Understanding Human Design

Transits for February 2026

Shantamo · January 27, 2026 ·

Each month I send the transits for that month to my newsletter subscribers. February has more to tell than I could fit in the newsletter. So for this time only, I make the extended version of the transits for February 2026 publicly available. Here you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

Overview

Excuse me if I do not start off with the next business opportunity or romantic opening around Valentine’s day, because in view of the great mutations and changes that I see happening, those things seem to be a bit trite and not quite a responsible thing to offer to you.
Of course, there are business opportunities and also openings for romance and relating. They are embedded now in a bigger flow of which both business and our love life are a part.
This month that flow is deeply influenced by emotions, which are governed by the emotional center in Human Design. Our feeling world may fluctuate between being intensely involved and affected, and sensing a distance to one’s own feelings, and therefore to others. Pluto’s strong position brings an element of inevitability: we may sense that feelings are forced upon us by external developments, or fear that our own feelings could overwhelm us.

On another note, a softening of the masculine side is advantageous this month.

Traveling together

We have the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all cycling through gates in the emotional center. All of these gates are in the star sign of Pisces except for one, and that is the gate that controls the connection between the emotional center and the sacral center, the life force in Human Design. That gate is in Virgo, the opposite of Pisces. The wildness, sensitivity, and exuberance that is inherent to the realm of feelings needs to pass through a certain discernment before it can unite in a creative way with the life force.
Because these four planets stand in the same part of the sky, they frequently share the same gates. This reinforces the qualities of those gates. Here is an example.

A sensitive approach

On Feb 2-3 Mercury and Venus are in gate 49, Revolution. Here they activate the Channel of Sensitivity with Mars in gate 19, Approach. Feb 4-5 Venus is still in 49, while Mercury has moved on. The male side would like to approach the feminine, which has clear ideas and feelings how it likes to be approached. This is careful treading for the masculine, holding in check Mars’ impatience.
People who have this Channel in their chart can feel the needs of others often better than their own. It is good for them to remember the ability of gate 49 to say: no, this does not fit for me.

The Pluto treatment

The other thing I see happening is that all these planets are activating the Channel of Recognition (30-41) with Pluto. I came up with the term “The Pluto Treatment,” because these planets, which are personal, are connecting with an impersonal force of renewal. We realize that the tidal wave of change concerns us personally.

Gate 41 signifies the start of a new genetic sequence. And what that sequence will be, you don’t know in advance. You just know that you’re starting. The program is not in your hands.
This type of change may or may not be an improvement, who knows? It is discontinuous, and it brings in a new level. In that sense, it can be an expansion or a new step in our evolution.

Pluto becomes personal

This means the aspects of our personality that these planets stand for – for example, the Sun rules how we present ourselves, how we shine in the world – when they get the Pluto treatment, they are being bathed or immersed or just exposed to the energies of Pluto. And Pluto is non-personal. However, through the energy that flows in the Channel of Recognition, we experience the change now in a personal way. In 2025, changes manifested principally in the collective, the society. Now they concern us more directly.

The keywords here are death or mutation, change or die. These are Plutonic qualities. So it’s kind of scary. It’s scary if we hold on to our conventional understanding of who we are. And if we do not, it may feel like welcoming death, allowing the prospect that something familiar to us is no longer going to be the same.
This is what death is deep down. We’re going to lose the body. We’re going to lose the mind and the personality as we know it. You could say Pluto is live surgery in full consciousness on ourselves.

The inner mirrors the outer

Another point to note is that the inner and outer world are not separate. The great changes that are happening – revolutions that are happening in the outside world, discontinuities, systems falling apart – are reflected in, or parallel to changes in our inner world. Our very DNA is changing.
Of course, this happens when new children are born, but it also happens in our bodies. So if things happen in your body that feel unfamiliar and you wonder what it is, of course, check with your medic, and also be open to the possibility that your body is being changed. It responds to the current environment in ways that we may not know. It happens to me, at least.

Circles of change

What comes right after our inner world, the relationship with ourselves, are the relations we have with others, the intimate relationships. And old models, the old forms of that are no longer really working. There’s a new way coming. And anyway, do you really want to live in a kind of replica of a 1950s Hollywood movie? That’s over.

It doesn’t mean you can’t relate. It means relating is now deeply connected with your own inner development and sharing that, your individuality, with other people. Which is not the same as, “I need to do my thing, and therefore I’m separating myself from you.”
That is kind of a reaction to that 1950s model. Also that has had its time now. We are moving into interdependent ways of relating. It all boils down to coming back to ourselves. From that place, the first step is to meet the people of our kindred, those on our personal trajectory or destiny, what you could say are our soul connections.

Two great cycles meet

In the outer world, there are two cycles now that intersect. They’re coinciding in these years. Pluto’s orbital cycle is 248 years, meaning that it is 248 years since it stood in gate 41. That was between 1776 and 1789, actually in 1778. It’s interesting to note that when we celebrate a 250-year anniversary, we are very close to honoring a Pluto return. 1776 and 1789 are the years of the American independence and the French Revolution, respectively. They had things in common. ‘Freedom, equality, and brotherhood’ was the motto of the French Revolution as well as a main ideal of the new United States. No kings, we are all equal. They also had in common that women were not included. And that is another thing that this great change is going to bring: an upgrade of the role of the feminine.

The second cycle

As I see it, the common denominator in those revolutions is an attempt to create a system that guarantees equality. You could say that is an essential ingredient of democracy.
This coincides with a 400-year cycle that comes from Human Design, which is also ending now, which is called the Cross, or Life Theme, of Planning. Planning is about creating systems that ensure that the well-being of each individual is taken care of by the collective. We’ve done quite a good job on that in some aspects, in some parts of the world: universal healthcare, education, equal chances, and a certain social distribution of wealth, so that also the elderly and those that earn less still have a reasonable living. Those things are achievements of this system. Now it’s coming to its end. It’s falling apart. You can see it.

The rise of the Phoenix

There’s not somebody to blame. The people that seem to disrupt the current order are actually agents of evolution. It has to fall apart because a new cycle is coming in.
This cycle, again, has to do with the empowerment of the individual. The actual possibility of that individual flowering. It’s called the theme of the Sleeping Phoenix. The potential of being realized, that’s what is sleeping. That’s the phoenix. And in order for that realization to happen, it needs to be dying in the fire and arise from it. Quite radical, right?
So these two things are coming together in these years. I see them in the charts that I make.

Uranus

Another thing I see in this month’s chart is Uranus, which on Feb 4 is turning direct in gate 8, line 4. That line is about teamwork, while gate 8 is about contribution. In the Gene Keys, it’s about the shadow of mediocrity and then the gift of style and the Siddhi of exquisiteness. Mediocrity is when you don’t let your light really shine. Actually, gate 8 is an individual gate. You are meant to allow your light, your own light, to honor it and to let it shine. Your contributions are valuable to the team because of the fourth line here.
But in the shadow, it’s like: ‘I got to adapt. I cannot trust that I can really shine’. This describes the kind of team that is part of a hierarchy. Although you may call it a team, in fact the leader is the most powerful one. It’s the old hierarchical setup. Originally, the leader was the person with the most physical power. Now it may be the person with the most money or the one who has the higher job in the hierarchy. They are the boss of the team. The team obeys and works to fulfill the goals that the boss sets.
That’s mediocre.

A new perspective

The times are changing. And Uranus indicates that. It’s a planet of revolution. A new perspective is on the horizon. It is that teams consist of individuals who know their style, who know their unique gifts and can actually express and live them.
Again, that does not mean that ‘I got to do my thing in this team and I overshine you’ and everybody tries that. That’s not the idea. There’s enough space under the sun for all these gifts to flower and be inspired by a higher goal, so that all can be real contributors to the team.

This does not mean that there is no team leader. That’s a role that’s needed. There are roles in a team. There’s no attachment to these roles. Hierarchy means you’re attached to your position. If you’re leading a team and you’re not attached, you’re just a team lead. You have a responsibility there: to keep the team aligned with the vision that you have and to create the space for each person to flower.

Out of that, teams can affect real change, which emerges because the result of what a team does is as much the actual goal as the way they reach it, the way they can work together. These are not separate.

The Delta, a new way to work together

In the Gene Keys world, there is a specific program to explore news ways of teamwork. It is called the Delta, and takes the shape of a game of collective transformation.

Visual representation of the Delta structure. The transits for February 2026.

In this life-changing game, players gather in groups of 7, exploring 7 themes over 7 weeks in a syncopated rhythm, creating a very real experience of higher harmony that touches all areas of your life.

In the words of Richard Rudd, who created the program:
‘The Delta represents many things. It is an advanced gift from another realm beyond our current evolution. It is, as you will see, both a healing tool and a game we need to learn to play increasingly as a species. It brings another dimension into our daily lives, without displacing our many physical and emotional commitments. It’s true power lies in the effects it will have upon our inner lives, which in turn are creating our very future. Make no mistake; by playing this game, you are altering your own future! You are aligning yourself to a higher stage in your own evolution, which can only bring you increased health and wealth at all levels of your life.’

Find out more about the Delta here. You can try the first step for free.

(this link contains my affiliate code)

Make a new beginning with this Spring Ritual

Shantamo · March 20, 2023 ·

Introduction

It’s clear that the world is going through huge changes. Richard Rudd, founder of the Gene Keys, says that what is happening here on earth is not separate, but that it is part of an evolutionary shift in the texture of the universe. We are in that shift just like everything else, and it will take its course regardless of what we do.

This means no one is to blame, yet it also becomes clear that the institutions we have created over the centuries – our political, economic, cultural and religious systems – are unable to find adequate responses to the tide of change. This is a time where the focus is on the individual, and possibly on new networks forming between individuals who feel drawn to collaborate and co-create.

The spring equinox

This year, the spring equinox (I’ll focus on the northern hemisphere here) falls on the 20^th of March for the Americas and Europe, and on the 21^st for countries further east. It is followed by a new moon the next day. In astrology, the spring equinox is when the sun moves from the sign of Pisces to Aries, initiating a new cycle in the Zodiac. The new moon is in Aries too, which amplifies the possibilities for a fresh start.

The Chart

The Human Design Chart for this spring equinox displays all the ingredients for an initiation. This is a time when we as individuals can shift into a new level of experiencing our inner potential, and develop a deeper understanding of our place and purpose in the world.

For those who have studied Human Design, here is the Chart. Otherwise, just read on below.

Make a new beginning with this Spring Ritual

The energies in play

You can see the Sun in Gate/ Gene Key 25, Innocence. This is innocence of the heart, from where love flows naturally. Mercury is in the same Gate, in the 6^th Line. This gives power to our thoughts. Mercury here wants to figure things out, to bring logic to the heart, which easily leads to misunderstandings.

Because the Sun is empowered in its 2^nd Line, it can preserve the love flow by keeping the energy focused in the Now. When you do the ritual, bring yourself back into the present whenever you notice that your mind takes you somewhere else. I’ll tell you how to do that.

Jupiter is pooling its considerable influence with Sun and Mercury through the Human Design Channel of Initiation. Through sudden upsets, this Channel propels us from worn-out associations into a fresh experience of ourselves. Here you can think of attachments to people, or also to your ideas what love is, how it should look when you love yourself or someone else.

In the preceding days, from March 14-18, we have seen Venus and Pluto join forces in the Channel of Mutation. Something new wants to get born in our hearts, old compromises for the sake of internal or external harmony will no longer do.

The momentum of this time of initiation is directed towards relating, within ourselves and with others. The central question is: how do I experience love and how do I share it? You can also use the planetary energies to cleanse your heart of past burdens. In essence, love is an inner journey, that then finds its way into the outer reality.

Additional elements

Here are some more ingredients that contribute to the planetary brew:

Venus and the North Node are in Gate 27, Line 3 : recognizing who and what is nourishing in any situation. Find the right people to be with.
Moon and Mars activate the Channel of Innovative Interaction. The heart wants to move where no one has gone before, while the Moon provides enchantment and charm. Use the ritual to give yourself some moments of slowdown, after which it could be interesting to move outward, into the world and into relating
Saturn in Gate 55, Line 2, reminds us to stay with our own innocent journeys of discovery, even amidst the suspicions of others (‘you can’t really do that’)

The ritual

This practice is about experiencing love in your body. You will need a connection with nature. The best is to go out in nature. If that is not possible for you, bring some natural object that has meaning for you into your house.

As a preparation, find a quiet moment and ask yourself ‘What limits the expansion of my heart?’ Give yourself space and time to receive answers. When fear comes up, accept it. You can even welcome it, just keep inquiring. Fears can also take the form of doubts, like your mind asking what’s the point, and so on. When you feel complete, take some notes, or make a drawing. Something to give form to what you have discovered.

The practice

Next comes grounding. Ask yourself what you need for that. I suggest that you go out in nature and plant your feet firmly on the ground. You could move slower than usual, or take a path where you usually do not go. Give yourself a jolt, or shake yourself, whenever the mind distracts you. The idea is to be as present as you can be.

It is spring, the time when nature brings the new, that has been growing since its inception on or after the winter solstice, into full manifestation. New beginnings are easy to find, even if in some regions they may still be small. Let these new beginnings come to you. Let them catch your eye, or caress your nostrils. Perhaps you hear a bird call that strikes you.

Now stop, and allow one or more of these impressions to enter your heart and widen it. Just like before with the constrictions, now give the expansion space and time. Keep your mind in the background, shake a bit or feel your feet on the earth when you lose presence. A deep breath also can help. When the expansion has taken root in your body, you can bring a limiting pattern into it. See what happens in your inner world. Most probably you notice a change; if not, that is fine too. Accepting constriction is the key. The softening of it may come next time.

Tips

This process is so simple is it easy to miss it. Give it a chance, it can be quite profound. A good thing is that you can repeat it whenever you want.

You can also do this together with someone you feel in tune with. I would advise you then not to use words, or let the energy dissipate through an old pattern of relating. Be open to the reality of the moment, let the magic happen

A flowering tree in a green spring landscape

Gate 30: How desire brings things into being

Shantamo · February 1, 2023 ·

Strong stuff at the bottom of a Chart

In January and February of this year Saturn traverses Gate 30. From Jan 22-27 Saturn activated Channel 30-41 with the Sun, with Venus becoming part of it too. From 13-18 Feb we see Sun and Saturn both in Gate 30, with Mercury in Gate 41 to activate the same Channel. I find it a good reason to have a deeper look at this Gate and Channel, which is the conduit for how desire brings things into being.

The Human Design name of Gate 30 is desire, while its Gene Key frequencies are Desire, Lightness, and Rapture. Desire is the emotional driven energy of consciousness that wants to return home. For whatever mysterious reason. Christians call it sin, while in the east Hindus have called it Leela, God’s play or the divine play. In the act of creation, consciousness has separated from itself, and here it is in the form and wanting to return, wanting to become one again. In Gate 30 the collective evolution uses us individuals as an instrument for this grand design.

Channel of Recognition

Now, in Human Design on the other side of Channel 30-41 is Gate 41. Its Gene Key frequencies are Fantasy, Anticipation and Emanation. Here we find the invitation from the Earth to realize something, to bring it to the material plane. The name of this Channel is Recognition. It’s like the desire wants also to take form. The ancient Chinese name for Gate 30 is the clinging fire. Desire is seen as the clinging fire. This happens when the mind takes hold of this energy, and rides it, and attaches it to a certain object or person. The mind wants the desire to be fulfilled. This brings anxiety: shall I make it, or will I fail? Even if the desire is fulfilled, another one will take its place, and the mechanism restarts.

The dilemma of desire

Essentially this is consciousness that wants to return to its source, while at the same time it attaches itself to outer objects. The energy of desire moves us all, without exception. It is an intrinsic part of the play of life. Denying it is to say no to our own life force. Saying yes to it takes us away from ourselves. How to resolve this dilemma?

On the one hand, this is existence working through us to complete its cosmic motion. On the other hand, desire is an outer manifestation of something inner. This is where the Gene Keys gift frequency of Lightness comes in, which says: ‘Yes we know that it is an inner move, and at the same time it will be reflected in the outer.’

Desire is to be honored. It’s a beautiful energy. But now we are not attached to the result. We know the result is not really what makes us happy. What makes us happy is to be aware of the energy that is stirred up through the desire. This energy, in its wish to fulfill something, is like a fire, and when there is no object left it will merge with the light which it is longing for. Even when that’s a bit mystical, it fits in the context, right?

Pushing against Saturn

So that is the energy here. With Saturn, if you push the desire too much, or if you limit yourself and if you don’t honor the pure fire, Saturn’s going to do something. Saturn is the Guardian of the threshold in the ancient astrologers’ language. The threshold of the inner world. At the end of the way is the door to the inner world. So, if you don’t recognize that, you’ll get attached to the object of the desire. Even if it’s a noble desire, like I want to put a meditation center together so people can come and find themselves. Or I want a tantric love affair. Or even if I want to have several million dollars to do good works. Or just for myself. And when you push it and push it, Saturn will stop you.

If you push, you may find, with Saturn and Sun in the same Gate, that suddenly there’s an obstacle. And if you try to push through that obstacle, you may stumble and fall on your face. That is what literally happened to me. Don’t blame the obstacle. Don’t even blame Saturn. He’s just teaching a lesson here. With Lightness we can live out the desire-energy while remaining playful about it.

Giving yourself to rapture

At the highest frequency you find Rapture and that is the Siddhi of Gate 30, when the desire courses through you. And you are not in the way, it’s just the desire of existence itself. Then you are in the state of rapture. You let yourself just be taken and that desire will find its flow and will find its way into realization as it wants to happen. This is also how it reconnects to the Siddhi of the 41, Emanation. These are things that want to come out of the void and into this existence, and the rapture of desire is the instrument. In this state, there is also an understanding that the object is not separate from the inner anyway. It is all a manifestation of consciousness. Perhaps the Hindu concept of divine play hits the mark here.

Is the Channel of Charisma a Tantric Overachiever?

Shantamo · September 2, 2021 ·

The Channel of Charisma (or Being Busy) : 20-34

This is the only direct connection, or ‘direct flight’, between the life energy of the Generator center and the manifesting capabilities of the Throat center. Of the six next-closest connections – so to say with one stopover in another center – three go through the Self center, which gives us our sense of purpose and direction, our place in the greater whole. They all involve a stage of transformation of the life energy before it can be manifested. That manifestation then has an element of guidance, of sharing with others. The other three include the Emotional and Spleen centers, which is a story in itself.

Manifesting

Not so the 20-34; it is pure life energy expressing itself. It does not think, it does not tune in, it does not consider others. It finds fulfillment in action. People with this Channel are the essential Manifesting Generators. The Manifestor element, the one which initiates the action, needs to learn to inform others before they act. They do not always manage, the impulse to act can be too strong. In that case, they do well to apologize if there is a negative consequence for someone else.

If you are with a 20-34 person, accept their apology. It’s a bit different when they use ‘I can always say sorry afterwards, but I have done it anyway’ as a strategy. Then we have moved into mental territory, away from the pure energy of this Channel.

Generator

Manifesting Generators need to learn to honor their Generator part too. Once they commit their life energy to something, this part will complete it, even if they drop down from exhaustion afterwards. This exhaustion happens when the Manifesting part has moved too quick, without checking back with their life energy. This check-in is not mental, it is an energy process, and it can be very quick once you’ve got the knack of it.

Two-thirds of humanity has the Generator part active, and they know from birth how to do this. Our upbringing, with its emphasis on thinking, conditions people away from this natural knowing. When Generators unlearn these mental habits, their life force rises up by itself and they ‘just know’ when to say yes or no.

Generators and Manifesting Generators are Human Design Types, along with Manifestors, Projectors and Reflectors. Each Type has its own strategy. Knowing your strategy assures that you use your life energy in the most efficient and satisfying way. In a short and specific session, called ‘Laser Beam‘, I illuminate your Type and teach you the corresponding strategy.

Know your correct strategy

Book the Session

Other Influences

There are two other possible influences on the Channel of Charisma. They are gate 57, the Gentle, and gate 10, Treading. These gates, when defined, add their own Channels with gate 20 or 34, or with each other. Three or four gates can also combine here. When the 20-34 is activated with one or both of these other gates, its flavor changes. This is really an interesting corner of the Human Design Chart!

Pure Energy

The non-thinking, pure energy part of the 20-34 is mesmerizing. It is also called the Channel of Charisma. The gates that constitute this channel, 20 in the Throat and 34 in the Sacral center, are opposites in the Wheel. Their axis goes through the center, from where all manifestations – the 64 hexagrams – originate and into which they disappear. We could say that in the middle is a black hole, like in our galaxy. From one side matter disappears there, while probably from the other side it is a white hole, where things come out.

The hexagrams of the 20 and the 34 complement each other; you could also say that they annihilate or melt into each other. They are a kind of natural, unconscious tantric partners. Perhaps that contributes to the fascination of this Channel. An interesting side-note: of all the gates that come out of the Sacral, only this one is considered non-sexual, because it is pure life energy. It’s called the gate of Power.

Natural tantrikas

So are people with this channel natural tantrikas? In a way yes. The question is whether they are aware of it. Although a plant or animal is naturally in tune with existence, it seems they miss the self-reflection to know this of themselves. I would say that the ’20-34s’ need to follow the same path as the rest of us here, in terms of being aware of the union of opposites. I define tantra here as the union of opposites, and the tantrika as one who has realized this union within themselves. The sexual union is an outer manifestation of this, and several tantric traditions use it as a starting point.

The Prophecy of Ra

Are you into prophecies? Here is a little bit of the Human Design prophecy (yes there is one, it came through Ra and Steve Rhodes has given an excellent description of it in his book: ‘The Prophecy of Ra Uru Hu’). Ra postulates 2027 as the year of the Great Change, when the world moves into a new era of 400 years. In this period, people with the 20-34 will be at the forefront of what’s happening. Their inborn ability to ‘merge without thinking’, or even being aware of it in our sense of the word, may be pivotal in the new direction of life on this planet.

For all the others, watching and experiencing people with this channel, aside from being inspiring, and sometimes exasperating, can be a window into things to come. And for those who have this channel in their Chart: you have something good coming up for you!

Human Design Types and energy

Shantamo · April 30, 2021 ·

Your Type, one of the three main Keys in Human Design, describes how your life energy functions. If you do not know your type, you can request a free Chart here, and I will send your Type Description along with your Chart.

To know how your type interacts with other types can be really useful. It helps to understand that many difficulties between people are no one’s fault. Or, seen from the positive side, it shows us the best ways how we can work and live together.

Basic Introduction to Type Interactions

There are five Types. Here they are, with the approximate percentage of the total population for each of them :

Manifestors	11%
Generators	34%
Manifesting Generators	33%
Projectors	21%
Reflectors	1%

These can be categorized in two main groups: Manifestors, Generators and Manifesting Generators are energy Types, while Projectors and Reflectors are non-energy Types.

The energy types have centers activated in their Chart that want to do something, manifest something, or both. They are pre-programmed for action. Doing makes them happy and then, at the end of the day, they can enjoy a well-deserved rest.

Does this mean that Projectors and Reflectors, the non-energy Types, are just hanging around, waiting for the other ones to put food on the table, and maybe a beer as well? Actually, it is good if they allow this side in them. They often feel something is wrong with them, because the vast majority of humanity -more than 75%- is so active. They then try to be just like an energy type, forcing themselves to a higher pace than is good for them. Their body does not like this, so it often leads to health challenges. Moreover, they are missing the role that is meant for them. What could that be?

Back to the energy types: if they do not have anything meaningful to do, they become dejected and feel useless. Their energy level decreases and they feel an unsatisfied sense of tiredness at the end of the day. They can actually get kind of grumpy. Because they tend to be so involved in their activities, it is not so easy for them to take a step back and see how what they do fits into a bigger context. They end up moving in a circle, having forgotten how they got into it and what could be the sense of it all.

Here non-energy types can help. They naturally stand back from life a little, observing what goes on, and often wondering about it. They can sense the bigger picture, and what the energy types would need to do to realign themselves. They are potential guides. But they need to wait for the permission of the energy types to be guided. With that yes, a beautiful synergy happens. The energy types provide the life force, the non-energy types contribute the overview. They are equal, and together they can create miracles.

This is not to say that we cannot be happy and fulfilled on our own. It is a description of the general dynamics between groups of people and how they can support each other. A little understanding of the other type can make our interactions much smoother, and so raise the energy level of the whole group.