Human Design Mental Meanderings

I got into a seriously investigative mood the other day and really enjoyed it. It started when I was browsing through the Ephmeris and I noticed that there are crosses that repeat during the year. Upon looking closer I saw that some of them repeated multiple times and I started to get curious. I started with the first cross, Unexpected, and tracked it through until it repeated again. Eventually I realized that there are four cycles, that there are patterns to them, but that they are each a little bit different. So, I wrote them out, each cycle next to the one before and saw that

...some crosses repeat in the same order every cycle. 

...other crosses repeat every other cycle

...and certain crosses never repeat

So, once I had written this out I wanted to look at the three patterns separately. I think the question driving me was, is there something to learn from the similarities in each cycle, and is there something to learn from the differences, a question I never really answered.

I don't know how interesting it will be to anyone else, particularly because most people don't even know anything about human design, but I find cycles to be really interesting. It's one place where all systems agree - we just can't deny the reality that the material world operates in cycles.

But at this point I thought of looking into the book on crosses for some explanation on why they repeat. It turns out that I was not the first one to discover this pattern. :) Each of these four cycles has a different name, and more importantly, people born in each quarter have a different kind of "destiny," which, of course, begs the question: what the hell does that mean?

It seems to have something to do with what will bring you fulfillment, as expressed through each quarter's "Theme of Fulfillment." I'd be interested to see more graphs illustrated how the crosses develop through the various quarters. For now...

These are the quarters and their Themes

The first quarter is The Quarter of Initiation, and is about nothing but the mind. 

Quarter of Initiation

"Theme: Purpose fulfilled through Mind

Mystical theme: The Witness Returns"

The second quarter is the Quarter of Civilization. It includes every single activation of the throat, it focused on articulation, and specifically on manifestation. "This is about getting things done, building things, and making things."

Quarter of Civilization

"Theme: Purpose fulfilled through Form

Mystical Theme: From Womb to Room"

Next is the Quarter of Duality, which is all about intimacy, having someone to bond with, and procreation. People born in this quarter work toward genetic security.

Quarter of Duality

"Theme: Purpose fulfilled through Bonding

Mystical theme: Measure for Measure

Last is the Quarter of Mutation. I don't know what to say about this one, except to quote directly from the book... "The nature of mutation for us living in a vast program is that the program initiates the mutation, not us. Of course, in the context of the program, it's not even a mutation, it is just a change in information or frequency. Given the nature of our relationship to time and space, it takes time for that information to get here.

Quarter of Mutation

Theme: Purpose fulfilled through Transformation

Mystical theme: Accepting Death

While I was writing out this post I got interested in looking at which crosses define each quarter - not the one's that repeat, obviously (although the alternating ones might be interesting to look at next), but the ones that are specific only to the one quarter. So here's a breakdown of that.

What is interesting to me is to see the order these quarters go in. Each year we experience this cycle from Thinking about things to Building things to Procreating to Transforming. It is not hard to see the resemblance to the Medicine Wheels I have learned from Flynn Johnson and the Wilderness Awareness School.

In these Medicine Wheels you begin in the East with the place of transition between life and death. The East is also the place of planning, of dreaming about what comes next. It is early morning, as you waking, the place between worlds, the beginning of a new day, a new year, a new journey.

Then you move to the South, where you find hard work, summer, lots of growth, lots of energy being put it to build the things you dreamed about.

Then you move to the West, where you find that you are ready to start teaching others, sharing what you have learned, sharing what you built. It's a time when you come back into the community and offer what you have worked on.

Then to the North where you begin to rest, to reflect on what has been, and to begin to become open to something new. This is the place where you integrate all that has happened, all you have learned through your dreaming, working, and sharing.


I like that there are similarities across mythologies and systems. I like human design because it is such a detailed explanation for the things many cultures have been observing and working with for a long time.

See here for more information on the Human Design System, which is copyrighted, etc. by Ra Uru Hu, although he recently passed away, so I don't know how that works, it's just important to give credit where credit's due, that is, I didn't come up with this stuff, I'm just studying it. 

All quotations, paraphrasing, and information on Crosses in this post came from "The Global Incarnation Index: Incarnation Crosses" by Ra Uru Hu