Using Dwarf Planets In The Human Design System

In 1781, the astrological world changed forever. William Herschel discovered Uranus and human consciousness began a major expansion. It was followed with the discovery of Neptune and Pluto. At school we learnt that there were nine planets in our solar system and that was that! But like the astrologers of 1781, you and I live in a world that is expanding rapidly, even exponentially.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union adopted the term Dwarf Planet and demoted Pluto. We were sad for Pluto, but we weren’t so much losing a son as gaining a daughter. Or two.

As part of the reclassification, we got Eris, Ceres, Sedna, Haumea and Makemake. Suddenly the number of planets jumped to 13, with a whole lot more likely to follow. Astrologers like Philip Sedgwick, Eric Francis, Melanie Reinhart and Alison Chester-Lambert, all of whom work daily with these dwarf planets, have observed that they have a powerful effect on our individual charts.

Using the Dwarf Planets in the Human Design System

As I understand it, Western Astrology is the only form of astrology that allows for the introduction of new planets.

In the original Human Design revelation, Western Astrology was given as one of the four essential elements that make up the Human Design synthesis. So it makes sense that as our planetary pantheon increases, so should their reach within the Human Design chart. Whilst respecting the starting place of the standard 13 ‘planets’ in the standard Human Design chart, it makes no sense to limit ourselves to that template when we are all evolving, planetary archetypes included, so rapidly.

In my experience Ceres is particularly powerful in the Human Design chart, and I include it in every reading I do these days. I believe it actually changes definition in the chart. When exploring the influence of other dwarf planets I used the concept of ‘activation’, rather than definition. It seems clear that dwarf planets Haumea, Makemake, Sedna and Eris would have some influence on your design, that they would create some kind of ‘activation’ in the chart. As we become more conscious of these energies, their effect becomes less subtle, more conscious, more accessible.

What is a Dwarf Planet?

When Eris was discovered, it became clear that Pluto was not a lone outcast at the edge of our solar system. He had friends, and lots of them. Not only that, but advanced astronomical techniques allowed us to properly measure Pluto’s mass and it turned out to be about one twentieth the size of Mercury. Furthermore, having some unusual characteristics such as large orbital eccentricity and a high orbital inclination, it became evident Pluto was a completely different kind of body from any of the other planets.

Pluto sort of returned to his true family in 2006 when he was reclassified as a dwarf planet and became part of the group of planets known variously as Plutinos – because they are like Pluto, Trans Neptunian Objects (TNO’s) – because they cross the orbit of Neptune, and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO’s) - because they live in the Kuiper Belt way out at the edge of our Solar System. It is possible that there are as many as 200 potential dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. \

Kuiper Belt Objects

The Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO’s) are transforming our consciousness beyond the concepts of Neptune (bliss) and Pluto (transformation). We are shifting to a consciousness that is based on co-creativity with universal forces.

Makemake, Haumea and Quaoar are all Kuiper Belt Objects. Sedna is a Scattered Disc Object that spends some time in the Kuiper Belt. You can see in the image above how much more elliptical Pluto’s orbit is than the other planets, and that it is the only planet that passes through the Kuiper Belt.

In working with the Kuiper Belt objects I find they hold a joy of life and a sense of celebration of humanity as a spiritual force on this planet.

Meet The Dwarf Planets

So far there are five new dwarf planets – Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. As well, the International Astronomical Union is considering also reclassifying the following: Sedna, Orcus, Quaoar, Varuna, Ixion, Vesta, Pallas, Hygeia, and four others that have impersonal numbers rather than names.

Ceres

Let’s start with Ceres. She is different to the other dwarf planets because she isn’t out in the Kuiper Belt, but orbits between Mars and Jupiter. This means she moves fast through the chart. Where Makemake might spend six years in a gate, Ceres passes through in a few weeks. This means that, unlike the slower moving dwarf planets, Ceres is a personal rather than a generational influence. Compare, for example, the effect of Mercury and Uranus in your design. Mercury moves around the entire chart in one year, spending only a few days in each gate, whereas Uranus takes 18 months to move between gates, creating a ‘generation’ of people with Uranus in each gate. The slower moving outer planets tend to be experienced from the outside – being affected by political or economic events for example.

Because Ceres has a smaller orbit, and faster speed around the chart, it makes her a personal influence in your design, something that you will experience personally in your life.

Ceres represents the themes of true nourishment, nurturing and mothering in your Human Design chart. Primarily it represents the development of self worth as a basis for forming relationships. And it does this by revealing what nourishment we absolutely needed and almost certainly didn’t get when we were children. She can show where we get a bit .. or a lot .. neurotic when our needs for nurturing are not being met.

Sedna

Sedna shows the place in the design where we need to allow ourselves to be cut loose from our traditional roles, where we need to drop deeper into our own frozen ocean, where we need to become the natural inhabitant of that place.
Read more ….

Makemake

When things seem most shocking, it’s a time to chill out, relax and allow the resources we need for the initiation we are facing to reveal themselves. Makemake reveals where our civilized self meets our wild self, where we can arrogantly ignore our own need for connection with nature.

Haumea

An original mother creatrix, Haumea represents the body as birthing vessel for the soul. She encourages purity and clarity. Haumea also has something to say about our sense of family – at all levels from birth to global.

Eris

Eris was blamed for the Trojan War. And herein lies a very important aspect of Eris in the design. It shows a place where we tend to blame or accept blame where it should be more equitably spread amongst the parties involved.

Quaoar

Although Quaoar hasn’t been designated as a dwarf planet yet, I include him here because on 11th February 2011 he moved into Gate 11 and is heading towards the Galactic Centre in Gate 11.3. I believe Quaoar is instrumental in affecting changes in our mental processes.