What is a Sacral Authority in Human Design?

How to follow your gut instinct in making decisions

“Trust your gut” is a ubiquitous piece of advice but one that only 35% of the population is meant to follow, according to Human Design.

Human Design is a mystical system of self-knowledge with practical applications. One such application is following your “inner authority” to make correct decisions for your life. When you do, things work out better.

What’s wild is that in Human Design no one is designed to make decisions from their minds. Instead, there are seven different types of inner authorities. Only Generators and Manifesting Generators can have a sacral authority.

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The sacral authority is all about following your gut. It’s a bodily response, meaning it’s a visceral signal. Your gut response will tell you whether an opportunity, person, etc. is a yes, no, or not yet. It can do this in a number of ways but it’ll always be simple: like a rising sensation in your stomach for a “yes” or a dropping sensation in your stomach for a “no.”

It can be a gut feeling of excitement for something, like butterflies in your stomach (that would be a “yes”). Or it could be a slight recoil of your body away from something (that would be a “no”).

But first, you must be in your body to experience or notice your unique gut response. In readings, I often recommend to people with the sacral authority to find embodiment practices—like belly dancing or deadlifting—to practice getting out of their heads and into their lower half. Whenever you’re presented with a choice, drop into your belly and see what it has to say.

Not only is it important for people with the sacral authority to tune into their bodies but also to trust what their bodies are saying to them.

Interestingly, intuition and gut instinct are not the same in Human Design as they belong to different energy centers. You can have a strong gut instinct (if your sacral center is defined) but not have consistent access to intuition (if your spleen is open). Or, like me, you could have neither!

A defined sacral center (circled)

Make decisions from your gut and not from your head

If you have a sacral authority, you’re not meant to sleep on decisions but to trust your gut feeling in the moment. Trust that visceral pull towards or away from something. And don’t let your mind talk you out of it!

Also, your gut response might not come immediately. You may need to wait a beat for it to kick in when something shows up in your world. But when it does, it’s not something you can explain. It’s actually pretty primal—a binary “uh-huh” (yes) or “uh-uh” (no)—without nuance. Don’t feel pressured to explain your decision. You can just say, “I’m trusting my gut on this.”

Also, people with the sacral authority are more susceptible to the influence of other people’s emotions. So be sure not to get caught up in someone else’s excitement in making your decisions.

Practice your gut response in front of a mirror or with a friend

The sacral authority best responds to yes-or-no questions. If you’re trying to decide where to eat with a friend, have your friend ask you specifics—like, “Do you want pizza?” Gut: No. “Do you want sushi?” Gut: Yesss—rather than ask an open-ended question like, “Where do you want to eat?”

You can also practice asking yourself yes-or-no questions in front of a mirror. “Should I go out with Tom?” Gut: No. The mind might argue back: But he has a 401K and is six feet tall. But your body made a slight jerk back when you were watching her in the mirror as you asked. Trust your body, not your mind. She’ll guide you away from what’s not good for you and lead you to all that you want.

A good sign that you’re making decisions correctly if you have a sacral authority is if you’re feeling satisfied and lit up by life. If you’re feeling frustrated and depleted, you may not be waiting to listen to your gut response or charging ahead to make things happen.

Remember, if you’ve got a sacral authority that means you’re a Generator or Manifesting Generator and your magic is that you’re magnetic. Let life bring you all it has to offer and then assess those offerings with your reliable gut instinct.

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Hi, I’m Ana! I’m a coach who does Human Design readings to help people make better love, career, and life decisions for themselves. Book a 1:1 reading with me.