The 16 Faces of the Godhead

The wheel of 64 gates is divided into four quarters of 16 gates each. Each quarter divides again, into four groups of four gates. Human Design calls these groups the Godheads: 16 of them around the whole wheel, known together as the 16 Faces of the Godhead.

Your Godhead is read the same way as your quarter: from the gate of your Personality Sun, the first gate of your incarnation cross. The quarter gives the broad purpose of the cross, and the gate gives its specific theme. The Godhead sits between the two: narrower than a quarter, and wider than a single gate.

Where the teaching comes from#

The Godheads come from Ra Uru Hu, the founder of Human Design, who taught them in his lecture course Quarter by Quarter: The 16 Faces of the Godhead. Jovian Archive, which publishes Ra's material, describes the Godhead as "a framework that describes how humanity is collectively programmed", and states that "your Godhead is determined by the placement of your Personality Sun in your BodyGraph."

Each Godhead carries the name of a deity or an archetype from world mythology, such as Kali, Thoth, Prometheus or Vishnu. One is named the Christ Consciousness Field, and one the Keepers of the Wheel. These names are the tradition's own account, in the same way as the rest of the origin story of Human Design. This page reports them as Human Design teaches them. It takes no position on the religious or metaphysical claims behind them.

How the wheel divides#

The Rave Mandala places the 64 gates in a fixed order around the zodiac. Start at gate 13, where the Quarter of Initiation opens, and count around the wheel in fours. Every four gates is one Godhead, and every four Godheads is one quarter:

• 4 quarters of 16 gates each
• 16 Godheads of 4 gates each, four in every quarter
• 64 gates, each in exactly one Godhead

So your Godhead always belongs to your quarter. If your Personality Sun is in gate 7, you are in the Quarter of Duality, and within it, in the Godhead of Thoth.

The 16 Godheads#

The Godheads in wheel order, with their four gates in the order they sit on the wheel. The phrase beside each name is the one-line description given in Quarters and Godheads of the Human Design Mandala (The Human Design System, 2017). It is included where a published source gives one.

Some sources give a longer name: Barney + flo(w) lists Michael as Archangel Michael, and the last Godhead as the Keepers or Guardians of the Wheel. The four gates of every Godhead are the same in each published table.

How to use your Godhead#

Your Godhead does not replace anything else in your cross. It adds one layer between the broad quarter and the specific gates:

• The quarter says what kind of purpose your cross serves: mind, form, bonding or transformation.
• The Godhead narrows that to one of four archetypal themes within the quarter.
• The four gates of your cross, and its angle, say how you live that theme.

Your Godhead depends only on your Personality Sun gate. Everyone whose Sun is in one of those four gates shares it, whatever their angle, profile or type. Use it as context for your cross, not as a label to live up to. As with the whole incarnation cross, living your strategy and authority is what brings it into focus.

Where to find it#

On gethumandesign.com your Godhead is on the Advanced tab of your chart, in The cross chapter, next to your angle and your quarter.