The Rave Mandala
The influence of stars and planets on our lives
Our sense of wonder at the night sky reaches back to the earliest human history, as does our curiosity about its relationship with life on Earth. Many cultures studied the movement of celestial bodies for practical purposes, such as agriculture and navigation, or out of an intuition that they might also influence human biology and the human psyche. With the advent of the modern age, the scientific community quickly labelled this field of enquiry pseudoscience and relegated it to the realm of esoteric doctrine.
The Rave Mandala
In Human Design, the Rave Mandala precisely represents the influence of the surrounding stellar field on our DNA and metabolism. This influence is not direct: it is first filtered through the planets in our solar system, which translate the information into something contextual to Earth and therefore interpretable by the human organism.
Neutrinos are microscopic particles generated in the furnaces of the stars. In Human Design terms, they form a kind of universal internet: after passing through the planets and reaching Earth, they establish at the moment of birth a highly specific genetic imprint of differentiation, unique to each individual.
The 64 hexagrams and DNA
The Rave Mandala divides the celestial sphere into 64 Gates. These Gates correspond both to the 64 genetic codons—the “words” in which our DNA is written—and to the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes, the I Ching, a cornerstone of ancient Chinese culture. Alongside the 64 Gates, the Mandala includes the 12 constellations of Western astronomy to establish the astronomical orientation associated with each Gate. This correspondence makes it possible to identify with great precision which aspect of our DNA was imprinted by each region of the stellar field at the moment of birth, and through which particular planet.
Human duality
Unlike astrological calculations, Human Design uses planetary information from two different moments: the time of birth and approximately 88 days earlier, regardless of whether the birth was full term, premature or late. This second calculation refers to the point at which development of the cerebral neocortex is complete and the “vehicle” is ready to receive the passenger—what is commonly called the soul.
Both genetic imprints contribute to a person’s Rave BodyGraph. It is the result of bringing together conscious aspects—the Personality, imprinted at birth—and unconscious aspects—the Design, imprinted 88 days earlier. In the animation beside this text, you can see how the information in the Mandala activates the different Gates in the BodyGraph.