We previously discussed the environment where your energy thrives, and how to digest food and information, and also the not-self theme, and today let’s discuss how you connect with the world – which in human design is known as your cognition or super sense.
Whether you feel tingles when you enter a room with weird energy, or something “smells off”, our subtle sensory experiences are languages of our body to communicate with us about the world around us. We all use all of them, but one in particular is most aligned to our unique energy, which is called our cognition or super sense. Our cognition is a specific skill readily available to us – and once we learn to tap into it, develop it and understand it better, we’ll bring the sensory experience into our conscious mind and be able to discern more clearly the world around us.
Frameworks like Human Design, and astrology, allow us to come into greater self-awareness and also in a way validate our feelings and experiences, which are unique to all of us. All these various modalities are perspectives – which is why I love to use them in a holistic manner, combining them all for a fuller picture. This is also why I use various systems such as Western astrology, Vedic astrology, Shamanic and Esoteric astrology, along with Human Design and various wellness modalities and techniques for my clients, as all together they provide my clients with more insight.
For personal sessions with me, you can browse through my Sacred Offerings, and I also now offer a Human Design and Astro Wellness Session.
All of our senses are very important not only for our overall wellbeing and intuitive development, but there are also great ways to engage them towards a higher spiritual purpose – and you can read all about this in my article Engaging All Five Senses Towards Higher Purpose.
What is Human Design?
Human design is essentially a health map showing us how our unique energy moves through the body, and what our body needs to feel greater joy, balance and wellness. It also helps us align to our true essence, so that our entire life flows easier; and how our body communicates with us so that we make the best and most appropriate decision for ourselves.
Human design is often described as an empirical system and a self-discovery system helping people to tap into their unique potential and live in alignment to their true essence. It combines various elements such as astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah, and the chakras to create a personalized blueprint for each person, offering insights and guidance for making decisions that are in alignment with their unique energy and body. Human design encourages people to embrace their authentic self and live in harmony with their own nature, as well as the world around them.
How to Find Cognition in Your Chart?
You can use an online Human Design calculator – make sure to enter your full birth name, time and place of birth (you need to know your exact time of birth just as in astrology) – and then look to where it says “your strongest sense”. In some charts, you’ll given a number rather than the title of your cognition, so in the list below I’ll give you the corresponding numbers to each sense.
Cognition Types:
There are six cognition types that you can possibly have: 1. smell, 2. taste, 3. outer vision, 4. inner vision, 5. feeling, and 6. touch.
One thing to keep in mind with your cognition is that it doesn’t exist in isolation. This means that it depends on your environment, digestion, authority type and overall energy. Everything in life is a relationship, and your senses too react and respond and blend with all else. Your super sense is essentially an aspect of your intuition, and many factors will be influencing its strength and the ease with which you can tap into it.
For example, if you have inner vision as your cognition, your environment becomes even more important to you because in order to see clearly you need to be mindful of your surroundings. Digestion, or how to consume, ingest and digest information and experiences in your life, is another important factor. Naturally, if you have Sacral Authority, inner vision becomes even more important for you – because it is essentially all about creation and manifestation, and you are a manifestor in your energy working especially through imagination, visualization and daydreaming. You don’t need vision boards, because just spending time each day daydreaming is how you attract – and your inner world becomes a magnet – because you are a magnet. And as someone who is naturally pulling in things in your life, your greatest lesson would be to learn to trust the unique timing of your life, and to discern – to say no to whatever you don’t want, rather than going out there and initiating things through your masculine energy.
Now let’s dive into each!
1. SMELL
This sense is about security, and it is known as splenic i.e. related to the spleen, so it is fear and and survival oriented. Information comes to you mainly through the frequency of smell. Tuning into how something “smells” to you – good, bad, interesting, shady – will help your body align to and determine whether a situation or person is beneficial to you in the moment. You essentially need to “smell out” what’s good for you and what isn’t. Our olfactory sense is connected to the part of our brain that stores our oldest memories from childhood – so you may find that you tend to store memories well, and are protective of those things and people that matter to you, and that smells tend to affect you more deeper than other people, so it is important to be mindful of what you smell around the house or in your environments for your health and wellbeing. Your sense of smell is essentially your body’s way of guiding you on what it needs for its health also. There is a primal nature attached to your cognition that helps you understand what is healthy and safe for you.
Allowing yourself to breathe through your nose and process what comes up for you may help you feel more in touch with your inner knowing. You may be more sensitive to certain smells than other people, so it is important to smell one thing at a time and to allow yourself permission to move away from things you don’t like – or are overwhelming to you. Smelling fragrances may be calming to you, and perhaps you love candles, aromas, oils and perfumes – which is amazing for you; and also cooking may feel relaxing to your energy because you can engage your olfactory sense as well. Embrace and experiment with your olfactory sense because it is powerful for you, and play around with scents whenever you feel stressed.
2. TASTE
You are in a continuous process of refining your palette, and experimenting with and selecting things that give you pleasure and satisfaction in life. Notice if you pick up tastes around certain people – do their words sound sweet like chocolate – as this may be your body’s way of telling you whether they are sweet to your energy also. Allow yourself to sample life and various interests – but be mindful not to overindulge, and it is advisable to limit your exposure to an overwhelming amount of anything; approach things one piece at a time. Breathing through the mouth open can help you tune into your environment and inner-knowing – and make things more clear for you.
3. OUTER VISION
Decorate your home in a beautiful way, look at beautiful art, window browse – as these all may open your mind and help it relax. Allow yourself to be drawn to beautiful spaces, places and things, noticing how visual clues can guide your path. Perhaps you see a beautiful flower and go down that road, perhaps you notice a person’s beautiful dress or scarf and then strike a conversation. In addition to beautifying your home, you can also create food that looks visually beautiful as this too can be supportive for your wellbeing – and helps you get to know the items your working with in an intimate way. Essentially, by working with what looks appealing to you, you’re connecting with the world around you and moving in more alignment to your unique energy. You may be great at intuitively knowing what goes together harmoniously and what doesn’t. And if you walk into a restaurant and the artwork puts you off, feel free to leave.
4. INNER VISION
Your imagination is powerful, it’s one of your greatest gifts and blessings, and you might have been quite the daydreamer as a child. It is what makes you incredibly creative and perhaps even with a real artistic or poetic talent, because imagination is essentially from where inspired creativity flows; and through our imagination we are able to push beyond the boundaries of the known which is what creates great innovators and change makers. It is your gift to the world.
Inner vision also connects us to our intuition; it is about the yin energy and meditation, and it connects to the inner knowing of our third eye and the ajna. Yours is the sensory and intuitive world. You take in information directly through your third eye and intuition, and outer vision may actually confuse you. You may just know things, despite how it may seem externally. You have the ability to see beyond the veils, and may see and know things that perhaps others just cannot. Do not rely on the external and physical eyes – always trust your inner eyes. Go forward with what you see within, and not what you see or are told externally, nor the world view.
You have powerful imagination and it runs wild – and are a power manifestor. You don’t need vision boards, all you need to do is spend time each day daydreaming, seeing all you desire internally, and things will be pulled into your experience and life. You might have been a dreamy child, and loved daydreaming since young age – you may also have very vivid dreams, and experience lucid dreams as well. It is important to nurture your inner world – because this will be your outer also. Trust the timing of your life, and the cycles of life, and trust your inner knowing even when things are not externally as you want them yet – they will.
If you are confused on something, close your eyes and see what comes up for you – the answer will be clear. Play around with spaces that have low lighting and minimal sounds – night may be powerful for you in getting more insights, and you might be a night owl or have powerful moon in your natal chart. You may often find that images drop into your mind – and this is your body’s way of showing you what’s good and what isn’t – so trust what images you see in your mind related to people, situations and during converations. You may have powerful clairvoyance abilities that you can develop in this life.
Create an intimate cocoon for yourself as this can help you pick up on the subtleties of situations or your next move. Outer distraction pulls you away from your inner process and having this cognition invites you to get cozy with the deeper layers of your psyche. You don’t need any external validation or “divination tools” to get to the core of what feels right for you and what you need. It’s all about being receptive to what comes up and trusting that. Don’t forget to play with your imagination for manifestation – if you see a building, imagine what it looks like within; imagine how you want your future partner to make you feel, feel it, imagine what you’ll be doing. Write and play imaginary stories in your mind’s eyes – and you might even see how most of what you wrote in your childhood’s diaries as dreams have already come true. Your intuition is powerful – and trust is all you need to develop. Trust that just because something hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t. The highest lesson of manifestation, and all seers, is that the outside doesn’t matter.
5. FEELING
The feeling cognition essentially picks up on the subtle energy that places and people give off, and allows you to physically feel the vibration in your system and body. If you notice that you’re feeling nervous, stressed, on edge or unable to fully relax into a place, your body is basically trying to direct you elsewhere. You may notice things that others don’t and this can heighten your empathy or compassion for what people around you are experiencing. Your environment and friendships become very important for you because if you don’t know how to navigate through your emotional world and set boundaries energetically, these can greatly influence you. Self development is important for your wellbeing, as it will help you understand what’s yours and what isn’t, and discern better.
Become really curious about how you are truly feeling and allow yourself to gracefully leave people or spaces if you feel that you should. With this feeling cognition you may be really sensitive to electro-magnetic frequencies, so try turning off your devices at night or when you need an energetic break. Aside from learning how to set healthy boundaries in your life, water may be soothing for you when you feel stressed, and spending time in nature and away from the “noise” can be really supportive; especially when you are trying to make a decision on something, these can clear your mind and help you reconnect and tune you back into your feeling. Trust the guidance of your feelings and notice how they guide you and what what clues they give you on your path.
6. TOUCH
Touch is also about feeling – but it is about acceptance in cognition, which is where knowing how to ask for help and support and knowing how to receive as well as give is important for you. Be mindful that your energy tends to project on others, and while you are great at moving energy with ease, you need to keep a level of integrity and align to higher values. Holding and playing with objects that feel good to you can help you tune into your inner voice and discern what sort of places, people, and opportunities are right for you. Minimalistic environments may make you feel uncomfortable, so you may find it more soothing to surround yourself with things that you love – and that feel good at touch. Experiment with how different movements feel on your body, different temperatures and fabrics; and massages may be really important for you. You’re here to play with the physicality of feeling, and to express your affection and your care through your hands – and to share and to connect with the world and the people around you through all the things you make and create with your hands.
To dive into your unique chart, you are welcome to take a look at my Human Design Session.
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Cover art by Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond, W.1900, via Wikimedia Commons.
