Human Design Reflector's Reflections with Dirk Nellens

Dirk Nellens

Personal Reflections of Dirk Nellens. This space is dedicated to sharing Human Design insights on our unique way of being, navigating life's energies, and finding harmony in the cosmic dance. reflectorsreflections.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    Reflection of the Week: Human Design and Therapy: A Meeting of Two Arts of Living

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com Over the more than twenty years that I have been involved with Human Design, one question has repeatedly returned to me: What do we actually do with the information? Many people receive a Human Design reading and immediately recognize themselves in it. Something resonates. Something feels true. They can see aspects of their Essence reflected in the Bodygraph. Yet often, after the initial excitement, another question emerges: How do I live this? This question has accompanied me for years and eventually led me into the world of therapy, bodywork, meditation, and transformational processes. Human Design offers us a remarkable map of our energetic architecture. It reveals something about our individuality, our unique way of being, and the intelligence that is already operating within us. But a map alone is not the journey. Information alone does not transform us. Transformation requires experience. That transformation process has always been presented as two-fold: honour your Strategy and Inner Authority and observe the not-Self strategies of the mind. For me, they go hand in hand as it is challenging to honor the intelligence of the body when we’re caught in the mind. It requires a willingness to encounter the layers of conditioning, adaptation, fear, and defense that have accumulated around our original nature. This is where therapy enters the picture. One of my favorite definitions of healing comes from Gabor Maté, who describes healing as the process of stepping back from the false self that was created to survive and reconnecting with our authentic self. In many ways, this is also what Human Design points toward. Both Human Design and therapy are concerned with differentiation. Both invite us to ask: Who am I beneath what I learned to become? Who am I beneath my coping strategies, defenses, roles, and self-images? Who am I when I stop trying to be who I think I should be? Over the years I have come to see Human Design and therapy as deeply complementary. Psychotherapy has developed extraordinary insight into trauma, conditioning, character formation, attachment, emotional wounds, and the many ways we protect ourselves from pain. Human Design, on the other hand, offers a unique lens through which we can observe both our inherent nature and the places where conditioning tends to take hold. The Bodygraph does something fascinating. It not only points toward our Essence, it also illuminates the architecture through which we become conditioned. In this sense, Human Design does not tell us who we are. Rather, it helps us distinguish between who we are, how we adapted, and what happened along the way. For therapists, this distinction can be profoundly valuable. For Human Design practitioners, therapy can be equally valuable because it offers practical pathways for exploring, integrating, and healing the very patterns that Human Design reveals. Increasingly, I see Human Design not simply as a system of knowledge but as an inner GPS for awareness - such as the title of my book suggests. It does not ask us to become someone else. It invites us to recognize who we already are. Our task is not to improve our Essence. Our task is to remove what obscures it. Perhaps this is where Human Design and therapy meet most beautifully: both support a process of peeling away what is not truly ours so that what has always been present can finally be lived. Not as a concept. Not as an idea. But as a direct experience of Being. . . The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. We are starting this week with the Sun in a Gate that expresses “I feel like a change” and the Earth in a position that says “you can’t push change” which makes things clear: change comes when the time is ripe. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks.

    4 min

  2. May 25

    Reflection of the Week: Gathering Together Around Education

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com With Mercury in a Gate of Expression, I would like to invite you to a presentation of my book Understanding Our Energetic Architecture – Human Design as Your Inner GPS for Awareness. This book is the result of more than 20 years of experimentation with Human Design. Because my own journey has always been deeply connected with meditation practices and humanistic therapy, these dimensions are naturally interwoven throughout the book. This presentation offers an opportunity to explore Human Design as a practical and insightful system for self-awareness, inner alignment, and conscious living. Through the lens of Our Energetic Architecture, I invite you to discover how we are uniquely designed to navigate life, relationships, decisions, and personal growth. Whether you are already familiar with Human Design or discovering it for the first time, this event promises meaningful insights, reflection, and conversation. Date: Wednesday, May 27Time: 20:00 (Madrid – Central European Time)Location: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83698667245 I would be delighted to welcome you to this special gathering. Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone who may be interested. Warm regards,Dirk . . The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This week the neutrino weather is brought to you in the interactive format where we observe the charts of the participating paid subscribers in correlation to the actual neutrino weather. We’re starting off by the incredible opportunity we are getting right now to get a glimpse into the future thanks to the Nodes of the Moon in Gate 59 and 55. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks.

    10 min

  3. May 19

    Reflection of the Week: A Deeper Look into the Current South Node

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com Currently, the South Node is in Gate [59] Dispersion – The Gate of Sexuality. This Gate’s heading states: “The ability to break down barriers to achieve union.” It is the perspective the current South Node is bringing forward while the North Node is in Gate 55, which speaks about the potential for our Spirit to be felt beyond our entanglement with the emotional wave, through the lens of Witnessing Consciousness. When I was reading one of the newspaper headlines this morning about the trial between Musk and Altman, and all the emotional intricacies between the people involved, I was clearly reminded of the less conscious side of this nodal polarity. But let’s take a closer look today at the South Node. Gate 59 imbues the Sacral Center with the diversity of sexual roles we adopt to break down barriers and establish intimacy. It provides the energetic wiring for the most intimate forms of connection, both with others and with Life itself. This Gate is primarily oriented toward serving our fertile potential as a species, yet its energetic quality naturally extends into many other expressions of vitality and creativity. When we observe the blue Lines of the Hexagram, we see a learning process unfold that emphasizes the importance of preserving a sense of Self within union — of not losing oneself in the other. The Hexagram’s drawing — Wind over The Abysmal (Water) — symbolizes the gentle and adaptable nature of Wind interacting with the depth, challenges, and deeply penetrating quality of Water. It represents the need for a sensitive and flexible approach to breaking down barriers, while referring to the multidimensional libidinal forces of life. Approaching the Coding Mentally This fundamental drive to break down barriers, to bond, and to reproduce is deeply connected to our libidinal nature in all its dimensions of intelligence. When there is a mental distortion of this libidinal drive, the natural flow and unfoldment of our vitality is interrupted, often resulting in a loss of connection and a diminished sense of interconnectedness with Existence. When the mind interferes with the Sacral Center, it leads us to either overextend or completely withdraw our vitality. In this Gate, the mind obscures the delicate libidinal intelligence inherent in our life-spark. Its tendency to either suppress or amplify this energy creates tension and friction within the dynamics of bonding and intimacy, ultimately deregulating our nervous system and undermining our trust in life. This mental distortion is evident in how we approach children’s bio-psychological development, where they are driven by intrinsic libidinal forces that are still largely misunderstood and disregarded. It is also evident in how our natural sexual drive has been repressed by many cultural expressions around the globe. The mental binary oscillates between, on the one hand, over-accentuating the urge to merge intimately, and on the other, repressing it — either way potentially resulting in a loss of connection with both ourselves and genuine communion with the other during intimate bonding. Approaching the Coding with Awareness When we witness the mind, we can observe what is reflected in the Hexagram’s structure: the gentle force of Wind penetrating into the abysmal depths of Water. Rather than succumbing to a compulsive urge to merge, or conversely suppressing it, the energy simply responds to Life, leading to the expression of Self in meeting another. The focus shifts toward a communion of awareness, allowing the bonding energy, when guided by awareness, to transcend mere instinct or blind genetics. A deeper connection is established — one that involves shared awareness between individuals. Intimacy becomes an experience of into-me-I-see, where individuals truly see Self mirrored in each other. “To be human is to be sexual. Once accepted deeply, with no ideas in between, when sex is thought of as simply natural, you live it.”— Osho . . The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This week the neutrino weather is bringing forward pretty energetic weather. Towards Thursday we’re entering into a display of vitality through the Channel of Charisma with the Sun conjuncting Uranus in Gate 20. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks.

    5 min

  4. May 12

    Reflection of the Week: The Lunar Nodes Are Changing

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com Over the years of exploring Human Design as a non-ethnocentric anthropological lens on human nature - and as a kind of inner GPS for awareness - one of the aspects that has fascinated me most has been the Lunar Nodes. In our personal lives, the nodes speak to trajectory. They describe the movement from one perspective into another, the way we evolve through polarity over time. In the BodyGraph, they draw in and shape our perspective. I remember Ra using the term “suspended state of animation” to describe how easily our attention can become absorbed by what we are focused on - how we can become caught within the field of our own perception. For the past five months, collective attention has been drawn toward the socio-economic and legal structures that shape our societies. The Channel of Community - a Design of a Part Seeking a Whole - is deeply connected to social integration: belonging, reciprocity, agreements, support systems, and the ways we create sustainable exchanges with one another. During this period, many of those structures have appeared increasingly unstable. Questions around fairness, legality, trust, and mutual support have become difficult to ignore. We have witnessed underlying social contracts beginning to fracture, dissolve, or attempt to reorganize themselves into something new. This week’s nodal shift feels especially significant. While the 37/40 configuration has shown us what we are leaving behind in our collective journey, the incoming 55/59 configuration offers a glimpse of what may lie ahead. Gate 55 introduces the possibility of profound emotional uncertainty. When we identify completely with every emotional wave that passes through us, we become trapped in its movement - rising and falling continuously - and this inevitably impacts our relationships and intimacy through Gate 59. These nodes invite a different possibility: learning to witness our emotions rather than becoming entirely consumed by them. Gate 55 can also bring a sense of emptiness, especially when we are attached to the lower frequencies of the emotional wave. This can manifest as despair, emotional hunger, or the urge to fill an inner void through distraction, attachment, or temporary relief. And yet, there is another potential here. This new nodal perspective may reveal what can emerge from the ashes of old structures. It may awaken forms of intelligence hidden within the nervous system when regulation, awareness, and emotional depth are cultivated consciously. It may open unexpected doors toward compassion, intimacy, and interconnectedness. At the same time, these frequencies can also amplify confusion, emotional dispersion, and collective despair. As always, the question is not only what we experience, but how consciously we are able to meet it . . The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This week the neutrino weather is bringing forward significant shifts. The energy for developmental cycles and the materialisation of needs and deals and is making place for a significant shift in perspective due to a change in the Lunar Nodes. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks. The next meeting will be… to be confirmed due to travelling…

    5 min
  5. Reflection of the week: The Channel of Maturation through the life of Fritz Perlz

    May 3

    Reflection of the week: The Channel of Maturation through the life of Fritz Perlz

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy, embodied the Channel [53-42] Maturation, promoting balanced development through his work. His innovative therapeutic approach and personal journey fueled his growth and maturation. Perls was initially working in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and he found these fields overly focused on past experiences and intellectual analysis, which he believed disconnected patients from their emotions and bodies. This dissatisfaction drove him to advocate for deeper client engagement and the holistic integration of mind, body, and Spirit. Perls’ quest for growth led him to develop Gestalt therapy with his wife, focusing on Self-awareness and the present moment to achieve wholeness. This approach encourages individuals to fully experience and express their emotions and thoughts, resolving past issues through awareness. Perls’ journey was shaped by influences from existentialism, phenomenology and Eastern philosophies, evolving amidst the counterculture movement and his time at the Esalen Institute in the 1960s and 1970s, where he explored alternative approaches to growth and spirituality. Throughout his life, Perls continued to refine his methods, embodying a Spirit of ongoing development. His legacy profoundly impacts psychotherapy and beyond. In my view, Human Design can draw from Perls’ insights as well while also offering significant value in return to those exploring psychotherapy. Excerpt from my book “Understanding Our Energetic Architecture.” (pag. 427) . The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This week the neutrino weather is presenting interesting activations and energetic definitions. As the reflection refers to, we’re dealing with the Channel of Maturation in the weather but we also see Saturn moving into the Gate that is related to controlling ressources. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks. The next meeting will be… to be confirmed due to travelling…

    3 min

  6. Apr 27

    Reflection of the week: 4 months with a defined Heart Center in the Neutrino Weather

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com Since a little before last Christmas, we’ve been moving through a period with a defined Heart Center in the neutrino weather. To begin with, the overarching perspective - set by the Nodes of the Moon - is the Channel of Community: a Design of a Part Seeking a Whole. Because the Nodes tend to remain in the same polarity of Gates for several months, this perspective has had time to settle. Many of us are beginning to feel that the established order of giving and taking - an equilibrium that has been in place since the end of WWII - is starting to crumble. Themes such as the Rule of Law, Human Rights, and the Welfare State have all taken significant hits, may no longer function as we have known them and are most probably continuing to crumble. This perspective is not only collective; it also penetrates our personal lives and relationships. It invites us to reassess the balance of giving and receiving, and to move from patterns of codependency toward a more conscious interdependency. At the same time, there has been more activation in the Heart Center, and this week is no exception. The Channel of Initiation - a Design of Needing to be First - is once again in the mix. There is a profound melancholy in this Channel, one that touches something deeply existential: Who am I? It echoes the words of Jesus, that one must receive the kingdom of God like a little child. In other words, it asks for a return to innocence which usually comes together with embracing our wounded Inner Child. So, embracing ourselves in that innocence is not always simple. Emotional wounds cloud it, and as a result this Channel can intensify an already charged emotional climate. At its lower expression, this same energy can manifest as impulsiveness, arrogance, or even megalomania or psychopathy - something that is not hard to recognize in the current global landscape. As the week unfolds, we also enter a new phase with Uranus moving into Gate 20, Contemplation. This brings an invitation to translate understanding into right action. It is a Gate of Integration, pointing toward awareness and awakening - but it also carries a risk. Instead of acting with clarity, we can become absorbed in passive observation, endlessly consuming information without truly engaging. The question, then, is how we meet this moment: whether we allow ourselves to be pulled into the distractions of Uranus consumed by the fear of tomorrow and the uncertainty of life, or whether we embody our understanding into ‘right action’ and an expression of Integration. The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This week Uranus enters into Gate 20 and that brings forward quite shift. This planet doesn’t move fast so for quite a while we’ll see how this position puts us under the pressure on the Fear of Tomorrow in the Splenic Center. Out of such fear we can start giving our attention to all kinds of things and actions that distract us and do not help us to integrate our awareness into aligned action. They can range from being scattered in our attention to dullness toward Existence. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks. The next meeting will be on Sunday 26 at 11:am Madrid time, the link for the meeting is in the subscription section.

    3 min

  7. Apr 20

    Reflection of the week: The combo of Mars and Saturn.

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com These days, Saturn and Mars are joining forces in the 17th Gate of Opinions—an energy whose overarching theme is captured in a this line: “The ancient law that those (thoughts) who wish to rule must know how to serve.” There’s something inherently paradoxical in this joining of forces. Saturn carries the weight of discipline, structure, and the archetypal father - authority, responsibility, and long-term stability. Mars, on the other hand, moves with raw drive, impulse, and a more immature, son-like force that wants to act, push forward, and claim space. The meeting of these two, brings forward a strong inner tension that I’ve been enmeshed within for a while now:-)These planets bring forward themes that tend to become deeply personal. Lately, I’ve been experiencing this as an internal revisiting of psychological patterns connected to my father. Not in a dramatic or overt way, but in a subtle, persistent questioning of how I hold myself - especially when it comes to stability, structure, and self-support. A core theme in my life has been this tension:How do I provide for myself - emotionally, structurally, financially - in the way that was once provided to me? Despite having skills and awareness, I’ve often struggled to establish financial and professional stability. There’s also been an ongoing challenge in creating an inner structure that truly supports me—something that feels steady, reliable, and aligned, rather than forced. Whenever I find myself in an environment where such structure is provided, I see I benefit tremendously from it so having it be part of my internal environment would be really supportive towards myself. With this current energy, all of that feels amplified. It’s as if the internal “father” and “son” are in conversation - the part of me that feels immature and the part that speaks of discipline, responsibility, and maturity. And somewhere between the two lies the lesson of the 17th Gate: To learn how to serve my own life with both clarity and commitment. This moment doesn’t feel like resolution yet.It feels like a reorganization. A quiet, sometimes uncomfortable, but necessary process of learning how to become the one who provides stability from within. That’s what I’m processing under this conjunction of Mars and Saturn, I wonder how things flow for you? The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This is a week of with a lot of pressure on the Heart Center. From an aware perspective, we’re all under the influence of Neutrino Weather that is asking us to stay in tune with the energy of affection, of realising our deeply human nature and as one human family, the affection we can show towards each other. [See the Neutrino Weather full video in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own Bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks. The next meeting will be on Sunday 26 at 11:am Madrid time, the link for the meeting is in the subscription section.

    6 min

  8. Apr 13

    Reflection of the week: This week the Sun will be moving through Gate 3, the Gate of Ordering.

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit reflectorsreflections.substack.com There is a moment at the beginning of something new that doesn’t always feel so inspiring. It feels like confusion. Not because something is wrong - but because something that has never existed before is trying to take shape through you. Gate 3 is the vital energy for such the emergence of a new beginning. It carries the energy to initiate a unique pulse of life - but that pulse does not arrive with clarity. It arrives as disorder, as not knowing, as a space where the old no longer fits and the new has not yet formed. And this is where most people turn away. The mind doesn’t like confusion. It tries to fix it, avoid it, or replace it with certainty. But in doing so, it disconnects from something deeper - the organic intelligence that is trying to organize life from within. Confusion is not the problem. Attachment to mental certainty is. There is a Sufi approach that invites total confusion - to the point where all knowledge falls away. What remains is emptiness. And from that emptiness, something real begins to emerge. Not mental clarity. But inner knowing. Gate 3 asks for a different kind of trust. Not in what you can explain - but in what you can feel moving through you, even when it makes no sense yet. Because order does not come from forcing things into place. It comes from allowing life to organize itself through you. So if things feel unclear this coming week, consider this: You may not be lost. You may be at the exact point where something new is trying to be born and that can be difficult. (See pag. 515 of my book “Understanding Our Energetic Architecture.” The Neutrino Weather for this week is available to the Inner Circle. This is a week of development, movement, something new trying to …[See the Neutrino Weather full video and commentary in the inner circle bellow] * Instant access to the full archive of previous posts * Two live Zoom gatherings per month (bring your Bodygraph for live commentary + Q&A) For anyone subscribing to my newsletter (inner circle), I would like to inform you that you are invited to assist and bring your own bodygraph and questions LIVE, every two weeks, on Sunday at 10:00AM Madrid time in my zoom room. You will find the link at the end of this week’s neutrino weather!

    4 min
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Personal Reflections of Dirk Nellens. This space is dedicated to sharing Human Design insights on our unique way of being, navigating life's energies, and finding harmony in the cosmic dance. reflectorsreflections.substack.com

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