the Chakra system. After listening to an inner voice that helped Krakower organize these diverse systems, he changed his name to Ra Uru Hu (Ra for short), and spent the rest of his life refining and promoting his revelation until his death in 2011.

Okay, I know what some of you are already thinking:  “Wow, has Emanuel ever gone New Age, talking about a guy named Ra channeling information about all these somewhat less than scientifically substantiated techniques.”  Before anyone jumps to any unnecessary assumptions, let me explain.

I have been a student and practitioner of astrology and, especially, the I Ching since the 1970s.  If any of you have attended my I Ching workshops (another one coming up on Aug. 13), you will know how deeply I admire this ancient tradition of understanding ourselves in relation to the flow of nature.  Astrology also offers a valuable study in archetypes and planetary influence on emotions, even if it could benefit from an update to account for the precession of the equinoxes.  Those who have heard me speak about wave theory using the Law of Seven will also recognize my respect for the seven chakras.  The fact that Human Design increases these energy centers to nine, encompassing latter day human emotional centers, does not detract from the chakras, but only serves to amplify our understanding for the 21^st century.  Besides, I have long assumed that the natural order of seven in nature can easily shift to nine, which studies of the Kabbalah and the Enneagram would support.  So, far from New Age nonsense, based on years of my own experience, I feel strongly that all of these systems have great value in helping us to better understand ourselves.  What is even more impressive about Human Design is the manner in which these systems fit together and present us with a multidimensional view of our spiritual personalities.

The 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are divided around a mandala-like circular chart that incorporates the signs of the zodiac and our planets.  With the hexagrams as gateways plotted into energy centers, an overlapping chart of these disciplines is constructed that reveals a great deal about who we truly are and how we react to the world.  Although he barely knew me, Billy White was easily able to tell me a lot about myself that had taken me years to discover.  For example, Billy pointed out the open connections with my emotional centers and said that was the reason I had trouble making quick decisions.  “You need time for your emotions to process things.  Even though most Westernized business manuals would recommend that you make quick, clear decisions in leadership, you would be better served by taking your time—a day or two—and then make a call when your emotions have had appropriate time to get in conjunction with your thinking.  You need to trust your heart and gut as well as your mind.”  Billy nailed that one for me, and if I had heard that analysis of myself a few decades ago it would have saved me a lot of time and stress about how I go about making business decisions.

Human Design helps us find the bigger picture of how our own evolution is affected by our awareness of the many pieces and energetic connections that make us who we are and how we respond to stimuli and challenges. It maps how our birth moment locks in to the constellations and cosmos, opens the gateways in the body and how the combination of those settle into the energy nodes in our body, becoming a kind of genetics of the spiritual design of who we are as individuals.  But this isn't just spirit, but rather an extremely practical method that helps us develop strategies for coping with life. When you know which centers within you are active and open, you are better able to react and respond appropriately to the world's stimuli.

Depending on how many centers you have open and how they are inter-connected, you have different types of human design labels. It’s almost an elevated Strengths Finders test for anyone that has taken that type of personality assessment in their place of employment. In this case, however, the personality types come from taking a reading on how consciousness enters the embryo at six months gestation and then again at the moment of birth.

Everything said during my personal reading was tantalizingly accurate, despite being made solely through observations on my chart without any previous encounter. If you are also interested in knowing more about your own design as a human, consider attending a free introductory session with Billy White on Human Design, sponsored by Greenheart Transforms at our Center at 746 N. LaSalle St. in Chicago.  Space is highly limited and requires a confirmation with Martha Rauch to ensure we have room for you on Friday, August 9 from 1:30-3:30 pm.  I hope to see you there or somewhere soon in the synchronistic cosmic design.

Email Martha at mrauch@greenhearttransforms.org to reserve your spot.