An Observation about Projectors in Human Design
That turns more into an opinion piece in the last half.
I’ve followed the r/humandesign subreddit for about a year, and I’ve distinctly noticed that one Type (essentially a meta-archetype used in Jovian Human Design to make HD profile discussions easier) posts a lot more questions and discussions than the other ones: Projectors.
I sifted through a small sample of the most recent 50 posts, and Projectors make up almost 50% of all recent discussions on the forum. I had a quick thought on why this might be the case, but maybe the titles of the posts can speak for themselves:
How do you make peace with the reality of the Projector output energy of ~4 hours max a day?
Projectors & Ear ringing
Projectors and Manifesting Generators Together = Tough Match?
Massage and / or Reiki as a splenic projector
Projector Business Hours
Is it aligned for a Projector to work out just to clear the mind and feel grounded?
What I can see a lot for these curious Projectors is an attempt to embody their Type so fully that they are jumping through mental hoops to justify their personal feelings as part of their Design.
This is even more noticeable when you see the top responses to a few of these posts:
“It sounds more like you are frustrated trying to fit him into your box instead of appreciating that he just operates differently than you.”
“It’s called tinnitus and has nothing to with HD.”
“The reason I am able to have more energy output is because I’m not doing things that drain me. So some reason I can walk 6mi a day with dogs and it’s energy fueling as opposed to spending 6 hrs sitting with humans, I’d be exhausted.”
Responses regularly find exceptions to what the original Projector poster hopes to be a norm. At times it seems like Projectors are overcomplicating the use and application of Human Design—more on this later.
When 20% of the population is supposed to be a Projector, why do they make up for almost 50% of HD subreddit discussions?
This phenomenon reminds me of the old Meyers-Briggs days, where all the Introverted types (INFP, INTJ, INFJ, etc.) take up a much larger followership on forums than any of the extroverted ones. My theory on this phenomenon: Introverts were simply more attracted to Web 2.0/early forum days where anonymity allowed people to share more freely. It wasn’t yet the Extrovert’s land of podcasts and Youtube videos.
But I feel as if it’s different for Projectors and why they feel the need to apply HD to every aspect of their lives. I think it’s the very upsetting limitations and rules set up for Projectors that begs a lot of questions. Here are a few.
Projectors supposedly have very little physical energy and are supposed to be prone to burnout if they work too much. Hence the questions about energy levels for business and life, seen above.
Projectors have a Strategy called “Wait for the invitation,” which says that one does not initiate things without an invitation in one form or another.
I believe all Types of different Authorities (Sacral as being the defining one for Generators). Projectors seem to have three: Emotional, Mental, and Self-Projected. Correct me if Projectors can take authorities from other centers. But the variability in working with these Authorities makes the Projector feel as if they have to navigate a lot more variables in their life. It’s very different just having a Sacral authority and just trying to figure out if your decisions were mentally-based or Sacral-based. There’s a simplicity and low stakes. For Projectors, it seems as though “living correctly” has a lot more consequences on energy levels and mood.
With all of these concepts to juggle, I would also have a lot of questions for the internet to answer, because it seems like a Projector has to optimize a lot of things to “live correctly”.
But taking these recommendations so seriously, it seems like these more vocal Projectors are forcing a lot of preconceptions about life into Human Design, unaware that the BodyGraph wasn’t here to solve all personal problems, but to understand ourselves through a new energetic perspective.
It makes me think of Chiara’s (mysticalheretic) HD origin story, where she took Human Design to a radical level:
I had invested so much of my identity
egointo convincing myself and everyone else why Human Design was “end game” and “Truth” with a capital T. I didn’t want to look stupid; I had blown up my whole life for this system. No, I must be right, Ra is always right, there is a “correct” to be a Projector or else you’re just not-self.
But she came to realize that it was taking her agency away:
This was the system that supposedly promoted “claiming your own authority.” And yet, I had given my power away to very thing it was supposed to liberate me from.
And moved on to just live her life:
It took me most of the year to finally summon the courage to seriously start applying to jobs. To let go of “waiting” for invitations and instead take action on my life. I eventually got a barista gig in the fall, and I believe this is when my new beliefs began to truly solidify.
Suddenly, I was around “normies” again. I was around people who knew nothing about Human Design and seemed to be doing just fine. Nobody was following their “Strategy and Authority” — yet, they appeared a hell of a lot happier than the people I was surrounded by in the pits of Human Design. I had finally broken through my belief that living as a Projector was the “only” way to exist — and the only way I really did that was by proving a different life was possible through taking action.
And finally, she concluded some great insights about life and spiritual structures in general:
I am no longer trying to mould myself to fit the map; I know now that the map is not the territory. One’s lived experience will always differ from static theory. […]
I think the most important thing to remember — and what might have saved me from going through this long, arduous process and can perhaps prevent others from the same — is understanding that you can’t get it wrong. There is no such thing as making a “wrong decision.” It doesn’t matter what you do or what you don’t do. It doesn’t matter if you follow your Strategy and Authority or not. You can make up the rules to your own life. You can literally do whatever you want; no one is stopping you.
THIS is what I believe Human Design was supposed to be about: honoring your own individuality, trusting yourself above all else. If it is not empowering you, then please, walk away. Find your own means of empowerment.
What greatly inspired me in Human Design was the idea of “deconditioning”—to expand your self-knowledge so that you can better listen to yourself and trust that it’s speaking the truth better than what our society’s cultures will ever provide.
The HD system provided a beautiful method to attune back into the body. The skeleton of the system continues to do that effectively, but Ra Uru Hu, in his decision to develop the system to be as accessible as Astrology, added a lot of shoulds and ought tos with the Type, Strategy, and Authority that unfortunately–and inevitably–added social conditioning into the BodyGraph.
Gatekeeping comes to exist in the spaces that others can tell you what is correct or not. The most effective gatekeeping happens when “correctness” is vague and interpreted by intermediaries; the playbook is hidden or doesn’t exist, so you have to manipulate yourself to look “correct” for others.
Conditioning—at least the practical side of it—occurs for each and every human being navigating this gate-kept world, whether the keepers are our parents, our teachers, our friends and colleagues, or our mentors and gurus. When the full information isn’t presented to us, but some people act as if they know it all, we may get conditioned to their whims in our quest for recognition—for validation.
But return to the word “decondition”, and I ground myself in my own recognition, and the wisdom that these spiritual systems can provide me as I answer my own questions about how I can better live according to my values.
Thanks for reading,
Dom
P.S. Sorry, I lied that this was going to be quick. Chiara’s writings on Human Design have been fascinating, so bringing her quotes into this opened up the dialogue on my first thoughts about the statistical observation I had.
P.P.S. I believe that the underpinnings of my perspective on Jovian Human Design come from my background of having found the Gene Keys very quickly after Human Design, and approaching the BodyGraph from a thematic-practical perspective instead of a literal-practical perspective.
I believe the 64 Gates, Channels, Circuits, and Centers are beautifully organized themes that all apply universally rather than on a specific date/time level.
If one read into all of these aspects as if they were part of the overall human condition, I think they would find a treasure trove of intuitive wisdom in their life by seeing these themes play out for everyone around us. In other words, the BodyGraph is a collective truth packaged in a personal truth.