Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you will run into across Human Design, Gene Keys, and astrology.
Human Design
Bodygraph
Human Design's core visual chart: a body-shaped diagram of nine energy centers connected by channels and gates, calculated from your birth date, time, and place. It is read for type, strategy, authority, and profile.
Type
One of five categories (Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector, Reflector) describing how your energy is built to work and interact with life, based on which centers in your bodygraph are defined.
Strategy
The Human Design guidance attached to your type for how to engage the world with less friction, such as responding for Generators or waiting for invitation for Projectors.
Authority
Your bodygraph's answer to how you make reliable decisions, based on which centers are defined. Common authorities include emotional, sacral, and splenic.
Profile
A pair of numbers from 1 to 6, such as 1/3 or 4/6, drawn from the I Ching's 64 hexagrams, describing your life theme and how you naturally learn and grow.
Center
One of nine areas on the bodygraph linked to a function such as decision-making or identity. A center is either defined (shaded, used consistently) or undefined (white, taken in from others).
Channel
A connection between two gates on the bodygraph. A channel is defined when both of its gates are activated by your birth data, and it links two centers together.
Gate
One of 64 points on the bodygraph, each tied to one of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. A gate is activated when a planet occupies its position at your moment of birth, and each gate is also a Gene Key.
Definition
The pattern of how your defined centers connect to each other through channels, described as single, split, triple split, quadruple split, or no definition. It shapes how your energy is meant to interact with other people's.
Incarnation Cross
The life theme formed by four specific gates in your chart, from the Sun and Earth positions at your birth and roughly 88 days earlier, read as your Human Design purpose.
Gene Keys
Hologenetic Profile
The core chart in Gene Keys, calculated from the same birth data as a Human Design chart. It highlights a sequence of key spheres pointing to specific Gene Keys relevant to your life's work, relationships, and purpose.
Shadow
In Gene Keys, the lower or reactive expression of a gate's frequency, described as the pattern to move through on the way to its gift.
Gift
In Gene Keys, the constructive, balanced expression of a gate's frequency, reached by working through its shadow.
Siddhi
In Gene Keys, the highest potential expression of a gate's frequency, described as a state of realization beyond the gift.
Activation Sequence
The first sequence read in a Hologenetic profile, built from four spheres calculated from your birth data, addressing your core purpose and life's work.
Venus Sequence
A sequence in a Hologenetic profile addressing relationships, built from spheres calculated from your birth data.
Pearl Sequence
A sequence in a Hologenetic profile addressing prosperity and vocation, built from spheres calculated from your birth data.
Astrology
Ascendant (Rising Sign)
The zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at your exact moment and place of birth. It sets the houses in an astrology chart and depends heavily on precise birth time.
House
One of twelve divisions of an astrology chart, based on the time and place of birth, each associated with an area of life such as career, relationships, or home.
Aspect
The angular relationship between two planets in an astrology chart, such as a conjunction or an opposition, describing how their energies interact.
Tropical Astrology
The astrology system based on the seasons, measured from the position of the Sun at the March equinox each year, most common in Western astrology.
Sidereal Astrology
The astrology system measured against the actual, observed positions of the constellations rather than the seasons, common in Vedic astrology.
Ayanamsa
The angular offset between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, which grows slowly over time due to the precession of the equinoxes. It is what a sidereal chart calculation must account for.
Transit
The current position of a planet in the sky compared to your birth chart, used to read what is being activated in your chart at a given time.
Chiron
A small planet-like body whose position at your birth is read in astrology charts, associated with themes of a core wound and its capacity to become a source of healing or teaching for others.