AJNA CENTER | HUMAN DESIGN
Artwork: Rafael Serafim
AN AWARENESS CENTER
The Ajna or Mind Center is the upside down triangle below the Crown Center. In Human Design this is our center associated with cognitive awareness, forming a POV, concepts and theories, our ideas about any particular topic. It is associated with the pituitary gland which is a powerhouse, intimately connected with the holistic functioning of our bodies. It is believed that we have evolved from Mind centered beings, though we’re still catching up to that concept. As humans we just love to try to figure things out with our minds and it’s no wonder as we’re conditioned to do so. Following our basic survival needs (Splenic Awareness) it was the second awareness center to evolve. And it takes time to shift from letting it run the show.
The Ajna deals with the consciousness of our minds. Our Spleen Center, again, is associated with our body consciousness and our needs for survival. It was the first to develop: think cavemen, hunters and foragers, fight or flight response. And our Solar Plexus is our Spiritual consciousness and emotional intelligence. These three centers connect us to our awareness of our own existence and how we relate to the people (their auras) and the world around us.
The Crown and Ajna centers work together to make up our “minds”. The Ajna makes sense of all that pressurized inspiration from our Crown Center. It alchemizes, interprets the information into something we can actually use, delve deeper into, research, learn more about. However it can only do this in a simplified and dualistic way. It can be helpful to show us our options but this center has no access to a Motor. It is not a place we take action from. It does not truly know what is best for us. Even with a connection to your Throat Center which says “yes you’re here to speak your mind”, it still doesn’t mean this is where you make decisions about how to move forward in your life.
And, the thing about the Mind is that it really sticks with us. Whereas an intuitive hit from our Spleen comes and goes, we will mull over mistakes, potential mistakes, future projecting, worrying, thinking about how things might have gone differently, in perpetuity in our minds. We can easily get caught up in endless and unhealthy loops when we act from this place. The sooner we realize the Mind is not our authority and start deconditioning the better off we’ll be. Though I’m not saying it will be easy. It takes a lot of mindfulness and constantly shifting our perspective back to our Strategy + Authority, back to sensation in our bodies, back to our feelings. We can think things through, use this analytic gift that we have for exploring possibilities, but when it comes to moving forward, to picking up the phone, to taking the next right step, listen to your Strategy + Authority. Let them be your guide.
DEFINITION
The GATES defined from your Ajna center are all potential Fear Gates (check out the Fear Gates from the Spleen here or explore them all inside) because they give us information about where we may experience mental anxiety and fear around something, in particular due to external pressure and limiting beliefs we may have formed along the way. It’s also important to remember that fears can be healthy when we use them as information, when they drive us to better clarity. We just can’t let them scare us into taking action or let fear lead to inaction.
These Gates also offer information as to how we mentally connect with those around us.
If the Ajna center is colored in green it is considered a closed or defined center. A defined Ajna means you are actually here to form opinions, your own unique POV. You tend to conceptualize things in a consistent manner. You may have gift for thinking of things in a linear, step by step way, for cataloguing things in your mind, for systems. You may find you are more cerebral. With a defined Mind center you’re thinking cap is always switched on. In this regard, traditional forms of meditation may be more challenging for you. Although the goal of meditation is not to quiet the mind, if you struggle to take a step back and observe your thoughts, you can try more active meditations like Breathwork, walking meditation or meditating with a mantra, giving your mind something to focus on as well as just observing you mind, releasing any attachment to thoughts, letting them pass through.
If you find the channel activating your Mind center is connected to your Throat then you are literally here to speak your mind (when following your Strategy + Authority). With this center defined it may be a bit more challenging for you to decondition from relying on your mind for the right decision. Be careful not to waste your time obsessing over decisions you made that cannot be changed.
The places we carry definition also require we be accountable to the ways in which our definition impacts the room. For you this is about your mind, your thinking + the influence that carries.
OPEN CENTER
If the Ajna is white then it is open or undefined. This means you do not have consistent access to this energy. It’s important to note whether you have definition here or not we all have access to all of the energy and all of the archetypes within the bodygraph. When it’s not defined in our chart it just means we can experience it in a more amplified way when in particular auras. We also transit through all of these energies and when we do we can often experience that flavor in our lives.
If you have an Open Ajna you will find that you also have an Open Crown, through the reverse is not always true. Having an Open Ajna has been one of the biggest lessons for me personally in learning my design. We are here to keep an open mind, literally. It is not healthy for us to waste time and energy trying to form strong opinions and/or trying to convince others of our rightness. We are here to be flexible, to take it all in. For many this can feel like a whole lot of permission, for others it can feel quite difficult to embrace our openness. Freud, Jung, Einstein all had open minds. They were thinkers. And when we let of trying to use this center as our decision maker we get to tap into greater creative and intellectual potential. It is a gift to be able to see different perspectives, to literally put yourself in someone else’s place, similar to someone with an open Self center. It can also mean we get confused when we try to become solid with some opinion rather than staying with and cultivating curiosity. In many ways we need to get comfortable with uncertainty without pressuring ourself to figure it out.
Like all open centers, this one has great capacity for wisdom when utilized appropriately. We can filter and identify information, cataloguing it, understanding what matters and often who will be the one to share the most valuable concepts. We can allow ourselves to be comfortable in the liminal spaces, seeing many sides to any issue. Ideas come at us from all directions and we don’t need to be certain about any of them to feel smart, or think things through logically if we’re actually meant to think about them more abstractly. That’s fear talking. The way our mind operates is not consistent and the more we can relax into it and play in the energy available to us without becoming solid with it or forming opinions about how it should be, the more ease and magic we’ll find.
Prompts for unpacking:
Are you trying to make decisions from you mind?
If your center is defined, do you allow yourself certainty while also listening to others and allowing other opinions gracefully?
Where might you be limiting your experience?
Is there a perspective you’re not allowing yourself to see?
Are you holding on to opinions that aren't yours?
Is it hard for you to stick with a decision or way of thinking about something?
Do you allow yourself to see multiple sides of an issue?
Are you ok in the groundlessness of not making up your mind?
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