The four systems, simply

Four ways of looking at one person

You don’t need to know anything about these systems to have a reading. I do the calculating and the translating, and you get the result in everyday words. But if you like to know what you’re getting, here is each one in short: where it comes from, what it looks at, and what you’ll find in your chart.

Think of four photographs of the same house, taken from the north, the south, the east and the west. Each one is true. None of them shows the whole house. Put the four together and you can walk all the way around it.

Human Design

What it is. A recent system, from 1987, that brings several older traditions together in one chart called the bodygraph. It is calculated from your date, time and place of birth.

What it tells you. How your energy works: how you’re built to work, to rest and to make decisions.

In your chart

• Your type. One of five: Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector, Manifestor or Reflector. It describes how your energy runs and how to use it without wearing yourself out.

• Your strategy and authority. The way you make decisions that are right for you. For some people that is a gut response, for others it means sleeping on it, or talking it through.

• Your profile. Two numbers, such as 1/3 or 6/2. They describe the role you naturally take in life and how you learn.

• Your nine centres. Each one is either defined or open. Defined is where you’re consistent. Open is where you take in other people, and where you can be influenced.

• Your channels and gates. Your particular talents and themes, out of 64 possible gates.

Western astrology

What it is. The map of the sky at the moment and the place you were born. It is far more than your star sign.

What it tells you. Your character, your needs and the timing of your life.

In your chart

• Your Sun, Moon and Ascendant. Who you are at the core, what you need to feel safe, and how you come across to others.

• The planets. Mercury is how you think and speak. Venus is how you love and what you find beautiful. Mars is how you act. Jupiter is where you grow. Saturn is where you’re tested and become solid. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move slowly and show where deep change comes into your life.

• The twelve signs. The style in which each planet expresses itself.

• The twelve houses. The areas of life: home, work, money, love, friends, health and more. They show where each planet plays out. This is the part that needs your time of birth.

• The aspects. The angles between your planets. They show which parts of you work together easily and which pull against each other.

• The transits. Where the planets are now, compared with your chart. This is the timing: what this year asks of you, and when.

Ba Zi

What it is. Chinese astrology, more than a thousand years old. Ba Zi means “eight characters”, and it is also called the Four Pillars of Destiny. It is based on the Chinese solar calendar.

What it tells you. What you’re made of, in terms of the five elements, and the rhythm of your life in chapters of ten years.

In your chart

• Your four pillars. One each for the year, the month, the day and the hour of your birth. Each pillar is a pair: an element on top and an animal below.

• Your Day Master. The element you are, and the centre of your chart. You might be Yin Wood, a climbing vine, or Yang Fire, the sun.

• The five elements. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Which ones you have plenty of, which are thin or missing, and what that means for your energy, your work, your money and your relationships.

• Your four animals. You have one for each pillar, and the year animal most people know is only one of them.

• Your ten-year cycles. The long chapters of your life, and the energy of each year and month inside them.

• Your helpful stars. Such as the Nobleman: the people and the periods that bring help.

• Your Feng Shui directions. The directions that support you for sleeping, working and sitting.

Numerology

What it is. The meaning of the numbers in your date of birth and in the letters of your name.

What it tells you. The road you’re on, what drives you, and what each year is for.

In your chart

• Your Life Path. From your date of birth. The main road of your life.

• Your Expression. From your full name at birth. Your talents and how you use them.

• Your Soul Urge. From the vowels of your name. What you want deep down.

• Your Personality. From the consonants. How others see you at first.

• Your missing numbers. What doesn’t come naturally, and is yours to learn.

• Your personal year and months. A cycle of nine years. It tells you what this year is for: starting, building, changing or finishing.

• The name you use every day. If it differs from your name at birth, I read that one too. This is why I ask for both.

Why four and not one

Each system sees some things very well and others hardly at all. Human Design is precise about how you work and decide. Astrology is rich on character and timing. Ba Zi shows your elements and the long chapters of your life. Numerology gives the rhythm, year by year.

What I look for is where they agree. When three or four systems say the same thing in different words, you can lean on it. That is the heart of every reading I write. I tell the longer story in Why I read four systems and not one.

What I need from you

• Your date of birth

• Your time of birth, as exact as you can. If you don’t know it, here is what to do

• Your place of birth

• Your full name at birth, and the name you use every day if it is different

An honest word

A reading describes tendencies and timing. It doesn’t predict your future, and it doesn’t replace a doctor, a therapist, a lawyer or a financial adviser. What it gives you is a clear, kind picture of how you’re made, and what you do with it is yours.

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