I am often asked by my Human Design Map clients is how the transits affect their charts. I’ve also personally been thinking a lot about the transits and wanted to do a deep dive for the blog.
In this post, I’m going to talk about how human design transits affect your chart. Here is what I’m going to cover:
- a planet is transiting a gate you already have defined.
- a planet is transiting a gate you have undefined. And, how that changes depending on if you have the “other side” of the channel defined.
- the transit creates new center definition (due to new channel defintion).
- the transit adds a full channel between existing defined centers.
And, I’m going to talk about which gates are most important to be aware of as they transit your chart.
But first, let’s talk about what Human Design transits are, why they matter, and how to look at them.
What is a transit in Human Design?
As planets rotate around the sun, they appear to align with the constellations (aka the signs). And each constellation has a few Human Design Gates within it.
Those alignments are called transits.
Without getting too deep into astrological philosophy, the reason why this matters is the hermetic principle that goes like this:
That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above
And that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below
To accomplish the miracles of the One Thing.Hermes Trismegistus, The Emerald Tablet
You’ve likely heard that summarized by the popular saying:
As above, so below.
The constellations (and the gates within them) are archetypal energies that mirror the archetypal energies within us as humans.
Whatever a planet is transiting in the cosmos (above), those distinct archetypal energies are playing out on Earth (below). The frequency of those archetypes may be different for each person, but the essence of the vibe is always there.
Your Personal Human Design Chart is a Snapshot of Transits
Your specific Human Design chart is defined by the planetary transits.
For example:
If the sun is transiting Gate 1 at the time of your birth, Gate 1 is defined in your bodygraph.
Your chart is a snapshot of the transits when you were born and the transits of 88° prior . Your purpose is to play with and embody those archetypes in this lifetime. The most important ones are the gates of your incarnation cross.
For example:
My incarnation cross is LAX of the Clarion 2. That means that at the moment of my birth, the:
- Sun was transiting Libra, Human Design Gate 57 line 5, the archetype of the Lucid Intuitive*.
- Earth was transiting Aries, Human Design Gate 51 line 5, the archetype of the ThunderBolt.
And, 88° before the time of my birth, the:
- Sun was transiting Cancer, Human Design Gate 62 line 2, the archetype of the Esoteric Translator.
- Earth was transiting Capricorn, Human Design Gate 61 line 2, the archetype of the Divine Door.
(*Please note that these archetypal names are the names I have given them. You can see all of the archetypal names in the Human Design Gates Library.)
The defined gates in your chart are the ones you will have a consistent way of expressing. The undefined ones will be less consistent and are opportunities to develop wisdom. The celestial transits mirror those more inconsistent archetypes back to you (as well as showing them on the collective level).
Why Human Design Transits Matter
(+ a Great Metaphor About “Defintion” and Believing You Are “Not Enough”)
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am completely fascinated by the gates (and lines) in Human Design. The deeper and deeper I go into them, the more and more they draw me in.
Despite common Human Design rhetoric, I actually find them to be the *most* practical part of the cart; especially when it comes to making an authentic contribution to the world (gate 8). They give you very specific tools and practices to work with on a daily basis.
That, perhaps, is a post for another day.
For now, I will say that one of the fascinating parts is the stories we hold around our “hanging and bridging gates.”
What are hanging gates and bridging gates?
(Hint: If you struggle with feeling “not good enough” don’t skip this part!)
Hanging gates are defined gates that are not part of a fully defined channel. Bridging gates are the gates that complete the channel.
You know that classic line from Jerry Macguire:
That is some definite hanging gates meet bridge gates vibes.
Let’s look at my chart as an example:
In my chart, you may notice that I have gate 28 defined four times but gate 38 is undefined; that makes gate 28 a hanging gate for me and gate 38 is the bridge.
We are inherently attracted to bridging gates in our charts. There is a hierarchical order of them and I will talk about that at the end of the post.
For now, though, I want to focus on a common energetic theme with bridging gates.
In the Human Design chart, we can see many places where we have opportunities to heal conditioned shame. Our bridging gates are a key place we tend to hold the “not good enough” variety.
We aren’t talking about a hard and fast rule here (IMO, nothing in HD is a rule).
But, generally speaking, the archetypal themes of your bridging gates will show you where you believe that you aren’t enough. You may tell yourself that you should be (aka shame) more of that archetype and less of others.
One of the ways we try to soothe that shame is by looking for other people to “complete” us. That leads to patterns of codependency, desperation, and neediness.
All of those patterns come from the belief that you are not enough, that you are broken, or flawed.
But you can transform those patterns by harnessing the power transits.
The transits are a mirror showing you where that archetype is ALREADY inside of YOU. It helps you to gather wisdom about how and when to “call on” that energy. It also has the potential to show you that you don’t *actually* need that energy all the time; you just need it sometimes.
When you can come from that place, you will automatically dissolve unhealthy patterns in relationships. You will be able to have truly empowered dynamics with the people you love most.
Here is a metaphorical example:
My dad is a home construction/remodeling contractor.
He has shed a FULL of tools. Any tool you could ever need to build/repair/update your home, he probably has at least three of them.
But he also has a van that is loaded up with tools, too.
The van is stocked with hammers, nails, screwdrivers, and screws. And the top of the van always has at least two ladders attached. To do his job, he needs these specific tools, almost every single day.
The tools in the shed, on the other hand, are there when he needs them. He doesn’t need them every day, or even most days. He can put them in the van when he needs them and put them back when he doesn’t.
Let’s say that he thinks he needs all of his tools in the van to be a “good enough” contractor.
If he tried hauling all of those tools around, every day, it would quickly turn into a hot mess. It would actually make his job harder. He would waste so much time and energy trying to find the hammers under all the other stuff.
This is how the gates in your chart work.
The gates that are defined in your chart are like the tools in my Dad’s van. They are the ones you need for every “job” in your life (aka your purpose for THIS incarnation).
For example:
If gate 36 is defined in your chart, cultivating compassion will be a common theme in your karmic patterns. You will have a consistent way of experiencing the full spectrum of compassion.
And let’s say that you don’t have gate 57 defined. You will, of course, have experiences with fearing the future and trusting your intuition. But it may not be the star of your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual show. You can harness intuition when you need it and focus on compassion when you don’t.
And you aren’t missing out on anything by focusing on the work that is yours to do.
The rivers are different but the water is the same. All roads lead to Rome. It is all for your spiritual awakening. And all that jazz.
But BELIEVING that you need to be everything all the time is like putting all the tools in the van.
It actually causes more harm than good.
If you really needed this or that gate defined in your chart, it would be. Believing otherwise is just shame masquerading as Truth.
This is ultimately why human design transits matter so much. Because they are showing you that you are already whole. You are not broken or flawed. You already have everything you need.
The transits give you a tour of the shed that was in your backyard the whole fucking time. You start to see where those secondary tools are and where to go (energetically speaking) when the need arises.
This frees you up to just be who you are in every area of your life.
How to know what the Human Design transits are and how they are affecting your chart
There are a few different ways that you can see what the transits are and how they affect your chart. My personal favorite is in Genetic Matrix. Here is a look at my chart without any transits:
But then, I can select the “foundation transit” chart and will get an image that looks like this:
On the far right-hand side of the chart, you can see a bodygraph for the moment I ran the chart. Immediately to the left of it, you can see which gate and line each planet is transiting.
In the middle, you can see what my chart looks like when combined with the transit. The transit gates are in purple and my normally defined gates are in green.
On the far left-hand side, you can see my normal bodygraph.
And, finally, across the bottom, you can see how the transit is affecting my channels specifically.
“Personal” channels are the channels that a transit completes in your chart.
For example in the transit image above:
You can see that I already have gate 59 defined in my chart and the transit has gate 6; this combo creates the full channel of “mating. This also creates a defined solar plexus and sacral. I’ll cover more about that below.
“Educational” channels are channels that the transit has on its own but are undefined for your chart.
I’ll explain what that “does” below but, for now, here is the transit chart for the late Ram Dass:
You can see that in this transit, there are two “educational” channels. One is the channel of structuring (43/23) and the other is the channel of synthesis (19/49). These are both channels that are completely defined in the transit but completely undefined in Ram Dass’ birth chart.
And, of course, “birth” channels are the channels that are defined in the normal Human Design chart.
You can see that I have the:
And Ram Dass has the channel of Power (34/57).
Other options for running transit charts…
You will need a “pro” Genetic Matrix account to see the view that I’ve presented here. If you don’t have that, you can run a “just now” chart on Jovian Archive. That will show you what is happening in the transits at the moment you run them. You can overlay that with your own chart.
There are also planners you can buy that go into them. The most robust one, that I am aware of, is this one from Proliner HD.
There may be other options as well but, at the time of this writing, I am not aware of them. I always use Genetic Matrix.
How the Human Design Transits Affect Your Specific Chart
Each chart is unique. The way a transit affects your chart will be different than the way it affects someone else’s. But, there are a few different specific patterns to look for…
When a Planet is Transiting a Gate You Already Have Defined
When a transit is in a gate that you have defined, it doesn’t usually have a huge impact. It tends to feel more like “amplified home.”
If you are very sensitive to transits, you may even have an awareness that you “feel normal” compared to others.
To be clear, “amplified home” doesn’t always mean it will feel “good.”
If you are unconsciously living in the “negative” frequency of that gate, that is what is going to get amplified.
For example:
If I am not trusting my intuition and the sun is transiting gate 57, it may become glaringly obvious to me. But, if I am totally in my intuitive flow, I may be very aware of how in my flow I actually am.
When a Planet is Transiting a Gate You Have Undefined
Where things start to get really interesting is when the transits define gates you normally have undefined. There are a couple of ways this can play out.
When a transit defines a gate that is normally undefined for you on a defined center.
In my transit above, you can see that Mercury is transiting Gate 63 (the gate of doubt) in line three. I don’t normally have gate 63 defined in my chart; I do have a defined head center due to the channel 61/24.
I’m not going to be as affected by this transit as someone with an undefined head (70% of the population). My energy body already has a natural way of regulating head center energy.
The same is true any time a transit is defining a gate that is in a defined center for you. You already have a way to regulate that energy. That will make the transit much easier to manage.
What may be different, though, is that you’ll notice that particular “flavor” of energy playing out in your world.
I have the 61/24 defined. It is 100% normal for me to ponder deep and mystical questions about the spiritual nature of life. I am on a constant quest for inner truth. And, I am willing to be in silence and let that truth reveal itself over time. I am open to revisiting previously held beliefs and surrendering them to the fires of alchemy.
These are very “normal” things for my mind, body, and emotions. That doesn’t mean I am always in the “positive” frequency of those gates. That flow of energy is always happening, though.
So, when gate 63 shows up, there is already a “pathway” for it to flow into.
The more well regulated your centers are, the easier it will be to regulate these types of transits.
(I go into detail about regulating centers in the Nine Centers Guide. It is included when you order the Human Design Map).
When the transit is in a gate that you have undefined, including an undefined center
This scenario can be a bit more challenging for your mind, body, and emotions. You don’t have a consistent way of regulating that energy. That inconsistency is how you develop wisdom.
That might mean that you have a harder time catching what the transit is mirroring for you.
So, going back to gate 63 as an example:
Let’s say that you don’t have gate 63 defined and your head center is undefined. During a gate 63 transit, you may end up in a swamp of self-doubt. You may not know that you have a choice in how that energy plays out. Instead, you start identifying with it and lose sight of all of the resources that are available to you.
But really, you have an opportunity to begin consciously working with doubt. You can show your energy body what to do with it. And that opportunity is going to be the strongest when a gate is in transit.
When a Planet is Transiting a Gate That Creates Center for You
Channel definition always creates center definition. A full channel in your chart means the two centers that the channel bridges will also be defined.
Channel definition can happen, via the transits, in a couple of different ways. No matter what way it comes, they are potent “mirrors” for transforming your frequency.
If we go back to the tool shed metaphor:
When you have transit center and/or channel definition, it is like going through that shed with a fine-tooth comb. The energy becomes amplified and very easy to see.
There are two ways that channel definition can be in your chart during the transits.
When one (or more) of the planets will be transiting a gate that you have “the other side” of.
I always have gate 59 defined in my chart and the transit has gate 6 defined. This makes the channel of mating defined and, therefore, gives me sacral and solar plexus definition.
With this transit, I have the opportunity to ride a strong emotional wave and play with sacral energy. I am likely to feel more aware of my emotions and their waves. I may become more aware of what I love doing versus what I don’t love doing.
If I start to identify with the energy, I can very easily burn myself out or make unintentional emotional decisions.
But, if I take a step back, observe what is happening, I can see how the energy might be useful.
I might ask:
What wisdom can I access from these heightened emotions?
Where can I apply this life force energy?
Additionally, I am likely to see patterns specifically coming up around vulnerability(59) and conflict (6).
Am I avoiding being vulnerable to avoid conflict?
How might I actually use the vulnerability to ease conflict?
The real key here is that that is an opportunity to really clearly see patterns playing out. If I honor that and use it to my full advantage, I can gain an incredible amount of wisdom.
I can put those new tools in my shed for later.
When a full channel is defined by the transit alone
That isn’t happening with my transit chart here so, let’s go back to the Ram Dass one.
In this transit, Ram Dass would have throat and ajna definition because of the 23/43 transit channel in the nodes. These are his “education” channels at the time of the transit.
If he were still with us, he might see the way he moves energy from his ajna to his throat. He might find himself processing information, thinking things through, and coming up with new ideas. And, he might discover how much easier it seems to share his thoughts and ideas with others.
In addition to those broad center themes, he might really see:
- how critical it is for him to listen to his inner voice (gate 43)
- how to express laser-sharp words that create instant transformation for others (gate 23).
When the transits create new channel definition between existing defined centers
Sometimes, the transits will have a fully defined channel on their own.
In some cases, that will create transit center definition for you. Other times, it will simply enhance centers that are already defined.
Here is a transit chart of my favorite musician, Trevor Hall:
You can see in his chart that he always has the emotional solar plexus and the root defined. But with this transit, channel 19/49 is defined by the transit alone. This gives him a new “flavor” of those two centers.
In this scenario, the 19/49 is an education channel. There might be a level of awareness that will happen around the energy of the 19/49. He may be exploring themes around sensitivity and leading revolution.
But, because his solar plexus and root are defined, he will already have a consistent way of regulating that energy. That could enhance his experience because there will be less of an energetic learning curve.
It gives his energy body the chance to explore new ways of regulating those centers. He also gets an opportunity to improve the flow between the root and solar plexus.
The key gates to watch in the Human Design transits specific to your design
There is healing potential in every single transit we go through. Each one is a portal into awakening because every gate in the chart is a portal to awakening.
When healing the “not enough” wound, bridge gates are the ones to watch.
The bridging gates work in a hierarchical way. Meaning, some will be more energetically important to you than others.
So, now is the time to grab your chart and make some notes.
Here are the bridge gates to watch for in the transits, in order of energetic importance. Gate that bridge:
- a “small” split if you are split defintion. (I cover defintion types and splits in the Nine Centers Guide, which comes with your Human Design Map.)
Or, hanging gates in:
- your incarnation cross.
- undefined centers.
- defined centers.
When you observe those archetypal patterns, you may notice the “not enough” themes you are holding with them.
You can heal those patterns. Take an honest look at them and recognize that you have everything you need.
The energy of your bridging gates always available to you. You don’t actually need it all the time to fulfill your purpose and make your unique contribution to the world. If you did, you would have incarnated at a different place and time.
You truly have everything you need.
You can use the prompts at the end of all of my human design gates blog posts to help you.
But don’t make this transit mistake!
I realize that is a bit of a “clickbait” kind of heading but, I gotta do what I gotta do. 😉
Longer transits can actually “feed” your story of not enough.
When that energy is in the transits for long periods of time, it can trigger a bit of mind fuckery.
Let’s revisit my transit chart one last time:
In this transit, the nodes are in 23/43. The 23 is one of my most important bridging gates because it bridges my small split. It is a place I can easily believe that I am not enough.
The nodes take about three months to transit.
That means, for about three months straight, I will have very easy access to the energy of Gate 23. I may have an even more powerful way with words than when it isn’t defined. I may even feel more “complete” within myself, without “needing” others.
If I am unaware of the transit, it will be very easy for me to lose sight of what is happening. I could easily think that my “problem” has magically solved itself. I could tell myself that I am finally good enough.
Telling myself that I am finally good enough might sound like a “good” thing.
But it is mind fuckery of the highest order.
First of all, it is built on the faulty premise that “enoughness” is a thing outside of my own mind. And second, that I wasn’t whole and complete before.
And that is just the beginning of the mind fuckery.
The real mind fuckery kicks in when the transit changes…again and gate 23 goes back in the shed.
When the transit changes, remember, we don’t lose access to the energy. We just take it “out of the van” and put it away for later.
If I have attached my self-worth to transits, I will experience a crash of shame when that transit changes.
Think about a mother who builds her sense of worth, value, and identity around raising children. She loses sight of who she is, underneath her identity of being a mother.
When those kids are grown, she may go through an intense period of shame and worthlessness. She may feel very lost and confused about who she actually is.
Or a person who builds their entire identity based on who their partner is. When that partner breaks up with them or dies, they don’t know who they are without them.
These situations are called ego death. It is exactly what can happen when we attach our identity and sense of worth to transitory energy.
They real key to working with Human Design transits
The key to working with transits is non-attachment.
Attachment is when we BELIEVE that something outside of us has the power to create our felt experience.
And non-attachment is remembering that none of it is actually who you are. It is remembering that…
You are overflowing with wonder, awe, and marvel. You are filled to the brim with remarkable gifts. You are made of stardust and magic.
You are the contrast of shadows and light.
You are the soil and the seed.
You are the moon and the sun.
And venus. And Mars. And Jupiter.
And the mysterious sky that holds it all up.
You are the Divine, embodied.
You are playing a game of hide and seek with yourself.
You are here to play with the tools in your Human Design chart.
You are here to explore the full spectrum that life has to offer you.
You are here to LIVE in your body, with your mind, your heart, your shadows, and your light.
Whatever is active in the transits is your opportunity to explore the energy. Notice the way it works, see how it flows through you, and if you like the frequency you are on.
And when it’s gone, put it in the shed. TRUST that it is there when you *actually* need it.
The Human Design transits are always opportunities for healing, growth, and even spiritual awakening.
They are a chance to see yourself (and the world) in a whole new light. They are showing you all the tools in the shed and new ways of managing the flow of your energy.
I recommend following the transits using Genetic Matrix and paying extra close attention to your bridging gates. Let them show you which tools belong in your van and which ones belong in the shed.
To support your healing, there are prompts at the end of each post in the Human Design Gates Library. I also send notifications to my email list about the sun human design transits. You can get on that list by grabbing the Human Design Gates Cheatsheet.