Lunar authority

Meaning

Lunar authority is the authority of Reflectors, the rarest type, whose nine centres are all undefined. With no defined centre, there is no fixed inner signal to consult, so the tradition often says that Reflectors have no inner authority in the usual sense. What they have instead is a rhythm, set by the Moon.

In Human Design every undefined centre takes in and amplifies what others and the moment bring. A Reflector is open everywhere, so each day feels different, coloured by the people nearby and by the planets passing through the gates. The Moon moves fastest of all. In a little over four weeks it travels through all 64 gates of the wheel. The tradition holds that this cycle gives the Reflector its one steady pattern: the same sequence of influences, met again month after month.

Deciding with this authority means letting an important question travel through that whole cycle. Over about a month the choice is felt from many angles, on bright days and flat ones, with different people and in different places. What stays the same at the end of it is the answer the tradition trusts. Small daily choices do not need a month; the practice is for the decisions that shape a life.

The authority and the type’s strategy almost merge here: Reflectors are advised to wait a lunar cycle. Human Design also stresses the setting. Because Reflectors mirror their surroundings, being in the right place, with the right people, is said to matter more for them than for anyone. The not-self signal for this type is disappointment, which the tradition reads gently, often as a sign of a rushed choice or a place that does not suit.

In practice

• A possible move. Talking about it with different people through the month, visiting the place more than once, and noting what stays constant from week to week.
• A job offer. Asking for time is part of the practice: “I’d like to give you an answer in a month.” Where a month is impossible, the tradition suggests taking as long as one can.
• A diary. Writing a line a day about the question shows how the feeling changes, and what never does.
• Many voices. Talking it over is not about asking for advice. It lets the Reflector hear the question reflected in different people.

Origin and history

In Ra Uru Hu’s teaching, Reflectors stand apart from the other four types: open in every centre, they sample their environment. The Moon’s transit through the gates gives them their consistency. Their way of deciding closes the order of authorities, after the Mental Projectors.

How Ulune calculates it

Rule 6 of Ulune’s order: when no rule above applies and the type is Reflector, the authority is Lunar. In Ulune the type is Reflector exactly when no centre is defined, that is, when no channel has both its gates active, from the Personality or the Design. No rule above can apply to such a chart, so every Reflector has Lunar authority, and no other type does.

This authority has no seat in Ulune: choosing it on the bodygraph lights no centre. Ulune’s own texts suggest about four weeks: the Moon returns to the same gate after about 27 days and 8 hours, a little less than the 29½ days of its cycle of phases. Without a birth time, Ulune marks the authority as one that could differ if it changes at another hour of that day.

Correspondences