Reflections from an unconscious abstract mind are a wonderful thing. My 64-47 lives in the land of metaphor and simile. I can learn about and navigate the logic of Human Design, and am immensely grateful for the anchors and signposts and footholds it gives me. But the magic for me individually is when an image or a story just pops out of my mind that I can recognize my own unique truth in. (a mind that floats up there with my wide split, unconnected to any other part of me.)  And sometimes even be invited to share that reflection through my 8-1 and 33-13.

Here's an example: I was reflecting the other day on the partnering of seemingly very different energies that Lynda and I are experiencing and enjoying through the IHDS. And my first "thought" was to sit down and look at our charts in terms of the channels at least (you can see them below) with my conscious 24th gate wanting to help me figure it out. So I looked at the charts and saw the obvious. One of us logical and tribal and one of us abstract and collective. Seemingly on the surface at least - kind of opposites.

But then that shaman 64-47 took over and out popped this image of a pelican and a whale. And my whole being smiled because it was the perfect metaphor for the differences and strengths of our designs individually and together. For how we live and play together in the same ocean.

Lynda is the pelican. Sometimes she flies high over the ocean alone, circling, unconscious of where she is to go yet but always on purpose when the energy moves her, and always looking for that one specific thing she is here to do. And when she finds it she soars up even higher and then dives in with such power and speed and focus and grabs that fish that only she is here to see. And then she heads off for the next one, wherever and whenever that is.

And sometimes she joins her flock and she flies along in a perfect line - probably leading it - but part of a perfect pattern, a single energy almost, a dozen pelicans skimming along and riding the waves until it is time for her to break off again and go after another fish.

And I am the Humpback Whale. Journeying for the most part alone, deep in the ocean, under the waves. Sometimes being called out by my pod, sometimes bonding with another whale to swim along together. Singing without question my own unique song, and taking a long long journey to get to where I am going. An inner gps guides me but I only really know where I am when I get there. Feeding by opening up my enormous mouth and taking in millions of little creatures at a time, and half the ocean, to finally cull through it all for the nutrition that feeds me. For what inspires my energy.

Dancing with those giant wing like fins, alive in the pure discovery of it all, and then leaping into the air with any recognition that fills me with enthusiasm. And sharing it with everyone and anyone who is around in that moment. The excitement literally does, sometimes much to my chagrin, just come spouting out of me and many people I notice quickly step back so they don't get drenched. And then I dive back down deep into my own journey again, not knowing when I will pop back up for air and light but totally absorbed in that ocean of moments.

Another example: My good friend Bonnie was describing to me the interactions that were going on between her two grand-daughters - both with defined egos - one a 4 year old 1/3 pure MG with the Channel of Charisma and the Channel of Intimacy, and the other an 8 year old 3/5 MG with the Channel of Talent and the Channel of Rhythm. And my friend, who is now beginning to study Human Design, was asking me for my thoughts on how to best guide them as the 8 year old who had always been the center of attention was now being eclipsed by the four year old, and she wasn't happy about it.

And I started to give her my guidance based on their designs and how to best support them and then in popped that mind again and the movie Gone With the Wind floated through (I mean it really is as Ra says a movie after all).

And I said - you know - Carmen - the four year old - is like Scarlett O'Hara and Stella - the eight year old - is like Melanie. Carmen is always going to have everyone flocking around her, and she will wrap them around her little finger if she chooses (and already does). For show-and-tell the week that everyone needed to bring in something starting with the letter C - she brought herself.

But Stella is the one who will be holding the pattern and the rhythm and bringing the depth and wisdom that everyone needs (and already does). She stood up in front of the entire karate dojo last week and taught the entire room, children and adults alike, how to do all of the basic movements as well as the history of the black belt she is already on her way to earning.

Now again, perhaps a very simplistic way of looking at the immense detail and layers in their charts - but for my mind it made perfect sense. And my friend got it too. And she was able to step back for a moment and laugh and just get the humor and the story of this life we are all living together.

Human Design is profound, and life altering, and without question for me the most important work and system there is - and it is also so so much fun.

Randy Richmond is doing a workshop next semester for the IHDS about the Magic and the Mystery of Human Design and how to empower yourself with your own mythic process. I for one am going to grab a front row seat!

My father was attempting to recall a cartoon character that he said I reminded him of the other day and so I looked in Wikipedia for him. The character was Joe Btfsplk (from the comic strip Li'l Abner.) He's well-meaning, but is the world's worst jinx, bringing disastrous misfortune to everyone around him. A small, dark rain cloud perpetually hovers over his head to symbolize his bad luck.

At one point in his story he traps his cloud in a special anti-pollutant jar, until he forced to release it again one day to help a friend in need and wistfully realizes that he wasn't meant for any other kind of life. As he returns to his normal, loner existence, his cloud once again in tow, he is for the moment satisfied to be who he really is.

Aside from the fact that Joe wasn't the cheeriest character to be compared to, I understood in that moment what it really must feel like for a parent to raise a 3rd line child. (some parents anyway.) My 3/5 profile must have been a real puzzle to others who could feel that I was a capable and willing child, always eager to help, always looking for ways to make things better for those around me. And yet constantly - in their eyes at least - always messing it up. As if I was the one in control of it.

I could walk down a hallway and something would jump off a table as I passed by and crash to the floor. I could turn on the television set and that would the moment the picture tube decided to blow. Every light bulb in the house seemed to know when I would hit the switch and pop just for me. Teaching me to drive a car was truly an experience. Other cars would spring out of nowhere no matter how careful I was.

But I kept persevering because that's what 3rd lines do. What else can we do? And every time I would discover something that did not work, I would attempt to share that discovery with others. I wanted to save them from having that same issue themselves. But people didn't want to hear it. Why are you always so negative, they would say. Why don't you just focus on the positive? To me - the most positive thing I could do was save some other poor soul from what I had just experienced. I was fine having it happen to me if it could at least serve others as well. And yet all everyone saw was the "cloud" over my head.

I have never felt like a victim of life. And I still don't, even when I find myself laughing at the newest thing I have managed to discover. Like the day I was in an online class with Lynda and somehow managed to change the language on my screen into Russian. It was good to know we had other languages. Now if someone asked me where that feature was - I could tell them. At the moment it was a little disconcerting but that's life.

I haven't had children myself in this lifetime, but I have raised a god-daughter for a time. An adorable little 1/3 Projector who always worried and worried that she was going to get it wrong. (because she was - and was meant to) And I was able to share with her from a place of common experience that there is no failure for a 3rd line. (I personally don't believe there is failure for anyone). That our path of trail and error is our greatest tool and our greatest gift to share with others. And that when you can laugh at yourself and all of the silly, wonderful, surprising things that just keep bumping into you along the way, you can have a more amazing ride than you ever imagined. (Now I also have the 46-29 which helps.)

I had another friend who used to talk to me in Yoda's voice - always saying - don't try - do. And that worked great for her 2nd line profile. It did not work at all for my 3rd line and we had quite a few "discussions" about it along the way.

Truthfully, it wasn't until I heard Ra speak about 3rd lines for the first time, and realized that I was sitting there with tears streaming down my cheeks, that I recognized how deeply I had felt misunderstood and even misunderstood myself most of my life.

I share all of this with you today simply to give thanks for all that Human Design has to offer, even for us 53 year old children who are still growing up. And to invite you to discover for yourself, if you haven't already, who your children really are. If there is a 3rd line in there, celebrate them. They walk a road that is at times rocky but always profound.

As Ra has said over and over again, as Dharmen and Leela share so wonderfully in their parenting workshops, encourage their discovery. Reassure them that they are not failures, and that it was not their "fault." Thank them for all of the understanding that they will bring to your life and the lives around you. And do it from as early an age as you can. If they know that they can't be wrong in your eyes, they will grow into beings with incredible wisdom and resilience. And be willing to share with you things that you will never see for yourself in any other way.

I was listening to a wonderful recording by the poet David Whyte as I drove across country recently. He told a marvelous story about a mythological tribe that had lived on the British Isles many moons ago. They were a very peace loving tribe who co-existed in harmony with other tribes and with nature. A very Pacific tribe as he described them.

And then the tides began to bring other tribes to their shores, much more warlike tribes who saw the British Isles as their new territory to conquer. And they challenged the peace loving tribe to a battle thinking that the peace loving tribe would simply flee or be easily slaughtered. But on the day of the battle, much to their amazement the peace loving tribe showed up on the field dressed in all of their most glorious finery. Beautiful headdresses, flowing robes and a myriad of colors. And they stood calmly and silently and waited.

And then - as the warlike tribe began to advance toward them - as a whole - they turned sideways to the light and disappeared!

The point he was making was that - whenever we are asked to engage in any form of conversation that diminishes us - that diminishes the truth of who we are - rather than engage with it - we can simply turn ourselves sideways to the light and disappear. This has stayed with me so strongly in terms of my own journey with Human Design.

We are each here to be unique, to be that outer authority that communicates it's truth. We are not here to do battle in ways that do not serve that truth.  We are not here to engage in a homogenized way! Each and every moment of our day is a new conversation, an opportunity to experience the movie as Ra would say in ever increasing awareness.

We each have our own perfect way of being, of living our design, in a vehicle that knows much better than we do not only how to exist on this plane, but also what a an incredible ride it really is when you can surrender to it.  When you can sit back and purely witness, without reacting to conditioning, everything that is taking place around you.

And your vehicle if you trust it, no matter what your definition:

whether you are operating from your sacral in the moment, or surfing an emotional wave, or following that existential urging of your spleen, or the powerful surge of your ego;

whether you are waiting to respond, or waiting for the invitation, or the inspiration - or simply standing open and receptive and sampling all that takes place around you as it travels so powerfully through you like our Reflector friend, teacher and guide, Dharmen;

your vehicle knows the conversations that are correct for you! Knows the conversations that will allow you to live out YOUR purpose. That will allow you to discover and share those unique perspectives that only you can.

But it is a journey of surrender. Surrendering to your strategy, surrendering to your authority, surrendering to a de-conditioning process that will take you up - down - left - right - over - under and back again. Surrendering to the RIDE of your life! So that no one, no conditioning, no homogenized world can take away from you the conversations that only you can have!

For me Human Design is that light, that incredible awreness I can turn sideways to, and disappear into, whenever someone wants me to engage with them in a way that diminishes the uniqueness of who I am.  And what a profound light it is. I hope you enjoy all of your conversations as fully as you can. And thanks for being you!

What does it mean to surrender to the flow? I hear that a lot in Human Design.  Are we surrendering to the flow of our vehicle?  Are we surrendering to the flow of Neutrinos and the Program.  Are we surrendering to flow of the Maia?  Are we surrendering to the magic of our auras and the ebb and flow of different energies that we move through and dance with every day?  Are we surrendering to the orbital flow of all of the planets that transit and condition our Designs.

As a Splenic Manifesting Generator with a 3/5 profile, when I look back now over the course of my now 10-year experiment with Human Design, I realize that the mantra I have been living is "surrender to the flow of my sacral." And the more that I have lived that mantra, the more I have strengthened my connection to my own flow. I can feel now when the energy in my sacral is flowing out, generating life force energy and distributing it where correct. I can feel my sacral flow moving with its own consciousness, moving my vehicle, to bring me to my My Life Purpose.

And for the last ten weeks I have had the most amazing experience of flow, and my own sacral flow, as I have been living and working about 20 feet from the gorgeous Swan River in Montana. Over the course of these weeks I have been away from the river for a total of about 12 hours. The rest of the time I have been constantly aware of the river flowing. It never stops. Day and night it is always moving and interacting with everything around it.  Every night I have slept with my window open, listening to the water flowing.

  This is the view I have been enjoying out the back door as I work and study!

I have never in my 53 years experienced so profoundly in my being, in the cells of my vehicle, the wonder of constantly moving energy. And my Personality, my witness, has certainly never been so consciously aware of life in every moment.

I invite each of you to find a place for yourself where you too can have such a rich experience of what it is to be in the flow. Simply, vitally, surrendered and flowing. What magic!

Thanks for being a part of my experiment with this wonderful knowledge. And for those of you who will be receiving some of your certificates next week in the mail, you will hopefully feel some of this wonderful energy too because this is where I was working on them.

Here's to the magic of your flow!