Beyond Type & Strategy: A Fresh Approach to Human Design
A cosmic perspective on understanding your unique energetic blueprint
When you first begin exploring Human Design, you're likely to encounter concepts like "Type" and "Strategy." Most Human Design experts will tell you this is all you need to know to get started—just follow your Strategy and don't worry about understanding the complexities of your body graph.
I'm here to challenge that perspective.
In my experience as both a practitioner and teacher, I've found that this approach can actually be more harmful than helpful. The overreliance on Type and Strategy is often why people get put off by Human Design or feel those "cult vibes" that many mention. Trust me, I was once skeptical too!
There's actually tremendous value in Human Design once you set aside the Type/Strategy framework and approach it differently. Let me show you a more empowering way to begin.
Understanding Your Definition: The Foundation of Self-Knowledge
Instead of starting with Type, I recommend beginning with your definition—the colored centers in your chart that represent your consistent, reliable energies.
Look at your body graph and notice which of the nine centers are colored in (defined) and which are white (undefined):
Defined centers represent energies that are:
Consistent and reliable
Always accessible to you
Part of your natural expression
Undefined centers represent energies that are:
Variable and inconsistent
Not easily accessible
Areas of greatest potential learning
While it might seem like definition is "good" and undefined areas are "bad," this couldn't be further from the truth! Your undefined centers are where you have the capacity for the greatest wisdom and growth in this lifetime.
Mapping Your Islands: Understanding Your Energy Flow
The next important aspect to explore is your definition pattern. Look at how your defined centers connect to form "islands" in your chart:
No Definition (about 1% of population)
No defined centers connected to each other
You're wide open to the universe's energies
Enormous potential for learning and growth
You're an energetic sponge absorbing everything around you
Single Definition (about 19% of population)
One cohesive island of connected centers
Energy flows easily through your defined centers
No sense of missing pieces or disconnection
Split Definition (most common)
Two islands of definition
Triple Split: Three islands of definition
Quadruple Split: Four islands (extremely rare)
If you have split definition (of any type), observe the gaps between your islands. What gates or channels would bridge these gaps? The people you're most drawn to likely complete these connections for you!
The distance between islands also influences how you experience these gaps:
Single gate gap: "If I could just figure this out, I'd feel whole"
Channel gap: "Other people are the missing piece"
Center gap: "The world itself seems incomplete"
Remember: there is no blame, no fault—it's all just design. These are the lessons you came here to learn.
To Do or To Wait: Understanding Your Manifestation Pattern
Finally, look at whether any of your islands contain both the Throat center and one of the four motors (Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, or Heart/Ego center):
If you have the Throat connected to a motor: You have a design to DO
If you don't have this connection: You have a design to WAIT
Neither is better than the other—both are essential for our collective evolution. Those with a design to wait understand the value of doing (our society conditions us for constant action). But those with a design to do often struggle to learn the value of waiting, contemplation, and discernment.
Can you imagine a world where everyone is constantly doing without anyone ever stepping back to consider whether we should? That's not a world I want to live in!
Embracing Your Unique Design
You are the ultimate expert on yourself. Don't outsource your authority to anyone—not to a guru, not to me, not to anyone else in your life. Understanding your own energy flow is your fundamental right and an essential step toward becoming your fully actualized self.
Remember that you don't exist in isolation. The planets are constantly transiting and activating your chart in unique ways, and you interact with people who have their own charts, definitions, and energy patterns. You condition others just as much as they condition you.
Becoming aware of your design and learning about the designs of those closest to you is a powerful step toward more empowered relationships and greater awareness of how we influence each other.
What's Your Design?
I'd love to hear about your definition pattern! Do you have single definition, split, or triple split? Do you have a design to do or to wait? Share in the comments below.
In my next post, we'll dive deeper into the centers, exploring how we're conditioned by the world and where we condition it in return.
Katherine Reinhart is a Human Design analyst, Gene Keys guide, and astrologer who believes in understanding the mechanics of your cosmic blueprint. Through her Cosmic Abundance platform, she helps spiritual seekers integrate practical and mystical realms through their unique energetic designs.
