Variables

The four arrows around the head of the bodygraph: Determination, Environment, Perspective and Motivation.

What the Variables are

The Variables are an advanced layer of the chart: they describe not what you have but how it works in you. They appear as four arrows beside the head of the BodyGraph. On the left is the Design, bodily side: Determination (Design Sun/Earth, how you take in food) and Environment (Design Nodes, where the body thrives). On the right is the Personality, mental side: Motivation (Personality Sun/Earth, what drives your thinking) and Perspective (Personality Nodes, what you notice and how). Each arrow points left or right depending on its tone: 1–3 left, 4–6 right.

How to read your Variables

A left arrow means strategic, active and focused. A right arrow means receptive, passive and peripheral. Most people have mixed arrows, and that's normal. The Variables need an exact birth time, so if yours is uncertain, treat them as a hypothesis. Above all, they don't replace strategy and authority; they refine them. Live by your type first, and explore the Variables as a gentle experiment.

The four arrows of the Variables

The four arrows beside the head of the BodyGraph sum up the deep layer of a chart. Each one shows whether a specific activation is oriented left or right, and together they describe a person's body, environment, way of seeing and way of thinking. They are worth reading only after strategy and authority.

Color in the Variables

Color is the first level beneath the line: every line divides into six colors. On the Design side color describes determination and environment; on the Personality side, motivation and view. Color is what gives all four Variables their names and explains why the same line sounds different in different people.

Tone in the Variables

Tone is the level beneath color: every color has six tones. Tone describes your way of knowing — the sense through which you take in the world most precisely. And tone is what decides whether each arrow points left or right. There are six tones, each linked to one sense.

Base in the Variables

Base is the deepest level of the substructure: every tone has five bases. It is the first frequency, where everything begins, and Human Design describes it above all as orientation — toward people, toward the world, toward what seems interesting. Sources say the least about bases, so conclusions here are the most tentative.

Determination (PHS)

Determination is the first of the Variables and the foundation of the Primary Health System (PHS). It describes not what to eat but how, and in what circumstances, the body digests most easily. It comes from the color of the Design Sun and Earth, and the tone decides whether the arrow points left or right. Read more →

1AppetiteConsecutive / Alternating

Consecutive / Alternating

Appetite is the first color of Determination and the simplest, oldest digestive system. What matters here is the order in which food enters the body: the consecutive arrow leans towards one thing at a time, the alternating arrow towards variety taken in turns.

2TasteOpen / Closed

Open / Closed

Taste is the second color of Determination. Its theme is discernment: sensing what truly suits you and staying with it. The open arrow reaches its own set of foods through wide tasting; the closed arrow through a confident no to everything that is not its own.

3ThirstHot / Cold

Hot / Cold

Thirst is the third color of Determination and the last of the "conditions". Here temperature takes centre stage: the hot arrow does best with warm food and drink, the cold arrow with cool ones. The choice of foods itself is far freer in this color than in the first two.

4TouchCalm / Nervous

Calm / Nervous

Touch is the fourth color of Determination and the first of the "circumstances". What matters now is not the plate but the atmosphere: the calm arrow needs a quiet, settled setting, the nervous arrow needs movement, conversation and stimulation. It is about the environment, not about a person's inner state.

5SoundHigh / Low

High / Low

Sound is the fifth color of Determination, one of the most sensitive and most modern digestive systems. It responds to the acoustic setting: the high arrow digests best among sounds, music and chatter, the low arrow in silence. It is about the sound around a person, not their inner state.

6LightDirect / Indirect

Direct / Indirect

Light is the sixth color of Determination, the most sensitive and refined digestive system. Here lighting shapes how food is absorbed: the direct arrow needs light falling right on it, the indirect arrow needs diffuse, soft light or darkness. This applies to both sunlight and artificial light.

Environment (PHS)

Environment is the second arrow of the Variables. It is about place rather than food: which physical surroundings put the least strain on the body and let it settle. It comes from the color of the Design Nodes and becomes truly relevant in adulthood, roughly after the Saturn return. Read more →

1CavesSelective / Blending

Selective / Blending

Caves is the first Environment color and the most basic: an enclosed space with one obvious entrance. People with this color do best where they decide who comes in and who goes out. That sense of control over the door is what gives them security and ease.

2MarketsInternal / External

Internal / External

Markets is the second Environment color: a space of exchange, trade and lively activity, the thing cities grew out of. People with this color do well where business is happening and money, goods and ideas are moving. That kind of environment becomes the footing for their material life.

3KitchensWet / Dry

Wet / Dry

Kitchens is the third Environment color and the most creative part of the hardscape. It doesn't have to be a literal kitchen; it's any place where one thing is turned into another: a workshop, a studio, a production floor. Here the left and right orientations are about humidity.

4MountainsActive / Passive

Active / Passive

Mountains is the fourth Environment color and the first of the landscape ones. People with this color do well up high: on a hill, on an upper floor, wherever the air is a little thinner and the view opens out below. For them height isn't only physical, it's also a position in life.

5ValleysNarrow / Wide

Narrow / Wide

Valleys is the fifth Environment color. People with this color do well down low, on the lower ground, where the world moves past them: people, traffic, news. They're built to sit at a crossroads and watch the flow go by rather than shut themselves away from it.

6ShoresNatural / Artificial

Natural / Artificial

Shores is the sixth and most sensitive Environment color. These are places on a boundary: where land meets water, or where the city meets a park or open country. People with this color need to see a horizon and to be able to look past the edge, and water feels especially close to them.

Perspective (View)

Perspective, also called View, is not about what a person sees but about how they look: the frame through which the world reaches their mind. It comes from the color of the Personality Nodes, and it supplies the raw material the mind later turns into concepts and conclusions. Read more →

1SurvivalFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

The first color of Perspective is the oldest way of looking at the world. Someone with the Survival View sees everything through one basic question: what here could hurt, what could feed, who knows how to make it and who does not. It is a grounded, practical way of seeing.

2PossibilityFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

Someone with the Possibility View notices potential in people, ideas and situations where others see only the ordinary. They do not need to know whether a possibility will ever come true; what matters is that it is there and can be seen. That is how this View inspires others.

3PowerFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

The Power View looks at the world as a field where some win and some lose. Someone with this color in the Personality Nodes notices who holds influence and resources, who is rising and who is falling, and how the hierarchies around them work. It is a way of seeing, not a judgment.

4WantingFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

The Wanting View is not about a person's own wants. Someone with the fourth color in the Personality Nodes sees what is lacking around them: what is unfinished, what people need, where something is missing. Their eye keeps wandering, and that is exactly where their strength lies.

5ProbabilityFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

The Probability View sees not what could happen but what most likely will. Someone with the fifth color in the Personality Nodes picks up the early signs of trends and the direction in which things are moving, often long before anyone else notices them.

6PersonalFocused / Peripheral

Focused / Peripheral

The Personal View does not look at the world head-on. Someone with the sixth color in the Personality Nodes first runs what they see through themselves and makes it their own, and only then does it make sense. That is the source both of their eye for other people's uniqueness and of the risk of shutting themselves in.

Motivation (PHS)

Motivation is the fourth arrow of the Variables and probably the subtlest one. It describes not what a person thinks about, but what pushes them to think, and the quality they bring when they "deliver" their lines. It comes from the color of the Personality Sun/Earth, so it concerns the mind rather than the body. Read more →

1FearCommunalist / Separatist

Communalist / Separatist

Fear as a motivation isn't panic; it's unease in the face of the unknown. A mind with the first color wants to understand, to get to the bottom of things and find solid ground. That's why Ra called this color the foundation of conceptual thinking. Its transference partner is Need.

2HopeTheist / Anti-theist

Theist / Anti-theist

Hope as a motivation is the art of not interfering. A mind with the second color filters out the noise to see what others can't, and it knows when there's no need to act, take responsibility or push events along. Its transference partner is Guilt, the urge to fix.

3DesireLeader / Follower

Leader / Follower

Desire is the most powerful of the motivations. A mind with the third color is driven to change, organize and set the material world in motion, and the mind is almost powerless against that pull. The natural theme of this color is leading and following.

4NeedMaster / Novice

Master / Novice

Need as a motivation is the mind's economy. A person with the fourth color is meant to think about what actually needs thinking about, not about everything. The unknown is the first color's territory; the fourth color's strength lies in what is necessary.

5GuiltConditioner / Conditioned

Conditioner / Conditioned

The fifth color has an awkward name, guilt, but its essence is fixing. A mind with this motivation sees what doesn't work and thinks about how to put it right. The feeling of guilt is only part of the mechanism: it's what gets people to act. Its transference partner is Hope.

6InnocenceObserver / Observed

Observer / Observed

The sixth color is special: innocence is really not a motivation but the absence of one. A mind with this color thinks without a hidden "because" and without an agenda. That's precisely why people with it are often trusted. Its transference partner is Desire, the urge to lead and control.