What is a Splenic Authority in Human Design?

How to listen to your intuition to make better decisions

“Sleep on it” is advice we often hear when struggling with a decision. But if you have what’s called a splenic authority in Human Design, this wisdom is incorrect for you.

Human Design is a mystical system of self-knowledge with practical applications. One such application is following your “inner authority,” which is how you are supposed to make correct decisions for your life and assess opportunities. If you have a splenic authority, you are designed to listen to your intuition, which belongs to the spleen center.

A defined spleen center (circled)

Note: You can have a defined spleen (the colored-in triangle on the left side of your chart) but not have it be your authority.

Get quiet and don’t let your intuition pass you by

Here’s the thing about the splenic authority. It only shows up momentarily and then poof is gone. It can tell you to go out with that person or to turn down that job. It’s much quieter than the mind, so it’s easy to miss it if you’re not practiced at listening to your intuition.

Some describe it as a whisper. Others as a ping, a hunch, or an intuitive hit. However it shows up for you, this intuitive alert always arrives in the moment and then disappears almost as soon as it comes. It’s a one-time thing—but it’s always right. If you have a splenic authority, don’t let your mind question or talk you out of your intuitive knowing. Trust it. Act on it. And don’t sleep on it.

If you aren’t in touch with your intuition, start taking time alone in nature or in meditation. Any practice that quiets down the mind and takes you away from the influence of others can help you hear the quiet messages your spleen is sending you. And you must be present, in the now, to catch them.

People with splenic authorities are the only designs that can act spontaneously and “jump on it.”

With a splenic authority, you have permission to be spontaneous, which to outside observers can appear irrational at times. Don’t take on other people’s judgments that you’re acting rashly or impulsively when you’re in fact following your intuitive hits.

By the same token, don’t judge others who don’t have a splenic authority as being indecisive or hesitant. It will take them longer to know what’s the correct thing for them to do, even if it is so obvious to you.

Your spleen knows best for your body — and for your life

The spleen center also governs health and survival. You can be very sensitive to noises and smells with a defined spleen. The spontaneous messages it sends you come from a built-in survival instinct. That person is shady. This club has bad vibes. This fish smells, well, fishy. These snap judgments are designed to keep you healthy and safe, so always listen to them and act accordingly.

And when you use them to guide your life, they can be very powerful. You have a gift for knowing whom to enter into a business or romantic partnership with. Trust your instincts, even if they’re not rational to your mind or others. I’ve found that the people in my life with splenic authorities are the best ones to ask advice from because they have a sharp, almost-psychic sense of others and situations. And it’s always an immediate knowing.

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To learn more about your unique Human Design, book a 1:1 reading with me. I help people make better love, career, and life decisions for themselves.