Intuition and Human Design
As I’ve deepened my own practice with my Human Design chart and intuition, I’ve been curious about where intuition shows up in the chart. While there are specific markers of gates and energy centers (specifically the Spleen) that indicate where sensitivity and therefore intuition show up, we can also look at solely your Authority, and openness in the chart to understand a little more about how we process information and make decisions (aka, access intuition).
I’ll give a quick recap of Authority, and then describe the six types of intuition we typically think about. Take a look at your chart and notice where overlaps are in terms of definitions. See if you can identify one or two types of intuition that are strongest for you, and then apply that to your Authority.
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Human Design Authorities
Emotional
Emotional authority is when the emotional solar plexus is defined. With this authority, there is a built in waiting period as you go through your emotional wave. It’s the answer “Let me sleep on it” when making big decisions. This authority works in conjunction with the Sacral for Alchemist & Time Bender* (Generator & Manifesting Generator) types and the Internal Flow for the Initiator (Manifestor) type. For Orchestrator (Projector) types, this authority is typically running the show without another layer.
Sacral
This is the authority associated with Alchemist and Time Bender (the Generator types) when there are no other defined authorities in the chart. This is a pure yes/no that typically will not change unless something about the situation changes.
Splenic
Splenic authority gives a quick pulse of yes/no. It’s your gut instinct, and the seat of intuition. So, people who have the Spleen defined in their chart are often highly intuitive in general.
Mental or Self Projected
These two are only found in Orchestrator (Projector) charts. Mental is specifically when only the Head, Ajna and Throat are defined (or some combination of two of them). Mental is an external authority that requires someone to feel into the environment around them, and to talk out the decision. Self is similar to Mental, except the G (Identity) and Throat centers iare defined. When soundboarding, feel into what you’re saying. When it feels right, you have your answer.
Ego Manifested
In a Manifestor chart, the Ego Authority occurs when the ego/heart center is defined to the throat. You may notice that you feel the answer (connected to your creative flow) and then speak it to get to the answer faster. This is also an opportunity to ask yourself how the decision benefits you.
Ego Projected
In an Orchestrator (Projector) chart, using the will power to guide you toward decisions that feel good to you. About 0.5% of charts have this authority for Projectors, so it’s quite rare. It’s also important to still follow the strategy of waiting for an invitation.
Lunar
The Calibrator (Reflector) type doesn’t really have an authority as the strategy for this type is to wait 28 days (or what works for you) to make decisions. Similar to the Orchestrator (Projector) type, soundboarding can help gain clarity, but make sure you’re in a place that feels good before doing this.
Types of Intuition
When we think about types of intuition, it’s typically offered in a different context than Human Design. So, putting these together may not be as seamless as we’d like. However, knowing your Human Design Authority and paying attention to one or two of these described types of intuition (your strongest) will help you hone your decision-making skills.
Claircognizance - Clear knowing
This is when you just “know” something and have no idea how or why you know it. Often it’s not logical, you can’t back up in your mind and figure out how it got there, it just did. It can also show up in dreams, or when you wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea.
Clairvoyant - Clear seeing
Clairvoyance is associated with visions. Someone who is clairvoyant may get a flash of a vision, or "see" a whole project with all its parts interacting and be able to point out possible hiccups or directions to go. Or the visions are less logical - maybe it’s a certain color, animals, plants, or other objects. Or, it’s a whole movie that runs through your head.
Clairsentience - Clear physical feeling
When you sense what other people are feeling, but you don’t take it on as your own is known as clairsentience. You may be able to feel the emotions in your body, or even when someone has stubbed their toe, you may feel that in your body too! You may be able to walk into a room and sense the energy. Sometimes you may leave the room because, gah, who wants to be in that field? Often people with clairsentience say they use their “gut” as their guide.
Clairempathy - Clear emotional feeling
Very similar to clairsentience, clairempathy is when you can sense the emotions coming from around you and tend to take it on as your own. You still feel it in your body but have trouble discerning what’s yours and what’s someone else’s. Developing the skill to discern what’s your emotion vs. someone else’s tends to develop clairsentience. People with strong clairempathy are often described as textbook empaths.
Clairaudient - Clear hearing
You may hear something and you have an answer. Or, you may hear voices, footsteps, or experience ringing in your ears.
Clairsalience - Clear smell
Like clairaudient, this involves another sense, your smell. You may smell the perfume of someone who has passed away, you may smell cigarette smoke and no one is smoking. This type of intuition can be seen as receiving messages from spirits.
Clairgustance - Clear taste
Clairgustance is when you can taste something, but you’re not actually eating or drinking it.
What’s Next?
Now that you’ve studied the different types of intuition plus reflected on your Human Design Authority, what are you immediately aware of? Here are a few questions to help you understand the way you are taking in all the information and processing it energetically:
Emotional Authority - What do I notice about intuition and waiting out my emotional wave? Is it something I just know, do I picture it, do I feel it?
Sacral Authority - What do I notice about the strong yes/no I receive from my sacral and the different types of intuition. Which type seems to be my strongest?
Splenic Authority - Where am I ignoring the quick pulses of the Spleen? How can I use my strongest intuition to help me tune into these pulses?
Mental or Self Projected Authority - How do I typically notice intuition? How does that help me make a decision when the authority is external?
Ego Authority - Out of the types of intuition, which one tends to stand out the most when I’m trying to figure out if a decision is right for me?
Lunar - Out of the types of intuition described, which ones seem the strongest? How can I use this knowledge in waiting out my decisions?
Need some help figuring out what’s what? In a 1:1 session we can dive into your specific chart, authority and intuitive abilities and get you making decisions faster with way less angst! Book here.
*Quantum Human Design™ is a trademark of Karen Curry Parker. Traditional language in parentheses.