Is Knowing Your Human Design Type the Key to Living Your Most Authentic Life? I Asked an Expert

While I’m by no means an expert in all the different types of personality tests, I do consider myself pretty clued into the various modalities for figuring out why we are the way we are. But recently, I came across a technique I was unfamiliar with: Human Design Types. The five types—Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector and Reflector—were coined in the late 1980s as a way to get the energetic blueprint of who you are. Curious to learn more, I reached out to Human Design Guide Rachel Levine.

Rachel Levine, is a Human Design guide, herbalist, yoga therapist and founder of the lifestyle brand Intuitively Wild. After years of navigating personal challenges including an eating disorder, poor mental health and toxic habits, Levine discovered the transformative power of a ritualistic lifestyle that brought her back into an emotionally, physically and spiritually healthy state. Her clients learn to support themselves on a foundational level so that they can finally align with their true authenticity and thrive, no matter what life brings.

Human Design is a spiritual technique that incorporates systems like astrology, the Chakras, the Kabbalah tree of life, Vedic philosophy and modern physics to help you learn about your personality, your energy and more. Levine tells me that Human Design was created by Ra Uru Hu, a pseudonym for a man named Alan Krakower, in 1987, and is a spiritual technique. Similar to astrology, you input your birth information into an online system and get a chart about who you are. She continues, “This chart is the energetic blueprint of who you came here to be. It outlines how your energy is meant to work, how you are meant to make decisions, connect to your intuition and overall move through life in a way best suited for you.” This chart can also give you insight into your gifts, where you may be impacted by others' energies and where you are grounded or ‘defined’ within yourself. “It helps you connect with your true authenticity and unique qualities, offering practical guidance and profound insights to step further into your most aligned self,” Levine notes.

She continues that Human Design not only takes into account the astrology of the sky on the day you were born, but it also incorporates the astrology of the sky three months prior which is when, according to Human Design, our soul enters our body. “By layering these two pieces on top of each other, your human design chart contains both your conscious (personality, or mind) and unconscious (design, or body), allowing us to see even deeper into who you are.”

As mentioned, you can find your Human Design Type by entering your birth information into a website specifically designed to calculate your type. A few free spots Levine recommends are DayLuna, Jovian Archive and Vaness Henry.  She adds that if you want more detailed information on the key aspects of your chart and practical tips, tools and rituals to embody it in your life right now, her own site has a guide called Ritualism that’s a personalized manual to intentional living according to your human design.

There are five different Human Design types—Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector and Reflector—and Levine says your energy type describes how you are supposed to be exchanging energy with the world around you. “Each type has different amounts and types of energy, and when we align with how our energy works, we are able to align with what is meant for us.”

Each type also has what is called a ‘Self’ and ‘Not Self’ theme. The self theme is what you feel when you are living in alignment, and the not-self theme happens when you’re making decisions that are not fully aligned for you. 

• Strategy: to initiate and inform 
• Aura: close and repelling (in other words, protected and polarizing)
• Signature: peace
• Not-Self Theme: anger

This type, which Levine tells me accounts for 9 percent of the population, creates momentum, initiates and leads. These trailblazers, she says, work in spurts of energy and need to do things their own way. This is, “the only type that does not need external prompting to act.”

• Strategy: to respond
• Aura: open and enveloping 
• Signature: satisfaction
• Not-Self Theme: frustration

Here to create, share and magnetize energy, Generators, which make up about 32 percent of the population, are one of two types that create their own alignment—and must live in alignment with their gut.

• Strategy: to respond (and to inform)
• Aura: open and enveloping (and protected and polarizing)
• Signature: satisfaction (and peace)
• Not-Self Theme: frustration (and anger)

This type—36 percent of the population—is a combination of Manifestors and Generators. Levine describes them as multi-passionate and non-linear beings who are here to forge a brand new path and to create, share and magnetize energy. (They’re the second of the two types that create their own energy.) Levine tells me, “Although traditionally and generally speaking a Manifesting Generator has the same themes as the Generator, you may experience some flavors, and similarities connected to the Manifestor as well. Experiment for yourself and see what resonates for you.”

• Strategy: wait for the invitation 
• Aura: focused and absorbing
• Signature: success
• Not-Self Theme: resentment

Twenty-two percent of the population, Projectors are here to tweak, guide and bring efficiency. They work well one-on-one, focus on details and need a lot of time inward to hone their craft.

• Strategy: wait for a lunar cycle
• Aura: sampling
• Signature: surprise
• Not-Self Theme: disappointment 

Reflectors are here to mirror, reflect and reveal, and make up just 1 percent of the population. Levine tells me this type doesn’t have consistent energy, and instead always reflects back the energy around them. They also have the ability to see others fully and the environment and energy they’re in is crucial to their purpose, gifts and well-being.