I came across an email recently that stirred something in me. It wasn’t the words themselves—it was the tone that followed me all day. Like a breeze through my body that didn’t settle. It was from Christie Inge, and she’d shared a story about a Splenic Projector being told they couldn’t do something because “that’s not how your Design works.”

And I felt it.
Not the outrage.
Not even the judgment.
I just felt… that familiar moment of shrinking.

The moment when someone else’s certainty tries to override your quiet knowing.

And I remembered all over again why I began working with Human Design and Gene Keys in the first place:
Not to feel boxed in, but to feel my body breathe.
To not be “fixed”—but to finally stop trying to be.

“Human Design is not about changing yourself. It’s about being yourself.” – Ra Uru Hu

A System That’s Alive—Not a Checklist

Let’s get something clear right away. Human Design is powerful. It’s changed my health, my relationships, and my ability to feel safe in my own rhythm. But like any tool, it can either help you feel more like yourself, or it can become another way to shame, control, and second-guess your inner knowing.

I’m a 1/3 Splenic Projector. I absorb first, then experiment. I live through trial, error, and “almost but not quite.” I don’t see the world in straight lines—I feel it in patterns, pauses, sensations.

That’s why I work with frameworks like Gene Keys—because they don’t shout at you. They whisper. They invite you in gently. They say: “Look here, but only if it feels right.”

Because you are the authority. Not a system. Not a reader. Not a chart. Not even Ra.

“The greatest gift of the Gene Keys is their ability to awaken the inherent wisdom already hidden inside you.” – Richard Rudd, Gene Keys: Unlocking the Higher Purpose Hidden in Your DNA

When Interpretation Becomes Indoctrination

Here’s what happens far too often: someone reads your chart and says,

“Well, as a Projector/Generator/Reflector, you can’t do XYZ.”
And suddenly, something inside you tightens. You start questioning what you felt so clearly before.

This is Gene Key 22’s Shadow of Dishonor at play. Not just the dishonor of others, but self-dishonor—when we silence the voice inside us because someone else sounds louder or more sure.

In my own journey, 22.3 (my Radiance) has been the threshold of grace and reactivity. It shows up in how I listen, how I respond, and how I hold myself through emotional waves. It’s taught me that the most sacred thing I can do is honour my experience without editing it to please someone else’s idea of “truth.”

This is where Gene Keys has been such a balm—because it doesn’t demand that you follow. It invites you to feel. To be present with what’s arising. To see the shadow not as a flaw, but as a beginning.

“We’re not here to live out someone else’s truth. We’re here to live ours, in full colour.”– Christina Longley

You’re Not Broken—You’re Becoming

So often I meet clients who have been told—by well-meaning coaches or rigid systems—that something they feel drawn to isn’t “correct.”

• That they need to wait.
• That they need to follow their type perfectly.
• That their desires don’t align with their profile.

Here’s what I tell them:

You don’t need to be fixed. You’re not broken.
You are exquisitely designed for the life you came to live. Not the life someone else believes you should.

That’s why I created the Heal by Design Quiz—as a soft entry point for those beginning to explore their design beyond the “rules.” It helps you reflect on what’s already true in your body… and what you’ve been told to ignore.

You don’t need a guru. You need presence.
You need space to breathe.
You need to know it’s okay to feel your way there.

“The point of this work is not perfection. It’s permission.” – Christina Longley

Listening to the Splenic Whisper (Even When It Doesn’t Make Sense Yet)

Let’s talk about Splenic Authority for a moment.

It’s not logical. It’s not loud. It’s not something you can plan for or predict. And that’s why it can be so easily dismissed by others and by ourselves.

The spleen speaks in a whisper. It’s a flicker of instinct, often long before the mind can catch up. For me, it’s the absence of fear that lets me know it’s safe to proceed. I don’t get clear “yeses” in my body—I get a felt lack of contraction. A sudden softness. A moment where I feel breath, where a moment ago there was none.

I once almost walked away from hosting a workshop because someone told me it wasn’t “in alignment” with my chart. That my undefined Sacral meant I should “wait to be invited” to everything. But my body? She was already humming. My spleen was calm. The vision was already alive in me.

I did it anyway. And the experience was life-giving.

That was the moment I stopped letting Human Design become a cage. And started listening to the soft, wild wisdom of my own body.

"The Spleen is your primal radar. If you give it space, it will speak in images, sensations, and pure instinct." – Ra Uru Hu

The Tension Between Dominance and Synergy (Gene Key 45)

Let’s zoom out for a second.

What’s really happening when someone tells us we can’t follow a desire that feels so deeply true?

It’s often Gene Key 45 playing out in its shadow—Dominance.

This is the energy that wants control, certainty, hierarchy. It’s the “I know better than you” frequency that’s so deeply woven into the world we live in. It’s been used to uphold patriarchy, perfectionism, and performative leadership.

But the gift here is profound: Synergy.

In synergy, we don’t need to dominate or submit. We co-create. We recognize the value of each individual frequency, knowing the whole only works when every voice is honoured.

In my work with couples, I see this all the time. One partner leads. The other withdraws. The dance of dominance and silence becomes the norm. But when synergy begins to emerge, everything softens. There’s space for listening, for truth-telling, for equal ground. That’s the medicine.

And this applies to your inner relating too—between the mind and the body, the system and the soul.

“Synergy is the art of collective harmony—each voice contributing without overpowering the others.” – Richard Rudd, The Gene Keys

Why Deconditioning Is a Lifestyle, Not a Weekend Retreat

One thing I see often is people trying to “decondition” their entire lives over the course of a weekend or a three-week course. They want the quick fix. I understand—it’s tempting.

But here’s the thing:

Deconditioning is slow. Subtle. Cyclical.

It’s not a linear process. And it doesn’t always look “productive.” Sometimes it looks like sitting on your couch, tears in your eyes, realizing you’ve been trying to earn love your whole life. Sometimes it looks like canceling plans that feel off, even if you can’t explain why. Sometimes it looks like rest.

That’s why I created the Deconditioning Journal.
Not as a solution.
Not as a quick fix.
But as a companion, for the days when the path gets foggy, when the old stories get loud again, when you need to remember that growth is not always visible.

Because the work we’re doing isn’t performative.
It’s cellular.

“Real transformation is measured by how safe your body feels when you say no.” – Christina Longley

What Happens When You Hold Your Own Experience as Sacred

Let me be honest.

I used to override my instincts constantly. I’d feel something—some invitation from life—and immediately start wondering, “But is this correct for my design?” I wanted a formula. A sign. A stamp of approval.

But what I needed… was trust.

Or as I prefer to say now, inner awareness.

I needed to remember that the body knows things the mind can’t explain.

If you’ve ever had that moment where something inside you felt so true, but someone else’s logic made you doubt it, I want to offer this:

Your experience is real. It counts. You don’t need someone else’s permission to honour it.

This is especially vital for those of us with open centres—like the G Center or Solar Plexus. We feel so much. And for years, we’ve been told to harden, to be consistent, to make sense.

But life isn’t here to be explained.
It’s here to be lived.
And your design? It’s just one part of the poetry.

“The body knows the score. But more than that—it knows the song.” – Christina Longley

The Moment It Clicked: I’m Not Here to Be Understood

There was a moment, not long after I began working with Gene Keys and Human Design, when it all came crashing down.

I had just finished a reading with someone I respected deeply. They’d looked at my chart and said something like, “You’re not really here to lead. You’re more of a support role, background energy.” And I remember nodding. Smiling. Saying thank you.

And then going home and collapsing inward.

Because in that moment, something sacred inside me felt misunderstood. Not in a childish way. Not in an ego-driven “how dare you” way. But in a cellular way. Like something ancient was being erased.

It wasn’t until I sat with Gene Key 47—my Purpose—that I realized what was happening.

I was being offered an opportunity to transmute. Not just the story. But the sensation that I needed someone else to see me in order to belong.

That night, I whispered to myself:

“I don’t need to be understood in order to be real.”And everything shifted.

The Venus Sequence: Relating As a Sacred Practice

Each sphere, from my Attraction (Gene Key 44.4) to my Vocation (Gene Key 25.3), has shown me something I didn’t want to see—but needed to.

Like how I used to bend myself into someone else’s needs, just to be chosen.
Or how I’d perform spiritual maturity to avoid dealing with emotional pain.
Or how fantasy (my SQ) protected me from the raw vulnerability of true connection.

But also…

How I’ve always had the capacity for Grace.
How I feel things others miss.
How my wounds aren’t in the way of love—they are the path.

Letting the Body Lead: Your Design Is Not a Test

Your Human Design is not a test.
Your Gene Keys are not a prescription.
You are not failing if you don’t “follow it right.”

You are allowed to experiment.
You are allowed to get it “wrong.”
You are allowed to change your mind.

We don’t need more rules. We need recognition.
We don’t need more strategies. We need stillness.
We don’t need more “experts.” We need embodiment.

A Quiet Invitation

Here are two gentle places to start:

• Heal by Design Quiz
• Deconditioning Journal

With Love

Christina
1/3 Splenic Projector | RAX Rulership 2 | Quad Right
www.christinalongley.com