Human Design Chart Deep Dive, Part 3
Today’s task:
Make one decision based on your human design authority.
If you’re just popping into the challenge, I recommend taking a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of this section on the challenge related to human design.
Today we’re going to focus on explaining the remaining items of your human design chart to connect them to your journey in accessing land and capital for your farm! This includes your authority, definition, profile, incarnation cross, and channels.
What is my authority?
Differentiating between strategy and authority, you could say that strategy is more like the ‘how’ (reminder, mine is ‘wait to respond’), and the authority is more like the ‘what’.
The authority can be known as a navigation system for helping you make decisions. According to my bodygraph, mine is ‘sacral’. AKA listen to your gut.
To be honest, I have a hard time distinguishing between strategy and authority. Because in my example in my previous post was talking about how my body feels. For some people, for example, things can feel like a wave of emotion that’s coming through them. Almost like a ‘whoosh’. For me, it’s a hard feeling in my stomach (gut) or a tightness in my chest. You can find all kinds of blog articles that talk about your authority and what it feels like for people. Or listen to some of the podcasts I mentioned in my previous posts.
What is my definition?
This is the part of your bodygraph that tells you about how energy flows through your centers, based on if your gates are activated, creating channels through which energy can flow. Reflectors, for example, have all open centers, so they wouldn’t have any channels. Definition also tells you a lot about how your energy interacts with other people.
I have a split definition, which according to my soul map, means that I have two separate clusters of defined centers within my chart. I really like that Jas describes this has having two different voices going on at any given time, which makes me want to turn to others for clarity or ‘wholeness’. If you also have a split definition within your chart, remember that it’s still important to come back to your authority when it comes to making your decisions, as this is always going to be more powerful than outside voices and perspectives.
What is my profile?
This is one of my favorite parts of the human design chart because when I start to learn about other people’s profile, it tells me a lot about them and how we can work better together.
Strategies are broken up into two numbers, and they’re often written as X/X. The first number represents the conscious aspect, and the second the unconscious aspect. There are six lines total, and everyone just has two lines within their profile.
I am a ⅗, which translates to the Martyr/Heretic. This is also known as The Alchemist/The Great Guide. I’ve studied quite a bit about my profile, and what I’ve taken away from it is that I am here on this planet to experience life to its fullest, test things out, fail a lot, and teach others what I’m learning along the way. Embracing failure and change is probably one of the best things that I can do for my mental health because it is part of who I am.
This is where I feel like human design can come into the most handy when it comes to helping other farmers like you, who are still a little bit unclear about what you want to do with your farm, which market channels to pursue, or where to land.
Human design is a beautiful compass to your own body. Plain and simple.
The quicker you learn to master the subtleties of the way your energy works, how your body communicates with you, and the principles behind your profile, authority, and strategy, the more likely you are to experience flow in your life (and access the resources you need to start your farm!). The thing that I hear over and over again from other people being interviewed about human design is that they feel a sense of relief after learning what their chart means, because it gives them permission to be themselves and no one else. And isn’t that the most important thing that we can do as farmers? Be ourselves? And feel whole in who we are?
One of the conclusions I’ve been coming to for many years now is that a person is only as healthy as their mindset. And coming to terms with your own identity and the way it functions naturally (versus what anyone else will tell you it should be like) is critical for developing confidence in your decisions and also navigating uncharted territory.
Nearly 100% of farming is about navigating uncertainty and developing a healthy relationship with the unknown.
The other interesting part about your profile is the unconscious and conscious energies. The first line (for me, 3, The Alchemist), is the conscious energy. It’s what you perceive about yourself easily. I’m definitely well aware of my leanings toward tinkering, trying a bunch of things out simultaneously, and seeing what sticks.
This is great because knowing this about myself, I can think about my farm business as a giant experiment. Haha I am even thinking about research as a primary way of funding a lot of my farming endeavors, which is predicated on testing hypotheses, learning from them, and moving on.
I can also think about it in terms of my crop selection from one year to the next, and not be so hard on myself when I decide to change either what I decide to grow or in what quantity or location.
Same thing with market channels. From my first year of growing on my own, it was an experiment, and I learned a lot. A couple of the big ones were: 1) Never farm alone. 2) Don’t depend on farmers markets for any kind of cash flow. 3) I love working with flowers and herbs.
My unconscious energy, on the other hand, is The Great Guide, or Heretic. This is about “universalizing a truth I have uncovered”, or sharing with others what I’ve learned. Over time, wisdom comes. And I often share what I know to prevent others from suffering or making the same mistakes that I did. This feels very much true for everything that I offer through Aligned Farm Design, which stems from my own experiences in human design, personal growth and development, research, and professional work in economic and community development. I’m striving to bridge the gap between beginning farmer training and personal growth, and do so in a way that I found worked for me.
The cool thing about it is that I’ve learned to treat all of these things that happen in my life like a game, taking the pressure off to get it ‘right’.
I’m going to leave the incarnation cross and the channels for tomorrow. They’re a bit more advanced, and way cool!
Until then, I want to wrap up with a small discussion on today’s task, which was to make one decision based on my authority.
This decision happened first thing this morning, when I opened the garage door to assess the amount of snow that was in the driveway and whether or not I could get out safely to make my way to Zumba. My gut said, ‘Yes! You can make it!” And so I left without shoveling anything.
One technique that you might also try, when you’re trying to make a decision, which I have found to be very helpful, is to say your two options out loud and listen to your body afterwards. Or hear yourself, and notice if the way that you say it changes. Is the same level of confidence there? Or does it seem like it lacks life? Pizazz? I find that I have a lot more conviction when I’m saying things that are true for me than when I’m telling myself a lie. And this has been something I’ve learned over time, through trial and error. I try to listening to my own voice more and more often, and then follow where I need to go.
Case in point. When I talk to other people right now about finding a new apartment, and I say that I’m moving to Moorhead, there’s no life in it. When I tell people that I’m moving to Costa Rica, my whole being feels like it’s radiating from within. And I know that it is my true north (even though technically it’s south…).
Try it out. See what happens. Try again. And keep on until you uncover more about your own decision-making process.
